Summary

1
Understanding habitat disturbance and recovery is vital for successful conservation management and restoration, particularly of subseral communities with high nature conservation interest and sites subject to unavoidable disturbance pressures, such as that arising from access and recreational activities.

2
Grassland resilience was investigated on the Salisbury Plain Training Area (SPTA) in southern England, the largest of the UK military training areas. SPTA contains the greatest expanse of unimproved chalk grassland in north-west Europe, a habitat of particular nature conservation interest.

3
Historical aerial photographs were used to identify 82 calcareous and mesotrophic grassland sites disturbed over a 50-year time period. Vegetation, soils and seed bank data were collected from each old disturbance site. Revegetation time periods following disturbance were compared, and habitat resilience following disturbance investigated using the succession of surface vegetation along the chronosequence, the combined changes of vegetation and soil chemistry, and finally vegetation and seed bank composition.

4
The sampled calcareous grasslands were less resilient following disturbance than the mesotrophic grasslands, with slower colonization of bare ground and target species re-assembly. The mesotrophic grasslands typically took between 30 and 40 years to re-establish following disturbance, whereas calcareous grasslands took at least 50 years.

5
Even after such long time periods, there remained subtle but significant differences between the vegetation composition of the disturbed and undisturbed swards. Perennial forb species, particularly hemicryptophytes, persisted at higher frequencies in swards disturbed 50 years ago than in undisturbed swards.

6
Synthesis and applications. Prediction of habitat resilience following disturbance is dependent on which components of the system are investigated. However, data such as that presented here can help land managers understand how palimpsests of current habitat characteristics may have evolved, and how disturbance regimes may be managed in the future. It is likely that the resilience of grasslands such as those on SPTA may have been overestimated, and perceptions of habitat carrying capacity for disturbance events may require re-evaluation.


Post-Traumatic Encephalopathy represents through its diversity and seriousness of consequences an important aspect of sport's pathology. Within the impact of head trauma we often meet intracranial pressure and hemodynamics change that occurs with vasoplegy in the initial exchanges with altered arteriole capillaries, diapedesis of red blood cells with tissue acidosis, which causes capillary pore opening situated at capillary junction. The impact causes micro bleeds in cloth being the incipient phase of brain contusion or realises the known type intracranial hematoma accumulations. In the head injury there can be Vasogenic Cerebral Oedema that is caused by the impact and the blood-brain barrier breakdown occurs. In Romanian Sports history we have N.P. 34 years old, Olympic boxing champion, with phenomena of progressive intracranial hypertension for 4 days, dies and anatomical pathology examination showing cerebral oedema cerebellar tonsils with important employment. Clinical manifestations in head trauma are of particular importance because we have immediate signs after brain contusion represented by headache, dizziness, speech disorder, agitation, dilated pupil, memory loss, personality change and post-game signs represented by a consciousness loss, severe headache and coma (Glasgow scale). The mechanism that we meet in head traumas is represented by the head impact that breaks the head's emissary veins with subdural hematoma production. Intracranial hematomas represented by the expansive process, making pressure cones, which is associated with symptoms of focal lesions. Treatment Serious cases providing vital functions, stabilisation, emergency hospitalisation, continuous surveillance, compared to medium cases first aid, assess the athlete for the game, regular surveillance. Late consequences are caused by repeated head trauma, followed by cognitive-motor disorders and form the arguments for rehabilitation treatment early instituted and continued in specialty health centres. Diagnosis Complete somatic clinical examination, tracking consciousness, motor and sensory structures, cranial nerves and eyeball examination, back of the eye.Skull radiography;Cerebral Computed Tomography; MRI; Pet CT; Electroencephalogram. Head Injury complications are Parkinson's, epilepsy, pugilistic dementia, cognitive deficits and residual paralysis. Prognosis For Minor contusions it's needed a short period of recovery with periodic checks.For Major contusions recovery is long lasting, detailed with medical supervision. Final statement on the resumption of sporting activity, it is essential, because only in this way we can protect the athlete as well as to be sure it can perform on the field. Prevention Protection equipment: like stronger hats, bicycle or motorcycle helmets, seat belts, helmets (hockey, baseball). The key to prevention is to stop or limit any activity that can develop this pathology, a suitable training program. Conclusions Post-traumatic encephalopathy that comes after a head injury, takes multiple forms of manifestation whose seriousness requires medical intervention. Neuropsychological and somatic recovery is a mandatory measure for the resumption of sports activities. Abstract P-73 Figure 1 Posttraumatic front right hematoma intraparenchimatoase and skull fracture Abstract P-73 Figure 2 Epidural hematoma


Bacterial leaf blight of aroids is caused by a heterogeneous group of xanthomonads listed as Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. dieffenbachiae (Xad) on the EPPO A2 quarantine list. Recently, Xad strains were shown not to belong to X. axonopodis but to the species X. citri, X. phaseoli and X. euvesicatoria. Here, to verify the pathovar designation, 11 representative strains were tested for pathogenicity on six aroid genera. They had overlapping host ranges and only the strain isolated from Syngonium showed host specificity. The X. citri strains, isolated from various hosts, showed dissimilarity in virulence to the tested aroid genera. The X. phaseoli strains, isolated from Anthurium and Syngonium, were generally more virulent and, additionally, induced systemic infections. The X. euvesicatoria strains, isolated from Philodendron, were scored as not pathogenic on the tested aroids. Four representative strains were genome sequenced and showed a variable virulence-associated gene content. Pathogenicity to aroids was correlated with the presence of three specific T3 effector genes and with a T6SS gene sequence. Together, the phylogenetic and pathogenic differentiation among Xad strains justifies the installation of three pathovar epithets for the pathogens on aroids: X. phaseoli pv. dieffenbachiae comb. nov. for the strains isolated from Anthurium; X. phaseoli pv. syngonii comb. nov. for the strain isolated from Syngonium; and X. citri pv. aracearum comb. nov. for the strains isolated from Aglaonema, Xanthosoma and Dieffenbachia. It is proposed that phytosanitary regulations for xanthomonads on aroids are restricted to these three pathovars.


Some initial EUVL patterning results for polycarbonate based non-chemically amplified resists are presented. Without full optimization the developer a resolution of 60 nm line spaces could be obtained. With slight overexposure (1.4 × E0) 43.5 nm lines at a half pitch of 50 nm could be printed. At 2x E0 a 28.6 nm lines at a half pitch of 50 nm could be obtained with a LER that was just above expected for mask roughness. Upon being irradiated with EUV photons, these polymers undergo chain scission with the loss of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. The remaining photoproducts appear to be non-volatile under standard EUV irradiation conditions, but do exhibit increased solubility in developer compared to the unirradiated polymer. The sensitivity of the polymers to EUV light is related to their oxygen content and ways to increase the sensitivity of the polymers to 10 mJ cm-2 is discussed.


In this research we examine how electron heat moves along magnetic field lines and how this affects temperature variations in plasmas. Specifically we wrote FORTRAN code to solve the electron temperature equation numerically. We also solved the steady state electron temperature equation analytically using an integrating factor. We verified that the numerical and analytical solutions obtained the same result. Finally we calculated the standard deviation of temperature in our domain for the steady state. Gaussian legendre quadrature was used to integrate various functions. We represented our magnetic field and heat source with Fourier series. The sin and cosine coefficients for the heat source and the inhomogeneous magnetic field strength were given in an input file along with other initial conditions which our code read prior to each run. This allowed different numerical experiments to be run without the need to recompile the code for each one. The primary result that was found was that an increase in the initial background temperatures led to smaller variations in temperature. That is, as plasma collisionality decreases with increasing mean temperature, diffusive electron heat flow is capable of smoothing out temperature perturbations more effectively.


Neurodegenerative diseases are a group of disorders characterized by the progressive degeneration of neurons in the central or peripheral nervous system. Currently, there is no cure for neurodegenerative diseases and this means a heavy burden for patients and the health system worldwide. Therefore, it is necessary to find new therapeutic approaches, and antisense therapies offer this possibility, having the great advantage of not modifying cellular genome and potentially being safer. Many preclinical and clinical studies aim to test the safety and effectiveness of antisense therapies in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The objective of this review is to summarize the recent advances in the development of these new technologies to treat the most common neurodegenerative diseases, with a focus on those antisense therapies that have already received the approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.


Youth consultation methods were integrated in the current thesis to create and test two school-based positive psychology interventions (PPIs) for adolescents. A literature review explored methodological and conceptual considerations in the application of positive psychology with adolescents (Publication 1). An exploratory study of 114 adolescents (aged 14 to 17) compared the relative contributions of key positive psychology variables (i.e., strengths use, hope, gratitude, pleasure, engagement, and meaning) to positive (i.e., life satisfaction, positive affect); and negative (i.e., negative affect, depression, and anxiety) indictors of mental health (Publication 2). As expected, positive psychology variables were significant predictors of all mental heath outcome variables. Specific findings from multiple regression analyses were that gratitude and strengths use were consistent predictors of negative mental health indicators; whereas hope and gratitude were significant predictors of life satisfaction, and hope, strengths use and engagement were significant predictors of positive affect. Two separate qualitative youth consultation processes (i.e., phone interviews with 28 adolescents and online questionnaires with 57 adolescents) were conducted. Adolescents' recommendations on how to make mental health programs appealing and engaging were explored using NVivo thematic analysis and critically discussed (Publication 3). Subsequently, adolescents' ideas were combined with extant research to develop two adolescent focused PPIs. The first PPI, the full life intervention, was a holistic, multi-component intervention that integrated activities aimed at cultivating hope, gratitude, strengths, pleasure, engagement, and meaning. The second PPI, the simple pleasures intervention, focused on exploring and savouring life's simple pleasures. A school-based randomised controlled trial with 90 adolescents aged 14 to 17 was used to test the effectiveness of the two PPIs relative to a usual care control condition (Publication 4). Repeated measures ANOVAs indicated that participants allocated to all conditions reported decreased anxiety and stress post intervention. However, contrary to expectations, no significant improvements in well-being or symptoms of depression were evident. This research provides preliminary support for the application of PPIs in youth and school settings but underscores the need for more refined and systemic approaches that target multiple environments (i.e., family, school climate, community) in adolescents' lives.


Public pension and labor union funds have been the driving force in diversified shareholder activism. They have also fended off attacks on jobs and proactively created jobs for fund contributors. These funds currently represent almost $4 trillion in assets over which workers have substantial control. That worker control - and the collective nature of defined benefit pension plans - is the necessary precondition for their shareholder activism. Both worker control and collective investment are directly threatened by the rise of defined contribution funds, particularly by well-funded efforts to promote the 401(k) in the public sector, the last bastion of the traditional pension plan (unlike traditional pensions, defined contribution funds do not guarantee fixed payments to retirees). Due to a purported nationwide underfunding crisis for public pensions in particular - a crisis whose scale, scope and even existence is contested by economists and actuaries - many states and cities have wholly or partly abandoned, or are contemplating abandoning, collectively managed defined benefit pension plans in favor of 401(k) plans that are outsources to existing private mutual funds. Far more than legal reforms, like changing shareholder voting thresholds or the prospect of mandatory arbitration provisions, these reforms pose an existential threat to the ability of workers to wield the collective shareholder voice they now wield via defined benefit pension plans.

This Article does not concede that traditional pensions should be reformed out of existence. There are excellent reasons to defend them, and excellent reasons to attack defined contribution funds. That said, to the extent that traditional pensions continue to be reformed out of existence, this Article illustrates that there are defined contribution alternatives to the 401(k) that would still preserve collective shareholder voice. This Article sketches out examples of defined contribution funds that could restore shareholder voice which the transition from defined benefit to 401(k) plans has stripped away, and could preserve that voice in jurisdictions that have not yet taken action.


BACKGROUND
Studies on the effect of inadequate empirical antibiotic therapy on the outcome of patients with systemic infection have led to inconsistent results.

METHODS
We analysed data from a comprehensive clinical database collected prospectively in a university hospital between 2008 and 2009. All adult patients who registered in the emergency department (ED) with a bloodstream infection (BSI) were enrolled. Empirical therapy was considered adequate if it included antimicrobials to which the specific isolate displayed in vitro susceptibility and that were administered within 24 h of ED admission. The propensity score (PS) was created by a logistic regression model predicting inadequate empirical therapy. PS-adjusted multivariate analysis was performed by the Cox regression model. The Mortality in Emergency Department Sepsis (MEDS) score was used for the adjustment of residual confounding due to differences in the baseline clinical severity of disease.

RESULTS
Out of 937 episodes of bacteraemia, 255 (27.2%) patients received inadequate empirical antimicrobial therapy. A crude analysis showed that inadequate antibiotic therapy was associated with higher mortality rates (hazard ratio 1.78, 95% CI 1.30-2.45). PS-adjusted multivariate analyses also showed a significant adverse impact (hazard ratio 1.59, 95% CI 1.14-2.28). The clinical disease severity significantly modified the effect of inadequate antibiotic therapy on survival. The magnitude of the adverse impact of inadequate antibiotic therapy decreased with the increasing severity of sepsis (P=0.009).

CONCLUSIONS
Inadequate empirical antimicrobial therapy for community-onset BSI was associated with higher 30 day mortality rates. Study populations with different clinical severities may have different results, which may help to partly explain the heterogeneous findings in many similar studies.


Abstract. "Non-stationarity" with reference to hydrology is a term applied to many situations (Milly et al., 2008). While climate change non-stationarity is often examined, these effects can provide a test for assumptions of runoff generation process impliedin rainfall–runoff (RR) models. Observations from South-western Australia (SWA) over the past 40 years show a decline in rainfall and reductions in runoff. Runoff and rainfall relationships in SWA show a significant shift over the past 40 years suggesting a change in runoff generation and catchment state. This has challenged the nature of assumed runoff generation process in SWA as well as the veracity of conceptual RR model structure. We expand on some of the lessons learned from SWA and discuss the climatic and geomorphic conditions that may make reasonable predictions of runoff very difficult with RR models calibrated in traditional ways. Catchment storage has a significant interaction with runoff generation and we examine the situations where these may change in the longer term. We suggest some strategies in terms of model structure and calibration that may improve predictive performance in such situations.


Whole-body imaging with Ga-67 citrate in 127 tumors of the genito-urinary tract has been evaluated by a cooperative group using a uniform protocol. Primary sites of tumor were not detectable by imaging, except for one bladder and one kidney tumor. Proven and apparent metastases yielded positive scans, however, in 51% of prostatic, 50% of bladder, 72% of kidney, and 53% of testicular neoplasms. In bladder and kidneys metastases, if bone sites are excluded, detection of soft tissue metastases was 61% and 75%, respectively. In embryonal-cell carcinoma of the testicle, 74% of metastatic foci were detected.


The elderly population is considered vulnerable to stress. One common stereotype of growing older is that there is a high chance of becoming depressed. Utilizing a descriptive design, data were gathered from thirty-seven (37) respondents in two geriatric facilities in Cebu. A researcher-administered questionnaire was utilized containing the demographic data, Self-esteem Scale adapted from Rosenberg, Berlin Social Support Scale adopted from Schwarzer and Schulz and Geriatric Depression Scale. Findings revealed that majority of the respondents who are institutionalized are female, single and has acquired elementary level in terms of education with a mean age of 76. Moreover, respondents had moderate self-esteem, adequate social support and a depression level of moderate to severe. Only social support showed a significant correlation with depression. It is concluded that although social support is a necessary element for the prevention of depression among institutionalized geriatric clients.


Motivation: Public archives contain thousands of trillions of bases of valuable sequencing data. More than 40% of the Sequence Read Archive is human data protected by provisions such as dbGaP. To analyze dbGaP-protected data, researchers must typically work with IT administrators and signing officials to ensure all levels of security are implemented at their institution. This is a major obstacle, impeding reproducibility and reducing the utility of archived data. Results: We present a protocol and software tool for analyzing protected data in a commercial cloud. The protocol is applicable to any MapReduce tool running on Amazon Web Services. The tool, Rail-RNA v0.2, is a spliced aligner for RNA-seq data, which we demonstrate by running on 9,662 samples from the dbGaP-protected GTEx consortium dataset. These are important first steps toward making it easy for typical biomedical investigators to study protected data, regardless of their local IT resources or expertise. Availability: Rail-RNA is available from http://rail.bio, and detailed instructions on running Rail-RNA on dbGaP-protected data using Amazon Web Services are available at http://docs.rail.bio/dbgap/.


Kenneth Connor is a professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering (ECSE) where he teaches courses on electromagnetics, electronics and instrumentation, plasma physics, electric power, and general engineering. His research involves plasma physics, electromagnetics, photonics, biomedical sensors, engineering education, diversity in the engineering workforce, and technology enhanced learning. He learned problem solving from his father (ran a gray iron foundry), his mother (a nurse) and grandparents (dairy farmers). He has had the great good fortune to always work with amazing people, most recently professors teaching circuits and electronics from 13 HBCU ECE programs and the faculty, staff and students of the SMART LIGHTING ERC, where he is Education Director. He was ECSE Department Head from 2001 to 2008 and served on the board of the ECE Department Heads Association from 2003 to 2008.


The Aquitanian Basin in southwestern France is surrounded by Variscan massifs to the north, northeast, and east, and by a Tertiary chain, the Pyrenees, with a Variscan core, to the south. Toward the west, the extension of the basin beneath the Atlantic remains unknown. The basin is asymmetric, inasmuch as there is a very gentle regional dip of Tertiary and Mesozoic rocks into the basin along the massifs, whereas complicated structural conditions exist along the mobile belt in the south. The denudation products of the Variscan mountains were laid down in the lowlands of the continent during upper Carboniferous and Permian time in the form of sandstones and shales, locally with some coal, covered by red conglomerates and sandstones. The Triassic sediments consist of detritic rocks and evaporites with a short marine invasion in the south; this is the facies of the Germanic or epicontinental Triassic. At the beginning of the Jurassic a marine invasion came from the east, but the facies remains neritic-epicontinental and no trace of a geosynclinal development along the Pyrenees can be seen. During Triassic and Jurassic time the region had already developed a basin-like appearance with the north and east margins rather similar to today's, while the Pyrenees probably formed an island chain. In Lower Cretaceous time a zone of subsidence developed along the general area of the Pyrenees, widening toward the west, and marine sediments several thousand meters in thickness were laid down, while the northern and northeastern part of the basin became dry land. This is the first indication of geosynclinal development in the region of the Pyrenees. During the Upper Cretaceous, two marine invasions took place at about the same time, both coming definitely from the west. The first formed a narrow, long graben-like channel continuing in a restricted way the Lower Cretaceous zone of subsidence; this is the Pyrenean Flysch zone with sediments several thousand meters thick. The second invasion formed a wide and shallow gulf with the base along the Atlantic coast, covering the northern half of the basin. Although contemporaneous with the Flysch zone, limestones of shallow water epicontinental facies, less than 1,000 meters thick, were deposited in this gulf. This sea extended farther northward than that of Lower Cretaceous time and transgressed over the Jurassic. During the Tertiary the gulfs from the Atlantic became gradually smaller, and almost disappeared from the present basin in Pliocene time. Quaternary fluviatile deposits, derived from the Pyrenees and the old massifs, cover much of the older beds, and are in turn covered in the coastal region by aeolic sands. The main orogenic phase in the Pyrenees took place in Eocene time. The structure of the Flysch is very complicated and the Flysch seems to be upthrust onto the foreland. The Jurassic of the basin forms folds with east-west as the predominant trend. The intensity of folding decreases in the Cretaceous and more so in the Lower Tertiary. The Upper Tertiary is almost horizontal. Faulting seems to have been particularly active during Tertiary time; on the margins of the basin a northwestern trend parallel to the grain of the old massifs is very conspicuous, but many other faults of different directions are indicated by seismics. Doubtlessly the movements of the basement have influenced the structure of the sedimentary cover. Almost all surface seepages of oil or gas are located along the Pyrenees, within or close to the Flysch trough. Many are connected with Triassic diapirs and range in age from Miocene to Aptian. Numerous shows have been encountered in wells in the same area, from Eocene to Triassic. Triassic oil shows have been found by recent drilling northwest and southeast of Bordeaux. Many structures in and close to the foothill belt have been drilled, but most of them are dry. At present one gas field is producing from Cenomanian at St. Marcet in the Flysch zone. One oil field at Lacq, close to the Flysch zone, is producing heavy sulfurous oil from the Senonian; a gas deposit in the Lower Cretaceous is not yet producing. In 1954 what appears to be a major oil field with rather light sweet oil in Lower Cretaceous dolomite, was discovered at Parentis, 80 kilometers southwest of Bordeaux. End_Page 1091-----------------------


We discuss a novel application of matter wave in- terferometry to characterize the scalar optical polarizability of molecules at 532 nm. The interferometer presented here con- sists of two material absorptive gratings and one central optical phase grating. The interaction of the molecules with the stand- ing light wave is determined by the optical dipole force and is therefore directly dependent on the molecular polarizability at the wavelength of the diffracting laser light. By comparing the observed matter-wave interference contrast with a theoret- ical model for several intensities of the standing light wave and molecular velocities, we can infer the polarizability in this first proof-of-principle experiment for the fullerenes C60 and C70, and we find a good agreement with literature values.


The onset of the current economic crisis has led many strategic and financial acquirers to reconsider the desirability of transactions to which they had previously agreed. Because many of these agreements contain substantial termination fees, buyers have increasingly sought to be excused from their contractual obligations by invoking Material Adverse Effect ("MAE") provisions. Reliance on MAE clauses as a basis for termination has historically been risky due to a lack of clarity in the case law regarding the standard for excuse under such provisions. A recent decision by the Delaware Chancery Court, Hexion v. Huntsman, the third in a series of prominent cases addressing the interpretation of MAE provisions, confirms that the standard is extremely high under Delaware law. However, because each of these cases found that no MAE had occurred, it remains unclear what circumstances, if any, will be sufficient to trigger judicial recognition of an MAE in Delaware. This paper suggests that the Delaware Chancery Court has applied a standard that analytically resembles the "basic as-sumption" test used to determine the existence of an excusing contingency under the doctrines of impracticability and frustration of purpose. This paper contends that such a standard is both unsurprising and desirable because the logical questions raised in disputes over MAE provisions closely parallel those addressed by default rules for excuse of performance. Given the broad language with which MAE clauses are typically drafted, this paper argues that courts should recognize that they are being asked to fill a gap in the merger agreement; as such, courts should apply the "basic assumption" test and follow the Delaware Chancery Court in setting a high standard for excuse under MAE provisions.


Alec Costin is one of Australia's foremost ecologists, internationally respected for his pioneering work into the soils, hydrology and vegetation of the Australian alpine regions. Advisor to governments and their agencies, he was instrumental in the conservation of the Australian Alps. Alec's field notes, data sheets and Kodachrome slides, a record of the Alps in the 1950s and 60s, are important historically and provide an important resource to interpret change in vegetation and landscapes in the Australian Alps. The University of Melbourne, funded by the Australian Alps National Parks, will catalogue and archive these materials, so future generations of scientists and historians can easily gain access to them.


What happens when a dictator wins absolute power and isolates a nation from the outside world? In a nightmare of political theory stretched to madness and come to life, North Korea's Kim Jong Il made himself into a living god, surrounded by lies and flattery and beyond criticism. As over two million of his subjects starved to death, Kim Jong Il roamed between palaces staffed by beautiful girls and stocked with expensive international delicacies. Outside, the steel mills shut down, the trains stopped running, the power went out, and the hospitals ran out of medicine. When the population threatened to revolt, Kim imposed a reign of terror, deceived the United Nations, and plundered the country's dwindling resources to become a nuclear power. Now this tiny bankrupt nation is using her nuclear capability to blackmail the United States. Veteran correspondent Jasper Becker takes us inside one of the most secretive countries in the world, exposing the internal chaos, blind faith, rampant corruption, and terrifying cruelty of its rulers. Becker details the vain efforts to change North Korea by actors inside and outside the country and the dangers this highly volatile country continues to pose. This unique land, ruled by one family's megalomania and paranoia, seems destined to survive and linger on, a menace to its own people and to the rest of the world. But should the nations of the world allow this regime to survive? That's the question with which this book concludes.


We investigate the economic effects of capitalizing development costs during a race between two firms to discover and develop a new technology. Winning the race requires success in the research stage and success in the development stage. Development costs are expensed in some settings, but capitalized in others. Capitalization of development costs provides a credible signal regarding progress in the race, allowing the rival to make a more informed decision regarding whether to proceed with development. We study the effects of this signal on the firms' investment decisions and social welfare. We show that if both firms capitalize instead of expense development costs, aggregate investment in research weakly increases but aggregate investment in development weakly decreases. We also characterize the accounting policies that the two rival firms would adopt if they could freely choose either an expensing policy or a capitalization policy.


The present research has as a purpose the determination of the optimal work methods of the soil used in forestry nurseries and which are meant to obtain h igh quality saplings by maintaining a possibly large quantity of water in the soil. The research was carried out in the Iarac forestry nursery in the O.S. Iuliu Moldovan during 2009-2011, on an alluvial soil the vertical - gleiying subtype. The experiment is multi-factorial � the A X B type. The placement of the sample markets was carried out according to thedivided parcels methodin two repetitions, and the surface of the parcel was 80 m 2 .Soil moisture is an important characteristic for the development of the saplings in the forestry nurseries. It suffers big variances in time according to various factors, among which: water interception from rain, outflow, infiltration, retention, capillary ascension etc. A larger quantity of soil moisture can be also obtained through its mobilization by different means of mechanic work. Thus, this research presents the results obtained after the working of the soil through different methods on the physical properties (moisture and water resource), determined at the be ginning of the vegetation season and at its middle for the scarified and non - scarified soil. The work method of the soil adjusts the main hydro-physical properties for the determination of the soil fertility in order to assure the productive consumption of the saplings and the avoidance ofthe loss through evaporation. In conclusion, it is important to keep in mind that the soil works have a direct impact on the moisture and water resource, determining the variance of these indicators at different levels of depth, frequently in a decreasing order from surface to depth, taking into consideration the quantity of rain fallen during the period analyzed, but also the depth at which the soil is dislocated.


Therapeutic efficacy of a tumor cell–based vaccine against experimental B16 melanoma requires the disruption of either of two immunoregulatory mechanisms that control autoreactive T cell responses: the cytotoxic T lymphocyte–associated antigen (CTLA)-4 pathway or the CD25+ regulatory T (Treg) cells. Combination of CTLA-4 blockade and depletion of CD25+ Treg cells results in maximal tumor rejection. Efficacy of the antitumor therapy correlates with the extent of autoimmune skin depigmentation as well as with the frequency of tyrosinase-related protein 2180–188–specific CTLs detected in the periphery. Furthermore, tumor rejection is dependent on the CD8+ T cell subset. Our data demonstrate that the CTL response against melanoma antigens is an important component of the therapeutic antitumor response and that the reactivity of these CTLs can be augmented through interference with immunoregulatory mechanisms. The synergism in the effects of CTLA-4 blockade and depletion of CD25+ Treg cells indicates that CD25+ Treg cells and CTLA-4 signaling represent two alternative pathways for suppression of autoreactive T cell immunity. Simultaneous intervention with both regulatory mechanisms is therefore a promising concept for the induction of therapeutic antitumor immunity.


The TASK-3 channel is a member of the K2P family that is important for the maintenance of the resting membrane potential. Previous studies have demonstrated that the TASK-3 channel is involved in several physiologic and pathologic processes, including sleep/wake control, cognition, and epilepsy. However, there is still a lack of selective pharmacological tools for TASK-3, which limits further research on channel function. In this work, using a high-throughput screen, we discovered that N-(2-((4-nitro-2-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)amino)ethyl)benzamide (NPBA) showed excellent potency and selectivity as a novel TASK-3 activator. The molecular determinants of NPBA activation were then investigated by combining chimera and mutagenesis analysis. Two distant clusters of residues located at the extracellular end of the second transmembrane domain (A105 and A108) and the intracellular end of the third transmembrane domain (E157) were found to be critical for NPBA activation. We then compared the essentials of the actions of NPBA with inhalation anesthetics that nonselectively activate TASK-3 and found that they may activate TASK-3 channels through different mechanisms. Finally, we transplanted the three residues A105, A108, and E157 into the TASK-1 channel, which resists NPBA activation, and the constructed mutant TASK-1(G105A, V108A, A157E) showed dramatically increased activation by NPBA, confirming the importance of these two distant clusters of residues. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT TASK-3 channels conduct potassium and are involved in various physiological and pathological processes. However, the lack of selective modulators has hindered efforts to increase our understanding of the physiological roles of TASK-3 channels. By using a high-throughput screen, we identified NPBA as a potent and selective TASK-3 activator, and we show that NPBA is a more potent activator than terbinafine, the only reported TASK-3 selective activator to date. We also show here that NPBA has outstanding selectivity for TAS-3 channels. These characteristics make NPBA a promising pharmacological probe for research focused on defining TASK-3 channel function(s). In addition, we identified two distant clusters of residues as determinants of NPBA activation providing new molecular clues for the understanding of the gating mechanism of K2P channels.


In the late autumn of 1962, there was a short, intense border war between India and China. It resulted in the complete rout of an underprepared and poorly led Indian Army. For the two rising powers, the battle—and its outcome—was seen in national, civilizational and ideological terms. These nations were, or at least saw themselves as, carriers of ancient civilizations that had produced great literature, philosophy, architecture, science and much else, but whose further evolution had been rudely interrupted by Western imperialists. India became free of British rule in 1947; China was united under Communist auspices in 1949. The recovery of their national independence was viewed as the prelude to the reemergence of China and India as major forces in the world. Thus, the defeat of 1962 was at once a defeat of the Indian Army by its Chinese counterpart, a defeat of democracy by Communism, a defeat of one large new nation by another and a defeat of one ancient civilization at the hands of another. In India, the defeat was also interpreted in personal terms, as the defeat of Jawaharlal Nehru, who had held the offices of prime minister and foreign minister continuously since independence in 1947.


This thesis focuses on the mental health status of Chinese international students in
Hungary and describes what factors cause them to have depressed symptoms and other
negative emotions. In the literature review I summarized some studies about the mental
health status of international students and Chinese students in other countries, according
to these studies I identified many influencing factors sand how these factors affect
mental health of Chinese international students. I used qualitative and quantitative
research methods in this thesis. I gathered some basic information and analyses
statistical data through the questionnaire surveys. Then I made 10 in-depth individual
and 6 online individual interviews to understand what reasons cause the Chinese
international students to have depressed symptoms and negative emotions. I used SPSS
to analyze what is relationship between each factor with depression. The main influence
reasons are cultural, social, individual and other factors. The thesis reflects the level of
depression and other negative emotions among Chinese international students.


BACKGROUND
Provision of adequate iron to support erythropoiesis in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is time consuming and may present adherence problems for patients in the outpatient setting. We studied an accelerated regimen of high-dose intravenous iron sucrose therapy in a cohort of iron-deficient, anemic CKD patients.

METHODS
Intravenous iron sucrose 500 mg was infused over three hours on two consecutive days in 107 CKD patients (glomerular filtration rate, 32.3 +/- 19.6 mL/min/1.73m2, baseline hemoglobin 10.2 +/- 1.7 g/dL). Iron indices (transferrin saturation, ferritin) were measured at baseline and at two and seven days after completion of the iron regimen. Blood pressures were monitored immediately prior to, and hourly throughout the iron sucrose infusions.

RESULTS
Transferrin saturation and serum ferritin increased from 18.5 +/- 8.5% and 177 +/- 123.8 ng/mL at baseline to 40.2 +/- 22.3% and 811 +/- 294.1 ng/mL in 102 evaluated patients (P < 0.015). In 55 patients with additional measurements at 7 days post-dosing, the transferrin saturation and ferritin had fallen to 26.3 +/- 10.6% and 691 +/- 261.8 ng/mL (P < 0.015 compared to two days' post-dose). Blood pressure rose slightly, but not significantly, throughout the infusions, and altering the infusion rate was not necessary. Two patients had seven adverse events that were considered related to iron sucrose.

CONCLUSION
An accelerated regimen of high-dose intravenous iron sucrose therapy in CKD patients is safe and effective in restoring iron stores, and may potentially save time and improve patient adherence.


Abstract Context Intimate partner violence (IPV) occurs when an intimate partner inflicts physical, sexual, and/or emotional assault with coercive control and is a traumatic experience with repercussions that can be exacerbated when a woman is pregnant. While screening for IPV during pregnancy is recommended to occur regardless of risk, less than 50% of pregnant women are screened. Objectives Identifying clinical factors commonly associated with IPV during pregnancy may improve screening rates, thus our primary objective was to examine associations between IPV and maternal comorbidities. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) Phase 8 spanning 2016 through 2019. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was utilized to calculate adjusted odds ratios (AORs) to determine associations between IPV and diabetes, anxiety, hypertension, depression, asthma, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and thyroid disease. Results More than 40% of women experiencing IPV reported a history of depression or anxiety. The occurrence of IPV was higher among women with depression (AOR 3.48, CI 3.14–3.85), anxiety (AOR 2.98, CI 2.64–3.37), hypertension (AOR 1.21, CI 1.02–1.44), and asthma (AOR 1.37; CI 1.17–1.59) than women without those respective conditions, but not among diagnoses of diabetes, PCOS, or thyroid disorders. Conclusions Our findings show that pregnant individuals reporting having experienced IPV were more likely to report having certain comorbidities compared to those who did not report experiencing IPV. Given the low rates of screening, knowing clinically relevant associations may increase screening sensitivity among clinicians and, in turn, increase the likelihood that individuals experiencing IPV receive supportive care.


INTRODUCTION
The available amounts of fossil fuels are rapidly diminishing while the consumption is
continuously growing. Thus it is necessary to find a new source of fuel. Recently the focus
on using biomass as a renewable source has increased, but while the industrial production
of second generation biofuels is the best possible scenario, it does not come without
challenges. First and foremost, developing a cost-effective process for conversion of
biomass is a necessity. One challenge is to decrease the ratio between oxygen and carbon
in the biomass in order to increase the energy density. In this project a series of initial
didehydroxylation experiments has been carried out to determine the reactivity of different
styrene diols as a function of their substitution pattern.
DIDEHYDROXYLATION
The osmium-catalyzed dihydroxylation of an alkene using OsO4 is a well-studied reaction
whereas the didehydroxylation of a vicinal diol using Re2(CO)10 just recently attracted
attention.1
The reaction could occur via mechanism similar to the one for the dihydroxylation, just
reverse. First the rhenium catalyst is oxidized to its active form, ReV(OH)O2 (fig.1), after
which it reacts with the two hydroxy groups of the diol, forming an intermediate rhenium
complex while releasing two water molecules. The alkene is then released, leaving rhenium
in oxidation state VII. Rhenium is then reduced back to RhV by oxidation of 3-octanol.
HAMMETT STUDY
The reactivity of the different para-substituted diols (fig.2) has been investigated by
determining the relative reactivities of the didehydroxylation reactions. The reactions have
been followed using both GC and HPLC as well as 1H-NMR in order to follow both the
formation of the product and the disappearance of the reactant. Several different reaction
conditions have been examined, but all used 3-octanol as a reductant for rhenium, making
the reaction catalytic. The influence of the different para-substituents on the reactivity and
reaction mechanism of the didehydroxylation can then be evaluated by the construction of a
Hammett plot.
(1) Arceo, E., Ellman, J. A. & Bergman R. G. (2010). Rhenium-Catalyzed Didehydroxylation of Vicinal Diols to
Alkenes Using a Simple Alcohol as a Reducing Agent. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 132, 11408-
11409.


BACKGROUND
Consuming a variety (vs. monotony) of energy-poor, nutrient-dense foods may help individuals adhere to dietary patterns favorably associated with weight control.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to examine whether greater healthful food variety quantified using the US Healthy Food Diversity (HFD) index favorably influenced body adiposity.

METHODS
Men and nonpregnant, nonlactating women aged ≥20 y with two 24-h recalls from the cross-sectional NHANES 2003-2006 (n = 7470) were included in this study. Dietary recalls were merged with the MyPyramid Equivalent database to generate the US HFD index, which ranges from 0 to ∼1, with higher scores indicative of diets with a higher number and proportion of healthful foods. Multiple indicators of adiposity including BMI, waist-to-height ratio, android-to-gynoid fat ratio, fat mass index (FMI), and percentage body fat were assessed across US HFD index quintiles. ORs and 95% CIs were computed with use of multivariable logistic regression (SAS v. 9.3).

RESULTS
The US HFD index was inversely associated with most adiposity indicators in both sexes. After multivariable adjustment, the odds of obesity, android-to-gynoid ratio >1, and high FMI were 31-55% lower (P-trend < 0.01) among women in quintile 5 vs. quintile 1 of the US HFD index. Among men, the odds of obesity, waist-to-height ratio ≥0.5, and android-to-gynoid ratio >1 were 40-48% lower (P-trend ≤ 0.01) in quintile 5 vs. quintile 1 of the US HFD index.

CONCLUSIONS
Higher US HFD index values were inversely associated with indicators of body adiposity in both sexes, indicating that greater healthful food variety may protect against excess adiposity. This study explicitly recognizes the potential benefits of dietary variety in obesity management and provides the foundation to support its ongoing evaluation.


Wind turbines have been developed for more than a century and nowadays wind turbines are still facing some challenges such as efficiency and maintenance problems. Load control is considered to be one of the most important parts for future horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) designs. Deploying effective flow control devices on the blades could either increase loads at off-design wind speed conditions or reduce the extreme loads, leading to either higher energy output or a more stable energy output from the wind turbine. This study reports a research into the performance of trailing edge flow control devices of HAWT by solving the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations. The validation case selected for this work is the NREL Phase VI blade with experimental data. The trailing edge flow control devices studied include microtabs and microjets installed near the trailing edge of the rotating blade. The divergent trailing edge is also included in the study as a passive flow control device due to its practical interest. These trailing edge devices are implemented on the fixed-pitch NREL Phase VI blade, using the original performance and flow characteristics as a benchmark. Both 2D and 3D simulations are carried out in order to investigate the suitability of the 2D blade sectional design analysis and control for the actual 3D rotating framework. Moreover, the study is extended to an active pitch-regulated offshore wind turbine, NREW 5MW wind turbine. Firstly the code to code comparison is carried out for validation purpose. Then the trailing edge flow control devices are also deployed on this wind turbine to find out their effectiveness. The results show there are significant differences when compared to the conclusions from the CFD study on the NREL Phase VI blade


This Article explores the response of the legal system to the uncertainty which is inherent in the scientific analysis of environmental impact. The first principle of due process is that the assignment of responsibility correspond with the actor who did in fact cause the injury. We argue that existing concepts of cause-in-fact, the foundation of liability, place potentially severe constraints on the ability of the legal system to respond to the need to minimize the risks of future environmental injury. Further, these constraints exist to some degree regardless of whether the prohibitions or restrictions take the form of adjudication, administrative rulemaking or legislation. In any of these contexts a court or agency applying a standard or reviewing a regulation may respond to the claim that an activity should not be allowed because of its potential future adverse impact by deciding that it would be speculative to conclude that the activity might cause harm, or that the party seeking to assign responsibility has merely established a possibility rather than a probability of such impact. In short, an essential element of responsibility—cause-in-fact—may not have been established.


This paper discusses how the internet as a form of new media facilitates social movements. The nature of the public sphere and the structure and formation of society needs to be considered to understand how the internet will be useful, or how the internet changes social structures. Different theories of how information and media affect social and political decision making are also discussed. The revolutionary nature of the internet has changed information flow and control, and there are several real-world instances which can be used as an example. The discussion enabled several criteria to be derived which will be helpful in evaluating these examples. The Battle for Seattle, Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement are evaluated using its use of communication, democratic-ness of the movement and the nature of the community. The findings indicated that some of the basic assumptions about the Arab Spring and OWS may be incorrect. The OWS movement was found to be more similar to the Battle in Seattle rather than Arab Spring as claimed. Furthermore Arab Spring may be a mis-nomer as it should not be considered a singular phenomenon. It is a collection of multiple phenomena where each country had its own revolution. Bottom up Globalization: How The Internet Empowers Social Movements 2 Anushke Guneratne


Curcumin-loaded chitosan nanoparticles were synthesised and evaluated in vitro for enhanced transdermal delivery. Zetasizer® characterisation of three different formulations of curcumin nanoparticles (Cu-NPs) showed the size ranged from 167.3 ± 3.8 nm to 251.5 ± 5.8 nm, the polydispersity index (PDI) values were between 0.26 and 0.46 and the zeta potential values were positive (+ 18.1 to + 20.2 mV). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images supported this size data and confirmed the spherical shape of the nanoparticles. All the formulations showed excellent entrapment efficiency above 80%. FTIR results demonstrate the interaction between chitosan and sodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) and confirm the presence of curcumin in the nanoparticle. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies of Cu-NPs indicate the presence of curcumin in a disordered crystalline or amorphous state, suggesting the interaction between the drug and the polymer. Drug release studies showed an improved drug release at pH 5.0 than in pH 7.4 and followed a zero order kinetics. The in vitro permeation studies through Strat-M® membrane demonstrated an enhanced permeation of Cu-NPs compared to aqueous curcumin solution (p ˂ 0.05) having a flux of 0.54 ± 0.03 μg cm−2 h−1 and 0.44 ± 0.03 μg cm−2 h−1 corresponding to formulations 5:1 and 3:1, respectively. The cytotoxicity assay on human keratinocyte (HaCat) cells showed enhanced percentage cell viability of Cu-NPs compared to curcumin solution. Cu-NPs developed in this study exhibit superior drug release and enhanced transdermal permeation of curcumin and superior percentage cell viability. Further ex vivo and in vivo evaluations will be conducted to support these findings.


Video-Text Pre-training (VTP) aims to learn transferable representations for various downstream tasks from large-scale web videos. To date, almost all existing VTP methods are limited to retrieval-based downstream tasks, e.g., video retrieval, whereas their transfer potentials on localization-based tasks, e.g., temporal grounding, are under-explored. In this paper, we experimentally analyze and demonstrate the incompatibility of current VTP methods with localization tasks, and propose a novel Localization-oriented Video-Text Pre-training framework, dubbed as LocVTP. Specifically, we perform the fine-grained contrastive alignment as a complement to the coarse-grained one by a clip-word correspondence discovery scheme. To further enhance the temporal reasoning ability of the learned feature, we propose a context projection head and a temporal aware contrastive loss to perceive the contextual relationships. Extensive experiments on four downstream tasks across six datasets demonstrate that our LocVTP achieves state-of-the-art performance on both retrieval-based and localization-based tasks. Furthermore, we conduct comprehensive ablation studies and thorough analyses to explore the optimum model designs and training strategies.


The Fisheries Performance Indicators is a data collection tool that allows comparable fisheries data in the environmental, economic and community dimensions to be collected even in data-poor environments. In this paper, data collected for 35 fisheries in 14 African countries that make up 54.8% of Africa's reported fish landings are analyzed and compared to global averages. Similar to a previous global analysis, our results indicate no trade-offs between the different pillars of sustainability, as all are positively correlated. These results are even more pronounced for Africa than globally. The only exception is the relationship between environment and community in Africa, which is statistically insignificant, similarly to open access fisheries globally. The African average scores are lower than the global scores in all categories, which is not unexpected given the high number of open access fisheries. However, factors that are not fisheriesspecific are most important for this result, suggesting that a country's development status is important for fisheries performance.


On March 1, 1979 revisions to the Florida water quality regulations became effective. These revisions reflect over five years of work and comprise the first major modification to the regulations in their ten year history. Minor modifications have occurred sporadically throughout this time and will continue. Other parts have been challenged in court and further modifications, as a result, are a possibility. Also, as the department gains experience in implementing the rules and new scientific evidence indicates a need for a change, other modifications will be proposed. So it seems that these rules along with most other environmental standards are in a constant state of flux — changes being considered even before the ink drys on the last change.Paper published with permission.Compilation Copyright © 2018 ASME


Visualisation techniques focus on reducing high dimensional data to a low dimensional surface or a cube. Similar dimensional reduction is attempted in the so-called 'self-organising maps'. A number of techniques have been developed to visualise categories learnt by these maps through and exemplified by the term sequential clustering. An evaluation of the techniques is presented using the learning capability of the self-organising maps as a baseline for building systems that learn to visualise complex data.


A novel 1550 nm fiber laser structure Chirped Pulse Amplification system has been present in this paper. The Phase Locked Loop structure and pulse picker structure has been arranged to get accurate and stable phase noise control and repetition rate frequency exchanging. The Grating stretcher and DCF stretcher and Grating compressor structure make completed chirp function for overall Amplification system, while four Erbium Doped Faber Amplifier been chosen to get enough gain to optical pulse. Suitable power gain and pulse width arrangement have been put into the whole design for the actual Chirped Pulse Amplification. The output optical pulse with 3µJ pulse's energy and 0.25 ps pulse width has been got through experiment.


Bushfires are serious environmental problems that consistently result in loss of life and property, and further impact the cultural, economic, social and political stability of the community. Consequently, much effort has been directed at devising tools to assist in assessing the level of bushfire risk. Further effort has been directed at implementing policy and planning devices that mitigate the risks posed by bushfire, and that best communicate to the public the level of bushfire risk, and the measures they should take to optimise their chances of survival in a certain bushfire situation. However, traditional methods have been found to perform poorly when used to assess the risk posed by the most extreme fires. To better elucidate the bushfire risk problem and to understand where improvements might be made to risk management practices, we propose and discuss a conceptual framework for assessing bushfire risk. The framework formally recognises that bushfire risk evolves in a manner that is dependent on the size of the fire and the processes to which it is susceptible. As such, the paper is designed to stimulate discussion amongst researchers and practitioners that deal with bushfire. The framework is based upon transitions between five fire size or severity classes. In this respect the framework directly addresses one of the issues raised by the Royal Commission into the 2009 Victorian bushfires.


Question-answering plays an important role in e-commerce as it allows potential customers to actively seek crucial information about products or services to help their purchase decision making. Inspired by the recent success of machine reading comprehension (MRC) on formal documents, this paper explores the potential of turning customer reviews into a large source of knowledge that can be exploited to answer user questions. We call this problem Review Reading Comprehension (RRC). To the best of our knowledge, no existing work has been done on RRC. In this work, we first build an RRC dataset called ReviewRC based on a popular benchmark for aspect-based sentiment analysis. Since ReviewRC has limited training examples for RRC (and also for aspect-based sentiment analysis), we then explore a novel post-training approach on the popular language model BERT to enhance the performance of fine-tuning of BERT for RRC. To show the generality of the approach, the proposed post-training is also applied to some other review-based tasks such as aspect extraction and aspect sentiment classification in aspect-based sentiment analysis. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed post-training is highly effective.


Emotion Sampling Device (ESD) is a method used to evaluate the effects of a digital product such as an existing system on a smartphone against the user's emotions. Sometimes when we use a system we unconsciously give an emotion to it. The emotions of each user are divided into some common emotions such as happy, sad, shocked, scared, angry and uninterested. Using this method, the researcher aims to analyze the user's emotion against prototype or KRS Mobile design with KRS case study that exist in University of Muhammadiyah Malang. With a new and different look from KRS that existed previously at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang allows its users to give their own emotions to the prototype. In analyzing emotions, researchers adapted a toeri from the psychological side of Appraisal Theory to obtain data from questionnaires on respondents. The result of this research is the percentage of emotion from each respondent that will be made proving that the prototype is feasible or not to be applied.


Abstract The preconcentration performance characteristics of cellulose nitrate membrane filter were investigated for the atomic absorption spectrometric determinations of traces metal ions in the environmental samples. The method was optimized for several parameters, including buffer pH, matrix, and type of the membrane. The investigated analyte ions were collected on cellulose nitrate membrane filter as their 8‐hydroxyquinoline (8‐HQ) (oxine) complexes. Then membrane filter was dissolved by using small amounts of concentrated nitric acid. The levels of copper, iron, cobalt, and cadmium ions in the final solutions were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). The recoveries of analytes were generally in the range of 94–102%. No influences have been observed from the matrix of the natural water samples. The presented procedure was applied for the determinations of analyte ions contents of natural waters, some ammonium salts, and microwave digested black tea samples with satisfactory results. The relative standard deviations of the determinations were below 9%. The method was verified by the analysis of two reference standard materials (GBW 07309 stream sediment and NRCC‐SLRS‐4 Riverine Water).


This collaborative research project focused on embedding principles of quality into practice to enhance learning and teaching quality in Australian transnational higher education. Building on a successful ALTC-funded project which developed key quality principles for transnational learning and teaching, this project enabled and encouraged the application of these principles to educational delivery.


Taking into account the presence of the process development symptoms or their absence (including a high rate of exacerbations, ongoing dissemination process, formation of new cavities in the affected foci, severe infiltration of the lung tissue and massive bacillary excretion), process development rate and the nature of complications, the following 4 versions of fibrous-cavernous pulmonary tuberculosis were identified: rapidly developing disease; slowly developing disease; fibrous-cavernous pulmonary tuberculosis whose clinical picture was determined by different complications; and relatively stable condition. ++Clinico-roentgenological+ features of each version of the disease are described. Abnormalities in the ++clinico-roentgenological+ picture and laboratory findings are especially apparent in patients with rapidly developing fibrous-cavernous pulmonary tuberculosis.


Field pea (Pisum sativum) is widely cultivated in Ethiopia as a source of protein and integrated in crop rotation to improve soil fertility because it fixes nitrogen with rhizobia. However, effectiveness in nitrogen fixation depends upon the selection of symbiotically effective rhizobia to enhance production. Thus, a study was conducted to evaluate the performance of three inoculants (isolates); FBR 11, FBR 15, FBR 23 on growth, nitrogen fixation and yield under field conditions in relation to a commercial rhizobial strain 1018 at Kulumsa Agricultural Research Center during 2015-2016 growing seasons. Inoculation of field pea showed a highly significant (p ≤ 001, p ≤ 0.01 and p ≤ 0.05) effect on all parameters compared to the un-inoculated plants in the field trial. Accordingly, plants inoculated with isolate FBR15 and Strain 1018 showed a significant increase in nodule number 84-112 NN/plant (10 times), NDW 77-94 mg/plant (12 times) against the un-inoculated control plants, and they also showed a 20-25% increase in both parameters in comparison to FBR11 and FBR23 inoculated plants. The treatments with FBR15 and the reference strain 1018 also showed significant difference in grain total nitrogen, N uptake and straw N uptake, and seed protein with 50-100% and 12-20% difference from the un-inoculated control plants and other Rhizobium treatments, respectively. Positive correlations were observed with respect to the number of nodule and shoot dry weight (r=0.49, p<0.05), number of nodule and number of pod (r=0.59, p<0.01), number of nodules and total grain yield (r=0.56, p<0.05), and shoot dry weight and N content (r=0.73, p<0.001). Although the MPN count of rhizobia in the soil at the experimental site was 1.5 × 104 and contained sufficient number of indigenous rhizobia, they were not effective that was indicated by the nodulation and yield parameters of the un-inoculated treatments. The data in general, showed that the rhizobial inoculants, particularly FBR 15 isolate was nutritionally versatile, ecologically competent, and symbiotically effective rhizobia compared to the commercial inoculant (strain 1018) that could be used as commercial inoculants for pea production after it is tested (validated) at different agro-ecological conditions.


Anthropologists George A. Dorsey and Alfred L. Kroeber joined forces to record and preserve the rich cultural traditions of the Arapaho Indians, long split into two bands. Dorsey had done fieldwork with the Southern Arapaho after they moved from Colorado to Oklahoma and would soon be known for his study of their Sun Dance. Kroeber had visited the Northern Arapaho, who were still living in Wyoming. Traditions of the Arapaho , first published in 1903, is the result of their collaboration. This collection of tales bears witness to the religious feeling, imagination, and humor of the Arapaho. Beginning with creation myths, Dorsey and Kroeber offer stories about Found-in-Grass, Blood-Clot-Boy, Badger-Woman, Blue-Feather, White Dog, the Rolling Stone, Porcupine, and the Woman Who Climbed to the Sky. Entities marvelous and mundane - water monsters, speckled horses, dancing ducks, cannibalistic dwarves - populate these vibrant tales, where spirit permeates everything, and everything has meaning.


Background: Indication for intervention in Dupuytren disease is influenced by many factors, including location and extent of disease, surgeon preference, and comfort level with different treatment techniques. The aim of this study was to determine current Dupuytren disease management trends. Methods: A questionnaire was sent through the American Society for Surgery of the Hand to all members. In addition to demographic data, questions focused on indications for different procedural interventions based on location of disease, age, and activity level of the patient. Results: Approximately 24% of respondents completed the survey. Respondents were mostly orthopedic surgeons in private practice who do not work with residents or fellows. Respondents preferred collagenase over needle aponeurotomy and limited fasciectomy for primary Dupuytren disease involving only the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint. Limited fasciectomy was the preferred treatment for primary Dupuytren disease involving the MCP and proximal interphalangeal joints. For a patient amenable to any treatment option, the majority would use collagenase, although 87.1% felt that fasciectomy offered the longest disease-free interval. Furthermore, given the option of a young, working patient, 42.7% would use collagenase, while plastic and general surgeons were more likely to treat this patient with limited fasciectomy. More plastic surgeons (vs orthopedic) believe that limited fasciectomy yields the longest disease-free interval. For a patient amenable to any surgical option, orthopedic surgeons prefer collagenase, whereas plastic hand surgeons prefer a limited fasciectomy. Conclusion: There are several procedural options for the treatment of Dupuytren disease. This study details current practice patterns among hand surgeons and reveals the increasingly prevalent use of collagenase.


Critiques of modernity often align with critiques of the existing institutions of lib-eral democracy. We argue that the degrowth movement can learn from the experience of past critiques of modernity by avoiding their major mistake - that is, (inadvertently) conflating a critique of modernity with a rejection of liberal democratic institutions. Hence, we suggest to frame degrowth as the promotion of new vocabularies within a deliberative account of democ-racy. Specifically, we proceed in three steps: first, we briefly review some essential critiques of modernity and their stance towards liberal democracy. Second, we illustrate how some of the argumentative patterns within the degrowth literature may inadvertently endanger core values of the open society. Third, we introduce our perspective on a liberal degrowth that aims to fulfil the "unfinished project of modernity".


In order to evaluate effects of different survival strategy and canopy structure on cereal radiation use efficiency (RUE) under drought during grain filling, a pot experiment in spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) of cultivar Dobla (able for escape, no productive tiller) and Kompakt (one productive tiller) was conducted. There was no difference in current RUE for leaf dry mass (RUE L ) between main stems of tested cultivars, observed. However, in productive tillers of cultivar Kompakt it was approximately double. Taking together, RUE L for whole plants was significantly higher in cultivar Kompakt than in cultivar Dobla. Current RUE for spike dry mass (RUE S ) in hydrated plants was markedly higher than RUE L , in main stems of cultivar Kompakt with round double values of cultivar Dobla. Productive tillers of cultivar Kompakt were the most efficient PAR (photosynthetic active radiation) utilizator for spike growth. Drought decreased RUE S in cultivar Kompakt (in main stems as well as productive tillers) to a half but in cultivar Dobla 20 %, only. Evaluating final RUE for spikes, almost fivefold higher values in hydrated plants of cultivar Kompakt fell to double ones under drought. In this context, important role played the productive tiller. Thus, model of more intensively tillering cereal crop seems to be more efficient in radiation use.


The technique of Time-resolved phosphorescence anisotropy (TPA) has been frequently used to study rotational motions of particles on the micro- to millisecond time-scale. The interpretation of the observed TPA signals is, however, not
 straightforward. The theoretical description of the physical processes often requires more parameters than can be determined
 experimentally. This is due to complex interaction within and between the particles, but also to the incomplete knowledge of the
 photophysics of the dye molecules.
 In chapter 2 to 4 four dye molecules (erythrosine, eosin, 2-iodo- and 2-bromo-fluorescein) were scanned for their suitability for
 TPA experiments and their polarization properties were identified. The phosphorescence quantum yield, lifetime, and zero-time
 anisotropy were determined for dye molecules immobilized in a polymer matrix. Tha absolute orientation of the absorption and
 fluorescence dipole moments in the molecular were recovered from angle-resolved fluorescence depolarization measurements
 on dye molecules, macroscopically aligned in stretched polymer films. These results, in combination with the phosphorescence
 anisotropes at two excitation wavelenghts, were used to determine the orientations of the phosphorescence dipole moments
 relative to the absorption and fluorescence dipole moments. We have formulated a quantitative measure to select dye molecules
 for particular phosphorescence depolarization experiments. In addition, we hace delineated the optimal concentration range of
 dye molecules for these experiments. We found that the Z number of the substituted heavy atoms primarily influences the
 luminescent properties of the dyes, while the number of substituted heavy atoms appears to play a sunsidiary role. The effect
 of the spin-orbital coupling is to pull the phosphorescence dipole moments towards the fluorescence dipole moment and not so
 much towards the molecular plane. In chapter 5 a novel, phosphorescent, colloidal silica sphere tagged with eosin-5-isothyocyanate was introduced as a tracer for
 the study of rotational diffusion with TPA. The suitability of the tracer was tested by a combination of spectral and
 time-resolved fluorescence and phosphorescence measurements. The silica environment of the eosin proved to be useful:
 quenching processes are reduced markedly and the internal motion of the dye is restricted to a small cone. The hydrodynamic
 radius of the tracer found from the TPA measurements coincides with the value obtained from dynamic light scattering. This
 shows that eosin has a suitable phosphorescence lifetime and confirms the colloidal stability of the tracers. The rotational
 diffusion rates of the phosphorescent tracer spheres in packings and dispersions of host spheres were studied in chapter 6.
 The measurements on tracers in disperions agree fairly well ith calculations for hard spheres. An important advantage of TPA technique is that it can be used for experiments on slightly scattering media. This feature was exploited for assessing the
 rotational diffusion of the tracers in occasionally turbid packings. We found that the fraction of immobilized tracers can be
 estimated accurately by the pore size distribution extracted from the Voronoi construction of a simulated random close packing.
 We found that the dependence of the rotational diffusion coefficient on the average distance between tracer and medium
 spheres is stronger for packings than for dispersions.


After a short general overview of the Dutch drinking water industry, the artificial recharge projects run by three drinking water companies situated in the West of The Netherlands are described in some detail. Because all the other groundwater in this part of the country is brackish, fresh groundwater from the sandy dunes along the coast has been employed as a source for drinking water from 1854. Since over 50 years, the fresh water reserves in the dunes are recharged with pretreated water from the rivers Meuse and Rhine and from the lake IJsselmeer. The various pretreatment steps, infiltration and abstraction practices and the final treatment steps employed are described, and related water quality issues are discussed. The drinking water produced is of high quality, is biologically stable and is distributed without additional disinfection. The drinking water companies put considerable effort in the protection of their water sources through (international) lobby organizations such as RIWA and IAWR, by cooperating with the water authorities and by carrying out specific projects aimed at reduction of emissions to the surface water. The presence of the drinking water companies has prevented residential development in the dunes, thus preserving unique nature in the most densely populated area in the country. Nature conservation and recreational aspect of the artificial recharge projects are described briefly.


Urofacial (Ochoa) syndrome is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by distorted facial expression and urinary abnormalities. Previously, we mapped the UFS gene to chromosome 10q23-q24 and narrowed the interval to one YAC clone of 1410 kb. Here, we have constructed a BAC/PAC contig of the 1-Mb region using STS content mapping with 42 BAC/PAC-end sequences, 9 previously reported and 16 newly identified microsatellite markers, and 14 EST markers. A total of 26 polymorphic microsatellite markers were genotyped for 31 UFS patients from Colombia and 2 patients from the United States. Haplotype analyses suggest that the UFS gene is located within two overlapping BAC clones, a region of <360 kb of DNA sequence. We tested 42 EST markers previously mapped to the D10S1709-D10S603 interval against the BAC/PAC contig and identified 11 ESTs located in the 1-Mb region. Four of the 11 ESTs mapped to the 360-kb UFS critical region. Shotgun sequencing of the two BAC clones and BLASTN search of the EST databases revealed 3 other ESTs contained in the UFS critical region. These results will facilitate the cloning and identification of the UFS gene.


CDMA proves to be an attractive method for multiuser communication due to its potential capacity increase and anti-multipath fading capability. However, its performance is limited by the existence of multiple access interference energy (MAI), which results in the so called near-far problem. To reduce the MAI effect, different multiuser detection methods have been proposed. Many of these methods require the amplitudes and relative delays of the users signals to be either a-priori known or accurately estimated. A number of algorithms that jointly perform this estimation and detection have been investigated. These algorithms, however, generally require a high computational effort. In this paper, we present a joint adaptive channel gain estimator and decorrelator, which has a significantly lower complexity. The performance of this joint adaptive structure is evaluated using simulations in multipath channels, both variant and invariant.


Background: Personal digital assistants (PDAs) allow healthcare professionals to check for potential drug–drug interactions (DDIs) at the point of care, reducing the need to consult traditional references. However, PDAs can only be as effective as the software programs they use. Objective: To examine the ability of DDI software programs manufactured for Palm OS-compatible PDAs in detecting clinically important DDIs. Methods: Eight PDA software programs were assessed for sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values for 16 well-documented DDIs contained within 6 simulated patient profiles. Results: Sensitivity of the software programs ranged from 0.81 to 1.0, specificity ranged from 0.52 to 1.0, positive predictive values ranged from 0.62 to 1.0, and negative predictive values ranged from 0.88 to 1.0. Five programs scored perfect sensitivity scores: Druglx, ePocrates Rx, ePocrates Rx Pro, Lexi-Interact, and the Tarascon pocket Pharmacopoeia. Of these, the ePocrates programs scored the highest in specificity (0.9), while Lexi-Interact and the Tarascon pocket Pharmacopoeia scored considerably lower (0.52). Mosbylx was the only program to score a 1.0 in specificity; however, its sensitivity was just 0.81. Conclusions: ePocrates Rx and ePocrates Rx Pro scored greater than or equal to 90% in regard to both sensitivity and specificity, making them the most reliable in detecting the clinically relevant interactions studied without the distraction of detecting those of no clinical significance. In addition, ePocrates Rx is updated regularly and is easily accessible on the Internet at no cost.


Transient thermal simulation was performed to analyze thermal response of the assembly process for a package using Anisotropic Conductive Film (ACF). Two assembly processes were modeled: a simplified process where the package was fixed at two different temperatures during assembly, and a detailed process where the package experienced a ramping heating process, followed by a constant temperature curing process. A 3D conjugate Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study was first conducted, followed by a 3D conduction-only analysis due to the minimal effect of convection and radiation.
 Results from the detailed process modeling indicated that during the initial ramping, within 0.02 second, the die and nozzle head experienced a small temperature drop due to the cooling effect of the ACF material and substrate. The ACF material also displayed a steep increase in temperature after contacting the die, followed by a short decay, then ramped up again. At the end of the 10-second ramping process, the ACF reached a temperature of almost 203°C, while the die was at 206°C. During the 5 seconds of curing, all parts reached steady state in less than 2 seconds.


Tracking and recognizing people are essential skills modern service robots have to be provided with. The two tasks are generally performed independently, using ad-hoc solutions that first estimate the location of humans and then proceed with their identification. The solution presented in this paper, instead, is a general framework for tracking and recognizing people simultaneously with a mobile robot, where the estimates of the human location and identity are fused using probabilistic techniques. Our approach takes inspiration from recent implementations of joint tracking and classification, where the considered targets are mainly vehicles and aircrafts in military and civilian applications. We illustrate how people can be robustly tracked and recognized with a service robot using an improved histogram-based detection and multisensor data fusion. Some experiments in real challenging scenarios show the good performance of our solution.


This Comment is submitted to the Infocommunications Media Development Authority (IMDA) for consideration in relation to its Convergence of Competition Code for the Media and Telecommunications Markets. Specifically, we address Part XII: Competition in a Digital Economy, where the IMDA engages in an important discussion regarding the role of competition policy in the digital economy. It is absolutely critical to get competition policy right in this key sector given that innovation drives most of the growth in a modern economy. We submit this Comment based upon our extensive experience and expertise in antitrust law and economics. As an organization committed to promoting sound economic analysis as the foundation of antitrust enforcement and competition policy, the Global Antitrust Institute ("GAI") commends the IMDA for inviting discussion in regard to the important topics covered in the Report.


Abstract This paper presents new ideas on the Early Palaeozoic geography and tectonic history of the Iapetus Ocean involved in the formation of the northern Appalachian-British Caledonide Orogen. Based on an extensive compilation of data along the length of the orogen, particularly using well-preserved relationships in Newfoundland as a template, we show that this orogen may have experienced a very complicated tectonic evolution that resembles parts of the present west and southwest Pacific Ocean in its tectonic complexities. Closure of the west and southwest Pacific Ocean by forward modelling of the oblique collision between Australia and Asia shows that transpressional flattening and non-coaxial strain during terminal collision may impose a deceptively simple linearity and zonation to the resultant orogen and, hence, may produce a linear orogen like the Appalachian-Caledonian Belt. Oceanic elements may preserve along-strike coherency for up to several thousands of kilometres, but excision and strike-slip duplication, as a result of oblique convergence and terminal collisional processes, is expected to obscure elucidation of the intricacies of their accretion and collisional processes. Applying these lessons to the northern Appalachian-Caledonian belt, we rely principally on critical relationships preserved in different parts of the orogen to constrain tectonic models of kinematically-related rock assemblages. The rift-drift transition, and opening of the Iapetus Ocean took place between c. 590–550 Ma. Opening of Iapetus was temporally and spatially related to final closure of the Brazilide Ocean and amalgamation of Gondwanaland. During the Early Ordovician, the Laurentian margin experienced obduction of young, supra-subduction-zone oceanic lithosphere along the length of the northern Appalachian-British Caledonian Belt. Remnants of this lithosphere are best preserved in western Newfoundland and are referred to as the Baie Verte Oceanic Tract. Convergence between Laurentia and the Baie Verte Oceanic Tract was probably dextrally oblique. Slab break-off and a subsequent subduction polarity reversal produced a continental magmatic arc, the Notre Dame Arc, on the edge of the composite Laurentian margin. The Notre Dame Arc was mainly active during the late Tremadoc-Caradoc interval and was flanked by a southeast- or south-facing accretionary complex, the Annieopsquotch Accretionary Tract. Southerly drift of Laurentia to intermediate latitudes of c. 20–25°S was associated with the compressive (Andean) nature of the arc and the accompanying backthrusting of the already-accreted Baie Verte Oceanic Tract further onto the Laurentian foreland. Equivalents of the Notre Dame Arc and its forearc elements in the British Isles have been preserved as independent slices in the Midland Valley and possibly the Northern Belt of the Southern Uplands. During the late Tremadoc (c. 485 Ma), the passive margin on the eastern side of Iapetus also experienced obduction of primitive oceanic arc lithosphere. This arc is referred to as the Penobscot Arc. The eastern passive margin was built upon a Gondwanan fragment (Ganderia) that rifted off Amazonia during the Early Ordovician and probably travelled together with the Avalonian terranes as one microcontinent. The departure of Ganderia and Avalonia from Gondwana opened the Rheic Ocean. Equivalents of the Penobscot Arc may be preserved in New Brunswick and Maine, Leinster in eastern Ireland, and Anglesey in Wales. An arc-polarity reversal along the Ganderian margin after the soft Penobscot collision produced a new arc: the west-facing Popelogan-Victoria Arc, which probably formed a continuous arc system with the Bronson Hill Arc in New England. The Popelogan-Victoria Arc transgressed from a continental to an oceanic substrate from southern to northeastern Newfoundland. Rapid roll-back rifted the Popelogan-Victoria Arc away from Ganderia during the late Arenig (c. 473 Ma) and opened a wide back-arc basin; the Tetagouche-Exploits back-arc basin. The Popelogan-Victoria Arc was accreted sinistrally oblique to the Notre Dame Arc and, by implication, Laurentia during the Late Ordovician. After accretion, the northwestward-dipping subduction zone stepped eastwards into the Tetagouche-Exploits back-arc basin. Equivalents of the Popelogan-Victoria Arc in the British Isles may be preserved as small remnants in the Longford Down Inlier in Ireland. The Longford Down Arc is not preserved in Scotland, although its presence has been inferred there on the tenuous basis of arc detritus. The suture between the Notre Dame Arc and the Popelogan-Victoria-Longford Down Arc system is the Red Indian Line in the Northern Appalachians, but in the British Isles the position is not clear. The fault-bounded Grangegeeth Arc terrane in eastern Ireland, immediately to the south of the Longford Down inlier, may be a displaced piece of the Popelogan-Victoria-Longford Down Arc system. Diachronous closure of the Tetagouche-Exploits basin during the Ashgill to the Wenlock finally caused the collision between Ganderia/Avalonia and Laurentia, whereas the Lake District Arc is related to an earlier closure of the Tornquist Sea between Baltica and Avalonia. After arrival of Avalonia at the Laurentian margin, continuous, dextral oblique convergence between Gondwana and Laurentia was accommodated by another northwest-dipping subduction zone, this time in the Rheic Ocean. The Acadian orogeny in both North America and the British Isles occurred in the Early to Mid-Devonian and is probably related to the collision of Gondwana and/or peri-Gondwanan elements (Meguma, Armorica etc.) with the northern continents.


This paper is to compare the parameter estimation of the mean in normal distribution by Maximum Likelihood (ML), Bayes, and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. The ML estimator is estimated by the average of data, the Bayes method is considered from the prior distribution to estimate Bayes estimator, and MCMC estimator is approximated by Gibbs sampling from posterior distribution. These methods are also to estimate a parameter then the hypothesis testing is used to check a robustness of the estimators. Data are simulated from normal distribution with the true parameter of mean 2, and variance 4, 9, and 16 when the sample sizes is set as 10, 20, 30, and 50. From the results, it can be seen that the estimation of MLE, and MCMC are perceivably different from the true parameter when the sample size is 10 and 20 with variance 16. Furthermore, the Bayes estimator is estimated from the prior distribution when mean is 1, and variance is 12 which showed the significant difference in mean with variance 9 at the sample size 10 and 20. Keywords—Bayes method, Markov Chain Monte Carlo method, Maximum Likelihood method, normal distribution.


This article discusses industry's role in the field of minimally invasive surgery. The product development cycle is explained, from the selection of products for development to the establishment of quality control and measurement systems, and industry's place is sponsoring and facilitating professional education and research.


The 1996 Bermuda Principles launched a new era in data sharing, reflecting a growing belief that the rapid public dissemination of research data was crucial to scientific progress in genetics. A historical review of data sharing policies in the field of genetics and genomics reflects changing scientific norms and evolving views of genomic data, particularly related to human subjects' protections and privacy concerns. The 2013 NIH Draft Genomic Data Sharing (GDS) Policy incorporates the most significant protections and guidelines to date. The GDS Policy, however, will face difficult challenges ahead as geneticists seek to balance the very real concerns of research participants and the scientific norms that propel research forward. This article provides a novel evaluation of genetic and GDS policies' treatment of human subjects' protections. The article examines not only the policies, but also some of the most pertinent scientific, legal, and regulatory developments that occurred alongside data sharing policies. This historical perspective highlights the challenges that future data sharing policies, including the recently disseminated NIH GDS Draft Policy, will encounter.


AIMS
The overall aim was to study patterns of delinquent behaviour in relation to adolescent alcohol use. The more specific aims were to examine whether alcohol use varied between groups of adolescents with different patterns of delinquent behaviour, and to explore whether the association between delinquent behaviour patterns and alcohol use was similar for males and females.

METHODS
The participants were male (n = 406) and female (n = 532) adolescents in the eighth grade (age 14 years) in a medium-sized city of Sweden. We used information about self-rated alcohol use and different types of delinquent behaviour.

RESULTS
The results revealed that the occurrence of excessive alcohol use and drunkenness varied between groups of adolescents with different delinquency patterns, and that the associations between alcohol use and patterns of delinquent behaviours were relatively similar for males and females. Adolescents with patterns characterized by more serious non-violent delinquency or by violent delinquency reported the highest occurrence of alcohol use and frequency of drunkenness. Adolescents with well-adjusted behaviour or occasional minor delinquency were less likely to report drinking large amounts of alcohol or to the point of feeling drunk.

CONCLUSIONS
The present results further emphasize the importance of distinguishing between different offender groups when examining the relationship between delinquent behaviour and associated problems, such as excessive alcohol use.


Scheduling is a knowledge-intensive task spanning over many activities in day-to-day life. It deals with the temporally-bound assignment of jobs to resources. Although scheduling has been extensively researched in the AI community for the past 30 years, efforts have primarily focused on specific applications, algorithms, or 'scheduling shells' and no comprehensive analysis exists on the nature of scheduling problems, which provides a formal account of what scheduling is, independently of the way scheduling problems can be approached. Research on KBS development by reuse makes use of ontologies, to provide knowledge-level specifications of reusable KBS components. In this paper we describe a task ontology, which formally characterises the nature of scheduling problems, independently of particular application domains and independently of how the problems can be solved. Our results provide a comprehensive, domain-independent and formally specified reference model for scheduling applications. This can be used as the basis for further analyses of the class of scheduling problems and also as a concrete reusable resource to support knowledge acquisition and system development in scheduling applications.


Two magnetization transfer (MT) contrast effects, a T2-like effect and the improved contrast observed when gadolinium is used with MT, are combined in a single sequence. Forty patients (22 males:18 females; mean age, 45 years (23-87)) with suspected intracranial pathology underwent MRI on a 1.5 Tesla system. Of 46 lesions; seven were ischemic, five infective, seven neoplastic, four hemorrhagic, four multiple sclerosis, seven human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) leukoencephalopathy, nine normal/miscellaneous, and three gliosis. A conventional spin-echo sequence (TR 900 TE 15) was used with on-resonance binomial MT pulses. The sequence was performed postgadolinium +/- MT. The signal intensity ratios +/- MT were: white matter, 0.62 +/- 0.03; gray matter, 0.75 +/- 0.04; ischemia, edema, and demyelination, 0.75 (0.57-0.86); and gadolinium/methemoglobin, 0.85 (0.81-0.98). Areas which exhibited MT had T2-like contrast and those that did not maintained expected contrast for the given parameters. The result was a combination of T2-like contrast, gadolinium enhancement, and dark cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) providing both increased sensitivity to lesions which exhibited both contrast features and improved delineation of periventricular lesions. Furthermore, the differential signal between T2-like contrast of edema and gadolinium enhancement in neoplastic or infective lesions was maintained.


The purpose of this essay is to reflect on Hannah Arendt's (1906-1975) political contribution, taking political anthropology as the point of departure of her thought. The political unveils the core of human existence. The fragility of human existence is particularly evident at birth, which not only founds humanity from a new beginning but is also a free response to the very fact of being born. Every political action is a free one which results from the mutual relationship between speech and action. On the stage of being in common or public forum, word and action define power as the proper trait of the political, as being able to act in a concerted and plural way. The plural and concerted action is a factual truth against every type of violence that crushes plurality. Pluralism is the law of the world and develops itself as political condition. All types of violence make humanity pointless because they weaken not only freedom but also the unsuspected capability of human action. Totalitarianisms have sunk humanity under dark times and have denied the most reliable human trait which, according to Arendt, is the political condition. This political condition demands the kingdom of action where everybody performs his or her uniqueness and difference. The duty of every citizen is indeed both to recover his or her true political condition withdrawn from all sorts of violence, developing the radical democracy that underlies mankind.


In the northwest part of the State, east of the Pecos, the
formations lie nearly horizontal. This structure prevails
over the entire Plains, extendingfrom the north end of the
Panhandle to a line joining San Angelo and Pecos on the
south. This area measures 330 miles from north to south
and 170 miles from east to west. The deeper lying rocks
can hence be known here only from inferences based on their
appearancein distant outcrops outside of this area and from
such local observations as maybeobtained fromdeep explorations.
It is singularly fortunate for our knowledgeof the
stratigraphy of this part of the continent that a deepboring
was made at a point not far from the central part of the
area denned. The exploration enables us to know by
actual observation what strata underlie. It will enable us
to say with greater accuracy what other borings will penetrate
even at considerable distances from this exploration.
It furnishes firsthand information on the stratigraphy of
this part of the State. While this paper describes the
section of a single boring,it really gives the only facts so far
known concerning the deep stratigraphy of a region covering
one-fifth of the area of this State.


By changing gel and electrode shape, many different actuators could be invented. In the previous papers, we have reported that Maxwell stress generated in the PVC gels was expected as the results of polarization response of charges, and it mainly took place between the gel and the anode due to the accumulated negative charges on surface of the PVC gel near anode. Due to the existence of the Maxwell force, the PVC gel will be deformed asymmetrically and resulted in creep deformation along the anode. In this paper, we conducted some mechanical experiments and investigated the modulus of PVC gels with varied contents of plasticizer DBA. It was found that PVC gels were separated to two layers obviously after applied an electrical field. Near the anode, the layer (L1) was thinner and softer than other layer (L2) due to the transfer of plasticizer to the anode. This phenomenon was also confirmed by a fluorescence microscope. The displacement of gel in both sides near electrodes was different, and then a bending force was generated due to the force of electrical field. On the other hand, the recovery time of the deformed gel depended on the contents of plasticizer. The longer recovery time was observed for the lower content of plasticizer. The Young's modulus of PVC gels in tensile becomes small after applied an electrical field and the gels became to be deformed easily.