Livestock farmers are advised to engage in direct dialogue with consumers. However, attempts to communicate in this way e.g. by farmers using social media have received little academic attention. The present article, based on an online questionnaire conducted in the summer of 2018, provides an explorative insight into the motives, strategies and experiences of criticism of German-speaking livestock farmers with a Facebook business page. The questionnaire reveals that farmers' motives are not limited to immediate economic objectives. The farmers also aim to provide general information on agriculture and livestock farming. In doing this, they wish to regain the leading role in agricultural discourses and to improve society's understanding of current agricultural practices with the overall objective of gaining wider societal acceptance of present-day livestock farming. However, the study also makes clear that Facebook is a platform on which farmers are confronted with criticism, and that this criticism can be violent and personally insulting, allowing the diagnosis that livestock farmers are exposed to hate speech.

 Key words: Descriptive ethics, social media, livestock farming, Facebook, hate speech, food production.


In this study, the chemical and morphological diversity among eleven wild populations of Hypericum aviculariifolium Jaub. et Spach subsp. depilatum (Freyn et Bornm.) N. Robson var. depilatum, an endemic Turkish species was studied. These populations were investigated for their contents of hypericin, pseudohypericin, hyperforin, the chlorogenic, neochlorogenic, caffeic and 2,4-dihydroxybenzoic acids, hyperoside, quercitrin, isoquercitrin, avicularin, 13,118 biapigenin, (+)-catechin and (-)-epicatechin as well as for their morphological traits, including density of leaf light and dark glands, leaf area, leaf length/width ratio and plant height. The top two-thirds of the plants representing thirty individuals was harvested at full flowering from eleven sites and analyzed for the content of bioactive compounds by high-performance liquid chromatography after being dried at room temperature. Morphological characterization of the wild populations was performed on twenty randomly selected individuals from each plant-growing locality. The content of the tested compounds, except for caffeic acid and avicularin, and some morphological traits, namely, the density of leaf translucent glands and black nodules and leaf area varied significantly with the investigated populations. It was observed that hypericin and pseudohypericin contents were connected positively with leaf black nodule density, but negatively with leaf area and the contents of hyperforin, quercitrin and 13,118-biapigenin were correlated positively with leaf translucent gland density. Data presented here could be useful in determining future targets for further wide-ranging studies on this endemic species as well as in identifying superior germplasm in terms of high chemical content.


Abstract Reconciliation of unpaid care and employment is an increasingly important societal, economic and policy issue, both in the UK and internationally. Previous research shows the effectiveness of formal social care services in enabling carers to remain in employment. Using quantitative and qualitative data collected from carers and the person they care for in 2013 and 2015, during a period of cuts to adult social care in England, we explore barriers experienced to receipt of social care services. The main barriers to receipt of services identified in our study were availability, characteristics of services such as quality, and attitudes of carer and care-recipient to receiving services. These barriers have particular implications for carers' ability to reconcile care and employment.


OBJECTIVE
To compare class I/II cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) mutations to class III-V mutations with regards to cystic fibrosis disease severity markers in children.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
This study was designed as a cross-sectional study in Antalya province, located on the south coast of Turkey. The study included 38 cystic fibrosis patients aged between 0.6 and 18 years. The CFTR genotype of the patients was categorized into 2 groups based on the presence or absence of class I or class II mutations in any of the alleles. Group I comprised 8 homozygous, 8 with unknown alleles, and 8 compound heterozygous patients, and group II comprised 11 homozygous and 3 compound heterozygous patients. The groups were analyzed in respect of cystic fibrosis disease severity markers, such as spirometry, ShwachmanKulczycki score, body mass index (BMI), sweat chloride concentration, chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection, annual exacerbation frequency, and severe exacerbations requiring hospitalization during the previous year.

RESULTS
In the comparison of group I and group II patients, a significant difference was observed in pancreas insufficiency (83.3% vs. 35.7%; P = .005), chronic P. aeruginosa infection (58.3% vs. 7.1%; P = .002), cough severity score (1.7 ± 1.1 vs. 0.9 ± 1.5; P = .029), number of severe exacerbations requiring hospitalization during the previous year (0.9 ± 1 vs. 0.3 ± 0.8; P = .03), and sweat chloride levels (76.7 ± 15.2 vs. 61 ± 22.3; P = .02). All these values were higher in group I patients. The mean BMI values (15.8 ± 2.2 vs. 17.6 ± 2.8; P = .03) were lower in group I patients.

CONCLUSION
There seems to be a difference between class I/II CFTR mutations and class III-V mutations on the severity of the disease in cystic fibrosis patients.


Transcription regulatory genes are crucial modulators of cell physiology and metabolism whose intracellular levels are tightly controlled in response to extracellular stimuli. We previously reported a set of 29 transcription regulatory genes modulated by angiotensin II in H295R human adrenocortical cells and their roles in regulating the expression of the last and unique enzymes of the glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid biosynthetic pathways, 11β-hydroxylase and aldosterone synthase, respectively, using gene expression reporter assays. To study the effect of this set of transcription regulatory genes on adrenal steroidogenesis, H295R cells were transfected by high-efficiency nucleofection and aldosterone and cortisol were measured in cell culture supernatants under basal and angiotensin II-stimulated conditions. BCL11B, BHLHB2, CITED2, ELL2, HMGA1, MAFF, NFIL3, PER1, SERTAD1, and VDR significantly stimulated aldosterone secretion, while EGR1, FOSB, and ZFP295 decreased aldosterone secretion. BTG2, HMGA1, MITF, NR4A1, and ZFP295 significantly increased cortisol secretion, while BCL11B, NFIL3, PER1, and SIX2 decreased cortisol secretion. We also report the effect of some of these regulators on the expression of endogenous aldosterone synthase and 11β-hydroxylase under basal and angiotensin II-stimulated conditions. In summary, this study reports for the first time the effects of a set of angiotensin II-modulated transcription regulatory genes on aldosterone and cortisol secretion and the expression levels of the last and unique enzymes of the mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid biosynthetic pathways. Abnormal regulation of mineralocorticoid or glucocorticoid secretion is involved in several pathophysiological conditions. These transcription regulatory genes may be involved in adrenal steroidogenesis pathologies; thus they merit additional study as potential candidates for therapeutic intervention.


In this study, methane gas absorption ability of activated carbon (AC) with surface functional group effect, was evaluated after nitric acid and urea treatment of AC surface. Specific surface area and pore distribution of AC were studied through nitrogen absorption isotherm at 77 K. Micro pore volume was calculated through H-K method. Absorbed methane amount was evaluated through volumetric method at room temperature by using auto absorption apparatus. Absorbed methane amount of AC was found to increase with specific surface area increase. Correlation proposed between the methane absorption amount and surface nature indicates that the surface nature plays an important role on the absorption amount at a given temperature.


The kinetics of the decline of populations of Salmonella typhimurium inoculated into freshly reconstituted dehydrated onion and garlic powders was studied. Measurable bactericidal activity was observed for onion and garlic concentrations of 1 and 5% (w/v), respectively, with maximal death rates occurring for concentrations of 5 and 10%. At these concentrations, the decimal reduction times were 1.1 and 1.2 hr, respectively, for resting cell cultures and 1.8 and 2.1 hr, respectively, for growing cultures. Of the major volatile aliphatic disulfide compounds of onions, n-propyl allyl and di-n-propyl, at concentrations of 0.1%, showed a comparable activity against resting cells but only a bacteriostatic effect toward actively growing cultures, which overcame this effect in 2 to 6 hr. At comparable concentrations, growing cultures of Escherichia coli were as susceptible to garlic, but apparently more resistant to onion, than were those of S. typhimurium.


Analytical expressions for the quantized energy levels in quantum wells, the optical gain, the differential optical gain, and the linewidth enhancement factor are presented based on a simple parabolic-band gain model. Explicit formulas show clearly the dependence of these factors on well width, doping, and photon energy. The optical gain in the form of g=g/sub 0/ In(N/N/sub 0/) is derived using explicit approximations in the Fermi functions, where g/sub 0/ is the proportionality constant, N is the injected carrier density, and N/sub 0/ is the transparency carrier density. The approximate formulas are shown to provide not only an efficient way of computing the gain-related parameters but also a convenient way of getting physical insights into the overall interplay of quantum well parameters.


The genes for cellulases of alkalophilic Bacillus sp. strain N-4 were cloned in Escherichia coli with pBR322. Plasmids pNK1 and pNK2 were isolated from the transformants producing carboxymethyl cellulase, and the carboxymethyl cellulase genes cloned were in 2.0- and 2.8-kilobase-pair HindIII fragments, respectively. On the DNA level, the pNK1 fragment had a different restriction map from that of the pNK2 fragment, but the genomic hybridization experiments showed partial homology among these fragments. A total of 74 and 34% of the enzyme activities were observed in the periplasmic space of E. coli carrying the plasmids pNK1 and pNK2 , respectively. The carboxymethyl cellulase thus produced had broad pH activity curves (pH of 5 to 10.9) and was stable up to 75 degrees C.


The implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is relatively expensive and the benefits in terms of improved financial performance, while promising, have yet to be objectively demonstrated. Using data collected from 129 manufacturing managers, we develop a scale to measure RFID utilisation and investigate the impact of the technology on supply chain productivity and organisational performance. The results indicate that RFID utilisation directly impacts supply chain productivity and indirectly impacts financial performance through supply chain productivity. The hypothesised direct impact of RFID utilisation on financial performance is not supported.


Abstract This paper offers a critical exploration of philosopher Kevin Corcoran's proposed Christian Materialism. Corcoran's constitution view claims that we human persons are constituted by our bodies without being identical with the bodies that constitute us. I will critically evaluate this view and argue that Corcoran has not successfully managed to ground a first-person perspective and intentional states in materialism. Moreover, Corcoran's property dualism about mental states and the idea of the causally efficacy of such states seem incompatible with materialism. Corcoran's view of imago Dei is also explored and evaluated. Towards the end of the paper I put forward a brief defense of dualism in light of Corcoran's critique.


Deep effect of gamma-rays on polyenic antibiotics was studied. It was shown that gamma-radiation induced radiation-chemical oxidation of the substances. The chromatographic analysis showed that the levorin degradation products were identical to the polyenic products of the antibiotic oxidative destruction. As for mycoheptin and amphotericin B, destruction of their molecules to non-polyenic products was observed. It was found that toxicity of the levorin aromatic heptaen did not practically change after gamma-irradiation in high doses. The toxicity of mycoheptin and amphotericin B, non-aromatic heptaens increased after exposure to high doses of gamma-rays.


Most biblical scholars and historians hold that the investigation of a miracle report lies outside of the rights of historians acting within their professional capacity. In this essay, I challenge this position and argue to the contrary. A definition of history should not a priori exclude the possibility of investigating miracle claims, since doing so may restrict historians to an inaccurate assessment of the past. Professional historians outside of the community of biblical scholars acknowledge the frequent absence of a consensus; this largely results from conflicting horizons among historians. If this is the present state among professionals engaged in the study of non-religious history, it will be even more so with historians of Jesus. Finally, even if some historians cannot bring themselves to grant divine causation, they, in principle, can render a verdict on the event itself without rendering a verdict on its cause.


In the past 40 years, there has been much debate between nativists and empiricists about how children acquire the grammar of their first language. Nativists believe that children are born with a "Language Acquisition Device" containing innate knowledge of grammar to bootstrap the learning of grammar while empiricists insist that the input and feedback, which children receive from their parents or caretakers, are sufficient. More recently, Yeap offered an alternative explanation: Children acquire their initial knowledge of grammar from understanding multiword utterances. It is argued that what is learned, as part of one's syntactic knowledge, is how meanings of individual words are passed between adjacent words. Some words' meaning are passed to the words on their left or on their right while others accept meanings of the words from their left, right or both. It was claimed that the encoding of these basic movements in a word is similar to learning the word syntactic category as identified by linguists. Then, rather than learning formal grammar rules, children learn rules/heuristics to process words in terms of these allowable movements. Yeap tested his theory with a program, code-named UGE, written in LISP. However, the test was done using a small sample of either individually constructed sentences or well-constructed sentences drawn from published English text. The grammar covered is only a fraction of those one would encounter in the daily use of the English language. This thesis extended UGE to enable it to parse real world sentences. These sentences were drawn from newspaper articles written for different domains (such as business, sports, etc.) in the New Zealand Herald. Many of these sentences are thus non-trivial sentences, highly ambiguous, and lengthy. If UGE could be extended to parse many of these sentences, then UGE would have "learned" a sophisticated English grammar and one is then more confident that the theory is feasible. The work done involves the testing of UGE using more than 1900 sentences drawn from more than 100 newspaper articles. The result is that UGE was re-organized into four main modules, namely: a pre-processor, a more powerful UGE, an intelligent dictionary, and a post-UGE. Furthermore, a fixed test set of data (with 843 sentences) with the expected parsing result from UGE is collected and used for automatic re-test of UGE after any major modification have been done to it. This ensures that the new modifications do not undo what UGE was doing right before it was being modified. New labels were found missing and were introduced without the need to deviate from the theory. New rules were introduced to process the new labels. Several bugs were fixed and the dictionary size has been extended from the initial 5000 words to 145699 words. In short, a more powerful UGE has been developed and the theory was found to be feasible. The performance of UGE has also been evaluated, both in terms of how well it parses sentences and in terms of how it performs compared to some existing parsers. The former is done via an evaluation of its speed, accuracy, and number of parse options generated. The latter is done via comparing it with the Link Grammar and the Stanford Parser. The overall result shows that UGE performed better than both the Link Grammar and the Stanford Parser and that UGE can now be put to use in practical applications. Chapter


Four Fe ix transitions in the wavelength range 188–198 Å are identified for the first time in spectra from the EUV Imaging Spectrometer on board the Hinode satellite. In particular the emission line at 197.86 Å is unblended and close to the peak of the EIS sensitivity curve, making it a valuable diagnostic of plasma at around 800,000 K — a critical temperature for studying the interface between the corona and transition region. Theoretical ratios among the four lines predicted from the CHIANTI database reveal weak sensitivity to density and temperature with observed values consistent with theory. The ratio of λ197.86 relative to the λ171.07 resonance line of Fe ix is found to be an excellent temperature diagnostic, independent of density, and the derived temperature in the analyzed data set is log  T = 5.95, close to the predicted temperature of maximum ionization of Fe ix.


Can the U.S. respond lawfully to persistent and intense episodes of lawlessness in the face of U.N. Security Council gridlock? The global reaction to ISIL's occupation of Syrian territory makes this more than an academic question. As it stands, significant weight of authority supports that U.S. air strikes in Syria are unlawful despite the documented atrocities committed by ISIL (as well as Syrian government forces) upon the Syrian civilian population.This Article submits that academic and political commentators ask the wrong question. Lawlessness such as the one currently witnessed in Syria is both absolute and impervious to legal response. Speaking of a lawful response therefore is meaningless. The Article argues that lawlessness progresses domestically in three stages: (1) pragmatic lawlessness, constituting a temporary loss control by the government apparatus; (2) formal lawlessness, constituting a loss of authority of the government apparatus; and (3) functional lawlessness, constituting a loss of the social fabric necessary to support any authoritative social decision. It theorizes that international law progressively loses its own authority to address lawlessness because of a transnational transference of lawlessness; this transference becomes complete at the functional lawlessness stage. The Article submits that lawlessness in Syria has reached functional levels. The Article theorizes finally that the U.S. must act to counteract the corrosive effect of functional lawlessness extra-legally in order to protect its national security interests and forestall more serious systemic losses of authority on the international plane. Deploying this theoretical construct, the Article argues that academic and political commentators focus on a tool that is inefficient and potentially counterproductive, namely the escalation of purely coercive responses. The Article concludes that only policy responses specifically tailored to restore authority by strengthening the capabilities of those affected by lawlessness can be successful and provides specific policy proposals how to achieve this end.


Background A rugby tackle is an open and unpredictable event, which can lead to intentional or unintentional head-first impacts rather than the preferred 'shoulder first' technique. Objective To identify the effect of head-neck orientation as well as collision speed on the loads experienced at the upper cervical spine and the relevance in terms of injury risk from head-first impacts. Design Repeated 'tackles' were simulated using a 40 kg punch bag (simulated ball carrier) making contact against a fixed instrumented head and neck anthropometric test device (ATD). Setting Biomechanics laboratory. Patients (or Participants) A single head-neck ATD was used to complete all the trials. Interventions (or Assessment of Risk Factors) 10 repetitions were recorded in each of two speed ranges (low and high) and 3 ATD sagittal plane orientations (head-up [+20°], neutral [0°], and head-down [-20°]), 60 trials in total. Main Outcome Measurements Forces experienced at the equivalent of the C1 vertebra were measured by a load cell at the head joint of the ATD. ANCOVA (covariate=punch bag speed) and effect sizes were used to assess differences between tackle conditions. Results Low speed (2.34±0.18 m/s) tackles resulted in 37% lower peak impact forces compared with high speed (3.43±0.17 m/s) tackles. Total force on neck acted in multiple directions (75% in compression; magnitude of total force was 2.37±0.18 kN in neutral high speed condition) and it was substantially higher in the head-down orientation compared with the neutral (13%) and head-up orientation (17%). Conclusions Our findings support the idea that: 1) collision speed during a tackle affects the load experienced by the head-neck structures; 2) a neutral or head-up orientation of the head is preferred to a head-down orientation in the event of head-first impacts during simulated rugby tackle, which aligns with current Rugby Union coaching recommendations.


The hazards associated with high-voltage three-phase inverters and high-powered large electrical machines have resulted in most of the engineering courses covering three-phase machines and drives theoretically. This paper describes a set of purpose-built, low-voltage, and low-cost teaching equipment that allows the hands-on instruction of three-phase inverters and rotating machines. The motivation for moving towards a system running at low voltages is that the students can safely experiment freely with the motors and inverter. The students can also access all of the current and voltage waveforms, which until now could only be studied in textbooks or observed as part of laboratory demonstrations. Both the motor and the inverter designs are for teaching purposes and require minimal effort and cost


In recent years, many conservative nationalist movements and parties have been criticized for being populist and applying populist political strategies. Keeping it in mind, this paper addresses the relationship between conservative nationalism and populism, and questions whether there is any factor which causes conservative nationalist movements to adopt populism. Instead of analyzing certain movements and making deductions from them, the research is directly carried out on an ideological level and a philosophical research method is employed in accordance with this preference. As a consequence, it has been found that there are two main factors which create a tendency in conservative nationalist movements to populism. The first one is the inherent inconsistency and tension between the constituents of conservative nationalism, namely conservatism and nationalism. The second one is the transformation of conventional nationalism especially in the European context within a new framework which is discussed as the new nationalism in the paper.


Author(s): Keck-Szajbel, Mark Aaron | Advisor(s): Connelly, John | Abstract: The "borders of friendship" was an open border travel project between Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Poland starting in 1972. The project allowed ordinary citizens to cross borders with a police-issued personal identification card, and citizens of member countries were initially allowed to exchange unlimited amounts of foreign currency. In this episode of liberalized travel - still largely unknown in the West - the number of border-crossings between member states grew from the tens of thousands to the tens of millions within a very brief period. This dissertation analyses the political, economic, social and cultural effects of this open border policy. It first clarifies what motivated authorities in Poland, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia to promote unorganized foreign tourism in the 1970s and 1980s. Then, it explores how authorities encouraged citizens to become tourists. Governments wanted the "borders of friendship" to be successful, but they were unsure how to define success. Each government had different understandings about what the project was supposed to entail. Whatever the case, officials worked to ensure that their population reaped the greatest rewards from the open border. For ordinary citizens, the "borders of friendship" were popular, but were fraught with problems. They liked being able to go abroad, but felt uneasy about foreigners entering their own lands, often plagued by shortages. Additionally, border guards and custom officials harassed people going abroad. Furthermore, people had not forgotten unpleasant chapters of World War II, including forced population movements and genocide. Finally, even if people gained a greater sense of "freedom" through open borders, few forgot the looming presence of the totalitarian state. Yet the open border project (like the travel it was meant to encourage) was not organized by the state. Contrary to commonplace views of the East bloc, officials did not act in unison, but rather struggled unsuccessfully to control undesirable travel and to gain reliable information to disseminate to socialist neighbors. Additionally complicating matters was the fact that everyone had different understandings as to what the open border project was meant to entail. Nevertheless, even if locals were chagrinned by shortages in their supermarkets, the open border project provided everyday individuals with a new social environment. By 1989, travel had become engrained in the habitus not only of citizens in the West, but of East Central Europe, as well. In sum, I paint a picture of late state socialism which, on the one hand, alters our commonplace perceptions of life behind the "Iron Curtain," but on the other, which also confirms views of governments hyper-sensitive to change.


Herein, three new luminescent metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), namely {[Cd4(H3L)4(H2O)12]·2.5H2O}n (1), {[Cd(L)]·2.5H2O·3[H2N(Me)2]}n (2), and {[Cd2(L)(DMA)]·[H2N(Me)2]}n (3), were designed and successfully prepared via a solvothermal reaction using V-shaped rigid multicarboxylate 2,4-di(3′,5′-dicarboxylphenyl)benzoic acid (H5L) and Cd(II) salts in various solvent systems. The structural analyses indicated that the H3L2−/L5− ligands took three different coordination fashions in 1–3; this resulted in a diversity of targeted MOFs. The solid-state luminescence properties of three MOFs were studied under ultraviolet light irradiation at ambient temperature, and 3 showed a high selectivity and sensitivity for nitrobenzene and Fe3+ because of the quenching effect. Thus, it could be a potential crystalline material for detecting these substances. The mechanisms of the quenching effect and sensing properties of 3 have been discussed in detail.


We say that an indecomposable Cartan matrix A with entries in the ground field is almost affine if the Lie (super)algebra determined by it is not finite dimensional or affine (Kac–Moody) but the Lie sub(super)algebra determined by any submatrix of A, obtained by striking out any row and any column intersecting on the main diagonal, is the sum of finite dimensional or affine Lie (super)algebras. A Lie (super)algebra with Cartan matrix is said to be almost affine if it is not finite dimensional or affine (Kac–Moody), and all of its Cartan matrices are almost affine. We list all almost affine Lie superalgebras over complex numbers with indecomposable Cartan matrix correcting two earlier claims of classification.


ABSTRACT Previous research points out that early life-course transitions affect subsequent parent–child relationships. This study examines the association between the leaving-home transition and later parent–child relations in Italy, by taking into account different timings and reasons to move out of the parental home. Using pooled data from two waves (2003 and 2009) of the Family and Social Subject Survey, Ordered Logistic regression models were adopted to analyze residential proximity and face-to-face contact between parents and their adult children. The findings show that the longer the time adult children spent in their parents' home, the higher the propensity to reside near, and maintain frequent interaction with parents in later life is. Spending longer time in the parental home seems to provide much less benefit for daughters than for sons. The positive association between co-residence duration and later parent–daughter relations decreases until disappearing in concomitance with the normative age for leaving home. Considering the reasons for leaving home, adult children moving out to get married tend to have more intense intergenerational ties. Marriage continues to be the normative occasion to leave the parental family, particularly among adult daughters, who are subject to greater cultural expectations about family ties.


Viral hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) are a group of etiologically diverse viral diseases unified by common underlying pathophysiology. These febrile diseases result from infection by viruses from four viral families: Arenaviridae, Bunyaviridae, Filoviridae, and Flaviviridae. The viruses in the four families are all RNA viruses. All share the feature of having a lipid envelope. Survival and perpetuation of the viruses is dependent on an animal host known as a natural reservoir, but humans are not the natural reservoir. With the exception of a vaccine for yellow fever and ribavirin, which is used for treatment of some arenaviral infections, no specific chemotherapy for viral hemorrhagic fever exists. Only supportive treatment is possible The filoviruses, Marburg virus (MARV) and Ebola virus (EBOV), have been associated with hemorrhagic fever (HF) that produce severe disease and high mortality rates among infected humans and non-human primates. MARV and EBOV are also considered potential biological weapons. Although much progress has been made in developing preventive vaccines and postexposure interventions that can protect laboratory animals and nonhuman primates against lethal challenge with MARV, none of these has been approved for humans. Because MARV haemorrhagic fever, when it occurs, has the potential to spread to other people especially health care staff and family members who care for the patient, there is need for periodic review of recent developments relating especially to its diagnosis and treatment. This would help to increase awareness among health-care providers and limit the spread of the disease during outbreaks. Keywords: Marburg virus, viral haemorrhagic fever, recent advances


Electron affinity is not determined by solving the Schrödinger equation, but by using a wide range of various types of interactions. In atoms, the bound between the external electron and the integrated electric dipole moment of a neutral atom mainly contributes to electron affinity. In diatomic molecules, electron affinity is defined mainly by the interaction of the external electron and the integrated electric dipole moment of the nearest ion. In a triatomic molecule, the external electron interacts with all integrated dipole moments of the positive core.


Abstract The primary purpose of this research is to determine whether the institutional design of supreme audit institutions (SAIs) in Latin America and the Caribbean meets the criteria of independence and professionalism established in the principles of the Lima and Mexico Declarations of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI) as a condition for the development of an efficient external governmental audit whose results may provide input for improved performance by audited bodies for the benefit of society. In accordance with the descriptive variables defined for this paper and in function of the information sources consulted, we were able to establish that the institutional design of the regional SAIs fulfil these principles. Nevertheless, because this conclusion is based on an analysis of the constitutional and legal norms that regulate SAIs and the documents generated by SAIs, such as auditing guidelines and manuals, management reports and audit reports, we cannot say that this effectively means that SAIs meet the parameters of independence and professionalism intended by the INTOSAI. Instead, political, institutional and communication challenges have arisen that must be overcome to move from formal compliance to real application.


Metastatic uveal melanoma to the contralateral orbit is extremely rare, with only eight cases in the literature having been reported. We reviewed the clinical presentation, the histologic findings of the primary and secondary tumors, and the clinical outcome of these cases and studied an additional case of metastatic choroidal melanoma to the contralateral orbit that occurred 40 years after enucleation for the primary tumor. The long interval between recognition of the primary tumor and the appearance of clinically manifest metastatic disease in the contralateral orbit is the longest reported in the literature to date. The histologic features of the tumor cells of the enucleation specimen and those of the orbital metastasis were similar, consisting of spindle-cell type with minimal atypia. Combined use of immuno-phenotyping and electron microscopy substantiated the diagnosis of melanoma.


Voice-enabled technology is quickly becoming ubiquitous, and is constituted from machine learning (ML)-enabled components such as speech recognition and voice activity detection. However, these systems don't yet work well for everyone. They exhibit bias - the systematic and unfair discrimination against individuals or cohorts of individuals in favour of others (Friedman&Nissembaum, 1996) - across axes such as age, gender and accent. ML is reliant on large datasets for training. Dataset documentation is designed to give ML Practitioners (MLPs) a better understanding of a dataset's characteristics. However, there is a lack of empirical research on voice dataset documentation specifically. Additionally, while MLPs are frequent participants in fairness research, little work focuses on those who work with voice data. Our work makes an empirical contribution to this gap. Here, we combine two methods to form an exploratory study. First, we undertake 13 semi-structured interviews, exploring multiple perspectives of voice dataset documentation practice. Using open and axial coding methods, we explore MLPs' practices through the lenses of roles and tradeoffs. Drawing from this work, we then purposively sample voice dataset documents (VDDs) for 9 voice datasets. Our findings then triangulate these two methods, using the lenses of MLP roles and trade-offs. We find that current VDD practices are inchoate, inadequate and incommensurate. The characteristics of voice datasets are codified in fragmented, disjoint ways that often do not meet the needs of MLPs. Moreover, they cannot be readily compared, presenting a barrier to practitioners' bias reduction efforts. We then discuss the implications of these findings for bias practices in voice data and speech technologies. We conclude by setting out a program of future work to address these findings -- that is, how we may"right the docs".


Energy disaggregation is to discover the energy consumption of individual appliances from their aggregated energy values. To solve the problem, most existing approaches rely on either appliances' signatures or their state transition patterns, both hard to obtain in practice. Aiming at developing a simple, universal model that works without depending on sophisticated machine learning techniques or auxiliary equipments, we make use of easily accessible knowledge of appliances and the sparsity of the switching events to design a Sparse Switching Event Recovering (SSER) method. By minimizing the total variation (TV) of the (sparse) event matrix, SSER can effectively recover the individual energy consumption values from the aggregated ones. To speed up the process, a Parallel Local Optimization Algorithm (PLOA) is proposed to solve the problem in active epochs of appliance activities in parallel. Using real-world trace data, we compare the performance of our method with that of the state-of-the-art solutions, including Least Square Estimation (LSE) and iterative Hidden Markov Model (HMM). The results show that our approach has an overall higher detection accuracy and a smaller overhead.


Anxiety can be an important factor in the decision to seek, continue, or stop the treatment of infertility. The anxiety level of the infertile couple varies and is influenced by coping and adjustment mechanisms. This study aims to determine the relationship of coping mechanism with anxiety level in infertile couples at RSIA Annisa Jambi.The type of this study was cross sectional, with a sample of 76 female infertile couples who experienced anxiety with total sampling technique. Data analysis with chi square test.The result of this research is correlation of coping mechanism (p = 0,000) with anxiety level on infertile couple.It is expected that hospitals providing infertility treatment services to provide therapy through psychiatric nursing psychoeducation therapy and / or supportive therapy to infertile couples so as to assist in minimizing the anxiety experienced and support the treatment program undergone infertile couples


During the Second World War, over 1.5 million women found themselves thrust into the previously male dominated domain of the workplace, having to learn new skills within a matter of weeks. Their contribution to the war effort often remains unheralded, but it is without doubt that these women played a central role in an Allied victory. Kathleen Church-Bliss and Elsie Whiteman were two such women. The previous owners of a genteel restaurant, they volunteered for war work and soon found themselves in an aircraft components factory. Thrown into tough industrial work, they kept a joint diary providing a unique insight into life in a wartime factory. Working for Victory reveals the poor conditions suffered on the factory floor, as well as the general disorganisation and bad management of this essential part of the war effort, but it also describes how war work opened up a new world of social freedom for many women. This diary, both tragic and humorous, brings women's war work vividly to life.


This study investigates firm level technical efficiency of production and its determinants in the Tunisian agro-food industry. To this end, a stochastic production frontier model, in which technical efficiency effects are assumed to be a function of firm-specific variables and time, is estimated using panel data on 46 agro-food firms observed over a period of 14 years. Results indicate that technical efficiency in the sample of firms investigated ranges from a minimum of 45% to a maximum of 90% with an average technical efficiency estimate of 67%. Further, investigation of the sources of technical inefficiency in the sample reveals that the age of capital stock and firm size are negatively associated with efficiency, the share of skilled labour is positively associated with efficiency and, on average, technical efficiency tendes to decline during the period of investigation.


According to Richard Paul, critical thinking (C.T.) is a unique kind of purposeful thinking, in which the thinker systematically, and habitually imposes criteria and intellectual standards upon the thinking, taking change of the construction of thinking, guiding the construction of the thinking according to the standards, and assessing the effectiveness of thinking according to the purpose, the criteria, and the standards. Critical thinking is very different from criticism; it is basically a positive activity, and in fact critical appraisal of situations is a positive and necessary process for growth and development within a society or an organization. Critical thinking is not confined solely to learning in higher education, but useful in all adult activities, including the interpersonal relationships and working activities. It is also considered an important aspect of professional practice in health, midwifery and nursing, especially in clinical nursing. Considering that nursing has changed its orientation from a job towards a profession, nurses, consequently, are diverted from task orientation to skill orientation, which requires certain cognitive and communication skills. Along with the expansion of the scope of nursing there is an ever-growing demand for the development of critical thinking skills in problem solving and decision making. In response to the need for independent decision making in the clinical setting, nursing education has placed great emphasis on C.T. Therefore, nurse trainers must equip their students with such essential skills. Brookfield offers a ten-point checklist for teaching C.T.: 1) Affirm critical thinkers' self-worth 2) listen attentively to critical thinker 3) Show that you support critical thinkers' efforts 4) Reflect and mirror critical thinkers' ideas and actions. 5) Motivate people to think critically 6) Regularly evaluate progress 7) Help critical thinkers to create networks 8) Be a critical teacher 9) Make people aware of how they learn critical thinking and, 10) Model critical thinking. According to Martin study (2002), "The Theory of Critical Thinking in Nursing" it is shown that C.T, and decision-making abilities increase along with the level of clinical expertise. Thus, the development of C.T. skills is recommend in nursing education.


We reviewed Literature on the application of β-Adrenoblockers for the treatment of arterial hypertension during pregnancy. Decisions concerning administration of various preparation from this group in pregnant women should be taken with consideration of efficacy in correction of hypertension and safety for fetus and neonate. The review contains discussion of advantages and drawbacks of the use of  β-Adrenoblockers for the treatment of hypertension in pregnancy in comparison with other antihypertensive drugs.


Celecoxib surface solid dispersions were prepared by various techniques using different ratios of drug and carriers. Infra-red spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry showed no significant change in solid state of celecoxib in the surface solid dispersions and physical mixtures of celecoxib and carriers. Surface solid dispersions exhibited superior dissolution profiles and improved antiinflammatory activity in rat paw oedema model. The increase in the dissolution rate and consequent enhancement of antiinflammatory effect in rats of celecoxib were attributed to reduced particle size of celecoxib deposited on the surface of carrier and enhanced wettability of the drug particles brought about by the carrier. Improved dissolution characteristics were retained when compressed into tablets.


This study investigates Martin Noth's conclusion about the Deuteronomistic History (DH) that the people of Israel had committed apostasy (Abfall), ceased to obey the law code of Yhwh, and thus lost their land. Scholars have challenged Noth's hypothesis and even the existence of such a history. The present study adopts a thematic reading of the DH as a coherent corpus of writing with a consistent message. A close reading reveals a god, Yhwh, who declares war on other gods ('ĕlōhim 'ăḥērim) and commands his followers to conquer and to sanctify the mountain of the Emorites (har hā'ĕmōri; Deut 1:7) and the land of Canaan ('ereṣ kənaʽan; Deut 32:49) to Yhwh. The sanctification includes the killing of the people living there: "When you attack them, you shall annihilate (haḥărēm taḥărim) them entirely. Do not make a treaty with them and do not show mercy to them" (Deut 7:1–2). Throughout the DH, Yhwh and his spokespersons, the nəbi'im, reward obedience and punish disobedience. Because the disobedient people of Israel fail to enforce Yhwh's command to remove the nations of Canaan and their 'ĕlōhim 'ăḥērim, Yhwh enforces imperial law and sentences them to national death and exile.
This study thus hypothesizes that the DH depicts an imperial, military covenant. After a survey of the inscriptions of the second-millennium b.c.e. Levant, the Hittite empire, the Neo-Assyrian empire, and the first-millennium b.c.e Levant, the study concludes with a hypothesis that the evidence points to the ideology of the Neo-Assyrian empire as the historical precedent for the Dtr covenant. The study challenges two presuppositions that underlie both the DH and its scholarship: that of the torāh as law and that of Yhwh as a unique god.


Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with an increased risk of primary liver cancer; however, 5- and 10-year risk estimates are needed. The association of HCV with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is uncertain and the association with other cancers is unknown. Method: We conducted a nationwide, population-based cohort study of 4,349 HCV-infected patients in Denmark, computing standardized incidence ratios (SIR) of cancer incidence in HCV infected patients compared with cancer incidence of the general population. We calculated 5-and 10-year risks of developing cancer, stratifying our analyses based on the presence of HIV coinfection and cirrhosis. Results: We recorded an increased risk of primary liver cancer (SIR: 76.63 [95% CI: 51.69–109.40]), NHL (SIR: 1.89 [95% CI: 0.39–5.52]), and several smoking- and alcohol-related cancers in HCV infected patients without HIV coinfection. HCV-infected patients without HIV coinfection had a 6.3% (95% CI: 4.6%–8.7%) risk of developing cancer and 2.0% (95% CI: 1.1%–3.8%) risk of developing primary liver cancer within 10 years. Conclusion: We confirmed the association of HCV infection with primary liver cancer and NHL. We also observed an association between HCV infection and alcohol- and smoking-related cancers.


OBJECTIVES
We investigated the possible association of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) within the ficolin (FCN) genes. Two SNPs in the FCN1 gene, four SNPs in the FCN2 gene and one SNP in the FCN3 gene were studied.

METHODS
The SNPs within the FCN genes were detected by an experimental INNO-LiPA methodology (Innogenetics, Belgium) in a population consisting of 338 RA patients and 595 controls. The significant SNPs were further evaluated in two subpopulations and related to carriage of the human leukocyte antigen-shared epitope (HLA-SE), rheumatoid factor (RF) and the presence of anti-citrullinated protein/peptide antibodies (ACPA).

RESULTS
Two SNPs in the FCN1 gene were significantly associated with RA: the A allele rs2989727 was significantly increased in RA patients (67%) compared with controls (60%) (P = 0.002). Also, the frequency of the G allele of rs1071583 was increased in RA patients (68%) compared with controls (61%) (P = 0.003). Analysis of agreement between SNPs suggested strong linkage between rs2989727 and rs1071583. Carriage of a FCN1 SNP was independent of carriage of the HLA-SE, RF status and ACPA positivity.

CONCLUSIONS
We describe two linked SNPs in the FCN1 gene that are associated with the development of RA.


Abstract This empirical study contributes towards a better understanding of the educational reality in kindergartens. It explores the after-school activities and interests of Czech nursery schools (NS) children. The topic focuses on the disharmony and subsequent fine-tuning of interests of both the family and the kindergarten, set against the background of parents' requirements and the kindergarten's reaction to them. The goal is to shed light on how kindergartens reflect parents' requirements pertaining to their children's extracurricular activities, the kindergarten's perception and interpretation of this situation, and what sort of approach is used for implementation. The research and survey method used is content analysis. Fifteen kindergarten teacher thematic reports, 3,000-5,000 words each, and forty inspection reports, the results of Czech kindergarten inspections, were analyzed. The analytical techniques of Grounded Theory - open and axial coding - were used in the processing of the source materials. The results of the analysis set in a paradigm model depict the state of administration and relationships between variables, which determine after-school activities in kindergartens. It was demonstrated that kindergartens select various approaches when negotiating a solution to extracurricular activities. The educational reality then includes kindergartens that do organize after-school activities as well as those that do not. Kindergartens which do offer after-school activities, however, differ in the degree of acceptance of such programs in terms of need for child development and how they perceive the benefits of such an above-standard approach towards their customers.


Abstract We used microsatellite and mtDNA markers to compare colony and population genetics of two sympatric species of subterranean termites, Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar) (n = 25 colonies) and R. hageni Banks (n = 16 colonies), in two sites located 27 km apart in the Piedmont of central North Carolina. Colony breeding structure was inferred by examination of microsatellite genotypes of workers within colonies and by estimates of nestmate relatedness and hierarchical F-statistics. Similar to previous results on this species, nearly one-half of the R. flavipes colonies were simple families mainly headed by outbred primary (alate-derived) reproductives, about one-half were comprised of extended (inbred) families inferred to be headed by low numbers of neotenics (non alate-derived secondary reproductives) descended from the original primary pair, and two colonies contained the offspring of multiple reproductives. About two-thirds of the R. hageni colonies were comprised of simple families largely headed by related reproductives, and about one-third consisted of extended families headed by low numbers of neotenics. R. hageni differed from R. flavipes in having significant isolation by distance at one site as well as significant differentiation between sites at both the microsatellite and mtDNA markers. We conclude that dispersal in R. hageni is more limited resulting in higher levels of inbreeding within colonies and greater degrees of population genetic structure at small and large spatial scales than in sympatric populations of R. flavipes. These results indicate that closely related species of subterranean termites occurring in the same habitat can differ in their breeding systems with important consequences for higher level genetic structure.


General structures or machines are firmly connected by bolts so that they have many contact surfaces. Between these contact surfaces, there is a movement that vibrates with tiny amplitude, which causes friction, leading to fretting damage. This damage causes a remarkable reduction in the fatigue strength of the structures sub-materials, leading to remarkable fall-down of life span of machines and structures. The particle reinforced composites under research in the aerospace and automobile industries, theoretical analysis and research on fretting fatigue involved with contact are needed, but there are few domestic studies. Therefore, this study is to identify cracking damage, its initiation, growth direction and location by considering the strength load and contact (surface/surface) in particle reinforced composites. So it performed a study on ellipsoidal particle reinforced composites that have contact force under tensile load. This study performed a theoretical analysis and a fretting test to identify damage mechanism to industrial structures as well as aerospace and automobile industries according to expanded coverage of application and development of the composites.


This contribution sets out to answer the question to what extent fundamental rights may act as a constraint for states to employ lifestyle differentiation, particularly between smokers and non-smokers, regarding the access to their healthcare systems. In human rights treaties a tension is palpable between the obligations of states, which represent the general interest, and the rights of smokers, who attempt to hold on to their individual freedom. On the one hand, states have to guarantee the health of their citizens. On the other hand, they are unable to mandatorily enforce health standards as smokers do not have to tolerate unbridled state interference in their private lives. However, this right to self-determination is not absolute. If the smoker persists in using tobacco products, states are granted a broader margin of appreciation in their socio-economic obligations, which in itself is already wide, out of respect for that individual choice beyond their control. As a result it is possible that a state differentiates between lifestyles and imposes mandatory conditions for the right to healthcare, which require smokers to alter their behaviour, even though the right to healthcare should be guaranteed to all without discrimination. For example the Belgian state explicitly settles the tension between the individual and the general interest by viewing the solidarity of the social security system as a double-edged sword. Every individual, including smokers, has to contribute to the realisation of equitable rights for all. With rights, come responsibilities. As always, however, state interference has to be proportional to the desired, legitimate goal.


The military surgery experience of the past several centuries has been an important determinant of the evolution of the clinical management of penetrating thoracic trauma. The major management problems fall into two main categories: acute, life-threatening conditions such as open pneumothorax and exsanguinating hemorrhage, and chronic conditions such as clotted hemothorax, empyema, and fibrothorax. Better treatment and prevention of the latter has greatly reduced morbidity. Although hospital mortality has fallen by a factor of ten since the middle of the nineteenth century, the total mortality caused by penetrating thoracic trauma has undergone less change.


The addition of cyclic hydrostatic pressure (cHP) to cell culture medium has been used to promote extracellular matrix (ECM) production by articular chondrocytes. Though a combination of cHP followed by atmospheric pressure (AP) has been examined previously, the rationale of such a combination was unclear. We compared the effects of loading once versus twice (combinations of cHP followed by AP) regarding both gene expression and biochemical and histological phenotypes of chondrocytes. Isolated bovine articular chondrocytes were embedded in a collagen gel and incubated for 14 days under conditions combining cHP and AP. The gene expression of aggrecan core protein and collagen type II were upregulated in response to cHP, and those levels were maintained for at least 4 days after cHP treatment. Accumulation of cartilage-specific sulfated glycosaminoglycans following cHP for 7 days and subsequent AP for 7 days was significantly greater than that of the AP control (p < 0.05). Therefore, incubation at AP after loading with cHP was found to beneficially affect ECM accumulation. Manipulating algorithms of cHP combined with AP will be useful in producing autologous chondrocyte-based cell constructs for implantation.


Nowadays, the determination of nutritional deficiencies in plants has become one of the most important analysis of crop growth. Often, this analysis is performed manually by specialized personnel for long period of time, leading to an error in the procedure. The purpose of this research is to develop a computational tool for the identification of nutritional deficiencies such as Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus in Curuba plants. The methodology includes 3D designs, tool construction and the detection of nutritional deficiencies by image processing techniques in MatLab. Finally, the results obtained by the developed computational tool with respect to the data provided in a traditional way by the technical experts, presented an accuracy of 100%, 80%, 91% and 94% for the identification of nutritional deficiencies of Nitrogen, potassium, other type of deficiency and Phosphorus respectively. On the other hand, it provides a technological support for growers during the life cycle of the plant, determining quickly and accurately the characteristic patterns that allow differentiating a plant with nutritional deficiencies, allowing specialists to reduce time periods and perform a more objective and realiable analysis for the identification of nutritional deficiencies.


Accidental injury to the facial nerve where the bony canal defects are present may result with facial nerve dysfunction during otological surgery. Therefore, it is critical to know the incidence and the type of facial nerve dehiscences in the presence of normal development of the facial canal. The aim of this study is to review the site and the type of such bony defects in 144 patients operated for facial paralysis, myringoplasty, stapedotomy, middle ear exploration for sudden hearing loss, and so forth, other than chronic suppurative otitis media with or without cholesteatoma, middle ear tumors, and anomaly. Correlation of intraoperative findings with preoperative computerized tomography was also analyzed in 35 patients. Conclusively, one out of every 10 surgical cases may have dehiscence of the facial canal which has to be always borne in mind during surgical manipulation of the middle ear. Computerized tomography has some limitations to evaluate the dehiscent facial canal due to high false negative and positive rates.


Objectives: to assess satisfaction with the use of contraceptive methods among women attending primary health care services in São Paulo, Brazil. Methods: cross-sectional study conducted with a sample of 668 women aged 18-49 years, who were enrolled in 38 primary health care facilities in São Paulo city, Brazil, in 2015. Exclusion criteria were no sexual initiation, use of irreversible contraceptive methods for more than five years, pregnancy and no contraceptive method use. Data were analyzed using chi-square and multivariate logistic regression. Results: in general, women were satisfied with current contraceptive method (78.7%). The higher percentage of satisfaction was observed among IUD users (94.7%), and female and male sterilization users (93.5% and 91.7%, respectively). Withdrawal users were less satisfied (52.9%). Contraceptive method itself was the only factor associated with satisfaction. Barrier or traditional method users were less likely to be satisfied with their contraceptive methods than irreversible method users. Conclusions: long acting contraceptive method and irreversible method users were more satisfied with their contraceptive methods. Efforts should be undertaken in order to make these contraceptives available and accessible in primary health care facilities in Brazil.


In order to study the effects of biofertilizers and zinc on yield, nodulation state and fatty acids composition of soybean, factorial experiments were conducted using a randomized complete block design with three replications during 2013 and 2014 cropping seasons. Experimental factors included nano zinc oxide in four levels: without nano zinc oxide (Zn0) as control, application of 0.3 (Zn1), 0.6 (Zn2) and 0.9 (Zn3) g L-1, and five biofertilizers levels: no biofertilizer (B0), seed inoculation by Bradyrhizobium japonicum (B1), B. japonicum + Azosprillum lipoferum strain OF (B2), B. japonicum + Pseudomonas putida strain 186 (B3) and B. japonicum + A. lipoferum strain OF + P. putida strain 186 (B4). The results showed that maximum number of nodules per plant (16.55) and grain yield (1875 kg ha-1) were recorded at the application of biofertilizer and nano zinc oxide as Zn3B4. The highest dry weight of nodules per plant, the number of pods and grains per plant were obtained in application of nano zinc oxide as Zn3 and biofertilizers as B4. Oil and protein content increased through the application of biofertilizers and nano zinc oxide. The maximum oil content was obtained by applying 0.9 g L-1 nano zinc oxide and inoculation as B4. The saturated fatty acids (palmitic and stearic acids) declined by inoculation with biofertilizer in comparison with the control, while unsaturated fatty acids (linoleic, linolenic and oleic) were increased. Results showed that both application of biofertilizer and 0.9 g L-1 nano zinc oxide (Zn3B4) increased grain yield by about 68% in comparison with Zn0B0. Based on the results, it was concluded that co-inoculation with B. japonicum + plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and nano zinc oxide application can be recommended for profitable soybean production.


All methodologies for detecting plagiarism to date have focused on the final digital "outcome", such as a document or source code. Our novel approach takes the creation process into account using logged events collected by special software or by the macro recorders found in most office applications. We look at an author's interaction logs with the software used to create the work. Detection relies on comparing the histograms of multiple logs' command use. A work is classified as plagiarism if its log deviates too much from logs of "honestly created" works or if its log is too similar to another log. The technique supports the detection of plagiarism for digital outcomes that stem from unique tasks, such as theses and equal tasks such as assignments for which the same problem sets are solved by multiple students. Focusing on the latter case, we evaluate this approach using logs collected by an interactive development environment (IDE) from more than 60 students who completed three programming assignments.


Part I. The Urologic Office. Principles of Managing the Urologic Office, Maxine Pollack and Jean Kouris. Marketing Your Urologic Practice Ethically, Effectively, and Economically, Neil Baum. Proper Billing and Coding, Ray Painter. Advanced Information Systems in the Modern Physician's Office, Steve Gardilcic. Important Legal Issues in the Current Health-Care Environment, Alan E. Schabes and David M. Levine. Part II. Patient Evaluation. Urologic History, Physical Examination, and Urinalysis, Mark R. Licht. Endoscopy and Instrumentation in the Office, Steven H. Selman. Part III. Infections and Inflammation of the Genitourinary Tract. Evaluation and Management of Recurrent Urinary-Tract Infections, Howard B. Goldman. Prostatitis, J. Curtis Nickel. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Jeannette M. Potts. The Diagnosis and Treatment of Interstitial Cystitis, Kenneth M. Peters and Ananias C. Diokno. Part IV. The Renal Mass. Evaluation of the Renal Mass, Norm D. Smith and Steven C. Campbell. Selecting the Optimal Treatment for Localized Renal Tumors and Long-Term Follow-Up, Andrew C. Novick. Part V. Bladder Tumors. Evaluation and Management of Low-Grade, Low-Stage Bladder Cancer, Michael J. Droller. Intravesical Therapy for Superficial Bladder Cancer: A Practical Guide, Michael O'Donnell. Selecting and Counseling Patients for Cystectomy or Cystoprostatectomy, James E. Montie and Robert Marcovich. Part VI. Prostate-Benign. Evaluation of Lower Urinary-Tract Symptoms, Rasmus H. Krogh and Reginald C. Bruskewitz. Medical Management of Benign Prostatic Obstruction, Michael J. Barry and Claus Roehrborn. The Advent of Minimally Invasive Treatments for Benign Prostatic Obstruction, Christopher S. Ng, James C. Ulchaker, and Elroy D. Kursh. Part VII. Prostate-Malignant. Evaluation of Prostate Cancer, Robert L. Grubb III and Gerald L. Andriole. Transrectal Ultrasound and Prostate Biopsy in the Office, Christopher A. Haas and Martin I. Resnick. Selecting and Counseling Patients on Appropriate Treatment of Prostate Cancer, Faiyaaz M. Jhaveri and Eric A. Klein. Prostate Cancer: Endocrine Therapy, Hamed A. Daw and David M. Peereboom. Part VIII. Penile Disorders. Practical Dermatology for the Urologist, Scott Podnos and Allison T. Vidimos. Erectile Dysfunction, Drogo K. Montague and Milton M. Lakin. Part IX. The Scrotal Contents. Evaluation and Management of the Scrotal Mass and Acute Scrotum, Edward E. Cherullo and James C. Ulchaker. Genital Pain, Elroy D. Kursh. A Practical Approach to Male Infertility, James A. Daitch and Anthony J. Thomas, Jr. Elective Sterilization, Roy A. Brandell and Marc Goldstein. Part X. Voiding Dysfunction. Office Urodynamics. John P. Lavelle, Michael W. Phelan, Seamus Teahan, and Michael B. Chancellor. Assessment of the Incontinent Woman, Edward J. McGuire. Selection, Treatment, and Counseling for Women with Urinary Incontinence, Kathleen C. Kobashi and Gary E. Leach. Managing Incontinence in the Geriatric Patient, Patricia S. Goode and Kathryn L. Burgio. Part XI. Other Problems. Evaluation and Differential Diagnosis of Hematuria, Dimitri Kuznetsov and Charles Brendler. Evaluation and Management of Recurrent Stone Disease, Stephen J. Savage and Stevan B. Streem. Common Pediatric Problems, Jonathan H. Ross and Robert Kay. Index.


An essential feature of political representation is that a mediating assembly is set between the citizenry and political decision making. Representation involves indirect decision making or agency. Rational actor political theory often assumes representation in order to focus on problems of a principal–agent kind, but offers only relatively weak arguments for representation. We offer an alternative argument for representation that builds on our broader interpretation of rational actor political theory – an interpretation that emphasizes expressive considerations relative to instrumental considerations, and operates in a richer motivational setting. As well as providing an account of representation, we believe that our approach is capable of re-connecting rational actor political theory to many of the concerns of more traditional political theory.


A major part of the 2010–15 UK government's education reforms in England was a focus on the curriculum that pupils study from ages 14–16. Most high profile was the introduction of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) performance measure for schools, incentivising study of "subjects the Russell Group identifies as key for university study" (Gibb, 2011). However, there does not appear to be good quantitative evidence about the importance of studying such a set of subjects, per se. This paper sets out to analyse this question, considering whether otherwise similar young people who study specific sets of subjects (full set for EBacc-eligibility, two or more sciences, foreign languages, applied subjects) to age 16 have different probabilities of entering university, and specifically a high-status university. It compares results from regression modelling and propensity score matching, taking advantage of rich survey data from a recent cohort of young people in England. We find that conditional differences in university entry attributable to subject choice are, at most, small.


A framework for porous media topology reconstruction from petrographic thin sections for clastic rocks is proposed. The framework is based on two sequential stages: segmentation of thin sections imagesinto grains, porous media, cement (with further mineralogical classification of segmented elements) and reconstructing a three-dimensional voxel model of rock at pore scale.
 The framework exploits machine learning algorithms in order to segment2D thin section images, perform structural and mineralogical classification of grains, cement, pore space, and reconstruct 3D models of porous media. Segmentation of petrographic thin section images and mineral classification of the segmented objects are performed by the means of combination of image processing methods and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). The 3D porous media reconstruction is done by means of the Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are applied to the segmented and classified 2D images of thin sections.
 As the criteria of the reconstruction quality, the following metrics were numerically calculated and compared for original and reconstructed synthetic 3D models of porous rocks: Minkowski functionals (porosity, surface area, mean breadth, Euler characteristic) and absolute permeability. Absolute permeability was calculated using pore network model. The 3D reconstruction framework was tested on a set of thin sections and CT tomograms of the clastic samples from the Achimovskiy formation (Western Siberia). The results showed the validity of the goodness-of-fit metrics based on Minkowski functionals for reconstruction the topology of porous media. The combined usage of CNN and GAN allowed to create a robust 3D topology reconstruction framework. The calculated poroperm characteristics are correlated with laboratory measurements of porosity and permeability.
 The developed algorithms of automatic feature extraction from petrographic thin sections and 3D reconstruction based on these features allow to achieve the following goals. First is the reduction of the amount of the routine work done by an expert during petrographic analysis. Second leads to the reduction of the number of expensive and time-consuming CT scannings required for each physical sample in order to perform further absolute and relative permeability calculations. The proposed method can bring the petrographic thin section and CT data analysis to a new level and significantly change traditional core experiments workflow in terms of speed, data integration and rock sample preparation.


Nowadays, providing IoT environments with service level guarantee is a challenging task. We propose a framework for IoT service level guarantee thanks to several specific Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for IoT environments. We specify different SLAs for each entity contributing in our IoT architecture in order to conclude a global SLA called IoT-SLA (iSLA). These different SLAs enable IoT service provision with Quality of Service (QoS) guarantee. Achieving this guarantee requires several communications and interactions between the components of the proposed IoT architecture. These interactions allow an IoT Service Provider (IoT-SP) to conclude the iSLA with an IoT Client (IoT-C). We specify these interactions and communications between the different parties thanks to a specific Finite State Machine (FSM) and a Message Sequence Charts (MSC).


ABSTRACT The present study investigates microaggressions toward individuals in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) families. Microaggressions are subtle forms of discrimination experienced on a daily basis as verbal or behavioral slights against individuals in oppressed groups. LGBTQ microaggressions are often studied at an individual level and understood as being directed toward an individual based on perceived identity. The present study allows for an understanding of bias directed at the family system level. Participants included 46 adults who identified as being part of an LGBTQ family. Participants completed an online questionnaire and described their experiences of LGBTQ family microaggressions. Thematic analysis revealed that LGBTQ family microaggressions were salient to individuals across multiple family roles. Three specific themes emerged: family legitimacy, conflicts with family values, and gender violation within family. These findings highlight the way LGBTQ microaggressions are influenced by cultural notions of family and impact the family system.


Molecular separations that enable selective transport of target molecules from gas and liquid molecular mixtures, such as CO2 capture, olefin/paraffin separations, and organic solvent nanofiltration, represent the most energy sensitive and significant demands. Membranes are favored for molecular separations owing to the advantages of energy efficiency, simplicity, scalability, and small environmental footprint. A number of emerging microporous organic materials have displayed great potential as building blocks of molecular separation membranes, which not only integrate the rigid, engineered pore structures and desirable stability of inorganic molecular sieve membranes, but also exhibit a high degree of freedom to create chemically rich combinations/sequences. To gain a deep insight into the intrinsic connections and characteristics of these microporous organic material-based membranes, in this review, for the first time, we propose the concept of organic molecular sieve membranes (OMSMs) with a focus on the precise construction of membrane structures and efficient intensification of membrane processes. The platform chemistries, designing principles, and assembly methods for the precise construction of OMSMs are elaborated. Conventional mass transport mechanisms are analyzed based on the interactions between OMSMs and penetrate(s). Particularly, the 'STEM' guidelines of OMSMs are highlighted to guide the precise construction of OMSM structures and efficient intensification of OMSM processes. Emerging mass transport mechanisms are elucidated inspired by the phenomena and principles of the mass transport processes in the biological realm. The representative applications of OMSMs in gas and liquid molecular mixture separations are highlighted. The major challenges and brief perspectives for the fundamental science and practical applications of OMSMs are tentatively identified.


Activation of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-alpha increases lipid catabolism and lowers the concentration of circulating lipid, but its role in the control of glucose metabolism is not as clearly established. Here we compared PPARalpha knockout mice with wild type and confirmed that the former developed hypoglycemia during fasting. This was associated with only a slight increase in insulin sensitivity but a dramatic increase in whole-body and adipose tissue glucose use rates in the fasting state. The white sc and visceral fat depots were larger due to an increase in the size and number of adipocytes, and their level of GLUT4 expression was higher and no longer regulated by the fed-to-fast transition. To evaluate whether these adipocyte deregulations were secondary to the absence of PPARalpha from liver, we reexpresssed this transcription factor in the liver of knockout mice using recombinant adenoviruses. Whereas more than 90% of the hepatocytes were infected and PPARalpha expression was restored to normal levels, the whole-body glucose use rate remained elevated. Next, to evaluate whether brain PPARalpha could affect glucose homeostasis, we activated brain PPARalpha in wild-type mice by infusing WY14643 into the lateral ventricle and showed that whole-body glucose use was reduced. Hence, our data show that PPARalpha is involved in the regulation of glucose homeostasis, insulin sensitivity, fat accumulation, and adipose tissue glucose use by a mechanism that does not require PPARalpha expression in the liver. By contrast, activation of PPARalpha in the brain stimulates peripheral glucose use. This suggests that the alteration in adipocyte glucose metabolism in the knockout mice may result from the absence of PPARalpha in the brain.


ABSTRACT In recent years there has been a flurry of activity and controversy around the subject of public memory. Forms of cultural heritage, especially statues, have been variously lobbied for, defaced, re-storied or removed. Collectively these protest events and movements draw our attention to the potency and affective potential of public memory. This is true whatever the nature of the 'institution' doing the remembering, for example, a public statue or a museum or an organised body of protesters. Recognising that some memories are fragile, gendered, racialised, ethnicised and nationalised, this article establishes this special issue's investigation into the gendered mobilisation of affect, trauma and memory. Whereas some contributions explore the ways in which women's traumatic pasts are since remembered, misremembered, mediated or silenced, others look at how recalling or failing to recall certain versions of the past inflicts trauma on some women in the present. Through looking at the forces acting on representations of the past, and emotions elicited both through telling and hearing about various pasts, as well as not telling and not hearing about various pasts, we suggest new ways of thinking about the nexus between gender, agency, affect and memory.


Background In France, roughly 40,000 HIV-infected persons are unaware of their HIV infection. Although previous studies have evaluated the cost-effectiveness of routine HIV screening in the United States, differences in both the epidemiology of infection and HIV testing behaviors warrant a setting-specific analysis for France. Methods/Principal Findings We estimated the life expectancy (LE), cost and cost-effectiveness of alternative HIV screening strategies in the French general population and high-risk sub-populations using a computer model of HIV detection and treatment, coupled with French national clinical and economic data. We compared risk-factor-based HIV testing ("current practice") to universal routine, voluntary HIV screening in adults aged 18–69. Screening frequencies ranged from once to annually. Input data included mean age (42 years), undiagnosed HIV prevalence (0.10%), annual HIV incidence (0.01%), test acceptance (79%), linkage to care (75%) and cost/test (€43). We performed sensitivity analyses on HIV prevalence and incidence, cost estimates, and the transmission benefits of ART. "Current practice" produced LEs of 242.82 quality-adjusted life months (QALM) among HIV-infected persons and 268.77 QALM in the general population. Adding a one-time HIV screen increased LE by 0.01 QALM in the general population and increased costs by €50/person, for a cost-effectiveness ratio (CER) of €57,400 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY). More frequent screening in the general population increased survival, costs and CERs. Among injection drug users (prevalence 6.17%; incidence 0.17%/year) and in French Guyana (prevalence 0.41%; incidence 0.35%/year), annual screening compared to every five years produced CERs of €51,200 and €46,500/QALY. Conclusions/Significance One-time routine HIV screening in France improves survival compared to "current practice" and compares favorably to other screening interventions recommended in Western Europe. In higher-risk groups, more frequent screening is economically justifiable.


This thesis exhibits the results of my PhD Apprenticeship Program, carried out at the "Marposs S.p.a." firm, in the electronic research division, and at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the Bologna University, in the INFN's electronics laboratories of the ATLAS group.
During these three years of research, I worked on the development and realization of electronic boards dedicated to flexible data acquisition, designed to be applied in several contexts, that need to share high performance FPGAs and high-speed serial communications. The thesis describes the successful application of high-speed configurable electronic devices to two different fields, firstly developed in the particle physics scenario, and then the industrial measurement of mechanical pieces, reaching the main goal of the PhD Apprenticeship Program.
The common denominator is the development of high speed electronics based on FPGAs for demanding data acquisition and data processing applications.
The thesis describes the contribution to the luminosity monitor of LHC at CERN and illustrates a multi-camera system developed for automatic inspection of mechanical pieces made by a machine tool.
The Apprenticeship Program allowed me to continue my academic course in parallel with my working activity, giving me the opportunity to finalize the project started during my internship and thesis for my master degree.
It also allowed me to achieve a higher level in education and training in two different contexts of excellence, i.e. the industrial company and the academic research, where I concretely learned the best technical knowledge. The chance of bringing together two distant worlds was the most enthusiastic aspect of this PhD research. The world of industry and academic research face similar problems but with different points of view and goals. I had the opportunity to explore pure academic research, and also to apply the knowledge acquired in these years to the industrial research.


It seems obvious that one of the harms that dementia does is to undermine the person's identity. One reason for thinking this is that personal identity has long been associated with continuity of a subjective perspective on the world held together by memory that that memory is severely curtailed in dementia. Hence dementia seems to threaten an individual's identity as a particular person, gradually undermining it. But the necessity of the connection has been criticised by a number of philosophers and healthcare professionals who subscribe to a narrative account of personal identity. If personal identity is constituted through a personal narrative rather than, for example, a memory connection, then while the capacity to author a self-narrative also seems to be threatened by dementia, that need not undermine personal identity providing that the narrative that constitutes identity can be co-constructed. In this paper I set out the danger of any such view, explore its motivations and provide a minimal account of the role of narrative in dementia making use of the Wittgensteinian notion of secondary sense.


Newzealand rabbits were purchased form Balsam pharmaceutical factory, weighed and divided into groups. Group 1 animals were the undosed controls. Test groups were given alum at dose rates of 1% for a period of 10 weeks after an adaptation period of two weeks during which the animals were under ideal experimental conditions. Clinical signs, postmortem and histopathological examinations were closely observed together with hematological changes in Hb, PCV, RBCs and WBCs. On alum challenge, Newzealand showed inappetance, nervous signs and were finally recumbent. The mortality rate was 100%. On atomic absorption only the lungs kept residual alum, while the livers washed-out the substance, may be via bile. Notably oral dosing with alum caused congested liver with white spots, stiff-greenish lungs and inflammed empty intestines. The un-dosed group 1 goats showed a normal picture. On histopathology, alum-dosed goats showed necrosis in the cortex and medulla of the kidney in one group member, emphysema in the lungs and necrosis in the hepatocytes and congestion in the liver. Practical implications of the results were highlighted and suggestions for future work were put forward.


This research is concerned with the competition between various actors – journalists, government ministers and their advisors – to establish the dominant framing of climate change during a particularly eventful period of Irish political history, during which the Green Party was in government and Ireland underwent a dramatic financial crisis. Three levels of analysis are presented: a content analysis to determine levels and trends in media attention for climate change; a frame analysis to uncover journalistic framings, and analysis of interviews with environmental journalists, government ministers and media advisors. The findings of these analyses are then discussed in relation to the dynamics of framing and theories of agenda systems. The explanatory power of the mediated issue development model proposed by Nisbet and Huge (2006) is also assessed in relation to Ireland's media coverage of climate change.
Ireland's media coverage of climate change is framed in predominantly political terms, while economic frames, frames emphasising the scientific consensus and frames foregrounding the moral and ethical aspects of the topic are also strongly represented. Sceptic arguments are not present in the coverage to any great degree, are largely confined to the opinion section and consist of dismissive and sarcastic references rather than substantive arguments.
The frame competition emerges as a complex process in which government ministers attempt differing communications strategies: one minister emphasised a responsibility frame, while the other foregrounded economic and opportunity framings. Journalists, however, were constrained by news values and their journalistic culture and preferred political framings. These political framings stopped short of implicating the existing political and economic structures in creating climate change, but favoured ecomodern perspectives and solutions emphasising efficiency and techno-managerial solutions.
More recent Irish media coverage of climate change has focused on constituent issues such as waste, water, energy efficiency and transport, thus further de-politicising the issue.
The concluding remarks include recommendations for best practice in covering and communicating about climate change, including the necessity of employing specialized environment correspondents, the need to tailor news subsidies in a strategic manner, and the advisability of employing flexible framing strategies. The role of journalists as political media advisors is also assessed.


In order to satisfy a high resolution for the measurement of snow water equivalent, we use the system of using the dual frequency(X-band 9.6GHz and Ku-band 17GHz ) and full polarization. This paper discusses the various system options(scanning pencil-beam, high PRF, high SNR) and tradeoffs considered for improving the azimuth resolution of scatterometer are required.


The proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell works under low temperatures and hence is suitable for the automotive industry. The produced water vapor in the vicinity of the membrane may condense into liquid water, if the water mass fraction is higher than the saturation value corresponding to the local temperature. In this case the flowing fluid inside the layers of the PEMFC is a 2-phase flow. The locally homogeneous flow (LHF) model has been previously used for modeling the 2-phase flow in PEM fuel cells, with limited success. This model could not predict the blocking effect of the liquid phase, since both phases flow locally with the same velocity, according to the LHF model. In contrast to complete coupling of the two phases, assumed by the LHF model, a blocking model was used by some investigators where the liquid is totally uncoupled to the gas phase. This assumption causes the liquid to become essentially stationary inside the pores of the GDL and catalyst layers and hence only the gas phase equations need to be considered. Both of these extreme models were only successful to a limited extent. The present work considers a two-fluid mathematical model for the gas-liquid flow in PEM fuel cells. One fluid represents the continuous gas phase flow through the layers of the fuel cell. For this fluid, the governing equations of momentum, energy, mass continuity and species mass fractions, are considered with additional inter-fluid exchange source terms. The second fluid represents the dispersed liquid phase that is formed from the condensed water vapor inside the layers of the PEM fuel cell. For this fluid only the momentum, energy and mass continuity equations need to be included, as no electrochemical reactions are essentially possible. The dispersed fluid is made up of small droplets in the gas channel. However, in the porous layers of the fuel cell, the flowing layers of water represent the dispersed fluid over the solid matrix. The thickness of the creeping water layers is controlled by the wetability of the solid matrix of the porous layers of the PEM fuel cell. Numerical computations are carried out for a typical proton exchange membrane fuel cell that has experimental data. In order to obtain complete performance results, the computations are repeated for increasing fuel cell electric current densities until the limiting current is reached. The obtained two-fluid and single-phase simulations are compared with the corresponding experimental and numerical data available in the literature. The 2-fluid model shows that the blocking effect of the liquid phase starts to dominate, for cell voltage less than 0.65 V; in this case, the flowing 2-phase flow produces faster drop in cell voltage as the loading electric current increases. This phenomenon was partially hindered by the LHF model but essentially completely bypassed by the single-phase simulations. The 2-fluid simulations show that most of the liquid dispersed phase is concentrated in the cathode, reaching maximum value near the cathode catalyst layer- membrane interface. This behavior results from the lack of mobility of the liquid water inside the pores.Copyright © 2005 by ASME


A number of methods for the transfer of genes to plants are assessed in this work. The potential of Agrobacterium tumefaciens infection of germinating pollen tubes in vitro as a method of gene transfer was investigated and evidence presented for an essential pre-requisite of infection, that of attachment of Agrobacteria to the pollen tube wall, with both a dicot and a monocot species. In addition, the possibility of direct uptake of DNA molecules by germinating pollen tubes was suggested by in vitro uptake studies. Microinjection of DNA molecules into the loculus of ovaries, with the aim of facilitating in vivo DNA uptake by the male and/or female gametes, was investigated with Salpiglossis sinuata ovaries. Evidence was presented for the persistence of DNA molecules in the ovary loculus and gene transfer using a non-oncogenic Agrobacterium plasmid vector was attempted and the resulting progeny were screened for transformation: The techniques of Agrobacterium-infection of leaf discs and direct DNA uptake by protoplasts were applied to Nicotiana tabacum. DNA transformation vectors containing a kanamycin resistance marker gene and a chimeric pea seed storage protein gene were constructed for use in this study. The seed-specific promoter of the pea legumin A gene was replaced with the nopaline synthase promoter that is expressed in a more constitutive manner in plant tissues. Kanamycin resistant transgenic plants were regenerated following both transformation techniques and the presence and structure of inserted foreign DNA was determined by Southern blot hybridizations. The transmission of kanamycin resistance to transformant progeny after self-fertilization demonstrated characteristic Mendelian inheritance. The expression of the inserted legumin gene in leaf tissue of a number of Agrobacterium-denved transformants was assessed by Northern blot hybridization; legumin transcripts were detected, although the protein immuno-detection procedures of Western blotting and ELISA did not detect legumin in the seeds or leaf tissue of transgenic plants derived from either transformation technique.


Objective The skin disinfectant '0.5% chlorhexidine gluconate in 70% alcohol' (0.5% CHG-70% alc) may cause skin lesions in extremely preterm infants (gestational age <26 weeks). In April 2013, 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate solution in acetate (0.2% CHG-acetate) was introduced as skin disinfectant for extremely preterm infants in our neonatal intensive care units. We aimed to compare the incidence of skin lesions and central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) among extremely preterm infants when using 0.5% CHG-70% alc and 0.2% CHG-acetate. Design Retrospective pre-post comparison cohort study. Patients All electronic patient records of extremely preterm infants born between January 2011–March 2013 ('0.5% CHG-70% alc' cohort) and April 2013–October 2015 ('0.2% CHG-acetate' cohort) were reviewed. Main outcome measures The incidence of skin lesions and CLABSI. Skin lesions were defined as the presence of erythema, blisters, excoriation, oedema or induration. CLABSI was defined according to the definition of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Results The incidence of skin lesions was 22% (95% CI 11% to 37%) in the '0.5% CHG-70% alc' cohort (n=41) and 5% (95% CI 1% to 15%; p=0.02) in the '0.2% CHG-acetate' cohort (n=41). The incidence of CLABSI was the same in both groups (28%; 95% CI 14% to 46% in '0.5% CHG-70% alc' vs 27%; 95% CI 14% to 44% in '0.2% CHG-acetate'; p=0.98). Conclusions Using 0.2% CHG-acetate as skin disinfectant in extremely preterm infants resulted in statistically significant reduction of skin lesions, without increasing the risk of CLABSI as compared with 0.5% CHG-70% alc.


Even though many policies which are concerned to public service have been issued but the factual condition has not improved much. Local governments still cannot deliver good-quality public service. Ironically, civil servants cannot even be optimized service to their own kinds, their civil servant colleagues. Seeing the public service by the customers, we can group them into two which are internal and externals customer. Both hold the same level of importance and priority. As an effort to solve that problem, it needs guidance for civil servants to do their daily tasks. We proposed Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) as an answer. Through its application, every activity is described into every step, which also contains persons in charge for those acts. More of those, SOP also describes input, time consumed and output for every activity level which are grouped inside standardized-quality section. Then we conclude that Standard Operating Procedures are a shining-path to make effective, efficient and economics bureaucracy, come into reality. Key words: public service, standard operating procedures, local government


An anisotropic constitutive model is proposed in this paper accounting for both structural anisotropy and induced anisotropic plasticity. It is assumed that the rock is composed of a matrix and of potential planes of weakness. The matrix is assumed to be linear, transversely isotropic and the plasticity is described by a non linear yield function where the parameters are deduced from the nonlinear Hoek-Brown envelopes in pre- and post-peak, and derived from the laboratory characterization. A non-associated flow rule is used with a distinction between compression and extensional stress paths, as well as the absence of volumetric strain beyond large plastic distortion. The planes of weakness are considered as known a priori or assumed to be oriented perpendicular to the direction of the current minor principal stress. An elastic-perfectly plastic behavior according to the Mohr-Coulomb criterion is assumed in the planes of weakness; while the elastic part is considered as linear and transversely isotropic. Finally, the proposed model was implemented in FLAC 3D and used to simulate triaxial compressions to provide a verification of the implementation. The applicability of the implemented model to reproduce damage (pre-peak) and/or failure developments around a circular opening is checked. The GCS drift, one of the mine-by experiments set up at the main level of the Meuse/Haute-Marne Underground Research Laboratory, is selected for this first application.


Background Each year, numerous studies relate an outcome (e.g. offspring birthweight) to several exposures (e.g. maternal characteristics) using standard multiple linear/logistic regression. The results are often reported as coefficients/odds ratios for all exposures simultaneously, described as "mutually adjusted". As discussed recently by Westreich and Greenland, depending on the nature of the theoretical model underpinning the data, this approach confuses the effects of exposures, confounders and mediators. The results presented in such a table are often uninterpretable. Interpretation of the different exposures is often only achievable through multiple models, informed by a priori knowledge of the data structure. We use the example of the associations between multiple maternal characteristics and birthweight, and show how directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) can help to clarify which analyses should be reported. Methods The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) is a prospective population-based birth cohort study that recruited 14,541 pregnant women resident in Avon, UK with expected dates of delivery 1st April 1991 to 31st December 1992 (http://www.alspac.bris.ac.uk/). Here, we focus on the 10,104 singletons with complete data on offspring birthweight and sex, and the following maternal characteristics: age at delivery; parity; social class; height; ethnicity; smoking during early pregnancy; education level. Results In considering each putative exposure, several plausible DAGs were drawn, resulting in different sets of confounders to be included in some instances. The effect estimates for each exposure, adjusted only for appropriate confounders, are compared to those from the single, "mutually adjusted" model. For example, when considering maternal education as an exposure, the only factors which could be considered as genuine confounders on the grounds of temporality were ethnicity and (possibly) height. In the mutually-adjusted analysis (i.e. adjusted for all other maternal characteristics) there was no evidence of an association between maternal education and birthweight (coefficient for degree compared to 'O' Level 0.02 kg ([95% CI 0.01, 0.05], p=0.062). When appropriately adjusted for only the genuine confounding factors of ethnicity and height, there was weak evidence of an association between maternal education and birthweight (coefficient for degree compared to 'O' Level 0.04 kg ([0.00, 0.07], p=0.04). Conclusion The common practice to analyse several exposures simultaneously can lead to errors in interpretation, as they cannot all be confounders for each other. More careful consideration of the use of multiple regression is required, with distinction between genuine confounders and mediators becoming more widely understood.


Public installations have the opportunity to influence many people due to their location and the vast amount of people that are exposed to them. However, due to lack of interaction these installations might waste this opportunity of creating a rich experience for the people. This paper investigates how interaction with public installations affects its users by evaluating the experience of users while interacting with a specially designed prototype. Author