For more than four decades, Japan has offered universal health insurance. Despite the demand subsidy entailed, it has kept costs low by regulatorily capping the amounts it pays doctors, particularly for the most modern and sophisticated procedures. Facing subsidized demand but stringently capped prices on complex procedures, Japanese physicians have had little incentive to invest in specialized expertise. Instead, they have invested in small private clinics and hospitals. The resulting proliferation of primitive clinics and hospitals has cut both the number of complex modern medical procedures performed, and the number of hospitals with any substantial experience in those procedures. With a quarter of the heart disease in the United States, Japan performs less than 3 percent as many coronary bypass operations and less than 6 percent as many angioplasties. Of the 855 cities and regions in Japan, 77 percent lack any hospital with substantial experience in the sophisticated modern treatment (defined below) of cerebrovascular disease, and 89 percent lack much experience in angioplasties. In this article, I estimate one of the costs of this regulatorily-driven lack of expertise. Toward that end, I combine mortality data from 855 cities with information on local hospital expertise and local demographic composition. In the typical city, I find that the addition of one hospital with substantial experience in modern stroke treatment would cut annual stroke mortality by 7 to 16 deaths. The addition of one hospital with substantial experience in angioplasties would cut the annual deaths from heart attacks in the city by over 19.


Purpose To explore the cost-utility of cataract surgery in patients with advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods Patients who were diagnosed as having and treated for age-related cataract and with a history of advanced AMD at the Department of Ophthalmology, Shanghai General Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, were included in the study. All of the participants underwent successful phacoemulsification with foldable posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation under retrobulbar anesthesia. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and utility value elicited by time trade-off method from patients at 3-month postoperative time were compared with those before surgery. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained in a lifetime were calculated at a 3% annual discounted rate. Costs per QALY gained were calculated using the bootstrap method, and probabilities of being cost-effective were presented using a cost-effectiveness acceptability curve. Sensitivity analyses were performed to test the robustness of the results. Results Mean logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution BCVA in the operated eye increased from 1.37 ± 0.5 (Snellen, 20/469) to 0.98 ± 0.25 (Snellen, 20/191) (p < 0.001); BCVA in the weighted average from both eyes (=75% better eye + 25% worse eye) was changed from 1.13 ± 0.22 (Snellen, 20/270) to 0.96 ± 0.17 (Snellen, 20/182) (p < 0.001). Utility values from both patients and doctors increased significantly after surgery (p < 0.001 and p = 0.007). Patients gained 1.17 QALYs by cataract surgery in their lifetime. The cost per QALY was 8835 Chinese yuan (CNY) (1400 U.S. dollars [USD]). It is cost-effective at the threshold of 115,062 CNY (18,235 USD) per QALY in China recommended by the World Health Organization. The cost per QALY varied from 7045 CNY (1116 USD) to 94,178 CNY (14,925 USD) in sensitivity analyses. Conclusions Visual acuity and quality of life assessed by utility value improved significantly after surgery. Cataract surgery was a cost-effective intervention for patients with coexistent AMD.


Electrochemiluminescence (ECL) is a widely used analytical technique with the advantages of high sensitivity and low background signal. The recent and rapid development of electrochemical materials, luminophores, and optical elements significantly increases the ECL signals and, thus, ECL imaging with enhanced spatial and temporal resolutions is realized. Currently, ECL imaging is successfully applied to high-throughput bioanalysis and to visualize the distribution of molecules at single cells. Compared with other optical bioassays, no optical excitation is involved in imaging, so the approach avoids a background signal from illumination and increases the detection sensitivity. This review highlights some of the most exciting developments in this field, including the mechanisms, electrode designs, and the applications of ECL imaging in bioanalysis and at single cells and particles.


In this paper, we present the design and implementation of an Inferior-Olivary Nucleus (ION) network on an FPGA device. Compared with existing neuron networks, the proposed design allows to easily customize the network topology and implement existing as well as ad-hoc topologies, in order to explore different levels of connectivities between the cells. Starting from the model of an ION cell, the model has been optimized and an ION network has been designed and implemented in multiple steps. By using the Xilinx Vivado Suite, the design has been synthesized and mapped on a Virtex 7 XC7VX550T FPGA device. Experimental results show that a network of 48 ION cells can be simulated in brain real-time using double floating-point arithmetic, which allows to precisely simulate the network's behavior.


The use of discontinuous counter-immunoelectrophoresis enhanced the reaction between Au/SH antigen and its antibody in agarose. The ionic strength of the Veronal buffer used in the agarose was 0.015 μ, whereas 0.075 μ Veronal (both pH 8.6) was used for anode and cathode buffers. Electroendosmosis is increased under such conditions. Au/SH antigen and antibody reacted to give sharp lines within 30 to 45 min as compared with conventional counter-immunoelectrophoresis which required 1 to 3 hr or longer.


Learning on Graphs (LoG) is widely used in multi-client systems when each client has insufficient local data, and multiple clients have to share their raw data to learn a model of good quality. One scenario is to recommend items to clients with limited historical data and sharing similar preferences with other clients in a social network. On the other hand, due to the increasing demands for the protection of clients' data privacy, Federated Learning (FL) has been widely adopted: FL requires models to be trained in a multi-client system and restricts sharing of raw data among clients. The underlying potential data-sharing conflict between LoG and FL is under-explored and how to benefit from both sides is a promising problem. In this work, we first formulate the Graph Federated Learning (GFL) problem that unifies LoG and FL in multi-client systems and then propose sharing hidden representation instead of the raw data of neighbors to protect data privacy as a solution. To overcome the biased gradient problem in GFL, we provide a gradient estimation method and its convergence analysis under the non-convex objective. In experiments, we evaluate our method in classification tasks on graphs. Our experiment shows a good match between our theory and the practice.


The currently active Taupō volcano (with its most recent eruptive event at ∼ 1.8 ka) was responsible for Earth's youngest supereruption at 25.5 ka. In the past 141 years, 21 unrest events have been observed in records of seismicity, crustal deformation and changes in the lake level at Taupō. The most recent unrest was during September 2018 – September 2019, and was interpreted to be caused by a magmatic intrusion rather than by hydrothermal instabilities in the volcano (Illsley-Kemp et al., 2021). Prior seismic anisotropy studies in the North Island have identified a distinct pattern of S-wave fast orientations at Taupō volcano that do not align with the maximum horizontal stress in the region. Therefore, due to the complexity of the unrest of the caldera, we combined seismic anisotropy and time-frequency analysis to complement the current understanding of volcano dynamics over the period of unrest. We used an existing 10-year earthquake catalogue determined by Illsley-Kemp et al. (2021) to study seismic anisotropy around Lake Taupō, with a focus on temporal analysis during the unrest period. Using 35,452 high quality shear-wave splitting measurements, we obtained the median fast orientation values for 23 seismic stations around Taupō. We recognised three significant anisotropy temporal changes during the unrest period, not related to variations in the travel path of the earthquakes, and interpreted these as stress-induced changes due to magmatic processes, in accordance with the findings of Illsley-Kemp et al. (2021). Temporal stress-changes identified by seismic anisotropy were compared with the results of time-frequency analysis to determine that the magmatic intrusion did not reach shallower depths.
We reviewed the continuous stream of seismic data in the time-frequency domain to identify possible low frequency signals related to volcanic activity and to compare their relationship with stress changes during the unrest period. Even though we did not identify low frequency volcanic seismic signals during 2019, we propose a preliminary catalogue of typical low frequency seismic signals at Taupō, which includes the lake microseism signal. Volcanic unrest in calderas is a frequently occurring phenomenon, and does not always imply a volcanic eruption. The improvement of monitoring techniques will allow us to understand periods of unrest in calderas for volcano preparedness and risk management.


Introduction: Arcuate foramen anomaly is an anatomic variation in the first thoracic vertebrae that forms a space for passing of vertebral artery. Considering the role of this bony bridge in migraine development and its effect on prevalence of various types of pain in head, shoulder, and neck areas, as well as its importance in screw placement on the lateral mass of atlas, the present study evaluated the prevalence of this anomaly among those presented to the emergency department (ED) of Poursina Hospital, Rasht, Iran. Methods: The present study is a cross-sectional one, carried out on patients over 18 years of age that visited ED of Poursina Hospital, Rasht, Iran, in 2015 and underwent lateral neck radiography using census method. Data of the patients were gathered using their medical profile or by asking them on the phone, and recorded in a pre-designed checklist. Data were analyzed with the aid of SPSS version 24 and chi-square and independent t-test statistical tests. P-values less than 0.05 were considered as significant. Results: 1146 patients with the mean age of 37.95 ± 15.88 years were studied (69.2% male). Mean age was 36.05 ± 15.26 years among men and 14.21 ± 16.44 years among women (p 0.05). Conclusion: Based on the results of the present study, the prevalence of arcuate foramen anomaly was estimated to be 9.6% in Guilan province using lateral neck radiography. Its prevalence rate was 10.34% in men and 7.93% in women. Considering this prevalence rate, presence of this anomaly should be considered as a possibility in patients with complaints of head, shoulder, and neck pain.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to characterize the relationship between whole brain atrophy rates and three levels of genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease in cognitively normal persons. The authors previously found accelerated whole brain atrophy rates in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease by computing changes in brain volume from sequential magnetic resonance images (MRIs).

METHODS
The authors assessed 36 late-middle-aged persons from three genetic groups: those with two, one, and no copies of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) epsilon4 allele, a common Alzheimer's disease susceptibility gene. The participants had clinical ratings, neuropsychological tests, and volumetric T1-weighted MRIs during a baseline visit and again approximately 2 years later. Two different image-analysis techniques, brain boundary shift integration and iterative principal component analysis, were used to compute whole brain atrophy rates.

RESULTS
While there were no baseline, follow-up, or between-visit differences in the clinical ratings or neuropsychological test scores among the three subject groups, whole brain atrophy rates were significantly greater in the epsilon4 homozygote group than in noncarriers and were significantly correlated with epsilon4 gene dose (i.e., the number of epsilon4 alleles in a person's APOE genotype).

CONCLUSION
Since APOE epsilon4 gene dose is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and a younger median age at dementia onset, this study suggests an association between the risk of Alzheimer's disease and accelerated brain atrophy rates before the onset of cognitive impairment.


This chapter presents an integrated management approach exploiting the potentials of the new Cooperative Intelligent Transportation Systems (C-ITS) to meet the requirements of the next generation Public Transport (PT). This approach considers the additional complexity of electrification—for instance electric busses need to periodically recharge during operation using dedicated infrastructure. This not only can impact service level, but also extend operating costs with complex electric charges. We develop new strategies explicitly optimizing the interactions within the PT ecosystem consisting of vehicles, traffic signals, and e-bus charging infrastructure. To achieve these goals, we rely on vehicle control rather than on the use of transit signal priority, which in congested urban scenarios can have negative effects on overall traffic performance. The main research challenges are in formulating and solving complex multi-objective optimization problems and real-time control. The proposed system is tested and evaluated in simulation showing the benefits of electrified and cooperative bus systems.


We investigate the validity of the standard specification tests for assessing the exogeneity of subvectors in the linear IV regression. Our results show that ignoring the endogeneity of the regressors whose exogeneity is not being tested leads to invalid tests (level is not controlled). When the fitted values from the first stage regression of these regressors are used as instruments under the partial null hypothesis of interest, as suggested Hausman and Taylor (1980, 1981), some versions of these tests are invalid when identification is weak and the number of instruments is moderate. However, all tests are overly conservative and have no power when the number of instruments increases, even for moderate identification strength.


The direct and indirect effects of staphylococcal enterotoxins A and C on the flux of water, sodium, and potassium have been studied in paired Thiry Vella fistulae in dogs. Administration of toxin resulted in a significant decrease in absorption, both in the loop to which the toxin had been administered and its pair. This decrease in absorption was associated with a decrease in movement out of the lumen, movement into the lumen remaining relatively unchanged. The mechanism of action of staphylococcal enterotoxins is discussed, and comparisons made with other enterotoxins.


Atlantic salmon Salmo salar smolts (n = 181) from two rivers were surgically implanted with acoustic transmitters and released to determine migration route, residency time and survival in a 50 km long estuarine fjord located on the south coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Data obtained from automated receivers placed throughout the Bay d'Espoir fjord indicated that migrating smolts used different routes to reach the outer areas of the fjord. The duration of time that smolts spent in the immediate estuary zone also differed between the two localities (7 and 17 days) although the total time smolts were resident in the fjord was similar and extensive (40 days). Many smolts were resident for periods of 4-8 weeks moving back and forth in the outer part of the fjord where maximum water depths range from 300 to 700 m. Survival in the estuary zone was greater for smolts with prolonged residency in estuarine habitat. Overall smolt survival to the fjord exit was moderately high (54-85%), indicating that the initial phase of migration did not coincide with a period of unusually high mortality.


Dihydroorotase catalyzes the conversion of N-carbamoyl-L-aspartate to Ldihydroorotate in the de novo biosynthesis of pyrimidines. M. jannaschii is an archaeon that thrives in extreme environments such as the hypothermal vents at the bottom of the oceans in which both temperature and pressure are extremely high. It can serve as a model organism for research purposes. This experiment is a first step toward elucidating the structure of this enzyme in M. jannaschii. Our summer research started using a partially purified enzyme preparation from previous experiments. We further purified the enzyme primarily using hydrophobic interaction and hydroxyapatite chromatographies. Twenty-four closely related conditions were tested to determine if a crystal of dihydroorotase could be formed. Several conditions led to whisker-needle clusters and preliminary needle crystals. These findings can be utilized to determine additional steps and other conditions to test. Once a crystal is formed, it can undergo X-ray crystallography to determine its structure. The structure of dihydroorotase in M. jannaschii can elucidate what structural characteristics allow this archaeon to survive in extreme heat and pressure. It also provides further understanding of the diversity within the dihydroorotase family of proteins. It can also give further insight into this pathway in humans.


In this paper we present an experiment where we measured the quantum coherence of a quasiparticle injected at a well-defined energy above the Fermi sea into the edge states of the integer quantum Hall regime. Electrons are introduced in an electronic Mach-Zehnder interferometer after passing through a quantum dot that plays the role of an energy filter. Measurements show that above a threshold injection energy, the visibility of the quantum interferences is almost independent of the energy. This is true even for high energies, up to 130 μeV, well above the thermal energy of the measured sample. This result is in contradiction with our theoretical predictions, which instead predict a continuous decrease of the interference visibility with increasing energy.


Modern macroeconomics literature emphasises both the short run and long run objectives of fiscal policy [Romer (2006)]. In the short run it can be used to counter output cyclicality and/or stabilise volatility in macro variables, which is descriptively same as of effects of the short run monetary policy. Further for the long-run, fiscal policy can also affect both the demand and supply side of the economy. But in most traditional analyses it is assumed that fiscal policy would adjust to ensure the intertemporal budget constraint to be satisfied, while monetary policy is free to adjust its instruments ['Ricardian Regime' by Sargent (1982)] such as stock of money supply or the nominal interest rate [Walsh (2003)]. The debt financing methods, expenditure and tax powers of fiscal authorities i.e. the fiscal policy has also been seen as to affect both the supply and demand side of the economy. As noted by Baxter and King (1993), the initial Real Business Cycle models had only the supply side effects of the fiscal policy, where these were transmitted through the wealth effect and labourleisure choices of the household. Recently also New-Keynesian type models with micro-foundations and sticky prices argue that still through the supply side fiscal policy management could be accorded for stabilisation [Linnemann and Schabert (2003)]. The demand side effects of the fiscal policy could also be found only with more imperfections such as 'Rule of Thumb' consumers or those with liquidity constraints, which lead to exclusion of Ricardian equivalence [Gali, et al. (2005)]. But all that depends on the structure of the economy, as Blanchard and Perotti (2002) stated: "The evidence from large-scale econometric models has been largely dismissed on the grounds that, because of their Keynesian structure, these models assume rather then document a positive effect of positive fiscal expansion on output".


This paper presents the results of evaluation of biogas generation from cattle manure, under German conditions, and conversion of biogas to electricity using energetic and life cycle analysis. A range of capacities from about 70 to 250 kW for digester and co-generation set are considered including benefits for heat utilization. It is found that the energy balance with-out heat benefits would be 40 to 140 times the energy input. Within the LCA selected envi-ronmental categories, CO2-reduction potentials, cost of CO2-equivalent-reduction, internal and external costs and energetic payback periods are computed and discussed.


ABSTRACT The importance of international communication and media to the study of international relations has long been recognised. This paper focuses on coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the Reuters news agency, one of the most important international providers of news. The voluminous academic discussion of international media coverage of that conflict has related primarily to exploration of news content. This article breaks new ground by evaluating through archival documentation some organisational, commercial, and editorial aspects involved in the actual process of news production. It studies the efforts by Reuters to overcome staff 'bias' and market 'sensitivity' and to provide publicly perceived 'objective' coverage. This it does in respect of a conflict separating the political and emotional loyalties of media and institutional subscribers in the Middle East region and around the world. It examines in particular the problems created by the national affinities of local staff employed in the region and the effect of political considerations and market pressure on regional dissemination of media information.


Purpose
Podcasting is a new mobile technology application for language learning. Drawing upon the stimulus–organism–response model and the interest driven creator (IDC) theory from e-learning, this study aims to develop and test an integrative conceptual framework. This study investigates contextual and environmental stimuli effects (content richness [CR], self-directed learning [SDL] and situational interest [SI]) from a podcast English learning context on learners' experience states (cognitive absorption [CA], pleasure [PL] and arousal [AR]) and their subsequent responses (continuance learning intention [CLI]).

Design/methodology/approach
Using 416 valid responses from five universities located in North Taiwan, data analysis is performed using a structural equation model.

Findings
The results show that most of the interest factor stimuli (CR, SDL and SI) have significant impacts on learners' experiences (CA, PL and AR), which in turn affect their CLI.

Practical implications
The findings provide useful insights for English show podcasters and operators to invest in establishing learners' interest factor and stimulating experiences to improve their CLI.

Originality/value
This paper contributes to a better understanding of students who use contextual factors of podcast English learning and how these factors influence their CLI via a framework of stimulus–organism–response and the IDC theory.


Saraswata choorna is an Ayurvedic medicine used in the treatment of psychosis, depression, low intelligence level, loss of memory etc; conditions. Saraswata choorna is mentioned in Bhaishajya ratnavali text in 'Unmada chikitsa'. Regular consumption of Saraswata choorna improves buddhi (higher mental functions), medha (intellect), dhriti (control over mind), smriti (memory power) and kavita shakti (poetic talent). The present study was planned to evaluate the ingredients of Saraswata choorna pharmacognostically and to standardize it on various scientific parameters like organoleptic characters and physico-chemical parameters. Powder microscopic features of all the ingredients of Saraswata choorna were equivalent to the standard profile. Pharmaceutical analysis of Saraswata choorna showed, loss on drying (13.88 % w/w), pH of 5 % aqueous solution (5.45), volatile oil content (1.25 % v/w), particle consistency (% of above 60 mesh 80.53 % w/w), water extract (26.30 % w/w), alcoholic extract (21.0 % w/w) and ash value (12.33 % w/w). The present study would open up the doors to future workers in the field for identification and to check quality and purity of the Saraswata choorna.


This thesis will examine the 'values' based approach to redeveloping a cultural landscape. By reinterpreting past values, can the waterfront be re-established as an asset for the culture of today? The theme of continuity and the idea of evolution are used to develop a mix use design proposal for McArthur Island, Carleton Place, Ontario. Adaptively reusing both the building and the site, to restore life to this waterfront.
 Currently, there is a fundamental shift underway in regards to how heritage should be preserved. It is becoming realized that it is not enough to focus
solely on the conservation of the site, purely for the sake of preserving its material elements. To properly preserve, means reinterpreting the values present on site and in context, and connecting them both back to society in a relevant way.


A higher performance DRAM is required by the market due to the increasing of bandwidth of networks and the rise of high-capacity multimedia content. DDR4 SDRAM is the next-generation memory that meets these demands in computing and server systems. In comparison with current DDR3 memory, the major changes are supply voltage reduction to 1.2V, pseudo open drain I/O interface, and data rate increase from 1.6 to 3.2Gb/s. To achieve high performance at low supply voltage and reduce power consumption, this work introduces new functions and describes their implementation. Data bus inversion (DBI) is employed for high-speed transactions to reduce power consumption of I/O and SSN noise. Dual-error detection, which adopts cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for DQ, and command address (CA) parity is designed to guarantee reliable transmission. GDDR5 memory also has DBI and CRC functions [1], but in this work, these schemes are implemented in a way that reduces area overhead and timing penalty. Besides these error-check functions, an enhanced gain buffer and a PVT-tolerant fetch scheme improve basic receiving ability. To meet the output jitter requirements of DDR4 SDRAM, the type of delay line for DLL is selected at initial stage according to data rate.


Myelination of central nervous system axons increases action potential conduction velocity and increases the speed of information transfer. However, it is unclear whether myelination optimizes action potential conduction to achieve synchronicity and facilitate information processing within cortical and associative circuits. Here we show that myelin sheaths remain plastic in the adult mouse and undergo subtle structural modifications to influence action potential conduction. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and spatial learning, two stimuli that modify neuronal activity, alter the length of the nodes of Ranvier and the size of the periaxonal space within active brain regions. This change in the axon-glial configuration, which is independent of oligodendrogenesis, tunes conduction velocity to increase the synchronicity of action potential conduction. One Sentence Summary The activity-dependent modulation of nodes of Ranvier and the periaxonal space allows central conduction to be tuned to achieve synchronicity.


The empirical nature of distributed computing techniques used in developing Command, Control, and Communication (C/sup 3/) systems requires a comprehensive definition, implementation, and usage of metrics to ascertain how the system meets its functional and performance requirements. The additional objectives of adaptive fault-resistance and resource management need new metrics that are dynamically implementable. The authors present rationale/needs of metrics and an approach to their development and usage. This approach is based upon a framework that covers various aspects of metrics including usage across system life-cycle, metrics views across system functions and levels of abstraction, and instrumentation architecture/tools for implementation.


Inner (IHC) and outer (OHC) hair cell receptor potentials were recorded during stimulation with combinations of high-frequency (HF) tones and a 100 Hz tone burst of constant level (80 dB SPL). For frequencies at and below characteristic frequency (CF), OHC AC receptor potentials were suppressed by the 100 Hz tone at levels of the HF tone below about 70 dB SPL (the initial steep part of the AC/level function) and at levels that were frequency specific for frequencies above CF. Suppression was associated with a phase lead for frequencies at and close to the CF. For frequencies above CF, the OHC AC response was either suppressed or augmented at levels of the HF tone both below and above 70 dB SPL, depending on the frequency. The action of the 100 Hz tone on the AC response/level functions was to change nonmonotonic functions into monotonic functions or vice versa. IHC DC receptor potentials were suppressed maximally at the CF and at levels and frequencies where suppression of the OHC AC response and the appearance of the IHC DC response overlapped. For levels of the HF tone above 70 dB SPL, the amplitude of the responses of both IHCs and OHCs to the 100 Hz tone are suppressed and become more symmetrical through selective attenuation of the depolarizing phase of the IHC response and the hyperpolarizing phase of the OHC response. In IHCs from insensitive preparations, the response to the 100 Hz tone is augmented in the presence of the HF tone, which may indicate a shift in the operating point of transduction. At frequencies about one-half an octave below the CF, the phase of the 100 Hz voltage response of OHCs but not IHCs is inverted for levels of the HF tone above about 90 dB SPL. It is proposed that amplitude and phase changes in the response to the HF tone due to the presence of the 100 Hz tone are the result of changes in OHC feedback processes and in the mode of movement of the interface between OHC stereocilia and tectorial membrane. The interaction between the responses to HF and 100 Hz tones indicates that feedback contributes significantly to the voltage responses of OHCs throughout the frequency response range.


The experiments described in this thesis investigated observational learning processes in C37L and C3H pure inbred mouse strains. Most of these experiments explored the modelling of actors by reactors in a 2-choice food-source discrimination situation where actors' food-source preferences were induced by electrifying one of the two food basins. The results of Experiment 1A were that with male-female mouse pairs of both strains, reactors modelled the food-source preferences of actors when in the presence of, and after exposure to, the discrimination learning of actors. The hypothesis that modelling processes were a major determinant of reactors* preferences gained support from the results both in the control groups and in Experiment 2 (concerning the role of olfactory deposits) and in Experiments 3 and 9 (influences from social facilitation processes). Also, the results of Experiment 4 suggested that ultrasonic signalling played a minor part in the social behaviour sampled in Experiment 1A. However, in the replication of Experiment 1A with male-male and female-female pairs as subjects (i.e. Experiment 1E'), modelling in reactors was far less evident. In subsequent experiments the behaviour observed in Experiment 1 was further analysed by studying modelling in two basic situations, namely, (a) where reactors were tested in the presence of trained actors, and (b) where, after exposure to actors' food-source preferences, reactors were tested in the absence of actors. The findings of Experiment 3 suggested that male-female pair reactors from both strains would model when tested in the presence of actors, but only C37E mice showed observational learning when tested in the absence of actors. The results irith 03/L like-sex pairs supported those with opposite-sex pairs (Experiment 6). Reactors' modelling, when tested either in the absence or in the presence of an actor, was further analysed in Experiments 7 and 8 respectively. It was found that the manipulation of certain variables markedly influenced reactors' modelling. These variables included: familiarity between conspecifics, aspects of approach and avoidance behaviour, food deprivation of subjects, type of screen separating subjects, and the extent of subjects' pre-test experience with the test apparatus.


This paper presents new step-up dc/dc converter topologies intended for distributed power generation systems. The topologies contain a voltage-fed quasi-Z-source inverter with continuous input current on the primary side, a single-phase isolation transformer, and a voltage doubler rectifier (VDR). To increase the power density of the converter, a three-phase auxiliary ac link (a three-phase inverter and a three-phase isolation transformer) and a three-phase VDR are proposed to be implemented. This paper describes the operation principles of the proposed topologies and analyzes the theoretical and experimental results.


ABSTRACT Undergraduate and master's students frequently conduct independent human subjects research on topics related to political violence and human rights – often, but not always, in the field. This work may involve the direct collection of data from vulnerable populations, in unstable contexts and about sensitive topics. However, despite the rich literature about research ethics, the ethics of advising, enabling and encouraging this type of student research on political violence has been largely overlooked. This article aims to (1) raise awareness about the proliferation of students engaging in human subject research on topics related to political violence and human rights; (2) discuss the risks inherent in this enterprise that are distinct from those that many faculty and doctoral students face; (3) provide suggestions about how to mitigate some of those risks, including a shift away from fieldwork-based research projects. We argue that it is a collective responsibility to require that students engage in ethical practices, including more thoughtful and creative selection of research questions, sites and populations.


Select Papyri. With an English Translation. By A. S. HUNT and C. C. EDGAR. In two volumes. I. Private Affairs. Pp. xx+452. London : Heinemann (New York : Putnam), 1932. Cloth, 10s. (leather, 12s. 6d.). IT is long since the publishers announced that Professor Hunt had undertaken a selection of non-literary papyri to be included in the Loeb Classical Library. The pleasant anticipations which this announcement evoked have now been partly satisfied by the appearance, under the names of Professor Hunt and Mr. Edgar, of the first of two volumes, which has been devoted to private documents; the second volume will contain official records. Threefourths of this volume have been assigned to the most numerous classes of private papyri, private letters and agreements (marriages, adoptions, sales, leases, etc.); there are also examples of receipts, wills, accounts, questions to oracles, Christian prayers, horoscopes and what not—the whole providing an infinitely varied picture of the private life of Egypt from the end of the fourth century B.C. to the seventh century A.D. An Introduction, Explanatory Notes, and a Glossary of Technical Terms smoothe the path of the non-expert reader to whom the volume is addressed, and the sources of the documents are collected in an index at the end. Praise of the judgment shown in the selection of the documents, or of their clear and flawless presentation, would be impertinent. W. M. CALDER. University of Edinburgh.


The study is concerned with the development of cellulose acetate microspheres by the o/w emulsification and solvent evaporation method in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol as an emulsifying agent. The influence of process parameters such as solvent mixture (acetone + dichloromethane) composition, concentration of the emulsifying agent and speed of stirring has been examined. The microspheres have been analysed for their size, drug loading capacity and release kinetics. Spherical and smooth surfaced microspheres with encapsulation efficiencies ranging between 73-98% were obtained. Use of acetone in the oil phase drastically reduced the particle size. Slow drug release from microspheres occurred up to ~8h and the release was found to be non-Fickian. An optimization procedure was employed to investigate and identify the key parameters affecting the properties of the microspheres. A 3 3 randomized full factorial design was used in the analyses of the data. A linear model with interactive terms was generated using a multiple linear regression approach. The statistical analysis confirms the significant effect of solvent composition and concentration of emulsifying agent on the drug release characteristics.


Plakin family members envoplakin and periplakin have been shown to be part of the cornified cell envelope in terminally differentiating stratified squamous epithelia. In the present study, purified recombinant human envoplakin and periplakin were used to investigate their properties and interactions. We found that envoplakin was insoluble at physiological conditions in vitro, and co-assembly with periplakin was required for its solubility. Envoplakin and periplakin formed soluble complexes with equimolar stoichiometry. Chemical cross-linking revealed that the major soluble form of all periplakin constructs and of envoplakin/periplakin rod domains was a dimer, although co-assembly of the full-length proteins resulted in formation of higher order oligomers. Electron microscopy of rotary-shadowed periplakin demonstrated thin flexible molecules with an average contour length of 88 nm for the rod-plus-tail fragment, and immunolabeling EM confirmed the molecule as a parallel, in-register, dimer. Both periplakin and envoplakin/periplakin oligomers were able to bind synthetic lipid vesicles whose composition mimicked the cytoplasmic side of the plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells. This binding was dependent on anionic phospholipids and Ca2+. These findings raise the possibility that envoplakin and periplakin bind to the plasma membrane upon elevation of intracellular [Ca2+] in differentiating keratinocytes, where they serve as a scaffold for cornified cell envelope assembly.


During creating a class, several times a developer must be conscious of regularities that should be complied in order to satisfy an intended architectural design. This paper presents an approach for code recommendation, which apply concepts of frequent pattern mining to take advantage of the use of naming conventions and the organization of source code in software development. The proposal has been evaluated in projects of the organizations Apache and Eclipse. The results have shown that significant terms and regularities, in form of frequent relationships, could be mined. The approach is particular in the sense that it enables using naming patterns and package hierarchies as context for recommending code.


Background: Knowledge of the variations in the arterial supply of hand has reached a point of practical importance with the advent of microvascular surgery for revascularization, replantation and composite tissue transfers. Arterial supply of hand is derived from two anastomotic arches, formed between two main arteries of forearm i.e. radial, ulnar and their branches, in the palm. Objective: The superficial palmar arch shows variation in formation at the radial side. In the present study we have recorded its data which would help in its clinical and surgical implications. Material and Methods: In the present study we have studied the formation of superficial palmar arches and their variations in 100 cadaveric hands at Dr. D . Y. Patil Medical College, Pune and B.J. Government Medical College, Pune, India. Result and Conclusion: According to Adachi's classification the most predominant pattern obseved was of Ulnar type arch (66%). According to Coleman and Anson classification 82% showed complete (Group I) superficial palmar arches and a very low incidence (18%) of incomplete arches (Group II). This suggests that collateral circulation is present in majority of cases. This would result in least number of complications considering radial artery harvesting for coronary bypass. Sub-classification of arches according to Coleman and Anson 1961 indicates that the predominant type in the present study was of Group I (Type B) which is formed entirely by Ulnar Artery (56%). Median artery and ulnar artery forming an incomplete superficial arch under Group II (Type C) having an incidence of 4% was recorded. Thus in such cases radial artery harvesting for coronary artery bypass may prove to be less fatal. This study is an effort to provide data about the formation of superficial palmar arches which has been a centre of attraction for most of the surgical procedures and injuries of the hand.


This paper considers the problem of source coding for computing functions of correlated i.i.d. random sources. The approach of combining standard and linear random coding for this problem was first introduced by Ahlswede and Han, in the special case of computing the modulo-two sum. In this paper, making use of an adapted version of that method, we generalize their result to more sophisticated scenarios, where the functions to be computed are polynomial functions. Since all discrete functions are fundamentally restrictions of polynomial functions, our results are universally applied.


Cloud computing is a dominant trend in computing for the foreseeable future; e.g., major cloud operators are now estimated to house over a million machines each and to host substantial (and growing) fractions of our IT and web infrastructure. CCSW is a forum for bringing together researchers and practitioners to discuss the implications of this trend to the security of cloud operators, tenants, and the larger Internet community. CCSW welcomes submissions on new threats, countermeasures, and opportunities brought about by the move to cloud computing, with a preference for unconventional approaches, as well as measurement studies and case studies that shed light on the security implications of clouds.


Emotional intelligence plays an important role in motivating a person to commit to a job. A person's attitude while carrying out work makes emotional intelligence directed towards good productivity in the organization. This situation is also a major issue among vocational college teachers in Malaysia. There are issues where these teachers are unable to give a firm commitment to their organization due to their work attitude and emotional intelligence. This quantitative study was conducted to explore the relationship between work attitudes, organizational commitment and emotional intelligence among vocational college teachers in Malaysia. This study involved 263 respondents consisting of vocational college teachers throughout Malaysia. Analysis with Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach using Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS) software was conducted. The results of the analysis show that, there is a significant positive relationship between work attitudes, organizational commitment and emotional intelligence. Therefore, this study can be used as a guide to stakeholders in managing vocational colleges, teachers and organizations properly.


Gravid females of the common green bottle fly, Lucilia sericata Meigen (Diptera: Calliphoridae), readily locate recently deceased vertebrates as oviposition sites, particularly when these animals have been injured. We investigated semiochemical and visual cues that mediate attraction of gravid females to fresh rat carrion. Female flies were more strongly attracted to incised rat carrion than to intact carrion. They were also attracted to Porapak Q headspace volatile (HSV) extract of incised rat carrion. Analyzing aliquots of Porapak Q HSV extract by gas chromatographic‐electroantennographic detection revealed nine components [phenol, para‐ and/or meta‐cresol (could not be separated), guaiacol, dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS), phenylacetaldehyde, (E)‐2‐octenal, nonanal, and tetramethyl pyrazine] that consistently elicited responses from blow fly antennae. In laboratory experiments, a synthetic blend of these nine components was as attractive to gravid females as Porapak Q HSV extract, but blend attractiveness was due entirely to DMTS. In both laboratory and field experiments, increasing doses of DMTS attracted increasingly more flies. Coupled with DMTS, carrion‐type color cues (dark red, black) were more effective than bright color cues (white, yellow) in attracting flies. In field experiments, dark traps baited with DMTS captured a total of 214 calliphorid flies (200 L. sericata, 10 Lucilia illustris Meigen, three Calliphora vicina Robineau‐Desvoidy, one Calliphora vomitoria L.), all of which were gravid females. These results support the conclusion that DMTS and dark color represent a bimodal cue complex that signifies suitable oviposition sites to gravid calliphorid females, particularly L. sericata.


Cell-free particles from the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica contain a highly active serotonin stimulated adenylate cyclase. Serotonin (5-HT) stimulates this enzyme 25 to 30-fold over basal activity to activities of 0.80 ± 0.10 nmoles/min·mg protein. Histamine, dopamine, octopamine, epinephrine, and carbachol failed to activate this adenylate cyclase. The kinetics of activation by 5-HT showed apparent negative cooperativity with a Hill coefficient of 0.7. The lower apparent affinity half-maximal activation by 5-HT occurred at 2.1 ± 0.3 µM. Any substitutions on the 5-HT molecule reduced apparent affinity and degree of activation. Apparent affinity and intrinsic activity of indoleamines decreased with decreasing structural similarity to 5-HT. All indoleamines tested compete for the serotonin receptor. Derivatives of lysergic acid also activate this adenylate cyclase, with very high apparent affinity. D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was the most potent derivative activating maximally about 25% of 5-HT stimulated activity. Half-maximal activation by D-LSD occurred at 40 nM. Activation by LSD was totally stereospecific, with the L-isomer inactive even at 1 mM. Both D- and L-LSD antagonized 5-HT stimulation, but the L-isomer had a 500-fold decreased affinity. 2-bromo LSD (BOL) competitively antagonized 5-HT activation as shown by Schild analysis. BOL also directly inhibited basal (nonactivated) adenylate cyclase. The direct inhibition and antagonism of 5-HT by BOL both involved a single population of receptor sites with the same inhibition constant. This result suggests that BOL inhibits adenylate cyclase by interacting with the 5-HT site and that BOL has a "negative" efficacy for this receptor. The evidence supports a single class of adenylate cyclase regulated only by serotonin receptors.


We study the characteristic polynomials of both the Gaussian Orthogonal and Symplectic Ensembles. We show that for both ensembles, powers of absolute value of the characteristic polynomials converge in law to Gaussian multiplicative chaos measures after normalization, for sufficiently small real powers. The main tool is a new asymptotic relation between fractional moments of the absolute value of the characteristic polynomials of Gaussian Orthogonal, Unitary, and Symplectic Ensembles.


Nationwide, people generate over 34 million tons of food waste annually, with most all of this organic waste going to landfills. Given the mass of food waste generated, cities and other planners need to understand the relative economic and environmental costs and benefits of different food waste management methods, including the management of food waste through the co-digestion of these organics in anaerobic digesters followed by the co-generation of renewable heat and power by wastewater facilities.

The purpose of this research was to estimate economic and environmental costs and benefits of different food waste management alternatives not tailored to a specific location. Every effort was made to generalize and simplify the assumptions used in this report to serve as a comparative study and provide some general guidance regarding the sustainable food waste management alternatives. Because of its general nature, the content of this report should be seen as a stepping stone or template for site-specific studies.

This title belongs to WERF Research Report Series .

ISBN: 9781780403854 (Print)

ISBN: 9781780401287 (eBook)


Worldwide, there are an estimated 2.3 billion people living in water-scarce and stressed areas. The water in these areas may contain harmful pathogens, such as bacteria, that can have a negative effect on human health. Poor sanitation, lack of hygiene, contaminated water sources, and the overall poor quality of drinking water leads to disease and death amongst people of all ages in underdeveloped and developing countries. In order to better the health of these communities and the quality of water, affordable water treatment technologies that can reduce harmful contamination to potable water standards must continue to be developed. The purpose of this study is to review the currently available techniques, such as solar water disinfection (SODIS), chlorination, ceramic and biosand water filtration and slow sand filtration, that can be utilized in developing countries. A number of peer-reviewed journal articles were reviewed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each of water treatment technologies. This process is based on the quality/efficiency of the treatment process, the availability/accessibility of the treatment as well as its overall effectiveness. Based on our study, SODIS had the most positive impacts however, membrane filtration shows a potential to become the preferred water treatment method in the future. Affordable and effective water treatment is a vital step towards reducing morbidity, as well as reducing health complications for the present and the future in developing countries.


Too much research in marketing focuses on narrow methodological issues and esoteric phenomena detached from the reality of the business world. The critique is frequently advanced by both scholars and practitioners that the marketing discipline has developed in an incremental manner without challenging or de-constructing its established, underlying concepts and assumptions. As MacInnis (2011) observes, "empirical advances (in methods, statistics) and empirically focused PhD coursework have outpaced conceptual advances and courses. Empirical methods are essential, but unless they are accompanied by good and interesting ideas, their value diminishes" (p. 151). As discussed by other authors throughout this book, the Nordic School of marketing thought has, in the spirit of free enquiry, offered research characterised by theory generation, inductive reasoning and case-study method. While conceptually novel and innovative, it has been firmly anchored in the reality of the business world. For example, managerially relevant phenomena have been addressed through in-depth case studies and action research, helping to generate managerial insight and clarify the complexity and ambiguity of the world around us. From my point of view as business marketing researcher, the Nordic School's perspective on marketing is intellectually interesting, rhetorically appealing, and managerially applicable. In this short piece, I hope to share my thoughts about its relevance to business marketing, its methodological and philosophical position, and how it might help to increase marketing impact.


The papers included in these proceedings treat a wide range of technical topics related to long span roof structures including new structural concepts, structural stability, the effects of snow loading, wind-structure interaction and advanced nonlinear dynamic analysis. Also discussed are the state of engineering design, construction industry practices, and the relationship of architects to engineers, as they relate to building safe long span roofs.


We previously demonstrated an immune-inflammatory response associated with increased expression of interleukin (IL)-1 beta and fibronectin in graft coronary arteriopathy in piglets following heterotopic heart transplant. Further studies showed that increased endogenously produced IL-1 beta was upregulating fibronectin production by donor coronary artery (CA) smooth muscle cells (SMC). Since co-induction of IL-1 beta and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha has been shown in other systems, we investigated the possible interaction between these cytokines in regulating fibronectin production in CA SMC. First, we documented increased TNF-alpha expression in vivo in donor compared to host CA. Next, synthesis of fibronectin was measured in host and donor CA SMC following [35S]-methionine radiolabeling and gelatin-sepharose extraction. As previously shown with IL-1 beta, increased donor CA SMC fibronectin synthesis was reduced to host levels in the presence of TNF-alpha antibodies, and exogenous TNF-alpha upregulated fibronectin synthesis in host CA SMC to levels in donor cells. In normal CA SMC, TNF-alpha-stimulated fibronectin production was downregulated to or below control levels in the presence of IL-1 beta antibodies. Likewise, IL-1 beta-stimulated fibronectin synthesis was downregulated to control levels when TNF-alpha neutralizing antibodies were added. Combining TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta enhanced fibronectin production over that observed with either cytokine alone, but was not additive. Thus, our studies suggest that vascular SMC fibronectin synthesis is regulated by reciprocal induction of IL-1 beta and TNF-alpha activity and provide the first demonstration of a 'cytokine loop' modulating matrix production.


The entire genome of a thermophilic unicellular cyanobacterium, Thermosynechococcus elongatus BP-1, was sequenced. The genome consisted of a circular chromosome 2,593,857 bp long, and no plasmid was detected. A total of 2475 potential protein-encoding genes, one set of rRNA genes, 42 tRNA genes representing 42 tRNA species and 4 genes for small structural RNAs were assigned to the chromosome by similarity search and computer prediction. The translated products of 56% of the potential protein-encoding genes showed sequence similarity to experimentally identified and predicted proteins of known function, and the products of 34% of these genes showed sequence similarity to the translated products of hypothetical genes. The remaining 10% lacked significant similarity to genes for predicted proteins in the public DNA databases. Sixty-three percent of the T. elongatus genes showed significant sequence similarity to those of both Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 and Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, while 22% of the genes were unique to this species, indicating a high degree of divergence of the gene information among cyanobacterial strains. The lack of genes for typical fatty acid desaturases and the presence of more genes for heat-shock proteins in comparison with other mesophilic cyanobacteria may be genomic features of thermophilic strains. A remarkable feature of the genome is the presence of 28 copies of group II introns, 8 of which contained a presumptive gene for maturase/reverse transcriptase. A trace of genome rearrangement mediated by the group II introns was also observed.


Microcode provides an abstraction layer over the instruction set to decompose complex instructions into simpler micro-operations that can be more easily implemented in hardware. It is an essential optimization to simplify the design of x86 processors. However, introducing an additional layer of software beneath the instruction set poses security and reliability concerns. The microcode details are confidential to the manufacturers, preventing independent auditing or customization of the microcode. Moreover, microcode patches are signed and encrypted to prevent unauthorized patching and reverse engineering. However, recent research has recovered decrypted microcode and reverse-engineered read/write debug mechanisms on Intel Goldmont (Atom), making analysis and customization of microcode possible on a modern Intel microarchitecture. In this work, we present the first framework for static and dynamic analysis of Intel microcode. Building upon prior research, we reverse-engineer Goldmont microcode semantics and reconstruct the patching primitives for microcode customization. For static analysis, we implement a Ghidra processor module for decompilation and analysis of decrypted microcode. For dynamic analysis, we create a UEFI application that can trace and patch microcode to provide complete microcode control on Goldmont systems. Leveraging our framework, we reverse-engineer the confidential Intel microcode update algorithm and perform the first security analysis of its design and implementation. In three further case studies, we illustrate the potential security and performance benefits of microcode customization. We provide the first x86 Pointer Authentication Code (PAC) microcode implementation and its security evaluation, design and implement fast software breakpoints that are more than 1000x faster than standard breakpoints, and present constant-time microcode division, illustrating the potential security and performance benefits of microcode customization.


This paper aims to provide concise analysis of the main systems which are currently used for paying for health care services in developing and transitional countries. The goal is to give a clear framework for Oxfam and other NGO staff of the main features of health financing systems, and what issues to consider in different contexts. Lessons will be drawn from examples. Given the variety of settings, however, it will not be possible to make definitive recommendations of 'best systems' – only to highlight learning to date.

Health financing will be discussed here mainly in terms of raising revenue, with only brief treatment given to how that revenue is spent (which leads into a number of important but separate topics, such as purchasing, organisation of services, priority setting, and payment systems. All of these have important implications for health service goals, and are linked to, but different from, fund-raising issues).


Organizations are complex entities, in which employees work with their hands, associating to this type of work a various quantity of physical effort (manual work); the same employees working with their intellect (intellectual work), the intellectual effort ranging this time also, according to the specific job requirements. This specific activity can be easily assessed in terms of number, frequency, intensity, tasks repetition (job description) and in terms of psycho-physical and psycho-social abilities (job specification). Work in an organization takes a third form.; emotional work/emotional labor: emotional labor reflects the management of emotions. This happens through mental effort, sometimes consciously, sometimes not, and its purpose is the change of personal feelings or emotions, so that these are in accordance with the "emotional rules" established by the formal group's norms, having a higher or lower intensity, on a shorter or longer period, instantly or slowly. Identity confusion, socio-professional stress, professional dissatisfaction, organizational silence are just a few of the negative effects of emotional labor, respectively of the discrepancy between the required emotion and the emotion experienced in reality by the employees of a large number of organizations.


This article reports the findings of a comparative study of teaching in Denmark and England. Its broader aim is to help develop an approach for comparing pedagogy. Lesson observations and interviews identified the range of goals towards which teachers in each country worked and the actions these prompted. These were clustered using the lens of Bernstein's pedagogic discourse to construct teacher roles, which provided a view of pedagogy. Through this approach we have begun to identify variations in pedagogy across two countries. All teachers in this study adopted a variety of roles. Of significance was the ease with which competent English teachers moved between roles. The English teachers observed adopted roles consistent with a wider techno-rationalist discourse. There was a greater subject emphasis by Danish teachers, whose work was set predominantly within a democratic humanist discourse, whilst the English teachers placed a greater emphasis on applied skills.


1 The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used in combination with plaque hybridization analysis to clone four variants of the EP3 prostaglandin receptor from a human small intestine cDNA library. 2 Three of these variants, i.e. the EP3A, EP3E and EP3D, share the same primary amino acid sequence except for their carboxyl termini, which diverge from one another at the same point, approximately 10 amino acids away from the end of the seventh membrane spanning domain of the receptor. The fourth variant (EP3A1) has a nucleotide coding sequence identical to EP3A but has a completely different 3′;untranslated sequence. 3 The carboxyl termini of the three isoforms differ most obviously in length with the EP3A being the longest (41 amino acids) and the EP3E being the shortest (16 amino acids). They also differ in content with the EP3A containing 9 serine and threonines in its carboxyl terminus and the EP3E none. 4 Transient expression in eukaryotic cells showed that the human EP3 receptor variants had similar but not identical radioligand binding properties and differed in their functional coupling to second messenger pathways. Up to 3 pmol mg−1 protein of [3H]‐prostaglandin E2 binding could be obtained with more than 95% specific binding. Using a reporter gene assay, as a measure of intracellular cyclic AMP levels, the EP3A coupled more efficiently to the inhibition of adenylyl cyclase than did the EP3E. 5 PCR was used to confirm the presence of mRNAs encoding the four human EP3 receptor variants in tissues of the human small intestine, heart and pancreas. These findings indicate that the EP3 receptor variants identified here are likely to be expressed in tissues. The differences in the carboxyl termini at the protein level, and in the 3′ untranslated regions at the mRNA level, could be profound in terms of the regulation and functional coupling of these receptor isoforms.


The theory of psychological reactance proposes that when behavioral freedoms are threatened with elimination or reduction, individuals will be motivated to protect or restore their sense of freedom (J. W. Brehm, 1966; S. S. Brehm & Brehm, 1981). Attempts to restrict an individual's freedom often produce a reactive "boomerang effect," that is, an increase in the restricted behavior (S. S. Brehm & Brehm, 1981). In addition to directly engaging in the prohibited behavior, reactance can be expressed by observing others engaging in the behavior, by engaging in related behavior, or by engaging in aggression against the prohibitor (Dowd, 1999). Whereas psychological reactance was originally theorized to be a social psychological, situation-specific construct, recent studies have shown individual differences in the tendency to be reactant (Buboltz & Woller, 1997; Buboltz, Woller, & Pepper, 1999). In other words, people with certain personality characteristics seem to exhibit a greater tendency to be reactant in relation to their freedoms being restricted than do others. For example, high levels of reactance have been associated with paranoid, borderline, sadistic, and antisocial personality patterns (Huck, 1998). Highly reactant individuals also experience higher levels of stress and tend to use coping styles designed to relieve the emotional impact of stress (Palmentera, 1996). In summarizing the results of several studies (i.e., Dowd & Wallbrown, 1993; Dowd, Wallbrown, Sanders, & Yesenosky, 1994), Dowd (1999) stated that reactant people tend to be autonomous, dominant, lacking in self-control, not particularly tolerant, not particularly interested in making a good impression, and not seeking to care for others or to be cared for by others. In addition to being related to certain personality characteristics, psychological reactance has been posited as a client variable mediating the process and outcome of counseling (Dowd, 1999; Dowd et al., 1988; Dowd, Milne, & Wise, 1991; Dowd & Seibel, 1990; Horvath & Goheen, 1990; Tracey, Ellickson, & Sherry, 1989). In particular, it has been hypothesized that highly reactant individuals would be difficult to handle in counseling; that is, they would be more likely to miss sessions, to be late for sessions, to be less satisfied with their counselor, to resist counselor directives, and to react strongly to perceived threats to their freedom (Dowd, 1999). Although not conclusive, research seems to support the notion that highly reactant individuals are challenging as clients. High levels of reactance, for example, have been associated with a greater number of "no shows" at counseling sessions (Morgan, 1986), higher levels of symptom severity (Bischoff, 1997), and more resistance to following counselor directives (Bischoff, 1997). Reactant individuals have also been found to view their counselors less favorably and to receive more negative ratings of global improvement from their counselors (March, 1993; Seibel & Dowd, 1999). Thus, psychological reactance seems to play a role in the therapeutic process and may be an important variable for counselors to consider. Dowd and Seibel (1990) proposed a theory of the etiology of reactance that focuses on the importance of parenting skills (i.e., consistency, unconditional acceptance, and support of separation and autonomy) in developing an optimal level of reactance in children, which is theorized to foster healthy identity development. Dowd and Seibel defined an optimal level of reactance as autonomy and a separate sense of self without excessive reactivity. Autonomy from primary caretakers is necessary for healthy identity development; however, reactive expression of autonomy is ineffective in developing a true identity. Thus, children need to be supported in their efforts at developing autonomy and, at the same time, to be given the reassurance of a secure base in order to develop an optimal level of reactance, which fosters flexible autonomy and healthy identity development. …


Objective Patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) and atrial fibrillation (AF) can be treated with multiple antithrombotic therapies including antiplatelet and anticoagulant therapies; however, this has the potential to increase bleeding risk. Here, we aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of P2Y12 inhibitors and aspirin in patients also receiving anticoagulant therapy. Methods We evaluated patients from the Atrial Fibrillation and Ischaemic Events with Rivaroxaban in Patients with Stable Coronary Artery Disease (AFIRE) trial who received rivaroxaban plus an antiplatelet agent; the choice of antiplatelet agent was left to the physician's discretion. The primary efficacy and safety end points, consistent with those of the AFIRE trial, were compared between P2Y12 inhibitors and aspirin groups. The primary efficacy end point was a composite of stroke, systemic embolism, myocardial infarction, unstable angina requiring revascularisation or death from any cause. The primary safety end point was major bleeding according to the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis criteria. Results A total of 1075 patients were included (P2Y12 inhibitor group, n=297; aspirin group, n=778). Approximately 60% of patients were administered proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and there was no significant difference in PPI use in the groups. There were no significant differences in the primary end points between the groups (efficacy: HR 1.31; 95% CI 0.88 to 1.94; p=0.178; safety: HR 0.79; 95% CI 0.43 to 1.47; p=0.456). Conclusions There were no significant differences in cardiovascular and bleeding events in patients with AF and stable CAD taking rivaroxaban with P2Y12 inhibitors or aspirin in the chronic phase. Trial registration number UMIN000016612; NCT02642419.


State terrorism is a contentious topic in the field of terrorism studies. Some scholars argue that the concept of terrorism should only be applied to the behavior of nonstate actors. Others argue that certain government behaviors may be understood as terrorism if the intent of state violence and threats is to stoke fear and influence the behavior of a wider audience. Three possible conceptualizations of state terrorism are worth exploring: government sponsorship of nonstate actors' terrorism, terrorism perpetrated by government agents outside a legal framework, and "inherent" state terrorism—acts perpetrated by the state in the everyday enforcement of law and order that, if perpetrated by nonstate actors, would clearly qualify as terrorism. Each of these conceptualizations yields insight about state behavior, highlighting particular uses of violence and threats as instruments of state policy. Depending on one's conceptualization of state terrorism, common policies and functions of government possess an underlying terroristic logic. Analytical tools developed in the field of terrorism studies may be useful in helping us understand state behavior, when violence and threats appear to have a broader communicative function in influencing an audience beyond the immediate target.


Crossbars switches with input queues are the common building blocks of high-speed networks, while their speed and performance critically depend on their scheduler. In this paper we combine ideas from randomized backlog-aware schedulers, and their round-robin (RR) counterparts, to propose a practical, deterministic crossbar scheduler, that: (i) achieves almost full throughput under the many adverse traffic patterns tested, using just 1 Mbyte buffer memory per input, (ii) provides deterministic delay service guarantees, (Hi) yields low delays under both uniform and non-uniform load, and (iv) achieves these performances with a single iteration of an iSLIP-like algorithm. With simple extensions, the proposed crossbar scheduler is shown to distribute the bandwidth of congested links in a fair RR or WRR manner. In order to prove the efficiency of the new scheduling algorithm, we implemented in hardware a 32times32 scheduler, using a novel design for programmable-priority RR arbiters, that is significantly more area-speed efficient than present state-of-the- art. The scheduler's ASIC occupies roughly 3 mm2, when implemented at 130 nm, and gives a new crossbar match every 3.2 ns as needed for above hundred Gb/s line rates, and short packet lengths.


Bumblebees play a major role in global pollination. Consequently, their health is of high importance for food security worldwide. Yet, recent population estimates show that their numbers are declining. This decline has been attributed to habitat loss, infection and use of pesticides. An important factor for bee health that contributes to population survival is the gut microbiome composition. The bee gut microbiome provides protection from pathogens, is specific to the host and helps break down food. Without a balanced gut microbiome, the health of the bee is threatened through increased infection and mortality. The bee gut microbiome is relatively simple, being dominated by 8 core bacterial species providing a convenient study system. Previous published data shows that air pollution has an impact on bacterial behaviour. Therefore, our hypothesis is exposure to air pollution causes an imbalance in the bee gut microbiome. To test this, we exposed bees to black carbon (BC), a major component of air pollution particulate matter. We assessed the effects on bee behaviour, microbiome composition and gut bacteria treated in vitro. Bees treated with BC showed a significant increase in viable bacterial cells in their faecal community. Independent culture of gut commensals showed that BC significantly alters the structure of their biofilms, which are important for colonisation in vivo. This supports the hypothesis that air pollution can cause an imbalance in the bee gut microbiome, and may adversely influence bee health and pollinator populations.


The purpose of the article is to study the relationship of personality traits with the content of images posted in social networks. The paper attempts to identify informative features and appropriate ways to configure artificial neural networks. The developed technique includes obtaining several color-brightbased and statistical characteristics of image collections in the form of histograms and BoW dictionaries with further construction of classifiers based on artificial neural networks to test the hypothesis about the interrelation between the available graphic data of social network users and the five-factor personality model. The questionnaire, which allowed the formation of training and test samples, was carried out by employees of the Psychological Institute of RAE with the "NEO-FFI" test, which included 60 questions. The collections of images used are datasets that were published by users of the "VKontakte" social network. The problems of determining personality factors were experimentally solved by using classifying and predictive artificial neural networks. The work confirmed the prevailing opinion that there is no significant interrelation (correlation) between placed images and "Big Five" personal factors. With the help of published images, the factors "Openness" and "Agreeableness" are predicted best, worst of all – "Neuroticism". The results of forecasting personality recognition traits improve as the number of layers of neural networks grows, up to overtraining moment.


ABSTRACT The Marathon 1 Mesquite well was drilled in Hamilton County, Texas, targeting the Barnett Shale with late oil window maturity. Combining a large suite of petrologic and high-resolution organic geochemical analyses on 120 core samples, we have been able to document qualitatively and quantitatively the effects of petroleum retention within and expulsion from five intervals within the Barnett Shale. Lithological heterogeneities control the composition and amount of retained fluids; the sorption of oil by solid organic matter is important in all intervals. Applying empirical formulas, we have been able to demonstrate not only that retention is primarily controlled by total organic carbon (TOC), but also that the "live" or "labile" component, rather than "dead" or "inert" carbon, constitutes the most active sorptive sites. Additional retention in the micropores provided by biogenic microcrystalline quartz (sponge spicules) accounts for the sweet spot defined by an "oil crossover" in the 9.14-m (30-ft) thick second interval. The fluorescing oil occurring in the axial chamber of the sponge spicules and that sorbed on organic particles are together enriched in saturated hydrocarbons, whereas the dispersed oil from the adjacent interval 3 is depleted in this compound class. Mass-balance calculations reveal that short-distance migration of petroleum into this "reservoir" interval (second) fractionates the generated oil into a higher quality oil by preferential retention in the order polar compounds > aromatic hydrocarbons > saturated hydrocarbons within the underlying organic matter and clay-rich third interval (source unit). Furthermore, molecular fractionation, i.e., a preferential expulsion of lower molecular weight hydrocarbons (n-alkanes) could be calculated. An additional practical result for source rock assessment is that corrected S2 (petroleum generated by pyrolysis) and TOC values should be calculated by combining Rock-Eval pyrolysis data on whole rocks and rocks following Soxhlet extraction. Using parameters based on unextracted rock only, the expulsion of petroleum is systematically overestimated and the degree of kerogen conversion is, therefore, concomitantly underestimated.


Much research in developmental psychology and cognitive development presumes a universal developmental trend that is independent of culture. One such trend, from object to relational knowledge, is seen over and over. However, most of this research is based on the study of children and individuals from Western cultures. This paper considers the possibility that this developmental trend might differ in different cultures.


Most cases of mycobacterial lymphadenitis in children are caused by non-tuberculous mycobacteria, previously called the atypical mycobacteria. It is important to differentiate non-tuberculous mycobacterial lymphadenitis from tuberculous lymphadenitis as the treatment is different. We reviewed 19 children (12 girls and seven boys) with non-tuberculous mycobacterial lymphadenitis to define likely presenting features, helpful diagnostic measurements, and optimum management. Mean age at diagnosis was 5.2 years. Most had no systemic upset and clear chest x ray films. Cervical nodes were the commonest affected, and enlargement was usually unilateral. Mean duration of swelling was 6.6 weeks, and 63% of the nodes had an appearance suggestive of cold abscess. Routine haematology was unhelpful, and standard tuberculin testing performed in 47% yielded negative results in two thirds. Differential Mantoux testing with human purified protein derivative and an avium-intracellular antigen may be more useful. Antituberculous drugs were ineffective. The organism was usually highly resistant. Total excision is the treatment of choice. Antituberculous drugs are unnecessary.


Catabolism of brassinosteroids regulates the endogenous level of bioactive brassinosteroids. In Arabidopsis thaliana, bioactive brassinosteroids such as castasterone (CS) and brassinolide (BL) are inactivated mainly by two cytochrome P450 monooxygenases, CYP734A1/BAS1 and CYP72C1/SOB7/CHI2/SHK1; CYP734A1/BAS1 inactivates CS and BL by means of C-26 hydroxylation. Here, we characterized CYP734A orthologs from Oryza sativa (rice). Overexpression of rice CYP734As in transgenic rice gave typical brassinosteroid-deficient phenotypes. These transformants were deficient in both the bioactive CS and its precursors downstream of the C-22 hydroxylation step. Consistent with this result, recombinant rice CYP734As utilized a range of C-22 hydroxylated brassinosteroid intermediates as substrates. In addition, rice CYP734As can catalyze hydroxylation and the second and third oxidations to produce aldehyde and carboxylate groups at C-26 in vitro. These results indicate that rice CYP734As are multifunctional, multisubstrate enzymes that control the endogenous bioactive brassinosteroid content both by direct inactivation of CS and by the suppression of CS biosynthesis by decreasing the levels of brassinosteroid precursors.


Biometric technology and systems are modernizing identity capabilities. With maturing biometrics in full, rapid development, a higher accuracy of identity verification is required. An improvement to the security of biometric-based verification systems is provided through higher accuracy; ultimately reducing fraud, theft, and loss of resources from unauthorized personnel. With trivial biometric systems, a higher acceptance threshold to obtain higher accuracy rates increase false rejection rates and user unacceptability. However, maintaining the higher accuracy rate enhances the security of the system. An area of biometrics with a paucity of research is template aging and renewal prediction, specifically in regards to facial aging. Through the methods presented in this research, higher accuracy rates are obtained without lowering the acceptance threshold, therefore improving the security level, false rejection rates, and user acceptability. As a proof of concept, this research develops a biometric template aging and renewal prediction framework currently absent in the biometric literature. The innovative framework is called the Carls Template Aging and Renewal Prediction Framework (CTARP Framework). The research integrates a diversity of disparate developments to provide a critical fundamental framework of significant advancement in the biometrics body of knowledge. This research presents the CTARP Framework, a novel foundational framework for methods of modeling and predicting template aging and renewal prediction based on matching score analysis. The groundwork discusses new techniques used in the template aging and renewal prediction framework, to include "perfect match score matrix", "error score matrix", and "decay error estimate" concepts. The matching scores are calculated using commercially available facial matching algorithms/SDKs against publicly available facial databases. Improving performance error rates over biometric authentication systems without a template aging and renewal prediction process is accomplished with the new CTARP framework while maintaining or improving upon the overall matching and/or rejection levels. Using such scores, timeframe predictions of when an individual needs to be renewed with a new template is feasible.


For the last several decades the field of cancer genetics has really been two fields. Medical geneticists and genetic counselors use the term to describe inherited susceptibility to cancer and the identification of constitutional mutations, which convey this risk. Alternatively, many pathologists, oncologists and molecular biologists use the term to describe the multitude of genetic changes that occur in the tumor cell itself. Even among the American Board of Medical Genetics laboratory specialties, molecular diagnosticians have focused on inherited mutations, e.g. sequencing DNA from blood for tumor suppressor gene mutations whereas cytogeneticists and molecular pathologists characterize translocations, copy number changes and specific oncogenic missense mutations in tumor specimens.

This dichotomy is breaking down. Like most things in cancer genetics one can always start with retinoblastoma. The determination as to whether a patient with unilateral retinoblastoma has the hereditary form is founded on analysis of the tumor specimen to identify both RB1 inactivating events.1 This information is then used to inform analysis of the blood, e.g. if the RB1 promoter undergoes biallelic methylation then analysis of the blood isn't indicated. The wealth of data from the Tumor Genome Anatomy project (TCGA) analysis of glioblastoma reveals that somatic mutations in susceptibility genes like RB1 are more frequent than first realized.2 As next generation sequencing becomes increasingly available practitioners of all types will need to consider both the constitutional and cancer genome when making clinical decisions. Described here are some examples of how medical geneticists are beginning to incorporate cancer genome data into clinical practice.

Analysis of relatively rare gastrointestinal tumors demonstrates the interaction between genes in the same signaling pathway. Molecular pathologists have demonstrated that a substantial portion of both hepatoblastoma and desmoid tumors contain mutations that impact WNT signaling.3 In the majority of cases these mutations are specific exon 3 missense mutations in the CTNNB1 gene encoding β-CATENIN.4 In contrast, work on hereditary tumors has demonstrated that a subset of patients with these tumors (perhaps 10-15%) harbor germline mutations in the APC gene even if other clinical features of FAP are not yet evident.5 Thus, diagnostic sequencing of the blood for mutations in APC has been recommended in all children with these tumors.5 APC and β-CATENIN proteins function in the same pathway where APC regulates the availability of β-CATENIN. More recently an inverse relationship between somatic CTNNB1 mutation and constitutional APC mutation in desmoid and hepatoblastoma tumors has been established.4;6 If the tumor contains a somatic mutation in CTNNB1 then constitutional APC mutations aren't found. So now when I'm a referred a child with one of these tumors my first question is what did the molecular pathology of the tumor show? If one of the recurrent CTNNB1 missense somatic mutations is found then the much more expensive comprehensive analysis of APC from the blood is generally not indicated. There are many other examples of a given tumor type requiring only one event for pathway disruption. Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia can result from inheriting a mutation in the NF1 or CBL gene or somatic mutation of the RAS signaling pathway including mutations in the PTPN11, NRAS, KRAS or ASXL1 genes.7 Large-scale genome analysis of glioblastomas demonstrate that for a given signaling pathway brain tumors contain a variety of different mutational hits but any given tumor contains on average one event that disrupts the pathway.2 Thus, we need to think about analysis of key signaling pathways involved in tumor development and distinguish when the initial lesion is an inherited mutation or results from a somatic event.

Colon cancer is one of the best examples of where population-based molecular analysis of all tumors has been initiated by geneticists, oncologists, gastroeneterologists and pathologists based on knowledge of Lynch syndrome (hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer) and the microsatellite instability (MIN) that results from defects in mismatch repair (MMR) genes. The presence of MIN or the lack of expression of one of the MMR genes detected by immunohistochemistry (IHC) is used to decide upon further molecular analyses and whether germline testing is required.8 But colon cancer also demonstrates inverse relationships between germline and somatic mutations that can't be easily understood by simple pathway analysis. About 40% of MIN tumors harbor specific missense mutations in the BRAF oncogene.9;10 For reasons that are not clearly understood, tumors with somatic BRAF mutations almost never derive from patients with Lynch syndrome. BRAF mutations are seen in tumors with somatic methylation of MLH1 and the BRAF mutation may be an early event that is associated with abnormal methylation of multiple genes in the tumor.11 Therefore, current recommendations for molecular diagnosis of colon cancer include MIN or IHC analysis combined with BRAF mutation status to decide whether susceptibility testing is indicated. Thus the results of the tumor analysis impact prognosis and treatment decisions (e.g. 5-fluoruracil is less effective in MIN patients) while the results of germline testing impact cancer surveillance for the patient and identification of at-risk family members.11;12

Clearly, we are entering the era of comprehensive molecular analysis. This includes examining tumors for sequence changes, abnormal methylation, rearrangement (translocations and fusions) and copy number changes. The ALK proto-oncogene is an example of a single gene that undergoes multiple different mechanisms of activation in both the germline and somatically in tumors that range from neuroblastoma to lung cancer.13 Increasingly sophisticated analysis of the tumor genome will improve prediction of inherited susceptibility and will aid in distinguishing which rare constitutional variants are clinically relevant. To speed progress there needs to be better communication among the range of practitioners and researchers working on this problem such that the term "cancer genetics" has one definition.


We show how it is possible to make a self-reproducing cell in an artificial chemistry by surrounding a replicating molecule with a semi-permeable membrane. The molecule can carry an arbitrary amount of information, encoded in a material form as a sequence of bases, as in DNA. The cells produce enzymes through a decoding of their base sequence, and these enzymes trigger reactions essential to the cell's survival. Earlier work in a similar artificial chemistry showed that replicators free in solution could obtain no survival advantage from producing enzymes; here we show that when surrounded by a membrane the replicators can obtain an advantage. We show that the cells reliably reproduce over many generations under environmental pressure for resources. By creating cells in a material-based artificial chemistry we hope that the system might have the potential for open-ended, creative evolution.


Interspecific variations in rhabdom structure between various oplophorid shrimps are described and the differences are related to the light environment at different depths within the mesopelagic zone. The ultrastructure of the distal rhabdom in these species is described for the first time. Quantitative measurements show that the proportion of the rhabdom layer occupied by the distal rhabdom varies from 3.5–25% in the dorsoventral plane of the eye of Systellaspis debilis. The distal rhabdom occupies less than 1% of the rhabdoms in the eye of Acanthephyra pelagica, where it can only be seen by using the electron microscope. It is suggested that the rhabdoms of those species that remain within the photic zone (such as S. debilis) are adapted to maximize contrast, whereas in those whose depth ranges extend into the aphotic zone (such as A. pelagica) they are adapted for maximum sensitivity. J. Morphol. 257:87–95, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Multifunctional acrylates have found utility as effective anti-reversion agents in sulfur-cured applications where overcure or high-temperature cure conditions exist. In this paper, a new multifunctional acrylate product is evaluated in sulfur vulcanization systems prone to the greatest amount of reversion. Sartomer SR534 is a proprietary blend of multifunctional acrylates on a silica carrier which can provide excellent reversion resistance while minimizing the impact on optimally cured physical properties. Reversion resistance and cured physical properties of conventional and semiefficient cure systems in natural rubber/carbon black vulcanizates are compared to other commercial products and efficient vulcanization systems. Torque rheometry is used to predict the efficiency of anti-reversion agents on preventing reversion in overcure or high-temperature cure conditions. Physical properties of optimally cured and overcured vulcanizates are provided, demonstrating the utility of anti-reversion agents. Further, flexural fatigue testing at elevated temperatures is used to differentiate the compounds with and without anti-reversion agents in simulated inservice conditions. The data provided suggests that SR534 is capable of forming additional, heat-stable crosslinks preferentially during overcure conditions which would typically result in reversion.


In recent years, opening up the innovation process has increasingly gained the attention in theory and practice. Previous studies have focused on studying the influence of open innovation mainly on the firm´s economic-financial and innovation performance. Despite all the attention given to open innovation effects, few studies have investigated its role in developing more sustainable organizations in different dimensions. This study aims to fill this gap by studying the sustainability performance operationalized with energy efficiency in the context of energy-intensive sectors such as foundries. Using the information collected from 30 small- and medium-sized firms in Italy, this paper analyses the relationship between Open Innovation practices and three indicators of energy efficiency: specific energy consumption, adoption rate of energy-efficient technologies and barriers to energy efficiency. The study confirms the value of internal R&D and inbound open innovation for firms to be energy efficient, while outbound open innovation is not a common and, therefore, relevant practice. Taken together, the findings suggest that firms in these sectors can and should use open innovation practices to increase their overall sustainable performance while on parallel influencing other performance dimensions. The findings of this exploratory study suggest several courses of action for policy makers and managers.


Abstract The results obtained following administration of the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale, Form A (Hollon & Kendall, 1980) to a Romanian sample are, on the whole, consistent with those obtained in earlier normative studies involving American samples. The scale was administered to a group of 701 adults and teenagers selected from the normal population. Internal consistency coefficients (Alpha Cronbach) ranged from .79 to .86, which are adequate for reporting reliable results. A pilot study examining validity revealed the DAS-A discriminated between groups with extreme scores on different measures of emotional distress. Norms for the Romanian version of the scale are also included. Key words: CBT, dysfunctional attitudes, reliability, validity, norms for the Romanian population. INTRODUCTION According to DSM IV (2000), clinically depressed people experience extreme feelings of sadness and feel hopeless and helpless weeks on end. Most of the time, they loose interest in the activities they once enjoyed, and have problems sleeping and eating. Many of the persons affected by depression have difficulties concentrating and solving even the simplest of life problems and spend much time contemplating suicide and death. In the severe cases, elaborate plans are made to end one's life. These symptoms are known to cause major adjustment difficulties that frequently end in life termination. Among the most efficient methods of treating clinical depression are the cognitive-behavior interventions. The central element that differentiates cognitive-behavior therapies from other psychotherapeutic approaches is the cognitive conceptualization of mental problems. A cognitive conceptualization provides the framework for understanding how the patient's problem developed and is maintained. Cognitive-behavior therapy is based on the cognitive model, which assumes that people's emotions are caused mainly by the way they interpret and think about life events (Ellis, 1994; Beck, 1995). Aaron Beck's perspective on clinical depression (Beck, 1967; Beck, Rush, Emery, & Shaw, 1979) is based on the assumption that depressive people hold negatively biased cognitive schemas that filter out positive information, while favoring negative data. A cognitive schema is a knowledge structure that interacts with newer data entries, selectively orienting attention, expectations, memory retrievals and interpretations (Williams, Watts, MacLeod, & Mathews, 1997). Cognitive schemas develop in time, drawing on personal experience and guiding the interpretation of ambiguous situations, as well as the memory encoding and retrieval of emotion-laden information (Williams et al., 1997). While schemas are cognitive structures within the mind, core beliefs are the specific contents of them (Beck, 1964). According to the cognitive theory of depression (Beck et al., 1979), depressive schemas and core beliefs represent cognitive vulnerability and are activated by negative life events; once activated, they lead to the generation of negative automatic thoughts. Depressed people harbour negative thoughts about self, world and future, this cognitive triad underlying specific depressive symptoms (Beck, 1967, 1976, 1987). Once activated, dysfunctional schemas and core beliefs produce systematic errors in thinking. Among the most frequent (Beck, 1995): (1) "All or nothing thinking"- the tendency to view a situation in only two categories, instead of on a continuum; absolutistic thinking. (2) Arbitrary inference - the tendency to draw negative conclusions in the absence of supporting evidence. (3) Selective abstraction - the tendency to pay attention to one negative detail, instead of seeing the big picture. (4) Magnification/minimization - the tendency to unreasonably magnify the negative and/or minimize the positive when evaluating one's self, another person or a situation. (5) Labeling - the tendency to evaluate oneself or another person globally, ignoring evidence that might support a less extreme conclusion. …


Objective: Cancer cachexia is defined as: a 'multifactorial syndrome', and it has been suggested that a multitargeted approach is required in its management. High prevalence is seen within non-small cell lung cancer, and patients may continue to experience cachexia post end of anti-cancer treatment, and in the late/end stage.Material and Methods: Participants who had completed week 20/End of Trial visit in the main Auckland's Cancer Cachexia evaluating Resistance Training (ACCeRT) study were invited to continue with treatment under compassionate use. Participants could continue with 2.09 g of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), 300 mg COX-2 inhibitor (celecoxib), once daily; plus two sessions per week of progressive resistance training (PRT), and 20 g oral essential amino acids (EAA); high in leucine, in a split dose over three days post each session. Data was collected on the acceptability, compliance and adherence to medication/PRT sessions. Secondary endpoints included: change in body weight and fat free mass, handgrip and leg strength, the Functional Assessment of Anorexia/Cachexia Therapy, Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory-Short Form, World Health Organization Quality of Life — BREF, Glasgow prognostic score, and pro-inflammatory cytokines.Results: All six participants, who completed the main ACCeRT study, opted to continue with compassionate use. Acceptability remained high, with overall compliance to last study/PRT visit of 81.0% for EPA, 98.8% for celecoxib, 78.9% for PRT and 77.2% for EAA. Participants continued to lose body weight and Fat-Free Mass, along with reduced albumin and increased C-Reactive protein levels. Mean time on compassionate study treatment was 78 days, and with a mean overall survival of 257 days (140 + 117).Conclusion: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cachectic patients are willing to be enrolled onto a multi-targeted treatment regimen, and may benefit from cachexia symptom management even during their late/refractory stage.


In this essay, we catalog and explain four stock images that prosecutors use most often when they describe their own duties and those of their counterparts across the aisle. Prosecutors speak frequently about "wearing the white hat," "going over to the dark side," "being a true believer," and "drinking the Kool-Aid." These images — and the narratives in which they are embedded — reveal important aspects of the prosecutors' professional self-image and their relationships with defense attorneys. In so doing, they inspire new ways of thinking about how to engage prosecutors in efforts to reform criminal justice.