This paper focuses on Tunisia, which like other developing countries, has allocated increasing levels of resources to education, particularly higher education, mainly through public funding over the past few decades. In 2005-2008, public expenditure on education amounted to around 7.4 percent of GDP, with 2 percent allocated to higher education. However, in the last few years, the budgetary constraints have increased, and are likely to remain so in the near future. These budgetary constraints exist within a context of rapidly increasing student enrollment, and the need to improve the quality of education to insure better employability of graduates. In light of this situation, public policy is obliged to define orientations and programs, improving quality and efficiency while reducing costs and resource wastage, to enhance access and equity. This paper is organized as follows: it begins with an assessment of public expenditure on higher education in Tunisia, with respect to its adequacy, efficiency and equity. Next, in section 2, we explore the challenges posed to financing by demographic evolution, the quality of education and private provision. Section 3 examines some financing reinforcement strategies, and analyzes feasible measures to raise private funding contributions. Section 4 provides some concluding remarks.


Problem gambling rates are relatively low (2%–4%), yet these gamblers experience multisystemic negative consequences, high comorbidity, and low treatment utilization. We aimed to characterize variations in gambling patterns to inform prevention and intervention efforts. Using community advertising, we recruited a diverse sample of lifetime gamblers (n = 312) for telephone interviews for a psychometric study of the newly developed Computerized-Gambling Assessment Module. Latent Class Analysis enumerated and classified gambling subgroups by distinctive gambling patterns, based on 8 composite scales functioning as validators of latent class membership (i.e., diagnostic gambling symptoms, reasons for gambling, gambling "withdrawal-like" symptoms, problem gambling perceptions, gambling venues, financial sources for gambling, gambling treatment/help-seeking, and religiosity/spirituality). Based on a distinguishing clustering pattern driven by 6 of 8 factors, we found a 6-class solution was the best-fitting solution. Gambling severity is most strongly characterized not only by symptomatology but also by the number of gambling treatment/help-seeking sources used.


The twisted plywood architecture, known as the Bouligand structure, is a ubiquitous biological and synthetic fibrous composite structure, analogous to that of cholesteric liquid crystals. Twisted plywoods can show ideal or non-ideal structures and are formed via equilibrium or non-equilibrium liquid crystal self-assembly processes. A key to the structure characterisation of plywood films is the specification of the local and global helix vector h(x) and pitch p(x) of the cholesteric order. Previous extensive work demonstrated that oblique cuts of the plywood give rise to arc-patterns that depend both on the unknown incision angle α and the unknown pitch p(x), thus making the precise 3D cholesteric reconstruction ambiguous. In this paper we present an efficient method based on geometric modelling and new visualization software that determines unambiguously the cholesteric pitch under spatially homogeneous and heterogeneous conditions. The method is applied to films that display two-pitch and spatially non-homogenous structures, as sometimes observed under equilibrium and non-equilibrium self-assembly. The method can be extended to other biological materials such as cornea-like, cylindrical, and various cuticle plywoods.


The incident energy flux impinged on the free surface of liquid layer was considered to be balanced with the latent heat in evaporation and the heat in directional conduction but neglecting convective heat transfer due to a small Peclet number at the cavity base. The quasi-steady state model was developed in this study to analyze the effect of the energy density during the penetration process and an exponential expression for penetration velocity as a function of liquid-thickness and temperature was also derived. The penetration velocity versus energy density calculated by the present model showed good agreements with the experimental data for drilling copper, which the relative errors between the calculated and the experimental data are less than 15%. By the setup of non-uniform grids distribution in numerical method, this work had successfully predicted the variation of the penetration velocity with energy density distribution. The effects of the energy density on flow rate, thickness of liquid layer, base temperature of fusion zone had also been discussed in this study.


SUMMARY: We examine the impact of PCAOB Auditing Standard No. 5 (AS5) and the economic recession on risk characteristics and degree of auditor/client misalignment in the publicly traded client portfolios of Big 4 firms. AS5 and the economic recession both likely resulted in an increase in audit firm personnel capacity as well as a decline in current and future revenue prospects, leading to concerns that the Big 4 firms may pursue clients that present greater risk to the portfolio. We find that the overall portfolio in 2009 presents greater financial risk, attributable to the impact of the recession on continuing clients. A net decrease in audit and auditor business risks is also attributable to continuing clients over this period, as increases for new clients are offset by reductions due to departing clients. Overall, the results, which should be of interest to regulators, indicate that Big 4 firms continued to balance their portfolio with risk in mind. Data Availability: Data are publicly available from ...


BACKGROUND/AIM
To evaluate the effects of oxidant/antioxidant mechanisms and levels of trace elements on trauma-stimulated moderate pulmonary contusions after vitamin E administration.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Sixty-three male Sprague Dawley rats were used. Animals were studied in 4 groups. Vitamin E (150 mg/kg) was injected intraperitoneally 30 min after trauma and on the first and second days. Blood samples were obtained for nitric oxide (NO) levels and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities. Zinc (Zn+2), copper (Cu+2), and iron (Fe+3) were measured in serum.

RESULTS
Lung contusion increased serum and tissue NO levels and SOD activities and decreased GSH-Px activities (P < 0.05). Vitamin E significantly (P < 0.05) decreased NO levels and SOD activities and increased GSH-Px. Serum Zn+2, Cu+2, and Fe+3 levels were statistically significantly influenced by the administration of vitamin E (P < 0.05). Group 4 had lower scores compared to Group 3 (P < 0.05) and no difference compared to Group 1 (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION
These results suggest that treatment with vitamin E reduces lung oxidative stress and related mechanisms in isolated lung contusion as demonstrated by an experimental rat model.


We report here the technique for detection and measurement of the temperature changes in single cells using a recently devised microthermometer (a glass micropipette filled with the thermosensitive fluorescent dye Europium (III) thenoyltrifluoroacetonate trihydrate). We found that the heat production in a single HeLa cell occurred with some time delay after the ionomycin-induced Ca(2+) influx from the extracellular space. The time delay inversely depended on extracellular [Ca(2+)], and the increase in temperature was suppressed when Ca(2+)-ATPases were blocked by thapsigargin. These observations strongly suggest that the enzymatic activity of Ca(2+)-ATPases in endoplasmic reticulum leads to the heat production. This study has therefore paved the way for studying the thermogenesis at the single-cell level.


In this paper we examine relationships between teacher burnout and their management competencies and address the calls to expand individual-focused burnout theories by including other factors. We focus on educators called "social pedagogues" in Lithuania. Because this profession includes teaching and social work responsibilities, the case Lithuanian social pedagogues can expand theoretical and practical understandings of supporting varied teacher educational roles and responsibilities. 103 randomly selected Lithuanian social pedagogues were asked to complete a burnout and management competency scales. Correlational analyses revealed the existence between burnout and management competencies, particularly impacting burnout in the personal accomplishment dimension. Analyses suggest that the burnout problem may in part be addressed by providing educators with management training. Keywords: professional burnout, management competencies, social pedagogues.


This study of the election held in the constituency of South Durham in 1841, is based on the records of the Strathmore family, supplemented by the Londonderry manuscripts, the Pease papers and local newspapers. It examines the North-eastern and National background to the election, the issues at stake and the organisation and expenses involved in the election campaign of one of the candidates, John Bowes. An attempt is also made to analyse the voting behaviour of electors in the rural areas and towns and to assess the relative importance of influence, opinion, occupation, wealth, party and malpractice in voting. The conclusions reached are that the politics of influence continued to dominate this constituency despite the existence of a floating vote, open to enticement and the emergence of the exercise of opinion in voting, and that local factors, rather than national issues, were decisive in the final result.


Dispersal is a key component of an organism's life history and differences in dispersal between sexes appear to be widespread in vertebrates. However, most predictions of sex‐biased dispersal have been based on observations of social structure in birds and mammals and more data are needed on other taxa to test whether these predictions apply in other organisms. Caribbean anole lizards are important model organisms in various biological disciplines, including evolutionary biology. However, very little is known about their dispersal strategies despite the importance of dispersal for population structure and dynamics. Here we use nine microsatellite markers to assess signatures of sex‐biased dispersal on two spatial sampling scales in Anolis roquet, an anole endemic to the island of Martinique. Significantly higher gene diversity (HS) and lower mean assignment value (mAIC) was found in males on the larger spatial sampling scale. Significant heterozygote deficit (FIS), lower population differentiation (FST), mAIC and variance of assignment index (vAIC) was found in males on the smaller spatial scale. The observation of male biased dispersal conform with expectations based on the polygynous mating system of Anolis roquet, and contributes to an explanation of the contrasting patterns of genetic structure between maternal and biparental markers that have been reported previously in this, and other anoline, species.


On 31 December 1600 from the Company of Merchants of London trading into the the East Indies received a charter from Elizabeth I. Consisting of 218 subscribers and financing one voyage to the East, the venture was set to become Egland's greatest trading enterprise. Eventually responsible for running its own army, navy and bureaucracy, it would be instrumental in the foundation and subsequent promotion of the British Empire. It would run its own social welfare system, a system that was light years ahead of its time, and would administer territories in India almost as fiefdoms through a series of impressive satraps such as Robert, Lord Clive and Warren Hasting. To its credit, the Company has been well served by historians. As a result much is now known about activities in the East, of the policy of 'forts and factories' annd of the company's extensive influence in London. Involvement in eighteenth-century politics, the Company's sales and its army, as well as the careers of Clive and others, have all been researched at length


Continual learning (CL) has remained a persistent challenge for deep neural networks due to catastrophic forgetting (CF) of previously learned tasks. Several techniques such as weight regularization, experience rehearsal, and parameter isolation have been proposed to alleviate CF. Despite their relative success, these research directions have predominantly remained orthogonal and suffer from several shortcomings, while missing out on the advantages of competing strategies. On the contrary, the brain continually learns, accommodates, and transfers knowledge across tasks by simultaneously leveraging several neurophysiological processes, including neurogenesis, active forgetting, neuromodulation, metaplasticity, experience rehearsal, and context-dependent gating, rarely resulting in CF. Inspired by how the brain exploits multiple mechanisms concurrently, we propose TriRE, a novel CL paradigm that encompasses retaining the most prominent neurons for each task, revising and solidifying the extracted knowledge of current and past tasks, and actively promoting less active neurons for subsequent tasks through rewinding and relearning. Across CL settings, TriRE significantly reduces task interference and surpasses different CL approaches considered in isolation.


Abstract We present new evidence from the Euro Survey of the Austrian Central Bank on the level of financial literacy in Romania and analyze how financial literacy is related to household savings. Less than 5% of respondents were able to correctly answer the three "core" financial literacy questions on interest compounding, inflation, and risk diversification, with the risk diversification question posing the greatest difficulties. Twenty percent of respondents are able to answer both the interest compounding and inflation questions correctly. Financial literacy levels differ between regions and across rural and urban areas. Older and less-educated individuals perform worst on the financial literacy questions, but those who remember previous periods of economic turbulence during transition perform better. We find that financial literacy is positively and significantly related to saving and investment.


Background The lack of adequate and standardized recording of leading risk factors for morbidity and mortality in medical records have downstream effects on research based on administrative databases. The measurement of healthcare is increasingly based on risk-adjusted outcomes derived from coded comorbidities in these databases. However inaccurate or haphazard assessment of risk factors for morbidity and mortality in medical record codes can have tremendous implications for quality improvement and healthcare reform. Objective We aimed to compare the prevalence of obesity, overweight, tobacco use and alcohol abuse of a large administrative database with a direct data collection survey. Materials and Methods We used the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) codes for four leading risk factors in the United States Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) to compare them with a direct survey in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) in 2011. After confirming normality of the risk factors, we calculated the national and state estimates and Pearson's correlation coefficient for obesity, overweight, tobacco use and alcohol abuse between NIS and BRFSS. Results Compared with direct participant questioning in BRFSS, NIS reported substantially lower prevalence of obesity (p<0.01), overweight (p<0.01), and alcohol abuse (p<0.01), but not tobacco use (p = 0.18). The correlation between NIS and BRFSS was 0.27 for obesity (p = 0.06), 0.09 for overweight (p = 0.55), 0.62 for tobacco use (p<0.01) and 0.40 for alcohol abuse (p<0.01). Conclusions The prevalence of obesity, overweight, tobacco smoking and alcohol abuse based on codes is not consistent with prevalence based on direct questioning. The accuracy of these important measures of health and morbidity in databases is critical for healthcare reform policies.


Abstract Incarcerated men in the United States, an understudied population, have not been the focus of cancer prevention research. This pilot study explored the impact of Cancer 101 for imprisoned male smokers to increase cancer knowledge and promote cancer prevention activities in the prison population. Cancer 101 was pilot tested for adoption with representatives from the target audience in three prison facilities located in the northeastern region of the United States, and based on their feedback, modifications were implemented. Pretest and posttest surveys were used to assess knowledge of attitudes regarding the benefits of cancer prevention activities at baseline and immediately after completing Cancer 101. Furthermore, a paired t test procedure was used to determine whether cancer knowledge improved after participating in the Cancer 101 program. A total of 161 men completed all of the modules, participated in pre/post assessments, and qualitatively described their behavioral intentions to participate in activities that could reduce cancer risk. The mean cancer knowledge scores differed before and after completing Cancer 101, t(163) = −14.67, p < .001. Regarding age, the older the respondent, the higher their cancer knowledge score, r = .29, p < .001. This study showed improvements in cancer knowledge scores and behavioral intentions to participate in activities to reduce cancer. Cancer 101 provides opportunities for inmates to increase cancer knowledge, as well as promote action for cancer control during incarceration.


Traditional Software Inspection is a well-established approach to identify defects in software artifacts and models early and efficiently. However, insufficient method and tool support hinder efficient defect detection in large software models. Recent Human Computation and Crowdsourcing processes may help to overcome this limitation by splitting complex inspection artifacts into smaller parts including a better control over defect detection tasks and increasing the scalability of inspection tasks. Therefore, we introduce a Crowdsourcing-Based Inspection (CSI) process with tool support with focus on inspection teams and the quality of defect detection. We evaluate the CSI process in a feasibility study involving 63 inspectors using the CSI process and 12 inspectors using a traditional best-practice inspection process. The CSI process was found useful by the participants. Although the preliminary results of the study were promising, the CSI process should be further investigated with typical large software engineering models.


We give a proof of the non-perturbative no hair theorems for a massive 2-form field with 3-form field strength for general stationary axisymmetric and static (anti)-de Sitter or asymptotically flat black hole spacetimes with some suitable geometrical properties. The generalization of this result for higher form fields is discussed. Next, we discuss the perturbative no hair theorems for massive spin-1/2 fields for general static backgrounds with electric or magnetic charge. Some generalization of this result for stationary axisymmetric spacetimes are also discussed. All calculations are done in arbitrary spacetime dimensions.


The conference which this book summarizes was sponsored by the Committee on Linguistics and Psychology of the Social Science Research Council. This seems to account for the relative lack of discussion of anatomical, neurological, and physiological bases of the syndrome of aphasia. The major concern of the book is with psycholinguistics, testing, and various psychological theorizations as regards aphasia. It is not quite clear at the outset what relationship exists between these areas and aphasia. This reviewer expected that these matters were associated with the rehabilitation of the aphasic. The conference report suggests that perhaps inquiry into these areas will tell us new things about aphasia other than those which have come to light through the work of the neurologist, anatomist, and neurophysiologist. The first and last chapters of this report are introduction and summary. The bulk of the second chapter, "Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment of Aphasia," concerns


The aim of this paper is to determine the pitch contours Finns use when uttering yes/no questions in Russian. In addition, the pitch contours will be compared to native speech as well as subjected to native speaker evaluation. So far, there has been very little research on the prosody of Russian as a second language. L1 Finnish students are an interesting group to study because intonation in Finnish is not distinctive whereas in Russian it is.


A new class of analytical absorbing boundary conditions (ABCs) for the truncation of the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) lattice is introduced. These ABC originate from the exact impedance boundary operator and contain both electric and magnetic fields. The performance of the proposed second-order ABCs is studied with a two-dimensional FDTD program. The results indicate that the proposed ABCs work approximately as well as the third-order analytical ABCs, even if they are essentially as easy to implement as the second-order Mur ABC. Also, in this paper, the relation between the so-called Engquist-Majda operator for the absorption of plane waves and the exact surface impedance boundary condition is discussed.


Abstract Gold of magmatic origin has been discovered in the lamproitic dyke of El Tale (Fortuna, Province of Murcia), a small outcrop of ultrapotassic rocks of the Tertiary magmatic province of southeastern Spain. It is the first finding of gold grains in lamproite magmas from southeastern Spain, and indeed worldwide. Pure gold occurs only in the glassy groundmass as very rare spherules and globular grains (up to 5 μm). Despite the occurrence of gold grains, the bulk rock contains not more than ~19 ppb Au. The magmatic origin of gold is inferred from the heterogeneous distribution of the grains in the rock, the shape of the grains (which is comparable to that of gold grains crystallized experimentally from mafic liquids) and from the As-Sb-S-Cl-poor composition of the bulk rock. The Pd/Ir and Au/Pd ratios, little affected by the early segregation of olivine (~10 vol.%), support an Au- and PGE-rich composition of the mantle source. The low fO₂ (≈IW) and the complexing with F and alkalies probably favoured partitioning of Au and PGE into the lamproite magma.


BACKGROUND
This study evaluates surgical outcomes and survival rates of implants placed in a multidisciplinary implant teaching programme.

METHODS
A retrospective review of all implant surgery performed over a 6-year period by accredited oral and maxillofacial surgery trainees at the Royal Dental Hospital of Melbourne was undertaken. Patients were reviewed for a minimum of 6 months post-implant placement. Implant survival was defined as those implants which were not removed, were clinically integrated as assessed by torque testing and in an appropriate position to receive a subsequent prosthesis. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to assess overall survival and univariate factors affecting survival. Multivariate analysis used Cox proportional hazards models.

RESULTS
Over 6 years, 127 patients were treated. Follow-up data were present for 105 patients with 236 implants placed. Survival of implants at 1 and 5 years was 94 per cent and 92.8 per cent, respectively. The only univariate and multivariate factor which affected implant survival was perioperative bone grafting. All failed implants were single stage. Other factors such as patient age, smoking status, implant site, anaesthetic type, immediate or delayed placement, implant length and diameter, and medical comorbidities did not significantly affect implant survival.

CONCLUSIONS
A satisfactory implant survival rate was found in a tertiary teaching centre. Perioperative bone grafting significantly increased the risk of implant failure.


Early diagnosis of autism certainly stands as one of the most important determinants to ensure a better prognosis of the disorder, it is common that the screening programs to ensure this, end up not being implemented in health systems of many countries. This may stem from the disadvantages of classically suggested scale‐based screening (SBS) programs. This study presents a nationwide recognition and referral model for early diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), in order to meet the obvious need for new methods. The model consists of interactive video‐based training (IVBAT) of health care workers (HCW), a system where family physicians (FPs) record five probable indicators of autism in their family medicine information system; and is therefore, a practical referral system in which the FP may refer a child with any suggestive finding to a child psychiatrist and may well continue to monitor recently diagnosed cases. The autism teams consist of trained child psychiatrists and coordinators, who delivered trainings to 29,612 FPs and 23,511 nurses countrywide. Of 98.8% FPs were trained throughout the country. Total of 1,863,096 children were reported to have a brief examination of autism signs in Family Medicine Units by trained FPs and nurses. A total of 55,314 (2.96%) these children were deemed at risk for ASD and were referred to child psychiatrists. In the evaluation of 55,314 children by child psychiatrists, 10,087 cases were diagnosed with developmental disorders, while 3226 of children at risk were diagnosed with autism. The results of this study, which reached to the largest sample to date, suggest that some other alternative methods, in addition to SBS should also be tested in order to screen ASD.


The FDTD method employs finite-differences to approximate Ampere's and Faraday's laws. Am-pere's and Faraday's laws are first-order differential equations that couple the electric and mag-netics fields. As we have seen, with a judicious discretization of space and time, the resulting equations can be solved for " future " fields in terms of known past fields. Other physical phenomena are also described by coupled first-order differential equations where the temporal derivative of one field is related to the spatial derivative of another field. Both acoustics and elastic wave propagation are such phenomena. Here we will consider only acoustic propagation. Specifically we will consider small-signal acoustics which can be described in terms of the scalar pressure field P (x, y, z, t) and the vector velocity v(x, y, z, t). The material parameters are the speed of sound c a and the density ρ (both of which can vary as a function of position). The governing acoustic equations in three dimensions are ∂P ∂t = −ρc 2 a ∇ · v,


Continuous casting is an important process to solidify molten steel. Efficient and uniform heat removal by water spray without cracking or deforming steel slabs is a major challenge during continuous casting. With the aid of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), the current study presents a numerical model of spray cooling for process understanding and improvement. The Eulerian–Lagrangian approach is utilized to track the movement of water droplets that are injected from a hydraulic nozzle. The initial droplet size is predicted by the linear instability sheet atomization (LISA) model and the droplet distribution satisfies the Rosin-Rammler distribution. Droplet-slab impingement is modeled by the wall jet model and the associated heat transfer accounts for both heat conduction and radiation. Heat transfer coefficient (HTC) on slab surface is validated against a hot-plate benchmark experiment and shows good agreement. The significance of spray standoff distance and spray direction on heat transfer is also investigated. The results indicate the existence of the critical standoff distance beyond which the cooling effect becomes negligible. Spray direction plays an important role in determining the heat transfer rate as well, and insufficient cooling is observed when droplets are sprayed against gravity. Additional 10% to 15% of water will compensate for such low heat transfer. The current study should benefit the steel industry by providing fundamental insights into the process. The current model can also be applied to other types of spray nozzles and can further improve the efficiency of future simulations.


Background: In an early report on this patient cohort, we concluded that a hallux valgus deformity in males is frequently hereditary in nature. An increase in the distal metatarsal articular angle (DMAA) was observed to be the major defining characteristic of hallux valgus in males. In this follow-up study, our goal was to evaluate the effectiveness of surgical treatment for this cohort of male patients. Methods: Data from 50 feet of male patients with hallux valgus who were surgically treated by the same surgeon between 1985 and 2005 were retrospectively analyzed. The technique was algorithmically chosen according to the severity and complexity of the deformity. Thus, 10 chevron osteotomies, 9 biplanar chevron osteotomies, 12 Mitchell osteotomies, 9 scarf osteotomies, and 10 basilar first metatarsal osteotomies were performed. The average follow-up was 10 years (range, 2-20). Results: After analyzing the angular radiological parameters, sesamoid subluxation, and the articular congruency, most procedures proved to have achieved adequate correction of the angular deformities. When examining each of the procedures separately, 4 of the 5 procedures had similar corrective capacities; the scarf osteotomy however had decidedly inferior results. The improvement in the postoperative American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) score demonstrated the clinical and functional improvement. Conclusions: The algorithm was based mainly upon the presence of increased DMAA and increased severity of angular deformities. We conclude that hallux valgus deformities in males were adequately corrected with the selected techniques. Greater difficulty or resistance to surgical treatment could not be detected when we contrasted our results to females. The scarf osteotomy proved to have an inferior corrective capacity compared to the other techniques used in this series. Level of Evidence: Level III, retrospective comparative series.


: Due to the rising problem of salinity in modern agriculture, climate changes and global food crisis, the study of salinity stress is gaining the primary importance. The mechanism of plant response to salinity includes various processes that have to be coordinated. The high salinity leads to large accumulation of toxic ions (Na+, Cl-) in plant tissues, ion disequilibrium and hyperosmolarity. Salinity stress has a negative impact on plant nutrition and mineral homeostasis, particularly for Ca2+ and K+. The recent progress in trascriptomics, genomics and molecular biology has facilitated discoveries of new salt stress-related gene families. In this review the major fundamental principles of plant salt tolerance are described. Detailed analysis of main ion transport systems and their potential role in salinity stress is presented. The future perspective gene determinants, biotechnological and genetic strategies for enhancing salt tolerance in plants are discussed.


A fundamental investigation was conducted on electrostatic ink jet phenomena. High voltage was applied between an insulative capillary tube filled with ion conductive water and a metal plate electrode. A large water drop was formed and dropped from the tube at the dark discharge under conditions of appropriate voltage application and water level. The diameter of the drop was about one millimeter. At the beginning of corona discharge, however, a Taylor cone of water was formed at the tip of the tube and the tip of the cone was broken to form a very small droplet that was dispersed like mist at wide angle due to the Coulomb repulsive force of charged mist. When the applied voltage was further increased, water droplet was formed periodically. Application of adjusted pulse voltage can form a droplet of which formation is synchronized with the pulse. The diameter of the droplet depended on the applied voltage and the tube diameter. It was less than a Rayleigh's limit and agreed fairly well with a Vonnegut's limit. Preliminary printing on a paper was also demonstrated. This phenomenon is expected to be utilized for a new ink jet print head.


This paper describes a system for multimedia event detection and recounting. The goal is to detect a high level event class in unconstrained web videos and generate event oriented summarization for display to users. For this purpose, we detect informative segments and collect observations for them, leading to our ISOMER system. We combine a large collection of both low level and semantic level visual and audio features for event detection. For event recounting, we propose a novel approach to identify event oriented discriminative video segments and their descriptions with a linear SVM event classifier. User friendly concepts including objects, actions, scenes, speech and optical character recognition are used in generating descriptions. We also develop several mapping and filtering strategies to cope with noisy concept detectors. Our system performed competitively in the TRECVID 2013 Multimedia Event Detection task with near 100,000 videos and was the highest performer in TRECVID 2013 Multimedia Event Recounting task.


Background: Severe hepatitis is a common cause of chronic or acute liver disease and autophagy might play an important role in cellular response to inflammation and injury. It has been reported that Ginsenoside-Rg1 (G-Rg1) has strong hepatoprotective effects for acute liver injury, but its protective mechanisms have not yet been elucidated. This study aims to explore the detailed molecular mechanisms of G-Rg1 on acute liver injury via autophagy. Methods: The role of G-Rg1 by autophagic induction was studied in the mouse model of acute liver injury which induced by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). Liver function, inflammatory reaction and apoptosis were detected when autophagy has been inhibited by 3-MA or stimulated by RPA. MCC950 and ATP were applied to investigate the role of NLRP3 inflammasome in acute liver injury. The differential expression of NF-κB, NLRP3 inflammasome, caspase 1, caspase 3, IL-1β, IL-18, LC3-I, LC3-II, Beclin-1, PINK1 and Parkin have been detected by the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot. Results: G-Rg1 could decrease ALT, AST, TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in mice with CCl4-induced acute liver injury. The change of autophagy and apoptosis after the treatment of 3-MA or RPA demonstrated that the autophagy played a key role in the protective effect of G-Rg1 in acute liver injury. The enhancement of G-Rg1 promoted-autophagy resulted in the significant decrease in NF-κB, NLRP3 inflammasome, caspase 1, caspase 3, IL-1β and IL-18, which suggesting that NF-κB/NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway was associated with the autophagy induced by G-Rg1 in acute liver injury. Conclusion: G-Rg1 ameliorated acute liver injury via the autophagy, which may be related to NF-κB/NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway.


The paper aims to develop a risk assessment model with the fuzzy temporal information. The traditional model assess risk with the risk matrix method. And the method rank the risks without regard to the with the temporal information to assess the risk. The model integrates the method of 2-tuple linguistic and temporal linguistic variable. The improved concept defines the transition symbols operator as the projection of temporal term on the fuzzy linguistic variable. The new model may deal with the temporal information in the fuzzy linguistic judgements. The emprical research give a example by applying the new method. The result of example show that the new model can provide the worthwhile temporal information in the assessment result. temporal element temporal element temporal element temporal element


Abstract. Atmospheric deposition accounts for up to a third of the nitrogen input into the Baltic Sea and contributes to eutrophication. It is useful to use three-dimensional biogeochemical models to evaluate the contribution of atmospheric nitrogen deposition to eutrophication because bioavailable nitrogen impacts eutrophication differently depending on time and place of input – e.g. nitrogen is processed and denitrified faster in flat coastal regions. The western Baltic Sea, which is stressed by high nutrient loads, is characterized by many small islands and a wrinkled coast line. In regions with this type of coastal features, the grid resolution of atmospheric chemistry transport models (CTMs) has a strong impact on the modeled nitrogen deposition. The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefit of finer spatially resolved deposition data as input for simulations with the ecosystem model ERGOM. This study also focused on the shipping contribution to the marine nitrogen budget via deposition of shipping-emitted nitrogen oxide (NOx). Differences in the modeled dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) caused by refined nitrogen deposition were identified in some coastal sections and between the Danish islands. Patches of enhanced DIN concentrations were found distant to the coast in model runs forced by the finer resolved data. These were caused by better resolved precipitation events. The differences between fine and coarse resolution deposition of the same CTM were low compared to the difference to EMEP deposition, which was a third comparison data set. The shipping sector contributed a maximum of 10 % and on average less than 5 % to DIN. In summary, particularly small scale ecosystem model studies in bights are expected to benefit from spatially higher resolved nitrogen deposition data. The shipping sector is a relevant contributor to the marine nitrogen deposition but its contribution to the marine DIN pool is rather low.


Cape snoek (Thyrsites atun) is an important source of protein for people in South Africa; however, nutritional information thereof is limited. The proximate and fatty acid compositions of raw and cooked (80 °C) snoek muscles were determined according to official AOAC methods. The mean moisture, ash, total lipids and protein for raw snoek were 72.8±1.86%, 1.3±0.09%, 4.0±1.16 and 21.5±1.35%, respectively. Cape snoek is very high in palmitic acid (24.65±1.43%), oleic acid (18.21±2.64%), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 9.11±2.06%) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 19.70±3.25%). With the exception of total lipids, cooking significantly reduced moisture (69.40±2.03%) and ash (1.12±0.12%), and increased protein (24.47±1.39%) content. It is concluded that Cape snoek is very high in protein and can be classified as a low-fat fish which is rich in EPA and DHA.


This article suggests that economic links exist between crisis and war. First, it insists on the necessity to give up the framework of the neoclassical mainstream in order to understand such an issue in its complexity. The second part deals with the origins of the current systemic crisis. The third part analyzes the timing of this crisis and wars in which the hegemonic power of the world system is involved. Then it examines, in a fourth part, the control exercised by high finance on the military sector, including the military-industrial complex and private military companies. In the final part, the effects of these links between crisis and war on the exacerbation of the current capitalist contradictions are studied.JEL Codes: E32, E62, G38, H56, P12, P43


The microstrctural evolution pre and post heat treatment is critical to achieve a successful product for metal forming process. This paper aims to investigate the microstructual effect of the magnesium alloy tubes undergone various heat treatment conditions to achieve material homogenization. The heat treatment conditions under various periods of time (1, 2, 6, 12 and 30 hours) at 400 °C were employed to investigate the microstructural effect on hydroforming magnesium tubes. The greatly reduced impurity embedded in grain boundaries and more uniform grain sizes do indicate the improvement of material strength and ductility. To validate the conclusion, corresponding tensile tests at the different temperatures (20 °C and 200 °C) were carried out. The increased engineering strain in two directions (hoop and longitudinal) implies that the microstructural evolution is unquestionably useful to enhance the ductility of the magnesium tubes. Subsequently, the tubes after optimal heat treatment condition at 400 °C for 6 hours were used to further carry out the thermal hydroforming process for validation. The defect-free hydroformed tubes were produced under the same working condition, which is unable to be achieved for tubes without the heat-treatment process.


We discuss several proposals for astrophysical and cosmological tests of quantum theory. The tests are motivated by deterministic hidden-variables theories, and in particular by the view that quantum physics is merely an effective theory of an equilibrium state. The proposed tests involve searching for nonequilibrium violations of quantum theory in: primordial inflaton fluctuations imprinted on the cosmic microwave background, relic cosmological particles, Hawking radiation, photons with entangled partners inside black holes, neutrino oscillations, and particles from very distant sources.


We evaluate two diagnostic tools used to determine if counterfactual analysis requires extrapolation. Counterfactuals based on extrapolation are model dependent and might not support empirically valid inferences. The diagnostics help researchers identify those counterfactual "what if" questions that are empirically plausible. We show, through simple Monte Carlo experiments, that these diagnostics will often detect extrapolation, suggesting that there is a risk of biased counterfactual inference when there is no such risk of extrapolation bias in the data. This is because the diagnostics are affected by what we call the n/k problem: as the number of data points relative to the number of explanatory variables decreases, the diagnostics are more likely to detect the risk of extrapolation bias even when such risk does not exist. We conclude that the diagnostics provide too severe a test for many data sets used in political science.


Background and purpose: In orthopaedic oncology, computer-assisted surgery (CAS) can be considered an alternative to fluoroscopy and direct measurement for orientation, planning, and margin control. However, only small case series reporting specific applications have been published. We therefore describe possible applications of CAS and report preliminary results in 130 procedures. Patients and methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all oncological CAS procedures in a single institution from November 2006 to March 2013. Mean follow-up time was 32 months. We categorised and analysed 130 procedures for clinical parameters. The categories were image-based intralesional treatment, image-based resection, image-based resection and reconstruction, and imageless resection and reconstruction. Results: Application to intralesional treatment showed 1 inadequate curettage and 1 (other) recurrence in 63 cases. Image-based resections in 42 cases showed 40 R0 margins; 16 in 17 pelvic resections. Image-based reconstruction facilitated graft creation with a mean reconstruction accuracy of 0.9 mm in one case. Imageless CAS was helpful in resection planning and length- and joint line reconstruction for tumour prostheses. Interpretation:


The purpose of this study was to compare the results of a laboratory glare susceptibility test with the execution of turns at an intersection (turns that required the driver to cross a lane containing approaching traffic). We measured glare susceptibility by means of low and high‐contrast letter charts with and without a glare source. Driving performance in the absence and presence of simulated low sun was assessed using a simulator. In particular, we measured the difference between the time taken to complete a turn across the path of an approaching vehicle and the time to collision (TTC) with the approaching vehicle (the safety margin). The presence of glare resulted in a significant reduction in the safety margin used by drivers (by 0.65 s on average) and the mean number of collisions was significantly higher in the glare conditions than in the non‐glare conditions. The effect of glare was larger for low‐contrast than for high‐contrast oncoming vehicles. Older drivers (45–60 years) had a significantly greater reduction in safety margin than younger drivers (19–29 years), though there was a large inter‐individual variability in both age groups. We suggest that the reduction in retinal image contrast caused by low‐sun caused drivers to overestimate the TTC with approaching vehicles.


Results are presented from an investigation of turbulence and bottom drag carried out in Grand Passage, lower Bay of Fundy. Flow measurements were made using a broadband 600 kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) sampling at nearly 2 Hz, and two single-point sensors: an acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV) sampling at 1 Hz, and a time-of-flight velocity sensor (MAVS) sampling at 12 Hz. All instruments were bottommounted. The maximum depth-averaged tidal current speed was 1.6 m/s. The local bathymetry was characterized by 20 m mean water depth and ca. 0.5 m high, 8 m wavelength dunes. The ADCP was deployed to one side of the dune field; the singlepoint sensor platform was within the dune field. Due to high water clarity, the ADV correlations at moderate to high flow speeds were very low, precluding estimation of turbulence quantities. In contrast, the time-of-flight velocity data are noise free - the measurement does not require the presence of sound scatterers - and the spectra exhibit a well-defined inertial subrange. Turbulent Reynolds stress estimates from the time-offlight sensor data yield friction velocities (u*) and bottom drag coefficients (Cd) comparable to those determined from the ADCP profiles via the law-of-the-wall. The ratio of RMS vertical velocity variance to friction velocity in the time-of-flight data is close to 1.2, consistent with results obtained within the constant stress layer in the atmospheric boundary layer and in rough boundary laboratory experiments. Turbulence quantities are estimated from the (de-noised) ADCP velocity spectra via the variance method, modified here for application to a sloping seabed by taking advantage of the orientation relative to the local isobaths of the orthogonal acoustic beam pair planes. Noise levels were determined from the spectra ensemble-averaged in equal mean flow speed intervals, and are very close to the manufacturer's quoted value. When the constant stress layer was sufficiently thick - i.e. during ebb tide - the RMS turbulence intensities in the lower ADCP range bins are entirely consistent with the anisotropic relationships between Cartesian RMS turbulent velocity components and u* obtained in rough boundary wind tunnel experiments [1]; the ADCP Reynolds stresses agree with the Law-of-the-Wall shear stress estimates; and vertical profiles of Reynolds stress are very different from the linear decrease with height expected for (lower Reynolds number) straight and narrow open channel flows. During flood tide, the boundary layer was much thinner, and the lowermost ADCP bin - at 2.1 m height - was outside the constant stress layer. The pronounced asymmetries between flood and ebb (i.e. in boundary layer thickness, turbulence intensity, and (Cd) are attributed to differences in upstream bathymetry. Index Terms-turbulence, bottom stress, tidal power, broadband acoustic Doppler profiler, acoustic time-of-flight sensor.


Objectives: this study featured patients with affective bipolar disorder who were making use of lithium and received care at an outpatient care center located in a country town in the state of Sao Paulo in 2009; it assessed the adherence and knowledge of these patients in relation to the medication prescribed to them and verified the proportion of blood tests performed per year in the service, for each individual, to measure lithium levels in the blood. Method: descriptive study with quantitative approach, involving 36 participants. Structured interviews and review of medical records were used for data collection and descriptive statistics for data analysis. Results: difficulties in reporting the dosage of the medication prescribed and a high rate of non-adherence were identified among the participants. None of the participants in the study was submitted to two tests a year to measure lithium levels in the blood, which is the minimum proportion of tests recommended by the literature for maintenance treatment using lithium carbonate. Conclusion: this study highlights the critical factors for the promotion of patients' safety in monitoring lithium drug therapy.


Cultured stromal layers grown from fetal and adult hemopoietic tissues reproduce, in vitro, features that typify their in vivo counterparts. Thus, fetal liver (FL) cultures consist predominantly of macrophages, and fetal bone marrow (FBM) cultures fail to form the fat cells that are characteristic of adult bone marrow (ABM) cells grown in the presence of methylprednisolone. Further investigation showed that the lack of fat cell formation in FBM cultures was not due to absence of steroid receptors because cells from the fibroblast component of FBM and ABM possess similar numbers of receptors of similar affinities. Phenotypically, the macrophages that occur in FL, FBM, and ABM stromal cultures are RFD7+, 3.9+ UCHM1, which identifies them as mature tissue macrophages. Also, they express HLA-DR, indicating an activated state and a potential for participating in hemopoietic cell regulation, at least in vitro. Functionally, stromal layers grown from adult bone marrow provide feeder layers for blast colony-forming cells (Bl-CFC). These Bl-CFC adhere to ABM stromal cells but not to FBM or stromal cells.


Although it possesses reduced computational complexity and great power saving potential, conventional adaptive Viterbi algorithm implementations contain a global best survivor path metric search operation that prevents it from being directly implemented in a high-throughput state-parallel decoder. This limitation also incurs power and silicon area overhead. This paper presents a modified adaptive Viterbi algorithm, referred to as the relaxed adaptive Viterbi algorithm, that completely eliminates the global best survivor path metric search operation. A state-parallel decoder VLSI architecture has been developed to implement the relaxed adaptive Viterbi algorithm. Using convolutional code decoding as a test vehicle, we demonstrate that state-parallel relaxed adaptive Viterbi decoders, versus Viterbi counterparts, can achieve significant power savings and modest silicon area reduction, while maintaining almost the same decoding performance and very high throughput


Rationale Recent work in preclinical models suggests that signalling via the pro-angiogenic and pro-inflammatory cytokine, CXCL12 (SDF-1), plays an important pathogenic role in pulmonary hypertension (PH). The objective of this study was to establish whether circulating concentrations of CXCL12α were elevated in patients with PAH and related to mortality. Methods Plasma samples were collected from patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) and PAH associated with connective tissue diseases (CTD-PAH) attending two pulmonary hypertension referral centres (n = 95) and from age and gender matched healthy controls (n = 44). Patients were subsequently monitored throughout a period of five years. Results CXCL12α concentrations were elevated in PAH groups compared to controls (P<0.05) and receiver-operating-characteristic analysis showed that plasma CXCL12α concentrations discriminated patients from healthy controls (AUC 0.80, 95% confidence interval 0.73-0.88). Kaplan Meier analysis indicated that elevated plasma CXCL12α concentration was associated with reduced survival (P<0.01). Multivariate Cox proportional hazards model showed that elevated CXCL12α independently predicted (P<0.05) earlier death in PAH with a hazard ratio (95% confidence interval) of 2.25 (1.01-5.00). In the largest subset by WHO functional class (Class 3, 65% of patients) elevated CXCL12α independently predicted (P<0.05) earlier death, hazard ratio 2.27 (1.05-4.89). Conclusions Our data show that elevated concentrations of circulating CXCL12α in PAH predicted poorer survival. Furthermore, elevated circulating CXCL12α was an independent risk factor for death that could potentially be included in a prognostic model and guide therapy.


Sudden oak death (SOD) caused by Phytophthora ramorum was first discovered in Oregon forests in July 2001. There appear to have been three separate introductions of P. ramorum into Oregon; in approximately 1998, 2008, and 2014. The most recent of these was the EU1 clonal lineage; all others were the NA1 clonal lineage. Since 2001 an interagency team has been attempting to eradicate the pathogen though a program of early detection (aerial and ground surveys, stream baiting) and destruction (herbicide treatment, felling and burning) of infected and nearby host plants; the program has evolved over time. Post-treatment monitoring indicates that although the pathogen has been eliminated from many of the sites, spread continues. From 2001 to 2015 the quarantine area expanded from 23 km2 to 1,333 km2, where it remains to date. Within a 145 km2 Generally Infested Area near the center of the quarantine area, most sites have not been treated and the disease has been allowed to intensify and spread. Where eradication treatments have stopped, canopy tanoak mortality increased from nearly zero to 87 percent during the 2012-2016 period. Managing sudden oak death in Oregon forests is challenging for many reasons and Oregon's program is likely to change in the future.


Six days of dietary nitrate supplementation in the form of beetroot juice (~0.5 L/d) has been reported to reduce pulmonary oxygen uptake (VO₂) during submaximal exercise and increase tolerance of high-intensity work rates, suggesting that nitrate can be a potent ergogenic aid. Limited data are available regarding the effect of nitrate ingestion on athletic performance, and no study has investigated the potential ergogenic effects of a small-volume, concentrated dose of beetroot juice. The authors tested the hypothesis that 6 d of nitrate ingestion would improve time-trial performance in trained cyclists. Using a double-blind, repeated-measures crossover design, 12 male cyclists (31±3 yr, VO2peak=58±2 ml·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹, maximal power [Wmax]=342±10 W) ingested 140 ml/d of concentrated beetroot (~8 mmol/d nitrate) juice (BEET) or a placebo (nitrate-depleted beetroot juice; PLAC) for 6 d, separated by a 14-d washout. After supplementation on Day 6, subjects performed 60 min of submaximal cycling (2×30 min at 45% and 65% Wmax, respectively), followed by a 10-km time trial. Time-trial performance (953±18 vs. 965±18 s, p<.005) and power output (294±12 vs. 288±12 W, p<.05) improved after BEET compared with PLAC supplementation. Submaximal VO₂ was lower after BEET (45% Wmax=1.92±0.06 vs. 2.02±0.09 L/min, 65% Wmax 2.94±0.12 vs. 3.11±0.12 L/min) than with PLAC (main effect, p<.05). Whole-body fuel selection and plasma lactate, glucose, and insulin concentrations did not differ between treatments. Six days of nitrate supplementation reduced VO₂ during submaximal exercise and improved time-trial performance in trained cyclists.


IBM's Physical Analytics Integrated Data Repository and Services (PAIRS) is a geospatial Big Data service. PAIRS contains a massive amount of curated geospatial (or more precisely spatio-temporal) data from a large number of public and private data resources, and also supports user contributed data layers. PAIRS offers an easy-to-use platform for both rapid assembly and retrieval of geospatial datasets or performing complex analytics, lowering time-to-discovery significantly by reducing the data curation and management burden. In this paper, we review recent progress with PAIRS and showcase a few exemplary analytical applications which the authors are able to build with relative ease leveraging this technology.


Advances in auto-adjusting positive airway pressure technology for obstructive sleep apnea now permit this treatment to be initiated outside of the sleep laboratory environment, bypassing the need for laboratory-based titration studies. Thus far, little research has addressed how such developments may affect compliance to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). We tested the effect of laboratory CPAP exposure and technologist support in a retrospective chart review of 98 veterans with obstructive sleep apnea to determine whether patients who received standard laboratory CPAP titration complied better with CPAP than did patients who received no laboratory CPAP titration. Fifty patients underwent standard technician-attended polysomnography (PSG) with CPAP titration, and 48 patients underwent unattended PSG with no laboratory trial of CPAP (first CPAP exposure was at home). Objective CPAP compliance measures were obtained from CPAP units at follow-up visits. Attended-PSG patients wore CPAP significantly longer per night on average (5.0 hours vs 3.9 hours) and tended to wear CPAP on more nights (76.5% vs 64.2%) compared with unattended-PSG patients. These findings suggest that patients' sleep laboratory experience with CPAP and the support and education provided by sleep technologists are important factors in facilitating CPAP compliance.


Objectives: To prospectively compare the efficacy and tolerance of two techniques of amniodrainage used in the treatment of symptomatic polyhydramnios: syringe aspiration (SA) and continuous vacuum depression (VD). Patients and Methods: Prospective randomised study, performed over 37 months. The main comparison criterion was maternal pain, blindly assessed by a midwife using a visual quantitative scale (EVA from 0 to 100 points). Comparison also included: duration and volume of fluid drained, need to stop the procedure because of maternal pain, uterine activity after drainage, foetal tolerance controlled with CTG (FHR blindly analysed by 2 obstetricians) and absence of placenta abruption controlled by histological examination of the placenta. We calculated that 35 patients would be necessary in each group to show a 20 points difference on the EVA with a power of 80% (alpha: 0.05). Results: 80 amnioreductions were performed in 53 patients. The two groups were comparable for the tested variables (age, parity, term, deepest pool and amniotic fluid index before drainage, uterine contractility, tocolysis) as well as for the aetiology of polyhydramnios. Drained volume was significantly higher in the VD group (2540 ml +/− 860 versus 1250 ml +/− 530; p < 0.01) and the drainage duration significantly shorter (12 mn +/− 10 versus 38 mn +/− 25; p < 0.01). Maternal pain was significantly lower in the VD group compared to the SA group (25 +/− 12 vs. 55 +/− 22; p < 0.01). No significant difference was noted in uterine contractility or FHR abnormalities between the two groups and they were no occurrence of clinical placental abruption. In four cases, histological analysis of the placentas revealed the presence of old placental infarctions (three in the SA group and one in the VD group). Conclusion: Continuous vacuum depression appears to be faster and has a better maternal tolerance than syringe aspiration.


results in a paediatric patient cohort and to review discordant results. Methods: A retrospective audit of all blood and CSF samples from a tertiary referral paediatric hospital sent to the Irish Meningitis and Sepsis Reference Laboratory over a four-year period. All PCR tests performed for H. influenzae which had a contemporaneous culture performed were included in the analysis. Results: For the blood PCR test, there were 10 positive samples out of 1,367 samples tested. The sensitivity was shown to be 60% (95% CI 14.6–94.73%) and the specificity was 99% (95% CI 98–99.7%). For the CSF assay, the sensitivity was 100% (95% CI 15.8–100%) with a specificity of 99% (95% CI 99.2–99.9%) and there were 5 positive samples by PCR out of the 1,224 samples tested. Ten patients had positive PCR results, with a negative corresponding culture (blood=7, CSF=3). Three of the 10 cases were deemed to be primary H. influenzae infections, while seven were deemed to be likely co-infection (respiratory syncytial virus=2, Influenza=2, measles=1, rotavirus=1, Staphylococcus aureus pneumonia=1). Conclusions: The incidence of invasive H. influenzae disease was low in this population. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay in CSF was excellent, but the sensitivity of the assay in blood was lower at 60%. Most patients with discordant PCR/culture results had viral co-infections. A more rational approach to requesting PCR is required in paediatric patients.


Proventricular infection with the anamorphic, ascomycetous yeast Macrorhabdus ornithogaster and disease associated with infection (macrorhabdiosis) have been widely reported in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus). Proventricular adenocarcinoma has also been previously reported in this species. In a retrospective archival search of clinical cases submitted to a zoo animal and exotic pet pathology service between 1998 and 2013, a total of 28 128 avian submissions were identified, which included 1006 budgerigars kept in zoos or aviaries or as pets. Of these budgerigars, 177 were identified histologically as infected with M. orthithogaster at the time of necropsy. Histologic examination of tissues from budgerigars infected with M. orthithogaster identified an apparent continuum in the development of proventricular isthmus lesions associated with M. ornithogaster that included inflammation, mucosal hyperplasia, glandular dysplasia, and adenocarcinoma. Proventricular adenocarcinoma was identified histologically in 21 budgerigars. Budgerigars with proventricular adenocarcinoma were significantly more likely to have macrorhabdiosis than budgerigars without proventricular adenocarcinoma. Based on odds ratios for archival data, budgerigars were 41 times (95% confidence interval [CI], 33–52) more likely to have macrorhabdiosis than other avian species and 19 times (95% CI, 11–33) more likely to have proventricular adenocarcinoma than other birds. Budgerigars were 323 times (95% CI, 42–2490) more likely to be affected by both diseases simultaneously compared with other avian species. These findings suggest that macrorhabdiosis may be an associated factor for proventricular adenocarcinoma, although the explanation for this statistically significant correlation remains unknown and further investigation is warranted.


Purpose: Albinism in Tanzania causes fierce stigmatisation. Although various stigma reduction interventions (SRI) are employed, research on their effectiveness is lacking. This research aimed to develop a tool to measure albinism-related social stigma among high school students in Tanzania. Cultural equivalence was tested for the Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue Community Stigma Scale (EMIC-CSS) and Albinism Social Distance Scale for Adolescents (ASDS-A) assessing conceptual, item, semantic, operational and measurement equivalence. Methods: The methods used were workshops, in-depth interviews, translation and re-translation, discussions, a test (n=337) re-test (n=142) of the survey, and follow-up focus group discussions (n=25). Results: The Scales have proven to be adequate on all equivalences other than measurement equivalence. The reproducibility statistics raise questions that can be explained by characteristics of the sample. Conclusion and Implications: The analysis provides insights for further validation of the Scales, contributes to the discussion about a universal stigma measurement tool and demonstrates the importance of validation studies of existing and proven tools used in a different context.


Objectives To assess whether a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) in middle-aged individuals with hypertension influences first-onset cardiovascular disease outcomes. Design Prospective cohort survival analysis using Cox proportional hazards regression with a median follow-up of 63 months (702 902 person-years). Four mutually exclusive groups were compared: hypertension only (n=56 035), MDD only (n=15 098), comorbid hypertension plus MDD (n=12 929) and an unaffected (no hypertension, no MDD) comparison group (n=50 798). Setting UK Biobank. Participants UK Biobank participants without cardiovascular disease aged 39–70 who completed psychiatric questions relating International Classification of Diseases-10 Revision (ICD-10) diagnostic criteria on a touchscreen questionnaire at baseline interview in 2006–2010 (n=134 860). Primary and secondary outcome measures First-onset adverse cardiovascular outcomes leading to hospital admission or death (ICD-10 codes I20–I259, I60–69 and G45–G46), adjusted in a stepwise manner for sociodemographic, health and lifestyle features. Secondary analyses were performed looking specifically at stroke outcomes (ICD-10 codes I60–69 and G45–G46) and in gender-separated models. Results Relative to controls, adjusted HRs for adverse cardiovascular outcomes were increased for the hypertension only group (HR 1.36, 95% CI 1.22 to 1.52) and were higher still for the comorbid hypertension plus MDD group (HR 1.66, 95% CI 1.45 to 1.9). HRs for the comorbid hypertension plus MDD group were significantly raised compared with hypertension alone (HR 1.22, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.35). Interaction measured using relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI) and likelihood ratios (LRs) were identified at baseline (RERI 0.563, 95% CI 0.189 to 0.938; LR p=0.0116) but not maintained during the follow-up. Limitations Possible selection bias in UK Biobank and inability to assess for levels of medication adherence. Conclusions Comorbid hypertension and MDD conferred greater hazard than hypertension alone for adverse cardiovascular outcomes, although evidence of interaction between hypertension and MDD was inconsistent over time. Future cardiovascular risk prediction tools may benefit from the inclusion of questions about prior history of depressive disorders.


Early failure of metal-on-metal hip arthroplasties is a current concern because tissue damage resulting from periprosthetic metallosis can compromise subsequent revision arthroplasty1,2. The United Kingdom's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has advised that patients with metal-on-metal implants who have pain, prosthetic malposition, or implants that are known to have excessive failure rates should be evaluated with the measurement of serum cobalt. A serum cobalt level of >7 μg/L indicates possible periprosthetic metallosis3,4. A normal serum cobalt level is 0.19 μg/L, and 95% of those who are unexposed to cobalt have a value of 1 μg/L indicates excessive cobalt exposure, and levels of >5 μg/L are considered toxic6.

In excess, cobalt blocks cellular metabolism and can damage multiple organs. Cobalt poisoning (cobaltism) from beer additives, industrial exposure, or medicinal use is well known. Cobaltism can result in tinnitus, vertigo, deafness, blindness, optic nerve atrophy, convulsions, headaches, peripheral neuropathy, cardiomyopathy, and hypothyroidism7,8. Including the two cases in the present report, there are at least six case reports of cobaltism related to arthroplasty implants (arthroprosthetic cobaltism)7,9-12. These four patients presented with combinations of deafness, blindness, cognitive decline, headaches, convulsions, fatigue, weakness, peripheral neuropathy, heart failure, and hypothyroidism. All of these patients had periprosthetic metallosis due to wear of steel femoral heads by ceramic, and all had a serum cobalt level of >60 μg/L. The two …


We induced site-directed mutations near the 3' terminus of the gene repA, which encodes the protein of 288 amino acid residues essential for plasmid Rts1 replication, and obtained seven repA mutants. Three of them contained small deletions at the 3' terminus. Mutant repAz delta C4, which encodes a RepA protein that lacks the C-terminal four amino acids, expressed a high-copy-number phenotype and had lost both autorepressor and incompatibility functions. Deletion of one additional amino acid residue to form the RepAz delta C5 protein caused restoration of the wild-type copy number and strong incompatibility. Studies of the remaining four repA mutants, each of which contained a single amino acid substitution near the RepA C terminus, suggested that Lys-268 is involved in both ori(Rts1) activation and autorepressor-incompatibility activities and that Arg-279 contributes to ori(Rts1) activation but not to incompatibility. Lys-268 is part of a dual-lysine sequence with Lys-267 and is located 21 amino acids upstream of the RepA C terminus. A dual-lysine sequence is also found at a similar position in both mini-F RepE and mini-P1 RepA proteins.


Objective: To understand the relationship between disease activity or patient functional ability with different clinical parameters (e.g. age, gender, age at onset, disease duration) in our ankylosing spondylitis (AS) patients in Taiwan.Methods: Chinese version of Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index (BASDAI) and Bath ankylosing spondylitis functional index (BASFI) was recently developed and validated by our AS Study Group. We enrolled 344 AS patients and analyzed their demographic and clinical characteristics, sulfasalazine and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) use, and clinical outcome by using the Chinese version of BASDAI and BASFI.Results: The 344 AS patients were predominantly male (255) (M:F = 2.9:1) and Taiwanese (69.3%). Hakka and Mainlander ethnicity was 13.2% and 12.4%, respectively. Mean age in the study was 36.2 (M ± SD: 36.2 ± 11.95). Although the mean age at onset was 24.98, 35% of patients had onset of AS before 16 yrs. Average BASDAI score in AS patients was 3.2(range 0-8.5), and BASFI 2.55 (range 0-9.32). Uveitis was present in 29.9% patients and peripheral arthritis developed in 66.1% AS patients. Many patients (47.1%) reported that their family relatives also had AS. Correlation analysis between clinical features and BASDAI showed a significant correlation only between peripheral arthritis and BASDAI (p<0.0001). However, age, age above 35 or below 35 or different age distribution, disease duration, peripheral arthritis and NSAID use, showed a significant correlation with BASFI.Conclusion: The presence of peripheral arthritis can significantly influence both BASDAI and BASFI. The old age, longer disease duration and continuous treatment with NSAIDs was associated with a higher score in BASFI but not BASDAI. Early diagnosis and adequate management may prevent AS patients from later functional impairment.


The efficacy of local use of a new drug miliacil in combination with laser radiation was studied in 44 patients with trophic ulcer of different origin. It is established by clinical, histological and microbiological examinations that healing of trophic ulcers is better in combined use of miliacil and laser radiation. Mean hospital stay reduced 1.3 times after this treatment. Miliacil and laser radiation were applied for preparation of trophic ulcer for autodermoplasty. Mean time of preparation of trophic ulcer for final closure was 1.5 times less than in isolated use of miliacil. Mean hospital stay of patients who underwent autodermoplasty was 1.3 times shorter.


Beginning with an empirical analysis of banking crises using a logit econometric model covering a sample of developed and developing countries between 1980-1997, the paper suggests that crises are more likely in years of low growth and high real interest rates. Private sector credit as a percentage of GDP, lagged credit growth and tight liquidity in the banking sector are also strongly related with banking crises. The results call for more robust financial regulation. The paper argues that less developed countries (LDCs) face inherent obstacles in setting up efficient regulation, and building up a sound-banking sector. These are related to the presence of multiple tasks and multiple principals, poor institutions, lack of economies of scales in banking sector as well as regulatory supervision, and the lack of reputation. LDCs need a regulatory framework that rewards prudent risk taking, but punishes misconduct. This is likely to involve a combination of input based measures impacting on bankers' incentives, with a few direct controls on the output of the banking sector. The paper concludes with a list of policy options whose appropriateness is judged by the 'friendliness' with the circumstances in LDCs.


Summary and ConclusionsA comparison of methods for determining soil reaction and lime requirements of soils was made, using 150 soils that were representative of the three soil provinces of Virginia. The rapid tests, given in order of their accuracy, which was determined by comparison with the hydrogen electrode method, are: LaMotte-Hester, Hellige, Modified Indiana, LaMotte-Morgan, Missouri Potassium Thiocyanate, and Soiltex. The glass electrode method proved to be more accurate than the quinhydrone electrode method. Using accuracy, cost, and general adaptability as criteria, the results of this investigation indicate that the LaMotte-Hester method is best adapted for use under Virginia conditions, where the facilities necessary for its operation are available. The Modified Indiana method was found to be the most accurate and cheapest method adapted to actual field use. Of the laboratory methods evaluated, the results indicate that the glass electrode method is preferable to the quinhydrone electrode method on the piedmont and limestone valley and uplands soils of Virginia, while there appears to be little choice between the two methods on soils of the coastal plains province of Virginia.


Bachground: The main objective of this study was to define the clinical changes of facial deformity in patients older than 5 years with congenital torticollis treated by proximal and distal sternocleidomastoid tenotomy. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated fifteen patients who had had an open tenotomy of the sternal and clavicular and mastoid origins of the sternocleidomastoid muscle for muscular torticollis. The average length of follow-up was 4.5 years. The patients were divided into three groups according to their time of operation. Group I consisted of patients who were operated on between the age of 5 and 10 years. Group II, patients who were operated on between the age of 10 and 15 years, and Group III patients were operated on when they were 16 years old or older. Most patients were operated on between the age of 10 and 15 years. Results: According to our method of evaluation two patients in group I had excellent resolution of facial asymmetry and in group II two patients had excellent and six patients had good results at the final follow-up. And in group III only one patient had good results and four patients had fair results. Conclusion: We conclude that the patient's age at operation, the duration of the disease and the severity of the facial deformity before operation had the major effect on cosmetic results.


Leadership in Freshman Physics is an NSF-funded professional development program designed to support 9 th grade teacher leaders in the successful implementation of a 'Physics First' or curriculum sequence that places physics prior to biology and chemistry. Leadership is viewed as an essential component in the initial success and long-term sustainability of such reforms. However, our own experiences working with teachers and the growing body of literature cautions that teachers may not view themselves as leaders and may hold ideas counterproductive to their development as leaders. In this article, we consider teachers' myths about leadership, and describe how we helped teachers confront these in a professional development program. In this program, each teacher designed a plan of action, based on his or her professional experiences and school environment. A web-based online learning community was established to serve as a platform of interaction and support among teachers and project staff throughout the year. We emphasize that by developing their capacity for leadership, teachers can make a difference beyond their own classrooms through empowering others.


The effects of public policy on intergenerational social and economic mobility in the United States are not well understood. We study how the largest federal tax-based policy intended to promote work and increase incomes among the poor—the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)—affects the socio-economic standing of children who grew up in households affected by the policy. Using the universe of tax filer records for children linked to their parents, matched with demographic and household information from decennial and American Community Survey data, we exploit exogenous differences by children's ages in the births and "aging out" of siblings to assess the causal effect of EITC generosity on child outcomes. We focus on assessing upward mobility in the child income distribution. Our findings suggest significant and mostly positive effects of more generous EITC refunds on the next generation that vary substantially depending on the child's household type (single-mother or married family) and by the child's gender. In this paper, we detail how we define the variation in EITC generosity, explain the construction of the intergenerational link and sibling groups, and provide summary statistics and estimates of average intent-to-treat effects. Any opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Census Bureau. The statistical summaries reported in this paper have been cleared by the Census Bureau's Disclosure Review Board release authorization numbers CBDRB-FY2020-CES005039. Simeonova and Akee gratefully acknowledge support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. ∗Akee: UCLA, email@example.com; Jones: U.S. Census Bureau, email@example.com; Simeonova: Johns Hopkins University, email@example.com and Simeonova gratefully acknowledge financial support by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation


Background: Cryptosporidiosis is increasingly recognised as a cause of gastrointestinal infection in Ireland and has been implicated in several outbreaks. This study aimed to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of human cryptosporidiosis in the west of Ireland in order to identify high risk seasons and areas and to compare Classically Calculated (CC) and Empirical Bayesian (EB) incidence rates. Two spatial scales of analysis were used with a view to identifying the best one in assessing geographical patterns of infection. Global Moran's I and Local Moran's I tests of autocorrelation were used to test for evidence of global and local spatial clustering. Results: There were statistically significant seasonal patterns of cryptosporidiosis with peaks in spring and an increasing temporal trend. Significant (p < 0.05) global spatial clustering was observed in CC rates at the Electoral Division (ED) level but not in EB rates at the same level. Despite variations in disease, ED level was found to provide the most accurate account of distribution of cryptosporidiosis in the West of Ireland but required spatial EB smoothing of cases. There were a number of areas identified with significant local clustering of cryptosporidiosis rates. Conclusion: This study identified spatial and temporal patterns in cryptosporidiosis distribution. The study also showed benefit in performing spatial analyses at more than one spatial scale to assess geographical patterns in disease distribution and that smoothing of disease rates for mapping in small areas enhances visualisation of spatial patterns. These findings are relevant in guiding policy decisions on disease control strategies.


In the interest of enlarging their constituencies, social movements often broaden mobilization efforts beyond the directly aggrieved, beneficiary populations. The authors examine this process through an analysis of a movement against unconventional oil and gas development (UOGD or "fracking") in Illinois. Using data on more than 37,000 public comments submitted during a regulatory review of fracking, the authors examine the composition of the antifracking movement's constituency. Individuals residing outside the targeted development region submitted the vast majority of the comments opposing UOGD. Analyses reveal that these participants tend to be Democratic partisans who were affiliated with one or more large environmental and progressive organizations. The study offers new insight into how environmental and progressive issue campaigns are organized in the contemporary U.S. context. The authors highlight how partisan discursive opportunities combine with recent organizational innovations in the social movement sector to enable nascent single-issue campaigns to tap into the mobilization potential of motivated partisans.


A key question in developmental biology is how form is generated. The model species Arabidopsis thaliana produces simple leaves with marginal outgrowths termed serrations. Serration development in A. thaliana requires both the transcription factor CUP-SHAPED COTYLEDON2 (CUC2) and the auxin efflux facilitator PIN-FORMED1 (PIN1), which regulates polar auxin transport by forming convergence points (Hay et al., 2006; Nikovics et al., 2006; Scarpella et al., 2006). In Chapter 3, I investigate how CUC2, PIN1 and auxin interact to control serration development. I demonstrate that CUC2 promotes PIN1 convergence point and auxin activity foci formation along the margin of the leaf, whilst high auxin activity represses CUC2 expression. Furthermore, interspersed peaks of CUC2 and auxin activity pattern serration development along the proximo-distal axis of the leaf. Thus, auxin, PIN1 and CUC2 form a negative feedback loop that patterns serration development.CUC genes and PIN1 are required for leaflet development in Cardamine hirsuta (Barkoulas et al., 2008; Blein et al., 2008), a close relative of A. thaliana that produces compound leaves subdivided into units termed leaflets. However, it is unclear how CUC and PIN1 interact to control leaflet development. In Chapter 4, I demonstrate that similar to A. thaliana, CUC genes promote PIN1 convergence point and auxin activity foci formation at the C. hirsuta leaf margin, whilst high auxin activity represses CUC2 expression. These genetic interactions likely create interspersed peaks of CUC2 and auxin activity that pattern leaflet development. Thus, the same negative feedback loop between CUC, PIN1 and auxin patterns both leaflet development in C. hirsuta and serration development in A. thaliana.KNOTTED1-LIKE HOMEOBOX (KNOX) genes are expressed in C. hirsuta leaves, and interact with ChCUC and PIN1 in positive and negative feedback loops, respectively, to control leaflet development (Barkoulas et al., 2008; Blein et al., 2008). KNOX genes are not expressed in A. thaliana leaves, but deeply lobed margins reminiscent of leaflets develop in association with ectopic KNOX expression in leaves (Chuck et al., 1996; Hay et al., 2006). However, it is unclear whether regulatory interactions of PIN1, CUC and KNOX which occur in C. hirsuta leaflets are employed during KNOX-induced lobe development in A. thaliana. In Chapter 5, I demonstrate that CUC2 and polar auxin transport are required for ectopic KNOX expression. Conversely, I show that KNOX misexpression up-regulates CUC2 expression in A. thaliana leaves. Thus, interactions between KNOX, CUC and PIN1 that occur in leaflet development in C. hirsuta also occur in association with KNOX-induced lobe development in A. thaliana.In addition to investigating the regulatory interactions between known components of leaf development pathways, I sought to identify novel genes that mediate CUC2-dependent serration development in A. thaliana. In Chapter 6, I identify a suppressor of the smooth margin phenotype of cuc2 leaves that partially restores PIN1 localisation in the absence of functional CUC2. Finally, in the General Discussion I evaluate how interlinking feedback loops between CUC, KNOX and auxin pattern serration and leaflet development. I then discuss why interlinking feedback loops may have been deployed to control outgrowths in both plant and animal systems.


Let $X$ be a rational homogeneous space and let $QH^*(X)_{loc}^\times$ be the group of invertible elements in the small quantum cohomology ring of $X$ localised in the quantum parameters. We generalise results of \cite{cmp2} and realise explicitly the map $\pi_1({\rm Aut}(X))\to QH^*(X)_{loc}^\times$ described in \cite{seidel}. We even prove that this map is an embedding and realise it in the equivariant quantum cohomology ring $QH^*_T(X)_{loc}^\times$. We give explicit formulas for the product by these elements. The proof relies on a generalisation, to a quotient of the equivariant homology ring of the affine Grassmannian, of a formula proved by Peter Magyar \cite{Magyar}. It also uses Peterson's unpublished result \cite{Peterson} --- recently proved by Lam and Shimozono in \cite{Lam-Shi} --- on the comparison between the equivariant homology ring of the affine Grassmannian and the equivariant quantum cohomology ring.


The 'bet hedging' life history strategy of long-lived iteroparous species reduces short-term reproductive output to minimize the risk of reproductive failure over a lifetime. For desert-dwelling ectotherms living in variable and unpredictable environments, reproductive output is further influenced by precipitation and temperature via effects on food availability and limits on activity. We assembled multiple (n = 12) data sets on egg production for the threatened Agassiz's desert tortoise Gopherus agassizii across its range and used these data to build a range-wide predictive model of annual reproductive output as a function of annual weather variation and individual-level attributes (body size and prior-year reproductive status). Climate variables were more robust predictors of reproductive output than individual-level attributes, with overall reproductive output positively related to prior-year precipitation and an earlier start to the spring activity season, and negatively related to spring temperature extremes (monthly temperature range in March-April). Reproductive output was highest for individuals with larger body sizes that reproduced in the previous year. Expected annual reproductive output from 1990-2018 varied from 2-5 to 6-12 eggs female-1 yr-1 , with a weak decline in expected reproductive output over this time (p = 0.02). Climate-driven environmental variation in expected reproductive output was highly correlated across all 5 Recovery Units for this species (Pearson's r > 0.9). Overall, our model suggests that climate change could strongly impact the reproductive output of Agassiz's desert tortoise, and could have a negative population-level effect if precipitation is significantly reduced across the species' range as predicted under some climate models.


Seattle Genetics is developing SGN-10 (BR96-SCIT), a single-chain immunotoxin (SCIT) under license from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), as both a monotherapy and in combination with Taxotere (Rhone-Poulenc Rorer) for the potential treatment for cancer [308773]. SGN-10 is currently in phase I clinical trials [308773], [369809], [382807], [408963], [410348]. The compound is a follow-up to SGN-15 (BR96-DOX; BMS) and is potentially more effective and cheaper to manufacture. It delivers a bacterial toxin which is 250-times more potent than BR96-DOX and is one third the size, hence enabling tumor penetration more easily. BMS submitted an IND for SGN-10 in the first quarter of 1996 [200849], [204704]. BMS licensed the SCA-protein (single-chain antigen-binding protein) technology from Enzon in 1993 [352743]. In April 1998, Seattle Genetics completed a licensing agreement with BMS to take over development of SGN-10 [308773].


attachment is a promising area for elucidating psychosocial mechanisms important for development, prevention, and treatment of schizophrenia. This report gives a short summary of studies of attachment in psychosis. it was found that dismissing and disorganized forms of attachment were over-represented in psychosis. evidence pointed to associations between a dismissing attachment pattern and positive psychotic symptoms, negative symptoms, and poor engagement with services. Furthermore, insecure attachment was found to predict impaired recovery from negative symptoms. possible major risk processes in development linking dismissing attachment to symptom development were externalizing and deactivation of affects and poor mentalization. For a disorganized form of attachment, possible risk mechanisms were heightened stress-sensitivity and dissociation. Based on this initial evidence, further research in attachment in psychosis focusing on these risk mechanisms seems warranted. in addition, the evidence supported a focus on attachment-related risk processes to enhance the prevention and treatment of psychosis.


This paper presents a self-powering wireless environment monitoring system using renewable and cost-efficient soil energy. The D-size (55.8 cm3) soil energy cell with carbon and zinc electrodes can produce ~60-100 μW, depending on the water contents and microbial reactions in the soil. The RC circuit model of a soil cell is proposed for understanding the electrical characteristics of the cell. The wireless sensing system, including temperature and air moisture sensors, a custom low-power capacitive sensor readout silicon chip, a microcontroller, and a Bluetooth low-energy transmitter, is demonstrated for long-term environmental monitoring solely by the fabricated D-size soil cell. The capacitive sensor readout chip is fabricated in a 0.18-μm CMOS process and only consumes 3 μW. The capacitance readout range is 160-200 pF. The total power consumption of the wireless temperature and air moisture monitoring system is ~20 μW and 1 mW in the sleep mode and the active wireless data communication operations, respectively. The new technology can enable remote field environment monitoring with less labor-intensive work and battery replacement.


We report an electrospray ionization mass spectrometric study of Cu(I) and Cu(II) bipyridine complexes employed in atom transfer radical polymerization. Mass spectra of Cu(I)Br complexed with 2 equiv. of 4,4'-di(5-nonyl)-2,2'-bipyridine (dNbpy) in toluene, methyl acrylate or styrene showed the presence of [Cu(I)(dNbpy)(2)](+) cation and [Cu(I)Br(2)](-) anion. For the Cu(II)Br(2)/2dNbpy system, [Cu(II)(dNbpy)(2)Br](+), [Cu(II)(dNbpy)Br](+), [Cu(I)Br(2)](-), [Cu(II)Br(3)](-) and [Cu(II)(dNbpy)Br(3)](-) species were observed. In addition, for mixed Cu(I)Br/2dNbpy and Cu(II)Br(2)/2dNbpy systems, the negative ion mode showed only the presence of [Cu(I)Br(2)](-) anions, which are potentially formed through halogen exchange between [Cu(II)Br(3)](-) and [Cu(I)(dNbpy)(2)](+). Copyright 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Summary Statement Uptake of robotically-assisted orthopaedic surgery may be limited by a perceived steep learning curve. We quantified the technological learning curve and 5 surgeries were found to bring operating times to appropriate levels. Implant positioning was as planned from the outset. Introduction Compared to total knee replacement, unicondylar knee replacement (UKR) has been found to reduce recovery time as well as increase patient satisfaction and improve range of motion. However, contradictory evidence together with revision rates concern may have limited the adoption of UKR surgery. Semi-active robotically-assisted orthopaedic tools have been developed to increase the accuracy of implant position and subsequent mechanical femorotibial angle to reduce revision rates. However, the perceived learning curve associated with such systems may cause apprehension among orthopaedic surgeons and reduce the uptake of such technology. To inform this debate, we aimed to quantify the learning curve associated with the technological aspects of the NavioPFS™ (Blue Belt Technologies Inc., Pittsburgh, USA) with regards to both operation time and implant accuracy. Methods Five junior orthopaedic trainees volunteered for the study following ethical permission. All trainees attended the same initial training session and subsequently each trainee performed 5 UKR surgeries on left-sided synthetic femurs and tibiae (model 1146–2, Sawbones-Pacific Research Laboratories Inc, Vashon, WA, USA). A few days lapsed between surgeries, which were all completed in a two week window. Replica Tornier HLS Uni Evolution femoral and tibial implants (Tornier, France) were implanted without cementation. Each surgery was videoed and timings taken for key operation phases, as well as the overall operative time. A ball point probe with four reflective spherical markers attached was used to record the position of manufactured divots on the implant, which allowed the 3D position of the implant to be compared to the planned position. Absolute translational and rotational deviations from the planned position were analysed. Results Total surgical time decreased significantly with surgery number (p Discussion and Conclusion The accuracy in implant position obtained by trainee surgeons on synthetic bones were similar to published data for experienced orthopaedic surgeons on other systems on cadavers. Whilst cadaver operations increase the complexity of operation, this should not theoretically affect the robotic system in preventing innaccurate implantation. Moreover, the fact that this accuracy was obtainable on the first surgery clearly demonstrates the system9s ability in ensuring accurate implantation. Five surgeries dramatically reduced the total operative time, and moreover, the trend suggests that more surgeries would further decrease the total operation time. It was not the intention of the study to compare absolute trainee times on synthetic bones to surgeons with cadavers, but the learning curve of the protocol and technology suggests a halving of the operation time after 5 sessions would not be unrealistic.


Aims: To investigate the health effects of employee worktime control. Methods: Prospective cohort study among 4218 permanent full time municipal employees linking questionnaire data from 1997 and 2000 with sickness absence records from 1997 and 2001. Worktime control was considered high for the highest tertile in both 1997 and 2000, low for the lowest tertile for both years, and intermediate for all other combinations. Self rated health status, psychological distress, and medically certified periods of sickness absence were used as the health outcomes. Adjustments were made for age, baseline health status, occupational status, marital status, dependent children, and behavioural health risks. Results: In the follow up, women with a low level of worktime control had a 1.9 times (95% CI 1.4 to 2.5) higher odds ratio for poor self rated health, a 1.4 times (95% CI 1.1 to 1.8) higher odds ratio for psychological distress, and a 1.5 times (95% CI 1.3 to 1.7) higher risk of medically certified sickness absences than women with a high level of worktime control. The health effects of worktime control were particularly evident among women with families. Among men, worktime control was not associated with self rated health or distress, but it predicted sickness absences in two subgroups: those with dependent children and those with manual occupations. Conclusions: A low level of worktime control increases the risk of future health problems. The risk is highest among women, especially those with families, and among manual workers. The results suggest that worktime control can help workers integrate their work and private lives successfully.


Etzioni's communitarian project is considered in the context of a wave of writings on 'civic' themes in recent years. His views are outlined, with a particular emphasis on their political implications, and on his figuration of a politics based on reflecting community voices. It is argued that it is less helpful to view this new communitarianism in the context of sociology, or social science more generally, than to see it as a revival of civic republican ideas which have long influenced discussions in the US public sphere. The implications for democratic arrangements of such a revival are examined: there are problems of compatibility between a politics of civic virtue and modern representative arrangements. In conclusion, the importance of locating and explaining the success of exhortatory public philosophies in complex and far from communal policy processes is emphasised, because whatever flaws this kind of work may exhibit in academic terms are outweighed by its apparent political utility.


This article reports on part of a larger study of the impact of strategy training in listening on learners of French, aged 16 to 17. One aim of the project was to investigate whether such training might have a positive effect on the self-efficacy of learners, by helping them see the relationship between the strategies they employed and what they achieved. One group of learners, as well as receiving strategy training, also received detailed feedback on their listening strategy use and on the reflective diaries they were asked to keep, in order to draw their attention to the relationship between strategies and learning outcomes. Another group received strategy training without feedback or reflective diaries, while a comparison group received neither strategy training nor feedback. As a result of the training, there was some evidence that students who had received feedback had made the biggest gains in certain aspects of self-efficacy for listening; although their gains as compared to the non-feedback group were not as great as had been anticipated. Reasons for this are discussed. The article concludes by suggesting changes in how teachers approach listening comprehension that may improve learners' view of themselves as listeners.