Since the emergence of reshoring, it has received huge interest and become a hot topic in academia, industry and policy circles. Most extant research has focused on defining the reshoring concept, its synonyms, the trends and the drivers behind reshoring decisions. Recently, the research scope has expanded to the reshoring decision-making process, right-shoring and advanced manufacturing having affected reshoring. However, this line of research is still in its infancy. The reshoring phenomenon and the concept are still not thoroughly understood. The impact of reshoring has been rarely researched. In addition, cross discipline research into the association between reshoring and other fields, such as the role of reshoring or shoring decisions played in global manufacturing strategy and business performance (BP) have remained under-researched. Besides, the entire body of research lacks empirical quantitative data as a methodology to enrich people's understanding of the practice of reshoring.

This research attempts to address these gaps empirically, by mainly focusing on an exploration of the current UK manufacturing reshoring status and the relationship between shoring decisions, competitive priorities and BP. The research develops a framework for reshoring to synthesize the related factors which need to be considered during the decision-making process by following a 360-degree approach. The framework also guides an exploration of the realities of reshoring from the UK perspective. In addition, a theoretical moderation model has been devised from the literature, supported by contingency and congruence theory, to explore the correlation between shoring decisions, competitive priorities and BP, with ten hypotheses built up.

This research conducted data collection through a survey and obtained 298 completed responses by UK manufacturers. The analysis is based on 261 reliable responses through descriptive analysis, and hierarchical regressions, by using Excel 2016, PPT 2016 and SPSS 24 tools.

From the descriptive analysis results, the research has revealed a clear current status of UK manufacturing reshoring from multiple perspectives including: overview of shoring decisions, strategic realities, operational considerations focusing on competitive priorities and products, impacts on supply chains, and comparisons of BP. Based on the statistical analyses results, six out of the ten hypotheses have been supported, moderation relationships have been discovered to exist among the SC cost and BP, delivery and BP, and flexibility and BP. The results identified that SC cost and delivery are the key competitive priorities to improve BP for the companies who took no shoring decisions; delivery is the key competitive priority to improve BP for the companies who conduct both direct and indirect reshoring; delivery and SC cost are the key competitive priorities to improve BP for the companies who are indirectly reshored; and finally flexibility and SC cost are the key competitive priorities to improve BP for the companies who offshored overseas.

With a better understanding of reshoring decisions and their current status in the UK, also a clear role of shoring decisions made among manufacturing strategy and BP, academics can use the results of this research as a foundation for future research, industry practitioners can use it to make more considered reshoring or shoring decisions and develop an appropriate operational capability emphasis aligned with the shoring decision, and policy makers can develop more and suitable polices to further support this trend and revitalize the manufacturing and economics areas of the UK.


ABSTRACT Currently there are estimated to be approximately 3.7 million contact lens wearers in the United Kingdom and 39.2 million in North America. Contact lens wear is a major risk factor for developing an infection of the cornea known as keratitis due to poor lens hygiene practices. While there is an international standard for testing disinfection methods against bacteria and fungi (ISO 14729), no such guidelines exist for the protozoan Acanthamoeba, which causes a potentially blinding keratitis most commonly seen in contact lens wearers, and as a result, many commercially available disinfecting solutions show incomplete disinfection after 6 and 24 h of exposure. Challenge test assays based on international standard ISO 14729 were used to determine the antimicrobial activity of cold atmospheric gas plasma (CAP) against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, and trophozoites and cysts of Acanthamoeba polyphaga and Acanthamoeba castellanii. P. aeruginosa and C. albicans were completely inactivated in 0.5 min and 2 min, respectively, and trophozoites of A. polyphaga and A. castellanii were completely inactivated in 1 min and 2 min, respectively. Furthermore, for the highly resistant cyst stage of both species, complete inactivation was achieved after 4 min of exposure to CAP. This study demonstrates that the CAP technology is highly effective against bacterial, fungal, and protozoan pathogens. The further development of this technology has enormous potential, as this approach is able to deliver the complete inactivation of ocular pathogens in minutes, in contrast to commercial multipurpose disinfecting solutions that require a minimum of 6 h.


There have been developments and applications of osteogenic biomaterial substitutes in dentistry to replace missing dentition or to reinforce existing dentitions. The dentistry in practice has evolved into new treatment modality with the development and application of novel biocompatible materials. The examples are dental implants, bone graft materials, surgical plates, and any modification to increase biocompatibility and stability in dentition. These materials cover everything from replacing the missing teeth and/or degenerated supporting structures to the induction of new bone formation. Also, the osseointegrated materials further allowed orthopedic force application on these materials as skeletal anchorage to control tooth movements. Currently, modifications of the surface treatment or combination of osseoinductive materials to improve potential osseointegration are continuously endeavored.

This special issue delivers original research on different aspects, studies on the application of the novel biomaterials to fill bone defect rapidly with new bone, improvement of osseointegration through variety of surface treatment, and the possibility of alumina toughened zirconia for the new implant material, and also covers clinical research on a modified dental implant as a gateway to the human body: implant mediated drug delivery system.

First, we discuss the studies of novel biomaterial application for new bone formation in bony defect. Rapid bone defect filling with normal bone is a challenge in orthopaedics and dentistry. A study by S. Ansari et al. developed a strategy for bone tissue engineering that entails application of immobilized anti-BMP-2 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to capture endogenous BMPs in vivo and promote antibody-mediated osseous regeneration (AMOR). These data have potential implications for the mechanism of action of AMOR, suggesting that anti-BMP-2 may capture endogenous osteogenic BMPs, which may in turn mediate de novo bone formation. Strontium ranelate (SrRan) has been shown to in vitro decrease bone resorption and increase bone formation and represents a potential agent with the capacity to accelerate bone defect filling.

G. Zacchetti et al.'s study demonstrates that Sr is integrated both in cortical and in trabecular bone healing of the defect in SrRan-treated rats and improves the bone material level properties of the healing bone mainly after 4 weeks of treatment. These results open up new perspectives for the use of SrRan in clinical studies as a pharmacologic agent with a potential beneficial effect on bone defect repair.

A. Monje et al.'s comprehensive systematic review aimed at assessing the feasibility of allogeneic block grafts by means of survival rate, histologic analysis, and causes of failure, for augmentation of the atrophic maxilla, provides a current state of the art about this treatment modality. Therefore, this study can be of a very meaningful importance for clinicians in the decision making of selecting the ideal source for bone block grafting.

This special issue illuminates the clinical evaluation of the bone graft materials that have been used conventionally and introduces the histological identification of changes in tissue adjacent to the biomaterials through three original research articles. Particularly, clinical experiment on the management of the thin alveolus which has been considered as tooth movement limitation in orthodontics and the scientific analysis of the methods have been discussed in depth.

Alveolar augmented corticotomy is effective in accelerating orthodontic tooth movement, but the effect only lasts for a relatively short time. A study by D.-Y. Lee et al. demonstrated the stable results in a long-term (12 weeks) experiment using xenograft materials in beagle experiment. Absorbable collagen membrane could control the texture of bone surface.

K.-B. Lee et al. researched the different types of bone graft materials on the treatment effect of augmented corticotomy. The remarkable thing is that not only allograft or xenograft but also synthetic graft material showed comparable new bone formation. Augmented corticotomy showed stable results regardless of the graft material types, and in particular synthetic bone material showed dramatic new bone formation.

The study of H.-J. Choi et al. was to investigate the underlying biology of the immediate periodontal response to orthodontic tooth movement after the augmented corticotomy with alloplastic bone grafts. The results demonstrated that measurable tooth movement began as early as 3 days after the intervention in beagle dogs. Based on the results and histological findings, augmented corticotomy-facilitated orthodontic tooth movement might enhance the condition of the periodontal tissue and the stability of the outcomes of orthodontic treatment.

There has been increased interest in search of the new biomaterial for dental implant. We would like to examine the possibility of alumina toughened zirconia for the new implant material through several articles.

S. Y. Kim et al.'s study classified the influence of different topographies and hydrophilicities of Ti surfaces on the expression of various functional factors in PDLSCs involved in osteogenesis in the absence of osteogenic supplements and evaluated biomarkers of cellular activity, including the expression of transcription factors and signaling molecules of PDLSCs on the Ti surfaces.

The relevance of J. Markhoff et al.'s research was to develop a glass solder matrix for coating zirconia ceramics to improve osseointegration of ceramic dental implants with adequate mechanical properties at once. Thereby, the existing advantages in esthetic appearance and hypersensitivity of ceramic dental implants in contrast to metallic implants may become effective in clinical application in the near future.

The results of R. Olivares-Navarrete et al.'s study indicate that effects of the complex SLA topography are greater than the effect of acid etching or grit blasted on regulation of osteogenesis, osteoclastogenesis, and angiogenesis on multipotent BMCs and committed osteoblasts. 1α,25(OH)2D3 had a major role in enhancing these effects that was sex depended.

Alumina-zirconia composites have attracted significant interest in the past few years for orthopedic and dental use. Although yttria stabilized zirconia is the only ceramic currently employed for dental implant fabrication, several reasons suggest that alumina-zirconia composites may conveniently substitute this monolithic material. Here, F. Mussano et al. report the results of the experiments performed in vitro and in vivo to assess the behavior of alumina toughened zirconia (ATZ) dental implants. It is important to underline that ATZ is different from zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA) due to the relative percentage of the two materials and the consequent mechanical and possibly biological properties.

Another topic enlightened in this special issue is dental implant. It is about neither improving osseointegration potential nor improving functional occlusion of implant, but it is a preliminary study on the prospect of dental implant as a drug delivery system. In an article by Y.-S. Park et al., they developed and proposed a new implant mediated drug delivery system (IMDDS) through a modified titanium implant. In the nearest future, the IMDDS may provide a novel approach to treat patients with chronic diseases.

In conclusion, we debated about the current status of osteogenic biomaterials in contemporary dentistry, the osteogenic biomaterial types, the application of the material, and the future study. We would like to suggest a right direction of osteogenic biomaterial in this special issue because comprehension of recent advances in biomaterial of dentistry would lead to appropriate applications of these biomaterials and successful strategies to improve treatment outcomes to better serve patients.

Seong-Hun Kim

Jae-Pyung Ahn

Homayoun H. Zadeh

Eric J. W. Liou


This essay examines the multiple force fields within which South Korean films and teleserials circulate in Northeastern India.1 It looks at the complex imbrications of infrastructure, the political tensions between the region and the nation, pirate modes of cultural reproduction, dissemination, and reception to re-negotiate the larger terrains of identity, national culture, and modernity. The argument is built-up through an analysis of the socio-political world of film viewers, engagement with film theory, theories on globalization, and writings on cultural travel and access in non-Western contexts. It examines the forms of "localization" and appropriation of South Korean popular culture by emphasizing the materiality of media, the role of diverse socio-political agents, digital technology, and the dense networks of circulation. While refraining from textual analysis, the study draws attention to how the imageries of modern life offered by films and teleserials are accessed in "debased" and dubbed forms that often distort authorial intent. Such modes of engagement engendered by piracy and non-legal media distribution and reception introduces certain "aesthetics" that have a bearing on the consumption of media. Thus the narrative of access—in fits and starts—to a world of consumerism exemplified by the Korean Wave is also a narrative of the various modernities that exist within Asia.


Abstract— In this paper, we present concentration and isotopic composition of the light noble gases He, Ne, and Ar as well as of 84Kr, 132Xe, and 129Xe in bulk samples of 33 Rumuruti (R) chondrites. Together with previously published data of six R chondrites, exposure ages are calculated and compared with those of ordinary chondrites. A number of pairings, especially between those from Northwest Africa (NWA), are suggested, so that only 23 individual falls are represented by the 39 R chondrites discussed here. Eleven of these meteorites, or almost 50%, contain solar gases and are thus regolithic breccias. This percentage is higher than that of ordinary chondrites, howardites, or aubrites. This may imply that the parent body of R chondrites has a relatively thick regolith. Concentrations of heavy noble gases, especially of Kr, are affected by the terrestrial atmospheric component, which resides in weathering products. Compared to ordinary chondrites, 129Xe/132Xe ratios of R chondrites are high.


The triad symptoms of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH), i.e., dementia, gait disturbance, and urinary incontinence may appear commonly in the elderly suffering from various brain diseases as well as in those with musculoskeletal disorders. It would not be easy to differentiate iNPH from other neurological diseases with musculoskeletal disorders in the elderly. Gait disturbance is an early and central clinical symptom, and its improvement after temporary removal of CSF and shunt surgery is the most notable. This paper reviews the nature, differential diagnosis, pathophysiology, and evaluation of iNPH gait. Broad-based, short-step, magnetic gait with start hesitation and increased instability on turning, which is often expressed as apraxic/ataxic gait, is the cardinal sign of iNPH. Although iNPH gait shares the features with gait in Parkinson disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, and cerebellar ataxia, the nature of iNPH gait is the closest to apraxia of gait, which is characterized primarily by gait ignition failure. The semiological similarity to apraxia of gait and the close relationship to frontal symptoms indicate that the iNPH gait is probably caused by frontal dysfunction. The gait subscale of the idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus grading scale and the timed "Up and Go" test are recommended as useful tools for measuring gait disturbance in iNPH.


We explore the relaxation behavior of model colloidal gels under steady shear flow by means of orthogonal superposition rheometry. Fumed silica and carbon black dispersions in Newtonian matrices are used as a model system. As shear rate increases, the frequency dependent orthogonal moduli of the gels shift along the frequency axis without changing their shape, which finally can be superimposed to yield a single master curve. This indicates that the shear rate tunes a master clock for overall relaxation modes in the sheared colloidal gels to produce a "time-shear rate superposition (TSS)", as temperature does in polymeric liquids to produce a time-temperature superposition (TTS). The horizontal shift factor required at each shear rate to obtain the master curve is found to be directly proportional to the suspension viscosity for all the cases. From this result, we suggest that the suspension viscosity determines the overall relaxation time of the particles in the flowing colloidal gel.


An adaptive sliding mode control scheme for container cranes is investigated in this study. A sliding surface is designed in such a way that the sway motion of the payload is incorporated into the trolley dynamics. Included in the proposed control law is a varying control gain, obtained by an adaptation law, which transitions the system into the sliding mode. The control law guarantees the asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system. To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, experimental results are provided.


Kinesthetic teaching is a viable solution for programming robots in the execution of new tasks thanks to the human-mediated mapping between the task objectives and the robot joint space. Redundant designs and differences from human kinematics pose challenges in the efficient execution of the teaching task. In this work we employ vibrotactile feedback letting operators understand specific kinematic constraints such as reaching joint limits and singularities. The experimentation with a Baxter robot and a four-motor vibrotactile bracelet is reported showing the effectiveness of the proposed enhancement to the kinesthetic teaching task.


As machine learning becomes ubiquitous, deployed systems need to be as accu- rate as they can. As a result, machine learning service providers have a surging need for useful, additional training data that benefits training, without giving up all the details about the trained program. At the same time, data owners would like to trade their data for its value, without having to first give away the data itself be- fore receiving compensation. It is difficult for data providers and model providers to agree on a fair price without first revealing the data or the trained model to the other side. Escrow systems only complicate this further, adding an additional layer of trust required of both parties. Currently, data owners and model owners don't have a fair pricing system that eliminates the need to trust a third party and training the model on the data, which 1) takes a long time to complete, 2) does not guarantee that useful data is paid valuably and that useless data isn't, without trusting in the third party with both the model and the data. Existing improve- ments to secure the transaction focus heavily on encrypting or approximating the data, such as training on encrypted data, and variants of federated learning. As powerful as the methods appear to be, we show them to be impractical in our use case with real world assumptions for preserving privacy for the data owners when facing black-box models. Thus, a fair pricing scheme that does not rely on secure data encryption and obfuscation is needed before the exchange of data. This pa- per proposes a novel method for fair pricing using data-model efficacy techniques such as influence functions, model extraction, and model compression methods, thus enabling secure data transactions. We successfully show that without running the data through the model, one can approximate the value of the data; that is, if the data turns out redundant, the pricing is minimal, and if the data leads to proper improvement, its value is properly assessed, without placing strong assumptions on the nature of the model. Future work will be focused on establishing a system with stronger transactional security against adversarial attacks that will reveal details about the model or the data to the other party.


Evaluating the financial terms of capitation contracts and negotiating their nonfinancial provisions are becoming increasingly important responsibilities for healthcare financial managers. To evaluate the financial terms of a contract, financial managers must understand both incremental and replacement pricing strategies. They also must understand when strategic positioning objectives make a capitated plan attractive despite limited financial rewards. Before a contract is accepted, financial managers can take steps to increase its potential profitability by negotiating the nonfinancial provisions that can help control contract expenses. These provisions are related to services to be provided, payment terms, withholds and risk pools, access to data, provision of eligibility data, utilization review and quality assurance procedures, filing of grievances, contract renewal terms, and contract termination.


Purpose – Through examination of a case study this paper aims to describe a brand re-positioningexercise and explore how an emotionally driven approach to branding can help create meaningfulconnections with potential undergraduate students and can positively influence choice.Design/methodology/approach – The paper's approach is a case study description withquantitative analysis in support.Findings – The use of an emotionally driven branding concept has positively impacted businessdevelopment and brand likeability within a UK university.Research limitations/implications – The paper is specific to one case study and evaluation ofsuccess remains relatively early. Initial implications relate to the potential use of emotion in highereducation marketing communications and how the use of emotion acted as an enabler of more rationaldecision-making processes within the case university context.Originality/value – An exploration of issues related to the marketing of higher education services isof great importance at this time. The case study described offers value and learning for readers of thejournal from both a theoretical and practical perspective.Keywords Marketing, Branding, Advertising, Higher education, Emotion, Decision making, Students,United KingdomPaper type Case study


The stamping process for manufacturing cell phone cases with magnesium alloy AZ31 sheets was studied using both the experimental approach and the finite element analysis. The formability of AZ31 magnesium-alloy sheet at elevated temperatures was studied first. The experimental results reveal that the forming of AZ31 sheets becomes possible as long as the sheet is heated to an elevated temperature and 200oC is an optimum forming temperature to start with. An optimum stamping process, including die geometry, forming temperature, and blank dimension, for manufacturing the cell phone cases was examined by the finite element analysis. The finite element analyses performed for the cell phone were validated by the good agreement between the simulation results and the experimental data. It also confirms that the cell phone cases can be produced with AZ31 magnesium-alloy sheets at elevated temperature by the stamping process. It provides an alternative to the electronics industry in the application of magnesium alloys.


CONTEXT
Psychiatric disorders and substance use during pregnancy are associated with adverse outcomes for mothers and their offspring. Information about the epidemiology of these conditions in this population is lacking.

OBJECTIVE
To examine sociodemographic correlates, rates of DSM-IV Axis I psychiatric disorders, substance use, and treatment seeking among past-year pregnant and postpartum women in the United States.

DESIGN
National survey.

SETTING
Face-to-face interviews conducted in the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.

PARTICIPANTS
A total of 43 093 respondents were interviewed, of whom 14 549 were women 18 to 50 years old with known past-year pregnancy status.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Prevalence of 12-month DSM-IV Axis I psychiatric disorders, substance use, and treatment seeking.

RESULTS
Past-year pregnant and postpartum women had significantly lower rates of alcohol use disorders and any substance use, except illicit drug use, than nonpregnant women. In addition, currently pregnant women had a lower risk of having any mood disorder than nonpregnant women. The only exception was the significantly higher prevalence of major depressive disorder in postpartum than in nonpregnant women. Age, marital status, health status, stressful life events, and history of traumatic experiences were all significantly associated with higher risk of psychiatric disorders in pregnant and postpartum women. Lifetime and past-year treatment-seeking rates for any psychiatric disorder were significantly lower among past-year pregnant than nonpregnant women with psychiatric disorders. Most women with a current psychiatric disorder did not receive any mental health care in the 12 months prior to the survey regardless of pregnancy status.

CONCLUSIONS
Pregnancy per se is not associated with increased risk of the most prevalent mental disorders, although the risk of major depressive disorder may be increased during the postpartum period. Groups of pregnant women with particularly high prevalence of psychiatric disorders were identified. Low rates of maternal mental health care underscore the need to improve recognition and delivery of treatment for mental disorders occurring during pregnancy and the postpartum period.


To streamline and strengthen the process of acquisition, representation and exploitation of scenarii of railroad accidents, it is necessary to harmonize and standardize the terminology used by domain experts. The research aims to significantly improve analytical activities and operations of the various safety studies, by tracking the error in system, hardware, software and human. This paper presents the contribution of ontology to modeling scenarii for railroad accidents through a knowledge model based on a generic ontology and domain ontology. After a detailed presentation of the state of the art material, this article presents the first results of the model developed.


Most distributional lexico-semantic models derive their representations based on external language resources such as text corpora. In this study, we propose that internal language models, that are more closely aligned to the mental representations of words could provide important insights into cognitive science, including linguistics. Doing so allows us to reflect upon theoretical questions regarding the structure of the mental lexicon, and also puts into perspective a number of assumptions underlying recently proposed distributional text-based models. In particular, we focus on word-embedding models which have been proposed to learn aspects of word meaning in a manner similar to humans. These are contrasted with internal language models derived from a new extensive data set of word associations. Using relatedness and similarity judgments we evaluate these models and find that the word-association-based internal language models consistently outperform current state-of-the art text-based external language models, often with a large margin. These results are not just a performance improvement; they also have implications for our understanding of how distributional knowledge is used by people.


This paper studies the recent (2007-2009) Global Financial Crisis and its transmission through bank lending to emerging Asian economies. It highlights two channels of shock transmission identified in the literature: bank ownership and liquidity. We find that the bank ownership does not play a substantial role in the transmitting process. It is the liquidity channel measured by lending in foreign currency that is mainly responsible for the GFC transmission to the loan market in Asia, albeit the effect on the credit market is likely to be small. Additionally, our results suggest that the contraction of foreign currency liquidity is partially substituted by domestic currency lending. However, the substitution occurs only within banks and not between banks owing to high switching costs. We employ a unique dataset on new loan issuance to Asian borrowers and apply a recently developed method (Khwaja and Mian 2008) to address the identification problem in examining bank lending and shock transmission. Our results are robust according to a number of sensitivity analyses.


: The risk of falling increases significantly in the elderly because of deterioration of the neural musculature regulatory mechanisms. Several studies have investigated methods of prevent-ing falling using real-time systems to evaluate balance; however, it is difficult to monitor the results of such characterizations in real time. Herein, we describe the use of Microsoft's Kinect depth sensor system to evaluate balance in real time. Six healthy male adults (25.5 ± 1.8 years, 173.9 ± 6.4 cm, 71.4 ± 6.5 kg, and 23.6 ± 2.4 kg/m 2 ), with normal balance abilities and with no musculoskeletal disorders, were selected to participate in the experiment. Movements of the participants were induced by controlling the base plane of the balance training equipment in various directions. The dynamic motion of the subjects was measured using two Kinect depth sensor systems and a three-dimensional motion capture system with eight infrared cameras. The two systems yielded similar results for changes in the center of body mass ( P . 0.05) with a large Pearson's correlation coefficient of γ . 0.60. The results for the two systems showed similarity in the mean lower-limb joint angle with flexion–extension movements, and these values were highly correlated (hip joint: within approximately 4.6 ° ; knee joint: within approximately 8.4 ° ) (0.40 , γ , 0.74) ( P . 0.05). Large differences with a low correlation were, however, observed for the lower-limb joint angle in relation to abduction–adduction and internal–external rotation motion ( γ , 0.40) ( P , 0.05). These findings show that clinical and dynamic accuracy can be achieved using the Kinect system in balance training by measuring changes in the center of body mass and flexion–extension movements of the lower limbs, but not abduction–adduction and internal–external rotation.


Abstract In the past few years the American Physical Society (APS) has conducted a number of surveys among the graduate student population in the US and also among young researchers. The purpose was to get an idea of the career expectations of the students and how these are met later on in their life. Two of the conclusions were: (1) students want to work in a research environment, preferably academic, and (2) graduate and undergraduate programs are not preparing them well for the different challenges and goals found in industry, the private sector and national laboratories. Jobs in academia, especially tenured positions, have been difficult to obtain forcing many students to give up on their goals after one or two postdoctoral positions. Some have found jobs in other sectors but others feel frustrated that their careers have not met their expectations and are poorly 'prepared' for other options. In the areas of Physics and Astronomy there is not much of a job market without graduate studies. So most students must continue graduate work, in these or other fields, in order to compete well in the job market. Graduate and undergraduate programs must become more responsible for the present state of affairs and for implementing improvements. This can be done by broadening the scope of the present programs so that a student is better prepared to face the challenges of other job opportunities. We present here a BSc program designed by astronomers and physicists, at the University of Guanajuato, to try to address some of these concerns and better prepare the students for either continuing with graduate studies or finding employment in an ever-changing job market.


Background Ustekinumab1 targets the common p40 sub-unit of interleukin-12 (IL-12/interleukin-23 (IL-23). In patients treated with Ustekinumab for psoriasis where patients were selected on the basis of subclinical imaging enthesopathy, we have noted an improvement in subclinical imaging enthesopathy (Savage LJ et al submitted), raising the possibility that it may be possible to find a biomarker for predicting response to therapy in psoriatic disease. Innate lymphoid cells may be centrally involved in the pathogenesis of psoriatic skin and joints disease2, since they express IL-23R receptor and are associated with IL-17/IL-22 production. Objectives This work was performed to test the hypothesis that peripheral blood ILC perturbations may be useful in defining response in psoriasis cases with imaging confirmed subclinical enthesopathy. Methods Peripheral blood collected at baseline (before therapy, 24weeks, 54 weeks) from patients in the MUSTEK trial (Ustekinumab in psoriasis cases who had ultrasound imaging confirmed subclinical enthesopathy) (n=23). Cellular immunophenotyping was performed density gradient separated PBMCs. Innate lymphoid cells were identified as lineage negative (CD3- TCRγδ- TCRαβ- CD19- CD14- CD11c- CD1a- CD303- FcɛRI- CD34- CD123-) with positive expression of CD45, CD127. ILC2 cells were identified as Lineage- CD127+ and CRTH2 positive, while ILC3 were identified as Lineage- CD127+, CRTH2 – and CD117 (c-Kit) positive and further subdivided of NKp44+ and NKp44-. ILC1 were identified as lineage- CD127+ CD117-and CRTH2-. For data analysis we separated cases into PASI>90% or PASI <90% responders. The subclinical enthesopathy scores also fell significantly under therapy (Savage LJ data submitted) Results No correlation was found with total ILCs (ILC1,2, AND 3) (R=0.104, p=321, Spearman R) and therapy response. While, The absolute numbers of baseline ILC3s was inversely correlated in with the reduction in the PASI score (R -0.404, p=0308, Spearman R). The ILC3s also fell progressively under therapy. All the patients respond with reduction of PASI score mean 92.6% (range 65.8–100%), Interestingly, those patients with reduction below 90% of PASI score has a significantly higher absolute numbers of ILC3+ cells in peripheral blood at the baseline than PASI (n=6/23) than super-responder group (n=17/23) Conclusions Only peripheral blood ILC3s, but not other ILCs changes, correlate with the PASI score (disease activity), Furthermore, excellent responders (PASI reduction >90%) showed strong correlated with higher ILC3 population at the baseline. This may help to use ILC3 enumeration as predictive parameter for ustekinamab clinical therapeutic response and may be relevant to assessing novel biomarkers for subclincal arthropathy in psoriasis. References Kreuger et al. N Engl J Med. 2007 Feb 8; 356(6):580–92. Vallinova et al. 2014 Apr;134(4):984–91. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Valaciclovir, the L-valyl ester of acyclovir (ZOVIRAX), demonstrated good oral absorption and nearly complete conversion to acyclovir in cynomolgus monkeys, indicating its suitability as an orally administered prodrug. The major urinary metabolites of [8-14C]valaciclovir, administered orally (10 and 25 mg/kg) or intravenously (10 mg/kg) to male monkeys, were acyclovir (46%-59% of urinary radioactivity), 8-hydroxyacyclovir (25%-30%), and 9-(carboxymethoxymethyl)guanine (CMMG) (11%-12%). Following oral and intravenous dosing, intact prodrug accounted for only 0.5% and 6% of urinary radioactivity, respectively. Dose-independent kinetics were observed for acyclovir derived from orally administered [8-14C]valaciclovir at the 10 and 25 mg/kg dose levels, with both AUC (24 and 60 microM.hr, respectively) and Cmax (8 and 23 microM, respectively) increasing nearly in proportion to the dose. Acyclovir was present in plasma at all sampling times (5 min to 7 hr postdose) after both oral doses, whereas the prodrug was not detected following either oral dose. The elimination of acyclovir after oral administration was monophasic, with an apparent half-life of 1.3-1.5 hr. Similar to acyclovir, both 8-hydroxyacyclovir and CMMG demonstrated dose-independent kinetics with apparent elimination half-lives of 1-1.6 hr. Intravenously administered [8-14C]valaciclovir (10 mg/kg) was rapidly converted to acyclovir, with the elimination half-life of acyclovir (0.9 hr) being 1.5-fold that of the prodrug (0.6 hr). The oral bioavailability of acyclovir derived from valaciclovir in cynomolgus monkey was 67 +/- 13%, representing a significant improvement over the limited bioavailability after acyclovir administration to primates.


Most commercial white LEDs are made from nitridebased blue LEDs coated with yttrium aluminium garnet phosphor, which produce spectra that shift in opposite directions under the influences of drive current and junction temperature changes. This property gives rise to different emitted spectra, hence chromaticity properties, when the LED is driven/dimmed by different current waveforms. By using a commercial white LED sample, LUXEON K2, the effects of drive current and junction temperature on the changes of chromaticity coordinates are studied experimentally. The impact of dc, pulse width modulation (PWM), and bilevel current waveform is discussed through a graphical analysis, followed by experimental verification. It is proven that dc offers the best color stability over dimming due to the counteracting influences of drive current and junction temperature variations, whereas an LED constantly suffers from noneliminable chromaticity changes when driven by the PWM. Theoretical explanations are given to justify these cases, and it is found that, for the case of dc drive, an ideal heat sink's thermal resistance can be selected based on a simple equation to minimize the overall chromaticity change over dimming. This paper provides an in-depth discussion on the relations between the chromaticity properties of phosphor-converted (pc) white LEDs and the driving/dimming methods used.


Phthalates are a class of chemicals with widespread general population exposure. Some phthalates are reproductive and developmental toxicants in laboratory animals. Advances in the field of phthalate research in humans are dependent on the development and implementation of biomarkers to assess exposure and outcome, as well as potential markers that may be indicative of increased susceptibility. Recently, we incorporated a novel biomarker of potential 'susceptibility' into our study on the relationship of phthalates with semen quality and sperm DNA damage among men recruited from an infertility clinic. We measured urinary concentrations of three di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) metabolites, mono(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP) and two oxidative metabolites, mono-(2-ethyl-5-hydroxylhexyl) phthalate (MEHHP) and mono-(2-ethyl-5-oxohexyl) phthalate (MEOHP). We calculated the percent of DEHP excreted as the hydrolytic monoester (i.e., MEHP). We referred to this as %MEHP and considered it a phenotypic marker of the proportion of DEHP excreted in the urine as MEHP. In our sperm DNA study, we found novel results for the DEHP metabolites. Although MEHP was positively correlated with the oxidative metabolites, the association of sperm DNA damage with MEHP, as compared to MEHHP and MEOHP, were in opposite directions. We hypothesized that MEHP is the bioactive toxicant and further metabolism to MEHHP/MEOHP may lower internal burden of MEHP and thus be protective from sperm DNA damage. An alternative explanation may include that the relative percentage of DEHP excreted as MEHP was a surrogate for the function of phase I enzymes. Men with high %MEHP may have higher levels of sperm DNA damage because of poor metabolism (detoxification) of other genotoxic chemicals. Our hypothesis that %MEHP may represent a phenotypic marker of metabolism is novel but requires further exploration to confirm.


While sexual and gender-based violence crimes are now prosecutable as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide, the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court recently declined to confirm cumulative charges for sexual and gender-based violence in Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo. Born out of the historical tendency of international criminal tribunals to treat rape and sexual violence as secondary crimes, this paper argues that the International Criminal Court is far from achieving true gender justice, or from serving as a deterrent against sexual and gender-based violence crimes. This paper also argues that the ICC's failure in this regard risks undermining the very legitimacy of the Court.


We investigate the macroeconomic news effect on the dynamics of the limit order books (LOB) for euro-dollar ECN market in different economic states between Jan. 2006 to Dec. 2009. Using a VAR-STR model on the news surprise, pure news, aggregated good and bad news, we show that news effects on the LOB dynamics vary in different states of economy. The LOB dynamics are measured by depth, spread, slope and volatility. In contract to slope and volatility, depth and spread strongly respond to news surprise and pure news during recession and expansion. These characteristics are more affected by aggregated good and bad news during expansion. News effects are robust to alternative characteristic measures, the different sides of the LOB and the different levels in the LOB.


Increasing demands in speed, bandwidth and power efficiency in computing and communications has led to a burgeoning of the field of silicon photonics. Given their compatibility with complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology, optical systems on silicon provide a low cost, scalable solution to meet future data demands. In this dissertation, we address some of the issues necessary for optics to become a viable platform for applications such as data centers and microprocessors. First, using the concepts in coupled mode theory and finite difference time domain modeling, add drop filters are designed using coupled vertical gratings. The filter is further applied for use as a 1 by 4 wavelength division multiplexer offering bandwidths and a free spectral range unparalleled by state of the art alternatives such as ring resonators. Next, the issue of group velocity dispersion engineering in photonic lightwave circuits is addressed. By incorporating linear chirp into a single vertical grating, quadratic phase may be imparted to an incident wave. To overcome the loss limitations associated with the chirped vertical grating operating in reflection, a coupled chirped vertical grating structure is introduced for operation in transmission. The high index contrast in the silicon-on-insulator platform implies that weak coupling and equivalently small bandwidths, are difficult to achieve in channel waveguide geometries. We present the theory and experimental demonstration of a cladding- modulated Bragg grating implemented using periodic placements of cylinders along a silicon waveguide which enable a wide range of coupling strengths to be realized. Next, group velocity dispersion engineering by varying the waveguide geometry is studied in silicon nitride. Nonlinear loss mechanisms such as two photon absorption are shown experimentally to be absent in the fabricated waveguides at high optical intensities. Two-fold broadening of an incident pulse is demonstrated, showing that silicon nitride is a viable nonlinear material. Finally, we present the first demonstration of a nonlinear optical pulse compressor implemented on silicon. Incident pulses undergoing self phase modulation followed by spectral re-phasing using dispersive elements result in temporal compression. The compression factors achieved are the highest demonstrated on a chip to date


The use of solid rotor and pole-plate synchronous machines has several advantages, among which is the fact that it provides a more robust rotor compared to laminated equivalents. This paper investigates the time and space harmonic losses in solid rotor synchronous machines. The work considers the use of copper coating on the pole-plates, studying the effect that this design modification has on the losses. A recommendation is given based on this study, which is considered to reduce the time harmonic losses without detrimental effects as far as the space harmonic losses are considered.


Enhancement of carbon storage through the establishment of man-made forests has been considered as a mitigation option to reduce increasing atmospheric CO 2 levels. Therefore the present study was carried out to estimate the biomass and carbon storages of the main stem of Eucalyptus grandis using allometric relationships using the plantations of Nuwara Eliya and Badulla districts. Tree diameter and total were measured for the samples trees and stem volume was estimated using a previously built individual model for the same species. Stem biomass was estimated using core samples and carbon was determined using Walkley-Black method. Finally the biomass values were converted separately to the carbon values. Non-liner regression analysis was employed for the construction of models which had age as the explanatory variable. Linear regression was used in order to build the models to predict the above ground and stem biomass and carbon using volume as the explanatory variable. For both linear and non-linear types, the model quality was tested using R 2 and fitted line plots. According to the results, stem biomass and carbon values at the 7 th year were 110.8 kg and 68.7 kg respectively. Stem biomass and carbon values at the 40 th year were 1,095.8 kg and 679.4 kg respectively. The carbon content at the age 20 was 62.0% from the stem biomass. Exponential models were proven to be better than the logistic models to predict the diameter, height, stem volume, biomass and carbon with age. R 2 values and the fitted line plots indicated that the selected models are of high quality. Linear models built to predict the stem biomass and carbon using stem volume also showed the high accuracy of these models which had R 2 values above 97.9%.


We study the behaviour of Janus particles at an oil–water interface. Amphiphilic Janus particles exhibit attractive interactions at the fluid–fluid interface. The attractive interactions are likely due to the pinning of contact line around the diffuse boundary between the two hemispheres. The undulation of the three-phase contact line around Janus particles leads to quadrupolar capillary interactions, which we confirm by measuring the interparticle forces. We also show that Janus particles with two negatively charged-hydrophilic hemispheres show repulsive interactions.


Who benefits from the interconnected processes often referred to as globalization? Is it a relatively few people, with most others either being harmed or at least not helped? Are the good things that globalization produces, whatever they are, widely shared? What processes lead us in one direction or another? This book examines a key dimension of globalization: its fairness. It investigates the meaning of and role fairness plays when public institutions are faced with the challenges and opportunities of globalization. Here a distinguished group of contributors, including both academics and practitioners, focuses on East and Southeast Asia, but the relevance of the issues discussed extends well beyond these regions. They present a broad-ranging examination of the intersections between fairness, globalization, and public institutions. [Book Synopsis]


In this paper, we present a case of chronic mania and we revise its diagnosis and treatment. A case of a 23 year old patient with chronic mania as well as his response to clozapine treatment is described.


Background Australia's response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic relies on widespread availability of rapid, accurate testing and reporting of results to facilitate contact tracing. The extensive geographical area of Australia presents a logistical challenge, with many of the population located distant from a laboratory capable of robust severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) detection. A strategy to address this is the deployment of a mobile facility utilizing novel diagnostic platforms. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of a fully contained transportable SARS-CoV-2 testing laboratory using a range of rapid point-of-care tests. Method A 20 ft (6.1 m) shipping container was refurbished (GeneWorks, Adelaide, South Australia) with climate controls, laboratory benches, hand-wash station and a class II biosafety cabinet. Portable marquees situated adjacent to the container served as stations for registration, sample acquisition and personal protective equipment for staff. Specimens were collected and tested on-site utilizing either the Abbott ID NOW or Abbott Panbio rapid tests. SARS-CoV-2 positive results from the rapid platforms or any participants reporting symptoms consistent with COVID-19 were tested on-site by GeneXpert Xpress RT-PCR. All samples were tested in parallel with a standard-of-care RT-PCR test (Panther Fusion SARS-CoV-2 assay) performed at the public health reference laboratory. In-laboratory environmental conditions and data management-related factors were also recorded. Results Over a 3 week period, 415 participants were recruited for point-of-care SARS-CoV-2 testing. From time of enrolment, the median result turnaround time was 26 min for the Abbott ID NOW, 32 min for the Abbott Panbio and 75 min for the Xpert Xpress. The environmental conditions of the refurbished shipping container were found to be suitable for all platforms tested, although humidity may have produced condensation within the container. Available software enabled turnaround times to be recorded, although technical malfunction resulted in incomplete data capture. Conclusion Transportable container laboratories can enable rapid COVID-19 results at the point of care and may be useful during outbreak settings, particularly in environments that are physically distant from centralized laboratories. They may also be appropriate in resource-limited settings. The results of this pilot study confirm feasibility, although larger trials to validate individual rapid point-of-care testing platforms in this environment are required.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether animal factors and level of professional veterinary medical training were associated with attitudes toward pain management in animals.

DESIGN
Exploratory, descriptive survey.

SAMPLE POPULATION
Students in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences professional veterinary medical curriculum (approx 540) and clinical faculty (approx 50), house officers (approx 25), and support staff (approx 100) in the Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

PROCEDURE
A descriptive survey including demographic, descriptive, and case-based questions was distributed to participants. Participation was voluntary and survey results were anonymous.

RESULTS
357 of 720 surveys were completed and returned (31 by faculty, 29 by staff, 18 by house officers, and 279 by students). There was a high degree of concordance among survey participants regarding the overall importance of treating pain in animals. The extent to which pain should be alleviated and animal factors, such as breed, behavior, and clinical circumstances, accounted for much of the discordance among survey groups. Fourth-year veterinary students indicated that they were occasionally less likely to treat animals for pain than were second- or third-year veterinary students.

CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS
The diversity of opinions regarding the necessity or desirability of treating pain in animals, the apparent decrease in the likelihood of senior veterinary students to treat animals for pain under certain circumstances, and evidence of knowledge deficits regarding analgesic treatments among all groups contribute to the likelihood that pain in animals will neither be consistently recognized nor appropriately treated.


Polyaniline fiber is a promising biosensor material due to the capability of this material as an effective mediator for electron transfer. The polyaniline in fibre has wider surface to increase the electron transfer. In this work, polyaniline structure synthesized by interfacial polymerization was compared to polyaniline structure obtained from electrospinning to get a better fibre structure. Interfacial polymerization was carried out to form a polymerization between the water phase and the organic phase. The water phase was prepared from dopants, initiator and aquadestilata and the organic phase was was made from toluene as an organic solvent and aniline monomer. Electrospinning was conducted by using a dc high voltage 15 kV and 0.5 mm syringe needle to produce fibers from a melt polymer solution taken from interfacial polymerization. The scanning electro microscope results confimed the formation of polyaniline in structure of fiber. Resistance measurement by using LCR meter showed that polyaniline fiber resulted from electrospinning is more conductive than polyaniline fiber formed by interfacial polymerization method.


The systematic position of the family Trichoceridae, which includes 130 described species, about 110 of which are valid, is discussed and the family is placed near the Tipulidae. World distribution is given together with a diagnosis of the family, a key to the two subfamilies, five genera, and three subgenera. The annotated catalogue comprises all species described, journal of description, type museum, type material and locality, and the synonymies as establisched by the authors, especially for Holarctic species.


BACKGROUND An 81-year-old woman was diagnosed with chronic carbon monoxide poisoning. Her symptoms closely resembled those of someone with depression, although some of her symptoms were atypical. Because carbon monoxide is a colourless, odourless gas, the cause of her condition remained unclear for several weeks. If psychiatrists are better informed about the affective and neuropsychological symptoms that frequently accompany carbon monoxide poisoning, they should be able to recognise the symptoms sooner. This in turn should lead to a better outcome for the patient.


Contraceptive services became free to patients of general practitioners in the British National Health Service on 1 July 1975. We report the numbers of patients advised in a practice of 6,612 patients during the first three-month period and found that in a sample of 211 women, just over half had received medical advice. The financial implications are discussed.


A data set that was used to estimate covariance components with REML for an animal model with eight measures of ovulation rate treated as separate traits was used as a template to simulate data sets of eight multivariate normal traits that were then truncated to binomial traits. The model for simulation included eight measures on 610 animals with 1,071 animals in the numerator relationship matrix. Heritabilities were equal for the eight measures, and both genetic and phenotypic correlations among the measures were equal. Ten replications for each combination of heritability C15, .25, and .35) and genetic correlation (.50, .6& and .901 were simulated on the normal scale. For each replicate, estimates of the eight heritabilities and 28 genetic correlations were obtained by multiple-trait Key 'Words: Ovulation Rate, Monte REML. The usual transformation of heritability estimated on the binomial scale overestimated heritability on the normal scale. Genetic correlations on the binomial scale seriously underestimated the correlations on the normal scale. Standard errors of the estimates obtained by replication were somewhat larger than the approximate SE from REMLPK (the multitrait REML program of K. Meyer). A final set of 10 simulated replications with heritability of .25 and genetic correlation of 1.00 resulted in average estimates of .18 for heritability and of .66 for genetic correlation that agree closely with those from the analysis of measures of ovulation at eight estrous cycles used as a template; averages for heritability of . l6 and for genetic correlation of .66 were obtained . Carlo Method, Variance Estimation


Three experiments are described that assess 5-month-old infants' processing of addition and subtraction events similar to those reported by Wynn (1992a). In Experiment 1, prior to each test trial, one group of infants was shown an addition event (1 + 1) while another group was shown a subtraction event (2 − 1). On test trials, all infants were shown outcomes of 0, 1, 2 and 3. The results seemed to require one of two dual-process models. One such model assumed that the infants could add and subtract but also had a tendency to look longer when more items were on the stage. The other model assumed that infants had a preference for familiarity along with the tendency to look longer when more items were on the stage. Experiments 2 and 3 examined the assumptions made by these two models. In Experiment 2, infants were given only the test trials they had received in Experiment 1. Thus, no addition and subtraction or familiarity was involved. In Experiment 3 infants were familiarized to either one or two items prior to each test trial, but experienced no actual addition or subtraction. The results of these two experiments support the familiarity plus more items to look at model more than the addition and subtraction plus more items to look at model. Taken together, these three experiments shed doubt on Wynn's (1992a) assertion that 5-month-old infants can add and subtract. Instead they indicate the importance of familiarity preferences and the fact that one should be cautious before assuming that young infants have sophisticated numerical abilities.


The Executive Secretary shares some considerations on the balance of the first 50 years of the United Nations and ECLAC, and the possible course that both organizations may follow during the next half-a-century. He specially emphasizes that the central objetives of the United Nations express universal values that can hardly be opposed, as they never lose their validity and cannot give rise to major disagreement. He also mentions the three major areas that give rise to discrepancies: the adaptation of the Organization's objectives to the present-day context; the way responsibilities are shared between the Secretariat and member governments; and the efficiency and effectiveness displayed in seeking to achieve the proposed goals. In his balance, he refers to ECLAC as a microcosm within the United Nations system, whose action is limited to the economic and social spheres, concluding that it has reached high relevance and pertinence, since, in its pioneering years, ECLAC had an undeniable impact on the concept and praxis of public policy in Latin America and the Caribbean, and this influence is all the more noteworthy because it came from its analytical work. He examines the specific components which have made possible the Commission's relative success during these years: identification of a function through which to be of benefit to the member governments; second, shaping of an "institutional message" and personality of its own; third, maintainance of its validity over the years by adapting to the changes taking place in its institutional context; fourth, success in establishing a lively and creative form of interaction with member governments; and lastly, constant concern to keep up high standards of quality and performance. These same components now offer alternatives to the reform of the United Nations as a whole, since it is important to identify its flaws and shortcomings, with a view to making the changes needed to allow it to face the challenges of the next fifty years. There is therefore every reason to face the future with serene optimism and faith that, as the next century draws near, the Organization will keep on fulfilling the purposes for which it was created.


There has been over the past decade a rapid change towards computational environments that are comprised of large and diverse sets of devices, many of them mobile, which can connect in flexible and context-dependent ways. Examples range from networks where we can have communications between powerful cloud centers, to the myriad of simple sensor devices on the IoT. As the management of these dynamic environments becomes ever more complex, we want to propose policy migrations as a methodology to simplify the management of security policies by re-utilizing and re-deploying existing policies as the systems change. We are interested in understanding the challenges raised answering the following question: given a security policy that is being enforced in a particular source computational device, what does it entail to migrate this policy to be enforced in a different target device? Because of the differences between devices and because these devices cannot be seen in isolation but in the context where they are deployed, the meaning of the policy enforced in the source device needs to be re-interpreted and implemented in the context of the target device. The aim of the paper is to present a formal framework to evaluate the appropriateness of the migration.


Nowadays, the variety of information systems and their advantages are sometimes accompanied by common and interfering concepts and goals. This variety and dispersion have created complexity and instability in decision-making of organizations mangers and IT development plans. Overall to solve this complexity, information systems are defined in two broad classes: specific connection with the operational field and in general connection with the operational field. MIS and DSS systems are among the systems in general connection with the operational field, each of which plays a decisive role in the organizational hierarchy and decision-making process of the mangers. MIS system brings about the information needed to manage an organization, and DSS provides data, models, and analysis tools to help adopt decisions in non-routine cases in the organization. After discussion on decision-making process based on each concept, this study described its characteristics, relationships, and communication of each concept for the decision-making process. The results of regression analysis of data from 20 questionnaires received from the managers of Economic Affairs and Finance (EAF) in Zahedan showed that MIS and DSS have a significant relationship with the decision-making process of managers and that rational decision-making process as the intermediary variable inferred and explained this effect.


Within Structural Health Monitoring a number of problems exist which require estimation and prediction of quantities such as load, strain, or acceleration. This can be achieved through Gaussian Process (GP) regression models, which provide a powerful framework for Bayesian machine learning. The ability of GP models to automatically return confidence intervals and not needing to specify a topology, as with Artificial Neural Networks, makes them an appealing choice in engineering problems where quantifying uncertainty is important to the model application. Although GP models are nonparametric, at the heart of the model is the optimisation of the marginal likelihood of the data with respect to the hyperparameters which govern the covariance function. Within many software packages that implement GP models, this optimisation is achieved via a conjugate gradient descent, since the derivatives of the marginal likelihood are cheap to compute once the function value is obtained. This paper investigates the effect of choice of hyperparameter optimisation scheme on the quality of fit of the model and the training time — to determine if a conjugate gradient optimisation is sufficient to identify the covariance function hyperparameters. A number of optimisation schemes are tested on synthetic data, and also on data from in-flight monitoring of aircraft dynamics. Specifically the problem of strain prediction for fatigue monitoring of a Tucano TMk1 trainer aircraft is considered. The effect of input data dimensionality on the ability of the optimisation schemes to find hyperparameters which suitably describe the data is also considered. This paper aims to begin a discussion into when the cost of more complex optimisation schemes is justified for Gaussian process hyperparameter optimisation.


Li Bai's 李白 (701–762) character and poetic style are two main factors behind his contemporaries' sobriquet of "the Banished Transcendent from Heaven" ( Tianshang zhe xianren 天上謫仙人). The present essay discusses an aspect of the formation of his poetic style by probing into his cosmology. Making use of some findings of modern physics, we make an effort at reconstructing and examining the idea of "space-time" in pre-modern China. This theoretical framework offers new insights in the exegesis of our central text, Li's "Ballad on the Sun Rising and Setting" ("Ri churu xing" 日出入行), with a focus on the poet's unique treatment of the recurrent issue of how to deal with the passing of time and how one may transcend the unavoidable ageing process. Assimilating the tradition of "chasing after the sun" from before his time, Li poetically consolidates the proto-four-dimensional structure of time, a view that had long existed in traditional Chinese cosmology. Li's references to the Zhuangzi in his poem construct a cosmos in which the earth itself can become elided, eliminating the distinction between time and space. Li's pursuit of immortality can be achieved in this poetic discourse of space-time.


Background Clinical pharmacy services (CPS) are known to improve medication safety and patients' clinical outcome. However, in the majority of the European countries their implementation is low and there are no nationwide reports about the nature of clinical pharmacists' interventions (CPIs) in European hospitals outside the UK. Purpose To evaluate both the extent and diversity of data about national hospital CPIs nationwide. Material and methods Datasets from ADKA-DokuPIK, an anonymous and voluntary German database for the documentation of hospital CPIs with >500 registered users, which were entered between 01/2009 and 12/2012, were analysed descriptively. Results In total, 27,610 CPIs were recorded, with an upward trend over the years. The vast majority of CPIs were performed by ward-based pharmacists (82.5%), mainly on surgical wards (37.8%), followed by anaesthesiology/ICU/IMC (16.8%) and internal medicine (10.8%). More than half of the patients were >65 years. The main reasons for CPIs were inappropriate use of drugs (including over- and underuse, inappropriate choice of drug and/or formulation, generic or therapeutic substitution) (23.2%) and wrong dose or administration interval (22.2%) resulting in the most frequently taken actions of change of dose, change of drug and drug stopped/paused. The therapeutic subgroup with most interventions was antibacterials for systemic use (13.9%) followed by antithrombotic agents (6.9%), analgesics (6.7%), drugs for acid-related disorders (5.9%) and agents acting on the renin-angiotensin system (5.4%). Altogether, the acceptance rate of the CPIs was 85.5%. Underlying medication errors were predominantly classified as "error, no harm", while 4.1% were classified as "error, harm or death" according to NCC-MERP. Conclusion For the first time we demonstrated clinical pharmacists' involvement nationwide in daily clinical practice in a non-UK European country. Although the overall rate of CPIs cannot be calculated due to the anonymous and voluntary data collection, the results might help to further strengthen the demand for CPS in Germany. References and/or acknowledgements Thanks to all ADKA-DokuPIK users. No conflict of interest.


In this paper, we present a novel kinematic framework using hybrid twists, that has the potential to improve the reliability of estimated human shoulder kinematics. This is important as the functional aspects of the human shoulder are evaluated using the information embedded in thoracohumeral kinematics. We successfully demonstrate in our results, that our approach is invariant of the body-fixed coordinate definition, is singularity free and has high repeatability; thus resulting in a flexible user-specific kinematic tracking not restricted to bony landmarks.


The experience of "transfrontality", in the concrete and figurative sense of the word, is always strongly dominant in a region where ethnic and national borders have always been separated, in an area where, throughout its history, but especially in the 20th century, in re- and re-emerging units, individual, community, or national identities had to be conceived according to new and new points of reference. The meaning of the concept of Central Europe is very variable, its use is diverse; there are several interpretations of the region based on geographical, political and cultural aspects. It is an indisputable fact that Central Europe today is a literary concept rather than an economic, political and spiritual reality, a concept that is kept alive by writers such as Milosz from Poland, Kundera from the Czech Republic, Miklós Mészöly from Hungary. In my study I compare two literary works, Danubio (Danube) by Claudio Magris and Hahn-Hahn grófnö pillantása (The Glance of Countess Hahn-Hahn) by Péter Esterházy that create and approach the imaginary construction called Central Europe in their own way. Both travel novels capture the trip on the Danube and the experience of transfrontality


The single-phase boost power factor correctors may operate in the so called border-line mode, which is distinguished by variable switching frequency. If some constraints are imposed on variability of this frequency some limits to output voltage and power of the circuit appear at once. The paper shows the origin of them and presents formulas and graphs helpful in a proper choice of circuit parameters in order to keep the switching frequency within a predefined range, also under the changes of input line voltage and of the load resistance.


International education is the fourth largest export industry in the Australian economy contributing over $19 billion per year. In 2009, the much-publicised spate of attacks on international students in Sydney and Melbourne led to a rapid decline in student numbers, particularly Indian students. The main aim of this research was to provide practical strategies for Australian universities to reduce the rate of international student attrition in order to maximise their contribution to the economy. To achieve this aim, three objectives were identified. Firstly, to explain the differences in international students' level of involvement in out-of-class activities by using Hofstede's original cultural dimensions model. Secondly, to identify background information and characteristics that contribute to, or impact upon, international students' level of involvement. Finally, to identify the impact different residential living environments have on the level of involvement of international students. These objectives led to the three research questions that guided this project. They were: (1) How do cultural dimensions influence international student involvement?; (2) Can we predict international student involvement in out-of-class activities using background information?; and (3) Are international students living in student residential communities more involved than international students living off-campus?  An online survey questionnaire collected primarily quantitative data from 251 participants across Australia and used three main concepts to identify and predict international students' experiences while at Australian universities. Using Pearson's correlation coefficient, one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Chi-Squared test and stepwise regression analysis, this research identified 16 major findings plus another 112 statistically significant relationships. These findings either supported previous findings or represented new contributions to the international education and business literature and social science more broadly. The practical recommendations this research project provides will be of interest to both institutional-level and government-level policy makers, academics, university support staff and tutors, and international students.


A study of two small streams at Akumadan and Tono, Ghana, was undertaken during the rain and dry season periods between February 2005 and January 2006 to investigate the impact of vegetable field runoff on their quality. In each stream we compared the concentration of current-use pesticides in one site immediately upstream of a vegetable field with a second site immediately downstream. Only trace concentrations of endosulfan and chlorpyrifos were detected at both sites in both streams in the dry season. In the wet season, rain-induced runoff transported pesticides into downstream stretches of the streams. Average peak levels in the streams themselves were 0.07 microg L(-1) endosulfan, 0.02 microg L(-1) chlorpyrifos (the Akumadan stream); 0.04 microg L(-1) endosulfan, 0.02 microg L(-1) chlorpyrifos (the Tono stream). Respective average pesticide levels associated with streambed sediment were 1.34 and 0.32 microg kg(-1) (the Akumadan stream), and 0.92 and 0.84 microg kg(-1) (the Tono stream). Further investigations are needed to establish the potential endosulfan and chlorpyrifos effects on aquatic invertebrate and fish in these streams. Meanwhile measures should be undertaken to reduce the input of these chemicals via runoff.


The effect of cadmium and copper on monoamine oxidase type A and B in mitochondrial preparations from brain and liver was determined in vitro. The results showed a dose-related inhibition of the enzyme. Both the A and B forms of the enzyme were similarly inhibited by the presence of either cadmium or copper. Copper has been shown to be a 7-8 times more potent inhibitor of monoamine oxidase than cadmium. The data suggest that the intracellular concentration of unbound copper (13 mumol/l) or cadmium (100 mumol/l) may inhibit monoamine oxidase in brain and liver by 50%.


Changes in Southern Cotton and Peanut Producing Regions Relevance of the Topic Texas and Georgia are the major cotton and peanut producing states. These two crops compete for the same crop land, where peanuts usually rotate with cotton on a 3-4 year cycle (Texas Peanut Producers). The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 shaped current farm policy, specifically enacted major changes to federal peanut policy. Prior to the 2002 farm bill, price supports and a quota system limited production, which elevated farm prices and supported farm income for peanuts (Shields, 2015). The 2002 policy allowed peanuts to follow the same policies as other program crops, where farm payments were made when the prices or crop revenue dropped below the guaranteed level (Shields, 2015). The Agricultural Act of 2014 introduced addition modifications to peanut farm policy. Produces are eligible to receive payments through either the Price Loss Coverage (PLC) or Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC), but most producers chose to enroll in PLC. PLC payments depend on reference prices potentially making peanuts more attractive to plant than other covered crops, such as cotton. U.S. cotton production has been declining since its peak in the mid-2000s. This declining trend may be due to changes in farm policy, substitute products such as polyester, or changes in markets for substitute crops. In response to the WTO case between the U.S. and Brazil, The Agricultural Act of 2014 excluded cotton as a covered crop under both PLC and ARC, unless growers reallocated base acres—other than generic base (former cotton) acres—using a one-time option based on 2009-2012 plantings. Cotton producers also have the option for enrollment in Stacked Income Protection Plan (STAX), which is under Title XI: Crop Insurance of the 2014 farm bill. Currently cotton producers are requesting that cottonseed be considered as an "other oilseed" to offer assistance to the low cotton prices. Data and Methods Descriptive and graphical analysis of data focuses on USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) yearly production, market and price data. Prices received by farmers are in nominal prices. The objectives of this research are to: 1) Describe current market trends in the U.S. cotton and peanut industries 2) Identify recent changes in farm policy for cotton and peanuts and 3) Discuss possible reasons for changes in production of both cotton and peanuts. Potential for Generating Discussion This analysis is presented in poster format and will generate substantial discussion between AAEA members. The visuals and results are interpreted through visual graphics of comparison between market trends and changing farm policies. Analytical reasoning and commodity market information provide explanations for potential changes in these commodity markets. References Farm Journal- Ag Web. Flood of Chinese Cotton Sends Prices Tumbling Most in Six Weeks. April 15, 2016. http://www.agweb.com/mobile/article/flood-of-chinese-cotton-sends -prices-tumbling-most-in-six-weeks-blmg/. Date Accessed: April 18, 2016. Shields, Dennis A. U.S. Peanut Program and Issues. Congressional Research Service. August 2015. Date Accessed: January 14, 2016. United States Department of Agricultural- Economic Research Service (USDA-ERS). Ash, Mark. Oil Crops Outlook. July 15, 2013. Date Accessed: April 19, 2016. United States Department of Agriculture- Farm Service Agency (USDA-FSA). Base Acre Reallocation, Yield Updates, Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) & Price Lose Coverage (PLC). 2014 Farm Bill Fact Sheet. September 2014. Date Accessed: January 14, 2016. United States Department of Agriculture- Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS). GATS database. United States Department of Agriculture- Risk Management Agency (USDA-RMA). Stacked Income Production Plan (STAX) for Upland Cotton. RMA Fact Sheet. August 2014. Date Accessed: December 18, 2015. United States Department of Agriculture- National Agricultural Statistical Service (USDA NASS). Quick Stats.


Many Caribbean island nations have historically been heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels for both power and transportation, while at the same time being at an enhanced risk from the impacts of climate change, although their emissions represent a very tiny fraction of the global total responsible for climate change. Small island developing states (SIDSs) are among the leaders in advocating for the ambitious 1.5 °C Paris Agreement target and the transition to 100% sustainable, renewable energy systems. In this work, three central results are presented. First, through GIS mapping of all Caribbean islands, the potential for near-coastal deep-water as a resource for ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) is shown, and these results are coupled with an estimate of the countries for which OTEC would be most advantageous due to a lack of other dispatchable renewable power options. Secondly, hourly data have been utilized to explicitly show the trade-offs between battery storage needs and dispatchable renewable sources such as OTEC in 100% renewable electricity systems, both in technological and economic terms. Finally, the utility of near-shore, open-cycle OTEC with accompanying desalination is shown to enable a higher penetration of renewable energy and lead to lower system levelized costs than those of a conventional fossil fuel system.


Poyang Lake is China's largest freshwater lake. It has good regulation role to Yangtze River. After the running of Three Georges Project, it influences the water level of Poyang Lake a lot. This paper predicts Poyang Lake's water level, it is the basic of influence research. Once there were many predicting methods, such as ANN, etc. But these methods are not very precisely. This paper uses wavelet analysis to decompose water level series, then it uses ANFIS to modeling the decomposed series, in the end it combined these series. The result shows that, the prediction accuracy rises a lot, and it is fit to used in water level predict.


OBJECTIVE
The objective was to explore how a person-adaptive clinical feedback system (CFS) effects its users, and how meaning and relevance are negotiated.

METHODS
We conducted a 10-month case-study of the implementation and practice of Norse Feedback, a personalized CFS. The data material consisted of 12 patient interviews, 22 clinician interviews, 23 field notes, and 16 archival documents.

RESULTS
We identified four main categories or themes: (i) patients' use of clinical feedback for enhanced awareness and insight; (ii) patients work to make clinical feedback a communication mode; (iii) patients and clinicians negotiate clinical feedback as a way to influence treatment; and (iv) clinical feedback requires an interactive sense-making effort.

CONCLUSION
Patients and therapists produced the meaning and relevance of the CFS by interpreting the CFS measures to reflect the unique patient experience of the patient-therapist relationship. Patients regarded CFS as a tool to inform therapy with important issues. Patients became more self-aware and prepared for therapy.


International political economy identifies declining nominal interest rates, securitization, and financial liberalization as drivers of rising housing prices. Despite witnessing these common credit shocks, however, developed economies experienced divergent trends in housing inflation since the 1980s. We offer a comparative political economy explanation of variation in house prices, arguing that by restraining household incomes, wage-setting institutions can blunt financial liberalization's inflationary impact on housing markets. Employing quantitative analysis and a comparative study of Ireland and the Netherlands, we uncover two findings. First, countries where political coalitions in the export sector held veto powers over those in the nontraded sector in national wage setting realized lower housing inflation. Second, the impact of sectoral coalitions on housing prices in OECD countries is similar to that of financial variables. Our results suggest that the organization of labor politics continues to play an important role in mitigating the destabilizing effects of global finance on developed economies.


Background Vitamin D defciency is common in the United States. Regardless of whether or not vitamin D defciency increases the risk of cancer and decreases survival of cancer, the established adverse impact of its defciency on bone health is of particular concern for cancer patients. The extent of vitamin D defciency is not well defned in the oncology setting, and there are no standardized protocols for screening and supplementation for individuals found to be defcient in vitamin D. Objective To determine the prevalence of vitamin D defciency as measured by levels of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) in cancer patients at an outpatient oncology practice. Methods A total of 177 patients representing a range of oncologic diagnoses were tested for 25(OH)D between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. Suboptimal vitamin D levels were defned either as less than 20 ng/mL or less than 30 ng/mL, according to standards proposed by the Institute of Medicine and the Endocrine Society, respectively. Limitations The point of testing was subjective to the clinician. Some patients may have had their vitamin D levels tested and treated elsewhere, therefore that data was not captured. Results At baseline, 18.1% of patients tested had vitamin D levels of less than 20 ng/ml, and 49.1% of patients had vitamin D levels of less than 30 ng/ml. Follow-up rates were low. In all, 54% of patients with 25(OH)D levels of less than 30 ng/ml obtained a second reading, and only 38% of those patients achieved suffcient levels at the second reading. Conclusion Vitamin D defciency is prevalent in patients with cancer and should be monitored in patients who are at high risk for vitamin D defciency or poor bone health.


SUMMARY: In the present study 100 patients of acute leukemia were studied to find out the frequency of aberrant antigens in AML, B-ALL and T-ALL of which 73% cases were of lymphoid lineage and 27% cases were of myeloid lineage. 74% cases showed expression of lineage specific markers and were considered as conventional immunophenotypes while 26% cases showed expression of CD antigens which were not of that lineage upon which they were expressing. Some myeloid lineage associated antigens were present on acute lymphoblastic leukemia cases and lymphoid associated antigens showed their expression on acute myeloid leukemia cases. These cases were considered as aberrant immunophenotypes. The cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia were further subcategorized as B-cell and T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The data from this study suggested that either the commonly described myeloid, B-cell and T-cell differentiation pathways are incorrect or blasts from cases of acute leukemia do not represent their normal counterparts. To explain these mixed immunophenotypes it is suggested that leukemic cells may have aberrant markers because of their abnormal genetic programme resulting in lineage infidelity. In this scenario the precursor cells may retain features of one lineage that they should have lost during commitment to another cell line. As a result of the leukemic process cells with aberrant immunophenotypes are immortalized in a precommitment phase of differentiation resulting in lineage promiscuity. This study strengthens the theories of lineage infidelity and lineage promiscuity by taking a critical and comparative approach of frequencies of aberrant antigens in acute leukemia in population of Pakistan.


We investigate the dynamic and asymmetric dependence structure between equity portfolios from the US and UK. We demonstrate the statistical significance of dynamic asymmetric copula models in modelling and forecasting market risk. First, we construct "high-minus-low" equity portfolios sorted on beta, coskewness, and cokurtosis. We find substantial evidence of dynamic and asymmetric dependence between characteristic-sorted portfolios. Second, we consider a dynamic asymmetric copula model by combining the generalized hyperbolic skewed t copula with the generalized autoregressive score (GAS) model to capture both the multivariate non-normality and the dynamic and asymmetric dependence between equity portfolios. We demonstrate its usefulness by evaluating the forecasting performance of Value-at-Risk and Expected Shortfall for the high-minus-low portfolios. From back-testing, e find consistent and robust evidence that our dynamic asymmetric copula model provides the most accurate forecasts, indicating the importance of incorporating the dynamic and asymmetric dependence structure in risk management.


Adaptive Architecture concerns buildings that are specifically designed to adapt to their inhabitants and to their environments. Work in this space has a very long history, with a number of adaptive buildings emerging during the modernist period, such as Rietveld's Schroder house, Gaudi's Casa Batllo and Chareau's Maison de Verre. Such early work included manual adaptivity, even if that was motor-assisted. Today, buildings have started to combine this with varying degrees of automation and designed-for adaptivity is commonplace in office buildings and eco homes, where lighting, air conditioning, access and energy generation respond to and influence the behaviour of people, and the internal and external climate.


I describe an efficient, inexpensive, industry-standard computer system that is designed for word processing of surgical pathology reports as well as encoding in Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) and data storage. This system is capable of maintaining a large database of patient information with coded diagnoses. It is designed to be utilized with readily available stock computer hardware and software without significant customization or any additional programming. The hardware is easily purchased from and can be maintained by a retail, business-oriented computer store. The system described incorporates WordPerfect for word processing and the CAP/SNOMED system for diagnosis encoding and data storage and retrieval.


In this paper, we present a system for image replica detection. More specifically, the technique is based on the extraction of 162 features corresponding to texture, color and gray-level characteristics. These features are then weighted and statistically normalized. To improve training and performances, the features space dimension- ality is reduced. Lastly, a decision function is generated to classify the test image as replica or non-replica of a given reference image. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed system. Target applications include search for copyright infringement (e.g. variations of copyrighted images) and illicit content (e.g. pedophile images).


Novel cell lines, designated NM78-AM and NM78-MM, have been established from a malignant melanoma of the cheek oral mucosa. NM78-AM cells were spherical, grew in suspension as clusters, and produced no melanin. In contrast, NM78-MM cells were adherent and produced melanin granules. Initially, NM78-AM cells were grown on fibroblast feeder cells or in growth media supplemented with 10% conditioned medium from fibroblasts, but eventually grew in standard growth media alone. NM78-AM cells had interdigitating microvilli and formed cell clusters. They had large nucleoli, desmosomes, lipid droplets, and well-developed Golgi apparatuses. In contrast, NM78-MM cells grew as adherent neuron-like cells. They had large prominent nucleoli, irregular nuclear membranes, a number of mitochondria, well-developed Golgi apparatuses, melanosomes at various stages of development in the cytoplasm, and the cells secreted melanin granules. Projections from these melanotic cells formed anastomoses with each other. NM78-MM cells stained immunofluorescently for internexin, neuron specific enolase, NF-200, and glial fibrillary acidic protein. These cells were severely aneuploid, approximating to triploidy, and had many marker chromosomes. We used a real-time monitoring system to evaluate oxygen concentrations in culture medium to investigate the susceptibility of both cell lines to various anti-cancer drugs. NM78-AM cells were slightly sensitive to actinomycin D, but not to cisplatin, irinotecan, the irinotecan metabolite SN-38, taxol, taxotere, bleomycin and methotrexate; NM78-MM cells were sensitive to cisplatin, and not to taxol, taxotere, carboplatin, and irinotecan. These new cell lines, NM78-AM and NM78-MM, will be very important for the development of new chemotherapeutics for oral malignant melanoma.


The energy generation without causing environmental pollution is a unique idea to make a better survival for human beings. In this regard, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have been considered to be eco-friendly and efficient technology to produce renewable energy. The operations and functioning of MFCs technology were affected by many factors but the electrodes are the most essential and significant aspects in MFCs. Moreover, a wide variety of electrodes and MFCs configurations have been developed to enhance the electrochemical performance of MFCs. The carbon materials (graphite, graphene etc.) were commonly used for the electrode fabrication, due to some unique properties such as high conductivity, good thermal stability, high surface area, good mechanical power etc. In this chapter, different electrode materials, used for anode fabrication were summarized to reveal the performance/efficiency toward the generation of electricity. Finally, the electrochemical characterizations tool, current challenges, and future perspectives of the electrode in MFCs were discussed briefly.


Examinations of 98 healthy children and prepubertal and pubertal adolescents have revealed sex-related differences in blood plasma levels of beta-endorphin and methionine-enkephalin: the content of these peptides was higher in pubertal boys. Blood plasma leucin enkephalin content of boys and girls was virtually unchanged over the entire period of sexual maturation. Analysis of correlations helped detect the relationship between the examined peptides and the end product of catecholamine metabolism, vanilmandelic acid, and a negatively significant relationship between beta-endorphin and serotonin levels.


This paper presents the outcomes of research investigating the relationship between brand and product emotions and the qualities of products that evoke these emotions. The study comprised a literature review followed by a sizeable empirical study carried out with domestic irons. Overall it aimed to investigate the dimensions of emotional experience of users within product and brand experience contexts, for which relevant theoretical bases of psychology, design and marketing literatures were combined. The empirical work involved three groups of 35 participants, with each group exposed to images of five domestic irons. The first group was assigned original unaltered products, the second group products having an altered brand name, and the third group products having brand names deleted. Participants were asked to rate their emotions evoked by the products according to a predefined list. The resulting data were processed and cross-compared using SPSS software and content analyses methods. One of the outcomes of the study was evidence of how brands (as names and as visual product language) influence people's emotions towards irons. In addition, the perceived brand hierarchy in the Turkish iron market was revealed. The results give valuable insights into the practical impact of branding, product identity and product emotions.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an age-related progressive disorder characterized by neurodegeneration and accumulation of abnormal proteins. Artesunate, an anti-malarial drug has recently been shown to have anti-inflammatory, antiviral, angiogenic and other pleiotropic effects. It has also improved cognitive decline induced by hepatic coma which is suggestive of its role in learning and memory. In view of this, the current study was planned to assess the effect of the combination of artesunate with rivastigmine and memantine in aluminium chloride induced neurotoxicity. The study was conducted on 24 male adult albino wistar rats which were divided into four groups (n=6). Group - I to IV received saline, aluminium chloride (AlCl3), AlCl3 + artesunate +rivastigmine, AlCl3 + artesunate + memantine for 60 days respectively. After the 60th day of treatment, all animals were subjected to a passive avoidance task. All the animals were then sacrificed to study the histopathological changes in the hippocampus. Artesunate in combination with rivastigmine and memantine showed significant improvement in memory impairment and reduced neuronal death. Neuronal viability was more prominent in combination treatments as shown by histopathological results. Artesunate in combination with rivastigmine and memantine could be useful in AD. Artesunate can be used as an adjuvant therapy because artesunate combined with standard drugs produced significant neuroprotective effect.


Objective: Intraoperative frozen section (IOFS) diagnosis of brain tumors plays an important role in assessing the adequacy of the sample and determining the treatment plan. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic accuracy between IOFS and permanent sections. Material and Method: The authors reviewed the histopathological results of 383 brain tumors, including IOFS and permanent histological diagnosis. The cases were classified into three diagnostic compatibilities (i) Perfect fit; the diagnosis of IOFS was identical to the permanent diagnosis, (ii) Partial compatibility; IOFS diagnosis was not incorrect but was too broad to be considered full compatibility, (iii) Conflict; IOFS diagnosis is completely different from the permanent diagnosis. The permanent diagnosis was used as a primary criterion and was compared to IOFS diagnosis and recurrence rate using different statistical methods. Results: 84% of the patients underwent craniotomy and tumor resection, while 15% only underwent tumor biopsy. Approximately, 53.8 % of the cases revealed perfect matching in the diagnosis between IOFSs and permanent sections, while 16.2% of the cases revealed complete mismatching in the diagnosis between the sections. The remaining 30% of the cases showed partial compatibility in the diagnosis between the two diagnostic methods. There was no significant difference in recurrence rate among all cases of different diagnostic compatibility (p=0.54). Conclusion: There is a diagnostic discrepancy between IOFSs and permanent sections. However, cases that revealed no consensus in the diagnoses showed no negative effect on the patient outcome. Further studies should be conducted to explore the reasons of this conflict in the two diagnostic methods.