Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) has emerged as a significant public health issue. Increases in both the prevalence and awareness of this injury have resulted in a greater demand for mTBI-informed care. Our exploratory, qualitative study examines the work lives of front-line mTBI professionals. Findings suggest that mTBI rehabilitation work often requires substantial emotional energy given the impact that injury-related issues have on professionals' therapeutic work with clients. We suggest that social work, with a focus on the psychosocial implications of injury and recovery, is well-positioned to take a larger role in mTBI care and rehabilitation.


A magneto-optical trap with feedback-controlled loading and loss rates is used to realize a deterministic source of single chromium atoms with single-atom occupation probability as high as 0.987±0.001. We present a series of measurements of the performance of this source and discuss the dependence of the probability of not having a single atom in the trap (error rate) on experimental parameters. We describe a simple analytical model that considers mean load rate, trap lifetime, stray load rate, and feedback response time, and we also present results of Monte Carlo calculations that take into account all experimental conditions. We find that the analytical model describes the behavior well for error rates as small as about 0.03, but the Monte Carlo simulations must be used to model behavior at error rates lower than this, as the occupation probability approaches unity.


Introduction: Lymphocytes T have been implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), but their role in advanced disease is not fully explained and remains controversial. Aims: The aim of our study was to investigate subsets of lung tissue lymphocytes T in advanced COPD and IPF patients undergoing transplantation and compare them to healthy lung tissue from donors, who were used as controls. Methods: Lung tissue was obtained from 9 patients with COPD and 9 patients with IPF as well as 7 donor patients. The tissue lymphocytes (Th1, Th2, Th17, Treg, activation markers and differentiation of CD8 cells) were analyzed with flow cytometry and the expression of transcription factors was analyzed by qPCR. Results: The most prominent finding was more than 20-fold increase of Th1 cells in COPD and IPF compared to healthy controls (median 6.8% (IQR 2.7-15.5) and 6.9% (4.2-10,2) respectively vs. 0.28% (0.12-1.06) of lymphocytes, p 0,001). Flow cytometric differences in Th1 were confirmed with upregulation of TBET1 transcription factors. Furthermore, in COPD and IPF patients all CD8 T cell were fully differentiated cytotoxic phenotype (more than 98.7%). The proportions of those cells were also markedly increased (median 12.6% (8.9-22.6) and 15.2% (9.6-27.6) respectively vs. 2.3% (1.0-10.8) of lymphocytes, p 0.013). Conclusions: Our results indicate that the inflammation in advanced COPD and IPF predominantly involves Th1 lymphocytes and CD8+ lymphocytes with the greatest cytotoxic potential. Importantly, in COPD and IPF at a final stage of disease the exaggerated inflammation pattern seems to be highly comparable.


This paper originates from a presentation at the IIIrd International Congress on Crassulacean Acid Metabolism, Cape Tribulation, Queensland, Australia, August 2001. Expression of crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) is characterized by the extreme plasticity observed within and between species. Switches between C3 photosynthesis and CAM, and subsequent 24-h patterns of day/night CO2 uptake, are tightly controlled by a variety of environmental and metabolic factors that optimize the response of CAM plants to the most challenging environments over seasonal and daily time scales. Regulation of the genes and enzymes involved in CAM and connected metabolic pathways occurs at a number of levels (transcriptional through to post-translational). Such multiple levels of control are considered to be the key to the photosynthetic plasticity of CAM. Here, we review some of the primary environmental and hormonal factors controlling CAM plasticity in different CAM-inducible species, with emphasis on the regulatory signalling circuits responsible for this control. We also examine the inherent circadian regulation of the pathway, mainly in the context of the diel regulation of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase and the dedicated kinase that modulates its activity. We then consider the role of secondary signals, with emphasis on changes in cytosolic [Ca2+]i and the downstream signalling pathways, based on studies conducted on Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L. Besides representing an important metabolic adaptation, CAM provides an intriguing paradigm for studying the complex signalling mechanisms that control and coordinate the expression of genes under a variety of short- and long-term environmental perturbations.


Background Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is a common and life-threatening infection in patients with advanced cirrhosis. The prognostic value of a novel marker, the delta neutrophil index (DNI), was investigated relative to mortality in patients with SBP. Materials & Methods Seventy-five patients with SBP were studied from April 2010 to May 2012. DNI at initial diagnosis of SBP was determined and compared with 30-day mortality rates. Results Of the patients, 87.7% were men, and the median age of all patients was 59.0 yrs. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve of DNI for 30-day mortality was 0.701 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.553–0.849; p = 0.009), which was higher than that of C-reactive protein (0.640, 95% CI, 0.494–0.786; p = 0.076) or the model for end-stage liver disease score (0.592, 95% CI, 0.436–0.748; p = 0.235). From the ROC curve, with the sum of sensitivity and specificity, the cutoff value of DNI was determined to be 5.7%. In the high-DNI group (DNI ≥5.7%), septic shock and 30-day mortality were more prevalent compared with the low-DNI group (84.2% vs. 48.2%, p = 0.007; 57.9% vs. 14.3%, p<0.001, respectively). Patients with an elevated DNI had a higher risk of 30-day mortality compared with those with a low DNI (4.225, 95% CI, 1.631–10.949; p = 0.003). Conclusion A higher DNI at the time of SBP diagnosis is an independent predictor of 30-day mortality in patients with SBP.


After the nation's fourth largest coal company, A.T. Massey, drove its competitor, Harmon Mining Co., into bankruptcy, a jury found that the company committed fraud in its business dealings and awarded its bankrupt competitor $50 million. Political issues surrounding judicial campaign funding that arose soon after raised concerns about the politicalization of the judiciary and the effects of campaign dollars on "blind justice."This paper addresses the issue of drawing a "constitutional" line for judicial recusal when required due to the "appearance" or "probability" of bias based on a party's financial contribution to a judge's election campaign. The paper also reviews the history of judicial elections, discusses the scant pre-Caperton cases in which the Supreme Court has found a violation of due process based on the objective probability of judicial bias, and discusses the Caperton decision and the legal minefields that will arise from recognizing a new category of judicial disqualification cases that create substantive due process rights based on a party's financial support to a judicial campaign election. The author concludes by suggesting that state laws and judicial canons can and have remedied the appearance of "buying justice" fostered by judicial campaign financing, without expanding substantive due process and creating a "constitutional" recusal rule.


The last two decades were characterized, in several countries, by the creation of several sectoral regulators and of competition authorities. An important issue in their statutes is to whom regulators are accountable: the Government or the Parliament. There are several legal arguments in favor of one or the other solution. We focus here in a different line of argument: because who appoints the regulator may determine its objective function, Government or Parliament appointment will lead to different outcomes. We identify under which conditions each possibility dominates. Several factors contribute for the relative welfare assessment: whether the regulator acts as a perfect agent of the nominating institution, or not; whether majorities are strong, or not; whether parties are industry-friendly or consumer-friendly; and whether there is a dominating party, or not.


The principal goal of my diploma thesis is creating an application for configurating computer-controlled beverages dispensing systems. In the preamble of my thesis I present the theoretical platform for point of sale systems and beverages dispensing systems, which are required for the understanding of the target problematics.
As with many other fields, computer tehnologies entered the field of managing bars and restaurants quite some time ago. Basic components of every bar or restaurant are point of sale systems and beverages dispensing systems. Less demanding owners of bars or restaurants are satisfied with simplest of the point of sale systems, which implement only the most basic functions. At the same time they do not invest much in dispensing systems, which are most often made up of only unconnected drink dispensers, such as coffee machines or dispensers for beer. More demanding owners pay more attention to the mentioned systems, which often results in larger investments in them. Thus it si possible to introduce a computerized point of sale system, which in conjunction with beverages dispensing system represents a complete whole that allows the owner a more comprehensive way of controlling the operation of the bar or a restaurant.
 A computer-controlled beverages dispensing system needs to be configurated before operating. For this purpose I wrote an application that simplifies this process. The application implements communication with dispensing computer which is the essence of computer-controlled beverages dispensing system. Data from the dispensing computer are reprezented in a tabelaric form. Such manner enables a simple entry of new values, which can then be saved on the dispensing computer. Communication between dispensing computer and any other copmuter demands a protocol, whis is also described in this thesis. The application also allows a configuration to be saved in a XML file or to be read from one.
In the description of the application I initially describe the basic procedures and functions that allow me to accomplish most of the tasks. Every description also contains a flow chart diagram of the procedure or the function. In continuation I describe the graphical user interface of the application. At this point I also explain some interesting cases of dealing with dynamic graphical interface and assurance of entering data of correct values in the configuration table.


Few school choice evaluations consider students who leave such programs, and fewer still consider the effects of leaving these programs as policy-relevant outcomes. Using a representative sample of students from the citywide voucher program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we analyze more than 1,000 students who leave the program during a 4-year period. We show that low-performing voucher students tend to move from the voucher sector into lower performing and less effective public schools than the typical public school student attends, whereas high-performing students transfer to better public schools. In general, transferring students realize substantial achievement gains after moving to the public sector; these results are robust to multiple analytical approaches. This evidence has important implications for school choice policy and research.


This article deals with the contribution made by domestication research to our understanding of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in everyday life, especially in the home. It first provides a sense of the diversity of research in this tradition and how this is evolving. The article then reflects upon and illustrates different elements of research in this tradition, providing examples of how these help to explain patterns of ICT experience, the way people evaluate that experience, and what bearing it has on their lives. To contextualize domestication research further, it considers overlaps with other traditions of research before moving on to the core, and the range of methodologies that have been employed. Finally, the article examines some of the general insights from domestication research, as well as more specific applications to the commercial and policy fields.


Organic wastes from the meat industry are a particular problem because the effluents are mixed and have high organic matter content. There are other by-products such as phosphogypsum (PG) and vinasse (V) from the phosphate fertilizer and rum industries respectively, which are problematic. Instead of looking at these by-products as pollutants, they might be seen as inputs for a wide range of agricultural uses from compost making to animal feeding. The objectives of this study were to measure some physical and chemical substrate properties during composting of slaughterhouse waste (mainly ruminant content) from a meat preparation in Barquisimeto, Lara state, Venezuela with added PG and V, and to evaluate the potential of these amendments for improving the final product. The ruminant content (RC) was treated with the amendments in the ratios of 20 and 40% each to RC on a dry matter basis. Composting was done for 45 days and parameters monitored over this period included temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and at the end, the moisture content (mc), water retention (wr), bulk density (bd), air-filled (ap) and total porosity (tp), nitrogen content (N) and C/N ratio were measured. Changes in temperature, pH and EC during composting were observed consistently, however, there were not any significant differences between the base compost (RC only) and amended composts. The highest air-filled and total porosity values were observed for 20% V. The treatment with 40% PG had the highest N content and the lowest C/N ratio. The final product quality of the RC with PG and V was positive in the radish bioassay germination, indicating that its use as a growing medium would not cause toxicity to plants and horticultural environment.


High aggradation and degradation in a river induced by the last flood event will raise and decrease the risk of an upcoming flood event, respectively. To quantitatively investigate this effect, a 2D hydrodynamic model coupled with a sediment transport the river-bed evolution models is developed. After being validated against two experimental benchmark tests, the model is applied to simulate the effects of the morphological change on flood patterns. It is found in two experimental scale tests that bed evolution may have substantial influence on water level, which is directly related to flood risk extent. In the application of the model computing a realistic flood event in Bayangaole Reach of Yellow River, the results show that the water surface level becomes lower for an upcoming flood event with the same hydrograph, indicating the flood risk considerably decreases in the next flood event. The effect of a perturbed bed therefore could be of significance for fluvial flood over a movable bed and therefore to flood risk management.


A new method of screening type IIG restriction modification (RM) enzyme has been developed using REBASE, a database of all known and putative restriction enzymes and methyltransferases found throughout the bacterial genome sequences available in GENBANK. The in silico analysis of a group of putative type IIG RM enzymes in Microcystis aeruginosa showed a high sequence homology at both ends. This peculiarity allows for primers designing that can be used in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify the corresponding genes out of one environmental DNA extracted from a cyanobacteria-rich sample. PCR products were cloned into the pSAPV6 vector. Among eight recombinant DNA sequenced, five showed different sequences in the protein regions that interact specifically with DNA.". These five recombinant proteins expressed type IIG RM enzyme activity. Their specificities were determined, and all correspond to new DNA recognition sites.

 Key words: Environmental DNA, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), recombinant protein, Type IIG RM enzyme screening, uncultured bacteria.


Abstract A community sample of 96 mother-child dyads participated in a study evaluating the extent to which directly observed differences in maternal parenting behavior could be predicted on the basis of both global and proximal maternal reports of child behavior problems and personal distress. To allow for simultaneous testing of a set of relations and make tentative causal inferences, a structural equation modeling approach was used. When the analysis was conducted on the entire sample, results indicated that global and to a lesser extent proximal measures of child behavior problems and personal distress made modest contributions to dysfunctional parenting, with neither child behavior problems or personal distress playing a more important role than the other. When the sample was divided into low (n = 54) and high (n = 42) socioeconomic disadvantage (SED) families, a different picture emerged. In low disadvantage families, parenting was most strongly predicted by mothers' proximal reports of their children's behavior; whereas in high disadvantage families, parenting was best predicted by mothers' proximal reports of their own personal distress. Results are interpreted in light of Wahler and Dumas' (1989) attentional hypothesis. It suggests that mothers who do not experience chronic sources of distress (such as SED) attend and respond to their children's behavior in a fairl accurate and consistent manner, but that mothers who experience chronic distress are unable to attend effectively to their children, responding to them often in light of the many stressors to which they are exposed, rather than in light of the children's actual behavior.


SINCE the publication of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Day One Competences (RCVS 2014) over a decade ago, veterinary education in the UK has become increasingly focused on educational outcomes. Accreditation by the RCVS and other professional bodies such as the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education and the American Veterinary Medical Association requires universities to demonstrate that their curricula are effectively aligned with these outcomes. Assessment practices need to ensure that students have achieved these competences on graduation. The veterinary profession is not unique in this; other health professions have adopted similar approaches, with the concept of 'outcome-based education' (Harden 1999) now becoming one of the dominant paradigms in health professions education.

There is also a growing consensus across the veterinary profession that modern day vets cannot realistically achieve and maintain omincompetence (competence across all species) (Eyre 2001, Gorman 2001, Halliwell 1999, Radostits 2002). In 2001,the RCVS education strategy steering group described the …


Landing gear failure is a high concern in the aviation industries. As per the Federal Aviation Administration reports, most of the aircraft failures take place at the time of take-off and landing of aircraft. Generally aircraft failures are related to its improper maintenance of landing gear and health monitoring check-ups. In this project work a tri-cycle landing gear shock absorber system model is selected and analyzed it in multi-physics domain, using AMESim software package. AMESim stands for Advanced Modeling Environment for performing Simulation of engineering systems. The software package provides a 1D simulation suite to model and analyze multi-domain intelligent systems, and to predict their multi-disciplinary performance. The various multiphysics domains considered in modeling are mechanical, pneumatic, and hydraulic. Each of the sub-components of these domains are modeled and checked for their output variables. Under the dynamic simulation, vertical loads, strut displacements and efficiency curves of the shock absorber are plotted for various sink velocities. MATLAB programming package is used to perform the mathematical functions to find the efficiency of shock absorber with the help of load and displacement curve plots. In the multiphysics dynamic simulation vertical loads with respect to time and strut displacement with respect to time are plotted. For the validation purpose these plots are tallied with an experimental plots and the plots are well matched. If there is any further iteration is going to conduct on the same model or similar model instead of doing experimental test one can do software analysis to get the results.


Mondia whitei, also known as Mondia, is an aromatic plant of Apocynaceae family. It is used as aphrodisiac, antidepressant, fertility medication and to improve appetite. The present study aimed to evaluate the phytochemical and antibacterial properties of the plant. The chloroform extract of M. whitei was screened for its antibacterial effects using agar diffusion method against five bacterial strains (Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Salmonella typhi). The extract was active against S. typhi, K. pneumoniae and S. aureus at 400, 400 and 200 mg/mL, respectively. The antibacterial activity of the extract was observed in a dose-dependent manner and was compared with standard antibiotic, ciprofloxacin. The phytochemical screening of the extract revealed the presence of flavonoids, terpenoids, cardiac glycosides, steroids, phlobatannins and phytosterols. The GC-MS analysis of the extract afforded seventeen (17) compounds with major components being n-hexadecanoic acid (23.80%). The exhibited antibacterial activities justify the ethnomedicinal uses of M. whitei root.
Keywords: Mondia whitei, GC-MS, Antibacterial activity, Phytochemical


: The pharmacokinetic behavior of the reduced folate coenzyme, 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, was studied in the rat. Following oral administration the coenzyme was well absorbed from the intestinal tract and was bound to serum proteins. Plasma disappearance occurred in two exponential phases with a t1/2 alpha of 23.5 min and t1/2 beta of 8.5 hr. 5-Methyltetrahydrofolate appeared to be readily taken up by the tissues and was excreted in the urine primarily in the initial 4-8 hr. with minimal degradation in the process.


A comprehensive finite element methodology is developed to predict the compressible flow performance of a non-symmetric 7-blade axial flow fan, and to quantify the source strength and sound pressure levels at any location in the system. The acoustic and flow performances of the fan are predicted simultaneously using a computational aero-acoustic technique combining transient flow analysis and noise propagation. The calculated sound power levels compare favorably with the measured sound power data per AMCA 300-96 code.


Technology assisted physical activity, known as exergaming, requires participants to more-or-less become a part of a video game by engaging in it physically. Researchers have investigated exergames for their ability to affect positive physical, cognitive, social and emotional changes in the participants in classroom and lab settings. To date, little if anything is known about the effect of an exergame when played remotely over the internet. The ability of the gaming systems to connect over the internet for head-to-head competitive or cooperative play may place exergames at the forefront of the search for the social and emotional curricular pieces which can be used in online physical education (OLPE) courses. Empirical evidence into the efficacy of using exergames in secondary OLPE curricula could help to provide much needed information as to whether exergames might be considered best practice. This paper previews a recently completed research study that can shed some light on this important question.


The prediction of molecular properties is one of the most important and challenging tasks in the field of artificial intelligence-based drug design. Among the current mainstream methods, the most commonly used feature representation for training DNN models is based on SMILES and molecular graphs, although these methods are concise and effective, they also limit the ability to capture spatial information. In this work, we propose Curvature-based Transformer to improve the ability of Graph Transformer neural network models to extract structural information on molecular graph data by introducing Discretization of Ricci Curvature. To embed the curvature in the model, we add the curvature information of the graph as positional Encoding to the node features during the attention-score calculation. This method can introduce curvature information from graph data without changing the original network architecture, and it has the potential to be extended to other models. We performed experiments on chemical molecular datasets including PCQM4M-LST, MoleculeNet and compared with models such as Uni-Mol, Graphormer, and the results show that this method can achieve the state-of-the-art results. It is proved that the discretized Ricci curvature also reflects the structural and functional relationship while describing the local geometry of the graph molecular data.


: Hearing impairment is a common problem in elderly people that produces significant personal morbidity and isolation. Hearing impairment in elderly people often has a treatable cause. Presbycusis is only one cause of hearing loss, and may coexist with other causes. The clinical examination, if performed correctly and corroborated by caregivers, is probably adequate screening for hearing loss. However, formal testing should be administered if doubt remains. Hearing aids, although expensive, are helpful for most patients, but they are only part of a total program of aural rehabilitation. Patients, family, and health care provides can all benefit from improvement of communication skills.


Plasma and erythrocyte cations (sodium and magnesium) were studied in groups of patients with an affective disorder and in normal subjects. Baseline determinations were obtained before initiation of treatment for mania or depression. In a subgroup of patients, sequential measurements of cations were made during treatment with lithium carbonate. No differences were found in intraerythrocyte sodium or magnesium among any of the patient groups and controls. Patients with a primary affective disorder had significantly higher plasma sodium than control subjects. Neither baseline cation concentrations nor changes in cation concentration during treatment with lithium correlated with treatment response. Gender was shown to be a significant variable affecting intraerythrocyte cation concentrations.


Geodesic completeness is typically regarded as a basic criterion to determine whether a given spacetime is regular or singular. However, the principle of general covariance does not privilege any family of observers over the others and, therefore, observers with arbitrary motions should be able to provide a complete physical description of the world. This suggests that in a regular spacetime, all physically acceptable observers should have complete paths. In this work we explore this idea by studying the motion of accelerated observers in spherically symmetric spacetimes and illustrate it by considering two geodesically complete black hole spacetimes recently described in the literature. We show that for bound and locally unbound accelerations, the paths of accelerated test particles are complete, providing further support to the regularity of such spacetimes.


Novelty search is a recent algorithm geared to explore search spaces without regard to objectives; minimal criteria novelty search is a variant of this algorithm for constrained search spaces. For large search spaces with multiple constraints, however, it is hard to find a set of feasible individuals that is both large and diverse. In this paper, we present two new methods of novelty search for constrained spaces, Feasible-Infeasible Novelty Search and Feasible-Infeasible Dual Novelty Search. Both algorithms keep separate populations of feasible and infeasible individuals, inspired by the FI-2pop genetic algorithm. These algorithms are applied to the problem of creating diverse and feasible game levels, representative of a large class of important problems in procedural content generation for games. Results show that the new algorithms under certain conditions can produce larger and more diverse sets of feasible strategy game maps than existing algorithms. However, the best algorithm is contingent on the particularities of the search space and the genetic operators used. It is also shown that the proposed enhancement of offspring boosting increases performance in all cases.


The presence of biofouling communities in very large densities in offshore wind farms (OWFs) generates broad effects on the structure and functioning of the marine ecosystem, yet the mechanisms behind the temporal development of these communities remain poorly understood. Here, we use an 11-year series on biofouling fauna from OWFs installed in Belgian waters to determine succession patterns and to unravel the role of biological interactions in shaping community development. Our analysis shows that biological interactions, besides age and location, affect diversity patterns in OWFs. The abundance of foundation species, predators, and space occupiers was significantly related to richness and/or diversity. The trends in richness, diversity, and community composition suggest that no permanent stable climax is reached after 11 years, which can be linked to the dynamic and disturbance-prone environment of offshore fouling communities.


Wide application of health-improving physical culture can contribute to active life prolongation. Senior people are usually not involved into organized occupations. There is no concept of organization for senior people physical lessons in our days. The most important direction of the considered problem is regulation of physical load. Its value should be optimal, maximum permissible, individual and based on the biological age but not on the calendar one.


This paper presents a miniature light-weight closed-loop deep brain stimulation (DBS) device that delivers on-demand stimulation current pulses by monitoring and analysing local field potentials. The device includes monitoring and DBS units, each designed and fabricated on a separate small round circuit board. The closed-loop DBS device has been successfully validated by injecting a pre-recorded neural signal into its input, and collecting and analysing its output. The monitoring unit has an amplification gain of 113 dB in frequency range of 0.7-50 Hz. The DBS unit gives on-demand stimulation current pulses of duration 90 μs, frequency 130 Hz, and amplitude 200 μA. The total weight of the device including a 3V coin battery is 1.41 g. The diameter of the device is 11.4 mm. This portable head-mountable device is suitable for use in pre-clinical trials with small laboratory animals.


Problem: The involvement of external stakeholders in capstone projects and project courses is desirable due to its potential positive effects on the students. Capstone projects particularly profit from the inclusion of an industrial partner to make the project relevant and help students acquire professional skills. In addition, an increasing push towards education that is aligned with industry and incorporates industrial partners can be observed. However, the involvement of external stakeholders in teaching moments can create friction and could, in the worst case, lead to frustration of all involved parties. Contribution: We developed a model that allows analysing the involvement of external stakeholders in university courses both in a retrospective fashion, to gain insights from past course instances, and in a constructive fashion, to plan the involvement of external stakeholders. Key Concepts: The conceptual model and the accompanying guideline guide the teachers in their analysis of stakeholder involvement. The model is comprised of several activities (define, execute, and evaluate the collaboration). The guideline provides questions that the teachers should answer for each of these activities. In the constructive use, the model allows teachers to define an action plan based on an analysis of potential stakeholders and the pedagogical objectives. In the retrospective use, the model allows teachers to identify issues that appeared during the project and their underlying causes. Drawing from ideas of the reflective practitioner, the model contains an emphasis on reflection and interpretation of the observations made by the teacher and other groups involved in the courses. Key Lessons: Applying the model retrospectively to a total of eight courses shows that it is possible to reveal hitherto implicit risks and assumptions and to gain a better insight into the interaction between external stakeholders and students. Our empirical data reveals seven recurring risk themes that categorise the different risks appearing in the analysed courses. These themes can also be used to categorise mitigation strategies to address these risks proactively. Additionally, aspects not related to external stakeholders, e.g., about the interaction of the project with other courses in the study programme, have been revealed. The constructive use of the model for one course has proved helpful in identifying action alternatives and finally deciding to not include external stakeholders in the project due to the perceived cost-benefit-ratio. Implications to Practice: Our evaluation shows that the model is a viable and useful tool that allows teachers to reason about and plan the involvement of external stakeholders in a variety of course settings, and in particular in capstone projects.


The United States Office of Management and Budget designates 366 American cities as metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs).2 Fifty of these 366 MSAs contain the majority of the nation's hotel rooms. For purposes of investing in these locations, hotel capital suppliers rely on ad hoc taxonomies to organize geographic markets along quality lines with labels such as toptier cities, secondary and tertiary cities, coastal cities, and gateway cities. Although high quality hotel investments exist in many markets, the presumption is that assets in top-tier and gateway cities exceed others as IRR generators. Despite widespread acceptance of common taxonomies, definitions that allow for inclusion and exclusion of cities among the various categories are fuzzy at best. More precision regarding the organization of metropolitan hotel markets might promote research on relative pricing of hotels and investment return premiums available in these markets and generally assist the industry in differentiating MSA hotel markets.


Abstract We examine three questions concerning the post-glacial geological history of the eastern Gulf of Finland: (1) the amplitude of the Holocene sea-level regressions; (2) the time and mechanism of the development of large sand accretion forms (bars and spits), including dunes; and (3) the sea-level changes and coastal development over the last 4 kyr. Recent on-land geoarchaeological studies, as well as detailed marine geological research of the Gulf of Finland nearshore bottom, have provided new data for developing a hypothesis about the palaeogeographical development of the area. Geoarchaeological studies carried out around Sestroretsky Artificial Lake and within Okhta Cape, as well as analyses of previous studies of the Neolithic–Early Metal settlements, have shed new light on some aspects of coastal system development. Geographical information system (GIS)-based modelling of Holocene shorelines for the different time periods can be useful for future archaeological research. A series of submarine terraces was found at the bottom of the Gulf (sea depths from 10 to 2 m). The analysis of marine geological data (submarine terraces) and distribution of archaeological sites can be explained by a possible rise in relative sea level in the Gulf of Finland at 5 ka BP and a regression around 3 ka BP.


Eric Kraft can be labeled as a postmodem realist writer, as he has produced an essentially complex metafictional world, in the middle of the overwhelming reality of the last two decades of the twentieth century. The ultimate purpose of my analysis has been to study this combination or symbiosis of postmodemism and realism, which we can find in Kraft's literary universe.In order to accomplish my aims, I had to move back even to the beginnings of traditional Realism, and the first three chapters in my dissertation constitute a theoretical approach to the ever-changing relationship existing between fiction and reality.I try to present the different points of view on reality provided by Realism, Romanticism, Naturalism, Modemism, Postmodernismand, finally, by Postmodern Realism. Chapter IV of my work is dedicated to Eric Kraft's life, works and literary influences. He has published nine books so far, and although each of them can stand alone, all of them form a family saga, linked by different characters, themes and style, but especially by the presence of the author's alter ego, his narrator, prefacer and protagonist, Peter Leroy.Kraft's nine books form a series, a mega-novel, under the mega-title The Personal History, Adventures, Experiences & Observationsof Peter Leroy; however, my dissertation only focuses on Kraft's earliest novels, ? Herb `n' Loma, first published by Crown in 1988. ? Reservations Recommended, published in 1990. ? Where Do You Stop?, published in 1992. Chapter V of my dissertation is dedicated to the first novel Kraft published, Herb `n' Loma. It portrays the figures of Peter Leroy'smaternal grandparents, Herbert Piper and Loma Huber, asid we observe their evolution over a period of over seventy years. Theresult is a thorough introduction to the universe of the Piper, Huber, asid Leroy families. Kraft's second novel, Reservations Recommended, has as protagonist one of the strangest alter egos of his world, Matthew Barbar.In Reservations Recommended, the sunny world of Herb asid Loma Piper gives way to Matthew Barber's troubled, distressed and doomed existente. The protagonist of this novel progressively descends into the particular hall that his tormented mind and his disgraceful childhood propitiated. Chapter VII of my dissertation is dedicated to Kraft's third novel, Where Do You Stop?, which is the first novel that fully introduces Kraft's readers to the fresh and witty childhood world of his main literary alter ego and hero, Peter Leroy. The novel focuses on the anxieties and emotions that Peter experiences on his passage from childhood to adolescente, which will determine his adult personality. We also learn about the origins of Peter's scientific inquietude, and about the author's concern regarding the topics of class and race, which are especially significant in our postmodem society. Peter Leroy's fictional world is a complex mixture of the realist impulse to depict life in credible terms, and the postmodern understanding of life that has gradually modified our representation of reality for the last forty years.Along these years, Kraft has become a sort of "character" in his own life, but, for the ones who actually know him, he is surely the omniscient artificer who creates Peter's life. Peter is his omniscient narrator; he is Kraft's voice, his imagination. However, their limits are not that clear, after all. Both Peter and Kraft are creators, characters, and narrators. In sum, they present the type of fiction that only postmodemism has made possible in the last decades of the twentieth century, while trying to show the current reality,whatever this notion represents.


Applicability of the simplified method based on equivalent single-degree-of-freedom (ESDOF) for single-column pier with uniform cross-section is investigated in this paper. The modal participating mass ratio of pier's fundamental mode is taken as an index to evaluate the applicability of the simplified method. Based on the fundamental mode shape functions selected deliberately in the first step, equations to evaluate the modal participating mass ratio of pier fundamental mode is obtained. Using the proposed equations, it is convenient to evaluate applicability of the simplified method with the height of the pier and the ratio of the linear mass along the column to the dumped mass at the top of the pier. Finally, the index is verified in the different nonlinear range of piers.


We present a compiler-based approach to the design and engineering of complex realtime systems. The systems are built from computation, communication and I/O subsystems, based on different extant real-time models and schemes. We have defined a high-level system specification language, called Real-Time System Markup Language (RTSML), for integration of model-specific subsystems. We have developed an extensible compiler from RTSML to a Constraint Logic Programming (CLP) language. Model-specific compiler modules can be added that generate CLP code for subsystems based on the corresponding real-time models and schemes, and their integration with other subsystems of a complex real-time system being specified. We specify an example system consisting of dozens of communicating real-time tasks that share real-time computation and communication resources, and map it to two problem solving approaches. The first one is the conventional CLP search, while the second one is suitable for system redesign when system parameters change dynamically. We compare the two approaches and present their timings for the example system. This work supported in part by DARPA contract No. DABT 63–95–C–0072, NSF grant No. CDA–9529488, and NSF grant No. ASC–9624149.


Trace amounts of dissolved sodium has been identified as one possible cause leading to the formation of internal diesel injector deposits (IDIDs) which prove problematic by reducing fuel efficiency in high pressure diesel injectors. We demonstrate the successful extraction of ppm levels of Na+ from a model diesel fuel. A range of ionic liquids (ILs) with a variety of cations and anions were examined for their effectiveness at different loadings of IL relative to the model diesel fuel. Results provide several clear trends with some exceptional capabilities of the ILs in the extractions. ILs are commonly referred to as 'designer solvents', due to the great degree of fine-tuning of physical and chemical properties afforded by modification of the constituent cation and anion. The tunable properties of the ILs ions allow the 'design' to meet the requirements for a particular target and here provide several potential candidates for the extraction of the ppm levels of sodium from diesel fuel. We report for the first time that ILs can extract up to 99.1% of Na+ from a model diesel fuel at a Na+ concentration of just 3 mg kg−1 in the fuel; factors affecting the extent of extraction were investigated via correlation with experimental solvent descriptors. 23Na NMR was used in the determination of donor number (DN), and Kamlet–Taft parameters were gathered for each IL providing information of possible hydrogen-bond acidity/basicity (α/β) and dipolarity/polarizability solvent strength (π*). In addition, the non-random two liquid model (NRTL) was applied to correlate the experimental extraction results and determine τ parameters for each of the ILs. We determined that the extraction is controlled strongly by the Lewis basicity of the IL which is directly related to the ability of the anion of the IL to complex Na+ and thereby remove it from the fuel. DN, τ parameters and β, in addition to interfacial tension and viscosity values, provide further information on the extraction mechanisms and predict performance, enabling chemical design of ILs that are ideal for fuel purification.


This passionate love letter to opera, lavishly praised and nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award when it was first published, is now firmly established as a cult classic. In a learned, moving, and sparklingly witty melange of criticism, subversion, and homage, Wayne Koestenbaum illuminates mysteries of fandom and obsession, and has created an exuberant work of personal meditation and cultural history.


Abstract The genus Corythomantis was monotypic for over 100 yr, encompassing only the species C. greeningi. In 2012, a second species, C. galeata, was described, but this species was recently reassigned to Nyctimantis, rendering Corythomantis once again monotypic. The geographic distribution of C. greeningi covers the Caatinga and Cerrado biomes from northeast Brazil, with a western limit in Tocantins state and a southern limit in Minas Gerais state. Here we demonstrate the existence of a second species of Corythomantis through molecular, acoustic, and morphological data. The new species differs in morphology from C. greeningi in head shape and tibia coloration. The new species has an advertisement call with shorter duration, higher pulse rate, and different acoustic structure. Mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) data show a genetic divergence from C. greeningi of 2.88% in the 16S ribosomal DNA gene and 14.06% in the cytochrome oxidase I gene. The geographic distribution of the new species is restricted to the Espinhaço Mountain Range at elevations from 315 to 930 m above sea level.


Current undergraduate engineering programs tend to be organised along fairly standard
engineering themes such as mechanical engineering or automotive engineering. The engineering institutions have made it plain that sustainability needs to be a fundamental
element of all mechanical engineering themed courses yet in reality only a tiny minority
of modules make reference to sustainability. It is true, however that sustainability is a
subject with such a large depth and breadth that the subject could be dedicated to whole degree courses. This paper defines the Principles of Sustainability [4] and suggests several types of degree program through which sustainability can be introduced into a higher education, undergraduate mechanical engineering scheme. The paper explains that sustainability can only be taught through the medium of design since the design function is the only function which has an overview and can influence the life of a
product from "cradle to grave".


Chronic diseases and injuries are the leading health problems in all but a few parts of the world. The rapidly changing disease patterns throughout the world are closely linked to changing lifestyles, which include diets rich in sugars, widespread use of tobacco, and increased consumption of alcohol. In addition to socio-environmental determinants, oral disease is highly related to these lifestyle factors, which are risks to most chronic diseases as well as protective factors such as appropriate exposure to fluoride and good oral hygiene. Oral diseases qualify as major public health problems owing to their high prevalence and incidence in all regions of the world, and as for all diseases, the greatest burden of oral diseases is on disadvantaged and socially marginalized populations. The severe impact in terms of pain and suffering, impairment of function and effect on quality of life must also be considered. Traditional treatment of oral diseases is extremely costly in several industrialized countries, and not feasible in most low-income and middle-income countries. The WHO Global Strategy for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases, added to the common risk factor approach is a new strategy for managing prevention and control of oral diseases. The WHO Oral Health Programme has also strengthened its work for improved oral health globally through links with other technical programmes within the Department for Noncommunicable Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. The current oral health situation and development trends at global level are described and WHO strategies and approaches for better oral health in the 21st century are outlined.


Can governments improve aid programs by providing information to beneficiaries? In our model, information can change how much aid citizens receive as they bargain with local officials who implement national programs. In a large-scale field experiment, we test whether mailing cards with program information to beneficiaries increases their subsidy from a subsidized rice program. Beneficiaries received 26 percent more subsidy in card villages. Ineligible households received no less, so this represents lower leakage. The evidence suggests that this effect is driven by citizen bargaining with local officials. Experimentally adding the official price to the cards increased the subsidy by 21 percent compared to cards without price information. Additional public information increased higher-order knowledge about eligibility, leading to a 16 percent increase in subsidy compared to just distributing cards. In short, increased transparency empowered citizens to reduce leakages and improve program functioning.


A recent sharp decline in the neonatal mortality in our medical center prompted a critical analysis of viral statistics of the newborn service during the years 1966 through 1973. The mean neonatal mortality for the entire period was 15.4 per 1,000 live births, and 11.0 in the period 1972 through 1973. The annual neonatal mortalities bore a direct relationship to the annual incidences of infants with birth weights of 1,500 gm or less. The reduction in the proportion of infants in the latter weight group during 1972 through 1973 accounted for three quarters of the improvement in the neonatal mortality as compared to that of the previous years. One quarter of the improvement could be attributable to a decrease in mortality that occurred only in infants in the latter weight group during the same period.


This paper presents a modification of a well-known routing protocol, namely Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector, as a solution to improve the performance of mobile ad hoc networks. We adapted the mobile agent technology as to novel metrics for routing in those networks. The metric is a function of the loss rate, the bandwidth and the end-to-end delay of the link. Indeed, we established a new tunable parameter to obtain a tradeoff between throughput and delay when computing the new metric. As a result, any routing protocol using this metric can al-ways choose a high-throughput and low-delay path between a source and a destination. Hence, the achievable performance of the mobile ad hoc networks has been improved remarkably with our modified routing protocol,


The Nucleic Acid Package (NUPACK) is a growing software suite for the analysis and design of nucleic acid systems. The NUPACK web server (http://www.nupack.org) currently enables: Analysis: thermodynamic analysis of dilute solutions of interacting nucleic acid strands. Design: sequence design for complexes of nucleic acid strands intended to adopt a target secondary structure at equilibrium. Utilities: evaluation, display, and annotation of equilibrium properties of a complex of nucleic acid strands. NUPACK algorithms are formulated in terms of nucleic acid secondary structure. In most cases, pseudoknots are excluded from the structural ensemble. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010


Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) was a wildely planted root crop in most area of China and considered as a good feedstock for fuel ethanol production. Very high gravity ethanol fermentation technology exhibited promising industrial application for advantages including productivity improvement, polluted water output reduction and energy consumption saving. In this study very high gravity liquefied sweet potato mash containing 260 g/kg glucose (after fully saccharified) was used for fuel ethanol fermentation. 0.8 g/kg (dry matter weight) was proved as the optimum glucoamylase adding dosage in simultaneous saccharification and fermentation. Datas analysis indicated that the osmotic pressure was controlled strictly exhibited by high growth rate of yeast and high rate of ethanol formation comparing with other dosages, and 119.78 g/kg (15.07 %, v/v) ethanol equivalent to 90.16 % of theoretical yield was achieved in 64 hours.


Cyber security threats are increasingly a serious concern to organisations, with an annual worldwide cost of a trillion dollars in 2021. Potentially the most significant contributor to cyber security threats is the human element, yet this has typically been insufficiently addressed in proposed solutions. Significant resources have been allocated to software, training and other solutions designed to tackle this threat, yet existing methods to improve cyber security have failed to deliver the desired results. Commonly cited issues include the lack of engagement in training, leading to disinterest and a 'one size fits all' approach, meaning some groups benefit from training more than others. This study will examine the need for game-based training methods in addressing cyber security threats caused by human error. Game-based training methods have previously been proposed to improve engagement in training and this study will discuss other potential benefits of game-based training. The aim of this work is to justify the use of game-based training methods in cyber security and begin to determine which aspects of games may be most effective at causing long-term positive behaviour change. Following an extensive literature review, a pilot study was run in which a survey was presented to 37 individuals who have taken cyber security training in the past, to query opinions and perceptions regarding cyber security training participants had previously taken, and how they feel they would behave when faced with certain cyber security threats. Upon analysis in SPSS, the results of this work indicate that factors such as training frequency and exposure to cyber security attacks have a significant impact on cyber security behaviour. A correlation between engaging training and impact of training on behaviour also serves to justify the development of such training methods. When combined with previous results on cyber security training this highlights the need for training to be engaging, regular, and relevant, and shows that the realistic simulation of cyber security threats (such as in game-based training) is of significant benefit. These results will help inform future development of effective game-based training methods and encourage their use more widely.


A new framework for semi-autonomous path planning for mobile robots that extends the classical paradigm of bilateral shared control is presented. The path is represented as a B-spline and the human operator can modify its shape by controlling the motion of a finite number of control points. An autonomous algorithm corrects in real time the human directives in order to facilitate path tracking for the mobile robot and ensures i) collision avoidance, ii) path regularity, and iii) attraction to nearby points of interest. A haptic feedback algorithm processes both human's and autonomous control terms, and their integrals, to provide an information of the mismatch between the path specified by the operator and the one corrected by the autonomous algorithm. The framework is validated with extensive experiments using a quadrotor UAV and a human in the loop with two haptic interfaces.


Litterfall dynamics in tropical forests are a good indicator of overall tropical forest function, indicative of carbon invested in both photosynthesising tissues and reproductive organs such as flowers and fruits. These dynamics are sensitive to changes in climate, such as drought, but little is known about the long‐term responses of tropical forest litterfall dynamics to extended drought stress. We present a 15‐year dataset of litterfall (leaf, flower and fruit, and twigs) from the world's only long‐running drought experiment in tropical forest. This dataset comprises one of the longest published litterfall time series in natural forest, which allows the long‐term effects of drought on forest reproduction and canopy investment to be explored. Over the first 4 years of the experiment, the experimental soil moisture deficit created only a small decline in total litterfall and leaf fall (12% and 13%, respectively), but a very strong initial decline in reproductive litterfall (flowers and fruits) of 54%. This loss of flowering and fruiting was accompanied by a de‐coupling of all litterfall patterns from seasonal climate variables. However, following >10 years of the experimental drought, flower and fruiting re‐stabilised at levels greater than in the control plot, despite high tree mortality in the drought plot. Litterfall relationships with atmospheric drivers were re‐established alongside a strong new apparent trade‐off between litterfall and tree growth. Synthesis. We demonstrate that this tropical forest went through an initial shock response during the first 4 years of intense drought, where reproductive effort was arrested and seasonal litterfall patterns were lost. However, following >10 years of experimental drought, this system appears to be re‐stabilising at a new functional state where reproduction is substantially elevated on a per tree basis; and there is a new strong trade‐off between investment in canopy production and wood production.


David Gans and Ilya Shapiro's recent book probes the question of corporate constitutional and statutory rights. Advanced by a series of public debates, the book is entitled: Religious Liberties for Corporations?: Hobby Lobby, The Affordable Care Act and the Constitution. This manuscript delineates the facts, and legal arguments as well as the majority and dissenting opinions in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby. Gans emphasizes the Founders' conception of corporations and offers predictions regarding the future trajectory of corporate rights beyond the narrow, yet clamorous, domain of religious liberty. Consistent with the weight of scholarly opinion and in sharp contrast to his co-author's approach, Gans denies that for-profit corporations have free exercise rights. Whatever its merits, the Hobby Lobby opinion has provoked a wave of scholarship and a flurry of rancor. Gans's contribution is part of this outpouring and confirms that corporate ontology is once against the focal point of academic and judicial commentary.Equally true, the Hobby Lobby Court's decision has generated a number of overlapping questions. First, since the Hobby Lobby plaintiff-firms are institutions characterized by the pursuit of profit, limited liability, and a legal separation from their shareholders, do those attributes either together or separately, bar them from asserting free exercise rights? Second, must the pragmatic or normative implications connected to the legal structure of for-profit corporations require them to maximize profits, in principle, or can such entities maximize other values as well, coherent with the deduction that religious exercise may take a corporate form for a wide spectrum of actions and purposes that include full involvement in the marketplace? Third, although Justice Douglas has cautioned us that "[g]eneralizations about standing to sue are largely worthless as such," can the plaintiff-firms satisfy the "case and controversy" requirement because they suffered a concrete injury to their own interest within the domain of Article III or based on a derivative or third-party theory of prudential standing consonant with the view that they are more like partnerships, membership organizations or associations of individuals, rather than large publicly-held corporations? Finally, are the opponents of corporate free exercise correct in their presumption that free exercise claims are purely personal and individual as opposed to being the representative outworking of a voluntary collective group, so that profit pursuing corporations must be seen as non-religious entities lacking the anthropomorphic capacity necessary to practice religion? These questions and their correlative answers are visualized through a nexus-of-contracts-entrepreneurial-choice investigation that originates in the law and economics of organizations, a scaffold, which encompasses closely-held firms, LLCs and other for-profit vehicles. Pertinent answers are then refracted through the prism of Professor Buccola's organizational neutrality framework. The resulting analysis provides a basis to contest the weight of scholarly opinion. When viewed on a pragmatic or normative level, it is doubtful that the choice of the corporate form, a move that gives rise to both for-profit firms and nonprofit entities, should be relevant, in establishing a defendable boundary that cabins an institution's ability to pursue free exercise exemptions.


What do appeals to case studies accomplish? Consider the dilemma: On the one hand, if the case is selected because it exemplifies the philosophical point, then it is not clear that the historical data hasn't been manipulated to fit the point. On the other hand, if one starts with a case study, it is not clear where to go from therefor it is unreasonable to generalize from one case or even two or three.


By allowing ethnic groups to organize areas important to them regardless of their geographic distribution, functional, overlapping and competing jurisdictions (FOCJ) have an important role to play in the management of ethnic conflict in plural societies. The functional devolution of powers which is intrinsic to FOCJ may be preferable to territorial devolution when minority groups are spatially dispersed or, when they are geographically concentrated but are in a numerical minority in their region. Even when minority groups are in a majority in their region functional rather than territorial devolution may dampen secessionist fears among members of the majority. A case can also be made for a degree of functional devolution to complement territorial devolution when territorial devolution to protect one minority leaves other ethnic groups in a minority situation. The application of FOCJ to the area of ethnic conflict management calls for institutional structures which take into account the possible efficiency of the monopoly supply of some public goods, the need to maintain 'competitive equality' among jurisdictions and the danger that the functional devolution which is inherent to FOCJ may harden group boundaries over time. Copyright 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd..


This paper presents the comparative study of experimental, modeling, and simulation results that are performed using commercially available ANSYS Fluent software to analyze the separation kinetics of oil and water in a horizontal separator at various velocities and watercuts. The horizontal pipe separator used in this study has an internal diameter of 0.0762 m and a length of 10.3 m separating oil and water with specific gravities of 1.0 and 0.857 and watercuts ranging from 20 to 90%. The mixture velocities studied are 0.08, 0.13, and 0.20 m/s. Numerical simulations are done using the hybrid Eulerian-Eulerian multifluid VOF model to study the effect of watercut on the creaming of the oil layer and sedimentation of the water layer respectively. As the mixture velocities increased, the initial length of separation increased like experimental results. As the watercut increased, the separation of water enhanced, while the oil creaming improved with the lowering of the watercut as expected. Numerical results showed good agreement for water/dispersion interface predictions for all the conditions studied. The CFD results are compared against experimental results obtained by Othman in 2010 and agree with the trend of separation. The numerical simulations gave insights into the velocity profiles in each of the layers such as creamed oil, sedimented water, and the layer of emulsion that is not separated. Also, the numerical results are validated against the extended Gassies (2008) model incorporating correlation for turbulent time decay and oil volume fraction proposed by Dabirian et al in 2018.


Study Design. A review of the literature evaluating clinical trials of chronic back pain. Objective. To assist physicians in assessing the quality of clinical trial data to make the most informed treatment decisions. Summary of Background Data. Chronic pain is a tremendous public health issue, affecting close to 100 million adults in the United States, and costs the American people billions of dollars. One traditional treatment approach, the long-term use of opiate medications, has recently come under intense scrutiny for problems with complications, diversion, abuse, addiction, and lack of efficacy.1 In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recognized that overprescribing opiates has enabled an overdose crisis, and written guidelines that are intended to limit their use. It is for this reason that physicians must have a comprehensive understanding of the range of drug-free alternative therapies available and have the tools needed to rigorously evaluate the chronic pain literature so they can make appropriate treatment decisions. Methods. An evaluation of how clinical trials are designed and ranked, outcome measures, and costs for a variety of therapies is necessary to determine which treatment option is the most efficacious for an individual patient. Results. Clinical trial data demonstrate that spinal cord stimulation (SCS) is a safe and effective treatment option for many types of chronic pain, including back pain. The last 10 years has brought tremendous advances in the field of neuromodulation. Today, several treatment modalities exist for SCS requiring the physician to be able to critically evaluate and interpret the literature and determine which modality has the strongest evidence. When evaluating clinical trial data of patients with chronic back pain, emphasis must be placed on well designed, randomized controlled trials with long-term follow-up producing level I evidence. These data are obtained in a rigorous manner and are likely to have less bias when compared with lower level studies. Conclusion. The level I studies performed to date have provided evidence that treatment with SCS results in sustainable pain reduction and improvements in scores measuring quality of life and patient functioning in those patients with chronic intractable back pain. Level of Evidence: 5


Open systems are characterized by the presence of a diversity of heterogeneous and autonomous agents that act according to private goals. Organizations, such as those used in real-life to structure human activities such as task allocation, coordination and su-pervision, can regulate the agents' behavior space and describe the expected behavior of the agents. Assuming an open environment, where agents are developed independently of the organizational structures, agents need to be able to reason about the structure, so that they can deliberate about their actions and act within the expected boundaries and work towards the objectives of the organization. In this paper, we present the AORTA reasoning framework and show how it can be integrated into typical BDI-agents. We provide operational semantics that enables agents to make organizational decisions in order to coordinate and cooperate without explicit coordination mechanisms within the agents. The organizational model is independent of that of the agents, and the approach is not tied to a specific organizational model, but uses an organizational metamodel. We show how AORTA helps agents work together in a system with an organization for choosing the best tender for a building project.


This paper concentrates on a linear feature extraction method for neural network classifiers. The considered feature extraction method is based on discrete wavelet transformations (DWTs) and a cluster-based procedure, i.e., cluster-based feature extraction of the wavelet coefficients of remote sensing and geographic data is considered. The cluster-based feature extraction is a preprocessing routine that computes feature-vectors to group the wavelet coefficients in an unsupervised way. These feature-vectors are then used as a mask or a filter for the selection of representative wavelet coefficients that are used to train the neural network classifiers. In experiments, the proposed feature extraction methods performed well in neural networks classifications of multisource remote sensing and geographic data.


Dieudonné, M. N., R. Pecquery, A. Boumediene, M. C. Leneveu, and Y. Giudicelli. Androgen receptors in human preadipocytes and adipocytes: regional specificities and regulation by sex steroids. Am. J. Physiol. 274 (Cell Physiol. 43): C1645–C1652, 1998.—Various clinical and epidemiological evidence strongly suggests a major role for sex steroid hormones in the determination of anatomical specificities of fat distribution in human. To date, no studies have examined the possible presence of androgen receptors (AR) in human adipocytes and preadipocytes. We have studied AR in preadipocytes from various anatomical locations (intra-abdominal and subcutaneous) in middle-aged men and women during the proliferation and differentiation processes (adipogenesis). Androgen binding sites quantified by [3H]R-1881-specific binding in whole cell extracts were twofold higher in intraabdominal than in subcutaneous preadipocytes but identical for the same fat depots in men and women. Western blot analysis revealed 1) the presence of AR in the nuclear and cytosolic fractions of human preadipocytes, 2) a decrease of AR expression during adipogenesis, and 3) an upregulation of AR by androgens in vitro. RT-PCR experiments showed the presence of AR mRNA in human preadipocytes and adipocytes and also the regional specificity of AR distribution. However, AR mRNA expression was found to increase during adipogenesis. The same results were observed in rat preadipocytes. In conclusion, this study clearly demonstrates the presence of AR in human preadipocytes and adipocytes and suggests that androgens may contribute, through regulation of their own receptors, to the control of adipose tissue development.


The unipolar-based devices, silicon schottky (Si) and silicon carbide schottky (SiC) power diodes are investigated for their reverse recovery transient responses and the effects on the switching losses of the FET in the DC-DC converter. Two inductive load chopper circuits are simulated with different test diodes using PSpice software to determine the effectiveness and superiority in each of the devices. All parameter settings are consistent for both converter circuits. The results have shown that the SiC diode has higher energy savings of more than 73.13 % in turn-off switching losses. This eventually corresponds to the reduction of 96.16 % in FET turn-on peak power dissipation of SiC converter. However, there is a minor drawback in drain voltage overshoot of the converter. Some detailed analyses are presented in the paper.


The study assesses residents' housing satisfaction in public housing estates of Osogbo, Nigeria. Condition of housing, adequacy of housing facilities and residents' perception of housing satisfaction in public estates in Osogbo were assessed. The study necessarily relied on both the primary and secondary data. Both qualitative and quantitative data were also used. Data were obtained from six (6) public housing estates in Osogbo. A structured questionnaire was administered on 312 household heads forming 30% of the sample frame; random-systematic sapling technique was used. Residents' perception of satisfaction with their housing condition and neighbourhood quality were collated using Likhert scale ratings. Mean Weighted Values (MWV) were computed upon which comparisons were based. The study observed a general deficiency in infrastructural development. Almost all the estates lack basic facilities. Only one of the estates scored up to 50% of expected basic infrastructure benchmark. Laro, Oke Oniti and GRA housing estates with MWV of 0.54, 0.56 and 0.89 respectively fell short of 0.97 overall mean value measurement of residents' satisfaction. Housing condition at GRA, Oroki and Laro Timilehin housing estates with MWV of 4.76, 3.91 and 3.92 respectively were a bit better than the overall assessment value of 3.90. The study therefore recommends urgent improvement of quality and provision of infrastructure through Public-Private Partnership Initiatives (PPP), resuscitation and/or creation of Estate Management Board and the use of local building materials so as to enhance efficient management, create employment opportunity and forestall the looming volatility of movement within and outside the housing estates.


This book is divided in three sections. Setting the Scene provides an overview of some of the key issues that have engaged educational researchers and potential 'users' of educational research, as regards the evaluation of educational practices. In the second - and largest - section of the book, Examples of curriculum development and evaluation, we draw on ten examples of science curriculum innovation to illustrate different approaches to evaluation. In each chapter, the authors describe the nature of the innovation, the problem it was intended to address and the data that have been collected to evaluate it. They describe what has been learned from these data, and what other workers in science education might learn from them. In the final section, Evaluating innovation in science education: Some reflections, common features in the approaches used to evaluate the programmes are identified. Authors comment on the contrast between the approaches adopted and those advocated 'by some parties' in what they term as 'the wider debate about educational research and its quality' and why this may have come about.


As a fast, high-performance and cost-effective separation technique, capillary electrophoresis (CE) is applicable to the screening and diagnosis of diseases such as thalassemia. However, it is often not preferred due to its unrepeatable and/or irreproducible migration times. Herein, we propose a stable version of CE that uses migration charge density instead of the migration time to plot the electropherogram. The peak position is now independent of the applied voltage or current and the capillary geometry and is also insensitive to temperature. Its applicability was demonstrated in the quantitative analysis of human hemoglobin. On a laboratory-built device, with a running buffer simply consisting of 3.0 M acetic acid and 0.1% (w/v) hydroxyethyl cellulose, it allows a direct injection of whole blood samples and all the concerned globin chains, α, β, Aγ and Gγ can be well separated in 15 minutes. The resolution of α/β, β/Aγ, and Aγ/Gγ reached 4.4, 3.1 and 5.3, respectively. The intra- and inter-day precisions for the peak position based on the migration charge densities were below 0.6%. Its diagnostic applicability was validated in the analysis of several real blood samples from newborns, children and adults, and its capacity was demonstrated to screen and define the type of thalassemia.


Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit (RbcS) genes in the common ice plant, as in all higher plants, constitute a multigene family. We have measured transcription activity and steady state mRNA levels of individual members of the family, six RbcS genes, in the ice plant with emphasis on the transition from C3 photosynthesis to Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), which this plant undergoes during development and under environmental stress. Four RbcS genes are differentially expressed in leaves but are regulated in a coordinate fashion. A developmentally engrained, sharp decline in the steady state mRNA levels, which is observed during the juvenile-to-adult growth phase transition, coincides with the time interval when the C3-to-CAM switch occurs. Developmental down regulation of RbcS is due to down regulation of transcription. In contrast, NaCl stress specifically affected RbcS transcript accumulation post-transcriptionally, resulting in decreased RbcS mRNA levels. Antagonistic regulatory programs are apparent in stress/stress relief experiments. The results indicate complex controls, affecting both transcriptional and post-transcriptional processes, that act differentially during plant development, stress, and recovery from stress.


Economists have long puzzled over the astounding differences in productivity between firms and countries. In this paper, we present evidence on a possible explanation for persistent differences in productivity at the firm and the national level -- namely, that such differences largely reflect variations in management practices. We have, over the last decade, undertaken a large survey research program to systematically measure management practices across firms, industries, and countries. Our survey approach focuses on aspects of management like systematic performance monitoring, setting appropriate targets, and providing incentives for good performance. We explain how we measure management; identify some basic patterns in our data; then turn to the question of why management practices vary so much across firms and nations. What we find is a combination of imperfectly competitive markets, family ownership of firms, regulations restricting management practices, and informational barriers allow bad management to persist.


This paper investigates passive and semi-active vibration control using fluidic flexible matrix composites (F2MC). F2MC tubes filled with fluid and connected to an accumulator through a fixed orifice can provide damping forces in response to axial strain. If the orifice is actively controlled, the stiffness of F2MC tubes can be dynamically switched from soft to stiff by opening and closing an on/off valve. Fiber reinforcement of the F2MC tube kinematically relates the internal volume to axial strain. With an open valve, the fluid in the tube is free to move in or out of the tube, so the stiffness is low. With a closed valve, however, the high bulk modulus fluid resists volume change and produces high axial stiffness. The equations of motion of an F2MC-mass system are derived using a 3D elasticity model and the energy method. The stability of the unforced dynamic system is proven using a Lyapunov approach. A reduced-order model for operation with either a fully open or fully closed valve motivates the development of a zero vibration (ZV) controller that suppresses vibration in finite time. Coupling of a fluid-filled F2MC tube to a pressurized accumulator through a fixed orifice is shown to provide significant passive damping. The open-valve orifice size is optimized for optimal passive, skyhook, and ZV controllers by minimizing the integral time absolute error cost function. Simulation results show that the optimal open valve orifice provides a damping ratio of 0.35 compared with no damping in closed-valve case. The optimal ZV controller outperforms optimal passive and skyhook controllers by 32.9% and 34.2% for impulse and 34.7% and 60% for step response, respectively. Theoretical results are confirmed by experiments that demonstrate the improved damping provided by optimal passive control F2MC and fast transient response provided by semi-active ZV control.


CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2008 Abstracts

Abstract #15

Background : Exemestane (E) is a steroidal aromatase inactivator, which has been demonstrated to be more effective than tamoxifen (T) in metastatic breast cancer (BC). The role of E in adjuvant therapy has been established after 2 to 3 years of T compared to 5 years of T in the Intergroup Exemestane Study (Lancet 2007; 369: 599-70). One objective of the TEAM study was to evaluate E compared to T as initial adjuvant endocrine therapy. Methods : Using common criteria, eligible postmenopausal patients in 9 countries with invasive ER+ and/or PR+ early BC, were prospectively randomized to either open-label E 25 mg/day or T 20 mg/day. All patients had completed primary therapy of surgery and chemotherapy if indicated. All data were collected and analyzed by the Central Data Center in Leiden, The Netherlands. The trial was initiated in 2001 with a primary endpoint of DFS between T and E. In 2004, based on results of the IES, TEAM was modified such that all patients on T were switched to E at 2.5-3 years. The modified design includes 2 primary endpoints: DFS of T versus E followed up to 2.75 years, and DFS of E for 5 years versus T switched to E treated for a total of 5 years. The present analysis focuses on the first primary endpoint: DFS for T compared to E at 2.75 years with censoring of events after 2.75 years. Log rank test with a 2-sided significance level of 2.98% stratified by country and factors nested in protocols will be utilized. Results : Between January 2001 and January 2006, 9775 women were randomized to T or E of which 9300 will be followed for 2.75 years by October 2008: 99% were ER and/or /PgR+, 50% were node negative, 44% underwent mastectomy, 68% received radiotherapy, and 36% chemotherapy. There have been 693 DFS events (locoregional or distant recurrence, second breast cancers, or death without recurrence) by April 2008 within 2.75 years of randomization. In accordance with the statistical analysis plan, the first planned analysis will be based on 723 events or 9300 patients with at least 2.75 years follow-up. We will present a detailed analysis of the first primary endpoint of DFS between T and E at 2.75 years at the 2008 SABCS. The TEAM study represents the largest of the 3 major trials to compare efficacy of an aromatase inhibitor/inactivator versus tamoxifen as initial endocrine therapy.

Citation Information: Cancer Res 2009;69(2 Suppl):Abstract nr 15.


The Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming a backbone of sensing infrastructure to several mission-critical applications such as smart health, disaster management, and smart cities. Due to resource-constrained sensing devices, IoT infrastructures use Edge datacenters (EDCs) for real-time data processing. EDCs can be either static or mobile in nature, and this article considers both of these scenarios. Generally, EDCs communicate with IoT devices in emergency scenarios to evaluate data in real-time. Protecting data communications from malicious activity becomes a key factor, as all the communication flows through insecure channels. In such infrastructures, it is a challenging task for EDCs to ensure the trustworthiness of the data for emergency evaluations. The current communication security pattern of "communication before authentication" leaves a "black hole" for intruders to become part of communication processes without authentication. To overcome this issue and to develop security infrastructures for IoT and distributed Edge datacenters, this article proposes a user-centric security solution. The proposed security solution shifts from a network-centric approach to a user-centric security approach by authenticating users and devices before communication is established. A trusted controller is initialized to authenticate and establishes the secure channel between the devices before they start communication between themselves. The centralized controller draws a perimeter for secure communications within the boundary. Theoretical analysis and experimental evaluation of the proposed security model show that it not only secures the communication infrastructure but also improves the overall network performance.


The aims of this paper is to analyse the contribution of the process of information on the development of an idiosyncratic design culture, through artistic, architectural and engineming influences.
With the development of new technologies. information has acquired an important role in social activity, but an excess of information has had a certain numbing effect on people's minds and their capacity for action.

In a consumer society where the ways to sell and even co self-sell are of the uttermost importance, any informative activity becomes corrupted by publicky.
The priority of image in today's communication makes industrial products depend on the fast consumption of visual experience.
The information system of technology and design-emission sources, communication media and audiences must find a balance between publicity and cultural information.
Knowledge does not only depend on information. To build a Design Culture �past, present and future � something mone than news and images are needed. Theory is needed too.


The combination of an electrocatalyst with a semiconductor light absorber is of great importance to increase the efficiency of photoelectrochemical (PEC) glucose detection. Here, in situ and synchronous fabrication of a Ni-based electrocatalyst (NiEC) and CdS semiconductor in laser-induced graphene (LIG) on indium-tin oxide glass is demonstrated via a one-step laser-induced solid phase transition. A series of component and structural characterization experiments suggest that the laser-induced NiEC uniformly disperses in the hybrid nanocomposite and exists mainly in the Ni0 and NiO states. Moreover, both electrochemical and PEC investigations confirm that the as-prepared hybrid photoelectrode exhibits excellent photoelectrocatalytic ability towards glucose, which is not only attributed to the strong synergistic interaction between CdS and NiEC, but also benefited from the high conductivity as well as 3D macroporous configuration of the simultaneously formed LIG, providing the key factor to achieve sensitive non-enzymatic PEC glucose sensors. Therefore, the laser-induced hybrid photoelectrode is then applied to the PEC detection of glucose, and a low detection limit of 0.4 μM is obtained with good stability, reproducibility, and selectivity. This study provides a promising paradigm for the facile and binder-free fabrication of an electrocatalyst-semiconductor-graphene hybrid photoelectrode, which will find potential applications in sensitive PEC biosensing for a broad range of analytes.


In the present study, titanium nitride coatings on tool steel were deposited using cathodic arc physical vapour deposition technique. We studied and discussed the effect of various nitrogen gas flow rate on the surface properties of TiN-coated steel. The coating properties investigated in this work include the surface morphology, surface roughness, line profile and fractal dimension analyses using atomic force microscope. Minimum values for surface roughness, line profile and fractal dimension analyses were recorded at nitrogen gas flow rate of 200 sccm. This is mainly because of the reduction in macro-droplets and minimization of the growth defects, usually produced during etching and deposition stages. Critical limit of nitrogen gas flow rate in TiN coatings were identified and considered an important aspect to understand the performance of TiN PVD-coated steel.


Histoplasmosis is the most common endemic mycosis in AIDS and often mimics other opportunistic infections. Previous studies have indicated a correlation between early biomarkers and histoplasmosis. In our case, we present an AIDS patient presenting with fever and pulmonary symptoms, found to have histoplasmosis along with markedly elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and ferritin. J Med Cases. 2016;7(3):81-83 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc2173w


Objective: to evaluate the psychopathological profile in primary Restless Legs Syndrome (p-RLS) patients with and without nocturnal eating disorder (NED), analysing obsessive-compulsive traits, mood and anxiety disorder, and the two domains of personality proposed by Cloninger, temperament and character.
Methods: we tested ten p-RLS patients without NED, ten p-RLS patients with NED and ten healthy control subjects, age and sex-matched, using Hamilton Depression and Anxiety Rating Scales, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (MOCI) and Temperament and Character Inventory - revised (TCI).
Results: p-RLS patients, particularly those with NED, had increased anxiety factor scores. MOCI-total, doubting and checking compulsion, and TCI-harm avoidance scores were significantly higher in p-RLS patients with NED. p-RLS patients without NED had significantly higher MOCI-doubting scores and a trend toward higher checking compulsion and harm avoidance scores with an apparent grading from controls to p-RLS patients without NED to p-RLS with NED.
Conclusions: higher harm avoidance might predispose to display obsessive-compulsive symptoms, RLS and then, with increasing severity, compulsive nocturnal eating. RLS and NED could represent a pathological continuum in which a dysfunction in the limbic system, possibly driven by a dopaminergic dysfunction, could be the underlying pathophysiological mechanism.


Maps can play an important role in understanding the close connection between individuals, their lived environment and their story repertoires. The legend genre is particularly related to local environment. Although the original historic-geographic method proposed by Kaarle and Julius Krohn has been largely abandoned by folklorists, the role the map can play in advancing our understanding of the important relationships between teller, told and the environment should not be dismissed. A new approach to folklore repertoire is presented here. This approach makes use of digital archival resources and geographic information systems that allow folklorists to visualize and interpret aspects of folklore closely linked to the environment. This paper presents several small experiments based on the legend collections of Evald Tang Kristensen as an illustration of the power of this new historic-geographic approach.


Many important big data use cases do not require data to be instantly available. Examples are video recordings in TV and film industry, surveillance videos and data from scientific experiments. Archiving such data to high-latency media storage, such as tape and optical disk libraries, results in significant cost savings. In this context, data is accessed by first staging it to low-latency media. However, archiving and staging operations incur additional device and bandwidth costs for both the active and archiving tiers, and might impact user data access performance. For instance, in terms of cost and performance, it is often suboptimal to archive all the data. This paper presents ExaPlan Archive, a scheme to determine the data placement and number of devices required in each tier of a multitiered storage system comprised of archival and active tiers that minimize the latency of the active tiers under budget and staging-time constraints. The efficiency of the proposed optimized archiving scheme is compared with an existing scheme that optimizes multitier storage with only direct-access tiers. The two schemes are evaluated using a staging workload of LOFAR radio telescopes long-term archive for astronomical observation data.


This study examines how criminals are portrayed in Martin Widmark's series of children's detective stories, JerryMaya's Detective Agency. The aim of the study is to find out what patterns and norms are communicated through this popular series for children aged seven to nine. Fourteen books in the JerryMaya series were selected and analysed to see how the criminal is portrayed, what motives are presented and what are the consequences of the criminal act. The study shows that several of the crimes in the JerryMaya series concern morality and legislation, and that there is often a moral criminal alongside a criminal who breaks the law. In eight of the fourteen books the crimes are some form of theft, and in five of them the consequence is an arrest. Only three books contain crimes that are not theft, and in these cases the books are about subjects such as revenge, attempted escape and cheating. For example, a person who steals money is punished according to law while a person who takes revenge for being bullied as a child is given the task of lecturing about anti-bullying. The consequences of the crimes thus often depend on the situation and the criminal's motives.


The dissemination and communication activities in the EuroMED-IMWC project have been carried out within the WorkPackage 3 (WP3): Communication and Dissemination.

The purpose of the deliverable D3.1 is to report on the Communication Activities of the EuroMED-IMWC Project that have been promoted during six months spent in the organization of the Conference on "EuroMED Cooperation: Inland and Marine Water Challenges" (July-December 2014).
In particular, this document highlights the main achievements of the project with respect to the key communication tools the Scientific Committee (SC) and the Organizing Committee (OC) have identified and selected (as reported in the Communication Action Plan Milestone ‐ M3.1), which are:
• EuroMED-IMWC project's Website
• EuroMED-IMWC's project's Communication Kit
• Participation in National, European and International meetings
• Organization of webinars
• Advertising in media sites
• Advertising through social networks (mainly Twitter)
• Contacts generated so far
• Press review
• Submission to the European Commission of the Naples conference report
• Spreading over of the outcomes of the Naples conference report.

The dissemination strategy followed throughout this first project period is outlined in the Milestone M3.1, "the Communication Action Plan". In short, the EuroMED-IMWC targets key stakeholders in order to empower, improve their overall awareness, understanding and participation to the achievements of the conference, and make the results and deliverables available to the wider audience.
A part of the EuroMED-IMWC dissemination and communication strategy has been also (and will continue to be) the creation of links with other relevant initiatives in Europe involving key stakeholders.


Apolipoprotein E phenotype (APOE phenotype) has been demonstrated to be a genetic determinant of cardiovascular disease. This atherogenicity may be a reflection of the association of APOE phenotype and plasma lipoprotein concentrations. The Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Study affords the opportunity to assess the frequency of apolipoprotein E alleles in population-based samples of African Americans and whites in the United States and to compare the associations of APOE phenotype with lipoprotein and apoprotein concentrations. Data from 3,485 African-American and white men and women between the ages of 25 and 37 years who attended the fourth CARDIA Study examination in 1992-1993 were used in this analysis. African-American men and women had significantly higher frequencies of E2 and E4 phenotype and thus higher frequencies of *epsilon2 and *epsilon4 alleles (p < 0.005). Men and women of both races with APOE4 phenotype generally had higher low density lipoprotein cholesterol, apolipoprotein B, and lipoprotein(a) concentrations and lower high density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration, and individuals with APOE3 phenotype had the lowest triglyceride concentration. Major differences between African Americans and whites were observed in the distribution of APOE phenotypes and *epsilon alleles, but APOE phenotype was associated with similar differences in lipoprotein and apoprotein concentrations in both races. The data suggest that APOE phenotype may be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in both African Americans and whites because it is associated similarly with an adverse lipoprotein profile.


Background: Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor in women; it is different from other malignant tumors in that it appears to be heterogeneous in outcomes. Although individual molecular markers were introduced in the field of breast cancer management many years ago, the concept of molecular classification was raised after the introduction of global gene expression profiling and the identification of multigene classifiers.  Methods . This is a prospective study conducted in the department of Pathology in Hassan II d University , Fez, Morocco. A descriptive analysis of clinical, histological and immunohistochemical characteristics of four molecular subtypes of breast cancer was performed (Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2 over expression and triple negative phenotypes). Results . In our survey, 390 cases of breast mammary carcinoma were observed; the most common subtype was luminal B. The luminal A subtype is significantly associated with the presence of ductal carcinoma in situ. 64% of triple negative phenotype tumors were Grade III SBR, and 57% of HER 2 phenotype tumors were Grade II SBR with a significant difference. 90% of the infiltrating lobular carcinomas are of luminal phenotype. Conclusions . Our study shows that the luminal subtype B is the most common molecular subtype, which is a peculiarity of our series. There was also a significant difference between the molecular sub-types and the SBR grade, which is in line with previous observations.


The most important methodological problems of modern medicine, such as sociobiological relationships, the methodological and social aspects of teaching of normalcy, health, and diseases, physiological/pathological ratios, determinism, casualty and etiology, a part and the whole, regional and systemic in the light of the systems approach, diagnosis in the light of conception, etc. To solve these problems is inseparably linked with the assessment and analysis of general theoretic and methodological issues outlined in the "General Human Pathology" (the 2nd edition) by D. S. Sarkisov, M. A. Paltsev, and N. K. Khitrov (Moscow, 1997). The work is a peculiar unit of a paper and a review.