Dendrimers are hyperbranched polymers with a multifunctional architecture that can be tailored for the use in various biomedical applications. Peptide dendrimers are particularly relevant for drug delivery applications due to their versatility and safety profile. The overall lack of knowledge of their three-dimensional structure, conformational behavior and structure–activity relationship has slowed down their development. Fluorophores are often conjugated to dendrimers to study their interaction with biomolecules and provide information about their mechanism of action at the molecular level. However, these probes can change dendrimer surface properties and have a direct impact on their interactions with biomolecules and with lipid membranes. In this study, we have used computer-aided molecular design and molecular dynamics simulations to identify optimal topology of a poly(l-glutamic acid) (PG) backbone dendrimer that allows incorporation of fluorophores in the core with minimal availability for undesired interactions. Extensive all-atom molecular dynamic simulations with the CHARMM force field were carried out for different generations of PG dendrimers with the core modified with a fluorophore (nitrobenzoxadiazole and Oregon Green 488) and various surface groups (glutamic acid, lysine and tryptophan). Analysis of structural and topological features of all designed dendrimers provided information about their size, shape, internal distribution and dynamic behavior. We have found that four generations of a PG dendrimer are needed to ensure minimal exposure of a core-conjugated fluorophore to external environment and absence of undesired interactions regardless of the surface terminal groups. Our findings suggest that NBD-PG-G4 can provide a suitable scaffold to be used for biophysical studies of surface-modified dendrimers to provide a deeper understanding of their intermolecular interactions, mechanisms of action and trafficking in a biological system.


In heuristic search and especially in optimal classical planning the computation of accurate heuristic values can take up the majority of runtime. In many cases, the heuristic computations for a search node and its successors are very similar, leading to significant duplication of effort. For example most landmarks of a node that are computed by the LM-cut algorithm are also landmarks for the node's successors. We propose to reuse these landmarks and incrementally compute new ones to speed up the LM-cut calculation. The speed advantage obtained by incremental computation is offset by higher memory usage. We investigate different search algorithms that reduce memory usage without sacrificing the faster computation, leading to a substantial increase in coverage for benchmark domains from the International Planning Competitions.


Long-term effects of forest dieback on soil organic matter (SOM) pools in an unmanaged high-elevation Norway spruce [Picea abies (L.) H. Karst.] forest were investigated by comparing three dieback sites with three adjacent sites with healthy spruce. The aim was to assess the long-term biogeochemical impact of a major disturbance in unmanaged forest ecosystems due to potential modification of their soil organic carbon (OC) pool. The spruces at the dieback sites had been killed by a bark beetle (Ips typographus) infestation 25 yr ago. Total OC stocks in the topsoil of all sites were determined; different OC pools were quantified by density/particle-size fractionation and 13 C cross polarization magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (CPMAS NMR) spectroscopy. Additionally, the aboveground and belowground plant-derived OC input was quantified and the OC species were analyzed. The forest floor at the dieback sites showed significantly lower OC stocks, storing <70% of the respective amount at the sites with healthy forest. In the forest floor and the light fraction of the Ah horizons at the dieback sites, the C/N ratio and the concentration of O-alkyl C in the OM were significantly lower, whereas the OM of the other fractions and of the bulk SOM in Ah horizons showed no changes. The observed SOM changes were caused primarily by an accelerated SOM turnover and only secondarily caused by changed litter input. Particularly the OC pool with a low degree of humification was reduced in its amount and increased in its decomposition status while the more stable C fractions showed no significant changes.


Land management agencies in Queensland conduct planned burning for a variety of reasons, principally for management of fuels for human asset protection and biodiversity management. Using Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service's archived manually derived fire reports, this study considered the individual components of the fire regime (extent, frequency and season) to determine variation between planned and unplanned fire regimes in south-east Queensland. Overall, between 2004 and 2015, planned fire accounted for 31.6% and unplanned fire 68.4% of all fire on Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service state-managed land. Unplanned fire was more common in spring (September–October), and planned fire was more common in winter (June–August). Unplanned fire affected 71.4% of open forests and woodlands (148 563 ha), whereas 58.8% of melaleuca communities (8016 ha) and 66.6% of plantations (2442 ha) were burnt with planned fire. Mapping fire history at a regional scale can be readily done with existing publicly available datasets, which can be used to inform the assessment of planned burning effectiveness for human asset protection and the management of biodiversity. Fire management will benefit from the continued recording of accurate fire occurrence data, which allows for detailed fire regime mapping and subsequent adaptive management of fire regimes in the public domain.


Discourse-based interpreting research has determined that interpreters are participants within interaction. Grice (1975) established that conversation participants conform to a cooperative principle. With respect to interpreting, what is the cooperative principle? How do sign language interpreters and deaf people work together to negotiate meaning in interpretation? The aim of this article is to present a case study of a deaf presenter and two sign language interpreters and evidence of their strategies for cooperation in interpreter-mediated monologic talk. Drawing on a framework of interactional sociolinguistics, naturalistic data from a seminar presentation was analysed, focusing on the use of pauses, nods and eye contact as contextualization cues in the interpreter-mediated event. It was found that these three participants used these cues deliberately and strategically for signalling comprehension, marking episodes, clarification and controlling the pace of the presentation; drawing on their frames of reference. Thus, the data suggest that the cooperative principle of interpreting involves the establishment of particular cues for communication.


A more predictable Air Traffic Management (ATM) system based on automation requires a precise Trajectory Computation Infrastructure (TCI). The accuracy of the computed trajectories does not only depend on the TCI trajectory integration capabilities, but also on the input received from the associated Aircraft Performance Model (APM), the operational instructions defining each trajectory, and the atmospheric data. EUROCONTROL Experimental Centre (EEC) conducts a number of activities in the domain of APMs, which are performed within the scope of Base of Aircraft Data (BADA). EEC has been supported by Boeing Research & Technology Europe (BR&TE) in the definition, development, implementation, and evaluation of an advanced APM suitable for the stringent requirements of future trajectory prediction tools. This new APM will become version 4.0 of BADA, released and maintained by EEC. BR&TE has also supported EEC in the design and development of an advanced bidimensional (vertical plane) TCI intended to exploit all the BADA 4.0 APM capabilities. This TCI accepts either a BADA 4.0 or a BADA 3.x APM, together with all kinds of winds, as well as temperature and pressure deviations over the International Standard Atmosphere (ISA). The TCI requires five simultaneous operational instructions to compute any trajectory segment. These instructions model the commands issued by the flight deck, and comprise the "aircraft intent" (AI). Three of them set the position of the landing gear, high lift devices, and speed brakes, while the other two determine the aircraft motion in the vertical plane. Accepted instructions include different speed, energy, altitude, vertical speed, path angle, and throttle laws, and even optimum speed laws intended to maximize certain flight characteristics, such as range or cost. This paper presents the TCI capabilities and interfaces. It describes the different elements involved in the trajectory computation process, placing special emphasis in the instructions comprising the AI and how they can be combined, as well as the equations describing the aircraft motion and their integration. It also includes an example of the trajectory computation process.


Our effort to implement a volumetric x-ray computed mammotomography (CmT) system dedicated to imaging breast disease comprises: demonstrated development of a quasi-monochromatic x-ray beam providing minimal dose and other optimal imaging figures of merit; new development of a compact, variable field-of-view, fully-3D acquisition gantry with a digital flat-panel detector facilitating more nearly complete sampling of frequency space and the physical breast volume; incorporation of iterative ordered-subsets transmission (OSTR) image reconstruction allowing modeling of the system matrix. Here, we describe the prototype 3D gantry and demonstrate initial system performance. Data collected on the prototype gantry demonstrate the feasibility of using OSTR with realistic reconstruction times. The gantry consists of a rotating W-anode x-ray tube using ultra-thick K-edge filtration, and an ~20x25cm2 digital flat-panel detector located at <60cm SID. This source/detector combination can be shifted laterally changing the location of the central ray relative to the system center-of-rotation, hence changing the effective imaging field-of-view, and is mounted on a goniometric cradle allowing <50° polar tilt, then on a 360° azimuthal rotation stage. Combined, these stages provide for positioning flexibility in a banded region about a sphere, facilitating simple circle-plus-arc-like trajectories, as well as considerably more complex 3D trajectories. Complex orbits are necessary to avoid physical hindrances from the patient while acquiring the largest imaging volume of the breast. The system capabilities are demonstrated with fully-3D reconstructed images of geometric sampling and resolution phantoms, a fabricated breast phantom containing internal features of interest, and a cadaveric breast specimen. This compact prototype provides flexibility in dedicated, fully-3D CmT imaging of healthy and diseased breasts.


This paper presents SPIDER, a novel methodology that advantageously utilizes metal fill to simultaneously fulfil metal density requirements and reduce IR-drop of the power distribution network. This is achieved through the addition of partially redundant connections between metal fills and power meshes. Our technique is especially significant for 90nm process technology or below because (1) metal fill must now be done as part of the IC implementation flow due to its increasing impact on timing, (2) the tolerance for IR drop is tightening due to voltage scaling, and the increasingly conservative power mesh design to address IR-drop is adding significant burden on the available routing resources, (3) IR-drop is getting worse due to increasing design sizes, and (4) the large degree of design uncertainty demands IRdrop repair capabilities that can be applied after routing is completed. SPIDER addresses all these issues practically with little or no cost. Experimental results further demonstrated the robustness and effectiveness of our approach: SPIDER achieves an average IR-drop reduction of 62.2% in 16 designs of various sizes.


Two highly purified syntrophic associations resulting in acetogenesis from stearate (SM) and oleate (OM) were obtained from the sludges of a sewage digestor. In both cases, Methanospirillum hungatei together with short, motile, gram-negative, nonfluorescent rods morphologically similar to Syntrophomonas wolfei were identified by microscopic examination. Besides growing on volatile fatty acids (butyrate through caproate), both cultures grew on oleate (C18:1) and numerous even-numbered, saturated long-chain fatty acids (LCFA [decanoate through stearate]). In addition, during growth on LCFA, supplementation of the culture media with calcium chloride was an absolute requirement. The sole difference between the associations was observed when SM and OM cultures were transferred from a stearate to an oleate medium. The SM culture needed 10 days before starting to degrade oleate, whereas the OM culture grew immediately, but the OM culture also grew immediately when transferred to stearate medium. Saturated LCFA degradation occurred in the presence of equinormal amounts of calcium (fatty acid/Ca ratio, 2). On the other hand, OM degradation only took place in the presence of an equimolar amount of calcium (fatty acid/Ca ratio, 1). These observations are discussed by considering the solubility constants of LCFA as calcium salts and the toxicity of the free acids against microorganisms.


The evolving explosion in high data rate services and applications will soon require the use of untapped, abundant unregulated spectrum of the visible light for communications to adequately meet the demands of the fifth-generation (5G) mobile technologies. Radio-frequency (RF) networks are proving to be too scarce to cover the escalation in data rate services. Visible light communication (VLC) has emerged as a great potential solution, either in replacement of, or a complement to, existing RF networks, to support the projected traffic demands. Despite the prolific advantages of VLC networks, VLC faces many challenges that must be resolved in the near future to achieve full standardization and to be integrated to future wireless systems. Here, we review the emerging research in the field of VLC networks and lay out the challenges, technological solutions, and future work predictions. Specifically, we first review the VLC channel capacity derivation and discuss the performance metrics and the associated variables. The optimization of VLC networks are also discussed, including resources and power allocation techniques, user-to-access point (AP) association and APs-to-clustered-users-association, APs coordination techniques, non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) VLC networks, simultaneous energy harvesting and information transmission using the visible light, and the security issues in VLC networks. Finally, we propose several open research problems to optimize the various VLC networks by maximizing either the sum rate, fairness, energy efficiency, secrecy rate, or harvested energy.


Several lines of evidence have implicated that neurotrophins play an important role in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. This study examined whether a common missense polymorphism (S205L) of a gene encoding the p75 NTR , the low-affinity receptor for neurotrophins, is associated with depressive disorder in a Japanese sample of 164 patients and the same number of controls matched for age and sex. There were significant differences in the genotype distribution and allele frequency between the cases and controls. The minor allele (L205) was significantly decreased in the patients than in the controls (P < 0.05, odds ratio 0.54, 95% CI 0.31–0.94), suggesting that this allele may have a protective effect against the development of major depression. Furthermore, this association was more strongly observed in the patients with a history of attempted suicide than those without such a history. Our results suggest that the S205L polymorphism of the p75 NTR gene is involved in the


Mechanochemistry provides a highly efficient,
but still poorly understood route to synthesize and screen for polymorphs of
organic solids. We present a hitherto unexplored approach to control the
mechanism and outcome of mechanochemical cocrystallization through changes to
the milling assembly, i.e. milling jar and balls. Whereas polymorph
control of mechanochemical cocrystallization is typically discussed in terms of
liquid additives, real-time synchrotron X-ray diffraction studies reveal a
direct impact of the choice of milling media on the rate of formation and
interconversion of cocrystal polymorphs. This effect enabled the discovery of a
new polymorph of a cocrystal of nicotinamide and adipic acid, whose formation
and conversion to the previously known, enantiotropically-related form, was
readily controlled by milling in jars made of different materials.


Designed a Reduced Voltage Starter for DC oil pumps in power plant, which is a Buck Converter based DC-motor soft Starter/Stopper with 220VDC power supply. In this paper, the main circuit, working principle and operating sequences of the switches of the device are clarified; and the design of each circuit unit is briefed; the transient of Buck Converter are analyzed and the snubbers for the Buck Converter are designed; at last the load test results of 55kw device are sketched. After running in a number of power plants, it's been proved that the device is an upgrade for traditional Rotor Resistance Starter, for its stability, reliability, efficiency, and intelligence.


The European vision outlined, which is only one of many visions possible, is a result of a three year learning process. The R&Dialogue consortium discussed the experiences made and lessons learned during the ten country dialogues. Based on these findings an overall vision for Europe has been constructed. The vision tries to highlight the insights of this mutual learning process, but clearly it does not necessarily reflect the opinions and interests of all the external stakeholders involved. The chapter 'Vision for Europe in 2050' lays out the characteristics of a possible low- carbon Europe in the future. The chapter 'Ways of getting to the low-carbon society' gives recommendations for how to achieve this transition.


Selection of glucocorticoids along with its dose and duration are the important aspects which should be considered while prescribing to the critically ill hospitalized patients. The purpose of this study was to assess the prescription pattern of glucocorticoids and promote appropriate use of it. A prospective observational study, conducted for a period of six months from September 2019 to February 2020 in Navodaya Medical College, Hospital & Research Centre (NMCH&RC) Raichur. Current study was performed in patients of age 18 or above and either sex who were prescribed with Glucocorticoid. All the new cases with drug prescription were included in the study. Patients who were below 18, ICU patient, lactating and pregnant women were excluded from the study. All the collected data were analyzed with the help of standard guidelines. In the present study, the prescribing of glucocorticoids is found to be appropriate about 84.40 %. However, to ensure safe, effective and well-balanced therapeutic management with glucocorticoids, both patients and prescribers should be more aware of the appropriate dose, dosage regimen, route of administration, duration of therapy and overall guidelines for glucocorticoids prescribing. Hence the involvement of clinical pharmacists in clinical practice helps to increase proper usage of glucocorticoids and optimum outcome. Our study concludes that standard treatment guidelines should be developed at hospital for prescribing of glucocorticoids taking into consideration the patient specific parameters which will improve therapeutic outcomes.


As a participant in interpersonal communications, the interpreter is subject to a number of different and sometimes conflicting ethical constraints. It may be argued that the interpreter negotiates between three main ethical spheres: that of the professions they provide interpreting service to, that of the interpreting profession, and the personal ethics of the interpreter himself. This article compares the ways translators and interpreters define their ethical positions in terms of paratexts and framing. The author argues that while paratexts are not available for the interpreter to define and delimit his ethical position, there are other factors that effectively frame this position. These factors are either controlled by the interpreter himself, encoded in the codes of his professional association or stipulated by the regulations of the profession that he provides interpreting service to. By examining how such factors intersect, the author believes that it is ultimately personal ethics that prevail in the ethical positioning of the interpreter. From such an understanding the article seeks in particular to define the ways in which an interpreter frames her personal ethical position in the interpreting setting.


As revealed in experiments of interspecific and intraspecific crosses, the determinant responsible for the group-specific 6, as well as controling the synthesis of type III antigens of Sh. flexneri were localized near the lac-pro markers on the chromosome. In intraspecies crosses of bacteria of y variant with the donor Sh. flexneri 3c strain the percentage of linking of lac+a6+ was 32, and of lac+aIII+ --24. Genetic confirmation of the dependence of the function of the a6 (defined as att6) determinant on the presence of an antigenic complex 3,4 and of the association of the serological detection of the antigen III on the gene a6 was presented. On the basis of the data of Gemski et al it can be supposed that the determinant of the a6 served as the site of attachment of a specific converting phage.


The stress-strain behavior of cast magnesium alloy (AM60) was investigated by strain-controlled cyclic testing carried out on MTS. In order to describe the cyclic stress and strain properties of AM60 by means of the energy storing characteristics of microstructure during irreversible deformation, a plastic constitutive model with no yielding surface was developed for single crystal by adopting a spring-dashpot mechanical system. Plastic dashpots reflecting the material transient response were introduced to describe the plasticity of slip systems. By utilizing the KBW self-consistent theory, a polycrystalline plastic constitutive model for Magnesium alloy was formed. The numerical analysis in the corresponding algorithm is greatly simplified as no process of searching for the activation of the slip systems and slip directions is required. The cyclic stress-strain behavior, based on this model, is discussed. The simulation results show good agreement with the experimental data for AM60.


INTRODUCTION: Available trauma scoring systems that predict need for higher echelons of care require data not available in the field. We hypothesized that analysis of continuous vital sign data in comparison to trauma registry data predicts mortality early in trauma patient management. METHODS: A real-time vital signs wave form and data capture system collected trauma patient data during prehospital management from Propaq 206E physiologic monitors. Analysis using statistical and mathematical software calculated receiver operator characteristic curves to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of continuous vital sign waveforms in predicting mortality. The area under the curve (AUC) was calculated to determine nonsurvival by a particular vital sign (oxygen saturation [SpO2], heart rate, and systolic blood pressure) from these data, compared with a single value in the trauma registry, and to standard trauma scoring systems. RESULTS: The average transport time from field to hospital for all patients was 25 minutes. Eight of 120 patients (7%) died; 5 of 8 patients (62%) died within the first 24 hours. Receiver operator characteristic analysis of mean SpO2 <90% versus mortality yielded an AUC of 0.76 (p = 0.005) with a sensitivity of 62% and specificity of 86% The initial SpO2 <90% measurement from the trauma registry yielded an AUC of 0.59. Preadmission Glasgow Coma Scale score yielded an AUC of 0.74 (p = 0.009). Injury Severity Score and Trauma-Injury Severity Score produced AUCs of 0.91 and 0.96, respectively. Revised Trauma Score gave an AUC of 0.73, no different from automated predictions of mortality from SpO2. CONCLUSION: Injury Severity Score and Trauma-Injury Severity Score are predictive of mortality but rely on the inclusion of intra-abdominal and intrathoracic diagnostic data that are not readily available during field assessment. Automated vital signs data collection and analysis from a single noninvasive device with decision support has the potential to alleviate the dual burdens of patient triage and documentation required of the prehospital provider LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II.


This thesis examines questions at the intersection of macroeconomics and finance. Chapter 1 studies the persistent effects of a decrease in firms' ability to borrow. I develop a tractable model of deleveraging that emphasizes (i) firms as suppliers of financial assets to consumers and (ii) the ability of firms and consumers to alleviate financial frictions by accumulating wealth. In the model, a permanent decrease in the ability of firms to borrow leads to: increased capital misallocation and decreased total factor productivity (TFP); an increased wedge between the average marginal product of capital and the interest rate; and increased riskiness of consumption. An endogenous decrease in the interest rate is shown to amplify these effects by discouraging wealth accumulation. In a calibration using U.S. firm-level data, I find these amplification effects are large. Chapter 2 studies how proprietary trading and advising are combined on Wall Street even though a firm that engages in both of these activities may be tempted to mislead its clients. Chapter 3 studies the effects of government purchases of long-term debt. According to one interpretation, the preferred-habitat model of Vayanos and Vila (2009) implies that Federal Reserve purchases of long-term bonds generate a reduction in long-term interest rates. In this paper, I clarify this interpretation. In particular, in a Vayanos and Vila (2009) preferred-habitat model, I show that maturity-lengthening open-market operations have no effect on long-term interest rates if agents in the economy ultimately receive the profits from the government's portfolio via lump-sum taxes or transfers. I then introduce limited participation - an assumption that some agents are restricted from trading bonds of certain or all maturities. I show that limited participation implies that open-market operations do reduce the long-term interest rate. What drives this result is limited participation, not preferred-habitat preferences. With this motivation, I develop a model, with a more reasonable form of limited participation and without preferred-habitat preferences, in which open-market operations are relevant. Finally, I use these models to discuss how arbitrageurs' wealth covaries with technology or endowment shocks, and how this covariance is affected by open-market operations.


Reward-based crowdfunding platforms transform technophilic consumers into technology patrons by enabling them to donate for technology development in lieu of receiving the finished product as reward in future. Literature specifically on crowdfunding of technologies is tenuous, and researchers have not yet established the causal factors which entice technology consumers to donate. Using Elaboration Likelihood Model as theoretical base, we conduct a 2x2x2 mixed-design experiment to examine the effects of three core elements of crowdfunding (value of reward, waiting time to receive technology, and affective cues in donor appeal) on a potential consumer's likelihood to donate. Our results show positive impact of reward, and negative impact of waiting time, but surprisingly no effect of affective cues. Significant interaction between reward and waiting time has also been observed. Apart from theoretical contributions, the findings have tactical implications for technology start-ups planning to raise funding through donations, and design implications for crowdfunding platforms.


The disparity of accessibility between cars and public transit provides important information about the degree of auto orientation in urban spatial structure. Using spatial data from 1990 and 2000 and a geographical information system, the present study examined the degrees and spatial variations of accessibility disparity between commuting by car and public transit as well as the temporal changes in this disparity in the metropolitan areas of Boston and San Francisco. In both metropolitan areas there was a considerable disparity in job accessibility in a comparison between users of cars and public transit, which turned out to differ substantially by location. Between 1990 and 2000 regional levels of this accessibility disparity lessened in the two metropolitan areas, but the temporal changes in the accessibility disparity varied considerably among different locations within the metropolitan areas. The accessibility disparity decreased in the majority of central areas and in a number of suburban zones near rail stations, whereas the accessibility disparity increased in a number of suburban zones near major highways. Improving accessibility for public transit, relative to that for cars, should be a key strategy for redressing auto-orientation urban spatial structure, an important objective of sustainable development.


A synchronized in vitro transcription assay has been used to probe the sequence specificity of alkylation of DNA by nitrogen mustard. Transcriptional blockages were detected with use of a 497-base-pair PvuII/SalI restriction fragment of a modified pBR322 vector when initiation of transcription was commenced after the DNA had been alkylated but not if the initiated transcription complex was subjected to alkylation before the elongation phase. The intensity of transcriptional blockages increased with alkylation time and was maximal after 1.5 h at a mustard concentration of 200 microM. There was also evidence of alkylation of the promoter region with increasing mustard concentration. The transcriptional blockage pattern changed at some sites as elongation time was increased and three types of blockages were observed-partial transcription (one or two nucleotides) past an initial blockage site, delayed but normal transcription past some sites, and complete termination at most sites. Eight of the nine blockage sites detected were at G or GG sequences on the template strand, with an apparent specificity for 5'-CTGT sequences of the template strand. Seven of the nine sites were capable of inter- or intrastrand cross-links, including three possible G-G interstrand cross-links spanning an intervening base-pair. In the 103-bp segment probed by this procedure, transcriptional blockages were detected (with one exception) only at sites corresponding to G on the template strand where inter- or intrastrand cross-linking was possible but not for similar sequences on the non-template strand.


Cold tolerance useful for sweet corn improvement may be present in open-pollinated (OP) cultivars. Cold tolerance in sweet corn is the ability to germinate, emerge, and grow under low temperatures. The cold tolerance of 35 open-pollinated sweet corn populations and controls was measured by growing the entries under 14 °C day/10 °C night in growth chambers. The same entries were grown under warm (24 ± 2°C) conditions in a greenhouse. Traits measured included percent and time to emergence, seedling color, and seedling root and shoot dry mass. Respective repeatability estimates calculated from mean squares were 0.08, 0.33, 0.33, 0.50, and 0.60 for these traits. Entries were ranked separately in each environment based on their performance using a rank-summation index. Differences in cold tolerance existed among the entries. Emergence ranged from 75% to 100% among the entries, with a mean of 90.9%. Time to emergence ranged from 16.2 to 21.9 d, with a mean of 18.2 d. Root and shoot mass ranged from 0.07 to 0.27 g/plot and 0.07 to 0.24 g/plot, respectively. Correlations among the traits measured were favorable, permitting simultaneous improvement. The rankings between the warm and cold environments were significantly correlated (r = 0.67***), indicating that some entries that performed well under low temperatures also performed well under warm conditions.


Despite the great success of deep learning, recent works show that large deep neural networks are often highly redundant and can be significantly reduced in size. However, the theoretical question of how much we can prune a neural network given a specified tolerance of accuracy drop is still open. This paper provides one answer to this question by proposing a greedy optimization based pruning method. The proposed method has the guarantee that the discrepancy between the pruned network and the original network decays with exponentially fast rate w.r.t. the size of the pruned network, under weak assumptions that apply for most practical settings. Empirically, our method improves prior arts on pruning various network architectures including ResNet, MobilenetV2/V3 on ImageNet.


Abstract. We have analysed the trends of total aerosol particle number concentrations ( N ) measured at long-term measurement stations involved either in the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) and/or EU infrastructure project ACTRIS. The sites are located in Europe, North America, Antarctica, and on Pacific Ocean islands. The majority of the sites showed clear decreasing trends both in the full-length time series, and in the intra-site comparison period of 2001–2010, especially during the winter months. Several potential driving processes for the observed trends were studied, and even though there are some similarities between N trends and air temperature changes, the most likely cause of many northern hemisphere trends was found to be decreases in the anthropogenic emissions of primary particles, SO 2 or some co-emitted species. We could not find a consistent agreement between the trends of N and particle optical properties in the few stations with long time series of all of these properties. The trends of N and the proxies for cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) were generally consistent in the few European stations where the measurements were available. This work provides a useful comparison analysis for modelling studies of trends in aerosol number concentrations.


To test whether the synucleinopathies Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy (MSA) share a common genetic etiology, we performed a candidate single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) association study of the 384 most associated SNPs in a genome‐wide association study of Parkinson's disease in 413 MSA cases and 3,974 control subjects. The 10 most significant SNPs were then replicated in additional 108 MSA cases and 537 controls. SNPs at the SNCA locus were significantly associated with risk for increased risk for the development of MSA (combined p = 5.5 × 1012; odds ratio 6.2). Ann Neurol 2009;65:610–614


In recent decades, it has become increasingly clear that the immune and nervous systems communicate with each other in a bidirectional way. The role of chronic stress in allergic disease and inflammation has been confirmed and raises the important question of how psychosocial factors influence the outcome of allergic conditions. This book explains the roles of the autonomic, peripheral and central nervous systems in allergy and asthma. With contributions from leading authorities - both clinicians and basic researchers - it covers a wide range of topics from psychology over epigenetics to brain imaging. The 15 invited reviews discuss topics such as the role of stress in allergy and asthma, the concept of programming in utero and in childhood and adulthood, the significance of neurotrophins, and the involvement of the nervous system in the lung in asthma and lung inflammation. The interactions between mast cells and the nervous system are examined as well as the role of the gut microbiome in regulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the stress response. Further chapters are devoted to neural and behavioral changes associated with food allergy, the role of the neuroendocrine system in the skin, and the way in which itch is processed by the brain. Unique in its field, this valuable volume is recommended reading not only for allergologists, psychologists specializing in allergy and somatic manifestations, respirologists and asthma researchers, but for anyone interested in psychoneuroimmunology.


Social inequalities lie at the heart of risk of HIV infection among women in the United States. As of December, 1995, 71,818 US women had developed AIDS-defining diagnoses. These women have been disproportionately poor, African-American, and Latina. Their neighborhoods have been burdened by poverty, racism, crack cocaine, heroin, and violence. To explain which women are at risk and why, this article reviews the epidemiology of HIV and AIDS among women in light of four conceptual frameworks linking health and social justice: feminism, social production of disease/political economy of health, ecosocial, and human rights. The article applies these alternative theories to describe sociopolitical contexts for AIDS' emergence and spread in the United States, and reviews evidence linking inequalities of class, race/ethnicity, gender, and sexuality, as well as strategies of resistance to these inequalities, to the distribution of HIV among women.


Objectives: The management of high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) is not well defined. We review outcomes in patients with locally advanced cutaneous SCCHN treated with radiation and concomitant platinum (Pt)-based chemotherapy or cetuximab (Cx). Methods: We identified 23 patients treated at our institution from 2007 to 2014. Systemic therapy consisted of Pt-based chemotherapy for 15 (65%) patients and Cx for 8 (35%) patients. Treatment intent was definitive for 48% and adjuvant for 52% of the cases. Results: The majority (87%) of patients had stage III/IV disease and 9 (39%) patients had unresectable disease. All patients were being treated for recurrent disease. Aside from median age (59 Pt vs. 71 Cx, P=0.04), there were no significant differences in patient and tumor characteristics between those receiving Pt versus Cx therapy. At mean follow-up of 24 months, locoregional recurrence and distant failure were observed in 52% and 17% of all patients, respectively. Estimated 2-year disease-free survival and overall survival in the Cx versus Pt groups were: 50% versus 30% (P=0.25), and 73% versus 40% (P=0.32), respectively. Conclusions: Radiotherapy with either concurrent Pt or Cx appears to offer similar clinical outcomes in patients with locally advanced cutaneous SCCHN.


The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Initiative (BPCI) in 2013 in an effort for consumers to have higher quality and more coordinated care. This research compared the care and outcomes of four individuals with bundled payment insurance plans and four non-bundle insured individuals with the same diagnosis, accessing rehabilitation services at a skilled nursing facility. The results show no observable differences between the outcomes of individuals with a bundled insurance plan and individuals without a bundled insurance plan. The financial implications are negative for healthcare agencies participating in BPCI who must successfully treat individuals within the CMS standardized Estimated Length of Stay (ELOS). These results are limited due to the small sample size observed and the lack of financial data available. The application of bundled insurance plans to the older adult population is discussed with recommendations for future research on this topic to observe a larger sample size.


A complex of enzymatic tests, characterizing the liver function and cellular cytolysis in patients with acute myocardial infarction of various severities (without complications and with various types of complications and outcomes) was used in examinations over the first week of the disease. Significant changes in five of the seven tested enzymes were found: aspartate aminotransferase, glutamate dehydrogenase, sorbitol dehydrogenase, cholinesterase, alanine aminotransferase, the degree and incidence of changes in their activities being the lowest in the patients with acute myocardial infarction without complications, higher in those with this condition with isolated complications, still higher in those with combined complications and a favorable outcome, and the highest in those with combined complications and a lethal outcome. Secondary hepatopathy in patients with acute myocardial infarction augments as the complications develop, particularly in arrhythmia, disordered conductivity, and combined complications. Measurements of glutamate dehydrogenase and sorbitol dehydrogenase are recommended starting from the first day of the disease, of cholinesterase from the third day of the disease for a dynamic monitoring of the liver status in order to timely detect and correct hepatopathy and assess the status of patients with complicated acute myocardial infarction.


This paper represents an exploration of the contents and contexts of the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the famed scholars' edition, edited by Thomas Baynes and William Robertson Smith between 1875-89.Significant statements of contemporary science and thought were contributed to the edition by writers either already established or subsequently to become leading figures in a wide array of disciplines: James Clerk Maxwell wrote on ether, Lord Kelvin on elasticity and heat; Swinburne contributed an article on Keats while the psychologist James Sully wrote articles on aesthetics and dream; George Saintsbury wrote on Corneille. James Fraser's article on 'Taboo or Tabu' formed the basis for his life's work The Golden Bough. In clear ways Baynes' and Robertson's mammoth text represents an intellectual clearing house for ideas and arguments within and between emerging disciplines in the sciences, physical and human, and in history and the arts. Sully's article on 'aesthetics' stands as a key statement for instance on the relation of criticism and artistic Aestheticism to contemporary psychological thought on states of mind and consciousness.From the Enlightenment on the idea of the encyclopaedia has been a powerful force in the creation and organisation of knowledge (Richard Yeo calls encyclopaedias 'arguably the most striking publishing enterprise of Western culture'). Diderot's preface to the Encyclopedie (1751) immediately identifies the encyclopaaedic will both to a global reach and to setting all knowledge within a convincing, coherent map or network of relations; the tree of knowledge frontispiece to the Encyclopedie symbolises this organic whole. This ideal of the encyclopaedic, always problematic, falters in the nineteenth century as distinct disciplinary identities emerge across the physical sciences and the humanities.Drawing on recent work on the creation and consolidation of disciplines I will argue that this last scholarly edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica represents a privileged lens through which to examine struggles over the limits and definitions of kinds of knowledge at the end of the nineteenth century.


We have studied various aspects of the critical properties of the Abelian Higgs model. The initial motivation to study this model is its relation to superconductivity, but the results extend beyond the realms of superconductivity. This thesis contains an introductory part and three research papers, all related to different aspects of the Abelian Higgs model.Paper 1: We have investigated the properties of the model using a dual vortex representation. By focusing on the propagators of the gauge field A and the dual gauge field h we find a nice demonstration of the fact that the dual of a neutral condensate is isomorphic to a charged condensate. Finally this also provides firm support for the existence of a stable charged fixed point in the theory, distinct from the 3DXY fixed point.Paper 2: The critical fluctuations in the Abelian Higgs model are vortex loops. We have studied the geometrical properties of these loops, and by using duality we have obtained scaling relations between the fractal dimension DH of the loops and the anomalous dimension ηφ of the dual field theory.Paper 3: We have calculated the GL parameter κtri separating a first order metal to superconductor transition from a second order one, κtri =(0.76±0.04))/√2. We also argue qualitatively that this κtri is the value separating type-I and type-II behavior, in contrast to the conventional value 1=√2. The calculations have been done including fluctuations in the amplitude and the phase of the matter-field, as well as fluctuations in the gauge field.Paper 4: We have determined the effective interaction between vortices in the Ginzburg-Landau model from large-scale Monte-Carlo simulations. We find a change, in the form of a crossover, from attractive to repulsive effective vortex interactions in an intermediate range of Ginzburg-Landau parameters κe[0.76; 1]=√2, depending on temperature. We present a simple physical picture of the crossover, and relate it to observations in Ta and Nb elemental superconductors which have low-temperature values of κ in the relevant range.


The methodology by Lazear and Michael (1988) is used to decompose household expenditures into that for adults and children. Some specific estimation procedures are modified and cross section-time series (panel) data are used to control for household level heterogeneity. In addition, a new and approximate test for the estimated ratios is applied. The empirical results indicate that even though per child and total child expenditures are increasing with income the relative expenditure on children falls with it. The ratio of child to adult expenditures for female-headed households is less than for male-headed households. While households with a larger number of children expend more on children in per capita terms, the number of adults is negatively related to expenditures per child. Siblings of the spouses have a significant impact on the expenditures on children; particularly, siblings of the wife seem to compete with her children. The completion of primary education by both spouses positively affects relative expenditures on children. Intergenerational effects, through education and wealth, are also important. Pre-marriage wealth, particularly for the female spouse, positively affects allocations to children. Length of marriage and the existence of a written marriage contract increase relative expenditures on children. Both measures reflect stability of marriage indicating that 'optimal' matching in the marriage market is an important determinant of intra-household allocations. Individual level fixed effects regressions indicate that weight-for-height z-scores of children are more correlated to the estimated expenditures on children than with total household expenditure. This result on the one hand underscores the importance of intra-household allocations, and on the other shows that the estimated expenditures on children and the underlying assumption used to derive them are not off the mark.


Environmental economists invest in measuring the value of the environment but put less effort toward integrating that value directly into the economy. Experimental economists evaluate the performance of mechanisms to fund public goods but in some cases offer limited insight into practical implications for developing markets. This discussion presents initial insights into applying mechanisms for private provision of public goods based on demand-side values rather than regulatory-based market incentives such as cap-and-trade policies. Consideration of mechanisms to generate revenue inspires field tests that could direct experiments using threshold public goods and Lindahl's framework toward applications that transform value into revenue.


The subcutaneous (SC) route is of growing interest for the administration of biotherapeutics. Key products on the biotherapeutic market such as insulins, but also several immunoglobulins or Fc-fusion proteins, are administered SC. Despite the importance of the SC route, the available knowledge about the processes involved in the SC absorption of biotherapeutics is limited. This review summarizes available information on the physiology of the SC tissue and on the pharmacokinetic processes after SC administration including "first pass catabolism" at the administration site as well as transport in the extracellular matrix of the SC tissue, followed by absorption into the blood circulation or the lymphatic system. Both monoclonal antibodies and other biotherapeutics are discussed. Determinants of absorption after SC administration are summarized including compound properties such as charge or molecular weight. Scale-up of animal data to humans is discussed, including the current shortcomings of empirical scaling approaches and the lack of suitable mechanistic approaches.


Background Long-term results following liposuction in patients with lipedema were available only for an average period of 8 years. Objective To find out whether the improvements persist for a further 4 years. Methods In 60 patients with lipedema a single-centre study with a mail questionnaire – often in combination with clinical controls – was performed after an average period of 12 years following liposuction(s). All patients in this group had already been surveyed 4 and 8 years after surgery. Results Compared with the earlier results improvement persisted with regard to spontaneous pain, sensitivity to pressure, edema, bruising and restriction of movement; similar outcomes were observed for self-assessment of cosmetic impairment, reduction in quality of life and overall impairment. While in the period from 4 to 8 years postoperatively complaints slightly increased, this was not the case for the period 8 to 12 years postoperatively. In addition a similar reduction of conservative treatment (decongestive therapy, compression garments) was observed as after 4 and 8 years postoperatively. Compared with the body weight before liposuction, 55% of the patients showed a reduction of 6.2 kg on average and 43.3% had a weight increase with an average of 7.9 kg. Conclusion The results show, that the positive effects of liposuction last 12 years postoperatively without relevant worsening. They imply that liposuction for lipedema leads to a permanent reduction of symptom severity and need for conservative therapy.


The perfused rat liver was used to study the effects of heat on hepatic functions and on the metabolism and biliary excretion of doxorubicin (Ad). Livers were perfused for 1 hour at 37 degrees C and 42 degrees C in the presence of biosynthetic substrates with or without Ad. Gluconeogenesis was decreased at both temperatures in the presence of Ad. Bile flow and excretion of Ad ceased at 42 degrees C. Perfusate levels of Ad were not significantly different in the 1-hour perfusions. Livers were then perfused at 37 degrees C and 41 degrees C for 3 hours in the presence of 10 mM glucose and amino acids. The beta half-life of Ad measured as total fluorescence and as parent drug was prolonged at 41 degrees C. The area under the plasma concentration-time curve was unchanged for parent drug but increased from 2010 micrograms/ml . min at 37 degrees C to 4477 micrograms/ml . min at 41 degrees C for total drug equivalents. Biliary excretion of total Ad equivalents was 7.39% +/- 1.35% of the total dose at 37 degrees C and 2.56% +/- 2.08% of the total dose at 41 degrees C (P less than 0.05). Biliary excretion of Ad was 2.07% +/- 0.37% of the total dose at 37 degrees C and 1.31% +/- 0.84% of the total dose at 41 degrees C (P less than 0.05). Hepatic tissue levels of total Ad equivalents were 288.7 +/- 21.2 micrograms/g at 37 degrees C and 322.7 +/- 10.6 micrograms/g at 41 degrees C (P less than 0.05). Tissue levels of Ad were 57.5 +/- 14 micrograms/g at 37 degrees C and 23.0 +/- 10.7 micrograms/g at 41 degrees C (P less than 0.05). Bile flow at the two temperatures decreased after 2 hours of perfusion. The greatest decrease in bile flow occurred during the third hour of perfusion at 41 degrees C. The data indicate that at elevated temperatures there was a significant alteration in the pharmacokinetics of Ad in the perfused rat liver system. Since the liver plays a primary role in the metabolism and elimination of Ad, the observed changes might also occur during wholebody hyperthermia.


The book has spiritual journey to day of Jewish families. And its secrets of raising children are very wise and successful.

 The author of this book wants to teach us how to raise children like Jewish parents that make them wise, sharp and very successful in life.


Petrography of the Neogene mudrocks in this study incorporates laser particle size analysis, thin sections and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Ten representative mudrock samples were collected from outcrops of the Sitakund structure. From the studies, it is evident that mudrocks of Sitakund structure are characteristically silty. The silt content, as estimated by laser grain size analysis, of the mudrocks ranges from 39 to 77% with average of 58%. Significant amount of granular silt with the platy clay minerals is also evident from the SEM micrographs. The silts are mainly quartz, feldspar and micas. The high silt content in the Neogene mudrocks implies an enormous flux of silty sediments with a very high rate of sedimentation allowing little time for a more selective sorting. This supports the geologic history that the uplifting and erosion of Himalaya was at the peak during Miocene and the Ganges mega delta received highest rate of sedimentation and growth rendering shale consistently silty. Bangladesh J. Sci. Res. 30(1&2): 35-43, December-2017


The study evaluates the soil properties response to crude oil pollution using remediation by enhanced natural attenuation (RENA) technique in the oxisols type of soil. Uncontaminated soil of 600 g was collected from the topsoil (0-15cm) depth around Agbada 1 Flow Station, Mbodo Community, Aluu, Port Harcourt City, Nigeria. This site was chosen because of the possibility of soil in the area to be polluted with crude oil in the future. The soil sample was air-dried and carefully sieved with 2mm diameter mesh from which 400 g of soil (sample B) was contaminated with 1 mL of Bonny Light type of crude oil and left for a week and 200 g called sample A (control) was uncontaminated. Thereafter, the sample B was subdivided into two equal parts (200g) namely sample B1 and sample B2. Sample B1 remained contaminated but unfertilized while sample B2 was fertilized with 1 g of NPK 15-15-15. The experiment was left for a week in the laboratory under room temperature. Laboratory analysis was carried out on the soil samples (A, B1 and B2) every week for a total period of 4 weeks on soil pH, total organic carbon, organic matter, total N, SO4, available P, Cd, Cr, Pb, Fe, total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH), moisture content and water holding capacity. Descriptive statistics was used to explain the concentrations of the soil properties in response to crude oil contamination in both fertilized and unfertilized contaminated soil samples, Spearman's rank correlation was used to determine the relationship between duration and soil response to the application of fertilizer while chi square was used to determine the significant differences in the treatments. There was a reduction in the TPH level from 7150 mg kg-1on the first day of application of fertilizer to 2550 mg kg-1after the 28th day. The water holding capacity and moisture content increased with time from 35.6% and 59.4% on the 1st day to 47.7% and 65.3% on the 28th day respectively. However, the concentrations of Cd, Pb, and Fe reduced with time and no trace of Cr. Significant relationship was observed between duration of the treatment and moisture content (r=0.958), WHC (r=0.964), total N (r=-0.829) and available P (r=0.827). Similarly, significant differences existed in the treatments in moisture content, WHC, total N and available P. The study recommended that there should be a periodic monitoring and management of oil spill sites in oil producing communities to sustainably manage soil for food production and prevent loss of biodiversity.


In the United Kingdom (UK), closer integration of public services is challenging professionals to work more collaboratively within and across their organizational and professional boundaries (Great Britain DOH 2000; Great Britain DFES 2003). Reflecting a move to more significantly include librarians in educational collaboration (Schulte and Sherwill-Navarro 2009), this paper provides insight into the development of an innovative health curriculum in which academic staff, together with library staff, have engaged in successful collaborative working on a range of health and social care professional programs. This successful partnership has, to date, enabled the theme of lifelong learning to be embedded into a complex, year one, interprofessional module entitled "Foundations of Learning and Collaborative Working" (Northumbria University 2007). Using the Symbolic Interactionist Framework for Collaboration (SIFC) (Machin 2009), a case study of the collaborative working process undertaken is presented and factors influencing the success of the venture are highlighted. Sharing our experience may help others seeking to collaborate in their own work setting.


Integrated circuits (ICs) are now designed and fabricated in a globalized multivendor environment making them vulnerable to malicious design changes, the insertion of hardware Trojans/malware, and intellectual property (IP) theft. Algorithmic reverse engineering of digital circuits can mitigate these concerns by enabling analysts to detect malicious hardware, verify the integrity of ICs, and detect IP violations. In this paper, we present a set of algorithms for the reverse engineering of digital circuits starting from an unstructured netlist and resulting in a high-level netlist with components such as register files, counters, adders, and subtractors. Our techniques require no manual intervention and experiments show that they determine the functionality of >45% and up to 93% of the gates in each of the test circuits that we examine. We also demonstrate that our algorithms are scalable to real designs by experimenting with a very large, highly-optimized system-on-chip (SOC) design with over 375000 combinational elements. Our inference algorithms cover 68% of the gates in this SOC. We also demonstrate that our algorithms are effective in aiding a human analyst to detect hardware Trojans in an unstructured netlist.


Diseases associated with unstable repetitive elements in the DNA, RNA, and amino acids have consistently revealed scientific surprises. Most diseases are caused by expansions of trinucleotide repeats, which ultimately lead to diseases like Huntington's disease, myotonic dystrophy, fragile X syndrome, and a series of spinocerebellar ataxias. These repeat mutations are dynamic, changing through generations and within an individual, and the repeats can be bi-directionally transcribed. Unsuspected modes of pathogenesis involve aberrant loss of protein expression; aberrant over-expression of non-mutant proteins; toxic-gain-of-protein function through expanded polyglutamine tracts that are encoded by expanded CAG tracts; and RNA-toxic-gain-of-function caused by transcripts harboring expanded CUG, CAG, or CGG tracts. A recent advance reveals that RNA transcripts with expanded CAG repeats can be translated in the complete absence of a starting ATG, and this Repeat Associated Non-ATG translation (RAN-translation) occurs across expanded CAG repeats in all reading frames (CAG, AGC, and GCA) to produce homopolymeric proteins of long polyglutamine, polyserine, and polyalanine tracts. Expanded CTG tracts expressing CUG transcripts also show RAN-translation occurring in all three frames (CUG, UGC, and GCU), to produce polyleucine, polycysteine, and polyalanine. These RAN-translation products can be toxic. Thus, one unstable (CAG)•(CTG) DNA can produce two expanded repeat transcripts and homopolymeric proteins with reading frames (the AUG-directed polyGln and six RAN-translation proteins), yielding a total of potentially nine toxic entities. The occurrence of RAN-translation in patient tissues expands our horizons of modes of disease pathogenesis. Moreover, since RAN-translation counters the canonical requirements of translation initiation, many new questions are now posed that must be addressed. This review covers RAN-translation and some of the pertinent questions.


Sebaceous carcinoma and sweat gland carcinoma (malignant tumours with apocrine and eccrine differentiation) are rare malignant adnexal tumours that differentiate toward sebaceous glands and eccrine and apocrine glands, respectively. Because of the rarity of these malignancies, standard treatments for advanced disease have yet to be established. The outcomes of patients with systemic metastasis remain poor, highlighting the need for novel treatment strategies. Nectin cell adhesion molecule 4 (NECTIN4) and its antibody-drug conjugate, enfortumab vedotin, have attracted attention as potential treatments for solid tumours. To examine the potential use of NECTIN4-target therapy for sebaceous and sweat gland carcinoma. We immunohistochemically investigated NECTIN4 expression in 14 sebaceous carcinoma samples and 18 sweat gland carcinoma samples, and examined whether NECTIN4-targeted therapy could be applied to these cancers. We found strong and frequent expression of NECTIN4 in both cancers. All tumours exhibited positive staining at least in a part of the lesion, and the mean H-score, a semiquantitative score ranging from 0 to 300, was 259.4 for sebaceous carcinoma and 253.1 for sweat gland carcinoma. Our results suggest that both sebaceous carcinoma and sweat gland carcinoma could be potentially treated with NECTIN4-targeted antibody-drug conjugates, such as enfortumab vedotin.


CCDs continue to be the detector of choice for high resolution and high performance space applications. One perceived drawback is their susceptibility to radiation damage, in particular the formation of trap sites leading to a decrease in charge transfer efficiency. To that end, ESA has started a programme to investigate a new generation of devices based upon p-channel technology. The expectation is that once mature, p-channel devices may offer a significant increase in tolerance to proton radiation over traditional n-type buried channel CCDs. Early studies of e2v devices to assess the radiation hardness of p-channel devices were limited by the quality of devices available, however more recently, good quality p-channel CCD204s have been manufactured and studied. A more detailed evaluation of p-channel CCDs is now underway to realise the full potential of the technology for use in future high radiation environment space missions. A key aspect is the development of a cryogenic test rig that will allow for the first time a direct comparison of the radiation damage effects when the irradiation is performed both traditionally unbiased at room temperature and cryogenically with the device operational. Subsequent characterisations will also be performed on the cryogenic device after periods of storage at room temperature to investigate the potential annealing effects upon the lattice damage. Here we describe and present early results from an extensive programme of testing which will address all key performance parameters for p-channel CCDs, such as full electro-optical characterisation, assessment of radiation hardness and investigation of trap species.


In recent years, the growing interdependence in East Asia through trade and financial cooperation heightened the need for East Asian Economies to engage in regional economic cooperation and integration. This paper attempts to discuss emerging economic integration efforts in East Asia with special reference to bilateral and regional FTAs. It discusses backgrounds for recent developments of East Asian regionalism in terms of deepening intra-regional economic dependence and financial cooperation, and Korea's position towards FTAs with major trading partners as well as East Asian economic integration. Important issues and challenges for an East Asian FTA are presented.


The ionosphere of Earth exhibits considerable spatial changes and has large temporal variability of various timescales related to the mechanisms of creation, decay and transport of space ionospheric plasma. Many techniques for modelling electron density profiles through entire ionosphere have been developed in order to solve the "age-old problem" of ionospheric physics which has not yet been fully solved. A new way to address this problem is by applying artificial intelligence methodologies to current large amounts of solar-terrestrial and ionospheric data. It is the aim of this paper to show by the most recent examples that modern development of numerical models for ionospheric monthly median long-term prediction and daily hourly short-term forecasting may proceed successfully applying the artificial neural networks. The performance of these techniques is illustrated with different artificial neural networks developed to model and predict the temporal and spatial variations of ionospheric critical frequency, f0F2 and Total Electron Content (TEC). Comparisons between results obtained by the proposed approaches and measured f0F2 and TEC data provide prospects for future applications of the artificial neural networks in ionospheric studies.


Since the first edition published in 1999 with editor Paul Sabatier, Theories of the Policy Process has served as the quintessential gateway to the field of policy process research for students, scholars and practitioners alike. This enduring and well-regarded volume provides a forum for the creators of, or scholars with deep expertise in, the most established and widely used theoretical frameworks to present the basic propositions, empirical evidence, latest updates, and promising directions for future research. This brief but comprehensive volume covers such classics as Multiple Streams (Zahariadis), Punctuated Equilibrium (Jones et al), Advocacy Coalition Framework (Jenkins-Smith et al.), Institutional Analysis and Development Framework (Ostrom et al.), Policy Diffusion (Berry & Berry), and Social Construction and Policy Design (Schneider et al). This thoroughly updated third edition, with new editor Christopher M. Weible, includes a new introduction on the trajectories and needs of public policy research and two new chapters-- Policy Feedback (Mettler and SoRelle) and Narrative Policy Framework (McBeth et al). A revised chapter presents a comparative analysis and evaluation of the frameworks included in this edition (Cairney & Heikkila), and a new conclusion looks at future directions and emerging areas in the field.


Until recently in the UK, teaching in HE had not been recognised as a scholarly pursuit. Despite Boyer's (1990) work on the four types of scholarship in HE, research has held all the cards in terms of recognition, academic credibility and promotion. With the advent of significant student fees and the current climate of greater accountability however, the tide is turning. (QAA 2013, Henard & Roseveare 2012) Teaching is beginning to be recognised as deeply important and worthy of research in its own right. There is now the requirement in a large number of universities that academics are able to demonstrate competence in teaching, as well as having the potential to develop a research portfolio. The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) has recently added to its list of information that universities must submit annually, the number of staff qualified to teach in HE. This information enters the public domain and becomes a factor taken into account by students when considering in which institution they would like to study. This is leading to a surge in interest in institutions to increase the number of staff with recognition for their experience and expertise in teaching so that they can be counted as qualified and the institution's ratings against this metric are high.
The purpose of this session is to explore with delegates:

• The changing attitudes at both strategic and individual level towards the teaching and support of learning in HE
• How institutions are responding to the requirement to increase the number of staff with recognition for their experience and expertise in teaching
• What challenges are arising as a result for us as education developers

This workshop explores the opportunities that a change in the status of teaching in universities affords to educational developers and the associated challenges. Participants will work in groups to explore issues raised by these changes with the aid of an interactive dialogue sheet. Discussions will be facilitated by the presentation team and findings from the discussions shared in a plenary.


Toxicological and hygienic evaluations were made of the wastes produced by aluminum-making plants and thermal power stations in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, which confirmed for the first time the environmental toxicity of ash-dump waste, derived from slicing and dusty burning of brown coals from the Kansk-Achinsk field, and nepheline slurries resulted from the processing of urthites from the Kiy-Shaltyr deposit to prepare alumina. They were found to exert a toxic effect on warm-blooded animals, to have cyto- and phytotoxicity and mutagenic activity in the Ames test. Class III hazard was established for slurries of aluminum making (nepheline and gas purifications) and Class IV hazard for ash-dump waste and coal foam flotation tailings. The study has yielded data on the high level of natural radionuclides (as high as 2 kBq/kg) in the ash slurries from in the Berezovsk brown coal field, which requires that the procedure for their controlling and handling should be determined.


An asymptotic analysis of the effective-index method applied to linear and plane arrays of identical rectangular waveguides is detailed. Two different ways of applying the method, depending on how the effective index is calculated, are considered. Expressions which are accurate at a large normalized frequency are derived for the error of the methods in calculating the propagation constant and the coupling coefficient. The expressions are also used to highlight the effects of the dimensions of the array on the accuracy of the methods. It is shown that when the element waveguides of a linear array are weakly coupled, one method provides an upper bound for the coupling coefficient while the other provides a lower bound. A set of complete bounds can thus be obtained by applying the effective-index method twice. >


With the increasing complexity and business surrounding mobile applications (apps), there is a growing demand from the industry for qualified test professionals. That's why several universities have included app testing content in their curriculum. However, it is observed that novice app testers, despite being able to enter the market, may face barriers when performing activities related to testing. These barriers impact the tester's experience and the quality of software testing. Although there are works that explore the barriers that newcomers face to participate/contribute in open-source communities or participate in projects that are already in progress, none of them address them from the perspective of app testing. Thus, this study advances in answering the following research question "What are the barriers that novice testers face in the planning, execution, and analysis stages of the testing process?". Through an opinion survey with 30 novice testers, six themes and 36 categories of barriers were synthesized, such as lack of knowledge about software measurement and about tools and technologies used in the test. The identification of these barriers can support professors in adapting and prioritizing content on Software Testing, especially in undergraduate courses. Furthermore, such contributions provide indications of the need for research on strategies to mitigate barriers.


Abstract Owing to climate change, most notably the increasing frequency of marine heatwaves and long-term ocean warming, better elucidating the upper thermal limits of marine fishes is important for predicting the future of species and populations. The critical thermal maximum (CTmax), or the highest temperature a species can tolerate, is a physiological metric that is used to establish upper thermal limits. Among marine organisms, this metric is commonly assessed in bony fishes but less so in other taxonomic groups, such as elasmobranchs (subclass of sharks, rays and skates), where only thermal acclimation effects on CTmax have been assessed. Herein, we tested whether three life history stages, sex and body size affected CTmax in a tropical elasmobranch, the epaulette shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum), collected from the reef flats surrounding Heron Island, Australia. Overall, we found no difference in CTmax between life history stages, sexes or across a range of body sizes. Findings from this research suggest that the energetically costly processes (i.e. growth, maturation and reproduction) associated with the life history stages occupying these tropical reef flats do not change overall acute thermal tolerance. However, it is important to note that neither embryos developing in ovo, neonates, nor females actively encapsulating egg cases were observed in or collected from the reef flats. Overall, our findings provide the first evidence in an elasmobranch that upper thermal tolerance is not impacted by life history stage or size. This information will help to improve our understanding of how anthropogenic climate change may (or may not) disproportionally affect particular life stages and, as such, where additional conservation and management actions may be required.


The present paper offers a novel study of the effects of intangible assets on wages and productivity. Training, R&D and physical capital are all taken into account, and their joint effects are examined. We use panels of firms in order to control for unobserved fixed effects and the potential endogeneity of training and R&D, using data for France and Sweden. The estimation of productivity and wage equations allows us to show how the benefits of investment in physical capital, training and R&D are shared between the firm and the workers. We found that firms indeed obtain the largest part of the returns to their investments, but their share is relatively lower for intangible assets (R&D and training) than for physical capital.


Studies on the use of language to refract societal realities in Ahmed Yerima's dramas have largely examined stylistic and pragmatic features of some of his texts. Within the pragmatic domain, efforts have been concentrated on the examination of context-sensitive interpretations of proverbial meanings and the consideration of politeness features in Yerima's plays. However, there is a dearth of work on the investigation of the pragmatics of Yerima's use of language in cultural projections in his drama in linguistic scholarship, especially with respect to establishing the link between Mey's theory of pragmatic acts and tradition-spurred topical issues in his Yoruba culture-based play, Àjàgùnmàlè. This study therefore fills this gap by examining the pragmeme-driven functions performed by Ahmed Yerima in tradition-motivated utterances in Àjàgùnmàlè, sampled for the evident preponderance of tradition-motivated discourses in it, towards determining his worldview on tradition-related issues in the society. These discourses were subjected to content analysis, drawing insights from Mey's theory of pragmatic acts. The findings reveal the practs of explaining, warning/cautioning, advising, persuading, rebuking, praising, accusing, and pleading in traditional and emotive contexts of the discourses in Àjàgùnmàlè, to address thematic issues of culture, status/power, achievement, belief, social crisis, predestination, inquiry, and immorality with the advantage of contextual features of shared-situational knowledge (ssk), socio-cultural knowledge (sck), inference (inf), reference (ref) and voicing (vce). The interaction between the tradition-motivated discourses in Àjàgùnmàlè and Mey's theory of pragmeme ultimately results in the understanding of tradition-related issues in the play and their context-driven dramatisation of the traditional orientations of the Yoruba in South-western Nigeria.


This thesis investigates the use of model-based predictive control for the capture of a multidegree-of freedom object that moves in a somewhat arbitrary manner, using a deployable manipulator. While the study is conducted through both computer simulation and ground-based experimental investigation, the intended application is focused on automating the robotic capture of a free-floating and spinning satellite. The main motivation for this application comes from the fact that robotic satellite capture in space, for retrieval, correction, repair, etc., can significantly eliminate the risks involved when astronauts are used in space walk scenarios to manually execute the necessary tasks. When a satellite is spinning, the maneuvering of a robotic manipulator by a human operator for a successful capture becomes increasing difficult. For this reason, satellite capturing using an autonomous robot is particularly attractive, and is studied in the thesis. The present investigation uses an innovative manipulator known as the Multi-module Deployable Manipulator System ( M D M S ) , which has been designed and built in our laboratory. It is a multipurpose manipulator, which consists of a combination of revolute and prismatic joints and provides several advantages over the standard, all-revolute-joint manipulators that are used in space applications. The advantages include reduced dynamic coupling, fewer configuration singularities, easier obstacle avoidance, and simpler inverse kinematics, when compared to all-revolutejoint manipulators of the same size and degrees of freedom. Furthermore, our experience in designing, controlling, and experimentation with two models of the manipulator provides an added incentive for using the M D M S as the test bed for the present investigation. In the controller that is developed, computer-simulated, implemented, and tested in the present research, the future path of the target satellite is predicted, and the controller uses this future knowledge of the target, and an internal model of the manipulator, to make optimal control decisions to minimize the tracking error between the target and the end-effector. Multi-parametric Quadratic Programming (mp-QP) techniques are used in order to obtain constrained optimal control decisions in real-time. The mp-QP algorithm offers fast solution times by explicitly solving the constrained quadratic programming problem offline and then using look-up tables in the realtime application. Unfortunately, the mp-QP solution is susceptible to numerical problems, and as a result the fully constrained predictive controller could not be implemented in real time. However, a sub-optimal version of the controller was implemented. The results show that the mp-QP


Patients with cardiac disease frequently develop pleural effusions; the incidence is approximately 500,000 cases per year in the United States. These effusions often represent important clinical events for patients, indicating that either there has been an acute change in the patient's clinical status or the patient's chronic management program needs review. These effusions usually develop in both the right and left hemithorax but can be unilateral. The pathogenesis involves increased fluid transfer from parietal pleural capillaries into the pleural space and possibly decreased pleural fluid uptake into parietal pleural lymphatic structures. The increased fluid transfer develops due to increased capillary pressure secondary to elevated venous outflow pressure and secondary to decreased lymphatic flow into central vessels secondary to heart failure. Most pleural effusions associated with heart failure are transudates, but 20% to 25% have increased protein and lactate dehydrogenase levels suggesting an exudative process. Additional testing can clarify the situation and requires calculation of the serum albumin to pleural fluid albumin gradient or measurement of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide in the pleural fluid. An albumin gradient of greater than 1.2 g/dL suggests that the fluid is a transudate. The presence of a pleural effusion in a hospitalized patient at discharge is associated with an increased likelihood of rehospitalization and mortality within the next year. Patients with large symptomatic pleural effusions may require therapeutic thoracentesis. Recurrence of symptomatic effusions presents a management dilemma that might require repeated thoracenteses, indwelling intrapleural catheter placement, or other management steps used in advanced chronic heart failure.


Outsourcing refers to the concept of delegating certain tasks to an external team. It can be a differentiating factor that can aid an organization gain a competitive advantage. Consultants can bring valuable experience on domain knowledge, interdisciplinary applications, and benefits from economies of scale. From ensuring effective use of resources to venturing into uncharted sectors, outsourcing can have a myriad of benefits for a project team. Similar to most business processes, there is an inherent trade-off that needs to be made when outsourcing. Risk management protocols are required when outsourcing, to balance execution control and collaborate effectively. Within the scope of IT projects, this research aims to survey the various methods of strategic outsourcing and the contexts in which they operate. Further sections attempt to analyze case studies based on the aforementioned aspects. Based on the available literature, the research consolidates best practices in outsourcing and presents recommendations on aligning them with project goals. Finally, the potential concerns that need to be addressed when trying to outsource activities are presented. Therefore, the research to be done within this analysis will look to dissect existing literature to assess current outsourcing practices. Additionally, the research will look for reasons why outsourcing was/is not as successful as it could be, as well as evaluate how outsourcing in IT has changed with the occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic.


This paper identifies productive and problematic strands in "The Housing Question".  My research in New York and throughout the U.S. during the financial and housing crises of the 1970s and mid 2000s led me to reread "The Housing Question" and see its continuing relevance for understanding these crisis.  First, recent Marxist scholarship is reviewed that compliments and extends Engel's analysis by recognizing the role of housing markets and finance in capital exploitation.  These more recent crises also revealed how neoliberal capitalism differs significantly from industrial capitalism in ways that require some rethinking of the housing question.   Secondly, this paper critically examines Engels' underlying masculinist ideal of the "free outlaw" worker as the necessary condition for revolutionary collective action and its overt lack of attention to women's lives and contributions. The role of housing in social reproduction was especially neglected, as was the whole topic of non-workplace value production.  The conclusion explores the implications of these points for understanding the politics and possibilities of struggles around housing.


ABSTRACT Turbulent pipe flow velocity distribution at high Reynolds numbers is described by Coles' log-wake law for which the wake component is purely empirical. This research innovates Coles' wake law with another log-function, and thus combines the log- and the wake-laws into a single (complete) log-law, for which the von Kármán constant (0.39) is the only fit parameter. Specifically, the symmetrical velocity distribution about the centreline requires a symmetrical eddy viscosity model which is approximated by a quartic polynomial, leading to a complete log-law including the effects of the bottom and top walls as well as their interactions. The complete log-law is confirmed with data from both smooth and rough pipes; it also results in an accurate and explicit friction law for smooth pipe flow. Furthermore, the complete log-law is preliminarily tested with data from channels and boundary layers; the quartic eddy viscosity may be extended for ice-covered river flow in future studies.


Background: The aims of the present systematic review and meta-analysis were to evaluate published, randomized controlled trials that investigate the effects on whole-body vibration (WBV) training on total, femoral neck, and lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) in postmenopausal women, and identify the potential moderating factors explaining the adaptations to such training. Methods: From a search of electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane) up until September 2017, a total 10 studies with 14 WBV groups met the inclusion criteria. Three different authors tabulated, independently, the selected indices in identical predetermined forms. The methodological quality of all studies was evaluated according to the modified PEDro scale. For each trial, differences within arms were calculated as mean differences (MDs) and their 95% confidence intervals between pre- and postintervention values. The effects on bone mass between exercise and control groups were also expressed as MDs. Both analyses were performed in the total sample and in a specific class of postmenopausal women younger than 65 years of age (excluding older women). Results: The BMD of 462 postmenopausal women who performed WBV or control protocol was evaluated. Significant pre-post improvements in BMD of the lumbar spine were identified following WBV protocols (P = .03). Significant differences in femoral neck BMD (P = .03) were also found between intervention and control groups when analyzing studies that included postmenopausal women younger than 65 years. Conclusions: WBV is an effective method to improve lumbar spine BMD in postmenopausal and older women and to enhance femoral neck BMD in postmenopausal women younger than 65 years.


Assays for ATPases have been enabled for high-throughput screening (HTS) by employing firefly luciferase to detect the remaining ATP in the assay. However, for any enzyme assay, measurement of product formation is a more sensitive assay design. Recently, technologies that allow detection of the ADP product from ATPase reactions have been described using fluorescent methods of detection. We describe here the characterization of a bioluminescent assay that employs firefly luciferase in a coupled-enzyme assay format to enable detection of ADP levels from ATPase assays (ADP-Glo, Promega Corp.). We determined the performance of the ADP-Glo assay in 1,536-well microtiter plates using the protein kinase Clk4 and a 1,352 member kinase focused combinatorial library. The ADP-Glo assay was compared to the Clk4 assay performed using a bioluminescence ATP-depletion format (Kinase-Glo, Promega Corp). We performed this analysis using quantitative HTS (qHTS) where we determined potency values for all library members and identified approximately 300 compounds with potencies ranging from as low as 50 nM to >10 microM, yielding a robust dataset for the comparison. Both assay formats showed high performance (Z'-factors approximately 0.9) and showed a similar potency distribution for the actives. We conclude that the bioluminescence ADP detection assay system is a viable generic alternative to the widely used ATP-depletion assay for ATPases and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches.


Ecotones are areas of sharp environmental gradients between two or more homogeneous vegetation types. They are a dynamic aspect of all landscapes and are also responsive to climate change. Shifts in the position of an ecotone across a landscape can be an indication of a changing environment. In the coastal Everglades of Florida, USA, a dominant ecotone type is that of mangrove forest and marsh. However, there is a variety of plants that can form the marsh component, including sawgrass (Cladium mariscus [L.] Pohl), needlegrass rush (Juncus roemerianus Scheele), and spikerush (Eleocharis spp.). Environmental factors including water depth, soil type, and occurrence of fires vary across these ecotones, influencing their dynamics. Altered freshwater inflows from upstream and increasing sea level over the past 100 years may have also had an impact. We analyzed a time series of historical aerial photographs for a number of sites in the coastal Everglades and measured change in position of mangrove-marsh ecotones. For three sites, detailed maps were produced and the area of marsh, mangrove, and other habitats was determined for five periods spanning the years 1928 to 2004. Contrary to our initial hypothesis on fire, we found that fire did not prevent mangrove expansion into marsh areas but may in fact assist mangroves to invade some marsh habitats, especially sawgrass. Disparate patterns in mangrove-marsh change were measured at two downstream sites, both of which had multiple fires over from 1948 to 2004. No change in mangrove or marsh area was measured at one site. Mangrove area increased and marsh area decreased at the second of these fire-impacted sites. We measured a significant increase in mangrove area and a decline in marsh area at an upstream site that had little occurrence of fire. At this site, water levels have increased significantly as sea level has risen, and this has probably been a factor in the mangrove expansion.


This paper explores the story of Scotland's national survey body, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, between 1935 and 1946, with reference to Angus Graham, their Secretary, and Vere Gordon Childe, perhaps the best-known archaeologist of the 20th century. Much of the narrative describes the Commission's survey of Orkney and Shetland, an eight year project which brought close contact with Childe, and special attention is given to debate over the Neolithic sites at Skara Brae and Rinyo. The outbreak of war in 1939 delayed their report for some seven years, but the government supported a major programme of rescue recording to mitigate damage caused by enemy bombing and the training of allied troops. In 1938 Childe was passed over for membership of the Commission, who felt that they had sufficient archaeological expertise. His extreme anger at this snub was to be reflected in a negative review of their forthcoming report, but was allayed by neat footwork on the part of the chairman. In 1942, when the Commissioners did indeed put Childe forward as a member it was the Secretary of State for Scotland that stood in their way. Dedicated efforts by the Commission finally persuaded him that Childe was not in fact a Communist threat, and he and Graham went on to record some 636 ancient monuments, while Graham alone took 2,200 images of historic buildings. The archive material (and Graham's diaries in particular) shine a light on what was a pioneering project in testing times. The circumstances of the war, and the short duration of Childe's membership, meant that his influence was in fact felt through fieldwork and not, as one may have expected, in the development of the Commission's over-arching syntheses.


The change in the method of selecting the Labour Party leader, from an elite parliamentary ballot to a mass participatory Electoral College, which occurred in 1981 was ideologically motivated. However, the strategy of the Left to enhance the accountability of the incumbent party leader to the wider Labour movement, and the Left's chances of securing an ideological succession in the party leadership failed. Drawing together debates on the method of party leadership selection and the ideological positioning of leadership candidates, this book examines each leadership election since 1963 as a means of charting the decline of the left within the Labour Party. Given the bypassing of the Electoral College to appoint Gordon Brown in 2007, and the debates surrounding his authority and legitimacy as Labour Party leader thereafter, this book offers a comprehensive and timely examination of Labour Party leadership elections from Wilson to Brown which will be invaluable for scholars of British Politics and the history of the Labour Party.


Leishmania infantum is the causative agents of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis, a fatal disease if left untreated. In Southern Europe, the number of HIV/Leishmania infantum co-infections is increasing and becomes an emerging concern for the public health. Dogs represent the main reservoir of this parasite. In order to control canine leishmaniasis, an early diagnosis system is needed because dogs are capable to transmit the parasite, before showing any symptoms of the disease. Here fore, cDNA expression libraries were screened with sera of infected dogs. We selected several antigens reacting with the sera. These were different histones, ribosomal and mitochondrial proteins. Four of them were subcloned into expression plasmids, and recombinantly expressed in E. coli. The purified proteins were sent to a collaborating laboratory for further examination. Although several diagnostic polymerase chain reactions (PCRs) for Leishmania species causing human leishmaniasis are published, none of them is able to detect all different species and distinguish among them at the same time. Therefore, a diagnostic PCR was developed using the mini-exon gene (encoding the spliced leader) as template. A restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) scheme was elaborated in order to identify different Leishmania species causing human leishmaniasis. The PCR and RFLP scheme is now in routine use at the STI. In order to identify potential virulence factors, vaccine candidates and drug targets of Leishmania infantum, two cDNA subtractions were performed: (1) A none-infective L. infantum strain was subtracted from a highly infective strain. Several genes which were higher or exclusively expressed in the infective strain were identified. However, association with virulence could not be shown, since the two strains differed not only in virulence but also in growth rate. (2) Non-infective early promastigote stages were subtracted from late promastigote stages (metacyclic transmission stage) of the same strain. Several genes showing differential expression were selected including genes encoding nutrient transporters, cytochrome b5 and unknown proteins. One of them was the previously described metacyclic specific gene MAT-1. Three of the genes were recombinantly expressed in E. coli in order to perform immunization and preliminary localization studies.


Non-communicable diseases are the major health burden in the industrialized countries and are increasing rapidly in the developing countries owing to demographic transitions and changing lifestyles among the people. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are increasingly becoming a great cause of morbidity and mortality. A total of 100 senior and 141 junior staff in Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), Imo State, Nigeria was randomly selected for a study on cardiac risk factors. A questionnaire was used to record cardiac risk indices like age, heredity, body mass index (BMI), tobacco smoking, exercise, serum cholesterol estimation, systolic blood pressure and sex. There was no significant difference between the senior and junior staff in sex distribution (P = 0.71), family history of CVD (P = 0.34), smoking habit (P = 0.85) and serum cholesterol (P = 0.89). Senior staff had significantly higher values in age distribution (P < 0.001), presence of systolic hypertension (P<0.001) and overweight (P < 0.001). Senior staff workers, were however, significantly less involved in moderate exercise than junior staff (P < 0.001). The senior staff had a significantly higher total score in CVD risk scoring than junior staff (chi2 = 7.25; P = 0.01). In conclusion, the risk of CVD among staff of FUTO is high especially among the senior staff. Health education campaign targeted at improving life style is strongly recommended.


OBJECTIVE
To identify the incidence of left heart abnormalities in patients with Ebstein anomaly, recognizing that left-sided lesions in this patient group have been overlooked.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
According to the echocardiography database at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn, 106 consecutive patients with Ebstein anomaly underwent echocardiography between July 1, 2001, and February 28, 2003. Clinical data as well as electrocardiographic and echocardiographic reports and images were reviewed.

RESULTS
Ebstein anomaly was severe in 76 patients (72%). Previous tricuspid valve surgery was reported in 46 patients (43%), and previous closure of an atrial septal defect or patent foramen ovale was reported in 34 patients (32%). Left ventricular (LV) myocardial changes resembling noncompaction occurred in 19 patients (17.9%), LV systolic dysfunction in 7 patients (7%), LV diastolic dysfunction in 34 (36%) of 95 patients, and LV dilatation in 4 patients (4%). Additional left-sided cardiac lesions included mitral valve prolapse in 16 patients (15%), bicuspid aortic valve in 8 (8%), mitral valve dysplasia in 4 (4%), and ventricular septal defect in 8 (8%). Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome occurred in 22 patients (21%). The QRS axis tended to be different in LV noncompaction with a mean +/- SD axis of 12 degrees +/- 74 degrees vs 36 degrees +/- 66 degrees overall (P=.08). Otherwise, there were no differences in clinical or surgical data between the groups with normal and abnormal LV myocardium.

CONCLUSIONS
In patients with Ebstein anomaly, left heart abnormalities involving the myocardium or valves were observed in 39% of patients. Ebstein anomaly should not be regarded as a disease confined to the right side of the heart.