Use of diacetyl reductase, a reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH)-requiring enzyme, to eliminate diacetyl off-flavor in beer was studied. The crude enzyme was extracted from Aerobacter aerogenes and partially purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation or Sephadex chromatography. In the semipure state, the enzyme was inactivated by lyophilization; in a crude state, the lyophilized extract remained stable for at least 4 months at - 20 C. A 50% reduction in specific activity within 5 min was observed when crude diacetyl reductase was suspended (5 mg of protein/ml) in phosphate buffer at pH 5.5 or below; a similar inactivation rate was observed when the crude enzyme was dissolved in a 5% aqueous ethyl alcohol solution. Effective crude enzyme activity in beer at a natural pH of 4.1 required protection of the enzyme in 10% gelatin. Incorporation of yeast cells with the gel-protected enzyme provided regeneration of NADH. Combinations of yeast, enzyme, and gelatin were tested to obtain data analyzed by regression analysis to determine the optimal concentration of each component of the system required to reduce the level of diacetyl in spiked (0.5 ppm) beer to less than 0.12 ppm within 48 hr at 5 C. The protected enzyme system was also effective in removing diacetyl from orange juice (pH 3.8) and some distilled liquors.


Decades of research evaluating offender intervention programs have produced evidence demonstrating that correctional programs can reduce recidivism. However, these programs rarely work for all offenders, signifying a need to investigate the variables that impact treatment effectiveness. This thesis examines whether individual offender characteristics mediate the effectiveness of treatment. Responsivity factors are idiographic characteristics that purportedly impede an offender's ability and/or desire to engage in treatment, and may operate as important intermediary factors that determine whether change occurs within an individual as a consequence of treatment. Despite their significance, responsivity factors have received scant empirical attention and have been overlooked in comparison to the other principles of effective rehabilitation, namely Risk and Need. In particular, few studies have examined whether individual responsivity characteristics act as barriers to treatment participation in violent offenders. Understanding precisely why treatment is effective for some offenders, and not others, is an important question that remains unanswered. In order to further improve practice, and enhance the effectiveness of interventions, it is necessary to identify the factors that impact program efficacy to elucidate how treatment works, for whom and why. Given the paucity of research investigating the role of responsivity factors among violent offenders, a series of empirical studies were undertaken to examine whether individual responsivity characteristics influence immediate, proximal and/or distal treatment outcomes in violent offenders. Responsivity characteristics across the three empirical studies included psychopathy (Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version, PCL:SV), denial and minimisation of violent offending (Denial and Minimisation Checklist, DCMI-III), measures of motivation to engage in treatment, and guilt and shame associated with violent offending. The thesis commences with a review of the theoretical and empirical literature regarding responsivity factors and therapeutic outcomes in violent offender intervention programs. For the empirical component of this research, data was collected from 115 moderate- to high-risk violent offenders assessed for eligibility to attend a prison-based violence intervention program between 2005 and 2010 (in Victoria, Australia). Data collection proceeded in two phases: (i) an archival file analysis - offenders' therapeutic, prison management and parole board files were systemically reviewed to code data regarding responsivity characteristics, performance within treatment and therapeutic outcomes; (ii) recidivism data - information about new violent charges for each offender was compiled from official criminal history records held by Victoria Police. An initial empirical study was undertaken to investigate whether specific responsivity factors measured prior to entry to treatment inhibited or facilitated allocation to, engagement in and subsequent completion of a violence intervention program. A series of correlation and regression analyses indicated most factors were not associated with commencement of a violence intervention program; however, all responsivity factors demonstrated a significant relationship with engagement in treatment. That is, psychopathy and denial or minimisation of violence inhibited engagement in treatment, whereas motivation to participate in treatment, and feelings of guilt and shame associated with offending behaviour were positively correlated with level of engagement. In turn, within treatment behaviours (e.g. inappropriate or disruptive behaviour in group) and psychopathy predicted program dropout, whereas external motivation to engage in treatment predicted treatment completion. The second empirical study in this thesis investigated whether responsivity characteristics measured prior to entry to treatment directly predicted violent recidivism, and/or moderated the effectiveness of violent offender treatment. Although treatment completion and most responsivity factors were not predictive of violent recidivism following release from prison, results indicated that psychopathic personality traits interacted with treatment engagement to negatively impact recidivism outcomes. That is, offenders with high levels of psychopathy and poor engagement in treatment had significantly higher violent recidivism rates compared to all other offenders. Finally, two further empirical studies were undertaken to investigate whether responsivity factors change in treatment, and determine whether indicators of therapeutic change represent a reduction in risk for violence. Despite observing significant change on all indicators of treatment progress (i.e. Violence Risk Scale scores, denial and minimisation, victim empathy and awareness, and change in psychometric measures of criminal thinking and anger experiences), only enhancement in victim empathy following treatment and higher motivation to change offending behaviour post-treatment were associated with reductions in violent recidivism. Taken together, these findings suggest that individual responsivity characteristics have the potential to impact engagement in treatment, and thus moderate the efficacy of interventions to reduce violence risk. Rather than being viewed as personal deficiencies that prohibit therapeutic change, responsivity factors should be conceptualised as factors that are amenable to intervention, especially when treatment is matched to the specific motivational, affective, cognitive, and behavioural characteristics of an individual.


354 patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) of ischemic origin with systolic left ventricular dysfunction (SLVD) and 227 patients with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (PLVEF) were examined. This study was aimed at the studying of comparative aspect of survival of patients with CHF and SLVD and with PLVEF for 48 months of observation, and the studying of nonsurvival predictors. Survival of patients with PLVEF is significantly better compared with survival of patients with SLVD for 48 months (66% and 42% respectively). The most informative predictors of 48 month in patients with SLVD were: uric acid level (OR = 3,17), end-systolic volume (OR = 2,71), hemoglobin level (OR = 2,64), creatinine level (OR = 2,36), end-dyastolic volume (OR = 2,49), index of end-systolic volume (OR = 2,44). The most informative predictors in patients PLVEF were: cholesterol level (OR = 2,14) and distance of 6-minute walk (OR = 2,11).


Corneal hydration and transparency still present multiple dilemmas to the inquiring investigator. Transparency is best explained by the oriented-lattice theory of Maurice, but, except for partly adequate electron micrographs, there is no objective evidence for the presence of such a lattice. Further, other transparent ocular structures are not constructed in this way. Relative dehydration and hence transparency of corneal stroma seems to be dependent upon metabolic activity of the cornea, particularly of corneal boundary layers. However, the boundary layer, which exhibits the greatest metabolic activity, the greatest resistance to diffusion, the demonstrable ion transport, and a transcorneal potential, is not as effective as the endothelium in inhibiting corneal swelling. The endothelium, which does not possess any of the attributes enumerated above and is very much more permeable to water and ions than is the epithelium, seems to play a highly important role in prevention of hydration. Thus, although we have definite ideas about corneal structure, about how the structure is modified by hydration to cause loss of transparency, and about the metabolic connection between dehydration and transparency, there are, nevertheless, wide gaps in our knowledge of exactly how the normal maintenance of transparency is accomplished.


Many chaos detection methods have proven inherently ambiguous in that they yield similar results for chaotic signals and correlated noise. The purpose of this work was to determine whether human resting heart period sequences have global properties characteristic of chaotic systems. We investigated the inherent global organization of heart period sequences by quantifying how the information content of the embedded sequences varied as a function of scale. We compared the information scaling characteristics of 60-min heart period sequences obtained from 10 healthy resting volunteers with those obtained from numerous periodic and chaotic control sequences. The information scaling properties of the heart period sequences were significantly different from those obtained for the controls, particularly at the coarsest scales ( P = 0.0003 vs. low-dimensional periodic controls; P = 0.0005 vs. low-dimensional chaotic controls; P = 0.0003 vs. low-dimensional periodic and chaotic controls). We also showed that nondeterministic components, such as large tachycardic (or bradycardic) events or aperiodic fluctuations, can lead to scaling characteristics similar to those observed for the resting heart period sequences. This, in addition to previous evidence from spectral, nonlinear predictability and lexical studies, favors an events-based approach to understanding heart rate variability.


Aims
 The main purpose of this study is to analyse the relationship between sexual difficulties and factors of sexual arousal, excitement, and sexual inhibition among men and women.

 Method
 A total of 1,878 participants, of whom 983 were men (52%) and 895 were women (48%), with a mean age of 35.9 years (SD = 11.9; range = 18-79), were recruited online. The study's instruments included a socio-demographic questionnaire, a questionnaire about sexual difficulties, and the Sexual Excitation/Sexual Inhibition Inventory for Women and Men (SESII-W/M).

 Results
 Women with and without sexual difficulties differed significantly on all subscales of the SESII-W/M. Men with sexual difficulties scored significantly higher in the dimensions of Inhibitory Cognitions and the Dyadic Elements of the Sexual Interaction than men without difficulties. Inhibitory Cognitions was the strongest predictor of sexual difficulties for both men and women. Relationship Importance was also a strong predictor of sexual difficulties in women.

 Conclusions
 Sexual inhibition serves as a predictor of sexual difficulties. The SESII-W/M seems to work better in determining the factors of sexual inhibition as predictors of sexual difficulties among women, than in identifying causes of sexual difficulties among men.


Streptococcus pneumoniae is an important cause of bacterial meningitis and pneumonia but usually colonizes the human nasopharynx harmlessly. As this niche is simultaneously populated by other bacterial species, we looked for a role and pathway of communication between pneumococci and other species. This paper shows that two proteins of non-encapsulated S. pneumoniae, AliB-like ORF 1 and ORF 2, bind specifically to peptides matching other species resulting in changes in the pneumococci. AliB-like ORF 1 binds specifically peptide SETTFGRDFN, matching 50S ribosomal subunit protein L4 of Enterobacteriaceae, and facilitates upregulation of competence for genetic transformation. AliB-like ORF 2 binds specifically peptides containing sequence FPPQS, matching proteins of Prevotella species common in healthy human nasopharyngeal microbiota. We found that AliB-like ORF 2 mediates the early phase of nasopharyngeal colonization in vivo. The ability of S. pneumoniae to bind and respond to peptides of other bacterial species occupying the same host niche may play a key role in adaptation to its environment and in interspecies communication. These findings reveal a completely new concept of pneumococcal interspecies communication which may have implications for communication between other bacterial species and for future interventional therapeutics.


OBJECTIVE To assess the prognostic value of stress echocardiography as an adjunct to exercise electrocardiography in patients with uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction. DESIGN 496 patients underwent a maximum exercise ECG and pharmacological stress echocardiography (406 dobutamine and 90 dipyridamole) within 15 days of uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction and were followed for a mean of 25 months (range 1–74 months) for reinfarction, unstable angina, and cardiac death. Patients undergoing revascularisation were omitted. RESULTS Exercise ECG was positive in 162 patients (32.6%) and low threshold positive (< 100 W) in 91 (18%). Stress echocardiography was positive in 239 patients (48%) (194 with dobutamine and 45 with dipyridamole stress). The agreement between the two tests was 63% (κ = 0.24, 95% confidence interval 0.15 to 0.33). Sixty nine spontaneous events occurred (14 cardiac deaths, 26 reinfarctions, and 29 with unstable angina requiring hospital admission), and 126 patients underwent revascularisation (39 coronary angioplasty and 87 bypass surgery). By receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, stress echocardiography provided incremental prognostic information compared with clinical data. A low threshold positive exercise ECG was associated with a worse outcome, but there was a fivefold increase in risk in patients with positive stress echocardiography who also had a high threshold (> 100 W) positive exercise ECG. Event-free survival of patients with both tests positive was significantly less than in patients with only one positive test or with both tests negative. CONCLUSIONS Stress echocardiography provides additional prognostic information after uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction, but the greatest gain is found in patients with a high threshold positive exercise ECG.


Purpose
This paper aims to provide an overview of the need and current development of document viewers for digitized objects in DSpace repositories, including a local viewer developed for a document collection as like research papers, thesis and dissertation.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed the concept for the to preserve and store all types of document in one data base with the help of open source software (OSS). The authors used Java Script programing to integrated and developed the system.

Findings
The major finding of our work is that large document file can be accommodated in DSpace without modifying the originality of the documents and viewing the document in a different dimension as a specialist needs. The combination of current technologies such as Google Doc Viewer and the Internet Archive Book Reader, as well as the growing number of digital repositories hosting digitized content, suggests that the DSpace community will probably benefit with an "out-of-the-box."

Originality/value
In addition, to exploring the opportunities of OSS implementation in different research institutes, the study includes issues related to the implementation of the open source repository. This is the first time in India, as well as DSpace history to created and developed Document Viewer with the help of DSpace OSS. The study would have value for library professionals and the developer to understand the market in the context of OSS.


Change is constant and computing paradigm is no exception. It has witnessed major shifts right from centralized client server systems to widely distributed systems. This time the locus of change in the computing paradigm is moving towards virtualization, paving way to cloud computing. Cloud computing aims at providing computing services to its users as an utility. It allows its authenticated users to access a wide range of highly scalable computing capabilities and services via the internet on a pay-per-usage basis. Organisations not only view these benefits as cost-saving strategies, but also aim at improving the competitive advantages using cloud computing. Hence, this has given rise to a new horizon in IT/IS outsourcing. With a collaboration of cloud computing and outsourcing emerged a new concept called cloudsourcing. Cloudsourcing can be termed as the next generation outsourcing and the next phase of cloud computing promising benefits from both the areas. Cloudsourcing is outsourcing traditional business via the cloud infrastructure. Though there is pompous popularity surrounding this new technology, there is much hesitation in adopting it due to the inherent security issues. This paper discusses in detail the security issues and possible solution to the same. As this is a new concept, not much work is identified to be done in providing a set of guidelines to adopt cloudsourcing that are very specific to information security. This work intends to fill this aperture by building a set of well-defined information security guidelines, which can be termed as a novel. For this purpose, design science research method proposed by Hevner et al is used so as to accomplish this goal. Initially, a literature study is done after which an exploratory study comprising of interviews is done to gather qualitative data. The results of the exploratory interview is tested for correctness and evaluated based on an evaluation study comprising a survey based questionnaire. The analysis of the evaluation study results provides the final results. In such an attempt, the identified countermeasures to risks are classified into three groups namely, organisational, technical and regulatory and compliance guidelines. Hence the end results constituting the set of information security guidelines are classified into the above mentioned groups. This work is assumed to contribute to our understanding of information security in cloudsourcing and in supporting IT decision makers, IT project managers and security executives of organisations for a smooth and secure transition towards cloudsourcing their business.


Weather reports, climate models, or rocket launches – they all need precise data from the atmosphere. Scientists can use lidar (light detection and ranging) systems to shoot laser beams into the sky to acquire such data. The backscattered light can be used to calculate wind and temperature data at altitudes of up to 100 km. A team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT and the Leibniz Institute for Atmospheric Physics IAP has developed a portable lidar system that works autonomously. In the future, such systems could be mass‐produced and combined into networks to provide high quality climate data.


Low Cr alloys are mostly utilized in structural components such as steam pipes, turbine generators and reactor pumps operating at high temperatures from 400℃ to 700℃ in nuclear power plants. For safe operation, it is necessary at the design stage to predict and understand the creep damage behaviour of low Cr alloys under long-term service conditions but under low stress levels. Laboratory creep tests can be utilized in the investigation of creep damage behaviour, however, these are usually expensive and time-consuming. Thus, constitutive modelling is considered here for both time and economic efficiency.
Existing constitutive equations for describing creep are mostly proposed based on experimental data for materials under high stresses. For low stress levels, the computational determination of a current state is extrapolated from those constitutive equations by simply using a powerlaw or sinh law. However, experimental observation has shown that this method is not satisfactory. The aim of the current research is to utilize continuum damage mechanics (CDM) to improve the constitutive equations for low Cr alloys under long-term service.
This project provides three main contributions. The first is a more accurate depiction of the relationship between minimum creep rate and stress levels. The predicted creep rates show good agreement with creep data observed experimentally for both 2.25Cr-1Mo steel and 0.5Cr-0.5Mo- 0.25V steel creep specimens. Secondly, it gives a more comprehensive description of the relationship between creep damage and creep cavitation. The CDM approach has been used and a reasonable agreement has also been achieved between predicted creep strain and experimental data for 0.5Cr-0.5Mo-0.25V base material under the critical stress of 40MPa at 640℃. Thirdly, it proposes a more accurate creep rupture criterion in the creep damage analysis of low Cr alloys under different stress levels. Based on investigation of creep cavitation for 2.25Cr-1Mo steel, the area fraction of cavitation at rupture time obviously differs under different stress levels.
This thesis contributes to computational creep damage mechanics in general and in particular to the design of a constitutive model for creep damage analysis of low Cr alloys. The proposed constitutive equations are only valid at low and intermediate stress levels. Further work needs to be undertaken when more experimental data are available.


This article examines the prospect of implementing Social Networking technology and practices within large organizations, for internal communication among staff. A review of the literature revealed a very high rate of adoption among recreational users of tools such as Facebook, in comparison to the corresponding rate in businesses. A qualitative study was undertaken to explore the benefits and barriers of Social Networking tools in organizations. The analysis indicated that many respondents did foresee possible benefits, with some envisaging a longer term opportunity for these tools to engender a business climate of trust and enhance collaboration among business functions. However, most respondents also anticipated substantial barriers and risks, arising primarily from the existing internal communication policies within the organization studied. This research aims to extend understanding of some of the non-trivial social and organizational factors potentially involved in the interaction among people within a firm through a Social Networking application.


With globalization in business academia expanding and deepening, it is timely to question the validity and utility of the concept of country of origin as a base category for comparative cross‐cultural research and theory development. In their contribution in the British Journal of Management, Burgess and Shaw (2010) rank the most productive institutions and countries contributing to board membership of top ranked journals on the basis of their country of origin. Taking their findings as a starting point for our discourse, we re‐analyse their database, in addition to our own investigations. We contend that while country of origin may be an appropriate category for between‐countries comparison of multinational entities, it is of little use when comparing meta‐national institutions, such as top tier refereed journal boards and the globalized business/management schools from which they are drawn. Our findings point towards the need for finer differentiation of what constitutes the concept country of origin, but also that its relevance should be questioned in, at least, globalized contexts. The question we pose extends to any pertinent 'globalized' topic within and without business and management.


PDE4A11 is a novel cAMP-specific phosphodiesterase that is conserved in humans, mouse, rat, pig, and bat. Exon-14A11 encodes its unique, 81 amino acid N-terminal region. Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction performed across the splice junction, plus identification of expressed sequence tags, identifies PDE4A11 as a long isoform possessing UCR1 and UCR2 regulatory domains. Transcript analysis shows that PDE4A11 is widely expressed compared with PDE4A10 and PDE4A4B long isoforms. Truncation analysis identifies a putative promoter in a 250-base pair region located immediately upstream of the start site in Exon-14A11. Recombinant PDE4A11, expressed in COS-7 cells, is a 126-kDa protein localized predominantly around the nucleus and in membrane ruffles. PDE4A11 exhibits a Km for cAMP hydrolysis of 4 μM, with relative Vmax similar to that of PDE4A10 and PDE4A4B. PDE4A11 is dose-dependently inhibited by rolipram, 4-[(3-butoxy-4-methoxyphenyl)-methyl]-2-imidazolidinone (Ro 20-1724), cilomilast, roflumilast, and denbufylline, with IC50 values of 0.7, 0.9, 0.03, 0.004, and 0.3 μM, respectively. Soluble and particulate PDE4A11 exhibit distinct rates of thermal inactivation (55°C; T(0.5) = 2.5 and 4.4 min, respectively). Elevating cAMP levels in COS-7 cells activates PDE4A11 concomitant with its phosphorylation at Ser119 by protein kinase A (PKA). PDE4A11 differs from PDE4A4 in sensitivity to cleavage by caspase-3, interaction with LYN SH3 domain, redistribution upon long-term rolipram challenge, and sensitivity to certain PDE4 inhibitors. PDE4A11, PDE4A10, and PDE4A4 all can interact with βarrestin. PDE4A11 is a novel, widely expressed long isoform that is activated by PKA phosphorylation and shows a distinct intracellular localization, indicating that it may contribute to compartmentalized cAMP signaling in cells in which it is expressed.


INTRODUCTION : The study was conducted at Pramukhswami Medical College in Karamsad (Gujarat, India) from November-August 2007 to assess the Computer and Internet usage amongst health care professionals. OBJECTIVE: To identify the knowledge of Computer and Internet of health care professionals of Pramukhswami Medical College and to understand the information-seeking behavior. We have observed the search habits of Internet users at PSMC. Efforts are on to find the search requirements related to the use of the Internet information. METHODS: They were given a questionnaire to collect the data. RESULTS: Results show that all the respondents are using the Internet frequently because. They use the Internet in different ways, such as accessing to online journals, downloading text, chatting, discussion, E-mail services and for finding related references. It is revealed that the professionals of PSMC are getting quality information through the Internet. It is observed that the Google and Yahoo search engines are more widely use compared to other search engines. CONCLUSION: The study revealed that high computer usage among health care professionals in an institution with good computer facilities. The majority expressed their willingness to undergo further training


A central sociological problem is the extent to which genetics and the environment influence human behavior. Studies of twins are a core method in attempts to disentangle and to determine the comparative strength of genetic and environmental influences on psychosocial outcomes. A critical assumption of twin studies is that both monozygotic "identical" twins and dizygotic "fraternal" twins share common social environments. Therefore, any greater similarity of monozygotic than dizygotic twins is attributed to genetic influences. This paper tests the equal environment assumption by examining the extent to which greater concordance of adolescent monozygotic compared to dizygotic twins results from social, as well as genetic, influences. Bivariate comparisons indicate that monozygotic twins show greater similarity than dizygotic twins in socially-based characteristics including physical attractiveness, time spent in each other's company, the overlap in friendship networks, and friends' use of alcohol. Multivariate analyses indicate that measures of the social environment sometimes reduce or eliminate apparent genetic effects. In comparison with genetic indicators, social variables are usually stronger predictors of depression and alcohol use and abuse. These findings suggest that past twin studies could overstate the strength of genetic influences because some similarities in behavior among monozygotic compared to dizygotic twins stem from social influences.


We address the well-known problem of designing, implementing and experimenting compressed data structures for supporting rank and select queries over a dictionary of integers. This problem has been studied far and wide since the end of the '80s with tons of important theoretical and practical results. Following a recent line of research on the so-called learned data structures, we first show that this problem has a surprising connection with the geometry of a set of points in the Cartesian plane suitably derived from the input integers. We then build upon some classical results in computational geometry to introduce the first "learned" scheme for implementing a compressed rank/select dictionary. We prove theoretical bounds on its time and space performance both in the worst case and in the case of input distributions with finite mean and variance. We corroborate these theoretical results with a large set of experiments over datasets originating from a variety of sources and applications (Web, DNA sequencing, information retrieval and natural language processing), and we show that a carefully engineered version of our approach provides new interesting space-time trade-offs with respect to several well-established implementations of Elias-Fano, RRRvector, and random-access vectors of Elias γ/δ-coded gaps.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Giannina Gaslini Children's Hospital (GGCH) is a tertiary care hospital with an average of 100 new cancer diagnoses made each year. In April 2000, following preliminary analysis of the potential benefits, and the results of a questionnaire filled in by the parents attending the out-patient clinic, a Home Care (HC) program was started.

DESIGN AND METHODS
Children in stable, non-critical, clinical conditions requiring i.v. therapy, parenteral nutrition, transfusional support, blood examinations, and central venous catheter use training management, as well as terminally ill children needing palliative and support therapy were considered eligible for the program.

RESULTS
After one year of activity, 45 children, aged 1 month-19 years (median 3 years), requiring i.v. therapy and blood tests in 32 cases, central venous catheter use training in 5, and palliative care in 8, were treated at home. The median duration of assistance for each child was 19 days (range 1-172). An average of 4 patients per week were assisted for a total of 1,364 days. A total of 881 accesses at home replaced 551 and 330 out-patient and in-patient days of hospitalization, respectively. The average cost per patient given home care (2,936 E, range 150-20,700) resulted to be significantly lower than the average cost per patient hospitalized to undergo the same procedures (9,785E, range 350-96,750).

INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS
The opportunity to reduce the frequency and duration of hospitalization represents an incalculable advantage for these children and their families. This report shows that home care is a feasible kind of assistance for children suffering from cancer, and reduces costs as well.


In 1896, Hans Hallier was the first author to reduce the two genera Pellionia and Procris to subgeneric status within the genus Elatostema (Urticaceae). In 1935 and 1936, Hilde Schroter and Hubert Winkler proposed the following four subgenera: subg. Elatostema, subg. Elatostematoides, subg. Pellionia and subg. Weddellia, while maintaining Procris as a distinct genus. More recently, Wang (1980a) rejected Schroter and Winkler's subgeneric classification of Elatostema and proposed a sectional and serial infrageneric classification of recognising as sections Androsyce, Elatostema, Laevisperma, Pellionioides and Weddellia (as 'Weddelia'). He maintained both Pellionia and Procris as distinct genera. All previous researchers of Elatostema and related taxa primarily based their classifications on the morphology of leaves, stipules, inflorescence and receptacle. Our analysis, based on similar morphological characters, does not support the previous infrageneric classifications. Procris forms a monophyletic clade, nested within a clade consisting of several species of Elatostema subg. Pellionia and one of subg. Elatostematoides. Elatostema auriculatifolium (subgeneric classification unclear) is also included within this clade. This clade is sister to the E. latifolium–E. tsoongii pair of species (also subg. Pellionia), subg. Elatostema (the remaining species of this subgenus), species of subg. Weddellia and E. rostratum (subg. Elatostematoides). Elatostema subg. Weddellia is paraphyletic within subg. Elatostema. The recognition of Elatostematoides, Pellionia and Procris as distinct genera is not supported.


On the verge of something new and exciting, it is always difficult to make predictions: this may be especially true for NOTES which stands for natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery, and is represented by societies and initiatives with similarly ingeniously invented acronyms (NOSCAR = Natural Orifice Surgery Consortium for Assessment and Research).1 Perhaps for fear of being left behind, societies are formed on a national and international basis. Training courses are held on something which—frankly speaking—does not exist yet. At least not in humans outside of a few transvaginal cholecystectomy and appendectomy case reports and series.2–9 Recently, in addition, a first series on transumbilical flexible endoscopic cholecystectomy has been reported with somewhat disappointing results10; transgastric cholecystectomy appears to be on the way.

NOTES raises a number of questions, both fundamental ones with regards to indications and risk assessment as well as those related to technical issues. These will be outlined and discussed in the following.

Many think that the greatly reduced invasivensss of laparoscopic as compared with open surgery will be further diminished by NOTES and serve as one of its justifications. At the time when laparoscopic cholecystectomy was invented, there was probably almost no perceived need at all, since almost everybody was convinced that the open procedure was perfect. Indeed, it took some time till the higher complication rate of the laparoscopic as compared with the open approach levelled off. Finally, less invasiveness, less pain and better patient comfort with laparoscopic surgery were also proven in comparative trials, mostly for benign disease.11

The degree of use of the laparoscopic approach varies between countries because environmental factors play a role, independently of the intrinsic value of the procedure. Figures from worldwide surveys, however, confirm a predominance of laparoscopic cholecystectomy12 and also a sharply increasing …


The meteoroid experiments by five Lunar Orbiters have provided direct measurements in the near-lunar environment of the rate of penetration of 0.025-millimeter beryllium copper by meteoroids. Each experiment used 20 pressurized-cell detectors having a total effective exposed area of 0.186 square meter. The spacecraft carrying the cells were in both equatorial and polar orbits; altitudes ranged between 30 and 6200 kilometers. Data collected continuously for 17 months indicate that the rate of penetration in the lunar environment is approximately half the rate in the near-Earth environment as measured by detectors of the same type aboard Explorers 16 and 23.


BACKGROUND
The optimal platinum doublet regimen in elderly patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still uncertain. We conducted a randomized phase II study to compare the efficacy and safety of weekly paclitaxel combined with carboplatin with those of the standard schedule.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Elderly patients (age > or =70 years) with advanced NSCLC were randomly assigned to either the weekly arm {70 mg/m(2) paclitaxel on days 1, 8, and 15 and carboplatin [area under the curve (AUC) = 6] on day 1} or the standard arm [200 mg/m(2) paclitaxel and carboplatin (AUC = 6) on day 1]. The primary end point was the overall response rate (ORR).

RESULTS
Eighty-two patients were enrolled. The ORR and median progression-free survival were 55% and 6.0 months for the weekly arm and 53% and 5.6 months for the standard arm. Grade 3/4 neutropenia and peripheral neuropathy were observed in 41% and 0% of the patients in the weekly arm and in 88% and 25% in the standard arm, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
This is the first randomized study that compares the platinum doublet designed specifically for the elderly. Regarding the safety, the weekly regimen was less toxic than the standard regimen and seems to be preferable for elderly patients with advanced NSCLC.


Powers to reduce the risk of serious threats to public health should be strengthened, the English government has indicated, in a consultation paper designed to update legislation to take account of recent developments such as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) as well as chemical and radiation hazards.

The government's proposals are designed to update the current law—the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act, 1984—which gives local authorities powers to prevent and control the spread of infectious disease. The government proposes that these powers be updated, with more modern and flexible provisions that can apply to contamination by chemicals and radiation as well as infectious diseases.

"Infectious diseases were once seen as a problem that would disappear in the foreseeable future. The emergence of new diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and SARS, and the re-emergence of old diseases, such as tuberculosis, have shown that that is not the case," the consultation paper warns.

To cope with these challenges, the paper recommends supplementing current powers that allow an infected person to be medically examined and detained in hospital …


The development of DNA microarray assays is hampered by two important aspects: processing of the microarrays is done under a single stringency condition, and characteristics such as melting temperature are difficult to predict for immobilized probes. A technical solution to these limitations is to use a thermal gradient and information from melting curves, for instance to score genotypes. However, application of temperature gradients normally requires complicated equipment, and the size of the arrays that can be investigated is restricted due to heat dissipation. Here we present a simple microfluidic device that creates a gradient comprising zones of defined ionic strength over a glass slide, in which each zone corresponds to a subarray. Using this device, we demonstrated that ionic strength gradients function in a similar fashion as corresponding thermal gradients in assay development. More specifically, we noted that (i) the two stringency modulators generated melting curves that could be compared, (ii) both led to increased assay robustness, and (iii) both were associated with difficulties in genotyping the same mutation. These findings demonstrate that ionic strength stringency buffers can be used instead of thermal gradients. Given the flexibility of design of ionic gradients, these can be created over all types of arrays, and encompass an attractive alternative to temperature gradients, avoiding curtailment of the size or spacing of subarrays on slides associated with temperature gradients.


Bitter taste receptors (T2Rs) are expressed in the mammalian gastrointestinal mucosa. In the mouse colon, T2R138 is localized to enteroendocrine cells and is upregulated by long-term high fat diet that induces obesity. The aims of this study were to test whether T2R38 expression is altered in overweight/obese (OW/OB) compared to normal weight (NW) subjects and characterize the cell types expressing T2R38, the human counterpart of mouse T2R138, in human colon. Colonic mucosal biopsies were obtained during colonoscopy from 35 healthy subjects (20 OW/OB and 15 NW) and processed for quantitative RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry using antibodies to T2R38, chromogranin A (CgA), glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1), cholecystokinin (CCK), or peptide YY (PYY). T2R38 mRNA levels in the colonic mucosa of OW/OB were increased (> 2 fold) compared to NW subjects but did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.06). However, the number of T2R38 immunoreactive (IR) cells was significantly increased in OW/OB vs. NW subjects (P = 0.01) and was significantly correlated with BMI values (r = 0.7557; P = 0.001). In both OW/OB and NW individuals, all T2R38-IR cells contained CgA-IR supporting they are enteroendocrine. In both groups, T2R38-IR colocalized with CCK-, GLP1- or PYY-IR. The overall CgA-IR cell population was comparable in OW/OB and NW individuals. This study shows that T2R38 is expressed in distinct populations of enteroendocrine cells in the human colonic mucosa and supports T2R38 upregulation in OW/OB subjects. T2R38 might mediate host functional responses to increased energy balance and intraluminal changes occurring in obesity, which could involve peptide release from enteroendocrine cells.


A great number of studies have shown that diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings could be developed for orthopaedic implants, but few articles have been published about in vivo evaluation. In this study, DLC coatings were deposited on titanium alloy (Ti-13Nb-13Zr) implants using the plasma immersion implantation and deposition (PIII-D), and the in vivo biocompatibility of DLC coatings was evaluated into both muscular tissue and femoral condyles of rats. Results indicate that DLC coatings are biocompatible in vivo, and DLC-coated implants were observed directly bonding to bone without any intervening soft tissue layer.


Alexandra Ullsten, PhD, works as a music and art therapist, and postdoctoral researcher at the Central Hospital in Karlstad, Region Värmland, Sweden. She is affiliated researcher to the School of Health Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden. In 2010, Dr Ullsten pioneered the implementation of neonatal music therapy in Swedish healthcare. The Central Hospital Karlstad neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) became the first hospital and NICU in the Nordic countries to offer a family-centred music therapy programme for hospitalised infants and their parents. Alexandra's research area concerns family-centred music therapy during painful procedures in neonatal care focusing on parent-delivered pain management such as parental infant-directed singing. She is one of the "grandparents" of Rhythm, Breath, Lullaby NICU Music Therapy (RBL) and a member of the international research network, Pain in Early Life (PEARL). She is the principal investigator of the interdisciplinary multi-centre research project, "Parents as pain management in Swedish neonatal care – SWEpap". Dr Ullsten graciously agreed to partake in an interview and provide an insight into her research and the role music can play as affective support for infants and their parents during painful procedures in the NICU.


In three experiments, we explored (1) possible developmental changes in interference and (2) the use of integration processes to eliminate them. Two versions of the fan effect procedure were used. Results of Experiment 1 with unrelated sentences showed similar fan effects for 12-13-year-old children and adults. In Experiment 2, the sentences were thematically related so that it was possible to use elaboration processes to construct integrated representations. Under these conditions only adult participants eliminated the fan effect. In Experiment 3 a new procedure was used where children and adults studied highly familiar material in an organised manner. The results showed that in these conditions children integrated information and reduced interference. Thus, prior knowledge and organisation seem to be important factors to create meaningful integrated representations in memory.


We present a solution to the problem of computing a point in the plane minimizing the distance to n given lines. We used an experimental mathematics approach: using dynamic geometry software, we gathered data which allowed us to conjecture and testing our hypothesis. Finally we formalized our reasoning to prove the conjecture. Although this solution was known, our method could be of interest.


This study examines the role and impact of celebrity endorsed social marketing and its ability to create behavioural change, from an Indian-expatriate perspective. It concludes that not only are celebrities perceived as enablers of social change, but also that the younger generation of Indian expatriates believe this to be one of the core responsibilities of these personalities. In line with extant literature, the study finds that celebrities have a two-fold impact on social marketing: 1) increased awareness of the cause and increased influence over the audience; 2) endorser credibility and source-message congruence, and the lack thereof, respectively enhance or erode campaign effectiveness. The study offers several new insights, including the potential for celebrity attractiveness to weaken social message credibility, and exposure of the 'reverse vampire effect'. Managerial implications suggest first, the need for distinction between social marketing and social media, and second, that source credibility is critical to campaign effectiveness.


Two new taxa of Silene L. (Caryophyllaceae) from Turkey, Silene demirizii K. Yildiz & Cirpici sp. nov. and Silene marschallii C. A. Meyer subsp. anamasi K. Yildiz & Dadandi subsp. nov. are described and illustrated. Their taxonomic positions are discussed and they are compared with allied taxa. The distributions of the new and closely related species are mapped. Pollen grain and seed coat ultrastructure of the new and allied taxa were examined by SEM.


We show how sub-μm sized transistor structures (down to 50 nm cross section) can be fabricated by thermally assisted electromigration of mobile dopants inside the semiconductor CuInSe2. Small device structures are fabricated by application of an electric field to the sample via the contact, defined by a conducting atomic force microscope tip. The structures are characterized by nm scale scanning spreading resistance and scanning capacitance measurements to reveal the inhomogeneous doping profiles created by the electric field.


Background: This study aims to investigate the clinical and radiological efficacy of three-dimensional acellular scaffolds (MaioRegen) in restoring osteochondral knee defects. Methods: MEDLINE, Scopus, CINAHL, Embase, and Cochrane Databases were searched for articles in which patients were treated with MaioRegen for osteochondral knee defects. Results: A total of 471 patients were included in the study (mean age 34.07 ± 5.28 years). The treatment involved 500 lesions divided as follows: 202 (40.4%) medial femoral condyles, 107 (21.4%) lateral femoral condyles, 28 (5.6%) tibial plateaus, 46 (9.2%) trochleas, 74 (14.8%) patellas, and 43 (8.6%) unspecified femoral condyles. Mean lesion size was 3.6 ± 0.85 cm2. Only four studies reported a follow-up longer than 24 months. Significant clinical improvement has been reported in almost all studies with further improvement up to 5 years after surgery. A total of 59 complications were reported of which 52 (11.1%) experienced minor complications and 7 (1.48%) major complications. A total of 16 (3.39%) failures were reported. Conclusion: This systematic review describes the current available evidence for the treatment of osteochondral knee defects with MaioRegen Osteochondral substitute reporting promising satisfactory and reliable results at mid-term follow-up. A low rate of complications and failure was reported, confirming the safety of this scaffold. Considering the low level of evidence of the study included in the review, this data does not support the superiority of the Maioregen in terms of clinical improvement at follow-up compared to conservative treatment or other cartilage techniques.


Abstract. In this treatise a range of Line Spectrum Frequency (LSF) Vector Quantization (VQ) schemes were studied comparatively, which were designed for wideband speech codecs. Both predictive arrangements and memoryless schemes were investigated. Specifically, both memoryless Split Vector Quantization (SVQ) and Classified Vector Quantization (CVQ) were studied. These techniques exhibit a low complexity and high channel error resilience, but require high bit rates for maintaining high speech quality. By contrast, Predictive Vector Quantizers (PVQ) offer an enhanced Spectral Distortion (SD) performance, although they are sensitive to channel error propagation. It is shown that the family of so-called Safety-Net Vector Quantization (SNVQ) schemes offers a good design compromise, providing an extension to memory-based PVQ, and thereby improving the performances both over noisy and noiseless channels.


Discovery of the CRISPR/Cas9 system is a promising breakthrough in genome editing, because it can make specific gene alterations more quickly and efficiently than previews techniques (Christopher A. Lino, Jason C. Harper, 2018; Selle & Barrangou, 2015). The CRISPR/Cas system can introduce double stranded breaks (DSB) at specific sites (Ceasar, Rajan, Prykhozhij, Berman, & Ignacimuthu, 2016). These DSBs can be repaired by the non-homologous end joining pathway (NHEJ) and homologous directed repair pathway (HDR). NHEJ will result in random inserts or deletions (Bialk, Rivera-Torres, Strouse, & Kmiec, 2015), whereas HDR repairs DSBs by use of a homologous DNA sequence. HDR can be used for specific genome editing, such as knock-ins or knock-outs. The CRISPR/Cas9 system consists of three components, the Cas9 protein, the guide RNA (sgRNA), and a single stranded oligodeoxynucliotides (ssODN) which provides the homologous sequence carrying the mutation. CRISPR/Cas9 has been used extensively for many applications to great success (Maruyama et al., 2015; Tang & Liu, 2018; Yi & Li, 2016). In this essay, applications, limitations and the potential to overcome these limitations are discussed. CRISPR/Cas9 does have some limitations as genome editing tool. For example, several mismatches are allowed in the guide RNA as well in the PAM site, increasing the change of off-target DSBs. CRISPR/Cas9 has great potential to correct gene alterations in humans, however careful consideration of limitations is required and several hurdles need to be overcome for usage in therapeutic studies (Oude Blenke, Evers, Mastrobattista, & van der Oost, 2016).


In eddy-current nondestructive testing (EC-NdT), parameter inversion is one main challenge. Here, one attempts to depict key advances and to put those in perspective with respect to challenges ahead in the real world of EC-NdT within a Bayesian framework. This work is based on the use of the well-known CIVA platform, to compute the variations of eddy-current impedance observed above work pieces that will serve us as synthetic data in the process, and also on the use of databases, those being properly constructed from CIVA, since we are keen to use meta-models (see later) that enable us to avoid in particular being burdened by possibly very high computational costs if left to call for CIVA solvers repeatedly. Data acquired in laboratory-controlled conditions, be they benchmarks or experimental data from partners, are also exploited, that is, they serve us as inputs of parameter inversion, in order to provide further means of analysis of pros and cons of the proposed solution. The work, which will be illustrated by ample numerical simulations and thorough controlled-laboratory data exploitation shown during the expected presentation, is as indicated being led within a Bayesian framework.


Parallel transmission or excitation has been suggested to perform multi-dimensional spatial selective excitation to shorten the pulse width using a coil array and the sensitivity information. The mutual coupling between array elements has been a critical technical issue in RF array designs, which can cause artifacts on the excitation profile, leading to degraded excitation performance and image quality. In this work, a precompensation method is proposed to address the mutual coupling effect in parallel transmission by introducing the mutual coupling coefficient matrix into the RF pulses design procedure of the parallel transmission. 90° RF pulses have been designed using both the original transmit SENSE method and the proposed precompensation method for RF arrays with non-negligible mutual coupling, and their excitation profiles are generated by simulating the Bloch equation. The results show that the mutual coupling effect can be effectively compensated by using the proposed method, yielding enhanced tolerance to insufficient mutual decoupling of RF arrays in parallel excitation, ultimately, providing improved performance and accuracy of parallel excitation.


We present VacuumTouch, a novel haptic interface architecture for touch screens that provides attractive force feedback to the user's finger. VacuumTouch consists of an air pump and solenoid air valves that connect to the surface of the touch screen and suck the air above the surface where the user's finger makes contact. VacuumTouch does not require the user to hold or attach additional devices to provide the attractive force, which allows for easy interaction with the surface. This paper introduces the implementation of the VacuumTouch architecture and some applications for enhancement of the graphical user interface, namely a suction button, a suction slider, and a suction dial. The quantitative evaluation was conducted with the suction dial and showed that the attractive force provided by VacuumTouch improved the performance of the dial menu interface and its potential effects. At the end of this paper, we discuss the current prototype's advantages and limitations, as well as possible improvements and potential capabilities.


Economic losses caused by the admixture of genetically modified crops with conventional or organic crops are governed by a variety of regimes throughout Europe at present, and redress is not equally available. Tort law rules alone differ quite significantly, not least because some countries have introduced specific liability regimes. Others have already (or are considering to) set up compensation funds. This book presents how European jurisdictions respond to such losses, and what alternatives there are in a comparative perspective. Apart from tort law, insurance models and other compensation schemes are considered, with a special focus on cross-border aspects. Experts from almost all European countries address the topic from the perspective of their respective jurisdictions. Further contributions include an economic analysis of possible solutions as well as a survey of insurance problems. The book is concluded by a comprehensive comparative overview and an assessment of legal policy issues.


The exploitation of forest resources is carried out by both male and female; they do this because they have material gains they make from such exploitation. These gains include both timber and non timber forest products like food especially during shortfall in food supply as safety net, income from the sales of timber and non timber forest products, materials for building houses, medicine for ailments and other diseases and other environmental benefits like soil fertility replenishments. This study set out to assess how male and female participate in the exploitation of forest resources, what they benefits from the exploitation and how this benefits could translate to the rural development of the park enclave communities of the Cross River National Park, Nigeria. Two hypotheses were formulated for the study in the null form. Questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection, this is divided into section A and B, with section A eliciting respondent's socio-demographic data, while section B elicits data on gender participation in forest resources exploitation and rural development of the park enclave communities. Using the stage-wise random sampling technique, a sample of 638 respondents representing 15% from the total population of 4249 people within  the enclave communities of the park (Okwangwo, Okwa 1 and 2, Mkpot, Abung and Iku) was sampled for the study. The researcher with the help of three trained research assistants administered the instruments and collected same back. Chi square and Pearson Product Moment correlation was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 significant levels. Both hypotheses tested significant. That there is a significant difference between male and female in forest resources exploitation and there is a significant relationship between benefits from forest resources exploitation and rural development of the park enclave communities. Forest resources exploitation is done along gender disaggregated line with the male harvesting timber and animal products and also harvest few of non timber forest products, the female harvest non timber forest products and very little of animals and timber for fuel wood. The implication of this finding is that both male and female exploit forest resources, the male harvest more of timber forest products and a little of non-timber forest products, whereas the women harvest more of non timber forest products and very little of animals and timber forest products. The benefits derived from gender participation in forest resources exploitation can be used for the rural development of the park enclave communities. Hence benefits from forest exploitation had been used to improve the quality of lives of these communities and also built iron roof houses for themselves. There is increase in the number of schools built by the forest communities with commensurate increase in school enrolment of pupils and students. The study concluded that there is community self help development project executed by community members within the park enclaves and their lives improved, but this development in terms of infrastructural development is limited and relative as compared to other areas where forest resources are protected.  It was recommended that government should design sustainable development projects that will better the lives of the rural enclave communities and also provide facilities that will discourage forest resources exploitation. Keywords: gender participation, rural development, forest resources exploitation, benefits from forest resources, enclave communities, and protected areas.


Traffic data measured near the junction of a single-lane on-ramp (with metered inflows) and a three-lane freeway were carefully studied for four days during the rush. The data showed the area around this merge junction became a bottleneck each day when the on-ramp's meter allowed its inflows to rise in the presence of high flows arriving from the freeway. Detailed study during these times further showed that queueing actually arose some distance downstream of the merge and that these queues were caused by drivers who, having just entered the freeway's shoulder lane from the on-ramp, slowed-down to negotiate discretionary lane-change maneuvers. The slowing was observed to spread quickly to all three freeway lanes and this had marked effects on the discharge flows from the bottleneck; i.e., average queue discharge rates were as much as 10 percent lower than the flows that had departed the merge prior to the bottleneck's activation. The latter of these flows, moreover, could be observed for many minutes (and therefore cannot be attributed to statistical variation). Even after the bottleneck had activated, its discharge flows continued to be influenced by vehicle slowing at, or just downstream of, the merge; i.e., queue discharge rates temporarily diminished with each recurring slow-down. Reductions of 800 vph or more could accompany such a slow-down and these lower rates could persist for some minutes. These undesirable effects were again triggered by vehicles from the on-ramp changing lanes soon after having merged. And notably, the discharge reductions became more (less) pronounced as the ramp's inflows surged (diminished). The findings show that service rates at this freeway site can be made higher 1) by eliminating, or at least postponing, the bottleneck's activation; and 2) by mitigating downstream slow-downs if or when the activation occurs. They further show, at times in dramatic fashion, that these objectives can be realized by carefully metering the on-ramp to limit the rates its vehicles join the freeway traffic stream. Certain issues concerning ramp metering in light of the present findings are discussed at the conclusion of this manuscript.


Sanitation is fundamental to broader national development. In fact, current practice of water treatment is not a guarantee for providing a safe drinking water required by humans. Corroded copper pipes contributed an increase in copper concentration in drinking water. At trace concentration copper is one of essential nutrients required by human body for both physical and mental health. However an excessive copper concentration in human body becomes toxic threat. Acute copper toxicity can result in a number of pathologies and, in severe cases, death. Drinking tea habitually may be helpful in reducing copper toxicity. The experimental study using copper-ion selective electrode (Cu-ISE) lowered copper concentration due to the availability of copper binding ligands found in tea solution.


It is suggested that long-term exposure to violent media may decrease sensitivity to depictions of violence. However, it is unknown whether persistent exposure to music with violent themes affects implicit violent imagery processing. Using a binocular rivalry paradigm, we investigated whether the presence of violent music influences conscious awareness of violent imagery among fans and non-fans of such music. Thirty-two fans and 48 non-fans participated in the study. Violent and neutral pictures were simultaneously presented one to each eye, and participants indicated which picture they perceived (i.e. violent percept, neutral percept or blend of two) via key presses, while they heard Western popular music with lyrics that expressed happiness or Western extreme metal music with lyrics that expressed violence. We found both fans and non-fans of violent music exhibited a general negativity bias for violent imagery over neutral imagery regardless of the music genres. For non-fans, this bias was stronger while listening to music that expressed violence than while listening to music that expressed happiness. For fans of violent music, however, the bias was the same while listening to music that expressed either violence or happiness. We discussed these results in view of current debates on the impact of violent media.


A unique correlated sampling approach has been incorporated in the McDNL and McPNL Monte Carlo codes which enables their use in correcting neutron porosity and neutron lifetime log responses for a number of important effects. The composition and/or density can be changed from that of a reference sample in any number of the geometrical zones that are used to simulate the sample and logging device in a number of comparison samples that are evaluated simultaneously. For ten additional samples calculated in this way, the computation time only increases by about 10% over that for the reference sample alone. Relative standard deviations for these samples are typically two or more orders of magnitude less than the absolute standard deviation. A modified method for obtaining results from the previously used method is suggested for more general application. Correlated sampling results are given and compared to independent calculations for porosity variations in the formation and to a simulated invasion problem. >


Passiflora foetida leaves used by the society for generations as a natural antidiabetic drug research aims to test the effectiveness of the leaf extract of Passiflora foetida with variations of a dose of 250 mg / kg, 500 mg / kg, and 750 mg / kg in lowering blood sugar levels in mice. Passiflora foetida leaves were extracted by sokhletasi method with 70% ethanol, the extract was tested on 15 mice, the test animals were randomized into 5 groups consist of negative control group given 0.5% Na-CMC, positive control group was given glibenclamide 0, 65 mg / kg, and the treatment group were given the leaf extract of Passiflorafoetida with variations of each dose of 250 mg / kg, 500 mg / kg, 750 mg / kg. To increase blood sugar levels in mice induced glucose 50%. Measurement of blood sugar levels in mice were performed using an easy touch glucometer and blood is taken via the lateral tail vein. The results showed that the percentage of blood sugar levels drop to a negative control is 13.1%, for a dose of 250 mg / kg body weight of 29.52%, for a dose of 500 mg / kg was 38.79%, to dosis750 mg / kg was 49, 21%, and 48.1% for the positive control. The results showed that the leaf extract of Passiflorafoetida at a dose of 750 mg / kg is most effective as an antidiabetic


This study was undertaken to determine whether regular endurance exercise is a deterrent to a developing state of muscle atrophy from glucocorticoids and to evaluate whether the contractile activity antagonizes the hormonal actions on glutamine synthetase, alanine aminotransferase, and cytosolic aspartate aminotransferase (cAspAT). Adult female rats were administered cortisol acetate (CA, 100 mg/kg body wt) or an equal volume of the vehicle solution for up to 15 days. Exercise (treadmill running at 31 m/min, 10% grade, 90 min/day) was introduced after 4 days of CA treatment, at which time plantaris and quadriceps muscle mass had been reduced to 90% of control levels. Running for 11 consecutive days prevented 40 mg of the 90-mg loss and 227 mg of the 808-mg loss that were subsequently observed in plantaris and quadriceps muscles, respectively, in the sedentary animals. Glutamine synthetase mRNA and enzyme activity were elevated threefold by glucocorticoid treatment in the deep quadriceps (fast-twitch red) muscles after 4 days. Initiating exercise completely interfered with the further hormonal induction (to approximately 5-fold) of this enzyme and, after 11 consecutive days of the exercise regimen, glutamine synthetase mRNA and enzyme activity were 58 and 68% of values from CA-treated sedentary animals. In vehicle-treated groups, basal levels of glutamine synthetase expression were also diminished by exercise to approximately 40% of the values in sedentary controls. Hormone treatment did not alter either aminotransferase enzyme activity but reduced cAspAT mRNA in fast-twitch red muscles by 50%. Exercise abolished the glucocorticoid effect on cAspAT mRNA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Understanding forest ownership trends is critical for understanding forest trends. In the northern United States, where 55% of the forestland is controlled by families and individuals, it is imperative that we understand the trends within this complex and dynamic group of owners. The US Forest Service conducted forest landowner surveys across this region, and the rest of the United States, in 1993 and 2006. The published results are not directly comparable because of differences in what was reported and how the data were processed. Fortunately, the same sample designs were used and a subset of identical or near identical questions was asked on both surveys so that reprocessing the data allows for trends to be accurately assessed. The average size of family forest holdings decreased from 25 to 20 ac, reasons for owning remained amenity centered, and the owners are now more likely to be older, retired, have a higher income, and more educated.


Transgenic mice overexpressing the human GH-releasing hormone (hGHRH) gene, an animal model of acromegaly, were used to investigate the effects of potent GHRH antagonists MZ-4-71 and MZ-5-156 on the excessive GH and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) secretion caused by overproduction of hGHRH. Because metallothionein (MT)-GHRH mice express the hGHRH transgene in various tissues, including the pituitary and hypothalamus, initial experiments focused on the effectiveness of the GHRH antagonists in blocking basal and stimulated GH secretion from pituitary cells in vitro. Both MZ-4-71 and MZ-5-156 suppressed basal release of GH from superfused MT-GHRH pituitary cells, apparently by blocking the action of endogenously produced hGHRH. In addition, these antagonists effectively eliminated the response to stimulatory action of exogenous hGHRH(1-29)NH2 (30 and 100 nM). To ascertain whether MZ-4-71 and MZ-5-156 could antagonize the effect of hGHRH hyperstimulation in vivo, each antagonist was administered to MT-GHRH transgenic mice in a single iv dose of 10-200 microg. Both compounds decreased serum GH levels in transgenic mice by 39-72% at 1 h after injection. The inhibitory effect of 50 microg MZ-5-156 was maintained for 5 h. Twice daily ip administration of 100 microg MZ-5-156 for 3 days suppressed the highly elevated serum GH and IGF-I concentrations in transgenic mice by 56.8% and 39.0%, respectively. This treatment also reduced IGF-I messenger RNA levels in the liver by 21.8% but did not affect the level of GH messenger RNA in the pituitary. Our results demonstrate that GHRH antagonists MZ-4-71 and MZ-5-156 can inhibit elevated GH levels caused by overproduction of hGHRH. The suppression of circulating GH concentrations induced by the antagonists seems to be physiologically relevant, because both IGF-I secretion and synthesis also were reduced. Our findings, showing the suppression of GH and IGF-I secretion with GHRH antagonists, suggest that this class of analogs could be used for the diagnosis and therapy of disorders characterized by excessive GHRH secretion.


In determining the impact of proposed engineering works at estuary and coastal sites it is necessary to determine the flows around structures (such as training walls, breakwater and groynes). At present two-dimensional depth-integrated numerical flow models are often employed in preliminary design studies associated with such structures. However, in the presence of a structure the flow may be three-dimensional, with a significant vertical variation in the velocity. In the presence of waves the flow becomes even more complex as breaking waves can drive currents. Presently physical models are employed to determine the impact of such works at the design stage. However a numerical modelling approach may prove to be more cost-effective for such studies. The present project funded by the Construction Directorate of the Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions (DETR), has combined state-of-the-art wave and flow prediction techniques, using both finite difference and finite element modelling technologies, with the aim being to define the range of studies that might presently be undertaken using numerical modelling techniques.


Getting value for money from the use of pharmaceuticals is crucial for the NHS. This publication explores the role for guidelines in generating good quality value for money information examining the experience of Australia, Canada and the UK – the first three health care systems to introduce national guidelines for economic assessments. Some commentators have argued that the UK is lagging behind Australia and Canada by linking guidelines to a voluntary approach to the supply of economic information, rather than introducing rigorous guidelines and (in Australia and Ontario) a formal requirement for studies to assess the cost effectiveness of new medicines. A number of issues arise for the UK. Some relate to whether differences between health care systems require different approaches, notably whether - • the lack of NHS policies on rationing mean that it is better to concentrate on other means of getting value for money from pharmaceuticals; • the decentralised nature of NHS decision making requires a less prescriptive approach to guideline content and study requirements; • given this decentralised approach, enough high quality economic information on pharmaceuticals is being supplied and used in the NHS? Others relate to the content and process of developing guidelines. In particular whether - • more detailed guidelines are needed to enable comparisons between study results to be made; • the process by which guidelines are drawn up is important to their effectiveness. The publication examines the workings and impact of the Australian and Canadian Guidelines. The key elements of the UK prescribing environment are then examined, including existing value for money arrangements, the role of the UK Guidance, the way in which the UK promotional code of practice polices economic information, the methodological issues involved in complying with the UK Guidance, and the role of the UK NHS CRD in reviewing economic evaluations. An overview concludes that, in relation to system design - • economic evaluations are having much more impact on prescribing expenditure in Australia and Canada; • the NHS, however, has much better arrangements for getting value for money from medicines; • lack of explicit rationing criteria limit the use of economic evaluations in all three countries, but much more so in the NHS; • barriers to moving funds between health care budgets, rather than lack of information, are seen by NHS decision makers as the major obstacle to greater NHS use of economic evidence; • the credibility of studies remains an issue although the NHS has put in place arrangements, including the NHS CRD database and the ABPI/Government guidance, to raise quality. In relation to the content of guidelines and the process of development; • guidelines can only be more prescriptive if decision makers are clear about the information they want, and the perspective they intend to take; • methodological issues remain unresolved which will mean continued debate on choice of design, outcome measures and sources of evidence. Perhaps the most important message is that there should be more use of information from economic studies in the UK, but the experiences of Australia and Canada do not suggest that there is an easy route to achieve this. We do not know how cost-effective the approaches of the three countries are. We do know that changing the culture of a health care system takes time. Guidelines can play an important part in stimulating change. In the UK there is some way to go. The NHS and the pharmaceutical industry need to review progress. To the extent, however, that public and medical attitudes to rationing are reflected in the government's policy that patients continue to receive all medicines they clinically require, the role for economic evaluation may be limited. Value for money may be more effectively sought through other routes. Continued financial constraints, however, together with the growing role for GPs in purchasing, may lead to greater use of clinical and prescribing guidelines and of research into local outcomes. Economic evaluation may be more readily accepted when contributing to these activities.


We construct a novel database containing the universe of financial advisers in the United States from 2005 to 2015, representing approximately 10% of employment of the finance and insurance sector. We provide the first large-scale study that documents the economy-wide extent of misconduct among financial advisers and the associated labor market consequences of misconduct. Seven percent of advisers have misconduct records, and this share reaches more than 15% at some of the largest advisory firms. Roughly one third of advisers with misconduct are repeat offenders. Prior offenders are five times as likely to engage in new misconduct as the average financial adviser. Firms discipline misconduct: approximately half of financial advisers lose their jobs after misconduct. The labor market partially undoes firm-level discipline by rehiring such advisers. Firms that hire these advisers also have higher rates of prior misconduct themselves, suggesting "matching on misconduct." These firms are less desirable and offer lower compensation. We argue that heterogeneity in consumer sophistication could explain the prevalence and persistence of misconduct at such firms. Misconduct is concentrated at firms with retail customers and in counties with low education, elderly populations, and high incomes. Our findings are consistent with some firms "specializing" in misconduct and catering to unsophisticated consumers, while others use their clean reputation to attract sophisticated consumers.


Seawater desalination is a rapidly growing coastal industry that is increasingly threatened by algal blooms. Depending on the severity of algal blooms, desalination systems may be forced to shut down because of clogging and/or poor feed water quality. To maintain stable operation and provide good feed water quality to seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) systems, ultrafiltration (UF) pre-treatment is proposed. This research focused on assessing the ability of UF and other pre-treatment technologies to reduce biofouling in SWRO systems. An improved method to measure bacterial regrowth potential (BRP) was developed and applied at laboratory, pilot and full scale to assess the ability of conventional UF (150 kDa) and tight UF (10 kDa) alone and in combination with a phosphate adsorbent to reduce regrowth potential and delay the onset of biofouling in SWRO. The improved bacterial regrowth potential method employs a natural consortium ofmarine bacteria as inoculum and flow cytometry. The limit of detection of the BRP method was lowered to 43,000 ± 12,000 cells/mL,which is equivalent to 9.3 ± 2.6 μg-Cglucose/L. The reduction in bacterial regrowth potential after tight UF (10 kDa) was 3 to 4 times higher than with conventional UF (150 kDa). It was further reduced after the application of a phosphate adsorbent, independent of pore size of the UF membrane. Pilot studies demonstrated that the application of tight UF (10 kDa) coupled with a phosphate adsorbent consistently lowered the bacterial regrowth potential and no feed channel pressure drop increase was observed in membrane fouling simulators (MFS) over a period of 21 days. The study also showed that nonbackwashable fouling of UF membranes varied strongly with the type of algal species and the algal organic matter (AOM) they release. The presence of polysaccharide (stretching - OH) and sugar ester groups (stretching S=O) was the main cause of nonbackwashable fouling. In conclusion, this study showed that an improved BRP method is suitable for the assessment of SWRO pre-treatment systems and it can be a useful tool to develop potential strategies to mitigate biofouling and improve the sustainability of SWRO systems.


The effect of soil banding zinc sulfate and zinc (Zn)-EDTA was evaluated over a period of 4 years on established 'Wichita' pecans [Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch] growing in alkaline, calcareous soil. Treatments evaluated were ZnSO 4 applied at 74 kg Zn/ha and Zn-EDTA at 19 kg Zn/ha. These materials were applied just once on 23 Mar. 2005. Fertilizers were injected in two bands placed 1.2 m from either side of the trunk of the tree and 18 cm deep. Treatments were replicated four times in a randomized complete block design. Data collected included foliar Zn concentrations throughout the season, midseason foliar nutrient concentrations, leaflet growth, nut yield, and nut quality. Significant differences in foliar Zn levels were found 1 month after application of Zn-EDTA. Differences also were noted during the next 3 years on ≈25% of the sampling dates. Yields of in-shell pecans averaged 2800 kg·ha ―1 during the 3 years of harvest but were unaffected by treatments. Nut quality also was unaffected. Nut kernel percentage was very high, ranging from 61.2% to 63.6% during the study. Growth, measured as leaflet area and trunk cross-sectional area, was unaffected by Zn application. Chlorophyll index ranged from 47.5 to 48.0 in 2007 and from 44.7 to 45.4 in 2008 and was unaffected by applied treatments. Zn-EDTA increased Zn uptake slightly by 'Wichita' pecan trees in alkaline, calcareous conditions during 3 years after one soil band injection. Ongoing research on potted pecan trees (with the same soil used in the present study) suggests that Zn-EDTA can very effectively increase Zn uptake if placed in close proximity to the tree roots. Additional research is needed to refine application and placement methods in these types of soils to produce a more effective and consistent response.


Distant cross-border business is on the rise. It necessitates effective transfer of knowledge across geographic and cultural borders. In this article we present the key results from the GLOBE study of 62 cultures and apply them to a real-life case of a North European business school designing and offering a substantial executive development program for a large South Asian corporation. We show how cultural differences can complicate the successful transfer of knowledge across borders and make recommendations on how executives can better manage the complex task of transferring knowledge across cultures. We provide advice on how GLOBE findings can be used to better manage the content and process issues in such transfers.


Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional disorder with a multifactorial etiology and a complex clinical picture. The recent discovery of the dysregulation of the gut-brain axis as an important pathogenetic mechanism for the development of IBS is a kind of breakthrough in the understanding of IBS and prevalent comorbidities. Nevertheless, IBS treatment still causes many problems and often turns out to be ineffective or brings only short-term effects in reducing symptom severity. In reference to the characteristics of IBS, including new findings regarding etiopathogenesis, an interdisciplinary treatment approach is proposed and the roles of medical and psychological interventions are underlined. The literature search was conducted using electronic databases with a focus on the latest publications. The review may be useful for matching the best strategy of IBS management.


Are psychiatrists gods.,. or are they frauds ... ? This controversial new book is bound to put psychiatrists in an uproar. It cuts the very foundation out from under this age-old discipline and demands a reorganization of the psychiatric troops. Dr. Torrey shows why psychiatry should never have become a medical specialty, why psychiatry in its present form is destructive and why it must die. Dr. Torrey provides a framework within which to view the death of psychiatry; he shows how psychiatry got where it is, what the current scene is 'like and where it is headed. He dissects the dysfunctional medical model of psychiatry and plants the seeds for a viable alternative -a more sensible model of human behavior, education in design. The author, an eminent psychiatrist himself, maintains that the majority of people whom we call mentally ill have no physical disabilities, but have problems of living. These people should be given a system of social supports, while the few with true brain diseases should be given back to neurology. Buttressed with interesting case histories, The Death of Psychiatry makes a strong case for a total revamping of the "mental health" profession, in language that would make even a Freud tremble. Already endorsed by major authorities in the field, this book may be the cause and preview of a medical revolution.


Visual salient object detection (SOD) aims at finding the salient object(s) that attract human attention, while camouflaged object detection (COD) on the contrary intends to discover the camouflaged object(s) that hidden in the surrounding. In this paper, we propose a paradigm of lever-aging the contradictory information to enhance the detection ability of both salient object detection and camouflaged object detection. We start by exploiting the easy positive samples in the COD dataset to serve as hard positive samples in the SOD task to improve the robustness of the SOD model. Then, we introduce a "similarity measure" module to explicitly model the contradicting attributes of these two tasks. Furthermore, considering the uncertainty of labeling in both tasks' datasets, we propose an adversarial learning network to achieve both higher order similarity measure and network confidence estimation. Experimental results on benchmark datasets demonstrate that our solution leads to state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance for both tasks1.


e15662 Background: Low-grade neuroendocrine tumors (NETs), such as carcinoid, islet cell tumors, and medullary thyroid carcinomas, respond poorly to chemotherapy, and effective, less toxic therapies are needed. Glycogen Synthase Kinase (GSK)-3β, a multifunctional protein kinase, has been shown to regulate growth and hormone production in NETs. Use of lithium carbonate (Li) in murine models suppressed carcinoid cell growth, reduced GSK-3β levels and reduced expression of chromogranin A. This study assessed the efficacy of Li in patients with NETs.

METHODS
Eligible pts had pathologically-proven, measurable low-grade NETs. Prior treatment was allowed if completed >4wks prior to registration. Standard eligibility criteria were used, and use of medications affecting Li metabolism or levels were prohibited. A single-arm, open-label, two-stage Phase II design was used. Li was dosed at 300mg orally TID with meals, titrated to a target serum level of 0.8-1.0mmol/L. The primary endpoint was objective tumor response by RECIST. Secondary endpoints included overall survival, progression-free survival, decrease of serum tumor markers, toxicity, and quality of life.

RESULTS
15 pts were enrolled between 10/3/07and 7/17/08; 6 men, 9 women. The median age was 58 (range 47-74). Patients' diagnoses were carcinoid tumor for 8 subjects, islet cell tumor for 5 subjects, and 2 unknown primary sites. ECOG PS was 0 (6 patients) or 1 (9 patients). Two pts came off study due to side effects (tremor, dizziness/abdominal pain). There were no radiographic responses. Due to an early stopping rule requiring at least 1 objective response in the first 13 evaluable pts, the study was closed to further accrual. 13 patients had pre- and post-therapy biopsies. Evaluation of quality of life and GSK-3β levels in tumor tissue is ongoing.

CONCLUSIONS
Li was ineffective at obtaining a radiographic response in our 13 evaluable patients who were treated as part of this study. We will determine from tumor biopsies whether Li was effective at phosphorylating GSK-3β in order to make conclusions about GSK-3β as a therapeutic target for future NET treatment strategies. Funded through NIH grant R21CA117117- 01A2 and CTRC grant 1ULRR025011. No significant financial relationships to disclose.


This project involved design and partial implementation of an active tool wear monitoring and prevention platform. In order to assess the sponsor company's needs, a requirements analysis was performed. After researching and analyzing the current state of the art a program was written in C and C++ to actively monitor axial cutting forces and control spindle speed and feedrate of a CNC to maximize tool life through various control methods. In order to complete the system, a comprehensive, user-friendly GUI was created.


Knowledge of brain aneurysm dimensions is essential during the planning stage of minimally invasive surgical interventions using Guglielmi Detachable Coils (GDC). These parameters are obtained in clinical routine using 2D Maximum Intensity Projection images from Computed Tomographic Angiography (CTA). Automated quantification of the three dimensional structure of aneurysms directly from the 3D data set may be used to provide accurate and objective measurements of the clinically relevant parameters. The properties of Implicit Deformable Models make them suitable to accurately extract the three dimensional structure of the aneurysm and its connected vessels. We have devised a two-stage segmentation algorithm for this purpose. In the first stage, a rough segmentation is obtained by means of the Fast Marching Method combining a speed function based on a vessel enhancement filtering and a freezing algorithm. In the second stage, this rough segmentation provides the initialization for Geodesic Active Contours driven by region-based information. The latter problem is solved using the Level Set algorithm. This work presents a comparative study between a clinical and a computerized protocol to derive three geometrical descriptors of aneurysm morphology that are standard in assessing the viability of surgical treatment with GDCs. The study was performed on a data base of 40 brain aneurysms. The manual measurements were made by two neuroradiologists in two independent sessions. Both interand intra-observer variability and comparison with the automated method are presented. According to these results, Implicit Deformable Models are a suitable technique for this application.


The characteristics of speech that determine its greater disruption of serial
recall relative to non-speech (the irrelevant sound effect) are investigated (c.f.
Tremblay et al., 2000). Degraded non-words disrupted serial recall less than clear
non-words. Tasks show that both vowels and consonants of degraded non-words
were misperceived, with initial consonants misperceived to a greater degree.
Measures that followed showed that clear sequences of non-words, with changing
vowels were more disruptive than sequences with changing consonants. Degrading
vowel only changing sequences reduced disruption of serial recall to a level
observed with clear consonant only changing sequences, whereas degradation had
no effect on disruption by consonant only changing sequences. In further
experiments the acoustic complexity of speech was reduced while maintaining its
intelligibility by removing fundamental frequency information. Whispered speech
disrupted serial recall to the same degree as voiced speech. Alternating voiced and
whispered speech sounds within a sequence did not reduce serial recall
performance relative to a sequence of voiced-only speech sounds. Results indicate
the formant structure of speech sounds and not fundamental frequency information
is the important carrier of acoustic change. Reversing the fine structure of
whispered speech damaged its intelligibility whilst preserving acoustic complexity
and these sounds were as disruptive of serial recall as normal whispered speech.
This indicates that vocal tract resonances (formants) of speech and not its
intelligibility determine its disruptive power. The relative disruptiveness of speech
and non-speech sounds was then examined. Sounds were matched for acoustic
complexity, but their 'speech-likeness' was destroyed. Speech disrupted serial recall
more than did non-speech. Results indicate that the biological nature of speech
renders it more disruptive than non-speech. The findings refute the 'changingstate-
hypothesis' which is derived from the object-oriented episodic record model.
This hypothesis argues that it is the degree of acoustic variation within an irrelevant
stream and not the nature of its component sounds which determines its disruption
of serial memory. Biological sounds may disrupt serial memory to a greater degree
since they are of behavioural relevance and provide information about the
environment that may need to be attended to. The addition of an attentional
mechanism to the object-oriented episodic record model that regulates the reallocation
of cognitive processing resources is proposed.


The most basic level of transcription regulation in Streptococcus pneumoniae is the organization of its chromosome in topological domains. In response to drugs that caused DNA-relaxation, a global transcriptional response was observed. Several chromosomal domains were identified based on the transcriptional response of their genes: up-regulated (U), down-regulated (D), non-regulated (N), and flanking (F). We show that these distinct domains have different expression and conservation characteristics. Microarray fluorescence units under non-relaxation conditions were used as a measure of gene transcriptional level. Fluorescence units were significantly lower in F genes than in the other domains with a similar AT content. The transcriptional level of the domains categorized them was D>U>F. In addition, a comparison of 12 S. pneumoniae genome sequences showed a conservation of gene composition within U and D domains, and an extensive gene interchange in F domains. We tested the organization of chromosomal domains by measuring the relaxation-mediated transcription of eight insertions of a heterologous Ptccat cassette, two in each type of domain, showing that transcription depended on their chromosomal location. Moreover, transcription from the four promoters directing the five genes involved in supercoiling homeostasis, located either in U (gyrB), D (topA), or N (gyrA and parEC) domains was analyzed both in their chromosomal locations and in a replicating plasmid. Although expression from the chromosomal PgyrB and PtopA showed the expected domain regulation, their expression was down-regulated in the plasmid, which behaved as a D domain. However, both PparE and PgyrA carried their own regulatory signals, their topology-dependent expression being equivalent in the plasmid or in the chromosome. In PgyrA a DNA bend acted as a DNA supercoiling sensor. These results revealed that DNA topology functions as a general transcriptional regulator, superimposed upon other more specific regulatory mechanisms.


In the vehicle industry today materials are sought that are both light and have a high strength. One manufacturing method that can produce parts with both these properties is a method called die quenching. During die tool development simulations are used to predict the material properties in the final part and there is a continuous strive for improving the simulation tools. The aim of this report is to demonstrate how a CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) problem and a conjugate heat transfer problem can be set up in LS-DYNA and to evaluate how well the simulation results agree with experimental results. Simulations of the cooling of the die quenching is a first step towards performing a complete mechanical forming simulation that is coupled with CFD analysis in order to predict the final part's material properties more accurately.In the thesis two experiments were simulated. To be able to perform such an analysis a conjugate heat transfer analysis is needed, in the thesis a heated cube was studied because it had experimental values for the temperature available. The flow in a quenching tool is also discussed and the pressure drop in the tool is compared with experimental values. Temperatures from the conjugate heat transfer are compared with experimental values and sources of errors are discussed in both simulations. The conclusion of this report is that the CFD solver in LS-DYNA is a promising tool that can be used to determine more accurate material properties of the final parts in a coupled thermomechanical forming simulation.


Cancer is initiated largely by specific cohorts of genetic aberrations, which are generated by mutagens and often mimic active growth factor receptors, or downstream effectors. Once initiated cells outgrow and attract blood vessels, a multi-step process, called metastasis, disseminates cancer cells primarily through vascular routes. The major steps of the metastatic cascade comprise intravasation into blood vessels, circulation as single or collectives of cells, and eventual colonization of distant organs. Herein, we consider metastasis as a multi-step process that seized principles and molecular players employed by physiological processes, such as tissue regeneration and migration of neural crest progenitors. Our discussion contrasts the irreversible nature of mutagenesis, which establishes primary tumors, and the reversible epigenetic processes (e.g. epithelial–mesenchymal transition) underlying the establishment of micro-metastases and secondary tumors. Interestingly, analyses of sequencing data from untreated metastases inferred depletion of putative driver mutations among metastases, in line with the pivotal role played by growth factors and epigenetic processes in metastasis. Conceivably, driver mutations may not confer the same advantage in the microenvironment of the primary tumor and of the colonization site, hence phenotypic plasticity rather than rigid cellular states hardwired by mutations becomes advantageous during metastasis. We review the latest reported examples of growth factors harnessed by the metastatic cascade, with the goal of identifying opportunities for anti-metastasis interventions. In summary, because the overwhelming majority of cancer-associated deaths are caused by metastatic disease, understanding the complexity of metastasis, especially the roles played by growth factors, is vital for preventing, diagnosing and treating metastasis.