The most unique and important of all early American law reports are those of Josiah Quincy Jr. (1744-1775). These are the first reports of continental America's oldest court, the Superior Court of Judicature of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, direct ancestor to today's Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Quincy's candid accounts of events great and small shed light on life in the American colonies just before the Revolution. Reports such as "Paxton's Case of the Writs of Assistance" (1761) have become great landmarks of American constitutional law, cited by the Supreme Court of the United States. Others, such as Hanlon v. Thayer (1764), involved important women's rights, or, such as Oliver v. Sale (1762) and Allison v. Cockran (1764), vividly demonstrated the legal establishment of slavery. Even the so-called routine cases - those involving sale of goods and early consumer protection, keeping a 'bawdy house', women fighting for their children's legitimacy, pirates, apprentices, militia men, double-crossers and frauds, 'fences' for stolen goods, and many more - provide an invaluable picture of our early legal system and colonial society. Daniel R. Coquillette not only provides new annotations for these cases, first annotated by Samuel Quincy Jr. in 1865, but also includes an extensive introduction that sets out a lucid and compelling road map to these historic reports and their continuing significance.


BACKGROUND: Empirical combination antibiotic regimens consisting of a β-lactam and an aminoglycoside are frequently employed in the pediatric population. Data to demonstrate the comparative benefit of empirical β-lactam combination therapy relative to monotherapy for culture-proven Gram-negative bacteremia are lacking in the pediatric population. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of children treated for Gram-negative bacteremia at The Johns Hopkins Hospital from 2004 through 2012. We compared the estimated odds of 10-day mortality and the relative duration of bacteremia for children receiving empirical combination therapy versus empirical monotherapy using 1:1 nearest-neighbor propensity-score matching without replacement, before performing regression analysis. RESULTS: We identified 226 matched pairs of patients well balanced on baseline covariates. Ten-day mortality was similar between the groups (odds ratio, 0.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.28 to 1.71). Use of empirical combination therapy was not associated with a decrease in the duration of bacteremia (−0.51 days; 95% CI, −2.22 to 1.48 days). There was no survival benefit when evaluating 10-day mortality for the severely ill (pediatric risk of mortality III score ≥15) or profoundly neutropenic patients (absolute neutrophil count ≤100 cells/mL) receiving combination therapy. However, a survival benefit was observed when empirical combination therapy was prescribed for children growing multidrug-resistant Gram-negative organisms from the bloodstream (odds ratio, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.51 to 0.84). CONCLUSIONS: Although there appears to be no advantage to the routine addition of an aminoglycoside to a β-lactam as empirical therapy for children who have Gram-negative bacteremia, children who have risk factors for MDRGN organisms appear to benefit from this practice.


This chapter addresses questions relating to how to study a city's musical culture through the example of the city of Bristol. It argues for a broad analysis of the musical culture of a city that attends to the everyday experience of music making, performance and engagement with musical performances. We address themes such as the question of liveness, how a 'live' music scene is facilitated by certain kinds of music venues, the ways in which musical communities and scenes coexist in the same spaces, and issues involved in attempting to archive and document this kind of diverse and everyday (or every night) music culture.  Finally we argue for research methods that allow us to understand the past in ways that are unfixed, and constantly changing, to avoid the deadening effect that a settled past can have on the understanding of a live—and alive—musical culture.


Endothelium-dependent vasodilation is impaired in patients with congestive heart failure. For vascular endothelium, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is one of the most potent and specific growth factors, which acts protectively against endothelial dysfunction. HGF production is downregulated by angiotensin II (Ang II) in vitro. We hypothesized that HGF production is impaired as the result of increased Ang II in patients with congestive heart failure, and that if so, the impaired production should be restored with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACE-I). We studied 16 patients with congestive heart failure caused by previous anterior myocardial infarction in whom left ventricular ejection fraction was 35+/-8% (mean+/-SD). Before and approximately 4 weeks after the treatment with ACE-I, blood samples were collected to measure the levels of HGF, Ang II, and brain natriuretic peptide as a biochemical marker for severity of heart failure. We also studied 5 control subjects, in whom heparin increased HGF production to 48+/-5-fold. However, in patients with heart failure, HGF response to heparin was significantly attenuated (24+/-5-fold, P<0.05 vs control). Therapy with ACE-I decreased the levels of Ang II and brain natriuretic peptide and restored HGF production in response to heparin by 43+/-7-fold, comparable to the control response. In conclusion, impaired HGF production was restored after the treatment with ACE-I probably by the mechanism of Ang II suppression. This novel effect of ACE-I may contribute to the clinical improvement in patients with heart failure and thereby may have an important therapeutic implication.


Pasture-based dairy producers in the United States face costs, revenue streams, and management challenges that may differ from those associated with confinement dairy production systems. Three Grazing Merit indices (GM$1, GM$2, and GM$3), parallel to the US Lifetime Net Merit (NM$) index, were constructed using economic values appropriate for grazing production in the United States. Milk prices based on averages from the previous 5 yr were used for GM$1, whereas GM$2 and GM$3 used milk prices found in NM$. Cull prices and interest rates from NM$ were used in GM$3 but were updated for GM$1 and GM$2. All other inputs remained constant among GM$1, GM$2, and GM$3. Economic costs and revenues were obtained from surveys, recent literature, and farm financial record summaries. Derived weights for GM$ were then multiplied by the predicted transmitting abilities of 584 active artificial insemination Holstein bulls to compare with NM$. Spearman rank correlations for NM$ were 0.93 with GM$1, 0.98 with GM$2, and 0.98 with GM$3. Traits (and their percentages of weight) comprising GM$1, GM$2, and GM$3, respectively, included milk volume (24, 0, 0%), Fat yield (16, 21, 21%), protein yield (4, 17, 17%), productive life (7, 8, 7%), somatic cell count (-8, -9, -9%), feet and legs composite (4, 4, 4%), body size composite (-3, -4, -4%), udder composite (7, 8, 8%), daughter pregnancy rate (18, 20, 20%), calving ability (3, 3, 3%), and dairy form (6, 6, 6%). These weights compared with NM$ weights of 0, 19, 16, 22, 10, 4, 6, 7, 11, 5, and 0% for the same traits, respectively. Dairy form was added to GM$ to offset the decrease in strength associated with selection to reduce stature through selection against body size. Emphasis on productive life decreased in GM$ because grazing cattle are estimated to remain in the herd considerably longer, diminishing the marginal value of productive life. Although NM$ provides guidance for grazing dairy producers, a GM$ index based upon appropriate costs and revenues allows for selection of cows and bulls for more optimal genetic progress.


Among the present crucial issues in UML Modeling, one of the most common is about the fusion of similar models coming from various sources. Several similar models are created in Software Engineering and it is of primary interest to compare them and, when possible, to craft a general model including a specific one, or just identify models that are in fact equivalent. Most present approaches are based on model structure comparison and alignment on strings for attributes and classe names. This contribution evaluates the added value of several combined NLP techniques based on lexical networks, POS tagging, and Dependency Rules application, and how they might improve the fusion of models. Topics: use of NLP techniques in practical applications.


Many industrial facilities apply power correction capacitors to enhance their electrical efficiency. Power factor improvement, power loss reduction, release of system capacity, and voltage improvement can all be achieved by applying capacitors in industrial plants. Protection of these capacitor banks against excessive overcurrents is a critical part of the safe and reliable operation of the bank. This paper reviews different considerations in the selection of capacitor fuse applications and the philosophies behind them. Individual and group fusing are discussed. Continuous current, transient current, fault current, tank rupture curve coordination, voltage on good capacitors during a fault, energy discharged into a failed unit, outrush current, and coordination with unbalance detection schemes are topics covered. Examples of actual applications of capacitors in industrial distribution systems are presented throughout the paper.<<ETX>>


To better understand the geomagnetic conditions and the particularities of solar cycles 23 and 24, we present analysis from morphological variations of solar and geomagnetic activities parameters IMF-Bz, the interplanetary electric field (E), the proton density (N), Dst (disturbance storm time), Polar cap (PC) indices (PCN and PCS), and geomagnetic activity index aa. The occurrences of the different classes of geomagnetic activity established by Zerbo et al. (2012), through the daily averages of the Aa index are also presented for the period 1996-2019 covering the solar cycle 23 and 24. This investigation reveals: (1) a decrease in solar activity and geomagnetic activity during the last decade; (2) the solar cycle 23 was a magnetically disturbed solar cycle with 41.52% disturbed days versus 72.35% very quiet conditions for the solar cycle 24; (3) the most important numbers of intense and severe storm or magnetic substorm conditions (E, PC index, Dst < -100 nT) are recorded during the solar cycle 23; (4) solar cycle 24 presents similar characteristics as solar cycles 12 and 14 and has also experienced spotless days at its maximum phase; (5) solar cycle 24 experienced low solar activity compared to solar cycle 23. The two solar cycles can be qualified as antagonistic cycles.


Introduction: For the effective management of these major childhood illnesses, WHO and UNICEF have developed the "Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illness" (IMNCI) Strategy.
Aims: The aim of study is to evaluate the utility of the WHO/ UNICEF algorithm for Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illness (IMNCI) for jaundice up to two months of age.
Methods: This is Prospective observational comparative study. Total of 300 subjects were taken from Emergency and Outpatient Department of Pediatrics. The treatment steps were identified as according to the 'Assess and Classify' module of IMNCI algorithm. All relevant investigations were performed, using appropriate methods. Blood sugar was done in all recruited children and serum bilirubin levels were done in all infants presented with jaundice. Based on this detailed clinical evaluation and relevant investigations, final diagnosis were made and therapies were given. These diagnosis and treatments were considered as the 'Gold Standard' for comparison.
Results: There were 300 young infants, of whom 162(54%) were male and 138(46%) were female infants. Total of 146 infants were admitted, 24 from OPD and 122 from Emergency. 154 infants were sent home after initial management in hospital. Severe jaundice was present in 24 infants according to IMNCI and 12 infants according to Gold Standard in 0-2 months of age. The predictive utility of algorithm for the diagnosis of severe jaundice with a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 75%, positive predictive value of 50% and negative predictive value of 100% in 0-2 months of age group.
Conclusion: Algorithm performed well in identifying severe jaundice with the sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 95%.


Objectives Human papillomavirus self-tests that can be used at home and returned by mail may increase cervical cancer screening rates. Growing evidence suggests that self-test methods could increase screening for high-risk and hard-to-reach populations. The purpose of this study was to identify which self-test device women prefer and why. Methods Four focus groups were conducted with 30 high-risk women in two rural and two urban counties in North Carolina. Women evaluated three self-test devices: the Pantarhei screener (a lavage that releases liquid into the vagina and re-collects fluid), the Qiagen cervical brush (a brush that women insert into the vagina and is turned around to collect cells) and the Fournier cervical self-sampling device (a tampon-like plastic wand). Results The majority of women reported that they would use the brush (70%), followed by the wand (67%) and the lavage (43%). Women from urban areas appeared to prefer the brush, whereas women from rural areas endorsed the wand. Women reported liking the lavage because it seemed easy to use; they liked the wand because of its inviting colour (green), and liked the brush because of its small size and familiarity. Women reported disliking the lavage because the liquid seemed messy and unsanitary, disliked the wand due to the 15–20 recommended turns, and disliked the brush because it was short and the tip seemed abrasive. Conclusions No one device was perfect, although suggestions for an optimal self-test most resembled the brush. These findings can be used to develop an optimal self-test collector for women.


One paradigm used in understanding the control of morphogenetic events is the concept of positional information, where sub-organismic components (such as cells) act in response to positional cues. It is important to determine what kinds of spatiotemporal patterns may be obtained by such a method, and what the characteristics of such a morphogenetic process might be. This paper presents a computer model of morphogenesis based on gene activity driven by interpreting a positional information field. In this model, the interactions of mutually regulating developmental genes are viewed as a map from R2 to R2, and are modeled by the complex number algebra. Functions in complex variables are used to simulate genetic interactions resulting in position-dependent differentiation. This is shown to be equivalent to computing modified Julia sets, and is seen to be sufficient to produce a very rich set of morphologies which are similar in appearance and several important characteristics to those of real organisms. The properties of this model can be used to study the potential role of fields and positional information as guiding factors in morphogenesis, as the model facilitates the study of static images, time-series (movies) and experimental alterations of the developmental process. It is thus shown that gene interactions can be modeled as a multi-dimensional algebra, and that only two interacting genes are sufficient for (i) complex pattern formation, (ii) chaotic differentiation behavior, and (iii) production of sharp edges from a continuous positional information field. This model is meant to elucidate the properties of the process of positional information-guided biomorphogenesis, not to serve as a simulation of any particular organism's development. Good quantitative data are not currently available on the interplay of gene products in morphogenesis. Thus, no attempt is made to link the images produced with actual pictures of any particular real organism. A brief introduction to top-down models and positional information is followed by the formal definition of the model. Then, the implications of the resulting morphologies to biological development are discussed, in terms of static shapes, parametrization studies, time series (movies made from individual frames), and behavior of the model in light of experimental perturbations. All figures (in grayscale), formulas and parameter values needed to re-create the figures and movies are included.


Objectives : The purpose of this article is to point out the way intelligence evolved in the last decades with the accent on the new threats or challenges it's faced with nowadays as well as to highlight it's importance in every matter concerning the states but also raising to the level of the entire international system through it's new ways of responding and operating in the informational era. Prior Work: Just as Michael Herman and Richard J. Aldrich pointed out in their works, it is well known that the future of intelligence should concern every actor provided that the more technology evolves it's role as well as the need for such structures are increasing. Approach : The main methods employed were documentation, observation, research and case study. Results: Conducting this study we learned that the problem is still actual as the discussions concerning a major issue intelligence is confronted with are still open. Implications : The study has implications in the academic groups because intelligence needs more and more specialists capable to face every situation no matter how unforeseen. Value: The present paper brings together different points of view concerning the matter but was also meant as an alarm signal for the readers.


Despite the growing body of research into older adults" use of technology and the Internet, little is
known about their motivations for taking up these products and services. The overall image that
emerges from the literature is negative: low self-efficacy beliefs, computer anxiety and usability
issues, which exacerbated by the decline of abilities that occurs naturally with ageing, prevent older
people from using unfamiliar interactive consumer products. However, there is evidence to suggest
that older adults want to be able to use new technology in order to feel included in society, and are
willing to invest in learning how to use them provided the expected outcomes are perceived as
obviously beneficial. This paper details a qualitative study designed to investigate what benefits older
adults expect to gain from the technological products they acquire and use. The Technology
Biography method was adapted and applied to participants in three age groups: 50-64, 65-75, and over
75 years old. The findings indicate greater acceptance of technology than expected from existing
studies. This work is discussed in the context of older adults" motivations to use technology, and how
their expectations and aspirations affect the uptake of these products.


We have previously shown that interleukin 1 (IL-1)-receptor-generated ceramide induces growth arrest in smooth muscle pericytes by activating an upstream kinase in the stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK) cascade. We now report the mechanism by which ceramide activates the SAPK signaling pathway in human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-293). We demonstrate that ceramide activation of protein kinase C ζ (PKCζ) mediates SAPK signal complex formation and subsequent growth suppression. Ceramide directly activates both immunoprecipitated and recombinant human PKCζ in vitro. Additionally, ceramide activates SAPK activity, which is blocked with a dominant-negative mutant of PKCζ. Co-immunoprecipitation studies reveal that ceramide induces the association of SAPK with PKCζ, but not with PKCε. In addition, ceramide treatment induces PKCζ association with phosphorylated SEK and MEKK1, elements of the SAPK signaling complex. The biological role of ceramide to induce cell cycle arrest is mimicked by overexpression of a constitutively active PKCζ. Together, these studies demonstrate that ceramide induces cell cycle arrest by enhancing the ability of PKCζ to form a signaling complex with MEKK1, SEK, and SAPK.


Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were conducted for 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium methylsulfate [EMIM][MeSO4] dissolved in six polar covalent molecules [acetic acid, acetone, chloroform, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), isopropyl alcohol, and methanol] to understand the free energies of ionic liquid (IL) ion pairing/aggregation in the limit of infinite dilution. Free energy landscapes or potentials of mean force (PMF) were computed using umbrella sampling and the weighted histogram analysis method. The PMF studies showed the strongest IL ion pairing in chloroform, and the strength of IL ion pairing decreases in the order of chloroform, acetone, propanol, acetic acid, DMSO, and methanol. In the limit of infinite dilution, the free energy curves for IL ion aggregation in co-solvents were characterized by two distinct minima [global (∼3.6 Å) and local (∼5.7 Å)], while free energy values at these minima differed significantly for IL in each co-solvent. The PMF studies were extended for determining the free energy of IL ion aggregation as a function of concentration of methanol. Studies showed that as the concentration of methanol increased, the free energy of ion aggregation decreased, suggesting greater ion pair stability, in agreement with previously reported MD clustering and radial distribution function data.


To study the expression of breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 (BRCA1) and Ki-67 in young patients with breast cancer and the clinical research significance, and discuss the pathology classification of breast cancer. And a total of 218 patients are investigated as experiment for clinical study. Patients with early clinical stages I and II breast cancer were recruited across the West Midlands, and were randomized to immediate postoperative radiotherapy or follow-up only, as results of the expression of BRCA1 in breast cancer tissue and clinical pathological indicators of positive are 6, 28, 5, while the expression of negative are 3, 34 and 21, respectively. And it was found that alcohol consumption did not increase the risk of breast cancer among women with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation. Increasing consumption of wine was associated with a modest reduction in the risk of breast cancer among women with a BRCA1 mutation.


Two-dimensional flow over bluff bodies is studied in the unsteady laminar flow regime using numerical simulations. In previous investigations, lift and drag forces have been studied over different cross-sectional shapes like circles, squares, and ellipses. We aim to extend the previous research by studying the variation of hydrodynamic forces as the shape of the body changes from a circular cylinder to a more streamlined or a bluffer body. The different body shapes are created by modifying the downstream circular arc of a circular cylinder into an ellipse, hence elongating or compressing the rear part of the body. The precise geometry of the body is quantified by defining a shape factor. Two distinct ranges of shape factors with fundamentally different behavior of lift and drag are identified. The geometry constituting the limit is where the rear part ellipse has a semi-minor axis of half the radius of the original circle, independent of the Reynolds number. On the other hand, the vortex shedding frequency decreases linearly over the whole range of shape factors. Furthermore, the variation of the forces and frequency with Reynolds number, and how the relations vary with the shape factor are reported.


We examine two dimensional properties of vortex shedding past elliptical cylinders through numerical simulations. Specifically, we investigate the vortex formation length in the Reynolds number regime 10 to 100 for elliptical bodies of aspect ratio in the range 0.4 to 1.4. Our computations reveal that in the steady flow regime, the change in the vortex length follows a linear profile with respect to the Reynolds number, while in the unsteady regime, the time averaged vortex length decreases in an exponential manner with increasing Reynolds number. The transition in profile is used to identify the critical Reynolds number which marks the bifurcation of the Karman vortex from steady symmetric to the unsteady, asymmetric configuration. Additionally, relationships between the vortex length and aspect ratio are also explored. The work presented here is an example of a module that can be used in a project based learning course on computational fluid dynamics.


The cross-linked polystyrene prepolymer was synthesized with divinylbenzene (DVB) as crosslinker via free-radical crosslinking copolymerization (FCC) and used as the matrix materials for E-glass fiber reinforced composites. The surface modification was performed by treatment of E-glass fiber with γ-methacryloylpropyl trimethoxysilane (MPS) solution. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to identify the functional groups on the surface modified glass fibers. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) of these composites revealed that the dynamic storage modulus (E′) was gradually enhanced with the increasing content of DVB (0~3.0 wt %) whereas the damping parameter (tanδ) peaks are lower and broader, indicating better load bearing capacity. Moreover, the Tg was shifted to higher temperature corresponding to the increasing of crosslinking density. Morphology of fracture surfaces for these composites showed different fiber-matrix interfacial adhesion which was mainly attributed to the variation of crosslinking network structure in the interface.


This article considers the tariff policy issues serving as the focus of economic discussions, since their solution has a profound effect on the opportunities of the country's economic development. The tariff policy problems impair the efficiency and competitiveness of national business and lower living standards. The government declares its readiness to limit the growth of tariffs, which, however, suggests "manual operation" and stopgap measures. The author emphasizes the need to reconsider the methodology and principles of public tariff policy.


[1] Patterns of ocean current variability are examined on the West Florida Shelf by a neural network analysis based on the self-organizing map (SOM), using time series of moored velocity data that span the interval October 1998–September 2001. Three characteristic spatial patterns are extracted in a 3 × 4 SOM array: spatially coherent southeastward and northwestward flow patterns with strong currents and a transition pattern of weak currents. On the synoptic weather timescale the variations of these patterns are coherent with the local winds. On the seasonal timescale the variations of the patterns are coherent with both the local winds and complementary sea surface temperature patterns. The currents are predominantly southeastward during fall–winter months (from October to March) and northwestward during summer months (from June to September). The spatial patterns extracted by the (nonlinear) SOM method are asymmetric, a feature that is not captured by the (linear) empirical orthogonal function method. Thus we find for the synoptic weather and longer timescales that (1) southeastward currents are generally stronger than northwestward currents, (2) the coastal jet axis is located further offshore for southeastward currents than for northwestward currents, and (3) the velocity vector rotations with depth are larger in shallower water when the currents are southeastward relative to when the currents are northwestward.


We thank Drs Tseng, Lam, and Davies for their interesting remarks concerning our article in the Archives. The difference in contamination rate (2-9% v 3-9%) is small and may not be significant when both groups are compared. The number of serum samples examined (5838 v 153) may be partially responsible for it. The cord blood samples were taken directly from the umbilical stump immediately after it was cut. Of the 157 cord blood samples with a IgA value higher than 32 3 ug/ml, 79 samples had a IgE concentration higher than 1 IU/ml (50%). In general the absolute IgE concentration tended also to be higher in the group with a high IgA. Only 30 samples had a concentration below 0-4 IU/ml (19% v 90% in the group with an IgA concentration below 32-3 ug/ml) and 14 samples had an IgE concentration below 0-2 IU/ml (8% v 72% in the group with a low IgA concentration). From this study it can be concluded that IgA concentration in the cord blood is a good marker for contamination with maternal blood. We do not have an exclusive answer on the last question. Methodological change in screening technique is most probably not responsible for the difference in incidence because the values that would make the difference lie near the cut off point. Figures 1 and 2 of our paper show that the normal values are clustered around the lower limit of the interval between 0-01 and 1 IU/ml. We do not think that a difference in detection methods could possibly make such a remarkable difference as 50%. Ethnic and environmental differences cannot be ruled out as causative mechanisms and could indeed be responsible for the lower incidence of raised cord blood IgE in Belgium.


Foreign language and culture learning suffers from a bad image in Danish Upper Secondary schools and German is not an exception. It means that the majority of Danish Upper Secondary school students are not particularly interested in learning the language. Therefore, intrinsic motivation plays a pivotal role in German language and culture learning in Denmark. One didactic initiative proposed to remedy the lack of intrinsic motivation is the introduction of various ICT (Information and Communication Technology) tools. This is the background for the research described in this article. Our study which was conducted on the basis of semi-structured focus group interviews with n=50 high school students and n=2 high school teachers shows that the ICT tools Photostory, MovieMaker and Voki indeed have an influence on students' perceived intrinsic motivation in connection with German language and culture learning. Depending on the nature of the tool, our thematic analysis indicates that such tools facilitate different aspects of perceived intrinsic motivation. Still, our study shows that the tools have a limited effect on perceived intrinsic motivation, unless they are addressed and used strategically in the proper pedagogical context.


Abstract. Projections from coarse-grid global circulation models are not suitable for regional estimates of water balance or trends of extreme precipitation and temperature, especially not in complex terrain. Thus, downscaling of global to regionally resolved projections is necessary to provide input to integrated water resources management approaches for river basins like the Upper Danube River Basin (UDRB) and the Upper Brahmaputra River Basin (UBRB). This paper discusses the application of the regional climate model COSMO-CLM as a dynamical downscaling tool. To provide accurate data the COSMO-CLM model output was post-processed by statistical means. This downscaling chain performs well in the baseline period 1971 to 2000. However, COSMO-CLM performs better in the UDRB than in the UBRB because of a longer application experience and a less complex climate in Europe. Different climate change scenarios were downscaled for the time period 1960–2100. The projections show an increase of temperature in both basins and for all seasons. The values are generally higher in the UBRB with the highest values occurring in the region of the Tibetan Plateau. Annual precipitation shows no substantial change. However, seasonal amounts show clear trends, for instance an increasing amount of spring precipitation in the UDRB. Again, the largest trends for different precipitation statistics are projected in the region of the Tibetan Plateau. Here, the projections show up to 50% longer dry periods in the months June to September with a simultaneous increase of about 10% for the maximum amount of precipitation on five consecutive days. For the Assam region in India, the projections also show an increase of 25% in the number of consecutive dry days during the monsoon season leading to prolonged monsoon breaks.


Searchable encryption provides an effective mechanism that achieves secure search over encrypted data. A popular application model of searchable encryption is that a data owner stores encrypted data to a server and the server can effectively perform keyword-based search over encrypted data according to a query trapdoor submitted by a data user, where the owner's data and the user's queries are kept secret in the server. Recently, many searchable encryptions have been proposed to achieve better security and performance, provide secure data updatable feature (dynamics), and search results verifiable capability (verifiability). However, most of the existing works endow the data user an unlimited search capacities and do not consider a data user's search permissions. In practical application, granting search privileges for data users is a very important measure to enforce data access control. In this paper, we propose an attribute-based searchable encryption scheme by leveraging the ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption technique. Our scheme allows the data owner to conduct a fine-grained search authorization for a data user. The main idea is that a data owner encrypts an index keyword under a specified access policy, if and only if, a data user's attributes satisfy the access policy, the data user can perform search over the encrypted index keyword. We provide the detailed correctness analyses, performance analyses, and security proofs for our scheme. The extensive experiments demonstrate that our proposed scheme outperforms the similar work CP-ABKS proposed by Zheng on many aspects.


The problems associated with drug abuse or diversion by anesthesia personnel in the operating room (OR), causative factors, effective mechanisms of control of abusable drugs in this area of the hospital, and the need for these systems to be cost effective for the smaller hospital are discussed. A system utilizing anesthetist/case specific drug kits that are dispensed by the pharmacy to the OR and then to individual anesthetists is presented. The system limits quantities of drugs available at one time to anesthesia personnel and provides for clear individual accounting for drugs and the rapid detection and reconciliation of discrepancies. The system demands modest increases in personnel expense and capital and consumable equipment costs. The authors conclude that the system described may provide for improved abusable drug control in the OR at costs reasonable for the smaller hospital.


Small intestines synthesize cholesterol to a greater extent than liver. Between starch-fed and sucrose-fed rats, using (14C) glucose, it was found that the synthesis of cholesterol by the jejunum of small intestines was greater in the sucrose-fed group than starch-fed group. By a novel experimental technique and using (14C) glucose, it was found that the contribution towards buffer representing lymph was greater in the sucrose-fed group (13.3%) than the controls (11%). Hypercholesterolemia on sucrose feeding may be at least partly due to contribution by the small intestines. Regarding alcohol, using (14C) glucose it was found that total synthesis of cholesterol by the small intestines was decreased in alcohol-fed rats. There was no difference in the cholesterol retained by the intestinal tissue between the controls and alcohol-fed animals while, the secretion towards buffer (lymph) was 9% as against 11. This indicates that there is contribution of cholesterol to blood from small intestines in alcohol-intake also but due to overall decrease in the intestinal synthesis of cholesterol, contribution of intestines to hypercholesterolemia may not be substantial as in the case of sucrose feeding. This is because in sucrose-feeding there is increased cholesterol synthesis.


The salinity tolerance of naturally occurring rhizobia, isolated from the root nodules of three leguminous plants, namely sesbania ( Sesbania sesban ), lablab ( Lablab purpureus ) and pigeonpea ( Cajanus cajan ), growing at a research farm in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) was studied. Eight isolates identified from colony morphology and gram staining reaction, when cultured on yeast extract-mannitol agar medium (YEMA) supplemented with different concentration of sodium chloride (NaCl), produced colonies even at salinities as high as 40 dS m -1 . The rhizobial isolates were also found to be effective in nodulating 21-day old seedlings grown in potting soil and irrigated with saline water of up to 12 dS m -1 after inoculation. The tolerance to high levels of salinity and the survival and persistence in severe and harsh desert conditions make these rhizobia highly valuable inoculums to improve productivity of the leguminous plants cultivated under extreme environments.


The advantages of local antibiotic administration - high local levels with low systemic toxicity - are nowadays recognized as an efficient way for anti-infection therapies consecutive to the orthopaedic implant surgery. Aimed at assessing the feasibility of using Hydroxyapatite as drugdelivery carrier in addition to its well-known bone reconstruction bioactivity, a pure HA ceramic with specific internal pore size and porosities was under our investigation. The antibiotic release and antibacterial effect were determined by UV spectrophotometry and disk agar diffusion assays after impregnation with different antibiotics and their release in different solvents. No differences were found after the ATB impregnation under normal pressure or under vacuum conditions. The influences of impregnation time on the duration of the ATB release and on the antibacterial efficiency were more evident for Vancomycin than for Ciprofloxacin and Gentamycin. In all cases, the ATBs penetrated micro-porous and meso-porous HA samples and showed significantly stronger and longer anti-bacterial effects than dense HA samples. The ATBs releases in PBS were relatively slower and the antibacterial effectiveness subsequently prolonged with respect to those in human plasma. All tested HA samples with or without ATB impregnation exhibited very good biocompatibility as shown by cell proliferation tests. It revealed a promising perspective for further improving the antibacterial efficiency by other surface functionalization methods for achieving a controllable drug delivery with antibiotic loaded HA.


Table olives are fermented vegetables very popular in the world and especially in the Mediterranean countries. Five main styles (Spanish or Sevillian, Castelvetrano, Siciliano, Californian, and Greek) are diffused to produce commercial products, beside several traditional styles. Although the main preparation methods of table olives are known for a long time, they are not yet optimized systems, and each of them is characterized by advantages and disadvantages. The use of NaOH for green olive debittering is responsible for the elimination of many aroma compounds and nutritionally important molecules. High volumes of heavily contaminated wastewaters are produced during olive processing. Spontaneous fermentation processes used to ferment black or green olives are difficult either to monitor or control. Microbial starters, selected for specific bio/technological and safety traits, can be useful to (i) improve the table olives organoleptic characteristics, (ii) control the fermentation process and significantly reduce the time to obtain a final product, (iii) monitor the correct evolution of the process, (iv) ensure the maintenance and/or improvement of nutritional and healthy features of the product, (v) protect table olives from undesired spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms, (vi) produce table olives as a carrier of microorganisms with probiotics characters, and (vii) enhance product stability and shelf life.


Background New strategies to eliminate dengue have been proposed that specifically target older Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the proportion of the vector population that is potentially capable of transmitting dengue viruses. Evaluation of these strategies will require accurate and high-throughput methods of predicting mosquito age. We previously developed an age prediction assay for individual Ae. aegypti females based on the transcriptional profiles of a selection of age responsive genes. Here we conducted field testing of the method on Ae. aegypti that were entirely uncaged and free to engage in natural behavior. Methodology/Principal Findings We produced "free-range" test specimens by releasing 8007 adult Ae. aegypti inside and around an isolated homestead in north Queensland, Australia, and recapturing females at two day intervals. We applied a TaqMan probe-based assay design that enabled high-throughput quantitative RT-PCR of four transcripts from three age-responsive genes and a reference gene. An age prediction model was calibrated on mosquitoes maintained in small sentinel cages, in which 68.8% of the variance in gene transcription measures was explained by age. The model was then used to predict the ages of the free-range females. The relationship between the predicted and actual ages achieved an R2 value of 0.62 for predictions of females up to 29 days old. Transcriptional profiles and age predictions were not affected by physiological variation associated with the blood feeding/egg development cycle and we show that the age grading method could be applied to differentiate between two populations of mosquitoes having a two-fold difference in mean life expectancy. Conclusions/Significance The transcriptional profiles of age responsive genes facilitated age estimates of near-wild Ae. aegypti females. Our age prediction assay for Ae. aegypti provides a useful tool for the evaluation of mosquito control interventions against dengue where mosquito survivorship or lifespan reduction are crucial to their success. The approximate cost of the method was US$7.50 per mosquito and 60 mosquitoes could be processed in 3 days. The assay is based on conserved genes and modified versions are likely to support similar investigations of several important mosquito and other disease vectors.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Our aim was to study the effect of the viscosity of enteral nutrient solutions on upper gut motility and gut hormone secretion.

METHODOLOGY
We used 5 beagle dogs equipped with strain gauge force transducers to measure upper gastrointestinal motility. Upper gut motility and gut hormone secretion were compared across 6 experimental conditions; control (oral solid meal), liquid-120, liquid-5 (liquid enteral nutrients administered for 120 and 5 min, respectively), low, middle, and high viscosity conditions.

RESULTS
The magnitude of receptive relaxation was decreased in the liquid-120 compared to control, but this decrease was reversed with the increase of viscosity. The duration of the postprandial contractions in the proximal jejunum was decreased in the liquid-5 compared to the control, but this decrease was reversed in the middle and high viscosity conditions (p < 0.05). Rapid increase in plasma concentrations of gastric inhibitory polypeptide observed in the liquid-5 compared to the control was reversed in the low, middle, and high viscosity conditions.

CONCLUSIONS
Although patterns of upper gut motility and gut hormone secretion after liquid enteral nutrients were considerably altered compared to those after solid meal ingestion, increasing the viscosity of liquid enteral nutrients reversed those altered patterns.


In January 2004, we organized the second SIGCSE Committee ("Expanding the Women-in-Computing Community"). Our annual Town Meeting provides dissemination of information concerning successful gender issues projects, along with group discussion and brainstorming, in order to create committee goals for the coming year. We select projects to highlight through listserv communication and through our connections with NCWIT, ABI, ACM-W, CRA-W, etc. This year we will highlight ACM-W Chapters and ACM-W Celebrations of Women in Computing.


We consider the problem of learning a neural network classifier. Under the information bottleneck (IB) principle, we associate with this classification problem a representation learning problem, which we call "IB learning". We show that IB learning is, in fact, equivalent to a special class of the quantization problem. The classical results in rate-distortion theory then suggest that IB learning can benefit from a "vector quantization" approach, namely, simultaneously learning the representations of multiple input objects. Such an approach assisted with some variational techniques, result in a novel learning framework, "Aggregated Learning", for classification with neural network models. In this framework, several objects are jointly classified by a single neural network. The effectiveness of this framework is verified through extensive experiments on standard image recognition and text classification tasks.


The aim of the current study was to investigate the impact of promoting health through talks and workshops, to students at schools and colleges. We believe that this would impact on designing a dynamic curriculum for training health/medical students in a higher education setting. Schools and colleges in the region were contacted with the prospect of offering free health promotion service by qualified academics from a higher education establishment. Questionnaires were distributed prior to the start of the talks and were collected at the end. The talks focussed on smoking, drug and alcohol abuse, healthy eating and STD's. The results showed that the interest, originality and impact factor were high for all talks. The comments obtained from students reflected the need for an external organisation to deliver such talks. The method of delivery and the content of the talks also contributed to the high interest factor. It is therefore essential that a health/medical curriculum should reflect the need for health professionals to work interprofessionally in order to help deliver effective health promotion programmes to schools and to the wider community.


Lumifold is a making workshop in which participants engage with specific mathematics related to elementary symmetries, iteration and translation. A glide reflection pattern is provided in pre-scored paper in order for participants to transform the two dimensional flat sheet into a three dimensional sphere or cylinder called the Lumiball or Lumitall. The geometric shapes constructed during the activity demonstrate contrasting physical properties of stability and flexibility. In their final state of construction, the shapes are illuminated with small LEDs to highlight the biomimetic nature of the forms and delight the makers.


Summary Although there is no need for routine coagulation monitoring with rivaroxaban – an oral, direct factor Xa inhibitor – a haemostasis assay might be valuable to measure its pharmacodynamic effects. This study aimed to find assays, among those commercially available, to measure rivaroxaban pharmacodynamics. Several global conventional clotting tests, as well as clotting or chromogenic assays to measure anti-factor Xa activity, were studied. A thrombin generation test using calibrated automated thrombogram was also done. Tests were performed with the indirect factor Xa inhibitor fondaparinux for comparison. A concentration-dependent prolongation of prothrombin time (PT), dilute PT, and activated partial thromboplastin time was observed with rivaroxaban. The results varied depending on the reagents. This variability cannot be standardised with the international normalised ratio system commonly used for vitamin K antagonists. Using a standard calibration curve, PT test results can be expressed in plasma concentrations of rivaroxaban rather than PT seconds or ratio. Standard methods for HepTest and two-step prothrombinase-induced clotting time (PiCT) resulted in a paradoxical response, with low concentrations of rivaroxaban reducing clotting times. This was not observed with shorter incubation times, or when antithrombin-deficient (immunodepleted) plasma was used. The chromogenic tests found a dose-dependent relationship between anti-factor Xa activity and rivaroxaban concentration. Modified specific factor Xa chromogenic assays are being further investigated. One-step PiCT and HepTest with shortened incubation times, as well as the widely available PT assay (using a rivaroxaban calibrator) could be useful to monitor the pharmacodynamic effects of rivaroxaban accurately. Finally, all clotting and chromogenic assays showed a concentration-dependent effect induced by rivaroxaban.


BACKGROUND
There is an increasing focus on improving the detection and management of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Data on CKD prevalence based on population sampling are now available, but there are few data about CKD patients attending nephrology services or how such services are organized.

AIM
To survey services for CKD patients nationally.

METHODS
A pre-piloted questionnaire was sent to all 72 renal units in the UK, referring to the situation in June 2004.

RESULTS
Seventy units (97%) responded. The median ratio of prevalent CKD patients/prevalent renal replacement therapy (RRT) patients in the 25 units with data was 3.7 (IQR 2.7-5.7) and the median ratio of CKD stage 4 and 5 patients/prevalent RRT patients was 0.6 (IQR 0.4-1.1). This gives an estimated 140 000 CKD patients under the care of UK nephrologists, with 23 000 at CKD stage 4 or 5 (excluding those on RRT). Very few units had a full complement of the recommended multi-skilled renal team. Counsellors and psychologist were the most common perceived shortages. Of 70 responding units, 50 (74%) were using low clearance clinics for management of advanced CKD patients. Elective dialysis access services often had long delays, with median waiting time for vascular access ranging between 1 and 36 weeks, and for Tenchkoff catheter, between 0 and 12 weeks.

DISCUSSION
CKD patients are a significant workload for UK nephrologists. Current provision of service is variable, and services need to be re-designed to cope with the expected future increase of referral of CKD patients.


The Ridge and Valley Province of eastern Tennessee is characterized by (1) substantial topographic relief, (2) folded and highly fractured rocks of various lithologies that have low primary permeability and porosity, and (3) a shallow residuum of medium permeability and high total porosity. Conceptual models of shallow groundwater flow and solute transport in this system have been developed but are difficult to evaluate using physical characterization or short-term tracer methods due to extreme spatial variability in hydraulic properties. In this paper we describe how chlorofluorocarbon 12, 3H, and 3He were used to infer groundwater flow and solute transport in saprolite and fractured rock near Oak Ridge, Tennessee. In the shallow residuum, fracture spacings are <0.05 m, suggesting that concentrations of these tracers in fractures and in the matrix have time to diffusionally equilibrate. The relatively smooth nature of tracer concentrations with depth in the residuum is consistent with this model and quantitatively suggests recharge fluxes of 0.2 to 0.4 m yr−1. In contrast, groundwater flow within the unweathered rock appears to be controlled by fractures with spacings of the order of 2 to 5 m, and diffusional equilibration of fractures and matrix has not occurred. For this reason, vertical fluid fluxes in the unweathered rock cannot be estimated from the tracer data.


A supercritical carbon dioxide (S-CO2) Brayton cycle has received attention as one of the future power conversion systems because of its high thermal efficiency at relatively low turbine inlet temperature. However, the design process of the S-CO2 compressor is known to be difficult because the fluid properties vary significantly near the critical point. This paper discusses about the design methodology of a S-CO2 compressor on the basis of the existing design practice and performance map of Sandia National Laboratory, which is the only reported experimental data for the S-CO2 compressor. Five parameters are mainly used for verifying the turbomachinery similarity. When all of 5 parameters coincide with the prototype and the conceptually designed turbomachinery, similar performance can be assumed.As a result, the data of SNL are insufficient to design a single stage compressor which is able to compress from near critical point to 20MPa. The optimum cycle pressure ratio is reported to be around 2.6∼2.7 in the previous S-CO2 Brayton cycle research works. The minimum number of stages is required at least two to utilize the existing data in the compressor design. So this study focuses on two main purposes. The first is to check whether the SNL data can be extended for the larger scale S-CO2 system. Second, the performance map obtained from KAIST_TMD, which is from an in-house code developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) research team, was compared to the SNL data, so that KAIST_TMD can be used as a design tool for a larger scale S-CO2 power conversion system in the future.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


The assessment of myocardial perfusion using dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) is a powerful tool for diagnosing myocardial ischaemia due to coronary heart disease, which affects nearly 2.7 million people in the UK and for which there is an effective treatment. Although visual analysis of DCE-MRI data performs well diagnostically, a quantitative estimate of myocardial blood flow (MBF) makes the diagnosis objective and could increase diagnostic performance. Obtaining MBF estimates from DCE-MRI data is a multi-step process requiring:

- the localisation of the myocardium and arterial input function (AIF) to generate signal intensity vs. time curves;
- the conversion of signal intensity data to contrast agent concentration values;
- the application of a perfusion model to generate a quantitative MBF estimate;
- the interpretation of MBF estimates to make a diagnostic assessment of myocardial ischaemia.

There are a range of approaches for solving each of these problems. The aim of the work presented in this thesis has been to provide clinically relevant evidence for choosing between these approaches. Myocardial localisation contour error tolerance levels are suggested based on simulations using a volunteer dataset. A non-linear signal intensity to contrast agent concentration conversion method is presented and tested using simulations and phantom data. An investigation into the best way to interpret quantitative MBF estimates is then presented. Finally a comparison of four, widely applied, perfusion models is conducted.

Where possible, methods have been compared on a sizeable patient dataset in terms of diagnostic performance rather than MBF estimate accuracy. This provides evidence suitable for informing clinical decisions on the best methodology for quantitative perfusion. Such evidence could contribute to a standard methodology for quantitative cardiac MR perfusion. This is necessary for large clinical trials, which are essential before quantitative MBF estimates can be accepted into routine clinical practice.


Background and Objectives: Polyvinyl siloxane impression materials, besides their excellent physical properties, have known to be variably hydrophobic, which has resulted in poor wettability and in an increased number of voids in gypsum casts. Disinfection procedures and surfactants have been known to affect the wettability of these impression materials. Hence, this study was conducted to evaluate the effects of various disinfectants and wetting agent on the wettability of various addition polymerised silicone impression materials and its correlation with void formation in dies. Method: Putty and light body consistencies of three different hydrophilic addition silicone impression materials namely Aquasil, Affinis and Express were selected. Sixty discs and 60 impressions of each material were made. The respective groups of samples were subjected to Cadicide and Cadidine disinfectant solutions and Aurofilm topical surfactant. The contact angle measurements were made using a Rame-Hart goniometer. Casts were examined using their magnified images on a computer screen and voids in the cross-hatched surface of the casts were counted and noted. The values of contact angle and number of voids obtained were tabulated and statistically analyzed by using ANOVA and t-test. Results: The results showed that the mean contact angle values and number of voids in gypsum casts of Aquasil and 3M Express impression materials increased on disinfection, but decreased on application of topical surfactant, whereas that of Affinis impression material was found to be relatively unchanged on disinfection, but decreased considerably on application of topical surfactant. A change in wettability as well as reduction in number of voids was found to be statistically significant on use of disinfectants and surfactant. Interpretation and conclusion: The wettability of the addition silicone impression materials is affected by disinfection and the application of a wetting agent improves their wettability. There is a positive correlation between the contact angle values and resultant number of voids in gypsum casts.


Nitrogen is a biogenic element, constituent of organic molecules that play vital functions for any cell [1]. Its origin comes from the mineralization of the organic matter, from the dissolution of sedimentary rocks and from the exchange with the gaseous nitrogen. An increase of organic matter from domestic, agricultural and industrial sources, raises the concentrations of nitrogen, that though it is an essential nutrient, in high concentrations generates harmful effects to the aquatic biota and therefore an ecosystem is unbalanced. In this article an analysis of the spatial variation of the forms of nitrogen: ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in the profile of the river Medellin is done, seeking to understand the phenomena associated with its transformations. In the same way, a temporary analysis from information gathered from the year 1973 of different physicochemical studies made in the river is done. Finally, the growth of population and the uses of the soil with the concentrations of nitrogen are correlated, trying to understand the concentration as a product of the interaction of the man with the nature and the processes of occupation of territory.


This paper examines the influence of local wisdom on academic environment in an Institution of higher education. The Sundanese values have been used as a case in point to examine how culture, scientific and religious values can influence educationwithin an academic society. In Sundanese culture, we find patterned intellectual and moral creativity which contains a system ofmoral values and norms as a form of etiquette, which are interrelated and adhere to tried and tested values, considered worthy, valuable and important and can function as a guide within an academic environment. In regard to this view, the present research attempts to establish: the values of Sundanese local wisdom believed-in and professed by Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia's academic society, in specific by the heads of study programmes and departments; the key values ofscientific, educative and religious behaviour actualised in UPI academic society; and the strengths and weaknesses of key Sundanese local values whichinfluence the level of actualisation of scientific, educative and religious behaviour of Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia. In conclusion, this study has established that Sundanese local valuesembraced by Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia's academic environment are characterised by nine indicators, which aremodeling, caring, discussion, providing guidance, putting the public interest first, gentleness, prioritising dialogue, friendliness and lovingness. Empirically, as a theoritical construct, actualisation of scientific behaviour by Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia's academic environment is characterised by five indicators, which are flexibilityand openness to scientific ideas, critical questioning, environmental sensitivity, curiosity and understanding and searching for evidence before accepting statements.


The period dealt with by this survey is from 1825 to 1908, those being the dates, respectively, of the first foundation of the Sunderland mechanics' Institutes and the end of the first phase of Sunderland technical college's development. The mechanics institute, which was declining by 1856, was succeeded, in 1855, by a navigation school which operated under south konoington regulations until 1864. That year, a science and art school, established in 1861, was closed, and another was opened in 1869. This last developed into a central school of art and science offering dry and evening courses, maintained a continuous existence for nearly forty years; and evolved into two major institutions for art and technical education respectively. From 1873 onwards the work of this school was supplemented by varying members of science and art evening classes provided mainly through private enterprises. The development of these institutions is traced in detail- with particular performance to such questions as the type of instruction given and by who, the subjects taken, contemporary view on technical education, methods of administration, and the status of teachers- against the background of nineteenth century economic development in Sunderland and in relation to development on the national scene. The local development dealt with show clearly the change of public opinion with regard to provision of technical education facilities that take place during periods. Such provision, during most of the nineteenth century was regarded as the concern of private enterprise, but by 1903, local authority provision dominated the field. The local administrative reorganisation which accepted this change of view is also dealt with. The survey concluded by driving general conclusions about such matters as the curriculum, the types and numbers of students, their motive for attendances, accuses of expansion and the aims of technical education during the period.


Agriculture in South Africa plays a minor role in terms of contribution to gross domestic product. Amongst others for this reason, agriculture is only reflected as a single production activity in the South African input-output tables. This may understate'the possibility that a large number of production activities depend on agriculture. For this purpose the term agribusiness is introduced. A special inputoutput table is presented with particular emphasis on agribusiness in South Africa. This input-output table is used to highlight the relative importance of agribusiness by means of simple linkage analysis. The results show that agribusiness is relatively more important in terms of backward linkages and employment multipliers. Finally, these results are discussed in the context of a possible agriculture-demand-led industrialisation strategy. The relevance of such a strategy for South Africa remains to be seen, although certain elements are supported by the results of the simple linkage analysis.


A great variety of substances are exposed to health workers every single day. Such substances have noxious actions on biological organs generating pictures of poisoning. Facing such a problem, this study aimed at identifying the Material Center workers perceptions at a general hospital in Ribeirao Preto, Sao Paulo having 12 nursing professionals/occupational, both sexes, aging between 23 to 55 years-old, as a sample. The used method was interviews through questionnaires. The data have showed that the workers have no knowledge regarding to the relation between exposure to chemical agents and its consequent health damage. According to these data it has been concluded that: (1) professionals adopt security behavior inadequately; (2) they find themselves demotivated; (3) there is lack of interaction and authority for preventive control measures fiscalization; (4) there are some failures in continued education process. Therefore, its the nurse's major responsibility as for scientific development, so that it can avoid evasive processes that generate profession no survival.


This paper presents a novel approach to perception of a specified environment for intelligent system or robotics applications in which high-level information must be extracted from multi-sensors data. A CdS and Fe/sub 3/O/sub 4/ material based multifunction sensor has been developed to measure temperature, humidity and brightness. The sensor focuses on the processing of the multifunctional information in a multilayer framework, which is more attractive in terms of system simplicity, performance, and compact structure. Further along, quantity creditability tactics (QCT), one multisensing data fusion method, is approached, with which quantities are sequentially aggregated to generate a general perception about the sensed environment. Different from the popular fusion strategies, the proposed algorithm also works in a step-by-step framework, and proves to be more practical and more effective when there are more variables for calculation.


Among the processes for producing hydrogen and oxygen from water via the use of solar energy, water splitting has the advantage of being carried out in onestep. According to thermodynamics, this process exhibits conversions of practical interest at very high temperatures and needs efficient separation systems in order to separate the reaction products, hydrogen and oxygen. In this conceptual work, the behavior of a membrane reactor that uses two membranes perm-selective to hydrogen and oxygen is investigated in the temperature range 2000–2500 °C of interest for coupling this device with solar receivers. The effect of the reaction pressure has been evaluated at 0.5 and 1 bar while the permeate pressure has been fixed at 100 Pa. As a first result, the use of the membrane perm-selective to oxygen in addition to the hydrogen one has improved significantly the reaction conversion that, for instance, at 0.5 bar and 2000 °C, moves from 9.8% up to 18.8%. Based on these critical data, a preliminary design of a membrane reactor consisting of a Ta tubular membrane separating the hydrogen and a hafnia camera separating the oxygen is presented: optimaloperating temperature of the reactor results in being around 2500 °C, a value making impracticable its coupling with solar receivers even in view of an optimistic development of this technology. The study has verified that at 2000 °C with a water feed flow rate of 1000 kg h−1 about 200 and 100 m3 h−1 of hydrogen and oxygen are produced. In this case, a surface of the hafnia membrane of the order of hundreds m2 is required: the design of such a membrane device may be feasible when considering special reactor configurations.


Recent years have seen a resurgence of separatist sentiments among national minorities in many industrial societies, including the United Kingdom. In 1997, the Scottish and Welsh both set up their own parliamentary bodies, while the tragic events in Northern Ireland continued to be a reminder of the Irish problem. These phenomena call into question widely accepted social theories which assume that ethnic attachments in a society will wane as industrialization proceeds. This book presents the social basis of ethnic identity, and examines changes in the strength of ethnic solidarity in the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. As well as being a case study, the work also has implications, as it suggests that the internal colonialism of the kind experienced in the British Isles has its analogues in the histories of other industrial societies. Hechter examines the unexpected persistence of ethnicity in the politics of industrial societies by focusing on the British Isles. Why do many of the inhabitants of Wales, Scotland and Ireland continue to maintain an ethnic identity opposed to England? Hechter explains the salience of ethnic identity by analyzing the relationships between England, the national core, and its periphery, the Celtic fringe, in the context of two alternative models of core-periphery relations in the industrial setting. The "diffusion" model suggests that intergroup contact leads to ethnic homogenization, and the "internal colonial" model, suggests such contact heightens distinctive ethnic identification. His findings lend support to the internal colonial model, and show that, although industrialization did contribute to a decline in interregional linguistic differences, it resulted neither in the cultural assimilation of Celtic lands, nor the development of regional economic equality. The study concludes that ethnic solidarity will inevitably emerge among groups which are relegated to inferior positions in a cultural division of labour.


The designs of microscopic toroidal-core inductors in integrated circuits of DC-to-DC voltage converters would be modified, according to a proposal, by filling the gaps in the cores with permanent magnets that would apply bias fluxes (see figure). The magnitudes and polarities of the bias fluxes would be tailored to counteract the DC fluxes generated by the DC components of the currents in the inductor windings, such that it would be possible to either reduce the sizes of the cores or increase the AC components of the currents in the cores without incurring adverse effects. Reducing the sizes of the cores could save significant amounts of space on integrated circuits because relative to other integrated-circuit components, microinductors occupy large areas - of the order of a square millimeter each. An important consideration in the design of such an inductor is preventing magnetic saturation of the core at current levels up to the maximum anticipated operating current. The requirement to prevent saturation, as well as other requirements and constraints upon the design of the core are expressed by several equations based on the traditional magnetic-circuit approximation. The equations involve the core and gap dimensions and the magnetic-property parameters of the core and magnet materials. The equations show that, other things remaining equal, as the maximum current is increased, one must increase the size of the core to prevent the flux density from rising to the saturation level. By using a permanent bias flux to oppose the flux generated by the DC component of the current, one would reduce the net DC component of flux in the core, making it possible to reduce the core size needed to prevent the total flux density (sum of DC and AC components) from rising to the saturation level. Alternatively, one could take advantage of the reduction of the net DC component of flux by increasing the allowable AC component of flux and the corresponding AC component of current. In either case, permanent-magnet material and the slant (if any) and thickness of the gap must be chosen according to the equations to obtain the required bias flux. In modifying the design of the inductor, one must ensure that the inductance is not altered. The simplest way to preserve the original value of inductance would be to leave the gap dimensions unchanged and fill the gap with a permanent- magnet material that, fortuitously, would produce just the required bias flux. A more generally applicable alternative would be to partly fill either the original gap or a slightly enlarged gap with a suitable permanent-magnet material (thereby leaving a small residual gap) so that the reluctance of the resulting magnetic circuit would yield the desired inductance.


In Order and Disorder: The Poor Clares between Foundation and Reform, Bert Roest provides an up-to-date and comprehensive history of the Poor Clares from their early beginnings until the sixteenth century.


This study examined the work practices of a project team that was engaged in the implementation of shared services at three tertiary level educational institutions in Barbados. Using Activity Theory as the underpinning theoretical framework, the researcher employed Development Work Research (DWR) and the Engestromian Change Labs to reveal the tensions and contradictions that occurred in the project team's work environment. The intent was to reframe their understanding of the work practices from the everyday to the scientific, and develop new work practices to generate organisational change. The study also explored the expansive transformation that took place during the intervention process. The aim of the study was to answer the following question: In what ways, if any, did changes in the work practices of a project team contribute to changes in the planning and implementation of shared services in three Barbadian educational institutions? The research found that there were ruptures and disturbances in the work environment. These were attributed to the historically bureaucratic practices of Government which impacted negatively on the project team by impeding the development of innovative practices. The DWR intervention resulted in the resolution of the contradictions and led to effective change and expansive learning in the staff as well as a change in the approach to the implementation strategies that were being used by the project team. The team was able through dialogue and debate in the Change Labs to create a new form of practice which involved a new communication strategy and model. The new practice was used to overcome the challenge of providing timely and effective communication with the stakeholder institutions with which they were working to implement the shared services.


Abstract. We present a carbon-cycle–climate modelling framework using model emulation, designed for integrated assessment modelling, which introduces a new emulator of the carbon cycle (GENIEem). We demonstrate that GENIEem successfully reproduces the CO2 concentrations of the Representative Concentration Pathways when forced with the corresponding CO2 emissions and non-CO2 forcing. To demonstrate its application as part of the integrated assessment framework, we use GENIEem along with an emulator of the climate (PLASIM-ENTSem) to evaluate global CO2 concentration levels and spatial temperature and precipitation response patterns resulting from CO2 emission scenarios. These scenarios are modelled using a macroeconometric model (E3MG) coupled to a model of technology substitution dynamics (FTT), and represent different emissions reduction policies applied solely in the electricity sector, without mitigation in the rest of the economy. The effect of cascading uncertainty is apparent, but despite uncertainties, it is clear that in all scenarios, global mean temperatures in excess of 2 °C above pre-industrial levels are projected by the end of the century. Our approach also highlights the regional temperature and precipitation patterns associated with the global mean temperature change occurring in these scenarios, enabling more robust impacts modelling and emphasizing the necessity of focusing on spatial patterns in addition to global mean temperature change.


Cerebral symptoms were registered in a multicenter study including 64 patients with severe hypertension, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) greater than or equal to 135 mmHg, and more or less pronounced hypertensive encephalopathy. The symptoms were: headache (70%), dizziness (35%), consciousness disturbances (28%), nausea (27%), paresis (23%), blurred vision (22%), paraesthesia (21%) and vomiting (14%). None had convulsions or coma. Initial treatment was furosemide i.v., and if DBP was greater than or equal to 125 mmHg after one hour, patients were randomized to treatment with either i.v. diazoxide (bolus injections of 75-150 mg) or i.m. dihydralazine (bolus injections of 6-12.5 mg). A gradual fall in blood pressure (BP) was obtained in all three groups. Along with BP reduction a substantial regression of neurological symptoms was registered. After 5 hours only minor cerebral symptoms were present without significant difference between diazoxide and dihydralazine. None developed cerebral complications. The study failed to show a significant correlation between BP reduction and regression of neurological symptoms graded semiquantitatively. Reduction of BP by titration using small repeated bolus injections is recommended, but oral treatment should be considered in the patients who are able to ingest peroral medication in spite of neurological symptoms.


We investigate numerically the use of a negative-permeability "perfect lens" for enhancing wireless power transfer between two current carrying coils. The negative permeability slab serves to focus the flux generated in the source coil to the receiver coil, thereby increasing the mutual inductive coupling between the coils. The numerical model is compared with an analytical theory that treats the coils as point dipoles separated by an infinite planar layer of magnetic material [Urzhumov et al., Phys. Rev. B 19, 8312 (2011)]. In the limit of vanishingly small radius of the coils, and large width of the metamaterial slab, the numerical simulations are in excellent agreement with the analytical model. Both the idealized analytical and realistic numerical models predict similar trends with respect to metamaterial loss and anisotropy. Applying the numerical models, we further analyze the impact of finite coil size and finite width of the slab. We find that, even for these less idealized geometries, the presence of the magnetic slab greatly enhances the coupling between the two coils, including cases where significant loss is present in the slab. We therefore conclude that the integration of a metamaterial slab into a wireless power transfer system holds promise for increasing the overall system performance.


We present a semi-supervised technique of object extraction for natural image matting. At first, we present a novel unsupervised graph-spectral algorithm for extraction of homogeneous regions in an image. We next derive a semi-supervised scheme from this unsupervised algorithm. In our method, it is sufficient for users to draw strokes only in one of object and background regions. The semi-supervised optimization problem is solved with an iterative method where memberships are propagated from strokes to their surroundings. We suggest a guideline for placement of strokes by exploiting the same iterative solution process in the unsupervised algorithm. We project the color vectors with the linear discriminant analysis to improve the color discriminability and speed up the convergence of the iterative method. Performance of the proposed method is examined for some images and the results are compared with other methods and ground truth mattes.


Surface remeshing is a key component in many geometry processing applications. However, existing high quality remeshing methods usually introduce approximation errors that are difficult to control, while error-driven approaches pay little attention to the meshing quality. Moreover, neither of those approaches can guarantee the minimal angle bound in resulting meshes. We propose a novel error-bounded surface remeshing approach that is based on minimal angle elimination. Our method employs a dynamic priority queue that first parameterize triangles who contain angles smaller than a user-specified threshold. Then, those small angles are eliminated by applying several local operators ingeniously. To control the geometric fidelity where local operators are applied, an efficient local error measure scheme is proposed and integrated in our remeshing framework. The initial results show that the proposed approach is able to bound the geometric fidelity strictly, while the minimal angles of the results can be eliminated to be up to 40 degrees.


The essays in this volume address the importance of Kovesi's work on moral philosophy and concept formation. The essays extend Kovesi's insights on moral philosophy into broader areas and compares and contrasts his work with that of key ancient and contemporary thinkers.


Background Creation of Fontan circulation helps establishing separating pulmonary and systemic circulation in patients born with anatomical/physiological single ventricle. These patients have significantly impaired exercise capacity, mainly due to limited augmentation of cardiac output, predominantly secondary to impaired venous return (pre-load). Studies have suggested that pulmonary vasodilator therapies improve cardiac output by augmenting venous return. Use of such vasodilator therapy is significantly sparse, as many of these patients are reported to have normal pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR). However, the normal range of PVR was defined only in those with subpulmonic ventricle and pulsatile pulmonary flow. Incorporating such an information into routine management of patients with Fontan circulation, who have passive venous filling and non-pulsatile flow is likely to mislead physicians, and delay appropriate therapy in many suitable candidate. We sought to evaluate observed PVR in this cohort. Materials and methods Retrospective review of data from a large tertiary adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) centre in the UK. Results From a cohort of 4454 patients with complex ACHD conditions, 154 had Fontan circulation; 70 patients with failing Fontan were investigated by cardiac catheterization. Thirty-four (48.6%) were male, mean age of 30.1±6.2 years (17–43), and mean body mass index of 24.1±5.3 kg/m2. Mean Fontan pressure was 16±4 mmHg (7–29), mean wedge capillary pressure was 11±3 mmHg (4–19), and mean trans-pulmonary gradient (TPG) was 5±3 mmHg (0–15). Mean cardiac output was 4.1±2.7 L/min and calculated PVR was 1.7±1.2 Wood units (0.25–5.3). Although cardiac output was well maintained, mean Fontan pressure significantly correlated with the mean capillary wedge pressure (p<0.0001) and PVR (p<0.0001). Rise in Fontan pressure was observed earlier than increase in PVR; however, 3/4th of patients with failing Fontan were noted to have normal PVR. Conclusions In patients with Fontan circulation, rise in PVR above the normal range was observed only after moderate rise in Fontan pressure. Such rise in PVR seems to be a very late phenomenon to occur. Acceptable range of PVR in patients with Fontan circulation should be re-defined, so that patients can be treated in a timely fashion. A large prospective trial or registry should be established to explore this subject further in details.Abstract 4 Figure 1 Mean fontan pressure, mmHg


We investigate techniques for general black-box mitigation of timing channels. The source of events is wrapped by a timing mitigator that delays output events so that they contain only a bounded amount of information. We introduce a general class of timing mitigators that can achieve any given bound on timing channel leakage, with a tradeoff in system performance. We show these mitigators compose well with other mechanisms for information flow control, and demonstrate they are effective against some known timing attacks.


While income inequality has become an increasingly central focal point for public policy debate and public law scholarship, systemic inequality and exclusion are produced not just by disparities in income but rather by more hidden and pernicious background rules that systematically disadvantage and subordinate constituencies. This paper focuses on a particularly crucial — and often underappreciated — site for the construction and contestation of systemic inequality and exclusion: the provision of, and terms of access to, basic necessities like water, housing, or healthcare. We can think of these necessities as "public goods" in a broader moral and political sense: these are foundational goods and services that make other forms of social, economic, or political activity possible, and thus carry a greater moral and political importance. This paper argues that the way in which we administer these essential public goods represents one of the major ways in which law and public policy constructs systemic forms of inequality and exclusion. Conversely, the paper also argues that promoting equality and inclusion requires a more inclusionary approach to the administration of these public goods.

In Part I the paper develops the central theoretical argument that the provision of and access to basic necessities constitutes a central vector for structural inequality and exclusion — and more broadly, for the moral ideals of inclusion, equality, and citizenship itself. The importance of these public goods makes communities subordinate and vulnerable to those actors that can exert control over these goods. This normative critique parallels historical efforts to secure greater economic and social citizenship in part by contesting the power of actors that control infrastructure, from the Progressive Era fights over public utilities to civil rights battles over public accommodations. Part II then identifies three specific patterns of structural exclusion produced through the maladministration of these public goods: bureaucratic exclusion, fragmentation, and privatization. These three strategies are more subtle than direct denial of access; they represent a kind of "second-order" exclusion operating through background rules of governance and administration. Part III then imagines what a more inclusionary governance regime built to prevent these more subtle forms of exclusion would look like. Here the paper identifies three particular strategies for inclusionary administration of public goods: expanded enforcement authority; greater governmental accountability; and direct public provision.

Finally, Part IV of the paper concludes by linking this exploration of structural inequality, exclusion, and public goods to broader debates in public law scholarship, including the recently renewed interest in legal scholarship on questions of political economy, power, and the administrative state.


I uncover a new force towards increasing dominance (the property whereby, in dynamic games, the leader tends to increase her lead in expected terms). The new effect results from the strategic choice of covariance in races. I assume that players must choose not the amount of resources to spend but how to allocate those resources. I show that the laggard has an incentive to chose a different path from the leader. In equilibrium, this results in the laggard choosing a less promising path, in effect trading off lower expected value for lower correlation with respect to the leader. This in turn leads to increasing dominance. In order to make the point as clear as possible and differentiate it from the forces previously characterized, I assume that no joint payoff (or efficiency) effect is present.


Aerobic granules were cultivated using pure oxygen aeration (POAG) in SBR for wastewater treatment under high organic loading condition (HOLC) to reveal its performance and potential causes. Compared to conventional granules and activated sludge, mature POAG with more compact and dense structure were formed in a shorter term using pure-oxygen aeration in SBR. The system shows high and stable COD and NH 4+ -N removal efficiencies with an average value of 91% and 84%, respectively, under HOLC. Adequate dissolved oxygen (DO) supplied by pure-oxygen aeration is the prerequisite explaining the elevated performance. POAG have more stable compact granular structure and elevated biomass than that of conventional biogranules and bioflocs under HOLC. High EPS content facilitate the formation of POAG and maintain its integrity and stability of spatial structure, which is in favor of biomass growth. Abundant catalase synthesized by its biomass ensure the ability to hydrolyze and mineralize organic substance under HOLC. A great deal of dehydrogenase secreted by POAG play a critical role in maintaining its metabolism under HOLC, which in turn enhance multiplication capacity of living organism in POAG and elevate removal performance of organic pollutants from wastewater.


The green anole, Anolis carolinensis, has long been an important model organism for studies of physiology and behaviour, and recently became the first reptile to have its genome sequenced. With a large and environmentally heterogeneous distribution, especially in relation to well-studied Antillean relatives, A. carolinensis is also emerging as an important organism for novel studies of geographical differentiation and adaptation. In the present study, we quantify the degree of morphological variation in this species and test for environmental correlates of this variation. We also examine adherence to Bergmann's and Allen's rule, two eco-geographical principles that have been well studied over large species ranges. We sampled from 14 populations across the distribution of the species in North America and measured 28 distinct morphological traits. We also collected a suite of environmental variables for each site, including those related to temperature, precipitation, and vegetation. Ultimately, we found a large degree of geographical variation in morphology, with head traits contributing the most to differences among populations. Morphological variation was correlated with variation in temperature, precipitation, and latitude across sites. We found no support for reverse Bergmann's rule typical of squamates, although we did find a trend of reverse Allen's rule. Ultimately, the present study provides a novel look at A. carolinensis and establishes it as a strong candidate for further studies of variation and adaptation over a large range.


The development of lupus pathogenesis results from the integration of susceptibility and resistance genes. We have used a chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) model to characterize a suppressive locus at the telomeric end of the NZM2410-derived Sle2 susceptibility locus, which we named Sle2c2. cGVHD is induced normally in Sle2c2-expressing mice, but it is not sustained. The analysis of mixed bone marrow chimeras revealed that cGVHD resistance was eliminated by non-B non-T hematopoietic cells expressing the B6 allele, suggesting that resistance is mediated by this same cell type. Furthermore, Sle2c2 expression was associated with an increased number and activation of the CD11b+ GR-1+ subset of granulocytes before and in the early stage of cGVHD induction. We have mapped the Sle2c2 critical interval to a 6-Mb region that contains the Cfs3r gene, which encodes for the G-CSFR, and its NZM2410 allele carries a nonsynonymous mutation. The G-CSFR–G-CSF pathway has been previously implicated in the regulation of GVHD, and our functional data on Sle2c2 suppression suggest a novel regulation of T cell-induced systemic autoimmunity through myeloid-derived suppressor cells. The validation of Csf3r as the causative gene for Sle2c2 and the further characterization of the Sle2c2 MDSCs promise to unveil new mechanisms by which lupus pathogenesis is regulated.


Background In vivo T2*-weighted 7 Tesla (7T) MRI can be used to visualise central veins in most MS lesions (Tallantyre et al 2008). The percentage of lesions with a visible central vein reliably distinguishes patients known to have MS from patients with microangiopathic white matter brain lesions (Tallantyre et al 2011). Objective To prospectively assess the predictive value of a single T2*-weighted 7T MRI scan, for patients that a Neurologist and Neuroradiologist could not diagnose without further paraclinical testing and follow-up. Patients and methods Currently 20 patients have been recruited. They were undiagnosed despite assessment by a consultant Neurologist and interpretation of conventional hospital MRI scanning by a consultant Neuroradiologist. Image acquisition and analysis (blinded to clinical data) was performed using methods previously described (Tallantyre et al 2011). Results Of the 20 patients studied, 18 have a diagnosis from their Neurologist. All 13 patients with an eventual diagnosis of demyelinating disease had central veins visible in >40% of brain lesions. All five patients with an eventual non-MS diagnosis had central veins visible in <40% of lesions. No patient with positive CSF oligoclonal bands had <40% of lesions with central veins. Conclusion In the current cohort T2*-weighted 7T MRI had 100% positive and negative predictive value for MS. Translation of this technique to clinically available 3T MRI scanners could overhaul future diagnostic algorithms.


SEMANTIC ANNOTATION is augmentation of data to facilitate automatic recognition of the underlying semantic structure. A common practice in this respect is labeling of documents with thesaurus classes for the sake of document classification and management. In the medical domain, for instance, there is a long-standing tradition in terminology maintenance and annotation/classification of documents using standard coding systems such as ICD, MeSH and the UMLS meta-thesaurus. Semantic annotation in a broader sense also addresses document structure (title, section, paragraph, etc.), linguistic structure (dependency, coordination, thematic role, co-reference, etc.), and so forth. In NLP, semantic annotation has been used in connection with machine-learning software trainable on annotated corpora for parsing, word-sense disambiguation, co-reference resolution, summarization, information extraction, and other tasks. A still unexplored but important potential of semantic annotation is that it can provide a common I/O format through which to integrate various component technologies in NLP and AI such as speech recognition, parsing, generation, inference, and so on.

INTELLIGENT CONTENT is semantically structured data that is used for a wide range of content-oriented applications such as classification, retrieval, extraction, translation, presentation, and question-answering, as the organization of such data provides machines with accurate semantic input to those technologies. Semantically annotated resources as described above are typical examples of intelligent content, whereas another major class includes electronic dictionaries and inter-lingual or knowledge-representation data. Some ongoing projects along these lines are GDA (Global Document Annotation), UNL (Universal Networking Language) and SHOE (Simple HTML Ontology Extension), all of which aim at motivating people to semantically organize electronic documents in machine-understandable formats, and at developing and spreading content-oriented application technologies aware of such formats. Along similar lines, MPEG-7 is a framework for semantically annotating audiovisual data for the sake of content-based retrieval and browsing, among others. Incorporation of linguistic annotation into MPEG-7 is in the agenda, because linguistic descriptions already constitute a main part of existing metadata. In short, semantic annotation is a central, basic technology for intelligent content, which in turn is a key notion in systematically coordinating various applications of semantic annotation. In the hope of fueling some of the developments mentioned above and thus promoting the linkage between basic researches and practical applications, the workshop invites researchers and practitioners from such fields as computational linguistics, document processing, terminology, information science, and multimedia content, among others, to discuss various aspects of semantic annotation and intelligent content in an interdisciplinary way.


Birds inhabiting urban areas have to cope with novel conditions. Unlike natural habitats, birds in urban environments are exposed to an increased human presence which often induces stress. Urban birds with reduced sensitivity to human disturbance can obtain benefits such as longer foraging time or decreased energy costs for escape. Here, I tested the hypothesis that the decrease in flight initiation distance (FID) to a potential predator (an approaching human) reflects adaptation to the level of disturbance expressed as pedestrian density. Moreover, I studied the Influence of habitat type and species on observed FIDs. I analysed 2117 flight distances (20 species of European birds) located in ten localities in Prague. I found that species and pedestrian density play a more important role in determining FIDs than the type of habitat. Moreover, urban populations exposed to increased pedestrian density had consistently shorter flight distances. This study provides empirical documentation of changes in anti-predator behaviour, which strongly correlate with the pedestrian density gradient. It could support the idea that the establishment of FID can be highly plastic process depending on local conditions, as it is highly affected by a bird's individuality and its ability to adapt to the local level of disturbance by learning.


Numerous structural analogues of 3-amino-4-hydroxy-omega-methylaminoacetophenone were tested for their effect on the multiplication of influenza virus (FM(1) strain) in embryonated eggs, infected via the allantoic cavity. Antiviral activity was found in omega-aminoacetophenones containing an amino and hydroxyl group in the aromatic nucleus in the ortho or para positions to each other. The most powerful antiviral activity was found in the series of omega-alkylamino-5-amino-2:4-dihydroxyacetophenones. Derivatives of acetophenone with other substituents in the aromatic nucleus or in the aliphatic chain were without activity. In vitro, several analogues inactive in the egg test, as well as those which were active, exerted a virucidal and to a lesser extent a haemagglutinin-destroying action. Antiviral action in the allantoic test could not be prevented or inhibited by simultaneous administration of reducing substances, or of some amino-acids or vitamins. No inhibition of virus multiplication occurred in embryonated eggs infected via the yolk sac, or in mice infected intranasally with FM(1) virus. The activity in the allantoic test could be explained by the virucidal action of the compounds on the virus present in the allantoic fluid. No satisfactory interpretation of the empirical relationship between chemical structure and antiviral activity could be found.