When countries compete for the location of a new multinational plant they need to be aware of the profit shifting opportunities this new plant creates for the global multinational firm. By modelling explicitly the multinational's intra-firm transactions, we show that the home market advantage that large countries have due to their size will be counteracted by such profit shifting opportunities. As a result of this, large countries will not be able to capitalize on their size and sustain high corporate taxes. We show that, on the basis of these profit shifting opportunities, a small country can easily win the location game ahead of a large country. How lenient the small country is in implementing transfer pricing regulations turns out to be an important variable in such location games.


Three kinds of particles which produced by the processing of bamboo flooring were taken as the raw materials and analyzed of chemical constituents. Cellulose crystallinity and the reactive oxygen species (ROS) free radicals produced from laccase-treated bamboo were examined by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Electron Spin Resonance (ESR), respectively. Physical and mechanical properties of laccase treated bamboo particle boards which made from surplus materials of bamboo flooring process were investigated. In order to provide some theoretical basis for producing particle board with the surplus materials of bamboo flooring process by using laccase, the relations between physical properties and chemical constituents, cellulose crystallinity or the ROS free radicals of bamboo particle boards were researched.


The rapid development of NMR spectroscopy has been characterized by a succession of discrete, significant advances in instrumentation, as well as by less dramatic but cumulatively important improvements in instrument performance, experimental techniques, spectral analysis, and theory. Most significant are the advances in magnet technology, which within 13 years increased the available field strengths from 7.04 to 51.7 kilogauss (with corresponding increase in the PMR frequency from 30 to 220 megahertz). Great improvements in spectrometer stability and in the coupling of spectrometers with on-line computers have so improved sensitivity that some nuclei possessing less favorable NMR characteristics can now be studied.


Questions we care about Entrepreneurship and thus entrepreneurship education need some fixing. In a time when entrepreneurship is infiltrating everyone and everywhere, we need to ask how this is done for better and not for worse. Many people in society do not find the stereotypic image of an entrepreneur fitting for them. How do we avoid them being alienated by a narrow version of entrepreneurship that simply is not for them? Could we offer tools and terminologies that can answer the question "Who am I?" in relation to entrepreneurship? This paper takes the stance that the stereotyped concepts of "entrepreneurship" and "entrepreneur" will not do the job. Therefore, faith is put into deepening our understanding of "being and becoming entrepreneurial". Top-cited research using the term"entrepreneurial" is reviewed. An interpretivist "from within" perspective is applied when answering the main question: How can the term "entrepreneurial" help in breaking away from narrow and stereotyped conceptions of entrepreneurship, without diluting an entrepreneurial identity into being almost anything for anyone? Approach Literature on stereotypes in entrepreneurship and on previous attempts to broaden entrepreneurship are reviewed, such as the concept "enterprise education" and a framework for entrepreneurial competencies. A systematic literature review on the use of the term "entrepreneurial" is conducted, reviewing 250 articles that use the term "entrepreneurial" in their title. The nine most common uses are reviewed more in-depth. 45 articles are reviewed in relation to what the authors mean when they use the term "entrepreneurial". In the analysis, an interpretivist perspective is applied to the identified meanings of "entrepreneurial", aiming to develop new answers to the question "Who am I?" in relation to entrepreneurship. Results 250 publications that have the word "entrepreneurial" in their title link the adjective to 99 nouns. Focus is simultaneously on many different aspects of being entrepreneurial. Unit of analysis varies considerably; individuals, teams, organizations, regions and nations. Also, most of the publications explore "entrepreneurial" phenomena as something happening to people or firms "out there" rather than as a more personalized entrepreneurial identity. The term "entrepreneurial" is found to be weakly claimed, making it more open for new understandings than "entrepreneur" or "entrepreneurship". Analysis of findings leads the authors to propose four cornerstones for a more emancipatory understanding of being entrepreneurial, presented as a framework of value-for-others, agency, novelty and learning to guide entrepreneurial people. Implications There is a strong potential in offering understandings and tools for being and becoming entrepreneurial that emancipates beyond a narrow view of entrepreneurship as economic value appropriation though new ventures. The proposed framework focuses on value creation and is societal (social, ecological and economic value creation in all kind of contexts). Value/Originality This paper, to our knowledge, offers a first systematic review of literature focusing on "entrepreneurial". It also presents a novel, easy to understand and useful framework for what it means to be "entrepreneurial".


The antiviral activity of phenyl-6-chloro-6-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyranoside (PCG) was studied. PCG specifically inhibited the growth of paramyxoviruses including Sendai, measles and Newcastle disease viruses in LLCMK2 cells at a concentration of 0.5 to 1.0 mM, but did not restrict the multiplication of other RNA viruses (influenza, vesicular stomatitis and polio viruses) at these concentrations. PCG might act in the late stage during virus replication of Sendai virus as it did not inhibit virus RNA and protein synthesis in the infected cells. Comparative studies on the biological properties of virus particles grown in the presence and absence of PCG demonstrated that treatment with it caused the formation of non-haemagglutinating particles.


Metabolic profiling studies have recently indicated dysfunctional mitochondria in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). This includes an impaired function of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC), possibly driven by serum factor(s), which leads to inadequate adenosine triphosphate generation and excessive lactate accumulation. A reminiscent energy blockade is likely to occur in primary biliary cholangitis (PBC), caused by anti-PDC autoantibodies, as recently proposed. PBC is associated with fatigue and post-exertional malaise, also signifying ME/CFS. We herein have investigated whether ME/CFS patients have autoreactive antibodies that could interfere with mitochondrial function. We found that only 1 of 161 examined ME/CFS patients was positive for anti-PDC, while all PBC patients (15/15) presented significant IgM, IgG, and IgA anti-PDC reactivity, as previously shown. None of fibromyalgia patients (0/14), multiple sclerosis patients (0/29), and healthy blood donors (0/44) controls showed reactivities. Anti-mitochondrial autoantibodies (inner and outer membrane) were negative in ME/CFS cohort. Anti-cardiolipin antibody levels in patients did not differ significantly from healthy blood donors. In conclusion, the impaired mitochondrial/metabolic dysfunction, observed in ME/CFS, cannot be explained by presence of circulating autoantibodies against the tested mitochondrial epitopes.


Although representation and accountability require one another in modern democracy, there are many possible tensions between them. Democratic theories tend to combine the two but in ways that are not always obvious, and, depending on the institutional properties of a political system, varied ways of combining representation with accountability can amount to significant differences in the practice and quality of democracy. The authors review those effects through the lens of the British and American traditions of representative government, and they also make their own attempt to bring greater conceptual order to an understanding of the relationship between representation and accountability in democratic politics. They show how representation and accountability are 'unsaturated' concepts, whose relationship one to another can only be properly understood through several further stages of specification. These must at least include specification of what kind of representation is thought desirable, of the major choices that need to be made in the design of any democratic polity, and of social and international contexts. The last point is of special relevance to the transposition of representation–accountability relationships to the EU.


Rubber materials have mostly been modeled by utilizing hyperelasticity, which have led to greater understanding and acceptable predictability of their stress-strain response. However, inherent inelastic behavior excluded by approximation has never been characterized by time-dependent parameters such as time, strain-rate, and strain history. We hypothesized that time, stretch rate, and stretch history were prominent factors that induce the inelasticity, and we characterized the inelasticity in terms of those factors using a randomized stretch-controlled testing protocol. We applied the custom randomized testing protocol with the fundamental statistical theory to characterize inelastic behavior imbedded in the high strain material. We hypothesized that time spent testing (T), rate-related stretch history (H t2 ), and long-term stretch history (H t1 ) give rise to the inelastic deviation from hyperelasticity. We examined the significance, effectiveness, and differences of T, H t2 , and H t1 by looking at the derived multivariable linear regression models. Distribution of prediction deviation was also examined to see if we missed any other significant variable. Predictability of the multivariable linear regression models was validated by utilizing the unused data from the randomized testing protocol and data from the conventional cyclic testing protocol. We found that the inelasticity of the rubber-like material is highly related to T, H t2 , and H t1 , but not equally influential to all stretches. At smaller deformations, greater inelastic deviation occurs. Inelasticity exponentially decreased over stretch and was nonlinearly related to time. This study successfully determined the elastic/inelastic responses and factors that induce the inelastic response of the rubber-like material. This investigation suggests a way to better describe the elastic/ inelastic properties and phenomenological models of rubber-like materials.


An outbreak of avian influenza in Indonesia was reported at the first time at the beginning of September 2003 causing high mortality among poultry population especially commercial layer chicken farms in Java, Sumatra and Bali islands. From the outbreaks highly pathogenic avian infuenza viruses have been isolated and characterized by rapid , HA, HI and AGP tests. However, these isolates are still needed to be further molecularly characterized. The aim of this study is to identify by further subtyping the avian viruses by means of RT-PCR using Matrix, H7 and H5 primers. The study reveals that the RT-PCR using Matrix primer amplified a 200-300 basepairs (bp) Jawa Timur isolates were collected from East Java, while Jawa Barat isolates were from West Java. The RT-PCR using H7 primers did not amplify any product, while H5 primer amplified a 500-600 bp product from the isolates. It is concluded that the outbreak of poultry disease in East and West Java was caused by an avian influenza H5 subtype. Key words: Identification, avian influenza virus, RT-PCR, H5 subtype


Issue: Since 2001, long before the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey has examined health coverage and consumers' experiences buying insurance and using health care. Goals: To examine long-term trends and to make comparisons before and after passage of health reform. Methods: Analysis of the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey, 2016. Findings and Conclusions: There have been dramatic improvements in people's ability to buy health plans on their own following the passage of the ACA. For adults with family incomes less than $48,500, uninsured rates dropped about 17 percentage points below their 2010 peak. Lower-income whites, blacks, and Latinos have experienced drops this large, though Latinos are uninsured at higher rates. Among working-age adults who had shopped for plans in the individual market and ACA marketplaces
over the prior three years, the percentage who reported it was very difficult to find affordable plans fell by nearly half from 2010, prior to the ACA reforms, to 2016. Coverage gains are helping working-age Americans get the care they need: the number of adults who reported problems getting needed health care and filling prescriptions because of costs fell from a high of 80 million in 2012 to an estimated 63 million in 2016.


This paper sutudies the role of debt in committing a seller not to trade at a low price. We consider a discrete-time finite-horizon buyer-seller relationship. The seller makes an upfront relationship-specific investment, which is financed with debt. Debt then is repaid gradually to mitigate the hold-up risk. Even though debt is renegotiable, under the assumption that with a small probability renegotiation may fail and may lead to inefficient liquidation, debt still can be used as a commitment device. We solve for renegotiation proof dynamic debt contracts that are optimal for the seller and show that debt is repaid over the entire course of the relationship with declining repayments. Copyright Blackwell Publishing 2004.


Antigenic relationships are defined by 2 criteria: distance and symmetry. Viruses within a subtype of influenza A are closely related, with the more junior antigens being superseded in time by senior ones. This phenomenon can be reproduced experimentally. Subtypes are distantly related to one another.Immunity to a junior virus is not readily transformed into immunity to a senior antigen given later (original antigenic sin), whereas senior viruses do not jeopardize the efficiency of junior vaccines given subsequently.It is proposed that future vaccines should contain senior mutants of a strain from the most recent epidemic (prospective vaccines), and no junior antigen.


Generative models of graph structure have applications in biology and social sciences. The state of the art is GraphRNN, which decomposes the graph generation process into a series of sequential steps. While effective for modest sizes, it loses its permutation invariance for larger graphs. Instead, we present a permutation invariant latent-variable generative model relying on graph embeddings to encode structure. Using tools from the random graph literature, our model is highly scalable to large graphs with likelihood evaluation and generation in $O(|V | + |E|)$.


This paper deals with design of crankshaft forging press for multi-cavity forging with maximal forging force in on of side cavities. As a tool was used optimization of structure, structural FEM analysis and geometrical modification of frame. Results are in more uniform stress distribution in whole structure of forging press. This design leads to optimized production and improved quality of final products. Forging press with this modification has higher durability and it has competitive advantage.


Twelve years have passed since the US mortgage and housing bubble served as a primary catalyst that plunged world economies into a global financial crisis. The bubble was fueled by the usual culprits: fraud, excessive risk, and lax standards, particularly in the non-agency mortgage universe. Underlying all of these factors was a systemic lack of transparency and quality reporting that prevented these issues from being reconciled and resolved. Since then, legislation has been imposed to regulate the mortgage industry, protect consumers from predatory lending practice, and rebuild the economy. Similarly, issuers have made substantial underwriting changes to prevent prior lending excesses. The improvements made, however, have not addressed the core issue, and legacy systems for accessing, managing, and analyzing loan data have remained largely untouched. Data are the basis of safe and critical decision making, but it continues to be inaccessible, costly, and unvalidated. To restore investor confidence, especially as COVID-19 proves to be a destructive force, the industry requires modernization; otherwise, it may never truly recover. TOPICS: Asset-backed securities (ABS), CLOs, CDOs, and other structured credit, fixed income and structured finance, MBS and residential mortgage loans Key Findings ▪ While substantial improvements have been made to underwriting and borrower verification, antiquated legacy systems and inefficient data-reporting processes remain fully intact, which stifles innovation, hinders transparency, and jeopardizes accountability. ▪ The legacy systems' lack of innovation proved incapable of quickly adapting to COVID-19-related performance reporting or increasing the availability of new mortgage data, which contributes to the sector's slow recovery in volume and investor participation. ▪ A broader investor base is critical in propelling the non-agency mortgage market back into prominence. To attract new entrants and welcome previously scarred participants, investor confidence must be restored through data integrity and modernizing sector infrastructure.


The laminated layer of the hydatid cyst of E. granulosus equinus grown in mice has a polysaccharide substrate, which is not glycogen, but which possesses 1,2 glycols. This periodate-reactive component is demonstrated at the ultrastructural level using the thiosemicarbazide-silver proteinate technique which is also positive in Golgi-derived vesicles in the cytons and within the superficial cytoplasm at the parasite tissue/laminated layer interface. A carboxyl-acid mucopolysaccharide, lacking uronic and sialic acid residues, is present and weak reactions for sulphated acid mucopolysaccharide are recorded. The equivocal evidence for the presence of a chitin-like substrate is discussed. The predominantly basic protein component of the laminated layer has histochemically identifiable SS groups which are only very weakly demonstrated at the cytochemical level. Arginine and tryptophan are recorded. Lipid levels are low, and divalent cations, possibly calcium, are present.


Diabetes mellitus is characterized by decreased insulin secretion and action. Decreased insulin secretion results from a reduction in pancreatic β-cell mass and function. Apoptosis, oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction and ER stress responses including JNK activation have been suggested as mechanisms of the changes of pancreatic β-cells in type 2 diabetes, however, the underlying causes were not clearly elucidated. Autophagy is an intracellular process that plays a crucial role in cellular homeostasis through degradation and recycling of organelles constitutively or in response to the environmental condition. We studied the role of autophagy in pancreatic β-cells using mice with β-cell-specific deletion of the Atg7 (autophagy-related 7) gene. Atg7-mutant mice showed increased apoptosis and decreased proliferation of β-cells with resultant reduction in β-cell mass. Pancreatic insulin content was decreased due to the decreased β-cell mass and reduced number of insulin granules. Morphological analysis of β-cells revealed accumulation of ubiquitinated proteins, swollen mitochondria, and distended ER. Insulin secretory function ex vivo was also impaired. As a result, autophagy-deficient mice showed hypoinsulinemia and hyperglycemia. These results suggest that autophagy is necessary to maintain structure, mass and function of pancreatic β-cells. Here we discuss the significance of autophagy in pancreatic β-cells with its potential relevance to the development of diabetes.


The presynaptic protein alpha-synuclein has been implicated in both neuronal plasticity and neurodegenerative disease, but its normal function remains unclear. We described the induction of an amphipathic alpha-helix at the N terminus (exons 2-4) of alpha-synuclein upon exposure to phospholipid vesicles, and hypothesized that lipid-binding might serve as a functional switch by stabilizing alpha-synuclein in an active (alpha-helical) conformation. Others have shown that alpha and beta-synucleins inhibit phospholipase D (PLD), an enzyme involved in lipid-mediated signaling cascades and vesicle trafficking. Here, we report that all three naturally occurring synuclein isoforms (alpha, beta, and gamma-synuclein) are similarly effective inhibitors of PLD2 in vitro, as is the Parkinson's disease-associated mutant A30P. The PD-associated mutant A53T, however, is a more potent inhibitor of PLD2 than is wild-type alpha-synuclein. We analyze mutations of the alpha-synuclein protein to identify critical determinants of human PLD2 inhibition in vitro. Deletion of residues 56-102 (exon 4) decreases PLD2 inhibition significantly; this activity of exon 4 may require adoption of an alpha-helical conformation, as mutations that disrupt alpha-helicity also abrogate inhibition. Deletion of C-terminal residues 130-140 (exon 6) completely abolishes inhibitory activity. In addition, PLD2 inhibition is blocked by phosphorylation at serine 129 or at tyrosine residues 125 and 136, or by mutations that mimic phosphorylation at these sites. We conclude that PLD2 inhibition by alpha-synuclein is mediated by a lipid-stabilized alpha-helical structure in exon 4 and also by residues within exon 6, and that this inhibition can be modulated by phosphorylation of specific residues in exons 5 and 6.


We introduce Train/Test-Time Adaptation with Retrieval (T3 AR), a method to adapt models both at train and test time by means of a retrieval module and a searchable pool of external samples. Before inference, T3AR adapts a given model to the downstream task using refined pseudo-labels and a self-supervised contrastive objective function whose noise distribution leverages retrieved real samples to improve feature adaptation on the target data manifold. The retrieval of real images is key to T3AR since it does not rely solely on synthetic data augmentations to compensate for the lack of adaptation data, as typically done by other adaptation algorithms. Furthermore, thanks to the retrieval module, our method gives the user or service provider the possibility to improve model adaptation on the downstream task by incorporating further relevant data or to fully remove samples that may no longer be available due to changes in user preference after deployment. First, we show that T3AR can be used at training time to improve downstream fine-grained classification over standard fine-tuning baselines, and the fewer the adaptation data the higher the relative improvement (up to 13%). Second, we apply T3ARfor test-time adaptation and show that exploiting a pool of external images at test-time leads to more robust representations over existing methods on DomainNet-126 and VISDA-C, especially when few adaptation data are available (up to 8%).


The Orai channel is characterized by voltage independence, low conductance and high Ca2+ selectivity and plays an important role in Ca2+ influx through the plasma membrane. How the channel is activated and promotes Ca2+ permeation are not well understood. Here, we report the crystal structure and cryo-electron microscopy reconstruction of a Drosophila melanogaster Orai mutant (P288L) channel that is constitutively active according to electrophysiology. The open state of the Orai channel showed a hexameric assembly in which six TM1 helices in the center form the ion-conducting pore, and six TM4 helices in the periphery form extended long helices. Orai channel activation requires conformational transduction from TM4 to TM1 and eventually causes the basic section of TM1 to twist outward. The wider pore on the cytosolic side aggregates anions to increase the potential gradient across the membrane and thus facilitate Ca2+ permeation. The open-state structure of the Orai channel offers insights into channel assembly, channel activation and Ca2+ permeation.


Digital Geometry Processing recently appeared (in the middle of the 90's) as a promising avenue to solve the geometric modeling problems encountered when manipulating surfaces represented by discrete elements (i.e. meshes). Since a mesh may be considered to be a sampling of a surface in other words a signal the DGP (digital signal processing) formalism was a natural theoretic background for this discipline (see e.g. [20]). In this discipline, discrete fairing [13] and mesh parameterization [9] have been two active research topics these last few years. In parallel with the evolution of this discipline, acquisition techniques have made huge advances, and todays meshes acquired from real objects by range-laser scanners are larger and larger (30 million triangles is now common). This causes difficulties when trying to apply DGP tools to these meshes. The kernel of a DGP algorithm is a numerical method, used either to solve a linear system, or to minimize a multivariate function. The Gauss-Seidel iteration and gradient descent methods used at the early ages of DGP do not scale-up when applied to huge meshes. In this presentation, our goal is to give a survey of classic and more recent numerical methods, to show how they can be applied to DGP problems, from a theoretic point of view down to implementation. We will focus on two different classes of DGP problems (mesh fairing and mesh parameterization), show solutions for linear problems, quadratic problems, and general non-linear problems, with and without constraint. In particular, we give a general formulation of quadratic problems with reduced degrees of freedom that can be used as a general framework to solve a wide class of DGP problems. Our method is implemented in the OpenNL library, freely available on the web. The presentation will be illustrated with live demos of the methods.


This paper describes an ongoing investigation into understanding the fatigue degradation of piezoceramic materials. The focus of this study is to evaluate large stresses developed between dissimilar oriented domains and their relationship to the nature and mechanics of crack initiation. An innovative specimen configuration is proposed to accelerate the fatigue test that typically takes months to perform. The specimens contain a notch separating polarized regions engineered at the macroscopic level. The specimens are electrically cycled under quasi-linear condition introducing local polarization reversal and domain wall motion. The notch is closely monitored for crack initiation and degradation of piezoelectric coefficients and permittivity is recorded. Results indicate that cracks develop in the material on both the macro and micro levels between dissimilar poled regions. It is believed that crack shielding of the electric field results in property degradation.


The cooling effectiveness of combustor transition pieces increases significantly in accordance with turbine temperature. In this issue, we create a scenario in which using three-dimensional computational to predict the performance of film cooling model with three rows holes and double chambers on the flat surface that the model could simulate the TP's structure and performance. Fluent, a commercial CFD software, is extensively used in the current work for numerical simulations. A comprehensive study is performed on the effect of coolant injection angles on film cooling. The the temperature distribution in the inner wall, cooling effectiveness, and the velocity distribution of coolant flow with different cases is compared. Analysis on flow injection orientations is beneficial to enhance the turbine inlet temperature and improve gas turbine efficiency.


Drought is a recurrent and often devastating threat to the welfare of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) where three-quarters of the arable land has less than 400 mm of annual rainfall, and the natural grazings, which support a majority of the 290 million ruminant livestock, have less than 200 mm. Its impact has been exacerbated in the last half century by the human population increasing yearly at over 3%, while livestock numbers have risen by 50% over the quinquennium. Virtually no scope exists for further expansion of rainfed farming and very little for irrigation, hence there is competition between mechanized cereal production and grazing in the low rainfall areas, and traditional nomadic systems of drought management through mobility are becoming difficult to maintain. Moreover droughts seem to be increasing in frequency, and their high social, economic, and environmental costs have led governments to intervene with various forms of assistance to farmers and herders, including distribution of subsidized animal feed, rescheduling of loans, investments in water development, and in animal health. In this paper we examine the nature and significance of these measures, both with respect to their immediate benefits and costs to the recipients and to governments, and to their longer term impact on poverty and the environment. We conclude that while they have been valuable in reducing catastrophic losses of livestock and thus alleviating poverty, especially in the low rainfall areas where they are the predominant source of income, continued dependence on these programs has sent inappropriate signals to farmers and herders, leading to moral hazards, unsustainable farming practices, and environmental degradation, while generally benefiting the affluent recipients most.


The chemical composition of the essential oil extracted by hydro-distillation using Clevenger apparatus from aerial parts of Thuja orientalis and Eucalyptus camaldulensis grown in Ondo State, Nigeria was analysed by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry technique. Toxicity of the essential oils using anti-feedant and filter paper methods on Callosobrochus maculatus was also carried out after 6 and 24 hours application. Antibacterial and antifungal activity against ten pathogens which are Escherichia coli, Salmonella paratyphi, Bacillus subtillis, Staphyclococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia, Streptococcus pneumonia as bacteria and Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus flavus, Candida tropicallis and Fusarium solari as fungal were carried out. The results of the GC-MS showed that twentythree compounds representing 93.73% of total oil of T. orientalis with α-pinene (32.93%), Δ-3- carene (20.43%), benzyl alcohol (8.69%), myrcene (8.18%), α-terpineol (6.01%) and limonene (5.02%) as the major components. Also, five components which constituted 97.37% of the total oil of E. camaldulensis were identified with 1,8- cineole (73.94%), Limonene (9.22%), Cymene (5.90%), Geraniol (5.20%) and α-pinene (3.11%). The results of the toxicity of the Essential oils showed that 100% mortality were recorded for antifeedant of both plants, except at 0.1mL/g concentration for T. orientalis which has 96.7% and that of filter paper ranged between 83 to 100% for T. orientalis and 70 to 100% for E. camaldulensis. T. orientalis showed inhibition against all the tested organisms in the order of Klebsiella pneumonia > Bacillus subtillis > Streptococcus pneumonia > Salmonella paratyphi > Escherichia coli for bacterial and Candida tropicalis > Aspergillus flavus > Aspergillus niger > Fusarium solari for fungus. The order of activity of E. camldulensis is staphylococcus aureus > Bacillus subtillis > Salmonella paratyphi > Streptococcus pneumonia and Fusarium solari > Candida tropicalis > Aspergillus flavus with Escherichia coli and Aspergillus niger showing resistance to the oil. Keywords : Essential oils, Thuja orientalis, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, toxicity, bioactivity, organism.


This was an international interdiscipinary conference, at which historians, geographers, zoologists and specialists in other disciplines from various universities and academic institutions in Russia and foreign countries met to examine issues of environmental history, the history of the reception and construction of natural resources and landscapes, the history of the study of climate and its influence on the history of Russia and neighbouring countries over the course of several centuries. A special focus was made on the presentation of materials which shed light on the role of natural factors in the history of studying and developing peripheral regions with complex climatic conditions, such as Siberia and the Russian North. In this regard, it was very important that the conference was connected with the name of the outstanding Russian scholar, zoologist and geographer, Academician of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, Alexander von Middendorf, who made an exceptional contribution to the study of Siberia and other outlying regions of the Russian Empire. The activities of Middendorff and his contemporaries demonstrated the importance of St. Petersburg as one of the centres of world science. Problems of studying and utilizing natural resources are listed among the most urgent for contemporary Russia. At the same time, the very understanding of natural resources is in need of conceptualization, including in a historical context. Understanding the historical implications of the "construction" of particular natural objects as resources, the peculiarities of the interrelationship between society and those resources, conceptions of how the significance of individual resources in the life of society changes in different periods, cannot be understood without historical research. The tasks of the conference were the following: studies of the historical bases and traditions of natural resource use in Russia; uncovering the roles of expert and local knowledge and the practices of natural resource use, destruction and changes in these traditions; analysis of the conceptualization of natural resources and natural forces of production in various historical periods of the functioning of the Russian state and among various social groups in Russian society; description and analysis of the circulation of knowledge about the environment of Russia in the Russian and international scientific space in various historical periods; revealing the features of the formation of images of nature in Russia and neighbouring territories; and also the perception of its landscapes, including urban landscapes; describing the contexts of how significant natural and cultural sites functioned in historical memory.


Abstract Secondary carbonate deposits (similar to speleothems) in urban undergrounds, have been recently highlighted as powerful archives for reconstruction of the historical anthropogenic imprint on the environment. The precise chronology of these secondary carbonate deposits is a key issue for the accurate time reconstruction of environmental conditions. We present three 14C data sets for urban speleothem-like deposits that developed in contrasted man made environments. The first one was sampled in an underground technical gallery of the Palace of Versailles (France), and the other two in a manhole (Saint-Martin spring) of a historical underground aqueduct in Paris (France). The comparison of these records with the bomb peak and relative chronology (laminae counting) allowed us to identify: i) fast carbon transfer from the atmosphere to the urban underground; ii) a high proportion of dead carbon and a high damping effect in relation to possible old carbon stored within urban soils and/or the influence of local fossil carbon burning. This study also shows that the lamination of these deposits is bi-annual in these highly urbanized sites.


Background: The tribes of India comprise approximately 8% of the total population of the country, which probably has the largest number of tribal communities in the world. In general, the tribal populations are the most underprivileged and undernourished people in India. Objective: This study was undertaken to investigate nutritional and health status of adult Lodha women and was compared to the women of the general population. Method: The present study was conducted on 240 women (Lodha-120; General community-120) having the age range of 18 to 45 years were randomly selected from different villages under Nayagram block in the district of Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal. The socioeconomic status was evaluated by questionnaire method. The body dimension, blood pressure and haematological parameters were measured by standard methods. Results: The results indicated that the Lodha women belong to poor socioeconomic group. The prevalence of undernutrition among the Lodha women was very high (80%) and the risk of undernutrition among the Lodha women was significantly and approximately eleven times higher than the women of general communities. Similar trend also noted in case of blood pressure. About 31.68% Lodha women were hypotensive. The prevalence of anaemia among the Lodha women was very high (91.67%) and approximately five times higher than the women of general communities. Lodha women have significantly higher WBC count than the general community. Conclusions: Poor economic condition, dietary deficiency, poor dietary patterns, poor sanitary conditions and unequal food sharing in the families may be causative factors for undernutrition and anaemia in Lodha community. Keywords: Undernutrition, Hypotension, Anaemia, Tribal Population, Lodha


This paper explains how the World Trade Organization ('WTO') dispute settlement system can cope with ongoing sociocultural globalization and the changing role of state sovereignty. These evolutions have influenced our understanding of the legitimacy of international organizations. In this context, the WTO receives heavy criticism for its democratic deficit. State consent no longer suffices to legitimize its actions. The democratic deficit is especially high with respect to the WTO dispute settlement system, which is increasingly pushed to engage in judicial activism and to rule on non-trade issues.The paper first argues that the traditional economic goals of the WTO no longer suffice. The paper proposes a new dual goal for WTO dispute settlement, coined 'legitimate economic efficiency.' The WTO dispute settlement system should increase its own legitimacy, and, at the same time, seek to overcome collective action problems in international economic relations, but only when doing so is efficient.Next, the paper offers a theory for WTO dispute settlement, based on three principles that implement the dual goal: (i) legitimacy, (ii) efficiency, and (iii) subsidiarity. Specific sets of tools are proposed to operationalize these principles.The paper proceeds to show in how these tools are reconcilable with the current legal framework, thereby avoiding the unrealistic pre-requisite of amending the WTO agreements, and how political, institutional and financial hurdles may be addressed.Finally, a case study of the EC – Seal Products dispute shows how the WTO dispute settlers may already be applying some of the tools and principles in their current practice, and how that practice can quite easily be improved in order to better pursue legitimate economic efficiency.


CONTEXT
Vasopressin mediates fluid retention in heart failure. Tolvaptan, a vasopressin V2 receptor blocker, shows promise for management of heart failure.

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effects of tolvaptan initiated in patients hospitalized with heart failure.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
The Efficacy of Vasopressin Antagonism in Heart Failure Outcome Study With Tolvaptan (EVEREST), an event-driven, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. The outcome trial comprised 4133 patients within 2 short-term clinical status studies, who were hospitalized with heart failure, randomized at 359 North American, South American, and European sites between October 7, 2003, and February 3, 2006, and followed up during long-term treatment.

INTERVENTION
Within 48 hours of admission, patients were randomly assigned to receive oral tolvaptan, 30 mg once per day (n = 2072), or placebo (n = 2061) for a minimum of 60 days, in addition to standard therapy.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Dual primary end points were all-cause mortality (superiority and noninferiority) and cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure (superiority only). Secondary end points included changes in dyspnea, body weight, and edema.

RESULTS
During a median follow-up of 9.9 months, 537 patients (25.9%) in the tolvaptan group and 543 (26.3%) in the placebo group died (hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.87-1.11; P = .68). The upper confidence limit for the mortality difference was within the prespecified noninferiority margin of 1.25 (P<.001). The composite of cardiovascular death or hospitalization for heart failure occurred in 871 tolvaptan group patients (42.0%) and 829 placebo group patients (40.2%; hazard ratio, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.95-1.14; P = .55). Secondary end points of cardiovascular mortality, cardiovascular death or hospitalization, and worsening heart failure were also not different. Tolvaptan significantly improved secondary end points of day 1 patient-assessed dyspnea, day 1 body weight, and day 7 edema. In patients with hyponatremia, serum sodium levels significantly increased. The Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire overall summary score was not improved at outpatient week 1, but body weight and serum sodium effects persisted long after discharge. Tolvaptan caused increased thirst and dry mouth, but frequencies of major adverse events were similar in the 2 groups.

CONCLUSION
Tolvaptan initiated for acute treatment of patients hospitalized with heart failure had no effect on long-term mortality or heart failure-related morbidity.

TRIAL REGISTRATION
clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00071331


This paper examines a tax/subsidy on hunters based on game population. The tax/subsidy is the difference between actual and optimal population multiplied by an individual, variable tax rate. The tax rate is, among other things, based on the difference between the marginal value of the game population to the hunter and the regulator and differences in user costs of the population. The paper shows that the population tax/subsidy secures a first-best optimum.


In order to improve the wear resistance of drill tools, stellite190 welding coatings were prepared by oxygen-acetylene flame welding technology. The abrasive wear behavior and wear mechanisms of the coatings were investigated in both dry and water friction conditions. The research results show that the wear losses of the coatings increase with the increase of loads and sliding speeds. The effects of sliding speeds on wear losses of the coatings become intense with the increase of loads. The wear losses of the coatings in water friction condition are bigger than those in dry friction condition. The main wear mechanisms of the coatings are micro-cutting and multi-plastic deformation wear in dry friction condition, and accompanied by stress corrosive wear in water friction condition.


Abstract : The relative position determination of a cluster of satellites in near circular orbit was investigated in previous thesis work. The purpose of this thesis is to extend the concept to cover absolute position determination. A Bayes filter is used for the estimator with dynamics based on the two-body problem extended to account for J2 perturbations. Measurements consist of combining Global Positioning System (GPS) data for each satellite and range data between the satellites. Simulations were conducted investigating the accuracy obtainable when combining the measurements for input into the filter. Performance results consist of comparing the magnitude of the time error to the filter covariance as a function of time. True errors are also compared to minimum accuracy requirements for a space-based radar. The filter encountered numerical difficulties due to the extreme accuracy requirements and proved unsuccessful in providing usable estimates. The results suggest separating the absolute and relative problems.


t he relevance of immune-endocrine interactions to the regulation of ovarian steroidogenesis in teleost is virtually unexplored. however, it is known that, as part of the innate immune response during infection, a number of cytok- ines and other immune factors are produced and act on the reproductive system. in the present study, we have studied the effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration in preovulatory females and have observed a significant advance in the timing of ovulation coupled with a lower survival of the resulting embryos. Furthermore, we have investigated the effects of recombinant brook trout tnFα, as a potential mediator of the effects of on granulosa cell viability, gene expression in follicular layers and steroid production. our results suggest that tnFα decreases granulosa cell viability and stimulates the expression of genes known to be involved in the normal ovulatory process in trout. tnFα also stimulates testosterone production by theca layers. in view of these results, we propose that a pathogen-induced activation of the immune system prior to ovulation could increase tnFα-mediated apoptosis in the trout ovary, advance ovulation and result in a potentially important decrease in egg quality.


Coccolithophores are a unique group of phytoplankton that produce calcium carbonate coccoliths. The production of coccoliths can potentially reduce the carbon sink effect associated with phytoplankton photosynthesis. However, this may be offset by a coccolith 'ballast' effect that increases particulate organic carbon export efficiency. During a coccolithophore bloom, large quantities of coccoliths are shed into the water column. The unique light scattering properties of calcium carbonate particles of ~2 ?m in size (the size of an Emiliania huxleyi coccolith) have previously been used to develop an algorithm that enables estimates of particulate inorganic carbon (PIC) concentration to be made from space. Here, these satellite derived PIC data have been used to generate a unique set of phonological characteristics, such as start date, peak date and bloom magnitude, for global coccolithophore blooms. A comparison of similar timings generated from chlorophyll data indicates that, contrary to conventional thinking, blooms of coccolithophores can co-?occur with other phytoplankton taxa. An assessment of the environmental conditions associated with coccolithophore blooms suggests that current understanding of coccolithophore bloom characteristics may be associated with the peak of the bloom and that conditions at the start of the bloom can be significantly different (i.e. deep mixed layers, moderate light levels and elevated silicic acid concentrations). A global PIC inventory of 29.0 ± 4.3 MT C was determined from satellite derived PIC and mixed layer depth data. The Great Calcite Belt and tropical Pacific were found to be regions that make a significant contribution to this budget. The data produced in this thesis provide the first multi-?year, global overview of coccolithophores and offer a novel means of monitoring coccolithophore populations over the long-term, global scales needed to identify the possible influences of climate change .


study of grounding systems in various types of layered soils has been the subject of considerable attention in the past decades. However, there is a class of grounding problems that has not been studied as much but that is crucial for the investigation of a range of practical problems that cannot be approximated by a layered soil structure. This type of problems involves grounding systems that are either close to, partially immersed in or totally immersed in one or several finite volumes of soil materials that have resistivity values quite different from that of the bulk volume of surrounding soil (native soil). This paper focuses on this class of problems by describing and discussing the computed results that pertain to a number of typical grounding scenarios and by comparing them to some known limiting case solutions.


Modern Japanese Law Series This new series has been established to provide scholars and practitioners with a library of books which deal with contemporary issues in Japanese law, particularly in areas of law which are of importance to the international business community. It will include books on Japanese labour law, the Law of Civil Procedure, Securities Regulation, and environmental law. Two volumes containing accurate and up-to-date translations of all the major Japanese Codes (Civil and Criminal) are planned for 1994. This book analyses the means by which the Japanese government regulates business activity, principally through the use of competition or anti-monopoly laws. These laws operate both within Japan and, to a lesser extent, beyond. The book also looks at legal aspects of industrial policy as well as the legal framework of foreign trade and investment in Japan. As such it goes to the very heart of industrial and commercial life in Japan, and will be of interest to all those who are involved in doing business with Japan, as well as to their legal and financial advisers.


As the worldwide demand for energy increases, low-cost solar cells are being looked to as a solution for the future. To attain this, non-toxic earth-abundant materials are crucial, however cell efficiencies for current materials are limited in many cases. In this article, we examine the two silver copper sulfides AgCuS and Ag3CuS2 as possible solar absorbers using hybrid density functional theory, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, XPS and Hall effect measurements. We show that both compounds demonstrate promising electronic structures and band gaps for high theoretical efficiency solar cells, based on Shockley–Queisser limits. Detailed analysis of their optical properties, however, indicates that only AgCuS should be of interest for PV applications, with a high theoretical efficiency. From this, we also calculate the band alignment of AgCuS against various buffer layers to aid in future device construction.


In this work, the resistance switching characteristics of Al-doped HfO2 thin films were investigated with by systematically varying the Al concentration and analyzing of the microstructure and the chemical bonding states. TiN/Al-doped HfO2/Pt metal-insulator-metal stacks were fabricated with various Al concentrations of up to 16.8% by using reactive DC magnetron co-sputtering. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy measurement showed that HfO2 doped with more than 10.4% Al had an amorphous structure, while HfO2 doped with Al of less than 5.6% had a crystalline structure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that the concentration of non-lattice oxygen in Aldoped HfO2 films increased with increasing Al up to 5.6% and was saturated for Al concentrations above 5.6%. TiN/Al-doped HfO2/Pt stacks showed typical bipolar resistance switching characteristics. HfO2 doped with Al = 5.6% showed the smallest grains and the smallest uniformity in the forming electric field and the SET/RESET resistance distribution. We conclude that the grain boundaries play a more important role than point defects such as non-lattice oxygen in the resistance switching.


Increasing aridity, more frequent and intense drought, and greater degrees of water scarcity create unique challenges for agriculture. In response to these challenges, which often manifest themselves in the form of lower and more variable surface water supplies as well as depleted and degraded ground water supplies, growers are apt to seek out opportunities to adapt. One option confronting growers to reduce their exposure to water scarcity and heightened uncertainty is to diversify. Indeed, having access to a portfolio of supplies is one way in which water and irrigation districts as well as individual growers are responding to the changing landscape of water resource availability. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the benefits to irrigated agriculture from having access to multiple water supply sources, i.e., a water portfolio. With farm-level information on approximately 2000 agricultural parcels across California, we use the hedonic property value method to investigate the extent growers' benefit from having access to multiple sources of water (i.e., a water portfolio). Our results suggest that while lower quality waters, less reliable water, and less water all negatively impact agricultural land values, holding a water portfolio has a positive impact on land values through its role in mitigating the negative aspects of these factors and reducing the sensitivity of agriculture to climate-related factors. From a policy perspective, such results identify a valuable adaptation tool that water and irrigation districts may consider to help offset the negative impacts of climate change, drought, and population increases on water supply availability and reliability.


5. Manuscripts reporting clinical studies should, where appropriate, contain a statement that they have been carried out with ethical committee approval. 6. Manuscript should have signature of the first author and unit head. The following documents are required for each submission: (Font: Times New Roman) • Title Page (Font size: 12) • Title of manuscript (Font size: 16) • Summary and


Abstract Pickeringia, a monotypic genus of the Leguminosae endemic to the xerophytic sclerophyllous chaparral vegetation of the California Floristic Province, has been considered a "relict" of legume diversity in the North American flora and an example of the classic "paleoendemics" in the flora of California. Evidence is presented for the phylogenetic relationships of this genus, inferred from nucleotide sequence variation in the internal transcribed spacers of nuclear ribosomal DNA and the plastid matK gene. Phylogenies derived from maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses both strongly support a close relationship of Pickeringia to the temperate to subtropical, deciduous genera Cladrastis and Styphnolobium of tribe Sophoreae consistent with morphological and cytogenetic evidence rather than to members of tribe Thermopsideae where the genus has been treated taxonomically. Cladrastis is resolved as paraphyletic while Styphnolobium is strongly supported as a monophyletic group. These results, plus an estimated age of -31 million years for the genus, further substantiate the hypothesis that Pickeringia is geographically isolated in the flora of western North America, an old and phylogenetically distinct lineage of an early diverging group of papilionoid legumes that were much more widely distributed throughout temperate North America and Asia during the Tertiary but whose modern relatives are restricted to southern North America, Central America, and eastern Asia. These findings have implications not only for the evolutionary history of Pickeringia but also for the age and development of chaparral vegetation in the Californian flora.


Metastatic tumor progression to the pericardium is generally characterized by pericardial effusion with or without tamponade. It is extremely rare for tumor to metastasize to the pericardium and cause constrictive pericarditis and tamponade physiology. We report a case of metastatic malignant mesothelioma admitted to our facility for acute hypoxic respiratory failure and cardiogenic shock due to extensive pericardial metastasis and trapped heart. This was confirmed during post-mortem evaluation, which showed malignant mesothelioma involving the anterior mediastinum and partially encasing the heart and the root of the aorta in addition to fibrous pericarditis and pericardial adhesion. J Med Cases. 2017;8(2):58-60 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jmc2739w


While subspace clustering emerged as an application of pattern mining and some of its early advances have probably been inspired by developments in pattern mining, over the years both fields progressed rather independently. In this paper, we identify a number of recent developments in pattern mining that are likely to be applicable to alleviate or solve current problems in subspace clustering and vice versa.


Probiotics are microorganisms that are
believed to provide health benefits when consumed. The term probiotic is
currently used to name ingested microorganisms associated with benefits for
humans and animals. The term came into more common use after 1980. The
introduction of the concept is generally attributed to Nobel laureate elie
Metchnikoff, who postulated that yogurt-consuming Bulgarian peasants lived
longer lives because of this custom. He suggested in 1907 that "the dependence
of the intestinal microbes on the food makes it possible to adopt measures to
modify the flora in our bodies and to replace the harmful microbes by useful
microbes". A significant expansion of the potential market for probiotics has
led to higher requirements for scientific substantiation of putative benefits
conferred by the microorganisms.

 In the present book, fourteen typical
literatures about screening of breast cancer published on international
authoritative journals were selected to introduce the worldwide newest
progress, which contains reviews or original researches on medical science,
bacteriology, microbiology, digestive system, probiotics, ect. We hope this
book can demonstrate advances in Probiotic Bacteria as well as give
references to the researchers, students and other related people.


The objective of this study is to evaluate effectiveness of botulinum toxin injection in treatment of benign essential blepharospasm. It is a prospective interventional study conducted in Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital within the period of June 2018 to May 2020. In this study 102 patients, suffering from benign essential blepharospasm, were included. After taking standard precaution, botulinum toxin injection was injected at 5 to 6 sites of each eye with 2.5 units per site. Patients were followed up routinely on the following day, after 7 day, then after 1 month and 3 months. 65.68% patients are of 50 years or more with mean age 54.91 years. 35.29% patients are male and 64.70% are female. 62.74% patient had bilateral blepharospasm while 37.25% patient presented with unilateral symptoms. Useful effect of injection appeared within 48 hours in all patients. According to Blepharospasm disability index, 13.72% patient had minor blepharospasm (mean BSDI score 1to 2), 34.31% patient had moderate (mean BSDI score >2 to 3) and 51.96% patient had severe blepharospasm (>3 to 4). Baseline mean BSDI score before injection of 102 patients was 2.62. 7 days after injection, the score reduced to 1.46 and after 1month, score was 0.95. Minor transient side effect like ptosis, dry eye and lagophthalmos was found in very few patients. The useful effect of injection lasted for 3-4 months in majority of patients. This study explored Botulinum toxin as the first line treatment of benign essential blepharospasm,however, there are few limitations of this agent, including short-term effect, repeated application, and high cost.


Objective The aim of this study was to investigate whether aortic tension estimated by palpation and cardioplegia infusion line pressure provide results equivalent to those obtained with direct aortic intraluminal pressure measurement. Methods Sixty consecutive patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgeries with extracorporeal circulation were analyzed. Sanguineous cardioplegic solution in a ratio of 4:1 was administered using a triple lumen antegrade cannula. After crossclamping, cardioplegia was infused and aortic root pressure was recorded by surgeon (A) considering the aortic tension he felt in his fingertips. At the same time, another surgeon (B) recorded his results for the same measurement. Concomitantly, the anesthesiologist recorded intraluminal pressure in the aortic root and the perfusionist recorded delta pressure in cardioplegia infusion line. None of the participants involved in these measurements was allowed to be informed about the values provided by the other examiners. Results The Bland-Altman test showed that a considerable variation between aortic wall tension was found as measured by palpation and by intraluminal pressure, with a bias of -9.911±18.75% (95% limits of agreement: -46.7 to 26.9). No strong correlation was observed between intraluminal pressure and cardioplegia line pressure (Spearman's r=0.61, 95% confidence interval 0.5-0.7; P<0.0001). Conclusion These findings reinforce that cardioplegia infusion should be controlled by measuring intraluminal pressure, and that palpation and cardioplegia line pressure are inaccurate methods, the latter should always be used to complement intraluminal measurement to ensure greater safety in handling the cardioplegia circuit.


N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists attenuate morphine tolerance and dependence. To test the hypothesis that morphine increases NMDA activity, generating conditions necessary for withdrawal, we examined the role of NMDA receptors in the action of morphine in the guinea pig ileum (GPI). Glutamate produced contractions of the GPI with an EC50 of 24.6 microM. Morphine inhibited contractions induced by glutamate (10-500 microM) with a Ke of 10.2 nM. Naloxone, which produced no effect alone, prevented the inhibitory effects of morphine on glutamate-induced contractions (Ke = 19.3 nM) as well as on electrically induced contractions (Ke = 18.0 nM), suggesting that opioid receptors with similar affinities mediate both inhibitory effects of morphine. Exposure to morphine for 10 to 50 min resulted in acute dependence, characterized by contractions induced by 0.1 to 4 microM naloxone. Responses to naloxone were maximal after a 20-min incubation with 50 nM morphine. Increasing the concentration of morphine or the incubation time did not further increase the degree of dependence. Competitive ((+/-)-3-(2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl)-propyl-1-phosphonic acid) and R(-)-2 amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid) and noncompetitive (MK-801) antagonists of NMDA inhibited naloxone-induced contractions. After 20 min of incubation with morphine followed by naloxone challenge, the EC50 for glutamate was decreased by a factor of 3.2, reflecting an enhanced sensitivity to NMDA. These data show that activation of NMDA receptors and enhanced sensitivity to glutamate are important components of naloxone-precipitated contractions of the GPI after incubation with morphine.


Introduction: Sinking skin flap syndrome is a rare complication of craniectomy, which is performed as a treatment of severe intracranial hypertension. Cases Reports: The first case is a 55 year old man. Admitted with Glascow score of 13/15, rapid neurological deterioration was noted with a GCS of 9/15, and then anisocoria. CT scan had objectified hemorrhagic contusions, subdural hematoma measured 11 mm and deviation of the median line. The patient was operated with evacuation of the subdural hematoma through a large decompressive craniectomy. In the second month, he presented a cranial deformation with a deepening of the cutaneous plane, with deterioration of the neurological status and a generalized convulsive crisis. The second case is that of a 32 year old man, admitted to the emergency room with 8/15 of GCS with anisocoria. CT scan was showing an 11 mm right subdural hematoma with a hemorrhagic contusion opposite, a 12 mm midline deviation and diffuse cerebral edema. The patient was operated with Anesth Crit Care 2021; 3 (1): 001-009 DOI: 10.26502/acc.020 Anesthesia and Critical Care 2 evacuation of the subdural hematoma through a large craniectomy. The neurological examination after the extubation showed a GCS of 14. Two days later, the patient presented a depression of the right scalp with an aspect of skin flap syndrome on CT scan without significant neurological deterioration. Conclusion: The role of decompressive craniectomy in neurological improvement in still uncertain, and timing of cranioplasty is more debate: early with unclear neurologic status and preventing the skin flap syndrome or delete after final outcome.


Network security involves the practice of establishing, implementing and maintaining the safety of information asset within inter-connected computing nodes of an organization; to safeguard confidentiality, integrity and full-time availability of the computing resources that it supports.  Today, fast computer networks have made the universities' data to remain accessible and sharable faster than ever before,hence increased information system security breached in universities in Kenya. This study, aimed at determining the elements of network security and investigate how the elements are implemented within the universities in Kenya. The study is descriptive in nature, and adopted a review of the already published journals in the field of information systems' security, including: information security strategic management practices, ICT systems adopted and value within universities. The study found that: the highlighted elements of network security were not adequately implemented within the universities. It recommends that the foundation for effective management of network security should be high concentration on network security management best practices around the elements of network security as well as a functional security policy.


A study was performed to compare the effects of reamed versus unreamed locked intramedullary nailing on soft-tissue blood flow in a fractured sheep tibia model. After creation of a standardized short spiral fracture, each tibia was stabilized by insertion of a locked intramedullary nail. Ten animals were randomized into two groups: one that had reaming prior to nail insertion and one that did not. Blood flow was measured in real time, using laser Doppler flowmetry. Skin and muscle perfusion measurements were made at three locations (proximal diaphysis, fracture site, and distal diaphysis) and at five time intervals (postfracture; postnail insertion; and at 2-week, 6-week, and 12-week follow-ups). All animals were sacrificed at 12 weeks postoperatively. Muscle blood flow remained elevated longer in the reamed group than in the unreamed group, following completion of the procedure. Muscle perfusion was significantly greater in the reamed group than in the unreamed group (p < 0.033) and was significantly greater than skin perfusion at 2 weeks (p < 0.024). There was no difference in skin perfusion between the reamed and unreamed groups at any time interval. The study demonstrates that muscle perfusion is altered following reamed and unreamed intramedullary nailing. The findings demonstrate the change in blood flow in the surrounding soft-tissue envelope during the process of revascularization, following devascularization of a segment of tibial cortex by intramedullary nailing. Schemitsch EH, Kowalski MJ, Swiontkowski MF. Soft-tissue blood flow following reamed versus unreamed locked intramedullary nailing: a fractured sheep tibia model. Ann Plast Surg 1996;36:70-75


Global media events attract large audiences providing an international stage for host states to promote their interests, this study considers global events as vital platforms for China to exercise soft power. By exercising soft power via global media events China can fulfil its national agenda through attraction and persuasion rather than utilising hard power such as military might and economic measures which are costly, and sometimes risky. Using content analysis and critical discourse analysis this study assesses how selected newspapers from four English-speaking western states – Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and United States – domesticate media events in which China is a key participant. It assesses to what extent they reproduced China's intended message in which is observable in The People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China. Personalisation has become a feature in many political systems around the world. China is no exception. Since President Xi Jinping took office in 2013, his distinct personal traits, especially as a man of the people, have dominated media coverage of him and of the CPC and China more broadly. This thesis considers how the personalisation of President Xi Jinping features in the performance of soft power. This thesis brings the concepts of soft power, media events and personalisation in order to examine how China projects and performs soft power in an international context. Three empirical chapters each take a single global media event which China hosted or participated in the era of Xi Jinping: Chinese President Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK in 2015, G20 Hangzhou Summit in 2016, and the military parade for Commemoration of Chinese People's Resistance against Japanese Aggression and World Anti-Fascist War in 2015. The findings show that China's soft power messages are conveyed through these events but that they received different interpretations in different states and among various media sources. The findings suggest that the media's perception of national interest, domestication in global news production, political alignment of media, and the relationship China has established with elites of other states, are key factors which influence how China, its national interest and motivations are represented in different media sources. The findings suggest that China's soft power aims to target both domestic and foreign audiences. This thesis contributes to the understanding of the relationship between China's projection of soft power and media coverage in the contemporary era of Xi Jinping.


Measurements of elements of the Earth's magnetic field started in Naples in 1837 by the Astronomical Observatory. Declination and inclination daily averages were regularly published from 1840. In 1839 Macedonio Melloni was called in Naples by the Bourbon Government and asked to found an observatory to carry out regular measurements of geomagnetic elements and meteorological parameters. The observatory was built on Mt. Vesuvius and completed in 1848, but it started to operate only in 1852. Magnetic measurements were carried out in the following years, rather discontinuously, by Luigi Palmieri.


Impairments caused by timing jitter are one of the most important performance limiting factors of digital converters while sampling under Nyquist rates. In this paper, the effect of jitter in such cases is shown and a new method to estimate and reconstruct the timing jitter errors is presented. The system model is based on the estimation of jitter times with an annihilating filter and reconstruction of the signal using Slepian functions without the knowledge of input frequencies. It is shown that, a significant improvement on SNR is achieved.


A radiation-hard, compact, low-mass, hybrid GaN and CMOS integrated module DC-DC converter has been designed with an input voltage of up to 14V regulated down to an output voltage of 1.5V, with 6A maximum load current. The converter exhibits greater than 70% efficiency. Discrete GaN transistors are used for the power stage, and the controller circuitry and power device drivers are integrated on a 0.35um CMOS chip. Radiation hardening by design (RHBD) techniques have been employed to meet TID levels greater than 150 megarad (Si). This work presents the design and successful measurement results of the custom-designed CMOS driver/controller integrated circuit (IC) and the entire DC-DC converter module that uses this IC. The next version of the controller/driver IC has been sent to fabrication in the fall 2018 and it is expected to provide 18V to 1.5V conversion with >75% efficiency.


Sampling protocols and water quality sensors have been developed to assess fish health and welfare in recirculating aquaculture systems (RASs). Still, the use of fish-based non-invasive welfare indicators, reflecting the physiological state of the fish, is limited in this type of system. Cortisol, the major stress-coping hormone in fish, diffuses through the gills. Consequently, waterborne cortisol is a potential fish-based non-invasive welfare indicator in RAS. However, its use in commercial rearing systems is sparse. In this study, we evaluated water cortisol levels and feeding behavior as welfare indicators of newly inserted smolt in a commercial RAS for harvest size Atlantic salmon. The RAS consisted of two parallel fish rearing raceways, raceways 1 and 2, sharing the same water treatment with common outlets and inlets. The smolts were inserted in raceway 1 while salmon that have been in the system for 6 months or more were kept in raceway 2. The smolt insertion period was 3 days. Samples for water cortisol levels were withdrawn the day before, 1 and 3 days after the smolt insertion period. Smolt insertion resulted in elevated water cortisol concentrations in the entire system, with the highest values in raceway 1, one day after smolt insertion. Estimated cortisol production in newly inserted smolt decreased over time, was similar to what has been reported in salmon adapting to experimental tanks. Feeding behavior indicated that the appetite was not fully resumed in the newly inserted smolts, while the appetite of fish in raceway 2 was unaffected by smolt insertion. These results, obtained in a highly intensive commercial RAS, suggest that waterborne cortisol together with feeding behavior can be used as indicators for adaptive processes associated with stress resilience in farmed fish. Thus, they are promising non-invasive indicators for assessing the impact of potential stressors on fish welfare in this type of rearing system.


: We have produced large quantities of murine monoclonal antibodies for in vivo human clinical trials using hollow fiber bioreactors (HFBRs). Thirty-three different hybridoma cell lines have been evaluated in various HFBR systems. Monoclonal antibody (Ab) productivity is highly dependent on the intrinsic secretory rate of each cell line. Other factors that affect Ab production include capillary membrane molecular weight cutoff, and HFBR design. Studies comparing HFBRs to static and suspension culture systems revealed similar Ab productivity. An advantage of the HFBR is that the Ab is concentrated in the extracapillary space, simplifying downstream processing.


This project aims to investigate the parameters that affect the swell factor used in design and reported volumes for different parts of the mining process and cast blasting methods at various locations around Callide mine.

The Callide coal mine along with most mines worldwide have been using a swell factor as a variable in open cut mine design and volume removed calculations throughout history.

At Callide coal mine a swell factor with now unknown origins or validity is being used. The current swell factor appears to be correct which can be seen by design being achieved however, after the annual Audit by Anglo BCO, the validity of this figure has been requested. As well as validating the swell factor, this report aims to predict the swell factor for future cast blasting applications.

This report is an investigation and includes the identification of the properties affecting the swelling of overburden material during the drill and blast process. These properties include those within the drill pattern design, explosives used and the geological makeup of the overburden. The report then validates the swell factor through measurement using traditional survey techniques. Upon identifying the drill, explosive and geological properties and the swell factor, the use of projection modelling and linear regression techniques for the analysis are employed. This is to discover which of the design and geological properties affect the swell factor the most and attempt to predict site specific swell factors based upon them.

The research needed to investigate the previously mentioned aims is based in their relative industries and professions. These include the mining industry, surveying and spatial science, geology and geotechnical engineering, drill and blast engineering, mathematics and data analysis.

This investigation will provide background knowledge and a review of the literature applied, information on the application and methodology used and a detailed analysis of captured data and resulting conclusions for the swell factor.

The exploration and use of survey techniques employed for calculating the swell factor and the data collection and analysis will use aerial scanning, I-Site terrestrial scanning, three dimensional modelling as well as standard survey procedures.

The geological study has required research into geological properties, in specific those affected by the drill and blast process, the lithology of Callide mine and methods of testing and acquisition.

Research into drill and blast engineering includes desired fragmentation size and maximum cast, the effect of drill and blast techniques on the overburden and which properties affect a change in overburden volume.

To obtain an accurate prediction of the swell factors a model must be created that amalgamates the information from the three professions, eliminates superfluous data and has the ability to be validated. To facilitate this, projection modelling and linear regression techniques are used in an effort to identify the a priori components to mathematically and graphically represent the relationship of properties within the data sets and the swell factor.

Developing a method of calculating the overburden swell factor will greatly affect mine design and reporting. If the swell factor is accurately known there is a possibility that design constraints can be tightened leading to better equipment utilisation, time management and an overall increase in efficiency. An increase in efficiency will lead to improved production and ultimately enhance capital gain.


To match the stylised facts of goods and labour markets, the canonical New Keynesian model augments the optimising neoclassical growth model with nominal and real rigidities. We ask what the implications of this type of model are for asset prices. Using a second-order approximation, we examine bond and equity returns, the equity risk premium, and the behaviour of the real and nominal term structure. We catalogue the factors that are most important for determining the size of risk premia and the slope and level of the yield curve. In a world of technology shocks only, increasing the degree of real rigidities raises risk premia and increasing nominal rigidities reduces risk premia. In a world of monetary policy shocks only, both real and nominal rigidities raise risk premia. The results indicate that the implications of the New Keynesian model for average asset returns depend critically on the characterisation of shocks hitting the model economy.


BACKGROUND
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common heart disease in cats. Causative mutations have been identified in the Maine Coon (MC) and Ragdoll breed in the cardiac myosin binding protein C gene (MYBPC3). HCM is thought to be inherited in other breeds.

HYPOTHESIS
That a causative mutation for HCM in the British Shorthair (BSH), Norwegian Forest (NWF), Siberian, Sphynx, or MC cats would be identified in the exonic and splice site regions of 1 of 8 genes associated with human familial HCM.

ANIMALS
Three affected BSH, NWF, Siberians, Sphynx, 2 MC (without the known MC mutation), and 2 Domestic Shorthair cats (controls) were studied.

METHODS
Prospective, observational study. Exonic and splice site regions of the genes encoding the proteins cardiac troponin I, troponin T, MYBPC3, cardiac essential myosin light chain, cardiac regulatory myosin light chain, alpha tropomyosin, actin, and beta-myosin heavy chain were sequenced. Sequences were compared for nucleotide changes between affected cats, the published DNA sequences, and control cats. Changes were considered to be causative for HCM if they involved a conserved amino acid and changed the amino acid to a different polarity, acid-base status, or structure.

RESULTS
A causative mutation for HCM was not identified, although several single nucleotide polymorphisms were detected.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE
Mutations within these cardiac genes do not appear to be the only cause of HCM in these breeds. Evaluation of additional cardiac genes is warranted to identify additional molecular causes of this feline cardiac disease.


Various reports of molecular genetic diversity evaluation of physic nut ( J. curcas ) have given inconsistent results. Part of the reasons were because of the used of unrealiable markers. This study was conducted to evaluate genetic diversity of Indonesian physic nut germplasm using four types of molecular markers (RAPD, ISSR, SSR and SCAR markers). Twenty four J. curcas accessions planted in Pakuwon, Sukabumi, with various phenotypes were evaluated. Twenty eight SSR marker loci yielded monomorphic allele pattern and indicated that the evaluated accessions probably were all genetically homogeneous for the respective loci. Eight RAPD and 4 ISSR primers out of the total 31 tested primers produced scoreable markers and some (i.e. UBC 873, OPG 17, OPP 03 and OPQ 11 primers) generated polymorphics markers. Genetic similarity coefficiens among evaluated accessions ranged from 0.6 to 1.0 with a population mean of 0.9 indicating low diversity and narrow genetic background among accessions in all populations. Therefore, breeding program utilizing such population would only result in low genetic gain. Based on the evaluated SCAR markers, all accessions belonged to the non-toxic Mexican type of physic nut. This information is important inputs for designing future physic nut breeding strategies in Indonesia.


The main objective of this study was to explore on factors contributing to early marriage among teenagers in rural areas in Kasulu District Council specifically Nyakitonto,Nyamnyusi,Buhoro and Nyachenda Wards.
The methods used to get sample area which covered four wards of Kasulu rural,Buhoro, Nyakitonto, Nyachenda and Nyamnyusi included cluster sampling. Simple random sampling was used to get 100 respondents who were female and male representing others in these wards. Moreover purposive sampling was also used to get answers from District Executive Director and Ward Officers from the respective wards under the sampled area.
Research instruments used to collect data were questionnaires, interview guides and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) whereby girls, district council Officers and Ward Officers were contacted to get the reality.
Then factors which contribute to early marriage among teenagers in rural areas revealed to be; Inadequate sex education, Peer pressure, Conformity, Influence of mass media, Lack of transparence, Shame, Traditional milestone, Unemployment and Globalization.
It is recommended that Government through the Ministry of health and social welfare and the ministry of Community development gender and children affairs may conduct programmes in both rural and urban areas concerning early marriage and HIV/AIDS infections especially by addressing the factors which contribute to early marriage and also involving teenagers in decision making that can change community mind set to abandon that practice.


The implementation of the K-12 Basic Education Program in the Philippines brought significant programs and projects to expand and improve the delivery of basic education in the country. It added two more years of senior high school in the basic education, broadening the goals of basic education to higher education preparation, middle level skills development, entrepreneurship, and employment. The present study used narrative inquiry to narrate the past experiences of Tin as one of the first graduates of this 7-year old educational reform. It examined Tin's journey from junior high school to senior high school to gain a better understanding of being a K-12 student in the Philippines and a deeper and richer insight on the implementation of the K-12 curriculum. A qualitative analysis of an indepth interview with Tin highlighted her struggles, both in her junior and senior high schools. In particular, her struggles included some personal conflicts such as being academically competitive amidst being introvert and financially poor, adjustment to a new environment as she transferred from a rural school to an urban school, rigidity of her senior high school academic subjects, and her trouble with her teachers' teaching styles. The story of Tin provided specific insights as to how similar conditions as hers may be avoided and how the teaching-learning process may be improved, particularly in the light of the K-12 curriculum implementation in the Philippines.


Summary: The effects of epicardial lidocaine on ventricular tachycardia (VT) induced by rapid ventricular pacing (50 Hz) were studied in dogs. Lidocaine-polyurethane (28% wt/wt) matrixes (40-50 mg, 5 x 5 mm) were placed proximal to bipolar left ventricular epicardial electrodes in open-chest anesthetized dogs (n = 9) after VT was established by rapid ventricular pacing. In the first set of experiments, matrices were removed immediately after VT had converted to sinus rhythm. Control animals underwent VT induction protocol with a nondrug-containing matrix positioned next to the epicardial electrode. In the lidocaine-treated animals, VT conversion was noted in all animals and occurred after 51.7 ± 8.9 s (mean ± SE), with a VT threshold current elevation of 73.5 ± 11.2% above baseline at the time of conversion which progressed to 259 ± 44% of the initial value by 5.4 ± 0.5 min post-matrix placement. Lidocaine 1.4 ± 0.1 mg was delivered to the myocardium at the time of VT conversion (0.11 ± 0.01 mg/kg). In comparison, accelerated VT persisted for 5 min in three of five control animals, and progressed to ventricular fibrillation (VF) in the other two animals. In a separate series of eight dogs, the lidocainepolyurethane matrixes were left in place for 4 h so that we could study the sustained antiarrhythmic action of controlled- release lidocaine on VT induction. The results of these experiments demonstrated a maintenance of the VT threshold elevation at a level of 53.9 ± 10.8% after 4 h, with a net lidocaine dose of 0.52 ± 0.06 mg/kg after 4 h of controlled release. Peripheral plasma levels of lidocaine during ≤ 4 h of controlled release ranged from 93.9 to 158.5 ng/ml and were detectable only by fluorescent highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC). However, regional coronary venous lidocaine levels were in the therapeutic range (1.15-2.63 µg/ml) and remained relatively constant during 4 h of controlled release


Abstract This study examined the effects of effective command training with teachers on students' compliance rates and academic engagement. Three target students were selected who were exhibiting compliance rates substantially below peers. The students' teachers were taught how to provide effective commands. Results indicated that students' rates of compliance increased with increased use of effective commands. When verbal praise was added contingent on compliance, students' rates of compliance increased even more. In addition, academic engagement was shown to increase as student compliance increased and disruptive competing behaviors decreased. Implications for consultation and intervention in the classroom to increase student compliance and academic behaviors are discussed.


4H-SiC diodes with nickel silicide (Ni2Si) and molybdenum (Mo) Schottky contacts have been fabricated and characterised at temperature up to 400°C. Room temperature boron implantation has been used to form a single zone junction termination extension. Both Ni2Si and Mo diodes revealed unchanging ideality factors and barrier heights (1.45 and 1.3 eV, respectively) at temperatures up to 400°C. Soft recoverable breakdowns were observed both in Ni2Si and Mo Schottky diodes at voltages above 1450 V and 3400 V depending on the epitaxial structure used. These values are about 76% and 94% of the ideal avalanche breakdown voltages. The Ni2Si diodes revealed positive temperature coefficients of breakdown voltage at temperature up to 240°C.


Coastal communities across the globe are often protected by structures, such as seawalls, levees or dikes, which allow only a safe volume of water to pass over or "overtop" them due to wave action during storms. The area seaward of these structures is often characterised by shallow, gently sloping beds referred to as foreshores. As storm waves propagate over the shallow foreshores, two notable processes occur. The first, is the attenuation of high-frequency waves that are collectively referred to as wind-sea and swell (SS), with periods less than 20 seconds. The limited water depth over the foreshore forces the SS waves to shoal and ultimately break. This shoaling and breaking, in turn, results in the second important process: the growth of infragravity (IG) waves, with periods in the order of minutes. The methods used in current practice to estimate wave overtopping are able to accurately quantify the impact of SS waves. However, they tend to neglect the influence of IG waves, which are known to play a critical role in erosion and flooding along shallow coast lines. In light of this, this dissertation aimed to develop new methods to estimate the influence of IG waves on the safety of coastal defences with shallow foreshores against wave overtopping. This aim was ultimately achieved by using state-of-art numerical models, empirical methods and field measurements to develop a suite of tools, that together, provide a framework to accurately quantify the influence of IG waves on wave overtopping. As data on shallow foreshores was limited, a numerical model (XBeach Non-hydrostatic) was first used to generate a large dataset of wave measurements at the toe of the structure for varying offshore, foreshore and structure slope conditions. The analysis, detailed in Chapter 2, revealed that the influence of IG waves increased for higher, directionally narrow-banded (long-crested) offshore waves; shallower foreshore water depths; milder foreshore slopes; and reduced vegetated cover. The combined effect of the different environmental parameters on the IG waves was then captured in an empirical model, which formed the base of the framework to follow. For determining wave overtopping, the standard approach requires the use of a wave model (often a phase-averaged model like SWAN) to estimate wave parameters at the toe, which are then used as input to the well-known formulae of the EurOtop design manual. However, this approach largely neglects the impact of IG waves. In Chapter 3, this is rectified by augmenting the traditional approach with the empirical model developed in Chapter 2 to include the effects of the IG waves on the design parameters. Considering accuracy and computational demand, the modified approach proved superior when assessing wave overtopping at dikes with shallow foreshores. This approach formed the first sub-method to estimating wave overtopping in the overall framework. Nevertheless, it is often difficult to obtain accurate estimates of wave parameters at the toe of structures with shallow foreshores. Chapter 4 offers a solution to this problem by proposing a new set of overtopping formulae that instead rely on deep-water wave parameters as input. This is done by revisiting the old but proven approach of Yoshimi Goda, now with additional data and new trend analysis techniques. The newly-derived formulae proved accurate and can be considered an alternative to the current standard (Chapter 3). Particularly, for dikes and seawalls with very and extremely shallow foreshores, where IG waves tend to dominate. This approach formed the second sub-method to estimating wave overtopping in the overall framework. Finally, in order to estimate the impact of IG waves on safety, a probabilistic method (FORM) was introduced to the framework in Chapter 5. Using the first sub-method (Chapter 3), the probability of dike failure by wave overtopping with and without IG waves was determined for dikes along the shallow Dutch Wadden Sea coast. Including the IG waves resulted in 1.1 to 1.6 times higher failure probabilities for the Dutch Wadden Sea coast, suggesting that coastal safety may be overestimated when they are neglected. This was attributed to the influence of the IG waves on the wave period and, to a lesser extent, the wave height at the structure toe. Furthermore, the spatial variation in this effect observed for the Dutch Wadden Sea highlighted its dependence on local bathymetric and offshore forcing conditions—with IG waves having greater influence on the failure probability for cases with larger offshore waves and shallower water depths. The general conclusion of the dissertation is that IG waves can have an important impact on safety. Moreover, findings indicate that the safety of existing coastal defences with shallow foreshores may be overestimated, since IG waves are largely neglected in the current practice for their design and assessment. For the case considered here (the Dutch Wadden Sea), the increase in required crest level due to the IG waves was around 2 dm with a cost in the order of M€1/per km. For shallower coastlines exposed to more energetic wave conditions, the influence of the IG waves and the corresponding safety costs are likely to be greater. This dissertation provides practitioners with a suite of tools to quantify to influence of IG waves on the safety of coastal defences with shallow foreshores against wave overtopping. Thereby, reducing the uncertainty in the overall impact of shallow foreshores and allowing dike managers to make more informed decisions when considering hazard mitigation strategies.


Tumor viruses cause cancer; thus, extensive studies are being conducted on them. In this article, we will review the basic medical research on the current clinical genetic tests for tumor viruses such as human papilloma virus, hepatitis B virus, and T-cell leukemia virus. Recently, clinical genetic tests have been developed for quick diagnosis of the tumor virus infection. Additionally, we will review the mutagenesis of murine leukemia retrovirus. In particular, we will focus on the insertional mutagenesis. This will help in deciding the direction of future virus research by combining clinical and basic research.


With the development and utilization of underground space, some new tunnel forms are emerging, such as the rectangular tunnel, double tunnels, treble tunnels and so on. The aim of this paper is to determine the collapse face pressure of a rectangular tunnel driven by a pressurized shield. The calculation is based on the upper-bound method of the limit analysis theory. A translational kinematically admissible failure mechanism consists a sequence of truncated rigid cones are considered for the calculation schemes. The numerical results obtained by the calculation are presented.


Ti-6Al-4V alloy is used mainly in aircraft industry due to its low density, excellent corrosion/oxidation resistance, and attractive combination of mechanical properties. This alloy has relatively low formability, so forming parts of complex geometries out of this alloy requires precisely controlled thermo mechanical processing parameters. In this respect, powder metallurgy methods are very promising, since the processing parameters in the case of P/M materials can be controlled more precisely. This work is aimed at the analysis of P/M Ti-6Al-4V alloy processing. The samples of Ti-6Al-4V alloy powder compacts, obtained from the blended mixtures of elemental powders, were subjected to plastometric tests under various temperature-strain-strain rate conditions. The microstructures of both Ti- 6Al-4V alloy powder compacts and hot deformed in compression on Gleeble simulator P/M Ti-6Al-4V alloy samples were analyzed. Moreover, basing on the results of plastometric tests, thermo mechanical parameters of forging P/M Ti-6Al-4V alloy were determined. The investigated alloy was successfully forged in industrial conditions, what was also discussed in this study. The investigations showed a significant influence of processing parameters on development of the microstructure and mechanical behavior of P/M Ti-6Al-4V alloy.


Adhesion molecules are involved in the leukocyte recruitment of leukocytes at the blood-brain barrier. For this reason, it is important to understand how the regulation of their gene expression controls lymphocyte adhesion to endothelial cells in microvessels. Indeed, due to their specificity and diversity, adhesion molecules involved in extravasation play an essential role in the recruitment of activated leukocytes and activation of inflammation. Multiple sclerosis results from a chronic inflammation of the CNS which is mediated by infiltration of inflammatory cells from the immune system. Administration of glucocorticoids is a routine method to control multiple sclerosis since naturally derived or synthetic glucocorticoids are potent immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory agents. Glucocorticoids also have beneficial effects in stabilizing the blood-brain barrier, as steroid hormones regulate the expression of adhesion molecule genes in endothelial cells. Other hormones such as estrogens modulate many endothelial cell biological activities, among them adhesion to leukocytes. They regulate expression of adhesion molecules genes on endothelial cells and are useful for the treatment of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, the animal model of multiple sclerosis. The effects of glucocorticoids and estrogens on the expression of adhesion molecules on endothelial cells, including microvascular endothelial cells of the blood-brain barrier, are reviewed in this paper, as well as the involvement of these hormones in the therapy of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis.