The clinical picture of juxta- or subareolar mastitis is presented in 21 patients, whose data were compared with those of 111 patients with other forms of non-specific abscess-forming mastitis. The causal importance of ductectasia, obstruction of the collecting ducts, foreign-body reaction around particles of keratin and the possible role of anaerobic micro-organisms have been evaluated. The results were had after an expectant policy for spontaneous closure, employing only antibiotics and drainage procedures. Favorable results are achieved only after a combination of partial nipple excision and drainage.


sual clade, a catalogue of past spinosaurid discoveries is presented. database information includes specimen numbers, material identification, locality information, depositional environments, stratigraphic detail, generic or subclade assignment, tooth measurements, tooth placement, and detailed notes on the nature of the finds themselves when needed. previously reported biogeographic and faunal dispersal patterns suggest that spinosau rids may eventually be found in north American strata, potentially having migrated from western europe in the early Cretaceous and eastern Asia over the Beringian isth mus in the late Cretaceous. this database may be useful for predicting future points of spinosaurid discovery.


The dietary intake of phosphorus in the United States is high relative to calcium. Intake estimates from the 1989-1991 Continuing Surveys of Food Intakes by Individuals conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture show that for both men and women, median calcium intakes do not meet the 1989 Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for most age groups over 10 y of age, whereas phosphorus intakes exceed the RDAs for most age groups. The use of phosphorus-containing food additives in the processing of foods contributes substantially to the daily phosphorus intake, and their use is increasing. Because much of the phosphorus through food additive use is not reflected in the estimates of phosphorus intakes derived from national food consumption surveys, these estimates underestimate true dietary intakes of phosphorus. High phosphorus intake has been shown to cause secondary hyperparathyroidism and bone loss in several animal models. High phosphorus, low calcium consumption consistent with current observed intake levels resulted in changes in calcium-regulating hormones that were not conducive to optimizing peak bone mass in young women. Evidence that such high phosphorus intakes may impair synthesis of the active metabolite of vitamin D and disrupt calcium homeostasis particularly in older women are discussed.


Abstract: Biopharmaceuticals, especially monoclonal antibodies, have been increasingly used to treat several chronic inflammatory diseases. Due to the complexity of their pharmacokinetics and concentration–effect relationship, therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) has been used to optimize their dosing regimen. Up to date, several decisional algorithms have been developed to provide tools for monoclonal antibodies' therapeutic drug monitoring. However, these algorithms are unable to determine the individual optimal dosing scheme. The aim of this article is to deal with population pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacokinetic–pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) modeling. Allowing the quantification of the variability of the dose-concentration–response relationship, population pharmacokinetic–pharmacodynamic modeling may be a valuable tool to determine the optimal dosing scheme. Based on population modeling, Bayesian estimators may be developed to optimize dosing schemes for each patient using limited sampling strategies. These estimators may allow accurate dosing adjustment for each patient individually.


Following a series of collisions and near-misses, involving shuttle tanker and FPSO performing tandem offloading operations in the North Sea, extensive effort was put to address the issue in the early 2000's. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the current situation for risks relating to collisions between DP shuttle tanker and FPSO during tandem offloading operations in the North Sea. The main research question was 'what major research has been performed on the collision risk between DP shuttle tanker and FPSO during tandem offloading in the North Sea, and what is the current situation of the collision risk, anno mid 2014?' An extensive literature study was performed, featuring background material concerning FPSOs, shuttle tankers, and tandem offloading operations. The collision risk was further investigated by using both qualitative and quantitative risk analysis methods. The qualitative risk analysis included an assessment of human, organisational, and technical factors' influence in tandem offloading operations. Based on the aforementioned, a simple analysis of barriers against collision in a drive-off scenario was performed using the bow-tie method. The quantitative risk analysis included a statistical data analysis of reported incidents involving DP shuttle tankers performing tandem offloading from FPSOs on the UK and Norwegian continental shelves (UKCS & NCS), covering the time period from 1995-2013. The results from the risk analysis were further applied to propose possible risk mitigation measures for tandem offloading operations between DP shuttle tanker and FPSO. Research relating to the collision risk in FPSO-shuttle tanker offloading operations, performed post the conclusion of the JIP project 'Operational Safety of FPSOs', is found to be mainly concerned with further work regarding the risk elements that were identified in the JIP project and the PhD thesis of Dr. Ing. Haibo Chen, as well as providing updated statistics on incidents and risk levels. Results from this thesis' risk analysis revealed a decrease in the frequency (both absolute and per offloading) of incidents and collisions, during FPSO-shuttle tanker offloading operations on the UKCS & NCS, when comparing 1995-2003 versus 2004-2013. For the UKCS & NCS aggregated, per mid-2014, the collision frequency estimated to lie in the range of 4.5E-04 to 8.0E-04 per offloading, and the drive-off frequency is estimated to lie in the range of 9.0E-04 to 2.3E-03 per offloading. Several measures for reducing the collision frequency have been proposed and discussed in this thesis. The measures addresses DPO competence level, time available for initiating recovery action, cooperation between shuttle tanker and FPSO, and alternative field configurations. The collision frequency can be significantly reduced by applying direct offloading configuration instead of tandem offloading configuration. However, there are technical and operational issues that have to be resolved, before applying such a configuration to ship-shaped FPSOs


This paper discusses urban politics in contemporary Turkey through a particular architectural phenomenon: that of minarets without mosques. Local administrations under neo-liberal Islamists propose urban regeneration projects which require extensive demolitions in squatter areas. Yet, their reluctance to tear down minarets creates ruinscapes in which minarets seem to have miraculously survived destruction. In this regard, the minarets without mosques should be understood as symptoms of urban transformation led by neo-liberal Islamism. Neo-liberal Islamists envisage these projects as spatial forms of politics of convergence, juxtaposing slum upgrading with luxurious housing within the unifying cultural codes of Islam. It is proposed to interpret these minarets not as bearers of religious symbolism but as nodes within the urban network of everyday life referring to Lefebvre's concept of rhythmanalysis. Viewed in this way, it becomes possible for the minarets to take on new meanings and serve as signs of the displacement of the squatters.


Within the Cloud computing approach, Platform as a Service is a way to provide customers with the capability to deploy acquired or consumer-created applications onto the Cloud infrastructure. It relieves these of the need to install and run their own infrastructure or to manage and control the underlying Cloud infrastructure. Whereas providers of such services try to serve as many customers as possible to exploit economies of scale, especially small and medium businesses profit from this approach, because they can save the high up front and administrative cost of installing and running their own processing systems and applications. In order to offer an Enterprise Service Bus as a proven technology known from the field of Service-Oriented Architectures as a Platform in the Cloud it has to be made multi-tenant aware. This fulfills the Platform as a Service providers' need to raise the overall utilization and to maximize revenue by serving multiple customers from one system instance. This master's thesis develops a concept to extend an Enterprise Service Bus by multi-tenancy support with respect to communication and implements this concept in an open source product. The concept and implementation are evaluated by application to a scenario originating from the European project 4CaaSt.


When strength reduction method is used for side slope analysis, only the intensive parameters are reduced and deformation parameters are not. The ideal elastoplastic model is adopted, and the safety factor is basically in agreement with that of the traditional limit equilibrium method. Main result is the safety factor of side slope, but non-linearity of soil is not considered actually during calculation, so it's hard to arrive at a real deformation field. Based on the deformation modulus elastoplasticity strength reduction method, research of this paper can achieve a more truthful deformation field. Considering the deficiencies in the current slip surface search techniques, this paper mainly studies how to determine the slip surface directly through the slope deformation field and stress field based on the analysis to their characteristics and the formation mechanism and characteristics of slip surface. Three methods to determine the slip surface are worked out: One is to use displacement gradient to identify the most disadvantageous slip surface; The second one is to determine the slip surface using the characteristics of FLAC calculation method and the characteristic that nodal velocity at non-slip area is near to zero and nodal velocity at slip area is very great; The last one is to use the deviation survey method in slope monitoring to track the nodal displacement in numerical analysis, and take the points with displacement catastrophe as those on the slip surface, and link those points to form a curve and finally get the critical slip surface. Analysis is made to the slip surface of clay slope with weak layer. Position of slip surface determined through these three methods is basically the same. Compared with traditional critical equilibrium method, these three methods can not only be applied to homogeneous side slope, but also be used to determine the slip surface of heterogeneous side slope. This paper makes a research on expansion of the application field of deformation modulus elastoplasticity strength reduction method.


OBJECTIVES: Delays in the diagnosis and treatment of bladder cancer may change survival rates (6). We present the application of a plan for quality control in the management of primary bladder cancer, studying delays globally, and for individual indicators, as well as the impact of implemented improvement measures. METHODS: We performed a retrospective chart review to detect problems appeared through the whole clinical management process in a population of patients undergoing surgery for primary bladder cancer in the Hospital Costa del Sol during 2001. Causes were studied and corrective measures established, application of which has been evaluated during the first semester of 2002. Study indicators encompass from delay time for first visit to delay time for radical surgical treatment. RESULTS: Excessive average global delays for radical treatment of bladder tumor (208.3 days), and variability in the time to transurethral resection (one to 73.42 days) and to postoperative revision (54.4 days), were the most significant results. Evaluation of implemented measures shows a descent in global delays (134.2 days) and time to postoperative revision variability (32.4 days). CONCLUSIONS: Application of quality control procedures for clinical management is essential in daily clinical practice, for systematic, continuous, and rigorous evaluation will allow us to offer patients a product that satisfies their personal and social expectations.


In October 2006, tomato plants with torrado disease were sampled in Spain. In a sample of cv. Mariana, originating from Gran Canaria, Tomato torrado virus (ToTV, genus Torradovirus) was detected (isolate GCN06; Alfaro-Fernandez et al., 2010). In 2013, the sample was further analysed using next-generation sequencing (NGS). Total RNA, extracted from ca. 150 mg of leaf tissues, was used for an RNA library suitable for Illumina HiSeq paired end sequencing. A de novo assembly (using CLC Genomic Workbench v.6.5) resulted in 1380 sequence contigs. BLAST searches revealed the presence of ToTV and Tomato chlorosis virus (ToCV, genus Crinivirus). One contig (3427 nts, 8901 reads), showed 99.85% identity with Southern tomato virus (STV, genus Amalgavirus), isolate Mexico-1 (GenBank accession No. EF442780), a dsRNA seed-transmitted virus (Sabanadzovic et al., 2009). Reference assembly with the Mexico-1 sequence resulted in a partial sequence of 3420 nts (GenBank KJ174690). The presence of STV in sample GCN06 was verified in RT-PCR using the specific primers STV-fw and STV-rev (Candresse et al., 2013) and sequencing of the obtained amplicon. A new sampling in May 2014 in Gran Canaria revealed the presence of STV in six out of seven tomato samples of cv Mariana. All these samples were co-infected with Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV, genus Potexvirus), Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV, genus Tospovirus), and Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV, genus Begomovirus). Because STV was generally found in samples co-infected with other viruses, its symptomatology in tomato remains unclear. To our knowledge, this is the first report of STV in the Canary Islands and Spain.


OBJECTIVE
To study the influences of carbon disulfide (CS2) exposure on fatty acid metabolism in apolipoprotein E (ApoE) knockout mice and C57BL/6J mice.

METHODS
Twenty-four male ApoE knockout mice were randomly and equally divided into four groups: a CS2-exposed normal diet group, a CS2-unexposed normal diet group, a CS2-exposed high-fat diet group, and a CS2-unexposed high-fat diet group. Twenty-four C57BL/6J male mice were divided into four groups in the same way. The CS2-exposed groups were exposed to CS2 (1 g/m(3)) by static inhalation for 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. After two weeks, the whole blood of mice was collected. Methyl ester derivatization of fatty acids was performed using an acid-catalyzed method. Fatty acid contents before and after exposure were compared by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy.

RESULTS
There were significant differences in fatty acid contents of mice between the four groups. For the C57BL/6J mice, the arachidic acid contents in the CS2-exposed high-fat diet group were significantly lower than those in the CS2-unexposed high-fat diet group (P = 0.045 0). For the ApoE knockout mice, the arachidonic acid contents in the CS2-exposed normal diet group were significantly lower than those in the CS2-unexposed control diet group (P = 0.045 2). For the ApoE knockout mice, the γ-linolenic acid contents in the CS2-exposed high-fat diet group were significantly higher than those in the unexposed high-fat diet group (P = 0.044 7).

CONCLUSION
Exposure to CS2 can induce fatty acid metabolism disorder in mice, indicating that CS2 may increase the risk of atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases.


Pr-CeO2 nano-size powders with the average crystallites size of 12 nm and particle size of 18 nm were prepared by a co-precipitation-hydrothermal method using Ce(NO3)3·6H2O, Pr6O11 as raw materials and ammonia as the precipitation agent. The influence of hydrothermal treatment time, hydrothermal treatment temperature on the average crystallites size, color of powders and the solubility of praseodymium were investigated. The synthesized powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and color measurements. Results showed that after calcining at 800°C for 4 hours, the color of the as-prepared powder changes from light red to red brown, the solubility of praseodymium and the crystallites size of the Pr-CeO2 powder both increase.


Improvements in food safety in the United States of America are currently limited by the lack of an open, reliable and uniform animal identification system. Public health would benefit from the development of such a system because this would permit accountability for an prevention of food safety hazards, including residues and harmful pathogens. In addition, the public would benefit because data collection and long-term research studies are currently hampered by the lack of animal identification. Understanding of the ecology of food-borne pathogens in the production and handling period before slaughter needs to be improved. Animal identification will permit packers and consumers to reward producers for using food safety-related production practices. Food animal producers do not regularly receive an economic advantage for voluntarily undertaking food safety-related production practices. As a result, the original source of many food animals that enter official establishments is unknown. However, the hazard analysis and critical control point system allows some producers to offer identified animals under verified production control programmes or to enter into agreements with packers with regard to the food safety status of animals.


Introduction Gonorrhoea is a global health concern because N. gonorrhoeae has now acquired resistance to antibiotics including the 3rd generation cephalosporin, ceftriaxone. Mosaic structure in penicillin-binding protein 2 gene (penA) is the main cause of ceftriaxone resistance which is formed by natural transformation of DNA of ceftriaxone-resistant (CROR) commensal Neisseria spp. However, none of the previous studies has fully elucidated the source of transformed DNA. In this study, we show that genetic comparison between CROR-N. gonorrhoeae strains (GU140106 and FC428) and CROR –Neisseria commensals. Methods CROR-Neisseria commensals were isolated from pharyngeal swabs. Genome sequence was obtained by MiSeq, Illumina, and the sequence of penA flanking region (mraW-NGO1540-penA-murE-dcaA) was obtained using the N. gonorrhoeae FA1090 as a reference sequence. Alignment of the compared sequences were prepared by CLUSTALW. Species identification of Neisseria commensals was performed using phylogeny constructed by 53 ribosomal proteins (rps) sequences. Results Based on the sequence similarity of penA gene, two CROR-Neisseria commensals were speculated to be the origin of each mosaic penA of GU140106 and FC428. Both of the candidates were N. cinerea according to the rps phylogeny. The DNA region including penA originated from N. cinerea which consist the part of mosaic penA in the CROR-N. gonorrhoeae was about 1.3 kb including of parts of penA and murE. Further analysis revealed that mosaic penA of GU140106 occurred by recombination between CROR-N. cinerea and CROS -N. gonorrhoeae which the NG-MAST type was same with GU140106. The mosaic penA of FC428 was also thought to emerged in the same way with GU140106. However, there was a limitation because of the lack of CROS-N. gonorrhoeae that has the same NG-MAST type with FC428. Conclusion The two CROR-N. gonorrhoeae, GU140106 and FC428, might acquire resistance by homologous recombination with Neisseria commensals, and N. cinerea might be the donor of mosaic penA which causes resistance to ceftriaxone in N. gonorrhoeae.


Polycrystalline diamond coatings have been grown on cemented carbide WC-6%Co substrates with different aspect ratios by a microwave plasma CVD in CH4/H2 gas mixtures. To protect the edges of the substrates from non-uniform heating due to the plasma edge effect, a special plateholder with pockets for group growth has been used. The difference in heights of the substrates and plateholder, and its influence on the diamond film mean grain size, growth rate, 2 phase composition and stress was investigated. The substrate temperature range, within which uniform diamond films are produced with good adhesion, is determined. The diamond-coated cutting inserts produced at optimized process exhibited a reduction of cutting force and wear resistance by a factor of two, and cutting efficiency increase by 4.3 times upon turning А390 AlSi alloy as compared to performance of uncoated tools.


We present a formalization of HOπ in Coq, a process calculus where messages carry processes. Such a higher-order calculus features two very different kinds of binder: process input, similar to λ-abstraction, and name restriction, whose scope can be expanded by communication. For the latter, we compare four approaches to represent binders: locally nameless, de Bruijn indices, nominal, and Higher-Order Abstract Syntax. In each case, we formalize strong context bisimilarity and prove it is compatible, i.e., closed under every context, using Howe's method, based on several proof schemes we developed in a previous paper.


The kinetics and morphology of the grain boundary grooving of Zn bicrystals with 16° <1010> tilt GB by Sn(Zn) melt has been studied at 325°C in equilibrium conditions in vacuum. It is shown that grooving process is interface controlled at least on the first stage. Groove walls mobility is evaluated. Changing of GB grove shape from "faceted walls" corner for annealing time < 78 h to concave "Mullins type" groove for annealing time > 78 h at the same experimental temperature was observed for the first time.


Objective Sepsis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in neonates especially in developing countries where identification of the germs and treatment is often unsatisfactory. The aim of the study was to assess the clinical presentation, and bacteriological profile of neonatal infections, and the sensitivity of the causative germs to antibiotics. Methods We carried out a prospective analytic study in the Yaounde Gynaeco-Obstetric and Pediatric Hospital in Cameroon over a 6 months period from 18th November 2008 to 18th May 2009. On the basis of history and/or clinical findings and paraclinical investigations, 218 neonates out of a total of 628 admissions were investigated and managed for neonatal infection. Findings The most frequent symptoms were fever (44.95%), refusal to feed/irritability (32.11%), and respiratory distress/cough (28.90%). Premature birth and prolonged rupture of membranes were the most frequent risk factors. Klebsiella spp, Escherichia coli and Enterobacter spp were the most frequent germs identified in respectively 28.6%, 21.4% and 14.3% of the positive samples. Overall sensitivity of the cultures to ampicillin, netilmicin and gentamycin was poor at 29.4%, 31.4% and 18.9% respectively, whereas imipenem, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and ceftazidime had the best sensitivities in 91.7%, 90%, 85.3% and 69.4% of the cultures respectively. The mortality rate was 22%, and low birth weight, premature birth and septicemia were significant risk factors for death. Conclusion Mortality from neonatal sepsis in this context is still high and there is an upsurge of multi-resistant germs to currently used antibiotics, calling for the need for rational use of antibiotics in the management of these infections.


Little is known about how small-scale variation in neighbor biomass can influence the strength of root competition experienced by an individual plant. In this study, modified root exclusion tubes were used to vary the accessibility of the soil space surrounding Amaranthus retroflexus target plants to the neighboring plants. A gradient of root accessibility was created by drilling varying numbers of holes into standard root exclusion tubes, made of 15 cm diameter PVC pipe. Belowground competitive intensity, defined as biomass reduction due to root interactions alone, relative to growth in the absence of neighbors, was then measured along the resulting gradient of neighbor root densities. At low neighbor root abundances the strength of belowground competition was proportional to neighbor root biomass, consistent with prior evidence that belowground competition is symmetric. If belowground competition were asymmetric, neighbor roots should have had little effect on target plants when they are rare relative to those of the target plant. At higher neighbor root abundances, belowground competitive intensity should increase rapidly. The strong relationship found between neighbor root biomass and belowground competitive intensity suggests relatively small variations in root biomass could lead to large variations in belowground competition. Reduced belowground competition in areas with low root biomass could have important implications for the establishment and growth of poor belowground competitors, suggesting a mechanism by which species coexistence may occur despite extremely intense root competition.


This paper focuses on the development of an accurate neonatal brain MRI segmentation algorithm and its clinical application to characterize normal brain development and investigate the neuroanatomical correlates of cognitive impairments. Neonatal brain segmentation is challenging due to the large anatomical variability as a result of the rapid brain development in the neonatal period. The segmentation of MR images of the neonatal brain is a fundamental step in the study and assessment of infant brain development. The highest level of development techniques for adult brain MRI segmentation are not suitable for neonatal brain, because of substantial contrasts in structure and tissue properties between newborn and adult brains. Existing newborn brain MRI segmentation approaches either depend on manual interaction or require the utilization of atlases or templates, which unavoidably presents a bias of the results towards the population that was utilized to derive the atlases. In this paper, we proposed an atlas-free approach for the segmentation of neonatal brain MRI, based on the Neural network approach. The segmentation of the brain in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a prerequisite to obtain quantitative measurements of regional brain structures. These measurements allow characterization of the regional brain development and the investigation of correlations with clinical factors. Index Terms Neural network; Newborn; Premature; Segmentation . __________________________________________________*****________________________________________________


Cannabidiol (CBD) is a plant-derived compound with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is still an incurable disease. CBD has been suggested to ameliorate monocrotaline (MCT)-induced PH, including reduction in right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP), a vasorelaxant effect on pulmonary arteries and a decrease in the white blood cell count. The aim of our study was to investigate the effect of chronic administration of CBD (10 mg/kg daily for 21 days) on the parameters of oxidative stress and inflammation in the lungs of rats with MCT-induced PH. In MCT-induced PH, we found a decrease in total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and glutathione level (GSH), an increase in inflammatory parameters, e.g., tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), and cluster of differentiation 68 (CD68), and the overexpression of cannabinoid receptors type 1 and 2 (CB1-Rs, CB2-Rs). Administration of CBD increased TAC and GSH concentrations, glutathione reductase (GSR) activity, and decreased CB1-Rs expression and levels of inflammatory mediators such as TNF-α, IL -1β, NF-κB, MCP-1 and CD68. In conclusion, CBD has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in MCT-induced PH. CBD may act as an adjuvant therapy for PH, but further detailed preclinical and clinical studies are recommended to confirm our promising results.


The 3D structures of epidermal growth factor (EGF from mouse and human) and type a transforming growth factor (TGFα from human) in solution were studied by two-dimensional proton NMR spectroscopy. The pH of the samples were pH 2-3 for EGF and pH 4.9 for TGFα. The backbone foldings of EGF and TGFα are similar to each other, which is consistent with the fact that they compete for binding to the same receptor. The dynamical properties, however, are different; TGFα is unusually flexible at acidic pHs. We found that a proline at residue 29 is responsible for this difference.By means of 2D NMR pH titration experiment, the resonance assignment of mouse EGF at pH 6.8 was accomplished. On the basis of the assignment, the 3D structure of mouse EGF at the physiological pH was calculated. Then, the conformation of mouse EGF bound to micelles at pH 6.8 was determined. EGF interacts with micelles through the C-terminal tail region, which adopts an amphiphilic structure on binding to micelles. We propose a "mitten" model to describe the interaction mode of EGF/TGFα with the receptor.


The Marchioness of Salisbury's re-creation of the great gardens at Hatfield House has been one of the most exciting garden enterprises of the last 30 years. This is Lady Salisbury's own account of the gardens, their history and her work there, to accompany the photographs taken by Sue Snell over 8 years. This is a book that will delight anyone with an interest in garden history and in one of Britain's greatest gardens.


Question: Ancient woodland indicator species (AWIs) are plant species which are thought to be restricted to areas of long-continuity woodland habitat. In many cases, however, these species have been identified on the basis of personal, to some extent, subjective experience. Do the species proposed as AWIs according to these lists have traits in common, and how distinct is their trait profile from that of otherwoodland plant species? Location: United Kingdom. Methods: We applied classification tree analysis to a plant trait database to assess the extent to which proposed AWI species can be clearly separated from other woodland plants based upon their traits. We contrasted AWI species with an objectively defined list of plants that are not considered to be AWIs but that have been commonly recorded in woodlands. We also investigate the effects of phylogeny and region specificity on species proposed AWI status. Results: The results provide support for the distinctiveness of plant species thought to be associated with ancient woodland; they were found to be almost exclusively short, perennial species, usually with a high seed weight. Results also indicate that rarer AWIs have a more distinguishable trait profile than more common species. No link was found between phylogeny and AWI status. Conclusions: AWI species do have a distinguishable trait profile, despite their often partially subjective selection. The results of the classification tree analysis suggest that traits reflecting poor dispersal ability may be partly responsible for confining these species to ancient woodlands. This confirms other studies that emphasize their low ability to colonize secondary woodland sites and hence vulnerability to habitat conversion.


ABSTRACT Alonissos (Iliodroma) Island is really famous to palaeobotanists because of the type locality of Glyptostrobus europaeus (Brongniart) Unger only. Since the first report of the latter holotype no palaeobotanical work has taken place in Alonissos. This is the first research of the fossiliferous locality, along with new palaeobotanical, palynological and gastropod findings, revealed after 200 years. Among the collected material, a xylitic specimen was studied and identified as Pinuxylon alonissianum Mantzouka & Sakala, sp. nov. The presence of this species points to botanical affinities with sections of Diploxylon Pines (Pinus leiophylla var. chihuahuana (Engelm.) Shaw, P. arizonica Engelm., P. arizonica var. cooperi (C.E.Blanco) Farjon, P. engelmannii Carrière and P. jeffreyi Balf.) especially from Central America (Sierra Madre Occidental and Oriental of Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon and Sierra Nevada). This is the first research of this kind revealing as the Nearest Relative bioprovince of the studied Greek fossil pine wood Central America and not Himalayas or Asia. Moreover, a palynological study and an analysis of fossil molluscs were carried out for the first time, giving more data regarding the palaeovegetation and palaeoclimate of the area. Finally, the holotype of Glyptostrobus europaeus (Brongniart) Unger, housed in the collections of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris (MNHN), is found, photographed and presented for the first time.


Secure Attachment relationships have been shown to minimise social and behavioural problems in children and boosts resilience to risks such as antisocial behaviour, heart pathologies, and suicide later in life. Attachment assessment is an expensive and time-consuming process that is not often performed. The School Attachment Monitor (SAM) automates Attachment assessment to support expert assessors. It uses doll-play activities with the dolls augmented with sensors and the child's play recorded with cameras to provide data for assessment. Social signal processing tools are then used to analyse the data and to automatically categorize Attachment patterns. This paper presents the current SAM interactive prototype.


A 31-year-old atopic subject with allergic rhinoconjunctivitis with sensitization to several pollens, presented with urticaria and angioedema after ingestion of orange blossom pollen (Citrus sinensis). A positive skin prick test for orange blossom pollen extract (BIAL-Aristegui, Bilbao, Spain) at a concentration of 1.2 mg/ml was obtained. Serum specific IgE antibodies to orange blossom pollen were shown (Unicap Pharmacia System, Uppsala, Sweeden). A conjunctival provocation test was negative with orange blossom pollen extract dilutions of 1:1000, 1:100 and 1:10 w/v. We describe a patient with an IgE-mediated reaction caused by hypersensitivity to orange blossom pollen. Although the pollen is an aeroallergen and the way of sensitization and entrance is the airway, and therefore the symptoms appear in this location, when contact is through some other route such as the digestive tract, it is also able to sensitize reporting urticaria and angioedema like in our case, instead of respiratory symptoms.


Pre-Charter, in principle the police had limited powers. However, in practical terms it was not possible for a private citizen to object to all police action that fell outside those powers: realistically it was only if the police action were egregious enough to rise to the level of a tort or an offence that there was a mechanism for review. That is, there was a lot of grey area in between the things the police clearly were allowed to do and those they clearly were not allowed to do. The Charter changed that. By making "lawfulness" the standard for deciding whether there was an unreasonable search or an arbitrary detention, the Supreme Court in theory banished the grey area, making it possible to review any action falling outside the strict limits of police powers. However, experience led to the conclusion that those "strict limits" might in fact be too strict, and so paradoxically the restraint mechanism of the Charter has led in some instances to the expansion of police power. Further, the particular approach taken to expanding police powers amounts to potentially declaring all of the previous grey area to fall within the powers of the police. This paper argues that that is an undesirable strand in Charter jurisprudence, and that it could be avoided by dealing with grey area issues at the remedy stage, as section 24(2) anticipates, rather than at the stage of deciding what powers police have.


We studied previously the impact on light-element abundances of gravitinos decaying during or after Big-Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). We found regions of the gravitino mass m3/2 and abundance ζ3/2 plane where its decays could reconcile the calculated abundance of 7Li with observation without perturbing the other light-element abundances unacceptably. Here we revisit this issue in light of LHC measurements of the Higgs mass and constraints on supersymmetric model parameters, as well as updates in the astrophysical measurements of light-element abundances. In addition to the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model with universal soft supersymmetry-breaking masses at the GUT scale (the CMSSM) studied previously, we also study models with universality imposed below the GUT scale and models with non-universal Higgs masses (NUHM1). We calculate the total likelihood function for the light-element abundances, taking into account the observational uncertainties. We find that gravitino decays provide a robust solution to the cosmological 7Li problem along strips in the (m3/2,ζ3/2) plane along which the abundances of deuterium, 4He and 7Li may be fit with χ2min3, compared with χ2 ~ 34 if the effects of gravitino decays are unimportant. The minimum of the likelihood function is reduced to χ2 < 2 when the uncertainty on D/H is relaxed and < 1 when the lithium abundance is taken from globular cluster data.


We have devised a computer-assisted graphical method for correlating chemical analyses in suites of related igneous rocks. The method provides a direct and empirical means of sample identification using all of the reported chemistry. In a study of basalt of the Columbia River plateau, the method has been used for (1) checking field identifications of rocks, (2) spotting analytical errors in analyses of samples of known chemical type, (3) identifying repetitions of chemistry in thick stratigraphic sections, and (4) matching analyses of dikes to those of flows that the dikes may have fed.

Program OXVAR creates a set of oxide-oxide variation diagrams on a CALCOMP plotter; any oxide may be used as the base (for example, MgO, SiO2). For each oxide-oxide variation diagram, program CTSET creates the smallest convex polygon that encloses all the data points as well as a larger polygon that takes into account the error in determination of each data point. A set of nested polygons, one for each oxide, then represents a chemical type. Program CTYPE identifies unknown analyses by comparing them with all defined chemical types. If all the elements or oxides of an analysis plot within the defined polygons for a given chemical type, then an identification is printed. If at least one element of an analysis falls outside the set of polygons defined for each chemical type, then "unidentified" is printed, and qualitative information on the amount of deviation from the defined chemical types is given.


Sarcopenia associated with chronic liver disease (CLD) is one of the more common extrahepatic features in patients with these pathologies. Among the cellular alterations observed in the muscle tissue under CLD is the decline in the muscle strength and function, as well as the increased fatigue. Morphological changes, such as a decrease in the fiber diameter and transition in the fiber type, are also reported. At the molecular level, sarcopenia for CLD is characterized by: (i) a decrease in the sarcomeric protein, such as myosin heavy chain (MHC); (ii) an increase in the ubiquitin–proteasome system markers, such as atrogin-1/MAFbx1 and MuRF-1/TRIM63; (iii) an increase in autophagy markers, such as LC3II/LC3I ratio. Among the regulators of muscle mass is the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). The non-classical axis of RAS includes the Angiotensin 1–7 [Ang-(1-7)] peptide and its receptor Mas, which in skeletal muscle has anti-atrophic effect in models of muscle wasting induced by immobilization, lipopolysaccharide, myostatin or angiotensin II. In this paper, we evaluated the effect of Ang-(1-7) on the sarcopenia by CLD in a murine model induced by the 5-diethoxycarbonyl-1,4-dihydrocollidine (DDC) hepatotoxin administered through diet. Our results show that Ang-(1-7) administration prevented the decline of the function and strength of muscle and increased the fatigue detected in the DDC-fed mice. Besides, we observed that the decreased fiber diameter and MHC levels, as well as the transition of fiber types, were all abolished by Ang-(1-7) in mice fed with DDC. Finally, Ang-(1-7) can decrease the atrogin-1 and MuRF-1 expression as well as the autophagy marker in mice treated with DDC. Together, our data support the protective role of Ang-(1-7) on the sarcopenia by CLD in mice.


Abstract:In this study, we investigate the impact of American Sign Language (ASL) playbuilding on the language practices of culturally and linguistically diverse deaf high school students. Students' learning of ASL takes place in an inclusive secondary school environment in a small midwestern Canadian city. This study explores ways in which participants develop linguistic repertoires through the production of a play involving eight deaf youth actors supported by a production team consisting of a nondeaf director, a nondeaf teacher, a deaf teacher, and a deaf elder volunteer. Analysis of participant interactions during the processes of language teaching and learning and meaningmaking in the context of daily school surroundings and activities supports the assertion that intelligibility of perceptions situated in deaf and nondeaf ontologies is a methodological problem.


Part I of the thesis describes the geology of an area of about 400 square miles in the hinterland of Kiswere in the coastal region of southern Tanganyika. More detail is available of the Mandawa-Mahokondo region, where the sequence is most complete, than of the remainder. The greater part of the area is occupied by Mesozoic rocks with marine Paleogene sediments in the extreme east. The exposure of Jurassic and Lover Cretaceous strata is due largely to the erosion of once continuous plateau-forming bus of Upper Aptian age or younger. Unconsolidated continental Neogene sands cap the plateaux and Neogene gravels appear on some of the lower watersheds. The Neogene sediments have not been napped in detail. All stages of the Middle and Upper Jurassic and of the Cretaceous are represented, though the succession is not contimous. The Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous strata (the Mandawa Mahokondo and the Tendagura Series) are largely of littoral or neritic facies and estuarine and continental rooks are present towards the vest. Below the oldest exposed Jurassic bads (the Pindiro Shales), which contain massive gypsum at surface, drilling has proved a thick evaporite series including halite deposits. Thare is a notable easterly thickening of almost all of the individual units of the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous sedimentary columm. The Tendaguru Beds, which in their type area are only about 400 feet thick, total over 2,500 feet in the north of the Mandawa-Mahokondo area (including about 600 feet of Lower Cretaceous strata) and the total thickness of the Jurassic above the Pladlro shales there approaches 5,000 feet. The marine Upper Aptian occurs in two facies, dominantly calcareous (Kiturika Beds) along the east of the Ngarama Plateau and mixed arenaceous/argillaceous/calcareous to the east of the Mandawa Mahokondo area. The marine Upper Aptian occurs in the west of the area mapped, and the continental Makonde Beds, which have previously been described as equivalent to the Kiturika Beds, cannot be demonstrated to be other than younger than them in the area concerned. The Albion-Senonian sequence forms a series of overstepping, dominantly argillaceous subdivisions, still in part at least of fairly shallow water origin, nowhere extending west of the Upper Aptian limestone outcrop. Below the Callovian, fossils are not abundant or diagnostic but rich fossil horizons occur in the sequence between the Callovian and the Lower Aptian. There is generally a clear palaeontological distinction between the marine horisons of the Jurassic and the Lowor Cretaceous, and palaeontological evidence on the basis of Trigoniids is advanced for correlations within the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian strata. Otherwise, local correlations are in part on lithological grounds. There are two outstanding structures in the area, the Mandawa-Mahokondo and the Makangaga-Ruawa anticlines en echelon, both in part diapiric, of which the axes lie approximately NNW-SSE. To erosion of these is due the exposure of the older Jurassic strata. The former has two distinct culminations. Outside the vicinity of these structures dips generally low. The greater part of the movement, which was to some extent independent in the two structures, was completed by the end of the Jurassic but, locally, faulting and some minor uplift affected Upper Aptian beds. A number of unconformities occur; some are due to local diapiric uplift in the anticlinal areas, but those below the Upper Neocomian and below the Upper Aptian appear to be of widespread significance. The geological history of the axes is outlined and a brief comparison is made of some of the faunas present with others in the Ethiopian Province and elsewhere. Part II of the thesis gives an account of Trigoniids collected during the survey of the Kiswere Hinterland. A total of 11 new species have been named and described and at least a further 5, of which only poor material is available, are also regarded as new. The genera Linotrigonia, Laevitrigonia (as emended by Cox, 1952) and Opisthotrigonia, and the subgenus Pleurotrigonia are reported for the first time from East Africa. of these opisthotrigonia was previously regarded as monotypic. Biometric analysis of variation in communities of Indotrigonia from successive horizons in the Middle Kimmeridgian-Tithonian sequence has been attempted.


We present "Extending the Satellites Around Galactic Analogs Survey" (xSAGA), a method for identifying low-z galaxies on the basis of optical imaging and results on the spatial distributions of xSAGA satellites around host galaxies. Using spectroscopic redshift catalogs from the SAGA Survey as a training data set, we have optimized a convolutional neural network (CNN) to identify z < 0.03 galaxies from more-distant objects using image cutouts from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys. From the sample of >100,000 CNN-selected low-z galaxies, we identify >20,000 probable satellites located between 36–300 projected kpc from NASA-Sloan Atlas central galaxies in the stellar-mass range 9.5<log(M⋆/M⊙)<11 . We characterize the incompleteness and contamination for CNN-selected samples and apply corrections in order to estimate the true number of satellites as a function of projected radial distance from their hosts. Satellite richness depends strongly on host stellar mass, such that more-massive host galaxies have more satellites, and on host morphology, such that elliptical hosts have more satellites than disky hosts with comparable stellar masses. We also find a strong inverse correlation between satellite richness and the magnitude gap between a host and its brightest satellite. The normalized satellite radial distribution between 36–300 kpc does not depend on host stellar mass, morphology, or magnitude gap. The satellite abundances and radial distributions we measure are in reasonable agreement with predictions from hydrodynamic simulations. Our results deliver unprecedented statistical power for studying satellite galaxy populations and highlight the promise of using machine-learning for extending galaxy samples of wide-area surveys.


Aquatic invasive species negatively impact the native aquatic communities in many parts of the world. Every nation faces the issue of introduced species, but the efforts to manage them depend on the varying capacity and willingness to manage invasions globally. Aquatic invasive species have their own set of challenges; it is crucial to understand the invasion dynamics of these species as well as their nature of interaction with humans to devise better mitigation processes. The freshwater aquatic wealth of India is seriously threatened by pollution, flow modification, overexploitation, habitat degradation and invasive alien species. India has several globally known freshwater invasive species. This article explores the invasion dynamics, potential pathways of invasion and impacts of the introduction of two of the world's top 100 invasive species, which remain relatively unknown in India: Gambusia affinis and Gambusia holbrooki. In the early 19th century, Gambusia species were introduced into Lalbagh Lake, Bengaluru, and eventually to other parts of the country. Gambusia is now widely distributed in the wild and in many Protected Areas, where it has become a threat to endangered amphibians, fishes and other aquatic invertebrates. This article explores the distribution of these Gambusia species in India and the drivers leading to their invasion. It also explains the obscure history of Gambusia invasion in India and the lack of awareness of its possible negative impacts. The importance of using molecular tools in taxonomy and their applications in invasion ecology are discussed. This study highlights the research gaps in invasion ecology of this genus in India and suggests scientific methods to manage these invasive species.


This article seeks to draw out an understanding of the role of narratives and discourses of race, culture and civil society within international peacebuilding, through the location of the discourse of culture as a transitional stage between interventionist and regulatory discourses of race and civil society. It particularly seeks to highlight that the discourse of culture is key to understanding the peacebuilding discourses of intervention and regulation that have developed in the last decade. This is all the more important as the discourse of culture has in many respects been displaced by the discourse of civil society. In drawing out the links between the framings of race, culture and civil society, the article seeks to explain how the discourse of civil society intervention has been reinvented on the basis of the moral divide established and made coherent through the discourse of culture, and how the discourse of civil society contains a strong apologetic content, capable of legitimizing and explaining the persistence of social and economic problems or political fragmentation while simultaneously offering potential policy programmes on the basis of highly ambitious goals of social transformation.


Background. Patients after liver transplant have a high incidence of chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease (ESRD). We investigated kidney transplantation after liver transplantation using the Organ Procurement Transplant Network database. Methods. The Organ Procurement Transplant Network database was queried for patients who received kidney transplantation after previous liver transplantation. These patients were compared with patients who received primary kidney transplantation alone during the same time period. Results. Between 1997 and 2008, 157,086 primary kidney transplants were performed. Of these, 680 deceased donor kidney transplants and 410 living donor kidney transplants were performed in previous recipients of liver transplants. The number of kidney after liver transplants performed each year has increased from 37 per year to 124 per year in 2008. The time from liver transplant to kidney transplant increased from 8.2 to 9.0 years for living donor transplants and from 5.4 to 9.6 years for deceased donor. The 1, 3, and 5 year actuarial graft survival in both living donor kidney after liver transplant and deceased donor kidney after liver transplant are less than the kidney transplant alone patients. However, the death-censored graft survivals are equal. The patient survival is also less but is similar to what would be expected in liver transplant recipients who did not have ESRD. In 2008, kidney after liver transplantation represented 0.9% of the total kidney alone transplants performed in the United States. Conclusion. Kidney transplantation is an appropriate therapy for selected patients who develop ESRD after liver transplantation.


In this paper, we propose an analytical low‐level representation of images, obtained by a decomposition process, namely the matching pursuit (MP) algorithm, as a new way of describing objects through a general continuous description using an affine invariant dictionary of basis function (BFs). This description is used to recognize multiple objects in images. In the learning phase, a template object is decomposed, and the extracted subset of BFs, called meta‐atom, gives the description of the object. This description is then naturally extended into the linear scale‐space using the definition of our BFs, and thus providing a more general representation of the object. We use this enhanced description as a predefined dictionary of the object to conduct an MP‐based shape recognition task into the linear scale‐space. The introduction of the scale‐space approach improves the robustness of our method: we avoid local minima issues encountered when minimizing a nonconvex energy function. We show results for the detection of complex synthetic shapes, as well as real world (aerial and medical) images. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 16, 162–180, 2006


Abstract The aim of the work was to identify risk factors of atrial fibrillation (AF) in 151 patients with metabolic syndrome (MS, IDF 2005); 88 of them presented with the recurrent form of AE 63 had no arrhythmia. Practically all patients suffered from arterial hypertension. The groups were comparable in terms of age, concomitant disorders, AH duration, arterial pressure, and severity of chronic heart failure. Patients with permanent AF, hemodynamically significant heart disease, myocardial infarction with wave Q in the medical history, and cardiac aneurysm were excluded from the study. We evaluated anthropometric parameters, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, daily albuminuria, results of echoCG, and insulin resistance. Patients with AF had worse anthropometric and metabolic parameters and more pronounced remodeling of myocardium with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction, insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction, and renal lesions than patients with MS without AF Patients with MS having abdominal obesity and AH over 10 years, marked insulin resistance (IR index higher than 2.77), reduced HDL cholesterol level (below 1.1 mmol/l), left atrial dilation (end diastolic size >43mm), albuminuria >60 mg/d, waist circumference >104 cm were at high risk of AF (prognostically unfavourable arrhythmia). It is concluded that dynamic observation of the above MS and echo-CG parameters, and albuminuria coupled to the adequate correction of insulin resistance, control of AH and dyslipidemia is important for the prevention of cardiac arrhythmia.


Objectives: Minimizing the frictional force between orthodontic wire and brackets is imperative to safely obtain a more favorable result by applying lower loads. Several methods have been proposed for this purpose such as changing the wire shape/size, changing the bracket design, and coating wires with different materials. This study aimed to assess the effect of zirconium oxide (ZrO2) nano-coating on frictional resistance of three types of orthodontic wires. Materials and Methods: This in vitro, experimental study evaluated 42 pieces of nickel-titanium (NiTi), stainless steel (SS), and beta-titanium (TMA) orthodontic wires, and 42 maxillary canine brackets. The samples were divided into six groups with and without ZrO2 nano-coating. The nano-coating was applied on the wires using the sol-gel technique. The presence of ZrO2 nano-coating was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). The surface roughness of the samples was evaluated using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The brackets and wire had a 5° angle relative to each other. The static and kinetic friction of the samples were evaluated in the presence of artificial saliva and occlusogingival movements in a universal testing machine. Data were analyzed by the Shapiro–Wilk's test, one-way ANOVA, Kruskal–Walli's test, Mann–Whitney U test, independent t-test, and Tukey's test. Results: ZrO2 nano-coating was only observed on TMA wires. The surface roughness of coated NiTi and SS wires had no significant difference from that of non-coated wires (P > 0.05). However, this difference was significant for TMA wires with and without the coating (P < 0.05). The static and kinetic friction were not significantly different between wires with and without coating (P > 0.05). Conclusions: ZrO2 nano-coating could only be applied on TMA wires, and had no significant efficacy for reduction of static or kinetic friction of TMA wires.


This article describes a design method of achieving 16 synchronous data acquisition through the PCI9656 bridge chip. The design realizes high-speed data acquisition through setting up a bridge between PCI9656 and AD by cyclone III EP3C5F256, and composes the PC control interface. This meets the requirement of cost control and acquisition real time in industrial control system.


Porosity and permeability data from five carbonate platform successions of different settings, ages, and burial depths are examined to identify overall similarities and differences in the reservoir quality of interlayered limestones and dolostones. Each succession consists mainly of limestone and dolostone, with subordinate proportions of intermediate, partly dolomitized compositions. In the three deeply buried platforms, the key features are that limestones have much lower average porosity than associated dolostones, and that limestones and dolostones show little difference in average permeability-for-given-porosity. In contrast, the shallowly buried platforms show little difference in average porosity between limestones and dolostones and also display higher average permeability-for-given-porosity in dolostones than limestones. These data suggest the following general guidelines for depositional and diagenetic controls on reservoir architecture in carbonates consisting of interlayered limestone and dolostone. (1) Reservoir compartmentalization by the formation of tight limestone barriers is largely a burial diagenetic process involving calcite cementation locally produced by chemical compaction. (2) Both the pattern of early dolomitization and the distribution of clay minerals (because they influence the localization of chemical compaction) are key factors that determine the distribution of tight limestone barriers separating flow units. Thus, the pattern of eventual burial compartmentalization follows a template that is hardwired into the stratigraphic architecture by depositional mineralogy and early diagenesis. (3) After burial (2–3 km; 1.2–1.8 mi), dolostones should not be expected to have higher permeability-for-given- porosity than associated limestones. These rules assume dolomitization to occur early relative to chemical compaction, which will commonly be the case because of combined hydrologic and mass-balance constraints. Dolomitization and concentration of clay appear linked to cycle and sequence architecture in the present examples and thus may have a useful degree of predictability, at least in terms of statistical parameters, such as net/gross and probability of flow-unit thickness distribution.


Diabetes mellitus, when producing hyperglycemia, as well as angiopathic, vasculopathic, and neuropathic complications, poses a threat to the function and viability of sexual arousal and intercourse at similar and different levels in males and females. Males are faced with hypogonadism, depression and anxiety, affecting their sexual arousal desire. Male intercourse may be impaired by erectile dysfunction, priapism, ejaculatory dysfunction, and/or benign prostatic hyperplasia. Female sexual arousal may be affected by depression, hormonal imbalance, and hypoactive sexual desire disorder. Female sexual intercourse may be disturbed by dyspareunia, vaginismus, and anorgasmia. Effects on sexual intercourse may also be seen at the gender neutral level due to cranial neuropathy and various autonomic neuropathies outside the genitourinary tract. Though specific treatments target most conditions, healthy diet and exercise are the best bets to avoid the long-term effects of diabetic complications on sexuality.


We report a series of numerical experiments for the propagation of a momentum pulse representing a chromospheric jet, simulated using an idealized magnetohydrodynamic model. The jet in a stratified lower solar atmosphere is subjected to a varied initial driver (amplitude, period) and magnetic field conditions to examine the parameter influence over jet morphology and kinematics. The simulated jet captured key observed spicule characteristics including maximum heights, field-aligned mass motions/trajectories, and cross-sectional width deformations. Next, the jet features also show a prominent bright, bulb-like apex, similar to reported observed chromospheric jets, formed due to the higher density of plasma and/or waves. Furthermore, the simulations highlight the presence of not yet observed internal crisscross/knots substructures generated by shock waves reflected within the jet structure. Therefore we suggest verifying these predicted fine-scale structures in highly localized lower solar atmospheric jets, e.g., in spicules or fibrils by high-resolution observations, offered by the Daniel K. Inoyue Solar Telescope or otherwise.


Mathematical drug release modelling of biodegradable polymeric systems by microencapsulation technology in textiles has not progressed much yet, because it is generally too complex. The release of a therapeutic agent from a formulation applied to the skin surface and its transport to the systemic circulation has a multistep process.
The transdermal drug released is a feasible administration route for powerful, low-molecular weight therapeutic agents, which has to be accurate in their control of drug distribution. Moreover, many drugs are difficult to handle because they must be delivered slowly over a prolonged period to have a beneficial effect.
In the present work, several examples of practical applications of mathematical models, developed through experimental drug release data, are given. For those involved in the design and development of biodegradable drug delivery systems, it will be useful to choose the generic mathematical model for several specific drug release problems. This transport model is based on the appropriate solution to Fick's second law of diffusion and can be used to explain drug release kinetics into this complex biological membrane (skin).
Microspheres containing active principles were prepared using a solvent evaporation procedure with poly(vinyl alcohol) as surfactant in the external aqueous phase. Several biodegradable microspheres of biocompatible polymers, taken as delivery systems for active agent, have been studied.
Polymers were PLGA (Poly(lactide-co-glycolide)) and PCL (poly(e-caprolactone)). The active compounds chosen were cosmetics and drugs, such as gallic acid, caffeine and ibuprofen. The microspheres obtained were characterized by the measure of encapsulation efficiency. The surface morphology and chemical structure of the micro particles were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Nanosizer was used for particle size distribution.
The application of the microspheres in the fabrics was carried out using Pad-Dry technique, since it is a simple and efficient technology and its working conditions are harmless to the system.
The drug release system was analyzed, through samples of the treated fibre (cotton, polyamide, acrylic and polyester) in order to study the drug delivery behaviour in different media, deionized water and physiological saline (T=37oC).
The skin penetration profile by in vitro technique for different active principles was determined using pigskin. The release experiments are performed resorting to the Franz Diffusion cells apparatus (Lara-Spiral, Courtenon, France) consisting of two thermostatic chambers, the upper donor and the lower receptor chamber, divided by a skin biopsy.
The main objective of this study is to create smart textiles which allow a controlled drug release for any active compound/substance. Such objective will allow the control of the textiles drug release in such a way that the active compound is released in the right quantity, at the right time and at the right place.
The present study has shown that the main objective has been successfully achieved. According to that, microencapsulation applied on fabrics can be considered as a good controlled release system. As a result, the project reached to a general kinetic model using smart textiles as a mass transport system through the skin.


Myrica rubra is an important horticultural, forestry and ornamental tree. Its micropropagation was achieved by using shoot tip and nodal explants from two commercial cultivars "Biji and Dongkui" on BW medium supplemented with Thidiazuron (TDZ) and/or 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). TDZ induced multiple shoots but stunted growth. Maximum number of shoots (5.75) was recorded for both cultivars with 0.6 mg L-1TDZ concentration. Shoot length was significantly improved with optimum concentration of TDZ (0.6 mg L-1) and with different  concentrations of 2,4-D. BW medium was found as suitable medium for micropropagation of both the cultivars of M. rubra with maximum number and longer shoots. WPM and MS medium ranked second in multiple shoot regeneration of both cultivars. Single microshoot cultured on plant growth regulator free medium for 3 weeks initiated roots on the medium containing  Indole butyric acid (IBA) only with reduced (¼ and ½) medium strength. Roots were induced with a high frequency of 95% in Biji and 87% in Dongkui with 0.3 mg L-1 IBA, respectively. No callus was observed on shoots in rooting media. All the concentrations of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) either on reduced medium or full strength did not initiate any roots. Rooted plants were successfully acclimatized.

 Key words: Myrica rubra, Chinese bay berry, micropropagation, plant growth regulators.


Net uptake of NO3- by non-nodulated soybean plants [Glycine max (L.) Merr. cv. Ransom] growing in flowing hydroponic culture was measured daily during a 63 d period of reproductive development between the first florally inductive photoperiod and [unknown word] seed growth. Removal of NO3- from a replenished solution containing 1.0 mol m-3 NO3- was determined by ion chromatography. Uptake of NO3- continued throughout reproductive development. The net uptake rate of NO3- cycled between maxima and minima with a periodicity of oscillation of 3 to 7 d during the floral stage and about 6 d during the fruiting stage. Coupled with increasing concentrations of carbon and C : N ratios in tissues, the oscillations in net uptake rates of NO3- are evidence that the demand for carbohydrate by reproductive organs is contingent on the availability of nitrogen in the shoot pool rather than that the demand for nitrogen follows the flux of carbohydrate into reproductive tissues.


The recommended therapy for chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection is the combination of a Pegylated interferon and Ribavirin. Almost all such patients on combination therapy experience one or more adverse events during the course of treatment. Significant neurological side effects are rare. A few cases of Bell's Palsy, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy and even one case of acute demyelinating polyneuropathy with atypical features for Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) associated with Interferon therapy have been reported but no report of GBS with typical features has been published. We present a case report of typical GBS associated with Peginterferon alfa-2a and Ribavirin used for treatment of CHC infection.


Summary 1. A substantial proportion of the global land surface is used for agricultural production. Agricultural land serves multiple societal purposes; it provides food, fuel and fibre and also acts as habitat for organisms and supports the services they provide. Biodiversity conservation and food production need to be balanced: production needs to be sustainable, while conservation cannot be totally at the expense of crop yield. 2. To identify the benefits (in terms of biodiversity conservation) and costs (in terms of reduction in yields) of agricultural management, we examined the relationship between crop yield and abundance and species density of important taxa in winter cereal fields on both organic and conventional farms in lowland England. 3. Of eight species groups examined, five (farmland plants, bumblebees, butterflies, solitary bees and epigeal arthropods) were negatively associated with crop yield, but the shape of this relationship varied between taxa. It was linear for the abundance of bumblebees and species density of butterflies, concave up for the abundance of epigeal arthropods and butterflies and concave down for species density of plants and bumblebees. 4. Grain production per unit area was 54% lower in organic compared with conventional fields. When controlling for yield, diversity of bumblebees, butterflies, hoverflies and epigeal arthropods did not differ between farming systems, indicating that observed differences in biodiversity between organic and conventional fields are explained by lower yields in organic fields and not by different management practices per se. Only percentage cover and species density of plants were increased by organic field management after controlling for yield. The abundance of solitary wild bees and hoverflies was increased in landscapes with high amount of organic land. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our results indicate that considerable gains in biodiversity require roughly proportionate reductions in yield in highly productive agricultural systems. They suggest that conservation efforts may be more cost effective in low-productivity agricultural systems or on non-agricultural land. In less productive agricultural landscapes, biodiversity benefit can be gained by concentrating organic farms into hotspots without a commensurate reduction in yield.


Diagnostic exome sequencing yields a single genetic diagnosis in ∼30% of cases, and according to recent studies the prevalence of identifying two genetic conditions in a single individual range between 4.6% and 7%. We present a patient diagnosed with three different rare conditions, each explained by a pathogenic variant in a different gene. A 17-yr-old female was evaluated for a history of motor and speech delay, scoliosis, distinctive craniofacial features, and dry skin in the Department of Clinical Genomics at Mayo Clinic. Her distinctive features included prominent forehead, epicanthus, depressed nasal bridge, narrow mouth, prognathism, malar flattening, and oligodontia. Family history was notable for dry skin in her mother and missing teeth in the paternal grandmother. Previous diagnostic testing was unrevealing including biochemical testing, echocardiogram, abdominal ultrasound, and electroencephalogram. Previous genetic testing included a microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization that was reported normal. Three pathogenic loss-of-function heterozygous variants were identified by exome trio sequencing, each linked to different genetic conditions: SIN3A (Witteveen–Kolk syndrome), FLG (dermatitis), and EDAR (ectodermal dysplasia). Together, these three genetic alterations could explain the patient's overall phenotype. This patient demonstrates the importance of performing a thorough curation of exome data when presented with a complex phenotype. Although phenotypic variability can explain some of these situations, the hypothesis of multiple diseases coexisting in a single patient should never be disregarded completely.


Objectives Recently, IgG autoantibodies against different paranodal proteins have been detected and this has led to important advances in the management of inflammatory neuropathies. In contrast, not much is known on IgM autoantibodies against paranodal proteins. Methods In the present study, we screened a large cohort of patients (n=140) with inflammatory neuropathies for IgM autoantibodies against neurofascin-155, neurofascin-186 or contactin-1. Results IgM autoantibodies against neurofascin-155 were detected by ELISA in five patients, four with inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) and one with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), and were confirmed by ELISA-based preabsorption experiments and Western blot. Titres ranged from 1:100 to 1:400. We did not detect IgM anti-neurofascin-186 or anti-contactin-1 antibodies in this cohort. All patients presented with distally accentuated tetraparesis and hypesthesia. Remarkably, tremor was present in three of the patients with CIDP and occurred in the patients with GBS after the acute phase of disease. Nerve conduction studies revealed prolonged distal motor latencies and F wave latencies. Nerve biopsies showed signs of secondary axonal damage in three of the patients, demyelinating features in one patient. Teased fibre preparations did not demonstrate paranodal damage. Conclusion In summary, IgM neurofascin-155 autoantibodies may be worth testing in patients with inflammatory neuropathies. Their pathogenic role needs to be determined in future experiments.


Nanotechnology investigation is generating extraordinary improvements for identifying, treating, and avoiding health problems. However, while nanoparticles can mainly to breakthrough applications, they may also root for dangerous side effects. It has been revealed that nanomaterials can enter the human body through a number of ports. Nanoparticle can modify the physiochemical properties of material as well as create the opportunity for increased the uptake and interaction with biological tissue through inhalation ingestion and injection. This combination effects generate adverse biological effects in living cell. Health effects of nanoparticles are attracting extensive and increasing concern of the public and government worldwide. So far, most of the nanotoxicity investigation concentrated on respiratory tract contacts for considering the health effects of nanoparticles. Other exposure routes, e.g., gastrointestinal tract also need to be considered as potential portals of entry. We review the recent accepting threat of NPs resulting from the novel science of nanotoxicology and the restricted exploration to date into human contact to these particles.


Purpose: To evaluate the gastro-protective efficacy of salvianolic acid B (SAB) against intestinal ischemic-reperfusion injury (IIRI) in a rat model. Methods: Forty-eight healthy male rats were randomly choosen and divided into 4 groups of 12 rats each. Control group rats underwent laparotomy without occlusion; IIRI group rats underwent laparotomy with occlusion for 60 min, followed by 24 h of reperfusion; SAB + IIRI group received 7 days of pretreatment with 40 mg/kg of SAB + IIRI; while the fourth group received only SAB. The antioxidant, inflammatory markers, intestinal permeability marker, as well as intestinal histopathological changes were assessed. Results: The activities of antioxidants including reduced glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were significantly ameliorated (p < 0.01) in SAB-supplemented group (SAB + IIRI). The concentration of inflammatory markers, including interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and nuclear factor p65 (NF-p65) as well as small intestinal permeability marker (FITC-Dextran), were significantly reduced (p < 0.01) following administration of SAB for 7 days. In addition, pretreatment with SAB reverted intestinal (ileum) histopathological changes to almost normal architecture with significant reduction in Chiu score. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrate that SAB may protect the intestine by attenuating oxidative stress and inflammatory response and hence, may be potentially for treating IIRI.


: The goal of the investigation was the determination of the influence of Ca(2+), vitamin B6 methionine, tryptophan, the combination of the listed elements and high-calorie food on the intensity of synthesis and secretion of melatonin. The level of melatonin in the blood serum was being determined through the method of radio-immune (immune-enzyme) analysis. Based on the results received it was found out that the influence of the vitamin B6, tryptophan and their combination in the organism of the tested objects - white rats) resulted in the considerable increase of formation of melatonin. In the conditions of feeding them with high-calorie food - the value of melatonin in blood is sharply reducing. Consequently we may conclude that the vitamin B6 and tryptophan separately and in combination, either directly or through some other mechanism participate actively in biosynthesis and secretion of melatonin. The high-calorie food through unknown mechanism to us reduces the formation of the melatonin in epiphysis. This might point to the important role of the deficit of melatonin in etiopathogenesis of the diseases, detected and developed on the background of hypercholesterinemy.


In this original and provocative study of computational creativity in music, David Cope asks whether computer programs can effectively model creativity -- and whether computer programs themselves can create. Defining musical creativity, and distinguishing it from creativity in other arts, Cope presents a series of experimental models that illustrate salient features of musical creativity. He makes the case that musical creativity results from a process that he calls inductive association, and he contends that such a computational process can in fact produce music creatively. Drawing on the work of many other scholars and musicians -- including Douglas Hofstadter, Margaret Boden, Selmer Bringsjord, and Kathleen Lennon -- Cope departs from the views expressed by most with his contentions that computer programs can create and that those who do not believe this have probably defined creativity so narrowly that even humans could not be said to create. After examining the foundations of creativity and musical creativity, Cope describes a number of possible models for computationally imitating human creativity in music. He discusses such issues as recombinance and pattern matching, allusions, learning, inference, analogy, musical hierarchy, and influence, and finds that these experimental models solve only selected aspects of creativity. He then describes a model that integrates these different aspects -- an inductive-association computational process that can create music. Cope's writing style is lively and nontechnical; the reader needs neither knowledge of computer programming nor specialized computer hardware or software to follow the text. The computer programs discussed in the text, along with MP3 versions of all the musical examples, are available at the author's website, http://arts.ucsc.edu/faculty/cope.


Compared to all other nations Constitution of
India guarantees to all its citizens the right to
freedom of speech and expression. People's
everyday lives are shaped
through language and communication. They
choose what to do with their time based on
opinions and ideals formed through
the discourse they are exposed to and
Criticism is an inevitable part of the
environment that surrounds us.
Criticism is painful and praise feels good for both men and women. What other
people think affects women more dramatically though. Women are relationship
oriented. When people don't like what they are up to, it can feel like disharmony or a
break in their relationships, which they deeply value. Women pick up more
information about what others think. A host of studies show women are more adept
at reading facial expressions and body language than men. For most of history,
women couldn't protect themselves through legal, political, or financial means.
Research shows that when women get negative feedback, it tends to be more
personal than the feedback men get. It can also be more angry and even violent or
vulgar, especially in our internet age.


Software Engineering in general is a very creative process, especially in the early stages of development like requirements engineering or architectural design where sketching techniques are used to manifest ideas and share thoughts. On the one hand, a lot of diagram tools with sophisticated editing features exist, aiming to support the engineers for this task. On the other hand, research has shown that most formal tools limit designer's creativity by restricting input to valid data. This raises the need for combining the flexibility of sketch-based input with the power of formal tools. With an increasing amount of available touch-enabled input devices, plenty of tools supporting these and similar features were created but either they require the developer to use a special diagram editor generation framework or have very limited extension capabilities. In this paper we propose Scribble: A generic, extensible framework which brings sketching functionality to any new or existing GEF based diagram editor in the Eclipse ecosystem. Sketch features can be dynamically injected and used without writing a single line of code. We designed Scribble to be open for new shape recognition algorithms and to provide a great degree of user control. We successfully tested Scribble in three diagram tools, each having a different level of complexity.


There is a difference between an object's being good simpliciter and an object's being good of its kind, and the vast majority of philosophers have supposed that it is the former variety of goodness that is relevant to ethics. I argue that one may be a meta-ethical realist while employing the notion of good of a kind to the exclusion of good simpliciter; I call such a view kindism. I distinguish between two varieties of kindism, explicate the details of one of those varieties, and defend (that variety of) kindism against possible objections.


Community forestry is a well established management form in Nepal. The success of community forestry in improving the forest condition encouraged the government to initiate some developmental works beyond the fulfillment of only basic forestry needs. This paper seeks to explore the investment made by CFUGs in community infrastructures and their priorities as well. Primary data from three mid-hill districts of Nepal were collected from questionnaire survey of 100 CFUGs. The results suggested that community infrastructure was the largest category of expenditures of CFUG funds wherein the majority of the CFUG accorded investment priority to schools. This paper concludes that higher CFUG income has led to a proportionately higher investment in community infrastructures and suggests that it was necessary to increase CFUG income to promote investment in community infrastructures. Investing CFUG funds on schools is a good harbinger of local development that contributes to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education. Key words: CFUG; CFUG funds; community forestry; community infrastructures DOI: 10.3126/banko.v20i1.3508 Banko Janakari , Vol. 20, No. 1 pp.44-50


Study Design. This study involved a search of MEDLINE (1966 to 2000), EMBASE (1980 to 2000), and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register. The authors of the identified randomized controlled trials were contacted to detect any additional published or unpublished data. The trials selected for this study included all the truly unconfounded or quasi-randomized controlled investigations allocating patients with cervical radiculopathy or myelopathy to 1) "best medical management" or "decompressive surgery (with or without some form of fusion) plus best medical management," or 2) "early decompressive surgery" or "delayed decompressive surgery." Two reviewers independently selected trials for inclusion, assessed trial quality, and extracted the data. Objectives. To determine whether surgical treatment of cervical radiculopathy or myelopathy is associated with improved outcome, as compared with conservative management, and whether the timing of surgery (immediate or delayed because of persistence or progression of relevant symptoms and signs) has an impact on outcome. Summary of Background Data. Cervical spondylosis causes pain and disability by compressing the spinal cord or roots. Surgery to relieve the compression may reduce the pain and disability. However, it is associated with a small but definite risk. This study sought to assess the balance of risk and benefit from surgery. Methods. Two trials involving a total of 130 patients were included. One trial with 81 patients compared surgical decompression with either physiotherapy or cervical collar immobilization in patients with cervical radiculopathy. Results. The short-term effects of surgery, in terms of pain, weakness, or sensory loss were superior. However, at 1 year no significant differences between the groups were observed. Another trial with 49 patients compared the effects of surgery with those of conservative treatment in patients who had a mild functional deficit associated with cervical myelopathy. No significant differences were observed between the groups up to 2 years after treatment. Conclusions. The data from the reviewed trials were inadequate to provide reliable conclusions on the balance of risk and benefit from cervical spine surgery for spondylotic radiculopathy or myelopathy.


Background Fear of childbirth (FoB) and depressive symptoms (DS) are experienced by many women and can negatively affect women during and after pregnancy. This study assessed patterns of FoB and DS over time and associations of postpartum FoB and DS with sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics. Methods We conducted a longitudinal study at six health facilities in Tanzania in 2018–2019. Pregnant women were consecutively assessed for FoB and DS before and after childbirth using the Wijma Delivery Expectancy/Experience Questionnaire versions A & B and the Edinburgh antenatal and postnatal depressive scale. This paper is based on 625 women who completed participation. Results The prevalence rates of FoB and DS during pregnancy were 16% and 18.2%, respectively, and after childbirth, 13.9% and 8.5%. Some had FoB (6.4%) and DS (4.3%) at both timepoints. FoB was strongly associated with DS at both timepoints (p < 0.001). Both FoB (p = 0.246) and DS (p < 0.001) decreased after childbirth. Never having experienced obstetric complications decreased the odds of postpartum and persisting FoB (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.44, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.23–0.83). Giving birth by caesarean section (aOR 2.01, 95% CI 1.11–3.65) and having more than 12 hours pass between admission and childbirth increased the odds of postpartum FoB (aOR 2.07, 95% CI 1.03–4.16). Postpartum DS was more common in women with an ill child/stillbirth/early neonatal death (aOR 4.78, 95% CI 2.29–9.95). Persisting DS was more common in single (aOR 2.59, 95% CI 1.02–6.59) and women without social support from parents (aOR 0.28, 95% 0.11–0.69). Conclusions FoB and DS coexist and decrease over time. Identifying predictors of both conditions will aid in recognising women at risk and planning for prevention and treatment. Screening for FoB and DS before and after childbirth and offering psychological support should be considered part of routine antenatal and postnatal care. Furthermore, supporting women with previous obstetric complications is crucial. Using interviews instead of a self-administered approach might have contributed to social desirability. Also, excluding women with previous caesarean sections could underestimate FoB and DS prevalence rates.


Although metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have been shown to catalyse a wide range of reactions, understanding the influence of nanoscale structuralisation (e.g. crystal size and morphology) on their performance is a difficult challenge. Here, we have prepared Zn(2-mIM)2 (ZIF-8; 2-mIM− = 2-methylimidazolate) crystals of varied size and morphology, and studied the catalytic properties of these samples in the context of the transesterification of vinyl acetate with hexanol. ZIF-8 has previously been shown to catalyse reactions at Lewis acidic sites at the crystal surface and at defect sites. The substrates were selected as they are significantly larger than the pore apertures, allowing the reaction to be confined to the surface of the crystals and providing the best opportunity to understand the influence of the structuralisation on the observed properties. In this case, the rate of hexyl acetate production increased as the crystal size was reduced; however, the effect of crystal morphology on the rate of reaction was not appreciable due to the instability of ZIF-8 under catalytic conditions. It was clearly observed that the surface of ZIF-8 was unstable in catalytic conditions featuring hydrophobic reagents with a polar functional groups, with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealing indiscriminate etching of all crystal surfaces. Atomic adsorption spectrometry (AAS) analyses confirmed the etching led to significant leaching of Zn2+, which was observed to contribute considerably to the catalytic activity of ZIF-8. Our results highlight the need for fundamental characterisation of MOF catalysts to enable their deployment under a wider variety of catalytic conditions.


This thesis aims to contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics of media democratisation in post-authoritarian societies. Since the return to democracy across Latin America, research has yielded important insights into normative expectations of the media during democratisation, and country case studies have highlighted the diversity of contexts for analysis. Long-standing obstacles to media democracy in the region have not been overcome by democratisation. However, there has been little attention to exploring whether media access for civil society actors – and, so, internal plurality of the media – improves over the process of democratisation and what factors influence this.

Based on a content analysis of newspaper coverage of major strategies of the campaign for transitional justice in Uruguay spanning from 1989 to 2012 and 16 interviews with journalists and civil society actors, this thesis draws three main conclusions. Firstly, it concludes that there is not a progressive increase in the quantity or quality of media access for civil society actors and this is principally due to the contingency of media access upon both journalistic routines and broader shifts associated with the process of democratisation including the return to "politics as usual" and increasing market competition. It further concludes that transitional justice campaigns face considerable obstacles in gaining media access to further their strategic ends, due to the way in which the media follows the mainstream political and public agenda during democratisation, and low levels of quality of access. Finally, it makes a methodological contribution in its mixed methods approach, which embraces the debate of de-Westernisation in media scholarship. This multi-faceted approach to researching media access reveals the way in which inequalities in media access cannot be divorced from wider power relations in society.

Overall, the thesis argues that the lack of media access for civil society actors constitutes a significant and ongoing problem for the deepening of democracies in Latin America. To this end, the thesis supports a more radical account of media democratisation which incorporates a greater normative duty to represent civil society groups, particularly given the dominance of hegemonic, state-led narratives in pacted transitions. This should inform the way in which media policy is approached during democratic transitions and provide impetus for the current push for civil society-led media reform movements in the region. In addition to this, the thesis indicates the need for further and broader research into media coverage of transitional justice campaigns and mechanisms in different contexts and in comparison with other human rights issues.


The present paper investigates fire resistance of a simply-supported composite concrete-trapezoidal steel sheet slab. The objective is to find out if a steel sheet, as a moisture diffusion barrier, may substantially effect the hydro-thermal situation in the concrete part of the cross-section. The numerical integration of the equations of a coupled hygro-thermal boundary-value problem (Tenchev, R.T., Li, L.Y. and Purkiss, J.A. (2001) Num. Heat Transfer Part A, 39(7), 685-710), with and without considering the barrier, shows that the barrier does not really effect the magnitude and the development of temperatures over the cross-section, while there is a significant effect on the pattern of moisture transport and the magnitude of vapour pressure. Particularly high magnitudes of vapour pressure (about 4.5 MPa) were shown in cases where the steel sheet was considered in analyses, which indicates a possible micro damage of concrete in the web of the section, although spalling probably cannot take place due to the steel sheet cover. As the typical composite slab investigated here is not sufficiently fire resistant without any additional reinforcement bars placed in the web, further in-vestigations are directed to finding an optimal position and area of these bars. Following a simplified procedure given in EC2 (Eurocode 2, Design of Concrete Structures, Part 1.2 (2004) Structural fire design, European Committee for Standardization) and assuming that the present composite slab is subject to the uniform traction , yields that placing one bar with the area 1.153 cm2 4 cm away from the edge suffices for the 60 min fire resistance of the slab.


PET scanners are sophisticated and highly sensitive biomedical imaging devices that can produce highly quantitative images showing the 3-dimensional distribution of radiotracers inside the body. PET scanners are commonly integrated with x-ray CT or MRI scanners in hybrid devices that can provide both molecular imaging (PET) and anatomical imaging (CT or MRI). Despite decades of development, significant opportunities still exist to make major improvements in the performance of PET systems for a variety of clinical and research tasks. These opportunities stem from new ideas and concepts, as well as a range of enabling technologies and methodologies. In this paper, we review current state of the art in PET instrumentation, detectors and systems, describe the major limitations in PET as currently practiced, and offer our own personal insights into some of the recent and emerging technological innovations that we believe will impact the field. Our focus is on the technical aspects of PET imaging, specifically detectors and system design, and the opportunity and necessity to move closer to PET systems for diagnostic patient use and in vivo biomedical research that truly approach the physical performance limits while remaining mindful of imaging time, radiation dose, and cost. However, other key endeavors, which are not covered here, including innovations in reconstruction and modeling methodology, radiotracer development, and expanding the range of clinical and research applications, also will play an equally important, if not more important, role in defining the future of the field.


Rapid access to situation-sensitive data through social media networks creates new opportunities to address a number of real-world problems. Damage assessment during disasters is a core situational awareness task for many humanitarian organizations that traditionally takes weeks and months. In this work, we analyze images posted on social media platforms during natural disasters to determine the level of damage caused by the disasters. We employ state-of-the-art machine learning techniques to perform an extensive experimentation of damage assessment using images from four major natural disasters. We show that the domain-specific fine-tuning of deep Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) outperforms other state-of-the-art techniques such as Bag-of-Visual-Words (BoVW). High classification accuracy under both event-specific and cross-event test settings demonstrate that the proposed approach can effectively adapt deep-CNN features to identify the severity of destruction from social media images taken after a disaster strikes.


Fashion has been an area of interest in consumer research for many years. In the past decade, men have begun to be interested in their appearance and demand more variety in clothing items. Research and trend indicate there are high potential for men's products to grow. Thus, menswear product is very interesting market to study. The purpose of this research is to study factors that influence Thai men to buy fashion product and to study on the insight of Thai men consumer behavior in order to be beneficial for marketing of men's wear product. This research helps the marketing department team at any men's wear fashion companies to work more effectively with the marketing plan for menswear product in order to know the factors that influence Thai men to buy clothing and other fashion product. The qualitative method is used for this study by conducting the in-depth interview with 12 Thai men, aged 20-35 years old. All respondents live in Bangkok and do shopping for clothes at least once in two months. Result in this research identified seven key factors for male shopping practice, which are brand image, designs, quality, price, store location, promotion, and salesperson. Brand image and promotion have been indicated as central traits. This study has indicated that men are very much participating in the shopping arena and as very active participants, which should not be neglected or ignored.