The two dimensional stochastic time model of scrape-off layer (SOL) turbulent transport is studied. The instability arisen in the system with respect to the stochastic perturbations of both either density or vorticity reveals itself in the strong outward bursts of particle density propagating ballistically across the SOL. The stability and possible stabilization of the cross-field turbulent system depend very much upon the reciprocal correlation time between density and vorticity fluctuations. The probability distribution function (pdf) of the particle flux for the large magnitudes of flux events can be modeled with a simple discrete time toy model of random walks concluding at a boundary. The spectra of wandering times feature the pdf of particle flux in the model and qualitatively reproduce the experimental statistics of transport events.


BACKGROUND
The prevalence of childhood obesity is increasing rapidly in low- and middle-income countries, and informed policies to tackle the problem must be defined.

OBJECTIVE
We systematically reviewed the evidence on the effectiveness of school-based interventions targeting dietary behavior and/or physical activity for the primary prevention of obesity in children and adolescents aged 6-18 y in low- and middle-income countries.

DESIGN
We searched the MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, CENTRAL, ERIC, Cochrane Library, and Centre for Reviews and Dissemination databases for peer-reviewed controlled studies published in English, Spanish, French, German, or Dutch between January 1990 and July 2011. The quality of the included studies was appraised independently by 2 authors who used the Effective Public Health Practice Project tool.

RESULTS
From a total of 7218 unique references, we retained 22 studies. Most of the interventions (82%) had a positive effect on dietary behavior and physical activity behavior (effect size ranged from -0.48 to 1.61). BMI decreased in 8 studies (effect size ranged from -0.7 to 0.0). Effective interventions targeted both diet and physical activity, involved multiple stakeholders, and integrated educational activities into the school curriculum.

CONCLUSIONS
School-based interventions have the potential to improve dietary and physical activity behavior and to prevent unhealthy body weights in low- and middle-income countries. To reach their full potential, interventions should conduct process evaluations to document program implementation. The effect and the pathways through which interventions have this effect need to be better documented through rigorous evaluation studies.


The DAPPLE (Dynamic Assessment of Preschoolers' Proficiency in Learning English) is currently being developed in response to a clinical need. Children exposed to English as an additional language may be referred to speech and language therapy because their proficiency in English is not the same as their monolingual peers. Some, but not all, of these children are likely to have a core language learning difficulty. Clinicians need to be able to distinguish disorder from difference due to a child's language learning context. The assessment used a test–teach–test format to examine children's ability to learn vocabulary, sentence structure and phonology. The assessment, which takes less than 60 minutes to administer, was given to 26 children who were bilingual: 12 currently on a speech and language therapy caseload and 14 children matched for age and socio-economic status who had never been referred to speech and language therapy. The DAPPLE data clearly discriminated the two groups. The caseload group required a greater amount of prompting to identify targeted words in the receptive vocabulary assessment and performed less well in the post-teaching expressive component. For sentence structure, the caseload group required more cues to acquire the targeted clause elements in the teaching phase. The caseload group made more phoneme errors at the initial and final assessments than the controls, and the type of errors made differed. Teaching resulted in greater positive change in percent phonemes correct for the caseload participants. Qualitative analyses of individual children's performance on the DAPPLE suggested that it has the potential to discriminate core language deficits from difference due to a bilingual language learning context. Future directions for development of the test are considered.


According to the real structure and work condition of a large-scale gas control valve used in recycling generating electricity project, a sequential fluid-structure interaction system model of control valve is set up, the coupling of fluid and valve plug is studied. The complicated fluid pressure, stress and deformation of balanced valve plug and stem at different control valve openings are investigated. The root cause of plug vibration by fluid is revealed. The natural frequency and modes of vibration are obtained, which could verify whether the design overcomes resonance. All of these are in favor of realizing design optimization in fluid-structure interaction and are of great practical significance for advancing study on large-scale control valves.


A theoretical description of the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal from flowing nuclei in refocused gradient-echo pulse sequences, both with continuous- and alternating-phase pulse trains, has been developed. Both laminar and plug flow models have been considered and formulae have been derived that relate mean signal intensity to flip angle, pulse sequence repetition interval (TR), and flow velocity. The degree of signal enhancement or reduction in various conditions of flow and pulse sequences depends on the precise phase relationships between the residual transverse magnetization and each radio-frequency (RF) pulse.


The averaged conservation laws are numerically solved for unsteady turbulent flows of compressible fluids using implicit iterative schemes. To investigate the effects of upstream vortices on the flow filed in the stator blade passages of an axial compressor, upstream vortices are modeled by a vortex shedding flow behind a circular cylinder, which moves in the transverse direction at the entrance of the stator blade row. The interface problem arising due to the relative motion of two different reference systems is handled by a novel technique, which allows the evaluation of the numerical flux at the interface also in the same way as at interior points. To validate the interface technique and to exhibit the temporal behaviour of vortices in the blade passages, some results are presented.


The unique properties of carbon nanotubes (CNT) are advantageous for emerging applications. Yet, the CNT insolubility hampers their potential. Approaches based on covalent and noncovalent methodologies have been tested to realize stable dispersions of CNTs. Noncovalent approaches are of particular interest as they preserve the CNT's structures and properties. We report on hybrids, in which perylene diimide (PDI) amphiphiles are noncovalently immobilized onto single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT). The resulting hybrids were dispersed and exfoliated both in water and organic solvents in the presence of two different PDI derivatives, PP2b and PP3a. The dispersions were investigated using cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), providing unique structural insights into the exfoliation. A helical arrangement of PP2b assemblies on SWCNTs dominates in aqueous dispersions, while a single layer of PP2b and PP3a was found on SWCNTs in organic dispersions. The dispersions were probed by steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopies, revealing appreciable charge redistribution in the ground state, and an efficient electron transfer from SWCNTs to PDIs in the excited state. We also fabricated hybrid materials from the PP2b/SWCNT dispersions. A supramolecular membrane was prepared from aqueous dispersions and used for size-selective separation of gold nanoparticles. Hybrid buckypaper films were prepared from the organic dispersions. In the latter, high conductivity results from enhanced electronic communication and favorable morphology within the hybrid material. Our findings shed light onto SWCNT/dispersant molecular interactions, and introduce a versatile approach toward universal solution processing of SWCNT-based materials.


IntroductionCase costing is the only source of integrated financial, clinical, and utilization data at the patient level in Ontario. This accounting tool improves funding and performance management processes and tracks health care service costs for informed decision making based on quality and value.
Objectives and ApproachThe only source of integrated financial, clinical, and utilization data at the patient level, case costing provides a clear picture of each patient in terms of where the patient received care, who was the provider, what type of care was provided, and the total cost to treat each patient.
Case costing is a critical tool for system-wide planning by providing a province-wide view of cost and clinical variations. Health organizations can compare costs associated with service utilization to identify organizational variances among peers. Identifying the source of these variances drives effective resource utilization and management while delivering high-quality care.
ResultsCase costing provides a range of benefits and uses:

Improved benchmarking and performance measurement processes by comparing utilization and costs among various clinical practices with similar clinical outcomes and measuring performance internally and externally to understand efficiencies and outcomes against peers.
Providing critical information for innovative care initiatives, such as the Bundled Care Model. The bundled care model improves efficiency through more integrated use of resources, reduced variation in access to services, and improved patient outcomes through seamless transitions across the care continuum. Case costing informs funding allocations in the hospital sector with expected expansion to home care funding.
More sophisticated planning and forecasting, such as impact analysis by modeling the adoption of new physicians or technologies within facilities to determine cost and volume impact.

Conclusion/ImplicationsAdministrators, clinicians, and health service organizations use case costing data for informing best practices and improving efficiency. By helping users to understand the cost of care at patient and provider levels across the patient journey, case costing has been a catalyst for enabling value-based care.


Abstract Background: Liver enzymes are released from hepatocytes into circulation and their activity can be measured in the blood. We examined whether the plasma activity of the liver enzyme ornithine carbamoyltransferase, determined by a novel liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay, could be utilized for the detection of OTC deficiency (OTCD), an X-linked inborn error of the urea cycle. Methods: The plasma ornithine carbamoyltransferase (OTC) activity was assayed in the reverse reaction using isotopically labeled citrulline-d4 as a substrate and by determination of the product, ornithine-d4, by LC-MS/MS analysis. Results: The plasma OTC activity in the controls was in the range of 111–658 pkat/L (n=49, median 272 pkat/L), and the activity increased linearly with serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities in patients with hepatopathy. The OTC activity was subsequently determined in 32 individuals carrying mutations in the OTC gene, and OTC/ALT and OTC/AST ratios were calculated to account for the degree of hepatopathy, which is a common finding in OTCD. The OTC/ALT ratio enabled clear differentiation of OTCD hemizygotes (n=11, range 0–69×10−6) from controls (504–3440×10−6). This ratio also enabled the detection of 11 of 12 symptomatic heterozygotes (range 38–794×10−6), while this marker did not allow for reliable differentiation of asymptomatic heterozygotes (n=9) from controls. Conclusions: LC-MS/MS assay of plasma OTC activity enabled the detection of all hemizygous and the majority of symptomatic heterozygous OTCD patients in the tested cohort. This study demonstrates that non-invasive assay of enzymes expressed predominantly in the liver could be used as an alternative approach for diagnosing inborn errors of metabolism.


We investigate thermal one-loop effective potentials in multi-flavor models with chemical potentials. We study four-dimensional models in which each flavor have different global U(1) charges. Accordingly they have different chemical potentials. We call these "non-uniform chemical potentials," which are organized into a diagonal matrix \mu. The mass matrix at a vacuum does not commute with \mu. We find that the effective potential is divided into three parts. The first part is the Coleman-Weinberg potential. The UV divergence resides only in this part. The second is the correction to the Coleman-Weinberg potential that is independent of temperature, and the third depends on both temperature and \mu. Our result is a generalization of the thermal potentials in previous studies for models with single and multi-flavors with (uniform) chemical potentials and reproduces all the known results correctly.


For studying the effect between short laser pulse and red blood cell (RBC) in a more accurate and powerful way, the light beam characters of a focused femtosecond pulse are studied with a simulation method, and then, a mixed wave-propagating model (MWP) is put forward after analyzing these characters, in which, light beam is thought as propagating in a Gaussian focused shape. In addition, a mathematical processing and linear absorption model in the focused irradiated region of RBC is built based on analyzing its physical mechanism. Finally, the temperature distribution within the RBC is gotten by data simulating calculation, which shows that the temperature variety caused by linear absorption in the focal region is rather small.


In an effort to bring more structure to the task of automating systems management, we introduce an approach for incrementally introducing best-practice-based automation into IT service delivery and management. Our approach is process-centric, using best-practice processes to structure the automation, scope out high-value automation opportunities, identify interaction points between automation and its broader environment, and expose the overall impact of automation on the service delivery organization. We illustrate our approach by applying it to a specific example: reducing the cost of IT change management via a system that automates changes in the domain of software lifecycle management (such as installation/deployment and configuration)


Immunoglobulin G4-related disease is an increasingly recognized, idiopathic systemic disorder that might be associated with elevated serum IgG4 level and tissue infiltration by IgG4-positive plasma cells. We describe the clinical features and biopsy findings in a patient who presented with features suggestive of pachymeningitis and multiple cranial neuropathies. Meningeal biopsy and other laboratory studies established the diagnosis of IgG4-related hypertrophic pachymeningitis. Despite treatment with corticosteroids and mycophenolate mofetil, the patient exhibited a fluctuating progressive course, which stabilized with rituximab, although the radiological findings persisted over 2½ years of follow-up. Our case highlights many important evolving concepts in the disorder, including unusual pathologic features, lack of correlation between serum IgG4 levels and the clinical course, and posttreatment clinicoradiological discordance. We provide potential explanations for this discrepancy, highlight the validity of novel cerebrospinal fluid studies and progressive systemic involvement despite use of immune-suppressive treatments, and emphasize the usefulness of rituximab as a disease-stabilizing agent.


The laminar low Mach number flow of a gas in a tube is analyzed for very small and very large values of the inlet-to-wall temperature ratio. When this ratio tends to zero, pressure forces confine the cold gas to a thin core around the axis of the tube. This core is neatly bounded by an ablation front that consumes it at a finite distance from the tube inlet. When the temperature ratio tends to infinity, the temperature of the gas increases smoothly from the wall to the axis of the tube and the shear stress and heat flux are positive at the wall despite the fact that the viscosity and thermal conductivity of the gas scaled with their inlet values tend to zero at the wall.


In this biography, Rockwell Gray offers a compelling portrait of one of the greatest Spanish writers and philosophers of the twentieth century. Jose Ortega y Gasset was a driving force at the center of an extraordinary flowering of literary and artistic talent in Madrid during the 1920s and 1930s. Author of "The Revolt of the Masses", "The Dehumanization of Art, Man and Crisis", "The Origin of Philosophy", and numerous other well-known books, Ortega articulated more clearly than any other Spanish writer what Gray has called "the imperative of modernity," the need to open the doors of his native culture to currents of thought, art, and scholarship from abroad.That Ortega should still stand as the preeminent intellectual leader of modern Spain even after his exile from the country following the Spanish Civil War testifies to the importance and continuing influence of his writings. Incisive, witty, and often lyrical in tone, they constitute a unique contribution to modern philosophy and a complex reflection on a crucial half century in Spanish and European history. This comprehensive intellectual biography, the first in English, brings us a new understanding of one of the most celebrated figures in Spanish cultural life, a thinker whose work is inseparable from the main currents of modern European intellectual and cultural history.


A multiwavelength study of galaxies is important to understand their formation and evolution. Only in the recent past, thanks to the Atacama Large (Sub) Millimeter Array (ALMA), were we able to study the far-infrared (IR) properties of galaxies at high redshifts. In this article, we summarize recent research highlights and their significance to our understanding of early galaxy evolution from the ALPINE survey, a large program with ALMA to observe the dust continuum and 158μm C+ emission of normal star-forming galaxies at z= 4–6. Combined with ancillary data at UV through near-IR wavelengths, ALPINE provides the currently largest multiwavelength sample of post-reionization galaxies and has advanced our understanding of (i) the demographics of C+ emission; (ii) the relation of star formation and C+ emission; (iii) the gas content; (iv) outflows and enrichment of the intergalactic medium; and (v) the kinematics, emergence of disks, and merger rates in galaxies at z>4. ALPINE builds the basis for more detailed measurements with the next generation of telescopes, and places itself as an important post-reionization baseline sample to allow a continuous study of galaxies over 13 billion years of cosmic time.


Robotic surgery using da Vinci®Surgical System which has the high resolution 3-dimensional images, the forceps with 7 degrees freedom, the function for prevention of tremors and motion scaling enables to perform meticulous operation circumventing the action of forceps movement which is the major problem in conventional laparoscopic surgery. In 2003, initial robotic gastrectomy for gastric cancer has been reported. Since then robotic gastrectomy has been developed mainly in Japan, Korea and Italy. From January 2012, we launched robotic gastrectomy at our institute as prospective clinical phase II trials to clarify the safety of robotic gastrectomy. The results of these trials have already been published and the safety of robotic gastrectomy was confirmed. In the several retrospective analyses, robotic gastrectomy has been reported to show longer operation time, less blood loss and lower morbidity compared with conventional laparoscopic surgery. However, the superiority of robotic gastrectomy to laparoscopic gastrectomy has not yet been demonstrated in terms of short- and long-term outcomes in a randomized controlled trial. Since robotic gastrectomy has been approved in Japanese health insurance system at April 2018, it is expected to rapidly expand throughout the country in the near future. Therefore, it is urgent matter to establish an evidence and educational program. In this article, the current status and future perspective about robotic surgery for gastric cancer are presented.


This paper explores a causal link between aging of the labor force and declining trends in the real interest rate in Japan. We develop a search/matching model that features heterogeneous workers with respect to their ages and firm-specific skills. Using the model, we examine the long-run implications of the sharp drop in labor force entry in the 1970s. We show that the changes in the demographic structure induce significant low-frequency movements in per capita consumption growth and the real interest rate. The model suggests that aging of the labor force accounts for 40 percent or more of the declines in the real interest rate observed between the 1980s and 2000s in Japan. We also examine the impacts of other long-term developments such as a slowdown of TFP growth and higher shares of female and non-regular workers.


This paper deals with the use of mixte 3D F.E. to simulate heat treatment processes. A complete thermo-elasto-visco-plastic THEVP constitutive equation is chosen to cover a large domain of deformation (Colonna et al.), from purely viscoplastic at high temperature to elastic at the end of the heat treatment process, with non linear kinematic/isotropic hardening laws. A 3D mixte finite element (velocity/pressure) is used with the same interpolation for mechanical and thermal discretisation. This formulation is based on the mini-element formulation for linear and non linear cases, with stabilized element in order to satisfy the compatibility conditions (Arnold et al.).


This article describes the characteristics of offer for job vacancies, curricular structure and competency profile of students from nursing undergraduate courses, seeking to identify elements that are in line with the assumptions of the National Curricular Guidelines (NCG) and of the nurses' work in primary health care. Applying a computer-assisted survey by telephone interviews with 94 course coordinators, it was verified: provision of job vacancies distant from the national needs; curricular structure focused on fragmented disciplines in the basic and vocational cycles, in disagreement with recommendations by the NCG; and competency profile potent for the development of actions of promotion, prevention, management and nursing techniques, which are predicted in the scope of general skills and abilities recommended for the exercise of the generalist professional nursing practice, according to the NCG, and compatible with the main demands of primary health care.


Since the mid 1990s, large companies have increasingly used the Internet to disclose business and financial information. Internet technology is regularly claimed to facilitate greater relevance and timeliness of business information. The integrity of information disclosed on corporate websites has, however, been subject to comparatively little scrutiny. This study focuses on the integrity of Internet Financial Reporting (IFR) by reference to the adequacy of underlying corporate governance procedures. Using a sample of 100 large European companies, a questionnaire survey was used to identify whether or not governance procedures that specifically address the distinguishing features of web-based financial reporting are used by large companies. The results confirm the trend identified in prior research of increasing Internet usage to replicate paper-based financial information. Responses to the questionnaire also suggest that concerns about the integrity of IFR are justified. Erroneous assumptions and assertions by respondents regarding the security of IFR, in addition to knowledge of work undertaken by external auditors indicate limited engagement with IFR by management of large European companies. The conclusion of this study is that the governance framework surrounding IFR has received insufficient managerial attention.


While risk has always been part of translation, it was taken up as a distinct topic recently, with some confusion as to what the term actually covers and some problematic claims about its central role as a determinant of translation behavior and the links between risk and translation effort. It is argued that risk is more often a constraint than a driver of decisions, that the correlation between the magnitude of risk-associated loss and the number of problem-solving efforts can be weak, and that achievement-oriented decision making explains translatorial behavior better than risk management and is more compatible with professional ethics. However, there are interesting nontrivial cases where risk is salient, and the topic deserves more conceptual and empirical exploration.


Hypertension is not only an important and common risk factor for cardiovascular disease, but can also cause damage to other organs. This study focusses on the role arterial wall changes play in the development of hypertension and organ damage. The study showed that carotid artery wall changes occur prior to the development of hypertension. It was also shown that changes in kidney perfusion could be measured in young people with mild hypertension and arteries of this group of people had become more rigid compared to those of people with low blood pressure. We also discovered that kidney function in elderly people with rigid blood vessels deteriorates more rapidly each year compared to that of people without such blood vessel wall changes. These results confirm that blood vessel wall changes play an important role in the development of hypertension. Slowing down the process of blood vessel wall change may lead to new treatments for hypertension and cardiovascular disease.


With the recent increase in publications of metabolomic-based studies, it is apparent that there are considerable differences in findings between laboratories. Even within a single centre, variability introduced by different highly skilled operators contributing to the same experiment can alter the results. These inconsistencies may contribute to unforeseen experimental confounders and, as such, represent a critical barrier to metabolomics based studies. This issue can impact studies throughout the research spectrum, from basic science to clinical research. One of the potential sources of unforeseen variance in many metabolomic-based studies occurs during the identification and quantification of metabolites. In our study, we examined the profiling consistency of NMR spectra as essential to the interpretation and analysis of metabolite concentrations. This manuscript describes how to evaluate the consistency of metabolite identification and quantification from NMR spectral profiling, between operators and over time, and this methodology can be applied to other quantification techniques in the 'omics' realm. We also present the results of our analysis, ranking the urine metabolites' consistency via NMR quantification. Results from this study will allow metabolomics researchers to better assess consistency and thus ensure that metabolite differences truly reflect biological differences rather than experimental variability.


This study was designed to compare the efficacy and tolerability of amlodipine (AML) and ramipril (RAM) administered once a day in patients affected by mild to moderate primary systemic hypertension. Twenty outpatients, 12 men and 8 women (age range 35-64 years), were enrolled. The patients received single-blind placebo for 2 weeks and thereafter in a double-blind, randomized crossover sequence AML (10 mg) and RAM (5 mg), both for 4 weeks. At the end of each period, the patients underwent 24-hour noninvasive blood pressure monitoring with readings taken every 10 min during daytime (from 07.00 to 23.00 h) and 20 min during nighttime (from 23.00 to 07.00 h). Both AML and RAM induced a highly significant (p < 0.0001) decrease in blood pressure from 162/103 +/- 7/3 to 132/82 +/- 6/6 and 135/83 +/- 6/5 mm Hg, respectively. The mean blood pressure decreased from 122 +/- 5 to 99 +/- 6 (AML; p < 0.0001) and 100 +/- 5 mm Hg (RAM; p < 0.0001). No significant differences in heart rate were noted during drug administrations. Treatment did not have to be discontinued in any patient because of adverse reactions. In conclusion, both AML and RAM reduced the blood pressure markedly, even if AML proved to be significantly more effective than RAM.


Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic potential of magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) in preoperative patients with secondary common bile duct stones during the application of laparoscopic trans-cystic common bile duct exploration (LTCBDE). Material/Methods The clinical records of 255 patients were retrospectively analyzed. All patients included in the study were examined by MRCP 3 days prior to LTCBDE. Results Secondary bile duct stones were detected in 220 patients using LTCBDE. Of the patients diagnosed by MRCP, 141 were true-positive, 28 were true-negative, 7 were false-positive and 79 were false-negative. The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of MRCP for secondary common bile duct stones were 64.09%, 80.00%, 66.27%, 95.27%, and 26.17%, respectively. When the cases with muddy stones were excluded, the outcomes were 80.41%, 79.41%, 69.23%, 94.44%, and 48.21%, respectively. When cases with stones <3 mm (inclusive) in diameter were excluded, the outcomes were 93.75%, 79.41%, 86.27%, 93.75%, and 65.85%, respectively. When cases with stones <5 mm (inclusive) in diameter were excluded, the outcomes were 93.10%, 79.41%, 89.26%, 92.05%, and 81.82%, respectively. Conclusions The effectiveness of preoperative MRCP is overestimated for the diagnosis of secondary common bile duct stones, particularly for muddy and micro-stones.


Behavior analysis has already contributed substantially to the treatment of children with autism, and further gains can result from more use of Skinners analysis of language in Verbal Behavior (1957) and in the resulting conceptual and experimental work. The approach emphasizes a unit of analysis consisting of the relations between behavior, motivative and discriminative variables, and consequences. Skinner identifies seven types of verbal operants—echoic, mand, tact, intraverbal, textual, transcriptive, and copying a text—which function as components of more advanced forms of language. This approach focuses on the development of each verbal operant (rather than onwords and their meanings) and on the independent training of speaker and listener repertoires. Five more specific contributions are described that relate to the importance of (a) an effective language assessment, (b) mand training in early intervention, (c) establishing operations, (d) an intraverbal repertoire, and (e) automatic reinforcement.


As technology nodes are being scaled down, soft errors induced by particle strikes are becoming a troublesome reliability issue in logic circuits. Various sizing techniques commonly used to reduce soft error rate in the past are expensive in terms of area, performance, and energy consumption. These methods require changes to adapt to sub-micron technologies. This study introduces two novel sizing methods that selectively upsize transistor networks of a circuit. Our first proposed methodology formulates the soft error rate minimization as a mathematical optimization problem and searches for the best area distribution such that maximum reliability gain is obtained. This methodology assures that optimal solutions are achieved within given area budget provided to the designer. However, generating optimal solution requires very high CPU time. Therefore, we propose a heuristic based methodology which upsizes only selected transistor network in sensitive gates based on soft error sensitivity of each gate. With proper sensitive gate selection and area distribution algorithms proposed in this technique, we show through experimental results that our heuristic driven method gives satisfactory reliability improvement compared to our first method, while requiring relatively small computation time.


The posterior cingulate cortex is a highly connected and metabolically active brain region. Recent studies suggest it has an important cognitive role, although there is no consensus about what this is. The region is typically discussed as having a unitary function because of a common pattern of relative deactivation observed during attentionally demanding tasks. One influential hypothesis is that the posterior cingulate cortex has a central role in supporting internally-directed cognition. It is a key node in the default mode network and shows increased activity when individuals retrieve autobiographical memories or plan for the future, as well as during unconstrained 'rest' when activity in the brain is 'free-wheeling'. However, other evidence suggests that the region is highly heterogeneous and may play a direct role in regulating the focus of attention. In addition, its activity varies with arousal state and its interactions with other brain networks may be important for conscious awareness. Understanding posterior cingulate cortex function is likely to be of clinical importance. It is well protected against ischaemic stroke, and so there is relatively little neuropsychological data about the consequences of focal lesions. However, in other conditions abnormalities in the region are clearly linked to disease. For example, amyloid deposition and reduced metabolism is seen early in Alzheimer's disease. Functional neuroimaging studies show abnormalities in a range of neurological and psychiatric disorders including Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, autism, depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as well as ageing. Our own work has consistently shown abnormal posterior cingulate cortex function following traumatic brain injury, which predicts attentional impairments. Here we review the anatomy and physiology of the region and how it is affected in a range of clinical conditions, before discussing its proposed functions. We synthesize key findings into a novel model of the region's function (the 'Arousal, Balance and Breadth of Attention' model). Dorsal and ventral subcomponents are functionally separated and differences in regional activity are explained by considering: (i) arousal state; (ii) whether attention is focused internally or externally; and (iii) the breadth of attentional focus. The predictions of the model can be tested within the framework of complex dynamic systems theory, and we propose that the dorsal posterior cingulate cortex influences attentional focus by 'tuning' whole-brain metastability and so adjusts how stable brain network activity is over time.


Purpose

Existing research highlights gender as an important dimension for entrepreneurship theory and practice. This study aims to explore the differences between female and male sustainable entrepreneurs in the areas of previous professional experiences, their performance and growth, their use of financial resources and their overall attitude to risk.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a feminist perspective and on the basis of empirical evidence gathered through a series of 20 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with male and female sustainable entrepreneurs in the UK, thr authors analyse differences between male and female sustainable entrepreneurs.

Findings

The findings suggest that female role models play a significant role in the emergence of women sustainable entrepreneurs who start from the same experience levels as men, show strong feminist attitudes and are conscious of their contribution to global sustainability. Sustainable entrepreneurship offers women professional development and a limited flexibility to balance work and family commitments. Lack of funding appears to be a major constraint applying to both female and male participants, while the authors argue that business pragmatism in a difficult investment environment triggered women's reluctance to take on debt. Nonetheless, female sustainable entrepreneurs were found to have developed and used their professional and social networks to a greater extent than their male counterparts.

Originality/value

This study offers a new gender perspective to the research of sustainable entrepreneurship and, at the same time, contributes with findings from research on sustainable entrepreneurs to the study of gender in management.


A hurdle in the peaks-over-threshold approach for analyzing extreme values is the selection of the threshold. A method is developed to reduce this obstacle in the presence of multiple, similar data samples. This is for instance the case in many environmental applications. The idea is to combine threshold selection methods into a regional method. Regionalized versions of the threshold stability and the mean excess plot are presented as graphical tools for threshold selection. Moreover, quantitative approaches based on the bootstrap distribution of the spatially averaged Kolmogorov–Smirnov and Anderson–Darling test statistics are introduced. It is demonstrated that the proposed regional method leads to an increased sensitivity for too low thresholds, compared to methods that do not take into account the regional information. The approach can be used for a wide range of univariate threshold selection methods. We test the methods using simulated data and present an application to rainfall data from the Dutch water board Vallei en Veluwe.


Objective: Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is associated with risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), and TMAO levels in peripheral/cord blood of GDM mothers increased. Diabetes primes neutrophils to produce neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), but it has not been reported in GDM. We determined the relationship between NETs and GDM, and explored potential role of TMAO. Methods: Maternal peripheral blood was collected during OGTT tests, and cord blood and placenta were collected during delivery. Plasma concentrations of cell-free double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) were compared between GDM and control mothers and association analysis was performed. Expression of myeloperoxidase (MPO) in placental tissues of GDM and control mothers was examined. Neutrophils from the blood of healthy donors were used to observe effects of TMAO on NETs formation. The effect of TMAO on human placental extravillous trophoblast cell line HTR-8/Svneo was examined. Results: Compared with controls, plasma concentrations of dsDNA in peripheral blood and cord blood were significantly increased in GDM mothers. Association analysis found that concentrations of dsDNA in peripheral and cord blood plasma were positively correlated with BMI and blood glucose levels, but not blood pressure. In addition, the placental thickness was positively correlated with dsDNA levels in cord blood plasma. MPO expression in the placental tissues of GDM mothers was also significantly higher than that of control mothers. TMAO-treated neutrophils could resist the formation of NETs stimulated by PMA or LPS, and TMAO promotes the proliferation, migration, invasion and angiogenesis of the cells. Conclusion: The formation of NETs was increased in GDM, and was positively correlated with BMI and blood glucose. TMAO could inhibit NETs formation and promote invasion and angiogenesis of human placental trophoblast cells, which may be involved in the development of the placenta. Disclosure X. Lin: None. X. He: None. X. Xiao: None.


Abstract:  Marine reserves have both conservation and fishery benefits. Nevertheless, there are no general criteria about when and where to establish new reserves, how to evaluate their efficacy, and how to conduct adaptive management to achieve conservation goals. We applied a decision‐theory framework to optimally allocate conservation resources between improving data on population status and establishing a reserve for species conservation. Our goal was to maximize reserve benefits given the constraints of a population growth rate that would permit sustainability of resources. We illustrate our decision framework with a retrospective analysis of a 7‐year time series on abundance of the leopard grouper (Mycteroperca rosacea) in the Sea of Cortés, Mexico. We used the lower bound of the distribution of the population growth rate (λ) as a decision rule for determining how many years of monitoring are needed to detect reserve effects. We determined the minimum time frame needed to estimate λ based on a stated level of risk tolerance for four sites. As expected, the coefficient of variation for the λ declined with the number of years of data. This increased precision with additional years of data resulted from the high degree of annual variability in the system. Where populations were slow to respond to reserves, more data were needed to detect a positive λ value. For the leopard grouper case study, confidence in the estimate of λ increased with the number of years of data. Our decision framework may be used to identify the minimum number of years of data needed before a management decision about reserve establishment could be made that is reasonably likely to meet its management objectives.


Numerical phylogenetic methods are applied in order to arrive at synapomorphic similarities between species of the stygobiont amphipod genus Pseudoniphargus. Character polarity is assessed by comparison with the relevant outgroups Parapseudoniphargus and Allomelita, within a cluster of presumedly interrelated genera of Hadzioidea. The degree of morphological differentiation of Pseudoniphargus is low and the available potential apomorphies are insufficient to resolve phylogenetic relationships to the species level. The inconsistency in the data is high, which may be a result of an underlying peripatric speciation model, difficulties in discriminating mutual exclusive and homologous character states, and a high probability of independent character evolution. Problems of phylogeny reconstruction at low taxonomic levels are universal. Accidental problems in the case of a stygobiont group are caused by troglomorphism, structural reduction, and senescent morphology. The results of the study lead to the recognition of four well-corroborated monophyletic groups; three consist of sister species only. Remaining taxa are ungrouped or belong to groups which do not emerge after all numerical approaches. The monophyletic groups of Pseudoniphargus are for the greater part geographically coherent and confined either to the Cantabrian Mountains, or to the Lusitanian-Atlantic region, or to the Betic Cordillera. The possible origin of Pseudoniphargus from a thalassostygobiont progenitor which arose in the eastern Atlantic part of the shallow Tethys sea is discussed.


Purpose: This retrospective review aimed to report the outcomes of arteriovenous fistula (AVF) and to evaluate the suitability of AVF as a permanent vascular access in pediatric populations. Materials and Methods: Data were collected for all patients aged 0 to 19 years who underwent AVF creation for hemodialysis between January 2000 and June 2014. Results: Fifty-two AVFs were created in 47 patients. Mean age was 15.7±3.2 years and mean body weight was 46.7±15.4 kg. Of the 52 AVFs, 43 were radiocephalic AVFs, 7 were brachiocephalic AVFs and 2 were basilic vein transpositions. With a mean follow-up of 49.7±39.2 months, primary patency was 60.5%, 51.4%, and 47.7% at 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively and secondary patency was 82.7%, 79.2% and 79.2% at 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively. Age, body weight, AVF type, the presence of a central venous catheter, use of anticoagulation therapy, and history of vascular access failure were not significantly associated with patency rates. There were 9 cases (17.3%) of primary failure; low body weight was an independent predictor. Excluding cases of primary failure, the mean duration of maturation was 10.0±3.7 weeks. During follow-up, 20 patients (42.6%) underwent kidney transplantation, with a median interval to transplantation of 36 months. Conclusion: AVF creation in children and adolescents is associated with acceptable long-term durability, primary failure rate and maturation time. Considering the waiting time and limited kidney graft survival, placement of AVFs should be considered primarily even in patients expected to receive transplantation.


Discontinuous coefficients in the Poisson equation lead to the weak discontinuity in the solution, e.g. the gradient in the field quantity exhibits a rapid change across an interface. In the real world, discontinuities are frequently found (cracks, material interfaces, voids, phase-change phenomena) and their mathematical model can be represented by Poisson type equation. In this study, the extended finite element method (XFEM) is used to solve the formulated discontinuous problem. The XFEM solution introduce the discontinuity through nodal enrichment function, and controls it by additional degrees of freedom. This allows one to make the finite element mesh independent of discontinuity location. The quality of the solution depends mainly on the assumed enrichment basis functions. In the paper, a new set of enrichments are proposed in the solution of the Poisson equation with discontinuous coefficients. The global and local error estimates are used in order to assess the quality of the solution. The stability of the solution is investigated using the condition number of the stiffness matrix. The solutions obtained with standard and new enrichment functions are compared and discussed.


Two ideas have emerged as central in evolutionary economic geography in recent years: First, innovation is often the result of meetings between related ideas, and regions are therefore best served by hosting a variety of related industries. Second, innovation often comes from the combination of different knowledge bases. However, there have been few attempts at linking these approaches in empirical studies. This paper connects the dots by examining relatedness among industries with similar and different knowledge bases in specific regional contexts. We focus on regions expected to have different types of innovation systems, from the organisationally thick and diversified RIS of large cities through the more specialised RIS in intermediate cities to the organisationally thin RIS found in small rural regions. The analysis finds that industries with different knowledge bases are related in various regional settings, with combinatorial knowledge base industries having a central role in many regions. However, there are also cases of potential lock-in, where relatedness is mainly found among regions with the same knowledge base.


In the United States in the last few years, newspapers have been full of stories about ethical lapses by public officials. It is commonplace to hear people speak with dismay about the erosion of ethical standards in government. To be sure, misconduct by public officials is not anything new. The presidency of Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) became, as one commentator put it, "a carnival of corruption" that some referred to as the "Era of Good Stealings" (a word play on the "Era of Good Feelings," the label given to the presidency of James Monroe, who served from 1817-1825 during a time when there was very little partisan bickering). (1) A half century after the "Era of Good Stealings," Charles R. Forbes, a one-time army deserter appointed by President Warren G. Harding (1921-1923) to head up the newly-formed Veterans Bureau got caught with his hand in the till, an unsavory episode followed by the Teapot Dome scandal, in which Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, after receiving a sizeable bribe, let the oilmen who bribed him exploit valuable naval oil reserves. (2) While reports of wrongdoing by public officials are widespread, both historically and in contemporary times, it should also be noted that there are individuals with high ethical standards who have chosen lives of public service. An example is provided by Congressman Jim Leach of Iowa, who, prior to serving in Congress, was a foreign service officer with the U.S. Department of State but resigned as a matter of principle when, in what became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre," President Richard M. Nixon fired Archibald Cox, who had been appointed special prosecutor to investigate the Watergate scandal--a firing which led to the forced resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus. Leach, a person of absolute integrity, has never groveled for tainted money or run an attack ad disparaging an opponent. That having been said, however, few would disagree with the observation that ethical standards in government today are not what they might be. Space does not allow discussing ethical lapses on all levels of government in all governments world-wide. (Would that ethical lapses in government were sufficiently limited in number and scope to discuss in their entirety in thirty pages or less!) Accordingly, this discussion will be limited to issues related to the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. The thesis to be developed here can be stated quite succinctly: the distorting nature of what it takes to get elected results in many candidates being ethically compromised by the time they are elected, which means that it is not surprising that once they assume office, they are inclined to do things that are unethical. Massive Campaign Expenditures An acquaintance with a passion for politics is fond of saying, "Money is the mother's milk of politics." Set against that aphorism is the aphorism that states, "Money is the root of all evil." (3) When it comes to contemporary American politics, both statements are probably correct. Successful campaigns for Congress today are exceedingly expensive. While the cost of a successful campaign varies somewhat from district to district because of regional differences such as the cost of television advertising, there is no such thing as an inexpensive campaign. In the 2005-2006 election cycle, Vernon Buchanan spent $8,112,752 in the 13th Congressional District in Florida (as of 31 December 2006). In the 26th Congressional District in New York, Thomas M. Reynolds spent $5,275,474. In the 15th Congressional District in Illinois, Deborah Pryce spent $4,696,772 while in the 8th Congressional District in Illinois, Melissa Bean spent $4,298,167. Even in less expensive contested races, substantial amounts were spent. In the 1st Congressional District in Iowa, which was an open seat, Bruce Braley, who won, spent $2,235,245 while Mike Whalen, the candidate he defeated, spent $2,385, 532. …


We report a case of a rare hemoglobin (Hb) variant, Hb South Florida (Hb-SF) with only three cases reported worldwide to our knowledge since initial description in 1985. It causes falsely elevated glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) results during standard laboratory testing in the range of poorly controlled diabetes mellitus. A 42-year-old woman with a history of sclerosing bone dysplasia was noted to have an elevated HbA1c (13.8%) during routine blood work using the ion-exchange high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. The patient did not have a prior diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and denied any symptoms consistent with diabetes. Physical exam was unremarkable. Her blood sugars were normal to minimally elevated. Over several months, she was noted to have persistent elevation in HbA1c in the range of 12-14%. She remained asymptomatic. The patient was referred to endocrinology clinic. Hb electrophoresis was performed due to suspicion for a hemoglobinopathy. The patient was noted to be heterozygous for a rare Hb variant called Hb South Florida that causes falsely elevated HbA1c levels. Her corrected HbA1c, when evaluated by affinity column HPLC, was in normoglycemic range. Hb South Florida was first described in 1985 in Tampa Florida and has since been reported in two other cases worldwide. The Hb is not associated with any clinical disorder reported in literature. There are many commercially available tests for measuring HbA1c levels. Additionally, structural variants in Hb interfere with many of the methods. Ion-exchange HPLC separates Hb based on their charge differences. Hb South Florida variant substitutes a neutral amino acid for a charged one, with valine substituted by methionine. This alteration decreases the transit time in the ion exchange column and causes it to co-elute together with HbA1c, giving a falsely elevated value as they get measured as same species. Affinity chromatography is based on affinity of a species for a particular ligand. It recognizes the structure of the N-terminal glycated amino acids of the beta chain of Hb. In the case of Hb South Florida, it was able to separate the variant Hb from glycated species. This is the fourth case of Hb variant South Florida to our knowledge. It is important for clinicians to keep a wide perspective when making an assessment of diabetes solely based on HbA1c values. Patients who do not present with symptoms consistent with diabetes, and have normal blood glucose should prompt a further workup for abnormal Hb variants. This should be done in order to prevent incorrect diagnosis and treatment. J Med Cases. 2015;6(5):229-231 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.14740/jmc2134w


The fusion of spatial and spectral information in hyperspectral images (HSIs) is useful for improving the classification accuracy. However, this approach usually results in features of higher dimension and the curse of the dimensionality problem may arise resulting from the small ratio between the number of training samples and the dimensionality of features. To ease this problem, we propose a novel algorithm for spatial-spectral feature extraction based on hypergraph embedding. Firstly, each HSI pixel is regarded as a vertex and the joint of extended morphological profiles (EMP) and spectral features is adopted as the feature associated with the vertex. A hypergraph is then constructed by the K-Nearest-Neighbor method, in which each pixel and its most K relevant pixels are linked as one hyperedge to represent the complex relationships between HSI pixels. Secondly, the hypergraph embedding model is designed to learn a low dimensional feature with the reservation of geometric structure of HSI. An adaptive hyperedge weight estimation scheme is also introduced to preserve the prominent hyperedges by the regularization constraint on the weight. Finally, the learned low-dimensional features are fed to the support vector machine (SVM) for classification. The experimental results on three benchmark hyperspectral databases are presented. They highlight the importance of spatial–spectral joint features embedding for the accurate classification of HSI data. The weight estimation is better for further improving the classification accuracy. These experimental results verify the proposed method.


part Abstract: Knowledge of the Late Paleozoic sedimentary history of the northern Gondwana shelf is advanced by new data from the Şort Dere section (Hakkari Basin). Early Carboniferous myalinid bivalves from the Middle East are reported here for the first time. The pre-Permian basement of the Hakkari Basin consists of a Lower Carboniferous sedimentary sequence including the Köprülü and Belek formations. The Köprülü Formation has yielded rich assemblages of vertebrates and invertebrates. Hitherto myalinid bivalves were unknown from this formation; this paper reports the discovery of small and poorly calcified myaliniform shells from two thin beds in the middle part of the Köprülü Formation of the Şort Dere section in the Zap Valley. The morphological characteristics of the specimens, especially the umbonal region with the numerous rounded wrinkles, suggest that it probably belongs to an undescribed species of Selenimyalina Newell, 1942. Based on this record, the state of the art of warm-water myalinid taxa in the Paleotethyan Realm is shortly discussed with a focus on the pteriomorph bivalve faunas within a global scenario for both paleobiogeography and patterns of Gondwana-Laurussia faunal exchange. The new occurrence is one of the most important pteriomorph bivalve records ever made in Southeast Turkey, helping to assist paleogeographic reconstructions of the Paleotethyan


In this paper, we present an overview of research issues in web mining. The paper discuss about the WHOWEDA and how the warehousing of data is done in the Web. We discuss mining with respect to web data referred here as web data mining. In particular, our focus is on web data mining research in context of our web warehousing project called WHOWEDA (Warehouse of Web Data). We have categorized web data mining into three areas; web content mining, web structure mining and web usage mining. We have highlighted and discussed various research issues involved in each of these web data mining category. We believe that web data mining will be the topic of exploratory research in near future.


Using the learning process questionnaire and the NSSE-China scale compiled by Biggs, through two stage sampling (stratified sampling, convenient sampling), a questionnaire survey is conducted on 700 university students in 7 universities in the capital to explore the causal relationship between different types of learning motivation and learning behavior. The results show that there is a negative causal relationship between the surface type learning motivation and the learning behavior of ideological and political education in the reform of ideological and political education in universities, and there is a positive causal relationship between the deep type and the achievement type learning motivation. Among the three kinds of learning motivation, deep learning motivation has the greatest impact on the learning behavior of ideological and political education. Strengthening the deep learning motivation is beneficial to the reform of ideological and political education in universities.


ABSTRACT Southern California Miocene sands are cemented with porcelaneous cement, a mixture of opal-A, opal-CT, microquartz and montmorillonite clay. This cement was observed filling interparticle pore space in sandstones from the Beta and Wilmington Fields in the Los Angeles Basin. The silica minerals result from recrystallization of siliceous organisms, such as diatom frustules and sponge spicules, which are incorporated into the turbidite sands. The montmorillonite sources include detrital clay and alteration of unstable grains. About 70% of the bulk volume of the cement is micropore space. This microporosity constitutes from one-fifth to four-fifths of the total porosity in these sandstones. Rocks with large amounts of microporosity have low permeabilities, since fluid flow through the micropore system is restricted. Recrystallization of the porcelaneous cement with further burial would result in a chert-cemented sandstone. It is suggested that biogenic silica may be one source of chert cements observed in ancient turbidites.


The paper presents the procedure and the results of temperature field simulation for 3D systems, characteristic for the electric multisection resistive tubular furnaces designated for the calibration of thermometric sensors by the method of comparison. The results of simulation were compared to those of the measurements, performed for a physical 5-section furnace designed for testing the sheathed thermometric sensors. The simulation results proved useful in designing such furnaces and accompanying equipment.


This article explores the influence of psychological language and discourses on the contemporary view of nationalism, an issue that has only begun to be studied in recent years (Garcia-Garcia, 2013; Sluga, 2006). On this occasion, the author focuses on two currents or schools that contributed decisively to the new view of nationalism after the Great War: first, degenerationist medicine and psychiatry, highly accepted in the European social and political debate since the late 19th century; second, and no less penetrating, the crowd or mass psychology of Taine, Tarde, Sighele, and, above all, Gustave Le Bon. After the Great War, as we shall see, nationalism was often represented as a form of degeneration, or a barbarous and cruel regression to a prior stage of development, embodied by the masses. This discourse and rhetoric was to condition the area of study for generations. In fact, the voices of medicine, psychiatry and mass psychology have not disappeared from the debate and continue to directly and indirectly influence the academic and popular comprehension of nationalism.


The present paper describes a finite difference time domain-based numerical approach to determine the dielectric properties of the tissue equivalent liquid employed in homogeneous phantoms when testing the specific absorption rate (SAR) compliance of mobile phones. A first numerical simulation performed with a realistic anatomical head model provides the reference averaged SAR value. Several similar simulations are then carried out using a homogeneous head model by varying the dielectric parameters of the tissue equivalent liquid. The desired dielectric parameters of the liquid are derived by matching the maximum averaged SAR with the reference value.


Shared understanding is commonly seen as essential to the success of coalition operations, and current research efforts are attempting to develop techniques and technologies to improve shared understanding in military coalition contexts. In spite of this, our understanding of what the term 'shared understanding' actually means is surprisingly poor. In part, this problem is attributable to the difficulty in comprehending the true nature of understanding itself, although confusions also arise about the precise nature of the differences between shared understanding and ostensibly similar constructs, such as shared mental models and shared situation awareness. In this paper, we attempt to improve our understanding of shared understanding by exploring the nature of understanding, situation awareness and mental models. Following Wittgenstein, we suggest that understanding is best conceived of as something akin to an ability, and shared understanding is, we suggest, best conceived of as the sharing of individual forms of understanding by multiple agents. We further suggest that mental models may provide a mechanistic realization for some of the performances that manifest understanding, and that situation awareness should best be seen as a particular kind of understanding, namely a dynamic form of situational understanding. In addition to discussing the nature of understanding and shared understanding, we also discuss their potential relevance to military coalition operations. We propose that shared understanding is important to coalition operations because it contributes to improvements in coalition performance, the optimal use of limited communication assets, and an improved sense of group cohesion, group solidarity and mutual trust.


Photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) has been extensively applied in biomedical study because of its ability to visualize tissue morphology and physiology in vivo in three dimensions (3D). However, conventional PAM suffers from a rapidly decreasing resolution away from the focal plane because of the limited depth of focus of an objective lens, which deteriorates the volumetric imaging quality inevitably. Here, we propose a novel method to synthesize an ultra-long light needle to extend a microscope's depth of focus beyond its physical limitations with wavefront engineering method. Furthermore, it enables an improved lateral resolution that exceeds the diffraction limit of the objective lens. The virtual light needle can be flexibly synthesized anywhere throughout the imaging volume without mechanical scanning. Benefiting from these advantages, we developed a synthetic light needle photoacoustic microscopy (SLN-PAM) to achieve an extended depth of field (DOF), sub-diffraction and motionless volumetric imaging. The DOF of our SLN-PAM system is up to 1800 µm, more than 30-fold improvement over that gained by conventional PAM. Our system also achieves the lateral resolution of 1.8 µm (characterized at 532 nm and 0.1 NA objective), about 50% higher than the Rayleigh diffraction limit. Its superior imaging performance was demonstrated by 3D imaging of both non-biological and biological samples. This extended DOF, sub-diffraction and motionless 3D PAM will open up new opportunities for potential biomedical applications.


Sea surface salinity (SSS) is a key variable for ocean–atmosphere interactions and the water cycle. Due to its climatic importance, increasing efforts have been made for its global in situ observation, and dedicated satellite missions have been launched more recently to allow homogeneous coverage at higher resolution. Cross-shore SSS gradients can bear the signature of different coastal processes such as river plumes, upwelling or boundary currents, as we illustrate in a few regions. However, satellites performances are questionable in coastal regions. Here, we assess the skill of four gridded products derived from the Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) and Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellites and the GLORYS global model reanalysis at capturing cross-shore SSS gradients in coastal bands up to 300 km wide. These products are compared with thermosalinography (TSG) measurements, which provide continuous data from the open ocean to the coast along ship tracks. The comparison shows various skills from one product to the other, decreasing as the coast gets closer. The bias in reproducing coastal SSS gradients is unrelated to how the SSS biases evolve with the distance to the coast. Despite limited skill, satellite products generally agree better with collocated TSG data than a global reanalysis and show a large range of coastal SSS gradients with different signs. Moreover, satellites reveal a global dominance of coastal freshening, primarily related to river runoff over shelves. This work shows a great potential of SSS remote sensing to monitor coastal processes, which would, however, require a jump in the resolution of future SSS satellite missions to be fully exploited.


: Tritiated 5alpha-androstane-3alpha,17beta-diol (3alpha-diol) and 5alpha-androstane-3beta,17beta-diol (3beta-diol) respectively were administered to patients with benign prostatic hypertrophy (bph) undergoing prostatectomy. In prostate and skeletal muscle homogenates and in plasma the total radioactivity content as well as the formation of metabolites were measured. Histological examination of each ectomized prostate was performed to evaluate the cellular composition of the tissue. After 3alpha-diol injection, a higher uptake of radioactivity in the prostate was obtained than after 3beta-diol. Within 30 min the 3alpha-isomer was very efficiently converted to 5alpha-DHT, while most of the 3beta-isomer remained unchanged. There was, however, also after administration of the 3beta-diol a substantial biconversion to 5alpha-DHT as has been confirmed by recrystallization to constant specific radioactivity. Only after 3beta-diol epiandrosterone was detected in small but significant amounts. 3alpha-diol administration resulted in distinct concentrations of 3beta-diol, whereas the conversion of 3beta-diol to the 3alpha-isomer was insignificant. When comparing the histological composition of the prostatic tissue with the accumulation of radioactivity and the formation of metabolites only a weak correlation between glandular structure and radioactivity uptake after 3alpha-diol administration could be revealed.


This paper proposes a simple framework to examine organizational methods of knowledge protection. The framework highlights a basic trade‐off between improving decision‐making and innovation through communication and mitigating security risks by imposing restrictions on communication flows. The trade‐off is mediated by factors such as the sensitivity of information, the degree to which employees can be trusted to handle sensitive information appropriately, and firms' investments in legal protection mechanisms. Evidence from HP Labs supports the basic predictions of the model, in particular the importance of employee trustworthiness and internalized codes of behavior in promoting open communication. Our interviews also suggest a potential conflict between two of the most important appropriability mechanisms: secrecy and lead‐time advantage.


We investigated the allotropes of tellurium under hydrostatic pressure based on density functional theory calculations and crystal structure prediction methodology. Our calculated enthalpy-pressure and energy-volume curves unveil the transition sequence from the trigonal semiconducting phase, represented by the space group P3121 in the range of 0–6 GPa, to the body centered cubic structure, space group Im3̄m, stable at 28 GPa. In between, the calculations suggest a monoclinic structure, represented by the space group C2/m and stable at 6 GPa, and the β-Po type structure, space group R3̄m, stable at 10 GPa. The face-centered structure is found at pressure as high as 200 GPa. As the pressure is increased, the transition from the semiconducting phase to metallic phases is observed.


This study is based on innovative researches and combines technology, methodologies and means which are used in different sciences and processes such as informatics and computational processes, telegeoprocessing–telegeomonitoring technologies, survey science methodologies, urban and regional planning techniques in order to describe computational processes of innovative digital integrative design. This procedure refers to aspects of digital integrative design – modeling and simulation of a built-up architectural or urban area. These aspects concern a modeling process based on satellite images and specifically developed computational interfaces adapted to a CAD system, such as DTM's mesh control points, conversion from geodetic to cartesian coordinates, bitmap adjustment to the buildings facades and surfaces normals handling, taking into account techniques that refer to other sciences such as survey, maths, astronomy and computer science. This modeling process is supported by an innovated proposed procedure that transfers remotely spatial data collected from the field (geographical coordinates and relative measurements taken in place) directly into a modeling system in order to model architectural entities and simulate simultaneously qualitative characteristics of an urban space (sound, temperature, humidity, etc) in real-time.


Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), an unexpected death of an infant which remains unexplained after a thorough investigation, is the commonest cause of postneonatal mortality in the developed world. Prematurely born infants are at an increased risk of SIDS, particularly if they are slept prone. It is, therefore, important to understand why infants die of SIDS and the effects of prone sleeping position on prematurely born infants. Possible mechanisms of SIDS include failure to arouse, infection and genetic predisposition. Impaired arousal has been described during prone sleeping and in infants exposed to maternal smoking. Infection is associated with an increase in both duration and depth of quiet sleep and arousability is depressed. Infants may be at an increased risk of SIDS because of mutations leading to genetic disorders capable of causing death or having polymorphisms that might predispose to death in critical situations. The prone position has physiological advantages for prematurely born infants with and without respiratory distress in the immediate neonatal period. The few data on convalescent babies demonstrate prone posture has an advantage in improving oxygenation in infants with BPD, but is associated with less spontaneous arousals and more central apnoeas. These data emphasize that practitioners must emphasize to parents the importance of sleeping their prematurely born infants supine at the high-risk age for SIDS.


Results are presented from polymer/molecular organic heterostructure light emitting diodes composed of a layer of the conjugated conducting polymer poly(p‐phenylene vinylene) (PPV), and a layer of fluorescent molecular compound tris(8‐hydroxy) quinoline aluminum (Alq). The external quantum efficiency of these heterostructure LEDs is ∼0.1%, which is over one order of magnitude higher than that of simple PPV LEDs. The electroluminescence (EL) spectra indicate that both materials in the device emit comparable amounts of light. The dependence of the EL spectra on the layer thicknesses and its independence on bias suggest that neutral excitons are formed in the Alq, far from the PPV/Alq interface, and subsequently diffuse into the PPV layer.


STEM education in the United States is often described as being in a downward spiral, when assessed by competency test scores and lack of student motivation for engaging STEM disciplines. The authors suggest this arises from an overly instrumental view of STEM. While STEAM has arisen as a pushback paradigm, the application of STEAM in schools is challenging, and educators are often unclear about connecting STEM and the arts. The authors suggest envisioning STEAM through natural disciplinary interconnections. They focus on the integration of language arts and figurative thinking to blur the boundaries of STEM and the arts, and offer examples of figurative language—such as metaphor, linguistic etymology and synecdoche—for framing STEM teaching and learning.


Studies on waste management in Côte d'Ivoire are mostly focused on household and solid waste. It is appropriate to take a sustained look at the management of electrical and electronic equipment waste to better guide policies in this area. This work is a cross-sectional study covering the period from April 1, 2022 to June 30, 2022. The aim was to determine the knowledge and practices of the independent electrical and electronic repairers of the city of Bouaké in terms of electrical and electronic equipment waste (WEEE) management. A comprehensive sample of 307 people was interviewed by means of a questionnaire. The repairers interviewed had already heard of WEEE in 47.2% of cases. They had a good level of knowledge of WEEE in 85.5% of cases. In the final model in multivariate analysis, only the possession of a radio set at home had a significant influence on knowledge of WEEE. Repairers were unaware of the existence of D3E management legislation in 60.7% of cases; apart from humans (84.8%) who were most exposed to the dangers of inappropriate management of WEEE, other entities (air, soil, water, animals) would be polluted according to 36.6, 35.2, 4.1, and 3.4% of repairers, respectively. The most feared type of harm reported is injury (95.65%). Subjects dumped WEEE in a municipal landfill in 32.4% of cases. Sale, empowerment of pre-collection agents, and handing over to a recycling professional, cumulatively represent the most common practice (66.9%).


A 61-year-old man was admitted for progressively accelerating chest pain during 12 hours. An electrocardiogram showed ST segment elevation of about 2 mm in leads II, III, and aVF. Left coronary angiogram showed normal coronary arteries. Right coronary angiogram showed distal right coronary artery (RCA) "culprit" lesion just before the posterodescending and posterolateral bifurcation, but the mid RCA showed severe tortuosity (Fig. 1). Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was performed using a 6 Fr XBRCA guide catheter (Cordis, Warren, NJ, USA) and a Runthrough NS (Terumo, Tokyo, Japan) guide wire. Predilation of culprit lesion was performed using 2×20 mm balloon inflated up to 8 atmospheres (Fig. 2). Attempted delivery of a coronary stent was unsuccessful due to excessive tortuosity of the mid RCA. We changed the guiding catheter to a 7 Fr Amplatz Right 1 (Cordis, Warren, NJ, USA), but stent passage failed again, despite use of a buddy wire technique. Finally, we used a Choice PT Extra Support guide wire (Boston Scientific, Natick, MA, USA) with a 7 Fr Judkins Right (JR4) (Cordis, Warren, NJ, USA) guiding catheter and performed an extra deep intubation using a Terumo 5 Fr Heartrail guiding catheter (Terumo, Tokyo, Japan). The tip of this catheter passed easily into the mid RCA, allowing distal delivery of the 3×24 mm Taxus Liberte monorail stent (Boston Scientific, Natick, MA, USA) without resistance. This was deployed successfully at the culprit lesion (Fig. 3). After stenting, slow flow was developed, but coronary flow was restored gradually after administration of intracoronary nitroglycerin. The final angiogram showed an acceptable result (Fig. 4).

Fig. 1

An anteroposterior view of right coronary angiogram showing distal culprit lesion and severe tortuosity of mid RCA. RCA: right coronary artery.

Fig. 2

A balloon catheter delivered successfully using a 6 Fr XB RCA guiding catheter.

Fig. 3

Successful stenting with extra deep intubation using a 5 Fr Heartrail guiding catheter through a 7 Fr Judkins Right guiding catheter.

Fig. 4

Final angiogram showing well-expanded stent at cuprit lesion and full opacification of distal RCA. RCA: right coronary artery.

The Terumo "five-in-six" system involves insertion of an extra length, 5 Fr Terumo guiding catheter (Heartrail; Terumo, Tokyo, Japan) into a standard 6 Fr guide catheter.1) A Heartrail 5 Fr catheter is 120 cm in length, whereas the standard guiding catheter is 100 cm long. A 5 Fr Heartrail catheter has a very soft 13 cm end portion, which can easily negotiate the tortous coronary artery with minimal damage and which can be subsequently inserted more deeply into the artery.2) We used a 7 Fr guiding catheter instead of a 6 Fr guiding catheter to increase backup support, enabling stent delivery against the tortuous coronary artery.


Reducing energy demand in the residential and industrial sectors is an important challenge worldwide. In particular, lights account for a great portion of total energy consumption, and unfortunately a huge amount of this energy is wasted. Light emitting diode (LED) lights are being used to light offices, houses and building facilities more efficiently than traditional lights. Moreover, the light control systems are introduced to current markets, because the installed lighting systems are out dated and energy inefficient. However, due to high costs, installation issues, and difficulty of maintenance; existing light control systems are not successfully applied to home, office, and industrial buildings. In this system low cost, wireless, easy to install, adaptable, and smart LED lighting system to automatically adjust the light intensity to save energy and maintaining user satisfaction and also we control the light on the bases of Timing Control Android Application. The system combines motion sensors and light sensors in a low-power wireless solutions using wireless communication. Characterization of a commercial LED panel was performed to evaluate the benefit of dimming for this light technology. Measurements of total power consumption over a continuous six months period (winter to summer) of a busy office were acquired to verify the performance and the power savings across several weather conditions scenarios. This system reduces total power consumption. Saving energy has become one of the most important issues these days. The most waste of energy is caused by the inefficient use of the consumer electronics. Particularly, a light accounts for a great part of the total energy consumption. Various light control systems are introduced in current markets, because the installed lighting systems are outdated and energy-inefficient. However, due to architectural limitations, the existing light control systems cannot be successfully applied to home and office buildings. Therefore, this system, an intelligent household LED lighting system considering energy efficiency and user satisfaction is useful. This system utilizes multi sensors and wireless communication technology in order to control an LED light according to the user's state and the surroundings. This LED lighting system can autonomously adjust the minimum light intensity value to enhance both energy efficiency and user satisfaction. This LED lighting system reduces total power consumption to a great extent. However, since the existing lighting control systems can support only simple on/off or dimming control according to user movement or brightness of surroundings, it is hard to be applied to complex environments such as house or office. The complex environment means that there is a variety of control requirements, because of the presence of a variety of users. Because of this limitation of existing systems, they are mostly installed in the places such as the front door or the hallway. Furthermore, since the existing systems without considering user satisfaction, it is not appropriate to the places such as house and office where user satisfaction is more crucial factor than cost benefits due to energy saving; thus a new intelligent lighting control system should consider both energy efficiency and user satisfaction. In addition in this system we are adding power consumption for computers moreover we also control fans and saving lots of energy. Finally we monitor all the consumption of energy through Web Page. To implement this system we will require different electronic components like PIR,R-Pi 3,LDR,DHT11,Relay circuits, RTC etc.


The spray deposition and losses of pesticide application were evaluated for the soybean crop. In this study two sprayers were used: the air-assisted sprayer (Vortex-Jacto) and the conventional non-assisted sprayer (Condor M12-Jacto), both with API 110-1.5 flat fan nozzles operating at 30 psi working pressure, with 0.5 m spacing on the boom. Volume rates were 100 L ha for both equipments. A completely randomized experiment with four replicates was carried out in the field. For all treatments, the ground speed was 6 km h and boom height was 0.40 m above canopy. Spray deposition and losses were evaluated using 2% KCl and NaCl solutions in air-assisted and conventional non assisted sprayers. Deposition evaluations were performed on leaves from the upper, medium and lower parts of the soybean plant. Spray losses to the soil were evaluated using artificial targets (square wood board) that were distributed on the soil surface at intervals of 3 m from each other. Drift was evaluated through these targets and pipe cleaners fixed on rods placed at the left and right sides at the crop. There were no significant differences in the deposition for both equipments in the upper parts of the plants, but there were differences in the medium and lower parts, showing an advantage of the air-assisted sprayer. Drift and losses were larger for the conventional non assisted sprayer at similar meteorological conditions.


ABSTRACT Poly(acrylamide) (PAAM) was grafted onto crosslinked poly(hydroxy ethyl methacrylate) (HEMA)-based beads for the removal of phenol from aqueous solution. A beaded polymer with a PAAM surface shell was prepared in two steps: synthesis of crosslinked poly (HEMA (50% mol) - MMA (40% mol) - EGDMA (10% mol)) terpolymers spherical beads (200–420 µm) (resin 1) via the suspension polymerization method; and the grafting of PAAM was carried out by redox initiation from hydroxyl groups on resin1 by using cerium (IV) ammonium nitrate as the initiator. The resulting polymeric sorbent (resin 2) with about 82 wt.% grafted PAAM has been demonstrated to be efficient to remove phenol from water. Moreover, phenol sorption capacities of resin 1 and resin 2 were compared and sorption experiments were performed depending on the initial phenol concentration and pH. Kinetic measurements and models were studied for resin 1 and resin 2.


Mass media is becoming a different structure day by day. When thinking about the use of fire for communicating with the distant, it is surprising that the development of the last century is remarkable. Today's communication systems make it possible for individuals to be active in many places at the same time thanks to mobile phones, computers and different mobile devices, channels and internet-enabled platforms. These platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, have different billions of users from different parts of the world. These structures, which are generally known as social platforms, offer various possibilities not only for individuals but also for institutions and organizations. Today, many institutions and organizations appear to be on social platforms. According to the constructs, the social platforms of these institutions and organizations have varying purposes and forms of use. The sole example of the influence of social platforms in mass communication is the use of these platforms by mass media. In this study, it was emphasized the issue of the extent to which the radion, one of the oldest mass communication tools, used which effect and for what purpose. In this direction, the usage patterns of 10 most heard radio in Turkey are examined in Facebook, which is ahead of other social platforms in terms of user potential and frequency in Turkey. Meanwhile, Facebook profiles usage and content creation styles of the radios are determined. Finally, the link between the rest of the radios and the Facebook movement breakdown was questioned.


BACKGROUND
AST-120 (Kremezin; Kureha Chemical Industry Co Ltd, Tokyo, Japan) is an orally administered adsorbent showing adsorption ability superior to activated charcoal for certain organic compounds known to be precursors of substances that accumulate in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and that are believed to accelerate the decline in kidney function. AST-120 is approved in Japan for prolonging time to hemodialysis therapy and improving uremic symptoms in patients with CKD.

METHODS
A multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging study was designed to examine the nephroprotective effects of 3 doses of AST-120 versus placebo in adult patients with moderate to severe CKD and elevated serum indoxyl sulfate levels while following an adequate protein-intake diet. Eligible patients were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 doses of AST-120 (0.9, 2.1, or 3.0 g) or placebo 3 times daily for 12 weeks.

RESULTS
AST-120 decreased serum indoxyl sulfate levels in a dose-dependent fashion. During the 12-week treatment period, AST-120 did not affect serum creatinine levels or 24-hour urine creatinine appearance. Significant improvements in malaise were observed in a dose-dependent fashion. All doses of AST-120 were well tolerated and did not adversely affect the general health status of patients.

CONCLUSION
Results suggest that the dose of 3 g 3 times daily is an optimal dose for the US population, and it may be useful in the treatment of patients with CKD. Because AST-120 did not directly affect serum creatinine levels or 24-hour urine creatinine appearance, the composite end point of doubling of serum creatinine level, transplantation, and dialysis therapy would be appropriate for a confirmatory phase III therapeutic outcome study.


The authors hypothesize that dietary deficiency or excess of iodine (I) has an important role in oral mucosa and in salivary glands physiology. Salivary glands derived from primitive I-concentrating oral cells, which during embryogenesis, migrate and specialize in secretion of saliva and iodine. Gastro-salivary clearance and secretions of iodides are a considerable part of "gastro-intestinal cycle of iodides", which constitutes about 23% of iodides pool in the human body. Salivary glands, stomach and thyroid share I-concentrating ability by sodium iodide sylnporter (NIS) and peroxidase activity, which transfers electrons from iodides to the oxygen of hydrogen peroxide and so protects the cells from peroxidation. Iodide seems to have an ancestral antioxidant function in all I-concentrating organisms from primitive marine algae to more recent terrestrial vertebrates. The high I-concentration of thymus supports the important role of iodine in -the immune system and in the oral immune defence. In Europe and in the world, I-deficiency is surprisingly present in a large part of the population. The authors suggest that the trophic, antioxidant and apoptosis-inductor actions and the presumed antitumour activity of iodides might be important for prevention of oral and salivary glands diseases, as for some other extrathyroidal pathologies.


Focuses on pro-poor job creation for slum dwellers as an effective method to reduce urban poverty, especially national policies favouring employment-intensive growth. Discusses public-private partnerships and how to create quality jobs in the local, small-scale private sector, illustrated by examples from developing countries around the world. Concludes about the interrelationships between employment opportunities, access to basic infrastructures and services, and social inclusion.


BACKGROUND
Acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) has a poor prognosis and common comorbidities may be contributory. However, evidence for the association between dementia and clinical outcomes in patients with is sparse and it requires further investigation into risk reduction.Methods and Results: We assessed the clinical profiles and outcomes of 1,026 patients (mean age 77.8 years, 43.2% female) with ADHF enrolled in the CURE-HF registry to evaluate the relationship between investigator-reported dementia status and clinical outcomes (all-cause death, cardiovascular (CV) death, non-CV death, and HF hospitalization) over a median follow-up of 2.7 years. In total, dementia was present in 118 (11.5%) patients, who experienced more drug interruptions and HF admissions due to infection than those without dementia (23.8% vs. 13.1%, P<0.01; 11.0% vs. 6.0%, P<0.01, respectively). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that dementia patients had higher mortality rates than those without dementia (log-rank P<0.001). After multivariable adjustment for demographics and comorbidities, dementia was significantly associated with an increased risk of death (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.43; 95% confidence interval, 1.06-1.93, P=0.02) and non-CV death (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.65; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-2.62, P=0.03), but no significant associations between dementia and CV death or HF hospitalization were observed (both, P>0.1).

CONCLUSIONS
In ADHF patients dementia was associated with aggravating factors for HF admission and elevated risk of death, primarily non-CV death.


Abstract:  Glaucoma is a frequent ophthalmologic condition leading to chronic progressive optic neuropathy, which can result in visual impairment and blindness. In addition, glaucoma is associated with a dysregulation of circadian rhythms, as well as with a high incidence of sleep disorders, depression, and anxiety. However, because of their high comorbidity in older age, these conditions have not received much scientific attention and are often undertreated. In the current paper, we review the available literature on the role of melatonergic mechanisms in glaucoma, regulation of circadian rhythms, and depression. The literature is presented as a narrative review, providing an overview on the most important and clinically relevant publications. Recently, there has been evidence for a progressive loss of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGC) because of oxidative stress in glaucoma. As ipRGC are responsible for the photic transduction to the circadian system and subsequent melatonin secretion, and melatonin is involved in the pathophysiology of circadian desynchronization, sleep disorder, and depression, an impairment of photo‐dependent melatonergic signaling may be a common pathway connecting glaucoma with these comorbidities. This fact, as well as the proven retinal neuroprotective role of melatonin, suggests that melatonergic drugs provide a potentially promising treatment strategy supplementing the management of intraocular pressure by pharmacological and surgical measures. Additionally, multidisciplinary treatment focusing on depression and normalization of circadian rhythms might be beneficial for glaucoma patients. Furthermore, glaucoma might be a useful model for studying the pathophysiological interactions between the melatonergic, circadian, and mood systems.


Recent advances in studies of ionic liquids (IL) and ionic liquid–solvent mixtures are reviewed. Selected experimental, simulation, and theoretical results for electrochemical, thermodynamical, and structural properties of IL and IL-solvent mixtures are described. Special attention is paid to phenomena that are not predicted by the classical theories of the electrical double layer or disagree strongly with these theories. We focus on structural properties, especially on distribution of ions near electrodes, on electrical double layer capacitance, on effects of confinement, including decay length of a dissjoining pressure between confinig plates, and on demixing phase transition. In particular, effects of the demixing phase transition on electrochemical properties of ionic liquid–solvent mixtures for different degrees of confinement are presented.


: In five centres a new sensitive standardized thromboplastin from human placenta (Thromborel S) for determination of prothrombin time (PT) was evaluated on plasmas from healthy subjects, from patients on oral anticoagulant therapy and from patients with different diseases, especially of the liver. The standardization of the human placenta thromboplastin (HPT) for prothrombin time determination was performed by comparison with a lot of the Reference Preparation British Comparative Thromboplastin (BCT). The obtained International Sensitivity Index (ISI) for 14 differents lots of the new thromboplastin varied between 1.04 and 1.29 (mean value: 1.16). The reagent is highly sensitive to the factors of the extrinsic coagulation pathway and is not affected by heparin at least up to 0.6 IU/ml. From the comparison with the British Comparative Thromboplastin lot No. 235, a therapeutical range for the stable phase of the oral anticoagulation of 2.4-4.0 prothrombin ratio or 15-27% of normal, respectively, was obtained. Comparison of prothrombin time determination using the Human Placental Thromboplastin and the British Comparative Thromboplastin lot No. 235 in 330 patients on oral anticoagulation showed good correlations either in "percent normal" or in prothrombin ratio.


International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL) has been in the forefront of providing leadership to information professionals and promoting science and Technology librarianship in today's changing library landscape. The present article is an attempt to comprehend the present status of IATUL and analyze the activities and contribution it has made to overcome the range of challenges facing by tertiary level Technological libraries throughout the world. The SWOT analysis method is used to assess the achievements of IATUL, failures and ascertain constraints being faced in this internet age. The author relied on web sites as well as ephemeral material such as minutes, annu- al reports, newsletters, and memoranda to construct this article. Meeting and Interview with IATUL present and past presidents and other office bearers of the associations provided useful sources of information. It is also attempted to pro- vide relevant information for those interested to join IATUL for professional development.


Food fermentation is a useful process, which can protect food from various pathogens, improves food safety and induces desirable changes of its organoleptic properties. The commonly used fermentation microorganisms are lactic acid bacteria. They often improve the quality and shelf life of foods and hence are irreplaceable in food industry. Most important are probiotic bacteria of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus genera. The probiotics protect human health from undesirable microorganisms in the digestive tract, stimulate the immune system in protection from cancer and moderate food allergy.


Tunneling spectroscopy measurements are reported on optimally-doped and overdoped Bi$_{2}$Sr$_{2}$CaCu$_{2}$O$_{8+\delta}$ single crystals. A novel point contact method is used to obtain superconductor-insulator-normal metal (SIN) and SIS break junctions as well as intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJ) from nanoscale crystals. Three junction types are obtained on the same crystal to compare the quasiparticle peaks and higher bias dip/hump structures which have also been found in other surface probes such as scanning tunneling spectroscopy and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. However, our IJJ quasiparticle spectra consistently reveal very sharp conductance peaks and no higher bias dip structures. The IJJ conductance peak voltage divided by the number of junctions in the stack consistently leads to a significant underestimate of $\Delta$ when compared to the single junction values. The comparison of the three methods suggests that the markedly different characteristics of IJJ are a consequence of nonequilibrium effects and are not intrinsic quasiparticle features.


The cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg) (Phycitidae) is native to South America. It was released as a biological control agent against alien Opuntiacacti in Australia in the 1920s, then in southern Africa, and latterly on several islands, including those in the Caribbean. In 1989, the cactus moth was discovered in Florida, in the United States of America, where it is now threatening the survival of indigenous Opuntia species. In this paper we identify some of the attributes that have contributed to the success of C . cactorum as a weed biological control agent. Many of these same qualities account for the problems that C . cactorum has caused in Florida and predispose it as a major threat to the speciose, native Opuntiafloras of Central and North America. An estimated 79 platyopuntia (prickly pear) species are at risk: 51 species endemic to Mexico; nine species endemic to the United States; and 19 species common to both countries. Many cultivated and wild Opuntia species, that are used in various ways, are also vulnerable to attack by C . cactorum , including at least 25 species in Mexico and three species in the United States, particularly the widely-exploited and culturally-important cultivars of O . ficus-indica . Some control strategies are suggested that may minimize the risk and consequences of invasion by the cactus moth. The wider implications of this threat to the practice of weed biological control and to conservation are discussed.