Smoke inhalation injury affects nearly one third of all major burn victims. Significant inhalation exposures must be suspected in persons who were entrapped in a closed space or who became unconscious during a fire. Each individual fire generates a characteristic smoke depending on the type of materials burnt, temperatures reached during pyrolysis, and the availability of oxygen to sustain combustion. In addition to variable amounts of thermal loads, firesmoke may contain mixtures of carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, nitrogen oxides, and other highly irritating gases. Each constituent of firesmoke may potentially create pulmonary and systemic toxicities and must be considered in every victim of smoke inhalation. Language: en


Spatial light modulators (SLM) have been developed since the 1940s using different fabrication technologies. SLMs can be employed for various applications like projection displays, direct-writing systems for photolithographic processes and optical signal processing. This dissertation gives an overview of the studies on a micromechanical SLM with a deformable oil film as actuator placed on a CMOS-circuit with mirror-layer on top. The oil film deforms due to electrostatic forces at the surface where an electric field is applied. Incident light is transmitted through the deformed oil film and reflected by the mirror layer. The local oil film deformations result in a spatial phase modulation. A simple Schlieren optics can convert the phase modulation into an intensity pattern for image projection. This work presents the first SLM devices with a deformable oil film that is addressed by a CMOS active matrix. This new technology is called moving liquid mirror (MLM). Simulation, design, fabrication and measurements of first devices are described. The devices bear 256x256 pixels of 16um or 20um size. Contrast ratios of 43:1 in the 0th order of diffraction were measured. Gray scaling is possible with analogue voltage levels. Dynamic operation proved the capability of the MLM-actuators to operate at a frame rate of 200Hz. Arbitrary patterns can be loaded into the active-matrix CMOS-circuit with oil film for the projection of intensity images.


Many approaches have been developed for inferring selection coefficients from time series data while accounting for genetic drift. However, the improvement in inference accuracy that can be attained by modeling drift is unknown. Here, by comparing maximum likelihood estimates of selection coefficients that account for the true population size history with estimates that ignore drift, we address the following questions: how much can modeling the population size history improve estimates of selection coefficients? How much can mis-inferred population sizes hurt inferences of selection coefficients? We conduct our analysis under the discrete Wright-Fisher model by deriving the exact probability of an allele frequency trajectory in a population of time-varying size and we replicate our results under the diffusion model by extending the exact probability of a frequency trajectory derived by Steinrücken et al. (2014) to the case of a piecewise constant population. For both the discrete Wright-Fisher and diffusion models, we find that ignoring drift leads to estimates of selection coefficients that are nearly as accurate as estimates that account for the true population history, even when population sizes are small and drift is high. In populations of time-varying size, estimates of selection coefficients that ignore drift are similar in accuracy to estimates that rely on crude, yet reasonable, estimates of the population history. These results are of interest because inference methods that ignore drift are widely used in evolutionary studies and can be many orders of magnitude faster than methods that account for population sizes.


A 50-Mb/s quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK)/offset quadrature phase-shift keying (O-QPSK) transmitter suitable for biomedical high-quality imaging application is presented. Centered at 915 MHz, the phase modulation is achieved by directly modifying the self-resonant frequency of an LC voltage-controlled oscillator through capacitor bank switching. By eliminating many unnecessary building blocks in the conventional QPSK/O-QPSK transmitter, significant power and area savings are achieved. Implemented in 0.18- μm CMOS technology, it occupies an active core area of 0.28 mm2. With 305-MHz injection frequency and consuming 5.6 mW under 1.4-V supply, the transmitter achieves error vector magnitude (EVM) of 11.4%/5.97% for O-QPSK/QPSK modulation while delivering output power of -3 dBm at 50 Mb/s. By lowering the injection frequency to 101.67 MHz, it consumes 5.88 mW under the same supply voltages while delivering an output power of -3.3 dBm. The transmitter achieves measured EVM of 6.4% at 50 Mb/s under QPSK modulation.


Introduction From the earliest days of the HIV epidemic there has been a close relationship with other sexually transmitted infections (STI). The shared transmission routes and determinants were reflected in high levels of synergy in the epidemics. Early preventive interventions for HIV – including changes in partner numbers and selection, use of barriers and changes in sexual practices towards safer sex – were 'infection agnostic', and had a dramatic impact on bacterial STI, with levels of syphilis and gonorrhoea falling to historic lows in some high-income settings. In contrast, many newer technologies for HIV prevention are 'infection specific', leading to the potential for divergent epidemics of HIV and other STI Method and results We review evidence to date of the impact of PrEP on (a) risk compensation, and (b) STI rates in a range of populations and settings. We synthesize data from earlier systematic reviews, and review the association between PrEP use and bacterial STIs in cis-gender women. Detailed results will be presented; briefly, early randomised control trials reported no increase in STIs or changes in sexual practices; more recent studies in less controlled environments such as open-label or demonstration projects have often reported increased STI incidence and risk compensation.The majority of evidence is from studies in men who have sex with men and transgender women Discussion An increase in condomless sex is not an unintended consequence of PrEP. For decades HIV prevention was limited because many people prefer sex without condoms. Now we have the technology to do this without the fear of HIV, just as the oral contraceptive pill (OCP) removed the fear of pregnancy for many women. While that may contribute to an increase in STI, as the OCP did, we should use this as an opportunity to argue for renewed investment in STI control programmes and research. Disclosure No significant relationships.


Can we agree fully with the statement, that "agricultural spending is a major distorting factor in the EU economy and a distinct obstacle to the Lisbon agenda's implementation"? (Gros, 2008) Is it without question that Europe's agriculture is in position to become sustainable and competitive without certain kind of common policy with no Community financing? Is it unambiguous in every respect, that the challenges facing the sector – globalization, trade liberalization, climate change, water management, Lisbon process, enlargement, changing preferences – could be answered at national level utilizing exclusively national financial sources? The answers to these questions are complex. So the purpose of the paper is multiple: - Exploration of factors justifying community level intervention. – Could be applied the bottom line of the "decentralization theorem" to budgetary questions and needs of the agricultural policy? According to our hypothesis the answer is considered yes. - Assessing present CAP - taking into account its ability to provide EU wide public goods (multifunctional elements serve in deed significant cross-border externalities) and to create EU value added. - Making an attempt to redefine EU's agricultural policy through exploring objectives having a greater impact by being implemented at the supranational level and not at other secondary decision levels. – Making an attempt to outline a Common Rural Policy, a policy promoting the provision of public goods required by the society by means of targeted and decoupled economic policy measures. In order to attain the objectives of the paper we apply the theory of fiscal federalism, make analysis on EU public finances in a broader context.


In the present work, the statistics of fragmentation is being studied in experiments with thin glass plates under uniformly distributed quasi-static loads. For this purpose the original pneumatic setup was manufactured. The glass plate is placed into a "sandwich" in order to fix the fragmentation pattern after unloading and to photograph it by a digital camera. A photoimaging and computer processing technique are used to assess the fragment areas and the total crack length.


The results of comparative design research in the thermal stress and strain state of the piston in transport diesel engine 2 F 10.5/12 are given for its rated power operation. The standard piston is made of an aluminium alloy, and the modernized one, of steel. Piston thermal profiling and indicator test results were used for identifying the mathematical models and refining the boundary conditions for mechanics and heat conduction problems. To ensure reliable heat rejection from the piston, the paper considered the case of oil jet cooling. This was taken into account when describing the boundary conditions of the heat conduction problem. The thin-wall steel piston with oil jet cooling was shown to function reliably under the study conditions. The temperature in the first compression ring groove does not exceed 200 °С, and the radial deformation of the piston crown is less than half of that of an aluminium alloy standard piston.


As the population of California continues to grow, urban spaces are rapidly being developed into areas considered to be environmentally sensitive. In order to prevent extensive damage to our state's delicate ecosystems, environmental regulations are often enforced by local organizations during the course of impactful operations such as construction projects. These regulations will often vary from one site to another, depending on a given site's location and proximity to the environmentally sensitive areas. No two jobs will posses the exact same specifications for dealing with this aspect of construction, and as such some will require more intense regulations than others. With this in mind, the case study that I will be reporting on is an example of a job requiring the more extensive end of regulations. This paper's objective will be to outline this specific project's details, requirements, and discuss how it's intricate situation makes it a learning experience for future projects with a similar environmental scope.


The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission is aimed at monitoring, globally, surface soil moisture and sea surface salinity from radiometric L‐band observations. The SMOS radiometer relies upon a two‐dimensional (2‐D) synthetic aperture concept in order to achieve satisfactory spatial resolution performances for a minimal cost in terms of payload mass and volume. Counterparts of this advantage are reduced radiometric sensitivity and increased complexity. The performances expected from SMOS, in terms of measurement accuracy, spatial resolution, and revisit time, depend on many parameters, among which several are crucial for assessing the payload and mission configurations. Most prominent among those configuration parameters are the flight altitude, the length of the interferometer arms, the spacing between radiating elements, and the tilt angle of the antenna plane. Their selection has to be optimized, so as to satisfy both scientific requirements and main technical constraints. This paper describes the way the optimization was carried out during the SMOS phase A. After assessing the main drivers on instrument configuration from the science requirements, the goal was to find an optimal trade‐off, minimizing technical challenges while fulfilling the science objectives. It was found that, even though salinity retrievals are the most challenging, soil moisture retrievals were the most demanding in terms of mission definition and that a configuration exists to satisfy the required retrieval accuracies. The obtained configuration was then checked against ocean salinity retrievals and found satisfactory.


Chrysanthemum, '#3 Indianapolis White', subjected continuously to atmospheres containing 1-4 ppm ethylene failed to initiate and develop flower buds under short day conditions. The plants showed typical epinastic symptoms, shortening of internodes, thickening of stems and loss of apical dominance. The plants developed many short axillary shoots, each with a few small leaves. The top leaves on the plant became smaller and smaller and were less dissected than the controls. Subjecting plants alternatively to ethylene containing and normal atmospheres generally prevented flowering also, but occasionally crown budding occurred. Bioassay of endogenous auxins showed that these growth promoting substances were maintained at high levels in the ethylene treated plants, which may account for their failure to flower. In addition, ethylene also seemed to affect the polar auxin transport system of the plant.


SUMMARY: The vitamin requirements and physiological characteristics of 179 strains of lactobacilli isolated from milk and cheese have been studied and their relationship to classification discussed. The vitamin requirements showed good correlation with the results of the physiological and biochemical tests with strains of the subgenus Streptobacterium but the correlation was poor among the beta bacteria. It was not possible to differentiate the physiologically similar Lactobacillus brevis and L. buchneri species by their vitamin requirements. The nutritional data indicated that the species L. plantarum probably consists of more than one variety, and confirmed the reliability of a thiamine requirement as a means of differentiating heterofermentative and homofermentative lactobacilli. The nutritional data also proved useful with some strains by verifying their unclassifiable status or by making possible their classification when they could not be identified with certainty on the basis of biochemical tests alone. The nitratase activities of strains of L. casei, L. plantarum, L. brevis, L. buchneri and pediococci were also studied. Four of the L. plantarum and 2 of the L. casei strains were able to reduce nitrate but none of the other species tested showed this characteristic.


Kainic acid (KA) is a natural product derived from the seaweed, Digenea simplex. It is frequently used as a tool to experimentally mimic human temporal lobe epilepsy. Nitric oxide (NO) is known to be involved in the pathophysiology of many epilepsy models. The aim of this study was to determine the immunoreactivity of neuronal and inducible nitric oxide synthetase (nNOS & iNOS) in different regions of brain in rats subjected to KA induced epilepsy. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study. The acute group rats were sacrificed after 2 hours and the chronic group rats were sacrificed after 5days of single injection of KA (15mg/kg body weight) and the cerebral cortex (CC), cerebellum(CB) and brain stem (BS) slices were constructed using formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded tissues. Those sections were immunohistostained with commercial antibodies for the above enzymes. Control group rats received normal saline and processed in a similar manner. Images were captured. Results were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and reported as mean + standard error from 6 animals and p<0.05 considered statistically significant. In acute group nNOS immunoreactivity was increased in CC and BS and iNOS immunoreactivity was increased in CC and CB compared to control group. In chronic group both nNOS and iNOS immunoreactivity was increased compared to control in all the brain regions studied. The study clearly demonstrated the up regulation of nNOS and iNOS in KA treated rats and may support the increased production of NO in epilepsy which may be responsible for neurodegeneration.


For a long time, these are deeply entrenched in people's thinking and the institutions or policies of economic activities that the resources are unlimited and the environment exists priceless. Environmentally augmented household livelihood assets were collected from 300 sample households within the HeiHe River Basin. Results show that physical assets possess a maximum value (0.609) and natural assets possess relatively low values (0.241). The human capital, natural capital, physical capital, financial capital and social capital are all important factors to influence the responses. An increment of one unit should reduce the occurrence to participate in ecological compensation for natural capital. Therefore, the local governments should actively introduce the relevant supporting measures in order to provide more non-agricultural employment opportunities for farmers.


Abstract. Since 2002, German low-cost scientific expeditions to Greenland have been performed. The objective was a geodetic survey and glaciology with GNSS technology – mainly the measurement of glacier profiles (height). The same glacier profiles along the route were measured during German expeditions in 2006, 2010, 2012 and 2015. The last international expedition was supplemented with RPAS (UAV) measurement, the testing of small corner reflectors for Terra SAR X satellite measurement and the use of image based modelling technology for historical monuments documentation, all in specific arctic conditions. The RPAS measurement was focused on the documentation of existing valuable archaeological sites near Ilulissat city and the testing of RPAS technology for the monitoring of the face of the moving glacier. Two typical church wooden constructions were documented by simple photogrammetric technology based on image correlation. Both experiments were evaluated as successfully case projects. The last part of the experiments deals with the monitoring of a moving inland glacier using SAR technology; four corner reflectors were installed on the glacier and on a massive nearby rock. Two ascending and two descending overflights of the Terra SAR X satellite in fine resolution mode were performed. The InSAR technology give inconclusive results, but some movements were detected; small and inexpensive corner reflectors of our own production have proven suitable. Experience and expertise from the measurement such as the first outputs from the expedition are the content of the present article.


John Tingle looks at clinical negligence in his continuing analysis of how the law affects nurses and other clinical staff in the operating theatre. Everybody makes mistakes or errors at sometime or other in their careers. Some mistakes will not cause any injury and will be easily corrected whilst others may go unnoticed and may never be picked up by the patient or healthcarer. In recent years, however, patients do seem increasingly prepared to complain and in some cases to take legal action for compensation when their healthcarers' mistakes have caused them injury. It is important to stress that not every mistake can be categorised as negligence. A number of principles of negligence law have to be applied and satisfied before such a claim can be made.


Corporate failure is the situation when a firm becomes unable to pay debts when they come due and the market value of assets becomes lower than its total liabilities. The purpose of the paper is to explore the relationship between firm size and probability of failure for Indian steel sector companies by employing regression model. Altman's Z-score model has been used to derive the firm's probability of failure, whereas total assets and total sales are utilized as indicators for firm's size. The results indicate that size is inversely related to the probability of failure. With an increase in the size of the firm; probability of failure decreases and vice-versa. JEL Classification codes:


Poverty reduction is a top priority for international organizations, governments and non-governmental organizations. The aid resources available for poverty reduction are, however, severely constrained in many countries. Minimizing the leakage of aid resources to the non-poor is a key to maximize poverty reduction with the limited amount of resources available. One way to minimize such leakage is to target resources geographically. That is, policymakers can move resources to the poorest part of the country. Geographic targeting can be quite effective when poverty is unevenly distributed across the country, and this proves to be the case in many countries. This paper is structured as follows. In section 2, we summarize the SAE poverty mapping Cambodia. Section 3, discusses the methodology and dataset we used to create an MWBI poverty map in Cambodia. Section 4, we describe the CCDB. In section 5, we compare the SAE poverty map and the MWBI poverty map as well as the CCDB in Cambodia. In section 6, we consider the implications for geographic targeting, and section 7 concludes.


By using the modular modeling method, a dynamic simulation model for single-pressure water-cooled condenser is developed to adapt various operation conditions. According to the structure characteristic of the condenser and physics property of working-medium in the condenser, the inner working space of condenser is divided into different sections. Based on the heat and mass balance, and fundamental theories of thermodynamic, heat transfer and fluid mechanics theories, the mathematics models of each section are described. The influences of the different factors such as the condenser structure, the working-medium physics property change on the flow and heat transfer process are discussed. The condenser real-time simulation model is set up by integrating the simulation module of every section. The engineering practice and simulation tests show that this model is practicable. It is can be used for fossil-fired power unit simulator development, and for the establishment of condenser fault symptom library. This model also provides a tool for analyzing the off-design conditions of the power unit steam condensers.


Summary Fossil echinoids are moderately common in the Mississippian (Lower Carboniferous) limestones of the White Peak of Derbyshire and Staffordshire, but are invariably disarticulated; in consequence, they have received little attention. Herein, we record echinoid radioles (spines) from the chert of a Derbyshire screwstone for the first time. These specimens come from the Monsal Dale Limestone Formation (Brigantian, Visean) of Bradford Dale, near Youlgrave, Derbyshire. Radioles are slender, smooth, rounded in section, straight to slightly curved, but incomplete. We refer these specimens to Lepidocidaris sp., a genus previously recorded from the Preston area of Lancashire and Iowa, USA. The radioles are accumulated in a near-linear bedding plane assemblage, indicating a unidirectional current flow at the time of deposition.


According to the positions of systemic analysis of autoregulations and systemic reconstruction processes in children under the influence of PILER-light (Polarized polychromatic incoherent low-energy radiation) depending on the type of general non-specific adaptation reactions of the organism, the clinical blood test has been investigated using the correlation structures method. It has been established that phototherapy with polarized light causes stereotype effect of increased integration between the blood parameters, harmonizing of white and red blood parameters, elimination of the stress, decreased entropy elements. At the same time the specific adaptation reaction of the child's organism to the loadings of various origin, in particular, to the electromagnetic irradiation of optic diapason waves indicates the diverse character of the changed regulation system functions depending on the adaptation reaction type and grounds the differentiated approach to the polarized light therapy.


: High antithrombin activity was maintained in the salivary gland secretion of starved medicinal leeches (Hirudo medicinalis) despite harvesting of the secretion twice in a month. However, after third or fourth harvesting every month antithrombin activity was no longer detectable. Moreover, in salivary gland secretion high antitrypsin activity was found but no antichymotrypsin activity. On the other hand, intestinal chyme of starved leeches exhibited high antichymotrypsin activity. Low antithrombin and antitrypsin activities were due to contamination by salivary gland secretion. There was a correlation between antichymotrypsin and antithrombin activities of hirudin preparations purified from bdellins and fractionated by isoelectric focusing. Pseudohirudin preparations exhibited neither antithrombin nor antichymotrypsin activities.


Most hospitals today are dealing with the big data problem, as they generate and store petabytes of patient records most of which in form of medical imaging, such as pathological images, CT scans and X-rays in their datacenters. Analyzing such large amounts of biomedical imaging data to enable discovery and guide physicians in personalized care is becoming an important focus of data mining and machine learning algorithms developed for biomedical Informatics (BMI). Algorithms that are developed for BMI heavily rely on complex and computationally intensive machine learning and data mining methods to learn from large data. The high processing demand of big biomedical imaging data has given rise to their implementation in high-end server platforms running software ecosystems that are optimized for dealing with large amount of data including Apache Hadoop and Apache Spark. However, efficient processing of such large amount of imaging data running computational intensive learning methods is becoming a challenging problem using state-of-the-art high performance computing server architectures. To address this challenge, in this paper, we introduce a scalable and efficient hardware acceleration method using low cost commodity FPGAs that is interfaced with a server architecture through a high speed interface. In this work we present a full end-to-end implementation of big data image processing and machine learning applications in a heterogeneous CPU+FPGA architecture. We develop the MapReduce implementation of K-means and Laplacian Filtering in Hadoop Streaming environment that allows developing mapper functions in non-Java based languages suited for interfacing with FPGA-based hardware accelerating environment. We accelerate the mapper functions through hardware+software (HW+SW) co-design. We do a full implementation of the HW+SW mappers on the Zynq FPGA platform. The results show promising kernel speedup of up to 27× for large image data sets. This translate to 7.8× and 1.8× speedup in an end-to-end Hadoop MapReduce implementation of K-mean s and Laplacian Filtering algorithm, respectively.


This paper presented tries to improve finishing accuracy through monitoring the lateral gap-width by an adaptive fuzzy logic controller. Since the complexities and stochastic properties inherited in EDM processes, it seems promising to introduce soft computing algorithm in such a process control application. The adaptive fuzzy logic system (AFLS) composed of a fuzzy logic system and a nearest neighborhood-clustering algorithm, which adjusts not only the parameters of fuzzy system but also its own structure. A detailed material removal mechanism was established through the concept of discharge-angle for analysis on the machining processes. Formation of lateral gap width was analyzed through material removal swept by the discharge angle. Combined with discharge power and other operation conditions, a feasible gap-width estimation model was established. And an adaptive control based on the AFLS was proposed to improve the conventional servo-voltage strategy in both the machining accuracy and the stability aspects. Experiment results showed that the proposed estimation model is effective, and the proposed control strategy help significantly in improving the geometric accuracy of Wire-EDM's finishing process.


A key asset of Royal Mail Group consists of a nationwide network of sorting offices
that forms a constituent component of the means through which the organisation
provides an efficient nationwide postal service within the United Kingdom. It may be
argued that the efficiency currently possessed by modem sorting offices is due to the
utilisation of machines that automate the process of sorting items of mail. The modem
letter-sorting machine possessed by Royal Mail can sort up to 30,000 letters per hour;
such machines serve as an example of an achievement of the application of
Mechatronics. The maintenance of letter sorting machines constitutes a large overhead for the
organisation. In the face of competition from pervasive electronic media within the
personal communications market and the prospect of deregulation, Royal Mail seeks
to streamline its operation in part by the reduction of the overheads incurred through
maintenance of letter sorting machinery. The adoption of condition based
maintenance techniques and predictive maintenance, for letter sorting machine
components such as belts and bearings, forms part of the strategy through which
Royal Mail seeks to reduce this overhead. Utilisation of flat belts and timing belts for
the implementation of key functions in letter sorting machinery, such as the transportation of items of mail within the mail sorting process, results in the use of
many such components within letter sorting machinery. A direct link exists between
the maintenance of peak performance of a sorting machine and the maintenance of belt drives; as such the maintenance of belt drives forms a substantial component of
the maintenance overhead.
The focus of this thesis consists of the condition monitoring of belt based motion
transmission systems and in particular, flat belts. The research that forms the basis of
this thesis consists of three elements. Firstly, consideration of current knowledge of
belt based power transmission such as knowledge of the mechanics of the belt based
power transmission process within the context of condition monitoring... [cont'd]


The aim of this study was to standardize the 3 techniques designated as exotoxin ELISA, sonicated ELISA and dot-blot ELISA in the detection of antibodies to Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis in sheep sera and to evaluate the usefulness of these techniques in the routine diagnosis and screening of C. pseudotuberculosis infection. A total of 471 sheep sera, 100 of which were from vaccinated animals, obtained from agricultural enterprises under the General Directorate of Agricultural Enterprises were examined. Among the 471 serum samples, 172 (36.5%), 119 (25.2%) and 181 (38.5%) sera were positive by the exotoxin ELISA, sonicated ELISA and dot-blot ELISA techniques, respectively. The results obtained in this research showed that exotoxin ELISA, sonicated ELISA and dot-blot ELISA techniques are useful screening tests for the routine diagnosis of caseous lymphadenitis disease


The paper is motivated by a ranking problem arising in financial institutions (classifying customers according to increasing creditworthiness using a generalized perceptron) and the particular form of the associated probabilities resulting from its solution. Similar forms of the probabilities have been obtained using rather different approaches. It is shown that if the relevant parameters are determined experimentally they can be exploited to compute optimal (in the sense of expected maximal profit) interest rates. Somewhat surprisingly it turns out that under weak additional assumptions in all cases there is a unique finite optimum if a simple linear model is used ("Greed doesn't pay"?). For a special case that frequently arises in practice an explicit upper bound is obtained. In addition it is shown that knowledge of a single parameter suffices to compute the corresponding interest rate.


This chapter examines the existing relationship between different types of parental practices and the development of internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems in adolescence. Parental involvement and parenting styles are defined and analyzed as possible parameters of adolescent problems, including bullying and victimization. Special emphasis is given to the distinction between behavioral and psychological parental control. Furthermore, issues such as parent‐adolescent conflict, locus of control, and parental values are discussed as correlates of these problems, since prior research has identified them as either risk or protective factors for child and adolescent social and emotional adaptation.


Broom snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae [Pursh] Britton & Rusby) is a native invasive species that is widely distributed across western North America. It is very competitive with other vegetation and can reduce or displace desirable grasses and forbs. Removal of snakeweed from rangelands can result in increased forage production of desirable plant species. The evaluation of new herbicides to determine their efficacy in controlling broom snakeweed assists in providing land managers with alternatives to control broom snakeweed. The objective of this study was to evaluate herbicides applied in the spring to determine efficacy of control of broom snakeweed. 2,4-D + triclopyr had the greatest reduction in snakeweed density at 97 ± 14.6 % (P < 0.0001). Aminopyralid and 2,4-D were also effective at reducing snakeweed density at 73 ± 14.6 % control. Our results demonstrate that 2,4-D + triclopyr, a new herbicide, can be used in controlling broom snakeweed in the spring.


This article draws on a longitudinal study of Australian (New South Wales) (n=286), Canadian (n=116) and Chinese (n=91) police recruits to discuss participants understandings of the concept of obedience to authority. Results for this study, which was conducted within the early stages of the recruits' training, indicate a significant degree of uncertainty amongst participants from all three jurisdictions when faced with varying situations involving obedience to authority issues. Policing researchers have long observed that recruits enter training with noble intentions and this is enhanced through elements of academy training, such as ethics education. In contrast, however, other researchers have found that once recruits commence their policing roles the negative aspects of police culture can impact adversely upon ethical decision making. In addition, the hierarchical nature of policing coupled with the authoritarian nature of academy training can instil in recruits obedience to authority attributes which can also erode ethical decisions. It is contended that understanding the perceptions of recruits and, in particular, those from New South Wales (NSW), concerning obedience to authority issues, may have implications for recruit training. By incorporating an understanding of obedience to authority along with associated practical scenarios within the academy training curriculum, inexperienced officers when faced with obedience to authority dilemmas in the field may be assisted.


COVID-19 hit as the world was undergoing the most significant upheaval in the international trade regime since at least the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995. The pandemic has given urgency to a preexisting demand in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere for the localization of supply chains. When the crisis hit, many developed countries realized that their supply chains for critical medical supplies and pharmaceuticals were concentrated in China. When the pandemic temporarily halted production in China, developed countries faced significant shortages of medical supplies. As a result, approximately eighty nations restricted the export of such products.

This Article argues that modern trade agreements overly constrain the ability of states to regulate supply chains for critical products such as medical supplies. I make two primary points. First, critics of reshoring have argued that further trade liberalization is the best guarantee against supply chain risks. To the contrary, I argue that modern free trade agreements (FTAs), the primary vehicle through which trade liberalization has proceeded since 1995, do little to encourage the diversification of supply chains and in some cases actually exacerbate supply chain risks, especially through loose rules of origin. Second, I argue that WTO rules constrain preventative regulation of supply chain risks designed to prevent a crisis, while providing exceptions for aggressive action only in the face of a crisis. WTO members are thus put to a choice. They can limit their attempts to preventatively regulate supply chain risks, waiting until a crisis occurs, or they can flout WTO rules. The former option risks more supply chain crises, while the latter option risks further undermining support for and adherence to the multilateral trading system. In this sense, trade law finds itself at a juncture similar to that faced by rules on the use of force two decades ago. Both sets of rules contain limited exceptions for preemptive action in the face of imminent threats. Just as nations like the United States felt that the imminence requirement did not give them enough flexibility to respond to modern threats in the use of force context, so too will nations chafe at the narrow exceptions for crisis-based supply chain regulation in the trade context.


. Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) enables large-scale reuse of preexisting software components. The main drawback is increased complexity in software supply chain management. A common approach to tame such complexity is automated open source compliance, which consists in automating the veri(cid:28)cation of adherence to various open source management best practices about license obligation ful(cid:28)llment, vulnerability tracking, software composition analysis, and nearby concerns. We consider the problem of auditing a source code base to determine which of its parts have been published before, which is an important building block of automated open source compliance toolchains. Indeed, if source code allegedly developed in house is recognized as having been previously published elsewhere, alerts should be raised to investigate where it comes from and whether this entails that additional obligations shall be ful(cid:28)lled before product shipment. We propose an e(cid:30)cient approach for prior publication identi(cid:28)cation that relies on a knowledge base of known source code artifacts linked together in a global Merkle direct acyclic graph and a dedicated discovery protocol. We introduce swh-scanner, a source code scanner that realizes the proposed approach in practice using as knowledge base Software Heritage, the largest public archive of source code artifacts. We validate experimentally the proposed approach, showing its e(cid:30)ciency in both abstract (number of queries) and concrete terms (wall-clock time), performing benchmarks on 16845 real-world public code bases of various sizes, from small to very large.


Local interests change sharply after the energy booms that began in 2003, when hydraulic fracturing spurred extraction of formerly uneconomic oil and gas reserves. Support for conservative interests rises and Republican political candidates gain votes after booms, leading to a near doubling in the probability of a change in incumbency. All of this change occurs at the expense of Democrats. Voting records of U.S. House members from boom districts become sharply more conservative across a wide range of issues, including issues unrelated to energy policy. At the level of the individual, marginal candidates skew their voting behavior somewhat toward more conservative causes, but generally not enough to maintain power. Thus, even when the stakes are high and politicians risk losing power, ideology trumps ambition.


When attached to specific sites near the S4 segment of the nonconducting (W434F) Shaker potassium channel, the fluorescent probe tetramethylrhodamine maleimide undergoes voltage-dependent changes in intensity that correlate with the movement of the voltage sensor (Mannuzzu, L.M., M.M. Moronne, and E.Y. Isacoff. 1996. Science. 271:213–216; Cha, A., and F. Bezanilla. 1997. Neuron. 19:1127–1140). The characteristics of this voltage-dependent fluorescence quenching are different in a conducting version of the channel with a different pore substitution (T449Y). Blocking the pore of the T449Y construct with either tetraethylammonium or agitoxin removes a fluorescence component that correlates with the voltage dependence but not the kinetics of ionic activation. This pore-mediated modulation of the fluorescence quenching near the S4 segment suggests that the fluorophore is affected by the state of the external pore. In addition, this modulation may reflect conformational changes associated with channel opening that are prevented by tetraethylammonium or agitoxin. Studies of pH titration, collisional quenchers, and anisotropy indicate that fluorophores attached to residues near the S4 segment are constrained by a nearby region of protein. The mechanism of fluorescence quenching near the S4 segment does not involve either reorientation of the fluorophore or a voltage-dependent excitation shift and is different from the quenching mechanism observed at a site near the S2 segment. Taken together, these results suggest that the extracellular portion of the S4 segment resides in an aqueous protein vestibule and is influenced by the state of the external pore.


The finite element analysis is presented in this paper in order to investigate residual stress distribution in the interphase of restoration-tooth structure due to polymerization shrinkage of resin-based composite. The restoration-tooth interface is simulated using plane elements of varying material properties and thicknesses. The stress within restored-tooth structure built-up from the polymerization shrinkage of the restorative composite were computed accounting for the time-dependent, visco-elastic behaviour of the composite. A sensitivity study is performed to examine the relative influence of geometric and material parameters of interphase on the shrinkage stress development. It was found that a correlation exists between material and geometry properties at the restoration-tooth interface and higher shrinkage stresses on interphase due to polymerization shrinkage. The development trend of residual stress from polymerization shrinkage in the restored-tooth structure was discussed and forecasted. The varying material and geometry properties of restoration-tooth interface seem to have conclusive effect on the interfacial stress system, as well as on the longevity of the restoration. From the purely mechanical point of view, this can result in interfacial debonding.


: Within the construction industry, it is increasingly being acknowledged that knowledge management can bring about the much needed innovation and improved performance the industry requires. Nevertheless, sufficient attention is still to be received for the concept of the knowledge worker and their tacit knowledge within construction industry. Yet, proper understanding and management of this resource is of immense importance for the achievement of better organisational performance. Hence, this paper aims to devise a theoretical framework for managing construction knowledge worker and their tacit knowledge based on review and synthesis of literature. Paper stresses the importance of construction knowledge worker and tacit knowledge through review of literature and highlights prevailing gap due to lack of attention and recognition given to the tacit knowledge in the construction industry. Based on identified gap research aim, objectives and hypotheses are devised. As the specific research methodology, the social constructionism stance in terms of epistemological undertakings and idealistic approach under the ontological assumptions with value laden purposes are suggested. Further, it recommends the deployment of multiple exploratory case studies approach with triangulation techniques.


ABSTRACT Science and technology education has become increasingly important. However, for most teachers, it is challenging to provide this content. Therefore, professional development programmes are used to support teachers in this regard. In this qualitative study, effective characteristics that should be present in such programmes were identified. Moreover, four particular professional development programmes were investigated to see whether they included these characteristics. Eleven review studies and meta-analyses were analysed to identify the effective characteristics of professional development programmes for science and technology education. Five content characteristics were distinguished: focus, activities, collaboration, coherence of content, and duration. In addition, three contextual characteristics were distinguished: coherence with context, individual factors, and organisational factors. The materials from four professional development programmes for science and technology education were collected and analysed and interviews were held with principal investigators who were involved in the design of these programmes and with educators who worked with these programmes. The characteristics duration and coherence with context appeared to be fully addressed in respectively two and one programmes. The other characteristics were incorporated to a limited extent or not at all. Overall, the present study illustrated the apparent challenges in designing professional development programmes.


Abstract We present novel methods for detecting lexical entailment in a fully rule-based and explainable fashion, by automatic construction of semantic graphs, in any language for which a crowd-sourced dictionary with sufficient coverage and a dependency parser of sufficient accuracy are available. We experiment and evaluate on both the Semeval-2020 lexical entailment task (Glavaš et al. (2020). Proceedings of the Fourteenth Workshop on Semantic Evaluation, pp. 24–35) and the SherLIiC lexical inference dataset of typed predicates (Schmitt and Schütze (2019). Proceedings of the 57th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, pp. 902–914). Combined with top-performing systems, our method achieves improvements over the previous state-of-the-art on both benchmarks. As a standalone system, it offers a fully interpretable model of lexical entailment that makes detailed error analysis possible, uncovering future directions for improving both the semantic parsing method and the inference process on semantic graphs. We release all components of our system as open source software.


We report an alternative FeCrCoNiGe magnetic material based on FeCrCoNi high-entropy alloy with Curie point far below the room temperature. Investigations are done using first-principles calculations and key experimental measurements. Results show that the equimolar FeCrCoNiGe system is decomposed into a mixture of face-centered cubic and body-centered cubic solid solution phases. The increased stability of the ferromagnetic order in the as-cast FeCrCoNiGe composite, with measured Curie temperature of 640 K, is explained using the exchange interactions.


: To obtain a vascular thermoregulatory response of the ear floor, the hypothalamus had to be heated by 0.59 +/- 0.03 degrees C. After preliminary intraperitoneal administration of subthreshold amount of heat (195.7 +/- 8.9 cal.) constituting 50.7 +/- 1.8% of the threshold (386.4 +/- 14.3 cal.) the hypothalamus had to be heated by 0.19 +/- 0.01 degree C only to obtain the same response in the animal. The change of own temperature sensitivity of the hypothalamus in increased heat contents of the organism might be an auxiliary mechanism for estimation of the heat contents changes by the organism.


Formation of tetra-coordinated aluminum in low temperature coal ashes was investigated. Coal samples were intensively air-oxidized at 350oC for 160 hours, then 27Al MAS NMR spectra of obtained ashes were acquired and compared against those for initial coals, a reference ash and Al standards. It was found that chemical shift at 4 ppm with coals corresponds to that for triaquohydroxo- diphenoxido-aluminum(III) complex and the shift at 72 ppm with resulting coal ashes agrees with that for Al tetra-coordinated with oxygen. So, in the presence of coal organics the tetracoordinated Al is formed under low temperature conditions. Formation of this form of Al can be elucidated as follows. Probably, Al in coal originates from kaolinite, as this mineral is very frequent in coal. Mentioned Al-complex was formed through the long-term reactions of kaolinitic hexacoordinated Al with phenols/polyphenols as prevailing oxygen-contaning components in coal substance. During this process the octahedral structure of hexa-coordinated Al was retained, but ligands coordinated around the central Al atom changed. At first, delamination of a kaolinitic structure through the effect of coal organics proceeded and separation of the Al gibbsite octahedral and silica tetrahedral layers occurred. Then, two oxygens in the Al octahedron were substituted with two phenoxide groups while OH groups were preserved. As result, Al-tetrahydroxo-diphenoxide ion was formed, further stabilized in a water environment as Al(H2O)3(OH)(C6H5O)2. During low temperature ashing this complex was transformed to Al tetra-coordinated with oxygen only at 350oC.


Good quality of sperm is required to achieve fertilization. Sperm undergo biochemical and biophysical changes during the journey in male as well as in female reproductive tracts such as capacitation and acrosome reaction process. Otherwise, fast and  progressive motility of sperm is important concerning to reach out for ovum. One of significant changes to conduct these processes is certainly ions concentration changes in reproductive tracts as well as available ATP molecule as energy source for motility. Flux of ions and ATP in the sperm membrane will be supported by the presence of variety ion channels in the plasma membrane and also in mitochondrial membrane. Ionic microenvironmental changes and efflux ATP can induce finally kind physiological sperm function. Keywords: ion channel, sperm, motility, acrosome reaction


We purified nascent simian virus 40 late transcripts by incubating viral transcriptional complexes, isolated from infected BSC-1 cells, in a reaction mixture that contained mercurated CTP; RNA molecules that had incorporated mercurated residues in vitro were isolated by sulfhydrylcellulose affinity chromatography. The nascent RNA was hybridized to an end-labeled HindlIl C probe fragment (0.646 to 0.86 map unit), and the hybrids were analyzed by S1 mapping. Most of the products of digestion corresponded to unspliced transcripts with 5' ends mapping at nucleotides 325, 260, and 195, which are positions of the 5' ends of mature, cytoplasmic late mRNA species. In addition, two minor products diagnostic of splicing at the acceptor junctions mapping at nucleotides 556 and 443 were detected. Because the abundance of these products was not diminished by repurifying the nascent RNA through a second round of sulfhydrylcellulose chromatography, these products did not originate from contaminating non-nascent RNA. Moreover, the generation of these products was not affected when a higher salt concentration and lower temperature were used for S1 digestion, conditions that should decrease artifactual cleavage by S1 in A+U-rich regions of colinear hybrids. Therefore, it is likely that some simian virus 40 RNA chains are spliced before release from the template.


We present here new results concerning the nonlinear mechanism underlying the observed spectral broadening produced by parametric instabilities occurring at the edge of tokamak plasmas in present day LHCD (lower hybrid current drive) experiments. Low frequency (LF) ion-sound evanescent modes (quasi-modes) are the main parametric decay channel which drives a nonlinear mode coupling of lower hybrid (LH) waves. The spectrum of the LF fluctuations is calculated here considering the beating of the launched LH wave at the radiofrequency (RF) operating line frequency (pump wave) with the noisy background of the RF power generator. This spectrum is calculated in the frame of the kinetic theory, following a perturbative approach. Numerical solutions of the nonlinear LH wave equation show the evolution of the nonlinear mode coupling in condition of a finite depletion of the pump power. The role of the presence of heavy ions in a Deuterium plasma in mitigating the nonlinear effects is analyzed.


Scientific community is an association of scientists who act in a particular scientific
profession, resulting in the exchange of ideas to sharpen and broaden their scientific insights.
Pancasilaist science as one of Universities subjects in character development deals with quite
complicated problem when it is attempted to be incorporated in a scientific forum. Those
problems involve: Firstly, lack of human resources who would seriously explore Pancasilaist
science. Secondly; resistance among other scientists towards Pancasilaist science which is
considered more as a doctrine rather than a science. Thirdly; professional forum to consolidate
Pancasilaist scientists that is generally preceded by seminars or congresses that are perceived as a
scientific project represented by Directorate General of Higher Education as government bodies.
Research method took form of literature study covers these methodical elements: A
description by exposing related issues to national cases; Interpretation by construing thoughts of
the founding founders containing scientific-philosophical values. Heuristics by discovering the
novum–new thing or scientific innovation– which is associated with leading to formation of
Pancasilaist science's epistemic communities.
Analysis upon a wide range of literature and author's personal experience during teaching
the subject pinpoint to the following things: First; Forum for epistemic community of
Pancasilaist science is needed to accommodate countless lecturers' aspirations and experience of
Pancasila Education during their lectures in the universities. Second; epistemic community could
be a means to cultivate and develop new ideas and curiousity, thus Pancasila education always
evolve in accordance with current transformation. Third; epistemic communities of Pancasilaist
science could serve as moral values catalyst supporting nation's development towards a more
prosperous country, both materially and spiritually. Fourth; youth morality and mentality require
a strong foundation in order to control the influence of globalization embedded in all aspects of
society.


This Study on cassava entrepreneurship and gender participation was carried out in Udi local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria. Quarterly data from a panel of thirty male-headed and thirty female-headed cassava-based farm households randomly selected followings a multistage sampling of ten out of 24 autonomous communities of the study area was subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analyses. Both male and female entrepreneurs engaged more on three of cassava products namely Garri, Fufu and Tapioca on account of relatively better profits from them. Segregating male from female entrepreneurs, participation of males in cassava enterprise was negatively influenced by adult number of males, time spent on housework, and daily non-farm wage while participation of females in the enterprise was influenced by adult number of females in household, daily non-farm wage, time spent on housework and frequency of contact with extension agency with challenges of high operational costs, and poor packaging on the enterprise in the area. To bring male and female entrepreneurs at par in terms of resource needs, all social and cultural constraints on female access to arable land and credit should be addressed by law such that that there will be prohibition against any discrimination on women. We recommended provision of financial credit and grants for SMEs development to enable entrepreneurs (especially women) purchase fertilizers and automated machines for processing, and packaging of the products to attract better prices.


The undergraduate computer science and engineering degree in India is a professional engineering degree and follows the general structure of other engineering degree programs. It aims to provide a good breadth in basic engineering and 50% of the curriculum in common with all engineering disciplines. The curriculum has a strong electrical engineering bias. At present there is no formal accreditation of engineering programs in India and each university is expected to maintain its own standards. The general structure of engineering education in India and the philosophy used in evolving an undergraduate curriculum in computer science and engineering are described. >


Craniocervical trauma brings about pathology of the central regulatory mechanisms, functional insufficiency of which persists for many years and is responsible for specific features of traumatic disease of the brain with development of the syndrome of posttraumatic regulatory disorders of the nervous-endocrine-immune system. The authors propose methods of differential therapy of posttraumatic hormonal disorders in sanatorium.


In lowland (760 m above sea level) and highland (3200 m above sea level) of Tien Shan, the measurements of blood pressure and blood flow in the large vessels as well as the mass of heart ventricles of 75 rabbits have been made. In highland, the significant changes in hemodynamics of pulmonary circulation, appeared as elevations of pulmonary arterial pressure, pressure of wedging pulmonary artery, total and arterial pulmonary vascular resistance, have been noted. Besides this, adaptation to a highland staying was associated with an increased mass of the right ventricle of the heart. The pulmonary hypertension and hypertrophy of the right ventricle incremented during the first 2 weeks of the rabbits staying in highland and stabilized at achieved high level within succeeding 1.5 months of a tested period of adaptation. Because cardiac output and cardiac index starting from the end of 2nd week of adaptation did not differ significantly from control values, it can be said with confidence that an increase of pulmonary pressure in highland is dependent on a rise of pulmonary vascular resistance. In this case, the arterial pulmonary vascular resistance elevated to a greater extent than venous one. In highland, there revealed only the mean value of correlation relationship between the level of pulmonary blood pressure and a severity of right ventricle hypertrophy. The mass of left ventricle, systemic arterial pressure and total peripheral resistance did not significantly altered in a highland environment.


Protein kinase C (PKC) isozymes play distinct roles in cellular function. In human K562 leukemia cells, PKC α is important for cellular differentiation and PKC βIIis required for proliferation. In this report, we assess the role of the atypical PKC isoform PKC ι in K562 leukemia cell physiology. K562 cells were stably transfected with expression plasmids containing the cDNA for human PKC ι in sense or antisense orientation to increase or decrease cellular PKC ι levels, respectively. Overexpression or inhibition of expression of PKC ι had no significant effect on the proliferative capacity of K562 cells nor their sensitivity to phorbol myristate acetate-induced cytostasis and megakaryocytic differentiation, suggesting that PKC ι does not play a critical role in these processes. Rather, PKC ι serves to protect K562 cells against drug-induced apoptosis. K562 cells, which are resistant to most apoptotic agents, undergo apoptosis when treated with the protein phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid (OA). Overexpression of PKC ι leads to increased resistance to OA-induced apoptosis whereas inhibition of PKC ι expression sensitizes cells to OA-induced apoptosis. Overexpression of the related atypical PKC ζ has no protective effect, demonstrating that the effect is isotype-specific. PKC ι also protects K562 cells against taxol-induced apoptosis, indicating that it plays a general protective role against apoptotic stimuli. These data support a role for PKC ι in leukemia cell survival.


One county health department has created an innovative program to provide pre- and postnatal health care to Hispanic women and children. This case study demonstrates the importance of finding new ways to meet the needs of a rapidly changing population, understanding different cultural beliefs, and establishing a level of trust to achieve positive outcomes within this hard-to-reach population.


Transmitter optimization for correlated multiple input single-output (MISO) channels with average channel information feedback is of theoretical and practical importance. It was tackled in the past by mainly focusing on cases with either mean or covariance feedback alone. The difficulty with generic MISO optimization arises from the fact that the treatment of optimal beam directions and power allocation are no longer separable, thereby making the problem nearly impossible to be tackled on the basis of its current formulation. We therefore take a different philosophy by representing the derivative of the ergodic capacity as a single integral and linking it to the channel characteristic function. This new formulation allows us to obtain the sufficient and necessary conditions, simply in the form of two vector equations which can be efficiently solved by a Newton-Raphson type algorithm developed in this paper. Numerical results are presented for illustration.


The present study aimed to investigate the effects of photothermal therapy with gold nanorods (AuNRs) or epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody-conjugated AuNRs (EGFRmAb-AuNRs) on hypopharyngeal carcinoma (HC) in nude mice. In addition, the associated signaling pathways were explored. Briefly, a subcutaneous transplantable hypopharyngeal tumor model was established in nude mice injected with FaDu human HC cells. A total of 70 nude mice were randomly divided into seven groups, each of which received a different treatment. Mice were treated with AuNRs, locally or through intravenous injection, whereas EGFRmAb or EGFRmAb-AuNRs were only administered locally. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) was also applied for plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT). The growth curve and the inhibitory rate for tumor growth were used to evaluate the effects of each treatment. Flow cytometry and the terminal-deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling assay were adopted to detect apoptosis of cells in the transplanted tumors. Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting were used to determine the mRNA and protein expression levels of target genes, respectively. Local treatment with AuNRs + NIR or EGFRmAb significantly inhibited tumor growth, and EGFRmAb conjugation further increased the inhibitory effects. Furthermore, there was a significant increase in apoptosis of tumor cells in the AuNRs + NIR, EGFRmAb and EGFRmAb-AuNRs + NIR groups; treatment with EGFRmAb-AuNRs + NIR induced the highest apoptotic effect. Mechanistic studies indicated that EGFRmAb-AuNRs + NIR may inhibit tumors through the AKT serine/threonine kinase (Akt) and DNA damage signaling pathways. In the AKT pathway, the mRNA and protein expression levels of phosphatase and tensin homolog were increased, whereas the expression levels of Akt and glycogen synthase kinase 3β were decreased. In the DNA damage signaling pathway, the mRNA and protein expression levels of ATR serine/threonine kinase, checkpoint kinase 1 and p53 were enhanced, whereas phosphorylated-p53 protein expression was reduced. The present findings indicated that AuNRs + NIR inhibited HC tumor growth, and conjugating EGFRmAb to AuNRs further enhanced the inhibitory effects. EGFRmAb conjugation may increase the antitumor effects of AuNRs-induced PPTT by downregulating the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/Akt pathway and upregulating the DNA damage pathway. These findings may provide novel insights into tumor-targeting PPTT in vivo.


The paper focus on the first three chapters of Isaiah. After recalling the results of modern biblical scholarship on the use of legal and forensic jargon in Isaiah (§ 1) and giving a thumbnail sketch of the traditions of Latin Christian exegesis in the Middle Ages (§ 2), I will examine passages of the commentary on Isaiah written by Dominican theologian Albert the Great in the 13th century (§ 3). The aim is to evaluate to what extent the concerns of the original biblical text, when filtered through the Latin Vulgate and through Christian foresight, are captured by the medieval exegete, to what extent Albert is able to understand the peculiar theme of the self-awareness of the history of Israel in the form of a legal contention between God and His people.


The response of the ionosphere to a representative auroral substorm was simulated. The response was found to be significant at all altitudes in a large spatial region near midnight magnetic local time. In this midnight region, there were Te and Ti hot spots, substantial O+ → NO+ composition changes, non‐Maxwellian velocity distributions, transient ion upwellings, a large‐scale lowering of the F‐layer, ionization peaks that occur in the E‐region, and sharp horizontal gradients. Also, during the expansion phase, the E‐region densities increase due to auroral precipitation, while the plasma densities above 300 km decrease due to the overall lowering of the ionosphere. The net result is that the temporal morphologies of the plasma densities at high and low altitudes are opposite during this part of the substorm. These complex features indicate that care must be exercised when interpreting plasma measurements from both ground‐based and space‐based instruments.


Chronological peculiarities of genetic regulation of growth processes in morphological structures of postcranial skeleton ("body") and cranium ("head") were studied at different phases of peripubertal stage of boys ontogenesis. The component partitioning of the phenotype variance of individual scores of the structures considered revealed relative autonomy of chronogenetic systems controlling morphogenesis in the "body" and the "head". Succession of morphological organization is ensured by the stable level of correlation between morphological structures analysed. Raise in correlation is registered at the "critical" phase (13-14 years) which is connected with the "switching on" genetic programme of growth processes control in the adolescent period of human postnatal ontogenesis.


Aim: To evaluate the possible advantages of dermo-cosmetic products formulated with thermal spring water instead of deionized water. We studied the effect of a dermo-cosmetic product on skin barrier recovery after injury. In one test the product was formulated with de-ionized water and again using the identical product formulated with thermal spring water. Study Design/Methods: Stratum corneum of human skin explants was removed (and not removed for the control) with an ether/acetone mixture. A cosmetic product, either formulated with de-ionized or thermal spring water, was then topically applied on the explants. After a 5-day incubation period, epidermal expression of aquaporine-3, filaggrin, claudin-4 and claudin-6 was studied by using immunohistochemical techniques. Results: The formulation containing de-ionized water seemed to act on the epidermal expression of filaggrin and claudin-4. When thermal spring water was used to make the formulation, we noted that this expression was greatly enhanced. The formulation containing thermal spring water also acted to increase aquaporin-3 and claudin-6 expression. Conclusion: The use of thermal spring water in cosmetic formulations would appear to contribute to the cosmetic product's efficacy. It was also interesting to note that this study revealed claudin-6 expression in human skin for the first time.


The Lake Bogoria basin, here in referred to as the study area, is located in the greater Baringo-Bogoria basin (BBB), about 100 km to the north of Menengai geothermal prospect on the floor of Kenya Rift Valley (KRV). It is bound by latitudes 0 00' and 0 30'N and longitudes 3545'E and 3615'E within the rift graben. The study area is characterized by geothermal surface manifestations which include hot springs, spouting geysers, fumaroles/steam jets and mud pools. The area is overlain by Miocene lavas lavas, mainly basalts and phonolites, and Pliocene to recent sediments and pyroclastics such as tuffs, tuffaceous sediments, superficial deposits, volcanic soils, alluvium and lacustrine silts. The terrain is characterized by extensive faulting forming numerous N-S ridges and fault scarps. Gravity and magnetotelluric (MT) surveys were undertaken in the area to determine the heat source, characterize the geothermal reservoir, and evaluate the geothermal resource potential of the basin. Gravity survey results indicate Bouguer anomaly having an amplitude of ~40 mGals aligned in a north-South direction and interpreted to be due to a series of dyke injections and hence the heat source in the basin. The interpretation of Bouguer anomaly has been constrained by using previous seismic results. The MT survey results show three distinct layers in the basin. The first layer, overlain by high resistivity thin layers, is ~3 km thick and has resistivities ranging between 4-30 Ω-m. This layer is interpreted to be due to a combination of saline sediments and circulation of high temperature geothermal fluids. The second layer is ~10 km thick and resistivity values range between 85-2500 Ω-m. This layer is interpreted to be fractured basement metamorphic rocks hosting a steam reservoir where circulating fluids are heated by underlying dyke injections. The substratum is characterized by resistivities ranging between 0.5-47 Ω-m and is interpreted as hot dyke injections which are the heat sources for this geothermal prospect. The magnetotelluric results in this study are consistent with results of previous microseismic study in Lake Bogoria basin by Young et al. (1991). On the basis of gravity and MT results, the heat source in Lake Bogoria basin is due to cooling dyke injections occurring at depths of ~6 – 12 km in the subsurface. Gravity method however favours depths of ~3 – 6 km. The geothermal reservoir is probably two-phase and is attributed to condensation of high temperature steam from the underlying fractured basement metamorphic rocks.


Understanding how people interpret and use visually presented uncertainty data is an important yet seldom studied aspect of data visualization applications. Current approaches in visualization often display uncertainty as an additional data attribute without a well-defined context. Our goal was to test whether different graphical displays (glyphs) would influence a decision about which of 2 weather forecasts was a more accurate predictor of an uncertain temperature forecast value. We used a statistical inference task based on fictional univariate normal distributions, each characterized by a mean and standard deviation. Participants viewed 1 of 5 different glyph types representing 2 weather forecast distributions. Three of these used variations in spatial encoding to communicate the distributions and the other 2 used nonspatial encoding (brightness or color). Four distribution pairs were created with different relative standard deviations (uncertainty of the forecasts). We found that there was a difference in how decisions were made with spatial versus nonspatial glyphs, but no difference among the spatial glyphs themselves. Furthermore, the effect of different glyph types changed as a function of the variability of the distributions. The results are discussed in the context of how visualizations might improve decision making under uncertainty.


Abstract This study assesses a new mechanism, the deposit channel, in the transmission of interest rate shock to household consumption using an administrative panel data set of financial transactions for Turkey. Our empirical strategy exploits variation in consumers' adherence to the Islamic laws that forbid earning interest and employs a standard difference-in-difference design. Following an unanticipated announcement of interest rate hike, rate-sensitive consumers significantly reduce their overall spending, and the response persists throughout the post-announcement period. The response of debt payment, disparate exposure to inflation, exchange rate, and the demographic difference can hardly fully account for the documented consumption response heterogeneity.


The aim of the article is to highlight a recent development related to the knowledge triangle concept and the effectiveness of actors in education, research, and innovation concerning the Estonian situation of financial and economic crisis. The author of the article analyses the implementation of the Lisbon agenda in Estonia (in 2000-2009) and tries to evaluate Estonia's perspectives in post-Lisbon strategy (in 2010-2020). The research problem in this article is: implementation of Lisbon strategy (EU-Strategy 2020) in changed financial and economic circumstances.Since 2000, the European Commission has been measuring the innovation performance of countries with the help of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) which is the instrument developed by the European Commission, under the Lisbon strategy, to provide a comparative assessment of the innovation performance of EU Member States annually. Estonia's innovation performance has been increasing over the past five years in relation to the EU average, taking the lead in the moderate innovators' group in 2008 and in the Innovation followers' group in 2009 Estonia is reaching the EU mean level according to summary innovation index and has a relatively high growth rate for its level. However, elaborated analysis shows some relevant problems. According to the prognosis made in the strategy of Knowledge Based Estonia, employment in 2007-2013 in the high technology sector will grow about 19,800 employees, diminishing at the same time employment by the same amount in other sectors. This means that actually there is an acute need for highly qualified specialists (with doctorate degrees) for the Estonian high technology sector. First of all this indicates a need for additional investments in higher educational institutions. In Knowledge Triangle conception two main tendencies of the development are related: innovative rearrangements in economy and in higher educational sphere and, second, the increase of Estonian economic competitiveness. Today in Estonia modernisation of universities is a key element for enhancing competitiveness. At the same time there is some backwardness in higher educational sphere compared with EU neighbour countries. Other aspects of the knowledge triangle concern the creation of new economic mechanisms (concrete business solutions) and a new structure of institutions to carry out a new comprehensive and dynamic innovation model.In the process of globalisation, where Europe will need a new understanding of financial and economic integration concerning all EU member states and their own mission, Estonia must focus on the challenge of small country being more flexible economically and taking a chance in quick rearrangements of the higher education system.


Three types of trivalent rare-earth-metal complexes supported by a monoanionic tris(pyrazolyl)methanide ligand were synthesized and structurally characterized, and the catalytic activity of the dialkyl derivatives for isoprene polymerization was investigated. Reactions of the lithium salt of tris(3,5-dimethylpyrazolyl)methanide LLi(THF) with 1 equiv of ScCl3(THF)3, YCl3, or LuCl3 in THF provided the ion-pair complexes [LLnCl3][Li(THF)4] (Ln = Sc (1), Y (2), Lu (3)). Dialkyl complexes LLn(CH2SiMe3)2(THF) (Ln = Y (4), Lu (5)) were prepared by salt metathesis of LLi(THF) with 1 equiv of [Y(CH2SiMe3)2(THF)3][BPh4] or [Lu(CH2SiMe3)2(THF)3][BPh4] in toluene. Reaction of 5 with PhSiH3 provided the unexpected alkylidene-bridged dinuclear complex L2Lu2(μ-η1:η1-3,5-(CH3)C3HN2)2(μ-CHSiMe3) (6). Complexes 1–6 were structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, showing that the tris(pyrazolyl)methanide ligand acts as a κ3-coordinating six-electron donor in all complexes. The dialkyl complexes catalyze...


. Adverse environmental conditions result in corrosion during the life cycle of marine structures such as pipelines, offshore oil platforms, and ships. Generalized corrosion leading to wall thickness loss can cause the degradation of the integrity, strength, and load bearing capacity of the structure. Nondestructive detection and monitoring of corrosion damage in difficult to access areas can be achieved using high frequency guided waves propagating along the structure. Using standard ultrasonic wedge transducers with single sided access to the structure, specific high frequency guided wave modes (overlap of both fundamental Lamb wave modes) were generated that penetrate through the complete thickness of the structure. The wave propagation and interference of the guided wave modes depend on the thickness of the structure and were measured using a noncontact laser interferometer. Numerical simulations using a 2D Finite Element model were performed to visualize and predict the guided wave propagation and energy transfer across the plate thickness. During laboratory experiments the wall thickness was reduced uniformly by milling of one steel plate specimen. In a second step, wall thickness reduction was induced using accelerated corrosion for two mild steel plates. The corrosion damage was monitored based on the effect on the wave propagation and interference (beating effect) of the Lamb wave modes in the frequency domain. Good agreement of the measured beatlengths with theoretical predictions was achieved and the sensitivity of the methodology ascertained, showing that high frequency guided waves have the potential for corrosion damage monitoring at critical and difficult to access locations.


This paper makes a conceptual contribution to the e ffect of monetary policy on financial stability. We develop a microfounded network model with endogenous network formation to analyze the impact of central banks' monetary policy interventions on systemic risk. Banks choose their portfolio, including their borrowing and lending decisions on the interbank market, to maximize profit subject to regulatory constraints in an asset-liability framework. Systemic risk arises in the form of multiple bank defaults driven by common shock exposure on asset markets, direct contagion via the interbank market, and firesale spirals. The central bank injects or withdraws liquidity on the interbank markets to achieve its desired interest rate target. A tension arises between the bene ficial effects of stabilized interest rates and increased loan volume and the detrimental effects of higher risk taking incentives.We fi nd that central bank supply of liquidity quite generally increases systemic risk.


We examine the role of ecological interactions on effective gene flow from genetically manipulated plants to their wild relatives. We do so by constructing and applying to oilseed rape (OSR) an analytical model for interaction between plants with and without an insect resistance (IR) allele in natural communities, incorporating documented levels of herbivore variability. We find that with reasonable values of advantage to the IR allele, little concomitant disadvantage (physiological costs of the allele) restricts it to low proportions of the natural population for large numbers of generations. We conclude that OSR IR transgenes are unlikely to pose an immediate threat to natural communities. Our model identifies those factors best able to regulate particular transgenes at the population level, the most effective being impaired viability of seeds in the period between production and the following growing season, although other possibilities exist. Because solutions rely on ratios, limiting values of regulating factors are testable under controlled conditions, minimizing risk of release into the environment and offering significant advancement on existing testing programmes. Our model addresses folivory but is easily modified for herbivory damaging the seed or directly affecting seed production by infested plants, or for pathogens altering seed survival in the seedbank.


is 2:1 is either very naive or hypocritical. I think they ought to make a proper analysis in terms of work loads and available persons, trained or otherwise; that ratio stuff is just the bureaucrat's trick to bewilder innocent nurses. This is not to say that the H.A.S. teams are not doing good. Their arrival provokes valuable self-criticism; they may bring to light gross failures; they may sometimes draw attention to useful experience at another hospital. Their reports carry much more weight with administrators than similar advice from an internal hospital committee. But I think they would do much better work for us, for the N.H.S., and for patientcare if they had less dogma and more objectivity. I would like them, and Dr. Baker, to remember that people have different gifts and need to express them in their work. One standard, rigid plan, hatched in Southwark, is not likely to suit everybody or every local circumstance. The H.A.S. could be helping to introduce a little flexibility. Others have experienced the H.A.S. in action. What do they think?-I am, etc.,


The retarded gravitation produced by the matter and energy content of the observable universe is formulated and shown how this cosmological gravity gives rise to inertial forces in accelerated frames of reference. The model is developed for spatially flat Friedman-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universes. The retarded potential of cosmological gravity is determined first in fundamental frames of reference, in Einstein-de Sitter (ES)and in LambdaCDM models. Despite the expansion, the observable universe gives rise to a static, retarded gravitational potential equal to c2 in ES universe, while gravity is weakening during the expansion in LambdaCDM model.
In the locally Minkowski spacetime occurring in a small domain of the universe, a covariant Lagrangian of a test body moving in the cosmological gravitational field is derived. Inertial forces are determined from a test body's Euler-Lagrange equation, in Newtonian approximation. The model calculation indicates, that the inertial forces meet exactly the ones observed in ES universe and Mach's principle holds there. In the present-day standard, LambdaCDM model inertial forces are weaker by 10 % than expected.


Excess production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as hydroxyl (HO˙) and superoxide (O2˙−) radicals affects the metabolic processes and plays a major role in diseases like cancer. Defect-structured nanoceria is a potential material for mimicking various natural antioxidant enzymes. However, tuning the oxygen vacancy defects through a simple synthetic strategy still remains a challenge. Due to its multi-enzymatic nature, ceria exhibits both pro-oxidant and anti-oxidant properties simultaneously which is vaguely understood and seriously limits its scope in therapeutics. Herein, we report the preparation of nanoceria using a combustion method under various fuel (lean, stoichiometric and excess) conditions and its influence on size and oxygen defect concentration is correlated with the structural, toxic and antioxidant properties. The smaller size and higher number of oxygen vacancy (Ce3+ sites) defects achieved under fuel lean conditions significantly improved the antioxidant and radical scavenging properties as evidenced by enzyme kinetics. At low concentration, ceria exhibits protective effects (eliminates HO˙ radicals and H2O2) but at a higher concentration, it exhibits oxidase activity by generating O2˙− radicals irrespective of the pH conditions. Our results clearly demonstrate the activation of selective enzyme mimetic properties by controlling the ceria concentration which is of the utmost importance in antioxidant therapeutic and diagnostic applications.


Objective This study was designed to assess the effectiveness of an alternative technique using a perforator flap to manage secondary tendon exposure after a radial forearm free flap in head and neck oncologic surgery. Study Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Plastic Reconstructive Surgery Unit, Nice University Hospital, Pasteur 2 Hospital, France. Subjects and Methods Despite its numerous advantages, the radial forearm free flap is associated with significant donor site morbidity and the risk of secondary tendon exposure. Conventional skin grafts for secondary tendon exposure can lead to diminished wrist range of motion and grip strength, with residual pain and cold intolerance. Between 2012 and 2015, we prospectively studied 20 patients with secondary tendon exposure after a forearm radial free flap for head and neck reconstruction. Two techniques of secondary coverage were compared: a reference technique with a secondary full skin graft (10 patients) and a dorsoulnar artery perforator (DUAP) flap (10 patients). Results Maximum wrist extension (100%) was observed for the DUAP group compared with only 87% for the skin graft (SG) group (P = .001). An improvement in grip strength (+14 kg) (P = .028) and a decrease in pain or cold intolerance (P = .002) were also observed in the DUAP group, in addition to a better aesthetic appearance. Conclusion The perforator flap procedure is an interesting tool in reconstructive surgery. The DUAP flap is a reliable, useful flap for secondary tendon exposure coverage after a radial forearm free flap. Level of Evidence III (case-control analytic studies of 1 center).


Software developers regularly have to focus in order to successfully perform their work. At the same time, developers experience many disruptions to their focus, especially in today's highly demanding, collaborative and open office work environments. When these disruptions happen during tasks that require a lot of focus, such as comprehending a difficult piece of source code, they can be very costly, causing a decrease in performance and quality. By sensing how focused a developer is, we might be able to reduce the cost of such disruptions. In our previous work, we investigated the use of biometric and computer interaction sensors to sense interruptibility - the availability for interruptions - and developed the FlowLight approach - a traffic light like LED indicator of a person's interruptibility - to reduce the cost of external in-person interruptions, a particularly expensive kind of disruption. Our results demonstrate the potential of accurately sensing interruptibility in the field and of reducing external interruption cost to increase focus and productivity of knowledge workers.


Software systems are today a part of more or less every organization. The varieties of software used in organizations are ranging from simple log-keeping applications to advanced decision support systems. The task of a priori valuation of software investments has attracted a lot of research for a long time. One of the main themes of this research has been which types of consequences software investments result in and how these consequences can be incorporated in the a priori valuation of the investment. Much of this research has stated the problem as how to incorporate intangible consequences in the valuation since intangible costs and benefits are assumed to represent a large part of the consequences from a software investment. These consequences are therefore highly relevant in the appraisal of software investments. This thesis is concerned with the question of how intangible consequences can be incorporated in the a priori valuation of a software investment. To answer this question, this thesis presents a theoretical model for the valuation of a software investment based upon a discounted cash flow model in continuous time. The general model argued for in this thesis is that usage results in consequences which must be translated into cash flows to be incorporated in a discounted cash flow model. The software usage is chosen as the underlying value creating function since it is the basic underlying function that creates all consequences specific to the software investment. This thesis develops a stochastic cash flow model to incorporate the uncertainty and characteristics of when the intangible conse quences have an effect on the cash flow by adopting a Brownian motion into the valuation model. To find an analytic model for the problem, the expectations of the future cash flows is transformed into risk-neutral expectations. This allows us to use the risk-free rate of return as a discount factor in the model.


OBJECTIVE. Our previous work showed that variation measures, which represent breast architecture derived from mammograms, were significantly associated with breast cancer. For replication purposes, we examined the association of three variation measures (variation [V], which is measured in the image domain, and P1 and p1 [a normalized version of P1], which are derived from restricted regions in the Fourier domain) with breast cancer risk in an independent population. We also compared these measures to volumetric density measures (volumetric percent density [VPD] and dense volume [DV]) from a commercial product. MATERIALS AND METHODS. We examined 514 patients with breast cancer and 1377 control patients from a screening practice who were matched for age, date of examination, mammography unit, facility, and state of residence. Spearman rank-order correlation was used to evaluate the monotonic association between measures. Breast cancer associations were estimated using conditional logistic regression, after adjustment for age and body mass index. Odds ratios were calculated per SD increment in mammographic measure. RESULTS. These variation measures were strongly correlated with VPD (correlation, 0.68-0.80) but not with DV (correlation, 0.31-0.48). Similar to previous findings, all variation measures were significantly associated with breast cancer (odds ratio per SD: 1.30 [95% CI, 1.16-1.46] for V, 1.55 [95% CI, 1.35-1.77] for P1, and 1.51 [95% CI, 1.33-1.72] for p1). Associations of volumetric density measures with breast cancer were similar (odds ratio per SD: 1.54 [95% CI, 1.33-1.78] for VPD and 1.34 [95% CI, 1.20-1.50] for DV). When DV was included with each variation measure in the same model, all measures retained significance. CONCLUSION. Variation measures were significantly associated with breast cancer risk (comparable to the volumetric density measures) but were independent of the DV.


Objectives: This study examines the effects of traditional bullying, cyberbullying, and dual-bullying victimization on subsequent delinquent outcomes. Method: Data come from a longitudinal sample of middle school students (N = 3,271) as part of the evaluation of the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program. A hybrid random effects model is used to estimate the between- and within-individual effects of traditional, cyber-, and dual-bullying victimization while controlling for other predictors of delinquency. Outcomes include general delinquency, violent and nonviolent delinquency, and substance use. Results: The findings demonstrate that those who are cyberbullied exhibit a higher propensity for substance use and nonviolent delinquency compared to those who are traditionally bullied. Changes in dual victimization within respondents over time are most strongly related to general delinquency. With one exception, the effect of traditional bullying victimization remained weakest in all of the models. Conclusions: This study finds evidence that victims of cyberbullying may be more likely to engage in delinquent and deviant behavior compared to victims of traditional bullying. Criminologists and antibullying prevention efforts should consider the broader role of cyberbullying victimization in the developmental processes of adolescents.


Maternally deposited carotenoids are a prominent component of egg yolk and are vital for the development and growth of the embryo. In most studies of avian yolk carotenoids, eggs are destructively sampled and this may limit both the number of clutches studied and the research questions addressed. We describe an empirical field trial for a nondestructive biopsy method to extract small samples (0.05 ml) of egg yolk for high- performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of yolk carotenoid concentrations. We sampled 180 clutches (N = 44 biopsies) of two species of introduced thrushes (genus Turdus) from agricultural habitats in central North Island, New Zealand. Once the protocol was established, all biopsied eggs from clutches that were not depredated or deserted before candling were found to be developing normally after 3-5 d of incubation (N = 28) and all hatched. Biopsy samples (>0.02 g) produced concentrations of yolk carotenoids (and variances) that were statistically indistinguishable from whole yolk destructive samples. In addition, our samples (>0.02 g) confirmed previously reported differences in yolk carotenoid concentrations between the two thrush species and revealed a significant decline in yolk carotenoid concentration with laying order. Further examination of how variability in yolk carotenoid concentration and identity influences offspring sex, success, and survival or, later in life, reproductive success and ability to efficiently incorporate dietary carotenoids into both integument and immune tissues will require larger sample sizes. Studies to date have been restricted by the number of destructive samples that investigators are willing (or permitted) to obtain from wild species. Thus, we hope that our nondestructive method of sampling yolk will promote further examination of the links between carotenoid uptake from the environment and maternal investment in the avian yolk.


A postcolumn liquid chromatographic method to determine the extractable residues of glyphosate (GLYPH) and its principal metabolite, (aminomethyl)phosphonic acid (AMPA), in various cereals and beans is described. The finely ground sample is extracted with a mixture of chloroform and water, and the resulting aqueous layer is passed through a cation exchange column. The eluate is adjusted to pH 7-10 and passed through an anion exchange column. The second column is eluted with 0.3M HCl solution and the resulting acidic eluate is analyzed with liquid chromatography coupled with postcolumn fluorescence detection. The mean recoveries for GLYPH in barley, canola, dry pea, flax, soybean, wheat, and white bean ranged from 90.0 to 98.1%, with coefficients of variation (CV) from 2.9 to 10.0% and limits of detection (LOD) from 0.07 to 0.14 ppm. Similarly, mean recoveries for AMPA in the same crops ranged from 87.4 to 98.9%, with CV from 4.6 to 7.7 and LOD from 0.05 to 0.12 ppm. Using this method, an analyst can routinely analyze 6 samples per 1.5 days. The advantages of this procedure are discussed.


Wouldn't it be nice to see how someone built an entire end-to-end system (from data acquisition to data cleansing to a fully integrated data warehouse) using SAS? This presentation shares some of the experience of designing and implementing a data warehouse. Topics include planning, architecture, data model, technology choices, and methods used in the creation of the platform. Special attention is paid to the challenge of data cleansing and enrichment and how we were able to engage the SAS community in helping us analyze this data.


Abstract With the advent of microsurgery and surgical techniques, along with the improvement in neuroimaging techniques and the microanatomy in cadaver study, improvement in terms of surgical morbidity and mortality has been remarkable; however, controversy still exists regarding the optimal surgical strategies for giant petroclival meningiomas (GPMs). We report a study of clinical and radiological features as well as the surgical findings and outcomes for patients with GPM treated at our institution over the past 6 years. During a 6-year period (April 2004 to March 2010), 16 patients with GPM underwent surgery by subtemporal transtentorial petrosal apex approach during which electrophysiological monitoring of cranial nerves and brainstem function were reviewed. There were nine females and seven males with a mean age of 56.9 years (range from 32 to 78 years). The most frequent clinical manifestations were headache (93.7%) and dizziness (93.7%). Regions and directions of tumor extension include clivus, parasellar, and cavernous sinus, as well as compression of brainstem, and so on. The trochlear nerve was totally wrapped in nine cases (56.2%). The postoperative Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) score was 76.3 ± 13.1. Mean maximum diameter of the tumors on magnetic resonance imaging was 5.23 cm (range, 4.5 to 6.2 cm). Subtemporal transtentorial petrosalapex approach was performed in all 16 cases. Gross total resection was achieved in 14 cases (87.5%) and subtotal resection in 2 cases (12.5%) with no resultant mortality. Follow-up data were available for all 16 patients, with a mean follow-up period of 28.8 months (range from 4 to 69 months), of which 11 (68.75%) lived a normal life (KPS, 80–100). Our suggestion is that GPM could be completely resected by subtemporal transtentorial petrosalapex approach. The surgical strategy of GPM should be focused on survival and postoperative quality of life. Microneurosurgical technique plays a key role in tumor resection and preservation of nerve function. Intraoperative electrophysiological monitoring also contributes dramatically to the preservation of the nerve function. Complete resection of the tumor should be attempted at the first operation. Any remnant is treated by radiosurgery.