Neurogenesis, the generation of new neurons, is most prevalent when the brain is being formed during pre-natal development. However, this process continues in select areas in the brain during adult life as well. One such area in the brain is the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus, an area known to be associated with learning and memory. In this region, neurogenesis is believed to contribute to neuroplasticity as well as improving its functions in learning and memory. Interestingly, this synthesis of neurons is increased by physical activity—predominantly running—and by seizures originating in the limbic system. The increased excitatory neuronal activity that occurs during a seizure leads to an increase in an enzyme called cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), the initial enzyme in the production of prostaglandins from arachidonic acid. COX-2 is usually expressed in certain neurons of the brain including the CA3 subregion of the hippocampus, and its level of expression is linked to increased excitatory neuronal activity. In other words, COX-2 is up-regulated by seizure activity; therefore, during seizures there is an increase in COX-2 activity and expression. Because new neurons exhibit increased excitatory responsiveness, the goal of this research is to test the possibility that exercise-induced new neurons of the DG will exhibit increased COX-2 levels following acute seizure activity. It is predicted that it will, and amplified COX-2 levels will be found in subjects that have access to physical exercise, particularly in the new neurons generated by running. An experimental group of mice were supplied with running wheels and allowed to run for roughly one month. Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was injected one week after the start of running in order to label the newly generated neurons in the hippocampus. After running, animals were subjected to acute seizures through pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) injections, and the subsequent seizures were scored based on severity. Cardiac perfusions were then performed to collect brain tissue that was then coronally sectioned using the cryostat and mounted on microscope slides, in order to stain for COX-2 and BrdU. Running mice exhibited lower seizure scores than control mice implying that the neurogenesis induced by physical activity increased the COX-2 levels, thus raising the seizure threshold in exercised mice.


Background: Aim of the study was to know the immunization coverage and its determinants among under five children residing in the urban field practice area of S. N. Medical College, Bagalkot.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in the urban field practice area of S. Nijalingappa Medical College in Bagalkot city between August - October 2016. According to NFHS-4, full immunization coverage in Karnataka is 59.8%. Sample size = 4pq/l2, taking p=59.8%, q=100-p= 40.2 and allowable error (l) = 10% of p. Sample size = 269. House to house survey was done for the presence of under 5 children. Vaccination status of the under five children was assessed based on immunization card or mother's verbal reports, and its determinants were collected using a pre-designed semi-structured questionnaire. Data was compiled and tabulated by using MS EXCEL and was analyzed, using percentages and chi square test.
Result: A total of 283 under five children's immunization status was studied. Percentage of children fully immunized was found to be 83%, partially immunized were 16% and unimmunized were 1%. 24.3% children were less than 12 months of age, 22.9% were 12-23 months and 52.6% children were 24-60 months. 65.37% of mothers had their child's immunization card. Major reason for failure of immunization was found to be lack of awareness of the schedule i.e. 41% of children and negligence of parents and grand-parents in 32.5%.
Conclusion: More vigorous awareness campaign are to be brought about in this area to achieve the coverage of 100%.

Keywords: Immunization, Under five children, Urban area


The mtr gene of Escherichia coli K-12 encodes an inner membrane protein which is responsible for the active transport of trypotophan into the cell. It has been proposed that the Mtr permease has a novel structure consisting of 11 hydrophobic transmembrane spans, with a cytoplasmically disposed amino terminus and a carboxyl terminus located in the periplasmic space (J.P. Sarsero, P. J. Wookey, P. Gollnick, C. Yanofsky, and A.J. Pittard, J. Bacteriol. 173:3231-3234, 1991). The validity of this model was examined by the construction of fusion proteins between the Mtr permease and alkaline phosphatase or beta-galactosidase. In addition to the conventional methods, in which the reporter enzyme replaces a carboxyl-terminal portion of the membrane protein, the recently developed alkaline phosphatase sandwich fusion technique was utilized, in which alkaline phosphatase is inserted into an otherwise intact membrane protein. A cluster of alkaline phosphatase fusions to the carboxyl-terminal end of the Mtr permease exhibited high levels of alkaline phosphatase activity, giving support to the proposition of a periplasmically located carboxyl terminus. The majority of fusion proteins produced enzymatic activities which were in agreement with the positions of the fusion sites on the proposed topological model of the permease. The synthesis of a small cluster of hybrid proteins, whose enzymatic activity did not agree with the location of their fusion sites within putative transmembrane span VIII or the preceding periplasmic loop, was not detected by immunological techniques and did not necessitate modification of the proposed model in this region. Slight alterations may need to be made in the positioning of the carboxyl-terminal end of transmembrane span X.


Embedded memory remains a major bottleneck in current integrated circuit design in terms of silicon area, power dissipation, and performance; however, static random access memories (SRAMs) are almost exclusively supplied by a small number of vendors through memory generators, targeted at rather generic design specifications. As an alternative, standard cell memories (SCMs) can be defined, synthesized, and placed and routed as an integral part of a given digital system, providing complete design flexibility, good energy efficiency, low-voltage operation, and even area efficiency for small memory blocks. Yet implementing an SCM block with a standard digital flow often fails to exploit the distinct and regular structure of such an array, leaving room for optimization. In this article, we present a design methodology for optimizing the physical implementation of SCM macros as part of the standard design flow. This methodology introduces controlled placement, leading to a structured, noncongested layout with close to 100% placement utilization, resulting in a smaller silicon footprint, reduced wire length, and lower power consumption compared to SCMs without controlled placement. This methodology is demonstrated on SCM macros of various sizes and aspect ratios in a state-of-the-art 28nm fully depleted silicon-on-insulator technology, and compared with equivalent macros designed with the noncontrolled, standard flow, as well as with foundry-supplied SRAM macros. The controlled SCMs provide an average 25% reduction in area as compared to noncontrolled implementations while achieving a smaller size than SRAM macros of up to 1Kbyte. Power and performance comparisons of controlled SCM blocks of a commonly found 256 × 32 (1 Kbyte) memory with foundry-provided SRAMs show greater than 65% and 10% reduction in read and write power, respectively, while providing faster access than their SRAM counterparts, despite being of an aspect ratio that is typically unfavorable for SCMs. In addition, the SCM blocks function correctly with a supply voltage as low as 0.3V, well below the lower limit of even the SRAM macros optimized for low-voltage operation. The controlled placement methodology is applied within a full-chip physical implementation flow of an OpenRISC-based test chip, providing more than 50% power reduction compared to equivalently sized compiled SRAMs under a benchmark application.


A summary of the Gill-Oxygen Limitation Theory (GOLT) is presented, i.e., of a theory seeking to explain a variety of life processes in fish and aquatic invertebrate by the fact that that the surface of their gills (and hence their oxygen supply) cannot, as 2-dimensional objects, keep up with the growth of their 3-dimensional bodies, and thus with their oxygen requirements. Various processes and attributes of fish and aquatic invertebrates are presented which had to date no mechanistic explanation, but which fit within the GOLT, offered here as a tool to interpret phenomena that until now were perceived as unrelated. However, the GOLT should also help to address practical problems, such as arise for fish farming when water temperature increases because of global warming.


Generative adversarial networks (GANs) have been widely used for the image-to-image translation task. While these models rely heavily on the labeled image pairs, recently some GAN variants have been proposed to tackle the unpaired image translation task. These models exploited supervision at the domain level with a reconstruction process for unpaired image translation. On the other hand, parallel works have shown that leveraging perceptual loss functions based on high-level deep features could enhance the generated image quality. Nevertheless, as these GAN-based models either depended on the pretrained deep network structure or relied on the labeled image pairs, they could not be directly applied to the unpaired image translation task. Moreover, despite the improvement of the introduced perceptual losses from deep neural networks, few researchers have explored the possibility of improving the generated image quality from classical image quality measures. To tackle the above two challenges, in this paper, we propose a unified quality-aware GAN-based framework for unpaired image-to-image translation, where a quality-aware loss is explicitly incorporated by comparing each source image and the reconstructed image at the domain level. Specifically, we design two detailed implementations of the quality loss. The first method is based on a classical image quality assessment measure by defining a classical quality-aware loss to ensure similar quality score between an original image and the reconstructed image at the domain level. The second method proposes an adaptive deep network based loss that compares the high level content structure between each original image and its reconstructed image from the generator. Finally, extensive experimental results on many real-world datasets clearly show the quality improvement of our proposed framework, and the superiority of leveraging classical image quality measures for unpaired image translation compared to the deep network based model.


Background: The free transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous (TRAM) flap has proven to be a reliable means of recreating the aesthetic breast form after mastectomy. The purpose of this study was to determine whether neurotization of the free TRAM flap improved sensation of the reconstructed breast. Methods: Twenty-seven patients undergoing 37 free TRAM flap reconstructions were randomized to receive either an innervated (12 patients, 18 breasts) or a noninnervated flap (15 patients, 19 breasts). A nerve repair between the T10 intercostal of the TRAM flap and the anterior sensory branch of the fourth intercostal nerve was performed for innervation. Sensory testing (Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments, hot-cold discrimination, two-point discrimination) was performed by one blinded examiner in a standardized pattern. Results: Mean follow-up was 16 months. Demographic analysis revealed no significant differences in patient age, height, smoking, radiation therapy, and nipple-areola reconstruction between patient groups (p > 0.3). Patients in the noninnervated group, however, were heavier (p = 0.03). Preoperative sensation was not significantly different in the noninnervated and innervated groups. Postoperative pressure threshold and temperature discrimination were significantly improved in the innervated flaps (p < 0.05). Noninnervated flaps displayed a pattern of increasing sensibility from the center toward the periphery while innervated flaps regained sensation throughout. Conclusions: Innervation of the free TRAM flap provides improved sensation to the reconstructed breast and is a simple adjunct to breast reconstruction.


In addition to describing the history of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Taiwan, the government's measures to contain the outbreak, and the actual economic impacts of SARS on Taiwan's economy, this paper presents the results of a multiregional computable general equilibrium model (Global Trade Analysis Project model version 6.2) that predicts the outbreak's consequences to 31 service and manufacturing sectors in Taiwan and to the GDP of 16 regions. The results of a short-term outbreak (less than 1 year), taking into account capital accumulation, are compared with those of a longer outbreak (more than 1 year). The losses to GDP are also predicted for the cases in which (1) China provides complete information on its SARS cases and (2) it fails to fully disclose the progress of the outbreak there to the international community. For a short-term outbreak, the simulation predicts losses to GDP of the service and manufacturing sectors of 0.67 percent in Taiwan, 0.20 percent in mainland China, and 1.56 percent in Hong Kong. If SARS is a long-run phenomenon, a lack of transparent disclosure about the progress of SARS on the part of the Chinese authorities could cause an additional 1.6 percent decline in China's GDP, according to the simulation.


Conventional knowledge distillation (KD) methods for object detection mainly concentrate on homogeneous teacher-student detectors. However, the design of a lightweight detector for deployment is often significantly different from a high-capacity detector. Thus, we investigate KD among heterogeneous teacher-student pairs for a wide application. We observe that the core difficulty for heterogeneous KD (hetero-KD) is the significant semantic gap between the backbone features of heterogeneous detectors due to the different optimization manners. Conventional homogeneous KD (homo-KD) methods suffer from such a gap and are hard to directly obtain satisfactory performance for hetero-KD. In this paper, we propose the HEtero-Assists Distillation (HEAD) framework, leveraging heterogeneous detection heads as assistants to guide the optimization of the student detector to reduce this gap. In HEAD, the assistant is an additional detection head with the architecture homogeneous to the teacher head attached to the student backbone. Thus, a hetero-KD is transformed into a homo-KD, allowing efficient knowledge transfer from the teacher to the student. Moreover, we extend HEAD into a Teacher-Free HEAD (TF-HEAD) framework when a well-trained teacher detector is unavailable. Our method has achieved significant improvement compared to current detection KD methods. For example, on the MS-COCO dataset, TF-HEAD helps R18 RetinaNet achieve 33.9 mAP (+2.2), while HEAD further pushes the limit to 36.2 mAP (+4.5).


A non-contact on-machine measurement system has been developed since various precise machines are getting lighter and smaller; therefore, processing with nano-precision is demanded recently. This system makes possible to measure with high precision without any damages and it is unnecessary for workpieces to attach or detach from a machine tool. Moreover, this system achieves on-machine form error compensation with high precision. On the other hand, the details of the system performances are still unknown. This study focuses on evaluating the performances by the comparison of the results that measured by this system and an existing measurement instrument under various conditions. As a result, this system shows an equivalent capability of measurement with high precision as the existing measurement instrument.


Short-term load forecasts are a major concern for transmission system operators. In France, RTE uses a parametric load model fed by temperature and cloud cover data. In this paper, we evaluate how the use of wind data may improve the quality of the model, both for fitting and forecasting. More precisely, the demand of Brittany, the peninsular area in the northwest of France is studied over the 2005–2010 period. Wind grid data that cover this area are supplied by the French public weather office Météo-France thanks to the ARPEGE numerical weather prediction model. The RTE load model residuals are successively modeled by four wind-related models ("rough wind model", "smooth wind model", "rough temperature wind model" and "smooth temperature wind model"). The results suggest that a significant gain can be achieved by post-processing load model residuals using wind data. The best model is the so-called "smooth temperature wind model", which enables an overall significant 6.8% reduction of the root mean square error (RMSE) of operational day-ahead forecasts during the 2009/2010 winter season.


The aim of this study was to determine the effects of mindfulness-based psychoeducation on internalized stigma in patients with schizophrenia. The patients were recruited from the community mental health centers. This quasiexperimental study was conducted using pretests and posttests with a control group. The participants were 69 patients with schizophrenia; 34 were part of the experimental group and 35 were part of the control group. The patients in the experimental group participated 2 days a week for 6 weeks in a total of 12 sessions which were given in the form of face-to-face group training. The difference between the scale mean posttest scores of the patients in the experimental and control groups was found to be statistically significant (p < .05). In the intragroup comparisons, a significant difference was found between the stigma mean scores in the experimental group (p < .05). It was concluded that mindfulness-based psychoeducation was effective in reducing stigma in patients with schizophrenia.


Of 548 head-injured adults, 16 sustained injuries about the elbow (3%). Sixteen of 18 patients (89%) developed heterotopic ossification (HO). All elbows which had been dislocated developed new bone in the substance or adjacent to the medial or lateral collateral ligaments, or both. Some dislocations also developed significant HO in all planes. Final motion correlated with the amount of HO in the joint. Supracondylar fractures generally developed a moderate amount of anterior or posterior HO, or both. Motion was moderately compromised. Posteriorly located HO developed in olecranon fractures. Range of motion was generally functional. Ectopic bone developed in dislocations of the radial head in the area of the annular ligament, and resulted in mild to moderate loss of motion. Spasticity was not necessarily associated with the development of HO. Two tardy ulnar palsies were noticed and associated with HO in the medial collateral ligament.


The increased regulation of mobility that accompanied its late nineteenth-century expansion and acceleration is widely recognized. Regulatory practices reached out to distant shores and on board ships, heightening uncertainties and reshaping meanings of voyage and transit, especially for non-white passengers and crews. Travel and mobility are common themes in historical and other literatures. But less is known about experiences of uncertain or thwarted arrivals, involuntary departures, and indefinite transit resulting from practices governing steam-age mobility. People in transit illuminate the conditional openings and closures in such tropes as mobility, transit, and destination. Few spaces embodied and actualized 'transit' better than ships, and this article focuses on the role of ships as vessels of confinement. In equal parts about passengers and crews, it explores experiences of nominally free persons uncertainly afloat in a world marked otherwise by assured or accelerated oceanic mobility in three contexts that illustrate physical, political, and cultural constraints on maritime mobility in the age of steam. They are the 1914 voyage of the Komagata-maru, British merchant vessels employing Indian crews, and wartime subjection and resistance of Chinese crews on British and Dutch vessels.


The area of multimodal interaction is fast growing, and is showing promising results in making the interaction more efficient and Robust. These results are mainly based on better recognizers, and studies of how users interact with particular multimodal systems. However, little research has been done on users- subjective experience of using multimodal interfaces, which is an important aspect for acceptance of multimodal interfaces. The work presented in this thesis focuses on how users experience multimodal interaction, and what qualities are important for the interaction. Traditional user interfaces and speech and multimodal interfaces are often described as having different interaction character (handlingskaraktar). Traditional user interfaces are often seen as tools, while speech and multimodal interfaces are often described as dialogue partners. Researchers have ascribed different qualities as important for performance and satisfaction for these two interaction characters. These statements are examined by studying how users react to a multimodal timetable system. In this study spoken feedback was used to make the interaction more human-like. A Wizard-of-Oz method was used to simulate the recognition and generation engines in the timetable system for public transportation. The results from the study showed that users experience the system having an interaction character, and that spoken feedback influences that experience. The more spoken feedback the system gives, the more users will experience the system as a dialogue partner. The evaluation of the qualities of interaction showed that user preferred no spoken feedback, or elaborated spoken feedback. Limited spoken feedback only distracted the users.


Author(s): Volker, Jamey M.B., PhD; Handy, Susan L, PhD | Abstract: The National Center for Sustainable Transportation's Induced Travel Calculator (Calculator) has generated substantial interest in the professional community as a method for estimating the additional vehicle miles traveled (VMT) induced by expanding the capacity of major roadways. The Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Davis (ITS-Davis) initiated a technical assistance project to support Caltrans and others in applying the Calculator. This report: (1) provides an overview of the Calculator and the induced vehicle travel effect, (2) summarizes the results from an earlier study comparing the Calculator's estimates with other induced travel analyses, (3) describes the technical assistance efforts and outcomes, and (4) discusses plans for future improvements to the Calculator. During the project, ITS-Davis advised Caltrans as it developed its Transportation Analysis Framework to guide transportation impact analysis for projects on the State Highway System. Caltrans published the final document in September 2020, in which it recommends that the Calculator be used where possible to estimate induced VMT. ITS-Davis also advised on efforts to apply the Calculator's elasticity-based method to estimate induced VMT from out-of-state highway capacity expansion projects, including projects in Portland, Oregon, Washington, D.C., Kenya, and China. In a follow-up project, ITS-Davis will work with Caltrans to improve the Calculator documentation to answer questions raised by Caltrans and others, explore possible technical improvements to the Calculator, and explore opportunities for assessing the validity of the Calculator's induced VMT estimates.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the point prevalence and characteristics of antibiotic use in different hospitalization areas of the Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We carried out a 3-week cross-sectional study with a census approach (using methodology from the World Health Organization) to determine the point prevalence of antibiotic use in inpatients from hospitalization areas, regardless of whether or not they were on an antibiotic regimen.

RESULTS
We identified 358 patients, with a mean age of 49 (± 25.3) years, predominantly adults (88%). Antibiotics were used in 51.7% of the hospitalized patients; only 57.3% of the prescriptions followed a regimen based on clinical practice guidelines for antibiotic treatment, while 28.5% did not follow any standardized recommendation. Therapies were empirical in 86.8% and directed in 13.2% of the cases.

CONCLUSIONS
Antibiotics were used in more than 50% of hospitalized patients. However, about one third of the prescriptions were not based on any clinical practice guidelines. Despite the existence of an antimicrobial control program in the hospital, appropriate antimicrobial use still needs to be optimized.


In team collaboration training, especially when the training is distributed on the net, it exists a problem of identifying the students' collaboration and work processes. An important design task when developing distributed interactive simulation systems for team training is therefore to define a proper monitoring functionality that will help training managers to evaluate the training. Thus a goal of a computer-based monitoring system is to give training managers help in understanding and assessing the performance of the trainees.This thesis deals with the design and implementation of monitoring strategies for distributed collaboration training. The aim has been to explore different automatic monitoring strategies, and how they can help a training manger in their task of understanding the students' collaboration during a training session.To explore possible monitoring strategies, a distributed, net-based micro-world simulation and training system, C3Fire, has been developed and three series of experiments has been performed. C3Fire provides a Command, Control and Communication training environment that can be used for team collaboration training of emergency management tasks. The training domain, which is forest fire fighting, acts as a micro-world, which creates a good dynamic environment for the trainees.In the three performed studies a total of 192 persons have participated as students. A 132 of these were computer-literate undergraduate students and 60 professional military officers. In these studies four monitoring goals have been explored: the effectiveness of the teams, the information distribution in the organisation, the students situation awareness, and the students work and collaboration methods.


Sulfur-containing classes of the scaffold "Arylthioindoles" have been evaluated for antibacterial activity; they demonstrated excellent potency against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as well as against vancomycin-resistant strains and a panel of clinical isolates of resistant strains. In this study, we have elucidated the mechanism of action of lead compounds, wherein they target the cell wall of S. aureus. Further, S. aureus failed to develop resistance against two lead compounds tested in a serial passage experiment in the presence of the compounds over a period of 40 days. Both the compounds demonstrated comparable in vivo efficacy with vancomycin in a neutropenic mice thigh infection model. The results of these antibacterial activities emphasize the excellent potential of thioethers for developing novel antibiotics and may fill in as a target for the adjustment of accessible molecules to develop new powerful antibacterial agents with fewer side effects.


In disordered media, the absence of diffusion arising from the spatial localization of singleparticle states is known as Anderson localisation (AL). In three dimensions, AL manifests itself as a phase transition which occurs at a critical energy or at a critical disorder strength (the mobility edge) separating a metallic phase where states are spatially extended, from an insulating one where states are localized. Theoretically, much efforts have been devoted to the study of the critical properties of the Anderson transition (AT), such as wave-function multifractality or critical exponents. In practice however, only a handful of experiments have found evidence for the 3D Anderson transition, among them cold atoms, and even fewer have investigated its critical features (mostly in the context of quantum-chaotic dynamical localization). In addition to the intrinsic difficulty of achieving wave localization in three dimensions, one reason for the rareness of experimental characterizations of the Anderson transition is the lack of easily measurable observables displaying criticality. In this talk, I will show that the critical properties of the AT are encoded in two emblematic interference effects observed in momentum space: the coherent backscattering (CBS) and the coherent forward scattering (CFS) peaks, the latter being a critical parameter of the transition. By a finite time scaling analysis of the CBS width and of the CFS contrast temporal dynamics, one can extract accurate values of the mobility edge and critical exponents of the transition in agreement with their best known values to this date.


The data release (Bernier, 2021) associated with this metadata record serves as an archive of coastal land-cover and feature datasets derived from Landsat satellite imagery at the northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana. To minimize the effects of tidal water-level variations, 75 cloud-free, low-water images acquired between 1984 and 2019 were analyzed. Water, bare earth (sand), vegetated, and intertidal land-cover classes were mapped from Hewes Point to Palos Island using successive thresholding and masking of the modified normalized difference water index (mNDWI), the normalized difference bare land index (NBLI), and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Vector shoreline, sand, and vegetated feature extents were extracted for each image by contouring the spectral indices using the calculated threshold values. The geographic information system (GIS) data files with accompanying formal Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata can be downloaded from https://doi.org/10.5066/P9HY3HOR.


"Rou Ji", as a name of disease syndrome, played an important role with its relevant theories and clinical experiences in historical recordings. However, it was treasured neither in modern archives nor by clinical physicians. The concept of "Rou Ji" started in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (770 B.C. - 221 B.C.), and its name was first found in Shan Fan Fang in the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589). The symptoms of this disease mainly suggested weakness of limbs caused by exogenous factors. It was gradually developed into following symptoms, such like emaciation or muscle atrophy, fatigue, skin color change, abnormal skin sensation, poor digestion and absorption function of spleen and stomach. Its etiology was changed from exogenous factors into internal injuries and deficiency of congenital Qi. Its treatment was also changed with the change of the understanding of diseases. The dialectical thinking in its treatment in ancient medical materials may have reference value for current clinical diagnosis and treatment.


Research shows that in the data privacy domain, the regulation promoted by front-runner states in federated systems such as the United States or the European Union (EU) generates races to the top, not to the bottom. Institutional dynamics or the willingness of major interstate companies to work with a single standard generally creates opportunities for the federal lawmaker to level up privacy protection. This article uses federalism to explore whether a similar pattern of convergence (toward the higher regulatory standard) emerges when it comes to the international arena, or whether we witness a more nuanced picture. I focus on the interaction of the European Union with the United States, looking at the migration of legal ideas across the (member) state jurisdictions with a focus on breach notification statutes and privacy officers. The article further analyzes recent developments such as the invalidation of the Safe Harbor agreement and the adoption of a Privacy Shield. I argue that instead of a one-way street, usually conceptualized as the EU ratcheting up standards in the United States, the influences between the two blocs are mutual. Such influences are conditioned by the receptivity and ability of domestic actors in both the United States and the EU to translate, and often, adapt the "foreign" to their respective contexts. Instead of converging toward a uniform standard, the different points of entry in the two federated systems contribute to the continuous development of two models of regulating commercial privacy that, thus far, remain distinct.


This research paper describes the objective of the present study to formulate ophthalmic mucoadhesive in situ gelling system of Dorzolamide Hydrochloride using two different polymers namely Poly Acrylic Acid and Xanthan Gum, individually and in combinations. Cellulose (HPMC) was used as viscosity enhancing agent. The developed formulations were subjected to several evaluation parameters including physico-chemical properties, compatibility, in-vitro drug release, microbiological, ex-vivo and stability testing and compared with marketed formulation wherever possible. All formulations were found to be milky with pH between 6.0 to 6.5 for sols and nearly neutral for gels. All formulations showed instantaneous gelling with translucent gel matrix which retained its integrity for extended period of time. The viscosity of best formulation (F4) was found to be 20 cps. The drug was compatible with both the polymers and the viscoliser in both solid as well as liquid states. Invitro drug release studies showed that all the formulations released drug over a period of 12 hours with formulation F4 (0.2% w/v Xanthan Gum) showing the highest drug release of 90.84% of Dorzolamide Hydrochloride. All the formulations showed zero order drug release with the release mechanism being diffusion along with erosion of gel matrix for all formulations. Further the drug release from all the formulation was observed to be nonfickian. The best batch showed ex-vivo drug release through goat's cornea for 9 hours with the release kinetics being similar to those seen with in-vitro drug release. All the formulations were found to be sterile.


The discovery of five photographs in 2018 in the State Library of Western
Australia led us to the existence of a forgotten private museum housing the collection
of Captain Matthew McVicker Smyth in early-twentieth-century Perth. Captain Smyth
was responsible for the selling of Nobel explosives used in the agriculture and mining
industries. The museum contained mineral specimens in cases alongside extensive,
aesthetically organized displays of Australian Aboriginal artifacts amid a wide variety
of ornaments and decorative paintings. The museum reflects a moment in the history of
colonialism that reminds us today of forms of dispossession, of how Aboriginal people
were categorized in Australia by Western worldviews, and of the ways that collectors
operated. Our re-creation brings back into existence a significant Western Australian
museum and opens up a new discussion about how such private collections came into
existence and indeed, in this instance, about how they eventually end.


The article deals with the main problems, which are closely connected with the process of social control of persons, who have liberated from prison. Social control of persons, who have finished a term of criminal penalty, especially punishment by imprisonment, is an element of the system of social prevention of recidivist criminality. The article contains: the definitions of social control in general and in the field of prevention of recidivist criminality, the relation of social control and social prevention, the object and the subjects of social control, the legal cause of social control, the legal control of this process.


We address the problem of performing spatial queries on tetrahedral meshes. These latter arise in several application domains including 3D GIS, scientific visualization, finite element analysis. We have defined and implemented a family of spatial indexes, that we call tetrahedral trees. Tetrahedral trees subdivide a cubic domain containing the mesh in an octree or 3D kd-tree fashion, with three different subdivision criteria. Here, we present and compare such indexes, their memory usage, and spatial queries on them.


Packet losses can significantly degrade the quality of service (QoS) provided by networks. In this paper, asynchronous bufferless optical packet switched networks with multiple service classes and full wavelength conversion are considered. In case of a large number of wavelengths per fibre, packet losses become rare and thus intractable by means of conventional performance methodologies. We present a novel fast simulation technique for efficiently estimating the loss rates in this setting. Our technique applies Importance Sampling which proceeds by using an alternative probability distribution for accelerated simulation and appropriately weighting the results to obtain unbiased estimators. With our technique the necessary parameters determining the alternative distribution are adaptively obtained by ant colony optimization, a metaheuristic that is in widespread use for solving combinatorial optimization problems. Thereby, no intimate a priori knowledge of the system under consideration is required to set up the simulation. Rather, the parameters adapt to the model. The accuracy and the efficiency of the novel technique are demonstrated by numerical results.


For those who believe in God, tragedy and misfortune often raise internal emotional and religious dissonance. Regardless of one's theological stance, emotional reactions to the Holocaust can be expected to elicit negative feelings towards God, resembling the reactions one would experience towards parents or caretakers who perpetrate or facilitate aggression. Coining the term "theistic object relations" to reflect the maturity level of relationship with God, it is posited that it is predicated on a safe and nurturing environment – paralleling the maturational development of healthy interpersonal interactions. In this context, survivors' reactions are elaborated using the lens of parental abuse and neglect. Individual beliefs about God's role, while affecting the options for cognitive rationalisations among victims, are posited to have only minimal relevance to the expected negative emotionality. Variations in such reactions are explored from a psychoanalytic perspective within the intersectional context of trauma, divine providence, object relations development, and defence mechanism theory. Unresolved questions about the developmental hallmarks of theistic object relations are outlined insofar as they are relevant to our population.


Gene delivery to the nervous system represents perhaps the ultimate challenge of gene therapy in view of the complexity of this system, the wide variety of intractable neurological diseases and the need to deliver the gene to non-dividing cells. Although a variety of systems for such gene delivery are under development, herpes simplex virus has unique advantages in terms of its large genome size and its ability to enter a latent state in neuronal cells. Considerable progress has been made in the effective disablement of this virus whilst retaining its ability to deliver genes and in producing long term expression of the foreign gene. Although much remains to be achieved in the further disablement of the virus and its testing in rodent and primate models of human diseases, it is likely that these viruses may ultimately be of use in human gene therapy procedures for otherwise intractable neurological diseases.


The PSI3-IsiA18 supercomplex is one of the largest and most complicated assemblies in photosynthesis. The IsiA ring, composed of 18 IsiA monomers (IsiA18) surrounding the PSI trimer (PSI3), forms under iron-deficient conditions in cyanobacteria and acts as a peripheral antenna. Based on the supercomplex structure recently determined via cryo-EM imaging, we model various optical spectra of the IsiA monomers and IsiA18 ring. Comparison of the absorption and emission spectra of the isolated IsiA monomers and the full ring reveals that about 2.7 chlorophylls (Chls) are lost in the isolated IsiA monomers. The best fits for isolated monomers spectra are obtained assuming the absence of Chl 508 and Chl 517 and 70% loss of Chl 511. The best model describing all three hexamers and the entire ring suggests that the lowest energy pigments are Chls 511, 514, and 517. Based on the modeling results presented in this work, we conclude that there are most likely three entry points for EET from the IsiA6 hexamer to the PSI core monomer, with two of these entry points likely being located next to each other (i.e., nine entry points from IsiA18 to the PSI3 trimer). Finally, we show that excitation energy transfer inside individual monomers is fast (<2 ps at T = 5 K) and at least 20 times faster than intermonomer energy transfer.


Proficiency in second language (L2) has traditionally been linked to grammatical competence. However, as opposed to common misconceptions about language learning, to be proficient in a second language does not only entail the ability to produce grammatically correct sentences, but it also entails the ability to use this language appropriately. The purpose of this study is to compare the pragmatic awareness of Egyptian students in an English-medium university to their grammatical awareness in an attempt to determine whether there is, in fact, a need for ESL instruction there to focus more on developing ESL learners' pragmatic awareness. Data were collected from 67 Egyptian ESL learners at two different proficiency levels by means of a judgment task questionnaire adapted from Bardovi-Harlig and Dornyei's 1998 study. In-group comparisons revealed no significant differences between the grammatical awareness and the pragmatic awareness of the members within each proficiency group. The results of the cross-group comparisons indicated, however, that the high-proficiency group displayed a significantly higher level of grammatical awareness than the low-proficiency group. On the other hand, analysis of the difference in the pragmatic awareness between the high- and low-proficiency groups did not yield any significant results. This indicated that possessing a high proficiency level in an L2 does not necessarily entail a higher level of pragmatic awareness and that more focus should be placed on developing L2 learners' pragmatic ability.


Post-industrial society changes have lead to a necessity to exchange more and more information in many and very various domains. Such huge quantity of information was impossible to be handled using the traditional means therefore new solutions were designed, developed and deployed. Starting early '70s we all have witnessed the changes impacting the information collection, exchange and use. The continuous growth of the technological means, for these mentioned purposes, have impacted positively the access of the people to information as well as have increased the possibilities to transform the information in knowledge and ultimately in society progress. Together with many other domains, the education has changed. Nowadays, the education has become a very complex process which has to answer with solutions to several challenges, which in case are not approached correctly and solved properly could lead to unsuccessful results. Teaching, learning and assessment, the three critical main sub-processes of educational process, have to consider and rely on the Information and Communication Technologies means as the fundament for the future progress of the education at all levels. One demonstrated as reliable option for a successful education is the eLearning, this option being fundamentally based, from design, to development, up to deployment and improvement, on the Information and Communication Technologies achievements. Today, used at a large scale in the higher education organizations programs, the eLearning it is seen as one of the main tools which will have a great role in developing the human resources capable to fulfill the requirements of the more and more demanding employers. The present article is providing a brief statistical analysis of the achievements to date in terms of the Information and Communication Technologies access and use through specific key indicators which are provided by international specialized organizations, as well as a brief analysis of the trends and challenges which, in the author opinion, should be considered for the next half decade in order to assure a sustainable and high quality education within the higher education organizations eLearning programs.


In Swedish, grammatical functions are primarily encoded by word order. In prototypical transitive sentences, the subject precedes the direct object. However, Swedish also allows for fronting of the direct object, although such sentences are potentially ambiguous with respect to grammatical functions. This study therefore investigates direct object fronting in written Swedish with respect to 1) which functions this construction serves and 2) whether the use of direct object fronting is dispreferred when the grammatical functions cannot be determined on other information types. These questions are investigated on the basis of quantitative differences in the distribution of NP prominence properties (e.g., givenness and animacy) and formal, morphosyntactic cues to grammatical functions (e.g., case marking and verb particles) between OVS and SVO sentences, and between OVS sentences and passives. The results indicate that direct object fronting is used when the object either is topical and highly discourse prominent, or when it is contrastive. I also argue that direct object fronting is used to introduce new topics into the discourse. Subjects are more frequently high in discourse prominence in object-initial sentences than in subject-initial sentences. I suggest that this stems from a motivation to keep the information in object-initial sentences following the sentence-initial object "informationally light" and predictable. Unambiguous formal markers of grammatical functions are used more frequently in OVS sentences than in SVO sentences, but less frequently in passives than in SVO sentences. OVS sentences also more frequently contain an animate subject and an inanimate object than SVO sentences, and in passives, animate subjects and inanimate objects are even less frequent. Writers therefore seem to prefer the structurally unambiguous passive construction over the potentially ambiguous object-initial construction, when grammatical functions cannot be determined on the basis of other formal markers or an NP argument animacy difference. Further, sentences with two animate arguments more frequently contain formal markers than sentences with at most one animate argument. These findings indicate that writers actively avoid direct object fronting when it potentially results in an ambiguity, and provide evidence for the hypothesis that writers are inclined to actively avoid ambiguities more generally.


Info 2020 In this paper, an optimized Fractional Order Proportional, Integral, Derivative based Genetic Algorithm GA-FOPID optimization technique is proposed for glucose level normalization of diabetic patients. The insulin pump with diabetic patient system used in the simulation is the Bergman minimal model, which is used to simulate the overall system. The main purpose is to obtain the optimal controller parameters that regulate the system smoothly to the desired level using GA optimization to find the FOPID parameters. The next step is to obtain the FOPID controller parameters and the traditional PID controller parameters normally. Then, the simulation output results of using the proposed GA-FOPID controller was compared with that of using the normal FOPID and the traditional PID controllers. The comparison shows that all the three controllers can regulate the glucose level but the use of GA-FOPID controller was outperform the use of the other two controllers in terms of speed of normalization and the overshoot


Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. Background: To describe baseline characteristics and outcomes in the largest known registry of advanced heart failure (HF) patients receiving continuous outpatient intravenous inotrope therapy. Studies evaluating the use of outpatient inotropes for palliation or as a bridge to advanced therapies were performed before current guideline directed medical and device therapy (GDMDT). There are limited data on the modern experience using outpatient inotrope (OI) therapy. Study Question: We aimed to study current use and outcomes of OI. Study Design: Retrospective database analysis. Measures and Outcomes: From 2015 to 2017, 1540 advanced HF patients in a largess nationwide registry received OI with either milrinone or dobutamine. Baseline characteristics of 1149 patients data were retrospectively reviewed. Unadjusted Kaplan–Meier survival estimates censored at the time of transplant or mechanical circulatory support were reported. Results: Of 1149 patients, more patients were treated with milrinone than dobutamine (64.6% vs. 35.4%). Regardless of the indication for OI, estimated 1 and 2-years survival was 61.8% and 41.6%, respectively. Milrinone use was associated with a greater 1-year survival than dobutamine (70.7% vs. 46.2%, P < 0.0001). The superiority of milrinone over dobutamine extended to all indications for OI, including bridge to transplant (85.9% vs. 71.3%, P < 0.0001), bridge to mechanical support (91.4% vs. 71%, P = 0.001), and palliation (73.6% vs. 63.3%, P < 0.001). After adjusting for indication, age, gender and weight, milrinone was associated with lower mortality than dobutamine (HR 0.50, 95% CI 0.39–0.64, P < 0.0001). Conclusions: In the largest dataset of HF patients receiving OI, survival on OI for palliation in the current era of GDMDT is significantly higher than previously reported. Compared with dobutamine, milrinone was associated with improved survival in all cohorts.


Mathematical modeling and the dynamic simulation of battery storage systems can be challenging and demanding due to the nonlinear nature of the battery chemistry. This paper introduces a new dynamic battery model, with application to state of charge estimation, considering all possible aspects of environmental conditions and variables. The aim of this paper is to present a suitable convenient, generic dynamic representation of rechargeable battery dynamics that can be used to model any Lithium-ion rechargeable battery. The proposed representation is used to develop a dynamic model considering the thermal balance of heat generation mechanism of the battery cell and the ambient temperature effect including other variables such as storage effects, cyclic charging, battery internal resistance, state of charge etc. The results of the simulations have been used to study the characteristics of a Lithium-ion battery and the proposed battery model is shown to produce responses within 98% of known experimental measurements.


It has been hypothesized that to maximize learning, intelligent tutoring systems should detect and respond to both cognitive student states, and affective and metacognitive states such as uncertainty. In intelligent tutoring research so far, student state detection is primarily based on information available from a single student-system exchange unit, or turn. However, the features used in the detection of such states may have a temporal component, spanning multiple turns, and may change throughout the tutoring process. To test this hypothesis, an interactive tool was implemented for the visual analysis of prosodic features across a corpus of student turns previously annotated for uncertainty. The tool consists of two complementary visualization modules. The first module allows researchers to visually mine the feature data for patterns per individual student dialogue, and form hypotheses about feature dependencies. The second module allows researchers to quickly test these hypotheses on groups of students through statistical visual analysis of feature dependencies. Results show that significant differences exist among feature patterns across different student groups. Further analysis suggests that feature patterns may vary with student domain knowledge.


No writer has served as such a powerful source of inspiration for other writers as Shakespeare. No writer has attracted such widespread and varied comment. This unique anthology draws on the vast literature that plays little part in formal Shakespeare criticism and scholarship, but that shows with immediacy and passion the enormous impact Shakespeare has had on our cultural life. Novelists, poets, and playwrights are all represented. So are philosophers, historians, composers, film-makers, politicians. Shakespearean characters and motifs are shown fuelling the genius of Goethe and Dostoevsky, Aldous Huxley and Emily Dickinson, John Updike and Duke Ellington, Nabokov and Proust. Shakespeare the man fires the imagination of Kipling and Joyce, Borges and Anthony Burgess. Herman Melville writes a poem about Falstaff. D. H. Lawrence anatomizes Hamlet. R. K. Narayan describes a Shakespeare lesson in an Indian classroom. John Osborne adapts Coriolanus. Ionescu reworks Macbeth. The choice of critical responses is equally wide-ranging. Jean-Paul Sartre proves an unexpectedly expert commentator on King Lear. Alfred Dreyfus and Nelson Mandela console themselves with Shakespeare during their imprisonment. And curiosities abound - parodies, burlesques, strange echoes and eccentricities. Throughout the book we can see Shakespeare changing lives, opening up fresh horizons and reaching out to 'the great globe itself'.


Abstract Introduction Sexual minoritized people report worse mental health and are at risk of sexual violence compared to their heterosexual peers. Method We conducted a survey to explore sexual stigma, sexual violence, and mental health among 326 bi+ and lesbian women and gender minoritized people age 18–25. Results Mental health did not differ by sexual identity; sexual stigma and violence were associated with negative mental health symptoms, as were identifying as BIPOC, as trans or nonbinary, or having less formal education. Conclusion Sexual stigma and violence are related to mental health among young bi+ and lesbian women and gender minoritized people.


Abstract The etiology and pathogenesis to chronic tendon pain is unknown, and treatment is known to be difficult. Treatment is often based on opinions and not findings in scientific studies. Recent research, using the intra-tendinous microdialysis technique, has shown that in chronic painful Achilles-, patellar-, and extensor carpi radialis brevis (ECRB) tendons, there were no signs (normal Prostaglandin-2 levels) of a so-called chemical inflammation. Furthermore, in biopsies from chronic painful Achilles tendons, pro-inflammatory cytokines were not up-regulated, again showing the absence of an intra-tendinous inflammation. Consequently, if the purpose is to treat a chemical inflammation, there is no science backing up for treatment of theses conditions with anti-inflammatory agents (NSAIDs, corticosteroidal injections). Interestingly, Substance-P (SP) and Calcitonin Gene Regulated Peptide (CGRP) nerves have been demonstrated in close relation to vessels in biopsies from these chronic painful tendons, indicating the existence of a possible so-called neurogenic inflammation. Using ultrasonography (US) + color Doppler (CD), and immunhistochemical analyses of biopsies, a vasculo/neural(SP- and CGRP-nerves) ingrowth in the chronic painful tendinosis tendon, but not in the pain-free normal tendon, has recently been found. A specially designed treatment, using US- and CD-guided injections of the sclerosing agent Polidocanol, targeting the neovessels outside the tendon, has in pilot studies on chronic painful Achilles-, and patellar tendons been shown to cure the tendon pain in the majority of patients. A recent randomized double-blind study, verified the importance of injecting the sclerosing substance Polidocanol.


Illustration taken from Cox, H (1821). "Journal of a Residence in the Burmhan Empire, and more particularly at the Court of Amarapoorah". Page F'piece. London.


OBJECTIVES
The content of pediatric hospital discharge instructions is highly variable. This study aimed to describe the characteristics, accessibility per patient literacy level and language, and national guideline adherence of pediatric hospital discharge instructions.

METHODS
This retrospective study assessed discharge instructions at a tertiary children's hospital. Patient and instruction characteristics, including patient health literacy level, grade level of instructions, patient language preference, and language of instructions were collected via chart review and electronic medical record query. Standard admission processes assessed health literacy via Brief Health Literacy Screening. The association between demographic and clinical characteristics and adherence to Solutions for Patient Safety guidelines was analyzed by using unadjusted and adjusted analysis methods.

RESULTS
Of 240 discharge instructions, 25% were missing at least 1 recommended content area: signs of worsening, where to seek help, or medication reconciliation. A patient health literacy deficit was identified in 15%; the mean grade level of instructions was 10.1. Limited English proficiency was reported among 17% one quarter of whom received language concordant instructions. Use of discharge instruction templates and discharge services were associated with improved guideline adherence (P <.001). Almost one-half of the study population had a complex medical history, which was associated with decreased guideline adherence (P = .04).

CONCLUSIONS
One-quarter of discharge instructions for this predominantly medically complex population failed to meet national standards. Accessibility was often limited by the reading grade level or discordant language of instructions. Templates may be a valuable tool for improving discharge instruction content, accessibility, and adherence to national guidelines.


Glucose sensing in pancreatic beta-cells depends on oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondria-derived signals that promote insulin secretion. Using mass spectrometry-based phosphoproteomics to search for down-stream effectors of glucose dependent signal transduction in INS-1E insulinoma cells, we identified the outer mitochondrial membrane protein SLC25A46. Under resting glucose concentrations, SLC25A46 was phosphorylated on a pair of threonine residues (T44/T45) and was dephosphorylated in response to glucose-induced calcium signals. Overexpression of SLC25A46 in INS-1E cells caused complete mitochondrial fragmentation, resulting in a mild mitochondrial defect associated with lowered glucose-induced insulin secretion. In contrast, inactivation of the SLC25A46 gene resulted in dramatic mitochondrial hyperfusion but without affecting respiratory activity or insulin secretion. Consequently, SLC25A46 is not essential for metabolism-secretion coupling under normal nutrient conditions. Importantly, insulin secreting cells lacking SLC25A46 had an exacerbated sensitivity to lipotoxic conditions undergoing massive apoptosis when exposed to palmitate. Therefore, in addition to its role in mitochondrial dynamics, SLC25A46 plays a role in preventing mitochondria-induced apoptosis in INS-E cells exposed to nutrient stress. By protecting mitochondria, SLC25A46 may help to maintain beta-cell mass essential for blood glucose control.


While The Right Stuff and The Bonfire of the Vanities remain perhaps his best-known works, Tom Wolfe's journalism and fiction continues to enjoy a large audience, perhaps chiefly because of the variety of his subjects and his controversial approach to them. Here, McEneaney offers an account of the man and his works, explaining along the way Wolfe's use of irony, his obsessive themes, and even his use of pranks. More comprehensive in scope than any preceding book on Wolfe, it offers accurate and accessible commentary based upon what Wolfe admits about his own work.
 In this new book, Wolfe's work is put in journalistic and literary context. The reliability of Wolfe's journalism is discussed, especially when there are alternative narrations to events he has depicted. McEneaney also examines the Wolfe's use of pranks that he plays on readers at times, and uncovers the influences on Wolfe that have contributed to his unique style. Finally, the author discusses Wolfe's impact on other writers. Readers will gain access into Wolfe's world through this detailed and colorful work.


The website of the Hungarian National Toponym Registry was launched in October 2015 (www.mnh.unideb.hu). The Hungarian National Toponym Registry is a digital database designed to store and manage the complete synchronic and diachronic place name stock of the Hungarian language area. The database consists of two units: the Hungarian Names Archives (www.mna.unideb.hu), which stores place names in text and excel files (and incorporates approximately 450,000 data) and the Hungarian Digital Toponym Registry (www.mdh.unideb.hu), the early and modern modules of which can be accessed as online databases (incorporating approximately 280,000 data). Data can be retrieved through a number of organisation and search options focusing on different features; the results can be projected to maps; detailed information is available with regard to each name form and indicated place. The paper presents the workings of the Hungarian National Toponym Registry, summarising the project's progress, some further objectives, and the scientific and social significance of the research programme.


EChO is an M-class mission candidate within the science program Cosmic Vision 2015-2025 of the European Space Agency. It aims at characterising the atmosphere of known transiting exoplanets, potentially from giant Hot Jupiters down to Super-Earths orbiting in the habitable zone of M-dwarf stars. It was selected in February 2011 to enter an assessment phase (phase 0/A). Following the completion of the Concurrent Design Facility study conducted by ESA in June/July 2011, two parallel industrial studies were carried out throughout 2012, and were then extended till August 2013. Similarly, two parallel instrument studies were conducted till mid-2012, following which an Announcement of Opportunity was released and concluded in February 2013 by the selection of a single instrument consortium. This paper describes the status of EChO upon completion of the system level and instrument studies. It includes a discussion on the evolution of the science and mission requirements, the description of the final preliminary design and performance parameters, as well as programmatic estimates in terms of technology readiness and schedule. The next step for EChO will consist of passing the Preliminary Requirements Review, planned by the end of 2013, followed by the down-selection of a single M3 mission.


Entity suggestion by example (ESbE) refers to a type of entity acquisition query in which a user provides a set of example entities as the query and obtains in return some entities that best complete the concept underlying the given query. Such entity acquisition queries can be useful in many applications such as related-entity recommendation and query expansion. A number of ESbE query processing solutions exist in the literature. However, they mostly build only on the idea of entity co-occurrences either in text or web lists, without taking advantage of the existence of many web-scale conceptual taxonomies that consist of hierarchical isA relationships between entity-concept pairs. This paper provides a query processing method based on the relevance models between entity sets and concepts. These relevance models can be used to obtain the fine-grained concepts implied by the query entity set, and the entities that belong to a given concept, thereby providing the entity suggestions. Extensive evaluations with real data sets show that the accuracy of the queries processed with this new method is significantly higher than that of existing solutions.


Spiral surface plasmon (SSP) modes on uniform and tapered silver nanorods are explored by performing both simulations and theoretical analyses. On a uniform nanorod with a radius equal to 240 nm, the SSP modes can be generated by linearly superposed higher-order HE1 and HE2 eigenmodes. Both the single- and triple-stranded SSP modes are produced by controlling the relative rotation direction of the two component modes. On a tapered nanorod, the spiral pitch of the SSP mode decreases with the reduction of nanorod radius. However, the field energy density along the nanorod axis increases to a maximum value and then falls.


Background: The control of pain is critical to performing surgery. All surgical procedures cause some degree of pain, and the ability to minimize pain often affects a patient's perception of surgical outcome. Although the development of surgery was boosted by the advent of anesthesia, inadequate pain control continues to plague modern medicine. The mechanism of pain induction is an important area of research in the health care industry. To date, few studies have demonstrated increased perception of pain and lower tolerance for pain in female patients when compared with male patients. The authors hypothesized about whether these differences were related to increased density of nerve fibers in female as compared with male patients. Methods: The density of nerve fibers at a specific location (the skin directly overlying the infraorbital nerve foramen) was measured to test this hypothesis. Twenty cadaver skin specimens (1 cm2) were harvested, prepared using immunohistochemistry (S-100 polyclonal antibody), and counted using 45× high-powered microscopy. Results: Female specimens (n = 10) demonstrated increased nerve fiber density (34 ± 19 fibers/cm2 skin) when compared with male specimens (n = 10; 17 ± 8 fibers/cm2 skin; p = 0.038). Conclusion: Although preliminary and limited in scope, these findings favor a physical (organic) rather than a psychosocial explanation for more pronounced pain perception in female patients.


Fluorescence imaging is a real-time intraoperative navigation modality. Generally, fluorescence-imaging is obtained by administrating a substance, defined fluorophore, and illuminating the areas of interest with a near-infrared (NIR) light source. The NIR light will modify the energetic status of the fluorophore which will result into the emission of a fluorescent signal in the visible range. The signal is collected by dedicated camera systems and displayed in real-time in the operative field. These characteristics make of fluorescence imaging an ideal surgical navigation modality, since it does not disrupt the surgical workflow and does not require a bulky equipment.


A predictive outage compensator co-located with the actuator node in a networked control system can be used to counteract unpredictable losses of data in the feedback control loop. When a new control command is not received at the actuator node at an appropriate time instance, the predictive outage compensator suggests a replacement command based on the history of past control commands. It is shown that a simple tuning phase together with the monitoring of the control history can lead to a compensator that can improve the closed-loop control performance under communication outages considerably compared to traditional schemes. Worst case performance bounds are given that relate the quality of the tuning phase and the complexity of the compensator with the length of the communication outage period. Zero-order-hold (holding the past control command if the current is lost) and applying an a priori decided constant signal (using a predefined value on the control command if the current is lost) are special cases of the more general compensation scheme presented. The predictive outage compensator is illustrated through computer simulation with communication outages.


Background: Advance in mechanization and acceleration of travel has been accompanied by an increase in number and severity of fractures and those of the tibial plateau are not an exception. As it is one of the major weight bearing joints of the body, fractures around it will be of at most importance. Aims: (1) To restore articular congruity and limb alignment by open reduction and rigid internal fixation. (2) To enable early knee motion and improve quadriceps and hamstring power. (3) To study the role of surgical treatment and functional outcome in tibial plateau fractures and its complications. Settings and Design: A prospective study was carried out, 32 cases of the tibial plateau fractures, which were admitted from August 2010 to April 2012 at Department of Orthopedics of our Hospital. Materials and Methods: 32 patients underwent surgical treatment for tibial plateau fractures. Fractures were classified according to the Schatzker's system. The indications for surgery were defined as the presence of displacement, depression and instability being more than 4 mm, 10 mm and 10 degrees. The mean follow-up was 12 months. The selected patients were evaluated and were taken up for surgery. The indicated fractures were treated with closed reduction and internal fixation with percutaneous cannulated cancellous screws, external fixator, open reduction and internal fixation with buttress plate with or without bone grafting. The range of motion was started soon after surgery. The patients were advised nonweight bearing up to 6-8 weeks. Total weight bearing deferred until 12 weeks or complete union of fracture. Statistical Analysis: All parameters before and after the treatment were expressed in mean ± standard deviation and analyzed by the Student's t -test using SPSS version 16. Results: The knee range of motion was excellent to very good and weight bearing after complete union was satisfactory. Malunion in two cases, knee stiffness in three, redepression in one case, wound dehiscence in two cases and no cases of nonunion were recorded.


Objective To determine the incidence, prevalence and nature of sports injuries in elite male hurling players. Design Prospective study of county-grade hurling teams. Incidence, prevalence and descriptions of injuries were collated. Setting Four county teams during the 2007 season; January to September inclusive. Participants A total of 127 male players were followed over 34 weeks. Data were collected on a median (IQR) of 31 (30–32) players per team per week. The mean age was 23.3±2.5 years. Results There were 204 injuries to 104 players (82%, 95% CI (74 to 88)). Injury incidence rate during match-play (102.5 (84.4 to 123.2)) was 19 times higher than for training (5.3 (4.2 to 6.5)) (RR=19.5 (14.8 to 25.6)). The mean weekly prevalence of injury was 13.9% (12.5 to 14.8). Most injuries were new (n=170, 83.3%, (77.6 to 87.8)) and acute (n=165, 80.9% (74.9 to 85.7)). Muscle strain (n=86) accounted for 42.2% (35.6 to 49) of the total. 71% of injuries were to the lower limb (n=143, (63.5 to 76.0)) with hamstring strain (n=33, 16.5% (11.8 to 21.8)) predominating. Fractures constituted 7.4% injuries (n=15, 95% CI (4.5 to 11.8)), 12 of which were to the upper limb. There were three (1.5% (0.5 to 4.2)) eye injuries and one concussion injury (0.5% (0.1 to 2.7)). Conclusions These results provide data on hurling injuries using definitions that reflect international consensus statements. Injury incidence from match-play in particular is high compared with other sports. These findings have relevance for clinicians and coaches.


In a work with far-reaching implications, Chela Sandoval does no less than revise the genealogy of theory over the past thirty years, inserting what she terms "U.S. Third World feminism" into the narrative in a way that thoroughly alters our perspective on contemporary culture and subjectivity.What Sandoval has identified is a language, a rhetoric of resistance to postmodern cultural conditions. U.S liberation movements of the post-World War II era generated specific modes of oppositional consciousness. Out of these emerged a new activity of consciousness and language Sandoval calls the "methodology of the oppressed". This methodology -- born of the strains of the cultural and identity struggles that currently mark global exchange -- holds out the possibility of a new historical moment, a new citizen-subject, and a new form of alliance consciousness and politics. Utilizing semiotics and U.S. Third World feminist criticism, Sandoval demonstrates how this methodology mobilizes love as a category of critical analysis. Rendering this approach in all its specifics, Methodology of the Oppressed gives rise to an alternative mode of criticism opening new perspectives on a theoretical, literary, aesthetic, social movement, or psychic expression.


[RATIONALE] Castleman9s disease is one of the rare lymph proliferative diseases, which usually involves lung. There is still no established standard therapy at the moment. We have examined the clinical findings including therapies and prognoses. [METHODS] On the cases of Castleman9s disease consulted in our hospital in the past 10 years until 2011, we retrospectively examined based on the medical records. [RESULTS] The study comprised 20 patients (70% male) with a mean age of 55 (25-70) years old. As complications, 6 cases had POEMS syndrome (2 with PH), 3 had hematologic diseases (DLBCL, ITP, MDS). By chest CT, mediastinal adenopathy was confirmed in all cases, 10 were confirmed with lung involvement (5: nodular shadow; 2: reticulonodular shadow; 4: GGO; 5: interlobular septal thickening), 6 with pleural effusion, and 3 with cardiac effusion. The diagnostic methods were 13 cases of surgical lymph node biopsy, 6 cases of lung biopsy (2: TBLB; 2: VATS lung biopsy; 1: open lung biopsy; 1: CT-guided lung biopsy), 1 case of lachrymal gland biopsy. Histopathologically, there were 4 cases of hyaline vascular type and 16 cases of plasma cell type. 4 cases were prioritized on the treatment for complications (3: POEMS syndrome; 1: ITP), and 2 were left untreated for a follow-up. Treatment was started for 14 cases using PSL at the time of diagnosis or exacerbation of symptom. [CONCLUSIONS] In this study, lung biopsies are useful as diagnostic method in the cases with pulmonary involvement. Few cases were confirmed with reduction of lymph node and improvement of lung involvement by treatment. But in many cases symptomatic improvement or suppression of the progress of the disease by the treatment were observed.


Nitric oxide is produced in mammals by the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) isoforms at a catalytic site comprising a heme associated with a biopterin cofactor. Through genome sequencing, proteins that are highly homologous to the oxygenase domain of NOSs have been identified, in particular in bacteria. The active site is highly conserved except for a valine residue in the distal pocket that is replaced with an isoleucine in bacteria. This switch was previously reported to influence the kinetics of the reaction. We have used the V346I mutant of the mouse inducible NOS (iNOS) as well as the I224V mutant of the NOS from Bacillus subtilis (bsNOS) to study their spectroscopic signatures in solution and look for potential structural differences compared to their respective wild types. Both mutants seem destabilized in the absence of substrate and cofactor. When both substrate and cofactor are present, small differences can be detected with Nω-hydroxy-l-arginine compared to arginine, which is likely due to the differences in the hydrogen bonding network of the distal pocket. Stopped-flow experiments evidence significant changes in the kinetics of the reaction due to the mutation as was already known. We found these effects particularly marked for iNOS. On the basis of these results, we performed rapid freeze-quench experiments to trap the biopterin radical and found the same results that we had obtained for the wild types. Despite differences in kinetics, a radical could be trapped in both steps for the iNOS mutant but only for the first step in the mutant of bsNOS. This strengthens the hypothesis that mammalian and bacterial NOSs may have a different mechanism during the second catalytic step.


For orchestra, duration 7.5 minutes. Originally recorded at Maida Vale Studios, London, in November 1996, this piece was revised in 2016 and the revised version was premiered on 10 November 2016 in the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall at the Royal College of Music by the RCM Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Martyn Brabbins."'On the Ringstreet' was written in 1996 for the BBC Symphony Orchestra's Land Rover sponsored Sound Discovery programme and was first performed by the orchestra, conducted by Pascal Rophe in a studio recording that was later broadcast on Radio Three's 'Music in Our Time'. The 'ringstreet' of the title is the Ringstrasse of Vienna, a thoroughfare built at the end of the 19th century following the demolition of the city's fortifications which, as recently as the late seventeenth century, had withstood repeated onslaughts from the Ottoman Empire. The Ringstrasse today is furnished with an astonishingly eclectic architecture ranging from ancient Greek (the Austrian Parliament) and mediaeval high Gothic (the Town Hall) to monumental imperial palaces and, in the first of these enormous buildings to be constructed, the Vienna opera house: each, however, actually built only within a very few years of each other. In the course of around seven minutes my piece takes a tour of this stylistic confusion feeding, as it does so, on some of my favourite cliches from 19th century grand opera." © William Mival


In the twentieth century China, with the introduction of Balzac's literature and the rise of philosophers such as Engels, "elegy" gradually became synonymous with The Human Comedy. While the comparative literature turned into noticeable, The Dream of the Red Chamber was also categorized into the elegiac literature. However, after half a century, such an argument arouses a controversy: is The Dream of the Red Chamber the same as The Human Comedy that sings the dirge for the nobility? In this thesis, we will be focusing the problem of "nobility" by examining points made by scholars from both sides, and then try to come up with a reasonable conclusion. First, we will try to comprehend how "nobility" is defined by both sides and how it works for them; next, the discussion will be on the relation between Balzac's literature and elegiac literature. Lastly, we will distinguish the likes and differences between the two pieces through the problem of "nobility" as presented in the novel.


This work describes how indirect holography which has previously been applied to the determination of antenna radiation patterns can be adapted for the imaging of passive objects. It provides details of how complex scattered field values can be obtained in a simple and inexpensive manner from sampled scalar intensity measurements taken over a single scanning aperture. This work uses indirect holographic techniques to image a number of simple objects including a rectangular metallic plate, a small metal plate covered by a dielectric sheet and a small metallic circular annulus. This work demonstrates that good quality images can be reconstructed from simple scalar intensity patterns. It demonstrates that clear outlines can be obtained in particular from reconstructed phase patterns and that good images can be obtained from objects with dimensions of the order of a half wavelength. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2013.


Aset of simulations were used to estimate the impact of improvements in cattle breeding efficiency and other management factors on gross margins in extensive pastoral systems in Western Australia. The simulations showed that gross margin was an increasing function of breeding rates, but age at first breeding and age at sale of offspring had variable effects on the gross margin of the enterprise. The statistical model illustrated that for a one per cent increase in branding rates, an increase in gross income of $5274 or $2 per adult equivalent was possible. The optimal ages at first breeding and sale of offspring were 20.6 months and 10.8 months respectively. Information generated by the simulation and the statistical model allows management to identify the breakeven value, or limit, of expenditure on changes to the system.


This technical note investigates the problem of checking robust D-stability of a polytope of polynomial matrices. Finsler's projection lemma is taken to derive a new sufficient condition in terms of a linear matrix inequality (LMI) feasibility problem. The basic idea behind this condition is to lift the existing stability condition into the one of larger space by means of Finsler's lemma and, based on it, to introduce additional decision variables. Examples are given to show that the proposed condition can yield less conservative results than the previous one.


This dissertation analyses the development of a Dublin bricklayers' trade union, known officially after 1888 as the Ancient Guild of Incorporated Brick and Stonelayers' Trade Union, from its founding until 1921. This was one of the earliest Irish trade unions to come into existence, yet prior to this dissertation its multifarious character had never been thoroughly studied. Based upon extensive research into this union's files, and into other sources of primary materials besides, the dissertation begins by examining the origins of the combination, and thereafter focuses upon its growth. The study offers a historical analysis, within the wider framework of the development of Irish trade unionism, of the evolution of a society of bricklayers from guild, to combination, and in 1888 to registered trade union.

It is necessary to begin in 1670 in order to place the topic in its proper context. In that year the Guild of Bricklayers and Plasterers was established in Dublin by Royal Charter. It is argued here that the AGIBSTU can be looked upon as an offshoot of this guild, that is an organisational evolution from, rather than an organisational innovation upon, the guild. This is not a radical concept, however discovering a direct line of succession from a guild to a trade union is rare.

The dissertation then concentrates primarily upon the evolution of the trade union within the period from 1869 to 1921. Various paramount aspects of the society within that timeframe are analysed thematically. This approach is adopted in order to chart, in detail, the development of what was, and would remain, a wholly Irish based trade union. The study also discusses the influence and impact of other trade unions, both Irish and British, and of social, political, and legislative developments, firstly upon the combination, and thereafter in greater depth, upon the trade union. It is argued that a sense of antiquity, nationalism, and a desire for hegemony over the bricklaying trade in Dublin, led the AGIBSTU to stand alone in its disputes, resolutely self-reliant.


ABSTRACT Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") has reached an all-time high. FCPA violations can result in many significant costs, both monetary and non-monetary. FCPA compliance has become a top corporate governance issue and has triggered shareholder litigation, tax investigations, and money laundering probes. While many corporate managers, financial officers, board members, internal and external auditors, and forensic accountants are aware of the FCPA's basic objectives and mandates, many may not do an adequate job of protecting their firms and/or clients from the dangerous consequences that can result from FCPA non-compliance. The purposes of this paper are to: (1) analyze and describe bribery and FCPA case filings, sanctions, payments (bribes), and value of business to be obtained; (2) describe and analyze the important provisions of the FCPA; and (3) make recommendations to help firms improve their compliance with the FCPA. INTRODUCTION In February 2010, BAE Systems reached settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") and the United Kingdom Serious Fraud Office totaling $450 million.1 The settlements involved an alleged violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA")2 in connection with the sale of a radar system to Tanzania.3 In January 2010, the DOJ arrested 22 employees and executives of firms in the military products industry.4 They were indicted on charges of bribing government officials in an African country to obtain a presidential guard business.5 In April of 2010, Charles Jumet of Virginia was "sentenced to 87 months in prison for paying bribes to former Panamanian government officials to secure maritime contracts."6 In May of 201 1, "a jury convicted Lindsey Manufacturing Co., two of its executives, and a Mexican sales agent in a bribery case."7 This marked the first time a company has been convicted at trial for violations of the FCPA.8 In 2000, there was one FCPA case pursued by the federal government. In 2009, there were 67 cases filed by the DOJ and the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") (see Table 1). These facts highlight the growing priority given to FCPA enforcement by the DOJ and the SEC. The Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer, insists that aggressive prosecution of the FCPA "should make clear to every corporate executive, every board member, and every sales agent that [the DOJ] will seek to hold you personally accountable for FCPA violations."9 "The increase in FCPA prosecutions over the past several years can be attributed to an increase in voluntary reporting by corporations . . . increased international law enforcement cooperation, . . . a renewed focus on internal controls, the Sarbanes-Oxley requirement of executive certifications," proactive law enforcement investigations, and the global anti-fraud climate.10 U.S. firms competing for international business need to pay close attention to several trends. First, the number of FCPA cases and the severity of penalties will increase as the DOJ and SEC emphasize enforcement. Second, FCPA compliance will become a top corporate governance issue leading to more rigorous compliance. Third, international harmonization of antifraud and anticorruption regulation will lead to more parallel investigations and increased penalties. Fourth, "FCPA investigations may trigger other actions such as shareholder litigation, tax investigations, and money-laundering probes."11 While many corporate managers, financial officers, general counsels, compliance officers, and internal and external auditors are aware of the FCPA, "companies could benefit considerably from both increasing their knowledge and awareness of the FCPA and improving their capabilities to mitigate the risk of bribery and corruption."12 This Article provides a close look at the requirements imposed on U.S. and some foreign firms by the FCPA in the context of the emerging trends noted above. The purposes of this article are to: (1) analyze and describe bribery and FCPA case filings, sanctions, payments (bribes), and value of business to be obtained; (2) describe and analyze the important provisions of the FCPA; (3) analyze vicarious liability under the FCPA; and (4) make recommendations to help firms improve their compliance with the FCPA. …


AIMS
A study is made to contrast the prevalence and severity of periodontal disease, the needs for periodontal treatment, and the prevalence of lesions of the oral mucosa in pregnant (study group) and non-pregnant women.

STUDY DESIGN
During the period 1991-1999, a prospective observational study was made of 7952 women seen in the Dental School of De La Salle Bajío University (Leon, Gto. Mexico). The following variables were documented: age, disease antecedents, simplified periodontal index, and lesions of the oral mucosa. Two patient groups were defined: pregnant and non-pregnant women exhibiting a similar age distribution. The data were presented as percentages, and comparisons were made based on the chi-square test.

RESULTS
Pregnancy was not found to be a decisive factor for the development of periodontal disease, no differences in the prevalence of gingivitis (54.54 and 50.50%) and periodontitis (31.82 and 31.75%) being observed between the two groups. However, the severity of periodontitis was significantly greater among the pregnant women (18.18% versus 9.88%; p< 0.01). The prevalence of oral mucosal lesions was similar in both groups (30%), 13 lesions being identified in the study group, with a predominance of leukoedema, traumatic ulceration, red traumatic lesions, benign migratory glossitis (geographic tongue), irritative keratosis and pyogenic granuloma. The non-pregnant women in turn exhibited 57 lesions. Pyogenic granuloma and benign migratory glossitis exhibited significant differences between the two groups (p< 0.005).

CONCLUSIONS
Gingivitis and periodontitis showed similar prevalences in pregnant and non-pregnant women, though severe periodontitis was more frequent among the former. Pyogenic granuloma and benign migratory glossitis were the lesions with the greatest prevalences during pregnancy.


In this article, we describe experiences with dialogue evenings within a research collaboration on long-term care and dementia in the Netherlands. What started as a conventional process of 'reporting back' to interlocutors transformed over the course of two years into learning and knowing together. We argue that learning took place in three different articulations. First, participants learnt to expand their notion of knowledge. Second, they learnt to relate differently to each other and, therewith, to dementia. And third, participants learnt how to generate knowledge with each other. We further argue that these processes did not happen continuously, but in moments. We suggest that a framework of collaborative moments can be helpful for research projects that are not set up collaboratively from the start. Furthermore, we point to the work required to facilitate these moments.


The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, which significantly modifies the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is likely to dramatically increase the number of lawsuits and the size of judgments in lawsuits alleging employment discrimination. This may happen because of provisions in the 1991 act that make a jury trial available, increase the amount of potential damages recoverable, and expand employment discrimination laws to employees of domestic businesses employed outside the United States.(1) Because these changes can have a significant impact on business, especially small businesses, owners and managers need to be aware of the changes in the federal discrimination laws so appropriate steps can be taken to implement policies and procedures that will minimize potential liability. This article examines the aspects of the new law that are most likely to have significant impact on business and offers some suggestions on steps that businesses, particularly small and medium-sized businesses,(2) can take to reduce the likelihood of successful litigation. Damages and Jury Trials in Intentional Discrimination Cases The new law raises the stakes for intentional employment discrimination. Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the remedies generally available were limited to injunctions, back pay with a maximum of two years, and reasonable attorney fees. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 adds compensatory and punitive damages and expert witness fees to this list. It also provides for jury trials. Consequently, employers can anticipate more litigation and higher awards. This may be particularly true for small businesses, because there is now an increased incentive to bring employment discrimination actions against smaller employers. Additionally, such businesses may not have the luxury of readily available legal assistance to help prevent or defend such actions. In cases of intentional discrimination--which would include most discrimination actions--employers are now liable for compensatory damages. In addition, when an employer has "engaged in a discriminatory practice or discriminatory practices with malice or with reckless indifference to the federally protected rights of an aggrieved individual," punitive damages are now available (Civil Rights Act 1991). The "reckless indifference" requirement should be relatively easy to establish if there has been employment discrimination. The new law does limit an employer's exposure for punitive and compensatory damages for future pecuniary loss(3) and nonpecuniary losses such as emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life, based upon the relative size of the business. For each complainant, these damages may not exceed: (1) $50,000 for businesses with 15 to 100 employees, (2) $100,000 for businesses with 101 to 200 employees, (3) $200,000 for businesses with 201 to 500 employees, and (4) $300,000 for business with more than 500 employees. It should be clearly noted that other damages--back pay, attorney fees, and expert witness fees--are in addition to these limitations. Expert witness fees are expressly provided for in the 1991 law. A court may award expert fees as part of the attorney fees. Although this provision may seem insignificant, the use of experts in preparing and presenting a case should increase the complaining party's likelihood of success and willingness to initiate litigation. Jury trials will now be available in federal employment discrimination actions. The 1991 law specifically provides that when the complaining party seeks compensatory or punitive damages, "any party may demand a trial by jury" (Civil Rights Act 1991). Realistically, virtually all complaints alleging unlawful intentional discrimination will ask for compensatory and punitive damages and demand a jury trial. …


What is the relative importance of leadership when set against broad social, economic, and political trends? This is a difficult equation, made more so when the actions of the relevant actors are not clearly perceived and understood. Western commentators have tended to underestimate the role played by the Soviet leadership in ending the Cold War because they have focussed on the societal problems that precipitated the collapse of the Soviet Union, engaged in protracted debate about the contribution made by Western policies, and miscalculated the importance of Soviet policy changes. The ultimate dissolution of the Soviet empire may have been inevitable and the policies of the West important, but the timing and nature of the collapse and its impact on the international community were determined by the actions of Soviet leaders. Peaceful change was possible only because those who came to power in Moscow in 1985 were committed to domestic reform, reconciliation with the West, and non-use of force. Just as the Russian Revolution of October 1917 as defined by Lenin influenced the course of modern history, so the Soviet revolution as defined by Mikhail Gorbachev, Eduard Shevardnadze, and Aleksandr Yakovlev is having a profound impact on contemporary history. The readiness of these men to halt the arms race, renounce political and military dominance over Eastern Europe, and retreat from the Third World ended the superpower competition that had defined the post-World War II era. Their policies precipitated peaceful anti-communist revolutions in Eastern Europe and redefined the international system. By stabilizing the USSR's external position, Soviet leaders prepared their nation for its non-violent collapse. Shevardnadze played a critical role in conceptualizing and implementing the Soviet Union's dramatic volte-face. Considered the moral force for 'new political thinking,' he was the point man in the struggle to undermine the forces of inertia at home and to end Moscow's isolation abroad. Two American secretaries of state, George Shultz and James Baker, have credited him with convincing them that Moscow was committed to serious negotiations.(f.1) Each became a proponent of reconciliation in administrations that were intensely anti-Soviet; each concluded that the history of Soviet-American relations and the end of the Cold War would have been far different had it not been for Shevardnadze. Commitment to the non-use of force became Shevardnadze's most important contribution to the end of communism and the Cold War, permitting the virtually non-violent demise of the Soviet empire and of the Soviet Union itself. Shevardnadze was more adamant on this issue than was Gorbachev; he opposed the use of force in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1989 and in the Baltics in 1990. In his resignation speech in December 1990, he predicted that the use of force would undermine perestroika. The violence in Lithuania three weeks later, condoned by Gorbachev, proved him right. NEW POLITICAL THINKING Recognition that the Soviet Union was an exhausted empire was widespread in Moscow long before the new leaders came to power in 1985. The rate of annual growth had been declining since the 1960s, and all important indicators suggested that economic performance would become even worse in the future.(f.2) The Soviet Union was not even keeping pace in the field to which it had devoted the most resources -- military technology and production. Its international position was no more promising. Every important relationship was in disarray. Relations with the United States and Western Europe were tense; Eastern Europe was a significant economic burden; and in the Third World its position had been in decline since the 1970s and was draining political and economic resources. Throughout the 1970s, Soviet commentators debated international trends. They saw an increasingly interdependent international economy and argued that Moscow's vision of separate and opposing capitalist and socialist systems was misguided and counter-productive. …