approved:_Redacted for Privacy \J John A. Craltrd, PhD. A partially automated radio-tracking system with semi-continuous azimuth data collection and XYLOG5 and MAP computer programs for azimuth data analysis was used for studies of California quail (Callipepla californica) at the E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area, Oregon, in 1988 and 1989. Movements of 58 hens were monitored daily to determine nest locations and dates of incubation activities throughout 2 breeding seasons (May to mid-August). Locations for specified periods during the breeding season for nesting quail were used in 2 studies: 1) effect of methyl parathion application to home ranges; and 2) home ranges and habitats used. Foraging home ranges during the first one-half of incubation for 15 hens were treated with water (n = 8) or methyl parathion 4E (n = 7) at a rate of 0.56 kg a.i./ha. No significant measurable effects were found for rates of nesting success and recruitment to 15 days post-hatching between water and methyl parathion groups. A significantly lower hatching rate was found for the methyl parathion group wherein 71 of 103 (69%) eggs for control hens and 36 of 71 (51%) methyl parathion group hens hatched. No significant measurable effects were found for nest attentiveness from preto post-treatment period within groups and use of treated areas between groups. Home range sizes, nesting cover, and cover-type composition of home ranges were described for radio-tracked hens. During 4 periods of the breeding season, mean home range size ranged from 4 to 22 ha and was significantly smaller during incubation. Hens used roadsides, characterized by early seral stage vegetation, for nesting more frequently than expected in relation to availability, used cultivated fields less than expected, and did not use road surfaces, buildings, and foundations. Nest sites had significantly more bareground and less grass, shrub, and vertical cover than random sites and also were located in early successional vegetation. Ability to collect azimuth data and precisely analyze locations and home ranges for hens within a 6-hour period daily throughout the 2 field seasons were advantages of the radio-tracking system. Small sample size largely because of transmitter failures, potential for system overload, expenses incurred to employ personnel, and subjectiveness of collected azimuth data were disadvantages of the system. Efforts to advance radio-tracking technology should focus upon development of remote antennas, which are computer-controlled to collect and relay azimuth data to a central station. APPLICATIONS OF RADIOTELEMETRY TO STUDIES OF CALIFORNIA QUAIL IN WESTERN OREGON


The pure aluminized layer and RE-aluminized layer on industrial pure iron were prepared by hot dip aluminizing method, and the thickness and composition of the layer were investigated by means of scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. The results showed that the RE was permeated into the alloy layer after hot dip RE-aluminizing and the thickness of the alloy layer increases by about 30% as against hot dip pure aluminizing. The binding energy between the vacancy and aluminum atom was calculated. According to the energy condition of the solute-vacancy complex diffusion, it points out that the solute-vacancy complex diffusion is the main mechanism of aluminum atoms diffusion in hot dip RE-aluminizing and the main reason why the thickness of alloy layer increases after hot dip RE-aluminizing.


Computed tomography (CT) has led to extensive reassessment of and alterations in the practices of neuroscientists. Many of these alterations and their implications are described. The progress and problems encountered in the past 36 months are reported as well as the trends of future investigations. The principles evolving should apply in many situations as the benefits of CT are extended to other portions of the body.


Leaves and peels of pawpaw bought from open market within Port Harcourt metropolis were examined for metals and qualitative phytochemical compositions with the intent or aim to examine their phyto and ethno medical importance as agricultural waste products. The metals examined in the leaves and peels of the pawpaw were; manganese (Mn), potassium (K), sodium (Na), zinc (Zn), magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), arsenic (As), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and selenium (Se). Their concentrations were in the order Fe > Mn > Zn > Mg > K >Cu > Ca > Ni > Na > Pb> Ar = Se in the leaves, while those of the peels were in the order Fe > Mn > Zn > Mg > Cu > Ca > K > Ni = Na > Pb> Ar = Se. The results of heavy metals in leaves and peels were not significantly different from each other, but were slightly higher in the peels than the leaves. The phytochemicals examined in the leaves and plants were flavonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, phenol, terpenoids, tannins, carboxylic acids, quinones and xanthoproteins. The phytochemicals detected in the aqueous extracts of the leaves and peels were; flavonoids, alkaloids, phenolics, caboxylic acids and xanthoprotein, while methanolics extracts showed the presence of flavonoids, alkaloids, glycosides, phenolics, terpenoids and xanthoproteins. The presence of micronutrients and phytochemicals in the pawpaw plant might be the reason for its utility in the cure of different diseases and ailments.


Autoimmunity and inflammation have been linked with different neurological syndromes apart from epilepsy, but they are also increasingly observed in cases where epilepsy occurs alone as the dominant clinical feature. There is some evidence that inflammation and autoimmunity contribute to the etiology of epilepsy. On the other hand the basic physiopathological mechanisms are still unclear. Reviewing these basic mechanisms is important to understand the role of inflammation and autoimmunity on epilepsy to contribute to clinical diagnosis and future treatment options of epilepsy. The aim of this article is to elucidate these mechanisms on epileptogenesis.


Energy efficiency in microarchitectures has become a necessity. Significant dynamic energy savings can be realized for adaptive storage structures such as caches, issue queues, and register files by disabling unnecessary storage resources. Prior studies have analyzed individual structures and their control. A common theme to these studies is exploration of the configuration space and use of system IPC as feedback to guide reconfiguration. However when multiple structures adapt in concert, the number of possible configurations increases dramatically, and assigning causal effects to IPC change becomes problematic. To overcome this issue, we introduce designs that are reconfigured solely on local behavior. We introduce a novel cache design that permits direct calculation of efficient configurations. For buffer and queue structures, limited histogramming permits precise resizing control. When applying these techniques we show energy savings of up to 70% on the individual structures, and savings averaging 30% overall for the portion of energy attributed to these structures with an average of 2.1% performance degradation.


The advance of mobile devices and communication technologies enable patients to communicate with their doctors in a more convenient way. We have developed an App that allows patients to record their symptoms and submit them to their doctors. Physicians can keep track of patients' conditions by looking at the self-report messages. Nevertheless, physicians are usually busy and may be overwhelmed by the large amount of incoming messages. As a result, critical messages may not receive immediate attentions, and patient care is compromised. It is imperative to identify the messages that require physicians' attention, called noteworthy messages. In this research, we propose an approach that applies text-mining technologies to identify medical symptoms conveyed in the messages and their associated sentiment orientation, as well as other factors. Noteworthy messages are subsequently characterized by symptom sentiment and symptom change features. We then construct a prediction model to identify messages that are noteworthy to the physicians. We show from our experiments using data collected from a teaching hospital in Taiwan that the different features have different degrees of impact on the performance of the prediction model, and our proposed approach can effectively identify noteworthy messages.


In this year celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of Darwin and the sesquicentennial of the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, the present paper aims to assess the impact of Darwin's legacy on the history of orchid pollination biology. To illustrate the major contribution of Darwin to this fascinating biological field, we focus on the large angraecoid orchid group and propose an overview of the complex relationships that these orchids have developed with specific pollinators. We further discuss how Darwin's seminal work on the angraecoid orchid Angraecum sesquipedale triggered the beginning of a long debate about the evolution of long floral spurs and why his idea of reciprocal evolution or 'coevolution' was one of the great contributions to evolutionary biology. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 161, 1–19.


Squeeze flows in liquid films between a porous disk and an impermeable disk generated by the relative motion of the disks are analysed. Two configurations that differ by the arrangement of (im)permeable external surfaces that bound the porous disk (i.e. not in contact with the liquid film) are considered. Such configurations allow for bearings with tuneable load-bearing characteristics and are also encountered in joint lubrication, adhesion, printing and composite manufacturing. In the present study, flow in the porous disk is governed by Darcy's law and flow in the liquid film is described using lubrication theory. The present analysis also allows for slip between the liquid film and porous disk. Analytical solutions of the coupled system of equations governing flow in the liquid film and the porous disk are found. Under certain conditions, somewhat unexpected flow patterns are observed in the porous disk. The load-bearing capacity for both configurations is also examined as a function of the permeability and geometry of the permeable disk.


Diabetes mellitus (DM) with poor glycemic control is often linked to oral manifestations. This study aimed to investigate the association between dental caries (DC) and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) among patients with type 2 DM (T2DM). A health center-based cross-sectional study was conducted comprising 91 eligible patients with T2DM (21 males and 70 females) with a mean age (± standard deviation) of 61.49 ± 9.71 years. A structured interview, screening for DM-related factors, and oral examination were performed. Serum HbA1c levels were used as an index for glycemic control. A comparison between patients with controlled T2DM, i.e., HbA1c ≤7.0% (n = 46), and uncontrolled T2DM, i.e., HbA1c >7.0% (n = 45), showed significant differences in mean values of decayed teeth (DT) (P = 0.045); missing teeth (P = 0.002); and decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index (P < 0.001). Results of multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the number of DT was significantly correlated with serum HbA1c levels (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.173 to 0.972, P = 0.005). Furthermore, DMFT index values and serum HbA1c levels (95% CI 0.532 to 1.658, P < 0.001) showed a significant association. This study provides substantial evidence on the association between DC indicators and serum HbA1c levels.


The termite gut is an ideal ecosystem for studying hydrogen ecophysiology. Hydrogen is central to the obligate mutualism between termites and their gut microbes and is turned over at rates as high as 33 m3 H2 per m3 hindgut volume daily and maintained near saturation in some species. Acetogenic bacteria use hydrogen to produce up to 1/3 of the total flux of the termite's primary carbon and energy source, acetate. We have taken a three-fold approach to investigate the hydrogen ecophysiology of the termite gut. In our first approach (Chapter 2) we completed a bioinformatic analysis of [FeFe] hydrogenase-like (H domain) proteins encoded in the genomes of three termite gut treponemes. Treponemes are among the most highly represented groups of gut bacteria. The remarkable diversity of H domain proteins encoded accentuates the importance of hydrogen to their physiology. Moreover, they encoded a poorly understood class hydrogen sensing H domain proteins and thereby present a unique opportunity for their further study. In our second approach (Chapters 3 and 4) we analyzed molecular inventories prepared from termite gut microbiomes of a class of [FeFe] hydrogenases found highly represented in a termite hindgut metagenome. The libraries of peptide sequences clustered with one another in a manner congruent with termite host phylogeny suggesting co-evolution. Interestingly, we observed that higher termite guts may harbor higher sequence diversity than lower termites. In our third approach (Chapter 5) we used microfluidic digital PCR to identify bacteria in the gut of Reticulitermes tibialis encoding [FeFe] hydrogenases. The majority of the 16S rRNA gene phylotypes observed to co-amplify with hydrogenase sequences were treponemal, and the only observed instances of the same 16S rRNA-hydrogenase gene pair co-amplifying in multiple microfluidic chambers corresponded to treponemal phylotypes. Therefore, treponemes may be an important or predominant bacterial group encoding an important family of [FeFe] hydrogenases in the termite gut. The above results provide support for an important role for treponemes in mediating hydrogen metabolism in the termite gut and accentuate the intimacy and stability of the association termites have maintained over the course of their evolution with their gut microbial communities.


Abstract Agricultural sales cooperative unions (ASCUs) in Turkey are heavily influenced by both domestic and international government policies. Both export taxes and import tariffs are used as policy tools to regulate cotton markets. Domestic price support programs, water subsidies, fertilizer subsidies, and credit subsidies have also been used as domestic policy tools. These types of subsidies are not uncommon among developing countries. This paper provides empirical estimates of the degree of economic inefficiency associated with government intervention in Turkish cotton markets. A two-region partial equilibrium model of cotton exports and imports is developed under the "small country assumption" to obtain empirical estimates of the deadweight welfare loss associated with these government subsidies. Although government intervention results in significant income distribution among the various cotton sectors within Turkey, the overall economic inefficiency of the redistribution is very low.


Many studies have evaluated the effects of biochar application on soil structure and plant growth. However, there are very few studies describing the effect of biochar on native soil microbial communities. Microbial analysis of environmental samples requires accurate and reproducible methods for the extraction of DNA from samples. Because of the variety among microbial species and the strong adsorption of the phosphate backbone of the DNA molecule to biochar, extracting and purifying high quality microbial DNA from biochar-amended soil is not a trivial process and can be considerably more difficult than the extraction of DNA from other environmental samples. The aim of this study was to compare the relative efficacies of three commercial DNA extraction kits, the FastDNA® SPIN Kit for Soil (FD kit), the PowerSoil® DNA Isolation Kit (PS kit) and the ZR Soil Microbe DNA Kit Miniprep™ (ZR kit), for extracting microbial genomic DNA from sand treated with different types of biochar. The methods were evaluated by comparing the DNA yields and purity and by analysing the bacterial and fungal community profiles generated by PCR-DGGE. Our results showed that the PCR-DGGE profiles for bacterial and fungal communities were highly affected by the purity and yield of the different DNA extracts. Among the tested kits, the PS kit was the most efficient with respect to the amount and purity of recovered DNA and considering the complexity of the generated DGGE microbial fingerprint from the sand-biochar samples.


Abnormal keratinization of hair follicles appears to be intimately associated with acne vulgaris. Whether steroid metabolism in follicular wall keratinocytes of acne-prone skin plays a role in the development and maintenance of acne vulgaris is unknown at this time. The enzymatic hydrolysis of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate to dehydroepiandrosterone and of estrone sulfate to estrone in cultured epidermal keratinocytes has been demonstrated. Thus, we sought to establish whether steroid sulfatase activity in freshly obtained epidermal tissue (greater than 90% keratinocytes) from acne-prone skin in patients with acne vulgaris was altered when compared with that in epidermal tissue from non-acne-prone skin in the same individuals. We found that there were no differences in the rates of enzymatic hydrolysis of steroid sulfates in epidermis of acne-prone and non-acne-prone skin; however, the rate of estrone sulfate hydrolysis was two to eight times greater than that of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate in all of the tissues evaluated in this study.


Abstract  The Russian wheat aphid (RWA), Diuraphis noxia (Mordvilko) (Homoptera: Aphididae), is a major pest of small grains. As with plant‐feeding aphids in general, the interaction between RWA and host plants is governed, on the insect side, by proteins and enzymes in saliva. In this work, we examined sequence variations in transcripts encoding proteins and enzymes of RWA salivary glands. We conducted reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction in RWA biotypes 1 and 2 using primers derived from pea aphid orthologs, and cloned regions of 17 putative salivary gland transcripts. For four of the transcripts, we observed no difference in sequences between the two biotypes. For the other 13 transcripts, for example, the transcripts encoding sucrase, trehalase and protein C002, large amount of variations, both within each biotype and between the two biotypes, were observed. Usually the two biotypes shared only one variant, which was typically the most common variant in both biotypes. Most of the transcripts had more non‐synonymous than synonymous codon changes among their variants. Our results offer possible molecular markers for distinguishing the two biotypes and insights into their evolution.


The North Atlantic Refinery has three 5400-hp slow-speed induction motors driving reciprocating compressors for a Hydrogen plant. All motors were rewound on-site over the period of 1998-2002, using magnetic wedges as per the original design, and the motor protection was upgraded to microprocessor-type relays. In summer 2003, during routine maintenance, it was noted that these motors suffered substantial loss of slot magnetic wedges and had to be scheduled for rewedging over 2004-2006. This paper presents failure analysis, field measurements covering heat-run test results, and motor-performance and vibration analysis before and after motor rewedging work. This paper reviews the key factors for using magnetic versus nonmagnetic wedges in these applications and techniques available to predict loss of wedges. The use of a microprocessor relay for slow-speed induction motor protection is discussed, particularly, the thermal protection feature to address the cyclic-load pattern caused by the reciprocating compressor


Acoustic emission (AE) technology is one of the most established diagnostic techniques for
rolling bearing monitoring in rotating machinery. The application of high-frequency AE for
bearing diagnosis is gaining acceptance as a useful complimentary tool. This paper demonstrates
the use of AE measurements to investigate the AE characteristics of self-aligning journal bearings
under different rotational speed, radial load and lubrication condition. To undertake this task, a
purpose-built test rig was employed for collecting AE signals from the journal bearings. Then, the
collected data was processed using time domain and frequency domain analysis methods which
are of the most common techniques used for monitoring in AE applications. The results shown
that the data analysis method applied in this work is effective for characterising complicated AE
signals. Based on obtained results, it is concluded that the AE energy levels in high frequency
range higher for the higher radial load and speed condition. For different lubricant cases AE
energy becomes high when the viscosity is lower, which means that AE can be used to detect
lubrication degradation in journal bearings.


This document records the address to the University of Notre Dame made by Robert S. McNamara to the President of Bank at the 1969 annual meetings. In his speech, this university, over the years, has become a catalytic center of creative thought. It does what universities do best: it probes. It probes the present for what is most formative of the future. And it probes the future for what will most enlarge man's freedom and fulfillment.


The Atharveveda occupies a unique position among the four Vedic Samhitason account of its subject matter which encompasses not only the invocations andprayers to the deities like other three Samhitas, but faithfully presents the privateday-to-day life of the common masses. It deals with varieties of customs, birth andburial, love and marriage, hearth and home, field and cattle, government and politics,trade and commerce, magic and medicine, anatomy and astronomy, theosophy andcosmogony and many more things. In this paper an attempt is made to study thesocio-medico charms in the Atharvavedic Tradition and of its relevance in thecontemporary society. At the very outset of my paper, I would like to make it clearthat the present study has no claim of studying the ancient Indian medicine as today"sscience is concerned but as a medical practice followed by the tradition ofAtharvavedic people. Further, it aims at drawing the attention as to how the primitive– rather, the pre-scientific – elements are spread over our ancient literature. A goodmany scholars have been studied in this context from various angles such as Prof. S.S. Bahulkar, who has written on the medical rituals in the Atharveveda Tradition,with special reference to the medical section of the Kausikasutra. Prof. G. U. Thitehas written on "medicine" and its magico-religious aspects, according to the Vedicand later literature. But I have determined my study only at the socio-medicalcharms: i.e. human awareness about various diseases, different germs that causediseases, the methods of healing processes of various diseases etc. The prescriptionof numerous medicinal herbs used to cure such diseases which are used by theAtharvavedic people will be analyzed elaborately in this paper.


The clay-ironstone of Coalbrook Dale, Shropshire, has already yielded the wing of one most interesting form of fossil locust, the Gryllacris (Corydalis) Brongniarti (Pl. IX. fig. 2), figured and described in Mantell's 'Medals of Creation,' in Murchison's 'Siluria' 4th edition, 1867, p. 300, woodcut 80, and, lastly, in the Geol. Mag. 1874, new series. Dec. ii. vol. i. pl. xiv. fig. 3; whilst the Coal-measures of Saarhruck and of Westphalia have yielded fossil remains of a Gryllacris and seven species of Blattinæ, or cockroaches, 4 Termites (white ants), 1 Acridites, 3 species of the Neuropterous genus Dictyoneura; and from those of Grundy co., Illinois, U. S. A., 3 species of the genus Miamia, 1 of Mylacris, 1 of Megathentomum, 3 species of Euphemerites, and 1 doubtful species of Mantis have been described by Mr. S. H. Scudder, and from the Coal-measures of Cape Breton the genus Haplophlebium by the same author. Mr. Scudder has likewise described seven genera from more or less fragmentary remains in the Devonian rocks of New Brunswick. Dr. Anton Dohrn (Director of the Zoological Station at Naples) has described a new and most remarkable Neuropterous insect from the Permian (Todtliegende) of Birkenfeld, which he has named Eugereon Bœckingii, and regards as possibly belonging to an extinct order (Dictyoptera). It has been my good fortune during the past year to have placed in my hands, through the kindness of Edward Charlesworth, Esq., F.G.S., a most interesting fossil insect from the Coal-measures of Scotland. The insect in question


During the Renaissance, European royalties and noblemen and their wives bore imprese to express their aspirations as marks of distinction. Cosimo de' Medici, for example, had nine, whereas Rudolf II had sixteen imprese. An impresa (French devise, English device) consisted of a motto, a picture, and an explication in either verse or prose in which the bearer was named and his intention explained by both the word and the image. Collections of imprese were printed to preserve the marks of nobility (similar to heraldry) and became patterns for painters and artisans who put pictures on paintings, frescoes, and tapestries, even on ceiling and floor tiles. Using this Index, a tourist may find a phoenix on a tapestry to be the impresa of Alienor of Austria, Queen of France, on page 89 of a collection by Claude Paradin. Paradin's "Devises heroiques", like a few other collections (by Giovio, Simeoni, Pittoni, Ruscelli, Contile, Camilli, Cappacio, Bargagli, and Typotius), has no index of any kind, making serious study of its imprese difficult. Some do have indices, but these do not meet the standards of modern research. This Index covers 1,866 imprese and includes indices of mottoes with English translations, pictures, significance, bearers, and subjects, along with cross-references to standard handbooks of Valeriano's "Hieroglyphica" (1602), Picinelli's "Mondus symbolicus" (1694), and Henkel and Schone's "Handbuch zur Sinnbildkunst des XVI. und XVII". Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart: J.B. Metzler, 1967, 1976, 1996). The Handbuch has become an indispensable tool in emblematic studies; it covers 40 emblem books with references to imprese from all ten collections indexed here. But without an impresa index of its own, it cannot identify an emblem by an impresa it has referenced. Appendix C of this Index, with references both from imprese to emblem books and from emblems to impresa books, will boost the usefulness of both research tools. This Index will be useful to impresa and emblem scholars, art and cultural historians, and even inquisitive tourists.


The years between 1943 and 1954 marked the magical era of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League - which proved beyond doubt that women can play hardball. With skill and style, more than 500 women took to the baseball diamonds of the Midwest dazzling fans and becoming a visible and supported part of our national pastime. In the words of "Tiby" Eisen, leadoff batter for the Fort Wayne Daisies: "We played ball just like the big boys, we broke up double plays with spikes held high and we stole bases in our skirts. We did whatever it took to win." Among those cheering was ten-year-old Susan Johnson, a loyal fan of the Rockford Peaches. Four decades later she has gone back to meet her girlhood heroines and remember a sensational baseball series: the 1950 championship between the Rockford (Illinois) Peaches and the Fort Wayne (Indiana) Daisies - two of the League's most winning and dynamic teams. Filled with colorful stories and anecdotes by the women who played in that spectacular series, When Women Played Hardball offers an entertaining look at the culture the league created - and the society it reflected. This is a story about memories, about dreams fulfilled and dreams denied. It is a celebration of a brief yet remarkable period when women truly had "A League of Their Own."


Because of technique difficulties in achieving the extreme high-pressure and high-temperature (HPHT) simultaneously, direct observation of the structures of carbon at extreme HPHT conditions has not been possible. Banhart and Ajayan discovered remarkably that carbon onions can act as nanoscopic pressure cells to generate high pressures. By heating carbon onions to approximately 700 degrees C and under electron beam irradiation, the graphite-to-diamond transformation was observed in situ by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). However, the highest achievable temperature in a TEM heating holder is less than 1000 degrees C. Here we report that, by using carbon nanotubes as heaters and carbon onions as high-pressure cells, temperatures higher than 2000 degrees C and pressures higher than 40 GPa were achieved simultaneously in carbon onions. At such HPHT conditions and facilitated by electron beam irradiation, the diamond formed in the carbon onion cores frequently changed its shape, size, orientation, and internal structure and moved like a fluid, implying that it was in a quasimelting state. The fluctuation between the solid phase of diamond and the fluid/amorphous phase of diamond-like carbon, and the changes of the shape, size, and orientation of the solid diamond, were attributed to the dynamic crystallization of diamond crystal from the quasimolten state and the dynamic graphite-diamond phase transformations. Our discovery offers unprecedented opportunities to studying the nanostructures of carbon at extreme conditions in situ and at an atomic scale.


This article summarizes the proceedings of a symposium organized and cochaired by Vijay Ramchandani and Sean O'Connor and presented at the 2004 Research Society on Alcoholism meeting in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The objectives of this symposium were: (1) to provide a rationale for the development and use of the alcohol clamp and the requirements for its use in alcohol challenge studies; (2) to highlight recent studies conducted using the alcohol clamp to identify sources of variation in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of alcohol, as well as to address important research questions related to the relationship between the response to alcohol and the risk for alcoholism; and (3) to provide a perspective on progress, address limitations of the clamp, and identify new directions for alcohol challenge research. The symposium began with an introduction and overview of the alcohol clamp, by Vijay Ramchandani. This was followed by 4 presentations that highlighted recent studies conducted using the clamp including: (1) determination of the influence of alcohol dehydrogenase polymorphisms on alcohol elimination rates in a male Jewish population, by Yehuda Neumark; (2) examination of family history of alcoholism, recent drinking history, and levels and rates of administration as determinants of the response to alcohol and risk for alcoholism, by Sean O'Connor; (3) evaluation of the time course of ethanol intoxication on neuroendocrine function in humans, by Ulrich Zimmermann; and (4) a study of the effects of steady-state blood alcohol levels on auditory event-related potentials in rats, by Sandra Morzorati. Harriet de Wit summarized and discussed the research presented at the symposium and provided her perspective on future directions for research using the alcohol clamp.


The widespread availability of information and communication technology oVers new possibilities for education of professionals and of patients. One of these possibilities is computer assisted learning. Ten years ago, research focused on the development of computer assisted diagnosis and text based help to rheumatologists and others. Despite the initial enthusiasm about artificial intelligence (AI), resulting in several diagnostic expert systems, in routine care a precise diagnosis is rarely an important issue and as a consequence these systems are hardly used. The experience with expert systems, however, evolved into systems intended for educational purposes. "AI/Learn", based on the "AI/Rheum" expert system and exploiting a videodisk with an image library, proved to be an eVective means of teaching rheumatology. The same image library was used to teach occupational and physical therapy students with the "HP-Rheum" system (HP: Health Professionals). In recent years the introduction of sound, images, and movies on PCs, and the replacement of videodisks by CD-ROM facilitated production and access to these methods. The products resulting from the AI/Rheum project are not yet available on this medium, but two European rheumatologists have now completed educational systems on CD-ROM. They are to be honoured for their pioneering eVorts. The main characteristics of the systems are summarised in table 1, details are discussed below.


Breast cancer is the second most common cause of death after lung cancer in developing countries. There is a great need to expand the range of biomarkers to identify patients that can be treated using new therapies. Epigenetic silencing of amino acid regulatory genes have been postulated as a predictive biomarker in breast cancer and treatment based on modulating amino acid levels have been shown to be effective in other cancers. In this study, I have examined how the amino acid regulatory genes for glutamine (Glutamine synthetase, GLUL) and arginine (Arginino-succinate synthetase, ASS1) synthesis are silenced via methylation in a panel of breast cancer cell lines.


Background/Aim: Epidemiological studies have suggested that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with lower morbidity. However, intervention studies are needed to elucidate mechanisms involved. This study was aimed to determine the effects of moderate beer consumption on the immune function of healthy adults, taking into account gender differences. Methods: After a 30-day alcohol abstinence period, 57 healthy volunteers consumed a moderate intake of beer (330 ml for women and 660 ml for men) for 30 days. Total leukocyte and lymphocyte counts; absolute values of T-lymphocyte CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+ subsets; delayed-hypersensitivity skin response (DHSR); absolute values of B lymphocytes (CD19+) and serum immunoglobulin concentrations (IgG, IgA, and IgM); and cytokine production (IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, IFN-γ, and TNF-α) were evaluated following the abstinence and alcohol consumption periods. Results: After moderate beer consumption CD3+ cells increased only in women (p < 0.05). IgG, IgM, and IgA concentrations, as well as IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, and IFN-γ cytokine production increased while IFN-γ/IL-10 ratio decreased in both men and women (p < 0.05). The rest of the immunological parameters analyzed remained unchanged. Conclusion: Moderate beer consumption produced an immunomodulatory effect in a healthy adult Spanish population; this effect appears to be more relevant in women than in men.


The cost of software development is one of the major contributors to the development cost for safety systems in the petrochemical industry. It is hard to make developers work faster but it is possible to make them work more efficient. One way to achieve that is to introduce agile development methods. Agile methods are gaining increasing popularity in safety critical areas such as the petrochemical industry. Agile methods promise reduced costs and shorter time to market through incremental development, less production of unnecessary documents and more maintainable code. The IEC 61511:2003 standard is normally used by the petrochemical industry. The second edition of this standard will be issued in 2015. Both the current and the new draft edition IEC 61511:2014 of the IEC 61511 standard are evaluated against agile development approach in this paper. Both editions of the IEC 61511 standard have a strong link to IEC 61508. Manufacturers and suppliers of devices shall use IEC 61508, while system designers, integrators and users shall use IEC 61511. The IEC 61508 standard's relationship to agile development has been evaluated with success in a previous paper (Stalhane 2012). While the architectural design also in agile development is done up front, detailed design is done incrementally. Based on reported experiences in other domains, we expect the following benefits: · Easier to discover and correct faulty or incomplete system requirements · Simpler software, thus reducing the development and maintenance costs · Only documents that are needed, either for certification or development, are developed The ones that are developed are used and kept up-to-date · Improved opportunities for reuse and site development. The challenge is to introduce agile development without compromising safety. Development of safety systems needs to be compliant with IEC 61511. This standard impose rigor and additional costs, but proper adaptation of agile methods can add flexibility and efficiency. In order to evaluate this proposition we use a three step process: · Go through all relevant requirements in the standard and mark all requirements as (1) fully met using agile development, (2) possible to meet using agile development and (3) cannot be fulfilled "as is" using agile development. · All requirements in category (2) are studied further in order to assign them to category (1) - OK, category (2) - adaptations to the agile method by including add-on's or category (3) - changes to the development process. · Suggest appropriate modifications to the agile development. This is the same process that we have used with success for IEC 61508 (Stalhane 2012) and IEC 60880 (Stalhane 2013). The work on IEC 61508 resulted in a method called SafeScrum. The SafeScrum model are reused and improved to fit the current and new edition of IEC 61511. There are no requirements in the current standards that prevents for an adjusted agile development process as SafeScrum. When the issues identified as category 2 in section 2 are settled, it should be straight forward to use SafeScrum and still be IEC 61511 conformant. It is now important to get one or more companies to try it out in cooperation with the certification bodies and / or authorities to get a reality check of the concepts discussed. This will allow us to identify possible problems and to make the adjustments necessary for industrial application. The main challenges are the IEC 61511 requirements on configuration management, traceability, detailed planning and documentation. However, in order to reap the full benefits of agile development, it is not enough to show conformance to IEC 61511. Suggested improvements of IEC 61511 are more requirements and information regarding modern software development methods. This is also in accordance with preliminary work performed by the current IEC 61508-3 maintenance committee.


This paper describes new compression method that is used for test pattern compaction and compression in algorithm called COMPAS, which utilizes a test data compression method based on pattern overlapping. This algorithm reorders and compresses deterministic test patterns previously generated in an ATPG by overlapping them. Independency of COMPAS on used ATPG is discussed and verified. New method improves compression ratio by preprocessing input data to determine the degree of random test resistance for each fault. This information allows the algorithm to reorder test patterns more efficiently and results to 10% compression ratio improvement in average. Compressed data sequence is well suited for decompression by the scan chains in the embedded tester cores.


Concentrically expanded plutons (CEPs) are a common igneous feature. They are characterized by compositional zoning, mainly concentric magmatic fabric inside the pluton and ductile fabric in the contact aureole which are concordant with the pluton / host rock contact. Two intrusion mechanisms have been proposed for CEPs: dyking + ballooning and diapirism. Here, we present results of a centrifuge model to study the kinematics and dynamics of CEPs. The model consisted of three layers from bottom to the top; a 5 mm thick buoyant lower layer of Rhodorsil Gomme simulating a partially molten magma, a 50 mm thick non-Newtonian Rhodorsil Gomme + Plastilina overburden simulating a natural silicic overburden and a 10 mm thick layer of PDMS simulating a less dense overburden. The model was centrifuged twice with two differently stained buoyant layers attached. After the first stage of the experiment two mushroom-shaped diapirs had intruded and deformed the overburden to spread below the less-dense PDMS layer. The second-stage intrusion occurred along the stem of the preexisting diapirs using them as a mechanically weak pathway. This intrusion was not diapiric, but the buoyant material rose passively similar to a dike. Once reaching the level of neutral buoyancy, the intrusive material spread laterally resulting in extensive spreading and expansion of the overhang of the preexisting diapirs. Model results show that CEPs can be the result of combined initial diapirism and subsequent dyking. Multiple diapirs can form only when the overburden units deform ductiley during the different stages of diapirism.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text Abstract Waterproofing spray-associated pneumonitis (WAP) proceeds to acute respiratory failure and is characterized by diffuse bilateral ground-glass opacities on computed tomography; however, the detailed characteristics of WAP are unknown. Therefore, this study identified the characteristics of WAP from comparisons with those of acute eosinophilic pneumonia (AEP) and hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP), which show similar features to WAP. Adult patients with WAP, AEP, and HP treated in Fukujuji Hospital from 1990 to 2018 were retrospectively enrolled. Furthermore, data from patients with WAP were collected from publications in PubMed and the Japan Medical Abstracts Society and combined with data from our patients. Thirty-three patients with WAP, eleven patients with AEP, and thirty patients with HP were reviewed. Regarding age, sex, smoking habit, and laboratory findings (white blood cell count, C-reactive protein level, and serum Krebs von den Lungen-6 level), WAP and AEP were not significantly different, while WAP and HP were significantly different. The duration from symptom appearance to hospital visit was shorter in patients with WAP (median 1 day) than in patients with AEP (median 3 days, P = .006) or HP (median 30 days, P < .001). The dominant cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of patients with WAP, AEP, and HP were different (macrophages, eosinophils, and lymphocytes, respectively). The characteristic features of WAP were rapid disease progression and macrophage dominance in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, and these characteristics can be used to distinguish among WAP, AEP, and HP.


Background For HIV-infected men who have sex with men (MSM), implementation of routine STI screening into care at HIV treatment centres can substantially reduce STI incidence and possibly HIV incidence in the MSM population. Some countries already combine STI and HIV care, but its cost-effectiveness has not been explored. This study was designed to estimate the cost-effectiveness of providing routine anorectal chlamydia screening to MSM in care at HIV treatment centres in the Netherlands, where STI and HIV care are not currently combined. Method Outcomes of a transmission model describing the sexual transmission of HIV and chlamydia in MSM over a 20-year period were used as input for an economic model. Inclusion of multiple STIs were not allowed due to the complexity of the transmission model. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated for four scenarios: once- and twice-yearly routine chlamydia screening at HIV treatment centres among MSM who do/do not seek screening elsewhere. Results Costs will be saved by routine chlamydia screening of MSM in care at HIV treatment centres if these patients seek little or no screening elsewhere. Opportunistic screening is considerably more expensive than routine screening offered within a scheduled visit. Adding once-yearly chlamydia screening for MSM in care at HIV treatment centres is cost-saving when 30% or fewer of those men seek once-yearly screening elsewhere. Twice-yearly routine screening at HIV treatment centres is cost-effective only when no opportunistic screening takes place. Conclusion Adding annual chlamydia screening to the HIV consultation will be cost-saving as long as only a limited proportion of men are opportunistically screened. The ICER was most sensitive to the percentage of MSM that continue to be screened elsewhere.


Peripheral blood T-cells from untreated HIV-1-infected patients exhibit reduced immune responses, usually associated with a hyperactivated/exhausted phenotype compared to HAART treated patients. However, it is not clear whether HAART ameliorates this altered phenotype of T-cells in the gastrointestinal-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), the main site for viral replication. Here, we compared T-cells from peripheral blood and GALT of two groups of chronically HIV-1-infected patients: untreated patients with active viral replication, and patients on suppressive HAART. We characterized the T-cell phenotype by measuring PD-1, CTLA-4, HLA-DR, CD25, Foxp3 and granzyme A expression by flow cytometry; mRNA expression of T-bet, GATA-3, ROR-γt and Foxp3, and was also evaluated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and rectal lymphoid cells. In HIV-1+ patients, the frequency of PD-1+ and CTLA-4+ T-cells (both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells) was higher in the GALT than in the blood. The expression of PD-1 by T-cells from GALT was higher in HIV-1-infected subjects with active viral replication compared to controls. Moreover, the expression per cell of PD-1 and CTLA-4 in CD4+ T-cells from blood and GALT was positively correlated with viral load. HAART treatment decreased the expression of CTLA-4 in CD8+ T cells from blood and GALT to levels similar as those observed in controls. Frequency of Granzyme A+ CD8+ T-cells in both tissues was low in the untreated group, compared to controls and HAART-treated patients. Finally, a switch towards Treg polarization was found in untreated patients, in both tissues. Together, these findings suggest that chronic HIV-1 infection results in an activated/exhausted T-cell phenotype, despite T-cell polarization towards a regulatory profile; these alterations are more pronounced in the GALT compared to peripheral blood, and are only partiality modulated by HAART.


Abstract Fast-folding proteins have been a major focus of computational and experimental study because they are accessible to both techniques: they are small and fast enough to be reasonably simulated with current computational power, but have dynamics slow enough to be observed with specially developed experimental techniques. This coupled study of fast-folding proteins has provided insight into the mechanisms, which allow some proteins to find their native conformation well <1 ms and has uncovered examples of theoretically predicted phenomena such as downhill folding. The study of fast folders also informs our understanding of even 'slow' folding processes: fast folders are small; relatively simple protein domains and the principles that govern their folding also govern the folding of more complex systems. This review summarizes the major theoretical and experimental techniques used to study fast-folding proteins and provides an overview of the major findings of fast-folding research. Finally, we examine the themes that have emerged from studying fast folders and briefly summarize their application to protein folding in general, as well as some work that is left to do.


Immunotherapy has been in use for the treatment of melanoma since a very long time, but only recently have the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4) antibody ipilimumab and programmed cell death-1 inhibitors such as nivolimumab and pembrolizumab been shown to induce marked improvements in survival in patients with metastatic melanoma. An important concern arises in terms of the safety of the use of these agents in patients with autoimmune diseases, solid organ transplant recipients on immunosuppression, patients with a history of previous hepatitis B or C, and patients with HIV infections as these patients were excluded from pivotal immunotherapy studies. Here, we report on the safety and efficacy of pembrolizumab in a melanoma patient with multiple medical problems including poorly controlled rheumatoid arthritis and we review the available literature on the use of immunotherapy and autoimmune diseases. The weight of evidence suggests that these patients should be offered the opportunity to benefit from immune check point inhibitors, with drugs targeting programmed cell death-1 being preferred. More research is required to study the long-term effects of immunotherapy on patients with autoimmune diseases.


The studies presented herein have evaluated both the specificity and cellular basis of cell-mediated lympholysis (CML) in man. An efficient and quantitative 51Cr release assay was utilized to study the role of highly purified human T and B cells in CML. After in vitro sensitization human T cells develop the capacity to kill specifically allogeneic cells to which they were sensitized. In contrast, B cells were neither triggered to proliferate nor activated to kill allogeneic targets. B cells were not activated to kill even when sensitized in the presence of potentially "helper" T cells, nor did they block T cells from killing during the effector phase. Cell-free supernatants taken from active in vitro sensitization cultures were not lympholytic and did not modulate T cell killing. Hence, these studies show that both the afferent and efferent phases of human CML are T cell functions.


In this study we interrogate the ways nutrition and health have become increasingly influential to children's everyday life practices and conceptualisations of food. We challenge the orthodoxy of meanings afforded to food that draw a distinct binary between 'good'/'bad' or 'healthy'/'unhealthy'; ideas widely promulgated in health texts, popular culture and pedagogical practice. Whilst these dominant medico-scientific discourses are pervasive in accounts of food, they are not the only meanings that permeate the popular cultural and pedagogical landscape; for instance, there has been a burgeoning interest in culinary cooking programmes and food sustainability in recent years. In this study, we use Foucault's notion of biopower to trace the various ways food is governed through interventions; pedagogised by popular culture; and, taken up in school policies and practices. We draw on interviews with 32 Year five students from Australian public and private primary schools. Not surprisingly, the analysis demonstrates how students reiterated food as a practice of 'temptation' and 'risk', similar to nutrition-based knowledge of food circulated in popular culture and health programmes. This suggests that other meanings of food are often socially and pedagogically marginalised. We argue that because of the perceived risk attached to food practices, these young people see food as an object of guilt and a reason for self-surveillance. After discussing the results we consider some of the consequences for young peoples' sense of self and their relationships with food in every day life, particularly in light of the perilous effects of deeming food as 'good'/'bad' from such a young age. As a point of departure we explore some of the subjugated knowledges that can be brought to the table of food pedagogies in schools in order to bring about a broader assemblage of food 'truths'.


NO oxidation catalyzed by porous materials is difficult to implement under industrial conditions because moisture in combustion exhaust streams blocks oxidation sites, decreasing NO conversion. In this work, hydrophobic cross-linked polymers are tested as NO oxidation catalysts to overcome these negative impacts associated with moisture. Although activated carbons (ACs) outperform hyper-cross-linked polymers by >88% and low-cross-linked polymers by >463% under dry conditions, their NO conversion drops to 0% when 50% relative humidity is added. Performance of hyper-cross-linked and low-cross-linked polymers, however, decreases by only 19-35% and <6%, respectively, for NO conversion in the presence of moisture. NO conversion differences between materials are attributed to differences in the catalysts' initial hydrophilicity and their proclivity to react with generated NO2, which also increases hydrophilicity. While the initial hydrophobicity of the polymers contributes to their consistent performance, it is their intrinsic ability to resist NO2 reduction reactions, compared to AC, that makes them the more viable catalyst for industrial application. Results suggest that the polymer hyper-cross-linking process improves steady-state NO conversion but increases NO2 surface reactivity and hydrophilicity.


Endurance sports are an increasingly popular way of keeping fit. However, overtraining can often cause physical symptoms of overloading. This volume shows readers how to optimize their performance without experiencing these types of problems. "Supplementary Training" features targeted programmes composed of stretching, strengthening, co-ordination and relaxation exercises. It also presents the typical symptoms of injuries caused by cycling, swimming, and running, along with extensively illustrated exercises to counteract them. This will become an essential reference for all endurance athletes - from first time triathletes to seasoned pro's.


Fracture analysis of a standard construction steel platform deck, which had been exposed to a liquid nitrogen spill, showed that the brittle fracture started at a flaw in the weld as a consequence of low-temperature embrittlement and thermal stresses experienced by the material. In the present study, the permanent effect of a cryogenic spill on the fracture properties of carbon steels has been investigated. Charpy V-notch impact testing was carried out at 0 °C using specimens, from the platform deck material. The average impact energy appeared to be below requirements only for transverse specimens. No pre-existing damage was found when examining the fracture surfaces and cross sections in the scanning electron microscope. Specimens of the platform deck material and a DOMEX S355 MCD carbon steel were tensile tested immersed in liquid nitrogen. Both steels showed a considerable increase in yield- and fracture strength and a large increase in the Lüders strain compared to the room temperature behavior. A cryogenic spill was simulated by applying a constant tensile force to the specimens for 10 min, at -196 C. Subsequent tensile tests at room temperature showed no significant influence on the stress-strain curve of the specimens. A small amount of microcracks were found after holding a DOMEX S355 MCD specimen at a constant force below the yield point. In a platform deck material tensile tested to fracture in liquid nitrogen, cracks associated with elongated MnS inclusions were found through the whole test region. These cracks probably formed as a result of the inclusions having a higher thermal contraction rate than the steel, causing decohesion at the inclusion-matrix interface on cooling. Simultaneous deformation may have caused formation of cracks. Both the microcracks and sulphide related damage may give permanently reduced impact energy after a cryogenic exposure.


Few human experiences contain the intensely concentrated horror, terror, and awesome power associated with a disaster. Nature's destructive forces and events in which humans rage out of control against one another can serve as trigger mechanisms for overwhelming psychological reactions in the survivors, community members, and rescuers. Appropriate crisis intervention strategies and tactics are often thrown off balance, delayed, and made more complex by the sheer magnitude of the catastrophe. Few guidelines for effective community crisis or disaster response team activities in a disaster have been written to date. This article will help to fill-in the information gaps and enhance a psychological team's ability to provide better crisis intervention services during disasters.


Membrane-bound immunoglobulin (mIg) of the IgG, IgA, and IgE classes have conserved cytoplasmic tails. To investigate the function of these tails, a B cell line was transfected with truncated or mutated gamma2a heavy chains. Transport to the endosomal compartment of antigen bound by the B cell antigen receptor did not occur in the absence of the cytoplasmic tail; and one or two mutations, respectively, in the Tyr-X-X-Met motif of the tail partially or completely interrupted the process. Experiments with chimeric antigen receptors confirmed these findings. Thus, a role for the cytoplasmic tail of mIg heavy chains in endosomal targeting of antigen is revealed.


The easiest purchasing policy to enforce is least first cost. Under TQM (total quality management), the new mandate is to obtain least life cycle cost. Experience with highway bridge construction in the United States is that the usable life of the bridge deck is only one half of the useful life of the bridge. The average age of bridges when replaced is 68 years, and the average length of service of bridge decks before replacement is 35 years. Bridge deck replacement during the service life of the bridge is much more costly than a new deck on a new bridge, due primarily to the requirements of traffic maintenance during the construction phase of bridge rehabilitation projects. Estimation of the cost of construction of design options for life cycle and serviceability, although extremely difficult to document objectively, must now be accomplished. New public policy has enunciated the importance of determining relative life cycle costs. Estimated bridge costs in the 1950s were $20 to $40 per square foot. Estimates of bridge rehabilitation cost in the 1990s will be $70 to $200 per square foot. This paper reviews various bridge deck construction methods and the theoretical and historical comparisons which may be observed. A discussion of how design, construction, and service considerations impact life cycle cost and serviceabilty is included for several types of bridge deck. In his conclusions and recommendations, the author proposes guidelines for comparing available bridge deck types. The discussion includes checklists of specific project needs, whether new or rehabilitation designs, to meet the objective of matching bridge and deck useful life.


Amanda Ralph is the kind of woman whose babies are prone to die. She is young and poor and dropped out of school after the ninth grade.
But there is also an undeniable link between Ms. Ralph's race — she is black — and whether her baby will survive: nationally, black babies are more than twice as likely as white babies to die before the age of 1. Here in Pittsburgh, the rate is five times.
So, seven months into her first pregnancy, Ms. Ralph, 20, is lying on a couch at home as a nurse from a federally financed program listens…


Scene text detection methods based on neural networks have emerged recently and have shown promising results. Previous methods trained with rigid word-level bounding boxes exhibit limitations in representing the text region in an arbitrary shape. In this paper, we propose a new scene text detection method to effectively detect text area by exploring each character and affinity between characters. To overcome the lack of individual character level annotations, our proposed framework exploits both the given character-level annotations for synthetic images and the estimated character-level ground-truths for real images acquired by the learned interim model. In order to estimate affinity between characters, the network is trained with the newly proposed representation for affinity. Extensive experiments on six benchmarks, including the TotalText and CTW-1500 datasets which contain highly curved texts in natural images, demonstrate that our character-level text detection significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art detectors. According to the results, our proposed method guarantees high flexibility in detecting complicated scene text images, such as arbitrarily-oriented, curved, or deformed texts.


BackgroundAdenine nucleotides (AdNs) are lost from the mitochondrial fraction of the heart cell during ischemia. It is unknown whether this pool of AdNs can be replenished after reperfusion. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the postischemic recovery of the mitochondrial AdN pool. Methods and ResultsThe left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) of the canine heart was occluded for 30 minutes followed by either no reflow, 30-minute reflow, 1-day reflow, or 7-day reflow. Systolic shortening in the TAD-supplied region was absent during occlusion but recovered to approximately 30% of preocclusion values during early reperfusion. Mitochondrial and tissue AdNs (ATP, ADP, and AMP) were determined in the LAD-supplied and left circumflex-supplied (control) regions of the heart. The AdN content (expressed as percent of control values) of mitochondria from the LAD region was 55±101% (p<0.002), 64±7% (p<0.001), 81±6% (p<0.03), and 94±8% for the no-reflow, 30-minutereflow, 1-day-reflow, and 7-day-reflow groups, respectively. The AdN content (expressed as percent of control values) of tissue samples from the LAD region was 52±9% (p<0.002), 48±12% (p<0.02), 68±5% (p<0.002), and 70±9% for the no-reflow, 30-minute-reflow, 1-day-reflow, and 7-day-reflow groups, respectively. There was a good correlation between mitochondrial and tissue AdN (r=0.95). Using initial exchange rates, adenine nucleotide translocase activities of mitochondria from the LAD and control regions were not significantly different. State 3 respiration of LAD mitochondria was depressed (approximately 25%, p<0.05) only in the no-reflow group. Acceptor control ratios of the LAD mitochondria were not significantly different from control values in any group. Conclsions. After 30 minutes of regional ischemia, postischemic restoration of the mitochondrial AdN pool occurs between 1 and 7 days; this restoration is preceded by recovery of respiratory and adenine nucleotide translocase functions. Although the abnormally low levels ofAdN persist in the mitochondrial compartment during the early reperfusion period, postischemic contractile dysfunction cannot be explained by depressed mitochondrial respiratory activity.


Accurate estimates of pedestrian volume are important for analyzing pedestrian movement and safety; methods to estimate these volumes are continuously evolving and being improved. However, relatively little is known about the impact of weather conditions on pedestrian activity. This paper evaluates the effect of weather by including temperature, cloud cover, wind, and precipitation variables in a linear regression model of pedestrian volumes. Pedestrian volumes were collected over approximately one year using automated counters at 13 different locations in Alameda County, California. These volumes were compared with weather data available from nearby weather stations. Results show that several weather variables had a significant influence on pedestrian volumes during certain time periods. Rain had the largest effect on pedestrian volumes at a given location, though clouds, wind, and both hot and cold temperatures were also shown to decrease volumes. This study demonstrates the importance of accounting for weather when analyzing pedestrian volumes. Future research should attempt to understand how the effect of weather conditions on pedestrian volumes varies by geographic region, time period, and local land use and site characteristics.


DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2310-3833/2017/vol48n3a3 South African Journal of Occupational Therapy. 2018; 48 (3):12-18. Introduction: Bereavement is a complex process characterised by a state of grief and suffering, which impacts the health and well-being of the bereaved, and extends to their occupational performance. Thus, occupation can be understood to be central in the expression of bereavement after the death of a loved one as it mediates identity formation, interpersonal relationships, a sense of belonging, and future perspectives. Purpose : To review English and Portuguese literature and identify how occupational therapists perceive and/or intervene in the bereavement process. Method: A meta-synthesis was conducted by database search and article analysis. Results and Discussion : Eight qualitative style articles were analysed. From these, three categories were derived from the content analysis: 1) Relationship between study participants and the deceased; 2) Occupational repercussions of bereavement; and 3) Occupation as a means to an end in the therapy process of the bereaved. Conclusions: Although the need for studies of the bereavement process and its implications for occupations is urgent, this study points out that occupations can be predictors of understanding the elaboration process through occupational engagement and that they also act as a potential resource to construct meaning about the death of the loved one.  Keywords: Occupational therapy, bereavement, grief, mourning, attitude to death


The Healthy and Biologically Diverse Seas Evidence Group (HBDSEG) has been tasked with providing the technical advice for the implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) with respect to descriptors linked to biodiversity. A workshop was held in London to address one of the Research and Development (R&D) proposals entitled: 'Mapping the extent and distribution of habitats using acoustic and remote techniques, relevant to indicators for area/extent/habitat loss.' The aim of the workshop was to identify, define and assess the feasibility of potential indicators of benthic habitat distribution and extent, and identify the R&D work which could be required to fully develop these indicators.

The main points that came out of the workshop were:

(i) There are many technical aspects of marine habitat mapping that still need to be resolved if cost-effective spatial indicators are to be developed. Many of the technical aspects that need addressing surround issues of consistency, confidence and repeatability. These areas should be tackled by the JNCC Habitat Mapping and Classification Working Group and the HBDSEG Seabed Mapping Working Group.

(ii) There is a need for benthic ecologists (through the HBDSEG Benthic Habitats Subgroup and the JNCC Marine Indicators Group) to finalise the list of habitats for which extent and/or distribution indicators should be considered for development, building upon the recommendations from this report. When reviewing the list of indicators, benthic habitats could also be distinguished into those habitats that are defined/determined primarily by physical parameters (although including biological assemblages) (e.g. subtidal shallow sand) and those defined primarily by their biological assemblage (e.g. seagrass beds). This distinction is important as some anthropogenic pressures may influence the biological component of the ecosystem despite not having a quantifiable effect on the physical habitat distribution/extent.

(iii) The scale and variety of UK benthic habitats makes any attempt to undertake comprehensive direct mapping exercises prohibitively expensive (especially where there is a need for repeat surveys for assessment). There is a clear need therefore to develop a risk-based approach that uses indirect indicators (e.g. modelling), such as habitats at risk from pressures caused by current human activities, to develop priorities for information gathering.

The next steps that came out of the workshop were:

(i) A combined approach should be developed by the JNCC Marine Indicators Group together with the HBDSEG Benthic Habitats Subgroup, which will compile and ultimately synthesise all the criteria used by the three different groups from the workshop. The agreed combined approach will be used to undertake a final review of the habitats considered during the workshop, and to evaluate any remaining habitats in order to produce a list of habitats for indicator development for which extent and/or distribution indicators could be appropriate.

(ii) The points of advice raised at this workshop, alongside the combined approach aforementioned, and the final list of habitats for extent and/or distribution indicator development will be used to develop a prioritised list of actions to inform the next round of R&D proposals for benthic habitat indicator development in 2014. This will be done through technical discussions within JNCC and the relevant HBDSEG Subgroups. The preparation of recommendations by these groups should take into account existing work programmes, and consider the limited resources available to undertake any further R&D work.


Purpose: Sitting for a long time is considered to be one of the most important disease risks. Therefore, individual-specific arrangements in the early period can prevent these diseases. This study was aimed to assess the suitability of school desk and chair for Turkish population with current anthropometric measurements and find out the impact of this on the same participants' life quality. Method: The students of the School of Health Science (N=153) made up the sample for this study. 14 different anthropometric measurements were taken from the participants and they were required to fill in the WHOQOL-Bref Life Quality Scale for the last month in the study. Result: Statistically no significant difference was determined in regards of general and sub-parameters of life quality points such as physical and environmental points between sample female (n=81) and male (n=72) population (p>0.05). Some fit and unfit measurements for desk dimensions were determined when anthropometric measurements of desk dimensions were analyzed minimally and maximally (5–95%) in terms of gender. Conclusion: In this study musculoskeletal disorders owing to the long term use of ergonomically unsuitable desks by determining fit and unfit measurements in desk dimensions and the effect of this on life quality are explained. Also norm values for new furniture designs were determined by calculating anthropometric measurements that must be updated termly for the continuously changing population.


certainty of punishment or severity ? What is the effect on B of punishment inflicted on A ? He does not consider that penalties can serve as a sufficient instrument of road safety. He then discusses the various shibboleths which are in current usage, but has little to offer as alternative remedies. He concludes by urging research into electronic traffic control by cables built into the roads. While this dream may some day come true it is impractical to include it in a book intended for general reading today. Mrs. Preston, a junior colleague of Professor Cohen, deals pragmatically with accident data in the second section of the book. She uses statistics to good purpose in examining possible safety measures and illustrates them graphically. For example, the use of safety harness has saved many lives. Parliament has already recognized this, but it is one thing to require safetybelts to be fitted to all cars and another to enforce their use. Naturally horrified by the road carnage, Mrs. Preston calls for more laws and severer penalties. Her chapter on legislation and enforcement suggests a latent hostility to the motorist, yet he is neither unduly wise nor foolish, and wishes to avoid accidents, but is plunged willy nilly into hazardous surroundings. Mrs. Preston suggests that subconsciously many people enjoy the risk, the power, the freedom, and the privacy of motoring. Can this attitude be eliminated ? She suggests better public transport and a number of safety measures which would reduce accidents. Whether they could be enforced is arguable. Safety measures will only be passed by Parliament when it is felt that people wish for them. GAVIN THURSTON.


This Internet-Draft describes the Vulnerability Data Model (VDM)
version 1.0, a vendor neutral data model for expressing data and
metadata for individual vulnerabilities, and an XML format that can be
used to exchange vulnerability data model information. VDM provides
standard fields, formats and vocabularies that can be used to transmit
information about software vulnerabilities between entities in an
interoperable manner. VDM is suited for a wide variety of use cases,
and provides extension points to facilitate additional use cases.


The aim of this paper is to describe the avoidant personality disorder and to analyse the avoidant profile of Arthur Schopenhauer. We begin the paper with the description of the behavior, relationships, cognitive style, affectivity and self-concept of people suffering from avoidant personality disorder. Such pattern is characterized by hypersensitivity to be rejected by others, resulting in avoidance of social situations in which he/she may feel rejected. He/she maintains the desire of close relationships but avoids relationships with people who do not show unconditional acceptance in order to avoid negative emotions. He/she isn´t isolated for being affectively cold, but because he/she is anxious. After describing the pattern that characterizes avoidant personality disorder, we analyze the possible causes of and the factors influencing the development of the disorder. We show the criteria used for the diagnosis as well as the aims that are set and the therapies that are implemented for its treatment. Finally, we analyse the personality of such a relevant philosopher as Schopenhauer, who might have suffered from this disorder. We provide data of his biography and philosophy and we end the paper describing his psychological profile.


Podocytes are dynamic polarized cells that lie on the surface of glomerular capillaries and comprise an essential component of the glomerular filitration barrier. Podocytes are affected in the earliest stages of diabetic nephropathy and insulin signaling to podocytes is essential for normal glomerular function. Large‐conductance Ca2+‐activated K+ channels (BKCa channels) encoded by the Slo1 gene are expressed in podocytes in a complex with multiple glomerular slit diaphragm proteins including nephrin, TRPC6 channels, and several different actin‐binding proteins. Here we show that insulin increases cell surface expression of podocyte BKCa channels, which is accompanied by a corresponding increase in the density of current flowing through these channels. Insulin stimulation of BKCa channels was detectable in 15 min and required activation of both Erk and Akt signaling cascades. Exposure to high glucose (36.1 mM) for 24 h caused a marked reduction in the steady‐state surface expression of BKCa channels as well as of the slit diaphragm signaling molecule nephrin. High glucose treatment also abolished the stimulatory effects of insulin on BKCa current density, although insulin continued to increase phosphorylation of Erk and Akt under those conditions. Therefore, in contrast to most other cell types, high glucose abrogates the effects of insulin in podocytes at relatively distal steps in its signaling pathway. Insulin stimulation of BKCa channels in podocytes may prepare podocytes to adapt to changes in pressure gradients that occur during postprandial hyperfiltration. J. Cell. Physiol. 226: 2307–2315, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


PURPOSE
To report a case of bilateral, ring-shaped, intrastromal corneal opacities after corneal cross-linking (CXL) for progressive keratoconus.

METHODS
A 21-year-old man with bilateral, progressive keratoconus underwent CXL with riboflavin 0.1% and ultraviolet A (UVA) light in the right eye and, 6 months later, in the left eye.

RESULTS
One day after CXL, the right eye showed a sharply demarcated white ring in the corneal periphery. The ring involved the superficial stroma at 2 mm from the limbus, extended from 1 to 11 o'clock, and was 1.5-mm wide. Corneal topography showed marked central flattening. Six months after treatment, a residual, faint, ring-shaped opacity remained, with a decrease in corneal ectasia. Cross-linking was then performed in the left eye. Different ultraviolet devices were used in the two eyes. On postoperative day 1, the left eye also showed a white ring of stromal opacity. Scheimpflug imaging showed corneal stromal contraction in the zone of whitening. At final examination, >1 year after surgery, corrected visual acuity was 0.00 logMAR with cylinder of 2.00 diopters in both eyes.

CONCLUSIONS
The bilateral intrastromal corneal changes were innocuous in the long-term, with preservation of good visual acuity and successful stabilization of progressive keratoconus.


The fluid field of the electroless plating bath was analyzed using a Computational Fluid Dynamics Tool. By solving continuity and momentum equations, the pressure and velocity distributions in the plating bath were predicted. The analysis was performed under various design options: flow direction, flowrate, diffuser plate design, and wafer cassette design. It was found that with the reverse flow option; it seems to deliver uniform flow as compared to the forward flow option. Flow pattern was similar among different flowrates and diffuser designs. Low velocity flow always existed at the top portion of the wafer and near the last row of the wafer cassette. With the hypothesis that slower flowrate results in higher plating rate; a qualitative agreement has been observed between the predicted flow pattern and the plated nickel height uniformity.


This paper explores the key developments in thin film resistive trimming geometry for use in the fabrication of discrete precision resistors. Firstly an introduction to the laser trimming process is given with respect to well established trim geometries such as the plunge, 'L' and serpentine cuts. The effect of these trim patterns on key electrical properties of resistance tolerance and temperature co-efficient of resistance (TCR) of the thin films is then discussed before the performance of more recent geometries such as the three-contact and random trim approaches are reviewed. In addition to the properties of the standard trim patterns, the concept of the heat affected zone (HAZ) and ablation energy and the effect of introducing a 'fine' trim in areas of low current density to improve device performance are also studied. It is shown how trimming geometry and laser parameters can be systematically controlled to produce thin film resistors of the required properties for varying applications such as high precision, long term stability and high power pulse performance.


This paper introduces a sentiment analysis method suitable to the human-agent and face-to-face interactions. We present the positioning of our system and its evaluation protocol according to the existing sentiment analysis literature and detail how the proposed system integrates the human-agent interaction issues. Finally, we provide an in-depth analysis of the results obtained by the evaluation, opening the discussion on the different difficulties and the remaining challenges of sentiment analysis in human-agent interactions.


Abstract: The results of measuring the power of Hydrogen (pH) of 5.5 mg/l and Total Dissolved Solid (TDS) of 3.20 mg/l level of water wells in a village, including in a school of Madrasah Tsanawiyah Negeri 5 in Tanjung Medan Rokan Hulu is considered not within permissible limit of World Health Organization (WHO) standards. For that reason, experimental research was conducted by firstly designing and making a water filtration device from Polyvinyl Chloride pipe of 4 inch in diameter, 100cm long, and 1 inch channel in and out. With the green method treatment, the biochar used are Coconut Shell Charcoal (CSC) and Bagasse Charcoal (BC), with additives material such as River Sand (RS), Fiber Palm (FP), and Crushed Gravel (CG). The results of the analysis prove that the best performance of Biochar in Water Filtration (BWF) to increase the content the pH of water to 89.09% is done by Coconut Shell Charcoal (CSC) biochar. While the best for reducing the water TDS level is performed by Bagasse Charcoal (BC) at 64.06%. The performance for pH increases and at the same time decreases the TDS level of water is done by Bagasse Charcoal (BC) biochar with a pH of 7.8 mg/l, and a TDS of 1.15 mg/l. Meanwhile, the filtration combination matrix that produces water according to the WHO standard permissible criteria is (A6+B6+C6+D1+E6), (A6+B6+C2+D2+E6), (A6+B6+C3+D3+E6), (A6+B6+C4+D4+E6), and (A6+B6+C5+D5+E6), as well (A6+B6+C1+D6+E6). So, it can be concluded that Biochar in Water Filtration (BWF) needs to be developed.


The long-term environmental monitoring program for the Lake Allatoona/Upper Etowah River Watershed (LAUE) is probability-based and rotating basins, with sites randomly selected and stratified within nested 12and 10-digit USGS HUC subwatersheds. Sampling and analysis for the ecological monitoring component of the WA began in December 2005 and years 2 and 3 in November/December 2006 and 2007, respectively. As a result, ecological assessments (based on physical habitat, geomorphology, water chemistry, and biology [benthic macroinvertebrates (i.e., aquatic insects, snails, and worms)]) have been completed for 158 stream and river locations distributed throughout the upper watershed, and at 11 sites targeted for different land use activities. Three years of ecological monitoring has resulted in a cumulative master list of 334 genera of benthic macroinvertebrates representing 124 families. Using a multimetric index (MMI) calibrated for Georgia Level 3 ecoregions, biological data were organized and interpreted in the context of composite characteristics (metrics) relative to reference conditions. Forty-two (42) percent of the sites were rated as either poor or very poor, which translates to 1,225 kilometers (km) of biologically degraded channel length in the LAUE. Overall, the LAUE is in need of stressor reduction; however, there are specific areas of the watershed (described as 10and 12-digit HUC subwatersheds, and individual streams) that are in better condition, and would benefit from activities preventing or minimizing the introduction of new stressor sources; there are others in need of stressor reduction.


Recently, remote user authentication schemes are implemented on elliptic curve crypto-System (ECC) to reduce the computation loads for mobile devices. However, most remote user authentication schemes on ECC are based on public-key cryptosystem, in which the Public key in the system requires the associated certificate to prove its validity. Thus, the user needs to perform additional computations to verify the certificate in these schemes. In addition, we find these schemes do not provide mutual authentication or a session key agreement between the user and the remote server. Therefore, we propose an ID-based remote mutual authentication with key agreement scheme on ECC in this paper. Moreover, we adopt multi-servers to realize the scheme's scalability. Compared with the related works, the proposed scheme is more efficient and practical for distributed or portable devices.


Several classification schemes have been proposed for thoracolumbar spinal injuries over the years, with the goal of facilitating communication and streamlining selection of optimal treatment strategies. None of these have achieved universal acceptance. An ideal classification system is expected to categorize injuries in a way that permits identification of any injury, uses concise and descriptive terminology, reflects the mechanism of injury and biomechanical forces involved, guides choice of treatment, has easily recognizable clinical and radiological characteristics, describes and grades the severity of neurological injury, grades both osseous and ligamentous injury, and predicts the natural history and treatment end results (1).


Nature employs travelling waves to generate propulsion of fluids, cells and organisms. This has inspired the development of responsive material systems based on different external triggers. Especially light-actuation is suitable because of its remote control and scalability, but often complex, moving light sources are required. Here, we developed a method that only requires flood exposure by rotating the linear polarization of light to generate propagating surface waves on azobenzene-modified liquid crystalline polymer films. We built a photomechanical computational model that accounts for the attenuation of polarized light and trans-to-cis isomerization of azobenzene. A non-uniform in-plane distribution of the liquid crystal molecules allows for the generation of travelling surface waves whose amplitude, speed and direction can be controlled through the intensity, rotation direction and rotation speed of the linear polarization of a light source. Our method opens new avenues for motion control based on light-responsive topographical transformations for application in microfluidic lab-on-chip systems and soft robotics.


In the present study the authors assessed chemical stability of four light-cured orthodontic adhesives: Contec LC, Transbond XT, Transbond Plus, Resilience, with respect to temperature of the external environment. Polymerized samples of orthodontic adhesives were treated with pH 7 phosphate-citrate buffer solutions based on HPLC-grade water at 20, 36 and 50 °C. After 1 hour, 24 hours and 7 days of sample incubation, the obtained eluates were analyzed using the high performance liquid chromatography method (HPLC) which confirmed the presence of triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) monomer in solutions obtained after incubation of Contec LC, Resilience and Transbond XT samples. The presence of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) monomer was also detected in eluates obtained from the Resilience adhesive. The eluates obtained after storage of Transbond Plus adhesive system were free of the sought substances. TEGDMA monomer concentrations were highest in the eluates obtained after 1 hour of incubation, the lowest after 7 days of storage of orthodontic adhesive samples, regardless of the temperature of the phosphate-citrate buffer. In addition, there were statistically significant differences in concentrations of monomers depending on the tested adhesive system. The rate of degradation of orthodontic adhesives based on a polymer network may also be adversely affected by an increase in ambient temperature.


Abstract. An experiment was conducted to study the influences of nitrification inhibitor (NI) and biochar incorporation on yield-scaled N2O using the static chamber method and gas chromatography in an intensively managed vegetable field with seven consecutive vegetable crops from 2012 to 2014 in southeastern China. With an equal annual nitrogen (N) application rate (1217 kg N ha-1 yr-1), six treatments under three biochar amendment rates – namely, 0 t ha-1 (C0), 20 t ha-1 (C1) and 40 t ha-1 (C2) – with compound fertilizer (CF) or urea mixed with NI of nitrapyrin as chlorinated pyridine (CP) were studied in these field experiments. The results showed that, although there was no significant influence on soil organic carbon (SOC) content or total nitrogen (TN), nitrapyrin could result in a significant increase in soil pH during the experimental period. Nitrapyrin significantly decreased cumulative N2O emissions by 15.9–32.1% while increasing vegetable yield by 9.8–41.9%. Thus, it also decreased yield-scaled N2O emissions significantly. In addition to the differential responses of the soil pH, biochar amendment significantly increased SOC and TN. Compared with the treatments without biochar addition, the cumulative N2O emissions showed no significant difference in the CF or the CP group treatments but increased slightly (not significantly) by 7.9–18.3% in the CP group treatments. Vegetable yield was enhanced by 7.1–49.5% in the CF group treatments compared with the treatments without biochar amendment, while there was no significant difference in the CP group treatments, and the yield-scaled N2O emissions were thus decreased significantly. Furthermore, treatments involving with nitrapyrin and biochar incorporation slightly increased yield-scaled N2O emissions by 9.4%, on average, compared with CP-C0. Therefore, the application of nitrapyrin could serve as an appropriate practice for increasing vegetable yield and mitigating N2O emissions in intensively managed vegetable fields and should be further examined in various agroecosystems.


We used an exercise paradigm with repeated bouts of heavy forearm exercise to test the hypothesis that alterations in local acid-base environment that remain after the first exercise result in greater blood flow and O(2) delivery at the onset of the second bout of exercise. Two bouts of handgrip exercise at 75% peak workload were performed for 5 min, separated by 5 min of recovery. We continuously measured blood flow using Doppler ultrasound and sampled venous blood for O(2) content, PCO(2), pH, and lactate and potassium concentrations, and we calculated muscle O(2) uptake (VO(2)). Forearm blood flow was elevated before the second exercise compared with the first and remained higher during the first 30 s of exercise (234 +/- 18 vs. 187 +/- 4 ml/min, P < 0.05). Flow was not different at 5 min. Arteriovenous O(2) content difference was lower before the second bout (4.6 +/- 0.9 vs. 7.2 +/- 0.7 ml O(2)/dl) and higher by 30 s of exercise (11.2 +/- 0.7 vs. 10.8 +/- 0.7 ml O(2)/dl, P < 0. 05). Muscle VO(2) was unchanged before the start of exercise but was elevated during the first 30 s of the transition to the second exercise bout (26.0 +/- 2.1 vs. 20.0 +/- 0.9 ml/min, P < 0.05). Changes in venous blood PCO(2), pH, and lactate concentration were consistent with reduced reliance on anaerobic glycolysis at the onset of the second exercise bout. These data show that limitations of muscle blood flow can restrict the adaptation of oxidative metabolism at the onset of heavy muscular exertion.


Comorbidity between SCARED anxiety factors and depressive symptomatology in 8- to 12-yearold children. The aim of this study was to examine the comorbidity between the SCARED anxiety factors and depressive symptoms in 8-12-year-old children. Participants were 792 girls and 715 boys, who completed: the 41-item version of the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorder (SCARED), the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and a Socio-demographic questionnaire. Of the sample, 47% showed anxiety symptoms and 11.5% showed depressive symptoms. Heterotypic comorbidity was 82% in children at risk of depression and 20% in children at risk of anxiety. Homotypic Comorbidity between anxiety factors was 87%. Homotypic comorbidity and heterotypic comorbidity were high; their early detection will prevent the continuity of an anxious disorder and the development of depression.


Social historians have been systematically examining family households in the past for some four decades now: a long enough period of time for this kind of research to have developed a history of its own. In its ®rst phase, there was a plenitude of comparative investigations of households according to structural type, as far back as sources would permit. In the second, researchers worried that the household was being studied far too much in isolation from other social con®gurations and too frequently as a static, timeless, entity. The third phase (the present) ®nds the historical study of family households paying proper attention to their embeddedness in larger social contexts and in the ̄ow of time, but also somewhat frustrated at the inability of historical sources to provide an unambiguous picture of what went on `̀ inside'' these microentities. With respect to inner workings, research on the historical household is still mostly an exercise in inference and educated guesswork. Given the nature of most historical sources, the internal history of the family household is likely to remain mostly hidden, especially for the distant past. The serious exploitation of various kinds of written personal testimonies makes the recent past somewhat more transparent, however. This fact renders The Domestic Domain a very useful work, because the authors focus precisely on ways of explicating `̀ what goes on inside the `black box' of households'' (p. 1). Though the book was not written for historians, (the authors are members of the Department of Economics and Management at Wageningen Agricultural University), it neatly summarizes the theoretical approaches to the family household in various contemporary family sciences, and effectively discusses the multiplicity of approaches useful for understanding what transpires (and, perhaps, transpired in the past) inside `̀ the black box''. The work is thus a useful addition to the social science literature that has been part of historical family-household studies from the beginning. (It should be remembered that the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structures envisaged and portrayed its early investigations as an exercise in `̀ historical sociology'', and that the anthropologist Jack Goody, from whose writings the title of the present work ± `̀ domestic domain'' ± was drawn, authored a valuable chapter in the landmark publication, Family and Household in Past Time.)1 Pennartz and Niehof have organized their book rather schematically. An introductory chapter lays out the theoretical justi®cation for considering the family household as an `̀ active agent'' (p. 5), rather than as only as an epiphenomenal battleground for larger social forces. The next seven chapters review the `̀ approaches'' with the help of which an understanding of the inner dynamics of the family household have been sought. The family household can be envisaged as a locus of rational choice (ch. 2), of reasoned action and planned behavior. It can also be looked at as a site in which household strategies of various kinds (ch. 3) are formulated and coordinated. In allocating resources, the household reveals


This paper discusses language use at a workplace in a context of instability and diversity. Its focus is on the operating theatre, where communication is an integral part of complex, collaborative tasks, impacting on patient-safety, staff well-being and overall quality of health care. In the operating theatre health care professionals gather to work on the recurring task of surgical operations, in teams that exist only for the duration or parts of the task. Not only do the members of these unstable teams have different professional backgrounds, such as surgery and nursing, they also draw on different, social, cultural and linguistic resources. The paper shows how this instability and diversity which is so characteristic of contemporary society plays out in the moment-by-moment use of language at the operating table. On the basis of prolonged fieldwork in a London hospital and a unique set of audio- and video-recordings we show how surgeons formulate requests and how nurses and surgical trainees disambiguate these requests on the basis of their prior experiences with surgical instruments and equipment, the surgical procedure, and, crucially, the surgeon's ‗idiolect'. We analyze instances where this process of disambiguation is highly successful, as well as examples where it is not. We tease out the strategies that nurses and surgeons deploy to deal with this ambiguity and explore ways to deal with instability and diversity in professional communication.


Antisense and RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated gene silencing systems are powerful reverse genetic methods for studying gene function. Most RNAi and antisense experiments used constitutive promoters to drive the expression of RNAi/antisense transgenes; however, several reports showed that constitutive promoters were not expressed in all cell types in cereal plants, suggesting that the constitutive promoter systems are not effective for silencing gene expression in certain tissues/organs. To develop an alternative method that complements the constitutive promoter systems, we constructed RNAi and/or antisense transgenes for four rice genes using a constitutive promoter or a cognate promoter of a selected rice target gene and generated many independent transgenic lines. Genetic, molecular, and phenotypic analyses of these RNAi/antisense transgenic rice plants, in comparison to previously-reported transgenic lines that silenced similar genes, revealed that expression of the cognate promoter-driven RNAi/antisense transgenes resulted in novel growth/developmental defects that were not observed in transgenic lines expressing constitutive promoter-driven gene-silencing transgenes of the same target genes. Our results strongly suggested that expression of RNAi/antisense transgenes by cognate promoters of target genes is a better gene-silencing approach to discovery gene function in rice.


BACKGROUD
The function of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is to terminate synaptic transmission by hydrolysing the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh) in the synaptic cleft, and thus it is an effective target for organophosphate (OP) and carbamate (CB) insecticides.

RESULTS
The transcript levels of the four Ace genes were dramatically suppressed by injection of their respective dsRNA in Rhopalosiphum padi and Sitobion avenae. However, the AChE activity changes in the Ace1 knockdown aphids were consistent with the significant transcript level changes of Ace1 genes in these aphids, but not for Ace2. Bioassay results indicated that the suppression of RpAce1 increased its susceptibilities to pirimicarb and malathion, and SaAce1 silencing also increased susceptibility to pirimicarb in S. avenae, whereas the knockdowns of RpAce2 and SaAce2 had a slight effect on their susceptibilities. The knockdown of Ace1 genes also caused significant reductions in fecundity in the aphids of their parental generation.

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that AChE1 is a predominant cholinergic enzyme and is the target of anticholinesterase insecticides in both R. padi and S. avenae. It also plays a non-cholinergic role in fecundity of these aphids. AChE2 may also be important for the toxicological function, although its importance appeared to be lower than that of AChE1.


Fifteen patients with stage III and IV diffuse histiocytic lymphoma were treated with combination chemotherapy: cyclophosphamide, vincristine sulfate, prednisone, and procarbazine hydrochloride (COPP). Eight achieved a complete clinical remission. Of these, five relapsed, but remission was reinduced in three of these. Median survival of partial responders was 52 weeks compared to more than 129 weeks for complete responders. Complete clinical remission in diffuse histiocytic lymphomas did not presage a long disease-free interval as has been reported in biopsy proved remission series. Biopsy and staging by pathologic examination appear necessary to document remission in this disease.