Clinical supervision is effective for preventing the burnout of community mental health professionals. However, the tacit knowledge of the clinical supervisors who assessed the issues associated with community mental health care has not yet been elucidated. The purpose of this study was to clarify the assessment strategies used by clinical supervisors who are focused on community mental health care. This was a cross-sectional study, in which content analysis was performed on the supervisors' advices regarding the assessment of each community mental healthcare professional. Among the 309 cases, we identified 2 main types of assessment strategies used by clinical supervisors, namely, 'clarification of the present and future health issues of the person with mental illness and his/her family' and 'consideration of a support plan for the person with mental illness and his/her family'. The clinical supervisors assessed the health issues and future problems of the person with mental illness and their family, and also identified inappropriate care provided by the community mental health professionals. Our findings contribute towards improving the quality of care for people with mental illness and their families. Our results indicated that clinical supervisors try to communicate effectively with professionals from multiple disciplines, to enhance collaboration between professionals, and to prevent the burnout of mental health professionals.


Without a preventive vaccine, hepatitis C virus (HCV) remains an important pathogen worldwide with millions of carriers at risk of end-stage liver diseases. Despite the introduction of novel direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), resistance problems, challenges with the difficult-to-treat populations and high costs limit the widespread application of these drugs. Antivirals with alternative mechanism(s) of action, such as by restricting viral entry or cell-to-cell spread, could help expand the scope of antiviral strategies for the management of hepatitis C. Transfusion-associated HCV infection remains another issue in endemic and resource-limited areas around the world. This chapter describes some of the latest developments in antiviral strategies to preclude HCV entry, such as through monoclonal antibodies and small molecules, as well as measures to enhance the safety of therapeutic plasma products in blood transfusion.


The results of the effect of preliminary thermal-cyclic deformation on the microstructure of hot-rolled low-carbon steel Ст3пс are presented. It is shown that the regime of thermal-cyclic rolling leads to a decrease in the average grain size of ferrite from 8 to 6 microns in comparison with the structure of steel after industrial production. There is a decrease in the size of pearlite colonies and their volume fraction in the structure of steel after using thermal-cyclic deformation. The results of the effect of heat treatment: normalization and tempering on the electrical resistivity of the hot-rolled carbon steel sheet Ст3пс produced using thermal-cyclic mode of deformation processing (DTCT). DTCT preliminary thermal-cyclic was rolled (5 cycles at a reduction of 10-15 % in each cycle and cooled to a temperature below the Ar1). And normalizing annealing was carried out in the range from 100 to 900 °C increments to 100 °C for 1 hour. The possibility to reduce the magnitude of the specific electrical resistance of the hot-rolled steel manufactured using DTCT mode through the use of subsequent normalizing at 700 °C on average 10 %, and by annealing – no more than 5 %. A further increase in the time of normalization at 700 °C to 3, 5 and 10 hours has no significant effect on the value of the electrical resistance of the steel subjected DTCT. However, the downward trend in resistivity is maintained. Overall reduction of electrical resistivity of the hot-rolled steel Ст3пс by using mode DTCT and subsequent normalizing at 700 °C for 1 hour is more than 12 %.


Affecting audiences with depictions of suffering and injustice is a key function of tragedy, and yet it has long been viewed by philosophers as a dubious enterprise. In this book Thomas Gould uses both historical and theoretical approaches to explore tragedy and its power to gratify readers and audiences. He takes as his starting point Plato's moral and psychological objections to tragedy, and the conflict he recognized between "poetry"--the exploitation of our yearning to see ourselves as victims--and "philosophy"--the insistence that all good people are happy. Plato's objections to tragedy are shown to be an essential feature of Socratic rationalism and to constitute a formidable challenge even today. Gould makes a case for the rightness and psychological necessity of violence and suffering in literature, art, and religion, but he distinguishes between depictions of violence that elicit sympathy only for the victims and those that cause us to sympathize entirely with the perpetrators. It is chiefly the former, Gould argues, that fuel our responses not only to true tragedy but also to religious myths and critical displays of political rage. Originally published in 1990. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


Abstract Several weedy red rice populations have evolved resistance to imidazolinone herbicides worldwide. The understanding of the factors related to the herbicide resistance in weedy red rice is important to prevent its occurrence in new areas where imidazolinone-resistant rice cultivars are being used, and to manage the new rice cultivars resistant to herbicides with modes of action other than the acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibitors that are being developed. The objectives of this study were to analyze the relationship of weedy red rice populations from southern Brazil with rice cultivars and wild Oryza species and to evaluate the occurrence of introgression from rice cultivars and seed migration as the origin of resistance to imidazolinone herbicides in weedy rice. The study was based on 27 weedy red rice populations, seven rice cultivars, and four wild Oryza species that were genotyped with 24 simple sequence repeats and three ALS-specific single-nucleotide polymorphism markers. A large proportion of the genetic variation of the weedy red rice populations was found within (74%) rather than among populations (26%). The weedy red rice populations were more closely related to the newer rice cultivars that are imidazolinone-resistant than to the older cultivars. The South American native Oryza glumaepatula and the other wild Oryza species—Oryza rufipogon, Oryza longistaminata, and Oryza glaberrima—clustered separately from weedy red rice populations, indicating a low likelihood of introgression among weedy red rice and these wild species. Seed migration was an important factor in the genetic structure of the evaluated weedy red rice populations, although gene flow by pollen from resistant cultivars was the principal reason for the spread of herbicide resistance. Nomenclature: Weedy red rice, Oryza sativa L. ORYSA; rice, Oryza sativa L. ORYSA; brownbeard rice, Oryza rufipogon Griffiths; longstamen rice, Oryza longistaminata A. Chev. & Roehr.; and African rice, Oryza glaberrima Steud.


The 1967 edition of Harold Conn's elegant therapeutic goulash is bigger and better than ever before. This is the uncontested winner of the multi-authored textbook competition with 331 faithful co-authors straining at their oars. (This is up 16 from 1966.) This book represents a monument to the managerial genius of Dr. Conn. How he is able (1) to determine who is the expert-of-the-year in a particular area of treatment, (2) to enlist him as a contributor, and (3) to still meet an annual deadline... is sheer editorial magic. Yet he has done it each year for the past 19, and he has few repeaters. Only 96 members of the 1966 line-up made this year's team. Most of his authors are well-known, distinguished in their field of endeavor; others are less familiar. However all share a common talent—competence and experience in the management of the disease about which they write. Some


The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of feeding regime on changes in growth, mortality, carcass composition, and blood parameters of male and female broiler chickens during feed restriction and the realimentation period. In the experiment, males and females were split into three groups: i) ADL, a group fed ad libitum during the entire experiment; ii) R80, a group that received 80% ad libitum; and iii) R65, a group that received 65% ad libitum . Restriction was applied in both groups from 7 to 14 days old. Daily weight gain (DWG) was reduced significantly in males to 35% in R80 and 39% in R65, and in females to 40% in R80 and 45% in R65. Insignificant compensatory growth occurred in the last week of the growing period. Feed restriction reduced mortality, with a higher mortality reduction in the R65 groups. There was no effect of feed restriction on dressing percentage or thigh yield. However, breast yield was lower and abdominal fat yield was higher in restricted birds. There was a minor effect of feeding regime on blood biochemical and haematological measurements. Males showed significantly higher compensatory growth, feed intake, mortality and thigh yield than females, but dressing percentage and abdominal fat levels were significantly higher in females. Blood total protein and urea concentration were affected by the interaction between sex, group and age. Keywords: blood measurements, carcass yield, feed restriction, growth


This thesis begins to explore how understanding settler colonialism is significant to understanding and dismantling the prison industrial complex (PIC). Using the historical dehumanization, racialization, gendering and criminalization of California Indians as a lens reveals the way Native women specifically have become entrapped by a legal system that gives impunity to those who enact violence upon Native women but criminalize behaviors that are often associated with the trauma of victimization. I begin with the arrival of the Spanish in 1769 and closely examine the way the monjerios, the room in every mission that locked young girls and women up until marriage, functions as a site of gendering and racialization through their imprisonment and specific conditions. Building off of that work and culling from newspaper sources, the 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians formalized and codified the criminalization and carcerality of California Indians through the federal government, the state, and local communities. This specific time period marks a shift from mission and Spanish control to one of conquest by law and criminalization, which begins a period of jurisdictional law designed to leave Native women vulnerable to settlers. Later, adding to the complex matrix of jurisdictional injustice imposed on California Indians through The 1850 Act, was The Major Crimes Act, Public Law 280, Oliphant v. Suquamish, as well as other laws and policies, all which reinforce the gendered entrapment of Native women. The paper concludes by looking at the work of two California Indian women, Stormy Ogden (Pomo) and Deborah Miranda (Ohlone-Costanoan Esselen) whose voices have illuminated how the historical legacies of settler colonialism continues to impact Native women today. Their voices are significant tools to begin to dismantle the PIC through sharing stories of survival.


This article discusses the Harki reaction to Masaoud Benyoucef's play Le nom du pere. Harkis are Algerians who sided with the French during the Algerian War of Independence, tens of thousands of whom were massacred at the war's end by their compatriots. Those who managed to escape to France were incarcerated in camps, some for sixteen years. They considered the play a slur on their identity and attempted, unsuccessfully, to stop its performance. They objected to the portrayal of the protagonist, the son of a Harki, who, entrapped by his father's fateful decision, has lost his bearings and is manipulated by the Algerian military, the Islamists, and the French. ********** On March 3, 2005, Mohamed Haddouche, the president of Association Justice Information Reparation pour les Harkis France (AJIR) wrote to the president of the Conseil Regional de Haute Normandie protesting its co-production of a play, Le nom du pere (The Father's Name), by Algerian philosopher, translator, and playwright Messaoud Benyoucef. After playing in Fecamp from February 22 to 25 without incident, the play moved to Canteleu and Louviers, also in Normandy, where--under the direction of AJIR and another Harki organization, Generation Memoire--Harki protests were launched in which tracts were distributed demanding the cancellation of the play and its publicity. (1) Though there was no violence, there was, as Le Monde put it, "considerable pressure." The Harkis tried to prevent the audience from entering the theater and Claude-Alice Peyrotte, the play's director, received a menacing telephone call. While insisting on the right of free speech, the major of Louviers tried to calm the protestors and finally managed to clear the house so that the play could be performed. In early March, the two Harki organizations brought a case for defamation against the publisher of Le nom du pere, Les editions de l'embarcadere, the author, and the director of the play. Protests continued. At the beginning of June, however, when I saw the play at the Theatre de l'Epee at the Cartoucherie de Vincennes in Paris--where it had been playing for nearly a month--there were no protesters. Before the play had opened in Paris, Smail Boufhal, the president of Generation memoire, told Brigitte Salino of Le Monde that the court case has "permitted us to act as citizens. We will not intervene when the play is performed at the L'Epee-de-Bois." Neither Benyoucef, Peyrotte, nor Alice Yvernat, the director of the publishing house, had ever imagined Le nom du pere would cause such an outcry. Though the protest and ensuing case are of little significance in the annals of French law, they do raise a number of questions about the Harkis. Who were the protesters? Why did they protest? What did they expect to gain from their protests? On what grounds did they base their case? On what grounds was it finally rejected by court? The text and its performance were clearly not neutral. Was the reaction they generated simply a question of content: The power or failure of representation? Or was it triggered by form, breaches of theatrical convention, or everyday etiquette? Was it a question of publicity? Of exposure? By an outsider? To me, as to many members of the audience as well as to its author, its publisher, and the director of the play, Le nom du pere did not depict the Harkis pejoratively. Indeed, I round it sympathetic to them--to the complexities and paradoxes in which they find themselves today. (I should note that I have been doing anthropological field work among the Harkis on and off for the last several years.) Both the play itself and the Harkis' reaction raise questions of identity among a marginalized people in a modern nation-state, and to the role of memory--of a wound, pain, displaced pain, lesion--in the constitution of what I am compelled to call an ill-fitting identity. The Harki response points to the role of the possession of memory, of a wound, a trauma, in the struggle to preserve that identity, its reality and its artifice. …


Human health is significantly threatened by infectious diseases caused by viral infection. Over the years, there have been numerous virus epidemics worldwide, causing millions of deaths. Traditional antiviral medications have many problems, including poor solubility and antiviral resistance. Additionally, because different drug delivery methods have different biological barriers to overcome, the drug's bioavailability will be significantly affected. Therefore, it is essential that researchers create more effective antiviral drugs. To serve as a guide for the future development of nanosized antiviral drugs with stronger and more precise therapeutic effects, research has been performed on nanotechnology in the field of antiviral therapy. This review summarizes the recent developments in antiviral nanopharmaceuticals with different delivery routes. Research on 7 typical viruses, including COVID-19, has been included in this review. The literature contains 40% of studies on traditional drug delivery, 20% of research on innovative drug delivery techniques, and 40% of research on antiviral nanovaccines. After being loaded into nanoparticles, antiviral drugs can be delivered through several drug modes of delivery, overcoming biological barriers. Moreover, some nanoparticles themselves have the ability to combat infections, so they can be used in conjunction with antiviral medication. The use of nanoparticle medications through various routes of administration can result in their unique benefits. They can be capable of overcoming its limitations as well as retaining the advantages of this method of delivery. This will motivate researchers to conducted a new investigation on nanoparticle medicines from the standpoint of the route of administration in order to increase the practicability of antiviral medications.


Introduction: New approaches to electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) as a form of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) may reduce the rates of tobacco-related disease and mortality. Therefore, we investigated the effect of e-cigarettes on smoking cessation compared with nicotine gum. Methods: A total of 150 subjects were randomly assigned to 2 groups and each was allocated a 12-week supply of either e-cigarettes or nicotine gum. The continuous abstinence rate, 7-day point prevalence of abstinence, smoking reduction rate and amount, and tolerability were evaluated. Results: There were no statistically significant differences in the effectiveness-related parameters of smoking cessation, such as 9- to 12-week, 9- to 24-week, and 12- and 24-week point prevalence of abstinence, between the 2 groups. However, although the reduction in cigarette smoking was similar, the proportion of subjects who showed smoking reduction at 24 weeks was higher in the e-cigarette group than the nicotine gum group. In addition, adverse events were significantly less frequent in the e-cigarette group than in the nicotine gum group. Conclusions: In our study, the effect of e-cigarettes on smoking cessation was similar compared with that of nicotine gum, a well-documented NRT. In addition, e-cigarettes were well tolerated by the study population. Therefore, the use of e-cigarettes as an NRT may be considered for smoking-cessation purposes. A large-scale prospective randomized controlled trial is necessary to clarify our results.


The theoretical and experimental aspects of bubble distribution in bubbly two-phase flow are reviewed in the context of the micro bubbles present in a domestic gas fired wet central heating system. The latter systems are mostly operated through the circulation of heated standard tap water through a closed loop circuit which often results in water supersaturated with dissolved air. This leads to micro bubble nucleation at the primary heat exchanger wall, followed by detachment along the flow. Consequently, a bubbly two-phase flow characterises the flow line of such systems. The two-phase distribution across the vertical and horizontal pipes was measured through a consideration of the volumetric void fraction, quantified through photographic techniques. The bubble distribution in the vertical pipe in down flow conditions was measured to be quasi homogenous across the pipe section with a negligible reduction in t he void fraction at close proximity to the pipe wall. Such a reduction was more evident at lower bulk fluid velocities.


Effective waste management must address waste reduction, reuse, recovery/recycling and, as the least progressive option, waste treatment. The increase in plastic waste production is a serious environmental issue. Plastics consumption continues to grow and while plastic recycling has seen a significant increase since the early 1990s, consumption still far exceeds recycling. Waste plastic can, however, serve as a potential resource and, with the correct treatment, can be reused or serve as hydrocarbon raw material or as a fuel. PVC, highly versatile with many applications, is non-biodegradable and has a high Cl content (56% of the total weight). Waste PVC incineration is highly energy demanding and can result in the formation of toxic chloro-emissions with adverse ecological, environmental and public health impacts. The Cl component must be removed from any waste PVC derived gas or oil before it can be used. An overview of the existing waste plastic treatment technologies is provided with an analysis of the available literature on thermal and catalytic PVC degradation. Thermal degradation results in random scissioning of the polymer chains generating products with varying molecular weights and uncontrolled Cl content. There is a dearth of literature dealing with the catalytic dechlorination of PVC. A case study is presented to illustrate the role heterogeneous catalysis can play in PVC waste treatment. The efficacy of Pd/Al2O3 to promote PVC dechlorination is demonstrated, where a significant decrease (by up to a factor of 560) in the liquid fraction Cl content is recorded in addition to differences (relative to thermal degradation) in the gas phase product, i.e. higher C1C4 content with preferential alkane formation. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry


present study the growth data of Mehraban sheep were used to estimate direct and maternal additive genetic effects together with direct and maternal permanent environmental effects on body weight from birth to 270 days of age using random regression models. The fixed effects of the model were age of dam, type of birth and contemporary groups. Animal, dam, animal and maternal permanent environmental effects were considered as random effects. The models were fitted to the data using Legendre polynomials for age of lambs. Changes in residual (measurement error) variance with age were modeled by a variance function. Direct heritability estimates for the later ages with the least records tended to be overestimated, particularly heritability beyond 180 days. Maternal heritability estimates increased after birth to a maximum around 120 days of age and decreased thereafter. The results showed that covariance between weights of lambs for a considerable range of ages can be modelled properly using random regression.


The main purpose of this paper is to provide a comparison between the innovative-Şen and classical trend methods. Additionally, significance levels at ±5% and ±10% levels are suggested for the first time on the innovative-Şen trend template, which works with the categorisation of given data into a set of classes such as 'low', 'medium' and 'high' values. However, the classical approaches consider holistic monotonic trend identification without categorisation. Classical trend analyses methods, Mann-Kendall trend test coupled with, Şen's slope and the classical regression line, are based on a set of restrictive assumptions, but the innovative-Şen approach does not have assumptions. Application of classical methods do not present significant trend component, however, the innovative-Şen trend method provides possible trend components in each cluster within the significance limits. Although the classical approaches do not indicate a significant trend, but innovative-Şen approach provides some categorically significant trends in detail and quantitative information.


Introduction:
Low serum magnesium levels in hospitalized patients including those with cardiovascular ailments have been reported by many studies. On the other hand, magnesium therapy is advocated but has not yet been conclusively proved. In our earlier study, an association between waterborne magnesium and hypomagnesaemia in healthy subjects was reported. The present study was aimed at the contribution of waterborne magnesium among filtered and non-filtered water users in hospitalized patients.
Material and methods:
The present study was carried out at SMIMER, Surat. Ethical committee approval was taken. On informed consent, subjects from ICCU and general ward of Medicine unit were selected. Demographic and clinical information was collected. Serum magnesium, cardiac profile and renal profile were analyzed. Patients with conditions such as kidney, liver, brain and other critical illness were excluded. The results were expressed as Mean and SD and appropriate statistical tools were applied to arrive at conclusions.
Results:
Among total 557 subjects including 185 healthy subjects, 93 ICCU and 279 non-ICCU patients, the incidence of hypomagnesaemia (serum Mg < 1.7 mg/dl) was 18%, 36% and 42% was observed respectively. A significant difference (p < 0.01) in serum magnesium between filtered and non-filtered water users in healthy (1.77 ±0.36 vs 2.01 ±0.48), ICCU  (1.35 ±0.44 vs 1.72±0.55), and in non-ICCU patients (1.51 ±0.59 vs 1.77±0.51) was found. No significant difference was observed in other parameters.
Conclusion:
Significant hypomagnesaemia was observed among users of filtered water as compared to nonfiltered water users in all groups (ICCU, non-ICCU and healthy), strongly suggestive of contribution of waterborne magnesium in maintaining normal status in the population and inadequate levels may be correlated to a higher incidence of myocardial infarction as evident from the present study wherein a 42% prevalence of hypomagnesaemia in ICCU patients was found.


Evidence suggests that the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic system may be involved in cognitive dysfunction following traumatic brain injury (TBI). We investigated the effect of flumazenil treatment, a benzodiazepine antagonist approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on learning and memory in the immature rat following experimental brain injury. Post-natal day 17 rats were injured using controlled cortical impact. Systemic treatment with flumazenil at 1, 5, and 10 mg/kg was initiated on post-injury day 1 and administered for 13 days via daily intraperitoneal injections. Morris water maze (MWM) testing was used to measure latency to find a submerged platform and the results from experimental and control animals were compared. We demonstrated a significant dose-dependent improvement in MWM performance in drug-treated animals. This is the first study demonstrating the efficacy of flumazenil in reducing post-TBI cognitive deficits and we propose that these effects may be related to modulation of the GABA(A) receptor.


Abstract This report is a case of 11-year-old young boy who was diagnosed with pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) by sleep surgeon and was referred for further evaluation of co-therapy with intervention of orthodontic appliances. This patient is a growing case of skeletal class II jaw relation, hypodivergent facial pattern, large overjet and anterior deep overbite with congenitally missing premolars. The treatment contained two folds. In the first stage, functional appliance was designed to help with the skeletal jaw discrepancy. By doing so, the expansion over upper airway was also expected. In the second stage, fixed edgewise appliances were bonded for preparation of prosthetic space and improvement of occlusion. This case report will present and analyze the mechanism of treatment and the pre-and post-treatment changes over the condition of OSA, facial profile as well as the occlusion.


Biometric recognition plays a more important role in the industries and various plays to allow authenticated entry. The database would be created using the biometrics gathered from the users and authentication will be done by matching user biometric with the database. However this matching might increase the false positive rate in case of presence of salt and pepper noise in the images. This effort antagonizes a completely unique approach for screaming pel recognition and refurbishment of grey scale image victimization mirrored cellular automata (CA). The planned method eliminates salt and pepper noise from a tainted image. The planned technique permits extension lead of window size vigorously throughout great noise concentrations. The planned technique uses reflected CA supported Moore neighborhood (8-neighborhood cell). This image denoising method is examined with numerous prevailing image denoising methods like, Median filter, Switch Median (SM) filter, Directional- Weighted-Median (DWM) filter, changed DWM (MDWM), Fuzzy Cellular Automata (FCA), changed call primarily based asymmetrical cut Median Filter (MDBUTMF), and Contra mean value (CHM) filter. 3 sample pictures (Finger print, Iris, and Mandrill) of 2 completely diverse determinations (512 × 512) and (256 × 256) are engaged for the recital examination. The reflected CA is evaluated in contradiction of Peak signal-to-noise (PSNR), Mean square Error (MSE), and Structural SIMilarity (SSIM). It's ascertained that reflected CA performs higher than the opposite prevailing practices by means of PSNR.


Modern autonomous systems such as driverless vehicles need to safely operate in a wide range of conditions. A potential solution is to employ a hybrid systems approach, where safety is guaranteed in each individual mode within the system. This offsets complexity and responsibility from the individual controllers onto the complexity of determining discrete mode transitions. In this work we propose an efficient framework based on recursive neural networks and coreset data summarization to learn the transitions between an arbitrary number of controller modes that can have arbitrary complexity. Our approach allows us to efficiently gather annotation data from the large-scale datasets that are required to train such hybrid nonlinear systems to be safe under all operating conditions, favoring underexplored parts of the data. We demonstrate the construction of the embedding, and efficient detection of switching points for autonomous and non-autonomous car data. We further show how our approach enables efficient sampling of training data, to further improve either our embedding or the controllers.


Papers pp 333, 337, 343

Environmental tobacco smoke is a serious health risk to children. Regulatory measures to protect children, such as eliminating smoking in day care settings, schools, and public places, do not address their main source of exposure to tobacco smoke—their homes. Formal structures for protecting children in the home are usually only used in certain circumstances involving custody and adoption,1 and legislation to ban smoking in homes is unlikely, so other strategies to reduce children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke must be put in place.

In this issue of the BMJ , three separate but thematically related papers provide support for a comprehensive approach to protect children from environmental tobacco smoke.2–4 Jarvis et al report that much of the reduction in exposure among English children aged 11–15 that occurred between 1988 and 1998 was due to reduced prevalence of parental smoking, as well as reduced smoking …


Immigration is among the most vividly discussed topics in Europe's national parliaments in recent years, often with a particular emphasis on the inflow of Muslims. This article examines the link between articulations of national political parties (political elite discourses) and natives' attitudes toward immigrants in Europe. It provides a nuanced view of this relationship by (i) distinguishing more (inclusionary) from less (exclusionary) immigration-friendly political elites and (ii) isolating natives' openness toward two specific groups: Muslim immigrants and ethnically similar immigrants. Combining the European Social Survey with party manifesto data and other sources, the analysis reveals that political elite discourses perform better in explaining natives' attitudes compared to national demographic or economic aspects. Native Europeans' attitudes toward Muslim immigrants are more hostile in countries where political elites are more exclusionary and more welcoming where political elites are more inclusionary. In contrast, Europeans' views on ethnically similar immigrants seem largely unaffected by exclusionary political elites. These findings suggest that political elites can play an important role in fostering or impeding immigrant integration by shaping public opinion, particularly toward more marginalized immigrant groups.


IFN-gamma is an antitumor cytokine that inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis after engagement with the IFN-gamma receptors (IFNGR) expressed on target cells, whereas IFN regulatory factor 2 (IRF-2) is able to block the effects of IFN-gamma by repressing transcription of IFN-gamma-induced genes. Thus far, few studies have explored the influences of IFN-gamma on human esophageal cancer cells. In the present study, therefore, we investigated in detail the functions of IFN-gamma in esophageal cancer cells. The results in clinical samples of human esophageal cancers showed that the level of IFN-gamma was increased in tumor tissues and positively correlated with tumor progression and IRF-2 expression, whereas the level of IFNGR1 was decreased and negatively correlated with tumor progression and IRF-2 expression. Consistently, in vitro experiments showed that low concentration of IFN-gamma induced the expression of IRF-2 with potential promotion of cell growth, and moreover, IRF-2 was able to suppress IFNGR1 transcription in human esophageal cancer cells by binding a specific motif in IFNGR1 promoter, which lowered the sensitivity of esophageal cancer cells to IFN-gamma. Taken together, our results disclosed a new IRF-2-mediated inhibitory mechanism for IFN-gamma-induced pathway in esophageal cancer cells: IFN-gamma induced IRF-2 up-regulation, then up-regulated IRF-2 decreased endogenous IFNGR1 level, and finally, the loss of IFNGR1 turned to enhance the resistance of esophageal cancer cells to IFN-gamma. Accordingly, the results implied that IRF-2 might act as a mediator for the functions of IFN-gamma and IFNGR1 in human esophageal cancers.


This thesis describes field and experimental investigations on various aspects of the immunopathogenesis, diagnosis and vaccination of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and avian metapneumovirus (aMPV) in the chicken.

The immunopathogenesis of an economically important variant IBV (IS/885/00 like) seen in the Middle East and North Africa was examined in one day old specific pathogen free (SPF) and commercial broiler chicks (Chapter 3). The virus caused respiratory distress, depression and diarrhoea in both SPF and broiler chicks but the severity was milder in the latter. Mild head swelling was observed in one infected broiler chick at 15 days post infection (dpi) and virus with 100% nucleotide level similarity to the inoculum was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and virus isolation (VI). In the IS/885/00-like infected SPF chicks, cystic oviducts were found in two female chicks. IBV with 99% part S1 sequence similarity to the initial inoculum was isolated from the cystic fluid.

The protection provided by current commercial vaccines against variant IBV IS/885/00 like and IS/1494/00 like was investigated in day old commercial broiler chicks (Chapter 4). Protection was evaluated based on the clinical signs, gross lesions, tracheal ciliary scores and virus detection by RT PCR. It was found that administering combined live H120 and CR88 vaccines simultaneously at day old, followed by CR88 vaccine at 14 days old gave more than 80% ciliary protection against both of the Middle East isolates.

Cellular and local immune responses in the trachea following vaccination of day old broiler chicks with different live IBV vaccines were evaluated (Chapter 5). In addition, protection conferred against virulent IBV was also examined. All vaccination programmes were able to induce measurable levels of CD4+, CD8+ and IgA bearing B cells in the trachea following vaccination when compared to unvaccinated birds. Expression levels of CD4+ and CD8+ cells varied between the vaccinated groups. Vaccines containing Mass2 combined with 793B2 produced good protection against challenge with virulent IBV QX compared to vaccines containing Mass (Mass1 or Mass2) alone or Mass1 with D274 or CR88. All vaccination programmes produced more than 80% protection against homologous (M41 and 793B) challenge.

In Chapter 6, IBVs with high nucleotide level similarity to IS/885/00 like and IS/1494/06 like strains were detected by RT PCR in a broiler flock exhibiting high mortality and respiratory distress in Libya. For the first time, these findings have highlighted the circulation of variant IBVs in the Eastern part of Libya.
Humoral and cellular immune responses and protection studies in SPF chicks that received live Newcastle disease virus (NDV), aMPV and IBV vaccines in single, dual or triple combinations were examined (Chapter 7). Protection against virulent IBV or aMPV was not affected when the vaccines were given either singly or in combination. There were no significant differences in the mean antibody titres of the NDV-vaccinated groups and they remained above the protective titre. The mean titres of antibodies against aMPV were suppressed when aMPV vaccine was given with other live vaccines but the aMPV-vaccinated groups were fully protected when challenged with virulent aMPV. The mean titres of antibodies were similar in the IBV-vaccinated groups and all IBV-vaccinated groups gave almost 100% protection against M41 challenge. Between the vaccinated groups, there were no significant differences in the mean numbers of CD4+, CD8+ and IgA-bearing B cells, reflecting similar levels of tracheal cellular and IgA responses irrespective of single, dual or triple vaccine applications. Despite the aMPV humoral antibody suppression, the efficacy of the live vaccines was not compromised when they were given simultaneously to young SPF chicks.
Comparative studies in day old SPF chicks using both aMPV subtype A or B, separately or in combination, were evaluated (Chapter 8). There were significant differences in the degree of the clinical signs induced by the single subtypes A, B or A+B given together, with most severe signs observed in the latter two groups. By RT-PCR or VI, subtype B virus persisted longer than subtype A. Even though similar titres of the viruses were used, birds given subtype B alone or in combination showed a greater increase in antibody titres than those given A. These findings demonstrate that for the two strains used, subtype B was more pathogenic than subtype A and was excreted and persisted in the tissues for longer.
The use of Flinders Technology Associates (FTA) cards for detection of several avian pathogens has been previously reported. To date, no information has been published on the use of FTA cards for detection of aMPV. In Chapter 9, the feasibility of using FTA cards for the molecular detection of aMPV subtype A and B by RT-PCR was investigated. Findings showed that FTA cards are suitable for collecting and transporting aMPV-positive samples, providing a reliable and hazard-free source of RNA for molecular characterization.


The aim of this study is to validate the Video Game-Related Experiences Questionnaire (CERV in Spanish). The questionnaire consists of 17 items, developed from the CERI (Internet-Related Experiences Questionnaire - Beranuy and cols.), and assesses the problematic use of non-massive video games. It was validated for adolescents in Compulsory Secondary Education. To validate the questionnaire, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and an internal consistency analysis were carried out. The factor structure shows two factors: (a) Psychological dependence and use for evasion; and (b) Negative consequences of using video games. Two cut-off points were established for people with no problems in their use of video games (NP), with potential problems in their use of video games (PP), and with serious problems in their use of video games (SP). Results show that there is higher prevalence among males and that problematic use decreases with age. The CERV seems to be a good instrument for the screening of adolescents with difficulties deriving from video game use. Further research should relate problematic video game use with difficulties in other life domains, such as the academic field.


Music, Neurology, and Neuroscience: Historical Connections and Perspectives provides a broad and comprehensive discussion of history and new discoveries regarding music and the brain, presenting a multidisciplinary overview on music processing, its effects on brain plasticity, and the healing power of music in neurological and psychiatric disorders. In this context, the disorders that plagued famous musicians and how they affected both performance and composition are critically discussed, as is music as medicine and its potential health hazard. Additional topics, including the way music fits into early conceptions of localization of function in the brain, its cultural roots in evolution, and its important roles in societies and educational systems are also explored. * Examines music and the brain both historically and in the light of the latest research findings * The largest and most comprehensive volume on "music and neurology" ever written* Written by a unique group of real world experts representing a variety of fields, ranging from history of science and medicine, to neurology and musicology * Includes a discussion of the way music has cultural roots in evolution and its important role in societies


This report analyzes whether H.R. 2646 may provide economic incentives for landlords to end current land tenure arrangements with tenants and take over management (and government payments) associated with their land. This work is a followup to Briefing Paper 01-9, Representative Farm Analysis of the H.R. 2646 Farm Bill Proposal that analyzes the impacts of H.R. 2646 on the representative crop farms maintained by the Agricultural and Food Policy Center (AFPC).


Diabetic retinopathy is one of the leading causes of vision loss worldwide. Fluorescein angiogram still plays a primary role in its diagnosis but new non-invasive technologies as optical coherence tomography, fundus autofluorescence and microperimetry are gaining popularity in the last years. Anatomical changes found with these devices have been widely described but their correlation with visual function needs to be assessed and several features have been proposed as indicators of visual prognosis. The aim of this paper is to give a scope of the actual role of these techniques in the evaluation of retinal impairment secondary to diabetes.


We review our experience at the University of Portsmouth over the past academic year, following a shift from home-grown to mass-produced electronic resources from an educational publisher, Wiley Plus. We present the results of a survey on the way mathematics students taking calculus units in their 1st and 2nd year viewed the shift towards Plus, and the opinions of staff involved in tutoring and supporting them. We discuss whether a personalised approach to teaching and learning can be maintained in a world of global education. Should the shift towards Wiley Plus become total, remain partial or simply be reversed? To what extent should we continue to integrate other resources, particularly assessment questions (e.g. from MapleTA, WebCT/Blackboard or PRS) with Wiley Plus? Several other publishers of mathematics textbooks are providing comprehensive packages of interactive resources online. Application Services Providers (ASPs) create, store and deliver from their own server. Their resources include an electronic version of the text or e-book, supplementary materials, worked solutions, study guides, applets, formative assessment with extensive feedback and even summative assessment. Lecturers can customise these materials, most significantly by choosing questions for self-assessment tests and exams. Inevitably there are constraints on the extent to which they can modify or add to these materials. Have ASPs improved the teaching and learning in our large classes of around 150 students? What about smaller classes? The stark choice between open source collaboration and commercial provision often polarises individual academics and even whole institutions. We argue that the ideal is a financially sound, hybrid model, which allows for greater customisation, sustainability, extension and interoperability than is currently available from either commercial providers or open source initiatives.


Health systems worldwide fail to produce optimal health outcomes, and successive reforms have sought to make them more efficient, more equitable and more responsive. The overarching objective of this thesis is to explore how to motivate healthcare providers in improving performance in service delivery in low income
countries. The thesis explores whether financial incentives for healthcare providers raise productivity and how they may affect equity in utilization of healthcare services and responsiveness to patients' needs. The thesis argues that, as performance-based financing (PBF) focuses on supply side barriers, it may lead to
efficiency gains rather than equity improvements. It uses data from a randomized controlled impact evaluation in Rwanda to generate robust evidence on performance-based financing and address a gap in the knowledge on its unintended consequences. Statistical methods are used to analyze four aspects: the impact on health workforce productivity; the impact on health workforce responsiveness; the impact on equity in utilization of basic health services; and, the impact on spatial disparities in the utilization of health services. Findings indicate that performancebased financing has a positive impact on efficiency: it raises health workforce productivity through higher workload and lower absenteeism; and, it encourages healthcare providers to be more responsive which positively impacts the quality of care perceived by patients. Findings also indicate that the impact on equity is uncertain as PBF can deter equity in access for the poorest in the absence of a
compensating mechanism; however, PBF is a powerful reform catalyzer and can reduce inequalities between regions and households when combined with appropriate reforms that control for its potential perverse effects. This thesis advocates that strategies aiming to raise healthcare providers' motivation should be used to raise performance in service delivery in low-income countries with particular attention to their effect on end users.


This paper presents the analysis of electro-mechanical design, materials, dynamics and control of a novel variable impedance compact compliant series elastic actuator (SEA) to improve human-robot interactions in human-friendly soft robotics applications. The design consists of a servomotor, a ball screw, a torsional spring connecting the servomotor and the ball screw via a pair of spur gear, and a set of translational springs connecting the ball screw nut to the output link. The translational springs have low stiffness and these are used to handle low force operations that reduce non-linear friction, output impedance, impact etc. The torsional spring is in the high speed range, has high effective stiffness and it enhances the system bandwidth for large force operations when the translational springs are fully compressed. Design, materials for construction, kinematics and working principle of the actuator are analyzed. Then, dynamics modeling and control on the physical implementation of the actuator for different conditions are analyzed. The conditions are: (i) open loop transfer function with load end fixed, (ii) closed loop transfer function with load end fixed, and (iii) output impedance with load end free for (i) low force, and (ii) high force cases. Then, the advantages of the design over its existing counterparts are discussed and its potential applications are mentioned. This novel SEA overcomes the major limitations of the existing SEAs, and can be used to develop human-friendly soft robots for various applications.


This project's main focus is on a method for estimating the shear wave velocity profile of the upper seafloor from the dispersive characteristics of the seismic surface waves. The surface waves travel along the boundary between water and the seafloor. The propagational parameters of surface waves (dispersive phase and group velocities) are directly linked to shear strength of the near surface sediments. This allows a straight forward inversion for the shear velocities from measured surface waves' group and phase velocities. An inversion code written by Andrea Caiti was used to carry out the shear wave velocity profile estimation. In order to obtain reliable results the code was tested for instability and possible limitations. The inversion was performed on the synthetic and real field data examples. The surface waves used in this project are measured during the seismo-acoustical survey in the area between the Pir and Munkholmen in the Trondheimsfjord, and from a synthetic data set generated in a program called OSIRIS. The dispersion of the surface waves are detected by using Morlet wavelet analysis, Adaptive wavelet analysis and Moving window analysis. The inversion was performed with one group mode only, and not for several modes. Several limitations in the inversion code were found and analyzed. These limitations concern the initial assumptions of the shear wave velocities for the geological model: the value of the regularization parameter and the frequency content in the dispersion input file.


The potential of interactive multimedia and Internet technologies is investigated with respect to the implementation of a distance learning system in medical imaging. The system is built according to a client-server architecture, based on the Internet infrastructure, composed of server nodes conceptually modelled as World Wide Web (WWW) sites. Sites are implemented by integration and customization of available components. The system evolves around network-delivered interactive multimedia courses and network-based tutoring, which constitute its main learning features. This potential has been demonstrated by means of an implemented system, validated with digital image processing content, specifically image enhancement. Image enhancement methods are theoretically described and applied on mammograms. Emphasis is given in the interactive presentation of the effects of algorithm parameters on images. The system end-user access depends on available bandwidth, so high speed access can be achieved via LAN or local ISDN connections.


Where did "democracy" come from, and what was its original form and meaning? Here Josiah Ober shows that this "power of the people" crystallized in a revolutionary uprising by the ordinary citizens of Athens in 508-507 B.C. He the examines the consequences of the development of direct democracy for upper- and lower-class citizens, for dissident Athenian intellectuals and for those who were denied citizenship under the new regime (women, slaves, resident foreigners), as well as for the general development of Greek history. When the citizens suddenly took power into their own hands, they changed the cultural and social landscape of Greece, thereby helping to inaugurate the Classical Era. Democracy led to fundamental adjustments in the basic structures of Athenian society, altered the forms and direction of political thinking and sparked a series of dramatic reorientations in international relations. It quickly made Athens into the most powerful Greek city-state, but it also fatally undermined the traditional Greek rules of warfare. It stimulated the development of the Western tradition of political theorizing and encouraged a new conception of justice that has striking parallels to contemporary theories of rights. But Athenians never embraced the notions of inherency and inalienability that have placed the concept of rights at the centre of modern political thought. Thus the play of power that constituted life in democratic Athens is revealed as at once strangely familiar and desperately foreign, and the values sustaining the Athenian political community as simultaneously admirable and terrifying.


Background: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) is one of the leading causes of mortality in the United States. According to the AHA in 2013, 400,000 people experienced OHCA and the mortality is as high as 9 out of every 10 cases. Using Automated External Defibrillator (AED) is the only effective treatments for restoring a regular heart rhythm during a sudden cardiac arrest. The aim of this study is to elaborate the importance of using AEDs in decreasing mortality due to OHCA in the city of Pittsburgh, PA.
Hypothesis: 1) The AED density increases with the density of cardiac arrest.
2) Census tracts with Low socioeconomic status (Below the poverty line) is associated with lower number of AEDs in Allegheny County.
3) Census tracts with higher number of individuals over age 60 is associated with lower number of AEDs in Allegheny County
Methods: AEDs were located through the HeartMap, which is a multicity community improvement project. A total of 979 AEDs were identified. Cardiac Arrest case data were obtained from the Resuscitation Outcome Consortium (ROC). During 2010 – 2014, a total of 3188 cardiac arrests were determined. We used the "American community survey", 2013 to obtain below poverty line income levels and percentage of people above age 60 for each census tract. Maps were created to demonstrate the distribution of AEDs, OHCA, age demographics,
 and socio economic status. Association between AEDs and OHCA / demographics / socioeconomic status were explored at the census tract level in Allegheny County. Data was analyzed using geospatial plotting, an analysis tool created in MATLAB. We linearly regressed AED density and cardiac arrests density to find an association between the two, and found an inverse relationship between the two variables (P = 0.027, coeff – 0.003). There was no statistically significant difference between AEDs density and socioeconomic status or population over age 60 (P > 0.05).
Result: As cardiac arrest density increased, AED density decreased. Census tracts with low socioeconomic status and individuals over age 60 were not significantly associated with lower number of AEDs. Preventing mortality due to OHCA with a help of an AED is an important step that needs to be taken from a public health stand point.


Background: Narcotic agents are frequently administered to manage increased intestinal motility in patients with short bowel syndrome, but long-term use is associated with gastrointestinal (GI) complaints. This analysis evaluated the incidence of narcotic use and abdominal adverse events among patients with short bowel syndrome receiving teduglutide. Materials and Methods: Pooled data from patients who received ≥1 dose of teduglutide 0.05 mg/kg/d (n = 77) or placebo (n = 59) in either of 2 randomized, double-blind, phase III studies were analyzed. Results: Of 136 patients, 52 (38%) received narcotics. GI adverse events occurred more often among patients who received narcotics than among those who did not (abdominal pain, 51% vs 21%; nausea, 42% vs 11%; abdominal distension, 17% vs 8%; vomiting, 19% vs 6%). Logistic regression analysis indicated that the probability of GI adverse events was significantly increased in patients with narcotic use (P = .0009). In contrast, teduglutide treatment, as well as the interaction between teduglutide and narcotic use, did not affect the probability of GI adverse events. Conclusions: These results suggest that patients with short bowel syndrome receiving narcotics have chronic GI complaints independent of teduglutide treatment. Data included in this analysis were derived from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00081458 and NCT00798967 (EudraCT 2004-000438-35 and 2008-006193-15).


Synthesis conditions and performance of alite-strontium calcium sulphoaluminate cement have been studied by introducing strontium calcium sulphoaluminate into Portland cement clinker. The effects of gypsum on compressive strength, hydration degree and structure of hardened alite-strontium calcium sulphoaluminate cement paste were studied in this paper. Composition and structure of the hardened cement paste were analyzed by XRD and SEM. Results show that appropriate content of gypsum could contribute to the hydration of alite-strontium calcium sulphoaluminate cement. When gypsum content is 9%, the compressive strengths for 1d, 3d and 28d curing age are 30.7MPa, 59.5MPa and 105.5MPa, and the corresponding hydration degree are 40.4%, 57.5% and 85.8%, respectively. The hydration products of alite-strontium calcium sulphoaluminate cement are mainly ettringite (AFt), Ca(OH)2, C-S-H gel. Large amount of AFt formed at early curing age provides a sound basis for early compressive strength, and a lot of C-S-H gel generated at later curing age increases the density of the hardened paste.


Currently, parents of children with autism are dissatisfied with their experience of the assessment and diagnostic process. This study examined the experiences of parents and families surrounding the assessment and diagnosis of their child. It also explored ways of how parents would like to be involved in the assessment process. A feminist approach governs this investigation, and thematic analysis methodology is used to analyze participants' responses. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four mothers. The sample was drawn from three different oranizations serving children with autism. Six categories emerged and were compiled into three broad themes: (1) delays in obtaining a diagnosis, (2) involvement in the process, and (3) recommendations and support. The implications of this study suggest that parents would like to be more involved and more informed throughout the process of assessment and diagnosis.


provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide. Abstract: When a new firm enters a market and starts selling a spatially-differentiated product, the prices of existing products may rise due to a better match between consumers and products. Entry may have three unusual effects. First, the new price is above the monopoly price if the two firms collude and may be above the monopoly price even if the firms play Bertrand. Second, the Bertrand and collusive price may be identical. Third, prices, combined profits, and consumer surplus may all rise with entry. Consistent with our theory, the real prices of some anti-ulcer drugs rose as new products entered the market.


This article proposes an omnibus test for monotonicity of nonparametric conditional distributions and its moments. Unlike previous proposals, our method does not require smooth estimation of the derivatives of nonparametric curves and it can be implemented even when the probability densities do not exist. In fact, we only require continuity of the marginal distributions. Distinguishing features of our approach are that the test statistic is pivotal under the null and invariant to any monotonic continuous transformation of the explanatory variable in finite samples. The test statistic is the sup-norm of the difference between the empirical copula function and its least concave majorant with respect to the explanatory variable coordinate. The resulting test is able to detect local alternatives converging to the null at the parametric rate n-1/2; like the classical goodness-of-.t tests. The article also discusses restricted estimation procedures under monotonicity and extensions of the basic framework to general conditional moments, estimated parameters and multivariate explanatory variables. The finite sample performance of the test is examined by means of a Monte Carlo experiment.


This article explores the challenges for individuals and organizations of adding coaching to the repertoire of managers. In complex and dynamic environments, a manager becomes responsible for developing people for continuous learning, which transforms him or her into a manager-as-coach. However, the resulting expanded capacities and skills require a manager's ability to navigate a new ambiguity in roles and identity; this article uses the metaphor of "wearing multiple hats" to represent the challenges that managers face when they add coaching to their repertoire. To prepare them to do so, the development of a manager-as-coach should go beyond an instrumental approach to embrace a transformation learning approach that includes not only skill acquisition, but shifts in values and mindsets. Additionally, organizations should be supportive by promoting a more distributed and horizontal culture of leadership.


Practice Problem: Kidney failure affects 0.1% - 0.2% of the general population, yet the dialysis expenditure is 5%-7% of total healthcare budget spending. The increased incidence of chronic disease will result in more End Stage Renal Disease patients on dialysis along with more comorbidities. Thus, it is imperative for health organizations to have well established protocols and guidelines to manage the care of the dialysis patient. PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was: in patients receiving dialysis at an acute care dialysis unit (P), does utilizing a Standardized Policy for Quality Reporting on Dialysis Water Testing and Dialysis Machine Disinfection (I) compared to no policy (C) affect infection rates within eight weeks? Evidence: The evidence supported the need to optimize microbiological surveillance procedures, test pure water to ensure infection prevention practices, and ensure water safety protocols with monitoring and testing. Intervention: Collaboration with the organization's dialysis peer group, regional lab, infection prevention, and dialysis educator helped to develop a regional standardized policy, as well as build the water testing standards into the regional lab's information technology platform. Outcome: A regional standardized policy based on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) standards was developed and integrated into the regional lab's information technology platform in efforts to ensure quality of care and safety. The project positively impacted clinical practice and improved infection rates, in which staff were compliant and competent after being trained. Conclusion: It is important to have strategies to reduce the risk of infection associated with dialysis; therefore, the project emphasized the importance of having a standardized policy to mitigate infections and ensure both quality of care and patient safety.


Hyperthyroidism is associated with altered endothelial dysfunction and increased risk of arterial thromboembolism and cardiovascular disease. Von Willebrand factor (vWF) is a marker of endothelial dysfunction. There is controversy in reports that have been published concerning the concentrations of vWF in hyperthyroidism. The aim of this study was to investigate the plasma vWF levels in clinical hyperthyroid patients, as well as its relationship to thyroid hormones fT3, fT4 and TSH compared to control subjects. In this study forty recently diagnosed, non-treated clinical hyperthyroid patients (f=37, m=3) and twenty normal volunteers control (f=18, m=2) were included, and subjected to determination of plasma vWF by ELISA technique and serum fT3, fT4 and TSH by Elecsys cobas e 601 analyzer. The data was statistically analysed by SPSS-10 and p values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Our results showed that there were a significant increase of vWF, fT4 and fT3 levels by 100%, 285% and 100%, respectively, and a significant decrease of TSH levels by 12.9-folds in hyperthyroid patients than in control group. For vWF (mean ± SD, 252.2 ± 66.4 vs 126.4 ± 29.9%, repectively; p=0.001). vWF was significantly positively correlated with fT4 and negatively correlated with TSH. In conclusion, we confirmed that hyperthyroidism was associated with increased vWF levels, a novel marker of endothelial dysfunction, FT4 levels being a predictive of vWF levels. Endothelial dysfunction could contribute to higher risk for thromboembolic and cardiovascular disease.


: Studies have been made on the dynamics of erythropoietic activity of the bone marrow in mature female frogs. Evident monocyclic pattern of erythroid blood production was found, its maximum activity being closely related to seasonal changes in physiological reparation of the main bulk of functional systems of frog's organism. The data obtained indicate that the bone marrow is the main site of erythropoiesis in the frog.


Purpose: Digital PCR is a highly accurate method of determining DNA concentration. We adapted digital PCR to determine the presence of oncogenic amplification through noninvasive analysis of circulating free plasma DNA and exemplify this approach by developing a plasma DNA digital PCR assay for HER2 copy number. Experimental Design: The reference gene for copy number assessment was assessed experimentally and bioinformatically. Chromosome 17 pericentromeric probes were shown to be suboptimal, and EFTUD2 at chromosome position 17q21.31 was selected for analysis. Digital PCR assay parameters were determined on plasma samples from a development cohort of 65 patients and assessed in an independent validation cohort of plasma samples from 58 patients with metastatic breast cancer. The sequential probability ratio test was used to assign the plasma DNA digital PCR test as being HER2-positive or -negative in the validation cohort. Results: In the development cohort, the HER2:EFTUD2 plasma DNA copy number ratio had a receiver operator area under the curve (AUC) = 0.92 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.86–0.99, P = 0.0003]. In the independent validation cohort, 64% (7 of 11) of patients with HER2-amplified cancers were classified as plasma digital PCR HER2–positive and 94% (44 of 47) of patients with HER2-nonamplified cancers were classified as digital PCR HER2–negative, with a positive and negative predictive value of 70% and 92%, respectively. Conclusion: Analysis of plasma DNA with digital PCR has the potential to screen for the acquisition of HER2 amplification in metastatic breast cancer. This approach could potentially be adapted to the analysis of any locus amplified in cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 19(12); 3276–84. ©2013 AACR.


In the field of Information Systems, much is known about social media as an Information Technology artefact and its influence, offering various understandings of online human behaviour, particularly for business, psychology and sociology implications. Frequently, research on social media usage can be classified into internal (e.g. entertainment and satisfaction) and external factors (e.g. connection benefits). While these studies on motivations generated a clear link between internal and external factors for social media usage, they did not relate clearly the motivations to the contributions made in terms of civic engagement behaviour. Although there have been calls for research in understanding social media behaviour, its use for positive outcomes and public involvement in civic efforts, few investigations focused on how individuals use social media for addressing social issues. This research introduced a new insight into how social media is shaping the landscape of civic engagement through Facebook in two modes: civic expressions and civic actions.
This research examined online civic engagement with reference to the way activists speak, think, and act online in promoting public engagement to curb social issues and the level of civic efforts by individuals. The study focused on understanding the modes of online civic engagement behaviour in addressing the prevalent social problems; the key impetuses of online civic engagement behaviour; and their impact on satisfaction in life and virtual social skills at work. In the absence of defined metrics, this study developed and validated items to measure online civic engagement behaviour. This new construct sheds further light on how individuals use social media for civic engagement by differentiating similar forms of civic interaction. These aspects were researched using three methods: interviews, web analysis and surveys.
First, the content analysis of the interviews in Phase 1 revealed five modes of online civic effort: (1) collection of information, (2) publication of information, (3) dialogue, (4) coordination of action, and (5) lobbying decision makers. Three prevalent social problems were identified from the interviews: (1) crime; (2) disengagement from civic matters and moral values; and (3) quality of education. Similarly, these modes were present in the findings of the web analysis of the activists' social media sites in Phase 2. This allowed the research to proceed to develop new measures for online civic engagement behaviour in Phase 3. Two modes were discovered: civic expressions and civic actions.
The structural equation analysis on the 619 responses suggested that civic expressions intensified citizen's civic actions on Facebook (Phase 4). Moreover, certain trust (trust propensity, trust in social media, trust in institutions) and benefit factors (group incentives and reputation) were found to have a significant impact on the different civic modes. Further, civic actions had a significant impact on satisfaction in life and virtual social skills, producing happy and socially competent working citizens. Interestingly, only users who engaged in civic actions for addressing social issues were satisfied in life. The results suggested that a higher level of virtual social skills had a positive and significant impact on users' satisfaction in life.


One of the significant complexities that Machine Type Communications (MTC) is expected to bring about is congestion. One promising conceptual approach in the literature to reduce congestion is clustering or grouping based solutions. Designing group based solutions highly depend on particular cases and it is challenging to come up with a universal solution. This paper is based on a project designed to address a grouping based congestion control technique in a specific MTC application scenario using the Capillary Networks approach from an experimental point of view. In this paper, an MTC congestion scene is generated inside a network-simulation environment in a defined "parking lot scenario" during a busy hour, where a huge number of cars and parking space sensors will try to connect to an LTE node in a congestive fashion. Based on the impact of this congestion on the node, the simulation results were analyzed to come up with a reasonable cluster size, a comparison of technologies to communicate within a group, and the benefits and tradeoffs due to clustering and Capillary Network based solutions.


Purpose – The purpose of this article is to describe the marketing-oriented market entry approaches that businesses are currently using across the three levels of the world economic pyramid (i.e., WEP). These levels are the Top-tier, the Middle-tier, and the Base of the Pyramid-tier (i.e., BoP-tier). Methodology – The literature of the BoP was reviewed, and market entry approaches were itemized across the three WEP levels. Secondly, BoP strategic theorists including Prahalad identified the need for a BoP marketing focus replacing the traditional 4Ps marketing approach (i.e., Product, Price, Place and Promotion) with the BoP-specific 4As marketing approach (i.e., Awareness, Affordability, Access and Availability). This 4As marketing approach is discussed. Findings – New marketing-oriented market-entry approaches are proposed for each of the three WEP levels. These approaches are based on where in the WEP the firm currently exists, and where in the WEP the firm desires to refocus market-entry activities; identified approaches include: inter-country expansion, intra-country entry, adjacent market entry, and extended market entry. Secondly, the absence of a clearly articulated marketing strategy for middle-tier markets was observed. Practical implications – This article has two specific applications. First, it summarizes the evolving market entry perspectives to provide a context for future market research in both emerging markets and the pre-emerging BoP markets. Second, the future requirement for an articulated marketing strategy for middle-tier markets is suggested. Originality – This article examined existing market entry approaches across all three levels of the WEP, inclusive of the BoP economic level. The language used to clarify market entry movements was extended, providing a specificity of description not previously found in either the existing market entry or BoP literature. Corresponding author: Tom A. Buckles Email address for corresponding author: firstname.lastname@example.com First submission received: 5th of June 2017 Revised submission received: 12th of October 2017 Accepted: 18th of October 2017


Objective To describe maternal perception of gastroenteritis and interest in acute rotavirus gastroenteritis vaccination. Methods Telephone opinion survey, conducted in January 2008 on a representative sample of 1,002 mothers of children under 2 years of age. Results The majority of mothers surveyed considered gastroenteritis to be a serious (43.1%) or very serious (51.3%) pathology for children under 2 years of age. Perceived severity was in terms of symptoms and reputed complications. Gastroenteritis was considered to be often or very often accompanied by diarrhea (97.2% of respondents), vomiting (94.3%) and/or dehydration (94%). Hospital admission was also thought to be frequent. Almost all respondents (98.3%) considered the disease very (75.4%) or fairly (22.8%) contagious, very frequently (91.8%) leading to medical consultation, with oral rehydration solutions (ORS) being prescribed in 62% of cases. Respondents were predominantly (86.3%) in favor of an oral vaccine for the prevention of rotavirus gastroenteritis, 88.1% claiming they would give their child such vaccination if it was medically recommended and reimbursed by the national health insurance system. Conclusion The mothers surveyed were aware of the potential seriousness of gastroenteritis; a large majority (86.3%) were in favor of vaccination to prevent rotavirus gastroenteritis.


One obstacle that may discourage physician trainees from pursuing a career in clinical nutrition is the perception that such physician practice does not generate sufficient income. A review of the history of Medicare and the current payment system for healthcare services by the U.S. government is essential to understand which members and what services provided by a nutrition support team (NST) will be reimbursed. Patients who require nutrition therapy tend to have multiple comorbidities, which should allow for a higher level of billing under evaluation and management codes. Despite the fact that an intact NST improves outcome and helps ensure patient safety, such teams may not be able to function independently and remain financially sustainable. Hospital administration should be mandated to support an institutional nutrition service. Strategies to define malnutrition and identify measures of quality nutrition care should help demonstrate the value and promote the importance of a functioning NST.


Abstract In this study, kinetics of boride layers formed on the surface of ferritic GGG 40.3 ductile iron were investigated by conducting a series of experiments in Ekabor I powder at 850, 900 and 950 °C treatment temperature for 1, 2 and 4 h by using Ekabor I powder. Also, box boronizing was carried out at 950 °C for 4 h with Ekabor II powder to investigate effect of powder size. At the same time, it has been investigated whether or not iron boride layers were obtained using different powder mixtures instead of commercial powder (SiC + KBF4 + B4C). Also, the 85 wt.-% B4C + 15 wt.-% Na2CO3 powder mixture has been used. The study was aimed to inhibit the release of fluorine gas and to perform environmentally friendly working. After the experiments, it turned out that the depth of boride layers depending on treatment temperature and time ranged from 38 to 198 μm. The presence of borides were confirmed by X-ray diffraction, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. A saw tooth shape morphology of boride layers has been detected in optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy.


Recently it has been reported that photon anti-bunching can be obtained via second-order interference of mutually incoherent weak lasers under a proper post-selection scheme [Phys. Rev. A 92, 033855 (2015); Opt. Express 24, 19574 (2016)]. Here, we report theoretical analysis on the limits of manipulating conditional photon statistics of lasers via interference and post-selections.


Is nuclear power a thing of the past or a technology for the future? Has it become too expensive and dangerous, or is it still competitive and sufficiently safe? Should emerging countries invest in it? Can we trust calculations of the probability of a major nuclear accident? In the face of divergent claims and contradictory facts, this book provides an in-depth and balanced economic analysis of the main controversies surrounding nuclear power. Without taking sides, it helps readers gain a better understanding of the uncertainties surrounding the costs, hazards, regulation and politics of nuclear power. Written several years on from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 2011, this is an important resource for students, researchers, energy professionals and concerned citizens wanting to engage with the continuing debate on the future of nuclear power and its place in international energy policy.


Whereas, we, a portion of the free colored citizens of the State of Ohio, [believe] that the time has come for us to define our views and positions in regard to our political, social, educational and religious elevation, and... to direct our earnest attention to the education of our youth.... Convention of the Colored Citizens of Gallia County, Frederick Douglass Paper, 1852, p. 3. According to V. P. Franklin, cultural capital and social capital can be important elements in bringing about "community revitalization." (1) "From the early nineteenth century, black mutual benefit societies and social and fraternal organizations sponsored business enterprises that were collectively owned and provided much needed social services to members of the black community." (2) Within the African American context, cultural capital can be defined as "the sense of group consciousness and collective identity that serves as an economic resource to support collective economic or philanthropic efforts." (3) Within such a culturally aware group, cultural capital assists African Americans in defining their "collective identity," while "complex social networks" help to create and maintain economic resources to support collective advancement. (4) Cultural capital was formed from the philosophical underpinnings within the African American community and was responsible for the creation of the institutions for themselves and the community that they valued. It served to support collective philanthropic or charitable efforts, and "became the backbone for social and economic development." (5) It represented "a deep race consciousness" and clear understanding of what it means to be African American. (6) This consciousness also served as a vehicle for other programs for "racial uplift" and was essential to create and support institutions to actualize their dreams and aspirations. One such institution among many was and is the all-black school. In the nineteenth century, African Americans who were considered "free" were often caught between a rock and a hard place. They were free, but in some northern states such as Ohio, their citizenship rights were circumvented by the so-called "Black Laws." Yet, African Americans sought to establish viable communities, and more importantly, schools for the education of their youth. But one must ask, Why did African Americans establish separate educational institutions, particularly in free states such as Ohio? What resources did they use? What were the purposes of these educational institutions? This essay attempts to describe the efforts of free African Americans in southeast Ohio to pursue educational advancement using social and cultural capital. Whereas African Americans did create their own schools, the question still remains, Why did they have to use cultural capital and social capital in a free state committed to "free universal common schooling"? THE LAW AND THE EDUCATION OF BLACKS IN OHIO In 1804, the first "Black Laws were passed in Ohio. Black laws or codes limited blacks participation in social, economic, political, and educational institutions in Ohio. The laws resulted from the discord among Ohio whites over the advancing antislavery movement, the state's entrance into the Union without slavery, and differences among whites over the place of Africans in American society. In Ohio, racial beliefs, opinions, and attitudes were often divided along geographical lines. Race relations in southeast Ohio, because of its close proximity to slave states Kentucky and Virginia, typified these divisions over the rights of African Americans in Ohio and throughout the United States. Whereas the Ohio constitution in 1803 established funds for public schools, these institutions did not really begin to appear until 1825. By 1827, white sentiment against the possible inclusion of African Americans was evident. In an 1827 editorial printed in the Ohio State Journal, the anonymous author argued, "If we enlighten their [African Americans'] minds by education, what a new world of misery does open to their view. …


Modeling a three-winding transformer gives occasionally a negative reactance that may result in an unstable circuit. This unstable condition can be eliminated by neglecting the magnetizing losses or taking them into account in a different way as shown in this paper. Unstable responses are, under certain conditions, extremely dependent on the time step when using EMTP or similar programs. This paper shows why simulated terminal voltages do not always reveal an unstable circuit condition.


The evolution of a natural plankton community in two microcosms with well-differentiated turbulence levels (10 -3 W m -3 and 10 -1 W m -3 ) was compared during artificially-generated blooms. Biomass-size spectra were used to assess the effects of the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) on the plankton community. Picoplankton was the size range least affected. Indirect effects on picoplankton size structure were related to the TKE effects on the predators. Small nanoplankton represented a transitional size range in which small and variable TKE effects were observed. In the diatom size range, the positive TKE effect on these non-swimmers increased progressively with cell size. The results showed that TKE has a combined effect on both biomass and size structure because of the linkage between these community characteristics. On the whole, the changes observed in the community size structure would lead to the uptake of the maximum available free energy.


BACKGROUND
Physical characteristics have been widely analyzed in order to understand why some soccer players are more successful than others. Therefore, the aims of this study were: 1) to describe the evolution of aerobic endurance performance across 18 years in a Spanish elite soccer academy; 2) to know if the playing position could affect physical testing performance; and 3) to look into the alleged impact of this factor on the professional career of soccer players.

METHODS
We considered 162 players belonging to the reserve team of an elite Spanish soccer club from 1994 to 2012. The percentage of players that played in the reserve team for at least five matches in Third Division (2nd B) and later promoted to the Spanish First or Second Division was 32%. The participants were classified in three six-year periods and according to their highest competitive level attained until the 2014/2015 season and their regular tactical position. All the players performed a four-stage submaximal intermittent running test with the running speeds 12 km/h (10 min), 13 km/h (10 min), 14 km/h (10 min), and 15 km/h (5 min) in order to assess the individual velocities associated with a [La]b of 3 mmol/L (i.e., V3).

RESULTS
No differences (P>0.05) in aerobic fitness were found between the three six-year periods groups (P>0.05), between the tactical positions nor among the competitive levels attained.

CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicate that aerobic endurance performance (i.e., V3) is not a pertinent trait when identifying players from different seasons, tactical positions and competitive levels.


This paper proposes the adaptation of Support Vector Data Description (SVDD) to the multiple kernel case (MK-SVDD), based on SimpleMKL. It also introduces a variant called Slim-MK-SVDD that is able to produce a tighter frontier around the data. For the sake of comparison, the equivalent methods are also developed for One-Class SVM, known to be very similar to SVDD for certain shapes of kernels.
Those algorithms are illustrated in the context of 3D-shapes filtering and outliers detection. For the 3D-shapes problem, the objective is to be able to select a sub-category of 3D-shapes, each sub-category being learned with our algorithm in order to create a filter. For outliers detection, we apply the proposed algorithms for unsupervised outliers detection as well as for the supervised case.


The present study investigates the dynamic response of single-cylinder reciprocating engines. In particular, simplified models of the crank-connecting rod mechanism are examined, which take into the flexibility of the crankshaft. Crankshaft, connecting rod and piston are major parts of the crank-connecting rod mechanism, and their size, mass, centroid location parameters are required precisely in manufacturing process. However, manufacturing error cannot be avoided completely in practical manufacturing process, and it would lead to different vibration performance of engine. Therefore, understanding the effect of manufacturing error on the vibration performance of engine is the aim of this paper. In order to obtain dynamic characteristics of engine, both rigid and flexible body dynamics simulation were done by using software ADAMS.


The ongoing embrace of interest groups as agents capable of addressing democratic deficits in governing institutions is in large part because they are assumed to contribute democratic legitimacy to policy processes. Nonetheless, they face the challenge of legitimating their policy advocacy in democratic terms, clarifying what makes them legitimate partners in governance. In this article we suggest that digital innovations have disrupted the established mechanisms of legitimation. While the impact of this disruption is most easily demonstrated in the rise of a small number of 'digital natives', we argue that the most substantive impact has been on more conventional groups, which typically follow legitimation logics of either representation or solidarity. While several legacy groups are experimenting with new legitimation approaches, the opportunities provided by technology seem to offer more organizational benefits to groups employing the logic of solidarity, and appear less compatible with the more traditional logic of representation.


The article discusses linguistic creativity in informal Skype conversations between university students from eight different European countries. The basis for the study is the Corpus of Academic Spoken English (CASE), a corpus of Skype conversations in an English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) context. With the help of qualitative examples, the article examines innovative language use and proposes a taxonomy for functionally accepted innovations, distinguishing instances of L1 influence, approximations and ad hoc innovation. Our findings point towards an assertive and creative perspective on language use, which seems to have a positive influence on the communicative setting, e.g. illustrated by code-switching in combination with laughter. CASE participants use non-standard forms and innovations freely, accommodating to each others' language use. They also establish their own ephemeral communication strategies and showcase and emphasize their respective language and cultural backgrounds.


One large-diameter and non-circular steel tube was adopted in Henan TV tower (China). This special cross-section consists of three flat plates welded to three arc plates one by one. This paper studies the critical local buckling behavior of steel plates by using the finite element analysis method. Initial geometric imperfections and residual stresses presented in steel plates, material yielding and strain hardening were taken into account in the nonlinear analysis. An experimental study was performed to verify the capacity ability of this special steel tube. Based on the results obtained from the nonlinear finite element analyses and experiments, a set of design recommendations are provided for ensuring the safety of this special tube in Henan TV tower.


Liver is considered as the first target for the toxic effects of toxins and other xenobiotics, and this can be attributed to its role as a site which receive all absorbed xenobiotics from the gastrointestinal tract and its role as a major site for biotransformation of xenobiotics. The present study was designed to evaluate the possible hepatoprotective effect of benfotiamine against CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. The study was conducted on 48 male albino rats; the animals were allocated into 8 groups (6 rats in each group) and treated as follow: 4 groups treated with oral doses of either normal saline, benfotiamine (100 mg/kg), thiamine (100 mg/kg), N-acetylcystein (400 mg/kg) only without induction of hepatic damage. The other 4 groups were treated as indicated previously with induction of hepatic damage with CCl4; at the end of treatment period, rats were scarified, blood samples obtained and livers excised for the assessment of the oxidative stress parameters (MDA and GSH), cholesterol and triglycerides levels. Additionally, serum levels of total bilirubin, albumin, total protein and the activities of ALT, AST and ALP enzymes were evaluated before and after treatment with benfotiamine. Tissue sections were prepared for evaluation of histopathological changes. The results indicated that benfotiamine has the ability to protect hepatic tissue against the toxicity induced by CCl4, revealed through reduction of serum levels of TSB and liver enzymes, decrease in the hepatic tissue MDA levels and elevation of GSH there. Histological evaluation of tissue sections prepared for this purpose confirmed the previous finding. In conclusion, benfotiamine is capable to protect liver tissue against CCl4-induced toxicity in rats more than thiamine.
Key words: Benfotiamine, CCl4, Hepatotoxicity


The immense inequalities between the world's poor and the world's rich have compelledphilosopher Thomas Pogge to develop a moral framework based on the Universal Declarationof Human Rights that challenges our most commonsense political moral views. Poggedisputes minimally and universally that we all have a negative duty not to harm so long as theharm is foreseeable and avoidable, rather than a positive duty to do well. Furthermore Poggeargues for an institutional view of negative duties flown from the fact that we all shape,uphold and impose institutions.With the help of three philosophers; Polly Vizard, Tim Hayward and Mathias Risse, Idebate a number of their raised objections to Thomas Pogge's theory of institutional globaljustice which all focus on the controversial causal claim that the present global order causesglobal poverty. The objections discussed are (a) Vizard's scrutinizing of Pogge's notion ofresponsibility (b) Hayward's call for a full causal account of how the global order is harmingthe poor and (c) Risse's alternative baseline for harm. I argue that although Pogge has somepotential problems, he nevertheless is not contradicted by these objections to the extent thatthey themselves claim. I hold that the debated criticism appeals for further investigation andthat in light of the arguments in this thesis we have a negative duty not to harm and a positiveobligation to reform global unjust institutions in responding to global poverty.


The authors propose a stepwise statistical methodology for the study of operating system reliability and associated tools. An example of the application of this method for the ARGOS data processing center of France's CNES is presented. It is shown that each evaluation of software reliability is considered as a special case. Two major consequences are that the reliability models need improvement and that every evaluation must be supported by a statistical analysis of the product and process characteristics.


We propose a new stepsize for the gradient method. It is shown that this new stepsize will converge to the reciprocal of the largest eigenvalue of the Hessian, when Dai-Yang's asymptotic optimal gradient method (Computational Optimization and Applications, 2006, 33(1): 73–88) is applied for minimizing quadratic objective functions. Based on this spectral property, we develop a monotone gradient method that takes a certain number of steps using the asymptotically optimal stepsize by Dai and Yang, and then follows by some short steps associated with this new stepsize. By employing one step retard of the asymptotic optimal stepsize, a nonmonotone variant of this method is also proposed. Under mild conditions, R-linear convergence of the proposed methods is established for minimizing quadratic functions. In addition, by combining gradient projection techniques and adaptive nonmonotone line search, we further extend those methods for general bound constrained optimization. Two variants of gradient projection methods combining with the Barzilai-Borwein stepsizes are also proposed. Our numerical experiments on both quadratic and bound constrained optimization indicate that the new proposed strategies and methods are very effective.


Superior fluorescence imaging methods are needed for detailed studies on biological phenomena, and one approach that permits precise analyses is time-resolved fluorescence measurement, which offers a high signal-to-noise ratio. Herein, we describe a new fluorescence imaging system to visualize biomolecules within living biological samples by means of time-resolved, long-lived luminescence microscopy (TRLLM). In TRLLM, short-lived background fluorescence and scattered light are gated out, allowing the long-lived luminescence to be selectively imaged. Usual time-resolved fluorescence microscopy provides fluorescence images with nanosecond resolution and has been used to image interactions between proteins, protein phosphorylation, the local pH, the refractive index, ion or oxygen concentrations, etc. Luminescent lanthanide complexes (especially europium and terbium trivalent ions (Eu3+ and Tb3+)), in contrast, have long luminescence lifetimes on the order of milliseconds. We have designed and synthesized new luminescent Eu3+ complexes for TRLLM and also developed a new TRLLM system using a conventional fluorescence microscope with an image intensifier unit for gated signal acquisition and a xenon flash lamp as the excitation source. When the newly developed luminescent Eu3+ complexes were applied to living cells, clear fluorescence images were acquired with the TRLLM system, and short-lived fluorescence was completely excluded. By using Eu3+ and Tb3+ luminescent complexes in combination, time-resolved dual-color imaging was also possible. Furthermore, we monitored changes of intracellular ionic zinc (Zn2+) concentration by using a Zn2+-selective luminescent Eu3+ chemosensor, [Eu-7]. This new imaging technique should facilitate investigations of biological functions with fluorescence microscopy, complementing other fluorescence imaging methodologies.


Virtual city models become more and more important in applications like virtual city guides, geographic information systems or large scale visualizations, and also play an important role during the design of wireless networks and the simulation of noise distribution or environmental phenomena. However, generating city models of sufficient quality with respect to different target applications is still an extremely challenging, time consuming and costly process. To improve this situation, we present a novel system for the rapid and easy creation of 3D city models from 2D map data and terrain information, which is available for many cities in digital form. Our system allows to continuously vary the resulting level of correctness, ranging from models with high-quality geometry and plausible appearance which are generated almost completely automatic to models with correctly textured facades and highly detailed representations of important, well known buildings which can be generated with reasonable additional effort. While our main target application is the high-quality, real-time visualization of complex, detailed city models, the models generated with our approach have successfully been used for radio wave simulations as well. To demonstrate the validity of our approach, we show an exemplary reconstruction of the city of Aachen.