Dominant macroeconomic policy regimes are anchored on the interest based debt finance that has created a divergence between the real sector and the financial sector of the economy. Uncertainty has been growing regarding the adequacy of current policy regimes to provide sustainable solutions to contemporary economic problems and challenges, including improvement in the quality of life in addition to the traditional objective of achieving growth with price stability. Policy tools that provide an incentive structure for closing the gap between financial and real sectors of the economy and at the same time enhance social solidarity through the mutual sharing of risks and return could provide more effective means of addressing these challenges. This concept paper offers an alternative policy regime that proposes first, a monetary policy that is targeted directly at asset market activities and private sector portfolio adjustments. Secondly, it suggests mobilization of funds for financing fiscal operations based on risk sharing through sale of government low-denomination equity participation papers directly to the public tradable in secondary markets. The latter proposal is supplemented with a reform of the tax structure. The benefits include better return to savers, improved financial inclusion through broadened public participation, improved governance and positive distributional implications for current and future generations. The objective of these policy reforms is to achieve stability and growth of the real economy, without losing sight of the goal of achieving justice and equity among members of the society.


This paper presents an analysis of the zero-carbon performance of a case-study building which is representative of a growing number of new buildings that are being built on redevelopment sites in inner-city areas in the UK. Compact urban dwellings are apartment style buildings with a floor area of ∼50 m2 per dwelling, often based over two floors. The constraints of this type of building on achieving zero-carbon performance in the context of the Code for Sustainable Homes is discussed and the shortcomings of the code are demonstrated in terms of the target heat and electricity demand targets for the design of the building systems. A graphical representation of the simulation results is used to present the findings. It has been demonstrated that in specific urban contexts, zero-carbon performance as defined within the current UK compliance framework may be very difficult to achieve in practice given the assumptions used in the simulation here. Therefore, it is very likely that zero-carbon compact urban dwellings may require a net off-site import of electrical and/or thermal energy.


The authors show that particle composition–dependent, efficient HDL-mediated cholesterol depletion induces apoptosis and interferes with the aggressive growth characteristics of pancreatic cancer cells. Despite enormous efforts to improve therapeutic options, pancreatic cancer remains a fatal disease and is expected to become the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the next decade. Previous research identified lipid metabolic pathways to be highly enriched in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells. Thereby, cholesterol uptake and synthesis promotes growth advantage to and chemotherapy resistance for PDAC tumor cells. Here, we demonstrate that high-density lipoprotein (HDL)–mediated efficient cholesterol removal from cancer cells results in PDAC cell growth reduction and induction of apoptosis in vitro. This effect is driven by an HDL particle composition–dependent interaction with SR-B1 and ABCA1 on cancer cells. AAV-mediated overexpression of APOA1 and rHDL injections decreased PDAC tumor development in vivo. Interestingly, plasma samples from pancreatic-cancer patients displayed a significantly reduced APOA1-to-SAA1 ratio and a reduced cholesterol efflux capacity compared with healthy donors. We conclude that efficient, HDL-mediated cholesterol depletion represents an interesting strategy to interfere with the aggressive growth characteristics of PDAC. Graphical Abstract


The modern manufacturing technology tends to innovate different materials with simultaneous low density in weight, porosity, high toughness, corrosion resistance, thermal and electrical properties etc. Metallic matrix-based carbon nanotubes composites (CNTs) are a relatively new material concept. The CNT reinforced composite materials harvest the dual benefit of alloying metals with high mechanical properties of CNTs. Besides, the materials being innovated must have good forming or machining characteristics. However, no machining data or machining model are yet available for these newly developed composites. In this work, the mechanical machining of metal-matrix/CNTs composites has studied to review the available data and better understanding the material removal behaviour. The work also concludes on the suggestive machining techniques adopted that will not affect the structural deformation, mechanical, thermal, electrical properties as well as must not alter the mechanical characteristics of the machined surface. The present study will assist in optimizing the manufacturing composites with desirable mechanical properties in future CNT reinforced composite developments. Copyright © VBRI Press.


This paper investigates the influence of family control on the quality of labor relations. Using French workplace-level data, we find that family firms experience less frequent and less intense labor conflicts. Moreover, family involvement tends to offset the negative effect of labor disputes on corporate performance. We examine whether specific family patterns are conducive to better labor relations. We distinguish active from passive family control, eponymous from non-eponymous family businesses, and break down family firms into founder-controlled and descendant-controlled companies. It appears that the benefits of family control are not attributable to a given type of family firm. These findings suggest that peaceful labor relationships are a peculiar attribute that families generally bring to corporations and extend our understanding of the "family effect" on organizational performance.


Systems Engineering is described as a transdisciplinary approach that integrates all disciplines and specialty groups into a team effort, developing an innovation from concept to fully operational system. However, its procedural nature has been viewed by some as inhibiting innovation. By considering the whole of the innovation cycle, we demonstrate that Systems Engineering is actually essential to overcome the so-called valley of death in terms of technology readiness. Drawing on two case studies of knowledge management in large organizations (one government and one private industry), we show the benefits of a perspective in which the organization is viewed as a system through which dispersed explicit and tacit knowledge may be integrated to support innovation. However, this relies on appreciations of the full range of different knowledge types and the importance of organizational culture in the knowing and action cycle. The importance of organizations and the individuals within them adopting systemic thinking and systematic effectiveness are essential attributes of innovation: these are embodied in the discipline of Systems Engineering.


of early gastric cancer has improved the success rate of en bloc resection, but it is not widely used to treat the colorectum because of its technical difficulty. It is possible that traction of the lesion may facilitate correct visualization of the le− sion and make it easier to dissect. Several techniques involving traction of lesions have been reported [1± 4], but these methods have not been widely employed because they are difficult to use. Further− more, most devices lift only one part of a lesion, which does not provide a good overview of the area to dissect. Therefore, we designed a multiple traction device, which we have named "Loops−attached rubber band (LARB)". LARB is able to lift the whole lesion by pulling at multiple points, thereby facilitating correct and better visualization of the lesion than other devices. LARB consists of a circular rubber band connected to many nylon loops (l" Fig. 1). After partial dissection of the submucosa of the tumor, the LARB is con− nected to the edge of the exfoliated mu− cosa and the colonic wall opposite the le− sion. This pulls up the whole lesion and opens the resection margin precisely (l" Fig. 2 a, b). After the dissection, the ny− lon loop is cut using the loop cutter and the lesion is removed (l" Fig. 2 c). ESD using the LARB has been performed on a superficial colorectal lesion at the as− cending colon (l" Fig. 3). En bloc resec− tion was achieved without complication. The size of the resected lesion was 28 " 27 mm, and the procedure time was 50 minutes. We confirm that attaching the LARB to the lesion was not very diffi− cult, and that the device facilitated both correct visualization and easier dissec− tion of the tumor. This preliminary result suggests that LARB−assisted ESD is effective, easily per− formed, and safe for the complete remov− al of large superficial colorectal neo− plasms. "Loops−attached rubber band" facilitation of endoscopic submucosal dissection of superficial colorectal neoplasm


The functional trait-based bioenergetic approach is emergent in many ecological spectra, from the conservation of natural resources to mitigation and adaptation strategies in a global climate change context. Such an approach relies on being able to exploit mechanistic rules to connect environmental human-induced variability to functional traits (i.e. all those specific traits defining species in terms of their ecological roles) and use these to provide estimates of species life history traits (LH; e.g. body size, fecundity per life span, number of reproductive events). LHs are species-specific and proximate determinants of population characteristics in a certain habitat. They represent the most valuable quantitative information to investigate how broad potential distributional boundaries of a species are, and to feed predictive population models. There is much to be found in the current literature that describes mechanistic functional trait-based bioenergetics models, using them to test ecological hypotheses, but a mathematical framework often renders interpretation and use complicated. Here, we wanted to present a simpler interpretation and description of one of the most important recent mechanistic bioenergetic theories: the dynamic energy budget theory by Kooijman (Dynamic Energy Budget Theory for Metabolic Organisation, 2010, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge). Our main aim was to disentangle those aspects that at first reading may seem too mathematically challenging to many marine biologists, ecologists and environmental scientists, and present them for use in mechanistic applications.


This paper proposes an algorithm to measure the width of retinal vessels in fundus photographs using graph-based algorithm to segment both vessel edges simultaneously. First, the simultaneous two-boundary segmentation problem is modeled as a two-slice, 3-D surface segmentation problem, which is further converted into the problem of computing a minimum closed set in a node-weighted graph. An initial segmentation is generated from a vessel probability image. We use the REVIEW database to evaluate diameter measurement performance. The algorithm is robust and estimates the vessel width with subpixel accuracy. The method is used to explore the relationship between the average vessel width and the distance from the optic disc in 600 subjects.


Effect of the drying stage of the rice stubble on the weeds and the beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.). The assay was conducted at the Fabio Baudrit Experiment Station of the University of Costa Rica, located in the San Jose district, in Alajuela, Costa Rica. The effect of drying the rice stubble with glyfosate was measured, between June 2000 and January 2001, in different periods before the direct planting of the beans; on the control of weeds and the bean yield. The application of glyfosate on the rice stubble and weeds, before planting the beans or after planting, but before the emergence, allowed an adequate ground cover by the stubbles during the critical competence period of the bean, which reduced the presence of weeds and achieved high bean yields without applying other herbicides. When the holding period was prolonged (30-45 days) after the glyfosate application, the ground cover was poor due to the advanced decomposing stage of the stubble. There was a larger presence of weeds and negative effects on the bean production when the weed control was not timely.


This article, selected for an anthology of best articles to appear in ABA magazines, analyzes the phenomenon of impasse in mediation. Parties in commercial mediation often fall into impasse, particularly when they bargain positionally. This is a challenging stage of the process, since at that point both principals and lawyers are often tired and frustrated and genuinely believe their opponent is demanding unfair compromises. The article describes techniques and stratagems that activist mediators use to overcome impasse and lead or push disputants to settlement. It is accompanied by an article by Hon. Wayne Brazil criticizing some of the techniques it advocates.


The physical nature of boundaries that restrict the spreading of fluids or appear as interfaces between two immiscible fluids can have a significant influence on the static and dynamic properties of a fluidmechanical system. The aim of the present work is to investigate the influence of
different boundary configurations on the energy dissipation and stability of fluid systems in the case of creeping flows, as they typically occur in microfluidic devices.

The motion of charged interfacial microparticles induced by an applied electric field is theoretically investigated in this work. In addition to the functional relationship, which relates the velocity of the particle with the strength of the electric field and depends, among others, on
the wetting properties of the particle, the deformation of the fluid interface is also determined, which results as a consequence of the charge of the particle and the resulting electric double layer, which is different in both bulk phases.

The presence of multiple interfacial particles can effectively be described by a change in the rheological properties of the fluid interface. The theoretical model developed in this work is suitable for determining the effective shear and dilatation viscosity of the interface, which can be expressed as a function of the particle concentration and the contact angle of the particles.

Microfluidic systems are typically characterized by a small volume-to-surface ratio, whereby the influence of the boundary conditions on the global properties of a flow increases dramatically. A charged, weakly deformed circular obstacle subjected to a pressure-driven flow can be isolated by a locally restricted electro-osmotic flow induced on the walls of the channel such that the hydrodynamic force on the body vanishes. The exact charge distribution that encloses the solid at the walls of the channel and provides hydrodynamic isolation, is determined theoretically and validated with the help of numerical simulations.

The aim of many technical applications is to create an uniform liquid film on a flat surface. However, under certain external conditions, defects or holes can form which, if they are stable, may even lead to component failure. In the course of this work, a stability criterion is determined
that predicts under which conditions the defects in spatially limited liquid films will self-heal. In addition, the dynamics of the closure of single circular defects is investigated theoretically and compared with experiments on different substrates.

As an extension of the investigation on single defects in liquid films, a model is developed which predicts the temporal evolution of multiple defects. The theoretical results are validated by a comparison with experiments.


Changes in the demographic profile over recent decades, especially population aging, have implications for Brazilian public policies. This study aims to analyze how family health strategy teams implement and carry out care for the elderly in a Brazilian municipality. The qualitative field research was conducted by collecting data through semistructured interviews using Minayo as a point of reference and employing thematic content analysis. One observation was that the National Health Policy for Elderly People (Política Nacional de Saúde da Pessoa Idosa - PNSPI) has been facing challenges in its implementation at the municipal level in terms of the lack of specific actions by the PNSPI, limited actions or lack of accessibility, lack of training for health professionals, hiring and management of workers, intersectoral actions, and management. It was concluded that a better outlook for the implementation of the PNSPI in the context of the aging population will require strengthening actions through the precepts of comanagement, an expanded clinic, and health education to increase individuals' independence.


Jatropha seed is potential to be utilized as raw material for biodiesel production by in situ transesterification because of its high oil content (30%). The objective of this research was to optimis reaction time and hexane to total solvent ratio in biodiesel production from jatropha seed by in situ transesterification, and to analyze the influence of reaction time and hexane to total solvent ratio on biodiesel yield and quality. The research was designed using Central Composite Design, and the in situ transesterification process was carried out at 400 rpm stirring speed and 50°C reaction temperature with potassium hidroxice (KOH) concentration of 0.075 mol/L in methanol. The process conditions were optimized using Response Surface Method with reaction time (4-10 h) and hexane to total solvent ratio (0.01-0.416) as their process variables, and the responses measured were biodiesel yield, density, viscosity, acid, saponification and ester values. The optimum process conditions to produce biodiesel from jatropha seed by in situ transesterification were obtained at 7.08 h reaction time and 0.32 hexane to total solvent ratio. For these process conditions, the optimum biodiesel yield was 57.4% with acid value of 0.48 mg KOH / g, saponification value of 281.7 mg KOH/g, ester value of 281.3 mg KOH/g, viscosity of 3.60 cSt and density of 0.67 g/cm 3 . The effect of process conditions on biodiesel yield was significant, especially hexane to total solvent ratio. However their effect on biodiesel quality is not important. Keywords : b iodiesel, in situ transesterification , jatropha, o ptimization, response surface method


Tracy Kidder and Jonny Steinberg have constructed evocative biographies of African refugees' dislocation, journeys and struggles to settle in the USA. These books are reviewed through the lens of how South African readers might read these books given local imaginings of African refugees. The article describes how African refugee experiences are portrayed in both books and it critiques their representation of trauma and memory; and how each 'author' approached their relationships with the 'authored'. Kidder tended to be the ventriloquist for the Burundian refugee's life story and while offering useful narrative analysis, his conclusions have a redemptive tone. In contrast, Steinberg shares his draft manuscript with two Liberian protagonists, which produces complex encounters between author and authored. Steinberg's analysis of how the past Liberian civil war is mirrored in present conflicts within and amongst refugees in Little Liberia leads to a more complex account of refugee lives and of how memory and history intertwine.


Perceptions of the Great War are still dominated by the accounts of a few canonical writers, such as Owen and Sassoon. Alternative soldier narratives have been marginalised. The wartime writings of the ex-navvy from Donegal, Patrick MacGill, published in 1915 and 1916, reveal an alternative perspective that throws a different light on the meaning attached to the war. Further, MacGill's post-war novel Fear!, published in 1921 is a strikingly early example of disillusionment with the war and shows how, even at an individual level, perceptions of the Great War changed dramatically as the writer moved from near-contemporaneous to reflective writing on the conflict.


Summary Sphagnum peatmosses are fundamental members of peatland ecosystems, where they contribute to the uptake and long‐term storage of atmospheric carbon. Warming threatens Sphagnum mosses and is known to alter the composition of their associated microbiome. Here, we use a microbiome transfer approach to test if microbiome thermal origin influences host plant thermotolerance. We leveraged an experimental whole‐ecosystem warming study to collect field‐grown Sphagnum, mechanically separate the associated microbiome and then transfer onto germ‐free laboratory Sphagnum for temperature experiments. Host and microbiome dynamics were assessed with growth analysis, Chla fluorescence imaging, metagenomics, metatranscriptomics and 16S rDNA profiling. Microbiomes originating from warming field conditions imparted enhanced thermotolerance and growth recovery at elevated temperatures. Metagenome and metatranscriptome analyses revealed that warming altered microbial community structure in a manner that induced the plant heat shock response, especially the HSP70 family and jasmonic acid production. The heat shock response was induced even without warming treatment in the laboratory, suggesting that the warm‐microbiome isolated from the field provided the host plant with thermal preconditioning. Our results demonstrate that microbes, which respond rapidly to temperature alterations, can play key roles in host plant growth response to rapidly changing environments.


The supply managers of BAT Niemeyer would like to produce with fixed production cycles, such that products are produced within a fixed sequence on machines. These fixed sequences have to be such, that the total holding and setup costs incurred by BAT in the process of delivering fine cut tobacco products to their end markets, are minimized.
The scheduling problem was associated with the Economic Lot Scheduling Problem (ELSP), since there are multiple items which are competing for the same machine capacity, and the goal is to minimize the total holding and setup costs. The ELSP is one of the most difficult lot-sizing problems, which is known to be NPhard.
The problem turned out to be even more complex due to characteristics of the system under research.
These scheduling characteristics are (a) tax banderoles of the Netherlands and Germany which need to be prepaid, (b) sequence-dependent setups and costs, (c) partly identical machines, (d) shared resources, and (e) different capacity groups. It is concluded that BAT Niemeyer is confronted with a variant of the basic ELSP treated in literature. In literature no algorithm could be identified which deals with the specific combination of characteristics found at BAT Niemeyer. In consultation with the problem owners certain scheduling
characteristics were relaxed to reduce the complexity of the problem.
By taking into account the identified requirements of the stakeholders during the entire research, a design solution is generated that meets the requirements of the stakeholders. First the performance indicators are identified, such that the quality of a production schedule can be assessed. Thereafter, a simulation tool is written which can assess the feasibility of a schedule. The tool also provides the performance indicators which were identified in the previous step. Finally, a hierarchical procedure is developed to help the user with coming efficiently to an improved and desirable production schedule.
BAT Niemeyer is taking steps to implement the procedure described in this thesis. After implementation BAT is expected to experience several benefits. In 2010 the average inventory of prepaid tax banderoles at the end of the month was approximately €10 million. After implementation almost all this working capital is released.
Also the average inventory of finished goods will be reduced, since uncertainty related to cycle time decreases.


Objective: The study was conducted to summarize the experience of Surgeon-Nurse Integrated Management (SNIM) in emergency treatment of severe complications following thyroid gland surgery.
 Methods: The retrospective analysis was performed on clinical data of 1,945 cases with thyroid tumor who were admitted to our hospital between January 2013 and March 2016. Also, the procedures of SNIM in emergency treatment for severe complications following surgery were summarized.
Results: SNIM was introduced to our department in 2008 and was modified based on original one in January 2013. In this study, 1,945 cases received surgical treatment. SNIM was executed since admission of these patients, including assessment of patients, design of medical care plan, regular assessment of complications after surgery for thyroid gland using the Postoperative Complications Modular Evaluation Sheet (PCMES) on shift basis, early detection of severe postoperative complicates and immediate treatment by collaboration with surgeons. After modification of the SNIM, patient satisfaction increased by 5.9%. The mean duration of stay was reduced by 3.4 d. Most surgeons and nurses believed that the modified SNIM was better to demonstrate professional skills of nurses and enhance collaboration with surgeons in management following thyroid gland surgery.
Conclusion: SNIM enables adequate assessment of medical condition and enhances surgeon-nurse cooperation during perioperative period. With such management, it is possible to make regular assessment of patients following surgery and provide immediate treatment if any severe postoperative complications are identified, which helps promote recovery following surgery and improve recovery rate and quality of life.


The work presented in this article continues our investigation of such assisted navigation solutions where the main emphasis is placed not on sensor sets or sensor fusion algorithms but on the ability of the travelers to interpret and contextualize verbal route directions en route. This work contributes to our investigation of the research hypothesis that we have formulated and partially validated in our previous studies: if a route is verbally described in sufficient and appropriate amount of detail, independent VI travelers can use their O&M and problem solving skills to successfully follow the route without any wearable sensors or sensors embedded in the environment. In this investigation, we temporarily put aside the issue of how VI and blind travelers successfully interpret route directions en route and tackle the question of how those route directions can be created, generated, and maintained by online communities. In particular, we focus on the automation of path inference and present an algorithm that may be used as part of the background computation of VGI sites to find new paths in the previous route directions written by online community members, generate new route descriptions from them, and post them for subsequent community editing.


An industrial yard owned by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is located at the Caven Point peninsula in Jersey City, New Jersey. The yard's berthing waterfront is built in the form of steel a sheet pile bulkhead. The sheet piling, subject to the aggressive salt water environment, has severely corroded since the time of construction in the early 1970s; however, the degree of corrosion of the steel sheeting varied a great deal over the wall height. The most severe corrosion occurred within the tidal zone with its peak being at the Mean Low Water level (MLW). About 15% of the original steel thickness was left at this level. In other zones, where the sheet piling was either permanently dry or permanently submerged, the remaining steel was 80 to 90% of its original thickness. Structural analysis of the bulkhead showed that the maximum bending moment occurs approximately at the level of mudline, where the section loss of the sheet piling due to corrosion was minimal. At the MLW level, where the sheet piling sustained the maximum corrosion loss, the bending moment, on the contrary, was small and the remaining steel thickness was found sufficient to resist it. Consequently, it was determined that the bulkhead in its existing condition was structurally adequate; hence, the goal of its rehabilitation was merely to stop further corrosion and to preserve the sheet piling in its present condition. Protection of the sheet piling has been designed as 20-cm (8-inch) thick precast concrete panels (veneer) installed in front of the existing wall. The space between the sheet piling and the panels would be filled with plain tremie concrete. To make the concrete panels capable of withstanding the lateral pressure of the wet concrete fill, two measures have been proposed: a) use of the lightweight concrete fill, and b) placement of the concrete fill between the sheet piling and panels in several lifts. Each subsequent lift would be placed after concrete in the previous lift has hardened and thus no longer transmits lateral pressure to the panels.


Design, implement, and improve your infrastructure administration with System Center Orchestrator 2012 R2's automation process About This BookLearn about the components of Orchestrator, the design and implementation process, and the way it interacts with your environment to create outstanding automation processesGain an in-depth understanding of Runbooks, while exploring its security and troubleshooting aspectsFollow this step-by-step guide at your own pace and get yourself in the frontline of the Orchestrator worldWho This Book Is ForThis book is targeted at those who want to gain time in their administrative tasks and profit from it to also improve their environment by reaching a more autonomous infrastructure.What You Will LearnPlan, assess, design, and implement Orchestrator 2012 R2 in a corporate environmentMaster the Runbook Designer and discover all about the Runbook creation processImport and integrate more technologies through new imported functionalities and learn what they bring to your environmentExtend your possibilities and interaction with your environment while you get to grips with the best practices for this systemImplement High Availability, security, backup, and recovery procedures and fine-tuning of the platformFamiliarize yourself with the Runbook design and its implementation with an insight into the methodology for a more dynamic data centerIn DetailWith the increasing complexity of systems in our infrastructure designs, administrating these systems has become more complex and repetitive. This ultimately translates into an inefficient environment and a loss of time. System Center Orchestrator 2012 R2 is the tool that can help you regain that time again, by simplifying repetitive tasks (or complex ones) into a simple one that will require minimum intervention from you, or even none.Starting off with the fundamentals of Orchestrator, this book helps you to learn the configuration and deployment of the Orchestrator 2012 R2 in a corporate environment to successfully deploy and mitigate real life issues that you might encounter. You'll learn the most used part of Orchestrator, the Runbook Designer, with all its components and mechanisms to help you efficiently design and implement your Runbooks from top to bottom. You finally round off by gaining insights on the maintenance aspects of Orchestrator, while simultaneously covering the troubleshooting, backup, and recovery features.


A dose of 100 microliter of a potent ovine LHRH gamma globulin inhibited ovulation in the cyclic rat when administered at 12:00 h on the day of pro-oestrus. A dose of 10 ml of the preparation was administered i.v. to female stumptailed macaques to achieve circulating antibody titres 3-4-fold higher than in the rat. In an ovariectomized macaque, this caused a marked fall in serum concentrations of LH to less than 10% of pretreatment values and also a significant, though less pronounced, fall in FSH. Six monkeys were treated with the LHRH gamma globulin during the mid-late follicular phase of the cycle. In 2 monkeys in which serum oestradiol concentrations were less than 100 pg/ml at the time of antibody administration, the rising oestradiol levels were abruptly suppressed and the normal mid-cycle LH surge failed to occur. Serum concentrations of LH and FSH declined to low levels for 8-10 days after which time normal follicular development occurred. In the remaining 4 monkeys in which follicular development was more advanced as indicated by serum oestradiol concentrations of greater than 100 pg/ml, the antibodies induced either a transient decline or had no effect on the rising serum concentration of oestradiol. An LH/FSH surge followed by a rise in serum progesterone occurred in these macaques. When the antibodies were administered to a further 6 macaques, which had also been treated with oestradiol benzoate during the early follicular phase to induce an LH surge, the neutralization of LHRH again failed to block the surge even when the dose of antibody was increased to 20 ml. The results show that LHRH antibodies were unable to block the LH surge in the macaque. They contrast with results obtained with LHRH immunoneutralization in the sheep, rat, hamster, mouse and bird and suggest that the ability of oestrogen to induce an LH surge by acting directly on the LHRH-primed anterior pituitary gland is more dominant in the primate.


IoT is a combination of conventional systems, sensors, clouds, smartphone apps, online applications and control systems that influence every part of people's lives. With increasingly heterogeneous devices and data processing, security issues are growing. The fact that most IoT software and systems are not entirely protected and vulnerable to such threats is often widely understood. On average, 60% of IoT software and gadgets are correlated with some type of vulnerability. It is becoming easier for an adversary to hack into a program, make it unusable, or capture sensitive information and data. The impact of the different threats varies considerably: some affect the security or quality of the records, while others affect the availability of the device. At present, companies are trying to recognize what the risks to their information assets are and how to access the appropriate means to tackle them, which appears to be an obstacle. To improve understanding of security threats, this paper summarizes IoT European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine ISSN 2515-8260 Volume 7, Issue 10, 2020 3854 security attacks and establishes taxonomy based on the application domain and the design of the architecture.


In this paper, we consider the transmission of a Gaussian signal over a slow fading channel. The channel state information is assumed to be only known at the receiver. The source is layer-coded and transmitted using the broadcast strategy. We are interested in the optimization problem of minimizing the expected end-to-end distortion of the reconstructed signal at the receiver. An efficient iterative algorithm is proposed to jointly solve the rate allocation problem and the channel discretization problem. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the schemes using fixed channel discretization by a large margin. Meanwhile, the computational cost of our method is lower than those of the joint optimization approaches that involve partial exhaustive search.


This study examines the influence of the structure and composition of a firm's alliance network on its exploratory innovation. In a longitudinal investigation of 77 telecommunications equipment manufacturers, I find the technological diversity of a firm's alliance partners increases its exploratory innovation. I also find that network density among a firm's alliance partners strengthens the influence of diversity. These results suggest the benefits of network closure and access to diverse information can coexist in a firm's alliance network and the combination of the two increases exploratory innovation.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------***--------------------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT: The Serial-out bit level multiplication scheme is characterized by an important latency feature. It has an ability to sequentially generate an output bit of the multiplication result in each clock cycle. However, the computational complexity of the existing serial-out bit-level multipliers in GF(2m) using normal basis representation, limits its usefulness in many applications; hence, an optimized serial-out bit-level multiplier using polynomial basis representation is needed. In this paper, we propose new serial-out bit-level Mastrovito multiplier schemes. We show that in terms of the time complexities, the proposed multiplier schemes outperform the existing serial-out bitlevel schemes available in the literature. In addition, using the proposed multiplier schemes, we present new hybriddouble multiplication architectures. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time such a hybrid multiplier structure using the polynomial basis is proposed. Prototypes of the presented serial-out bit-level schemes and the proposed hybrid-double multiplication architectures (10 schemes in total) are implemented over both GF (2163) and GF (2233), and experimental results are presented.


The purpose of this study was to determine whether a brace designed to unload varus degenerative knees actually alters medial compartment loads by decreasing the adduction moment. Eleven patients who had arthrosis confined to the medial compartment were fitted with a valgus brace and tested before and after brace wear with pain and function scoring instruments and by automated gait analysis. The biomechanical data from these patients were compared with those from 11 healthy control subjects. Scores from an analog pain scale decreased 48% with brace wear, and function with activities of daily living increased 79%. Mean adduction moment without the brace measured 4.0 ± 0.8% body weight times height versus 3.6 ± 0.8% body weight times height when wearing the brace (10% decrease). The mean adduction moment for control subjects was 3.5 ± 0.6% body weight times height. Thus, the mean adduction moment decreased from approximately one standard deviation from the normal mean to a value that is similar to the control value. Nine of 11 patients had a decrease in the adduction moment with the brace, five of 11 patients had a reduction higher than 10%, and decreases in this moment were as high as 32%. This study shows that pain, function, and biomechanical knee loading can be altered by a brace designed to unload the medial compartment of the knee.


ALT-C, an ECD motif (glutamic acid, cysteine, aspartic acid) disintegrin from Bothrops alternatus snake venom, induces α2β1 integrin-mediated signaling and neutrophil chemotaxis. In vitro, in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), ALT-C induces cell proliferation, thus showing an interesting potential for tissue regeneration studies. This work aimed to evaluate the influence of ALT-C in myoblast viability and differentiation. Myoblasts were obtained from hind limb muscles of 3 to 4-day old Wistar rats. The cells were incubated with ALT-C at different concentrations and incubation periods were followed by total RNA isolation. cDNA synthesis and real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were performed with primers of myoD as well as of both (slow and fast) myosin heavy chain isoforms (MHC). ECD-disintegrin increased myoblast viability in a dose-dependent way, mostly with 50 to 100 nM concentrations, and such effect was more prevalent after 48 hours. No changes in gene expression of both MHC isoforms were observed in ALT-C-treated cells. MyoD expression was not detected, which suggests that myoblasts were in mature stages. Protease activity and cytokine array tested in a medium of 50 nM ALT-C-treated cells after 48 hours were not different from controls. In conclusion, it was shown that myoblats are sensitive to ALT-C indicating an integrin-mediated intracellular signaling that increases cell viability.


The article aims to highlight how the knowledge of university students' characteristics is a key-point for planning innovative teaching. The Bologna University Project refers to a Formative Educational Evaluation model, which is focused on higher education teaching skills and aims to have an impact on teaching and learning processes' multiple levels and dimensions, in a diachronic perspective. The application of the model to different academic contexts of the University of Bologna was carried on by two evaluation research pilot studies with "Nursing" and "Economics and Finance" (CLEF) Degree teachers. This model includes evaluation actions specifically oriented in the formative sense (analysis and progressive re-planning of teaching actions supported by ad hoc higher education teachers training interventions) in order to promote teachers' capacity for reflection, self-analysis of their teaching practices and specific training actions based on innovative methodologies


Many newly emerging industries show similar patterns of development regarding entry and exit dynamics. This paper argues that several features of exit and new entry into industries through diversification and spinoff formation can be related to problems arising within firms when their organizations grow during the industry?s life cycle. Drawing on earlier work, the growth-induced learning and coordination problems of the firms are outlined and their impact at the industry level is discussed. JEL Classification: L25, L59, O31.


The purpose of this study is to fabricate a wheel using fullerenes with nano-scaled particles, and to investigate the polishing performance of fullerene wheel. A super smooth surface was formed on a silicon wafer by polishing the wafer with metal-bonded diamond wheels using a diamond abrasive grit of 0-0.125 μm and fullerenes with a diameter of 0.7 nm. We used two kinds of metal-bonded diamond wheels for pre-polishing and a metal-bonded fullerene wheel for the finishing process. Though the surface roughness after polishing with the fullerene wheel was almost equal to that obtained by polishing with the metal-bonded diamond wheel using diamond abrasive grit of 0-0.125 μm, the chemical-mechanical polishing process was clarified by AFM (atomic force microscope) observation when we used a metal-bonded fullerene wheel with 5wt% KOH (potassium hydroxide) solution. The greater number of smoothed portions on the surface of the silicon wafer indicated that the fullerenes provided the same polishing ability as that of the abrasive grit.


A large body of empirical work has demonstrated that higher inflation, especially when it is unexpected, leads to greater dispersion in the distribution of price changes across subaggregates. A sparse and more recent literature suggests exactly the opposite effects on the distribution of wage changes. This study first reconciles these apparently opposite results using a model in which shocks to the economy can affect both wages and prices and the demand for indexing. If the positive effect of shocks on the demand for indexing is sufficiently large, the dispersion of changes in wages or prices will be reduced even though the shocks' direct effect is to increase this dispersion. Implicitly from the evidence, this offset is large enough in wage-setting, but not so large in price determination. Additional evidence on the relationship between inflation and the dispersion of wage changes is provided by empirical work for 14 Israeli manufacturing industries, 1956-82. The results suggest that in Israel, just as in the United States (on which previous work has been conducted) with its much less rapid and variable inflation, dispersion also decreased with unexpected price inflation.


The aim of this study was to investigate the treatment effects on the maxillofacial complex by maxillary protraction combined with chin cup therapy among growing children. An effective geometric morphometric assessment of cephalometric radiographs, using Procrustes analysis and thin-plate spline analysis, was applied to evaluate shape change in the craniofacial and midfacial configurations of a treated sample of 20 children with skeletal Class III malocclusion. This was compared with matched untreated skeletal Class III controls. Marked treatment induced change involved the maxilla and the mandible. Major deformation consisted of forward advancement of the maxillary complex with negligible rotation of the palatal plane and a forward direction of growth of the mandibular condyle associated with a restriction in sagittal advancement of the chin. Considerable dentoalveolar components contributed to the correction of anterior crossbite. Further detailed study of skeletofacial remodelling in response to maxillary protraction in other skeletal components, including the cranial base and the mandibular complex that contribute to Class III skeletal discrepancies, is warranted.


ABSTRACT The European Defence Fund (EDF) is considered a game changer for European defence. The unprecedented co-funding of research and development expenses of cutting-edge defence systems is functional to strengthen the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) and the EU's Strategic Autonomy. This paper analyses the factors that enabled a partial shift from intergovernmental to supranational governance in the European defence market, applying the lens of the new intergovernmentalism theory. The cost of non-cooperation in defence and the Brexit impact will be taken into account to explain the observed shift. The paper highlights the role of the Commission in the integration of the European Defence Agency's activities with those of the newly created DG for Defence Industry and Space (DG DEFIS). It also examines the extent to which diverging strategic industrial interests of Member States and of industrial players seek to prevent a deeper integration of the European defence market.


With the rise of artificial intelligence in recent years, Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) have been widely used in many domains. To achieve high performance and energy efficiency, hardware acceleration (especially inference) of DNNs is intensively studied both in academia and industry. However, we still face two challenges: large DNN models and datasets, which incur frequent off-chip memory accesses; and the training of DNNs, which is not well-explored in recent accelerator designs. To truly provide high throughput and energy efficient acceleration for the training of deep and large models, we inevitably need to use multiple accelerators to explore the coarse-grain parallelism, compared to the fine-grain parallelism inside a layer considered in most of the existing architectures. It poses the key research question to seek the best organization of computation and dataflow among accelerators. In this paper, inspired by recent work in machine learning systems, we propose a solution HyPar to determine layer-wise parallelism for deep neural network training with an array of DNN accelerators. HyPar partitions the feature map tensors (input and output), the kernel tensors, the gradient tensors, and the error tensors for the DNN accelerators. A partition constitutes the choice of parallelism for weighted layers. The optimization target is to search a partition that minimizes the total communication during training a complete DNN. To solve this problem, we propose a communication model to explain the source and amount of communications. Then, we use a hierarchical layer-wise dynamic programming method to search for the partition for each layer.


Newborn, 7–9 day, and 16–18 day old NZB and B/W mice were, unlike older New Zealand mice, rendered tolerant to single doses of 8–10 mg of soluble BGG. After challenge, this tolerance was of short duration and escape occurred rapidly. Age-matched and similarly treated C3H, Balb/c and C57Bl mice did not escape from tolerance. Partial tolerance could be maintained by repeated injections of BGG. Biofiltration ruled out hyperphagocytosis as an explanation for this resistance to tolerance. Tolerance could be induced in older B/W mice if they were thymectomized, irradiated, and repopulated with young (12–15 day), but not old (2–3 month), spleen or bone marrow cells. Old bone marrow cells gave a non-tolerant response even when combined with young thymic grafts. Young bone marrow gave a tolerant response which was followed by the expected rapid escape only if a young thymus graft was also present. Escape was retarded if old thymus, or old irradiated thymus, was combined with young bone marrow. These results are best explained by abnormalities of both lymphoid precursors and thymic regulation.


Silk spinning is essential to spider ecology and has had a key role in the expansive diversification of spiders. Silk is composed primarily of proteins called spidroins, which are encoded by a multi-gene family. Spidroins have been studied extensively in the derived clade, Orbiculariae (orb-weavers), from the suborder Araneomorphae ('true spiders'). Orbicularians produce a suite of different silks, and underlying this repertoire is a history of duplication and spidroin gene divergence. A second class of silk proteins, Egg Case Proteins (ECPs), is known only from the orbicularian species, Lactrodectus hesperus (Western black widow). In L. hesperus, ECPs bond with tubuliform spidroins to form egg case silk fibers. Because most of the phylogenetic diversity of spiders has not been sampled for their silk genes, there is limited understanding of spidroin gene family history and the prevalence of ECPs. Silk genes have not been reported from the suborder Mesothelae (segmented spiders), which diverged from all other spiders >380 million years ago, and sampling from Mygalomorphae (tarantulas, trapdoor spiders) and basal araneomorph lineages is sparse. In comparison to orbicularians, mesotheles and mygalomorphs have a simpler silk biology and thus are hypothesized to have less diversity of silk genes. Here, we present cDNAs synthesized from the silk glands of six mygalomorph species, a mesothele, and a non-orbicularian araneomorph, and uncover a surprisingly rich silk gene diversity. In particular, we find ECP homologs in the mesothele, suggesting that ECPs were present in the common ancestor of extant spiders, and originally were not specialized to complex with tubuliform spidroins. Furthermore, gene-tree/species-tree reconciliation analysis reveals that numerous spidroin gene duplications occurred after the split between Mesothelae and Opisthothelae (Mygalomorphae plus Araneomorphae). We use the spidroin gene tree to reconstruct the evolution of amino acid compositions of spidroins that perform different ecological functions.


Organizations and their Chief Information Officers (CIOs) face significant challenges
in meeting increasing demand for IT services in the face of numerous challenges
such as cost pressures, complexity, demand for innovation and increasingly the
requirement to demonstrate value from IT investments. Research shows that CIOs
struggle to capture and state the return from their IT investments and that there is no
all encompassing IT improvement framework which is value focussed and
comprehensive across the full spectrum of IT capability activity. Using a hybrid
research approach involving a design science research methodology with an initial
case study, an integrated artifact called the IT Capability Maturity (IT-CMF)
framework has been researched and developed and had preliminary validation. The
IT-CMF is an archetype of the levels and maturity stages an IT capability goes
through as it defines, develops, controls, measures and improves its IT capability in
support of value creation for the organization. The IT-CMF is thus a design pattern
which CIOs can use as a generally reusable solution in the context of their own IT
capability and business environment. The IT-CMF leverages the concept of dynamic
capabilities providing a mechanism for not only developing capability but enabling
reconfiguration to dynamically adapt to changing circumstances and strategy. The
IT-CMF and its associated assessment instrument can act as an integrated
improvement roadmap, assessment tool and improvement system for CIOs as they
strive to improve IT capability in pursuit of improving value creation from IT.


In this study, the viability of probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum TISTR 2075 in different kind of cereal extracts was determined during fermentation and storage. During storage at 4°C for 144 h, fermented Plai Ngahm Prachin Buri rice extract exhibited the highest survival rate of 94.91% which was significant difference (P<0.05) from other fermented cereal extracts. Whereas, the highest survival rate of the strain stored at 37°C for 60 h was detected in fermented black glutinous rice extract (83.40% survival rate). Furthermore, the stability of the strain could be considered in a term of the specific rate of degradation (k). The lowest k value of 0.0034 h-1 and 0.0181 h-1 was also observed in fermented Plai Ngahm Prachin Buri rice extract storage at 4°C and fermented black glutinous rice extract storage at 37°C, respectively. Total reducing sugar and free amino nitrogen evolution of all fermented cereal extracts decreased over the course of storage period.


Small serpentine-shaped channels used in drip irrigation is an efficient irrigation technique in order to spare water. Eventual clogging in such micro channels should be avoided to extend the lifetime of these irrigation systems. Clogging often occurs when sedimentation takes place in low or zero velocity regions in steady laminar flow conditions. For this reason, labyrinth dripper designs are used to enhance mixing and / or induce unsteady flow conditions inside the channel. The aim of the present study is to investigate the flow inside such millimetric complex channel geometry with Stereoscopic MicroPIV measurements. Current three-component (3C) velocity measurements are compared with previous two-component (2C) velocity measurements. Results indicate that the u and v components of the 3C measurements are in good agreement with the previous 2C measurements, identifying and confirming the previously measured low- and zero-velocity regions. Furthermore, the out-of-plane (w) velocity component adds new information about the flow field revealing three-dimensional (3D) flow structures, what appears to be oblique vortices emanating from the baffle tips. In conclusion, both enhanced mixing due to 3D vortices and induced unsteady flow field seems to be responsible for clogging suppression.


ABSTRACT This study was undertaken to examine concomitant roles of pili and colony opacity-associated proteins (Opa) in promoting Neisseria gonorrhoeae adherence to and invasion of human endometrial HEC-1-B cells. Adherence of N. gonorrhoeae to cultured HEC-1-B cells was saturable, even though organisms adhered to <50% of the cells. During 4 to 6 h of incubation, adherent mono- and diplococci formed microcolonies on the surfaces of the cells. Microvilli of the HEC-1-B cells adhered by their distal ends to individual cocci within the microcolonies. When the microcolonies grew from isogenic pilus-negative (P−) Opa−, P− Opa+, or P+ Opa−gonococci, microvilli did not elongate, and the colonies were not engulfed. In contrast, the microvilli markedly elongated during exposure to P+ Opa+ gonococci. The microvilli adhered to the organisms along their full lengths and appeared to actively participate in the engulfment of the microcolonies. Internalized microcolonies, with P+ Opa+gonococci, contained dividing cocci and appeared to be surrounded by cell membrane but were not clearly within vacuoles. In contrast, degenerate individual organisms were within vacuoles. Low doses of chloramphenicol, which inhibits protein synthesis by both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, prevented the microvillar response to and internalization of the P+ Opa+ gonococci; higher doses caused internalization without microvillus activation. Cycloheximide and anisomycin, which inhibit only eukaryotic protein synthesis, caused dose-dependent enhancement of uptake. Cytochalasins reduced engulfment; colchicine had no effect. These results show that gonococci must express both pili and Opa to be engulfed efficiently by HEC-1-B cells.


This contribution briefly describes seventy Devonian formations from the Dinant and Namur Synclinoria, the Vesdre Nappe and the Theux Window, that were revised or introduced during the previous two decades. The descriptions of the formations are organized in four parts, Lower Devonian, Middle Devonian, Frasnian and Famennian, corresponding to major and minor transgressive and regressive events and demonstrating each typical lithological characteristics. In each part, the following presentation has been adopted: the formations occurring in the Southern part of the Dinant Synclinorium are first described from base upwards, followed by a description of the formations restricted to the central and/or northern part of the Dinant Synclinorium, the Namur Synclinorium, the Vesdre Nappe and the Theux Window.


In February 2000 Zimbabweans went to the polls to vote on a draft constitution
for their country. The draft contained some important provisions for, amongst
other things, the reform of the country's electoral system. The draft was rejected
and a bitter general election campaign ensued in the second quarter of 2000. The
general election held in June 2000 and the presidential election in March 2002
were the most violent in Zimbabwe's electoral history. These developments raise
significant questions relating to constitutionalism and the electoral process in
Zimbabwe. They were an admission that both constitutional and electoral reforms
were imperative and, indeed, overdue. A state-appointed Constitutional
Commission (CC) was set up in 1999 after a civil society-driven one, the National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA), had been founded earlier in 1998. In particular,
the political developments since 2000 have highlighted the need to address the
increasing deficit in democratic governance and stability in Zimbabwe. This
paper attempts to assess critically developments relating to constitutionalism
and the electoral system, the links between them, and their significance for
governance and stability.


Objective. To estimate the prevalence of inadequate pain relief (IPR) among patients with symptomatic knee OA prescribed analgesic therapy and to characterize patients with IPR. Methods. Patients ≥50 years old with physician-diagnosed knee OA who had taken topical or oral pain medication for at least 14 days were recruited for this prospective non-interventional study in six European countries. Pain and function were assessed using the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and the WOMAC; quality of life (QoL) was assessed using the 12-item short form. IPR was defined as an average pain score of >4 out of 10 on BPI question 5. Results. Of 1187 patients enrolled, 68% were female and the mean age was 68 years (s.d. 9); 639 (54%) met the definition of IPR. Patient responses for the BPI average pain question were well correlated with responses on the WOMAC pain subscale (Spearman r = 0.64, P < 0.001). In multivariate logistic regression, patients with IPR had greater odds of being female [adjusted odds ratio (adjOR) 1.90 (95% CI 1.46, 2.48)] and having OA in both knees [adjOR 1.48 (95% CI 1.15, 1.90)], higher BMI, longer OA duration, depression or diabetes. Patients with IPR (vs non-IPR) were more likely to have worse QoL, greater function loss and greater pain interference. Conclusion. IPR is common among patients with knee OA requiring analgesics and is associated with large functional loss and impaired QoL. Patients at particular risk of IPR, as characterized in this study, may require greater attention towards their analgesic treatment options. Trial registration: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ (NCT01294696).


Nano-silver composites with a thermoplastic polyurethane as the matrix were prepared by two different routes. Using the so-called in situ preparation, silver nanoparticles were obtained by a thermal reduction of silver acetate during melt mixing. In addition, a more sophisticated ex situpreparation method was developed. Here, the silver nanoparticles are synthesized in an invertible polyester resulting in much smaller particle sizes. The particles obtained are surrounded by the polyester cage, which stabilizes them with respect to agglomeration. Hence, an incorporation of those particles into a polymer melt with common techniques like extrusion leads to an even distribution. This is due to the fact that the invertible polyester and the polymer matrix are entirely miscible which was proven with DSC measurements. The silver ion release of the composites prepared was measured with anodic stripping voltammetry. At a constant weight percentage of silver in the polymer, the composite with the ex situsilver nanoparticles exhibits a silver ion release which is about two orders of magnitude higher than the release from the composite with the in situsilver nanoparticles. This observation is explained by the higher specific surface area of the smaller particles and a higher coefficient of diffusion for silver ions. A concentration of only 0.07 wt% silver nanoparticles, prepared with the ex situ method, exhibits a high enough release of silver ions to achieve antimicrobial properties.


The role of indigenous knowledge on the development of iron industry among the Tugen of Baringo County; Kenya. The study examined two distinctive epochs from which the understanding of how ironwork in Tugen land was conducted. They learnt the skill through their interaction with their physical environments to cope with the changing climatic conditions by making suitable artefacts for the varied demands in all sectors. The study relied on oral traditions and archival sources as primary sources. Secondary sources were utilised, such as unpublished works like articles, books, and thesis. The study described the distribution, methods and techniques and the procedure used in ironwork. It further assessed the types and uses of iron products. This study established the forces that led to the dismantling of the industry during the early periods of colonial rule, such as taxation, forced labour, settler farming, and western education. Ironwork in the 1930s underwent re-organisations in the form of labour innovativeness, cultural transformation, marketing strategies etc. These were analysed to ascertain the forces behind the persistence and resilience of the industry. The Tugen devised ways of survival to compete favourably with the British colonisers, which led to the Tugen transformation of the iron industry from 1945. This paper raised an argument against this position. The study has recorded the Tugen iron industry for posterity purposes. The study recommends the inclusion of indigenous knowledge to any industrial development and innovation in the country.


Purpose To identify ethical issues that interns encounter in their clinical education and thus build a more empirical basis for the required contents of the clinical ethics curriculum. Method The authors analyzed a total of 522 required case reports on ethical dilemmas experienced by interns from September 1995 to May 1999 at the medical school of Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. They identified four regularly described and numerous less frequently described topics. Results The interns addressed a wide range of ethical themes. In 45% of the cases, they mentioned disclosure or non-disclosure of information and informed consent; in 37%, medical decisions at the end of life; in 16%, medical failures; and in 9%, problems transferring patients from one caregiver to another. The interns also identified 27 themes linked to their unique position as interns and 19 themes related to specific types of patients. Conclusion Based on self-reported experiences, the authors conclude that clinical ethics teachers should reflect on a multitude of dilemmas. Special expertise is required with respect to end-of-life decisions, truth telling, medical failures, and transferring patients from one caregiver to another. The clinical ethics curriculum should encourage students to voice their opinions and deal with values, responsibilities, and the uncertainty and failings of medical interventions.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the clinical manifestation of depressive disorder in elderly, and younger adults.

METHODS
To compare the clinical manifestation of depressive disorder, we evaluate 46 elderly (33 female, and 13 male, mean age 71.1) and 60 younger adults (40 female, and 20 male, mean age 44.5 years). All patients suffering from depressive disorders according to ICD-10. For evaluation and comparison of depressive symptomatology we used the HAM-D-17. The results analysed by the SPSS.

RESULTS
The clinical manifestation of depression is different in the elderly. Elderly depressed patients compared with their younger counterparts, scored significantly less in Depressed mood, but significantly higher in Work and activities, Retardation, Somatic symptoms-general, Hypochondriasis, Insomnia-middle, Insomnia-late, Anxiety-somatic, and Somatic symptoms-gastrointestinal. On the other hand, younger patients scored significantly higher in Feelings of guilt, and Genital symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS
Clinical presentation of depressive disorder is different in the elderly, depressed mood is often absent or masked. Anxiety, somatization, and hypochondriasis are more often present in the elderly depressed patients than in younger patients. The elderly people are also more likely than their younger counterparts to complain of insomnia.


Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) arises from intra- andextra-hepatic biliary epithelial cells. The incidence of CCAis low worldwide, however, it is very high in the northeasternpart of Thailand especially in Khon Kaen province. Mostof patients presented tumor at late stage with large tumorsize and almost always metastasized to local and distantorgans. CCA can be subgrouped according to the tumorappearance into mass-forming, periductal infiltrating andintraductal growth. Based on the retrospective recordsof 181 intrahepatic CCA cases operated at SrinagarindHospital, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University duringB.E. 2541-2545, 73% were mass-forming type, theaverage age was 56 years, male: female = 2.2: 1, and only10 cases (5.5%) were peri-operative death. The mediansurvival was 224 days (95% CI; 160-287 days). Factorsthat offered the long survival of patients were intraductalgrowth type, R0 resection, early stage tumor and completechemotherapy treatment after surgery. This study indicatesthat even surgery is the only curative treatment for CCA,however, it will be effectively based on tumor type, tumorstage, R0 resection and complete chemotherapy treatmentafter surgery. Keywords : bile duct cancer, surgery, prognosis,chemotherapy


This paper describes the development of a data acquisition system for the electrocardiogram (ECG) and the phonocardiogram (PCG). Diagnosing heart sounds and heart murmurs using the stethoscope is an established practice clinically. However it requires considerable experience and training, to ensure validity and reproducibility. Echocardiography provides more definitive diagnosis in this respect but it is expensive and not widely available. With the advancement in personal computers (PC), this data acquisition unit interfaces with any desktop or notebook PC and functions as a virtual instrument for the heart diagnostic system. The ECG has been a reliable reference for the cardiologists to determine the first (S1) and second (S2) heart sound. Transformation of the heart sound signal using DSP technique, that is the Instantaneous Energy (IE) and Instantaneous Frequency (IF) for heart diagnostic can be a new approach for cardiologists. Furthermore, combining phonocardiogram with ECG for on-line diagnosis may be an important way forward. This paper describes the development of two channel acquisition system for heart diagnostic base on DSP technique.


Dual recycling is the combination of signal recycling and power recycling; both optical techniques improve the shot-noise-limited sensitivity of interferometric gravitational-wave detectors. In addition, signal recycling can reduce the loss of light power due to imperfect interference and allows, in principle, to beat the standard quantum limit. The interferometric gravitational-wave detector GEO600 is the first detector to use signal recycling. We have recently equipped the detector with a signal-recycling mirror with a transmittance of 1%. In this paper, we present details of the detector commissioning and the first locks of the dual- recycled interferometer.


Case finding of osteoporosis according to the Dutch practice guidelines detects only a small group of patients. Only patients with severe risk factors for osteoporotic fractures are screened because the sensitivity of the case finding method is too low to screen moderate or low risk patients. The assessment of vertebral fractures will improve the prediction of the fracture risk. Including a spinal radiograph in the screening program is likely to be cost-ineffective because a vertebral deformity without low bone mineral density is at most only a moderate risk factor for future fractures. Extending the screening program with dual energy X-ray morphometry might be a good alternative regarding cost, effort and radiation dosage.


Introduction: Alcohol consumption is a growing public health problem. Medical and para-medical professionals are seen as role models in society. However, alcohol consumption is also becoming a matter of concern among healthcare students as well.Aim: To determine the prevalence of students who consumed alcohol and identifying those with alcohol disorders using short version of Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT).Materials and Methods: A Cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted in a Deemed Private University in Southern part of India. Data on alcohol consumption was collected from 405 medical, dental and nursing students using shorter five item version of AUDIT. Data on other variables like gender, age, place of current residence, religion, specialty and year of study was collected using closed ended questionnaire. Frequency distribution for proportions and Logistic regression analysis was done to determine the influence of predictor variable on outcome variable.Results: Overall Prevalence of alcohol use was found to be 79.5 percent. Among these 56.5 percent were found having alcohol related problems. Males reported higher problems than females. Logistic regression revealed gender {odd's ratio: 1.015; (p=0.03)} and year of study {odd's ratio: 0.743 (p=0.02)} to be influencing alcohol related problems.Conclusion: Prevalence of alcohol consumption and those with related problems was found to be more than 50 percent (both males and females). There is a need to draft and implement policies by university which utilizes existing resources to prevent the increasing proportion of students consuming alcohol, with associated problems.


Searching repositories of existing source code for code snippets is a key task in software engineering. Over the years, many approaches to this problem have been proposed. One recent tool called NCS, takes in a natural language query and outputs relevant code snippets, often being able to correctly answer Stack Overflow questions. But what happens when the developer doesn't provide a query with a clear intent? What if shorter queries are used to demonstrate a more vague intent? We find that the performance of NCS regresses with shorter queries. Furthermore, data from developers' code search history logs shows that shorter queries have a less successful code search session: there are more query reformulations and more time is spent browsing the results. These observations lead us to believe that using NCS alone with short queries may not be productive enough. In this paper, we explore an additional way of using neural networks in code search: the automatic expansion of queries. We present NQE, a neural model that takes in a set of keywords and predicts a set of keywords to expand the query to NCS. NQE learns to predict keywords that co-occur with the query keywords in the underlying corpus, which helps expand the query in a productive way. Our results show that with query expansion, NQE + NCS is able to perform better than using NCS alone.


Purpose Lung cancer represents one of the most frequent solid tumors. Adenocarcinoma is a common type of tumor and a significant threat to individual health globally. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are recognized as critical governors of gene expression during carcinogenesis, while their effects on lung cancer occurrence and development are required for further investigation. Herein, the functional role of miR-210-3p and its regulation mechanism were characterized in lung cancer. Methods A total of 50 pairs of tumor and tumor-free lung tissues were surgically resected from lung cancer patients. Dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA immunoprecipitation assay were performed to examine USF1 binding with miR-210-3p and PCGF3. Cultured human lung cancer cells A549 were assayed for viability, apoptosis, migration, and invasion in vitro by CCK-8 test, flow cytometry, transwell chamber assays, tumorigenesis, and lymph node metastasis in vivo by mouse xenograft experiments. Results miR-210-3p was upregulated in lung cancer tissues. The inhibition of miR-210-3p by specific inhibitor tempered lung cancer development and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. miR-210-3p targeted USF1 and inhibited its expression. USF1 was bound with PCGF3, which increased its transcription. PCGF3-specific knockdown mimicked the effect of miR-210-3p on lung cancer development and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Conclusion The current study demonstrated that miR-210-3p facilitates lung cancer development and metastasis by impairing USF1-mediated promotion of PCGF3, which provides a better understanding of the mechanism of lung cancer development and metastasis.


: Streptococcus aureus, streptococci, and enterobacteria were major causative agents of abscesses of the brain. At present, associated infection is responsible for 60% of cerebral abscesses. When systemic and specific immunities are diminished, a risk for cerebral abscesses caused by fungi increases. Among them, there are the most common fungi Candida species or Aspergillus species. The paper gives an example of successful complex treatment of multiple cerebral abscesses caused by an association of Nocardia brasiliensis and Staphylococcus epidermidis. The specific feature of the observation was the correct diagnosis before intraoperative verification of cerebral abscesses. The disease developed in the presence of diminished systemic immunity and in the absence of specific immunity to Nocardia. Immunodeficiency could be caused by prior herpetic infection, Epstein-Barr disease, a wasp bite. The pathogen that was able to cause microstrokes played an indubitable role in the pathogenesis of the disease, which predisposed to the development of cerebral abscesses in patients with immunodeficiency. Impaired blood circulation in the occipital region could be also induced by wasp venom.


In this note we present the economic impact assessment of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for thematic objectives TO1 "Research and innovation" and TO4 "Low-carbon economy" in the region of Apulia, Italy. The results are based on the RHOMOLO-IO demand multiplier analysis and on computer simulations with the multiregional dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model RHOMOLO. The former approach is used to calculate the sector-specific output multipliers following a demandside shock, while the CGE simulations provide evidence of significant spillover effects spreading beyond the Apulian borders and stimulating economic growth in other regions with significant trade links with Apulia. Our results suggest that a €536 million increase in demand for the Manufacturing & Construction sector would entail an increase in total value added of €329 million, which is roughly 0.46% of the regional GDP. The RHOMOLO simulations show that the effects of policy interventions reach their peak in the last years of ERDF programming period (2020-2022), when the absorption of investment funding is at its full potential. In 2022, T01 and T04 investments of the ERDF increase Apulian by 0.2% above the baseline GDP projections. Given the high import intensity of the region, only one fourth of the overall effect is driven by the direct investments and three fourths depend on the productivity improvements achieved as a result of the specific policy design. This demonstrates that the implementation of policies that are effective in raising productivity ensures long term economic benefits even in the absence of continuous funding.


A method of evidence fusion, based on the fuzzy integral, is developed. This technique nonlinearly combines objective evidence, in the form of a fuzzy membership function, with subjective evaluation of the worth of the sources with respect to the decision. Various new theoretical properties of this technique are developed, and its applicability to information fusion in computer vision is demonstrated through simulation and with object recognition data from forward-looking infrared imagery. >


Abstract. Karst groundwater systems are characterized by the presence of multiple porosity types. Of these, subsurface conduits that facilitate concentrated, heterogeneous flow are challenging to resolve geologically and geophysically. This is especially the case in evaporite karst systems, such as those
present on the shores of the Dead Sea, where rapid geomorphological changes are linked to a fall in base level by over 35??? m since 1967. Here
we combine field observations, remote-sensing analysis, and multiple geophysical surveying methods (shear wave reflection seismics, electrical resistivity tomography, ERT, self-potential, SP, and ground-penetrating radar, GPR) to investigate the nature of subsurface groundwater flow and its interaction with hypersaline Dead Sea water on the rapidly retreating eastern shoreline, near Ghor Al-Haditha in Jordan. Remote-sensing data
highlight links between the evolution of surface stream channels fed by groundwater springs and the development of surface subsidence patterns over
a 25-year period. ERT and SP data from the head of one groundwater-fed channel adjacent to the former lakeshore show anomalies that point to concentrated, multidirectional water flow in conduits located in the shallow subsurface ( ???25??? m depth). ERT surveys further inland show
anomalies that are coincident with the axis of a major depression and that we interpret as representing subsurface water flow. Low-frequency GPR surveys reveal the limit between unsaturated and saturated zones ( ???30??? m depth) surrounding the main depression area. Shear wave seismic
reflection data nearly 1??? km further inland reveal buried paleochannels within alluvial fan deposits, which we interpret as pathways for
groundwater flow from the main wadi in the area towards the springs feeding the surface streams. Finally, simulations of density-driven flow of
hypersaline and undersaturated groundwaters in response to base-level fall perform realistically if they include the generation of karst conduits near the shoreline. The combined approaches lead to a refined conceptual model of the hydrological and geomorphological processes developed at this
part of the Dead Sea, whereby matrix flow through the superficial aquifer inland transitions to conduit flow nearer the shore where evaporite deposits are encountered. These conduits play a key role in the development of springs, stream channels and subsidence across the study area.


Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are constrained devices that run on small batteries. The battery energy availability, device drive cycles, and climatic factors all affect the node lifetime. The state of charge (SoC) of the batteries is an important factor in determining how much energy is available, that is crucial for predicting device lifetime and ensuring safe device operation. This work presents feedforward neural networks to estimate the adaptive SoC of various battery types. The training data for three different batteries: lithium-ion, nickel-metal hydride, and lithium polymer was used. To calculate the SoC, battery data such as voltage, capacity, and temperature were directly mapped. For each battery parameter, the model was trained at temperatures ranging from 5°C to 45°C. The performance measures Mean Squared Error (MSE) of (2.72%) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) of (1.65%) resulted in an estimation accuracy of (97%) on average. Finally, the model was implemented on ARM Cortex M4-based micro-controllers, allowing for precise estimation of real-time on-line SoC on WSN nodes.


Due to the size of the web and its dynamic nature, building an efficient search mechanism is incredibly necessary. A huge range of web content is regularly being added each day, and information is continually changing. Search engines are used to extract valuable info from the web. Web crawlers are the principal part of search engine. It's a computer program or software that browses the World Wide Web in an exceedingly methodical, automatic manner or in an orderly fashion. It is an important methodology for collecting information on, and keeping up-to-date with the quickly increasing web. This Paper shortly reviews the ideas of web crawler, its design and its varied types with specification and working.


Teaching Turkish as a foreign language gains more importance day by day. Within the process, the ability to use the four basic skills in the best way possible is closely related with teaching vocabulary. Due to this reason, the study was conducted in order to determine the vocabulary level of students at B1-B2 level in the Turkish Education as Foreign Language classes of the Turkish Application and Research Center under Mersin University. Within the scope of the study, in different weeks the students were presented with the topic titles of "1- Narrate a day where your dreams come true; 2- Describe a match of a different branch of sports you have watched; 3- Write an essay concerning your opinions on brand enthusiasm; 4- Imagine that you are an entity other than human and write down your feelings" and were asked to write essays on these.  In order to be able to obtain data from the essays written by the students, the essays were transferred into computerized environment, and the word lists of each topic title were created via the software Simple Concordance 4.07. Final lists were obtained by removing the inflexional suffixes of the words included in these lists. While it was determined that a total of 3575 words were used in the essays, removing the duplicated words resulted with a total of 782 different words.  Afterwards, these words were categorized according to their types. In conclusion, it was determined that the sources used in teaching Turkish to foreigners are not subjected to an evaluation in terms of active vocabulary. This conclusion was found important not only because it sets forth the original aspect of the study, but also in terms of its quality that would serve as a guide to further studies to be carried out.


A robust AUSM upwind discretisation scheme has been developed to simulate multiphase flow using consistent spatial discretisation schemes and a modified low-Mach number diffusion term. The impact of the selection of an interfacial pressure model has also been investigated. Three representative test cases have been simulated to evaluate the accuracy of the commonly-used stiffenedgas equation of state with respect to the IAPWS-IF97 equation of state for water. The algorithm demonstrates a combination of robustness and accuracy over a range of flow conditions, with the stiffened-gas equation tending to overestimate liquid temperature and density profiles. Keywords—Multiphase flow, AUSM+ scheme, liquid EOS, low Mach number models


This project aimed at building capacity of Makangarawe youth for self employment creation through establishment sustainable IGAs. During CNA different participatory methods including focus group discussion, interviews, questionnaire survey, direct observation and documentary review were used to collect data related to problems facing youth and potential employment creation opportunities. Findings revealed an existence of several problems including unemployment, lack of capital, globalization issues, lack of entrepreneurial culture and skills, HIV/AIDS and drug abuse, lack markets and market information and lack of empowerment programmes. However, through Pair-wise Model, lack of entrepreneurship skills and culture was identified as the most critical problem. In this regard, it was decided that provision of entrepreneurship skills training would be the best alternative in solving such problem. In the course of project implementation 145 youths were trained and 18 out of them established an economic group named Makangarawe Tumaini Economic Group (MTEG) and identified manufacturing of Soap, Poultry, Fumigation and bee- keeping as their major IGAs. Project Monitoring and Evaluation activities involved all key stakeholders. It was envisage that through capacity gained, YCRC would use the training manuals for further training to meet high demand for this training in Makangarawe. In addition, MTEG members would be role model to train their fellow youth and sensitize them to engage in IGAs as a source of employment and income generation. The project recommends that skills training promote youth employability hence the Government and all stake holders should create conducive environment for youth to access necessary skills and support services needed to make them employable.


: To determine the Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxigenicity, we have developed an approach based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Using this method several S. aureus strains have been screened for the presence of the enterotoxin B gene. A DNA fragment of the selected strain (FRI 722H) containing enterotoxin B gene has been obtained by the PCR method and cloned in the pUC19 vector. It is shown that enterotoxin B with the leader peptide forms insoluble complexes in E. coli cells, whereas the mature toxin is present in cytoplasmic fraction in a soluble form. The recombinant toxin made up for 1.7% of the total cellular protein in E. coli JM 109 cells.


In the equivalent water depth truncated model test design of a deepwater semi-submersible platform, the viscous damper is designed to simulate the contribution of mooring damping to total damping of floating platform. The dissipated energy by a mooring line from the floating platform as a result of its oscillation is applied to calculate the mooring-induced damping. The mooring line and seabed interaction is based on the hypothesis of rigid seabed. The fluid drag force and inertia force on the mooring line are calculated according to the Morrison formula. The non-liner dynamic analysis of mooring line is executed in the time domain based on the finite element method. The mooring induced damping is obtained from the results. The value difference of mooring induced damping between the truncated and full-depth mooring line is linearized to provide parameter for the design of viscous damper.


A detailed study of the effect of the film preparation conditions on the d.c conductivity and impedance spectra of a newly synthesized trinuclear phthalocyanine (ZnPc) derivative were carried out at the temperatures between 290 K and 420 K. We find that the experimental data are described by thermally activated conductivity dependence on temperature. A quassi‐vertical line was observed in Nyquist plot for all films at room temperature. Both the complex impedance and Bode plots showed that the ZnPc coated IDT can be represented by different equivalent circuits as depend on temperature.


Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is spreading geographically, and new risk areas are expected throughout Denmark. In this case report, we describe the first Danish case of vaccine breakthrough tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in a 76-year old female suffering from severe symptoms with need of intensive-care therapy. We want to draw attention to TBE as a differential diagnosis in all undiagnosed patients with symptoms of viral encephalitis, regardless of travel history and vaccine status. TBEV can cause severe disease, especially in the elderly. Patients with vaccine breakthrough infection may develop a more severe disease than non-vaccinated.


Herbs and other botanicals have been used in different cultures with medicinal and dietary purposes for centuries. Contrary to the belief of being natural and safe products, their hepatotoxic potential is recognized in several studies worldwide, and represent a health problem that deserves greater attention. The reported prevalence of hepatotoxicity associated with botanicals is variable and depends on various factors such as population, period and design of the study. There have been reports of a total of 60 products with herbal medicinal and dietary purposes, which may cause liver damage; however, the pathophysiological mechanisms involved are not fully elucidated. Their clinical and histological features, not unlike liver injury associated with drugs in most patients, have a pattern of hepatocellular injury. Diagnosis is by exclusion, and represents a clinical challenge. It is essential the clinical suspicion and the differential diagnosis with other acute and chronic conditions. Hence, future researches are aimed at improving existing diagnostic methods and introducing new toxicological, genetic and immunological technologies. Treatment is complex and presents a challenge for the specialist, as there are no antidotes. Management based on the discontinued use of the product and in the symptomatic treatment, decreases the progression to an acute fulminant hepatic failure.


High power consumption during test may lead to yield loss and premature aging. In particular, excessive peak power during at-speed delay fault testing represents an important issue. In the literature, several techniques have been proposed to reduce peak power consumption during at-speed LOC or LOS delay testing. On the other hand, some experiments have proved that too much test power reduction might lead to test escape and reliability problems. So, in order to avoid any yield loss and test escape due to power issues during test, test power has to map the power consumed during functional mode. In literature, some techniques have been proposed to apply test vectors that mimic functional operation from the switching activity point of view. The process consists of shifting-in a test vector (at low speed) and then applying several successive at-speed clock cycles before capturing the test response. In this paper, we propose a novel flow to determine the functional power to be used as test power (upper and lower) limits during at-speed delay testing. This flow is also used for comparison purpose between the above-mentioned test scheme and power consumption during the functional operation mode of a given circuit. The proposed methodology has been validated on an Intel MC8051 micro controller synthesized in a 65nm industrial technology.


Background Medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) are highly prevalent and may affect work functioning. In this study we aimed to assess the longitudinal association between MUPS and work functioning over two years and the influence of job characteristics and depressive and anxiety disorders on this association. Methods We assessed the longitudinal association between MUPS and work functioning, operationalized in terms of absenteeism and disability at work, in 1887 working participants from the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA). The NESDA study population included participants with a current depressive and/or anxiety disorder, participants with a lifetime risk and/or subthreshold symptoms and healthy controls. Absenteeism was assessed with the Health and Labour Questionnaire Short Form and disability with the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II. MUPS were measured with the Four Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire. Measurements were taken at baseline and at two years follow-up. We used mixed model analyses to correct for the dependency of observations within participants. Results MUPS were positively associated with disability (regression coefficient 0.304; 95% CI 0.281-0.327) and with short and long-term absenteeism over two years (OR 1.030, 95% CI 1.016-1.045; OR 1.099, 95% CI 1.085-1.114). After adjusting for depressive disorders, anxiety disorders and job characteristics, associations weakened but remained significant. Conclusion Our results show that MUPS were positively associated with disability and absenteeism over two years, even after adjusting for depressive and anxiety disorders and job characteristics. This suggests that early identification of MUPS and adequate management is important.


Garlic is one of the oldest dietary vegetables. In this article, well review the evidences of cardiovascular risk factors and garlic consump - tion, analizing the influence on lipid levels, vascular endothelium and platelet aggregation. Regular consumption of 5 g (raw garlic) twice per day during 42 days decreases levels of cholesterol and triglyceride. However, almost all lipid studies have been realized in animals. In ani - mal models (dogs and rats), it has been demonstrated a dose depending hypotensive effect, too. Garlic consumption has demonstrated an activa - tion of fibrinolisis and a downregulation of coagulation, with a decrease in the rate of thrombogenesis. These results have been repeated by other work, in which a garlic alcoholic extract is a potent inhibitor of platelet aggregation. In summary, the effects of garlic on cardiovascular risk are impor - tant. However, it is necessary to demonstrate a decrease on cardiovascu - lar events and to elucidate the amount of garlic to obtain benefict effects, most studies are necessary.


Quantum computers may provide good solutions to combinatorial optimization problems by leveraging the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA). The QAOA is often presented as an algorithm for noisy hardware. However, hardware constraints limit its applicability to problem instances that closely match the connectivity of the qubits. Furthermore, the QAOA must outpace classical solvers. Here, we investigate swap strategies to map dense problems into linear, grid and heavy-hex coupling maps. A line-based swap strategy works best for linear and two-dimensional grid coupling maps. Heavy-hex coupling maps require an adaptation of the line swap strategy. By contrast, three-dimensional grid coupling maps benefit from a different swap strategy. Using known entropic arguments we find that the required gate fidelity for dense problems lies deep below the fault-tolerant threshold. We also provide a methodology to reason about the execution-time of QAOA. Finally, we present a QAOA Qiskit Runtime program and execute the closed-loop optimization on cloud-based quantum computers with transpiler settings optimized for QAOA. This work highlights some obstacles to improve to make QAOA competitive, such as gate fidelity, gate speed, and the large number of shots needed. The Qiskit Runtime program gives us a tool to investigate such issues at scale on noisy superconducting qubit hardware.


In this article, I present a critical overview of current approaches to studying social stratification and class in the post-reform Vietnamese context. I expound on the ideologically driven and politically mediated nature of discourse on social class in Vietnam, and examine the ideological, political, and academic challenges that arise from the development of such a discourse. I then make a case for the importance of sociological research on social class in contemporary Vietnam in light of existing empirical evidence. Finally, I introduce Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical framework as a potentially relevant approach to studying class in Vietnam.


A large skull is disadvantageous to animals that move quickly in three-dimensional space, such as fishes and birds in water or air. A cerebral neocortex with a six-layered sheet has not evolved, most likely due to the limited cranial space. Instead of the laminar cortex, telencephalic nuclear masses seem to have evolved as the pallium in teleost fishes. We consider that the nuclear masses contain rather simple neural circuits sharing a skeleton of simple circuits in the mammalian cortex, which have been elaborated by additional circuits in mammals. Such basic similarities at the connectional level shared by nuclear and cortical pallium might underlie similar or equivalent functions.


This article discusses new uses of interpretative repertoires of risk, especially those related to adventure. The author argues that the language of risk as adventure has multiple uses, as both a hedge against de-traditionalizing processes typical of late modernity and a figure of speech for new sensitivities stemming from the imperative of coping with the imponderability and volatility of modern risks. The article begins with an overview of the historical meanings of risk, seeking to argue that, as language in use, risk is a useful vantage point for understanding the transformations currently under way in the forms of social control, suggesting that we are experiencing a transition from disciplinary society, typical of classic modernity, to risk society. The discussion then focuses on recent transformations in images of risk, with special emphasis on the trend to use risk-adventure as a metaphor for late modernity.