It has been suggested that initiation of voluntary movement in Parkinson's disease (PD) is synchronous with tremor beats. This hypothesis was tested by examining quantitatively the onset of voluntary contraction in relation to the tremor cycle. Five PD patients with tremor at rest produced fast isometric abduction of the index finger in reaction time and self-paced trials. For each trial, the time interval from last tremor peak to contraction onset was evaluated and its frequency distribution was compared with proposed statistical models. It was found that patients most often initiated contractions during the descending phase of the tremor oscillation and that the phasic EMG burst most commonly occurred after the mid-point of the EMG tremor cycle in both self-paced and reaction time conditions. These results indicate that voluntary contraction is not initiated arbitrarily with respect to the tremor oscillation. Rather, there is a systematic phase relationship between the onset of the voluntary response and tremor. Thus attraction of voluntary movement to the tremor oscillator in PD results from abnormally synchronised motor units and failure to activate the motor neuron pool voluntarily soon after the tremor discharge.


Small and medium enterprises (SME's) make over 99 % of all industrial enterprises in Croatia. Very similar percentage of SME's can be found within Croatian wood processing and furniture manufacturing companies. The aim of this research was to establish the actual situation in production management systems of SME's in Croatian wood processing. Total of 30 small and medium companies from different areas of Croatia were surveyed trying to establish the advantages and problems in their production management systems, with the goal to propose the model to create better systems within SME's in Croatian wood processing branch, which could help companies to achieve better production and business results. Because of the small number of employees, they are not able to meet all of the conditions and to implement all the parameters they would like to. So, they concentrate to those parameters they consider are the most important – product price, product quality, customer demands, fast delivery of finished product.


DSC analysis was performed at three points in the cryopreservation process on encapsulated-dehydrated meristems of Ribes ciliatum. Meristems were excised from shoots pre-treated with either sucrose or glucose, encapsulated in alginate beads, dehydrated in sucrose solutions, air dried, and plunged in liquid nitrogen. Thermal analysis revealed glass transitions during cooling of air-desiccated meristems, however, on rewarming a small endothermic event was detected suggesting glass destabilization can occur. Interestingly, this did not occur in alginate beads or meristems when these components were cooled and rewarmed separately. The possibility exists that thermal and moisture gradients may arise within the alginate bead/tissue complex and we propose that the heterogeneous composition of the meristems and the surrounding alginate may promote ice nucleation on rewarming. The significance of this regarding the stabilization of glasses formed in alginate beads and their encapsulated meristems is discussed. This study also reports an approach to Ribes cryopreservation in which the pregrowth of shoots in 0.75M sucrose for 1 week can be used as a substitute for cold acclimation.


Care takes time. Caring, whether with, for, or about a living being or entity that is more-than-human, disrupts expectations of how a linear, human time should progress. To practice care for the contaminated, the lands, waters, and animate life altered by human industry, is to extend that indeterminacy into distant, deeper time. Aesthetic representation of the affective and ethical dimensions of care, in this extreme, offers an experience that can transfer the arguments about nuclear contamination into more nuanced and sensed responses and contributes to current thinking about care in the arts worlds. I was commissioned to make a sculpture exhibition in 2020 as part of an anthropological study into the future of the Sellafield nuclear site in West Cumbria, UK. The exhibition, 'x = 2140. In the coming 120 years, how can humans decide to dismantle, remember and repair the lands called Sellafield?', consisted of three sculptural 'fonts' which engaged with ideas of knowledge production, nuclear technologies, and the affective dimensions of care about/for/with the contaminated lands and waters. This article presents my intentions for the sculptures in their context of a nuclear-dependent locale: to engage with the experience of nuclear futures without adversarial positioning; to explore the agential qualities of the more-than-human; and to create a stillness expressive of the relationality of the human and the contaminated through which one could fathom what care might feel like. These intentions are alongside theories of time, aesthetics, and care across disciplines: care and relational ethics, science and technology studies, and nuclear culture.


Introduction: Tunisia was regarded as a pioneer in adopting a successful population policy in North Africa and the Middle East region. The Tunisian official family planning program started in 1966 with an objective of controlling population growth. After the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo in 1994, there was a shift in the Tunisian population policy as the concept of reproductive health was introduced for the first time in national health programs and strategies.Methods: The thesis is a policy analysis of the reproductive health policy in Tunisia from a human rights based approach using the Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument (HeRWAI). The analysis focuses on the impact of this policy on women's right to reproductive health and gender empowerment.Results: The results revealed that Tunisia has started adopting laws promoting for reproductive rights since 1960s, in the form of the right to contraceptive use and the right to abortion. However, slow progress has been made since the ICPD conference in 1994. Furthermore, significant limitations were found in the implementation of reproductive health policy in relation to women's right to reproductive health: regional inequities in women's access to reproductive health care services, discriminatory practices affecting single women and HIV patients, low quality of maternal care services and delay in the integration of the gender-based violence component into the reproductive health care services. The thesis also found that there was a lack of meaningful engagement in action to achieve gender equality in Tunisia.


With the increased interest in computational sciences, machine learning (ML), pattern recognition (PR) and big data, governmental agencies, academia and manufacturers are overwhelmed by the constant influx of new algorithms and techniques promising improved performance, generalization and robustness. Sadly, result reproducibility is often an overlooked feature accompanying original research publications, competitions and benchmark evaluations. The main reasons behind such a gap arise from natural complications in research and development in this area: the distribution of data may be a sensitive issue; software frameworks are difficult to install and maintain; Test protocols may involve a potentially large set of intricate steps which are difficult to handle. To bridge this gap, we built an open platform for research in computational sciences related to pattern recognition and machine learning, to help on the development, reproducibility and certification of results obtained in the field. By making use of such a system, academic, governmental or industrial organizations enable users to easily and socially develop processing toolchains, re-use data, algorithms, workflows and compare results from distinct algorithms and/or parameterizations with minimal effort. This article presents such a platform and discusses some of its key features, uses and limitations. We overview a currently operational prototype and provide design insights.


BACKGROUND
Studies indicate unwarranted variation in a wide range of neonatal care practices, contributing to preventable morbidity and mortality. Unwarranted variation is the result of complex interactions and multiple determinants. One of the determinants contributing to unwarranted variation in care may be variation in local hospital protocols. The purpose of this study was to examine variation in the content of obstetric and neonatal protocols for six common indications for neonatal referral to the pediatrician: large for gestational age/macrosomia, small for gestational age/fetal growth restriction, meconium-stained amniotic fluid, vacuum extraction, forceps extraction, and cesarean birth.

METHODS
We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional study examining protocols for neonatal referral to the pediatrician in the obstetric and neonatal departments of all Dutch hospitals. Variation in protocols was analyzed between regions, between neonatal and obstetrics departments located in the same hospital, and within neonatal and obstetrics departments.

RESULTS
There was considerable variation in protocols between regions, between neonatal and obstetrics departments, and within neonatal and obstetrics departments. The results of this study showed considerable variation in recommendations for type of referral, admission, screening/diagnostic tests, treatment, and discharge. Furthermore, results generally showed lower referral thresholds in neonatal departments compared with obstetric departments, and higher referral thresholds in the eastern region of the Netherlands. We also found variation in local hospital protocols, which could not be explained by population characteristics but which may be explained by varying recommendations in existing national and international guidelines and/or lack of adherence to these guidelines.

CONCLUSIONS
To reduce unwarranted variation in local protocols, evidence-based, multidisciplinary guidelines should be developed in the Netherlands. Further research addressing knowledge gaps is needed to inform these guidelines. Attention should be paid to the implementation of evidence, and only where evidence is lacking or inconclusive should agreements be based on multidisciplinary consensus. Where protocols deviate from evidence-based guidelines because of specific local circumstances, clearer, more transparent justifications should be made. Uniformity in guidance will offer clear standards for care evaluation and provide opportunities to reduce inappropriate care.


Starting from the quantum description of isolated systems on the microscopic level we derive the two-generator formulation of nonequilibrium thermodynamics by means of the projection-operator technique. As a generalized canonical ensemble is employed, we obtain a convenient starting point for practical calculations in nonequilibrium thermodynamics; in particular, also in the classical limit. All dynamical material properties are contained in a canonical nonequilibrium correlation. However, the generalized canonical approach is inappropriate for systems with large fluctuations; possible steps toward a suitable generalization for quantum systems are discussed.


The tribological properties of complex polymeric materials, which include epoxy and polyester resins, two hardeners and two microdispersed fillers: mica-muscovite, copper (II) oxide, were investigated in the work. The results of the testing of specimens at dry friction and in the lubricant were analyzed. It is proved, that the antifriction properties of the composite depend on its composition, formation technology and testing conditions. It has been experimentally determined, that the material which was tested in the lubricating environment – Im = 0.25–0.30 mg/km, f = 0.03–0.04, differs with the improved indexes of wear rate and friction coefficient. As a result of the analysis of investigated microsurfaces studied by optical and electron microscopy, the phase heterogeneity of the composite material system was identified. It contributes to the reduction of the running-in distance of the specimen, and indicates the uniform distribution of the filler particles on the surface, has been found. The elemental composition of the compound was determined, which indicates the direct involvement of fillers in the process of friction. A change in the ratio of atoms on the specimen surface before and after the test was found. The results of the study of the surface in the phase contrast mode correlate with the results of the data obtained by electron microscopy.


In this letter, electromagnetic scattering from inhomogeneous anisotropic impedance cylinder of arbitrary shape is investigated by physical optics (PO) method. After the expressions of induced electric and magnetic currents on the illuminated region of surface are expressed by using PO approximation, scattered field is calculated using Huygens-type Green's formula. Obtained scattering width results are compared with those obtained by numerical methods such as Nystriom and method of moments (MoM), and good agreements are observed particularly in monostatic case. Due to the fact that PO method does not need matrix inversion which requires high CPU time, it also significantly reduces computer calculation time in comparison to Nystrom and MoM.


ABSTRACT Low intracellular K+ concentration ([K+]i) promotes apoptosis and blocking K+ loss prevents apoptosis, but the mechanism of action of low [K+]i remains unclear. Here, we show that low [K+]i increases NF-κB transcriptional activity by enhancing its binding to the promoter of target genes without affecting its activation and nuclear translocation in cortical neurons deprived of serum. Low K+ concentration promotes NF-κB/DNA binding through direct effects on the interaction of NF-κB dimers with DNA. Up-regulation of proapoptotic protein Bcl-XS and neuronal apoptosis induced by serum deprivation are blocked by inhibition and/or down-regulation of NF-κB and by prevention of K+ loss. Thus, a direct action of K+ on NF-κB/DNA binding regulates gene transcription related to neuronal apoptosis.


As a working hypothesis it is supposed that in the teleost Brachydanio rerio, the muscle contractions, the growth, and probably some other factors, cause the first changes in the shape of the somites. Furthermore, the movements of the embryo could yield the forces by which the somites are brought to their theoretically optimal shape. In order to test this hypothesis, we investigated the somite shape and structure of spontaneously immobile embryos. Although the results are difficult to interpret, they certainly do not contradict the hypothesis. For further analysis we applied two kinds of lesions in order to immobilize early embryos: removal of the brain, and damage to the midbody somites. The results of these experiments indicate that both the development of the shape of the somite and the arrangement of the muscle fibres are dependent on movements of the embryo.


The mechanical properties of fibre reinforced ceramic matrix composites (CMC) are predominated by the properties of their individual constituents (fibres, matrix), the arrangement of the fibres (uni-, bi-, multi-directional, random) and the manufacturing parameters (temperature, pressure, atmosphere). In addition the nature of the fibre/matrix interface also has a major effect on the mechanical properties. The C/C-SiC materials under investigation were developed using the Liquid Silicon Infiltration (LSI) process of the DLR in Stuttgart [1] for the thermal protection of reusable space transportational systems and have already been successfully assigned to many missions. Studies towards the design and qualification of future reentry bodies, such as those currently being conducted within the nationally financed DFG-Sonderforschungsbereich 259 "High Temperature Problems of Reusable Space Transportational Systems", lead to an ever increasing complexity of the thermal protection system (TPS). They consist primarily of load bearing carbon fibres and matrices of carbon, silicon carbide and some free silicon. The constitution of the matrix and the materials microstructure mainly depend on the choice of the matrix precursor and fibre structure, the processing parameters and the interfacial bonding. An attractive aspect of LSI processing lies in the possibility to vary these parameters in order to tailor the microstructure and thus the properties of C/C-SiC materials [2]. The C/C-SiC material can be tailored to the different structural specifications for the material within a TPS by means of parameter variations during the LSI manufacturing process, without a (dramatic) loss in the advantageous material characteristics such as excellent thermal stability, high specific characteristics and thermal shock stability. In this paper, the influence of fibre type and orientation, in relation to testing load, on the mechanical properties of the C/C-SiC materials have been determined. Hereby, is sample geometry a decisive factor. As such, three test methods have been compared with each other. In order to determine the flexural strength of the composites both short span three point bend tests and long beam, four point flexure tests have been employed. The results of the short span bend tests have also been compared to those from shear compression tests to ascertain the interlaminar shear strength of the composites. It has been shown that the type of fibre used has no significant influence on the mechanical properties of materials manufactured via prepregs, but that the fibre architecture has an effect on the shear and bend strength of these materials. In addition, the results from this study have shown that the short beam, three point bend test cannot be used to determine the shear strength of this class of ceramic materials, but may be used for first approximations in the flexural strength.


Many of the research carried out on green information technology or green technologies has focused on reducing the environmental effect, on the design, development and use of increasingly eco-efficient electronic devices, in terms of the machine, that is, the hardware; but this trend has changed in recent years, due to the concern to cover all fronts in which green information technology is part; what has allowed to generate studies and investigations in another aspect, as it is the software. Some authors have addressed the issue, however, models, descriptions or implementations in the area of software are still in short supply, whose main rationale is eco-efficiency, that is, environmental strategies to reduce the impact of a product or service by increasing the efficiency of resource utilization. The research emphasizes the formulation of a guide based on the principles promulgated in green information technology as a non-functional requirement in the analysis and design of software and incorporating this guide in the software engineering projects of the systems engineering program of the Universidad Francisco de Paula Santander, Seccional Ocaña, through the content of the green information technology elective course and as an academic unit of the software engineering course.


This article asks, "What can Network Patent Analysis™ (NPA) tell us about developments in the treatment of this serious condition?" Patents filed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease have been analyzed by NPA. NPA is an unique patent analysis method that maps the 'collective intelligence' of the patent applicants to group and rank patents, technologies and patent applicants. A search for Alzheimer's disease patents identified approximately 24,000 patents, to which we added 24,000 citationally connected patents. NPA identified the leading 2,153 patents in the combined 48,000 patents and grouped most of these 2153 patents into 23 subject clusters. The 23 clusters of patents fall into two major groupings: drugs targeted to the β-amyloid protein ('amyloid grouping'); and drugs targeted to the Tau/serotonin and other alternative pathways ('Tau grouping'). Filing activity for the 2153 strongest patents peaked between the year 2000 and 2005. This, along with the broad range of subject matter in the patent clusters, suggests that Alzheimer's disease treatments are still undergoing strong development.


The microbiological and chemical aspects of the traditional manufacturing process of Muratina (a traditional Kenyan wine) were investigated. The objective was to elucidate the scientific basis of the process. Various aspects of the process were investigated in traditional breweries and in experiments. The wine was obtained by fermentation of sweetened sugarcane juice in the presence of Muratina sponges. These sponges were the fibrous tissues of Muratina [Fruit of the sausage fruit tree (Kigelia africanus)]. It was revealed that colonisation of sponges with yeasts that occurred in naturally fermenting cane juice formed the basis of Muratina manufacture. Sponges were colonized by yeasts in concentrations of 105-106 CFU per gram of their dry matter. This was achieved when sponges were incubated in the juice to condition them to the brewing process. Yeasts were then concentrated to a biomass with a concentration of 109-10n Colony Forming Units per gram of sponge dry matter, during fermentation. Therefore, sponges were used as inoculants in Muratina fermentation. In raw brews they achieved inoculation in the range of 105 108 CFU /ml. This ensured that yeasts dominated the processes from the beginning. Alcoholic fermentation was therefore predetermined. Processes were hence successful irrespective of contamination that came with fresh brews. Fermentation processes required between 1 and 7 days to complete. The matured product contained 2 8 %(vol) ethanol, and 0.5 1.4 % lactic acid, while its pH lay between 2.7 and 3.2.The use of acidic ingredients and production of acids during fermentation ensured that fermentation processes progressed in acidic environments in between pH 3.0 and 4.0. This limited participants in the fermentation to yeasts and lactic acid bacteria. Due to evolution of ethanol, acids and accompanying changes in pH, bacteria were eliminated so that yeasts dominated the process almost as pure cultures. The maintenance of great yeast numbers in brewing units ensured process successfulness. The capacity of sponges to immobilize the yeasts facilitated this. Recycling sponges between processes ensured adequate inoculation was achieved in every process. On average this was done in twenty-seven brewing cycles before they caused flavour defects in the end product. Consequently, the old culture required disposal by washing sponges in water and then sun drying them. This prepared sponges for re-colonisation in future brewing processes. These aspects formed the basis of Muratina manufacture.


The definition of "coworking" is just beginning to enter the orbit of Russian and foreign scientific research. Coworking spaces as innovative educational content in higher education are being created in Russian universities. The purpose of the study is the justification, development, and testing of a model of electronic coworking environment in the system of higher pedagogical education. At that, coworking environment is considered as an educational virtual cluster at which a basic platform for educational content is created with all educational products attached to it. The following methods of research were used to solve the tasks: design and modeling; the study of coworking environment products, chat conversations, questionnaires; and mathematical methods of result processing (quantitative and qualitative analysis of research results). The results of the study have revealed the advantages of coworking environment: successful socialization, minimization of time and economic resources, expansion of business partnerships, mutual assistance and a comfortable atmosphere. Analysis of studies on the criterion of coworking productivity revealed an increase in student mobility and an increase in the index satisfaction and communication effectiveness. Testing of the electronic coworking model proves its benefits and prospects of its introduction into the system of higher pedagogical education. The results can be used in social psychology, pedagogy, and practice.


In this investigation we revisit the concept of "effective free surfaces" arising in the solution of the time-averaged fluid dynamics equations in the presence of free boundaries. This work is motivated by applications of the optimization and optimal control theory to problems involving free surfaces, where the time-dependent formulations lead to many technical difficulties which are however alleviated when steady governing equations are used instead. By introducing a number of precisely stated assumptions, we develop and validate an approach in which the interface between the different phases, understood in the time-averaged sense, is sharp. In the proposed formulation the terms representing the fluctuations of the free boundaries and of the hydrodynamic quantities appear as boundary conditions on the effective surface and require suitable closure models. As a simple model problem we consider impingement of free-falling droplets onto a fluid in a pool with a free surface, and a simple algebraic closure model is proposed for this system. The resulting averaged equations are of the free-boundary type and an efficient computational approach based on shape optimization formulation is developed for their solution. The computed effective surfaces exhibit consistent dependence on the problem parameters and compare favorably with the results obtained when the data from the actual time-dependent problem is used in lieu of the closure model.


Abstract:Making use of interpretive methods of social inquiry, informed by disability studies, I show how the Western bureaucratic orientation is particularly troubled by those unable to keep the rules. Disability is, today, a term used to delineate such an inability. Exploring the meaning of bureaucratic definitions of disability can help us learn something about the organising force of bureaucracy on our lives. In particular, this paper explores a paradox found within the bureaucratic orientation whereby disability is conceptualised as lack of function resulting in an inability to keep the rules that is, nonetheless, managed by the imposition of further rules that need to be kept. Ultimately, this paper tries to reveal what becomes of disability under bureaucratic control not only to learn something about how bureaucracy works but also to learn something about how disability is made meaningful.


Which executive profiles currently govern the construction value chain? Addressing this lively research question is the key point of our article and it appears central to scholars, practitioners, and policymakers interested in project management in general, and construction and real estate in particular. For this reason, we draw from Upper Echelons Theory in studying the executive profiles of 109 important firms currently active in Italy. Our statistical analysis shows that, although homogeneity substantially regards the executive's gender, age, and level of education, heterogeneity is associated more with his or her functional background. We thus prospect some conceptual and methodological avenues for further analyses in this challenging area of research.


Storytelling in World Cinemas, Vol. 2: Contexts addresses the questions of what and why particular stories are told in films around the world, both in terms of the forms of storytelling used, and of the political, religious, historical, and social contexts informing cinematic storytelling. Drawing on films from all five continents, the book approaches storytelling from a cultural/historical multidisciplinary perspective, focusing on the influence of cultural politics, postcolonialism, women's social and cultural positions, and religious contexts on film stories. Like its sister volume, Storytelling in World Cinemas, Vol. 1: Forms, this book is an innovative addition to the academic study of world cinemas.


In this paper, a novel direct load control (DLC) planning based on providing free energy credits to residential end-users for their heating, ventilation, and air conditioning load during demand response (DR) events is proposed. The obtained credit can then be used by the end-users during relatively higher price periods free-of-cost to enable them lowering their energy procurement costs. Furthermore, the resulting reduction in the total household energy consumption considerably decreases the critical load demands in power systems, which is of vital importance for load-serving entities in maintaining the balance between supply and demand during peak load periods. In this regard, the aforementioned energy credits-based incentive mechanism is proposed for end-users enrolled in the DLC-based DR program, as a new contribution to the existing literature, testing it in a stochastic day-ahead planning context.


Abstract. As global wind capacity continues to grow, the need for accurate operational analyses of a rapidly growing fleet of wind power plants has increased in proportion. The wind energy industry at present, however, is not ideally positioned to address this need. First, there is a lack of best practices and limited published standards for performing operational analyses. Second, operational data and methods are typically proprietary and not shared among the wind energy community. Consequently, there is considerable duplication of effort in developing methods as well as uncertainty in the calculated metrics. To address these problems, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has publicly released OpenOA, an open-source code base for performing operational analyses on wind plant data. The intent of OpenOA is to provide a framework in which best practices can be developed, refined, and disseminated. Ultimately, such collaboration is expected to lead to a working example (i.e. reference implementation) of methods from which a published standard may develop. This article provides an overview of OpenOA, highlighting its release as a public repository, modular software architecture, current functionality, and planned functionality in subsequent releases. It is our goal for OpenOA to evolve into an indispensable tool for performing operational analyses that is used and supported by a large community of wind energy experts.


Image processing techniques can be used to improve the cost-effectiveness of future interferometric Passive MilliMetre Wave (PMMW) imagers. The implementation of such techniques will allow for a reduction in the number of collecting elements whilst ensuring adequate image fidelity is maintained. Various techniques have been developed by the radio astronomy community to enhance the imaging capability of sparse interferometric arrays. The most prominent are Multi- Frequency Synthesis (MFS) and non-linear deconvolution algorithms, such as the Maximum Entropy Method (MEM) and variations of the CLEAN algorithm. This investigation focuses on the implementation of these methods in the defacto standard for radio astronomy image processing, the Common Astronomy Software Applications (CASA) package, building upon the discussion presented in Taylor et al., SPIE 8362-0F. We describe the image conversion process into a CASA suitable format, followed by a series of simulations that exploit the highlighted deconvolution and MFS algorithms assuming far-field imagery. The primary target application used for this investigation is an outdoor security scanner for soft-sided Heavy Goods Vehicles. A quantitative analysis of the effectiveness of the aforementioned image processing techniques is presented, with thoughts on the potential cost-savings such an approach could yield. Consideration is also given to how the implementation of these techniques in CASA might be adapted to operate in a near-field target environment. This may enable a much wider usability by the imaging community outside of radio astronomy and thus would be directly relevant to portal screening security systems in the microwave and millimetre wave bands.


I. Introductory Above the village of Llanfair-y'nghornwy, in the north-west of Anglesey, stands a hill known as Mynydd-y-Garn or The Garn. Although rising to a height of less than 600 feet above Ordnance datum, it is one of the highest hills in the county, and is so well elevated above the surrounding country that from its crest the view embraces the greater part of the island, the Caernarvonshire mountains, and large expanses of sea. Ramsay in his memoir on the 'Geology of North Wales' makes but slight mention of the Garn,1 merely noting that it lies in a much-faulted district. Prof. Blake gave a brief notice of the geology of the hill in his 'Monian System of Rocks';2 and the present writer gave, incidentally, a further short account in a recent paper.3 The results of a more detailed examination of the geological structure made during the past summer seem to warrant a more extended description than any hitherto made. II. Stratigraphy, and Description of the Rocks The mass of the hill consists of an inlier of sericitic and chloritic schistose phyllites, usually green, surmounted by a massive conglomerate, and surrounded by black slates and shales. The slates, apparently of Upper Llandeilo age, form, a strip about a mile in width, and are bounded both on the north-east and south-west by fractures which bring them against older rocks. A geologist making a traverse from Craig-y-gwynt over the hill in a north-north-westerly direction (see fig. 1, p. 22) and then north-north-eastward to


Nowadays, we hear news about fake mark sheets, fake transcripts, fake degree certificates etc. With latest printing and scanning technologies convenient and reasonable available, creating simulated documents have become an easy affair, making it tough to understand between original and the artificial. So it is a very big challenge to provide security and authenticity of digital data. This paper proposes an innovative method to authenticate the digital documents. A advanced method of QR code is introducing here, which grant multiple encryption and decryption of digital data. In this paper, we introduced a new technique, where the resume of a candidate will be encoded in QR [Quick Response] Code in encrypted form, so that if an hacker tries to change the data in the resume then he cannot do that. This is because; the encryption key is unknown to him. Encrypted QR codes are QR codes that everyone cannot scan and access. They are not very typical, since maximum QR codes are used in marketing, and the developers of those codes want them to be accessible by everybody. Protect QR codes can be built that make the scanner enter a password to be able to access the content. We are using TTJSA algorithm method for encryption and decryption purpose. TTJSA is very effective method; we encrypt the mark sheet information using the TTJSA encryption algorithm. The encrypted marks are entered inside QR code and that QR code is also printed with the initial information of the mark sheet. The marks can then be retrieved from the QR code and can be decode using TTJSA decryption algorithm and then it can be verified with marks already there in the mark sheet.


The human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, induces syncytium formation in cultures of many T cell lines. These syncytia have previously been viewed as disorganized fusion products in the throes of death. Evidence is presented that in HIV1-infected SupT1 cultures, syncytia five times to over one hundred times larger than single cells organize their many nuclei into blastula-like balls, reorganize their cytoskeleton to mimic that of a single cell, and extend single, giant pseudopods in a polar fashion. Medium-sized syncytia are capable of translocation through extension of these giant pseudopods. The rate of translocation of syncytia is comparable to that of single cells. Single cell motility, syncytium motility and pseudopod extension also appear to play roles in the recruitment of cells into syncytia. Finally, condensation of F-actin at cell-syncytium and syncytium-syncytium adhesion sites suggests the involvement of the cytoskeleton in the adhesion and/or subsequent fusion event. These results suggest that the fusion events involved in HIV-induced syncytia formation involve both cell motility and reorganization of the cytoskeleton, and demonstrate that syncytia are highly organized, motile entities.


Walmart is not only the world's single largest retailer and private employer, it is also a crystallization and an agent of a broader paradigm shift toward "securitization": the convergence of financial and security-oriented logics of risk management. This paper examines the way Walmart mobilizes and manipulates risk to cultivate profit and power and to transform the social and cultural politics within its orbit. Walmart emblematizes and advances capitalist securitization and offers a "risk-free" consumer space as a refuge in an uncertain world, yet it ultimately contributes to a world of systemic insecurity and economic anxiety.


Within the root meristem of flowering plants is a group of mitotically inactive cells designated the quiescent center (QC). Recent work links the quiescent state to high levels of the growth regulator auxin that accumulates in the QC via polar transport. This in turn results in elevated levels of the enzyme ascorbic acid oxidase (AAO), resulting in a reduction of ascorbic acid (AA) within the QC and mitotic quiescence. We present evidence for additional interactions between auxin, AAO, and AA, and report that, in vitro, AAO oxidatively decarboxylates auxin, suggesting a mechanism for regulating auxin levels within the QC. We also report that oxidative decarboxylation occurs at the root tip and that an intact root cap must be present for this metabolic event to occur. Finally, we consider how interaction between auxin and AAO may influence root development by regulating the formation of the QC.


The ETS transcription factor family members are involved in multiple cancers, including prostate cancer. Whilst extensive literature exists on the highly prevalent TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusion, the role of other ETS factors in prostate cancer is less well understood. ELF3 has been ascribed both oncogenic and tumour suppressive roles in prostate cancer and has been highlighted as a regulator of epithelial cell differentiation in other tissues. The overarching aim of this project was to elucidate the role of ELF3 in the context of both normal prostate development and prostate cancer.
This study details an extensive expression profile of ELF3 in prostate epithelial cell lines, primary prostate cell subpopulations and prostate tissue. ELF3 expression was restricted to the basal compartment of epithelial glands, specifically to the committed basal cell subpopulation of the basal epithelial hierarchy. Appropriate cell models were used to investigate the role of ELF3 in the prostate. By silencing ELF3 in BPH-1 and PC3 cells, ELF3 was established as a regulator of the cell cycle. This manifested as a decrease in colony forming ability, migration and cell viability caused by G2 cell cycle arrest. Furthermore, manipulating ELF3 expression altered the differentiation status of cell lines and primary cells, highlighting that a balance of ELF3 expression is required to maintain proper differentiation of the epithelial hierarchy. Finally, a possible link of ELF3 to more advanced prostate tumours using tissue microarray analysis, a potential association with neuroendocrine differentiation and putative survival advantage of ELF3 expression in cancer vs normal cells, was identified.
These results suggest that ELF3 acts as an oncogene in the prostate cancer setting. However, its importance in normal prostate epithelial cell growth and differentiation has also been demonstrated. Work should now focus on identifying appropriate downstream effectors that could be targeted to exploit these properties for prostate cancer treatment.


We compare west Florida shelf velocity and sea level data with a model simulation for April 1998. Responses for three upwelling and three downwelling favorable wind events are documented. Along-shelf jets accompanied by oppositely directed upper and lower layer across-shelf flows (with connecting vertical velocity) comprise the fully three-dimensional inner shelf responses, which are sensitive to stratification. With an initial density field representative of April 1998 the model simulates velocity and sea level variations in general agreement with the observations, whereas substantial mismatches occur without stratification. Despite the winds being the primary motive agent for the inner shelf the stratification dependence requires that model density fields be maintained through a combination of adequate initial conditions; surface, offshore, and land-derived buoyancy inputs; and data assimilation. Dynamical analyses define the inner shelf as the region where the surface and bottom boundary layers are important in the momentum balance. Kinematically, this is where surface Ekman layer divergence, fed by the bottom Ekman layer convergence, or conversely, sets up the across-shelf pressure gradient. Stratification causes a response asymmetry wherein the offshore scale and magnitude of the upwelling responses are larger than those for the downwelling responses. This asymmetry is attributed to thermal wind effects across the bottom Ekman layer. Buoyancy torque by isopycnals bending into the bottom adds constructively (destructively) with planetary vorticity tilting under upwelling (downwelling) favorable winds, and this may have important implications for nutrients and other material property distributions on the shelf.


Professor P. E. Brown writes: With respect to the suggested migration of liquid through the cumulus pile, has the author any feel for the thickness of the cumulate pile at the time the picritic magma was introduced and the depth in that pile at which the introduction took place? Ms R. Renner replies: at present the authors have no direct estimation of the thickness of the cumulus pile. Slump structures in the allivalites are tens of metres thick, suggesting that such thicknesses of unconsolidated cumulate might be typical.


The 1930s represent the peak of Klaus Mann's novel-writing with respect to
output and quality. While the predominant proportion of critical work on Mann's
oeuvre has concentrated on those aspects which can be clearly associated with
Mann's life (his homosexuality, his family background, and his self-destructiveness),
I feel that Mann's writing was at least as influenced by the times
in which he wrote. Therefore I concentrate on Mann's work as a reflection of the
times in which he was living, with minimal reference to his biography; and I focus
on four novels which are all from and about the 1930s.
What is particularly impressive about Mann's fiction is his ability to articulate the
acute sense of the political and social crisis facing Western civilisation in that era.
Together these four novels vividly depict the political and social instability that
led to the rise of Fascism, show the effect of exile, and warn of the destructive
nature of the Third Reich. These novels can be divided into two categories: the
novel of individual choice (Individualroman): Flucht in den Norden, Mephisto,
and the panoramic novel of social life (Roman des Nebeneinanders): Treffpunkt
im Unendlichen, Der Vulkan. I have identified three key themes occurring in his
fiction: Love and Desire, the Mind and the World, and Community, which I
discuss in each novel individually, as well as evaluating Mann's narrative
technique. Mann's writing is very character-driven, he strives to make his
characters as vivid and affecting as possible, to create an emotional connection
with his readers, and facilitate a dialogue between author and reader. Mann is not
the greatest German author of the twentieth century, however his work has both literary merit, and gives us an invaluable insight into the mindset of his
generation.


Situational factors are relevant to the initiation and maintenance of violent behavior yet are infrequently examined in relation to family violence. Content analysis was used to conduct an inductive thematic analysis of police narratives to identify and quantify the occurrence of situational factors among Australian young people (10-24 years) reported to police for using violence toward a parent (n = 82). Descriptive information about demographics (e.g., age and sex), background characteristics (e.g., victimization history, employment/school issues, mental health issues, and neurodevelopmental conditions), and features of the index incident (e.g., type of aggression) were also extracted from police records. Interpersonal conflict and parental limit-setting were the most common situational antecedents of child-to-parent abuse, with additional situational factors including use of weapons, role of third parties, mental health concerns, and substance abuse issues. Families experiencing child-to-parent abuse showed heightened levels of intrafamilial violence and neurodevelopmental conditions. Implications for risk assessment, management, and intervention are discussed.


Background: From its first reported use in 2002, the efficiency of pulse oximetry (POX) screening in detecting critical and severe congenital heart disease (c/s-CHD) in term neonates in early days after delivery has been proved by numerous studies. It is low-cost, non-invasive, easy to use, repeatable, time-saving, applicable by even less-skilled nursing staff, proven to have excellent sensitivity and high specificity. When used in addition to the initial physician's examination before dismissing a newborn home, this postnatal test can increase the clinical accuracy of detecting c/s-CHD. In this sense, it must be used as an early detecting screening test. Its use is more important during the period in which the patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) conceals the signs and symptoms of low cardiac output syndrome (LCOs) or severe cyanosis that will lead to notably hypoxia and acidosis. These free-of-symptoms babies that leave maternity units although critically ill, as well as those that are born at home and assessed by primary care, will benefit the most through a compulsory use of this test. Despite the benefits, it has failed to become a universal screening test for early detection of c/s-CHD, especially in Europe.
Aim: To discuss the existing evidence on safe, effective, and efficient screening, using POX in combination with initial pre-discharge physical examination at the end of its stay under maternity services, including births out of medical facilities, for every term baby as a compulsory health screening test in Greece.
Methods: The authors, members of the Hellenic Society of Perinatal Medicine (HSPM), reviewed the existing up-to-date literature and the trend of using this test worldwide and especially in European countries. They also consulted with pioneers and experts in the field.
Results: Based on published data, the authors clarify existing policies of using POX and initial clinical assessment, aiming to a standardized approach of screening and diagnostic follow-up, when needed. Key issues for future research and evaluation were identified and addressed.
Conclusions: The authors clarify existing policies in the use of POX, aiming to suggest the most appropriate way of using the test for compulsory screening term newborns during the early neonatal period in Greece. Special conditions of screening are being discussed. Public health organizations and private health agencies will have an important role in quality assurance and surveillance of this screening test aiming to significantly reduce morbidity and mortality from c/s-CHD in Greece.


Objective: To establish an adenovirus expression vector containing human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) promoter-driven p53 up-regulated modulator of apoptosis (Puma), and further to achieve the directional expression of Puma in ovarian carcinoma COC1 cells. Methods: The full-length open reading frame (ORF) of Puma and the promoter of hTERT were amplified by RT-PCR and cloned into the adenovirus shuttle vector pDC316. Recombinant adenovirus pDC316-hTERT-Puma was obtained and infected into human normal ovarian epithelial HUM-CELL-0088 cells and ovarian carcinoma COC1 cells. The expression levels of Puma mRNA and protein were detected by real-time fluorogenic quantitative-PCR (RFQ-PCR) and Western blotting, respectively. The cell proliferation was detected by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. The apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry (FCM). Results: The adenovirus expression vector pDC316-hTERT-Puma containing hTERT promoter-driven Puma was successfully constructed, and the corresponding adenovirus could achieve the specific and high expression of Puma in ovarian carcinoma cells but not in the normal ovarian cells. The successful expression of Puma could inhibit the proliferation of COC1 cells evidently (P < 0.05) and induce apoptosis (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The tumor-targeted expression of Puma gene in ovarian carcinoma cells is achieved through adenovirus vector, and it will be beneficial for the use of Puma in targated therapy of ovarian carcinoma. DOI:10.3781/j.issn.1000-7431.2014.08.001


One factor that caused working fatigue is the character of the job, that is job without variety activities (monotonic) and job with variety activities. Based on the characteristic of the job, particularly in a cigarette plant, monotonic work would include such a thing as cigarette roller, this is since cigarette roller used the same hand movements and had no variation in each and
every day which might caused boredom or tired and affecting the working fatigue. It iscategorized differently with other worker who works in other part of the plant which is
considered to be non monotonic job.
According the phenomenon above, author is interested to conduct a study about "Differences Working Fatigue between Monotonic Worker and Non Monotonic Worker."
Objective of this study is to found out the differences of working fatigue between monotonic worker and non monotonic worker.
Subject of this study is 80 employees of PT. HF Prima consist of 40 monotonic workers and 40 non monotonic workers. This study is using non experimental design. Sampling technique used is purposive sampling.
Analysis result showed that t=3.292; p=0.001 which means that there are significant differences in working fatigue between monotonic worker and non monotonic worker. Average score on working fatigue for monotonic worker is 100,65 and average score on working fatigue for non monotonic worker is 94,08. This means that monotonic worker had high working fatigue and in contrast, non monotonic worker had lower working fatigued. Hence, hypothesis in this study is,
therefore, accepted.


Introduction: Internet is one of the main sources of information & virtual communication media and new technology. The prevalence of Internet addiction in young people can be seen as tantamount as drug addiction. It is discussed as a serious crisis in individual and social life, family relationships, educational status, unhealthy behaviors, reduction of self-esteem and susceptibility to psychiatric disorders. Considering public access to computers and Internet, a growing population of users and lack of accurate statistics in this field. Material & Methods : This cross-sectional study group was comprised of two hundred one randomly selected students participate in this research. The first part of the data collection tool was a questionnaire included demographic information and the second part was Young's Internet Addiction Test (IAT), which has four levels: normal level (<21), weak (49-21), moderate (79 -50) and severe dependency (100-80). The data was analyzed using computer software SPSS 16 (ANOVA, % 95 confidences). Results: According to findings of this study, 38.3% of students were in normal level. Dependency to internet was mild in 43.8%, moderate in 15.9% and sever in2%. Internet addiction prevalence in men was more than women, while there was a relationship between field of study, computer use and Internet access. Twenty seven point four percent of users don't use internet for educational applications, and 67.5% addicted students use internet as an entertainment. Conclusion: The results of this study show that it is necessary to pay more attention to this phenomenon as a widespread health problem facing young students and replace inappropriate an indiscriminate use of internet by desire use of computer, internet and it facilities through education in family and faculty centers.


Adenylate kinase from two types of Escherichia coli strains, a wild-type and a leucine-auxotrophic strain, was purified. On the one hand, growing the leucine-auxotrophic bacteria on a medium containing deuterated leucine yielded E. coli adenylate kinase with all leucine residues deuterated. On the other hand, by growing the wild-type bacteria on deuterated medium with phenylalanine, threonine and isoleucine present as protonated specimens, 80% randomly deuterated enzyme with protonated phenylalanine, threonine and isoleucine residues could be prepared. Use of these proteins enabled identification of the spin systems of these amino acid residues in the n.m.r. spectra of the protein.


Many applications of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) require accurate time synchronization for data consistency and coordination. While the existing protocols for time synchronization provide sufficient accuracy, they consume high energy and poorly synchronize the distant nodes. We propose a Recursive Time Synchronization Protocol (RTSP) which provides global clock synchronization in an accurate and energy-efficient way. It achieves better performance by using a novel blend of techniques such as the MAC-layer time-stamping based on Start of Frame Delimiter (SFD) byte, fewer broadcasts by the reference node, compensation of the propagation delay and adjustment of the timestamps at each hop, estimation of the relative skew and offset using least square linear regression on two data points (2LR), adaptive re-synchronization interval, aggregation of the synchronization requests and energy-awareness. We also analyze the sources of errors and efficiency. Simulation results show an average accuracy of 0.3μs in a large multi-hop network while using only 1/5th of the energy consumed by FTSP in the long run, i.e., the RTSP outperforms all other protocols of its class including RBS, TPSN and FTSP.


Three vacuolar cation/H+ antiporters, AtNHX1 (At5g27150), 2 (At3g05030) and 5 (At1g54370), have been characterized as functional Na+/H+ antiporters in Arabidopsis. However, the physiological functions of AtNHX3 (At5g55470) still remain unclear. In this study, the physiological functions of AtNHX3 were studied using T-DNA insertion mutant and 35S-driven AtNHX3 over-expression Arabidopsis plants. RT-PCR analyses revealed that AtNHX3 is highly expressed in germinating seeds, flowers and siliques. Experiments with AtNHX3::YFP fusion protein in tobacco protoplasts indicated that AtNHX3 is mainly localized to vacuolar membrane, with a minor localization to pre-vacuolar compartments (PVCs) and endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Seedlings of null nhx3 mutants were hypersensitive to K+-deficient conditions. Expression of AtNHX3 complemented the sensitivity to K+ deficiency in nhx3 seedlings. Tonoplast vesicles isolated from transgenic plants over-expressing AtNHX3 displayed significantly higher K+/H+ exchange rates than those isolated from wild-type plants. Furthermore, nhx3 seeds accumulated less K+ and more Na+ when both wild-type and nhx3 were grown under normal growth condition. The overall results indicate that AtNHX3 encodes a K+/H+ antiporter required for low-potassium tolerance during germination and early seedling development, and may function in K+ utilization and ion homeostasis in Arabidopsis.


Recently, Mg-Zn-Y alloys with superior performance, which have a long period stacking order (LPSO) phase, have been developed. Therefore, it is important to understand fundamental fatigue properties in such materials. In this study, the fatigue fracture behavior of the Mg96Zn2Y2 alloy has been investigated with a plain bending testing machine, which was originally developed for thin sheet specimen at room temperature and 523K. One end of the sheet specimen is fixed at a voice coil of the loudspeaker and the other end is set free. A bending mode resonance occurs in the specimen due to forced vibration at the fixed end. To estimate stress amplitude of bending, deflections at the free end of the specimen oscillating at a frequency of about 200~500Hz was measured by a laser displacement gauge. For comparison, AZ31B alloy also has been investigated. S-N curve for the Mg96Zn2Y2 alloy was obtained using a stress ratio of R=-1, and the fatigue strengths were estimated as 200MPa at room temperature and 120MPa at 523K at 106~107 cycles. These values correspond to about 50% of 0.2% proof strengths of the Mg96Zn2Y2 alloy. Two types of fatigue surface were observed in the Mg96Zn2Y2 alloy. One was striation-like-pattern and the other was relatively flat surface. Striation-like-pattern was similar to fatigue surface of AZ31B. Therefore, these two types of fatigue surface correspond to crack passing through α-Mg phase and LPSO phase, respectively. The feature of fracture surface at 523K was almost the same as that at room temperature.


Distance learning and in particular e- Learning are activities that are usually based on new technologies like ICT (Information and Communication Technology). Distance learning and e- Learning brought many advantages to those who used them, making possible for people from different social categories to have more easily access to education. However, there appeared also criticism to their use, especially to distance learning, blaming the reduced quality of training provided to the students.
Some of these criticisms are partially justified by the fact that some institutions applied distance learning concepts erroneously, obtaining negative results. For example it is not recommended to study certain disciplines witch require practical abilities (like medicine, theatre, sports, and so on) at distance. Distance learning is more appropriate to the disciplines that are more theoretical like economics, mathematics, literature, some branches of science and others.
With the emergence of modern e- Learning technologies it became possible to transmit more effectively knowledge and even practical abilities to students following distance learning courses, but there are still limitations witch must be taken in to account if one wants to obtain the best performance from using e- Learning and distance learning systems.
In the above mentioned context, the quality assurance of distance learning and e-Learning becomes very important, quality auditing becoming an essential factor towards success. The paper will be focused on auditing e- Learning and distance learning systems.
There will be explored the possibilities to design or use and quality audit of a dedicated information systems for the distance learning and e- Learning activities.


One of the strategies which is increasingly applied by cities across the world in an everlasting desire to promote and capitalise on their competitive identity, is the hosting of large-scale events of different genres. In an attempt to become an attractive event place, many cities have progressed from a random and eclectic choice of events toward the development of portfolios of events. Despite the increasing popularity of an event portfolio strategy in the literature and among city event planners, there is a lack of developed theoretical concepts and empirical evidence in this area. To address this gap, a qualitative multiple case study research was conducted in three cities in New Zealand, namely Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin. The thesis explores critical aspects of the portfolio programming. It analyses the rationale behind utilising major events, strategic portfolio approaches, compositional structures of the portfolios in the cities, roles that events can play within a portfolio, design factors that influence events programming, and the development of an overall portfolio synergy. The research is grounded in critical realist ontology and pragmatist epistemology. Critical realism helps to uncover a reality of processes that determine portfolio design. A portfolio of events exists in a real context. It is shaped by real processes of planning and decisionmaking. Pragmatist epistemology directs this research in two ways. Firstly, pragmatism calls for the application of an action-oriented approach. The research becomes a resource for informing human practices and suggesting possibilities for solving problems in the field of planned events. Secondly, pragmatism admits context-dependence of knowledge. Thus, the research serves as an important source of valuable insights, rather than a cradle of a universal truth. The research methods included semi-structured interviews with event planners from the city councils' departments and relevant council controlled organisations responsible for major events programming. Related public documents were also analysed to complement the emerged insights from the interviews. Thematic analysis of the collected data was carried out to identify and analyse key research themes. The thesis revealed an interplay of four processes in portfolio design that determine its nature, rationale, compositional variety and synergetic values. These are Imagineering, Approaching, Composing and Synergising. Imagineering directs the creation of a general vision on major events and their role in the construction of a desirable place identity. Approaching guides the elaboration of a strategic framework to utilise major events in accordance with the stated objectives and expected outcomes. Composing focuses on the compositional structure of event portfolios. Synergising is responsible for the maintenance of an overall balance in a portfolio. The findings of the research make an important contribution to event studies and event portfolio theory. The thesis advances an understanding of the strategic role portfolios of major events play in city development. The research offers new perspectives on portfolio design problematics and uncovers critical aspects of the design 'technology'. Practical implications of the research relate to public event strategy and policy development, portfolio approaching forms and strategic event management within urban contexts.


Abstract In higher education, supporting students with special educational needs (SEN) necessitates an understanding of these needs, additional teaching aids and innovative ideas. The teacher must be an integral part of this support process, and this is difficult for the majority of teachers, due to their lack of core understanding of SEN. However, teachers can focus on their core skills and content knowledge, and have immense alacrity to explore potential options to support their students with SEN. I decided to support my students with SEN by adapting my PowerPoint presentations according to their requirements. PowerPoint presentations usually provide concisely summarised information to students that often lead to confusion in their pre-lecture or post-lecture review. This lack of comprehensive subject information within PowerPoint presentations can have serious implications for students with SEN and their note-takers if no other teaching resources or aids are available to help them. Students with SEN and note-takers reported this concern to me at Aberystwyth University, UK. Consequently, I began to explore ways to make my PowerPoint presentations extra helpful for my students with SEN. After a review of best practices for students with SEN based on universal design for learning and a few trials, I developed a dual PowerPoint presentation (DPP), lecture handouts and comprehensive lecture notes. Subsequently, I successfully employed this approach in the delivery of some of the undergraduate modules of a BSc computer science programme. Feedback from students with SEN, note-takers and the student support department, and examination results showed the success and potential of this DPP approach.


Ten-year-old Kendell Lewis hops down from the steps of his trailer to take a visitor on a child's-eye tour of what remains, and what is gone, from the streets of his old neighborhood. "I had friends there, lots of them," he says outside an abandoned house with boarded-up windows in the Lower Ninth Ward. "Kadija, Vernon, Tyris and Ariane. But I don't get to play with them now." Farther up the block, collapsed shells of houses lie in multicolored heaps. The park where, Kendell says, "I used to hit a ball with my bat" is now deserted, grown over with weeds taller than a little boy. On the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, everywhere in this neighborhood near where the levee broke it's the same


UNLABELLED
We report an 10 month old male infant, who developed an obstruction of the pylorus by dislocation of the retention disk 5 months after percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG). This could be corrected under endoscopic control. Two years after PEG insertion diarrhoe occurred immediately after feeding caused by a gastrocolic fistula with dislocation of the retention disk in the colon transversum. An excision of the fistula and a resection of the colon segment were performed successfully.

CONCLUSION
In patients with PEG and unclear abdominal symptoms a tube dislocation has to be kept in mind at any time.


Columbia School of Journalism professor Andie Tucher talks about her forthcoming book on the history of fake news in the United States. She explains how, despite the fact that fake news has a long history in America, earlier incarnations were far less harmful than our current "post-truth" era. She also defines and examines what she calls "fake journalism," which uses the conventions of objective journalism but in deceptive ways to mislead people into accepting lies as truth.


Contrastive learning has shown great potential in video representation learning. However, existing approaches fail to sufficiently exploit short-term motion dynamics, which are crucial to various down-stream video understanding tasks. In this paper, we propose Motion Sensitive Contrastive Learning (MSCL) that injects the motion information captured by optical flows into RGB frames to strengthen feature learning. To achieve this, in addition to clip-level global contrastive learning, we develop Local Motion Contrastive Learning (LMCL) with frame-level contrastive objectives across the two modalities. Moreover, we introduce Flow Rotation Augmentation (FRA) to generate extra motion-shuffled negative samples and Motion Differential Sampling (MDS) to accurately screen training samples. Extensive experiments on standard benchmarks validate the effectiveness of the proposed method. With the commonly-used 3D ResNet-18 as the backbone, we achieve the top-1 accuracies of 91.5\% on UCF101 and 50.3\% on Something-Something v2 for video classification, and a 65.6\% Top-1 Recall on UCF101 for video retrieval, notably improving the state-of-the-art.


This study establishes that etraverine, an anti human immuno deficiency virus drug, is produced as cocrystals to improve the solubility of the same by cocrystallisation methods and characterization of the cocrystals formed. Etraverine belongs to the class IV category as per the Biopharmaceutical Classification System which are basically classified as a drug with low solubility and low permeability. Pharmaceutical cocrystals are structurally homogeneous crystalline materials containing an API and the conformer in definite stoichiometric amounts. Etraverine formed physicochemically stable cocrystal with tartaric acid when prepared in 1:1 molar ratio by slurry method.The formation of the cocrystals was confirmed by analytical techniques such as X-ray diffraction, differencial scaning calorimetry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The dynamic solubility of etraverine in the cocrystal of ratio 1:1 was improved by approximately 3.6 fold as compared to pure etaverine. The percentage of drug release at 180 min was also four times higher for etraverine cocrystal of ratio 1:1 as compared to pure etraverine. This study demonstrates the capability of co-crystalization technique to improve the solubility of etraverine.


A new method is described for calculating magnetostatic field variables of axisymmetric conductor systems, by expanding them as a series of prolate spheroidal harmonics. The authors include, as a special case, the standard spherical harmonic method of M.W. Garrett (1951, 1961). The comparative advantages and disadvantages of the prolate harmonic method and the spherical harmonic method are examined. A simple measure of convergence is derived for the prolate spheroidal harmonic method and confirmed for a conductor of rectangular cross section. The limitations of the prolate harmonic method are discussed. >


In 1994 a new Forestry Act was accepted in Sweden. One of its aims was to raise the consideration for preservation of biodiversity. Since this happened over 15 years ago there is now an interest in analyzing if the law has been effective in its purpose. In this study methods suitable for analysis are being investigated. The study contents a pilot study of methods for five parameters that can validate if the law has been followed. The fieldstudy were executed in Orsa, Dalarna, Sweden in a managed forest and where last clearcut was done after 1994. The work consisted of measuring the parameters in the field and to compare them with data from before 1994. The benefits of the parameters and the current and previous Forestry Act and their differences are discussed in the report. The parameters examined were the distribution of tree species, standing dead wood, smaller areas saved for preservation, big trees and trees with cavities/cavernous trees. All of these plus a few other variables favourable for the diversity of species in the forest are dealt with in the 30 § in the Forestry Act of 1994. The study implied that the variables reported to be favourable for biodiversity, and possible to investigate within the restrictions of this study, seemed to have increased. The results should however be interpreted with care since the study is small and the reference values sometimes were missing or covering larger areas than the field data.


In many tunnel designs, lining cross section is selected based on construction requirements rather than design loads. A constant cross section is typically used along a tunnel especially for tunnels constructed by tunnel boring machines (TBMs). Factor of safety against failure is typically high at shallow depth regions of alignment. Minor repairable damage is targeted at rare events such as earthquakes, train derailments, explosions, and long-duration fires, and a reduction to service load factor of safety is applied in these types of events. The focus of this paper is to analytically investigate structural fire safety of circular tunnel linings in terms of reduction in service load safety due to time- and temperature-dependent material degradation and increase in load demand in a tunnel fire, and to develop recommendations for preliminary assessment of structural fire endurance of circular tunnel linings. Analytical methods accounting for thermal nonlinearity, material degradation, tunnel lining-ground interaction, and fire time stages are available to assess the structural fire safety of the concrete tunnel linings. Results of hydrocarbon fire tests of tunnel segments can be estimated by available analytical methods. TBM tunnels at soft soil can have a better fire performance compared to the ones located at stiff conditions with similar initial loading.


Water is ubiquitous in olefin metathesis, at levels ranging from contaminant to cosolvent. It is also non-benign. Water-promoted catalyst decomposition competes with metathesis, even for "robust" ruthenium catalysts. Metathesis is hence typically noncatalytic for demanding reactions in water-rich environments (e.g., chemical biology), a challenge as the Ru decomposition products promote unwanted reactions such as DNA degradation. To date, only the first step of the decomposition cascade is understood: catalyst aquation. Here we demonstrate that the aqua species dramatically accelerate both β-elimination of the metallacyclobutane intermediate and bimolecular decomposition of four-coordinate [RuCl(H2O)n(L)(=CHR)]Cl. Decomposition can be inhibited by blocking aquation and β-elimination.


This work was conducted to evaluate the phenotypic correlation between characters in topcrosses between vegetable soybean with grain type cultivars (Doko and FT-2). Interesting values to facilitate selections were observed in correlations between one hundred seed weight (seed size) and days of maturation and between seed size and pod width as visual score. Seed yield and seed size were significantly correlated only in Doko's topcrosses. Estimated correlation from individual plants tended to confirm those obtained at mean level plot. Depending on the soybean type (grain, sprout/natto and vegetable), the correlation values were different. Because of that it is recommended different selection strategies to evaluate distinct soybean classes. Correlation studies for each topcross are important, due to differences in plant performance as observed in obtained results.


Sequences of LSU and SSU ribosomal RNA genes and phylogeny have not been widely investigated for the dinoflagellate Coolia monotis Meunier, and no information is available on the small and large rDNA subunits of Mediterranean strains. A strain isolated from the Thermaikos Gulf in northern Greece was identified as C. monotis —a new record for the Greek algal flora—using thecal morphology by light, epifluorescence and scanning electron microscopy. The small subunit and partial (D1/D2) large subunit sequences were analyzed and compared to other strains of C. monotis and dinoflagellates from various regions. Thecal architecture showed that the Greek strain of C. monotis was phenotypically similar, but not identical, to other strains reported in literature. The partial LSU sequence (700 bp) was found to vary by 113 bp positions (16%) from the C. monotis strain from New Zealand, whereas the SSU (1757 bp) had 15 bp differences (0.85%) from the strain from Norway. Phylogenetic tree construction showed that the Greek strain fell within the Coolia clade and had a close relationship with the families Ostreopsidaceae and Goniodomaceae of the order Gonyaulacales. Preliminary findings suggest the existence of different genotype strains of C. monotis with large intraspecific genetic variability and minimal morphological differentiation (similar phenotypes). Certain ecological and evolutionary implications of these findings are discussed.


Abstract This paper presents results from the first stage of an analysis of the use of virtual reality (VR) within the building industries of strategically selected countries, namely, China, Sweden, the UK and the US. The aims of the research are to assess VR usage and its benefits within the building industries of these countries and to identify perceived barriers to VR usage and ways of overcoming them. The countries selected offer a range of experience in the adoption of VR technologies and the paper provides an initial analysis of developments at an international level. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior professionals from each of six leading construction companies within each country. The findings included the rationale for the adoption of VR and the barriers to doing so, as well as some divergence between the respondents in their working definition of what visualization and, specifically, VR actually represents.


Polar lows are not properly resolved in global re-analyses. In order to describe the year-to-year variability and decadal trends in the formation of such mesoscale storms, atmospheric limited area models, which post-process re-analysis data, may be an appropriate tool. In this study we demonstrate the merits and potential of this approach. A series of 3-week long ensemble simulations of weather situations over the NE Atlantic with a limited area model/regional climate model (CLM) are examined. The model was driven with NCEP—NCAR re-analyses at the lateral and lower boundaries. Additionally, the spectral nudging technique was used to enforce the large-scale circulation, as given by the NCEP—NCAR reanalysis, on the simulation. The ensemble members differ by initial conditions taken from several consecutive days. In most of the cases, a polar low developed after a simulated time of about 2 weeks, that is, long after the initialization of the model calculations. The spectrally nudged version of the model is very insensitive to initial conditions. The observed polar lows were reproduced in all ensemble members. A reasonable correlation between the simulated polar low features and those derived from a satellite product (HOAPS-III) and operational high-resolution weather analyses (DWD) is found. The polar lows are considerably deepened compared to the driving NCEP—NCAR analysis, but the comparison with weather maps indicates some differences in detail. When CLM is run without the large-scale constraint of spectral nudging, considerable variability emerges across the different ensemble members and the observed polar low often does not emerge.


Public authority has been increasingly engaging with private actors for the purpose of regulating transnationally social and environmental responsibility of global production. 'Orchestration' of private actors takes place under limited influence and control over the regulatory effects of private authority. This may lead to the problem of public authority legitimising and indirectly reinforcing forms of authority structurally dominated by specific private interests. This contribution adopts a perspective based on the concept of institutional trust to frame the interaction between public and private authority, and between private authorities and those affected by it. The paper uses the interplay between public regulators on the one hand, and voluntary sustainability standards (VSS) and companies implementing human rights due diligence (HRDD) on the other to illustrate how the relation between different forms of authority unfolds and the effects of this relation on those affected by private rules. It evaluates these two types of interplay against a framework based on the concept of institutional trust. It concludes by setting forth suggestions for the employment of private forms of authority by public actors in transnational regulation of global value chains.


Silicon composite anode-based lithium ion battery actuators have strong potential for large actuation strain, complex shape change, and large compliance tunability. This allows for actuators with potential to do work with no energy expenditure beyond parasitic losses to internal resistance. This paper studies a segmented bimorph actuator comprised of a silicon-based composite anode double-side coated on copper foil.
 The bimorph design allows for a nearly 360° range of motion in transverse bending and can double the capacity of the battery in comparison to a single side coated unimorph design. An Euler-Bernoulli model is developed to predict free deflection for a range of geometric configurations and states of charge of the bimorph. By modeling the charging of both active sides of the bimorph simultaneously, it is possible to achieve zero bending while still accommodating for the volumetric expansion of the silicon. The bimorph is able to achieve actuation in one given direction by charging each anode coating separately or maintaining a charge difference between the two coatings. The former method allows for the accommodated volumetric expansion of silicon while maintaining zero bending as in a conventional battery setup. The latter method allows for larger battery capacity and range of motion for a novel electrochemically-based actuation mechanism.


Method Engineering (ME) for Information Systems (IS) is a response to the necessity to better fit methods with development activities requirements. Situational method engineering allows defining new methods constructed on the fly following the situation at hand. However, in the reviewed literature, the situation is not always described and there is no proposed approach to handle the specific context of method components. This paper provides a detailed vision of context and a process for contextualizing methods in the IS domain. Our proposal is illustrated with a case study of project portfolio management in the domain of IT governance.


Utilizing electron cooling, the TRAP collaboration has lowered the energy at which antiprotons can be stored and studied by more than 10 orders of magnitude, starting with 6 MeV particles from LEAR. We have held cryogenic antiprotons a few degrees above absolute zero for two months and the storage lifetime so established, more than 3.4 months is the longest directly measured limit for antiprotons. Measuring their cyclotron frequencies in a precision cylindrical Penning trap, we have shown that the inertial masses of the antiprotons and protons are the same to a fractional accuracy of 4 parts in 108, a 1000-fold improvement over the previous comparisons. This is the most stringent test of CPT invariance with baryons. We have recently demonstrated a linewidth resolution of more than 10 times narrower than our current measurement accuracy, making possible a new series of systematic tests to improve the accuracy by one or even two orders of magnitude.


Four new extended π-conjugated tetrathiafulvalene (ex-TTF) based dyes featuring a donor–π–acceptor (D–π–A) configuration with varying π-spacers and anchoring groups were synthesized and characterized. The sensitizer having the 4-ethynyl phenyl π-spacer (G4) shows red shifted absorption maxima in comparison with the sensitizer having only the phenyl π-spacer (G2). All four sensitizers undergo reversible oxidations to form stable radical cations. TDDFT calculations highlighted that the LUMO of the G4 sensitizer is more stabilized by the incorporation of the ethynyl group between the π-spacer and the cyanoacrylic acid anchoring group that aid to inject electrons efficiently into TiO2 thereby resulting in an enhanced power conversion efficiency of 6.36% when compared to the other derivatives, which is also confirmed by the intensity-modulated photovoltage spectroscopy (IMVS) method. Kinetic studies demonstrated that fast regeneration of the oxidized dye by the redox couple is an important factor behind enhanced efficiencies in solar cells. Finally, the performance of the present sensitizers is compared to that of previously reported sensitizers.


The reduction in space vehicle size and mass presents the need to develop a proportionally smaller propulsion system for orbital station keeping. A Low Temperature Co-Fired Ceramic (LTCC) monopropellant micropropulsion device has been developed at BSU. The simple, robust design features a heterogeneous catalyst chamber used to decompose a rocket-grade hydrogen peroxide monopropellant, to produce thrust. Initial prototype testing indicates only partial peroxide decomposition requiring an in-depth analysis of the geometric layout of the devices to increase system efficiency. This study employs a control volume based methodology to analyze the performance of various catalyst chamber designs. This approach was chosen due to the inaccuracies and difficulties associated with modeling the exact kinetics of a two-phase, catalytic reaction at the micro-scale. A full factorial experiment was established to investigate the effects of several geometries, typical to LTCC fluidics, on the hydrogen peroxide decomposition percentage. Chamber geometries were chosen based on previous thruster designs as well as constraints related to LTCC fabrication capabilities. Test results will determine which chamber designs to investigate in future optimization efforts. Reaction completion percentage and chamber temperatures are measured at steady state operation and used to compare the chamber geometries studied. Initial testing validated the accuracy and repeatability of the test apparatus. Mechanical failure of devices occurred during the transient start-up phase of device testing as a result of localized thermal expansion. A functional prototype was achieved by decreasing propellant flowrate and cross-sectional area reducing the released thermal energy. This lowered thermal stresses within the LTCC to a controllable level. Test results suggest three-dimensional fluidic channels produce higher decomposition percentages than similar configurations limited to a single plane.


European Community (EC) legislation requires identification and registration of bovine, ovine, caprine and porcine animals. For intra-Community trade, bovine animals must be accompanied by a passport and the required health certificate, and identified by a tag on each ear. The principles of active identification of bovine animals (by ear tags) and of ovine, caprine and porcine animals (by ear tags or tattoos) are harmonised within the EC. International passports are issued and recognised only for registered Equidae. The life-number was introduced as an instrument to allow uninterrupted identification of Equidae using passports. The principles of issuing and recording such numbers have been outlined by the affected industries, but require official approval. Active identification of Equidae using electronic devices is not regulated by EC legislation, but research in livestock is underway.


In the current paper, the prevalence of pathological gambling in 112 treatment-seeking patients with substance addiction (81 alcoholics and 31 cocaine dependents) was estimated. The DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling and the Spanish version of the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) were used. The results showed that 22.3% of substance-addicted patients had a comorbid diagnosis of pathological gambling. Furthermore, an additional 11.6% of the sample had relevant symptoms for problem gambling. In sum, 33.9% of the sample reported clinically significant gambling-related symptoms. From a socio-demographic point of view, all substance-addicted patients with gambling-related symptoms were men. A comparison between substance-addicted patients with and without pathological gambling showed significant differences in alcohol severity (assessed by the EuropASI), psychopathological symptoms (assessed by the SCL-90-R) and personality variables (assessed by the MCMI-II). In all cases, scores were significantly higher in gamblers than in non-gamblers. Finally, the implications of these results for further research and clinical practice are commented upon.


We study the problem of allocating a set of indivisible goods among agents with subadditive valuations in a fair and efficient manner. Envy-Freeness up to any good (EFX) is the most compelling notion of fairness in the context of indivisible goods. Although the existence of EFX is not known beyond the simple case of two agents with subadditive valuations, some good approximations of EFX are known to exist, namely 1/2-EFX allocation and EFX allocations with bounded charity.

Nash welfare (the geometric mean of agents' valuations) is one of the most commonly used measures of efficiency. In case of additive valuations, an allocation that maximizes Nash welfare also satisfies fairness properties like Envy-Free up to one good (EF1). Although there is substantial work on approximating Nash welfare when agents have additive valuations, very little is known when agents have subadditive valuations. In this paper, we design a polynomial-time algorithm that outputs an allocation that satisfies either of the two approximations of EFX as well as achieves an O(n) approximation to the Nash welfare. Our result also improves the current best-known approximation of O(n log n) and O(m) to Nash welfare when agents have submodular and subadditive valuations, respectively.

Furthermore, our technique also gives an O(n) approximation to a family of welfare measures, p-mean of valuations for p in (-\infty, 1], thereby also matching asymptotically the current best approximation ratio for special cases like p = -\infty while also retaining the remarkable fairness properties.


Background Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is the commonest global cause of sporadic encephalitis. The encephalitis is associated with fatal cardiopulmonary collapse. There is no effective treatment. Pathophysiology is poorly understood. Aim To explore the relationship between cytokine responses in cerebral and vascular compartments and patient outcome. Methods Thirty cytokines were measured in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and sera from 85 Malaysians with EV71 infection, exhibiting either uncomplicated illness (n=45), meningitis (n=8), encephalitis (n=27) or encephalitis with cardiopulmonary collapse (n=6). Four of the latter patients died. Results Patients who later required cardiac support had significantly raised concentrations of G-CSF, Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-1 receptor antagonist in the CSF and sera at admission (p=0.0005; p=0.004; p=0.029 respectively for sera). Sera cytokine levels were significantly associated with death (p=0.04). Combining the sera G-CSF:IL-5 ratio with clinical features at admission accurately predicted fatality (Sensitivity 100%, Specificity 96%). Conclusion Cytokine responses in the vascular compartment predicted fatal outcome during EV71 infection. Il-1β has a negative inotropic action on the heart. Il-1 receptor antagonist (antagonist to IL-1β) and G-CSF are currently being assessed as treatments for acute cardiac impairment. The findings suggest we have identified functional markers of EV71 related cardiac dysfunction and potential treatments.


. Sperm quality can be directly or indirectly affected in chronic bacterial prostatitis, due to protein components of mucosal immunity, including lactoferrin, secretory immunoglobulin A, and lysozyme. Therefore, a search for relationships between spermogram indices and levels of antimicrobial factors in sperm plasma presents an urgent task in healthy men and patients with chronic bacterial prostatitis. The present paper contains the results of a study of sperm samples from 72 men aged 20 to 45 years. Samples were collected in sterile containers by masturbation after a minimum abstinence period of 3-5 days. None of the patients had previously taken antibiotics. Patients with sexually transmitted infections were excluded from the study. The patients were divided into two groups – conditionally healthy males (n = 30) and patients with chronic bacterial prostatitis (n = 42). Seminal plasma was obtained by two-stage centrifugation of ejaculate samples (1000-3000 rpm) for 30 minutes. Evaluation of lactoferrin and secretory immunoglobulin A levels in seminal plasma was carried out by ELISA technique (Vector-Best, Novosibirsk), lysozyme – by turbidimetric method. The results were recorded with Multiscan Labsystems photometer (Finland) at 492-nm wavelength. Statistical evaluation of the obtained data was carried out using Statistica 10 package (StatSoft, USA). To assess the kind of relationships between the studied parameters, the Spearman's rank correlation quotient was applied. When using the Spearman rank-correlation approach, the strength of the relationships between the features was assessed, considering the values of < 0.3 as a weak connection; quotient levels of 0.4 to 0.7 as indexes of moderate relationships, and values of 0.7 and more, as high connection indexes. We have found that an increased level of lactoferrin in some cases of leukocytospermia, oligospermia, and asthenospermia is accompanied by decreased number of leukocytes, increased sperm motility, preservation of sperm morphology, thus suggesting improvement of the sperm quality. Considering universal biological properties of lactoferrin and its receptors, an increased number of positive correlations between level lactoferrin level and spermogram parameters was shown in the patients with chronic bacterial prostatitis, as compared with healthy males, thus presuming high diagnostic value of this marker. Hence, diagnostic value of spermogram parameters is determined not only by their quantitative values, but also by the types of correlations with antimicrobial factor levels, in particular, with those of lactoferrin, secretory immunoglobulin A and lysozyme.


Previous research suggested a role of gaze in preference formation, not merely as an expression of preference, but also as a causal influence. According to the gaze cascade hypothesis, the longer subjects look at an item, the more likely they are to develop a preference for it. However, to date the connection between viewing and liking has been investigated predominately with self-paced viewing conditions in which the subjects were required to select certain items from simultaneously presented stimuli on the basis of perceived visual attractiveness. Such conditions might promote a default, but non-mandatory connection between viewing and liking. To explore whether the connection is separable, we examined the evaluative processing of single naturalistic food images in a 2 × 2 design, conducted completely within subjects, in which we varied both the type of exposure (self-paced versus time-controlled) and the type of evaluation (non-exclusive versus exclusive). In the self-paced exclusive evaluation, longer viewing was associated with a higher likelihood of a positive evaluation. However, in the self-paced non-exclusive evaluation, the trend reversed such that longer viewing durations were associated with lesser ratings. Furthermore, in the time-controlled tasks, both with non-exclusive and exclusive evaluation, there was no significant relationship between the viewing duration and the evaluation. The overall pattern of results was consistent for viewing times measured in terms of exposure duration (i.e., the duration of stimulus presentation on the screen) and in terms of actual gaze duration (i.e., the amount of time the subject effectively gazed at the stimulus on the screen). The data indicated that viewing does not intrinsically lead to a higher evaluation when evaluating single food images; instead, the relationship between viewing duration and evaluation depends on the type of task. We suggest that self-determination of exposure duration may be a prerequisite for any influence from viewing time on evaluative processing, regardless of whether the influence is facilitative. Moreover, the purported facilitative link between viewing and liking appears to be limited to exclusive evaluation, when only a restricted number of items can be included in a chosen set.


The Economy for the Common Good (ECG) is an Austrian-born movement promoting an alternative economic model built on values oriented to the common welfare such as human dignity, solidarity, ecological sustainability, social justice, transparency and democratic participation. To provide (high) quality of work plays an important role in the ECG philosophy but little is known on the actual labour conditions of workers employed in such type of firms and whether they differ from those of firms in the "regular" default economy. In this paper we focus on Austria and Germany, the countries where this economic model is most widespread, and present results on the general structure of firms following the ECG model and the working and employment conditions in these firms. We identify three main dimensions of job quality promoted by the ECG model, namely employment quality, information and worker participation, and psychosocial working conditions. Using data published in the Common Good Reports, we extracted data informing about these dimensions of job quality at an organisational level of 59 firms with at least 5 employees in Austria and Germany. We discuss which work-related features are promoted by organisations following the ECG model and compare them to the standards encouraged by the model. Results are also discussed with respect to evidence on the quality of work in the social economy.


We propose a novel method for clustering allophones called Feature-Dependent Allophone Clustering (FD-AC) that determines feature-dependent HMM topology automatically. Existing methods for allophone clustering are based on parameter sharing between the allophone models that resemble each other in behaviors of feature vector sequences. However, all the features of the vector sequences may not necessarily have a common allophone clustering structures. It is considered that the vector sequences can be better modeled by allocating the optimal allophone clustering structure to each feature. In this paper, we propose Feature-Dependent Successive State Splitting (FD-SSS) as an implementation of FD-AC. In speaker-dependent continuous phoneme recognition experiments, HMMs created by FD-SSS reduced the error rates by about 10% compared with the conventional HMMs that have a common allophone clustering structure for all the features.


I take a new approach to measuring world inequality and welfare over time by constructing robust bounds for these series instead of imposing parametric assumptions to compute point estimates. I derive sharp bounds on the Atkinson inequality index that are valid for any underlying distribution of income conditional on given fractile shares and Gini coefficients. While the bounds are too wide to reject the hypothesis that world inequality may have risen, I show that world welfare rose unambiguously between 1970 and 2006. This conclusion is valid for alternative methods of dealing with countries and years with missing surveys, alternative survey harmonization procedures, alternative GDP series, or if the inequality surveys used systematically underreport the income of the very rich, or suffer from nonresponse bias.