Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic caused an increase in fear, anxiety, and depressive symptoms globally. For populations at increased risk for adverse outcomes due to illness, such as cancer patients, these worries may have been exacerbated. Understanding how the pandemic impacted cancer patients will inform better preparation for future events that cause disturbances to cancer care delivery. Methods This study analyzed data from two surveys to determine whether cancer patients' responses differed from a cancer-free population-based sample in terms of concerns, preventive behaviors, and thoughts on their healthcare provider's communication regarding COVID-19, in a U.S. midwestern state. In August 2020, a survey was sent to 10,009 Iowans aged 18 and older, randomly selected from the 2018 Iowa voter registration file. In September 2020, a survey was emailed to 2,954 cancer patients aged 18 and older who opted into the University of Iowa Holden Comprehensive Cancer Center's Patients Enhancing Research Collaborations at Holden program. Previously validated and pre-tested Likert-type and multiple-choice items assessed concern regarding COVID-19, social distancing perception and behaviors, and demographic characteristics of respondents. We used chi-square tests and logistic regression to examine differences between the cancer patient and general population survey responses. Results We included 3,622 responses from the general population survey, and 780 responses from the cancer patient survey in this analysis. Cancer patient survey respondents were more frequently older, lived in urban areas, had Medicare insurance coverage, had a college degree or higher, and were married. Cancer patients were more likely to report engaging in social distancing behaviors and greater concern regarding the pandemic. Conclusion This study suggests differences in the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer patients compared to cancer-free members of the general population. These results indicate the need for consideration of cancer patients' physical and mental health during large-scale disruptions to cancer care.


20 Understanding whole-brain-scale electrophysiological recordings will rely on the collective work 21 of multiple labs. Because two labs recording from the same brain area often reach different 22 conclusions, it is critical to quantify and control for features that decrease reproducibility. To 23 address these issues, we formed a multi-lab collaboration using a shared, open-source 24 behavioral task and experimental apparatus. We repeatedly inserted Neuropixels multi-electrode 25


Leishmania must survive despite exposure to the toxic oxidant hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) during phagocytosis by macrophages. We investigated the mechanism of H2O2 toxicity for L. donovani chagasi promastigotes, and factors responsible for their relative H2O2 resistance. There was a dose-dependent toxic effect of H2O2 for promastigotes isolated during logarithmic phase of growth. In contrast, stationary phase promastigotes were less susceptible to H2O2 toxicity, and more infectious for BALB/c mice. By spin trapping we found that hydroxyl radical (.OH) was generated after exposure of promastigotes to H2O2, and the amount of .OH was greater with log-phase than with stationary-phase promastigotes. .OH was generated after the addition of H2O2 to the cytosol but not the membranes of fractionated promastigotes, and the magnitude of .OH was greater in log than in stationary promastigote cytosol. Deferoxamine inhibition suggested that intracellular promastigote iron catalyzes .OH formation via the Fenton reaction. Furthermore, exposure of log-phase promastigotes to heat shock induced a relative H2O2-resistant state, which was not associated with a decrease in .OH formation but which required ongoing transcription. Thus, growth to stationary phase and heat shock both induce a state of relative H2O2 resistance, but these are probably due to different resistance mechanisms.


The main purpose of this degree project has been to examine the effects of employer brand attributes and activities on social media to the employer attractiveness of the Swedish Armed Forces. We aimed to make theoretical contributions to the fields of employer branding and social media marketing, and test a unique conceptual model for the government authority. The conceptual model focuses on employer brand attributes that have previously been connected to employer attractiveness in this type of context, as well as social media constructs which were not applied to this research area before. We found several research gaps in the previous theories within the two main areas of research. Within the area of employer branding, there was limited research made on government authorities. There were only few studies which considered the effects of social media on employer attractiveness and assessed gender differences across relevant concepts applied in this research field. This lead to the research question: "What kind of employer brand attributes will increase employer attractiveness of SwAF when using social media for communicating with potential applicants of different genders?" This degree project was written on commission for the Swedish Armed Forces that conduct recruitment activities primarily for the basic military training (GMU). In this study, we used a quantitative data collection method and distributed a survey to high school students in the ages of 17 to 20 at three different schools in the city of Umea. The data including 202 responses was analyzed by various tests including Cronbach's alpha, regression analyses and independent samples t-tests with SPSS, a statistical analysis program. The findings of our study have partly supported the hypothesized effects including the impact of instrumental and symbolic attributes on employer attractiveness. The first part of the conceptual model was therefore partly supported as the instrumental attribute Educational opportunities and the symbolic, Cheerfulness, was proven to have significant effects. One social media construct, Word of mouth, also had a significant effect on employer attractiveness for our full sample. A part of our sample had seen the Swedish Armed Forces on one or more of social network sites, which founded the base for a sub sample where further social media constructs were analyzed. Here, Attitude towards site, Disposition to trust and Site reputation were found to have positive effects on employer attractiveness. Lastly, we compared the means across all constructs and 30 social media activities for gender differences. We found that Social/team activities, Pay and benefits, Sincerity and Employer attractiveness had a significance difference between genders. Of the 30 activities, 12 showed gender differences. In addition to making a theoretical contribution, we provided valuable practical recommendations for both government authorities and the Swedish Armed Forces. Our suggestions regarded what to communicate on their social network sites and how to raise their employer attractiveness for the different genders with their marketing efforts. The attributes associated with a strong employer attractiveness were suggested to be emphasized in external communication, however the messages must stay truthful to what the organization does. Also, the understanding of how the target segment acts on social network sites should be used in marketing strategies, to enhance word of mouth communication and to strengthen marketing efforts focusing on social media.


A selective and sensitive method for determining napropamide by room-temperature phosphorescence in SDS micelles is proposed and applied to the determination of this substance in a technical formulation and in spiked soil, pepper, and tomato samples. The use of phosphorescence enhancers such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (micellar agent), thallium (I) nitrate (external heavy atom), and sodium sulfite (deoxygenation agent) was studied and optimized to obtain maximum sensitivity. The determination was performed in 66 mM SDS, 30 mM thallium (I) nitrate, and 8 mM sodium sulfite. Taking into account both maximum phosphorescence intensity and the time required to reach that, a pH value of 7.2 was selected. After the samples were left standing at room temperature for 10 min, the phosphorescence was totally developed. The intensity was then measured at lambda(ex) = 282 nm and lambda(em) = 528 nm. The calibration graph was linear for 50-600 ng mL(-1) napropamide. The detection limit, according to the error propagation theory, was 16 ng mL(-1). The method has been demonstrated for the analysis of soils, peppers, and tomatoes, but, because of matrix interference, the method of standard additions was applied to determine napropamide in the vegetable samples. Recoveries from all these matrixes of added napropamide were near 100%.


The railway wheels are one of the most critical components of the train and, any problem that may arise in the wheel, can generate numerous consequences. The ability to manage friction at the wheel-rail interface currently represents one of the greatest challenges and one of the most powerful tools in railway engineering. To define the efficiency of a product for friction control, retentivity tests are performed mainly by the suppliers. However, there is no strict standardization for the tribological tests performance, and some critical issues like the influence of running-in period and the necessary superficial conditions of the rolling track to apply the friction control products are neglected. Thus, the objective of this work is conduct dry twin-disc wear tests with different number of cycles to understand the running-in period and verify the tribosystem behavior. Starting from a rolling track with polished surface, it was noted that the roughness increased rapidly and stabilized around 1500 cycles. The coefficient of traction (COT) increased in the beginning of the tests reaching the maximum at 750 cycles, reducing the value after that, and stabilizing at a value close to 0.4 with 5,000 cycles. Thus, for twin-disc tests using these conditions, it is suggesting the application of friction control products from 5,000 cycles because the COT and roughness would be stabilized.


Objective: There are a lot of studies searching parameters and markers which are effective on prognosis and mortality in subarachnoid haemorrhage. But there aren't any studies about the effectiveness of Neutrophil Lenfosit Ratio (NLR) on mortality.
Materials and Methods: In our study, former information of one hundred and thirty one patients who applying for varied complaints to our emergency service between January 2010 and April 2013 and diagnosed subarachnoid haemorrhage was analysed back and worked on study. The patients were categorized into two groups, namely the deceased and surviving groups.
Results: The most frequent designated complaint was headache (51.1%). Anterior comminican artery anevrism was the most seen (28.2%) and the most mortal (38.8%) developed anevrism in subarachnoid haemorrhage. The conditions of patients who were unconscious in the course of applying developed more mortal. NLR was found 7.71 ± 6.59 among survivor patients; 16.23 ± 12.68 among dead patients. Neutrophil lenfosit rate was found considerably high among dead patients compared to survivor patients.
Conclusion: In consequence, compared to other parameters Neutrophil lenfosit rate can be used as a simple, easy, and cheap parameter to guess short term prognosis and mortality. Doing more comprehensive and more studies will guide for the reason of high rates in NLR and the treatment of it.


THE demand for aerodynamic research continues to grow, and there is difficulty in meeting it with the available equipment. The Compressed Air Tunnel will become available shortly, but will not very greatly alter the situation, as it will have a scries of scale‐effect problems of its own to solve, problems that have of necessity been shelved in the past, owing to the absence of any effective weapon of attack. The recent study of the design of open‐jet tunnels in this country has led to the realisation of the fact that a room which can contain a 7‐ft. tunnel of the N.P.L. type can quite easily house two open‐jet return‐flow tunnels of the same size or even slightly larger. A proposal has been made to increase very considerably the available tunnel equipment by replacing the 7‐ft. No. 1 tunnel at the Laboratory by two high‐speed open‐jet tunnels. In view of the feeling that some such step will be necessary in the near future unless research is to suffer delay, model tests have been made to provide design data so that the project could be rapidly carried into effect at short notice. There has been practically no expansion of wind‐tunnel equipment in this country since the War until the construction of the Compressed‐Air Tunnel was sanctioned and later the construction of a 24‐ft tunnel at Farnborough. While special tunnels such as these are absolutely necessary for the effective solution of certain problems, there is always a vast amount of research to be carried out in normal‐sized atmospheric tunnels of reasonable speed, and an extension of equipment on the lines suggested would undoubtedly be well worth the cost.


Wine is mostly sold in closed bottles that prevent buyers from inspecting their contents. This practice turns wine into an experience good which buyers are unable to asses at the time of purchase. In order to reduce buyers' information gaps, wine sellers provide information about the wine on one or several labels attached to the bottle. Wine buyers' problem then is to interpret this information and to assess its veracity. Institutional arrangements have emerged in Germany, as in other wine producing countries, that standardize communication between wine sellers and buyers, and that reduce the risk of wine buyers being misled by the information provided by the sellers. Core elements of the institutions are (i) verifiable wine quality categories or grades, (ii) wine examination by independent experts and certification of the information items provided by the wine bottler, and (iii) rules for the content and form of labeling information. Wines that satisfy all legal requirements for a quality wine are deemed to be "Tested Quality in the Glass". They are recognizable by a number that is issued for each wine that has passed examination; the number must be printed on the label. The objectives of this study are three: (i) to provide an English-language description of the German wine quality certification system, together with a summary of its legal basis; (ii) to describe an alternative private wine certification system that has been grafted onto the pubic system, and (iii) to encourage readers to think about how datafication of wine and digitization of wine certification may transform the "Tested Quality in the Glass" system. The study is of interest to all wine experts and scholars with an interest in wine certification, especially of German wines.


Abstract There have been several significant outbreaks of COVID-19 in federal immigrant detention centers, which lack clear and consistent guidelines across Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies to limit the spread of COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued detailed guidelines for the control, prevention, and evaluation of COVID-19 in detention facilities. While the DHS's Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has stated that it complies with CDC recommendations, its policies significantly differ from these CDC guidelines, placing detainees at risk for contracting COVID-19. This submission urges the adoption of CDC guidelines across DHS-associated facilities. Such a policy change has the potential to protect and save the lives of the most vulnerable populations under the auspices of the federal government.


The article introduces the advantages and the application of the visual design, analyzes the tendency and shortage of product development about high pressure valve used in wellhead. Combining the visual design method with collaborative design idea, a visual design system is designed for high pressure valve used in wellhead, which includes three modules. The development process and function of the system is described in detail. Based on a great deal database and modularized collaborative design, basic geometric design, three-dimensional modeling, virtual assembly and finite element analysis (FEA) on chief parts are finished successfully. Practice indicated that the visual design system was an effective measure to improve efficiency of design, meet the demand of the development of product serialization, and reduce the cycle of development of product, reduce the cost.


Aim: Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) have been involved in the atherogenic process in the high-risk population. The goal of this study was to demonstrate that AGEs are related to subclinical atheromatous disease in subjects with low to moderate vascular risk. Methods: A cross-sectional study in which 2,568 non-diabetic subjects of both sexes without cardiovascular disease were included. Subcutaneous content of AGEs was assessed by skin autofluorescence (SAF) and subclinical atheromatous disease was measured by assessing the atheromatous plaque burden in carotid and femoral regions using ultrasonography. In addition, serum pentosidine, carboxymethyl-lysine (CML) and AGE receptors (RAGE) were assessed in a nested case-control study with 41 subjects without plaque and 41 individuals subjects with generalized disease. Results: Patients with atheromatous plaque had a higher SAF than those with no plaque (1.9 [1.7 to 2.3] vs. 1.8 [1.6 to 2.1] arbitrary units (AU), p % 0.001). The SAF correlated with the total number of affected regions (r = 0.171, p < 0.001), increasing progressively from 1.8 [1.6 to 2.1] AU in those without atheromatous disease to 2.3 [1.9 to 2.7] AU in patients with ≥ 8 plaques (p < 0.001). A correlation was also observed between SAF and the total plaque area (r = 0.113, p < 0.001). The area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve was 0.65 (0.61 to 0.68) for identifying male subjects with atheromatous disease. The multivariable logistic regression model showed a significant and independent association between SAF and the presence of atheromatous disease. However, no significant differences in serum pentosidine, CML, and RAGE were observed. Conclusions: Increased subcutaneous content of AGEs is associated with augmented atheromatous plaque burden. Our results suggest that SAF may provide clinically relevant information to the current strategies for the evaluation of cardiovascular risk, especially among the male population.


Background: Growth assessment is an essential component of pediatric health surveillance because almost any problem within the physiologic, interpersonal and social domains can adversely affect growth. The most powerful tool in the growth assessment is the growth chart. Growth parameters of children are usually interpreted in relation to international standards like the National Center for Growth Statistics (NCHS) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Growth Charts of 1977 and 2000, respectively. In 2007, the World Health Organisation (WHO) published a new set of growth charts believed to be applicable to children reared healthily in all parts of the globe. The aim of current study was determine the growth pattern of school children in Sylhet using the CDC standards and WHO standards.
Methods: A Comparative cross-sectional study was done in the department of paediatrics, Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital from July, 2012 to Dec, 2012. Multi-stage random sampling technique was adopted for the survey. This study was carried out in selected primary schools in Sylhet Metropoliton City area. The participants were healthy school children, aged 6 to 11 years who was purposively selected. A total of 504 children were included into this study. The primary end point was to determine weight, height and body mass index (BMI) and the secondary end point was to compare the values using 2000 CDC standards and 2007 WHO standards.
Results: The mean weights, height and BMI of the studied child were lower from CDC and WHO standards but closer with the WHO standards and wider from CDC. The weight Z-scores have got closer on the two reference charts for both male and female but differ at age 6 and 7 years. The median height Z-scores were almost closer to the median for male and female at all different ages on both CDC and WHO charts. The median BMI Z-scores for both sexes were below the reference values on both CDC and WHO charts. The prevalence of underweight and stunting were higher in both sexes when determined using the CDC standards compared to WHO standards.
Conclusion: The WHO references would under diagnose under-nutrition and over-diagnose overweight/obesity in the population studied. However, this study results are closer to the WHO reference and wider from the CDC standards.
Birdem Med J 2019; 9(1): 35-43


Collective phenomena emerge from the interaction of natural or artificial units with a complex organization. The interplay between structural patterns and dynamics might induce functional clusters that, in general, are different from topological ones. In biological systems, like the human brain, the overall functionality is often favored by the interplay between connectivity and synchronization dynamics, with functional clusters that do not coincide with anatomical modules in most cases. In social, sociotechnical, and engineering systems, the quest for consensus favors the emergence of clusters. Despite the unquestionable evidence for mesoscale organization of many complex systems and the heterogeneity of their interconnectivity, a way to predict and identify the emergence of functional modules in collective phenomena continues to elude us. Here, we propose an approach based on random walk dynamics to define the diffusion distance between any pair of units in a networked system. Such a metric allows us to exploit the underlying diffusion geometry to provide a unifying framework for the intimate relationship between metastable synchronization, consensus, and random search dynamics in complex networks, pinpointing the functional mesoscale organization of synthetic and biological systems.


Field and columns studies of biocolloid transport in porous media have yielded a large body of information, used to design treatment systems, protect water supplies and assess the risk of pathogen contamination. However, the inherent "black-box" approach of these larger scales has resulted in generalizations that sometimes prove inaccurate. Over the past 10 to 15 years, pore scale visualization techniques have improved substantially, allowing the study of biocolloid transport in saturated and unsaturated porous media at a level that provides a very clear understanding of the processes that govern biocolloid movement. For example, it is now understood that the reduction in pathways for biocolloids as a function of their size leads to earlier breakthrough. Interception of biocolloids by the porous media used to be considered independent of fluid flow velocity, but recent work indicates that there is a relationship between them. The existence of almost stagnant pore water regions within a porous medium can lead to storage of biocolloids, but this process is strongly colloid-size dependent, since larger biocolloids are focused along the central streamlines in the flowing fluid. Interfaces, such as the Air-Water Interface, the Soil-Water Interface and the Soil-Water-Air interface, play a major role in attachment and detachment, with significant implications for risk assessment and system design. Important research questions related to the pore-scale factors that control attachment and detachment are key to furthering our understanding of the transport of biocolloids in porous media


The Telly Award-winning documentary "Wings of Victory: Keeping our Warbirds Flying" takes an inside look at the increasingly rare American military aircraft that were pivotal in helping allied forces win World War II.


Blood glucose, plasma insulin, and glucagon levels were measured in undisturbed and free-moving rats. The insulin and glucagon levels rise in the 1st min after the beginning of food ingestion, whereas the glucose level begins to increase only in the 3rd min if carbohydrate-rich food is eaten. This early rise in insulin and glucagon level is also observed under conditions in which carbohydrate-free food is eaten. A similar release of insulin and glucagon can be obtained by injection of 0.1 microgram of norepinephrine into the ventromedial hypothalamus, but the same injection made into the lateral hypothalamus causes release of insulin only, whereas injections in other hypothalamic areas are nearly without effect. Similar injections of isoproterenol did not cause changes in insulin, glucagon, and glucose levels. It is suggested that the early insulin and glucagon responses are of reflex origin and that the ventromedial and lateral hypothalamic areas are relay stations in the reflex pathways. The lack of effect of atropine to block the insulin and glucagon responses to noradrenergic stimulation of the ventromedial hypothalamus indicates that the efferent pathway is not cholinergic.


Background Lung cancer is the most common cancer and smoking is the principal cause. Due to poor survival rates, symptom palliation and promotion of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) are primary outcomes for lung cancer patients. Given the established relationship between smoking and lung cancer, patients who have smoked may feel stigmatised or guilty after diagnosis, and more pessimistic about their illness and likely outcomes. This may have adverse implications for HRQoL. Objectives We explored HRQoL and support experiences among newly diagnosed patients with advanced lung cancer. Design Semistructured interviews were conducted with nine patients and analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results Patients described the physical, emotional and social impact of disease on HRQoL. Fear of compromising their immune system and adjusting to new relationship roles had a wide-ranging effect on patients' HRQoL. Patients acknowledged links between lung cancer and smoking but some continued to smoke. They were sensitive to the opinions of medical staff about smoking especially those who continued to smoke or recently quit. Conclusions We conclude that staff should give clearer advice about the adverse implications of continued smoking. We discuss the potential value of diagnosis as a teachable moment for promoting smoking cessation among patients and family members.


Reliable statistics on health, life-expectancy and disease incidence in Africa are not readily available. The WHO 2007 report ranks the quality of cause-of-death information for most of Africa as low or non-existent. In this regard, Africa does not compare well to the rest of the world, and for much of Africa there is no information.1 2 The poor quality of the available information renders definitive comment and prediction problematic.

The publication of the landmark global burden of disease report in 1996 drew attention to the potential impact of degenerative cardiovascular diseases as causes of future morbidity and mortality in developing countries.3 Since then, there has been considerable speculation and discussion about the impact of the epidemiological transition on the health and healthcare needs of the people of Africa. In this issue, Dr George Mensah4 reviews the historical evidence for the rarity of ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in Africa, the factors considered to have contributed to a rise in the incidence of IHD in Africa, the opportunity afforded to interrupt that rise and the very serious consequences if such a rise in incidence is not addressed appropriately (see page 836) . His call mirrors that of others who consider that IHD and other chronic degenerative diseases in people living in developing countries receive insufficient attention.5 6

These are important issues for those of us practising, teaching and …


On the basis of a survey and a series of interviews carried out in 1998, this article attempts to sort out Swedish students' educational, professional, social, economic, and cultural gains associated with type of educational institution and geographical location of their studies. The region which was studied, the Northeastern U.S., includes a large number of very distinguished educational institutions as well as it is one of the most economically, culturally, and politically important regions in the world. The types of institutions attended by the Swedish students follow certain logics. The most sought-after and prestigious institutions had an overrepresentation of students with large amounts of different types of capitals (cultural, educational, economic, and social), while the most dominated institutions on the American educational market, such as the least competitive universities and the community colleges, attracted students with significantly smaller resources. However, we do not see the same degree of homology between the concentration of resources in the geographical space and the different characteristics of the students. In fact, the students with fewer resources most strongly preferred the most important and powerful region, the New York Metropolitan Area. Thus it seems that the more resourceful students invested in relatively safe options, that is, the most prestigious seats of learning, while students from more modest backgrounds and with less successful educational careers were referred to more uncertain alternatives, either in the form of studies at institutions with less prestige, where the value of the diplomas are limited, or at places where the competition is severe.


The recently published NICE guideline MI: secondary prevention in primary and secondary care for patients following a myocardial infarction 1 updates the previous guideline published in 20012 and the relevant sections of the National Service Framework for coronary heart disease .3 The guideline is important to clinicians in both primary and secondary care, and to those who plan services. There have been significant improvements in recent years and the majority of eligible patients leaving hospital after an acute myocardial infarction are now treated with aspirin and statins. However, other important interventions such as advice about lifestyle and cardiac rehabilitation are less consistently provided and there is inconsistent practice with regards to some drug therapies. This guideline makes recommendations for lifestyle and cardiac rehabilitation in far greater detail than in the previous one, as well as updating and expanding the recommendations for drug treatment.

Patients who have just had an acute myocardial infarction are readily identifiable, and this guideline addresses secondary prevention after the very early acute phase. It also makes recommendations for the management of patients with a proven myocardial infarction in the past. These patients will generally no longer be under hospital follow-up and it will be the responsibility of primary care to review patients on their disease registers to ensure that management has been optimised.

The recommendations that aspirin, beta blockers, statin and ACE inhibitors be considered in all patients after acute myocardial infarction are maintained in this guideline and further supplemented to include appropriate treatment with a combination of aspirin and clopidogrel, and early treatment with an aldosterone antagonist in patients with heart failure. Other drugs such as vitamin K antagonists are also now included.

Recommendations for treatment with the combination of aspirin and clopidogrel in non-ST elevation myocardial infarction restate those of the NICE …


How does a writer represent the voice of the voiceless? This is the primary
question in my reading of Burakumin writer, Nakagami Kenji (1946-1992). My project
explores Nakagami's representation of the voices of voiceless (mukoku) people - especially
Burakumin people - who are oppressed by mainstream Japanese social structures. Nakagami
was always conscious of the fact that, in spite of his own background, his privilege as a writer
made it difficult for him to 'represent' the voices of the dispossessed. This 'paradox of
representing the silenced voice' is the key theme of my thesis. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
theorises the (im)possibility of representing the voice of 'subalterns,' those oppressed by
ideologies such as imperialism, patriarchy and heteronormativity. Arguing that the oppressed
Burakumin peoples depicted in Nakagami's narratives are Japan's 'subalterns,' I draw on
Spivak to analyse Nakagami's material. There is no other study, in either Japanese or English
that reads Nakagami through Spivak's ground-breaking ideas. Spivak's work reveals and
transcends the complicity of Western (Northern, in Gramsci' s terms) intellectuals in the
suppression of the non-West (or South). I argue that Nakagami similarly interrogates the
relationship between mainstream and marginalised in Japan. Nakagami's narratives have a
strong geopolitical perspective that reveals the 'otherness' of his birthplace, Kumano.
Nakagami identifies Kumano as Japan's marginalised 'South.'
I am particularly interested in drawing on Spivak, and theorists such as Butler and
Sedgwick, to profile Nakagami's depiction of marginalised Japanese women, especially
Burakumin women. I wish to help readers hear the voices of these women who are often
violated sexually by the men given a profile in much Nakagami scholarship. Firstly, I will
revisit the voices of key male characters, and the voice of Nakagami himself, in order better
to understand the role these men play in suppressing women's stories. Through reviewing
conflicts between masculine pairs, especially the father and son, I will note how misogynistic
homosocial practices silence the voices of the women associated with these males.
The analysis references a selection of both well-known and little read Nakagami
narratives. Chapter One examines the 1978 travel journal, Kishu: ki no kuni, ne no kuni
monogatari (Kishu: A Tale of the Country of Trees, the Country of Roots), as an early
representation of the silenced Kumano Burakumin voice. Chapter Two focuses on the 1976
short story, 'Rakudo' (Paradise) little discussed in existing scholarship, to explore the
depiction of the voice of a violent young patriarch and the defiance expressed by the silence of his wife. Chapter Three considers Nakagami's masterpiece, the Akiyuki trilogy. Rather
than the better known 1976 and 1977 works, 'Misaki' (The Cape) and Kareki nada (The Sea
of Withered Trees), close attention is given to Chi no hate shijo no toki (1983, The End of the
'
Earth, Supreme Time), written after Nakagami's declaration of his Burakumin background.
The second half of the thesis focuses directly on the rarely heard voices of
Burakumin women. I profile these women as independent subjects, rather than objects of
male interaction. Chapters Four and Five introduce women from the Akiyuki trilogy. Satoko,
the prostitute who unknowingly commits incest with her half-brother, Akiyuki, becomes a
pawn in the power struggle between her father and half-brother. The aged 'oldest sister,' Yuki,
sacrificed her youth in a brothel to feed her father-less family. Moyo remains traumatised by
the rape that resulted in the conception of her now adult son. Nakagami's most celebrated
woman character, Oryu no oba, the mid-wife and community mother of the buraku
community, from Sen 'nen no yuraku (1982, A Thousand Years of Pleasure), is also discussed
to support my interpretation of Burakumin women. Finally, I examine the writer's last
published novel, Keibetsu (1992, Scorn), with its account of the Tokyo topless dancer,
Machiko, who migrates to her husband's rural 'hometown' where she is oppressed and
branded as immoral by the gaze of her partner's community. My close reading ofNakagami's
representation of the voice of these sexually stigmatised women is my unique contribution to
Nakagami scholarship.


This paper analyzes there are some limitations of video data sending for current 3G video phone. A 3G video phone solution for reducing the delay of video data is proposed. The solution proposed in this work mainly consists of software components, according to which hardware needs to be selected. It also gives the video phone terminal structure, block diagram for H.324M video phone terminal, the main software functional blocks and the implementation flow chart of each module. The delay of video data is significantly reduced by adding video phone setting module and I/P frames sending and management module. As well as by the use of software enabling video encoder to dynamically send I frame of the algorithm according to current network status.


Alphanumeric authentication routinely fails to regulate access to resources with the required stringency, primarily due to usability issues. Initial deployment did not reveal the problems of passwords, deep and profound flaws only emerged once passwords were deployed in the wild. The need for a replacement is widely acknowledged yet despite over a decade of research into knowledge-based alternatives, few, if any, have been adopted by industry. Alternatives are unconvincing for three primary reasons. The first is that alternatives are rarely investigated beyond the initial proposal, with only the results from a constrained lab test provided to convince adopters of their viability. The second is that alternatives are seldom tested realistically where the authenticator mediates access to something of value. The third is that the testing rarely varies the device or context beyond that initially targeted. In the modern world different devices are used across a variety of contexts. What works well in one context may easily fail in another. Consequently, the contribution of this paper is an "in the wild" evaluation of an alternative authentication mechanism that had demonstrated promise in its lab evaluation. In the field test the mechanism was deployed to actual users to regulate access to an application in a context beyond that initially proposed. The performance of the mechanism is reported and discussed. We conclude by reflecting on the value of field evaluations of alternative authentication mechanisms.


Sport is suggested as a potentially important and sufficient path for positive youth development. However, how this responsibility is translated by coaching practitioners is not understood. This research investigated whether coaching practitioners desire outcomes for their adolescent athletes that reach beyond on-field success, and incorporate constructs that are associated with positive youth development. Twenty-two participation coaches for adolescent athletes participated in semi-structured interviews. Results suggest that coaches see themselves as responsible for facilitating eight interrelated and interdependent themes that are consistent with the positive youth development literature: competence, confidence, connection, character, life skills, climate, positive affect and, positive psychological capacities.


Tiger wants the latest Robo-Rex II toy, but Mum says that he needs to save his pocket money. Tiger decides he can't wait that long and so sets out on a micro-adventure in the story Toyshop Terror. But little does he know that there is an X-bot about! Find out if Max, Cat and Ant can rescue Tiger from the X-bot and get out of the toyshop in The Ballerina of Doom. Join the four micro-friends on an adventure in a greenhouse when Tiger gets into trouble again, in Get Me Out of Here!. Find out about escapologists in the non-fiction book Escape Artists. Then read about how prisoners have been kept though history, in Imprisoned. Each book comes with notes for parents that highlight ambitious words or concepts in the books, prompt questions and suggest a range of follow-up activities. The Trapped Guided Reading Notes provide step-by-step guided reading support for each book in the Trapped cluster, together with guidance about comprehension, assessment for learning and vocabulary enrichment. Hands-on follow-up activities, plenty of writing opportunities and cross-curricular links are also provided for each book.


Optimal arrangement of components on printed circuit board (PCB) has become a basic necessity so as to have effective management of heat generation and dissipation. In this work, Inverse Genetic Algorithm (IGA) optimization has been adopted in order to achieve this objective. This paper proposes IGA search engine to optimize the thermal profile of components based on thermal resistance network and to minimize the area of PCB. Comparison between the proposed IGA and the conventional GA (FGA) performances are extensively analyzed. Unlike the conventional FGA, the IGA approach allows the user to set the desired fitness, so that the GA process will try to approach these set values. A reduction in the overall computational time and the freedom of choosing a desired fitness are the major advantages of IGA over FGA. From the simulation results, the IGA has successfully minimized the thermal profile and area of PCB by 0.78% and 1.28% respectively. The computational time has also been minimized by 15.56%.


A global economy is reliant on the movement of a great variety of goods on a large scale. Because the vast majority of goods are not sufficiently robust, protective packaging is needed to mitigate the adverse effects of shock and vibration that occur during distribution.
In Australia and many other countries the predominant method for the transportation of goods is via a well-developed road network. To date, the vast majority of research into vibrations experienced during road distribution focuses only on the vertical motion of the transport vehicle as it has been shown to be the most severe. However, the pitching and rolling motions of the vehicle can contribute significant energy to the overall excitation of the vehicle and payload, and excite vibratory modes which are not stimulated by vertical vibration alone.
This research focuses on investigating the heave, pitch and roll motions of light transport vehicles, and the relationships which exist between the vibratory modes. Two different approaches were used to investigate the relationships, a series of in-service field experiments and a complementary series of numerical experiments. The field experiments were designed to identify the influence of key parameters upon the relationships. The parameters investigated included; vehicle speed, road roughness, payload mass and payload inertial properties (CG location and MOI). Since the in-service experiments are, to a large extent, uncontrolled, numerical experiments were required to further investigate the vehicle parameters in greater detail. Numerical experiments allowed for controlled investigation of individual parameters which, in practice, are difficult or impossible to vary in isolation.


What is the essence of the relationship between language and music as processed by the human brain? Is music actually a language-does it reflect syntax, grammatical rules, and meaning as language docs? This thesis study examined commonalties of processing between language and music- specifically, the potential connection between the rhythmic syllabic pattern of a song title, and a matching melodic temporal rhythm within the song chorus of unfamiliar instrumental music. Original multi-track full-score Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) compositions were utilized to control for familiarity and create manipulation of independent variables. Participants listened to different song versions and completed 'title-choice' and 'ratings' tasks. Obtained results did not support the hypothesis or equivalency in processing for rhythmic syllable pattern or song title and melodic temporal pattern with in song chorus.


We investigate how inter-firm managerial social ties (IFMSTs) facilitate strategic alliances formation by arguing that IFMSTs serve as an information channel critical for alliance formation. Using an extensive sample of U.S. public firms from the years 2000 to 2008, we find strong evidence firms connected through IFMSTs are more likely to form alliances and the effect of these social ties on alliance formation interacts with the preexisting alliance network structure to enhance alliance formation particularly for poorly embedded firms. Furthermore, poorly embedded firms benefit most from activity-based IFMSTs as these interpersonal ties engender an alternative mechanism for information exchanges at the firm level. We integrate insights from both relational embeddedness and structural embeddedness theories and exemplify the multiplexity nature of social embeddedness in inter-organizational behaviors.


The lampyrids (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) belong to the few insects that have been named and observed accurately for thousands of years. The most common names in European languages are formed as diminutives of light and related terms or they are composed of a term like light, fire and glow in combination with bug, fly or worm. There is a huge variety of idiomatic names - in Italian dialects e.g. about 500 different expressions denominating species like Lampyris noctiluca or Luciola italica are reported. Beyond that, lampyrids are interpreted as signs or used as metaphors in a wide range of the semantic field. Thus, the notion of lampyrids leads to a vast network of associations including such distinct and even contradictory significances as childhood, crop, doom, elves, fear, habitat change, idyll, love, luck, mortality, prostitution, solstice, stars and fleetingness of words and cognition. All these connotations are evoked by six features of the observed lampyrids: light in the darkness, season of appearance, mating, direction of flying in the case of species like Lamprohiza splendidula and Luciola sp., flashing (of Luciola-fireflies) and finally disappearance of lampyrids in landscape and perception. The examples of the presence of lampyrids in literature, visual arts, music and evidence in traditional popular culture collected in past years show that the accent of the connotations is shifted by the change of cultural context: in early times the seasonal indication was relevant for the agricultural calendar, the romantic connotations had their golden age during Belle Epoque while in recent decades the associations circle around the disappearance of glowworms and fireflies. Although, the observer is not normally aware of the full richness of significances, the extraordinary complexity of connotations is an important factor for the fascination produced by lightning bugs during summer nights.


Scholars of the legal profession have long puzzled over the apparent affinity between Jewish lawyers and the law, in and outside of the United States. This article advances a new explanation to account for the overrepresentation of Jewish lawyers in the U.S. legal profession in the twentieth century: the Confluence of Circumstances theory. The theory shows that a confluence of circumstances including evolving practice realities, changing professional ideologies, increased competition, discrimination, and the cost of legal education coalesced to account for the affinity. Moreover, tracking the same conditions in the twenty-first century the theory predicts the end of the affair explaining why the practice of law no longer represents a particularly attractive proposition for Jews.

Exploring the success story of Jewish lawyers overcoming discrimination and gradually coming to occupy positions of power and influence in the legal profession, the theory illuminates the conditions under which law, legal practice and elite institutions such as large law firms and law schools can play a positive role in the ongoing quest of the profession to become more just, inclusive and equal for lawyers from previously excluded groups. The Confluence of Circumstances theory also sheds a light on the relationship between lawyers' professional and personal identity. Documenting the ways in which facets of Jewish lawyers' personal identity informed and shaped the formation of their professional identity and exercise of professional judgment, the theory helps discredit the myth of universal professionalism and lends support to accounts of professional identity that build on and synthesize aspects of lawyers' personal identity as an alternative to the dominant bleached out professionalism paradigm.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the implications of replacing Hong Kong's 1993 growth references (HK1993) with the World Health Organization's 2007 references (WHO2007) for children aged 6 to 18 years.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional study.

SETTING
Thirty-six randomly selected primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong.

PARTICIPANTS
A total of 14 842 children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years in Hong Kong during 2005/06.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Creation of age-specific z-scores for height, weight, and body mass index relative to HK1993 and WHO2007 references.

RESULTS
Use of WHO2007 instead of HK1993 could classify an additional 1.4% children aged 6 to 10 years and 2.8% children aged 11 to 18 years as having a short stature. Using WHO2007, respective proportions that could be classified as underweight and obese increased by 3.5% and 2.1% among children aged 6 to 10 years, and 5.5% and 1.6% among children aged 11 to 18 years.

CONCLUSIONS
Use of WHO2007 could increase clinical workload and patient and parent anxiety by 'over-diagnosing' short stature and underweight. Although WHO2007 may have a role in international comparative research, retention of HK1993 would seem appropriate from a clinical perspective.


In this paper, we study the stock returns for large trades with price impact. We use the daily changes in volume-weighted average price (VWAP) as a proxy of the returns for institutional investors. This return is then compared statistically to the daily return using closing price. Using a panel data of NYSE/AMEX stocks, we find a fixed effect contributing to the spread between them and it can be interpreted as an unbiased ex post estimate of price impact.


The thermodynamic properties of pirenzepine (PZ) binding to membrane-bound and digitonin-solubilized muscarinic receptors (mAChR) from the rat forebrain and heart were evaluated. Apparent dissociation constants (Kd) of PZ were measured from saturation studies using [3H]PZ for forebrain membrane-bound mAChR and from inhibition studies of (-)-[3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate binding using unlabeled PZ, at five different temperatures from 4 degrees C to 37 degrees C. The Kd values of PZ binding to both membrane-bound and solubilized mAChR decreased with decreasing temperature whereas the maximum receptor density was unchanged. The heterogeneity of membrane-bound mAChR characterized by PZ binding to mAChR from both tissues disappeared upon digitonin-solubilization of the mAChR. The magnitude of changes of the Kd values with temperature was greater in the solubilized mAChR, suggesting that some constituents in the membrane constrained the affinity changes. The Gibbs free energy of PZ binding to membrane-bound and solubilized mAChR were both negative. The Gibbs free energy for membrane-bound receptors decreased (more negative) whereas those for solubilized receptors increased (less negative) with increasing temperature. The change in entropy was the apparent major driving force for PZ binding to membrane-bound receptors with the change in enthalpy also being favorable. The change in enthalpy was the apparent major driving force for PZ binding to solubilized receptors at all temperatures with the change in entropy being unfavorable above 17 degrees C in the rat forebrain mAChR and above 10 degrees C in the heart mAChR. Our results suggest an important role for the biomembrane microenvironment and possible topographical differences in the binding sites which may contribute to the mechanism of muscarinic subtypes.


The C-bound, introduced in Lacasse et al. [2006], gives a tight upper bound on the risk of the majority vote classifier. Laviolette et al. [2011] designed a learning algorithm named MinCq that outputs a dense distribution on a finite set of base classifiers by minimizing the C-bound, together with a PACBayesian generalization guarantee. In this work, we design a column generation algorithm that we call CqBoost, that optimizes the C-bound and outputs a sparse distribution on a possibly infinite set of voters. We also propose a PAC-Bayesian bound for CqBoost that holds for finite and two cases of continuous sets of base classifiers. Finally, we compare the accuracy and the sparsity of CqBoost with MinCq and other state-of-the-art boosting algorithms.


Abstract. It has long been observed that Earth's atmosphere is uniquely far from its thermochemical equilibrium state in terms of its chemical composition. Studying this state of disequilibrium is important both for understanding the role that life plays in the Earth system, and for its potential role in the detection of life on exoplanets. Here we present a methodology for assessing the strength of the biogeochemical cycling processes that drive disequilibrium in planetary atmospheres. We apply it to the simultaneous presence of CH4 and O2 in Earth's atmosphere, which has long been suggested as a sign of life that could be detected remotely. Using a simplified model, we identify that the most important property to quantify is not the distance from equilibrium, but the power required to drive it. A weak driving force can maintain a high degree of disequilibrium if the residence times of the compounds involved are long; but if the disequilibrium is high and the kinetics fast, we can conclude that the disequilibrium must be driven by a substantial source of energy. Applying this to Earth's atmosphere, we show that the biotically generated portion of the power required to maintain the methane–oxygen disequilibrium is around 0.67 TW, although the uncertainty in this figure is about 10% due to uncertainty in the global CH4 production. Compared to the chemical energy generated by the biota by photosynthesis, 0.67 TW represents only a very small fraction and, perhaps surprisingly, is of a comparable magnitude to abiotically driven geochemical processes at the Earth's surface. We discuss the implications of this new approach, both in terms of enhancing our understanding of the Earth system, and in terms of its impact on the possible detection of distant photosynthetic biospheres.


The purpose of the study was to investigate the character of clinical and functional manifestations of ischemic cardiac dysfunction in patients with idiopathic coronary microangiopathy, and their correlation with insulin level, as a possible diagnostic criterion of coronary heart disease (CHD). The subjects were 115 men, including 35 individuals (mean age 41.8 +/- 1.2 years) with microvascular form (MVF) of coronary artery lesion, 60 patients with CHD with postinfarction cardiosclerosis (PICS), and 20 healthy individuals. Patients with glucose tolerance disorder, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, and other severe pathology were not included in the study. The diagnostic tests included selective coronaroventriculography with right ventricle endomyocardium biopsy, and myocardial perfusion scintigraphy. Parameters of coronary, intracardial and system hemodynamics were evaluated; insulin and glucose serum levels were measured at rest and during stress-tests with physical exercise. Endocardial biopsy in MVF patients found plastic insufficiency of the endothelium of hemocapillars, prearteriols and cardiomyocytes. Alterations in the parameters of metabolism, intracardial and system hemodynamics, and physical exercise tolerance were found to be comparable in MVF and PICS patients. Insulin level at rest in both groups was equal to that in the control group. At threshold physical load during veloergometry insulin levels in MVF and PICS patients demonstrated comparable elevation (222.8% and 201%, respectively; p < 0.05-0.01). Glucose concentrations in patients with microangiopathy decreased by 28% (p < 0.05), while in patients with CHD it increased significantly by 27.3% (p < 0.05). The study shows that structural and functional lesion of hemocapillar endothelium underlies cardiac syndrome X It results in perfusion ability impairment, chronic hypoxia, impairment of myocardial contractility under the conditions of physical activity. Hyperinsulinemia, manifesting when ischemia is induced, is not caused by insulinresistence. Probably, it presents and adaptive and compensatory reaction to increase of myocardial glucose requirement, and may be one of early CHD markers.


Recent efforts to characterize the interactions among climate change and national security issues raise challenges of relating disparate bodies of scientific (both physical and social) knowledge as well as determining the role of innovation in meeting these challenges. Technological innovation has been called for to combat climate change, increase food production, and discover new ways of generating energy, and proposals for increased investments in R&D and technology deployment are to be met with everywhere. However, such policy decisions in one domain have impacts in other domains—often unexpected, often negative, but often capable of being addressed in planning stages. This technological tool allows its users to embody the knowledge of different domains, to keep that knowledge up to date, and to define relationships, via both a model and an analytic game, such that policy makers can foresee problems and plan to forestall or mitigate them. Capturing and dynamically updating knowledge is the accomplishment of the Knowledge Encapsulation Framework. A systems dynamic model, created in STELLA®, simulates the relationships among different domains, so that relevant knowledge is applied to a seemingly independent issue. An analytic game provides a method to use that knowledge as it might be used in real-world settings.


This paper presents an integrated environment for the rapid prototyping of a robust fuzzy proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller that allows rapid realization of novel designs. Both the design of the fuzzy PID controller and its integration with the classical PID in a global control system are developed. The architecture of the fuzzy PID controller is basically composed of three parallel fuzzy subcontrollers. Then, the parallel subcontrollers are grouped together to form the overall fuzzy PID controller. The fuzzy proportional, integral, and derivative gains are direct output from the parallel fuzzy subcontrollers and are derived in the error domain. Thus, the proposed architecture presents an alternative to control schemes employed so far. The integrated controller is formulated and implemented in real time, using the speed control of a brushless drive system as a test bed. The design, analysis, and implementation stages are carried out entirely using a dSPACE DS1104 digital-signal-processor-based real-time data acquisition control system and MATLAB/Simulink environment. Experimental results show that the proposed hybrid fuzzy PID controller produces superior control performance than the conventional PID controllers, particularly in handling nonlinearities and external disturbances.


Summary Objective: The aim of this experimental study was primarily to test the effects and reactions of cattle offered salty water as the only source of drinking water. Material and methods: Mineral balance studies were carried out on three bull, continuously fed a ration based on hay, hay cobs, barley, soybean meal and a vitamin/mineral supplement. The salt content of the drinking water varied between the trials (trials I/II/III: 0.10/5.00/10.0 g/l; town water supplemented by different amounts of an additive containing 95.4% sodium chloride and 4.6% potassium chloride). Results: Rising salt concentration of the drinking water led to significantly higher sodium, potassium and chloride intake (sodium: trial I/II/III = 5.42/59.5/ 157 g/day; potassium: trials I/II/III = 108/117/121 g/day; chloride: trials I/II/III = 22.8/112/266 g/day) mainly caused by a significantly higher water intake (trials I/II/III: 21.8 ± 2.03/30.4 ± 3.08/41.5 ± 5.89 kg/day). Amounts of urine increased significantly (trials I/II/III: 3.99 ± 0.46/ 9.66 ± 1.34/20.2 ± 3.14 kg/day). The concentrations of minerals in the urine (sodium: trials I/II/III = 123/3729/6705 mg/kg; potassium: trials I/II/III = 17345/9996/ 5496 mg/kg; chloride: trials I/II/III = 2020/ 9672/11870 mg/kg) and faeces (sodium: trials I/II/III = 1299/6544/ 7653 mg/kg; potassium: trials I/II/III = 6343/3719/3490 mg/kg; chloride: trials I/II/III = 3851/4580/4693 mg/kg) also changed significantly over time. Serum values of sodium tended to decrease (trials I/II/III: 142/137/137 mmol/l) within the phsiological range, whereas those of chloride increased (trials I/II/III: 91.5/95.6/97.5 mmol/l) at higher salt concentrations in drinking water. The haematocrit, pH-value as well as urea content in blood were not affected by the higher salt intake. In balance trial III (highest salt load: 10.0 g/l), sodium intake of the bulls reached 0.57 ± 0.03 g/kg BW (~22.1 ± 0.9 g sodium/kg dry matter feed). Conclusion and clinical relevance: An increase of salinity in drinking water up to 10 g/l – with otherwise harmless water quality – had no measurable negative effects on animal health in the investigation period and subsequent periods (total of 58 days with more than 5.00 g of salt per litre drinking water).


The behavioral characteristics of thermal boundary layer dictate the relative efficiency of forced convection heat transfer. This research effort is related to the detailed analysis of the temporal evolution of thermal boundary layer under periodic excitations. In presence of oscillations, a distinct thin Stokes layer is formed inside the attached boundary layer, which interacts nonlinearly with the mean flow in the near wall region. This interaction leads to modification of temporally averaged flow fields, commonly known as acoustic streaming. As a result, the aero-thermal wall gradients are modified leading to significant changes in wall shear stress and heat flux. However, the small spatial scales and the inherent unsteady nature of streaming has presented challenges for prior numerical investigations, preventing the identification of optimal parameters. In order to address this void in numerical framework, the development of a three-tier numerical approach is presented. As a first layer of fidelity, a laminar model is developed for fluctuations and streaming flow calculations in laminar flows subjected to travelling wave disturbances. This technique is an extension of the Lin's method to traveling wave disturbances of various speeds (absent of previously employed assumptions), along with inclusion of energy equation. With low computational cost, this level of abstraction is intended to identify the broad parameter space that yield desirable heat transfer alterations. At the next level of fidelity, 2D U-RANS simulations are conducted across both laminar and turbulent flow regimes. This is geared towards extending the parameter space obtained from laminar model to turbulent flow conditions. As the third level of fidelity, temporally and spatially resolved DNS simulations are conducted to simulate the application relevant compressible flow environment. The exemplary findings indicate that in certain parameter space, both enhancement and reduction in heat transfer can be obtained through acoustic streaming. Moreover, the extent of heat transfer modulations is greater than alterations in wall shear, thereby surpassing Reynolds analogy.


Health-harnessing physical activity has been traditionally been conceptualised in terms of moderate to vigorous intensity with a recommendation to undertake 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous activity forms the basis for many interventions or promotion efforts. Recent advancements in the measurement of physical activity however reveals that other dimensions can incur profound health benefits such as an increase in energy expenditure or a reduction in sedentary time. Excitingly, we now have the technology to capture and present personalised visual feedback across the multiple physical activity dimensions, which could theoretically help individuals change their behaviour by providing them with more options or solutions that can be aligned to the individual's needs, barriers and preferences. The aim of this thesis was to develop a visual presentation of multidimensional physical activity behaviour and evaluate its efficacy as a tool to support behaviour change. Firstly, a laboratory validation concluded that the BodyMedia Mini was a valid and reliable option for capturing a presenting multidimensional physical activity. Secondly, a number of visual representations were developed from minute-by-minute physical activity data captured by this monitor. Step three was to pilot these graphical depictions to group of patients and health professionals during one-to-one, semi-structured interviews who provided evidence that the design and message was clear, informative and motivating. Secondary analysis of this data suggested this was particularly true of individuals with a low physical activity status for which the personalised multidimensional feedback served to evoke strong and persuasive cognitive and emotional responses. The final steps were to test the efficacy of this approach in two multi-component, exploratory randomised controlled trials. Trial one was conducted on patients identified as at-risk (n=204) and showed that trainer led self-monitoring of multidimensional feedback had a minimal impact on behaviour. Trial two was conducted on individuals declaring themselves as inactive (n=51) and showed that using multidimensional feedback along with real-time self-monitoring appears an effective strategy for behaviour change.


The Wang-Sheeley model is an empirical model that can predict the background solar wind speed and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) polarity. We make a number of modifications to the basic technique that greatly improve the performance and reliability of the model. First, we establish a continuous empirical function that relates magnetic expansion factor to solar wind velocity at the source surface. Second, we propagate the wind from the source surface to the Earth using the assumption of radial streams and a simple scheme to account for their interactions. Third, we develop and apply a method for identifying and removing problematic magnetograms from the Wilcox Solar Observatory (WSO). Fourth, we correct WSO line-of-sight magnetograms for polar field strength modulation effects that result from the annual variation in the solar b angle. Fifth, we explore a number of techniques to optimize construction of daily updated synoptic maps from the WSO magnetograms. We report on a comprehensive statistical analysis comparing Wang-Sheeley model predictions with the WIND satellite data set during a 3-year period centered about the May 1996 solar minimum. The predicted and observed solar wind speeds have a statistically significant correlation (∼0.4) and an average fractional deviation of 0.15. When a single (6-month) period with large data gaps is excluded from the comparison, the solar wind speed is correctly predicted to within 10–15%. The IMF polarity is correctly predicted ∼75% of the time. The solar wind prediction technique presented here has direct applications to space weather research and forecasting.


Compared still to what we know about Mexico and Peru, the historiography of colonial Guatemala, despite notable advances, continues to lag behind, registering minimally in the Latin American scholarly imagination. The field is surveyed by examining some of the issues that have intrigued the author over the course of his career. Personal reflections are offered of research activities that engage indigenous resistance to Spanish intrusion, demographic collapse in the wake of conquest, the link between disease outbreaks and Maya demise, and the role played by Pedro de Alvarado (1485–1541) in attaining imperial objectives. Scrutiny of the Lienzo de Quauhquechollan, a sixteenth-century source the contents of which have been incisively reappraised, affords fuller appreciation of strategic Indian involvement in the act of subjugation. Alvarado, a key protagonist in the conquest of Mexico, also harbored ambitions to muscle in on the conquest of Peru, a little-known episode that awaits further investigation. The conqueror's own life, like Central America itself, may indeed have been a rainbow of Spanish illusions, pots of gold dreamed of, lost and found at native expense.


In wireless ad hoc network applications, such as outdoor teaching, battlefield, scenes of a fire, flood, and earthquake a number of mobile hosts (MHs) may sometimes move together and sometimes separately. Members within the group have similar mobility patterns and can directly communicate with each other. In this paper, we propose an Autonomic Group Mobility (AGM) model for Mobile Ad hoc NETtworks (MANETs). It provides a better reflection of group movement behavior with possible group partitioning and merging. The model presents the trip chain of individuals belonging to a single home. During daily activities, they move from home to some locations and return back after completing daily tasks. Alternatively they partition and merge at some reference points placed on the trip chain. Therefore, at reference points the group members dynamically re-configure themselves triggering group partitioning and merging. We do performance evaluation by simulation. The simulation is written by the network simulator (NS-2) and the graphs are generated using MATLAB.


The behaviour of Fe, Cu and Zn was studied during the laboratory oxidation of an acidic (pH 5.8) sample of naturally contaminated water from the Tambo River (Victoria, Australia). Changes in the concentrations of the dissolved, colloidal and particulate fractions of these metals were followed over 288 h. The initial concentrations of dissolved Cu (18.5 mg L–1) and Zn (22.6 mg L–1) were ~15-fold greater than that of the dissolved Fe (1.13 mg L–1). Dissolved Fe was completely removed from solution in 60 h, with removal following the well established first order oxidation kinetics for Fe(II). A relatively small amount of the dissolved Cu (18%) and dissolved Zn (14%) was removed from the solution, although the removal mechanisms appear to be different. A 'co-precipitation-surface precipitation' mechanism is proposed to explain the behaviour of the Cu and Zn, with Cu(II), Zn(II) and Fe(III) co-precipitating to form colloidal Fe(OH)3-Cu(OH)2-Zn(OH)2 particles following the initial oxidation of Fe(II) to Fe(III).


The research and improvement of methods to be used for crop monitoring are currently major challenges, especially for radar images due to their speckle noise nature. The European Space Agency's (ESA) Sentinel-1 constellation provides synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images coverage with a 6-day revisit period at a high spatial resolution of pixel spacing of 20 m. Sentinel-1 data are considerably useful, as they provide valuable information of the vegetation cover. The objective of this work is to study the capabilities of multitemporal radar images for rice height and dry biomass retrievals using Sentinel-1 data. To do this, we train Sentinel-1 data against ground measurements with classical machine learning techniques (Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), Support Vector Regression (SVR) and Random Forest (RF)) to estimate rice height and dry biomass. The study is carried out on a multitemporal Sentinel-1 dataset acquired from May 2017 to September 2017 over the Camargue region, southern France. The ground in-situ measurements were made in the same period to collect rice height and dry biomass over 11 rice fields. The images were processed in order to produce a radar stack in C-band including dual-polarization VV (Vertical receive and Vertical transmit) and VH (Vertical receive and Horizontal transmit) data. We found that non-parametric methods (SVR and RF) had a better performance over the parametric MLR method for rice biophysical parameter retrievals. The accuracy of rice height estimation showed that rice height retrieval was strongly correlated to the in-situ rice height from dual-polarization, in which Random Forest yielded the best performance with correlation coefficient R 2 = 0.92 and the root mean square error (RMSE) 16% (7.9 cm). In addition, we demonstrated that the correlation of Sentinel-1 signal to the biomass was also very high in VH polarization with R 2 = 0.9 and RMSE = 18% (162 g·m − 2 ) (with Random Forest method). Such results indicate that the highly qualified Sentinel-1 radar data could be well exploited for rice biomass and height retrieval and they could be used for operational tasks.


The surgical management of 28 patients with intestinal obstruction due to "uncomplicated" meconium ileus has been reviewed. These patients were treated at the Los Angeles Childrens Hospital in the period from 1942 through 1962. Meconium ileus is an obstruction in the terminal ileum of a newborn infant, caused by plugging with abnormal inspissated, tenacious meconium. The term "uncomplicated" is used here to exclude all patients with associated intestinal atresia, stenosis, volvulus, malrotation, perforation, or peritonitis. Almost without exception, patients with meconium ileus have cystic fibrosis of the pancreas, but only about 10% of patients with cystic fibrosis develop meconium ileus. Rickham has recently reported a small series of cases of meconium ileus occurring in children in whom subsequent detailed studies failed to reveal evidence of cystic fibrosis of the pancreas. It is remarkable that this syndrome is confined almost exclusively to the newborn period. Although the pancreatic achylia and other


Here we determined the structure of a cold active family IV esterase (EstN7) cloned from Bacillus cohnii strain N1. EstN7 is a dimer with a classical α/β hydrolase fold. It has an acidic surface that is thought to play a role in cold-adaption by retaining solvation under changed water solvent entropy at lower temperatures. The conformation of the functionally important cap region is significantly different to EstN7's closest relatives, forming a bridge-like structure with reduced helical content providing greater access to the active site through more than one substrate access tunnel. However, dynamics do not appear to play a major role in cold adaption. Molecular dynamics at different temperatures, rigidity analysis, normal mode analysis and geometric simulations of motion confirm the flexibility of the cap region but suggest that the rest of the protein is largely rigid. Rigidity analysis indicates the distribution of hydrophobic tethers is appropriate to colder conditions, where the hydrophobic effect is weaker than in mesophilic conditions due to reduced water entropy. Thus, it is likely that increased substrate accessibility and tolerance to changes in water entropy are important for of EstN7's cold adaptation rather than changes in dynamics.


Summary The Ffestiniog Pumped Storage Scheme, in Merioneth, the first in Britain, is situated on Upper Cambrian and Ordovician sediments and metasediments, on Ordovician volcanics and fine-grained intrusions and on a granite laccolite. The nature and structure of these rocks and the glacial history were major factors in the choice of site and in the design and construction of works which include two large dams, deep vertical shafts, pressure tunnels and penstocks, and a power station of 360 MW capacity. The presence of a glaciated rock-lip of Ordovician igneous rocks located the upper dam site, but the effects of glacial drag necessitated deeper excavation than expected; faulting also had to be taken into account. Twin 640 ft vertical shafts pass down through the igneous rocks into Ordovician sediments. Four pressure tunnels and the power station site were excavated in flaggy Upper Cambrian rocks, subject to a varying degree of meta-morphism; in spite of well-marked bedding and cleavage and the presence of several faults (forecast from site investigation) these strata proved satisfactory both mechanically and hydraulically. Hornfelsed sediments provided sound foundations at shallow depth for the Lower Dam; deeper excavation was necessary in granite cut by minor faults and intrusions and affected by weathering. Site exploration included nearly 4000 ft of core boring. No new geological views are put forward but observations are recorded bearing on the relation of the granite to its aureole, on the nature of the Ordovician volcanics and intrusions, on the Cambrian/Ordovician boundary and on the fault and joint systems.


Developing a high performance parallel application is difficult. An application must often be analyzed and optimized by the programmer before reaching an acceptable level of performance. Performance tools that collect and visualize performance data can reduce the effort needed by the user in the non-trivial optimization process. However, as the size of the performance dataset grows, it becomes nearly impossible for the user to manually examine the data and find performance issues. To address this problem, we have developed a new analysis system to automatically detect, diagnose, and possibly resolve bottlenecks. In this paper, we present the architecture and the distributed, peer-to-peer analysis process of a programming model-independent analysis system, which includes a range of useful analyses such as scalability analysis and known-bottleneck detection. We then describe the details of an initial sequential implementation of the system that has been integrated into our Parallel Performance Wizard (PPW) tool. Finally, we provide correctness and performance results for this initial version and demonstrate the effectiveness of the system through two case studies.


Abstract This present article takes an interest in the fairly new phenomena of social and emotional training programs in youth education. Prior research has shown that values and norms produced in these types of programs are supporting ethical systems that teachers may not always be aware of. This motivates the development of methods for analyzing these activities from an ethical point of view. An analysis model has been developed and piloted in the analyses of two different classroom activities. The model is based on theories of communicative ethics and an ethics of dialogicity, drawing upon the work of Jürgen Habermas, Iris Marion Young, and Emmanuel Levinas. The analyses show that norms concerning whose perspective is prioritized and what ethical values are constituted in the classroom vary depending on how the program is organized and how the teacher chooses to use the program. The article also argues that the analytical model suggested might serve as a contribution to both teachers' own professional, ethical awareness, and to critical studies on what takes place within social and emotional training activities in education.


Renewable energy sources entail the power electronics inverters are the orbit of research objectives for optimum operation. Two commonly used inverters exist; the current source inverters (CSI) and the voltage source inverters (VSI). The first one supports only the boost capability and the other supports the buck capability, but due to the high variation of the output voltage of these renewable energy sources a buck-boost capability is a must. This buck-boost capability requires the enforcement of the aforementioned inverters with an additional stage for the amendment of the energy source output, which greatly reduces the overall efficiency. Instead of such two stage power conversion operation, a single stage operation could be obtained using the Z-source inverter (ZSI). The so-called ZSI exploits an impedance network to achieve such capability. This impedance network comprises four passive elements and a semiconductor switch, which is relatively bulky and costly. This paper proposes the analysis and the modulation scheme of another inverter topology, called the buck-boost voltage source inverter (BBVSI), to get the buck-boost capability in a single stage power conversion operation with less passive elements and less semiconductor devices ratings. The BBVSI topology exploits only two passive elements in addition to a semiconductor switch to give the same function of the ZSI with some merits over it. Moreover, this paper compares the BBVSI topology with the ZSI topology. The performance of the BBVSI topology is evaluated using MATLAB/Simulink models.


A serological prevalence survey was carried out in Luxembourg during 2000–2001 to determine the antibody status of the Luxembourg population against vaccine-preventable infections. Blood samples of children and adolescents were collected prospectively in randomly selected schools. Samples of adults were obtained through volunteer patients of the national health laboratory or of the mandatory pre-nuptial test. Measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) virus antibody concentrations were measured using commercial ELISA tests. Age-standardized prevalence of measles, mumps and rubella virus antibodies was found to be 96·58, 75·40 and 95·69% respectively. Significant age-dependence of serology was observed for all three infections, with study participants born after the introduction of the MMR vaccine experiencing a gradual decline of antibodies following vaccination in childhood. Older study participants who were more likely to have antibodies from natural infection had consistently higher titres than younger individuals. Present vaccination coverage with MMR appears to be sufficient to prevent large local outbreaks of measles and rubella, but probably not mumps.


Background There were an estimated 7 million people living with diabetes in Pakistan in 2014, and this is predicted to reach 11.4 million by 2030. Aim To assess if an integrated care package can achieve better control of diabetes. Design & setting The pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT) was conducted from December 2014–June 2016 at 14 primary healthcare facilities in Sargodha district. Opportunistic screening, diagnostic testing, and patient recording processes were introduced in both the control 'testing, treating, and recording' (TTR) arm, and the intervention 'additional case management' (ACM) arm, which also included a clinical care guide and pictorial flipbook for lifestyle education, associated clinician training, and mobile phone follow-up. Method Clinics were randomised on a 1:1 basis (sealed envelope lottery method) and 250 patients recruited in the ACM arm and 245 in the TTR-only arm (age ≥25 years and HbA1c >7%). The primary outcome was mean change in HbA1c (%) from baseline to 9-month follow-up. Patients and staff were not blinded. Results The primary outcome was available for n = 238/250 (95.2%) participants in the ACM arm and n = 219/245 (89.4%) participants in the TTR-only arm (all clusters). Cluster level mean outcome was -2.26 pp (95% confidence intervals [CI] = -2.99 to -1.53) for the ACM arm, and -1.44 pp (95% CI = -2.34 to -0.54) for the TTR-only arm. Cluster level mean ACM–TTR difference (covariate-unadjusted) was -0.82 pp (95% CI = -1.86 to 0.21; P = 0.11). Conclusion The ACM intervention in public healthcare facilities did not show a statistically significant effect on HbA1c reduction compared to the control (TTR-only) arm. Future evaluation should assess changes after a longer follow-up period, and minimal care enhancement in the comparator (control) arm.


The question of the origin of life is addressed by artificial life research, particularly in the realm of artificial chemistry. Such artificial chemistry is described by our Graded Autocatalysis Replication Domain (GARD) model. GARD depicts an unorthodox scenario suggested for emergence of life – the 'lipid world'. The model concerns molecular assemblies with mutual catalysis in an environment containing a plethora of molecular species. Many aspects of GARD were amply discussed. Here we concentrate on the importance of size constraints as depicted by the basic model and several of its variants. Occasional fission of a GARD assembly, which restricts the assembly size, is crucial for generating compositional quasistationary states ('composomes'). In a spatial version of GARD, bounded environments yield spontaneous emergence of different ecologies. Limiting the size of a population of GARD assemblies gives rise to a complex population dynamics. The last example, with possible wider impact to chemistry and nano-technology, suggests that size limit can give rise to spontaneous symmetry breaking. This latter result is compared to the classic Frank's model for homo-chirality, which requires explicit inhibition. We conclude that size restrictions are fundamental in the field of origin of life and artificial life, not only in order to facilitate evolutionary processes, as previously suggested, but also, for augmenting the dynamics portrayed by different scenarios and models.


A significant percentage of the general population reports gastrointestinal and non-gastrointestinal symptoms caused by wheat and/or gluten ingestion, even though they do not suffer from celiac disease (CD) or wheat allergy (WS), because they test negative both for CD-specific serology and histopathology. All patients report improvement of symptoms on a gluten-free diet. This clinical condition has been named non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS). The objective of this paper was to review some studies regarding the pathogenesis of NCGS to summarize the current hypotheses about the mechanisms, which can lead to NCGS. Particular attention was given to the immunologic and the malabsorptive hypotheses. We reviewed data of our previous studies involving patients diagnosed with NCWS by means of double-blind placebo-controlled wheat challenge. The data indicating a possible wheat allergy diagnosis were examined and other data in the literature were reviewed; we also reviewed the putative role of fermentable oligosaccharides disaccharides monosaccharides and polyols (FODMAPs) and of α-amylasetrypsin inhibitors (ATIs) proteins in the NCGS pathogenesis. NCGS pathogenesis has been attributed to very different mechanisms, among others: i) activation of innate and adaptive immunity (the immune/allergic mechanisms) induced by gluten or the non-gluten ATI family; ii) incomplete digestion and/or absorption of FODMAPs (the intolerance mechanisms); and iii) psychological effect.We suggest that NCGS is a heterogeneous condition, which includes different subgroups of patients who have different pathogenic mechanisms: strong data suggest a direct pathogenic immunogenic/inflammatory role of wheat-cereal proteins (not only gluten) in a subgroup, probably the largest, of these patients.


Blazars are attractive objects for astronomers to observe in order to burrow into the magnetic field in the relativistic jet. This paper presents TimeTubes as a novel visualization scheme that allows astronomers to interactively explore characteristic temporal variation patterns in observed blazar datasets. In the TimeTubes spatialization, the two Stokes parameters and their errors with a common timestamp are transformed into an ellipse. A series of such ellipses are aligned in parallel along the timeline to form a 3D volumetric tube. The resulting tube is then colorized by the observed intensities and colors of the blazar, and finally volume-rendered. A designated user interface is provided with visual exploration functions according to Shneiderman's Visual Information Seeking Mantra. In the latest version, an auxiliary mechanism, called visual data fusion, was incorporated to ameliorate data- and mapping-inherent uncertainties for more efficient and effective visual exploration.


The main challenge of medium-frequency transformers is the number of design parameters, constraints and objectives, and the difficulty of handling them on a particular design. This paper presents a novel computer-aided optimal design for MF transformers using a multiobjective genetic algorithm, in particular the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm II. The proposed methodology has the aim of reaching the best MF transformer for a given power converter topology, by optimizing transformer efficiency, weight, and also, transformer leakage and magnetizing inductances at the same time. The proposed methodology and the optimal solutions are validated with the design and the development of two 10-kVA/500-V transformers considering two different topologies. Finally, some experimental measurements are presented so as to demonstrate the proposed models and the performance of built transformers.


Abstract It has recently been discovered that lichens contain a serine protease capable of degrading the pathogenic prion protein, the etiological agent of prion diseases such as sheep scrapie and cervid chronic wasting disease. Limited methods are available to degrade or inactivate prion disease agents, especially in the environment, and lichens or their serine protease could prove important for management of these diseases. Scant information is available regarding the presence or absence of the protease responsible for degrading prion protein (PrP) in lichen species and, in this study, we tested the hypothesis that PrP degradation activity in lichens is phylogenetically-based by testing 44 species of Cladonia lichens, a genus for which a significant portion of the phylogeny is well established. We categorized PrP degradation activity among the 44 species (high, moderate, low or none) and found that activity in Cladonia species did not correspond with phylogenetic position of the species. Degradation of PrP did correspond, however, with three classical taxonomic characters within the genus: species with brown apothecia, no usnic acid, and the presence of a cortex. Of the 44 species studied, 18 (41%) had either high or moderate PrP degradation activity, suggesting the protease may be frequent in this genus of lichens.


This study aims to investigate the effects of illustrations in online cancer information on older cancer patients' website satisfaction (i.e., satisfaction with the attractiveness, comprehensibility and emotional support from the website) and recall of information. In an online experiment, 174 younger (< 65 years) and older (> 65 years) colorectal cancer patients were randomly exposed to a webpage about transanal endoscopic microsurgery consisting of either text-only information, text with two cognitive illustrations or text with two affective illustrations. In general, adding cognitive illustrations compared to text-only information improved the satisfaction with the attractiveness of the website in both younger and older patients. For older patients in particular, cognitive illustrations facilitated recall of cancer information: whereas older patients recalled less information overall compared to younger patients (39% vs. 50%), no statistically significant differences in age on recall were observed when cognitive illustrations were added to text. Furthermore, older patients were more satisfied with the emotional support from the website than younger patients, especially when affective illustrations were present. Our results suggest that effective online cancer communication for ageing populations involves considering both cognitive and affective illustrations to enhance website satisfaction and recall of cancer information.


Due to the numerous surgical procedures involving the thyroid gland and the importance of avoiding complications - bleeding, neural damage - during such procedures, the knowledge of anatomical variations involving this structure is fundamental. The aim of the present study was to describe the anatomical structure of case of a variation in levator glandulae thyroideae encountered at routine anatomical dissection. This study is an approach that aims, with the knowledge acquired, to implement the knowledge about the morphology of levator glandulae thyroideae, aiming at medical care, both in the surgical and radiological area.


In 1807 Robert Southey published a pseudonymous account of a journey made through England by a fictitious Spanish tourist, 'Don Manuel Alvarez Espriella'. Letters from England (1807) relates Espriella's travels. On his journey Espriella comments on every aspect of British society, from fashions and manners, to political and religious beliefs.


This chapter consists of a thematic exploration of the motivations of yoga practitioners in twentieth century Britain, drawing on primary source literature and over thirty oral-history interviews. The most popular reasons for practicing yoga related to experiences of greater integration, relaxation and concentration. The emphasis was on experiences of greater personal health and happiness. These motivations were usually, but not always, separate from any specific theological beliefs. However, many practitioners did experience their involvement with yoga as 'more than physical' and some became associated with specific theological expressions of yoga. The chapter argues that spiritual beliefs were seen as a private, personal concern and the public education context of yoga de-emphasized the religious message. Therefore, a presentation of yoga developed in twentieth century Britain that allowed for a diversity of private interpretation, within an expectation of secular public pedagogy.


For those bold enough to lead in this age of austerity, the challenges are immense. Seismic shifts have taken place in the public and third sectors. Political, economic, technological, and social change are driving profound transformation of organizational models, making predictability and stability elusive. The combined effects of the economic downturn and cutbacks in spending are hitting leaders in the public and third sectors hard. Written by leaders in these sectors, this book provides an opportunity for the voices of those rarely considered in the literature on leadership to be heard. Each leader has contributed their personal reflections of what leadership means to them and their experience of it. They also consider the complex challenges they face as they grapple with changes in the economy, polity and society. Public and Third Sector Leadership: Experience Speaks provides an analysis of the research in the public and third sectors and the reflections written by each leader, highlighting the key themes from each sector. This is a unique opportunity to hear from the men and women who have demanding leadership positions in the public and third sectors in the UK today.


This collection of essays and translations reflects the Viennese-born author-translator's Austrian-Jewish heritage as well as representing his broad involvement as a cultural mediator between his native and adopted countries. The essays - on Herzl, Zweig, Kraus, Kafka, Werfel, Waldinger, Csokor, Trakl, and the winegarden songs of Vienna - highlight the great Jewish contribution to Austrian culture, and they are supplemented and illuminated by the short prose of Zweig, Herzl, Beer-Hofmann, Polgar, Buber, and others.


The results obtained in the cytologic study of sputa from 630 patients are presented. There were 251 cases of bronchogenic carcinoma; diagnosis through sputum examination was possible in 57.4 per cent of the patients. Abnormal cells were detected in an additional 24.3 per cent. Sputum examination has proven to be a valuable complement by establishing the correct diagnosis when other methods failed. Cancer cells were unequivocally identified in 45.8 per cent of the cases with normal bronchoscopic examination and in 52.4 per cent of the cases in which bronchial biopsy did not include malignant tissue. The same proportion of cases with the various tumor types was obtained by cytologic and by histologic study. However, one of the methods often showed a higher degree of cellular differentiation than the other. The number of cases with undifferentiated cancer or unclassified tumors was markedly reduced when the information concerning cell differentiation available through both methods was used. In this manner, excluding the oat cell carcinomas, only 7.6 per cent of the cases of bronchogenic carcinoma did not show any cellular differentiation. The authors recommend wider use of the information provided by simultaneous evaluation of both cytologic smears and tissue sections in order to achieve a more accurate appraisal of tumor type.


OBJECTIVES
Wound dehiscence is a common surgical complication, especially among pediatric liver transplant recipients in our center. In 2013, we introduced negative pressure wound therapy as a preventive treatment. We herein report the clinical outcomes of this intervention.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We conducted a retrospective review of the 26 pediatric liver transplant recipients in our center since 2011. We excluded 1 girl whose wound could not be closed due to bowel edema. The first 13 of the 25 remaining patients were treated with conventional wound management (conventional group). The latter 12 were treated with prophylactic negative pressure wound therapy (prophylactic group). Incidences of surgical complications and patient characteristics were compared between groups.

RESULTS
Wound dehiscence occurred in 7 of the 13 patients in the conventional group and 3 of the 12 patients in the prophylactic group. When restricted to dehiscence that required surgical debridement, there were 6 cases in the conventional group and no cases in the prophylactic group. Although background data showed that liver insufficiency in the prophylactic group was more severe, this group had a lower incidence of wound dehiscence (P = .015).

CONCLUSIONS
Prophylactic negative pressure wound therapy is thought to be effective for preventing wound dehiscence among pediatric liver transplant recipients.