Al–SiC composites containing four different weight percentages 5%, 10%, 20% and 25% of SiC have been fabricated by liquid metallurgy method. Friction and wear characteristics of Al–SiC composites have been investigated under dry sliding conditions and compared with those observed in pure aluminium. Dry sliding wear tests have been carried out using pin-on-disk wear test rate normal loads of 5, 7, 9 and 11 Kgf and at constant sliding velocity of 1.0m/s. Weight loss of samples was measured and the variation of cumulative wear loss with sliding distance has been found to be linear for both pure aluminium and the composites. It was also observed that the wear rate varies linearly with normal load but lower in composites as compared to that in base material. The wear mechanism appears to be oxidative for both pure aluminium and composites under the given conditions of load and sliding velocity as indicated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) of the worn surfaces. Further, it was found from the experimentation that the wear rate decreases linearly with increasing weight fraction of silicon carbide and average coefficient of friction decreases linearly with increasing normal load and weight fraction of SiC. The best results have been obtained at 20% weight fraction of 320 grit size SiC particles for minimum wear.


Seeing patients in a busy teaching clinic presents various challenges. One challenge we frequently encounter is trying to practise evidence-based medicine in "real time," especially when trying to obtain and incorporate evidence in the few minutes we have with the residents. One method of tackling this problem is presented in the following scenario.

Our resident saw a 65 year old patient with congestive heart failure in the clinic. The patient brought in a news item from the internet stating that an "inexpensive drug cuts heart failure deaths by one third," and he wanted to know whether he could begin taking spironolactone as discussed in the news report. His medical history included a myocardial infarction. An echocardiogram done 6 months previously showed an ejection fraction of 35%. He was breathless with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III symptoms. His blood pressure was 130/70 mm Hg, and his heart rate was 60 beats/minute. His medications were aspirin, 81 mg; atenolol, 50 mg; furosemide, 40 mg; and nitrospray as needed.

The resident recalled having heard a presenter at Noon Rounds advocate the use of spironolactone in patients with congestive heart failure and mentioned a recent trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine . The audience was surveyed at the end of Noon Rounds, and most said they would use spironolactone in their patients with congestive heart failure. While the resident was waiting for the patient to disrobe for the physical examination, he attempted to retrieve the article from the New England Journal of Medicine website to show us. By using the search terms …


The mechanical testing for magnesium alloy AM60 was conducted on an MTS servohydrolic material testing system. In order to examine the effects of impact velocity on fracture toughness, finite element method was applied to compute the impact fracture toughness of AM60 specimens with single notched edge at room temperature. The specimens were impacted by steel balls (Diameter 20 mm) at the velocities of 80m/s, 120m/s and 160m/s. The simulation results well described the effects of impact velocities on fracture toughness. The finite element analysis performed in this work offered an effective method to compute dynamic fracture toughness for engineering applications.


The problem of on-line off-policy evaluation (OPE) has been actively studied in the last decade due to its importance both as a stand-alone problem and as a module in a policy improvement scheme. However, most Temporal Difference (TD) based solutions ignore the discrepancy between the stationary distribution of the behavior and target policies and its effect on the convergence limit when function approximation is applied. In this paper we propose the Consistent Off-Policy Temporal Difference (COP-TD($\lambda$, $\beta$)) algorithm that addresses this issue and reduces this bias at some computational expense. We show that COP-TD($\lambda$, $\beta$) can be designed to converge to the same value that would have been obtained by using on-policy TD($\lambda$) with the target policy. Subsequently, the proposed scheme leads to a related and promising heuristic we call log-COP-TD($\lambda$, $\beta$). Both algorithms have favorable empirical results to the current state of the art on-line OPE algorithms. Finally, our formulation sheds some new light on the recently proposed Emphatic TD learning.


The application of virtual reality in rehabilitation has led to a rapid development of game-like applications. Since the key concept to successful rehabilitation involves the constant repetition of a task that involves the affected part of the body, such applications motivate patients to practice movements over and over again. Driven gait orthoses provide an excellent tool to use such methods for gait training in a meaningful way. In the present paper we give a first impression of how such an application may look like for the driven gait orthosis Lokomat. With a preliminary study we furthermore show, that such applications not only lead to higher motivation during training but also increase the activity of the patient. All patients report to prefer this new way of feedback and want to use it in subsequent training sessions.


Abnormal sensory processing is one of the core characteristics of the fragile X phenotype. Studies of young children with fragile X syndrome (FXS) and the FMR1 premutation have shown sensory challenges as early as infancy and into early childhood. This study sought to examine differences in sensory difficulties in children with an FMR1 premutation compared with children with FXS and typically developing children. We conducted an online survey of 176 parents of affected children (FXS or FMR1 premutation). Most respondents were mothers who are Caucasian (86%), have a 4-year college or graduate degree (68%), and are married (92%). Children ranged in age from 5 to 18, with a mean age of 13.0 years (3.3 SD). Participants completed the BBC Sensory Scales, a 50-item Likert-type scale (1 = Almost Always, 4 = Almost Never) comprised of 8 subscales that assessed auditory processing, visual processing, tactile processing, and eating and feeding behaviors. Mean scores were calculated for the items and each of the subscales. Non-parametric tests examined differences in child and family-level variables. Across all BBCSS subscales, children with an FMR1 premutation displayed more sensory challenges than typically developing children. For six out of the eight subscales, children with the full mutation had the lowest scores indicating more sensory challenges, but this was closely followed by children with an FMR1 premutation. Fragile X status was associated with seven of the eight subscales; children with an FMR1 premutation did not differ from children with FXS on any of the subscales but had more digestive problems than children with no fragile X. Gender, autism status, and family income were also related to sensory sensitivities. In conclusion, these data provide further evidence that some children with an FMR1 premutation experience sensory difficulties that are similar to children with FXS but different than typically developing children.


The impact of urban development on surface flow has been studied extensively over the last half century, but effects on groundwater systems are still poorly understood. Previous studies of the influence of urban development on subsurface storage have not revealed any consistent pattern, with results showing increases, decreases, and negligible change in groundwater levels. In this paper, we investigated the effects of four key features that impact subsurface storage in urban landscapes. These include reduced vegetative cover, impervious surface cover, infiltration and inflow (I&I) of groundwater and storm water into wastewater pipes, and other anthropogenic recharge and discharge fluxes including water supply pipe leakage and well and reservoir withdrawals. We applied the integrated groundwater‐surface water‐land surface model ParFlow.CLM to the Baltimore metropolitan area. We compared the base case (all four features) to simulations in which an individual urban feature was removed. For the Baltimore region, the effect of infiltration of groundwater into wastewater pipes had the greatest effect on subsurface storage (I&I decreased subsurface storage 11.1% relative to precipitation minus evapotranspiration after 1 year), followed by the impact of water supply pipe leakage and lawn irrigation (combined anthropogenic discharges and recharges led to a 7.4% decrease) and reduced vegetation (1.9% increase). Impervious surface cover led to a small increase in subsurface storage (0.56% increase) associated with decreased groundwater discharge as base flow. The change in subsurface storage due to infiltration of groundwater into wastewater pipes was largest despite the smaller spatial extent of surface flux modifications, compared to other features.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the patterns of use of ambulatory care in Quebec in 1991, with special emphasis on patients who received care from more than 20 physicians.

DESIGN
Retrospective study of population-based data.

SETTING
Province of Quebec.

PARTICIPANTS
All 7,154,591 people eligible for coverage under the Régie de l'assurance-maladie du Québec (RAMQ) (Quebec Health Insurance Plan) in 1991, including 3639 people who received ambulatory care from more than 20 physicians.

DATA EXTRACTION
The databanks of the RAMQ.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Mean number (and standard deviation) of physician visits and services received, place of visit (clinic or private office), mean cost of services, patient's age, diagnosis, type of specialist visited and social assistance status of frequent users.

RESULTS
The patients who obtained ambulatory care from more than 20 physicians received 10 times more medical services than the overall patient population (59.6 v. 5.8), and the mean cost per patient for ambulatory care was also 10 times higher ($1379 v. $136). Almost all of the frequent users visited at least one outpatient clinic, as compared with 37.3% of the overall population. A higher proportion of the frequent users than of the overall population obtained care from specialists (98.9% v. 54.7%), mainly general surgeons and psychiatrists. The most frequent diagnoses among the frequent users were anxiety (36.0%), abdominal pain (24.3%), drug or alcohol dependence (22.2%) and depression (16.4%).

CONCLUSIONS
A small proportion of the population obtained ambulatory care from a high number of physicians during the year, leading to high expenses. Identifying and understanding this type of frequent user may be useful in developing strategies to promote more effective health-care-seeking behaviours and reduce overuse.


Individuals respond to pharmaceutical treatments differently due to the heterogeneity of patient populations. This heterogeneity can make it difficult to determine how efficacious or burdensome a treatment is for an individual patient. Personalized medicine involves using patient characteristics, therapeutics, or diagnostic testing to understand how individual patients respond to a given treatment. Personalized medicine increases the health impact of existing treatments by improving the matching process between patients and treatments and by improving a patient's understanding of the risk of serious side effects. In this paper, I compare the health impact of new treatment innovations with the potential health impact of personalized medicine. I find that the impact of personalized medicine depends on the number of treatments, the correlation between treatment effects, and the amount of noise in a patient's individual treatment effect signal. For multiple sclerosis treatments, I find that personalized medicine has the potential to increase the health impact of existing treatments by roughly 50 percent by informing patients of their individual treatment effect and risk of serious side effects.


Mitigating climate change is recognized as an increasingly urgent task that requires several different methods to achieve. Among these is the need to encourage voluntary behaviour change. Doing so necessitates an understanding of the barriers that prevent behaviour change, including those which are psychological. Among the psychological barriers to change are perceptions of powerlessness and the commons dilemma. This thesis takes a mixed method approach to understand importance of these in relation to both each other and other barriers when taking action to mitigate climate change. Results indicate that individuals do not clearly distinguish climate change from general environmental problems and have a tendency to simplify the issues to that considered to be the singularly most important. Powerlessness and the commons dilemma had been evaluated but not extensively or as specifically applicable to climate change. Powerlessness and the commons dilemma were both found to relate to lower amounts of action on climate change and less importance placed upon climate change in actions. Perceived risk and human influence on climate change were the strongest predictors of action. Results generally support the knowledge-deficit model of behaviour change as being applicable to climate change.


With the entrance of Uber into the land transportation industry, ride-hailing service has gained popularity and changed the way people travel in urban areas in Malaysia. Despite the growing popularity of this new mode of cab service, studies about factors influencing consumers' choice to use ride-hailing service are limited in developing countries. This study used primary data collected via a survey in Penang, Malaysia. This study aims to examine the factors affecting consumers' decision to utilise ride-hailing service. The novelty of this study is the adoption of a Heckman probit selection model to account for the possibility of sample selection bias and the introduction of an important explanatory variable - consumers' comparative satisfaction with the attributes of ride-hailing and traditional taxi service that affect consumers' choice of cab service. The results show age, gender, education, marital status, income, cost considerations and vehicle ownership significantly determine the probability of using cab service. Consumers' choice between ride-hailing and traditional taxi service is affected by gender and their comparative rating of both services in terms of waiting time and the disposition of drivers. This suggests the necessity for cab service providers to improve their service in order to remain competitive in the industry.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of house rat zoonotic intestinal parasites from Surabaya District, East Java, Indonesia that have the potential to cause opportunistic infection in humans. House rat fecal samples were collected from an area of Surabaya District with a dense rat population during May 2015. Intestinal parasites were detected microscopically using direct smear of feces stained with Lugol's iodine and modified Ziehl-Neelsen stains. The fecal samples were also cultured for Strongyloides stercoralis. Ninety-eight house rat fecal samples were examined. The potential opportunistic infection parasite densities found in those samples were Strongyloides stercoralis in 53%, Hymenolepis nana in 42%, Cryptosporidium spp in 33%, and Blastocystis spp in 6%. This is the first report of this kind in Surabaya District. Measures need to be taken to control the house rat population in the study area to reduce the risk of the public health problem. Keywords: zoonotic intestinal parasites, opportunistic infection, house rat, densely populated area, Indonesia


Self-assembling, crosslinker-free, highly thermosensitive nanocarriers (TSNCs) were synthesized by the incorporation of iron oxide nanoparticles and hydrophobic drug molecules into a thermosensitive matrix composed of PEO-PPO-PEO (F127) triblock-copolymer and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) using a mini-emulsion process. The addition of PVA significantly contributes to the stability of the thermosensitive PVA-F127 nanocarriers and reduces drug leakage because it provides hydrogen bonds to react with the PEO segments in the shell. The TSNCs exhibit a remarkable triggered size contraction and shrinkage as a result of opposing polymer thermal effects. These effects include thermal expansion of the PVA and thermal shrinkage of the F127 when the magnetic field induced a temperature change that reached 40 to 50 °C through heat generation of the magnetic nanoparticles. Depending on the PVA/F127 ratios, the TSNCs can act as a remotely triggered drug delivery platform with a tunable burst drug release profile through the structure deformation by an external magnetic field. Furthermore, the TSNCs also presented ultrasensitive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), as demonstrated by a relatively high r2/r1 ratio (430). A preliminary in vivo study using the Long–Evans rat model has demonstrated a significant reduction in the spike-wave discharge after the anti-epilepsy drug, ethosuximide (ETX), was burst released from the TSNCs. These results were compared to PVA nanocarriers under the same magnetic induction as the in vitro carriers. Using a well-controlled burst release, these nanocarriers may provide significant advantages as highly temperature-responsive nanocarriers for the treatment of acute diseases.


The article deals with the problem of interpretation of the normatively fixed definition "detailed description of the studies in the expert's conclusion", which (that is, conclusion) is a source of evidence in the procedural law of Ukraine. There are presented the views of forensic scientists, the international standards adopted in Ukraine are analyzed, the ILAC G19: 08/2014 "Modules in a Forensic Science Process" guidelines, the draft of fifth part of the ISO 21043 standard "Reporting" regarding the content of this definition. It is stated that "the detailed description of the studies in the expert's conclusion" is based on the dialectical-materialistic method, methods of formal logic, general scientific methods, methods of maternal sciences and special methods, that is, methodologies of conducting forensic examinations. A parallel is drawn with the latter as with normative documents that should regulate the process of description in the research part of the conclusion.
Based on the obtained results of the analysis, it was concluded that in the forensic examination methodology, as a detailed program for solving an expert assignment, in the section that regulates the procedure for formalizing the research conducted by an expert conclusion, the procedure for a detailed description of the research should be determined, which allows for interpretation the results obtained (assessment of the results of the studies carried out and the formulation of conclusions) by others who did not conduct an examination, by qualified specialists having the appropriate competence to confirm the reliability of the results and formulated answers to the questions posed, including by reproducing and/or repeating the process of producing the examination.
In order to solve the problem raised, it is necessary to develop the state standard of Ukraine - DSTU XXXX: 202__ "Forensic expert activity. Forensic examination methodologies. Requirements", in which to determine, inter alia, the content of the definition "detailed description of the studies in the expert's conclusion".


Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) is the rate-limiting enzyme of 5-fluorouracil (FU) catabolism, which occurs mainly in the liver. Several cases of severe FU-related toxicity have been reported in patients exhibiting a marked DPD deficiency measured in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). In addition, it has been shown that PBMC-DPD activity correlates to systemic FU clearance. The purpose of the present study was to closely evaluate the link between DPD activity measured in PBMCs and in liver samples obtained from the same patients. This prospective study was conducted on 27 patients (18 men and 9 women) who underwent laparotomy for various pathologies. Liver biopsies were performed in normal liver and immediately stored in liquid nitrogen. Biological liver function tests were within normal values for all patients. Concomitantly to the liver biopsy, a blood sample was taken and PBMCs were immediately isolated and stored at -80 degreesC. Liver-DPD and PBMC-DPD activities were measured by a radioenzymatic assay using 14C-FU as substrate (sensitivity limit, 5 pmol/min/mg protein; interassay reproducibility, 10%). Liver-DPD (mean, 178; median, 186; range, 54-290 pmol/min/mg protein) and PBMC-DPD (mean, 196; median, 205; range, 80-275 pmol/min/mg protein) exhibited the same pattern of distribution. Neither liver-DPD nor PBMC-DPD was significantly different between men and women. A significant linear correlation was demonstrated between liver- and PBMC-DPD activity (liver-DPD = 0.6 x PBMC-DPD + 59, r = 0.56, P = 0.002). Interestingly, the patient who exhibited the lowest PBMC-DPD activity (80 pmol/min/mg protein, at risk value for developing FU-related side effects) also had very low liver-DPD activity (98 pmol/min/mg protein). In conclusion, in patients with normal liver function, DPD activity measured in PBMCs reflects DPD activity expressed in the liver. The demonstrated link between liver- and PBMC-DPD activity reinforces the interest in DPD investigation in PBMCs for selecting, before FU-containing chemotherapy, patients at risk of developing severe toxicities due to impairment of FU clearance.


Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs), which represent information as sequences of spikes, are gaining interest due to the emergence of low-power hardware platforms such as IBM TrueNorth and Intel Loihi, and their intrinsic ability to process temporal streams of data (e.g., outputs from event-based cameras). A spike produced by a neuron in an SNN is an event that triggers updates to the membrane potentials of each of the fanout neurons based on the weight associated with the synaptic connection, possibly resulting in other spikes being generated. The time and energy consumption in SNN implementations are dominated by accesses to the synaptic weights from memory and communication of spikes through the on-chip network. To improve the energy-efficiency of SNNs, we therefore propose Dynamic Spike Bundling (DSB), wherein an event to fanout neurons is not generated for every spike; instead, spikes produced by a neuron that occur close in time are dynamically bundled, with a single event being generated for the entire spike bundle. This reduces memory accesses as the synaptic weight can be fetched just once and reused across all spikes in the bundle. The communication traffic is also reduced as fewer messages are communicated between neurons.To evaluate DSB, we develop B-SNNAP, an event-driven SNN accelerator with hardware support for dynamically bundling spikes with minimal overheads. Across 7 image recognition benchmarks including CIFAR100 and ImageNet datasets, DSB achieves 1.15×-3.8× reduction in energy for <0.1% loss in accuracy, and upto 5.1× savings when <1% accuracy loss is tolerable.


Surface concentration of cell adhesion peptides is thought to play a role in the interactions between biomaterials and cells. The high density of functional groups at the periphery of dendrimers has been exploited in various applications, but their full potential for generating surfaces with high functional group concentrations has not yet been realized. Poly(dimethylsiloxane) elastomers were surface modified with both polyethylene oxide (PEO) and generation 3 diaminobutane dendrimers. PEO and the dendrimers were subsequently used as linker molecules for surface grafting of cell adhesion peptides. ATR‐FTIR, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and water contact angle results confirmed the successful attachment of the polymer linkers and peptides. Peptide grafting density was quantified by means of 125I radiolabeling. Maximum surface peptide grafting density on dendrimer‐modified surfaces was twofold greater than the maximum peptide grafting density achieved via the PEO linker. However, vascular endothelial cell adhesion was significantly greater on surfaces modified with the PEO linker, presumably due to the highly flexible PEO spacer making the peptide more accessible for binding with the cell surface receptors. These results suggest that, although peptide surface density may be important, optimizing surface density may not be sufficient for improving biological interactions.


SIGNIFICANCE Our results indicate that the difference in perceived luminance between the amblyopic and fellow eyes that is present under dichoptic viewing conditions does not affect the perceived speed of suprathreshold motion stimuli. This finding provides a new insight into suprathreshold perception in amblyopia. PURPOSE Interocular matching experiments indicate that dichoptically presented stimuli have a lower perceived luminance in amblyopic eyes relative to fellow eyes. This may be a consequence of interocular suppression. We investigated whether this effect extends to suprathreshold motion perception. METHODS Participants with amblyopia and control observers matched the perceived speed of dichoptically presented random-dot kinematograms and the perceived luminance of gray patches. Control participants also performed the speed matching task with a neutral density filter over one eye to simulate a perceived luminance reduction. RESULTS The amblyopia group exhibited lower perceived luminance in the amblyopic than in the fellow eye, as has previously been reported. However, interocular speed matching was veridical. For control observers, perceived speed was reduced in the eye with a neutral density filter relative to the nonfiltered eye. To assess whether the perceived luminance reduction in the amblyopic eye affected binocular function, we also measured the Pulfrich effect in the amblyopia group with equal luminance presented to each eye. No patients reported a spontaneous Pulfrich effect. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that suprathreshold speed perception is intact in the amblyopic eye when both eyes are open.


The changes in posttraumatic ankle joint mobility, pain, and edema following intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) therapy were examined in patients with lower leg fractures after six to 12 weeks of immobilization in a cast. The study group consisted of 22 patients with distal fractures of the lower leg. Each patient was given IPC treatment on five consecutive days for 75 minutes daily. The control group consisted of 12 patients with lower leg fractures who were not given any treatment. Ankle joint mobility in the study group increased by 11.9 degrees (SE = 1.5), but by only 1.0 degree (SE = 0.8) in the control group. The difference is highly significant (p less than 0.001). The study group also experienced markedly greater pain relief than did the control patients. The reduction of edema was 170 ml (SE = 23) in the study group and only 15 ml (SE = 12) in the control group (p less than 0.001). This study suggests that IPC treatment promotes the rehabilitation of the posttraumatic conditions.


Selection of dairy cattle for higher milk yield, without considering important non-production traits, has decreased reproductive efficiency. Thus, low reproductive performance is a major problem in high yielding dairy cattle. Previous studies showed that dietary manipulation to improve fertility holds much promise and dietary fats have positive effects on reproductive functions in high yielding dairy cattle. Positive effects of fats on reproductive performance due to the fatty acids, which are the precursors of progesterone and prostaglandins. Progesterone and prostaglandins hormones are most important factors that play a role on the control of reproductive functions. The amount of linoleic, linolenic and arachidonic fattty acids in ration can be increase or decrease progesterone and prostaglandins synthesis especially PGF2α from ovary and uterus, respectively. Also fatty acids can be influence follicular development, ovulation, embryonic implantation and maternal recognition of pregnancy. This review focuses on the relationships between dietary fatty acids and reproductive functions such as hormone profiles, ovarian function and follicular development, oocyte quality, embryo development, embryonic implantation and maternal recognition of pregnancy in dairy cattle.


Social bookmarking services allow a user to make her personal collection of favorite web resources accessible by the public. The content of this collection can attract users of "similar minds" and therefore has tremendous potential to enable networking and collaboration. In this research, we analyzed a large dataset collected from one of the most popular social bookmarking services. To understand why there is a large gap between a user's explicit network and her implicit user-user association networks based on common resources or common tags, we compared a users' bookmark resources and tags to those of her explicit network members. Our results suggest that a typical social bookmarking service user does not create her explicit network based on common interests. We discuss the implications behind the gap between a user's explicit network and implicit network and propose solutions to enhance and improve the "social" functions of social bookmarking services.


The New Observing Strategies Testbed (NOS‐T) is a digital engineering environment for enabling distributed space mission (DSM) technology demonstrations. Its event‐driven architecture enables users to orchestrate DSM test campaigns by developing applications that communicate state changes via messages. NOS‐T is motivated by requirements such as geographical distribution, cross‐boundary participation, wide applicability, and usability that make it unique in this field. This article introduces NOS‐T and describes its architecture in the context of an example DSM test suite, FireSat+. The scalability of NOS‐T is demonstrated with a performance assessment of its capabilities under a stress test of high message frequency and payload size, which are both related to the complexity of potential user‐generated test cases. Results show that message periodicity has no significant effect on median delay time over the ranges sampled; however, the message payload size induces linear growth in median delay time of approximately 1.5 ms per kB. Future NOS‐T applications can adjust the execution time scaling factor and message payload size to match operational constraints on allowable delay.


Since 1994 several oilseed rape hybrid types were proposed to farmers. Following registration experiments, Cetiom and different equivalent institutions in European Union have tested them in different post registration national networks. Grain yield productivity increases were demonstrated and a first synthesis could be done to check avantages and difficulties which had occurred. For winter types, Hybrid Composits were widely used, mainly in France and in the United Kingdom. Grain yield increases were important in the South and West part of France where their market shares increased up to 50-80%. Nevertheless, many fecondation problems occurred in several places all over Europe. Reasons of such problems were difficult to identify. Several factors, as cold temperatures, nutritionnal competitions, pollen avaibility may be involved to explain low seed sets. Restored Hybrids made with the NPZ hybridation system were successfully tested widely, and has reached significative market shares during 1999-2000 season. Less experiments were carried out with others hybrid types (Ogu-INRA Restored Hybrids, Mixed Hybrids). Ogu-INRA Restored Hybrids reached the highest grain yield levels but users are waiting for lower glucosinolates seed content hybrids which would come in the next future. Performances comparisons among countries have to be done carefully. Productivity increases with hybrid types could have been over estimated depending of pollinic environments or plot size and possible neighbouring effects. For France, results from field trials networks are coherent with results coming from postal surveys. For spring varieties, Polima restored hybrids and varietal associations have demonstrated a significative advantage compared to classical lines.


Eri silkworm, Samia ricini (Donovan) is multivoltine and has several broods in a year. In the traditional eri growing area of North East India, the farmers conduct eri rearing in four crop seasons, that is, spring, summer, autumn and winter due to spent time in others agricultural crop. Although the suitable climatic conditions are spring and autumn seasons in this zone for eri cocoon production, but during summer the temperature raises up to 35 to 39 ̊C with fluctuation of temperature and humidity that interfere in the eri seed production and rearing activities resulted emergence of crippled moths, poor coupling aptitude and poor egg laying capacity, unfertilized eggs, poor embryonic development, desiccation of eggs and leads to hatching failure. In these circumstances, an experiment was conducted to maintain the temperature and humidity in the ITK mode of operation during summer grainage for enhancement of the realized fecundity and hatching percentage and to overcome the others problems during summer grainage. Experimental data revealed that overall performance of grainage characters during summer in the treated lot were significantly better than the control lot.


: Dispersion phenomenon can cause erosion problems during hydraulic construction projects such as earth dams, channels, hydraulic installations and embankments. However, aluminum sulfate can be used to stabilize dispersive clay. Tests were done to consider the effects of alum and lime additions on shear strength parameters of clay as secondary effects. Clay for samples was taken from the Mirzakhanluo Dam, located in Tarom County, northwestern Zanjan Province of Iran. In this research, the clay sample was subjected to direct shear testing; the clay was tested with optimum moisture under varying percentages of alum (0, 0.3, 0.6, 1, 3, and 5 as percentage of dry soil weight) for 28 days. Also, unconfined tests were conducted on samples with equal amounts of moisture, alum and lime under the different treatment durations of 7, 14, and 21 and 28 days, separately. Results for the direct shear test indicated that the maximum cohesion was recorded in the sample with 1% alum. Results also showed that the internal friction angle decreased in samples with alum percentage up to the level of 0.6% and at levels higher than that it showed an increase. Generally, results showed that soil shear strength was higher in soil stabilized by alum than in unstabilized soil. Results of the uniaxial test, determined that alum and lime additions to dispersive soil and its treatment, compression strength was not limited and elastic modulus showed an increase. The highest evaluations were determined for amounts of elastic modulus and uniaxial strength in soil with 3% lime or 5% alum on the 28 th day of treatment.


2Dairy Production Research Centre, Teagasc, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co. Cork The purpose of this study was to find a well-fitting, robust, single-equation model to describe the shape of lactation curves for Irish dairy cows. The suitability of a number of algebraic models that depict lactation curves was examined, using Irish test day data. The analysis was carried out on a total of 14,956 lactation records from commercial and experimental herds and included both autumn and spring calving animals. 'Goodness of fit' and adherence of the various models to the assumptions of regression analysis were examined. Multicollinearity posed a severe problem in the application of the best-fit model but omitting one of the variables from the estimation procedure reduced this effect. The modified model, referred to as the Ali-B model, is a single equation model that can be easily updated and incorporated into computer code. This is in contrast with the Standard Lactation Curve (SLAC) method, a method of interpolation, which is currently used by the Irish industry. The effects of seasonal factors on milk production were estimated and added to the Ali-B model to create a production profile for cows calving in specific months. The Ali-B model provided an acceptable level of accuracy in representing the shape of the lactation curve for Irish dairy cows, and can be easily modified for different environmental scenarios.


between control (2.30 0.15 log arcmin), early AMD (2.36 0.12 log arcmin) and intermediate AMD (2.38 0.13 log arcmin) groups. However, there were 46%, 47% and 76% of eyes with disk halo radius above the cutoff value (2.30 log arcmin) reported to diagnose cataract in the control, early and intermediate AMD groups respectively. Conclusions: Early to intermediate AMD did not affect the halo size induced by a given glare source. Across all pseudophakic eyes, an increased size of the disk halo would be indicative of altered scattering, transmission and reflection properties of various parts of the aging eye.


Sublacustrine hydrothermal vents with associated massive sulfides were discovered during April 1987 at Pemba and Cape Banza on the Zaire side of the northern basin of Lake Tanganyika, East African Rift system. New investigations by a team of ten scuba divers during the multinational (France, Zaire, Germany, and Burundi) TANGANYDRO expedition (August-October 1991) found hydrothermal vents down to a depth of 46 m along north-trending active faults bounding the Tanganyika rift on the western side. Temperatures from 53 to 103 {degrees}C were measured in hydrothermal fluids and sediments. Veins of massive sulfides 1-10 cm thick (pyrite and marcasite banding) were found associated with vents at the Pemba site. At Cape Banza, active vents are characterized by 1-70-cm-high aragonite chimneys, and there are microcrystalline pyrite coatings on the walls of hydrothermal pipes. Hydrothermal fluid end members show distinctive compositions at the two sites. The Pemba end member is a NaHCO{sub 3}-enriched fluid similar to the NaHCO{sub 3} thermal fluids form lakes Magadi and Bogoria in the eastern branch of the rift. The Cape Banza end member is a solution enriched in NaCl. Such brines may have a deep-seated basement origin, as do the Uvinza NaCl brines on the eastern flank ofmore » the Tanganyika basin. Geothermometric calculations have yielded temperatures of fluid-rock interaction of 219 and 179 {degrees}C in the Pemba and Cape Banza systems, respectively. Abundant white or reddish-brown microbial colonies resembling Beggiatoa mats were found surrounding the active vents. Thermal fluid circulation is permitted by opening of cracks related to 130{degrees}N normal-dextral faults that intersect the north-south major rift trend. The sources of heat for such hydrothermal systems may relate to the existence of magmatic bodies under the rift, which is suggested by the isotopic composition of carbon dioxide released at Pemba and Cape Banza. 21 refs., 2 figs.« less


The researchers working on information society measures have recently started to consider how people use the Internet not only as a tool but also as a platform for social relations. As the ultimate objective of information society measures is to provide reliable guidelines for social policy, finding criteria for separating "positive" uses of Internet from "negative" ones is an important task. This article employs the concepts of communicative and strategic action as defined by Habermas for that purpose. A general conceptual typology of three communicative and three strategic social uses of Internet is offered, which can be applied to measure uses of any of the Internet's interactive services. A specific empirical application to social uses of personal web sites demonstrates that the deduced measurement instruments achieve satisfying levels of validity and reliability.


The aim of this thesis was to assess the prevalence and determinants of non-adherence and non-persistence with antihypertensive drugs and to provide suggestions for intervening to improve it among non-adherent patients with hypertension. This thesis is divided into three parts. The first part describes methodological issues with regard to the use of pharmacy records to detect several problems concerning adherence and persistence. If a prescription database lacking diagnoses is used to study antihypertensive drugs in relation to hypertension treatment, the results have to be interpreted with caution because of the potential misclassification that may occur. Subdividing the antihypertensive drug classes into subgroups decreases this misclassification. In literature, different methods of calculating persistence are used. The method used and the variation within a method influenced both persistence and the association between patient characteristics and persistence. The second part describes the prevalence of non-adherence and identification of potential targets for interventions in an observational setting. Uncontrolled blood pressure as well as patients' complaints about the prescribed medication may lead to modification of the initially prescribed antihypertensive drug regimen. Among patients who start using antihypertensive monotherapy, non-adherence is significantly associated with the occurrence of change in antihypertensive medication regimen. In addition, among patients who start antihypertensive monotherapy, non-adherence is often followed by discontinuation. Among a total of 2,325 patients who started using antihypertensive drugs in 1992, 39% used continuously during the 10 years of follow-up. About 22% temporarily discontinued and restarted treatment, whereas 39% of the patients discontinued permanently. Among a total of 35,714 patients who started using antihypertensive treatment during the period January 1st 1999 to June 30th 2004, 18,357 (51.4%) patients discontinued treatment. Of these patients, 19.3% restarted treatment within one year and 60.7% restarted within six years. In an international comparison, the proportion of patients with at least 180 days without medication was 23.3% in Pennsylvania, 23.4% in British Columbia and 24.0% in The Netherlands after one year. After six years, this percentage increased to 41.1, 36.3 and 38.2, respectively. This suggests that the problem of non-persistence transcends international boundaries, health system characteristics and prescription drug coverage policies. Adherence or persistence to treatment should be considered in the choice for a specific treatment. Two Mutiple Criteria Decision Making-models, Simple Additive weighting and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution were evaluated for objectifying this consideration among internists, cardiologists, pharmacists and general practitioners. Among all professionals, according to both SAW and TOPSIS, ACE-inhibitors were ranked the first-line antihypertensive drug class. The last part concerns intervening in patients using chronic treatment, with special emphasis being placed on antihypertensives. From a review of pharmacist-led interventions to increase adherence to treatment, it was impossible to identify an overall successful adherence-improving strategy. The Medication Event Monitoring System as an intervention by community pharmacists among non-adherent patients with hypertension was associated with a non-significantly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure after 3 months. Generic substitution of antihypertensive drugs in daily practice does not lead to lower adherence, or to more non-persistence and cardiovascular disease related hospitalizations.


This paper looks at new articulations of the subject found in documentary films about the Indignado or 15-M (15 May) movement and the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011. These movements rejected representation in favor of a call for direct democracy on a political level. The paper suggests that their rejection had significant implications for documentary film, forcing makers to embrace new routes to portraying thought and action in a collective context.
 The paper uses the work of theorists of affect including Franco Berardi and Brian Massumi, as well as of political theorists and social scientists including Jodi Dean and Zeynap Tufekci to suggest that the groups that rose up in the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2008 were reacting specifically to a rise of an attention economy, an economic system that depends on the exploitation of the "immaterial labor" of human affect and attention to extract profit.
 The paper shows how the film Tres Instantes, Un Grito (Three Moments, One Cry, 2013) by Chilean-Spanish filmmaker Cecilia Barriga uses various strategies to avoid typical narrative approaches to character identification and development, and focuses instead on the shared space of discussion where a collective understanding is produced, and demonstrates how this strategy is appropriate for the depiction of a self-organizing movement. Other films emerging from the Occupy Wall Street and 15-M movements are analyzed to show how approaches using filmic rhythm and bodily entrainment give a sense of how these movements create new affective protocols for shared political action.
 I suggest finally that affective logics deployed in these films offer a way of understanding how films, specifically political documentaries, function beyond representation per se to help open a new kind of shared political space.


Stig Welinder 2014. Ethnicity, migration and materiality. Forest Finn archaeology During the early 17th century, Finns migrated within the Swedish kingdom from interior Finland to virgin spruce forest areas in Sweden. There they settled in finnmarker , areas with Finnish-speaking households conducting large-scale swidden cultivation, huuhta in Fin n ish. Eventually they were called Forest Finns. Their farms were centered around a rökstuga , a living-house with a stone-oven without a chimney. Four Forest Finn farms have been excavated. The article discusses how the Finnish households were integrated in the local and regional market economy, thus acquiring the same kind of things also used by their Swedish neighbours, including status and prestige objects, e.g. display ceramics and window glass panes. At the same time, they continued to live in their traditional rökstugor , which owing to different space, light and warmth compared to a Swedish cottage with an open fireplace, conditioned other relations between the individuals of the households. The process of change, Swedification, of the Forest Finns was not unilinear. Ethnicity is the social process of meeting between two or more groups of people forming 'us-and-them'-relations. The early-modern Forest Finns is an example of complex change as concerns materiality involved in ethnicity, in this case triggered by the meeting of 'the others' as a result of migration.


This paper is intended to serve as an introduction to the POWADIMA research project, whose objective was to determine the feasibility and efficacy of introducing real-time, near-optimal control for water-distribution networks. With that in mind, its contents include the current state-of-the-art and some of the difficulties that would need to be addressed if the goal of near-optimal control was to be achieved. Subsequently, the approach adopted is outlined, together with the reasons for the choice. Since it would be somewhat impractical to use a conventional hydraulic simulation model for real-time, near-optimal control, the methodology includes replicating the model by an artificial neural network which, computationally, is far more efficient. Thereafter, the latter is embedded in a dynamic genetic algorithm, designed specifically for real-time use. In this way, the near-optimal control settings to meet the current demands and minimize the overall pumping costs up to the operating horizon can be derived. The programme of work undertaken in achieving this end is then described. By way of conclusion, the potential benefits arising from implementing the control system developed are briefly reviewed, as are the possibilities of using the same approach for other application areas.


present in 2 cases (cerebellar hypoplasia or cerebellar malformations, major heart defects, omphalocele, limb anomalies), and in 1 case no associated anomalies were found. In 2 cases NT measure was normal and fetal malformations were found by US after the 12th week (see table for details). Conclusions: NT was the US marker showing the best sensibility for suspecting trisomy 18 since an abnormally high value was found in 8 out of 10 cases. However, in the 2 cases with normal values of NT morphological abnormalities were found by US only after the first trimester of pregnancy. Patients should be informed of this during the first trimester genetic counselling.


Waste Disposal Incorporated (WDI) became a major player in both the domestic and international trash collection industries during the late 1990s by aggressively acquiring a large number of local haulers. The company also diversified into recycling, water treatment, energy, power, and lawn care. This rapid expansion initially resulted in substantial profits and a skyrocketing stock price for WDI. The financial market's desire for continued growth put intense pressure on the company to meet higher profit expectations. Increased government regulation of the waste industry and growing competition from smaller garbage haulers hindered WDI's ability to meet those expectations. When extensive cost‐cutting measures failed to achieve their desired results, WDI's management turned to other strategies to keep the company at the top of the industry. In this case, you will follow Jane Sweeny, an audit manager employed by Alfred Peterson LLP, as she completes her duties as manager of the WDI 1999 year‐end audit. Includ...


The present paper describes a practical solution of e-learning laboratory devoted to the study of computer networks. This laboratory has been proven with two groups of students from the University of Huelva (Spain) during two academic years. In order to achieve this objective, it has been necessary to create an entire network infrastructure that includes both the telematic access to the laboratory equipment and the remote power control. The interest of this work lies in an economical and simple system of remote control and telematic access with a twofold objective. On the one hand, to develop distance practices with attendance appearance by means of real hardware systems, not simulated. On the other hand, to reduce the power consumption regarding other proposals of remote labs with permanent power connection, providing herein an on demand connection only when required. As a result, a versatile and flexible laboratory has been put into practice whose basic network topology allows transferring traditional practices to telematic practices in a natural way and without harsh changes


*These authors contributed equally to this work Abstract: Psoriasis is a chronic immune-mediated skin disease affecting multiple systems, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) plays a significant role in the initiation and progression of the disease process. Psoriasis has a high prevalence rate in the Western world, especially in the USA and Australia; in China, although the prevalence rate is much lower, there is still a large number of patients suffering from psoriasis and its comorbidities. As TNF-α is thought to be crucial in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, specific therapy blocking TNF-α may be beneficial in the treatment of this disease. Infliximab, a murine–human monoclonal antibody, is highly efficacious in the treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis, with better skin clearance and faster onset of action than topical medications such as methotrexate, narrow-band ultraviolet B, and calcipotriol. Lack of adherence to infliximab therapy is mainly due to loss of response (LOR) over time and adverse events, particularly because infusion reactions are usually encountered. Anti-infliximab antibody is thought to be responsible for the LOR and infusion reactions. However, the mechanism underlying the formation of anti-infliximab antibody and its side effects remains unclear. Further studies identifying patients at risk for LOR will probably help clinicians to select the right patients for anti-TNFα therapy and to increase the durability of the treatment. This review discusses the efficacy of infliximab as demonstrated by various clinical trials, LOR to infliximab, combatting LOR, as well as the adverse events usually faced during the use of infliximab therapy and the infliximab biosimilar Remsima. We hope that we can discover a better way to use infliximab in the therapy of psoriasis from the current research data.


Abstract
 Gill diseases are a growing health challenge in salmon farming worldwide, but many gaps remain in our knowledge. Gill diseases are generally complex and multifactorial disorders, often with presumable spatial and temporal distribution patterns, but are highly difficult to effectively prevent and control. The term complex gill disease (CGD) includes a wide range of clinical disease presentations on the gills of farmed salmon; usually, CGD presents from the end of summer to early winter. The pathogens involved include Neoparamoeba perurans, Tenacibaculum maritimum, Candidatus Piscichlamydia salmonis, Candidatus Branchiomonas cysticola, Desmozoon lepeophtherii (syn. Paranucleospora theridion) and viruses, such as the Atlantic salmon paramyxovirus (ASPV) and salmon gill poxvirus (SGPV). Amoebic gill disease (AGD) is perhaps the most significant disease in terms of gill health and economic impact. AGD results in high mortality, reduced production performance and impaired fish welfare. This review summarizes and analyses CGD research, outbreaks and treatment, with a focus on AGD, as well as on knowledge gaps and avenues for future research.


Soft sensing technology is one of the topics of general interest in study on current process control, which has recently drawn considerable attention worldwide, and has stimulated researchers and engineers to make greater effort to reduce the cost/benefit-ratio for development and manufacture of bio-industrial processes both economically and environmentally. This paper introduced a kind of soft-sensor based on an improved support vector machine (SVM) for a polyacrylonitrile productive process. The improved SVM called the multiple kernel support vector machine was presented, and the mathematical formulation of multiple kernel learning is given. Through the implementation for average molecular weight in polyacrylonitrile productive process, it demonstrates the good performance of the proposed method compared to single kernel.


Abstract The study focuses on Equatorial Atlantic margins, and draws from seismic, well, gravimetric and magnetic data combined with thermo-mechanical numerical modelling. Our data and numerical modelling indicates that early drift along strike-slip-originated margins is frequently characterized by up to 10°–20° spreading vector adjustments. In combination with the warm, thinned crust of the continental margin, these adjustments control localized transpression. Our observations indicate that early-drift margin slopes are too steep to hold sedimentary cover, which results in their inability to develop a moderately steep slope undergoing cycles of gravitational instability resulting in cyclic gravity gliding. These slopes either never develop such conditions or gain them at later development stages. Our modelling suggests that the continental margin undergoing strike-slip-controlled break-up experiences warming due to thinning along pull-apart basin systems. Pull-apart basins eventually develop sea-floor spreading ridges. Margins bounded by strike-slip faults located among pull-apart basins with these ridges first undergo cooling. However, spreading ridges leaving the break-up trace along its strike eventually pass by these cooling margins, warming them again before the final cooling proceeds. As a result, the structural highs surrounded by several source rock kitchens witness a sequential expulsion onset in different kitchens along the trajectory of spreading ridges. Supplementary material: Discussion of the methods used, chronostratigraphic results and strike-slip margin characteristics are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18518


Conventional time domain reflectometry (TDR) probes are comprised of two or three parallel metal rods. Other probes have been designed for water content profiling [Hook et al., 1992; Ferré et al., 1998b; Redman and DeRyck, 1994], surface water content measurement [White and Zegelin, 1992; Selker et al., 1993], or measurement in electrically conductive media. We use the numerical approach of Knight et al. [1997] to predict the responses of variants of these probes when surrounded by materials with different relative dielectric permittivities. These predictions are compared with published calibration curves and analytical solutions where available. Conventional rods are shown to be most sensitive to changes in the water content of the medium. The Hook et al. [1992] probe shows the highest sensitivity of the alternative designs; both surface probes can be used to measure the water content at the soil surface nonintrusively with similar sensitivities. All of the alternative probes have sensitivities that vary with the soil water content, leading to incorrect averaging of the water content if the water content varies along the probes. However, those probes that place nonmetallic components in series with the soil have more pronounced errors than those that place these materials and the soil more nearly in parallel.


Abstract Background and aims: Diabetes has a high prevalence in both pediatric as well as adult populations in present times. Dental caries represents also a very serious problem form the health point of view in all population. Our study wishes to emphasize the relation between diabetes and oral health status in pediatric patients, also inquiring upon their awareness of the link between the two. Material and method: 15 diabetic patients were compared with 15 non-diabetic matching patients. Results: The study concluded in showing the importance of a correct oral hygiene in all patients with emphasize in cases of diabetic patients. Conclusions: Awareness of the link between diabetes and oral health status should be promoted not only by dentists but also by their general medicine practitioner as well as diabetes specialists and nutrition specialist.


Recently, it has been established on multiple experimental data sets that human contact processes exhibit heavy-tailed inter-event distributions. This characteristic makes it difficult to transport data with a finite transfer time in a network of mobile devices, relying on opportunistic contacts only. Using various experimental data sets, we analyze how different types of communication infrastructure impact the feasibility of data transfers among mobile devices.The first striking result is that the heavy tailed nature of the contact processes persists after infrastructure is introduced. We establish experimentally that infrastructure improves significantly multiple opportunistic contact properties, relevant to opportunistic forwarding algorithms. We discuss how infrastructure can be used to design simpler and more efficient (in terms of delay and number of hops) opportunistic forwarding algorithms. In addition to this, for the first time in a study like this, the communication pattern of nodes is taken into account in the analysis. We also show that node pairs that have a real-life history of communication have contact properties that are better for opportunistic message forwarding to each other than what other node pairs have.


This article addresses the postwar film career (1948–1958) of Japanese actress Yamaguchi Yoshiko to suggest that understanding the star persona as 'diva' can uncover the affective value of star images for contemporary audiences. The diva persona is often typified by symbols and iconography that transform the actress into something non-human or transcendental. Many scholars and critics of Japanese film have struggled to put this transformative aspect of the female star persona into words, presenting the affective impact of the diva as inexplicable. Attempting to shed light on the affect of the diva persona in Japanese cinema, this article suggests that diva images are invested with particular affects that reflect and mediate national issues. Reading Yamaguchi's star persona in the context of the drastic socio-political change of the early postwar era reveals the expressive and mediative qualities of the diva image at work in the aftermath of Japanese defeat and occupation (1945–1952), and suggests that Yamaguchi's enduring popularity and political influence are based in the national implications of her diva performances.


Arizona was the first state in the US to pass a state clean indoor air law (in 1973) and has a long tradition of grass roots nonsmokers' rights activity. 38 localities in Arizona have passed tobacco control ordinances dealing with clean indoor air (Flagstaff, Mesa, Tucson, among others) and youth access to tobacco products (Tucson, Scottsdale, Somerton, among others). In 1994, Arizona voters passed Proposition 200, which increased the tobacco tax by 40 cents per pack of cigarettes and allocated 23% of the revenues for tobacco control activities, yielding more than $27 million a year for anti-tobacco efforts. It was the third state to do so. The tobacco industry, working through Governor Symington and allies in the Legislature, has successfully limited the scope of the tobacco control program to youth and pregnant women. This limitation will probably limit program effectiveness. Although the coalition of health groups that enacted Proposition 200 has prevented funds from being diverted to non-tobacco uses, it failed to force the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) to develop a comprehensive tobacco control program. Arizona tobacco control advocates have made great progress at the local level, not only in passing local tobacco control ordinances, but also in defeating tobacco industry efforts to overturn these ordinances. The campaign finance and lobbying disclosure laws in Arizona are so weak that it is not possible to quantify the exact amount of money the tobacco industry is spending to influence policy making in that state, it is clear that the tobacco industry has intensified its lobbying efforts in the Legislature. The tobacco industry has focused national resources on Arizona through organizations such as the National Smokers' Alliance in unsuccessful attempts to stop or overturn local tobacco control ordinances. Despite tobacco industry claims to the contrary, local tobacco control ordinances mandating smokefree restaurants and bars have not affected revenues in those businesses.


The Grunberg & Nissian equation with one parameter is widely recommended in the viscosity calculation. However, it is demonstrated that this equation fails to generate satisfactory results for size-asymmetric mixtures containing large and small molecules. In this work, a new one parameter viscosity model for binary mixtures has been developed on the basis of Eyring's absolute reaction rate theory and the Flory-Huggins equation. The concept of molecular surface fraction is introduced for modeling liquid mixture viscosities. The viscosity calculations of the new equation are compared with the Grunberg & Nissian equation for a broad range of chemical mixtures including 527 binary systems (containing 63 binary ionic liquid cosolvent systems) and total 17,268 viscosity points. The new equation was found to have an improved performance over the frequently employed Grunberg & Nissian equation, especially for size-asymmetric mixtures containing large and small molecules. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 57: 517–524, 2011


Background Diagnostic errors can occur, in infectious diseases, when anti-microbial immune responses involve several temporal scales. When responses span from nanosecond to week and larger temporal scales, any pre-selected temporal scale is likely to miss some (faster or slower) responses. Hoping to prevent diagnostic errors, a pilot study was conducted to evaluate a four-dimensional (4D) method that captures the complexity and dynamics of infectious diseases. Methods Leukocyte-microbial-temporal data were explored in canine and human (bacterial and/or viral) infections, with: (i) a non-structured approach, which measures leukocytes or microbes in isolation; and (ii) a structured method that assesses numerous combinations of interacting variables. Four alternatives of the structured method were tested: (i) a noise-reduction oriented version, which generates a single (one data point-wide) line of observations; (ii) a version that measures complex, three-dimensional (3D) data interactions; (iii) a non-numerical version that displays temporal data directionality (arrows that connect pairs of consecutive observations); and (iv) a full 4D (single line-, complexity-, directionality-based) version. Results In all studies, the non-structured approach revealed non-interpretable (ambiguous) data: observations numerically similar expressed different biological conditions, such as recovery and lack of recovery from infections. Ambiguity was also found when the data were structured as single lines. In contrast, two or more data subsets were distinguished and ambiguity was avoided when the data were structured as complex, 3D, single lines and, in addition, temporal data directionality was determined. The 4D method detected, even within one day, changes in immune profiles that occurred after antibiotics were prescribed. Conclusions Infectious disease data may be ambiguous. Four-dimensional methods may prevent ambiguity, providing earlier, in vivo, dynamic, complex, and personalized information that facilitates both diagnostics and selection or evaluation of anti-microbial therapies.


Introduction Despite a growing body of research on the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy, there is continued controversy given heterogeneity in the quality and design of published studies. Methods We screened ongoing studies in our sequential, prospective meta-analysis. We pooled individual participant data to estimate the absolute and relative risk (RR) of adverse outcomes among pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection, compared with confirmed negative pregnancies. We evaluated the risk of bias using a modified Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Results We screened 137 studies and included 12 studies in 12 countries involving 13 136 pregnant women. Pregnant women with SARS-CoV-2 infection—as compared with uninfected pregnant women—were at significantly increased risk of maternal mortality (10 studies; n=1490; RR 7.68, 95% CI 1.70 to 34.61); admission to intensive care unit (8 studies; n=6660; RR 3.81, 95% CI 2.03 to 7.17); receiving mechanical ventilation (7 studies; n=4887; RR 15.23, 95% CI 4.32 to 53.71); receiving any critical care (7 studies; n=4735; RR 5.48, 95% CI 2.57 to 11.72); and being diagnosed with pneumonia (6 studies; n=4573; RR 23.46, 95% CI 3.03 to 181.39) and thromboembolic disease (8 studies; n=5146; RR 5.50, 95% CI 1.12 to 27.12). Neonates born to women with SARS-CoV-2 infection were more likely to be admitted to a neonatal care unit after birth (7 studies; n=7637; RR 1.86, 95% CI 1.12 to 3.08); be born preterm (7 studies; n=6233; RR 1.71, 95% CI 1.28 to 2.29) or moderately preterm (7 studies; n=6071; RR 2.92, 95% CI 1.88 to 4.54); and to be born low birth weight (12 studies; n=11 930; RR 1.19, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.40). Infection was not linked to stillbirth. Studies were generally at low or moderate risk of bias. Conclusions This analysis indicates that SARS-CoV-2 infection at any time during pregnancy increases the risk of maternal death, severe maternal morbidities and neonatal morbidity, but not stillbirth or intrauterine growth restriction. As more data become available, we will update these findings per the published protocol.


Aim: This study explores experiences of patients suffering from Korsakoff's syndrome. It contributes to improved reflection on the value of patient knowledge. Background: An ethics of care perspective states the importance of moving to patients in their vulnerable state of being, and to figure out patients' individual needs necessary to provide good care. The information given by patients suffering from Korsakoff's syndrome might be mistaken, invented and even not true. The value of these patients' experiences and knowledge had not been researched to date. Method: Data from six in-depth interviews were analysed concurrently through the constant comparative method. Ethical considerations: The principles of voluntariness, confidentiality and anonymity were respected during the research process. Findings: Four important themes within patients' knowledge emerged: health condition, involuntary admission into the nursing home, the daily routine and interpretation of the caring abilities of healthcare professionals. The findings show that our respondents were able to provide a window into their inner perspective. Conclusion: This study deepens our understanding of the value of patient knowledge in situations where patients see the world in a different manner as do healthcare professionals. The conversations revealed personal subjective knowledge which our respondents create and live by. Healthcare professionals are encouraged to discover and affirm the understandings of these patients, and not be prepossessed due to the diagnosis or general nursing home rules. Understanding patients' unique knowledge through appreciation of the complexity and richness of different views on the situation can assist to give a more humane response to individual needs and pain. Health staff in healthcare institutions are encouraged to evaluate the – unintended – effect of rigidly applied nursing home rules, and the government is challenged to rethink its policy about care, and provide more resources permitting relational care that nurtures the dignity of patients suffering from Korsakoff's syndrome.


Coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the Grenfell tragedy, local artistic practitioners Oliver M. Gingrich, of media art platform ART IN FLUX, and artist researcher Sara Choudhrey, curated a series of workshops and events as part of the project AYAH – Sign. Significantly, the project places collaboration at all stages of its conception, implementation, and its outcome. Members of the local community and the wider general public were invited to explore new forms of artistic practice with a focus on Islamic pattern-making. These practice-based community-focused activities contributed towards a collaborative digital artwork, publicly displayed as a site-specific installation opposite the Grenfell Tower site. The participatory activity and artwork were designed to bring the community together in a time of need, to provide mutual support through joint creative engagement. Social connectedness, i.e. the experience of belonging, and relatedness between people (Van Bel et al 2009), is becoming an increasingly important concept in the discussion of social benefits of media including participatory art practices (Bennington et al. 2016). This paper reflects on the potential for art to bring communities together, to contribute to wellbeing and social-connectedness and providing a more inclusive experience for a range of community members. The project was conceived within the context of deeper research into participatory art and its potential to contribute to mental wellbeing, providing social cohesion for communities and acting as a creative support strategy in times of need. Collaborative art practices, such as AYAH - Sign, not only inspires further creativity among local residents through collaborative engagement, but also encourages community members to reconnect both physically and emotionally with one another.


Abstract A dichotomous-choice contingent-valuation survey was conducted in the State of Mississippi (USA) to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for three restoration options being considered for the state's barrier islands. Random-effects probit models were estimated, and parametric and non-parametric WTP estimates and confidence intervals were calculated. Turnbull lower-bound mean WTP was $22 per respondent to maintain the existing footprint over a 30-year period, $152 to restore 2,338 acres (pre- 1969 footprint), and $277 to restore 5,969 acres (pre-1900 footprint). Econometric results indicate that for the Pre-Camille and Pre-1900 options, coastal residents and those citing storm protection, recreation impact, and environmental impact as primary decision factors, were more likely to support restoration, with marginal effects of these greater for the Pre-Camille option. For the Status-Quo option, 75% of respondents voted in favor of restoration, and the offered bid was not significant; only the hurricane- protection and environmental-impact variables were significant for this option. JEL Classification Codes: H41, Q24, Q26, Q51, Q57


Elastic structure in cortical bone is usually simplified as orthotropic or transversely isotropic, which allows estimates of three‐dimensional technical constants from ultrasonic and density measurements. These elastic property estimates can then be used to study phenotypic changes in cortical bone structure and function, and to create finite element models of skeletal structures for studies of organismal variation and functional adaptation. This study examines assumptions of orthotropic or transversely isotropic material structure in cortical bone through the investigation of off‐axis ultrasonic velocities in the cortical plane in 10 samples each from a human femur, mandible and cranium. Longitudinal ultrasonic velocities were measured twice through each bone sample by rotating the perimeter of each sample in 1 ° angular intervals between two ultrasonic transducers. The data were fit to sine curves f(x) = (A × sin(x + B) + C) and the goodness of fit was examined. All the data from the femur fit closely with the ideal sine curve model, and all three coefficients were similar among specimens, indicating similar elastic properties, anisotropies and orientations of the axes of maximum stiffness. Off‐axis ultrasonic velocities in the mandible largely fit the sine curve model, although there were regional variations in the coefficients. Off‐axis ultrasonic velocities from the cranial vault conformed to the sine curve model in some regions but not in others, which shows an irregular and complex pattern. We hypothesize that these variations in ultrasonic velocities reflect variations in the underlying bulk microstructure of the cortical bone, especially in the three‐dimensional patterns of osteonal orientation and structure. Elastic property estimates made with ultrasonic techniques are likely valid in the femur and mandible; errors in estimates from cranial bone need to be evaluated regionally. Approximate orthotropic structure in bulk cortical bone specimens should be assessed if ultrasound is used to estimate three‐dimensional elastic properties.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the association of the left double-lumen endobronchial tube (DLT) and the inner diameter of the left main bronchus.

METHODS
Totally 100 adult patients who required intubation of a left-sided DLT during anesthesia for elective thoracic surgery were randomly enrolled in this study. All the participants underwent a preoperative chest CT scan by a spiral CT scanner. The diameters of the trachea and left main bronchus were measured with three-dimensional image reconstruction technique. All the measurements were performed using the electronic calipers of the spiral CT scanner and the left-sided DLT (Portex SIMS, USA) of the sizes 41Fr, 39Fr, 37Fr, and 35Fr were selected, being predicted according to the inner diameter of the left main bronchus. The placement of DLT was performed after anesthesia induction, and a DLT of a smaller size was selected if the bronchial end of the DLT failed to enter the left main bronchus after two attempts. The trachea and left main bronchus were examined for injury and other complications with postoperative fibreoptic bronchoscopy (FOB).

RESULTS
All the 100 patients were intubated with DLT of appropriate sizes and satisfactory lung isolation was achieved. Postoperative complications of the trachea and bronchus were observed in none of the patients with FOB examination. The appropriate size of DLT is correlated with the left main bronchial diameter (correlation coefficient r=0.7346).

CONCLUSION
Clinically, the size of DLT can be determined in accordance with the inner diameter of the left main bronchea.


Today's high school science teachers find themselves in a period of transition. For the past decade there have been calls for replacing a narrow focus on science education—the traditional courses in physics, chemistry, biology, and Earth and space science—with a broader curriculum on STEM (that is, the four allied fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). However, at present there are no guidelines on what that broader curriculum should include or how it should be designed, and the gulf that has separated science and mathematics seems as wide as ever, despite decades of efforts to bridge the two disciplines. Next Generation National Standards for Science Education are currently being written, but they will not be released until at least 2013. To meet the challenge this paper suggests that educators look to the Technology and Engineering Literacy Framework for the 2014 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) as a source of principles on which to start the process of remodeling the high school science curriculum to better prepare our students to enter the STEM world of the 21 st century.


Much of the excitement in social media analytics revolves around, a) capturing large-scale collections of naturally-occurring talk, b) repurposing them as data, and, c) finding ways to speak sociologically about them. Researchers have raised concerns over the use of social media data in research (for example, boyd and Crawford, 2012; Housley et al, 2014; Tinati et al, 2014), exploring the ontological and epistemological grounding of the emerging field. We contribute to this debate by drawing on Wittgensteinian philosophy to elucidate hitherto neglected aspects; namely that it is not just social scientists who are in the business of analysing social media, but users themselves. We explore how mainstream social media analytics research (1) overinflates the importance of sociological theories, concepts and methodologies (which do not typically feature in the accounts of social media users), (2) downplays the extent to which social media platforms already exhibit order prior to any sociological accounting of them, and, (3) thereby produces findings which explain social scientific perspectives rather than the phenomena themselves. We reformulate the ontological and epistemological basis of social media analytics research from a Wittgensteinian perspective concerned with what it makes sense to say about social media, as members of society and as researchers studying those members. Such a project aims to explore social media users' language as a practice embedded within the context of social life and online communication. This reflects the everyday use of language as an evolving toolkit for undertaking social interaction, pointing towards an alternative conception of social media analytics.


The vibration and acoustic emissions produced within facet joints of the lumbar spine, known as crepitus, can be a potential biomarker to identify decreased joint functioning and the site of low back pain. Using piezoelectric accelerometers and a silicone "phantom" mechanical model we sought to identify the site of crepitus. Past analyses of these data with human observers have been too time consuming for eventual practical clinical application, and a more expedient algorithmic method of analysis is preferable. In this study the signal filtering and processing functions of MATLAB were harnessed to filter aberrant noise as well as determine the location (level and left or right side) from which crepitus originated during induced crepitus events in the phantom model (n = 30). Development of this automated method refined the definition of facet joint crepitus. The automated method was found to be as reliable and valid as assessment by human observers, and took significantly less time (p = 0.009). Future studies will assess the reliability of the automated method to detect this phenomenon in humans.


The new millennium sees the largest cohort of young people in history entering its fertile years. Many of these people are too poor to pay the full cost of modern contraception, but the money available for subsidizing their needs is exceedingly limited. The AIDS pandemic is placing additional, unprecedented demand on already overstretched resources. Existing methods of contraception that are well established and off-patent can be produced in bulk at low cost, and will remain the backbone of future programmes. The use of misoprostol as an abortifacient is likely to spread rapidly. New methods must take into account the limitations of the health infrastructure in developing countries and the imperative of low cost. Given the constraints of money, skills and facilities, it is essential to set realistic priorities for future contraceptive research and development. It is suggested that the greatest needs are for a woman-controlled method of preventing HIV transmission and for a non-surgical method of female sterilization.


Study Design Intervertebral foraminal anatomy of L2-S1 was investigated by the anatomic dissection of 96 foraminal levels in 12 human cadaveric spines. Objectives The goal of this study was to determine the dimensions of th "safe zone" and a safe point of insertion in percutaneous intradiscal procedures and the largest safe working cannula diameter. Summary of Background Data Working cannulas are used in percutaneous lumbar procedures. The dimensions of the safe zone of insertion and determination of the optimal cannula size based on these measurements and point of insertion are unclear from the literature. Methods Safe zone dimensions from L2-L3 to L5-S1 were determined as were two cannula diameters, C1 and C2.C1 was the maximal cannula size that can be placed within the safe zone.C2 is the maximal size allowable when the point of insertion lies in the midline of the pedicle. Results The average triangular safe zone was 18.9 mm wide and 12.3 mm high; the hypotenuse measured 23.0 mm.The maximum C1 diameter ranged 5.0–10.0 mm. The corresponding safe point of insertion lay along the medial one third of the pedicle. The maximum C2 diameter ranged 4.0–8.9 mm. The corresponding safe point of insertion lay in the midline of the pedicle. Conclusions Either a 7.5-mm cannula placed in line with the medical one third of the pedicle or a 6.3-mm cannula located in the midline of the pedicle appears safe.


A steady-state method is described for measuring the permeability of soil in situ; it is applicable only to saturated soil below the water table. A pair of small wells, in one of which is placed a pump, forms a water circulating system. The pump depresses the level in one well and the pumped water, being passed through a flowmeter and emptied back into the second well, maintains a level in the latter higher than the static equilibrium level. The difference of levels in the wells is related to the rate of flow of water and to the soil permeability. In anisotropic media the method gives apparent horizontal permeability. The use of two pairs of wells, the planes containing the axes of each pair being suitably oriented, enables us to determine the permeabilities in the directions of the horizontal axes, of anisotropy. Combining our method with Kirkham's, which provides an estimate of apparent permeability which is dependent upon both horizontal and vertical permeabilities, we are able to calculate the axial permeabilities of triaxially anisotropic material.


Purpose of review Autograft root pathology is the most common adverse event late after the Ross operation. Therefore, characterization of prevalence, risk factors and natural history of root disease, as well as identification of preventive and therapeutic strategies, is warranted. Recent findings Autograft root pathology affects up to one third of long-term survivors of the Ross operation. Root replacement technique and preoperative aortic aneurysm are recurrent risk factors. Any age group, except for infants, may be affected. Dilatation is often progressive leading to valve regurgitation, true aneurysm, and, rarely, dissection. Primary prevention involves avoidance of root technique, graft repalcement of aneurysmal aorta, or modifications of the root technique. Use of β-receptor antagonist or angiotensin converting enzyme-inhibitors for secondary prevention is still empirical. Indications to resection of root aneurysm are based on maximum root area indexed to body height. Reintervention prior to appearance of relevant valve insufficiency increases likelihood of pulmonary valve preservation. Definition of functional outcome after autograft valve-sparing procedures needs longer follow-up. Summary Over a decade after worldwide embracement of the root replacement technique for the Ross procedure, autograft root pathology is emerging as a prevalent complication. Prophylactic and therapuetic strategies are proposed to mitigate the current and future impact of this phenomenon.


This study aims to make a deeper analysis of Upcountry Tamil Community intea estates in relation to the factors affecting recreation behavior of upcountry Tamilcommunity in tea estates. The objective is to identify the influence of age and gender(demographic factor) for recreation behavior of Upcountry Tamil Community in teaestates. Two hypotheses were formulated: (i) The age influence on recreation behaviorof Upcountry Tamil Tea Estates community; (UTTE) (ii) The gender influence onrecreation behavior of Upcountry Tamil Tea Estates community. The researcher usedprimary and secondary data for this study. 200 laborers were selected for the sample andthe researcher used cluster random sampling method as a sampling technique in thisstudy. The researcher used questionnaire and interview methods to collect data andhypotheses were tested by calculate correlation and skewness. Based on the findings,the researcher concluded that employee"s recreation behavior (individually andtogether) is negatively correlated with their age and gender. In addition, the researchermade recommendation to tea estates authority in related field. The government shouldprovide open spaces and recreational centers throughout the tea estates. Therefore, thegovernment should take steps to increase their income or release more time forrecreation. Key words: Recreation behavior, Demographic factor, Ethnic group


The response of Canola (Brassica napus Invigor 5030) to biochar amendments was tested to investigate the effects of biochar on soil nutrients and crop growth. Series of pot experiments in controlled environmental conditions and a field experiment conducted with different biochars amended with brown chernozem soil (1 and 2 t ha) in combination with N and P fertilizers. Parameters are tested include effects on germination and biomass yield, soil organic carbon, above ground nitrogen and phosphorus uptake and % recovery of applied N and P after harvesting. The crop yields were significantly increased in only a few cases with biochars, and only when in combination with fertilizer. Occasional negative effects were observed depending on biochar source. Soil amended with biochar showed increased nutrient uptake and fertilizer recovery in some cases. Liming and soil organic carbon effects were likely limited by low rates utilized.


BACKGROUND
The clinical role of sputum Gram stain (SGS) in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) diagnosis remains controversial. A 1996 meta-analysis of the diagnostic accuracy of SGS reported heterogeneous results. To update the available evidence, we performed a systematic review and a Bayesian standard and latent-class model meta-analysis.

METHODS
We searched MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Central by August 23, 2018 to identify studies reporting on the diagnostic accuracy, yield (percentage of patients with any pathogen(s) correctly identified by SGS), and clinical outcomes of SGS in adult patients with CAP. Two reviewers extracted the data. We quantitatively synthesized the diagnostic accuracy and yield, and descriptively analyzed other outcomes.

RESULTS
Twenty-four studies with 4,533 patients were included. The methodological and reporting quality of the included studies was limited. When good-quality sputum specimens were selected, SGS had a summary sensitivity of 0.69 (95% credible intervals [CrI], 0.56-0.80) and specificity of 0.91 (CrI, 0.83-0.96) for detecting Streptococcus pneumoniae, and a sensitivity of 0.76 (CrI, 0.60-0.87) and specificity of 0.97 (CrI, 0.91-0.99) for Haemophilus influenzae. Adjusted analyses accounting for imperfect reference standards provided higher specificity estimates than the unadjusted analyses. Bacterial pathogens were identified in 73% (CrI, 26-96%) of good-quality specimens, and 36% (CrI, 22-53%) of all specimens regardless of quality. Evidence on other bacteria was sparse.

CONCLUSIONS
SGS was highly specific to diagnose S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae infections in patients with CAP. With good-quality specimens, SGS can provide clinically actionable information for pathogen-directed antibiotic therapies.


The purpose of this study was to examine sport commitment among collegiate track and field athletes in order to determine what factors influence continued participation throughout an entire college career. A survey was administered to 431 track and field athletes across each of the three NCAA divisions. The survey included a modified version of the Athletes' Opinion Survey based on the Sport Commitment Model (Scanlan et al., 1993), which measures the relationship between sport commitment, sport enjoyment, personal investments, social constraints, social support, involvement alternatives and involvement opportunities. Additionally, the survey included a modified version of the Exercise Commitment Scale (Wilson et al., 2004), measuring commitment in terms of attraction-based commitment versus entrapment-based commitment. Regression results revealed that enjoyment was the strongest predictor for sport commitment among the overall collegiate track and field population. Results also revealed satisfaction as the stronger predictor of attraction-based commitment, followed by involvement opportunities. Involvement alternatives, however, proved to have the strongest negative impact on attraction-based commitment. Findings from this study provide essential information to athletic programs and coaches aiming to both recruit and retain athletes for a full four years.


Pinney's essay explores, in the context of both colonized and contemporary India, Ariella Azoulay's argument about the prophetic nature of photographic citizenship. The use of photographs in a number of key Indian National Congress reports reveals the destabilizing potential of the camera. This photographic counter-narrative presents a challenge to certain Althusserian and Foucauldian accounts for which the state is ultimately the arbiter of "evidence." As Pinney shows, political claims could be advanced in the space of photography that were disallowed in everyday life. This possibility was predicated on smaller and faster apparatuses, that is, a changing technics of media. However, in contemporary India an increasingly miniaturized technics is provoking widespread anxieties about the public visibility of what was formerly private and intimate. The changing form of photographic technics thus drives a social narrative that transforms the camera as a utopian tool of liberation into a dystopian means of transgression.


The brain, rather than integrate sensory inputs and concentrate them into concepts as currently believed, appears to increase the complexity from the perceived object to the idea of it. Topological models predict indeed an increase in dimensions and symmetries from the environment to the higher activities of the brain. Models predict that informational entropy in the primary sensory areas must be lower than in the higher associative ones. In order to demonstrate the novel hypothesis, we introduce a method for the measurement of information in fMRI neuroimages, i.e., nucleus clustering's Rényi entropy derived from strong proximities in feature-based Voronoï tessellations, e.g., maximal nucleus clustering. The technique facilitates the objective detection of entropy/information in zones of fMRI images generally not taken into account. We found that the Rényi entropy is higher in associative cortices than in the visual primary ones. It suggests that the brain lies in higher dimensions than the environment and that it does not concentrate, but rather dilutes the message coming from external inputs.


In the above-titled paper (see ibid., vol.CAS-34, p.1590-9, 1987) a method for calculating the capacitance ratio constraint for optimal dynamic range is developed. The authors point out that the mathematical derivation of the capacitance ratio constraint for optimal dynamic range is a formidable task. They employ a set of simplifications, which leads to results that are only applicable for special filter types and parameters. The commenters report that if the derivation is carried out, results that are valid for the general case are obtained after some pages of algebra. They give the solutions and demonstrate the usefulness of their general analysis by means of an example, the E-filter, from the paper. >


Describes the use of neural networks to model the inverse kinematics of robot manipulators, including a redundant manipulator The use of multiple cooperating networks for the overall modeling of inverse kinematics was explored. A variety of network architectures was used, and their performance was compared. Neural networks were also used to train robots in specified obstacle-avoidance trajectories.


During the last hundred years, the original low technology agriculture of rural Norway has developed into highly specialized commercial farming. This transformation has been vividly discussed both by historians and ethnologists. A main theme in the debate has been as to which degree new technology and integration of agriculture in market economy have brought about a dissolution of the traditional peasant culture. In the present study of women's work on farms in Central Norway, it is argued that although the material structures of the farms have been subject to important transformations, essential structures such as the sexual devision oflabour and the ideas constituting the peasant ideal of femininity, hardly changed before the 1960's.


Competitive services are necessary for attaining inclusive and sustainable growth. Although the Philippines has notably succeeded in developing several globally competitive services, inefficiencies that affect various economic sectors and the economy as a whole still persist. Thus, it is important to sustain the progress achieved and to address the poor performance especially of the services essential to the growth of the agriculture and manufacturing sectors. This paper presents elements of a comprehensive strategy for efficient competitive services using Porter's diamond of national advantage, which emphasizes the proper role of government in creating an environment for continuous upgrading and innovation.


Multinational Corporations (MNCs) commence expansion worldwide and adopt local adaptation or global standardization marketing strategies in foreign countries. This thesis is to study whether there is any relationship between the subsidiaries' marketing strategies and headquarters' (HQ) monitoring mechanism, focusing on the China. How adaptation/standardization strategy affects the entire firm, how monitoring mechanism influences the relationship between subsidiary and HQ have been paid increasing attention to, but the connection between marketing adaptation/ standardization and HQ monitoring mechanism is barely discussed, especially in real-life cases. Therefore, two comparison cases (Volvo and Ford in China) with different marketing strategies are analyzed. This research is conducted through subsidiaries' perceptions on HQ monitoring and local marketing strategies. The result shows that their HQs monitoring intensity are very close. However, according to our result, their monitoring form is not completely same, one meets the characteristics of both 'Bureaucratic monitoring' and 'Cultural monitoring' while the other one is merely 'Bureaucratic monitoring'. Additionally, the thesis also casts lights on managers' real attitudes towards the HQ monitoring mechanism and local marketing strategy through in-depth interviews.


The conditions for cooperative interactions between nonresponder B10.S B cells and GAT-primed irradiated (C57BL/6 x SJL)F1 T cells in the response by cultures of mouse spleen cells to GAT were investigated. GAT-specific antibody responses could be elicited by soluble GAT in cultures of GAT-primed irradiated (C57BL/6 x SJL)F1 T cells with C57BL/6 B cells but not with B10.S B cells. In contrast, when GAT was presented to the cultures on F1 macrophages or as aggregates of GAT with MBSA, GAT-specific PFC responses were observed with both B10.S or C57BL/6 B cells. Irradiated GAT-primed T cells were nevertheless essential for the development of these responses. The GAT-specific response of B10.S B cells in these cultures was inhibited by the addition of soluble GAT at culture initiation. These results indicate that genetic disparity at Ir loci is not an absolute barrier to T-B-cell cooperative interactions in the response to antigens under Ir gene control. The significance of these data for the function of Ir gene products in immunocompetent cells is discussed.