Many scientific domains use computer simulations as investigative tools (Winsberg 2010). This use presupposes that analysing the results of a simulation can directly or indirectly tell us something about the system represented by that simulation. But what, if anything, validates the inferences drawn from computer simulations? This question can be approached from an applied perspective — that is, how to build an actual simulation that is valid for a specific question under investigation. First, there is the matter of how scientists interact with the simulation outputs: are they treated just like a traditional experiment, are they more akin to a thought experiment or something else entirely? I sustain that understanding simulations as a tool for the construction of thought experiments can explain how simulations can be scientifically relevant even though their design and programming determines their outputs. From that understanding of computer simulations, I then explore how models of data, which Patrick Suppes originally introduced to describe the clash between theories and experimental data (Giere 1999, 54), can help describe the comparison between the outputs of a simulation and the current scientific understanding of its target. By considering those two aspects, we can obtain an image of computer simulations that reflects how those objects are deployed in scientific practice.


Objectives This study aims to investigate the effectivity of cement combined demineralized bone matrix (DBM) treatment on new bone formation in the cortical window as well as to evaluate the effect of new bone formation on functional outcomes. Patients and methods Thirty-two benign bone tumor patients (15 males, 17 females; median age 38 years; range, 12 to 68 years), who were treated with cement combined DBM between February 2010 and December 2014, were evaluated retrospectively. Patient characteristics were recorded as age, gender, tumor localization, histological diagnosis, Enneking stage, tumor size, size of the cortical window, usage of prophylactic fixation, time to return to work, Musculoskeletal Tumor Society (MSTS) functional score, tumor relapse, and new bone formation on the cortical window in the computed tomography scans after one year of surgery. Results Median tumor volume was 17.2 cm3 (range, 2.8 to 139.6 cm3), median area of the cortical window was 8.3 cm2 (range, 1.6 to 28.4 cm2), and median postoperative one-year MSTS score was 84.5 (range, 66 to 97). MSTS scores were significantly worse with the usage of prophylactic fixation (p<0.001). There was a statistically significant difference between the usage of prophylactic fixation and cortical window size (p=0.013). There was a low-level negative correlation in terms of age and bone formation on the cortical window (p=0.046, r= -0.356) and mid-level negative correlation between cortical window size and functional scores (p=0.001, r= -0.577). Conclusion Application of cement combined with DBM procedure is an effective, alternative, and biological treatment in bone tumors that provides immediate stability and stimulates new bone formation on the cortical window.


RNA pseudoknots play a critical role in RNA-related biology from the assembly of ribosome to the regulation of viral gene expression. A predictive model for pseudoknot structure and stability is essential for understanding and designing RNA structure and function. A previous statistical mechanical theory allows us to treat canonical H-type RNA pseudoknots that contain no intervening loop between the helices (see S. Cao and S.J. Chen [2006] in Nucleic Acids Research, Vol. 34; pp. 2634-2652). Biologically significant RNA pseudoknots often contain interhelix loops. Predicting the structure and stability for such more-general pseudoknots remains an unsolved problem. In the present study, we develop a predictive model for pseudoknots with interhelix loops. The model gives conformational entropy, stability, and the free-energy landscape from RNA sequences. The main features of this new model are the computation of the conformational entropy and folding free-energy base on the complete conformational ensemble and rigorous treatment for the excluded volume effects. Extensive tests for the structural predictions show overall good accuracy with average sensitivity and specificity equal to 0.91 and 0.91, respectively. The theory developed here may be a solid starting point for first-principles modeling of more complex, larger RNAs.


The innervation within the organ of Corti of guinea pigs, chinchillas and rabbits was studied in the scanning electron microscope. Specimens were fixed, dissected, critical point dried and coated with gold. Final dissection of the specimens was done in the dry state in the planes of the former fluid spaces. The courses of the efferent and afferent nerve fibres are described. The efferent fibres reach the outer hair cells by crossing the tunnel space, run between the outer pillars and divide several times in the space of Nuel. The afferent fibres cross the floor of the tunnel and turn basalwards in the outer spiral bundles where they run for at least 0.5–0.8 mm before connecting with the outer hair cells. Small nerve endings on every fifth to tenth outer hair cell disappear after cutting the efferent nerves, thus indicating their efferent nature.


Media mining, the extraction of meaningful knowledge from multimedia content has become a major application and poses significant computational challenges in today's platforms. Media mining applications contain many sophisticated algorithms that include data-intensive analysis, classification, and learning. This paper explores the use of Graphics Processing Units (GPU) in media mining. We are particularly focused on large-scale semantic concept detection, a state-of-the-art approach that maps media content to hight-level semantic concepts, and a building block in many Media mining applications. We present a fast, parallel, large-scale, high-level semantic concept detector that leverages the GPU for image/video retrieval and content analysis. Through efficient data partitioning and movement, we parallelize feature extraction routines. By interleaving feature extraction routines of different types, we increase the computational intensity and mitigate the negative effects of histogram-like reduction operations. To cope with the very large number of semantic concepts, we propose a data layout of concept models on a multi-GPU hybrid architecture for high throughput semantic concept detection. We achieve one to two orders of magnitude speedups compared to serial implementations and our experiments show that we can detect 374 semantic concepts at a rate of over 100 frames/sec. This is over 100 times faster than a LibSVM-based semantic concept detection.


INTRODUCTION
The recommended technique of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in breast cancer is a combination of blue dye and radiotracer. In the Indian scenario, SLNB is still not routinely practiced due to lack of nuclear medicine facilities and unavailability of isosulfan blue or patent blue violet (PBV). This study was conducted for optimizing SLN identification techniques by comparing the identification rate using PBV and methylene blue (MB) in combination with radiotracer.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Single-blinded two-arm parallel design randomized control trial was conducted at an apex teaching and research medical institute in India. Patients with axillary LN-negative breast cancer were included. Blue dye and radio tracer were injected preoperatively, and SLNB was performed using a combination technique. Frozen section was performed. Demographic, clinical, radiological, operative, and histopathological data were recorded. Descriptive statistics were used to represent patient characteristics. Baseline characteristics for entire cohort and between groups were compared using Student's t-test for quantitative variables and Chi-square test for qualitative variables.

RESULTS
A total of 119 patients were randomized for mapping with MB and 118 patients with PBV between 2011 and 2015. SLN was identified in 116 patients with MB and 115 with PBV. SLN identification proportions were 97.4% (MB) and 96.6% (PBV). In patients undergoing axillary lymph node dissection, concordance with SLNB was 98.5% and 96.61% in MB and PBV, respectively. False-negative proportion for MB was 2.56% and 7.69% for PBV, respectively. The cost of MB is about INR 15 per ~10-mL vial. The cost of PBV is approximately ~$91 per ampoule (equivalent to approximately INR 8190).

CONCLUSION
SLNB using MB can be recommended as the technique of choice in low-resource settings.


Content-based Publish / Subscribe communication paradigm offers a new approach to disseminate messages in the network, where the message content determines the recipients. Many applications used on AANETs, which are a subclass of VANETs, could be more efficient using this paradigm. Many Publish / Subscribe systems suitable for VANETs have been developed, however they are not efficient for some AANET applications. A promising approach is to build a Publish / Subscribe system over a cluster structure to reduce the control overhead and to offer a good scalability. However, the efficiency of this approach strongly depends on the performance of the clustering algorithm. The aim of this article is to propose a new clustering method, named CAPS, which will be the basis for a future content-based Publish / Subscribe system for AANETs. To validate our approach, a simulation model has been developed. Our algorithm has been compared to some other solutions in a modeled AANET context based on real air traffic traces. We show that CAPS gives better results than other solutions in terms of stability while maintaining at a low level the number of cluster groups.


The heart is a muscular organ situated in the center of the chest behind the sternum. It consists of four chambers: the two upper chambers are called the right and left atria, and the two lower chambers are called the right and left ventricles. The right atrium and ventricle together are often called the right heart, and the left atrium and left ventricle together functionally form the left heart.[1][2][3][4]


On 29th April 2008, Senator Penny Wong outlined details of Water for the Future; the Rudd Government's $12.9 billion plan to secure the long term water supply of all Australians. Funding under Water for the Future will be used to support significant water reform across the country. In order to formulate strategies to achieve the objectives of the Plan, decision makers will require information related to the relative profitability of different irrigation activities, such as production costs and returns, as well as the potential irrigator response to and impacts of reductions in water availability or changes to water policy more generally. The aim of this paper is to highlight the potential for unexpected outcomes to arise from policies which are formulated in a world of information asymmetry. The heterogeneity of irrigation sectors and indeed individual irrigators within these sectors mean that actual impacts or responses will vary significantly between sectors/individuals. Hence while governments may try to predict the potential consequences/impacts of changes to water policy, the resulting outcomes may be far from what was intended.


Atoms or ions prepared in traps for applications in quantum information processing (QIP) often become addressed by radiation within schemes of alternating microwave-optical double resonance. QIP requires thorough assessment of decoherence. A well-defined amount of decoherence may be applied to the system when spurious resonance light is admitted simultaneously with the driving radiation. This decoherence is quantified in terms of longitudinal and transversal relaxation. It may serve for calibrating observed decoherence as well as for testing error-correcting quantum codes.


A new test platform for plasma assisted MILD combustion is developed. The burner consists of three coaxial channels: a center fuel jet, a coflowing dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor, and a vitiated air section. The preheating burner upstream of the vitiated air section enables an increase of the oxidizer temperature up to 1300 K near the exit of the fuel jet nozzle. A nanosecond repetitively pulsed (NRP) DBD is formed surrounding the exit of the fuel jet nozzle, and the effect of the plasma discharge on the MILD combustion regime is investigated in a highly diluted CH4/air mixture. We successfully observe an extension of the MILD combustion regime by applying the plasma discharge at a significantly low preheating temperature of 1050 K. The changes of flame shapes and species distributions with/without plasma discharge are also investigated. A gas chromatography system is used to evaluate the effect of the plasma discharge on the species distribution after the plasma reactor section. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are also carried out to understand and gain an insight into the mixing layer interactions with and without the plasma. Based on the species profile data and supported by the CFD simulations, we find that the reforming of a portion of the methane/air mixture at the exit of the fuel jet into intermediate species can have a significant impact on the ignition time scale. In addition, flow perturbations owing to the large density gradient induced by prompt gas heating in the plasma has a significant impact on the mixing process in the fuel jet. Thus, we demonstrate the potential of the newly developed experimental apparatus to advance our understanding of plasma assisted MILD combustion.


Present study was undertaken for assessing nutritional composition and developing different value added products from Chinese ber ( Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) growing in Northern hill regions of India. Fresh fruits and processed products were analyzed for various physico-chemical, nutritional, and sensory characteristics. Fresh fruits contained 76.15-80.50 % moisture, 8.50-9.60 o B total soluble solids, 0.30-0.44 % acidity (as malic acid), and 6.80-7.20 % total sugar contents. The fruits were found to be rich in ascorbic acid (88.25-98.0 mg/100 g) and phenolic compounds (350.32-425.50 mg/100 g). Among processed products, candied ber contained highest total solids (89.10 %) compared to other products. Titratable acidity was maximum (2.15 %) in pickle and minimum (0.82 %) was in osmotically dried  ber . Both osmotically dried and preserve ber had maximum ascorbic acid (30.15-32.50 mg/100 g). Organoleptic properties showed good score for all the products. However, highest score for taste (8.46) and flavor (8.20) was obtained by osmotically dehydrated ber and it was rated 'liked very much ' by the panelists compared to other products.


Spectropolarimetry is a powerful technique for remote sensing of the environment. It enables the retrieval of particle shape and size distributions in air and water to an extent that traditional spectroscopy cannot. SPEX is an instrument concept for spectropolarimetry through spectral modulation, providing snapshot, and hence accurate, hyperspectral intensity and degree and angle of linear polarization. Successful SPEX instruments have included groundSPEX and SPEX airborne, which both measure aerosol optical thickness with high precision, and soon SPEXone, which will fly on PACE. Here, we present a low-cost variant for consumer cameras, iSPEX 2, with universal smartphone support. Smartphones enable citizen science measurements which are significantly more scaleable, in space and time, than professional instruments. Universal smartphone support is achieved through a modular hardware design and SPECTACLE data processing. iSPEX 2 will be manufactured through injection molding and 3D printing. A smartphone app for data acquisition and processing is in active development. Production, calibration, and validation will commence in the summer of 2020. Scientific applications will include citizen science measurements of aerosol optical thickness and surface water reflectance, as well as low-cost laboratory and portable spectroscopy.


Abstract: This research turns e-government policy into practice in two ways, firstly to distil the lessons from existing evidence and experience about e-government implementation of policies and secondly by assessing the quality of the evidence, gaps in the existing research, and ways that research findings can support the implementation process in Pakistan. The main question, therefore, is how far national policy aspirations translate into actions, which are meaningful, tangible and measurable at a local level. This means the consistency of the goals at all levels remain the same i.e., macro and micro levels. This study identifies critical factors that determine the faith of policy implementation in Pakistan. The proposed model, which is based on these critical factors, is validate by analyzing different hypothesizes using empirical analysis i.e., quantitative and qualitative. This study provides a fair idea about intrinsic and extrinsic behavior of these critical success factors towards e-government policy implementation concerning Pakistan. This study also facilities successful e-government implementation in Pakistan by setting direction and guidelines for all implementation stakeholders.


BACKGROUND
Dietary intake of linolenic acid is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality. However, it is unknown whether linolenic acid is associated with a lower risk of carotid atherosclerosis.

OBJECTIVE
The objective was to examine the association between dietary linolenic acid and the presence of atherosclerotic plaques and the intima-media thickness of the carotid arteries.

DESIGN
In a cross-sectional design, we studied 1575 white participants of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Family Heart Study who were free of coronary artery disease, stroke, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. High-resolution ultrasound was used to assess intima-media thickness and the presence of carotid plaques beginning 1 cm below to 1 cm above the carotid bulb. We used logistic regression and a generalized linear model for the analyses.

RESULTS
From the lowest to the highest quartile of linolenic acid intake, the prevalence odds ratio (95% CI) of a carotid plaque was 1.0 (reference), 0.47 (0.30, 0.73), 0.38 (0.22, 0.66), and 0.49 (0.26, 0.94), respectively, in a model that adjusted for age, sex, energy intake, waist-to-hip ratio, education, field center, smoking, and the consumption of linoleic acid, saturated fat, fish, and vegetables. Linoleic acid, fish long-chain fatty acids, and fish consumption were not significantly related to carotid artery disease. Linolenic acid was inversely related to thickness of the internal and bifurcation segments of the carotid arteries but not to the common carotid artery.

CONCLUSION
Higher consumption of total linolenic acid is associated with a lower prevalence odds of carotid plaques and with lesser thickness of segment-specific carotid intima-media thickness.


Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine the bond strength of three different universal adhesives on enamel after different aging periods. Ninety enamel specimens were prepared and randomly assigned into three groups according to different universal adhesive systems (n = 30): iBOND Universal (IB), G-Premio Bond (GP), Clearfil Universal Bond Quick (CU). All adhesives were applied at etch&rinse mode. A cylinder-shaped resin composite was placed on enamel surfaces and light cured. Then all specimens were stored in distilled water at 37 °C for 24 h and divided into 3 thermal cycling protocol groups (n = 10): No thermal cycling (NTC), 10,000 thermal cycles (10TC), 40,000 thermal cycles (40TC). Specimens were subjected to shear bond strength (SBS) test at a universal testing machine. Failure modes were determined and SEM analyses were performed for each failure mode. Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey HSD test. The highest SBS values were observed at NTC groups. The 40TC groups showed significantly lower SBS values than other groups (p < 0.05). The highest mean SBS values were obtained in IB at NTC group (p < 0.05). After 10TC, all universal adhesives exhibited similar SBS values (p > 0.05), however after 40TC, CU showed higher SBS than GP. The mean shear bond strength to enamel was significantly affected by thermal cycling (p < 0.05). The enamel bond durability of universal adhesives dractically decreased after 10,000 and 40,000 thermal cycling periods. The universal adhesives tested showed different SBS values at NTC and after 40TC.


In Bilder fur den Pharao Shih-Wei HSU offers a thorough study of figurative expressions in ancient Egyptian texts from the Old Kingdom to the Ramesside Period, placing particular emphasis on royal inscriptions.


A single pole multi-throw RF switch has been developed based on a Rotman lens. The Rotman lens is used in reflection mode wherein a short circuited phase shifter network replaces the array port antennas. An input signal fed to a single beam port can, depending on the phase slope of the phase shifter network, be routed to any of the remaining beam ports. An unoptimised proof-of-concept 8-way switch based on a conventional Rotman lens design is demonstrated at 12 GHz.


The growth rates and carbon stocks of unthinned young and mature stands of broadleaved trees growing on abandoned farmland were determined to assess whether their management regimes should involve short (15year) or long (45year) rotations to maximize biomass production and reductions of CO2 emissions. Dry mass production and mean annual incre ment (MAI) were calculated for 28 young stands and 65 mature stands of European aspen (Populus tremula L.), common alder (Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.), grey alder (Alnus incana (L.) Moench.), silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) and downy birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh.) ranging in latitude from 57° to 63° N in Sweden. The potential for using biomass from the stands to replace coal as a fuel and to store carbon was then evaluated both in short and long rotation scenarios. The results indicate that long rotations are beneficial if the objective is to maximize the average carbon stock in biomass. If, on the other hand, the intention is to optimize reductions in atmospheric CO2 emissions, rotations should be short for aspen, silver birch and grey alder stands. For downy birch and common alder, the MAI was higher for the mature stands than the young stands, indicating that in these species the mature stands are superior for both storing carbon and replacing fossil fuel. Stands of broadleaved trees grown to produce biofuel on abandoned farmland should be established on fertile soils to promote high MAI. If the MAI is low, the rotation period should be long to maximize the average carbon stock.


Background: It is
estimated that 2240 males in the United States will develop invasive breast
cancer (BC) in 2013, resulting in 410 deaths. Overall, male breast cancers
(MBCs) are diagnosed with larger tumor size, more frequent lymphatic invasion,
and advanced tumor stage compared to their female counterparts. Several risk
factors have been elucidated for the development of MBC, and this paper aims to
critically review the existing literature on at-risk populations and provide
screening recommendations. Methods: A comprehensive search for all published
studies on populations at risk for MBC using PubMed, EBSCOhost, and Google
Scholar was performed (1982- 2013). The search focused specifically on genetic
and epidemiologic risk factors, and screening for MBC. Keywords searched
included "male breast cancer risk factors", "male breast cancer epidemiology",
and "male breast cancer genetics". A total of 34 studies involving 4,865,819
patients were identified. Results: Five studies (N = 327,667) focused primarily
on family history of breast cancer as a risk factor for MBC. 15% - 20% of men
with BC have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, and a family history
of BC among first-degree relatives confers a 2-to 3-fold increase in MBC risk
(odds ratio = 3.3). Seventeen studies (N = 5451) analyzed associations between
several heritable genes and MBC. Lifetime MBC risk among BRCA1 mutation
carriers is 1% - 5%, while MBC risk in BRCA2 mutation carriers is higher and
varies between 4% - 40%. Less clear associations between MBC and PALB2,
Androgen Receptor gene, CYP17, and CHEK2 mutations have also been documented.
Five studies (N = 16,667) have addressed occupational risk factors for MBC. An
8-fold increase in MBC is reported in males working in the cosmetic cream
manufacturing, and the motor vehicle industries. A meta-analysis of 18 trials
also identified electromagnetic field exposure as a potential MBC risk, though
causation remains undocumented. Eleven studies (N = 4,843,598) analyzed the
role of abnormalities in the androgen-to-estrogen ratio as a risk factor for
MBC. Conditions associated with increased MBC risk include Klinefelter's
syndrome (relative risk, RR = 29.64), obesity (RR = 1.98),
orchitis/epididymitis (RR = 1.84), and gynecomastia (RR = 5.86). Conclusion:
Routine screening for MBC should be considered in all high risk male
populations, including those with a prior history of breast carcinoma, a strong
family history of BC (defined as an affected mother or sister), a positive
BRCA2 mutation status (regardless of family history), and men diagnosed with
Klinefelter's syndrome, or those in the chemical or motor vehicle industries.
Genetic testing for BRCA2 should be recommended for all MBC patients. Increased
public and physician education on MBC is necessary to raise awareness about
this rare disease and the need for screening of at-risk populations.


This short note argues that cost-benefit analysis (CBA), a tool employed by professional economists to evaluate the welfare consequences of public policies, embodies a variety of failures to heed the warnings of famous classical liberal economists. CBA attributes characteristics of individuals to society, fails to adequately account for the "unseen" consequences of policy, wipes out the future with a social discount rate as if "in the long run we are all dead," and is an example of how the pursuit of mathematical logic can lead to failures of common sense. As a result of these problems, CBA offers a useful teaching device for students, demonstrating how even modern-day economists at the top of their profession continue to make basic errors pointed out by economists generations ago. CBA in this context is best thought of as a failure to learn from the past.


We suggest and investigate three possible displacive transformation paths between the ideal C11b, C40 and C54 structures in MoSi2, VSi2 and TiSi2 by calculating ab initio total energies along these paths. An estimate of transition temperatures based on the calculated energy barriers leads to values comparable with the melting temperatures of the disilicides studied. This confirms their high temperature stability and indicates that if a phase transformation between C11b, C40 and C54 structures of the disilicides takes place, then its prevailing mechanism should be diffusional rather than martensitic like. During the transformations studied, atoms come as close together as, for example, in configurations with interstitials. Hence, the present ab initio results can also help in fitting adjustable parameters of semi-empirical interatomic potentials for the transition-metal disilicides, in particular of the repulsion at short separations of atoms.


The influence of the plea bargaining system on innocent defendants is fiercely debated. Many scholars call for a ban on plea bargaining, arguing that the practice coerces innocent defendants to plead guilty. Proponents of plea bargaining respond that even an innocent defendant is better off when he choose to plea bargain in order to assure a lenient result, if he concludes that the risk of wrongful trial conviction is too high. They claim that since plea bargaining is only an option, it cannot harm the defendant whether he is guilty or innocent. This paper argues that the both supporters and opponents of plea bargaining overlook its most important effect on innocent defendants: its effect on prosecutorial screening. When plea bargaining is available, prosecutors can extract a guilty plea in nearly every case, including very weak cases, simply by adjusting the plea concession to the defendant's chances of acquittal at trial. When almost every case results in a plea of guilty, regardless of the strength of the evidence, prosecutors have much less interest in screening away weak cases. Since some cases are weak because the defendant is innocent, however, more innocent defendants are charged and as a result more are convicted. When the screening process is taken into account, there is no reason to believe that innocent defendants gain from plea bargaining. Yet, a total ban on plea bargaining is not the optimal response to the system's deficiencies - and not only because such a ban would be unsustainable in an overloaded criminal justice system. A better response would be a partial ban on plea bargaining, meaning a system that only prohibits plea bargains when the concession offered to the defendant in return for his guilty plea is large. With plea concessions restricted in such a way, defendants with relatively high chances of acquittal at trial would refuse to plea bargain. That way, prosecuting a weak case would usually result in a trial while a strong cases would be disposed through plea bargaining. Since prosecution resources do not allow for a high trial rate, prosecutors will be forced to refrain from bringing weak cases in order to direct scarce resources to stronger cases that can be settled. A partial ban therefore encourages prosecutors to refrain from bringing weak cases and reduces the risk of an innocent person being charged.


Abstract. The beach-ridge sequence of the Usumacinta–Grijalva delta borders a 300 km long section of the southern Gulf of Mexico coast. With around 500 beach ridges formed in the last 6500 years, the sequence is unsurpassed in the world in terms of numbers of individual ridges preserved, continuity of the record, and temporal resolution. We mapped and dated the most extensively accreted part of the sequence, linking six phases of accretion to river mouth reconfigurations and constraining their ages with 14C and OSL dating. The geomorphological and sedimentological reconstruction relied on lidar data, coring transects, GPR measurements, grain-size analyses, and chemical fingerprinting of volcanic glass and pumice encountered within the beach and dune deposits. We demonstrate that the beach-ridge complex was formed under ample long-term fluvial sediment supply and shorter-term wave- and aeolian-modulated sediment reworking. The abundance of fluvially supplied sand is explained by the presence of easily weatherable Los Chocoyos ignimbrites from the ca. 84 ka eruption of the Atitlan volcano (Guatemala) in the catchment of the Usumacinta River. Autocyclic processes seem responsible for the formation of ridge–swale couplets. Fluctuations in their periodicity (ranging from 6–19 years) are governed by progradation rate, and are therefore not indicative of sea level fluctuations or variability in storm activity. The fine sandy beach ridges are mainly swash built. Ridge elevation, however, is strongly influenced by aeolian accretion during the time the ridge is located next to the beach. Beach-ridge elevation is negatively correlated with progradation rate, which we relate to the variability in sediment supply to the coastal zone, reflecting decadal-scale precipitation changes within the river catchment. In the southern Mexican delta plain, the coastal beach ridges therefore appear to be excellent recorders of hinterland precipitation.


A rapid, direct method for the determination of trace metals in food products by emission spectroscopy is described. This procedure permits the simultaneous determination of metals such as Ca, Cu, Fe, P, and Sn in food without time-consuming wet or dry ashing of the samples. It is applicable to fresh as well as canned or processed foods. The food is blended with water and an internal standard to a smooth consistency The sample is then sparked directly using the rotating disc technique. Concentrations from 1 to 1,000 ppm can be determined with good accuracy and reproducibility.


Plug-and-play priors (PnP) is a powerful framework for regularizing imaging inverse problems by using advanced denoisers within an iterative algorithm. Recent experimental evidence suggests that PnP algorithms achieve the state-of-the-art performance in a range of imaging applications. In this paper, we introduce a new online PnP algorithm based on the proximal gradient method (PGM). The proposed algorithm uses only a subset of measurements at every iteration, which makes it scalable to very large datasets. We present a new theoretical convergence analysis, for both batch and online variants of PnP-PGM, for denoisers that do not necessarily correspond to proximal operators. We also present simulations illustrating the applicability of the algorithm to image reconstruction in diffraction tomography. The results in this paper have the potential to expand the applicability of the PnP framework to very large datasets.


We present a fast learning-based algorithm for deformable, pairwise 3D medical image registration. Current registration methods optimize an objective function independently for each pair of images, which can be time-consuming for large data. We define registration as a parametric function, and optimize its parameters given a set of images from a collection of interest. Given a new pair of scans, we can quickly compute a registration field by directly evaluating the function using the learned parameters. We model this function using a CNN, and use a spatial transform layer to reconstruct one image from another while imposing smoothness constraints on the registration field. The proposed method does not require supervised information such as ground truth registration fields or anatomical landmarks. We demonstrate registration accuracy comparable to state-of-the-art 3D image registration, while operating orders of magnitude faster in practice. Our method promises to significantly speed up medical image analysis and processing pipelines, while facilitating novel directions in learning-based registration and its applications. Our code is available at https://github.com/balakg/voxelmorph.


Background and aims Palliative care philosophy, which simultaneously promotes a symptom-control focus and a rejection of intentions to hasten death, underpins recent frameworks guiding sedative use. This PhD-based study explores three research questions: 1. How do hospice doctors and nurses use drugs with sedative effect for their inpatients nearing the end of life? 2. What rationale, or justifications, are necessary in the deployment of these drugs? 3. What are the similarities or differences between three different inpatient hospice units when prescribing and administering these drugs? Methods Three datasets were used: ethnography, through 150 hours of participant observation, of inpatient ward work undertaken by doctors and nurses in each of three hospices; audio-recorded, semi-structured interviews arranged with individual doctors and nurses; and  two focus groups organised at each hospice, one comprising doctors and one comprising nurses (6–10 participants in each). The stimulus materials used in the focus groups concern anonymised clinical case-vignettes based on observed data. The collection and analysis of all data has been underpinned by a thematic qualitative approach and took place between May 2011 and January 2013. Results and conclusions The empirical data reveal patterns in the repertoires and communication strategies clinicians use during clinical processes involving drugs with sedative effect: prescribing and administering drugs; handling of relatives' impressions; and discussing patients and/or relatives amongst themselves as a team. Differences were noted between hospices concerning the degree of latitude doctors gave to nurses when prescribing sedation, but an emergent theme uniting data from all hospices concerns the "emotion work" staff do with relatives to promote and maintain a state of calm in hospices. I argue that sedation is not necessarily solely deployed for the index patient, and that using drugs with sedative effect facilitates a negotiable need for nursing staff to keep ward order, helping to calm clinical situations which might threaten this.


Canoes, and the protocols attached to them, play a central role in cultural revitalization and resilience for many Indigenous nations of the Pacific Northwest. The revitalization of canoe culture is most visibly present in Tribal Journeys, a weeks-long paddle and gathering of Indigenous nations that annually brings together thousands of Native American/First Nations citizens. The Chinook Indian Nation has been an active and early participant in canoe resurgence in general, and Tribal Journeys specifically. For the Chinook, canoe protocols reflect a vision of "reciprocal heritage" that is located in embodied practice, is based in tribal cultural values of reciprocity and place, and is forward-looking. Perhaps most importantly, canoe culture and the performance of protocols occur explicitly outside of the framework of the colonial nation-state. In this sense the performance of protocol is not just an aspect of culture, it is fundamentally an act of decolonization.


These acts of jotting down the key points from a lecture or adding notation to handouts distributed for the lecture are what we mean by notetaking. The primary purposes of notetaking are two fold: it helps one understand the content of the lecture and also helps the student review and prepare for tests sometime after the lecture. With the rapid penetration of networks and proliferation of powerful digital devices capable of editing, searching, surveying, and myriad other capabilities, many students are looking for better notetaking applications that they can run on these devices. Students have held back from using the word-processing and presentation software that is currently available simply because it doesn't work very well for notetaking, transcribing information from a lecture and from the instructor's comments. In this work, we have developed a network application-based notetaking support system for students that assumes most students already have a tablet laptop, a lightweight notebook computer, or some other electronic device. We will begin by reviewing the various equipment that is commonly used today for lecturing, and the notetaking burden that is imposed on students by different types of lectures. Based on this information, we will then be in a position examine the functions needed by students to design their own notetaking features that help them better visualize and understand lecture content and use their notes to review, and build a system that meets these needs. In order to reduce the amount of input work involved in using the notetaking system, we also assume that the instructor provides students with an initial file and a reference material file that contains a moderate number of objects required by the notes.


Single‐domain antibodies (sdAbs) function like regular antibodies, however, consist of only one domain. Because of their low molecular weight, sdAbs have advantages with respect to production and delivery to their targets and for applications such as antibody drugs and biosensors. Thus, sdAbs with high thermal stability are required. In this work, we chose seven sdAbs, which have a wide range of melting temperature (Tm) values and known structures. We applied molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to estimate their relative stability and compared them with the experimental data. High‐temperature MD simulations at 400 K and 500 K were executed with simulations at 300 K as a control. The fraction of native atomic contacts, Q, measured for the 400 K simulations showed a fairly good correlation with the Tm values. Interestingly, when the residues were classified by their hydrophobicity and size, the Q values of hydrophilic residues exhibited an even better correlation, suggesting that stabilization is correlated with favorable interactions of hydrophilic residues. Measuring the Q value on a per‐residue level enabled us to identify residues that contribute significantly to the instability and thus demonstrating how our analysis can be used in a mutant case study.


The aim of this study was to assess, in vitro, and by means of four criteria (radiographic, macroscopic, microscopic and serial section), the amount and configuration of root canals in maxillary and mandibular premolars. It is a crosssectional observational and descriptive study, in which 100 premolars were selected. Exclusion criteria comprised teeth destroyed by caries, presenting previous endodontic treatment, incomplete root formation, resorption and/or fractures. The teeth were divided into four groups (n = 25): G1 = maxillary first premolars; G2 = maxillary second premolars; G3 = mandibular first premolars; and G4 = mandibular second premolars. Results showed that 100% in G1 presented two root canals by macroscopic assessment, which were merged at various points of the root and had a higher prevalence of oval configuration (68%). G2 revealed 60% single root canals and oval shape (84%). The results obtained for G3 were single root and single canal (100%) and the incidence of oval configuration (72%). Finally, G4 had higher prevalence of a single root canal in single root (92%) with oval configuration (64%). Therefore, the methods used in this study revealed there was prevalence of oval root canals in all groups. Two root canals were predominant in maxillary first premolars, while in the other groups only a single root canal prevailed.


Broadcasts of hydramethylnon, S-methoprene, and metaflumizone baits, metaflumizone spray, and hot water drenching were evaluated for their efficacy against the little fire ant, Wasmannia auropunctata (Roger), in potted nursery plants. Two applications one month apart of either a bait containing 0.365% hydramethylnon and 0.25% S-methoprene (Extinguish Plus) or a spray containing 24% metaflumizone (BAS 320 I 240 SC) reduced foraging worker numbers by >97% as compared with untreated controls. The persistence of weatherexposed metaflumizone (0.063%) bait was also evaluated: bait applied fresh or after 7 days of weather exposure resulted in >98% ant mortality; bait exposed to weather for 14 d before application still achieved >90% mortality. In vitro submersion of W. auropunctata in 45°C water for 10 min resulted in >99% mortality as compared with 28.9% mortality from submersion in ambient temperature water (26°C) for 12 min. When W. auropunctata -infested potted plants were drenched with hot water (45.6°C) for 11 min, the number of live ants were reduced by 99.3 and 89.3% in rhapis and fishtail palm, respectively, as compared with control plants drenched with ambient temperature water. The presence of a single W. auropunctata worker in a potted plant would fail to meet export requirements; therefore, the chemical baits and sprays and hot water treatment (45.6°C for 11 min) as evaluated in this study would not individually be a sufficient quarantine protocol against little fire ants in containerized nursery plants.


To speak of someone as unparalleled often seems trite; in Fred Ho's case, it seems mandatory. A composer, musician, performance artist, and scholar, he really lived a life beyond categorization. In 2009, with the collaboration of Diane C. Fujino, the University of Minnesota Press published a retrospective anthology of his writings titled Wicked Theory, Naked Practice . Sadly, that volume is now also a memorial: a self-written festschrift . On April 12, 2014, Fred Ho succumbed to cancer, leaving behind an astonishingly innovative body of work.  Fred Wei-Han Houn, or Hou Weihan, later more popularly known as Fred Ho, was extraordinary. A virtuosic talent, he was a renaissance person without being limited by the masculinist modifier "man." Wicked Theory, Wicked Practice offers a cross-section of Ho's passionate written work over a decade. This collection is divided into four parts: 1) "The Movement and The Self," 2) "Music Aesthetics and Artistic Production," 3) "Asian American Pacific Cultural Theory and Criticism," and 4) "Wicked Theory, Naked Practice." However, the book really may be read in any order. In fact, tackling it out of order or choosing a random article might be in keeping with the improvisatory quality of much of Ho's work. It is evocative of a quotation attributed to Cecil Taylor to the effect that "If a man plays for a certain amount of time—scales, licks, what have you—eventually a kind of order asserts itself."


Some 170 references to drought and disease along the south-western coast of Central Africa between 1550 and 1830 suggest that climatic and epidemiological factors motivated the farmers and herders of West-Central Africa in historically significant ways. Nearly all references come from documentary sources and so bear primarily on conditions in the drier and less fertile areas near Luanda and to the south, where African reactions would have been strongest. While minor shortages of rain occurred too frequently to receive much explicit attention in the documents, longer droughts spread more widely every decade or so and attracted notice. Major periods of dryness, extending for seven years or more and touching all parts of the region, occurred perhaps once each century and produced comments throughout the documentation. Localized minor droughts hardly disrupted the lives of Africans, who had presumably devised agricultural and pastoral strategies to take account of such ordinary climatic variation. Two-or three-year rainfall shortages produced banditry and warfare that often attracted Portuguese military retaliation. Major droughts disrupted polities and societies and hence coincided with major turning points in West-Central African history in the late sixteenth and late eighteenth centuries. In the earlier case, agricultural failures produced the famed 'Jaga' or Imbangala warriors, who elevated pillage to a way of life and who joined the Portuguese in establishing the Angolan slave trade. The later, protracted drought from 1784 to 1793 coincided with the historic peak of slave exports from West-Central Africa.


Generation of human organoids from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) offers exciting possibilities for developmental biology, disease modelling and cell therapy. Significant advances towards those goals have been hampered by dependence on animal derived matrices (e.g. Matrigel), immortalized cell lines and resultant structures that are difficult to control or scale. To address these challenges, we aimed to develop a fully defined liver organoid platform using inverted colloid crystal (ICC) whose 3-dimensional mechanical properties could be engineered to recapitulate the extracellular niche sensed by hepatic progenitors during human development. iPSC derived hepatic progenitors (IH) formed organoids most optimally in ICC scaffolds constructed with 140 µm diameter pores coated with Collagen in a two-step process mimicking liver bud formation. The resultant organoids were closer to adult tissue, compared to 2D and 3D controls, with respect to morphology, gene expression, protein secretion, drug metabolism and viral infection and could integrate, vascularize and function following implantation into livers of immune-deficient mice. Preliminary interrogation of the underpinning mechanisms highlighted the importance of TGFβ and hedgehog signalling pathways. The combination of functional relevance with tuneable mechanical properties leads us to propose this bioengineered platform to be ideally suited for a range of future mechanistic and clinical organoid related applications.


Abstract This article reviews the current situation in the South China Sea, the legal status of the sea, and the factors that have prevented effective cooperation in accordance with the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. It concludes with recommendations regarding possible regime-building activities for the region. The situation in the South China Sea is a major obstacle to a stable maritime security regime and good order at sea in Southeast Asia. Factors that inhibit progress with developing effective management regimes for the South China Sea include the sovereignty disputes over islands and reefs in the sea, the lack of agreed maritime jurisdiction, and the failure of littoral countries to honour their obligations under relevant instruments of international law. The article argues that it is now necessary to find some other means of managing the South China Sea and exploiting its resources, which is not based on unilateral jurisdiction and sole ownership of the resources.


Aims: The present study is part of a project concerning the characterisation of a limited number of selected Albanian Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons, through the identification of pigments, of painting technique and the state of conservation of the artworks. The Albanian iconographers produced an extraordinary amount of icons from the 14th till the 19th century, and over six thousand of them are kept in the Museum of Medieval Art of Korça (Albania). This paper refers to the results obtained in the study of two artworks, the first one by Simoni i Ardenices an important Albanian painter of XVII century, and the second one attributed to him.
Study Design:  The present work is part of a more general study concerning Albanian Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons.
Place and Duration of Study: Museum of Medieval Art of Korça, Albania, between June 2008 and July 2009.
Methodology: The work was conducted by non-destructive methods, X-ray fluorescence, visible light reflectance spectrophotometry and UV fluorescence analysis, according to a systematic procedure developed in the same Chemical Physical Laboratory for Cultural Heritage. A number of areas, for each painting, were chosen in order to carry out the measurements. With this procedure, we could identify the inorganic pigments from their characteristic features. Moreover, the study of the chemical physical properties of paintings is of fundamental importance for any accurate restoration intervention.
Results and Conclusion: The present work, concerning the study of two icons of the second half of 17th century by Simoni i Ardenices, has allowed us to identify the painting technique and the palette used in these works of art. Moreover, the areas of the paintings in which old restorations have been made have also been identified.


The shell and tube heat exchanger is one of the most common exchangers which is wieldy used in many engineering processes. This concentric shell and tube heat exchanger allows the study of heat transfer between hot water flowing through an internal tube and cold water flowing in the ring area lying between the internal and external tubes, and this shell and tube heat exchanger allows measuring hot and cold water temperatures in different points of the exchanger. The objectives of this paper determine to formulate a global energy balance in a shell and tube heat exchanger and to study the heat losses, firstly focuses to study the heat transfer in countercurrent and parallel flow and to measure the temperature profile in a shell and tube heat exchanger. An addition to calculate the overall heat transfer coefficient using criteria equations, also focused to draw the temperature profile of the heat exchanger for both configurations countercurrent and parallel flow with temperature on the axial axis and thermocouple position on the horizontal axis. Furthermore discussed the behavior of temperature across the heat exchanger and compare the countercurrent and parallel flow arrangements.


High-fat diets often promote greater caloric intake and/or weight gain than high-carbohydrate diets in both laboratory animals and humans. Because altering the fat content of a diet simultaneously changes both its sensory properties and postingestive effects, it is unclear whether high-fat hyperphagia is due to the diet's palatability, its postingestive effects, or both. The present studies isolated the independent capacity of the orosensory and postingestive effects of a liquid high-fat diet (High-Fat) to produce overeating relative to an isocaloric liquid high-carbohydrate (High-CHO) diet. Rats fed High-Fat orally ate more calories and gained more weight over 16 days than rats fed High-CHO orally. One-bottle sham-feeding intake of High-Fat and High-CHO did not differ, but in two-bottle sham-feeding tests High-Fat was clearly preferred. When orosensory influences on intake were equated via chronic self-regulated intragastric feeding, High-Fat still promoted greater intake than High-CHO, although absolute intake across both diets was lower during intragastric feeding relative to oral feeding. An analysis of short-term intake revealed that rats accustomed to infusion of High-CHO increased meal size immediately when switched to High-Fat. The present results, coupled with previous findings, suggest that the postingestive effects of fat enhance daily caloric intake in two ways: 1) during a meal, fat produces less suppression of intake per calorie than carbohydrate; and 2) after a meal, fat produces less suppression of intake per calorie during the intermeal interval than carbohydrate.


This study aimed to analyze the performance level and importance level according to customer perceptions as well as the priority of product and service attribute improvement. The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis of the Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) and Customer Service Index (CSI) approach with 1980 respondents out of 157,270 customers selected through Cluster Stratified and Systematical Unproporsional Sampling (CSUS) technique. The result showed that there was no product attribute with significantly low performance. It was supported by the CSI result with a value of 0.74, which meant SATISFACTORY or VERY GOOD. However, there were still negative gaps between the performance level and importance level, with an average value of 0.36. Product attribute (P2) water supply quality, (P3) water continuity, (P4, P5, and P6) water quality were quite a concern. This study also found a product attribute with a positive gap in (P7)water quality (sediment), which meant that this ROE could reallocate its utilized resources to improve other product attributes of concern. In terms of service attributes, there was no significant attribute that needed an immediate follow-up. It was supported by the overall CSI score of 0.76, which meant SATISFACTORY or VERY GOOD. Even so, service attributes were important and deserved attention in the aspects of (J2) bill payment process, (J6) the capability of call center officers and (J7) social media admins, and (J10) dispute settlement with customers. Five service attributes, which were (J1) administrative services, (J3) complaint services, (J4) fairness to obtain services, (J5) the capability of customer service officers, and (J11) service interruption information, were recommended to be reallocated to other service attributes that were more important.
Keywords: customer satisfaction, Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI), Importance Performance Analysis (IPA), regional-owned enterprise


Previous studies suggested that RsaI/PstI and DraI polymorphisms on cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) may be associated with susceptibility to gastric cancer (GC). However, this association remains ambiguous. A meta-analysis of previously published studies was performed in an attempt to elucidate this association. The odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were used to assess the strength of the association. In the overall analyses of RsaI/PstI and DraI, no association was identified. In the subgroup analyses, RsaI/PstI was identified to increase the risk of GC in the smoking population. In addition, in the previous studies of interactions with other genes, RsaI/PstI was revealed to be associated with increased GC risks when glutathione S-transferase-µ-1 or glutathione S-transferase θ-1 was null or DraI was homozygous wild-type. However, these stratified analyses were lacking credibility due to the limitation of correlational study numbers. In conclusion, CYP2E1 polymorphisms revealed no association with the risk of GC.


ABSTRACT We present an efficient three-dimensional (3D) time-domain airborne electromagnetic (EM) modeling based on finite-volume method, in combination with the merits of solving the secondary field, local mesh, and the direct solver. Taking the strategy of separating primary from secondary field for the calculation of time-domain EM field, we greatly reduce the number of grids in comparison to direct solution of the total field. The primary field is obtained by Hankel transform from the frequency-domain for a half-space or layered earth model. The techniques of local mesh and direct solver are adopted to further improve the modeling efficiency. We compare and discuss the characteristics of the method developed in this paper from time consumption and grid sizes. The EM responses for different transmitting waveforms are calculated via a convolution between step-wave responses and the transmitting current or its derivatives. All numerical experiments on models with multiple geological bodies and fracture z...


Meltblown elastic nonwovens are produced with thermoplastic elastomers by meltblown process. The elastic meltblown web is composed of microfibers, so it has big specific surface-area, good insulator and filtration. And it has improved the elasticity of traditional meltblowm web as well. In addition with nonwoven composite technology, meltblown elastic nonwovens combining with other material's characteristics are applied widely in medical treatment, costumes, electronic industry, dug industry and other fields. The principle of elastic nonwovens with meltblown tehcnology and recent research progress are briefly overviewed. The aim of this paper is providing a reference for further study on this technology in china. Meanwhile put forward the direction of recent study on elastic meltblown webs and forecast the bright future of elastic nonwoven with meltblown technology.


Background Decisions to operate on patients with shunt lesions presenting late with severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and borderline operability are often not based on precise cut off values of haemodynamic data owing to paucity of studies. Objective To assess the reliability of the preoperative haemodynamic data and reactivity test in predicting the postoperative reversibility of PAH in patients with isolated large ventricular septal defects (VSDs) and borderline operability. Patients and method Between 2004 and 2010, 30 patients underwent VSD closure surgically; no early deaths occurred. Twenty-six patients were followed up regularly (mean 39.6±16 months) and one late postoperative death occurred. Fourteen patients who had been followed up for at least 1 year postoperatively underwent cardiac catheterisation. Results There were 3 responders (asymptomatic patients with pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) index <3 WU.m2) and 12 non-responders. The following were lower among responders: mean age at surgery (3.2±0.42 vs 11.55±3.29 years, p=0.227), mean baseline PVR index (3.69±0.8 vs 10.57±9.1, p=0.204), average resistance ratio (RR=0.25±0.01 vs 0.59±0.25, p=0.049) and ratio of pulmonary and systemic mean pressures (PAm:SAm ratio) (0.70±0.009 vs 0.87±0.118, p=0.003). Conclusions Preoperative 'base line' PAm:SAm and RR appear to be better predictors of postoperative outcome than other baseline parameters. Preoperative reactivity test had no significant role in predicting postoperative reversibility of PAH at mid-term.


The consistent physic-mathematical model of propagation of an electromagnetic wave in a heterogeneous medium is constructed using the generalized wave equation and the Dirichlet theorem. Twelve conditions at the interfaces of adjacent media are obtained and justified without using a surface charge and surface current in explicit form. The conditions are fulfilled automatically in each section of counting schemes for calculations. A consistent physicomathematical model of interaction of nonstationary electric and thermal fields in a layered medium with allowance or mass transfer is constructed. The model is based on the methods of thermodynamics and on the equations of an electromagnetic field and is formulated without explicit separation of the charge carriers and the charge of an electric double layer. The influence of a slowly moving medium on the electromagnetic wave propagation is considered. The calculation results show the absence of the influence of the medium's motion on the phase shift of waves, which is consistent with experimental data.


In order to avoid the drawbacks of sample size determination procedures based on classical power analysis, it is possible to define analogous criteria based on ' hybrid classical-Bayesian ' or ' fully Bayesian ' approaches. We review these conditional and predictive procedures and provide an application, when the focus is on a binomial model and the analysis is performed through exact methods. The distinction between analysis and design prior distributions is essential for the practical implementation of the criteria: some guidelines for choosing these priors are discussed, and their impact on the required sample size is examined.


Abstract The rock magnetic properties of the Chinese loess and paleosols constitute a unique and sensitive record of East Asian paleoclimate through the Quaternary Period. Systematic variations in the concentration and grain size of the magnetic minerals in these sediments have produced systematic variations in the magnetic susceptibility signal, which can be easily and rapidly measured at many sites across the Loess Plateau. Variations in many other rock magnetic properties can be used to identify the key shifts in ferrimagnetic grain size, but magnetic susceptibility alone is sufficiently sensitive to record stadial and interstadial climate stages, as well as glaciations and interglaciations. Past changes in rainfall and monsoon activity for this region are reconstructed from the susceptibility variations. The susceptibility record is calibrated using the modern relationship between rainfall and pedogenic susceptibility on the Loess Plateau. Our rainfall reconstructions identify enhanced summer monsoonal activity in the Chinese Loess Plateau region in the early Holocene and the last interglaciation. In the presently semiarid western area of the plateau, annual precipitation in interglacial times was up to 80% higher than at present; in the more humid southern and eastern areas, values were up to 20% higher than today's levels. During the last glaciation, precipitation decreased across the entire plateau, typically by ∼25%. The relationship between pedogenic susceptibility, climate, and weathering age was examined over the Northern Hemisphere temperate zone and the observed positive correlation between rainfall and susceptibility indicates that climate, rather than soil age, is the predominant factor that controls pedogenic susceptibility enhancement in loess soils.


Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a disease that predominantly affects preterm infants. Of the 10% of preterm neonates that develop NEC, about one in four cases results in death. The pathophysiology presents as inflammation of intestinal epithelial cell lining and subsequent tissue death, sometimes resulting in intestinal perforations. The underlying mechanisms have yet to be comprehensively identified. Diagnosis--the rate limiting step in reducing critical disease-onset-to-treatment time--is based on relatively nonspecific signs, impeding early and accurate diagnosis. This project, a collaborative effort between Santa Clara and Stanford Universities, aims to improve current diagnostic methods by identifying the first verifiable and useful fecal biomarker for NEC. The primary molecule of interest is referenced as "Candidate-X" to protect intellectual property. Stool samples from healthy and NEC-affected infants at Stanford's hospital, taken before and after treatment and analyzed at UC Davis, showed a strong correlation between elevated Candidate-X levels and NEC. The effects of Candidate-X and several other molecules on cell morphology were first studied in well plates seeded with either human intestinal epithelial cells (HIEC-6) or human colon cancer cells (HT-29). After HT-29 was verified as a biologically relevant cell line, two bacteria-related factors of interest, butyrate and Candidate-X, were plated with HT-29 for further study. In light of recent publications and unpublished data, Candidate-X was ultimately selected. Key results show that Candidate-X causes a comparatively high level of cell death and its effects are cell-correlated, suggesting a causative relationship between Candidate-X and NEC. Morphological changes with Candidate-X treatment reveal an unidentified cell death pathway, which will be the topic of future exploration. This paper proposes that using Candidate-X as a noninvasive fecal biomarker in combination with current methods and predictive models may improve speed and accuracy of NEC diagnosis, and outlines potential future directions for research.


Abstract In the late 60s it had become clear how the environment technification had allowed some typologies (supermarkets, car parks, factories) to reach potentially unlimited built depths becoming, therefore, independent from the outside. The No-Stop City is born from a very simple idea: to extend this technification to the totality of built reality encompassing, not only almost all functions, but ultimately, the whole city. This operation has paradoxical effects: as architecture grows, it loses most of the features that have traditionally defined it. A dissolution by hypertrophy that gives rise to an homogeneous, concave and potentially infinite space. But beyond the pure technical feasibility, there are two key influences, seemingly contradictory, that explain this endeavor for an interior and endless city: Marxism and Pop Art. The project is, in many senses, a built manifesto reflecting the militancy of the group members within the Italian Marxism. But it is also the embodiment of the group's declared interest in Pop Art, popular culture and mass society. The cross-influence of communism and consumerism explains this "quantitative utopia" in which the society and the factory, the production and consumption, would match. A city based on the centrality of consumer products and the subsequent loss of prominence of architecture, in which the urban phenomenon, while spreading endlessly over territory, ignoring its rural exteriority, dissolves the home as a sphere of privacy, ignoring its domestic interiority. A project, also in the wake of Marshall McLuhan, that illustrates like few others the conversion of the urbane into a virtually omnipresent "condition" and that still interrogates us with questions that are, on the other hand, eternal: What is a building? What is a city?


1. The basis used for estimating lift and drag coefficients is explained. A method of obtaining a photograph of a bird flying at known airspeed and rate of sink is described. 2. 96% of the speed measurements fall between 22 and 65 ft./sec., the average being 40 ft./sec. 3. A maximum lift coefficient of 1.8 can be achieved. Wing area is reduced with increasing speed. 4. The feet are used as airbrakes. 5. A comparison of the minimum drag coefficient (0.06) with the maximum estimated power output of the pectoral muscles leaves only a narrow margin of power available for climbing. 6. The performance diagram gives a minimum gliding angle of 1 in 8½, and a minimum sinking speed of just under 4 ft./sec. 7. The fulmar has apparently sacrificed the ability to soar dynamically over the sea in order to be able to fly slowly and thus utilize light upcurrents at cliff faces.


The microbial quality of eggs entering the hatchery represents an important critical control point for biosecurity and pathogen reduction programs in integrated poultry production. The development of safe and effective interventions to reduce microbial contamination on the surface of eggs will be important to improve the overall productivity and microbial food safety of poultry and poultry products. The hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and ultraviolet (UV) light advanced oxidation process is a potentially important alternative to traditional sanitizers and disinfectants for egg sanitation. The H2O2/UV advanced oxidation process was demonstrated previously to be effective in reducing surface microbial contamination on eggs. In this study, we evaluated treatment conditions affecting the efficacy of H2O2/UV advanced oxidation in order to identify operational parameters for the practical application of this technology in egg sanitation. The effect of the number of application cycles, UV intensity, duration of UV exposure, and egg rotation on the recovery of total aerobic bacteria from the surface of eggs was evaluated. Of the conditions evaluated, we determined that reduction of total aerobic bacteria from naturally contaminated eggs was optimized when eggs were sanitized using 2 repeated application cycles with 5 s exposure to 14 mW cm(-2) UV light, and that rotation of the eggs between application cycles was unnecessary. Additionally, using these optimized conditions, the H2O2/UV process reduced Salmonella by greater than 5 log10 cfu egg(-1) on the surface of experimentally contaminated eggs. This study demonstrates the potential for practical application of the H2O2/UV advanced oxidation process in egg sanitation and its effectiveness in reducing Salmonella on eggshell surfaces.


Following World War II, American social science research became increasingly characterized by its adherence to the scientific method. The application of the scientific method and efforts to achieve precision in the social sciences opened the doors to large research programs, particularly in political science and international relations. However, as research became less accessible to the general public, policymakers began to ignore the findings and advice given to them by political scientists. The disconnect between policy and academic debates was exacerbated by the failure of empirical research to predict important developments, such as the fall of the Soviet Union and the peaceful resolution of the Cold War. James W. Davis engages with the widespread dissatisfaction within the social sciences applying the scientific method to the study of social outcomes. Terms of Inquiry critically examines central claims and assumptions made by proponents of the scientific method in general, as well as the specific problems confronting the social sciences in particular. Davis seeks to develop a middle ground between the uncritical application of the scientific method in pursuit of empirical truths and the postmodernist assertion that there is no foundation upon which to build an edifice of social science. Although interested in fundamental questions of scientific inquiry, Davis is nonetheless concerned by the increasing irrelevance of the field of political science to the actual practice of politics. In an effort to re-link empirical research to pressing questions of public policy, Terms of Inquiry provides a much needed discussion of practical research methods in a critically important discipline.


Biometrics innovation has ended up being a precise and proficient response to the security issue. Biometrics is a developing field of research as of late and has been dedicated to the distinguishing proof or authentication of people utilizing one or multiple inherent physical or behavioural characteristics. The unique fingerprint traits of a man are exceptionally exact and are special to a person. Authentication frameworks in light of unique fingerprints have demonstrated to create low false acceptance rate and false rejection rate, alongside other favourable circumstances like simple and easy usage strategy. But the modern study reveals that fingerprint is not so secured like secured passwords which consist of alphanumeric characters, number and special characters. Fingerprints are left at crime places, on materials or at the door which is usually class of latent fingerprints. We cannot keep fingerprint as secure like rigid passwords. In this paper, we discuss fingerprint image Hash code generation based on the Euclidean distance calculated on the binary image. Euclidean distance on a binary image is the distance from every pixel to the nearest neighbour pixel which is having bit value one. Hashcode alone not sufficient for Verification or Authentication purpose, but can work along with Multifactor security model or it is half secured. To implement Hash code generation we use MATLAB2015a. This study shows how fingerprints Hash code uniquely identifies a user or acts as index-key or identity-key.


Quantitative analysis of spatial organization of the "muscle fibre-capillary" system was performed in 5 normal human hearts. The data on numerical, volumetric, superificial, relative superficial density of capillaries and muscular myocardial fibres were obtained; their total number in the left ventricle wall was calculated. Statistically significant difference of the spatial-quantitative organization in the "muscle fibre-capillary" system in different parts of the left ventricle wall was obtained. Therefore, it can be concluded that selection of myocardial slices for stereometric investigation should be systematized. A mathematical equation for estimating quantitatively capillary blood supply of the myocardial muscle fibres in histological sections was introduced, taking into account volumetric and superficial parameters of the muscle fibres and capillaries.


A comprehensive evaluation of pavement condition and an understanding of the underlying causes of pavement distress is vital in selecting the optimal rehabilitation strategy. Three projects were investigated in this study to demonstrate the application of nondestructive testing technologies in this selection process. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD), and Dynamic Cone Penetrometers (DCP) were successfully used on these TxDOT projects. GPR was employed successfully to locate defects in the hot mix surface layer that were responsible for the chronic distress on US 69. This roadway was rehabilitated previously but the strategy used had not addressed the root cause of the pavement problem. FWD and DCP data were also used to determine the structural capacity or layer moduli of the pavement system that allows the designer to derive the overlay thickness. Coring and trenching were utilized to verify the defects detected in the GPR data. The advantage of nondestructive testing is that it provides a comprehensive evaluation of subsurface conditions throughout the entire project, not only at locations where coring and trenching are performed. Furthermore, GPR was employed to verify a rehab design of an old JCP pavement on SH 73. Originally, the plan called for pressure grouting to fill the subsurface voids. However, GPR found no voids under the JCP slab; this was validated in subsequent coring. Therefore the GPR results helped district personnel to eliminate the cost of the pressure grouting. For comparison purposes, GPR results from IH 45 and US 82 (where there were voids under JCP slabs) were utilized.


In January, 1911, in the course of autopsies on a few hundred fish dying spontaneously in the exhibition tanks at the Naples aquarium, the junior author obtained the five cases of thyroid enlargement in Serranus herein described. No other tumors were found in these examples of Serranus. In addition, many fish from the Neapolitan markets were examined, and among these a few neoplasms were found, but none involving the thyroid gland. He made sections of the tumors in Serranus, but was prevented by other duties from completing the study, and the State Institute became indebted to him for all the pathological material and data, including a sketch of the gross appearance of one of the cases. The material has been further worked over in the light of similar growths in other fishes and is here offered as a contribution to the pathology of fish tumors, particularly as they relate to those enlargements of the thyroid in fish which have of recent years become of some importance to research in the relationship of cancer and goiter. The fish concerned are sea bass of the genus Serranus, belonging to a family of carnivorous fish, chiefly marine in distribution and inhabiting all the warmer oceans. The two species concerned, scriba and cabrilla, are marine forms common in the Mediterranean.


Willapa Bay, Washington, USA, is a shallow, coastal-plain, upwelling-influenced estuary where Pacific oysters Crassostrea gigas are intensively cultivated. CTD transect data show that in the long-term average over the May to September growing season, Willapa Bay is a sink for oceanic phytoplankton, not a net exporter: as the tidal circulation stirs ocean water into the estuary, chlorophyll concentration declines by 30 to 60% relative to a hypothetical dilution of the ocean end-member. A 3D circulation model (General Estuarine Transport Model, GETM) was modified to include a phyto- plankton-like tracer subject to variable intertidal benthic grazing rates. The grazing rate that best reproduces the along-estuary phytoplankton biomass profile agrees, within confidence limits, with an estimate of cultivated-oyster filtration from literature values. Oysters and other intertidal benthic grazers may thus be the primary cause of the net loss of phytoplankton within the estuary in summer. These grazers appear to be within a small factor of their carrying capacity: as bay-total filtration capacity is increased in the model, the chlorophyll intrusion shortens and food intake per individual grazer declines. Nevertheless, only 8 to 15% of the net tidal supply of oceanic phytoplankton is consumed within the estuary. Even in this well-flushed system, the small-scale structure of tidal transport—rather than total oceanic supply—controls overall food availability for the benthos.


* The Big Picture * Access to Health Care * Physicians * Nurses * Hospitals * Managed Care * Alternative Health Care Industry * The Drug Industry * Medical Services * Federal Government * Medicaid and the States * Conclusion


Endothelial dysfunction complicates hypertension and is a precursor of atherosclerosis. It is characterized by a reduction in the bioavailability of vasodilators, particularly nitric oxide (NO), and an increase in the activity of vasoconstrictors, including angiotensin (Ang) II and reactive oxygen species (ROS). To the extent that cardiovascular disease is characterized by an imbalance between NO, Ang II, and ROS in the endothelium, modulating the activity of these vasoactive substances has important implications for both the treatment of hypertension and the prevention of atherosclerosis and end organ damage. Accumulating experimental and clinical data suggest that a multitherapy antihypertensive regimen that includes inhibitors of the renin-angiotensin system and calcium channel antagonists may further reduce cardiovascular risk via greater improvements in endothelial function, in addition to the well-documented blood pressure lowering effects. Experimental studies in small and large coronary arteries and in aorta indicate that the calcium channel blocker, amlodipine, stimulates NO generation. These drug-specific actions beyond blood pressure lowering may exert cardio- and vasculoprotective effects by preventing the maladaptive changes that accompany hypertension, namely endothelial dysfunction, upregulation of proinflammatory molecules, vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) growth and migration, and increased extracellular matrix deposition, mechanisms that lead to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. These effects compliment those of other classes of antihypertensive agents and also 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors (statins), which have also been demonstrated to ameliorate the damaging consequences of endothelial dysfunction and thus reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events.


The reconstruction model, first proposed by Levenshtein in 2001, assumes that a word is transmitted over multiple identical noisy channels that output distinct words. Given the channels' outputs, the transmitted word is guaranteed to be decoded uniquely only if the number of the channels is greater than some value. Otherwise, there could be several transmitted words leading to the same channels' outputs. Hence, these words should be found following the list decoding approach. Motivated by DNA storage systems, the present work takes the first steps towards studying list decoding for insertions and deletions under the reconstruction model. More specifically, it will be assumed that an arbitrary binary word is transmitted over $m$ t-insertions (or $t$ deletions) identical channels. For specific values of $m$, bounds on the largest list decoder size are provided. These bounds are mainly derived by investigating the largest intersection of $m$ t- insertion (or t-deletion) balls surrounding arbitrary binary words in the space. Furthermore, all pairs of binary words achieving the largest intersection of their t-insertion balls are characterized.


In the Paper, the author is mentioning the Engagement of the National Library of Serbia in the life and work of Chilandar, during the several past decenies. A lot has been done for/on the Conservation, Treatment and Arrangement of the Cultural Heritage. A great part of the Library Holdings has became accessible to a large cultural Public through catalogues. The Grafics from Chilandar appear to the daylight. A huge number of Manuscripts have been conserved, among other the Charter and the Gospel. The Library of the Monastry Chilandar obtained some new rooms, that is very important from the aspect of Preservation and Usage of the Library Holdings.


Urine-diverting dry toilets save water, reduce the demand for wastewater treatment and provide plant nutrients. The conditions in the collection chambers and the interlinked hygienic safety of subsequent faecal matter use in crop production are affected by the building design. Comparative experiments were carried out to evaluate the potential of transparent chamber covers in comparison with non-transparent chamber covers to increase temperature and ventilation in order to enhance faecal matter dehydration and sanitation. The air temperature in the chambers with transparent covers (TC) was 1.1–1.5 °C higher and the relative air humidity about 5–7% lower than in chambers with non-transparent covers. The advantage of TCs on temperature and humidity prevailed throughout the year, but was most pronounced in months with more sunshine hours and higher irradiation. Furthermore, the airflow out of the chambers through the ventilation pipes was increased by 60% in the TCs. During two-month collection and dehydration cycles the improved drying conditions in the TCs resulted in 7% lower faecal matter moisture. A trend towards an enhanced pathogen inactivation in the faecal material was observed. The results demonstrate that in the semi-arid tropics transparent covers for collection chamber of urine diverting dry toilets improve the dehydration of faecal matter.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the extent to which the presence and number of symptoms of pathological gambling (PG), distinguished by region of origin (RO), differ.

METHODS
Data was obtained from a nationwide telephone survey of 15 023 individuals living in Germany and aged 14-64 years. They were categorized according to their RO and the number of symptoms of PG (0-10 DSM-IV-criteria).

RESULTS
The lifetime prevalence of PG symptoms is 18.1% for people of the RO Turkey, 9.0% for those of the RO Yugoslavia and 6.8% for those without a migration background. Compared to the latter, the two-part count data regression method showed a higher chance of PG symptoms for the RO Turkey as well as a 70.3 and 87.2% increase in the number of symptoms for the RO Turkey and Yugoslavia, respectively.

CONCLUSION
The RO could independently contribute to the presence and amount of symptoms of PG.


Reaction of Au(+) ((1)S(0) and (3)D) with O(2) and N(2)O is studied as a function of kinetic energy using guided ion beam tandem mass spectrometry. A flow tube ion source produces Au(+) primarily in its (1)S(0) (5d(10)) electronic ground state level but with some (3)D and perhaps higher lying excited states. The distribution of states can be altered by adding N(2)O, which completely quenches the excited states, or CH(4) to the flow gases. Cross sections as a function of kinetic energy are measured for both neutral reagents and both ground and excited states of Au(+). Formation of AuO(+) is common to both systems with the N(2)O system also exhibiting AuN(2)(+) and AuNO(+) formation. All reactions of Au(+) ((1)S(0)) are observed to be endothermic, whereas the excitation energy available to the (3)D state allows some reactions to be exothermic. Because of the closed shell character of ground state Au(+) ((1)S(0), 5d(10)), the reactivity of these systems is low and has cross sections with onsets and peaks at higher energies than expected from the known thermochemistry but lower than energies expected from impulsive processes. Analyses of the endothermic reaction cross sections yield the 0 K bond dissociation energy (BDE) in eV of D(0)(Au(+)-O) = 1.12 ± 0.08, D(0)(Au(+)-N(2)) ≥ 0.30 ± 0.04, and D(0)(Au(+)-NO) = 0.89 ± 0.17, values that are all speculative because of the unusual experimental behavior. Combining the AuO(+) BDE measured here with literature data also yields the ionization energy of AuO as 10.38 ± 0.23 eV. Quantum chemical calculations show reasonable agreement with the experimental bond energies and provide the electronic structures of these species.


Drug actions can be improved by new drug delivery system, such as mucoadhesive system. This system remains in close contact with the absorption tissue, the mucous membrane, releasing the drug at the action site leading to improvement in both local and systemic effects. There are many routes of mucoadhesive drug delivery system, oral route is the most ancient as well as preferred by patient being convenient to take. However peroral route has shortcomings such as hepatic first pass metabolism and enzymatic degradation in GIT which is a hindrance to the absorption of most proteins and peptides groups of drugs. The mucosa of the oral cavity presents a formidable barrier to drug penetration, and one method of optimizing drug delivery is by the use of adhesive dosage forms and the mucosa has a rich blood supply and it is relatively permeable. The buccal mucosa is very suitable for a bioadhesion system because of a smooth and relatively immobile surface and accessibility. Mucoadhesion can be achieved by using mucoadhesive polymers. There are different types of mucoadhesive polymers are available. Laminated devices have been developed to achieve sustained drug release.


Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites of mycotoxigenic fungi affecting both human and animal health. Their production in plants is highly unpredictable and dependent on a variety of factors, as well as the stage of the culture and transportation, storage and processing of the raw materials. One of the risks for dairy producers is animal exposure to mycotoxins. The scientific literature shows nonspecific signs to appear in a herd, most often when mycotoxins are present in feed and worse, in milk. In general, ruminants are considered resistant to the action of most mycotoxins, attitude explained by the detoxifying role of ruminal microsymbionts and especially protozoa. The clinical examination performed on the dairy cows from the studied farm did not reveal the presence of any symptom characteristic to mycoses or to mycotoxicosis. Although considered resistant to the action of mycotoxins, research reveals the constant presence of mycotoxigenic fungi and the mycotoxins they produce in the fodder of dairy cows, many times in various combinations. The incidence of mycotoxins is unpredictable and influenced by numerous factors (climatic, of production, transport, processing and storage of fodder). The health of dairy cows is affected by the consumption of contaminated fodder.


Purpose
Some empirical evidence suggests that historically marginalized young people may enter introductory programming experiences with skepticism or reluctance, because of negative perceptions of the computing field. This paper aims to explore how learner identity and motivation can affect their experiences in an introductory computer science (CS) experience, particularly for young people who have some prior experience with computing. In this program, learners were asked to develop digital media artifacts about civic issues using Scratch, a block-based programming language.

Design/methodology/approach
Through participant observation as a teacher and designer of the course, artifact analysis of student-generated computer programs and design journals, as well as with two follow-up 1-h interviews, the author used the qualitative method of portraiture to examine how two reluctant learners experienced a six-week introductory CS program.

Findings
These learners' experiences illuminate the ways in which identity, community and competence can play a role in supporting learner motivation in CS education experiences.

Research limitations/implications
As more students have multiple introductory computing encounters, educators need to take into account not only their perceptions of the computing field more broadly but also specific prior encounters with programming. Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalizability. Researchers are encouraged to explore other contexts and examples further.

Practical implications
This portrait highlights the need for researchers and educators to take into account student motivation in the design of learning environments.

Originality/value
This portrait offers a novel examination of novice programmer experiences through the choice in method, as well as new examples of how learner identity can affect student motivation.


The main goal of this study is the application of Appraisal Theory (Martin &
White, 2005) developed in the framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics to
wine tasting sheets. Firstly, whether this text type meets the defining requirements
specified by Swales (1990) for the discursive genre will be verified. 110 tasting
sheets in Spanish and English extracted from the Internet have been grouped into
four corpora corresponding to the country of origin of the wine: Spain, Australia,
California and New Zealand. An analysis undertaken with WordSmith Tools has
demonstrated the positive polarization of all the texts and the existence of
cultural differences reflected in the use of fruit-related terms, adjectives
oenological terms and "oenological culturemes" (Wislocka Breit, 2012). An
unforeseen result of the study was the strong contrast observed between the free
and literary manner of the English and the concise style of Spanish tasting sheets.


A new procedure is described for the preparation of chloride ion free 3,5-bis(trimethylsiloxy)benzoyl chloride, which allows the reproducible preparation of hyper-branched aromatic polyesters with controllable molecular weights. The pure monomer is thermally stable at temperatures of more than 200°C, but is readily polymerized when heated in the presence of catalytic amounts of dimethylformamide or trimethylamine hydrochloride. The molecular weight of the polymers increases with higher reaction temperatures, longer reaction times, and larger amounts of catalyst. Polymerizations in o-dichlorobenzene also afford similar results. The hyperbranched polyesters have degrees of branching of ca. 60% and contain a large number of free phenolic groups both at the chain-ends and in "linear" portions of the chains. Functionalization of these free phenolic hydroxyls is readily accomplished in homogeneous solution. However, reactions with solid Pd/C catalyst were not possible. The solubility and thermal properties of the resulting blocked hyperbranched aromatic polyesters reflect the choice of hydroxyl protecting group.


Influence of the relC and spoT mutations on the expression of catabolite-sensitive promoters of the deo operon (cytP0 and the udp gene (udpP) was studied by defining the activity of thymidine phosphorylase (the deoA gene) and uridine phosphorylase (the udp gene) under conditions of amino acid limitation on media with different carbon sources and in the cya genome. Under certain conditions, the activity of cytP and udpP promoters increased under the action of the spoT mutation, whereas the relC mutation suppressed this effect. These findings may indicate indirectly that the ppGpp accumulation in the spoT mutant cell was responsible for the effect. However, the relC mutation itself resulted in a decrease of the activity of neither the cytP, nor the udpP. On the contrary, under certain conditions, in the cytR constitutives for thymidine phosphorylase and only in the "double" deoR cytR constitutives for uridine phosphorylase, the relC caused an increased in the cytP and udpP activity. The deoR-dependent synthesis of uridine phosphorylase was found in the relC genome, i.e. the activity of this enzyme was increased about two fold under the influence of the deoR mutation. The data obtained are explained based on the following suggestion. The ppGpp accumulation in the spoT cells, on the one hand, can activate the catabolite sensitive cytP and udpP promoters, thus promoting the Rho-dependent termination prior to these promoters (Sukhodolets, Mironov, Linkova, 1981) and, on the other hand, it can inhibit expression of catabolite sensitive promoters as a result of a possible indirect effect of lowering the level of intracellular cAMP.


Dentistry deals with all the diseases and injuries of the mouth, teeth, jaws and surrounding face (for all age groups). Over the past 30 years government dental services in Papua New Guinea have been modelled on a New Zealand dental service directed primarily at children and adolescents for treating tooth decay. In designing a government dental service for the future, the two basic goals must be to retain the natural dentition for life for all Papua New Guineans and to eliminate oral cancer. The basic principles for such a dental service are to build on the specific realities of Papua New Guinea, encourage widespread community participation, base the dental services on the whole family rather than the child, make dentistry an integral part of the health services, and make dental care available at every level of health service. The seven major factors in the design are the foundational role of the dental doctor, with clear roles for other dental workers, a sound career structure, provision of continuing education, an effective supervisory structure and statistical reporting system, and a long-term financial commitment from the government for dental services. Over the next few years the priorities in implementing the design are to concentrate in selected model areas, emphasize the prevention of mouth cancer and tooth loss, and minimize the restoration of decayed teeth.


Abstract The reaction of isoprene with SOCl2 (0.5 mol equiv.) or PBr3 (0.4 mol equiv.) or PI3 (0.4 mol equiv.) in the presence of SiO2 at −10°C produced prenyl chloride (82%), or bromide (70%) or iodide (65%), respectively, in less than 30 min reaction time.


This article is informed by a kaupapa Māori methodology and reports on a "by Māori for Māori" peer mentoring programme. The programme, offered by the College of Business at Massey University, focuses on Māori students who are studying at a distance. We outline the programme and the experiences and perceptions from kanohi ki te kanohi (face-to-face) interviews and discussions with seven Māori student mentors who are studying internally. Using Durie's (2009) model of Māori student success we identify a number of attributes that mentors developed by participating in this programme and providing help and support to distance students. Results suggest that mentoring programmes can provide mentors with opportunities to develop in areas such as leadership, which may not have been previously identified and discussed in the literature.


The CLEVELAND MEDICAL READING CLUB, an organization of black physicians founded in November 1925, was, in 1995, one of the oldest continually meeting medical clubs in the city. It was created by African American physicians, excluded because of race from other medical organizations, to keep abreast of programs and advances in the medical field. At its conception, there were no hospitals in Cleveland where black physicians could get internship training, and only 4 in the country. Founding members were Drs. Luther O. Baumgardner, E. J. Gunn, Linnell L. Rodgers, CHARLES GARVIN, Leon Evans, Armand Evans, George Ferguson, JAMES A. OWEN, Oliver A. Taylor, and John H. McMorris. The club meets monthly to discuss presentations by members. As of 1995, membership was limited to 20 elected physicians and included Dr. Joseph Martin of Metrohealth Medical Center, Dr. Arthur Burns of the CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIV. Medical School, and Dr. Harry Garvin of ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL ASSN. Dr. Leon A. Brown was the organization's secretary/treasurer in 1995. See also LITERARY SOCIETIES, BLACK; MEDICINE; and AFRICAN AMERICANS.


End-of-life status is a chapter of palliative care that raises interest in the scientific world, but also in medical practice. There is some controversy in the definition and terminology of the terminal state (end-of-life). In this article, we focused on the study of these issues by Canadian researchers, and their study brings important clarifications for practice. We briefly described the main symptoms of the terminal state and their treatment. This article also highlights the role of communication with both the patient and his family at the end-of-life stage. Another aspect, not to be neglected in practice, is the state of bereavement.