: The author describes a computer-based model that derives nonnursing staffing requirements from quantifiable performance expectations for structured psychotherapy and rehabilitation therapy. Input variables include treatment mode, contact hours, patient volume (average daily census and average length of stay), hours of structured therapy per week, assessment and discharge activities, and ancillary staff activities. Output variables are number of staff needed, weekly productivity ratios such as hours of direct service per full-time-equivalent position and new patients served per full-time-equivalent position, and hours of structured therapy per day per patient. Initial validation of the model compared its predictions of staffing requirements with predictions based on staffing ratios derived from the literature and with actual staffing levels at the author's institution. The model was used in an analysis of two hypothetical scenarios showing the effects of managed care on variables that influence staffing. The results showed that as average length of stay decreases under managed care, reimbursement based on number of patients served at one time decreases, although costs of providing treatment increase because the program needs more staff to handle the increased number of admissions and discharges.


Mesangial IgA glomerulonephritis (MIgAGn) is the most common biopsied primary glomerulonephritis worldwide, with a poor long-term prognosis for renal function in over a third of all patients. No proven therapy currently exists for MIgAGn. Recent studies have suggested some benefit with mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), especially in hypertensive patients with kidney failure and proteinuria, though other studies have failed to corroborate these findings. We report eight adult patients with biopsy proven MIgAGn followed in a single hospital. They all received angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockers. Compassionate use of MMF was based on the presence of clinical and analytical data suggesting a high risk of short- to medium-term progression to chronic renal failure. MMF treatment was stopped after two and three months in two patients who had advanced renal failure at the start of therapy because of disease progression and greater fluid retention. Several months later they both required dialysis and kidney transplantation. The mean duration of MMF therapy in the other six patients was 15 (range: 10-18) months. The mean serum creatinine concentration fell from 1.82 +/- 0.47 to 1.55 +/- 0.41 mg/dl (p = 0.04). Protein loss in 24-hour urine collection fell from 1.95 +/- 1.35 to 0.77 +/- 0.58 g/day (p = 0.02). These results in this low number of patients showed that treatment with MMF in high-riks patients with MIgAGn and early stage kidney failure generally stabilized the disease and reduced proteinuria. MMF was well tolerated and may be of some benefit in a subgroup of patients with MIgAGn and a poor prognosis.


Bottom ash (BA) from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) has high potential for the recovery of valuable secondary materials. For example, the MSWI bottom ash produced by the incinerator at Amsterdam contains materials such as non-ferrous metals (2.3%), ferrous metals (8-13%), gold (0.4 ppm), silver (10 ppm), stainless steel (0.1%) and minerals that can be converted into building products such as aggregates utilized for concrete, asphalt, etc. Since the composition of BA varies from country to country, the first step in valorizing it should be characterization. Therefore, this thesis proposes a new system for analysing BA, which concentrates on properties of fractions related to their ease of separation and material value. A common practice in BA treatment in Western Europe is to separate coarse metal particles from the rest of the material by dry physical separation and to use the residue as a low-value construction material (road fillers) in controlled applications. Unrestricted re-use of this residue as a mineral resource is not possible in most EU countries because, generally, some of the leaching values for salts and metals exceed regulatory limits. In the Netherlands, the quality of building materials must be measured according to the Soil Quality Decree (SQD), which mandates strict environmental limits. Therefore, a new separation solution, based on wet physical treatment, was developed and tested to recover more metals and at the same time produce environmentally clean products that are suitable for various building applications. Wet physical separation processes are preferable to dry methods of mineral processing due to the fact that they allow for more efficient and accurate classifications of size and density. The wet separation system can recover more metals of all size fractions down to 0.3 mm. Wet separation provides an important advantage through the wet screening process, as fine particles and organics are washed out from the granulate fractions, thereby improving the environmental quality of building products. The high recovery of metals provides financial benefits, and in combination with the washing and removal of organics it also has positive environmental effects. This thesis describes a new separation system, based on wet treatment, which was developed and implemented in a pilot plant in Amsterdam between 2003 and 2006. Furthermore, in addition to the treatments applied in the pilot plant, techniques to separate precious metals, separate stainless steel and improve the quality of the recovered sand were developed, all of which, when implemented, should increase the value of bottom ash. Wet treatment is also able to decrease leaching values to close to, legislative limits in order to produce building materials from BA of a category for which no extra isolation is needed. Nevertheless, leaching values of some contaminants such as copper, molybdenum, antimony, sulphate and chloride still occasionally exceeded the limits. Therefore, this research focused on the correlation between contaminants (salts and metals) and separation settings, composition and input materials, in aim to find the factors which can minimise leaching values. Another objective was to develop a convenient quality control system for building products generated from BA capable of rapidly providing accurate results based on measurements obtained using the column test. A model based on physical parameters such as diffusion, contaminant levels and dissolving factors was developed and demonstrated that it is possible to decrease the time consumed by the column test while still obtaining accurate predictions. The quality of building materials can determine their future utilization, therefore this study also examined the chemical, geometrical and mechanical properties of building materials such as sand and aggregates. Initial tests in which those aggregates and sand were utilized in asphalt, concrete and lime-sand stone were then conducted in attempts to identify the optimal utilization route for such materials. The last part of this thesis presents a financial overview of the process, products and environmental impacts of BA treatment. The wet separation system was compared in these terms with the existing, commonly used dry separation system, using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This analysis showed that the wet process has less adverse environmental impacts, of diverse kinds (e.g. global warming and human toxicity potential), than the dry system. The investment and process costs of the pilot system in Amsterdam were also calculated under several scenarios, with various modelled separation capacities, to identify the most financially beneficial scheme for treating (and utilizing) BA.


A red-emissive barbituric acid-functionalized tetraphenylethene derivative (TPE-HPh-Bar) was designed and synthesized. TPE-HPh-Bar exhibits the effect of twisted intramolecular charge transfer due to the interaction of its donor and acceptor units. Whereas TPE-HPh-Bar emits faintly in solution, it becomes a strong emitter in the aggregated state, demonstrating a phenomenon of aggregation-induced emission. TPE-HPh-Bar can self-assemble into nanospheres upon natural evaporation of its solutions. In the presence of melamine, nanorods and (un)sealed nanotubes are formed, the content of which depends on the melamine amount. The crystalline nanorods of TPE-HPh-Bar grown from diethyl ether/hexane solution exhibit a good optical waveguiding effect with a low optical loss (0.137 dB μm−1). Such attributes make the material to find wide applications in many areas such as biological imaging and optoelectronic nano-devices.


This thesis investigates the articulation between filmmaking using the cameras of personal mobile phones, and the distribution and exhibition of filmmaking at film festivals devised to support and promote its development. Covering a research period between 2010 and 2013, I analyse an emergent phenomenon using a mixed methodology over five major chapters.
Following a discussion of the ontology of phone filmmaking and its historical situatedness, I establish terminology for each major element of cell cinema. Bridging features of contemporary digital filmmaking with the entertainment spectacles of early cinema history, the phone film privileges visual immediacy, urging genred and experimental presentations of limited narrative complexity.
Notably, the thesis indicates that phone films incorporate technologically innovative aspects of autobiography by filmmakers. What are characterised as the ambulatory and movie selfie categories evidence contemporary representations of movement within phone filmmaking. By updating Walter Benjamin's (1936) ideas of the flâneur, and Michel de Certeau's (1984) writing about the physicality of walking, the thesis draws on the socio-cultural use of mobile technologies and physical, participatory engagement with the filmmaking process.
Incorporating an ethnographic study of international cell cinema film festivals, the thesis interrogates phenomenological aspects of interrelated phenomena. I discuss how phone filmmakers, spectators and others experience their participation in the construction and dissemination of intercultural, shared discourse. Cell cinema's cultural signifiers cross or subvert perceived geographical and economic boundaries, urging a reassessment of Western or Euro-centric philosophical traditions. The thesis investigates how cell cinema enables expressions of the self, delineates notions of identity, and communicates various aspects of socially determined meaning.
Therefore, cell cinema engagement incorporates the sharing of gifts of phone films that foreground bodily movement and the 'everyday aesthetic' of the cell cinema gaze, involving the engagement with 'knowledge communities', and 'culturalising events' within festival environments.


The aim of this study is to estimate the prevalence of spine and feet deformities among children who are regularly involved in basketball trainings, as well as finding differences in the prevalence of those deformities between children of different gender and age. The study included a total of 64 children, of which 43 were boys and 21 were girls, ages 10-12. All subjects have been regularly participating in basketball trainings for at least one year. Postural disorder is defined as an irregularity in posture of the spine and feet, and it is assessed by visual methods from the front, side and rear side of the body. The prevalence of spinal deformities in our group was 53.13%. The boys had a significantly higher prevalence than girls, 65.1% compared to 28.57% (p=0.006). There was no significant difference in prevalence of spine deformities between children of different ages. The prevalence of feet deformities was 64.06%. There was a statistically significant difference between the sexes, where boys had a significantly greater prevalence of the feet deformities than girls, 83.7% compared to 23.81% (p=0.001). Flat feet were the most common in 10 year old children (85.71%). In conclusion, it can be said that despite regular participation in basketball training, subjects in this study have high prevalence of deformities; especially boys who stand out with the high prevalence of flat feet.


The stationary phase Monte Carlo (SPMC) path integral method is applied to analyze electromagnetic wave propagation in transversely inhomogeneous media. A filter, which gives a stable result with respect to various Monte Carlo parameters and thus overcomes the difficulties previously associated with the multi-dimensional SPMC technique, is constructed to evaluate the propagation field. Numerical results are presented for a graded-index waveguide, and are in good agreement with those obtained by another independent path integral approach, viz., the split-step method. >


Auxetic materials display a negative Poisson's ratio. Such materials have a host of potential benefits that could be exploited such as high shear resistance, fracture toughness, and high indentation resistance amongst others. The inclusion of auxetic materials within positive Poisson's ratio materials is investigated in an attempt to improve the effective mechanical properties. The project focuses on the modification of mechanical properties of an adhesive, or interface, system via the addition of either auxetic and/or conventional constituents. The objective is achieved via two main approaches: a multi-layer adhesive/film interface and auxetic particulate filled adhesives. Multi-layer film/adhesive interfaces are modelled for Constant Interface Thickness (CIT) and Constant Constituent Layer Thickness (CCLT) systems using Finite Element Modelling (FEM), analytical expressions from averaging techniques for the effective elastic properties of a composite (the Ramirez approach) and a modified (weighted) Rule of Mixtures approach developed by the author. High and low modulus adhesives relative to the films are considered. In the second approach, FEM of particulate filled systems is performed for high and low modulus auxetic fillers relative to the matrix. The results are compared to existing analytical theories such as the Self-Consistent Field theory, Hashin Shtrikman and the bounding techniques of elasticity. Auxetic materials are predicted by the models to give rise to improvements in the effective mechanical properties (Young's modulus and shear modulus) of both the multi-layer film/adhesive and particulate filled composite interfaces. Experimental work in support of the model predictions includes 3 and 4 point bending tests of multi-layer film adhesive interfaces comprising polypropylene films and polyolefin adhesive, and tensile testing of auxetic silica particulate (high modulus filler) and short chopped auxetic polypropylene fibre (low modulus filler) filled epoxy matrix composites. The multi-layer film adhesive approach requires an understanding of the production of auxetic polypropylene films. A parametric study of the melt extrusion process for the production of auxetic and conventional films has, therefore, been undertaken and has included producing, for the first time, auxetic PP films at significantly higher processing temperatures than those previously established in the vicinity of the melt onset temperature.


This study presents a conceptual framework on price endings and their effects on brand image and perceived quality and empirically tests several of the proposed relationships by using an experimental design. This research extends the work of Schindler and Kibarian (2001) who studied the use of 99 and 00-price endings as an important communication variable. The factorial design used a combination of price endings and perceived quality of the retailer as treatments to test three behavioural outcome variables: price image, quality image of the products and quality image of the retailer. Respondents viewed a simulated experimental webpage and provided feedback via an on-line survey entered through a point and click interface. This study contributes to the increasingly growing body of research on price endings and quality perceptions. It provides insights on the way subjects respond to price as a way of expressing quality image perceptions. In contrast to prior literature, the results suggest that respondents have a more favourable attitude towards 99-price endings. However, for a higher quality retailer the price difference may not be as important. Naipaul and Parsa (2001) found that respondents use 99-price endings as a cue for value, which suggests that adopting a specific pricing strategy does generate some key communication outcomes for a brand or retailer. Implications of these findings are reviewed and discussed.


Abstract
Nuclei surrounded by ooplasm of the syncytial stage of developing eggs of wild-type Drosophila melanogaster were implanted into freshly laid fertilized eggs of females of a y w stock. More than half of the recipient eggs produced larvae, but few of the larvae hatched or developed further. The best sets of experiments gave about twelve percent of imagos, mostly y w in appearance. Several larvae were mosaics with yellow Malpighian tubes, and two flies had part of the abdominal segments of the wild type. Half of the flies were fertile, but they produced only y w offspring, except for two males that had y w appearance, but wild-type gonads. When crossed with y w females, they gave wild-type females and y w males.


Data mining technology is a new hotspot in database research field. It combines the traditional data analysis technology with the complex arithmetic for dealing with big data, which helps to explore and analyze the new data type as well as deal with old data type by applying new method. The historical background for data mining technology is elaborated in this paper to make discussion by the classification on the main analysis technology involved in data mining technology and describe the arithmetic commonly used at present as well as point out the application areas and future trend of data mining technology.


Phytoremediation could reduce heavy metal bioavailability in soils and obtain renewable energy from lands useless. Some fast-growing, high biomass crop species are known to display a significant heavy metal tolerance, particularly those from the genus Brassica. These species could be phytoremediator candidates for recuperate polluted soils with heavy metals. Brachypodium distachyon has also been recently proposed as a model species to develop bioenergy. However, there are no experiments about the tolerance of this plant to metals. The present work reports data concerning the ability of Brachypodium distachyon and Brassica napus seeds to germinate and grow in media containing different doses of Cd, Cr, As and Zn, in order to evaluate their use as energy crops in polluted sites. Biomass reduction and length decreasing were observed as consequence on increasing metal doses in both species, but the effect was different attending to metal and species. The maximum toxicity level was found in plants treated with...


An efficient coding method for multi-level digital image data with up to about 16 levels is described, which can attain data compression nearly equal to the theoretical bound given by a two-dimensional Markov model entropy, without any loss of picture information. The method, ordering predictive coding, is composed of an ordering prediction followed by a run-length coding of a serial prediction error bit stream. It is proved that the ordering prediction is the optimized prediction scheme and has a lower prediction error entropy than that of DPCM and bit plane, and also proved that the run-length coding reduces the entropy almost near to that of the two-dimensional Markov model entropy.


Sets of Markov operators can serve as generalised models for imprecise probabilities. They act on gambles as transformations preserving desirability. Often imprecise probabilistic models and also sets of operators need to be extended to larger domains. Such extensions are especially interesting when some kind of independence requirements have to be taken into account. The goal of this paper is to propose extension methods for sets of Markov operators that are consistent with the existing extension methods for imprecise probabilistic models. The main focus is on extensions satisfying epistemic irrelevance. We propose a new general approach to extending sets of desirable gambles, called additive independent extension, which subsumes important types of extensions, such as epistemic irrelevance and marginal extension. This approach is then extended to sets of Markov operators, so that the extensions are consistent with those of sets of desirable gambles.


The aim of this paper is to illustrate for Germany the factors that may explain the U-shaped pattern of older men's labor force participation - from a long declining trend that began in the early 1970s to an increasing trend starting from the late 1990s - and at the same time the steady increase in older women's labor force participation. In a first step, we provide graphical evidence of the trends of various variables which may be relevant, with the aim of investigating the presence or absence of common patterns between these factors and labor force participation. Then, through a decomposition analysis, we provide an empirical estimate of the contribution of some of these factors to the overall evolution of labor force participation. Our preliminary conclusion is that much of the change in the trend of older men's labor force participation may be explained by changes in public pension regulations, and in particular by the phasing in of actuarial adjustments for early retirement. Regarding women, whether public pension rules play a role is unclear. Most probably, the secular change of women's role in society is the main driver of the steadily increasing labor force participation among German women.


In this article, we introduce intensity modulation and direct detection compatible enhanced optical-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing with index modulation (EO-OFDM-IM) schemes. These approaches augment the spectral efficiency (SE) relative to classical counterparts by enlarging the index domain information using the so-called virtual sub-carriers. The classical O-OFDM-IM schemes do not necessarily enhance the SE because of low cardinality of IM complex-valued sub-carrier set which is limited by constraints like Hermitian symmetry. The index domain extension for EO-OFDM-IM schemes is achieved by replacing the complex-valued sub-carriers (as in O-OFDM-IM) by twice real-valued virtual sub-carriers. The realization of non-negative signals is based on precepts of classical O-OFDM approaches, that are direct current (DC) O-OFDM and asymmetrically clipped (AC) O-OFDM. Thus, we refer to the EO-OFDM-IM approaches as DCEO-OFDM-IM and ACEO-OFDM-IM. We shall establish that in addition to improving SE, EO-OFDM-IM schemes provide extended granularity effectuating better SE/energy efficiency (EE) trade-off and improved bit error rate performance over classical counterparts. The EO-OFDM-IM schemes, however, are suitable for lower alphabet cardinalities of pulse-amplitude modulation making it difficult to attain high spectral efficiencies while maintaining EE. To circumvent this limitation, dual-mode (DM) counterparts, DCEO-OFDM-DM and ACEO-OFDM-DM are proposed. The numerical simulations shall demonstrate that the EO-OFDM-DM approaches are more energy and spectral efficient than classical O-OFDM-DM schemes and provide an advantageous granularity for EE/SE trade-off. Additionally, we use efficient index mapping and de-mapping algorithms based on Pascal's triangle, which allows investigating these approaches for peak SE by precluding the so-called sub-block partitioning. For peak SE, the use of optimal maximum-likelihood (ML) detector is cumbersome, therefore, we introduce two sub-optimal low-complexity detectors based on energy detection and ML criterion.


The analysis focuses on ways of addressing the audience in Croatian. As the function of the address is to perform a social task, as opposed to conveying information, the role of the address is phatic, and it should follow communicative conventions. Significant considerations are politeness and correctness, as the addresser wants to address the addressee most politely. Some formulaic forms of address, such as dame i gospodo ('ladies and gentleman') create no problem. Still, the speaker often faces the problem of whether to use only the masculine noun or the feminine and masculine pair. Croatian has rich word-formation, so linguistic issues rarely occur, but pragmatic questions about using the feminine pair arise often. All nouns denoting a person and adjectives, pronouns, and some verbal forms which refer to them are genderspecific in Croatian. The corpus for the analysis consists of different texts from two Croatian corpora and the Internet. The address formulas usually have the following structure dragi/poštovani/cijenjeni ('dear/respected/esteemed') + addressee. The cases when more coordinated noun phrases denote the same addressee are also analyzed.


The extent to which certain elements of the political landscape affect the quality of the environment and contribute to the differences in national Environmental Performance (EP) is not well known and requires further investigation. The aim is to identify those elements of political nature which tend to affect a country's EP. The main research method consists of an OLS regression analysis where the dependent variable is the Environmental Performance Index. The explanatory variables were selected to best gauge the political landscape and are drawn from three well established datasets. The main added value of the study consists in the proposal of a new political indicator that was proven to significantly impact national EP – the environmental preference of governmental parties corrected with the degree of effectiveness of the overall government. The reason why we chose to focus on governments is that these are the main agenda setters in the EU legislative decision making process. Our research shows that effective governments composed of parties with an environmental preference are successful in improving the national EP. Keywords: environmental performance; effective government; political party; environmental policy; European Union; environmental preference


GaN etching can be affected by a wide variety of parameters including plasma chemistry and plasma density. Chlorine-based plasmas have been the most widely used plasma chemistries to etch GaN due to the high volatility of the GaCl{sub 3} and NCl etch products. The source of Cl and the addition of secondary gases can dramatically influence the etch characteristics primarily due to their effect on the concentration of reactive Cl generated in the plasma. In addition, high-density plasma etch systems have yielded high quality etching of GaN due to plasma densities which are 2 to 4 orders of magnitude higher than reactive ion etch (RIE) plasma systems. The high plasma densities enhance the bond breaking efficiency of the GaN, the formation of volatile etch products, and the sputter desorption of the etch products from the surface. In this study, the authors report GaN etch results for a high-density inductively coupled plasma (ICP) as a function of BCl{sub 3}:Cl{sub 2} flow ratio, dc-bias, chamber-pressure, and ICP source power. GaN etch rates ranging from {approximately}100 {angstrom}/min to > 8,000 {angstrom}/min were obtained with smooth etch morphology and anisotropic profiles.


Excessive power supply noise can lead to overkill during delay test. A static test vector compaction solution is described to prevent such overkill. Low-cost power supply noise models are developed and used in compaction. An error analysis of these models is given. This paper improves on prior work in terms of models and algorithm to increase accuracy and performance. Experimental results are given on ISCAS89 circuits


Okun's law is an empirical relationship that measures the correlation between the deviation of the unemployment rate from its natural rate and the deviation of output growth from its potential. This relationship is often referred to by policy makers and used by forecasters. In this paper, we estimate Okun's coefficients separately for each U.S. state using an unobserved components framework and find variation of the coefficients across states. We exploit this heterogeneity of Okun's coefficients to directly examine the potential factors that shape Okun's law, and find that indicators of more flexible labor markets (higher levels of education achievement in the population, lower rate of unionization, and a higher share of non-manufacturing employment) are important determinants of the differences in Okun's coefficient across states.


Ultra was the Allies' name for highly classified intelligence information obtained during World War Two by breaking encrypted enemy radio communications. "It was thanks to Ultra that we won the war," Winston Churchill is reported to have told King George VI. Much German radio traffic was encrypted on the Enigma machine, many codes of which the British could decipher. The downside was that military commanders sometimes could not act on Ultra intelligence because it might give away to the Germans that the Allies had access to Enigma traffic. For example, during the Battle of Crete in 1941, the Allied commander on the island, New Zealand's General Freyberg, did not move troops away from defending coastal areas despite Ultra intercepts indicating that a seaborne attack was improbable and an airborne invasion most likely. Freyberg alone had Ultra access but he did not act on it lest it reveal to the Germans that he knew their intentions. This led ultimately to the fall of Crete


NFES is a new and simple way to realize precision-positioning of nanofiber. A model on NFES nanofiber movement is built to analyze the effects of the existed nanofibers which have been collected on the substrate, on the nanofiber's dropping movement. During electrospinning nanofiber is affected by the electric field force, Coulomb repulsive force, air resistance force gravity and so on. The influence of parameters on the deposition behavior of as-spun nanofiber is discussed. The simulation results show that (i) with charge density increasing, the final spacing between mass center of nanofibers A and B (FSAB) increases and the movement distance of center-of-mass of nanofiber B (MDB) decreases first and then increases; (ii) FSAB increases with applied voltage, but decreased in narrow range with concentration of PEO increasing; (iii) FSAB decreased with the initial spacing between mass center of nanofibers A and B (ISAB) increasing, and then it increases after reaching the minimum. So does ISAB to DMB. This simulation model would improve the controlling of nanofiber in NFES.


There are four main parts to this dissertation, one introductory and three directly related to the subject matter. The introductory chapter represents a survey on the latest points of research concerning Cabasilas' biography on the basis of the work of contemporary Greek scholars. It also supplies a list of Cabasilas' works with full bibliographical reference. The following three parts represent a detailed analysis of Cabasilas' three Orations on the Theotokos which deal with her Birth, Annunciation and Falling Asleep on the basis of the Greek text edited by Jugie (1955) and reedited with corrections by Nellas (1968). Each Chapter concludes with a summary of doctrine and the final Conclusion sums up the main thrust of Cabasilas' teaching. Finally a relevant Bibliography directly related to Cabasilas is provided at the end of the dissertation. The central doctrinal message of Cabasilas is the unique status of the Virgin Theotokos as a human being. Central to this is her unique sinlessness and holiness, which are presented as her own achievement based on the freedom implanted in the human nature by the Creator and on the virtue which can be freely acquired by the human being. It is on this account, rather than on divine favour, that the Theotokos is distinguished from all other human beings, even the greatest and holiest of them, standing apart from and over and above them. Yet, because she is basically human, she represents in her single achievement the achievement of all humanity. This achievement is for Cabasilas the presupposition to the Incarnation of God's Son. There is here a distinct and profound correlation of the Theotokos (human) and the Saviour (Divine-human) which has important implications for understanding Salvation and the role of the human and the Divine factors in it. Cabasilas' teaching on the Theotokos opens up the fundamental perspectives of Byzantine Christian humanism.


Using Finnish data this paper examines to what extent the share of all nurses in unemployment, health care employment and being out of the labour market after the exam of a cohort have aected the long-run outcomes of the cohort. The shares are calculated for all cohorts and years and standardised in each year by dividing the cohort specific rate with the average rate for all nurses. These standardised variables are used as dependent variables. The long-term eects are significant at least for the unemployment and the depression have according to the estimates raised the long-run unemployment by more than 2 percentage points for the nurses graduating then. For the employment in the health care industry the eects may be even larger but the estimates are more uncertain.


Accelerometry (the measurement of vibrations) and auscultation (the measurement of sounds) are both noninvasive techniques that have been explored for detecting abnormalities in swallowing. The differences between these techniques and the information they capture about swallowing have not previously been explored in a direct comparison. In this study, we investigated the differences between dual-axis swallowing accelerometry and swallowing sounds by recording data from adult participants and calculating a number of time and frequency domain features. During the experiment, 55 participants (ages 18-65) were asked to complete five saliva swallows with a neutral head position and then five saliva swallows in a 'chin-tuck' position. The resulting data was processed by previously designed techniques utilizing wavelet denoising, spline filtering, and fuzzy means segmentation. The pre-processed signals were then used to calculate nine time, frequency, and time-frequency domain features for each independent signal. In addition to finding a number of features that varied with the participant's age, sex, and head position, our statistical analysis determined that the majority of our chosen features were significantly different for different transducers. We conclude that swallowing accelerometry and swallowing sounds provide different information about deglutition despite utilizing similar transduction methods.


During infection of epithelial cells, the obligate intracellular pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis secretes the serine protease Chlamydia protease-like activity factor (CPAF) into the host cytosol to regulate a range of host cellular processes through targeted proteolysis. Here we report the development of an in vitro assay for the enzyme and the discovery of a cell-permeable CPAF zymogen-based peptide inhibitor with nanomolar inhibitory affinity. Treating C. trachomatis-infected HeLa cells with this inhibitor prevented CPAF cleavage of the intermediate filament vimentin and led to the loss of vimentin cage surrounding the intracellular vacuole. Because Chlamydia is a genetically intractable organism, this inhibitor may serve as a tool for understanding the role of CPAF in pathogenesis.


An investigation of scintillation light scattering within camera-based electronic portal imaging devices is presented. A simple analytical scatter model is adapted for the precise geometries of two different camera-based imaging systems and the results of modelling and experimental measurements are compared. The results of the study strongly suggest that the main source of optical scattering is multiple reflection between the scintillation screen and 45° mirror in both systems. The scattered light has a highly non-uniform distribution, which is strongly dependent upon field size. For large radiation fields the scatter contribution can be over 20% of the primary signal scintillation light intensity in the centre of the field. A purely optical method of removing the scattered light signal using a louvre grid on the surface of the scintillation screen is then presented and experimentally demonstrated to be effective.


Background Sexuality is a holistic concept that includes physical, psychological and social aspects of people's well-being. As the aim of palliative care includes supporting patients to live as actively as possible until death, as well as supporting those that are significant to them, it would seem reasonable to expect that sexuality would be included. However, what is not clear is whether sexuality continues to be important for people in the UK who are dying. Aim To understand the experiences of patients and partners of patients living with a life-limiting illness in relation to sexuality and intimacy. Method This qualitative study used a Heideggerian hermeneutic methodology. One-to-one interviews were conducted with 27 patients and 14 partners of patients who had either motor neurone disease or terminal cancer. Each person was interviewed twice and couples were interviewed separately. Audio-recorded data were analysed using Diekelmann and Ironside's seven-stage process to uncover shared meanings. This iterative process is fundamental to Heidegger's hermeneutic circle of interpretation. Findings This paper presents one of the themes, 'the silent bedfellow'. Participants described times 'when words fail' and they experienced 'disconnecting' within their coupled relationship. In contrast, 'when words speak' brought about 'connecting', even though this was not always in ways that had been expected. It was rare for people to be given opportunities to discuss their fears or concerns about sexuality with palliative care professionals. Participants gave practical suggestions for ways that professionals can broach this aspect of people's relationships. Conclusions Palliative care professionals who support holistic care and promote quality of life have a role in providing opportunities for discussing these issues with patients and their partners.


A retrospective study was initiated to determine: (1) the predictive relationship between demographic and academic variables and NCLEX-RN success; and (2) if there were significant differences between urban and rural nursing students that could account for an increased percentage of rural NCLEX-RN failures. A convenience sample was comprised of 398 graduates in 2005-2008, of an associate degree nursing program in the Midwest. Student age group, campus enrolled, Anatomy and Physiology GPA, number of practical nursing terms attempted, Practical Nursing GPA, and the number of associate degree nursing terms attempted were analyzed for predictive value of first-attempt NCLEX-RN success. Descriptive analyses indicated urban and rural students were homogenous in nature. Means, standard deviations and the independent means t-test of significance determined there were no significant differences between urban and rural nursing students. A logistic regression analysis predicted 87.4% of the students who would pass the NCLEX-RN on the first attempt. Campus and the practical nursing core GPA were found to be significant predictors of NCLEX-RN success. Rural students were found to have less than a 30% chance of probability of passing the NCLEX-RN on the first attempt, compared to urban students, who had a 70% chance of passing the exam. Student age group, number of PN terms, Anatomy and Physiology GPA and the number of ADN terms were not significant predictors. The study supported the relationship between GPA and NCLEX-RN success, and the need to analyze environmental variables that influence success.


: Th is article aims to treat the question of the reality of Leibniz's infi nitesimals from the perspective of their application in his account of corporeal motion. Rather than beginning with logical foundations or mathematical methodology, I analyze Leibniz's use of an allegedly "instantiated" infi nitesimal magnitude in his treatment of dead force in the Specimen Dynamicum . In this analysis I critique the interpretive strategy that uses the Leibnizian distinction, drawn from the often cited 1706 letter to De Volder, between actual and ideal for understanding the meaning of Leibniz's infi nitesimal fi ctionalism. In particular, I demonstrate the ambiguity that results from sticking too closely with the idea that ideal mathematical terms merely "represent" concrete or actual things. In turn I suggest that, rather than something that had to be prudentially separated from the realm of actual things, the mathematics of infi nitesimals was part of how Leibniz conceived of the distinction between the actual and ideal within the Specimen Dynamicum .


This tutorial paper considers the problem of reconstructing Genetic Regulatory Networks (GRNs) from gene expression measurements. Among various modeling frameworks that have been proposed for these biological systems, we focus on PieceWise Affine (PWA) models because of their ability to capture both the switching behavior of genes and the continuous dynamics of molecule concentrations. PWA models of GRNs have a special structure that must be preserved by the identification process. In the paper, we discuss the new challenges that this constraint raises in the field of hybrid identification. As an example, we summarize recently proposed methods for detecting switches in gene expression profiles and for reconstructing multiple PWA models consistent with the data. We also present the results obtained by applying these algorithms to synthetic data produced by PWA models of the GRN governing the carbon starvation response in E. coli.


DNA adducts, which block replicative DNA polymerases (DNAPs), are often bypassed by lesion-bypass DNAPs, which are mostly in the Y-Family. Y-Family DNAPs can do non-mutagenic or mutagenic dNTP insertion, and understanding this difference is important, because mutations transform normal into tumorigenic cells. Y-Family DNAP architecture that dictates mechanism, as revealed in structural and modeling studies, is considered. Steps from adduct blockage of replicative DNAPs, to bypass by a lesion-bypass DNAP, to resumption of synthesis by a replicative DNAP are described. Catalytic steps and protein conformational changes are considered. One adduct is analyzed in greater detail: the major benzo[a]pyrene adduct (B[a]P-N2-dG), which is bypassed non-mutagenically (dCTP insertion) by Y-family DNAPs in the IV/κ-class and mutagenically (dATP insertion) by V/η-class Y-Family DNAPs. Important architectural differences between IV/κ-class versus V/η-class DNAPs are discussed, including insights gained by analyzing ~400 sequences each for bacterial DNAPs IV and V, along with sequences from eukaryotic DNAPs kappa, eta and iota. The little finger domains of Y-Family DNAPs do not show sequence conservation; however, their structures are remarkably similar due to the presence of a core of hydrophobic amino acids, whose exact identity is less important than the hydrophobic amino acid spacing.


The authors report a case of radiation-induced calvarial osteosarcoma. A 58-year-old female received subtotal removal of the pituitary adenoma and 5000 rads postoperative irradiation. Seven years later, an osteoblastic osteosarcoma occurred in the frontotemporal region. She received total tumor removal and chemotherapy. However, computed tomography subsequently revealed multiple small lesions at the margin of the bone flap. A chest x-ray film demonstrated lung metastasis. Local recurrence and lung metastasis require careful attention in radiation-induced osteosarcoma patients.


Background Social media has become a new source for obtaining real-world data on adverse drug reactions. Many studies have investigated the use of social media to detect early signals of adverse drug reactions. However, the trustworthiness of signals derived from social media is questionable. To confirm this, a confirmatory study with a positive control (eg, new black box warnings, labeling changes, or withdrawals) is required. Objective This study aimed to evaluate the use of social media in detecting new black box warnings, labeling changes, or withdrawals in advance. Methods This scoping review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews checklist. A researcher searched PubMed and EMBASE in January 2021. Original studies analyzing black box warnings, labeling changes, or withdrawals from social media were selected, and the results of the studies were summarized. Results A total of 14 studies were included in this scoping review. Most studies (8/14, 57.1%%) collected data from a single source, and 10 (71.4%) used specialized health care social networks and forums. The analytical methods used in these studies varied considerably. Three studies (21.4%) manually annotated posts, while 5 (35.7%) adopted machine learning algorithms. Nine studies (64.2%) concluded that social media could detect signals 3 months to 9 years before action from regulatory authorities. Most of these studies (8/9, 88.9%) were conducted on specialized health care social networks and forums. On the contrary, 5 (35.7%) studies yielded modest or negative results. Of these, 2 (40%) used generic social networking sites, 2 (40%) used specialized health care networks and forums, and 1 (20%) used both generic social networking sites and specialized health care social networks and forums. The most recently published study recommends not using social media for pharmacovigilance. Several challenges remain in using social media for pharmacovigilance regarding coverage, data quality, and analytic processing. Conclusions Social media, along with conventional pharmacovigilance measures, can be used to detect signals associated with new black box warnings, labeling changes, or withdrawals. Several challenges remain; however, social media will be useful for signal detection of frequently mentioned drugs in specialized health care social networks and forums. Further studies are required to advance natural language processing and mine real-world data on social media.


The formation and growth of cracks by irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) in light water reactor internals is a critical issue for a safe long-term operation of nuclear power plants. The IASCC susceptibility at relatively low dose is dominated by conventional mechanisms such as radiation-induced segregation and radiation hardening. However, the ageing of the nuclear fleet combined with the increase of their life-span reveals other mechanisms that could play an important role on IASCC susceptibility. Recent studies show that a huge amount of helium (He) can be accumulated in reactor internal components of pressurized water reactors (PWR) after long-term operation. This occurrence could significantly increase the IASCC susceptibility at high doses. The main objective was to investigate the He effects on IASCC susceptibility of the solution-annealed (SA) and 20% cold-worked (CW) austenitic steel 316L. SA and CW miniaturized tensile samples and a SA plate were homogeneously implanted up to 1000 appm He. He was implanted at  45 MeV and 300°C at the cyclotron in CEMHTI/CNRS (France). Slow strain rate tests (SSRT) in air and in high-temperature water were then carried out on SA, CW, post-implantation annealed (PIA) and as-implanted samples; instrumented nanoindentation tests were performed at room temperature on non-implanted and implanted specimens; and scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope were employed for fractography and microstructural characterization. The results of SSRTs in high-temperature air and in hydrogenated high-temperature water showed that homogenized implanted He up to 1000 appm corresponding to a displacement damage of about 0.16 dpa (displacement per atom) does not produce intergranular cracking and IASCC. However, the deformation microstructure of non-implanted SA/CW is characterized by high dislocation density arranged in cell walls separated by relatively dislocation-free regions, while the as-implanted SA samples (> 0.05 dpa) exhibit a more planar deformation microstructure. Characterization of as-implanted CW and PIA samples did not show any significant implantation effect on the deformation microstructure. PIA of the He implanted plate was carried out from 650 to 1000°C for 1h to increase the helium grain boundary coverage, and to reproduce the observed microstructure of the replaced reactor internal components that showed IASCC and use the results for the PIA of tensile samples. The transmission electron microscope investigations showed that an increase of the annealing temperature causes an average bubble size increase and density decrease. The average He bubble size and distribution in the grain interior and on the grain boundary were similar in the range of temperatures studied. In both cases, bubbles grew by the Ostwald ripening mechanism. No preferential He build-up took place on the grain boundaries. The increase of yield stress produced by He bubbles was calculated with three distinct dislocation-localized obstacle and compared to the tensile test results. The bubble strength estimated for these models was used to assess their validity and to compare the results to published data. Finally, nano-indentation tests in SA, CW, as-implanted SA and PIA (650 to 850°C for 1h) samples did not show He effects on grain boundaries strength. However, the average hardness of the grain interior increased with the He implantation and decreased increasing the PIA temperature.


Background: Objective measures of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) are common. However, the value of using objective measures and associated cut-points to accurately capture PA and SB in youth with mobility limitations is uncertain.
Purpose: To compare PA and SB among youth with physical disabilities (YPD) based on existing accelerometry cut-points.
Methods: 34 YPD aged 12 to 21 years who were either ambulatory or used assistive devices wore the Actigraph® GT3X accelerometer on the wrist over a 7-day period. Daily minutes of SB and PA (light, moderate, and vigorous) were collected and analyzed using the ActiLife software. All data were comparatively evaluated using cut-points for wrist-worn accelerometers in children and youth (Crouter et al. 2016), and hip-based cut-points developed for children and youth with chronic health conditions (Stephens et al. 2016).
Results: Mean daily minutes of SB and light PA were higher when data were analyzed using the Crouter (Mean SB= 412 ± 129; Mean light PA= 200 ± 59) versus Stephens (Mean SB= 345 ± 125; Mean light PA= 91 ± 28) cut-points. Mean daily minutes of moderate and vigorous PA calculated using Stephens' cut-points were higher (Mean moderate PA= 162 ± 48; Mean vigorous PA= 167 ± 98) when compared to Crouter's cut-points (Mean moderate PA= 143 ± 72; Mean vigorous PA= 13 ± 13).
Conclusion: These results demonstrate the uncertainty that exists when selecting appropriate cut-points to track SB and PA in YPD. Consideration must be given to the wear location of accelerometers as well as the practicality of applying cut-points that have not been calibrated in YPD.Acknowledgments: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada


The phenomenon of a conscious 'inner hearing' of music, when this music is not actually present, is known as musical imagery. Of interest to music cognition are when, where, why, what and how particular music is imaged. Given the methodological difficulties of imagery research, these questions have only just begun to be addressed. The research to date has begun to suggest fruitful areas to explore and useful methods to achieve this. This paper reviews converging evidence of musical imagery experience from a sampling study, interviews, and laboratory experiments. Relevant findings from a study that sampled the everyday occurrence of having a 'tune on the brain' are presented (Bailes, in press) as an introduction to some of the probable factors linked to the occurrence of an involuntary musical image. Analyses highlight the influence of recent exposure to particular music on what is subsequently imaged. Following this, an experimental study is described which measured the point of recognition (POR) of 120 melodies by 32 participants, with the goal of predicting POR as a function of different subjective measures of familiarity with the stimuli, and melodic distinctiveness. Results point to the complementary roles of perceptual exposure and memory when participants intentionally generate a mental image of music. Although musical imagery is an intangible phenomenon, this paper argues that by examining converging evidence it is possible to discern commonalities worthy of further study. This overview also underlines the changing nature of imagery experience dependent on the contextual factors of the intention to image music and musical task.


Cockroach allergy has been considered as an important cause of respiratory allergic diseases for over three decades. The most common domiciliary cockroach species are Blattella germanica (German cockroach) and Periplaneta americana (American cockroach). Blattella germanica is a small cockroach, approximately 16 mm in length, which commonly infests houses worldwide. Periplaneta americana is a large cockroach, approximately 35–53 mm in length, that infests houses, schools, hospitals, and other large buildings. There are more than 20 different cockroach species in Turkey, and Blattella germanica is known as the most common. In the United States, the prevalence of cockroach allergy ranges from 17 to 41%'in various studies involving both children and adults. European studies on children and adults attending an allergy clinic show a high variability in cockroach sensitisation varying from %4–26. In Turkey, cockroach allergy prevalence rate varies from %2.2-51.4 in different studies consisting of both children and adults. Tropomyosin, designated as Bla g7 and Per a7, has been identified as a major allergen in cockroaches. Tropomyosin is also an important allergen involved in cross-reactivity among insects and invertebrates including mites, crustaceans, mollusks and parasites. Cosensitization to other invertebrate allergens in cockroachsensitized individuals is a common feature. Consequently, parasite infestations could regulate allergic reactivity through cross-reactive antibody responses. A sustained decrease in cockroach allergen levels is difficult to accomplish even after successful extermination of cockroach populations and commercial cockroach extracts used for diagnosis and treatment remain non-standardized. Although some of the studies suggest that cockroach immunotherapy may be effective, further randomized, controlled clinical trials, using wellcharacterized cockroach extracts, and with larger number of patients and longer follow-up are required to establish the efficacy and safety of specific allergen immunotherapy in the treatment of cockroach allergic patients.


Space-time codes built out of Alamouti components have been adopted in wireless standards such as UMTS, IEEE 802.1 In and IEEE 802.16 where they facilitate higher data rates through multiplexing of parallel data streams and the addition of two or more antennas at the receiver that perform interference cancellation. This paper provides new theoretical insight into an algorithm for interference cancellation through a Bayesian analysis that expresses performance as a function of SNR in terms of the ''angles" between different space-time coded data streams. Our approach provides insights into the coupling of channel coding to spatial and polarization degrees of freedom.


In many genomic applications, hypotheses tests are performed by aggregating test-statistics across units within naturally defined classes for powerful identification of signals. Following class-level testing, it is naturally of interest to identify the lower level units which contain true signals. Testing the individual units within a class without taking into account the fact that the class was selected using an aggregate-level test-statistic, will produce biased inference. We develop a hypothesis testing framework that guarantees control for false positive rates conditional on the fact that the class was selected. Specifically, we develop procedures for calculating unit level p-values that allows rejection of null hypotheses controlling for two types of conditional error rates, one relating to family wise rate and the other relating to false discovery rate. We use simulation studies to illustrate validity and power of the proposed procedure in comparison to several possible alternatives. We illustrate the power of the method in a natural application involving whole-genome expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis across 17 tissue types using data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Project.


A variety of surgical options exists for penile reconstruction. The key to success of therapy is holistic management of the patient, with attention to the psychological aspects of treatment. In this article, we review reconstructive modalities for various types of penile defects inclusive of partial and total defects as well as the buried penis, and also describe recent basic science advances, which may promise new options for penile reconstruction.


Leukemia stem cells (LSCs) can resist available treatments that results in disease progression and/or relapse. To dissect the microRNA (miRNA) expression signature of relapse in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), miRNA array analysis was performed using enriched LSCs from paired bone marrow samples of an AML patient at different disease stages. We identified that miR-99a was significantly upregulated in the LSCs obtained at relapse compared to the LSCs collected at the time of initial diagnosis. We also found that miR-99a was upregulated in LSCs compared to non-LSCs in a larger cohort of AML patients, and higher expression levels of miR-99a were significantly correlated with worse overall survival and event-free survival in these AML patients. Ectopic expression of miR-99a led to increased colony forming ability and expansion in myeloid leukemia cells after exposure to chemotherapeutic drugs in vitro and in vivo, partially due to overcoming of chemotherapeutic agent-mediated cell cycle arrest. Gene profiling and bioinformatic analyses indicated that ectopic expression of miR-99a significantly upregulated genes that are critical for LSC maintenance, cell cycle, and downstream targets of E2F and MYC. This study suggests that miR-99a has a novel role and potential use as a biomarker in myeloid leukemia progression.


The balance of lipid metabolism has been recognized as one of the significant causes of impaired glucose metabolism in T2DM, which is steadily increasing worldwide. IGR plays a vital role in the prevention and treatment of T2DM. This study focused on roles of plant sterols (PS), omega-3 fatty acids or their combination on IGR individuals, moreover, further clarifying whether there is synergistic effect of combination PS with omega-3 fatty acids on the prevention and treatment of IGR through a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2×2 factorial design trial. 200 participants consented were randomized to receive PS and omega-3 fatty acids (n=50), PS alone (n=50), omega-3 fatty acids alone (n=50) and placebo soy bean powder plus placebo capsules (n=50) for 12 weeks. To investigate the characteristics of body composition (weight, height, waistline, BMI, body fat rate, visceral fat rating), blood pressure, glucose metabolism (FPG, FINS, HOMA-IR, HbA1c), lipid metabolism (TG, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C) and inflammatory factors (Hs-CRP, IL-6) in IGR individuals. Compared with placebo group, the combined intervention significantly decreased TG, HDL-C, FBG, HOMA-IR and HbA1c. Omega-3 fatty acids alone led to significant reductions in waistline, TG, FBG, HOMA-IR and Hs-CRP. PS alone just decreased TG and Hs-CRP. No intervention produced significant changes in body weight, BMI, blood pressure, FINS, body fat rate, visceral fat rating, TC, LDL-C and IL-6. In conclusion, we have demonstrated for the first time that PS, omega-3 fatty acids or their combination significantly improved inflammation, insulin resistance, as well as glucose and lipid metabolism in IGR individuals. And combinative interaction has better effects than single dietary supplement. Disclosure P. Ruirong: None. Funding Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University


The flagellates and the ciliates have long been considered to be closely related because of their unicellular nature and the similarity in the structures of the axoneme of the flagella and cilia in both groups. Most protozoologists believe that the ciliates arose from a flagellate. The flagellates that are most similar in structure to the ciliates are the dinoflagellates and two genera of uncertain taxonomic position, Colponema and Katablepharis. Structurally, dinoflagellates have a number of similarities with ciliates. These include the similarity of the cortical alveoli in the ciliates to the thecal vesicles in the dinoflagellates, the possession of tubular cristae, the similarity of the parasomal sac of the ciliates to the pusule of the dinoflagellates, the possession of similar trichocysts and mucocysts, and some similarity in the feeding apparatus. Colponema spp. are probably related to the dinoflagellates and have many of the same similarities with the ciliates. Katablepharis spp. are very similar in structure to the swarmer (embryo) of the suctorian ciliates. Indeed, reduction in the number of cilia to two in the suctorian swarmer and elimination of the macronucleus would result in a cell that is very similar to the Katablepharis cell. The feeding apparatus of Katablepharis spp. and the rest of the ciliates consists of two concentric microtubular arrays associated with vesicles. Information available from nucleotide sequencing of rRNA places the dinoflagellates in an ancestral position to the ciliates. The rRNA of Colponema and Katablepharis spp. has not yet been investigated. The use of stop codons in mRNA is discussed in relation to phylogeny.


The endodontic treatment of 1,720 non-vital anterior teeth and premolars was observed in the author's general practice during 1985–1999 until December 2005. The analysis included success or failure and survival after non-surgical root canal treatment, root end resection or trephination with regard to various criteria. The failure analysis distinguished between clinical failures (acute exacerbations) that occurred within the first nine months of treatment only and failures with a follow-up radiograph. Operator, sex and age of patient, number of appointments, or initial or second treatment did not have a significant impact statistically. Regarding the results, the degree of root canal filling was of minor importance, only found to be of statistical significance regarding the development of an acute exacerbation after overfilling of conservatively treated teeth. Statistically significant factors were apical periodontitis before endodontic treatment, the homogeneity of a root canal filling and the restoration type. Posts were found to impair the treatment results. An increased extraction rate was observed among the patients in the lowest socio-economic group compared with those in the higher socio-economic groups. Ten years post-endodontic treatment, 15.6% of the non-surgically treated cases, 23.8% of the cases treated with root end resection and 23.7% of the trephination cases were available for analysis without preceding re-intervention.


Scope of the Problem The field of transfusion medicine began 100 years ago, in 1900, with the discovery by Landsteiner of the ABO blood group system. This discovery demonstrated thatplasmaproteinshavedefined specificities.Theseplasmaproteins, later termedantibodies, recognizeepitopeson red blood cells. These discoveries constituted a starting point for blood banking—collection and storage of blood— and for immunohematology, the serological investigation of blood group antigens (FIGURE 1). During the past 3 to 4 decades, significant advances have been achieved in improving the blood supplywithrespect toavailability, safety, and fractionation intocomponents, such as red blood cells, platelet concentrates, and plasma proteins. Donors currently donate approximately 12 million units of blood annually in the United States. Without these donations, many procedures and treatments, such as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, complex cardiac and orthopedic surgery, and organ transplantation, would not be possible. A safe and adequate blood supply is a fundamental necessity to support state-ofthe-art medical and surgical therapies. However, resources are now needed to translate advances in the biology of hematopoietic cells into newer cellular therapies and to investigate the unique immunological effects that result from transfusion of blood cells. This article discusses current status and progress in several aspects of transfusion medicine, including adequacy and safety of the blood supply, appropriate use of transfusion therapy, development of novel cellular therapies, and manipulation and prevention of immune responses.


Abstract In Laws 3.680b–c the Athenian Stranger's positive evaluation of the Cyclopean 'way of life' (Od. 9.112–15) is deeply indebted to Antisthenes' interpretatio Homerica of the Cyclopes as 'just' insofar they do not have the need of written law. Antisthenes' equation of 'need of law' with 'need of written law' is then contextualized within the unresolved tension, in the legislative project of the Laws, between oral dissemination ('proems' to the laws) and the potentially coercive power of the written text. Finally, Megillus' inept reply to the Homeric quotation by the Athenian Stranger allows us to gain a more nuanced view of the 'readerly' dynamics enacted by the internal audience of the Laws.


Author(s): Robinson, A Helene | Abstract: In this mixed-method study the researcher sought to explore answers to the following research questions: What is the effect of an arts integration approach on diverse freshman students' perceptions of learning, motivation/engagement, school attendance, and academic achievement?Are there changes that occur in the quality of classroom instructional processes, including emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support when an arts integration approach is being utilized? As a quasi-experimental mixed-method study, the study utilized observations, focus groups, student questionnaires, field notes, and data obtained from the NYC IRB on student attendance, student demographics, and academic achievement data in a diverse high school in NYC public schools where 90% of the students were classified as non-white students. Among the 231 participating freshman students, 3% were part of the ELL program (n = 4); 22% of the students had some disability (n = 41); and the majority of the students were receiving a free or reduced lunch (n = 111, 61%). One of the 9th grade academies was selected as the control group and another as the treatment group. Teachers in the treatment group received a limited amount of professional development on arts integration using a small group project based implementation approach. Results indicate that the teachers in the treatment group increased levels of instructional support and differentiated learning formats in their classroom as compared to the teachers in the control group. Additionally, students in the treatment group outperformed the control group students in 3 out of the 4 subject area achievement outcomes that were compared. There was no significant difference found in student attendance between the control and treatment group students even though a snowstorm and a hurricane occurred during the semester this study was implemented. Data from the student questionnaires, the focus groups, field notes, and observations was triangulated and supported the quantitative data. The qualitative data provided a deeper understanding on how the experience had impacted student's self-beliefs and emotional engagement. Additionally, there was a significant increase in their behavioral engagement that was both observed and self-reported by students. This study makes a significant contribution to research identifying which aspects of instructional support seem to increase when teachers implement arts integration. Additionally, it extends other arts integration research examining diverse/disadvantaged student engagement and achievement even when adversity is experienced in a school.


Background
Menopause signifies the beginning of a non-reproductive phase from the reproductive period. Although it is considered a natural life transition, recent studies have indicated that a woman's menopausal experience may impact her quality of life. While studies have examined Malaysian women's knowledge and awareness of menopause, they have focused on the prevalence of menopausal symptoms and sociocultural aspects. These investigations also used a quantitative design that may have limited the information regarding the nature and experience of menopause. Objectives: This study explores women's perceptions and understanding of their menopausal experience.

Methods
A total of 20 menopausal women were recruited using purposive sampling through social media in the state of Pahang, Malaysia. In-depth semi-structured interviews were used to explore how they perceived their menopausal experience. The data were then analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results
Three themes that emerged from the findings included perceptions of menopause, biopsychosocial changes and help-seeking behavior. For many Muslim women, menopause was perceived as a time for them to engage in religious commitment more than they had before.

Conclusion
The study findings uncovered a knowledge gap and a lack of support for women impacted by menopause. Muslim women regarded their menopause phase as a time for them to engage in religious duty fully. These results indicate the need for a psychosocial intervention and educational program to ensure women a better transition throughout their menopausal phase.


For advocates of federalism, these are uncertain times. With hope of meaningful judicial federalism having largely receded, and Congress persisting in its penchant for intrusions on state authority, of late several scholars have championed the capacity of executive agencies to enforce and preserve federalism interests. This paper tests this position, providing the first empirically based critical analysis of administrative federalism, focusing on the recently enacted Adam Walsh Act, intended by Congress to redesign states' sex offender registration and community notification laws. The paper casts significant doubt on the accepted empirical assumptions of administrative federalism, adding to the limited evidence amassed to date on state influence on agency rulemaking, and provides an important cautionary tale for future agency-based criminal justice mandates that will likely come to pass.


`Galileo Galilei' (GG) is a proposal for a small, low-orbit satellite devoted to testing the equivalence principle (EP) of Galileo, Newton and Einstein. The GG report on the phase A study recently carried out with funding from ASI (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana) concluded that GG can test the equivalence principle to 1 part in 1017 at room temperature. The main novelty is to modulate the expected differential signal of an EP violation at the spin rate of the spacecraft (2 Hz). Compared with other experiments, the modulation frequency is increased by more than a factor of 104, thus reducing 1/f (low-frequency) electronic and mechanical noise. The challenge for an EP test in space is to improve over the sensitivity of ground-based experiments (about 1 part in 1012) by many orders of magnitude, so as to deeply probe a so far totally unexplored field; doing that with more than one pair of bodies is an unnecessary complication. For this reason GG is now proposed with a single pair of test masses. At present the best and most reliable laboratory-controlled tests of the equivalence principle have been achieved by the `Eot-Wash' group with small test cylinders arranged on a torsion balance placed on a turntable which provides the modulation of the signal (a 1-2 h rotation period). The torsion balance is not a suitable instrument in space. We have designed and built the GGG (`GG on the Ground') prototype. It is made of coaxial test cylinders weakly coupled (via mechanical suspensions) and quickly rotating (6 Hz achieved so far); in addition, it is well suited to be flown in space - where the driving signal is about three orders of magnitude stronger and the absence of weight is very helpful - inside the coaxial, co-rotating GG cylindrical spacecraft. The GGG apparatus is now operational. Preliminary measurement data indicate that weakly coupled, fast-spinning macroscopic rotors can be a suitable instrument to detect small differential effects. Rotation (up to 6 Hz so far) is stabilized by a small passive oil damper. A finer active damper, using small capacitance sensors and actuators as in the design of the space experiment, is in preparation. The current sensitivity of the GGG system is of 10-9 m s-2/√Hz at about 300 s, which can be improved because horizontal seismic noise is rejected very well; perturbing effects of terrain tilts (due to microseismicity and tides) will be reduced by adding a passive cardanic suspension. As for the capacitance read-out, the current sensitivity (5 pm displacements in 1 s integration time at room temperature) is adequate to make GGG competitive with the torsion balance. Because of the stronger signal and weaker coupling of the test rotors in space, this sensitivity is also adequate for GG to reach its target accuracy (10-17). Information, references, research papers and photographs of the apparatus are available on the Web (http://tycho.dm.unipi.it/nobili).


First-order-reversal-curves (FORCs) are an elegant, nondestructive tool for characterizing the magnetic properties of materials comprising fine (micron- or nano-scale) magnetic particles. FORC measurements and analysis have long been the standard protocol used by geophysicists and earth and planetary scientists investigating the magnetic properties of rocks, soils, and sediments. FORC can distinguish between single-domain, multi-domain, and pseudo single-domain behavior, and it can distinguish between different magnetic mineral species [1]. More recently, FORC has been applied to a wider array of magnetic material systems because it yields information regarding magnetic interactions and coercivity distributions that cannot be obtained from major hysteresis loop measurements alone. In this paper, we will discuss this technique and present high-temperature FORC results for two magnetic nanoparticle materials: CoFe nanoparticles dispersed in a SiO_2 matrix, and FeCo-based nanocrystalline amorphous/nanocomposites.


Over the past decade in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, there has been a continual rise in the advancement of telecommunications, as well as a continual rise in urbanisation. Within this context, a number of sector professionals have acknowledged the potential for the rapid growth in information and communication technologies (ICT) to offer new opportunities to water providers to address some of their enduring challenges. Desille and Faggianelli (2013) emphasise the importance of those both collecting and analysing information to ensure data collected is relevant and regularly updated. Unfortunately, little attention is initially given to catering these systems towards those collecting data. This paper uses lessons learned regarding appropriate and inappropriate design approaches in ICT projects in the WASH sector to showcase two case studies implemented by the social enterprise, SeeSaw. Despite SeeSaw's attempt to incorporate the personalities, incentivise, and motivations of the reporters at the
onset of the project, some challenges still remain. These results suggest both the challenges avoided when
design considerations incorporate those collecting information, but also the challenges that still remain –
and that future research can help clarify.


Energy consumption is becoming a growing concern in data centers. Many energy-conservation techniques have been proposed to address this problem. However, an integrated method is still needed to evaluate energy efficiency of storage systems and various power conservation techniques. Extensive measurements of different workloads on storage systems are often very time-consuming and require expensive equipments. We have analyzed changing characteristics such as power and performance of stand-alone disks and RAID arrays, and then defined MIND as a black box power model for RAID arrays. MIND is devised to quantitatively measure the power consumption of redundant disk arrays running different workloads in a variety of execution modes. In MIND, we define five modes (idle, standby, and several types of access) and four actions, to precisely characterize power states and changes of RAID arrays. In addition, we develop corresponding metrics for each mode and action, and then integrate the model and a measurement algorithm into a popular trace tool - blktrace. With these features, we are able to run different IO traces on large-scale storage systems with power conservation techniques. Accurate energy consumption and performance statistics are then collected to evaluate energy efficiency of storage system designs and power conservation techniques. Our experiments running both synthetic and real-world workloads on enterprise RAID arrays show that MIND can estimate power consumptions of disk arrays with an error rate less than 2%.


ABSTRACT Public development banks (PDBs) can accelerate SDGs implementation, by coupling their leverage capacity with systemic and cross-cutting 2030 Agenda alignment practices that catalyse real transformations in their behaviours and investments. This new research assesses how PDBs — from different sizes and geographies — have interpreted and are including sustainable development priorities in their day-to-day discussions, processes and operations. It shows that most PDBs have the interest and willingness to take the necessary steps to mainstream SDG priorities into their strategies and operations. Nonetheless, findings suggest that both strategic and operational endeavours are at the early stages of alignment. Identified innovative practices by PDBs leading the way, should now be shared among their peers in a view of harmonisation and coherence, as a crucial prerequisite to a scaled-up alignment. As for governments, shareholders and other stakeholders, they should also contribute to this alignment endeavour by an enhanced political backing and support to PDBs.


Scatternet formation must be addressed before any ad hoc network protocol can be run over Bluetooth. This is due to the frequency hop nature and piconet unit of Bluetooth. In this paper, a protocol stack of Bluetooth group ad hoc network and a "blue-star island" network formation algorithm are proposed. The network formation locates within Bluetooth network encapsulation protocol (BNEP) layer and is beneath the routing protocol. The main task of network formation is to establish and maintain Bluetooth network topology with better performance and in a fast and economic way. The routing protocol is mainly to find the best routes among the existing network topology. The network formation communicates with routing protocol and management entity using "Routing Trigger" mechanism. The "blue-star island" algorithm is a distributed 2-stages scheme. First, a group of neighbour nodes are self-organized into "blue-star island", where the joint node is slave in scatternet. Then, initiated by "Routing Trigger" from routing protocol, blue-star islands are bridged together. The "Routing trigger" can be "Route REQuest" message or "HELLO" message. The design has no assumption on number, distribution and mobility of nodes. We present discussion and simulation results that show the proposed algorithm has lower formation latency, maintain consume and generate an efficient and good quality of topology for forwarding packet.


ABSTRACT A rice yield estimation system was developed based on the crop growth model ORYZA and SAR-derived key information such as start of season (SOS) and leaf area growth rate. Results from study sites in South and South-east Asian countries suggest that incorporating remote sensing data, specifically Synthetic aperture radar (SAR), into a process-based crop model improves the spatial distribution of yield estimates. This article highlights the detailed methodology of SAR data incorporation into crop yield simulation and comprehensive validation of yield forecast and estimates in the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Tamil Nadu, India. Remote sensing data assimilation into a crop model effectively captures the responses of rice crops to environmental conditions over large spatial coverage, which otherwise is practically impossible to achieve. A process-based crop simulation model is used in the system to ensure that climate information is captured, and this provides the capacity to deliver a mid-season yield forecast for national planning and policy for rice. Good agreement between SAR-based yield and crop-cut-based yield and official yield statistics and ensuring efficiency of the processing suggest that the system is a promising solution for the needed timely information on rice yield for application in food security and policies, climate disaster management, and crop insurance programs.


By means of epidemiological, clinico-functional, experimental, pathomorphological, histological and mathematical-statistical methods the authors showed that hard physical work under conditions of heating microclimate promoted quick development and advance of coronary heart disease in deeply working coal miners. Negative dynamics of sudden coronary death (SCD) rate was established, its pathophysiological mechanisms were specified. SCD risk factors were singled out and arranged accordingly to their importance. SCD in miners was suggested to be considered as professionally conditioned state.


We consider a cheap talk setting with two senders and a continuum of receivers with heterogenous preferences. Receivers listen to just one sender, but can choose which sender to listen to. We determine that: (i) full communication is possible for a large set of sender preferences; (ii) both senders attract listeners only if they are oppositional and not too polarized; and (iii) senders with preferences that are closer to the average receiver preference are listened to by a greater proportion of receivers. In extensions, we endogenize the senders' preferences and investigate the effects of an entertainment benefit derived by receivers.


Introduction Emergency telephone calls placed by bystanders are crucial to the recognition of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), fast ambulance dispatch and initiation of early basic life support. Clear and efficient communication between caller and call-taker is essential to this time-critical emergency, yet few studies have investigated the impact that linguistic factors may have on the nature of the interaction and the resulting trajectory of the call. This research aims to provide a better understanding of communication factors impacting on the accuracy and timeliness of ambulance dispatch. Methods and analysis A dataset of OHCA calls and their corresponding metadata will be analysed from an interdisciplinary perspective, combining linguistic analysis and health services research. The calls will be transcribed and coded for linguistic and interactional variables and then used to answer a series of research questions about the recognition of OHCA and the delivery of basic life-support instructions to bystanders. Linguistic analysis of calls will provide a deeper understanding of the interactional dynamics between caller and call-taker which may affect recognition and dispatch for OHCA. Findings from this research will translate into recommendations for modifications of the protocols for ambulance dispatch and provide directions for further research. Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the Curtin University Human Research Ethics Committee (HR128/2013) and the St John Ambulance Western Australia Research Advisory Group. Findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and communicated to key audiences, including ambulance dispatch professionals.


Background and Objectives Tobacco smoking has been established as a major risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in women of developing countries, but emerging evidence suggests that biomass fuel is an important risk factor as well. The primary objective of the study was to find the true prevalence of COPD in Indian women exposed to biomass fuel using spirometry. We also aimed to find the determinants of underdiagnosis of COPD in these participants. Methods Women with a history of exposure to biomass fuel for >10 years were screened for COPD using spirometry following all standard protocols as per GOLD/ATS/ERS definitions. Results Of the 2868 women screened, a total of 529 (18.4%) women were confirmed to have COPD in which 123 (4.2%) were "Women with known COPD" and 406 (14.2%) "Women with new COPD". The mean age at the time of Diagnosis was 61±5.2 and 47±3.6 respectively. The duration of exposure to biomass fuel had a great impact on the risk of COPD with OR 1.2, 95% CI (1.1-1.9) for patients with 10-15 years exposure and OR 2.9, 95% CI (2.5-3.1) for exposure >25 years, p<0.001. Conclusion The prevalence of COPD among women exposed to biomass fuel is very high. A strong correlation was found between the risk of COPD and the duration of exposure along with the age at which the exposure to biomass fuel begins. Underdiagnosis of COPD was frequent in women due to the lack of the availability of spirometry, lack knowledge of hazards of biomass fuel, a low level of education and the ignorance of the health care provider being the important determinants of underdiagnosis.


Physical modeling can be used to validate the reflectivity predicted with different theoretical methods. We acquired a physical model experiment simulating a time lapse problem to investigate our theoretical results. The baseline survey has been modeled with plexiglass and PVC slabs resembling the cap rock and reservoir. The PVC slab has been replaced with a phenolic slab to resemble the monitor survey in which the reservoir had been gone under geological-geophysical changes during the time. Picked amplitudes from plexiglass-PVC and plexiglass-phenolic interfaces are corrected for geometrical spreading, emergence angle, free surface, transmission loss, and radiation patterns. The results for baseline survey, monitor survey, and their difference representing the difference data in time-lapse are analyzed. The linear and higher order approximations for difference data derived theoretically using perturbation theory and Zoeppritz equations were provided from the companion paper (Jabbari and Innanen 2012). These approximations are compared with the model data for validation. Results showed that the higher order approximations are more comparable with the model data which emphasize on including higher order terms for difference data calculations in time-lapse.


In this paper we present a new class of generalized useful fuzzy inaccuracy measure. This measure is not only new but some known measures are the particular cases of our proposed measure. We also obtained the bounds for this measure.


In this issue of Gut , two papers describe the vast experience of the group in Leuven, Belgium, with the use of infliximab in Crohn's disease. The first report ( see page 492 ) describes 614 patients, mostly with luminal disease and about 25% with fistulising disease treated over a period of 12 years. A sustained benefit was seen in 63%; in a third even after stopping the drug while in remission.1 Twenty percent of patients withdrew from treatment due to loss of response and 11% had no initial response. Of those patients with an initially elevated C-reactive protein (CRP), 77% showed a "biological response", which had a positive predictive value for a better clinical outcome. Out of 10 deaths, one was directly related to therapy, three were possibly related and six were not related.

The second report ( see page 501 ) assessed medical records of 734 patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the majority with Crohn's disease, treated with infliximab during 14 years, and compared them with 666 patients who did not receive infliximab followed during this period.2 Median follow-up was more than twice as long for controls than for infliximab patients (58 months; 33–88 months). A total of 113 severe adverse events occurred in 93 treated patients, and 157 in 126 control patients. Mortality, malignancies and infection rates did not differ between the two populations. However, the control group was older and received steroids much more often during the much longer follow-up.

To me there is an important message from these data to all patients with Crohn's disease …


Abstract In this a paper a non-linear macro stress testing methodology with focus on early warning is developed. The methodology builds on a variant of Random Forests and its proximity measures. It is embedded in a framework, in which naturally defined contagion and feedback effects transfer the impact of stressing a relatively small part of the observations on the whole dataset, allowing to estimate a stressed future state. It will be shown that contagion can be directly derived from the proximities while iterating the proximity based contagion leads to naturally defined feedback effects. Since the methodology is Random Forests based the framework can be estimated on large numbers of risk indicators up to big data dimensions, fostering the stability of the results while reducing inaccuracies in estimated stress scenarios by only stressing a small part of the observations. This procedure allows accurate forecasting of events under stress and the emergence of a potential macro crisis. The framework also estimates a set of the most influential economic indicators leading to the potential crisis, which can then be used as indications of remediation or prevention.


ABSTRACT The area of the Morava and Dyje Rivers confluence is one of the most biologically diverse localities in the Czech Republic, recognised under many international forms of nature protection. In this paper we analyse and present land use/land cover (LULC) changes that took place over the last century. Using aerial photographs from the years 1938, 1953, 1976 and 2009, we differentiate 24 categories of LULC with a special focus on forest management. The most important detected changes are (i) closure of open/structured woodlands, (ii) change from an agricultural mosaic into large-field arable land, (iii) regulation of water courses, (iv) decrease in grassland area and (v) increase in forest logging intensity. LULC trends in this area differ significantly from the general LULC development within the Czech Republic. The results are presented in six map sheets showing LULC in (a–d) the studied years, (e) processes of LULC changes and (f) LULC change intensity. The thematic maps are accompanied by aerial photographs selected to show characteristic features of landscape structure in a certain period and by graphs including those visualising landscape metrics.


To understand the engine main bearings' working condition is important in order to improve the performance of engine. However, thermal effects and thermal effect deformations of engine main bearings are rarely considered simultaneously in most studies. A typical finite element model is selected and the effect of thermoelastohydrodynamic(TEHD) reaction on engine main bearings is investigated. The calculated method of main bearing's thermal hydrodynamic reaction and journal misalignment effect is finite difference method, and its deformation reaction is calculated by using finite element method. The oil film pressure is solved numerically with Reynolds boundary conditions when various bearing characteristics are calculated. The whole model considers a temperature-pressure-viscosity relationship for the lubricant, surface roughness effect, and also an angular misalignment between the journal and the bearing. Numerical simulations of operation of a typical I6 diesel engine main bearing is conducted and importance of several contributing factors in mixed lubrication is discussed. The performance characteristics of journal misaligned main bearings under elastohydrodynamic(EHD) and TEHD loads of an I6 diesel engine are received, and then the journal center orbit movement, minimum oil film thickness and maximum oil film pressure of main bearings are estimated over a wide range of engine operation. The model is verified through the comparison with other present models. The TEHD performance of engine main bearings with various effects under the influences of journal misalignment is revealed, this is helpful to understand EHD and TEHD effect of misaligned engine main bearings.


We examined code-switching (CS) in the speech of twenty-four bilingual caregivers when speaking with their 18- to 24-month-old children. All parents CS at least once in a short play session, and some code-switched quite often (over 1/3 of utterances). This CS included both inter-sentential and intra-sentential switches, suggesting that at least some children are frequently exposed to mixed-language sentences. However, we found no evidence that this exposure to CS had any detrimental effect on children's word learning: children's overall vocabulary size did not relate to parental inter-sentential CS behavior, and was positively related to within-sentence CS. Parents often repeated words across their two languages, but this did not appear to increase the likelihood of children having translation equivalents in their vocabulary. In short, parents appear to CS fairly often to young children, even within sentences, but there is no evidence that this delays child lexical acquisition.


The low velocity impact response of sandwich panels at different energy levels has been investigated by conducting drop-weight impact tests using an instrumented falling-weight impact tower. Impact parameters like maximum impact force and the extent of the damage were evaluated and compared for different types of sandwich panels. Finite elements simulations have been undertaken using the LS-DYNA software; the results of FE simulations have a good agreement with the experiments. It shows that, the impact force increased with thickness of face-sheets and foam core, the extent of the damage increased with the impact energy, sandwich panels with steel face sheet has a good impact resistance in comparison with sandwich panel with aluminum face sheets.


GPR139 belongs to Class A of GPCRs family and plays key role in molecular signalling through activation of receptors and promotes exchange of Guanosine Di-phosphate (GDP) to Guanosine Tri-phosphate (GTP). GPR139 is specifically involved in neuropeptide signalling pathway, phospholipase C-activating G-protein-coupled receptor signalling pathway and is coupled to IP3 second messenger (phospholipase C activating). In this article, we report 3D structure prediction of GPR139 using threading and ab initio methods. The models were validated and optimised. Molecular dynamics simulation of GPR139 was performed for 300 ns to investigate the dynamic perturbations in predicted model, particularly variations in seven transmembrane domains and active site residues. The active site residues were identified and the 3D model was screened against large databases of chemical libraries for identification of potential lead compounds which could bind to GPR139 receptor and activate signal transduction. The screened compounds were further refined through free binding energy calculations (ΔGbind) using generalised born and surface area continuum solvation for estimating ligand-binding affinities to GPR139.


volume (FMBV). We aimed to evaluate the influence of 3 different persistence levels (smoothing) at the same region of interest. Methods: Anterior placentas were evaluated for placental perfusion assessment by time-averaged maximum perfusion (TAMP) on a 2D cine sequence in 16 normal pregnant women with singleton pregnancies. The power Doppler (PDU) color box was placed in a sagittal plane of the placenta with visualization of the site of insertion of the umbilical cord. The PDU color box was adjusted to the maximum placental length and height with the following settings: low-pass filter, pulse repetition frequency of 0.6 kHz, and normal quality image. A 4–5 seconds video sequence was saved in an AVI format without compression for off-line analysis. Three recordings from the same area were saved using 3 smoothing levels (1/1, 6/6, 12/12). Recordings were obtained without maternal and fetal movements. For analysis, in the first image of each video sequence the region of interest (ROI) was delineated and then all the images included in the video loop were automatically calculated, the final value was termed Time-Averaged Maximum Perfusion (TAMP). Difference between 3 smoothing levels was evaluated by the ANOVA test and the statistical significance accepted for p values was < 0.05. Results: The mean and range of values for the 3 levels of smoothing (1/1, 6/6, 12/12) were 10.6% (5.0–21.8%), 15.6% (7.9–24.6%) and 18.6% (13.4–26.5%) respectively. There was a significant difference between the 3 levels of smoothing (P = 0.01). Conclusions: There is a strong influence of the smoothing level when evaluating perfusion by TAMP method. The highest level of persistence is associated with higher FMBV values. For real blood perfusion evaluation, the lowest persistence might be used.