Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) is a naturally occurring protective mechanism in the heart and is triggered by brief ischemic insults preceding a sustained ischemic period. The artificial induction of the protective effects of IPC are potentially of great benefit to postinfarct patients and would serve to augment traditional surgical and thrombolytic treatment regimens. As yet, no agent has been developed to trigger IPC specifically. The mechanisms underlying IPC have been the focus of intense study, and many components of the IPC framework have been elucidated. Adenosine, noradrenalin, angiotensin II and endothelin are several of the key inducers of IPC. Signal transduction events downstream of receptor activation converging on protein kinase C stimulation are thought to trigger the intracellular pathways leading to 'preconditioning'. Although the complete sequence of events beneath IPC are not clear, several of the end effectors for the initiation of IPC are. For instance, activation of a class of potassium channels that are sensitive to internal ATP (KATP channels) can induce IPC and may be at least one of the targets for the action of protein kinase C. The precise mechanisms by which stimulation of KATP channels protects the myocardium are still under debate and are discussed in this review. It seems likely that both the plasma membrane and mitochondrial KATP channel populations are involved in IPC. Because KATP channels are rich and varied pharmacologically, it may be possible to target therapeutic agents at the cardiac channel isoform. Such compounds would likely meet the pharmacological criteria for a 'conditioning' agent.


The present study was planned to evaluate and compare the immunomodulatory activity of ethyl acetate extract (EAE 100 mg/kg p.o.) and standardized extract of H. rosa sinensis in terms of cyanidin chloride (SEC 4 and 8 mg/kg p.o.) from petals of H. rosa sinensis. Immunosuppression was induced by chronic administration of ethanol whereas treated groups received ethanol concurrently with either extracts or standard drug for 28 days. Biochemical parameters like lipid peroxidation (LPO), reduced glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities were assessed in blood. Spleen and thymus were examined for histopathology. Chronic administration with ethanol showed drastic decrease in the levels of SOD, CAT and GSH but highly raised levels of LPO. Administration of EAE and SEC restored to near normal the markers of oxidative stress which could further prevent ethanol induced damage due to immunological and oxidative stress.


The state's claim that it can represent children's interests plays a significant role in defining the structure of families, the relationships within families, and the development of children's interests. This paper explores three different contexts involving the state and the contested nature of how the interests of minors are represented in both national and international law: first, in restricting the abortion rights of minors, the state claims to be protecting them; second, in allowing parents to decide who will act as caretaker for their children if both parents are dead, the state defers to parents' wishes; and third, in dysfunctional countries, where the state cannot protect children and the exercise of rights in court is virtually meaningless, it is non-governmental organizations who speak on behalf of minors. In examining the state's role in speaking for children, this article serves as a critique and a defense. The state's actions and efficacy in advocating the interests of minors is context-dependent; there are contexts in which the state's stated agenda of protecting children really is primary, while in other situations, there is another agenda altogether - or the state may be altogether incapable of acting at all. The paper argues that the state may be serving its own interest when it claims to be acting in a child's best interest, as when it regulates minors' abortions; it may be according primary value to children's interests, as is the case with guardians appointed once both parents are dead; or the state may be completely unable to serve anyone's interests. Children have different needs for third party understanding of their situations, depending on the posture of state, parent, and other institutional actors. Ultimately, the paradigmatic state/parent/child triangle must include, at a minimum, civil society and other non-governmental actors.


IceCube was completed in December 2010. It forms a lattice of 5160 photomultiplier tubes that monitor a volume of ∼ 1 km3 in the deep Antarctic ice for particle induced photons. The telescope was designed to detect neutrinos with energies greater than 100 GeV. Owing to subfreezing ice temperatures, the photomultiplier dark noise rates are particularly low. Hence IceCube can also detect large numbers of MeV neutrinos by observing a collective rise in all photomultiplier rates on top of the dark noise. With 2 ms timing resolution, IceCube can track subtle features in the temporal development of the supernova neutrino burst. For a supernova at the galactic center, its sensitivity matches that of a background-free megaton-scale supernova search experiment. The sensitivity decreases to 20 standard deviations at the galactic edge (30 kpc) and 6 standard deviations at the Large Magellanic Cloud (50 kpc). IceCube is sending triggers from potential supernovae to the Supernova Early Warning System. The sensitivity to neutrino properties such as the neutrino hierarchy is discussed and simulations of tantalizing signatures, such as the formation of a quark star or a black hole as well as the characteristics of shock waves are presented. All results are preliminary.


It has been shown that human exposure to air pollution causes adverse health effects. The most used indicator of air quality is the concentration of particulate matter with diameters smaller than 2.5 or 10 µm (PM2.5, PM10, respectively). PM is a chemically complex mixture and it has been suggested that observed adverse health effects depend on PM chemical composition. Most studies of PM composition have investigated short term health effects. Recently, the ESCAPE project (www.escapeproject.eu) contributed knowledge of adverse health effects of long term exposure to PM elemental constituents. Little is known about health effects caused by long-term exposure to organic PM components. The thesis contributes to characterization of air quality by monitoring and modelling of organic components and oxidative potential. Its main goals were: - Determination of the spatial contrast of the ambient concentration of organic components (EC/OC, PAH and hopanes/steranes, levoglucosan) and oxidative potential measured with dithiothreitol assay (OP DTT) within and between ten European study areas. - Assessment of the relationship between those components with other components measured more routinely (NO2, NOx, PM2.5 mass and absorbance). - Development and evaluation of Land use Regression models of spatial variation of the measured air pollutants. Substantial spatial variability was found for all measured pollutants. EC, OC and OP DTT concentrations had similar patterns in Europe as the previously reported components: NO2, PM2.5 and PM absorbance. The highest concentrations for those pollutants were found in southern Europe. ΣPAH and levoglucosan exhibited a different trend. In southern and northern Europe ΣPAH concentrations were similar with the highest concentrations in Copenhagen, Rome and Athens. Levoglucosan concentrations (marker for wood burning) did not differ significantly between the four study areas. The contribution of wood-smoke calculated based on levoglucosan measurements to PM2.5 mass was 9 to 28% in the cold season. Concentrations of all pollutants were higher at street locations. The highest median Street to urban background ratio was found for EC (1.62). The median S/UB ratio for ΣPAH and OC was lower (1.44 and 1.32, respectively) suggesting the importance of other sources in addition to local traffic. The correlation between PM2.5and most components was moderate on average, suggesting they provide additional information on air quality. The highest median explained variance (R2) was found for EC – 84%. PAH and OC LUR models had moderate performance. The lowest performance was for OP DTT – 30%. Levoglucosan models had moderate performance in all four areas, but models were non-specific as we did not have predictor variables associated with wood smoke emissions. Traffic predictors were included in most models with exception to levoglucosan model. In conclusion, substantial variability was found in spatial patterns of all investigates air pollutants both within and between European study areas. The application of this highly standardized measurement and modelling approach across different locations will contribute to a consistent assessment of air pollutant levels and potentially contribute to understanding health effects associated with them.


In this paper, we propose the concepts, design guidelines, and implementation details of PhySig, a novel interactive in-store shopping experience that annotates information about products, which are physically located in the store, by a projector and enables shared content between the products and mobile devices. Multiple users access the system from their own mobile devices to move a cursor projected on the wall or floor of the store to select an item and obtain additional information associated with the item in the projected space. They can also download the information to their mobile devices or upload their related content, including comments, reviews, or photos, of the item. In short, PhySig is an example of how to extend and combine digital signage with the surrounding physical environment.


Enzymatically degradable polymeric micelles have great potential as drug delivery systems, allowing the selective release of their active cargo at the site of disease. Furthermore, enzymatic degradation of the polymeric nanocarriers facilitates clearance of the delivery system after it has completed its task. While extensive research is dedicated toward the design and study of the enzymatically degradable hydrophobic block, there is limited understanding on how the hydrophilic shell of the micelle can affect the properties of such enzymatically degradable micelles. In this work, we report a systematic head-to-head comparison of well-defined polymeric micelles with different polymeric shells and two types of enzymatically degradable hydrophobic cores. To carry out this direct comparison, we developed a highly modular approach for preparing clickable, spectrally active enzyme-responsive dendrons with adjustable degree of hydrophobicity. The dendrons were linked with three different widely used hydrophilic polymers—poly(ethylene glycol), poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline), and poly(acrylic acid) using the CuAAC click reaction. The high modularity and molecular precision of the synthetic methodology enabled us to easily prepare well-defined amphiphiles that differ either in their hydrophilic block composition or in their hydrophobic dendron. The micelles of the different amphiphiles were thoroughly characterized and their sizes, critical micelle concentrations, drug loading, stability, and cell internalization were compared. We found that the micelle diameter was almost solely dependent on the hydrophobicity of the dendritic hydrophobic block, whereas the enzymatic degradation rate was strongly dependent on the composition of both blocks. Drug encapsulation capacity was very sensitive to the type of the hydrophilic block, indicating that, in addition to the hydrophobic core, the micellar shell also has a significant role in drug encapsulation. Incubation of the spectrally active micelles in the presence of cells showed that the hydrophilic shell significantly affects the micellar stability, localization, cell internalization kinetics, and the cargo release mechanism. Overall, the high molecular precision and the ability of these amphiphiles to report their disassembly, even in complex biological media, allowed us to directly compare the different types of micelles, providing striking insights into how the composition of the micelle shells and cores can affect their properties and potential to serve as nanocarriers.


In order to place sensors or electronics in very high temperature environments, new materials and methods for interconnection are required. A comparative study between different electrical interconnection methods for very high operation temperatures (500 °C – 800 °C) is presented. Thermo-mechanical simulations and characterization of samples of the interconnection types during high temperature exposure are presented. The results of the thermo-mechanical simulations showed that stresses are low in a connection system based on liquid interconnection. This system, however, proved to be difficult to realize due to problems with oxides and sealing of the metallic liquid. Modeling of an interconnection based purely on mechanical pressure without any solder or metallic bond showed high stress. This was also confirmed during high temperature exposure where the connection failed. High stress was also predicted for an interconnection based on nano-Ag paste. The high temperature tests, however, showed promising results at 800 °C for over 100 hours.


Among the various molecular designs developed for the synthesis of conjugated polymers and small molecules for optoelectronic applications, the donor: acceptor (D–A) approach is the most widely explored method over the past decades. Through the covalent linkage of electron‐rich and electron‐deficient units, a plethora of medium‐low band gap materials has been developed and tested in organic photovoltaic devices. In particular, the quinoxaline aromatic structure and its derivatives are among the most studied electron deficient aromatic units used in D–A structures. Quinoxaline based materials are endowed with characteristics that are useful for large scale production in real world applications, such as easy synthetic procedures and excellent stability in air. Moreover, the use of quinoxaline based polymers/small molecules in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) devices led to power conversion efficiencies over 9%. Considering the potential of quinoxaline based materials, this review gathers together quinoxaline based polymers and small molecules reported in the literature during the last 5 years, summarizing and discussing the structure‐properties relationships for this class of organic semiconductors, aiming to serve as a background and to promote efforts for the further development of new quinoxaline derivatives with improved and advanced properties for future applications.


A simple quantitative method in terms of the Akaike information criterion is proposed, which can be used to highlight the difference between the Weibull and normal or other favourite distributions, and further to  find out which model is better. As an example, the fit of fracture data  of brittle materials to several distributions, such as the Weibull, normal, and log-normal distributions, is compared. The results show that there seems to be no sufficient  evidence that the Weibull  distribution is always in  preference to other distributions, and the uncritical use of the Weibull distribution is questioned. This is also verified by recent experiments on the fracture strength of electroceramics.


Phenoloxidases (monophenol monooxygenase, EC 184.108.40.206; catechol oxidase, EC 220.127.116.11) are a group of enzymes with copper cofactors that produce reactive quinones and are part of the melanin synthesis pathway, both of which have important roles in immunity. The pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, which according to genome annotation is deficient in many other immune system components, codes for two phenoloxidase proteins that represent putative dimer components and possess the amino acid residues contributing to the active site. Constitutive phenoloxidase activity was detectible in the pea aphid hemolymph. It was activated by both conformational change with methanol and proteolytic cleavage of the propeptide with trypsin. Phenoloxidase activity was not significantly altered by aseptic wounding or infection studies with Escherichia coli or Micrococcus luteus. Phylogenetic analysis of insect phenoloxidases yielded a topology consistent with a lineage-specific duplication in each order (including Hemiptera). The possibility that the topology could be generated by a duplication, probably in the ancestral insect, followed by coevolution between the two phenoloxidase subunits within each order, was explored but rejected. The three-dimensional structures of the pea aphid phenoloxidases were reconstructed by homology modeling. The models of all three possible dimeric states of phenoloxidase (two homodimers and one heterodimer) did not exhibit conformational change in response to propeptide cleavage and their conformation differed from other modeled insect phenoloxidases. Taken together, these results suggest that the pea aphid has a functional phenoloxidase, but that it may be activated and function in a different way from the phenoloxidases in previously-studied insects.


Objective: To assess the prevalence of abnormal anal cytology and high-risk human papilloma virus (HPV)-type infection in HIV-infected people with a CD4 cell count >300 cells/μl. Methods: The clinic-based patient population included 126 HIV-infected people: 124 men who have sex with men, and two women (median age 45 years; CD4 cell count >300 cells/μl). Anal cytology swabs were placed into liquid-based medium for HPV typing by Hybrid Capture-2 assay and cytological assessment, by a single cytopathologist. Results: 106 (84%) participants were infected with high-risk HPV; 17 (14%) had no high-risk types of HPV detected; three (2%) had no HPV assay result because of an inadequate sample. Sixteen (13%) participants had cytological evidence of high-grade squamous intraepithelial (HGSIL) changes, 100% of whom had high-risk HPV types detected, and 13 (10%) had atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance with possible high-grade changes (ASCUS-H), 92% of whom had high-risk HPV types detected. Low-grade changes (LSIL) were detected in 24 (19%) participants, 96% of whom had high-risk HPV types, 32 (25%) had ASCUS with 88% high-risk HPV types, 30 (24%) had normal cytology with 73% high-risk HPV types, and 11 (9%) samples were inadequate for cytological assessment. The odds ratio of participants with high-risk HPV having abnormal anal cytology on anal swab was 5.03 (95% CI 1.45 to 17.39). Discussion: High-risk HPV types are common in this HIV+ population with a CD4 cell count >300 cells/μl. The presence of high-risk HPV types was associated with abnormal anal cytology such as HGSIL and ASCUS-H.


Music therapy is a small, but evolving profession. Numbers of music therapists are increasing, yet little is known regarding the workforce and its employment characteristics. To understand the current profile of the music therapy workforce in the United Kingdom (UK), the British Association for Music Therapy (BAMT) commissioned a national survey of its membership. This survey explores the profile of the UK music therapy workforce in terms of demographics, training and employment characteristics. An online survey was circulated to all BAMT members. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis of open-ended responses. A total of 374 therapists responded (44% response rate). Following demographic information (including age, nationality and training background), we focus on employment characteristics such as income, types of work, settings, clients and age groups. Supervision and clinical fees are considered as well as commissioning and funding of self-employed and employed music therapy work. As an initial mapping of the current UK workforce, this study offers a pragmatic platform to consider development and strategic priorities and thus to re-vision the future of music therapy in the country. Potential implications for the international music therapy community are also discussed.


Following the 2013 Goldacre paper extolling the benefits of teacher research, this paper reports on a small-scale study conducted in a UK University School of Education by two teacher educators who train and support teacher researchers. The paper focuses on views of teachers and teacher educators regarding whether ethical guidelines for educational research should be required for teachers' school-based research. The School of Education requires its staff and students to conduct research according to the BERA (2011) Revised Guidelines for Practitioner Research; this study was no exception. However, before it began, the teacher educators who led it had found anecdotally that teachers often questioned why they should follow ethical guidelines for researching in their own schools. Since teachers tend not to seek parental consent for gathering, storing and reporting assessment data, they often queried the requirement in respect of research data; equally, they troubled the classroom practicalities of allowing students to withdraw from research based on teaching and learning interventions. The teachers' views highlighted the need for systematic exploration concerning the issue of ethics for school-based teacher research. This small-scale instrumental case study aimed to investigate perceptions of ethical guidelines for practitioner research. To gain trustworthy data, two participant groups were recruited: (i) teachers with no experience as educational researchers (n= 8) and (ii) teacher educators who had been teachers and were also experienced educational researchers (n=8). Participants engaged in two hour-long focus groups, when they discussed the nature of school-based research, whether teachers need to follow ethical guidelines for school-based research and, if so, what such guidelines should include. Data were verified with participants, then analysed using thematic coding. Emerging themes included definitions, relationships, consent/assent, and deontological versus consequentialist argument. While both groups thought teachers adopted an ethical code for teaching, practising teachers held a stronger conviction that teachers' professional actions are consistently beneficent. Equally, teachers did not believe they needed informed consent or assent to collect, store or report student data for research or assessment purposes, seeing this as a barrier to school-based research. A larger -scale study is indicated to identify whether these beliefs are shared by teachers beyond the study location, whether new ethical guidelines for teachers researching in schools might be useful, whether collection, storage and reporting of school assessment data requires a new ethical framework and what the implications may be for teacher education, teachers and school leaders.


OBJECT
In this study the authors review surgical experience with cavernous malformations of the brainstem (CMBs) in an attempt to define more clearly the natural history, indications, and risks of surgical management of these lesions.

METHODS
The authors retrospectively reviewed the cases of 100 patients (38 males and 62 females; mean age 37 years) harboring 103 lesions at treated a single institution between 1984 and 1997. Clinical histories, radiographs, pathology records, and operative reports were evaluated. The brainstem lesions were distributed as follows: pons in 39 patients, medulla in 16, midbrain in 16, pontomesencephalic junction in 15, pontomedullary junction in 10, midbrain-hypothalamus/thalamus region in two patients, and more than two brainstem levels in five. The retrospective annual hemorrhage rate was most conservatively estimated at 5% per lesion per year. Standard skull base approaches were used to resect lesions in 86 of the 100 patients. Intraoperatively, all 86 patients were found to have a venous anomaly in association with the CMB. Follow up was available in 98% (84 of 86) of the surgical patients. Of these, 73 (87%) were the same or better after surgical intervention, eight (10%) were worse, and three (4%) died. Two surgical patients were lost to follow-up review. Incidences of permanent or severe morbidity occurred in 10 (12%) of the surgically treated patients. The average postoperative Glasgow Outcome Scale score for surgically treated patients was 4.5, with a mean follow-up period of 35 months.

CONCLUSIONS
The natural history of CMBs is worse than that of cavernous malformations in other locations. These CMBs can be resected using skull base approaches, which should be considered in patients with symptomatic hemorrhage who harbor lesions that approach the pial surface. Venous anomalies are always associated with CMBs and must be preserved.


By means of mathematical methods, quantitative and qualitative changes were studied in different structural components of the mesenteric (ileocecal) lymph nodes in normal monkeys (Macaca rhesus) and under per os administration of Salmonella typhi murium, streptomycin-dependent. Cellular composition was calculated in the cortical plateau, cortical (lymphoid) cords and in follicules. Average percent of every cell type was determined. Vaccine administration, was stated to inhibit cytopoiesis in the cortical plateau and in the follicules with light centers. An inverse correlation was noted between the content of small and medium size lymphocytes. Different reactivity of certain structural components in the lymph nodes was demonstrated. As a response to the vaccine administration, plasmocellular acidophilic and macrophagal reactions were most pronounced in the cortical (lymphoid) cords.


Metal nanowire networks represent a promising candidate for the rapid fabrication of transparent electrodes with high transmission and low sheet resistance values at very low deposition temperatures. A commonly encountered obstacle in the formation of conductive nanowire electrodes is establishing high quality electronic contact between nanowires in order to facilitate long range current transport through the network. A new system of nanowire ligand removal and replacement with a semiconducting sol-gel tin oxide matrix has enabled the fabrication of high performance transparent electrodes at dramatically reduced temperatures with minimal need for post-deposition treatments of any kind.


Dothistroma needle blight caused by D. septosporum has emerged in the British Isles as a major threat to Corsican pine, lodgepole pine and Scots pine. There is increasing evidence that mycoviruses can reduce the growth and pathogenicity of fungal plant pathogens. The aim of the present study is to characterise a double-stranded RNA virus found in D. septosporum and investigatefor putative hypovirulence, a common feature noted for mycoviruses, which might be used for biological control to invasion by more aggressive strains of the fungus. To this endthe viral genome was cloned and sequenced revealing four genomic segments, each one containing a single open reading frame (ORF) flanked by 5' and 3' untranslated regions. The ORFs encode the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, the capsid protein, a protein of unknown function and a putative protease, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of the sequences obtained revealed their similarity to members of the established family Chrysoviridae, genus Alphachrysovirus, which are encapsidated in isometric particles and are known to elicit hypovirulence in their hosts. Subsequently, virus-free and virus-infected isogenic lines were generated to determine any effects of the mycovirus on fungal fitness and pathogenicity. More specifically, the virus-infected isolate is currently being assessed in comparison to the virus-free one in terms of radial growth in solid culture, biomass in liquid culture, pathogenicity in pine trees and production of the mycotoxin dothistromin. In conclusion, this study reports the first mycovirus ever found in D. septosporum.


Summary: The influence of oxygen on growth and cytochrome synthesis was investigated in four species of Propionibacterium. After anaerobic growth all species contained cytochrome b, cytochrome a or a
1, cytochrome a
2 and a carbon monoxide-binding pigment. Cytochrome b functions in an electron transport system from lactate to fumarate since the lactate-fumarate dismutation reaction, unlike lactate oxidation via methylene blue, was strongly inhibited by 2-n-heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline-N-oxide (HOQNO). No species grew on agar plates under aerobic conditions but all grew in aerated media, though at different rates and with diminished synthesis of all cytochromes. In Propionibacterium freudenreichii and P. shermanii, which grew slower under aerobic conditions than P. rubrum and P. pentosaceum, cytochrome synthesis was more repressed by oxygen. Large amounts of pyruvate accumulated under aerobic conditions whereas acetate, propionate and succinate were not formed. The bacteria are therefore dependent on oxidative phosphorylation for energy under aerobic conditions. For P. freudenreichii an Y
0 value (g dry wt bacteria/g-atom oxygen taken up) of 15 was measured, suggesting a P/O value of 1 to 2. Absence of cytochrome synthesis resulting in the loss of oxidative phosphorylation may explain the absence of aerobic growth on agar plates.


The numerical simulation of surface tension is an active area of research in many different fields of application and has been attempted using a wide range of methods. Our contribution is the derivation and implementation of an implicit cohesion force based approach for the simulation of surface tension effects using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. We define a continuous formulation inspired by the properties of surface tension at the molecular scale which is spatially discretized using SPH. An adapted variant of the linearized backward Euler method is used for time discretization, which we also strongly couple with an implicit viscosity model. Finally, we extend our formulation with adhesion forces for interfaces with rigid objects.
 Existing SPH approaches for surface tension in computer graphics are mostly based on explicit time integration, thereby lacking in stability for challenging settings. We compare our implicit surface tension method to these approaches and further evaluate our model on a wider variety of complex scenarios, showcasing its efficacy and versatility. Among others, these include but are not limited to simulations of a water crown, a dripping faucet and a droplet-toy.


Antiarrhythmic drugs have been reported to produce variable effects on defibrillation energy requirements. However, the relation between the in vitro electrophysiologic effects of these agents and the changes in defibrillation energy requirements have not been systematically examined. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of the sodium channel blocking drugs lidocaine and procainamide, the action potential prolonging drugs N-acetyl procainamide and clofilium, and the potassium current blocker cesium in acute canine models with the same internal spring and epicardial patch electrodes used in humans for ventricular defibrillation testing. Ten series of experiments were performed in 78 dogs. Nonlinear regression was used to derive curves of energy dose versus percent successful defibrillation attempts and the 50% and 90% effective energy dose for each experimental condition. Saline control experiments indicated that the preparation was stable throughout the 6-hour duration of the experiments. Lidocaine doubled the defibrillation energy requirement (p less than 0.001) at a mean plasma concentration of 8.2 micrograms/ml. The effect of lidocaine on defibrillation energy was reversible, present at therapeutic plasma concentrations, linearly related to plasma concentration (r = 0.69, p less than 0.002), and present even after only 5-second episodes of ventricular fibrillation. In contrast, procainamide had no effect on defibrillation energy at mean plasma concentrations of 8.5 and 13 micrograms/ml, even after prolonged (30-second) episodes of ventricular fibrillation, whereas N-acetyl procainamide, clofilium, and cesium all decreased the energy requirement for defibrillation by 13-27%. Moreover, with the addition of N-acetyl procainamide, there was a trend toward diminishing the increase in defibrillation energy requirement caused by lidocaine. All agents prolonged the mean ventricular fibrillation cycle length. Lidocaine shortened the QT interval, whereas all other agents increased the QT (p less than 0.05). The major electrophysiologic effect of lidocaine is of sodium channel blockade, whereas, N-acetyl procainamide, clofilium, and cesium predominantly increase the action potential duration, and procainamide exerts both effects. Thus, these data indicate that sodium channel block and action potential prolongation exert significant and antagonistic modulating effects on defibrillation energy requirements.


Purpose

This paper aims to present a new master's programme for promoting energy access and energy efficiency in Southern Africa.

Design/methodology/approach

A transdisciplinary approach called "participatory integrated assessment of energy systems" (PARTICIPIA) was used for the development of the curriculum. This approach is based on the two emerging fields of "multi-scale integrated assessment" and "science for governance", which bring innovative concepts and methods.

Findings

The application of the PARTICIPIA methodology to three case studies reveals that the proposed transdisciplinary approach could support energy and development policies in the region. The implementation of the PARTICIPIA curriculum in three higher education institutions reveals its ability to respond to the needs of specific contexts and its connection with existing higher education programmes.

Practical implications

Considering energy issues from a transdisciplinary approach in higher education is absolutely critical because such a holistic view cannot be achieved through engineering curricula. Deliberate and greater efforts should be made to integrate methods from "multi-scale integrated assessment" and "science for governance" in higher education curricula to train a new breed of modern-day energy planners in charge of coming up with solutions that are shared by all relevant stakeholders.

Originality/value

This paper presents an innovative higher education curriculum in terms of the attention given to energy access and energy efficiency that affect the southern Africa region and the nature of the methodology adopted to face these issues.


This paper provides practical insights into the success criteria in agile projects in the Norwegian software industry. We conducted 32 interviews with practitioners working with agile projects. The findings revealed two fundamental differences that distinguish the perception of success in agile projects from that in projects that are based on the waterfall approach. Firstly, the evaluation is carried out on a regular basis after each increment. This regular and continuous measurement of success contributes several advantages, including greater commitment and involvement from the customer and a higher level of mutual trust between the supplier and the customer; and thus leads to better knowledge sharing and reduced task uncertainty. The reduction of task uncertainty provides more predictability about the direction of the project and better grounds for change control; not least, it allows room to consider multiple and subjective assessments by various stakeholders. Secondly, there is a stronger emphasis on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is measured in terms of how quickly the customer obtains value from the project. The continuous assessment of success at the end of each iteration also has a significant, positive impact on the customer's evaluation of the project outcome.


Among all the phenomena relative to combustion processes deflagration to detonation transition is, undoubtedly, the most intriguing one. Deflagration to detonation transition (DDT) in gases is relative to gas and vapor explosion safety issues. Knowing mechanisms of detonation onset control is of major importance for creating effective mitigation measures addressing the two major goals: to prevent the DDT in case of mixture ignition, or to arrest the detonation wave in case it was initiated. Hydrocarbon fuel-air mixtures are of great interest, because accidental release of flammable natural gas into the atmosphere may have severe consequences, the accidents at Flixborough (1974, UK), Mexico City (1984) and Ufa (1989, Russia) being extreme examples of how dangerous such releases are. The paper contains the results of theoretical and experimental investigations of control of the DDT processes in hydrocarbon - air gaseous mixtures. The influence of geometrical characteristics of the confinement and flow turbulization on the onset of detonation and the influence of temperature and fuel concentration in the unburned mixture are discussed.


The new emerging Visible Light Communication (VLC) technology has been subjected to intensive investigation, evaluation, and lately, deployed in the context of convoy-based applications for Intelligent Transportations Systems (ITS). The technology limitations were defined and supported by different solution proposals to enhance the crucial alignment and mobility limitations. In this paper, we propose to incorporate VLC technology and the Lane-Centering (LC) technique to ensure the VLC-connectivity by keeping the autonomous vehicle aligned to the lane center using vision-based lane detection in a convoy-based formation. As soon as the road lanes are detectable, the evaluated system showed stable behavior independently of the inter-vehicle distances and without the need to exchange information between vehicles. Such a combination can ensure the optical communication connectivity with a lateral error of less than 30 cm. The evaluation of the proposed system is verified using VLC prototype and an empirical result of an LC active application over 60 km on the Madrid M40 highway. Keywords: VLC, Lane-Centering, Platoon, ITS, Road safety applications.


Traditional theater in the Roman world depicted powerful emotions and political ideals that were often the norm in Roman society. Although modern historians have only a hazy perception of performances during both Republic and Empire, testimony to the greatness of the epoch's theater lies in the ruins that stretch across the expanse of the great "vanished empire."William Slater's new volume "Roman Theater and Society "brings an important perspective to the much-maligned status of the Roman theater, which has only recently been reappraised and appreciated as uniquely Roman rather than criticized for not being Greek. From this point of embarkation, William Slater and the nine contributors discuss theater in Rome and the Greek east with a definition of performance incorporating not only stage performances but also dinnertime entertainment, sporting events, and political events. Contributors are T. D. Barnes, K. M. Coleman, J. C. Edmonson, E. R. Gebhard, J. R. Green, E. J. Jory, W. D. Lebek, and D. S. Potter.Individual chapters combine literary evidence with archaeological, thereby engendering a deeper appreciation for the social and political roles of Roman theater. It becomes clear that these roles were of great influence in giving voice to the popular demands of the average Roman. In examining the roles of theater the contributors turn to the players and audience themselves for deeper understanding."Roman Theater and Society "will be of great interest to classicists, theater specialists, and anyone interested in the interplay among plays, theaters, and the people on stage and in the audience.William J. Slater is Professor of Classics, McMaster University.


An asymmetric β‐sheet structure of spider silk is said to induce optical second harmonic generation. In this paper, using an in‐house nonscanning type femtosecond pulse laser second harmonic generation microscope, we characterized the behavior of the β‐sheet of spider silk under an applied external force. The orientation of the β‐sheets was more unidirectional when the silk was extended. One of the origins of the high mechanical strength of the dragline is suggested to be the physical arrangement of its β‐sheets.


The antitumor effect of Ser. marcescens nuclease, modified by covalent binding using the method of diazocoupling with m-aminobenzyloxymethyl dextran of molecular weight 20 000, 40 000, 60 000, exceeds 3--4 times the antitumor effect of the native enzyme in relation to Ehrlich ascites carcinoma in contact tumor cells exposure. In intramuscular injection of the enzyme the nuclease preparation modified by dextran of molecular weight 40 000 showed the greatest antitumor activity against Ehrlich carcinoma and sarcoma 37.


In the present paper, the recently developed local meshfree method solution of thermo-fluid problems is modified from the collocation to the combined collocation and weighted least squares approach and upgraded with an h-adaptive strategy. A one domain enthalpy formulation is used for modelling the solid-liquid energy transport and the liquid phase is assumed to behave as an incompressible Newtonian fluid modelled by the Boussinesq hypothesis. The involved temperature, enthalpy, velocity and pressure fields are represented on overlapping local sub-domains through weighted least squares approximation (by a truncated Gaussian weight in the domain nodes) and collocation (at the boundary nodes) by using multiquadrics Radial Basis Functions (RBF). The transport equations are solved through explicit time stepping. The pressure-velocity coupling is calculated iteratively through a novel local pressure correction algorithm. The node adaptivity is established through a phase-indicator and a node refinement strategy that takes into account the dynamic number of neighbouring nodes. The proposed approach is used to solve the standard Gobin Le Quere melting benchmark with tin at Stefan number (Ste) 0.01, Prandtl number (Pr) 0.02, and Rayleigh number (Ra) 2.5e4. The node distribution changes through the simulation as the melting front advances. The solid is consequently computed at much lower node distribution density in comparison with the liquid, which speeds up the simulation and at the same time preserves accuracy. The latter issue has been demonstrated by comparison with the results of other combinations of numerical methods and formulations that attempted this benchmark in the past.


BACKGROUND
Meta-analysis (MA) is a common mathematical method used in systematic reviews (SRs) to gather data from different studies. MA may result in overestimation or underestimation of the effect due to systematic and random errors. Trial sequential analysis (TSA) has been used to overcome the limitations of conventional MA. The objective of this study was to re-evaluate the findings of orthodontic MAs using TSA to investigate the conclusiveness of the effect and to estimate the required information size (IS).

METHODS
Orthodontic SRs with MA published between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2022 in the leading orthodontic journals were sourced. Data from arm-level MAs were extracted and re-entered in TSA software.

RESULTS
A total of 180 papers were assessed against the inclusion criteria. Finally, 50 SRs with MAs were included. TSA found that almost half of the MAs with significant results demonstrated firm evidence of effect. While 38% of the significant MAs confirmed potentially spurious evidence of effect. In contrast, only one MA with insignificant findings showed a lack of effect. Furthermore, a larger number of patients were needed when the evidence of the effect was absent.

CONCLUSIONS
TSA revealed that many orthodontic MAs have potentially false-positive results and have insufficient IS.


The ability of proteins to specifically interact with each other is a key feature in the regulation of biological processes. Knowledge about interaction partners and characterization of protein-protein interactions contribute to the understanding of proper protein function and cell physiology. In particular, Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) is a suitable method to analyze interactions between proteins in living cells.
During the progress of this thesis, a quantitative FRET approach was established that aims to evaluate binding curves for interaction partners. Moreover, the quantitative FRET approach was applied to study biological questions, including the investigation of putative interaction partners of the endolysosomal ion channel two-pore channel 2 (TPC2), the Kv7.2 potassium channel and the photoreceptor-specific transmembrane protein peripherin 2.
The FRET approach described in manuscript I computes calibrated FRET efficiencies from fluorescent measurements using three-filter cubes and correlates the FRET efficiencies to the concentration of donor and acceptor molecules to determine binding curves, which bear information about maximal FRET efficiencies and relative binding constants for individual FRET pairings. Calibration factors that represent the optical properties of the imaging setup and the fluorophores are crucial for quantitative measurements. A detailed description how to assess these factors is provided. The quantitative FRET approach is very robust as both donor-centric (E-FRET) and acceptor-centric (SE-FRET) efficiencies are obtained simultaneously from multiple cells.
The method was further applied to investigate protein-protein interactions of membrane proteins.
First of all, in manuscript II, an epilepsy-causing mutation in the Kv7.2 potassium channel was shown to be implicated in a reduced calmodulin binding affinity to the channel, which affects channel regulation.
A second study identified SNARE proteins, such as syntaxin 7 and syntaxin 6, as novel interaction partners of the intracellular ion channel TPC2 (manuscript III), revealing TPC2 as a putative member of the late endosome-lysosome fusion machinery. In manuscript IV, the impact of polymorphic variants of TPC2 on channel dimerization and mTOR binding was investigated.
Furthermore, in a study covered by manuscripts V and VI, rhodopsin as well as S- and
M-opsins were identified as novel interaction partners of the retinal protein peripherin 2 in rods and cones, respectively. The binding domain underlying the interaction between peripherin 2 and rhodopsin, could be assigned to the fourth transmembrane domain of peripherin 2. Moreover, it could be demonstrated that disease-associated mutations in peripherin 2 attenuated this particular binding, suggesting differential pathophysiological consequences of disrupted interactions in rods and cones. In manuscript VIII, peripherin 2 and its homolog Rom-1 were shown to have opposing effects on rod outer segment targeting of disease-linked peripherin 2 mutants by evaluating their binding affinities. Peripherin 2 is a scaffold protein exclusively expressed in outer segments of rods and cones. As photoreceptors are polarized cells, FRET measurements were not only performed on transfected HEK293 cells but also on acutely isolated outer segments of virally transduced murine photoreceptors (manuscript VII).
The results gained in this thesis demonstrate that protein interactions play a crucial role in the regulation of proper protein function. Loss of binding partners or a reduced binding affinity to particular proteins may result in pathophysiological conditions. A deeper knowledge about molecular interactions will contribute to the understanding of cellular mechanisms, etiology of diseases and may further evaluate putative targets of pharmacological interest.


My dissertation investigates highly consequential and emotionally difficult decisions made by consumers of medical services, expanding on Botti et al.'s work (2009). Two studies examine the effect of patient involvement in preference-based medical decisions and the healthcare provider's control over the decision on emotional outcomes for the consumer. To what extent do medical consumers consult with family and friends when making difficult medical decisions, and how does this involvement affect emotional outcomes for the patient? I adopt a mixed-methods approach to study shared decision making (SDM) in the context of childbirth medical decisions.
The first study tests the effect of decision difficulty on post-decision regret, and whether this effect is mediated by family involvement and the role of patient-doctor interaction. A survey questionnaire was administered to an online panel of U.S. women who recently gave birth (N=757). Contrary to expectations, more difficult decisions were associated with less shared and more doctor-controlled interactions, which led to higher post-decision regret. More difficult decisions also led to greater involvement of family and friends in making the decision, which also increased post-decision regret.
The second study employed longitudinal dyadic interviews of women and their doctors (N=40) during and after pregnancy. Findings suggest that provider and patient views of factors driving patient choice are mismatched in important ways. While providers attribute consumer choice to approach-type motives such as desire to experience natural birth or to schedule delivery, patients often choose through a prism of coping with negative emotions such as fear of complications or fear of surgery. In the consumer decision journey, the role of pre-existing preference, formed in a patient's mind prior to a physician's consultation, emerged as an important driver. Consequently, some patients did not equally consider the risks and benefits of all available alternatives. When making medical decisions, patients reported pressure from their extended families, and felt the need to defend their preferred choice to gain support from family members.
Together, these studies extend Pescosolido's (1992) social organization strategy framework, and suggest a new conceptual framework of the patient-centered medical decision journey for preference-based decisions.


The article examines the articulation between Evangelicals and conservatism in the Brazilian scenario since widespread street demonstrations erupted in June 2013; the most significant of these events was the election of Far-Right president Jair Messias Bolsonaro in 2018. A sizable share of this religious segment constitutes, in different ways and in varying degrees, the broader social process that in the national and international public conversation became known as the conservative wave. My argument is that this wave is shaped as the articulation of distinct lines of force at play in the fields of economy, security, morality, and society.


In hydro-acoustic array signal processing we are often concerned with accurate determination of signal parameters from array measurements. To obtain accurate direction estimates, knowledge of the array response is required. Most estimation techniques are sensitive to errors in the array response model. Thus, reliable array calibration schemes are of great importance. In practice, calibration is done by measuring the array response when only one emitter is present and the signal parameters of which are allowed to vary in a known way. Herein, methods for generating an array model from noise corrupted calibration vectors is developed. The performance of the technique is examined on data collected from a full-scale hydro-acoustic array.


Unregulated reporting of clinical trials opens the door to fraud and corruption, undermining medical advances and public health objectives, a report has warned.

The report,1 by a consortium of "health integrity organisations," urges governments to enforce current rules to ensure that patients, doctors, and scientists can access the full results of all clinical trials.

The consortium includes Transparency International Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare, TranspariMED, Cochrane, and the Collaboration for Research Integrity and Transparency at Yale University.

Till Bruckner, lead author of the study and founder of TranspariMED, told The BMJ that the report explains the problem of hidden and misreported trials in a language that policy makers can understand and, crucially, provides concrete recommendations that they can act …


This article examines Claude McKay's 1928 journey to Africa under colonial occupation and uncovers how these true events partly inspired his late work of expatriate fiction, Romance in Marseille. By bringing together migration studies with literary history, the article challenges and expands existing research that suggests that McKay's writings register the impulse for a nomadic wandering away from oppressive forms of identity control set up in the wake of World War I. The article contends that Claude McKay's renegade cast of "bad nationalist" characters registers a generative tension between the imperial national forms the author encountered in North Africa and the Black nationalist vision of Marcus Garvey's Back-to-Africa campaign. Reading the dialectics of bad nationalisms and Black internationalisms, the article explores how the utopian promise for Black liberation by returning back to Africa, central to the New Negro project of Black advancement, frequently becomes entangled in McKay's transnational stowaway fiction with conflicting calls for reparations, liabilities, and shipping damages.


Background The Cavendish Review (July 2013), examined the role of the Health Care Support Worker (HCSW), in the wake of the Francis Inquiry (February 2013) into the failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. Her recommendation that all HCSW's complete a nationally recognised training program based on best practice, is endorsed by the Department of Health and nationally launched on 1st March 2015. The Care Certificate's standards address the fundamentals of care, aiming to ensure that HCSW's are properly trained and motivated to perform their role with the principals underpinned by the Chief Nursing Officer's 6c's (2012). Being one of the 2014 pilot sites, and acquiring a year's worth of data, the author of this paper is currently undertaking a large scale study within her health care organisation, to analyse the impact and benefits of The Care Certificate upon service user experience, participant performance and professional development. Methodology Data from multiple channels is being obtained and reviewed to identify areas of effect. Quantitative statistical and qualitative thematic analysis will cover a 12 month period incorporating the 6 months prior to introduction of The Care Certificate. Results/outcomes It is anticipated that data analysis will yield favourable results in support of the Care Certificate in influencing change within clinical practice, promoting patient safety, improving quality and delivery of care, enhancing employee performance and professional development. Anecdotal evidence is so far highly suggestive that simulation based education integrated into the curriculum, promotes the transference of learnt skills into clinical practice. Potential impact HCSW's who have successfully completed the Care Certificate, will be equipped, knowledgeable and instrumental in making the necessary suggestions and recommendations to drive forward changes in care delivery. Data will further provide assurance to employers, patients, service users, that the HCSW has been trained to a specific set of national standards and have been assessed as competent to work unsupervised. References Berwick D. A commitment to act: improving the safety of patients in England, 2013 Cavendish C. The Cavendish review: an independent review into the healthcare assistants and support workers in the NHS and social care settings, 2013 Chief Nursing Office 2012 Compassion in Practice: The Vision and Strategy for Nurses, Midwives and Care Staff Francis R. The Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry, 2013 Health Education England. The Talent for Care: Consultation on a national strategy to develop staff working in NHS Roles banded 1 to 4, 2014 Keogh B. Review into the quality of care and treatment provided by 14 hospital trusts in England, 2013 Royal College of Nursing. 2013 New Look for First Steps Skills for Care 2013 Workforce outcomes measurement model


Tumor markers are useful in establishing the diagnosis of certain central nervous system tumors, especially germinal tumors of the pineal region. They are not sufficiently specific to be able to replace biopsy for exact diagnosis. They may also be useful for monitoring of therapy, as an indicator of recurrence of the tumor. Cerebrospinal fluid cytology is not generally useful in establishing a specific histologic diagnosis, especially in children, but can help to monitor therapy and predict tumor recurrence. More extensive studies are needed in both areas to define more precisely the role of markers and cytologic studies. Cancer 56: 1773‐1777, 1985.


We have verified experimentally the theoretical predictions of our previous work (Belyavskiy, E.D. et al., IEEE Trans. Electron Devices, vol.48, no.8, p.1727-36, 2001) about the effect of electron beam alternating rotation on the parasitic backward-wave oscillation in the amplifier-type helix traveling-wave tube (TWT) under periodic permanent magnetic (PPM) focusing. We measured the backward-wave start-oscillation current as a function of the interaction length in a specially designed helix backward wave oscillator. The observed behavior is much closer to the predictions of our theory, than to theories that ignore the electron beam rotation. Our results can be used for improving the stability of the PPM-focused helix TWT with respect to parasitic backward-wave oscillation.


Single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) gene occurring in the promoter region has been associated with several inflammatory diseases. Periodontitis, an inflammatory disease in tooth-supporting tissue that has a complex multifactorial etiology, affects males more often than females. This study aimed to discover the distribution of TNF-α G-308A polymorphism and its association with periodontitis susceptibility in Indonesian males. One hundred stored samples of biological DNA extracted from 50 periodontitis patients and 50 healthy controls were analyzed for TNF-α G-308A polymorphism by polymerase chain reaction– restriction fragment length polymorphism. The PCR product was digested with NcoI restriction enzyme. The AA genotype was absent in both periodontitis patients and healthy controls. GG and GA genotype frequencies were 78% and 22%, respectively, in periodontitis patients, while A and G allele frequencies were 11% and 89%. In healthy people, genotype frequencies of GG and GA were 92% and 8% and the frequencies of alleles A and G were 4% and 96%. No significant differences in genotype or allele distribution were revealed between the groups. There was no association between TNF-α G-308A SNP and periodontitis susceptibility in Indonesian males. Clinical article (J Int Dent Med Res 2020; 13(4): 1515-1518)


What are the professional development needs of Heads of international schools in India and how may they be met?
Fuelled by almost a decade of high economic growth, the growth in number of international schools in India is at an unprecedented high. Increasingly, schools are opening to serve the long-term resident as well as the expatriate population. The fastest area of growth is in proprietorial schools, owned and governed by business entrepreneurs. Invariably such schools look for an overseas curriculum, usually through the International Baccalaureate programme. International schools are a largely unregulated sector of schooling in India, in fact, not a sector at all. The leaders of such schools are adrift from any India-wide professional support system or system of accountability, beyond the immediate, local level. The culture of schools is competitive rather than collegial, especially within an urban (metropolitan) area.
I am investigating the professional development needs of the Heads of School, developing competencies and standards for them, and proposing ways to offer systemic professional support. My research gathers qualitative data and uses grounded theory techniques of axial coding. My literature analysis is divided into an analysis of the literature about international schools and their origins and their relevance today, about leadership development and thirdly concerning school improvement.
The Heads of School are struggling to cope and flourish professionally. Foreign Heads of School have particular difficulties in adjusting to the work environment of India. The international organisations, one of which, the IB, may have been said to have helped fuel growth without being able to ensure schools have appropriate support or quality assurance, is putting structures in place to support schools. But, no-one has an overview beyond their commercial and professional interest. The optimum way forward, my research concludes, is if an India-wide association is able to work with international partners to use agreed leadership standards and competencies, to support schools in recruiting and developing Heads, including measuring their performance to improve accountability.


BACKGROUND
The reported geographical differences in the HIV-1 sub-type across the continent and the entire world makes it necessary to investigate whether the clinical presentation and outcome of such presentation can demonstrate differences in the multiple sub- type of HIV-1 infection. To determine whether the clinical presentations and outcome of HIV/AIDS in children in Abuja, Nigeria conforms with reports from elsewhere both within and outside the country.

METHOD
A one-year prospective study of HIV infected children attending the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital (UATH), Gwagwalada, from November 2006 to October 2007, was carried out to determine the clinical presentation and outcome of such presentation in the area.

RESULTS
A total of 173 patients were diagnosed with signs and symptoms of HIV/AIDS and on antiretroviral therapy (ARVT). There were 90 (52.0%) males and 83 (48.0%) females giving a male to female ratio of 1.1:1. Less than 5 years constituted 81.5% of paediatric patients seen, with less than 2 years responsible for 52.0% of cases, and 11.8% being those between the ages of 10-15 years. The commonest presenting complains were that of recurrent fever (80.3%), progressive weight loss (77.5%), and persistent diarrhoea (69.1%). Chronic cough (62.2%) and skin rashes (52.7%) were equally common. While persistent diarrhoea, oral thrush, discharging ear, and failure to thrive were commoner in children less than two years, generalised lymphadenopathy skin rashes and parotid swelling were commoner in older children. Mortality rate was found to be 3.5%, while WHO case definition for paediatric HIV/AIDS in African setting was found to be sensitive with low specificity and positive predictive value (PPV).

CONCLUSION
Clinical presentation of paediatric HIV/AIDS appears similar with reports from other centers in spite of the wide variation in HIV-1 sub-types. Mortality was also found to be low. This was attributed largely to the availability of free antiretroviral drugs (ARVD), potent antibiotics and anti-fungal agents which were made freely available to HIV infected patients. The findings underscore the need for government to extend such services to HIV/AIDS patients across the country as a major way of reducing the sufferings of this scourge in children.


Segmentation of images in the context of model based stochastic techniques is connected with high, very often unpracticle computational complexity. The objective with this thesis is to take the models used in model based image processing, simplify and use them in suboptimal, but not computationally demanding algorithms. Algorithms that are essentially one-dimensional, and their extensions to two dimensions are given.The model used in this thesis is the well known hidden Markov model. Estimation of the number of hidden states from observed data, is a problem that is addressed. The state order estimation problem is of general interest and is not specifically connected to image processing. An investigation of three state order estimation techniques for hidden Markov models is given.


Gastrointestinal nematode infection adversely affects small ruminant productivity all over the world, especially in tropical countries. A study was carried out to evaluate the extent to which concurrent infection with these nematodes may influence lamb meat quality, and how phytotherapy might improve these parameters. During the trial, 24 male Djallonke lambs (Age: 3 to 5 months) were experimentally infected with Teladorsagia circumcincta (4000 infective larvae) and Trichostromgylus colubriformis (10000 infective larvae) and treated from day 26 post infection with methanol extracts of Harungana madagascariensis and Momordica foetida twice daily. Lambs were divided into 8 groups: An untreated (Group 1), Albendazole 7.5 mg/kg (Group 2), H. madagascariensis extract at 125 mg/kg (Group 3), H. madagascariensis extract at 250 mg/kg (Group 4), H. madagascariensis at 500 mg/kg (Group 5), M. foetida extract at 125 mg/kg (Group 6), M. foetida 250 mg/kg (Group 7), and M. foetida at 500 mg/kg (Group 8). Meat quality attributes of lambs from different treatment groups were evaluated. Treatment with different doses of plant extracts led to differences in the level of parasitic load at necropsy. This effect was accompanied by an elevated pH24 in meat from the most severely infected lambs and a concomitant decrease in their chemical composition. This high pH24 equally had significant influence on meat flavour, overall acceptability and water retention of lamb meat. The present study suggested that nematode infection may influence pH of resulting carcass, nutritional composition and some sensory parameters of meat while treatment using M. foetida at 500 mg/kg maybe important in reducing parasite burden while enhancing quality of subsequent lamb carcass.

 Key words: Phytotherapy, meat quality, Teladorsagia circumcincta, Trichostrongylus colubriformis, Harungana madagascareinsis, Momordica foetida, Djallonke lambs.


SUMMARY William Brouncker (ca. 1620-1684) was the inaugural President of The Royal Society, and John Wallis (1616-1703) one of its founder members. The two collaborated closely during the 1650s on some original and unusual mathematics, but while Wallis acquired a lasting reputation, Brouncker's work is no longer well known. The two parts of this paper analyse the joint work of Wallis and Brouncker and attempt to separate their respective contributions and very different mathematical styles. The main subject of Part I is Brouncker's discovery of continued fractions. He gave few clues as to how he obtained his results and I offer a possible reconstruction of his work. His quadrature of the hyperbola and rectification of the semicubical parabola are also discussed. Brouncker emerges as a skilled and intuitive mathematician.


Wireless mesh network (WMN) is a viable solution to support ubiquitous broadband services with low transmission power. This paper investigates the tradeoffs among delay, throughput, and coverage in a multi-channel ring-based wireless mesh network. In the proposed WMN, a simple ring-based frequency planning is employed to effectively utilize available channels. To evaluate the delay and throughput in the proposed WMN, we develop a physical (PHY)/medium access control (MAC) cross-layer analytical framework, which incorporates the carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) MAC protocol and a physical-layer distance-based rate adaptation with multi-hop connections. On top of the analytical model, the mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) optimization approach is applied to analytically determine the optimal number of rings and the associated ring widths, aiming at maximizing the coverage of a mesh cell subject to the requirements of throughput and delay.


Google's Nearby Connections API enables any An-droid (and Android Things) application to provide proximity-based services to its users, regardless of their network connectivity.The API uses Bluetooth BR/EDR, Bluetooth LE and Wi-Fi to let"nearby" clients (discoverers) and servers (advertisers) connectand exchange different types of payloads. The implementation ofthe API is proprietary, closed-source and obfuscated. The updatesof the API are automatically installed by Google across differentversions of Android, without user interaction. Little is knownpublicly about the security guarantees offered by the API, eventhough it presents a significant attack surface.In this work we present the first security analysis of theGoogle's Nearby Connections API, based on reverse-engineeringof its Android implementation. We discover and implement sev-eral attacks grouped into two families: connection manipulation(CMA) and range extension attacks (REA). CMA-attacks allow anattacker to insert himself as a man-in-the-middle and manipulateconnections (even unrelated to nearby), and to tamper withthe victim's interface and network configuration. REA-attacksallow an attacker to tunnel any nearby connection to remotelocations, even between two honest devices. Our attacks areenabled by REArby, a toolkit we developed while reversingthe API implementation. REArby includes a dynamic binaryinstrumenter, a packet dissector, and the implementations ofcustom Nearby Connections client and server. We plan to open-source REArby after a responsible disclosure period.


In this thesis, a process and a corresponding bench-scale plant for a thermo-chemical treatment of different fractions from WEEE were developed and optimized, with the aim to accumulate and/or extract metals from different feedstocks to enable downstream recycling as well as to dehalogenate pyrolysis products.
From tests with shredder residues, best results regarding metal accumulation and dehalogenation were achieved at a pyrolysis temperature of 650 °C and a residence time of 30 min. Most metals were part of the pyrolysis solid products, but, for instance, Cd, In, and Mo were strongly mobilized to pyrolysis vapor. In addition, levels of polyhalogenated dibenzo-p-dioxins and -furans (PXDD/F) in the solid products were minimized, going even below threshold values of corresponding legal requirements. PXDD/F decomposition in liquid products was achieved using blends of polypropylene and a metal compound resulting in a complete decomposition of polyhalogenated dioxins. For a following dehalogenation, a novel filter-material was developed, which was able to absorb more than 90 wt.-% of Br2 and HBr in preliminary tests.
In order to investigate efficiencies of selective mobilizations of metals, different pyrolysis approaches with Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) as feedstock were conducted and allocations of metals analyzed. Tests clearly revealed that co-pyrolysis with polyvinylchloride could be used to completely mobilize As while pyrolysis of PVC with LCD in vapor-phase mode enabled a selective extraction of In. In contrast, from pyrolysis of Ta capacitors at 550 °C in combination with sieving at 500 µm, a targeted enrichment of nearly 90 wt.-% Ta in pyrolysis solid products <500 µm was achieved.
In an ecological and an economical assessment, the performance of a prospective, continuous pyrolysis process for shredder residues was compared to a treatment following the status quo. The process could result in strong ecological exonerative effects and a high economic performance.


Using image analytics to monitor the contents and status of retail store shelves is an emerging trend with increasing business importance. Detecting and identifying multiple objects on store shelves involves a number of technical challenges. The particular nature of product package design, the arrangement of products on shelves, and the requirement to operate in unconstrained environments are just a few of the issues that must be addressed. We explain how we addressed these challenges in a system for monitoring planogram compliance, developed as part of a project with Tesco, a large multinational retailer. The new system offers store personnel an instant view of shelf status and a list of action items for restocking shelves. The core of the system is based on its ability to achieve high rates of product recognition, despite the very small visual differences between some products. This paper covers how state-of-the-art methods for object detection behave when applied to this problem. We also describe the innovative aspects of our implementation for size-scale-invariant product recognition and fine-grained classification.


The structure of articulationes zygapophysiales joints cartilage of vertebral column lumbar region was studied in three age groups of 20-29, 30-39 and 40-49 years. The articular cartilage studied was similar in its structural organization and the character of age changes with those in large synovial joints, however it was distinctly peculiar in the development of involutive changes. Both cells and matrix components of articulationes zygapophysiales joints cartilage display changes already in 20-29 years group. There are significant differences in the degree of destructive and dystrophic changes manifestations in articular facets within one joint. These changes were found to prevail in articular cartilage of superior articular process of the vertebral body inferior to the joint.


Abstract There is a continuous demand for high performance composite propellant formulations to meet mission requirements. The performance of composite propellant formulations can be enhanced by optimizing propellant formulation. However, the main objective of this study is to formulate a composition for composite propellant by optimizing the specific impulse which is the measure of propellant performance. A central composite design (ccd) consisting five ingredients (ammonium nitrate, powdered aluminum, polyester resin, ammonium dichromate and powdered charcoal) at five levels was used to formulate optimum propellant formulation from composite materials of ammonium nitrate based propellant verified for propellant characteristics using propellant performance evaluation programme (propep 3). The responses evaluated are specific impulse, characteristic velocity, density, temperature and molecular weight. Response surface methodology was used to analyze the results of the ccd of the composite formulations. The optimum values for specific impulse, characteristic velocity, density, temperature and molecular weight of the mixture from the surface plot are 212.178 s, 1335.81 m/s, 1640.6 k g/m3, 1968.73 k and 21.7722 g/mol respectively. The optimum predicted specific impulse was 212.178 s at composite composition of 73.61% ammonium nitrate, 4.36% powdered aluminum, 14.39% polyester resin, 5.10% ammonium dichromate and 2.54% powdered charcoal. The propellant optimum composition validated with propep 3 are in good agreement with each other in their accompany propellant characteristics. Therefore, the optimal propellant formulation enhanced the performance of solid propellants.


This paper reports on a series of studies we conducted concerning people's reactions to the imposition of liability for creating risk in others, absent actual injury. This problem is referred to as loss of chance in the tort literature, and as moral luck in the philosophical literature. When two actors perform similarly bad acts, but only one of them causes injury, the system often treats the lucky perpetrator far better than the one whose conduct resulted in actual harm. These studies investigate how people react to such situations. Our core scenario involves a factory which, when not run properly, emits fumes that put people on certain medication at risk of stroke. We varied systematically the state of mind of the perpetrator, whether a stroke actually occurred, the amount of increase in risk, and, if no stroke occurred, whether the period of risk had ended, or whether the risk continued. We asked for a battery of judgments about compensatory and punitive damages, and about possible criminal sanctions. Our findings generally showed that people care a great deal about the state of mind of the perpetrator in awarding damages or meting out sanctions, regardless of whether an actual injury has occurred; that there is a moral luck component to people's judgments (lesser penalties and lower damages when no injury occurs); and that people appear to distinguish, at least to some extent, the differing purposes of tort law (corrective justice) and criminal law (retributive justice).


Though very much an individual and spiritual artist, Alfonse Mucha was a defining figure of the Art Nouveau era and is loved for his distinctive lush style and images of beautiful women in arabesque poses among the plethora of paintings, posters, advertisements and designs he produced. Admire a whole range of his work here in its full glory with succinct accompanying text.


Computational Argumentation has two main goals - the detection and analysis of arguments on the one hand, and the synthesis of arguments on the other. Much attention has been given to the former, but considerably less to the latter. A key component in synthesizing arguments is the synthesis of claims. One way to do so is by employing argumentation mining to detect claims within an appropriate corpus. In general, this appears to be a hard problem. Thus, it is interesting to explore if - for the sake of synthesis - there may be other ways to generate claims. Here we explore such a method: we extract the predicate of simple, manually-detected, claims, and attempt to generate novel claims from them. Surprisingly, this simple method yields fairly good results.


The purpose of this paper is to study the subprime crisis while focusing on the phenomenon of financial contagion. Subprime crisis is a crisis that has hit the U.S. mortgage sector and helped to trigger the financial crisis of 2007-2009. In the context of this study, we are interested in exposing the subprime crisis and the contagion first point. The second point will be reserved for the transmission channels of contagion and the third point; we will try to assess the impact of liquidity on the capital market returns. This study shows that the Tunisian financial market does not seem to be very influenced by the subprime crisis. This can be explained by the intrinsic characteristics of the Tunisian market, an underdeveloped market and elemental thing that can make him more or less immune to that crisis.


The aim of this study was to investigate the portrayal of women in selected Amharic poemsby Ephrem Seyoum. To that effect, three poetry works of the writer were selected andMarxist feminist literary critical perspective was used to frame the study. Besides,qualitative research design was employed to explore andidentify the ways women areportrayed in the selected poems. Then, purposive sampling technique and textual analysiswas used to identify extracts having feminist theme. Based on the analysis made, it isfound out that women are portrayed as sex objects, prostitute, victim of aging and victim ofinstitutional motherhood. Generally, the overall result of the study showed that womenwere predominantly depicted with little positive and more negative images.


We study the rotational evolution of a protoneutron star with hyperons and nucleons or solely nucleons in its core due to the escape of the trapped neutrinos. It is found that at the early stage of its evolution, the stellar crust contracts significantly, consequently the star spins up. At the late stage, a the protoneutron star with hyperons, it keeps shrinking and spinning up till all the trapped neutrinos escape. Consequently, the distribution of the stellar initial spin periods is skewed toward shorter periods. For a protoneutron star with only nucleons, the expansion of its core dominates, and the stellar rotation slows down. After the neutrinos escape, the range of the spin periods is narrower than the initial one, but the distribution is still nearly uniform. If the hyperonic star is metastable, its rotational frequency accelerates distinguishedly before it collapses to a black hole.


Abstract
Imperial crisis is the analytical axis on which turn two national states of emergency: the Weimar Republic (1918–1933) and the United States on the so-called "Eve of Destruction" (1965–1975). But while Max Weber disagreed with Carl Schmitt with respect to the problem of sovereignty at the core of the German imperium, American sociologists – even those inspired by Weber – by and large did not register the gravity of the moment of political decision in their work, or the imperial crisis that their country faced during the Vietnam War and its aftermath. This essay offers ideas regarding why this was so, what the consequences have been for American sociology, and how, in the midst of the present-day imperial and domestic governmental crisis, we might adopt a more expansive view.


In 2012, the author and colleagues surveyed eight publishers that had been involved with the Publishing and the Ecology of European Research (PEER) project to learn about the state of hybrid journal publishing. At the same time, one of the key questions asked to a panel of librarians at the International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers May 2012 Meeting was what role librarians would play if scholarly publishing shortly went open access (OA) across the board? From the survey of the market, and the rapid OA developments in the UK and EU that include hybrid OA, a picture has begun to emerge of what roles librarians can play with regard to supporting hybrid OA publishing at their institutions. This article focuses on developing new partnerships within a given institution, looks at new budgetary models and the tracking of local scholarship creation. Current pertinent standards are highlighted.


We have designed, implemented and evaluated a didactical situation where 27 students in grade 4 created large triangular constructions in an outdoor environment by involving a customized GPS-based mobile application. The students' strategies for construction were reflected upon during a teacher-led discussion involving web technologies and aiming at the formulation of principles for construction. The effective communication of underpinning theories and possible learning objectives, in combination with user-friendly mobile and web technologies, served to scaffold the teacher's successful orchestration of a logos-oriented mathematical discourse.


As a country Britain has spent billions of pounds on modernizing its public services, but often with very poor results. Patrick Dunleavy looks at the current debacle at Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs over massive amounts of uncollected tax. Examining a single case in detail, he shows how the crisis of service delivery was entirely of the department's own making, reflecting long-run problems of organizational culture and management


Electrotonic potential appearing in a single muscle fibre during excitation spread was calculated in the mathematical model of closely packed parallel fibres. Electrotonic depolarization values for heart and smooth muscle were shown to be 10--20 mV, that is comparable to the excitation threshold value. Tissue parameter values were estimated where the coupling coefficient was maximal. The parameter values proved to be similar to those measured in heart and smooth muscles. The data obtained indicate that the electrotonic interaction of muscle fibres should play a significant role in excitation conduction.


Background. Knowledge on mechanisms of neurophysiological control of trunk movement and posture could help in the development of rehabilitation programs and brace treatment in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). Aims. Reviewing up-to-date research on neurophysiology of movement and posture control with the aim of providing basis for new researches in the field of AIS rehabilitation and background understanding for clinicians engaged in management of AIS. Methods. Review of literature. Results. We considered several neurophysiological issues relevant for AIS rehabilitation, namely, the peculiar organization of patterns of trunk muscle recruitment, the structure of the neural hardware subserving axial and arm muscle control, and the relevance of cognitive systems allowing mapping of spatial coordinates and building of body schema. Discussion and conclusion. We made clear the reason why trunk control is generally carried out by means of very fast, feedforward or feedback driven patterns of muscle activation which are deeply rooted in our neural control system and very difficult to modify by training. We hypothesized that augmented sensory feedback and strength exercises could be an important stage in a rehabilitation program aimed at hindering, or possibly reversing, scoliosis progression. In this context we considered bracing not only as a corrective biomechanical device but also as a tool for continuous sensory stimulation that could help awareness of body misalignment. Future research aimed at developing strategies of trunk postural control learning is essential in the rehabilitation of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.


Abstract Calciolangbeinite, ideally K2Ca2(SO4)3, exists in two modifications, cubic and, first described in the present paper, orthorhombic. They are topologically-similar polymorphs which can be designated as calciolangbeinite-C and calciolangbeinite-O. Calciolangbeinite-O is the first natural orthorhombic langbeinite-like sulfate. It clearly differs from calciolangbeinite-C in the powder X-ray diffraction pattern, optical data and Raman spectrum. Calciolangbeinite-O is found in sublimates of the active Arsenatnaya fumarole at the Tolbachik volcano, Kamchatka, Far Eastern Region, Russia and in pyrometamorphic rocks of the Hatrurim Complex at Jabel Harmun, Judean Desert, Palestinian Autonomy and Har Parsa, Negev Desert, both in Israel. Calciolangbeinite-C is known only in fumarole sublimates at Tolbachik. Calciolangbeinite forms a continuous solid-solution system with langbeinite K2Mg2(SO4)3. The majority of the system is represented by cubic phases, and only members with compositions K2(Ca2.0–1.9Mg0.0–0.1)(SO4)3 have orthorhombic symmetry under room-temperature conditions. The crystal structure of calciolangbeinite-O was studied on a single crystal, chemically very close to K2Ca2(SO4)3, from Tolbachik (R1 = 2.75%). The unit-cell parameters are: a = 10.3330(2), b = 10.5027(2), c = 10.1763(2) Å, V = 1104.37(4) Å3 and Z = 4; space group is P212121. Calciolangbeinite-O is a low-temperature modification of K2Ca2(SO4)3 belonging to the K2Cd2(SO4)3 structure type whereas calciolangbeinite-C (space group P213), a high-temperature modification, has the langbeinite-type structure. The significant Mg admixture in calciolangbeinite-C from Tolbachik probably stabilises its cubic structure at room temperature. In both high-temperature fumaroles and pyrometamorphic rocks calciolangbeinite crystallises in the cubic modification, and during cooling its chemical variety close to the end-member K2Ca2(SO4)3 undergoes phase transition to calciolangbeinite-O, whereas the Mg-enriched varieties of the mineral remain calciolangbeinite-C.


The effect of the ingestion of the carcinogenic substance DAB on the density and distribution of organic free radicals in rat liver is studied by the electron spin resonance method. There is a remarkable parallelism between what is known about the evolution of the activity of mitochondria and the concentration variations of free radicals.


We report on the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of performing therapeutic plasmapheresis (TPE) in parallel with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to alleviate antibody mediated rejection (AMR) after heart transplantation. Two pediatric and one adult patient presented with severe congestive heart failure and respiratory distress after heart transplantation and required ECMO support. TPE was initiated to treat AMR while patients remained on ECMO. Each patient received three to five procedures either every day or every other day. One equivalent total plasma volume (TPV) was processed for each procedure (patient TPV + ECMO extracorporeal TPV). A total of 13 TPE procedures were performed with 12 procedures completed without complications or adverse events; one procedure was terminated before completion because of cardiac arrhythmia. Anti‐HLA antibody titers decreased after TPE in all three patients. Ventricular function improved and ECMO was discontinued in 2 of 3 patients. Performing large volume TPE with a processed volume up to 2.5 times the patient's TPV is well tolerated in both pediatric (≤ 10 kg) and adult patients. TPE in parallel with ECMO is feasible, safe, and may be measurably effective at reducing anti‐HLA antibodies and should be considered as part of the treatment for patients with early AMR after heart transplantation. J. Clin. Apheresis, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The study was to evaluate the analgesic and opioid-sparing effect of intravenous paracetamol injections in cardiosurgical patients in the early postoperative period. Adequate analgesia within the first 12-18 hours of the early postoperative period is very important for a good prognosis of the further course of pain syndrome and for the reduction of a risk for its progression to its chronic form. In early studies, propacetamol lowered morphine use after orthopedic and gynecological operations. The efficacy of paracetamol used in cardiac surgery has been little studied and the results of the studies are conflicting. The randomized, blind, placebo-controlled study included patients after aortocoronary bypass surgery, of them 22 patients received paracetamol and 23 had placebo. The test drug (perfalgan 100 ml or placebo) was intravenously injected 30 min before extubation and then every 6 hours within succeeding 18 hours. The intensity of the pain syndrome was rated by a 5-score verbal scale every 2 hours. With pain score of 2 or more, promedol was intramuscularly administered in a dose of 10 mg. Inspiratory volume was recorded before extubation and the first administration of a drug just after extubation and then every 2 hours. The baseline indices did not differ in both groups. Throughout the observation, the inspiratory volume was lower in the paracetamol group than in the placebo group; however, there was a statistically significant difference (p = 0.012) in the reduction in the manifestations of the pain syndrome (by 81%) only just after tracheal extubation. During this period, inspiratory volume values were higher in the paracetamol group; however, a statistically significant (39%) difference between the groups in the mean values was obtained only during and 2 hours after extubation. In the perfalgan group, the mean total use of promedol was 36% less than in the placebo-group, which was statistically significant (p = 0.019). The early postoperative use of paracetamol after myocardial revascularization reduces the intake of opioids and diminishes the intensity of the pain syndrome within the first hours after extubation, which promotes a higher thoracic excursion, as confirmed by a statistically significant increase in the maximum inspiratory capacity.


This article investigates the effect of natural weathering on mechanical and morphological properties of rattan powder-filled natural rubber (NR) composites as a function of filler loading and silane coupling agent. The rattan powder samples in the range of 0 to 30 phr were compounded with NR using a laboratory size two-roll mill. The natural weathering test was carried out for six months. The degradation of the samples was evaluated by performing a tensile test, a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) test. The results indicated that after natural weathering, an increase in stress at 100% elongation (M100) can be seen for samples without the silane coupling agent, whilst M100 was reduced for samples with silane coupling agent. A drastic reduction in tensile strength and elongation at break were observed for all samples due to the photo-oxidation process that occurred during the degradation of the samples. The extent of degradation on the samples' surfaces and the presence of oxygenated products were confirmed by SEM and FTIR studies, respectively.


A low-emittance electron beam is required for the Xray generation such as the synchrotron radiation and the laser undulator. The laser undulator based on Compton backward scattering has been developed as a compact soft X-ray source for the biological observation at Waseda University. To generate the soft X-ray pulse stably, beam diagnostics is very important. In case of the laser undulator, the energy of the electron beam can be lower than other X-ray source such as synchrotron radiation but it is difficult to measure the beam characteristics about the low energy electron beam like a 5 MeV due to the space charge effect. Consequently, the slit scan technique has been developed to measure the beam emittance precisely. In case of the photocathode rf gun, the beam emittance strongly depends on the laser injection method. To generate the low-emittance beam, the emittance comparison experiments have been performed among three deferent methods, the slanting injection (the standard injection), the slanting injection with profile shaping and the perpendicular injection using the slit scan technique. In this conference, we will report results of the experiments.


The effect of the anti-hypertensive drug zofenopril on metabolic parameters in patients with the metabolic syn- drome (MetS) is currently unknown. The present study was conducted in order to evaluate whether zofenopril affects pa- rameters involved in the atherosclerotic process. This open-label intervention study included 60 adult patients with essen- tial hypertension that additionally had 2 or more of the following MetS criteria: waist circumference > 102 cm in men and > 88 cm in women, triglycerides > 150 mg/dl, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) < 40 mg/dl in men and < 50 mg/dl in women, and fasting glucose � 100 mg/dl. Zofenopril reduced systolic blood pressure by 11% (p<0.001) and dia- stolic blood pressure by 7% (p=0.004). Zofenopril also decreased triglycerides by 24% (p=0.05) and apolipoprotein B lev- els by 7% (p=0.04). In addition, the drug improved the lipid profile by decreasing both small dense low density lipopro- tein (LDL) cholesterol by 22% (p=0.04), as well as the proportion of the cholesterol of small dense LDL subfraction by 8% (p=0.04), whereas it significantly increased the large LDL cholesterol by 6% (p=0.05) and the proportion of the cho- lesterol of large LDL subfraction by 7% (p=0.05). Accordingly, mean LDL particle size was increased by 0.04% (p=0.05) with zofenopril. The reduction of small dense LDL subfractions was significantly correlated with the reduction of ApoB levels, even after correction for baseline values (Pearson correlation coefficient 0.8, p=0.03), and with the reduction of triglycerides (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.77, p=0.02). An additional effect of zofenopril was the reduction of the enzymatic activity of lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) by 9% (p=0.05). On the other hand, zofenopril did not influence glucose homeostasis and fibrinogen levels. In conclusion, zofenopril is an effective anti-hypertensive agent with additional favourable effects on the atherogenic dyslipidemia of MetS.


The aim of this paper is to bring theoretical concepts from other areas of scholarly research to bear on synchronous online education in a cross-disciplinary effort to shed light on what is going on by introducing systems of thought from other areas. The liminality and associated communitas which are found in synchronous online learning environments are examined for their possible consequences for learning in general and language learning in particular. Like computer-mediated communication, liminality has been associated with disinhibitory effects. Lack of excessive inhibition has been shown to have positive effects on second language production. The position of the online learner as "neither here nor there" or perhaps simultaneously both here and there is investigated and discussed.


If you use stone as a building exterior material, expect a lifetime of more than 100 years. Recently, limestone has been used as an exterior material in Korea. However, the use of limestone in Europe and in Korea is climatically different from that in Europe. This paper aims to help the selection of stone as an exterior material by studying the chemical composition analysis of the damage of the limestone used outside the "A" library which has just been opened recently.


Jane Tomlinson, a mother of three from Leeds, was first diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 26. Despite being given the all clear, in 2000 she learned that the disease had spread to her lungs and bones and there was nothing more the doctors could do. Faced with such devastating news, Jane did not give up. She decided to fight - the life sentence, the disease, and the expectations of living with cancer. Battling fierce pain to complete three London marathons, the Great North Run, and a 2,500 mile bicycle journey 'From Rome to Home', she has raised nearly GBP1million for charity. THE LUXURY OF TIME is Jane's story, told with her husband Mike. It is the story of a marriage, of two ordinary people made extraordinary by the courage with which they face their greatest challenge. They tell, in alternating chapters, what life has been like since 1990 when Jane was first diagnosed, how they coped separately and together, how they told their children, how they deal with the physical and emotional pain. With searing honesty and surprising humour, they write about their fears, hopes and ambitions for an uncertain future.


This paper presents a unique feed-forward Space Vector Modulation control scheme for achieving power balancing in a recently proposed multilevel inverter topology. Moreover, this strategy can be extended to any type of multilevel inverter topology and to any number of output levels of multilevel inverter (MLI). A comparison is made between the power delivered by sources with and without applying proposed strategy.