: This prospective study examines the reliability of ultrasonically measured head/abdominal (H/A) ratios in detecting uteroplacental insufficiency (UPI)-related intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) in 47 patients. Normal H/A ratios were found in 37 (79%) fetuses. None of these infants was classified as small for gestational age (SGA) on newborn pediatric evaluation. Ten fetuses (21%) had H/A ratios greater than +2 SD for gestational age. On this basis, UPI-related IUGR was correctly predicted in all 10 infants. It is concluded that the H/A ratio is a sensitive indicator of UPI-related IUGR. Moreover, this technique is particularly valuable in patients referred for initial scanning after 30 weeks' gestation when it is difficult to distinguish accurately between true IUGR and an "error in dates" on the basis of biparietal diameter (BPD) measurements alone.


In the early fall of 1976 ASTM Committee G-1 on Corrosion of Metals exposed more than 40 ferrous and nonferrous sheet materials at five test locations. These exposures are a part of the third 20-year atmospheric test program generated by ASTM corrosion groups since 1932. Metals include new alloys, tempers, and coatings developed since the initiation of the last program. Exposures have triplicate exposed panels for removal periods of 2, 5, 10, and 20 years at test sites at Kure Beach, North Carolina, 24-m (80-ft) lot; Newark-Kearny, New Jersey; Point Reyes, California; State College, Pennsylvania; and Panama Canal Zone. Ten metal suppliers are participating in this new long-term test program. Among the metals exposed are aluminum, copper, lead, magnesium, nickel, stainless steel, titanium, and zinc alloys. Aluminized and galvanized coated steels are also being tested. Evaluation of these materials includes weight loss (corrosion rates), pitting depth, and changes in mechanical properties. One task group is monitoring weather conditions at the sites and another group is calibrating the site corrosivities through periodical short-term (1 and 2 year) exposures of steel and zinc panels during the course of the 20-year tests.


The acoustic spectrum of a transiting aircraft is shown to be ''time varying'' when received by a stationary observer. This phenomenon is an example of the Doppler effect, which is exploited to localize aircraft having narrow‐band lines in their source spectra; for example, propeller‐driven aircraft and helicopters. For the present case of a turboprop aircraft, the application of time‐varing spectral analysis techniques to the acoustic data from a single sensor enables the instantaneous propeller blade rate to be estimated at short‐time intervals during the aircraft transit. The temporal variation of the Doppler blade rate is required as an input to the localization algorithm, which provides estimates of the aircraft's speed and range at the closest point of approach, as well as the source (or rest) frequency of the propeller blade rate. Next, a broadband cross‐correlation technique is applied to the acoustic data from a pair of spatially separated microphones to demonstate the automatic detection of an aircraft transit. Short integration times and Doppler compensation are required to track the transit of a fast aircraft.


Fe doped LiFexMn2-xO4 materials were prepared by a low-temperature molten-salt combustion synthesis method. The phase structure and compositions of the products were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The investigation on Fe doping content indicated that the main phase of the as-prepared products was LiFexMn2-xO4, and the impurity was Mn2O3. With increasing Fe doping content, the relative content of Mn2O3 and the lattice parameter of the products were decreased, and the crystallinity was increased. The study of the calcination temperature on LiFe0.1Mn1.9O4 suggested that the main phase of the LiFe0.1Mn1.9O4 materials prepared at 300-600°C wasLiFe0.1Mn1.9O4. Mn3O4 and MnO impurities could be investigated in the product prepared at 300°C, and single impurity Mn2O3 could be observed in the products prepared at 400-600°C. The relative content of Mn2O3 decreased, and the lattice parameters and grain size of the products were increased with increasing calcination temperatures.


The aim of this study was to prepare nimesulide solid lipid nanoparticles (NIM-SLNs), to formulate the controlled drug release and to evaluate its physiochemical characteristics. NIM-SLNs were prepared by an emulsification and low-temperature solidification method. Additionally, attempts have been made to study the effect of individual process parameters (stirring speed and stirring time) and formulation parameters (Lecithin concentration, drug concentration and surfactant concentration) on entrapment efficiency. An approximately entrapment efficiency of (60%) and an average drug loading of (1.0 %) were achieved from optimized formulation of NIM-SLNs. The results show that the TMZ-SLNs had an average diameter of 187±1.23nm and in vitro drug release was conducted in phosphate-buffered saline (pH 7.4) at 37C. The cumulative percentages drug release of nimesulide was found approximately 60% in 24 hours and release behavior was in accordance with Higuchi-equation. The results indicate that the SLNs is a promising controlled-release system. It may also allow a reduction in dosage and a decrease in systemic toxicity.


Frequency modulation atomic force microscopy (FM-AFM) has been a powerful tool for imaging atomic-scale structures and properties of various materials including metals, semiconductors, metal oxides, alkali halides and organic systems. Whilst the method has been used mainly in ultrahigh vacuum environments, recent progress in FM-AFM instrumentation made it possible to apply this technique also to investigations in liquid. This technological innovation opened up a variety of applications of FM-AFM in biology and electrochemistry. To date, the improved FM-AFM instrument and technique have been applied to investigations of several biological materials, providing novel information that has not been accessible with other imaging techniques. In this review, I will summarize the recent progress in FM-AFM instrumentation and biological applications in liquid.


Introduction: A collaborative effort to transform occupational therapies vocational rehabilitation services in Gauteng's public healthcare was hampered by the fact that role players were unclear as to what the scope of the service should be within the various sectors and staffing levels of public healthcare. This article reports on the opinions of occupational therapists on the positioning of vocational rehabilitation services in the Gauteng Province. Method: A collaborative action research team launched a non-experimental descriptive inquiry within the planning phase of a larger transformative project. Data were generated through an opinion survey to capture the perspectives of occupational therapists on the potential positioning of vocational rehabilitation services in the province. The opinions of three groups of occupational therapists were collected, i.e. clinicians working in Gauteng public healthcare, experienced vocational rehabilitation practitioners from all fields of service delivery who acted as critical friends and occupational therapy academia. Results: The purposive sample was composed of  307 potential respondents. A low response rate of 31% was achieved. There was a lack of consensus as to which vocational rehabilitation services occupational therapists should render in public health care. The results reflected the need to address the scope and position of vocational rehabilitation services in public health care. Conclusion: Positioning of vocational rehabilitation services in public health care remains a point of contention. However, the process of asking occupational therapists their opinion created awareness and directed continuous efforts to address the issues within the field of practice. Keywords : occupational therapy, vocational rehabilitation services, public healthcare action research, opinion survey.


Traditional urban planning processes typically happen in offices and behind desks. Modern types of civic participation can enhance those processes by acquiring citizens' ideas and feedback in participatory sensing approaches like "People as Sensors". As such, citizen-centric planning can be achieved by analysing Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) data such as Twitter tweets and posts from other social media channels. These user-generated data comprise several information dimensions, such as spatial and temporal information, and textual content. However, in previous research, these dimensions were generally examined separately in single-disciplinary approaches, which does not allow for holistic conclusions in urban planning. This paper introduces TwEmLab, an interdisciplinary approach towards extracting citizens' emotions in different locations within a city. More concretely, we analyse tweets in three dimensions (space, time, and linguistics), based on similarities between each pair of tweets as defined by a specific set of functional relationships in each dimension. We use a graph-based semi-supervised learning algorithm to classify the data into discrete emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, anger/disgust, none). Our proposed solution allows tweets to be classified into emotion classes in a multi-parametric approach. Additionally, we created a manually annotated gold standard that can be used to evaluate TwEmLab's performance. Our experimental results show that we are able to identify tweets carrying emotions and that our approach bears extensive potential to reveal new insights into citizens' perceptions of the city.


The first half of the paper consists of a philosophical reflection upon a historical exchange. I discuss Buber's famous letter, and another (less known but not less interesting) letter by J. L. Magnes, to Mahatma Gandhi, both challenging the universality of the principle of ahiṃsā(non-violence). I also touch on Buber's interest and acquaintance with Indian philosophy, as an instance of dialogue de-facto (not just in theory) across cultures. Gandhi never answered these letters, but his grandson and philosopher extraordinaire Ramchandra Gandhi ›answers‹ Buber, not on the letter but about the ideal of dialogue at large, and the interconnection of dialogue and ahiṃsā. The second half of the paper focuses on the work of Daya Krishna, another ›philosopher of dialogue.‹ from within Daya Krishna's vast philosophical corpus, I underscore one of his last projects, in which he sketches the outlines of what he refers to as »knowledge without certainty,« contrary to common and traditional ways of perceiving the concept of knowledge. I argue that the pramāṇa, means and measure of knowledge, in the intriguing case of »knowledge without certainty,« depicted by Daya Krishna as open-ended, dynamic, constantly evolving, is inevitably dialogue, and I aim to disclose the meaning and salience of dialogue in Daya Krishna's oeuvre. However, not just the content, but also the form, or the ›how,‹ matters in my paper. I use different materials across genres and disciplines to rethink, in dialogue with Buber and Daya Krishna, the possibilities and impossibilities (with emphasis on the possibilities) of dialogue. These ›materials‹ include Milan Kundera and Richard Rorty, Krishna and Arjuna (of the Bhagavadgītā ), Vrinda Dalmiya who works with the notion of care as bridging between epistemology and ethics, Wes Anderson on seeing through the eyes of the other, and Ben Okri on hospitality in the realm of ideas. As author of the present paper I am moderating an imagined a multi-vocal dialogue between these ›participants‹ on dialogue as concept, as craft and especially, as a great necessity in the world in which we live.


Background: The prion diseases are characterized by sleep disruption, with FFI typically characterized also by severe autonomic dysfunction and sympathetic hyperactivity. We report the results of an extensive neurophysiological and autonomic assessment in a CJD patient carrying the D178 mutation with the uncommon homozygosity for valine at codon 129, mutation with long disease duration.
Results: A 47years old female presented with a memory impairment followed by progressive cognitive deficits and ataxia. The clinical picture slowly worsened to a state of akinetic mutism in about 2 years, and the patient died six years after the onset of symptoms. Repeated PSG and long-term actigraphic recordings, showed a peculiar, previously undescribed, pattern characterized by conservation of a rudimental circadian and ultradian rhythm, despite dramatic sleep micro-structure deterioration. We also observed a normal autonomic physiological response to orthostatic challenge and normal dynamic autonomic modulation during wake and sleep. The post-mortem brain pathology study, showed that neuronal loss was substantial in the cerebral cortex, diencephalon and thalami, but not in brainstem nuclei.
Conclusions: We hypothesize that, despite a dramatic neurological picture (i.e. akinetic mutism) and a severe sleep micro-structural alteration, the persistence of an autonomic modulation and the persistence of a rudimental circadian and ultradian oscillation, are related to the relatively conserved anatomo-functional integrity of foundamental neuronal systems in the brainstem.


This guide was designed to support students enrolled in GBS151, however, others researching business might also find the content useful.


The ported shroud (PS) self-recirculating casing treatment is widely used to delay the onset of the surge by enhancing the aerodynamic stability of the turbocharger compressor. The increase in the stable operation region of the turbocharger compressor is achieved by recirculating the low momentum fluid that blocks the blade passage to the compressor inlet through a ported shroud cavity. While the ported shroud design delays surge, it comes with a small penalty in efficiency.
This work presents an investigation of the flow processes associated with a ported shroud compressor and quantifies the effect of these flow mechanisms on the compressor operation. The full compressor stage is numerically modelled using a Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) approach employing the shear stress transport (SST) turbulence model for steady state simulations at the design and near surge conditions. The wheel rotation is modelled using a multiple reference frame (MRF) approach. The results show that the flow exits the PS cavity at the near surge condition in the form of three jet-like structures of varying velocity amplitudes. Net entropy generation in the compressor model is used to assess the influence of the ported shroud design on the compressor losses, and the results indicate a small Inlet-PS mixing region is the primary source of entropy generation in the near surge conditions. The analysis also explores the trends of entropy generation at the design and the near surge condition across the different speed lines. The results show that the primary source of entropy generation is the impeller region for the design condition and the inlet-PS cavity region for the near surge condition.


The Dissertation takes account of the effect of the spin-orbit
coupling interactions in the properties of mesoscopic systems. The
Manuscript is divided in three main part. In the first part (Chapter
1) the spin-orbit interaction in mescoscopic system is introduced. In
the second part (Chapter 2 and 3) the spin-double refraction is
introduced. Furthermore, it is shown how to realize a
spin-field-effect transistor based on it. In the last part (Chapter
4), the effect of spin-orbit interaction in quantum network is studied.


The nature of torque production is different in reluctance and inductance motors. One significant difference occurs in a reluctance motor that has nonsalient stator punching and a salient motor. When the flux per pole is small in such a motor, the torque can still be high, as long as the rate of energy change with respect to the rotor angular displacement at the rotor pole fronts and pole ends is high. A theoretical foundation to improve the torque capability of reluctance motors is provided. Effects of saturation and stray-load loss are also studied. Experimental results show agreement with theoretical conclusions. >


Objective We aimed to examine prospective associations between circulating fatty acids in early pregnancy and incident gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) among Chinese pregnant women. Methods Analyses were based on two prospective nested case-control studies conducted in western China (336 GDM cases and 672 matched controls) and central China (305 cases and 305 matched controls). Fasting plasma fatty acids in early pregnancy (gestational age at enrollment: 10.4 weeks [standard deviation, 2.0]) and 13.2 weeks [1.0], respectively) were determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and GDM was diagnosed based on the International Association of Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Groups criteria during 24-28 weeks of gestation. Multiple metabolic biomarkers (HOMA-IR [homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance], HbA1c, c-peptide, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, adiponectin, leptin, and blood lipids) were additionally measured among 672 non-GDM controls at enrollment. Results Higher levels of saturated fatty acids (SFAs) 14:0 (pooled odds ratio, 1.41 for each 1-standard deviation increase; 95% confidence interval, 1.25, 1.59) and 16:0 (1.19; 1.05, 1.35) were associated with higher odds of GDM. Higher levels of n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) 18:2n-6 was strongly associated with lower odds of GDM (0.69; 0.60, 0.80). In non-GDM pregnant women, higher SFAs 14:0 and 16:0 but lower n-6 PUFA 18:2n-6 were generally correlated with unfavorable metabolic profiles. Conclusions We documented adverse associations of 14:0 and 16:0 but a protective association of 18:2n-6 with GDM among Chinese pregnant women. Our findings highlight the distinct roles of specific fatty acids in the onset of GDM.


The sensitivity of early plant regeneration to environmental change makes regeneration a critical stage for understanding species response to climate change. We investigated the spatial and temporal response of eucalypt trees in the Central Highland region of south eastern Australia to high and low climate change scenarios. We developed a novel mechanistic model incorporating germination processes, TACA‐GEM, to evaluate establishment probabilities of five key eucalypt species, Eucalyptus pauciflora, Eucalyptus delegatensis, Eucalyptus regnans, Eucalyptus nitens and Eucalyptus obliqua. Changes to regeneration potential at landscape and site levels were calculated to determine climate thresholds. Model results demonstrated that climate change is likely to impact plant regeneration. We observed increases and decreases in regeneration potential depending on the ecosystem, indicating that some species will increase in abundance in some forest types, whilst other forest types will become inhabitable. In general, the dry forest ecosystems were most impacted, whilst the wet forests were least impacted. We also observed that species with seed dormancy mechanisms, like E. pauciflora and E. delegatensis, are likely to be at higher risk than those without. Landscape‐ and site‐level analysis revealed heterogeneity in species response at different scales. On a landscape scale, a 4.3 °C mean temperature increase and 22% decline in precipitation (predicted for 2080) is predicted to be a threshold for large spatial shifts in species regeneration niches across the study region, while a 2.6 °C increase and 15% decline in precipitation (predicted for 2050) will likely result in local site‐level shifts. Site‐level analysis showed that considerable declines in regeneration potential for E. delegatensis, E. pauciflora and E. nitens were modelled to occur in some ecosystems by 2050. While overall model performance and accuracy was good, better understanding of effects from extreme events and other underlying processes on regeneration will improve modelling and development of species conservation strategies.


Jamkesmas was public health insurance organized by the Indonesian government that aims to ensure the health needs of the poor. Jamkesmas organized to increase the coverage of the poor who cannot access health services. This study aimed to examine the factors associated with utilization Jamkesmas in primary health care.This study is a quantitative research which uses cross sectional design. 100 respondents were selected by random sampling. Method of administration is face-to-face structured interview.The results show 54% people used Jamkesmas in primary health care. According to the result of statistical analyses, factors related to utilization of Jamkesmas in primary health care are accessibility (p= 0.0005) and supports from family and health workers (p=0.0005). In order to increase utilization of Jamkesmas, people need supports from their family and health workers to using primary health care. Health workers, such as doctor and nurse, have to increase quality of services to make patient more comfortable and build trust between doctor and patient. Easier accessibility, included distance, time, cost of transportation, are also needed to increase utilization. Keywords: Jamkesmas, utilization, primary health care


We discuss several channel allocation methods for data dissemination in mobile computing systems. We suggest that the broadcast and on-demand channels have different access performance under different system parameters and that a mobile cell should use a combination of both to obtain optimal access time for a given workload and system parameters. We study the data access efficiency of three channel configurations: all channels are used as on-demand channels (exclusive on-demand); all channels are used for broadcast (exclusive broadcast); and some channels are on-demand channels and some are broadcast channels (hybrid). Simulations on obtaining the optimal channel allocation for lightly-loaded, medium-loaded, and heavy-loaded conditions is conducted and the result shows that an optimal channel allocation significantly improves the system performance.


This paper presents a perturbation approach for determining relative motion initial conditions for periodic motion in the vicinity of a Keplerian elliptic orbit of arbitrary eccentricity, as well as an analytical solution for the relative orbit that accounts for quadratic nonlinearities in the differential gravitational acceleration. The analytical solution is obtained in the phase space of the rotating coordinate system, centered at the reference satellite, and is developed in terms of a small parameter relating relative orbit size, and semimajor axis and eccentricity of the reference orbit. The results derived are applicable for arbitrary epoch of the reference satellite. Relative orbits generated using the methodology of this paper remain bounded over much longer periods in comparison to the results obtained using other approximations found in the literature, because the semimajor axes of the satellites are shown to be matched to the second order in the small parameter. The derived expressions thus serve as excellent guesses for initiating a numerical procedure for matching the semimajor axes of the two satellites. Several examples support the claims in this paper.


The temporal and spatial spectral evolution of the jets of AGN can be studied with multi-frequency, multi-epoch VLBI observations. The combination of both, morphological and spectral parameters can be used to derive source intrinsic physical properties such as the magnetic field and the non-thermal particle density. In the first two papers of this series, we analyzed the single-dish light curves and the VLBI kinematics of the blazar CTA 102 and suggested a shock-shock interaction between a traveling and a standing shock wave as a possible scenario to explain the observed evolution of the component associated to the 2006 flare. In this paper we investigate the core-shift and spectral evolution to test our hypothesis of a shock-shock interaction. We used 8 multi-frequency VLBA observations to analyze the temporal and spatial evolution of the spectral parameters during the flare. We observed CTA 102 between May 2005 and April 2007 using the VLBA at six different frequencies spanning from 2 - 86 GHz. After the calibrated VLBA images were corrected for opacity, we performed a detailed spectral analysis. From the derived values we estimated the magnetic field and the density of the relativistic particles. The detailed analysis of the opacity shift reveals that the position of the jet core is proportional to nu^-1 with some temporal variations. The value suggests possible equipartition between magnetic field energy and particle kinetic energy densities at the most compact regions. From the variation of the physical parameters we deduced that the 2006 flare in CTA 102 is connected to the ejection of a new traveling feature (t=2005.9) and the interaction between this shock wave and a stationary structure around 0.1 mas from the core. The source kinematics together with the spectral and structural variations can be described by helical motions in an over-pressured jet.


Ramadan fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam and is compulsory for all adult Muslims who have no medical or religious excuses. Ramadan fasting is defined as a complete abstinence from food, drink, medications, sexual activity, and smoking from dawn to dusk. Regarding the kind Islamic religion, patients have permission not to fast according to the medical advice. However, most Muslim patients express their desire to fast during Ramadan month and they are very broken when their physicians inform them not to fast. There are a lot of controversies regarding Ramadan fasting for chronic kidney diseases (CKD) and hemodialysis patients with absence of strict guidelines that help nephrologists in this issue. Renal transplant recipients who have stable kidney function for at least 1 year post-transplantation can fast with cautious follow-up. Risk of dehydration due to fasting for long periods especially in the summer season is the main concern for patients with kidney stone diseases. There is still no strong evidence if that Ramadan fasting can induce renal stone formation in susceptible patients or not. However, most studies have shown that fasting for this kind of patients with good hydration after breaking the fast may be allowed without significant risk of renal colic incidence. According to the last published guidelines by the International Diabetes Federation and Diabetes and Ramadan International Alliance, Chronic dialysis or CKD stages 4 and 5 and CKD stage 3 patients are considered to be at very high risk and high risk categories, respectively, and are exempted from fasting.


Two cases of acute ergotism are described in patients taking therapeutic oral doses of ergotamine tartrate and concomitant triacetyloleandomycin. Both showed satisfactory response to infusion of sodium nitroprusside with normal perfusion being obtained in the affected limbs. The treatment of ergotism with sodium nitroprusside is reviewed and the apparent interaction of ergotamine and triacetyloleandomycin is discussed.


Tropical deforestation continues despite global efforts to curb forest loss. Corporate zero-deforestation supply chain commitments (ZDCs) have the potential to address this deforestation, especially if strong state-led forest governance is absent. Yet, because ZDC adoption is limited to particular locations and supply chains, these commitments may fall short at reducing regional deforestation and protecting biodiverse ecosystems. Here, we leverage timeseries of spatially explicit corporate commodity sourcing data and ZDCs to assess the current and potential effect of ZDCs within soybean supply chains on forest loss and biodiversity. We focus on the Brazilian Amazon, where the first ZDC (soy moratorium (SoyM)) was implemented, and the Cerrado, where companies have adopted but not implemented ZDCs. We found that in the Amazon, SoyM signatories that controlled the market caused a 57% reduction in direct deforestation for soy from 2006 to 2015. In the Cerrado, if companies had implemented their ZDCs with the same relative effectiveness as in the Amazon, deforestation for soy could have been reduced by 46%. Thus, ZDC implementation in the Cerrado via stringent monitoring and enforcement could contribute substantially to forest and habitat conservation. Yet, incomplete ZDC adoption leaves >50% of soy-suitable forests and the biodiversity that they harbor outside the reach of ZDCs. To protect these forests, it is vital to incentivize more companies—including smaller, less publicly exposed traders—to make and implement ZDCs, while also promoting forest governance through public policy.


Prehistory of human populations: archaelogical, linguistic and paleontological perspectives - prehistory, language and human biology - is there a consensus in East and Southeast Asia?, C.F.W. Higham human diversity and language diversity, W. S-Y Wang before the neolithic - hunter-gatherer societies in Central Thailand, R. Thosarat. The peopling of Southeast Asia: the case for an African rather than an Asian origin of the human Y-chromosome YAP insertion, P.A. Underhill and C.C. Roseman genetic history of ethnic populations in Southwestern China, B. Su et al Y-chromosomal variation in uxorilocal and patrilocal populations in Thailand, M. Srikummool et al genetic relationships among 16 ethnic groups from Malaysia and Southeast Asia, S.G. Tan. The peopling of East Asia: Chinese human genome diversity project - a synopsis, J. Chu origins and prehistoric migrations of modern humans in East Asia, B. Su and L. Jin. The peopling of Oceania: the genetic trail from Southeast Asia to the Pacific, R. Deka et al the colonization of remote Oceania and the drowning of Sundaland, J.K. Lum.


Short rib polydactyly syndrome (SRPS) type II is a rare, autosomal recessively inherited, lethal skeletal dysplasia characterized by polydactyly, short limbs, short and horizontal ribs, a short ovoid tibia and major organ anomalies. We report a patient with a fetus with SRPS type II that presented at the 19th week of pregnancy for amniocentesis because of maternal age. During ultrasound pre-axial synpolydacytly, a short and ovoid tibia, nuchal edema, vertebral irregularities, hypoplastic thorax with short ribs and talipes were detected. All of the extremities were under the 5th percentile. Thorax-abdomen ratio was 0,56. The family was counselled for a diagnosis of lethal SRPS. After termination of pregnancy, radiological and histopathological examination allowed us to reach the diagnosis ofMajewski syndrome (SRPS type II). SRPSs are a continuous spectrum of both lethal and nonlethal forms. Prenatal diagnosis and termination depending on ultrasound findings should be done very precociously considering different phenotypic expressions, even in families previously affected by a lethal SRPS.


A 7-nm-thick monolayer comprising myristate-capped silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was fabricated by first drop casting an AgNP solution on the surface of a 10–100 μl water drop placed on a solid substrate. With the natural evaporation of the water, a monolayer slowly descended onto the substrate, the latter containing an array of 2.5-μm-diameter and 200-nm-deep holes, and finally formed circular freestanding monolayers in the holes. Nanoindentation measurement based on atomic force microscopy was carried out on the circular freestanding monolayer at its center, and the extending and retracting force–indentation curves were recorded to analyze further the mechanical properties of the monolayer. The force–indentation curves were evidently nonlinear, and so a two-term continuum-mechanics theory was used to interpret the results. By fitting the force–indentation curves using a two-term equation, the prestress and Young's modulus of the freestanding AgNP monolayer were obtained as approximately 0.05 N/m and several gigapascals, respectively, which are consistent with the results reported in the literature. For comparison, we also studied the mechanical responses of AgNP monolayers and bilayers on a soft polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate by using nanoindentation. Because the AgNP monolayer was stiffer than the PDMS substrate, it was possible to measure the mechanical response of the former despite it being only 7 nm thick. The mechanical strength of the freestanding AgNP monolayers was considered to be dominated by the attractive interactions between the interdigitated hydrocarbon chains of the myristate.A 7-nm-thick monolayer comprising myristate-capped silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) was fabricated by first drop casting an AgNP solution on the surface of a 10–100 μl water drop placed on a solid substrate. With the natural evaporation of the water, a monolayer slowly descended onto the substrate, the latter containing an array of 2.5-μm-diameter and 200-nm-deep holes, and finally formed circular freestanding monolayers in the holes. Nanoindentation measurement based on atomic force microscopy was carried out on the circular freestanding monolayer at its center, and the extending and retracting force–indentation curves were recorded to analyze further the mechanical properties of the monolayer. The force–indentation curves were evidently nonlinear, and so a two-term continuum-mechanics theory was used to interpret the results. By fitting the force–indentation curves using a two-term equation, the prestress and Young's modulus of the freestanding AgNP monolayer were obtained as approximately 0.05 N/m and seve...


The majority of previous researches were based solely on the negative indicators of employees' stress responses, such as distress. Contrary to that, the organizational health model presumes that stress can be understood correctly only if both positive and negative work experiences are taken into consideration, as well as positive and negative indicators of stress responses. The aim was to test two hypothesis derived from the organizational health model: 1) positive events at work have stronger influence on vitality, while negative events have stronger influence on distress and somatic symptoms, 2) organizational performance is influenced by both positive and negative events, as well as individual stress indicators. 193 Serbian employees completed: Distress scale, General health questionnaire, Subjective Vitality Scale, Sources of stress scale, Turnover intentions scale, while organizational commitment was assessed by one item. The research included 113 female and 76 male participants (four of them undeclared), with an average age of 40 years. Results showed that both positive and negative events were significant predictors of distress, but only negative events were significant for the prediction of vitality and somatic symptoms. Also, negative events and distress were significant predictors of turnover intentions, while positive events and vitality were significant for the prediction of organizational commitment. The results offered limited support to organizational health model. Although positive events were significant predictors of distress, negative events were stronger predictors of both positive and negative stress indicators. The results regarding prediction of organizational performance indicators support assumptions of the model. However, the fact that some personality traits were not controlled (such as PA/NA) needs to be taken into consideration, since they could have a significant contribution in explaining these criteria variables.


In five and a half years 16 children were admitted to hospital in Nottingham suffering from malaria. Thirteen cases were caused by Plasmodium vivax and two by P falciparum, and in one the type was not identified. All were children of immigrant parents, predominantly from Pakistan, although most were born in England but had been visiting Asia. Three children were ill on or soon after arrival, but in the others the onset of symptoms was delayed by up to nine months. All made an uneventful recovery, although two children with P vivax infections had a further relapse after chloroquine treatment only. The question "Where have you been?" should be put to all immigrant parents whose children have a febrile illness. Agencies who provide travel for Asian immigrant families returning home for a visit should be encouraged to provide instructions about malaria prophylaxis.


The process of forming skills to operate with groups of objects is the most important field of mathematics studied at preschool age. This process itself includes a series of actions with objects such as: selection, grouping, classification, comparison, sorting and ordering the objects according to different criteria. High preschool age is the period in which children operate with groups of objects using 2 and more criteria. At this age, preschoolers apply more easily selection, grouping, sorting, ordering than comparison, classification and series. The didactic game can be used to develop these skills.


We examined the role of promoter architecture, as well as that of the DNA-bending capacity of the E2F transcription factor family, in the activation of transcription. DNA phasing analysis revealed that a consensus E2F site in the E2F1 promoter possesses an inherent bend with a net magnitude of 40 +/-2 degrees and with an orientation toward the major groove relative to the center of the E2F site. The inherent DNA bend is reversed upon binding of E2F, generating a net bend with a magnitude of 25 +/- 3 degrees oriented toward the minor groove relative to the center of the E2F site. We also found that three members of the E2F family, in conjunction with the DP1 protein, bend the DNA toward the minor groove, suggesting that DNA bending is a characteristic of the entire E2F family. The Rb-E2F complex, on the other hand, does not reverse the intrinsic DNA bend. Analysis of a series of E2F1 deletion mutants defined E2F1 sequences which are not required for DNA binding but are necessary for the DNA-bending capacity of E2F. An internal region of E2F1, previously termed the marked box, which is highly homologous among E2F family members, was particularly important in DNA bending. We also found that a bent DNA structure can be a contributory component in the activation of the E2F1 promoter but is not critical in the repression of that promoter in quiescent cells. This finding suggests that E2F exhibits characteristics typical of modular transcription factors, with independent DNA-binding and transcriptional activation functions, but also has features of architectural factors that alter DNA structure.


Loading in grinding – both chemical, in which the grit and the oxidized surface of the workpiece react, and mechanical, in which chips become embedded within the pores of the wheel – causes significant problems such as increased wheel wear, higher grinding temperatures, and poor surface finish. This paper investigates the chemical reactions that occur between the aluminum-oxide abrasive and both steel and stainless steel and their effect on wheel wear and grinding forces. Tests were done on mild steel and stainless steel under dry conditions, with poor and moderate cooling and in the presence of steam. X-ray diffraction was used to measure aluminum deposits on the contact and rear faces of the chip and on the workpiece in regions where cutting was dominant and/or plowing and rubbing were dominant. Normal and tangential forces and wheel wear were measured and loading was quantified visually. Loading in stainless steels was found to occur almost immediately due to the mutual solubility of Cr2O3 and Al2O3 during the rubbing and plowing regimes, but during cutting there was not sufficient time to form an oxide layer. Coolant drastically reduces loading in stainless steel. Steam acts as a catalyst in oxide-layer formation, decreasing loading in regular steels and increasing loading in stainless steels. Wheel wear due to loading was found to be sporadic, with large groups of grits being ripped out of the wheel. Assessing loading via the visual appearance, or "blackness", of the wheel can lead to incorrect conclusions.


Empirical and theoretical studies have supported kin selection by demonstrating nepotism or modelling its conditions and consequences. As an alternative, we previously found that female Columbian ground squirrels had greater direct fitness when more close kin were present. Extending those results, we used population matrix methods to calculate minimum estimates of individual fitness, estimated direct and indirect components of fitness, estimated inclusive fitness by adding the direct fitness (stripped of estimated influences of the social environment) and indirect fitness components together, and finally looked for inclusive fitness benefits of associations with close kin who seem to be 'genial neighbours'. We examined the estimated fitness of a sample of 35 females for which complete lifetimes were known for themselves, their mothers and their littermate sisters. Six of these females had no cosurviving adult close kin, and their direct fitness was significantly lower than 29 females with such kin (λ = 0.66 vs. λ = 1.23). The net fitness benefit of the presence of close kin was thus 0.57. The estimated indirect component of fitness through benefits to the direct fitness of close kin was 0.43. Thus, estimated inclusive fitness for females with cosurviving close kin (λ = 1.09) was significantly greater than that for females without surviving close kin (viz., λ = 0.66). The presence of closely related and philopatric female kin appeared to result in considerable fitness benefits for female ground squirrels, perhaps through the behavioural mechanisms of lowered aggression and other forms of behavioural cooperation.


The exudate of fully germinated spores of Bacillus cereus IFO 13597 in 0.25 M sodium phosphate buffer, pH 7.0, was found to contain a spore-lytic enzyme. This enzyme was found to cause loss of absorbance in coat-stripped spore suspensions and phase-darkening of the spores but had minimal activity on isolated peptidoglycan substrates. The enzyme was purified in an active form and identified as a 24 kDa protein which is either an amidase or a peptidase. The amino-terminal 19 residues had the following sequence: FSNQVIQRGASGEKVIELQ. The spore-lytic enzyme retained its activity in a medium of a relatively high ionic strength containing a non-ionic surfactant such as nonaethyleneglycol n-dodecyl ether. This activity was optimum at a salt concentration of about 30 mM in assay buffer at neutral pH. In contrast to the enzyme in a spore-bound form, the enzyme in solution was shown to be heat-sensitive and was readily inactivated by thiol reagents.


The Balb/c strain mice were immunized by single intraperitoneal administration of 0.2 cm3 of 10% sheep erythrocyte suspension (SRBC). Tołpa Peat Preparation (TPP) used in the study was a peat-derived substance obtained in prof. St. Tołpa's laboratory. It was given to mice intraperitoneally, 4 times at 24-hour intervals. The first dose was administered 2 hours before immunization. Testing was performed with the following doses: 0.5, 2.5, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 and 250 mg/kg. The determinations comprised the number of spleen cells producing anti-SRBC haemolysins, the level of serum haemagglutinins to SRBC (19S+7S and 7S types) and the percentage of splenocytes forming spontaneous E-rosettes. It was found that the effect of TPP on these immunologic parameters of the mice immunized with SRBC was dose-dependent. The effect potentiating the humoral response occurred for the doses of 0.5-10 mg/kg. The doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg did not affect the immunologic response to SRBC, while the doses of 100 and 250 mg/kg had a suppressive effect. The impact of TPP on the percentage of splenocytes forming E-rosettes was also dose-dependent, but in this case stimulating activity was observed for the doses of 2.5-25 mg/kg.


As a special form of contrast medium incidents, various reaction modes between iodinated contrast media and immunoglobulins are described. Theoretical explanations and typical examples are given for each of the four different possible action mechanisms. Diagnostic precautions are proposed in order to avoid unfavourable reactions especially with paraproteins. Special attention is drawn to the antigen-antibody like reaction between iodinated contrast media and IgM paraproteins. Some immunological criteria are recalled to attention, this type of reaction has to meet stringently. Only by this, misinterpretation of inevident conclusions from analogy can be prevented in future similar cases.


Presence of graphite is one of the mechanisms to explain enhanced electrical conductivity. Because the conductivity of graphite is highly anisotropic and the connectivity of graphite depends strongly on the geometry of the crystals, the key issue is the geometry of graphite in a rock including their crystallographic orientation and the shape of graphite crystals. We explored the role of graphite on electrical conductivity in olivine‐rich aggregates. To obtain well‐defined results, we conducted an experimental study at high pressure and temperature conditions. Olivine aggregates containing diamonds were annealed to transform diamond to graphite with nearly equilibrium morphology. Graphite formed by the transformation from diamond has thin disk‐shape morphology, the plane being the highly conductive (0001) plane. When the concentration of graphite exceeds the percolation threshold (~ 1 wt%), electrical conductivity is significantly enhanced. Some of the observed high conductivity regions may represent regions of high concentration of graphite.


COMBATINTA/SP2.P11/02 Interreg IIIA – Cross-Border Cooperation Spain-Portugal; Identification, characterization and role of molecular factors associated with the mechanisms of infection of Fagaceae species by Phytophthora cinnamomi" (PTDC/AGRAAM/67628/2006) FCT


Reconfigurable computing devices such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) have demonstrated 10x-100x gains in performance and functional density over microprocessors for a variety of applications [13], yet their commercial use is limited primarily to serving as single-task ASIC replacements, which largely ignores their programmability and severely limits their applicability. SCORE (Stream Computations Organized for Reconfigurable Execution) [8] [9] addresses this underutilization of reconfigurable technology by introducing a compute model rooted in paged virtual hardware, analogous to virtual memory. The paged model provides a framework for device size abstraction, automatic dynamic reconfiguration, binary compatibility among page-compatible devices, and automatic performance scaling on larger devices, without recompilation. A key problem in compiling for SCORE is the partitioning of programs into communicating, fixed-size hardware pages. The partitioning must be sensitive to inter-page communication, which in a virtualized model has unknown delay and may require run-time buffering memory. Existing heuristics for circuit partitioning (wire min-cut, FM, spectral, etc.) are not sufficient because they do not fully address the impact of communication on run-time performance and buffering. In this paper, we propose performance-oriented techniques for automatically synthesizing and partitioning SCORE computations into pages. The problem is formulated as a transformation on streaming state machines and utilizes a variety of high-level, functional information from the unpartitioned program. We propose a methodology for evaluating partitioning techniques in terms of overhead on circuit area and performance, and we show preliminary results for parts of the partitioning methodology. Development and experimentation is done within the existing SCORE software infrastructure, which is under continuing support and development by the Berkeley BRASS group.


Accurate modeling of hydrate transportation in natural gas pipelines is becoming increasingly important in the design and operation of offshore production facilities. The dynamics involved in the formation of hydrate particles and in its transportation are governed by the multiphase hydrodynamics equations ensuing from the balance of mass, momentum and energy. In this study, a two-fluid model is solved to characterize particulate transportation. The numerical algorithm employed is stable and robust and it is based on higher-order schemes. This is necessary since the governing equations describing the simultaneous flow of gas and solid particles are hyperbolic and, thus, admit discontinuities. Specialized higher-order schemes provide a viable approach for efficient frontal tracking of continuity waves in particular. Several simulation experiments that can facilitate thorough understanding of the design and maintenance of pipelines susceptible to hydrate formation are presented.


A facile "dots-in-zeolites" strategy is developed to synthesize a new class of CD-based TADF materials with ultralong lifetimes. Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials are inspiring intensive research in optoelectronic applications. To date, most of the TADF materials are limited to metal-organic complexes and organic molecules with lifetimes of several microseconds/milliseconds that are sensitive to oxygen. We report a facial and general "dots-in-zeolites" strategy to in situ confine carbon dots (CDs) in zeolitic matrices during hydrothermal/solvothermal crystallization to generate high-efficient TADF materials with ultralong lifetimes. The resultant CDs@zeolite composites exhibit high quantum yields up to 52.14% and ultralong lifetimes up to 350 ms at ambient temperature and atmosphere. This intriguing TADF phenomenon is due to the fact that nanoconfined space of zeolites can efficiently stabilize the triplet states of CDs, thus enabling the reverse intersystem crossing process for TADF. Meanwhile, zeolite frameworks can also hinder oxygen quenching to present TADF behavior at air atmosphere. This design concept introduces a new perspective to develop materials with unique TADF performance and various novel delayed fluorescence–based applications.


We study the design of network codes for -source -relay wireless networks over slow-fading channels. Binary frame-wise network coding (BFNC) based on cyclic-shifting matrices is developed to achieve full diversity and good coding gain. We develop a criterion in the context of BFNC that if satisfied guarantees to achieve full diversity gain. Based on this criterion, we propose an algorithm to design low-complexity encoders for a BFNC scheme by exploiting quasi-cyclic low-density parity-check (LDPC) code structures. We also design practical decoders based on the belief propagation decoding principle with a focus on large block lengths. Numerical results demonstrate that our BFNC schemes have substantial benefits over previous complex field and Galois field network coding schemes in the sense that our BFNC schemes can achieve full diversity gain and high coding gain for arbitrary block lengths with low encoding/decoding complexity.


Cross-lingual transfer, where a high-resource transfer language is used to improve the accuracy of a low-resource task language, is now an invaluable tool for improving performance of natural language processing (NLP) on low-resource languages. However, given a particular task language, it is not clear which language to transfer from, and the standard strategy is to select languages based on ad hoc criteria, usually the intuition of the experimenter. Since a large number of features contribute to the success of cross-lingual transfer (including phylogenetic similarity, typological properties, lexical overlap, or size of available data), even the most enlightened experimenter rarely considers all these factors for the particular task at hand. In this paper, we consider this task of automatically selecting optimal transfer languages as a ranking problem, and build models that consider the aforementioned features to perform this prediction. In experiments on representative NLP tasks, we demonstrate that our model predicts good transfer languages much better than ad hoc baselines considering single features in isolation, and glean insights on what features are most informative for each different NLP tasks, which may inform future ad hoc selection even without use of our method.


This paper presents a design of 10Gb/s BCH decoder which is compatible with the protocol of G.975 and can be applied in optical fiber communication. The main blocks of this decoder include syndrome calculator, key-equation solver, Chien search and error correction. In order to achieve high speed, 8-bit parallel syndrome calculator and Chien search block are adopted. By sharing the key-equation solver, the numb er of key-equation solver is reduced and the hardware resources are saved. This decoder has been implemented in Virtex-5 FPGA and the verification results show that the decoder can work properly under the clock of 166MHz and the data rate can be up to 10Gb/s.


To improve cancer detection in mammography, breast exams usually consist of two views per breast. To combine information from both views, radiologists and multiview computer-aided detection (CAD) systems need to match corresponding regions in the two views. In digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), finding corresponding regions in ipsilateral volumes may be a difficult and time-consuming task for radiologists, because many slices have to be inspected individually. In this study we developed a method to quickly estimate corresponding locations in ipsilateral tomosynthesis views by applying a mathematical transformation. First a compressed breast model is matched to the tomosynthesis view containing a point of interest. Then we decompress, rotate and compress again to estimate the location of the corresponding point in the ipsilateral view. In this study we use a simple elastically deformable sphere model to obtain an analytical solution for the transformation in a given DBT case. The model is matched to the volume by using automatic segmentation of the pectoral muscle, breast tissue and nipple. For validation we annotated 181 landmarks in both views and applied our method to each location. Results show a median 3D distance between the actual location and estimated location of 1.5 cm; a good starting point for a feature based local search method to link lesions for a multiview CAD system. Half of the estimated locations were at most 1 slice away from the actual location, making our method useful as a tool in mammographic workstations to interactively find corresponding locations in ipsilateral tomosynthesis views.


The Born‐Oppenheimer approximation constitutes a cornerstone of our understanding of molecules and their reactivity, partly because it introduces a somewhat simplified representation of the molecular wavefunction. However, when a molecule absorbs light containing enough energy to trigger an electronic transition, the simplistic nature of the molecular wavefunction offered by the Born‐Oppenheimer approximation breaks down as a result of the now non‐negligible coupling between nuclear and electronic motion, often coined nonadiabatic couplings. Hence, the description of nonadiabatic processes implies a change in our representation of the molecular wavefunction, leading eventually to the design of new theoretical tools to describe the fate of an electronically‐excited molecule. This Overview focuses on this quantity—the total molecular wavefunction—and the different approaches proposed to describe theoretically this complicated object in non‐Born‐Oppenheimer conditions, namely the Born‐Huang and Exact‐Factorization representations. The way each representation depicts the appearance of nonadiabatic effects is then revealed by using a model of a coupled proton–electron transfer reaction. Applying approximations to the formally exact equations of motion obtained within each representation leads to the derivation, or proposition, of different strategies to simulate the nonadiabatic dynamics of molecules. Approaches like quantum dynamics with fixed and time‐dependent grids, traveling basis functions, or mixed quantum/classical like surface hopping, Ehrenfest dynamics, or coupled‐trajectory schemes are described in this Overview.


The interaction of Bordetella bronchiseptica, toxigenic Pasteurella multocida serotype D, and the mycotoxin fumonisin B(1) (FB(1)) was studied. On day 0 of the experiment, 28 artificially reared 3-day-old piglets were divided into 4 groups (n = 7 each): a control group (A), a group fed FB(1) toxin (B), a group infected with the 2 pathogens (C), and a group infected with the 2 pathogens and fed FB(1) toxin (D). The B. bronchiseptica infection [with 10(6) colony-forming units (CFU)/mL] was performed on day 4 and the P. multocida infection (with 10(8) CFU/mL) on day 16. From day 16 a Fusarium verticillioides fungal culture (dietary FB(1) toxin content 10 mg/kg) was mixed into the feed of groups B and D. In groups C and D, clinical signs including mild serous nasal discharge, sneezing, panting, and hoarseness appeared from day 4, and then from day 16 some piglets had coughing and dyspnea as well. Computed tomography (CT) performed on day 16 demonstrated lung lesions attributable to colonization by B. bronchiseptica in the infected groups. By day 25 the number of piglets exhibiting lesions had increased, and the lesions appeared as well-circumscribed, focal changes characterized by a strong density increase in the affected areas of the lungs. The gross pathological findings confirmed the results obtained by CT. These results indicate that, when combined with dual infection by B. bronchiseptica and P. multocida, dietary exposure of pigs to FB(1) toxin raises the risk of pneumonia and increases the extent and severity of the pathological changes.


IoT has been promoting the view of sensors as smart objects capable of sensing data from the real world and interacting with other smart entities over the Internet. Software applications built over the IoT are usually designed to work at many different layers of the network, from the very "Edge" of it, i.e., close to sensors, up to the Cloud, or anywhere in between. In such a "Fog" context where the number of IoT devices continues to grow and the IoT business logic can be distributed in any computing element of the network, there is a strong need of automating the service provisioning activities in a way that a high QoS is ensured against potential faults, being the latter of hardware or software type. In this work we discuss the design of a fault management framework that strives to provide service continuity in IoT contexts by enforcing a strategy that hierarchically distributes the fault handling responsibilities to all the layers of the Fog where the IoT application resides.


Igneous and metamorphic rocks contain the mineralogical and geochemical record of thermally driven processes on Earth. The generally accepted thermal budget of the mantle indicates a steady cooling trend since the Archean. The geological record, however, indicates this simple cooling model may not hold true. Subduction-related eclogites substantially emerge in the rock record from 2.1 Ga to 1.8 Ga, indicating that average mantle thermal conditions cooled below a critical threshold for widespread eclogite preservation. Following this period, eclogite disappeared again until ca. 1.1 Ga. Coincident with the transient emergence of eclogite, global granite chemistry recorded a decrease in Sr and Eu and increases in yttrium and heavy rare earth element (HREE) concentrations. These changes are most simply explained by warming of the thermal regime associated with granite genesis. We suggest that warming was caused by increased continental insulation of the mantle at this time. Ultimately, secular cooling of the mantle overcame insulation, allowing the second emergence and preservation of eclogite from ca. 1.1 Ga until present.


In this paper we describe the language resources developed within the project "Feedback and the Acquisition of Syntax in Oral Proficiency" (FASOP), which is aimed at investigating the effectiveness of various forms of practice and feedback on the acquisition of syntax in second language (L2) oral proficiency, as well as their interplay with learner characteristics such as education level, learner motivation and confidence. For this purpose, use is made of a Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) system that employs Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) technology to allow spoken interaction and to create an experimental environment that guarantees as much control over the language learning setting as possible. The focus of the present paper is on the resources that are being produced in FASOP. In line with the theme of this conference, we present the different types of resources developed within this project and the way in which these could be used to pursue innovative research in second language acquisition and to develop and improve ASR-based language learning applications.


We present a method to detect, in the framework of scalar–tensor gravity theories, the existence of stationary points in the time evolution of the speed-up factor. An attractive aspect of this method is that, once the particular scalar– tensor theory has been specified, the stationary points are found through a simple algebraic equation which does not contain any integration. By applying this method to the three classes of scalar–tensor theories defined by Barrow and Parsons, we have found several new cosmological models with a nonmonotonic evolution of the speed-up factor. The physical interest of these models is that, as previously shown b yS ernaand Alimi, they predict the observed primordial abundance of light elements for a very wide range of baryon density. These models are then consistent with recent CMB and Lymanα estimates of the baryon content of the universe.


The year 1995 brings us to volume 49 of the JECH. The be too long (or have too much tabular data) and to publish year will be the the time for preparing for our jubilee conference abstracts easily and quickly. For a selected group volume (volume 50) aimed at celebrating the expansion of of papers it will also enable us to increase the number pubsocial and preventive medicine and epidemiology in Britain, lished and give us a shorter time from acceptance to pubNorth America, and Europe. lication. The proposal is that the electronically published But 1995 will also have important developments of its material will be indexed as usual in the journal itself and own. Several supplements will be published with papers also, we hope, in the abstracting services. from throughout Europe and we propose to take a major Authors will be advised in the near future about the step into electronic publishing, initially by means of elecdetails which will be linked to submission of papers on tronic networks. floppy disks or by email. In all these cases some graphic The form ofelectronic publishing will enable us to publish presentations may cause difficulties but tables of data supplementary material for articles which would otherwise should be no problem.


Atmospheric aerosol samples were collected from 1993 to 2003 at Tsuruoka, Japan, a coastal area on the Sea of Japan. Concentration of water-soluble chemical components and sulfur isotopic ratios of sulfate in aerosol samples were measured to evaluate the temporal variation and identify the source. The samSO4 2‐ and nssSO4 2‐ concentrations range from 7.6 to 354.4 and 3.7 to 335.6 neq m ‐3 , respectively, and there was no clear seasonal variation. Sulfur isotope ratios of total sulfate (samδ 34 S) and non-sea salt sulfate (nssδ 34 S) in aerosols are +1.0 to +15.1 with a mean value of +5.7‰ and ‐4.4 to +14.5 with a mean value of +4.1‰, respectively. The values of samδ 34 S and nssδ 34 S are relatively low in summer and high in the other three seasons. The nssδ 34 S values of aerosols in fall to spring agree with the average sulfur isotope ratios of coal used in northern China, considering the isotope fractionation. These results indicate the possibility of long-range transport of sulfate from the Asian continent to Japan. The variations of atmospheric samSO4 2‐ and nssSO4 2‐ concentrations decreased gradually and reach a minimum in 1999. The decline of SO2 emission in China due to reduction in industrial coal use, a slowdown of the Chinese economy, and the closure of small and inefficient plants would be among the causes of this decreasing observed trend. On the other hands, the variation ranges of samδ 34 S and nssδ 34 S values abruptly changed after 2000. The introduction of fuel-gas desulfurization technologies to industrial plants of coke production and thermal power stations would be one of the most important causes of this change.


ABSTRACT Introduction Higher nursing workload increases the odds of patient deaths, as the work environment has a significant effect on patient outcomes. The aim of the study was to explore the relation between patient outcomes and nurses' working conditions in hospitals. Methods Administrative data on discharges of surgical patients for the year 2019 in eight general hospitals and two university medical centres in Slovenia were collected to determine in-hospital mortality within 30 days of admission. The RN4CAST survey questionnaire was used to gather data from nurses in these hospitals, with 1,010 nurses participating. Data was collected at the beginning of 2020. The number of nurses per shift and the nurse-to-patient ratio per shift were calculated. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate statistical methods were used to analyse the data. Results The 30-day in-hospital mortality for surgical patients was 1.00% in the hospitals sampled and ranged from 0.27% to 1.62%. The odds ratio for staffing suggests that each increase of one patient per RN is associated with a 6% increase in the likelihood of a patient dying within 30 days of admission. The mean patient-to-RN ratio was 15.56 (SD=2.50) and varied from 10.29 to 19.39. Four of the 13 tasks checked were not performed on patients during the last shift. Conclusion The results are not encouraging, with an extremely critical shortage of RNs and thus a high RN workload. The number of patients per RN is the highest in Europe and also higher than in some non-European countries, and represents an extreme risk to the quality of nursing and healthcare as a whole. The recommendation for acute non-emergency internal medicine and surgery departments is four patients per RN per shift.


OBJECTIVE
To detect mutation of LBR gene in a pedigree affected with Pelger-Huёt anomaly (PHA) and to explore its clinical characteristics.

METHODS
Genomic DNA was extracted from the pedigree and healthy controls. The 14 exons of the LBR gene were subjected to PCR amplification and Sanger sequencing. Suspected mutations were verified in other family members and 100 healthy controls. Polyphen-2 and SIFT software were used to predict the effect of the mutation, and Swiss-model software was used to simulate the protein structure.

RESULTS
Three patients were found to carry a c.893G>A mutation in exon 8 of the LBR gene, which resulted in substitution of the 298th amino acid residue glycine by glutamic acid (p.Gly298Glu). The same mutation was not found in healthy family members and 100 healthy controls. The mutation was predicted to be damaging. Bioinformatic simulation showed the mutation has altered the 3D structure of the LBR protein.

CONCLUSION
The c.893G>A (p.Gly298Glu) mutation in the LBR gene probably underlies the PHA in this pedigree and has enriched the spectrum of LBR gene mutations.


Purpose: Several non-invasive measurement methods have been described in the literature for recording thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis and straight leg raise (SLR). However, attempts to quantify the reliability of the inclinometer in these measurements are scarce. In addition, existing reliability studies within the literature were found to use small sample sizes. The aim of this investigation was to examine the intra-rater reliability of the chief investigator (SM), in order to provide clinicians with data that will allow them to better measure sagittal spinal posture and SLR. A blinded test-retest design was performed to determine the intra-rater reliability of thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis and SLR when assessed using an Isomed inclinometer in normals. Methods. Thirty asymptomatic subjects were assessed on two occasions separated by a time interval of 1 hour to reduce investigator memory bias. Thoracic and lumbar measurements were recorded in a relaxed standing position using an inclinometer; SLR of the dominant leg was assessed with subjects in the supine position. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), 95% confidence intervals (CI), and standard errors of measurement (SEM) were analysed to determine measurement reliability. Results. The chief investigator demonstrated excellent intra-rater reliability in the measurements of thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis and SLR. ICC (2,3) values for all three variables exceeded the 0.90 threshold suggesting that the reliability of these measures are acceptable for clinical application. Conclusions. The inclinometer technique employed in this study to record thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis and SLR is a reliable measurement method.


The goal of this master thesis is the development and parameterization of an integrated system for the conduct of polls with the use and the exploitation of web services and telephones using the latest information technologies. Internet technologies have been rendered in the conscience of many persons and the overwhelming majority of the new generation as a source but also as a deposit of knowledge, a way of communication but also of entertainment and consequently they are used. Their utilization for the realization of opens new ways in the sector regarding the creation of wider and more representative samples and the possibility of using multimedia material as part of the questionnaires. Moreover the use of telephones that use of information technologies (voice recognition) functions in favor of the direct contact to the participant of something that is very important particularly in polls of "real time". The conduct of polls could be considered as one of the ways in which the person tries to increase but also to improve the "quality of" knowledge that he possesses. The frequency in which the polls are carried out as well as the continuous efforts for the improvement of the effectiveness of the techniques used, testify how important the acquiring of such type of information is currently considered. Consequently, various techniques have been developed for the realization of polls which are mainly dependent on random telephone calls or personal interviews. In the framework of this masters a completed system for conducting polls based on the use of the platform CATI (Computer Aided Telephone Interviews) Αsterisk VOIP Server Vicidial Predictive Dilaer, Mysql Database, Web interface, message and sppss to manage and mine the statistical data.


In 2014, an article written by Dr Frank Ainsworth and Patricia Hansen was published in Children Australia entitled 'Family foster care: Can it survive the evidence?' The basic premise of the article was that evidence indicates family foster care either doesn't change the likelihood of positive outcomes for children, or makes it more difficult for positive outcomes to be achieved. Essentially, the view was that foster care is a risk to children in much the same way as there is a risk for children remaining at home with abusive or neglectful parents. As such, the authors stated that there should be a reduction in the use of family foster care, and increased efforts to keep children at home with supports. This article only came to our attention recently, and we had some issues with the conclusions that were drawn by the authors, particularly in terms of the evidence that is used to support their proposition. We were kindly offered an opportunity by the journal editors to submit this responding article.


Purpose: Prolonged urinary leakage from the urethrovesical anastomotic site after radical retropubic prostatectomy is a relatively uncommon complication. After the failure of other conservative measures we successfully overcame this problem using a Foley catheter needle vented suction technique. Materials and Methods: Anastomotic leakage was noted after retropubic prostatectomy. After the failure of conservative techniques, including catheter traction, passive drainage and active catheter suction, needle vented suction was used. An 18 gauge needle was inserted into the plastic suction tubing attached to the Foley catheter to prevent suction occlusion of the eye of the Foley catheter by the bladder mucosa. Results: Needle vented suction successfully treated urinary leakage after radical retropubic prostatectomy in 2 patients. Conclusions: In cases of prolonged anastomotic urinary leakage after radical retropubic prostatectomy needle vented suction can be considered an alternative conservative approach to treatment.


This paper studies the production and trade linkages between a selected group of economies belonging to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). After defining a group of Belt and Road Economies, the paper uses three standard trade databases to analyze trade and production linkages among these economies. With the help of state of the art economic decompositions of input-output tables, coupled with standard international trade statistics, the analysis quantifies the amount of production sharing between the economies of the area. The main finding is that trade integration among Belt and Road Economies has largely increased: Intraregional exports went from 30.6 percent in 1995 to 43.3 percent in 2015. Since the increase in gross exports was driven mostly by intermediate goods, the study investigates the evolution of regional production networks across Belt and Road Economies.


The W3C RDF Stream Processing (RSP) community has proposed a common model and a language for querying RDF streams. However, the current RSP systems significantly differ from each other in terms of performance. In this paper, we propose a unified interface for optimizing a continuous query in heterogeneous RSP systems. To enhance the performance of RSP, a unified interface decomposes a query, reassembles partial queries and assigns them to appropriate RSP systems. Experimental results show that the proposed approach performs better in terms of memory consumption and latency.


. A total of 495 Campylobacter jejuni and 122 C. coli isolated from Thai children were screened for macrolide (erythromycin and azithromycin) resistance by disk diffusion assay. Minimum inhibitory concentrations for erythromycin, azithromycin, nalidixic acid, ciprofloxacin, tetracycline, streptomycin, gentamicin and chloramphenicol were further determined for these macrolide-resistant Campylobacter isolates. Presence of known point mutations resulting in reduced susceptibility to macrolides was investigated by PCR and DNA sequencing. Seven-teen percent (23/122) of C. coli and 2.4% (12/495) of C. jejuni isolates were resistant to macrolides. By sequencing domain V of the 23S ribosomal DNA from all 35 macrolide-resis-tant isolates, a known point mutation of 23S rRNA associated with reduced susceptibility to macrolides was detected in all isolates except one. Among the macrolide-resistant isolates, all were multiply resistant to nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin, of which the latter is the preferred antimicrobial used for diarrheal treatment in Thailand. Furthermore, most macrolide-resistant isolates were also resistant to tetracycline and streptomycin. The spread of macrolide and quinolone resistant Campylobacter should be monitored closely in Thailand and elsewhere as these antimicrobials are preferred drugs for treatment of diarrhea.


Many experimental and theoretical methods have been developed to calculate the coarse-grained continuum elastic properties of macromolecules. However, all of those methods assume uniform elastic properties. Following the continuum mechanics framework, we present a systematic way of calculating the nonuniform effective elastic properties from atomic thermal fluctuations obtained from molecular dynamics simulation at any coarse-grained scale using a potential of the mean-force approach. We present the results for a mutant of Sesbania mosaic virus capsid, where we calculate the elastic moduli at different scales and observe an apparent problem with the chosen reference configuration in some cases. We present a possible explanation using an elastic network model, where inducing random prestrain results in a similar behavior. This phenomenon provides a novel insight into the continuum nature of macromolecules and defines the limits on details that the elasticity theory can capture. Further investigation into prestrains could elucidate important aspects of conformational dynamics of macromolecules.


Citrus production depends principally on the healthiest, appropriate and vigorous rootstock available; part of its reproduction is associated with the use of chemical fertilizers, that contribute to ecosystem contamination. Uses of organic fertilizers are alternatives to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers. Therefore the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of three organic fertilizers (chicken manure, sugarcane residue (1 and 2), and banana waste) supplied in three doses (1, 2 and 3%), in chemical and microbiological soil properties and in Citrange troyer rootstock growth in greenhouse. A complete randomized design was used with 14 treatments and six replicates each, including two control groups (absolute and fertilized). Serial dilutions in specific media were used to quantify Azospirillum, Azotobacter, phosphate and potassium solubilizing bacteria. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi were evaluated according to the clearing and dyeing technique with trypan blue. Soil pH increased 0.9 units when adding 1% sugarcane residue-2; while organic carbon increased 0.7% with chicken manure 1%; Azospirillum, Azotobacter and phosphate solubilizing bacteria increased in the treatments supplied with sugarcane residue-1 1% and chicken manure 1%. The cachaza-1 2% induced greater mycorrhizal colonization and increased plant growth. Nine of twelve treatments with the organic fertilizers used, positively modif ied soil chemical and microbiological properties, resulting in a better growth of Citrange troyer compared with the control groups.


Context: Recently biomarkers for sleep disorders have provided an alternative and convenient means of diagnosis for children at risk. Aim: To evaluate salivary TNF-α and Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in children with skeletal class II malocclusion and with a positive history of sleep disorders. Settings and Design: This prospective evaluative study was carried out from October 2020 to March 2021, in the Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry. Material and Methods: 21 children aged 8-12 years with skeletal class II malocclusion and at least one sleep disorder participated in the study (Group 1). 21 age and gender matched children with no skeletal malocclusion and no reported history of sleep disorders served as a comparison group (Group 2). All children were evaluated regarding their sleep history and clinically examined to determine craniofacial morphology. Unstimulated saliva was collected from all children. Salivary TNF-α was measured with a solid-phase sandwich ELISA. Salivary MDA was measured by using TBA reagent. Statistical Analysis: Intergroup comparison for age and normally distributed data was done using t-test. Comparison of frequencies of categories of variables was done using Chi-square test. Inter group comparison for TNF-α was done using Mann–Whitney U test. Results: There were significantly higher levels of salivary TNF-α and MDA, in children of Group 1 when compared to that of Group 2 children (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Salivary TNF-α and MDA may be a simple and non-invasive tool in the identification and screening of children at high risk for sleep disorders.


In this study the environmental costs and benefits of smart metering technology systems installed in households in Norway have been assessed. Smart metering technology systems enable mechanisms to manage electricity consumption by shifting loads. With the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and the ReCiPe method for impact assessment, the life cycle impacts of installation and operation of a system in a household have been found. Environmental benefits of using the systems to manage electricity consumption have been quantified. The results of the study indicated that the environmental costs of smart metering technology systems mainly are caused by the production of system components and system electricity use during operation. For the production of system components, the use of electronics in the components was generally the major contributor to the total environmental impacts. Further, the systems metal depletion potential was high relative to other environmental impacts after normalization in impact assessment. The main environmental benefits of smart metering technology systems in a Norwegian perspective will be in a critical supply situation of electricity to avoid use of reserve capacity gas power plants, and the results from the study showed that the systems in such a case can contribute to an avoided emission of greenhouse gases. Load shifting from a general basis may however not always have environmental benefits and this will depend on the existing alternatives for electricity production.


A number of antiseptics were tested for their inactivating effect upon the virus of influenza during a brief period of exposure. This was accomplished by preparing mixtures of the antiseptics and virus, allowing them to remain in contact for 3 minutes, diluting the mixtures to the point where they would not be toxic for chick embryos and then injecting the material into embryonated eggs. Survival of the embryos indicated inactivation of the virus.
 The following preparations were found to inactivate the virus in 3 minutes or less: phenol, 3 per cent; tincture of iodine, U.S.P. XII, 0.1 per cent; Lugol's solution, U.S.P. XII, 1 per cent; mercuric chloride, 1:1000; potassium permanganate, 1:1000; copper sulfate, 1 per cent; propylene glycol, 90 per cent; liquor antisepticus, N.F. VII, 80 per cent.


A rigorous formula representing the counterpart of the Cooray-Rubinstein expression in the time domain has recently been derived by the authors. In this paper, the formula is particularized for the cases of a unit step and a linearly rising channel-base current, waveforms frequently used in lightning performance studies. Furthermore, an approximate kernel of the formula is also presented, allowing a very compact and straightforward solution for the case of linearly rising currents.


Like the East End, the West End has a strong and memorable identity. There are few more visited areas in Britain. It is a vigorous place, laden with wealth, excitement and prestige. Its history, which "West End Chronicles" will detail, is captivating and eternally fascinating. Its story begins in the early years after the Fire of London when the rich and powerful looked west to the fields that covered what are now Soho, Mayfair, Larylebone and Fitzrovia to extend the capital. While Mayfair and Marylebone remained mostly exclusive, Soho and Fitzroiva acquired a range of characteristics typical of the capital, with slums and crime alongside comfort zones.


Recent research has suggested that working-memory training interventions may benefit children with developmental language disorder (DLD). The current study investigated a short and engaging adaptive working-memory intervention that targeted executive skills and aimed to improve both language comprehension and working-memory abilities in children with DLD. Forty-seven 6- to 10-year-old children with DLD were randomly allocated to an executive working-memory training intervention (n = 24) or an active control group (n = 23). A pre-test/intervention/post-test/9-month-follow-up design was used. Outcome measures included assessments of language (to evaluate far transfer of the training) and working memory (to evaluate near transfer of the training). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for pre-intervention performance and age found the group to be a significant predictor of sentence comprehension and of performance on six untrained working-memory measures at post-intervention and 9-month follow-up. Children in the intervention group showed significantly higher language comprehension and working-memory scores at both time points than children in the active control group. The intervention programme showed the potential to improve working memory and language comprehension in children with DLD and demonstrated several advantages: it involved short sessions over a short period, caused little disruption in the school day, and was enjoyed by children.


A new competitive immunoassay has been designed using a specific monoclonal antibody labeled with a fluorophore. A specific and highly conserved peptide of 11 amino acids from the protein p60 of L. monocytogenes has been synthesised and used for the production of a monoclonal anti-p60. This antibody was used in the conception of a detection test able to detect 1 CFU of L. monocytogenes after only 18 hours of incubation with a minimum of manipulation. The test is based on a competition principle between the recombinant p60 protein and the p60 from L. monocytogenes present in the sample. A column containing a sepharose matrix was used to immobilize the recombinant p60 protein and the labeled monoclonal antibody, which is captured by the p60 from the sample when added to the column. An increase of the fluorescence signal of the eluate means a positive result. No cross-reactivity was observed with non-pathogenic Listeria species and each serotype of L. monocytogenes can be detected whereas some other immunological methods show cross-reactivity and false negative.


The helical structure of human eccrine sweat ducts, together with the dielectric properties of the human skin, suggested that their electromagnetic (EM) properties would resemble those of an array of helical antennas. In order to examine the implications of this assumption, numerical simulations in the frequency range of 100-450 GHz, were conducted. In addition, an initial set of measurements was made, and the reflection spectrum measured from the skin of human subjects was compared to the simulation results. The simulation model consisted of a three layer skin model (dermis, epidermis, and stratum corneum) with rough boundaries between the layers and helical sweat ducts embedded into the epidermis. The spectral response obtained by our simulations coincides with the analytical prediction of antenna theory and supports the hypothesis that the sweat ducts can be regarded as helical antennas. The results of the spectrum measurements from the human skin are in good agreement with the simulation results in the vicinity of the axial mode. The magnitude of this response depends on the conductivity of sweat in these frequencies, but the analysis of the phenomena and the frequencies related to the antenna-like modes are independent of this parameter. Furthermore, circular dichroism of the reflected electromagnetic field is a characteristic property of such helical antennas. In this work we show that: 1) circular dichroism is indeed a characteristic of the simulation model and 2) the helical structure of the sweat ducts has the strongest effect on the reflected signal at frequencies above 200 GHz, where the wavelength and the dimensions of the ducts are comparable. In particular, the strongest spectral response (as calculated by the simulations and measured experimentally) was noted around the predicted frequency (380 GHz) for the axial mode of the helical structure.


Pulp diagnostic tests evaluate the neuropsychological status and blood flow of the pulp. These tests can be used in conjunction with other clinical tests, such as periodontal probing, percussion, palpation, mobility, and anesthesia, during diagnostic tests. In clinical practice, it is important to determine the pulp condition in deciding the correct treatment to be applied. The aim of this review is to provide information about the pulp diagnostic tests that are used in dental practice and to generalize the correct use of these tests.


BACKGROUND
The demographics and operative experience of general surgeons certified by the American Board of Surgery were last examined a decade ago. This study examines the contemporary workforce and scope of practice of general surgeons.

STUDY DESIGN
Applications of diplomates seeking American Board of Surgery recertification from 2013 to 2017 were reviewed. Demographic data and case logs from the year before submission were analyzed. Total operative volume was examined, as were total volumes for 13 operative domains and 11 abdominal and alimentary tract subdomains.

RESULTS
There were 4,735 general surgeons certified by the American Board of Surgery with a mean ± SD age of 53 ± 8 years and included 19% women and 14% international graduates. Regions of practice were 22% Northeast, 31% Southeast, 20% Midwest, 20% West, and 7% Southwest. Practice settings were 86% urban, 9% large rural, 4% small rural, and 1% isolated. Forty-one percent were 10 years, 35% were 20 years, and 24% were 30 years since initial certification. On average, general surgeons performed 417 ± 338 procedures per year, with abdominal, alimentary tract, and endoscopy being the most common. On multivariable analysis, male sex and being midcareer or late career were positively associated with being a high-volume (top quartile) surgeon, whereas age and practicing in either the Northeast or West demonstrated a negative association.

CONCLUSIONS
The demographics of general surgeons have remained stable over time, except for an increased proportion of female surgeons. The overall operative experience is similar to years past but is widely variable between surgeons. Periodic analysis of these data is important for education and certification purposes.


Camera based systems have been a preferred choice in many motion tracking applications due to the ease of installation and the ability to work in unprepared environments. The concept of these systems is based on extracting image information (colour and shape properties) to detect the object location. However, the resolution of the image and the camera field-of- view (FOV) are two main factors that can restrict the tracking applications for which these systems can be used. Resolution can be addressed partially by using higher resolution cameras but this may not always be possible or cost effective.
This research paper investigates a new method utilising averaging of offset images to improve the effective resolution using a standard camera. The initial results show that the minimum detectable position change of a tracked object could be improved by up to 4 times.


We address the issue of minimal time optimal control of fed-batch reactor in presence of complex non monotonic kinetics. Several extremal paths with singular arcs can be locally optimal. We show how a regularization technique can help determining the optimal synthesis, based on a numerical approach.


Kořínek J., Nekardová O., Kovář P. (2016): The influence of woven geotextiles on ponding time and overland flow. Soil & Water Res., 11: 244−249. Nowadays, both synthetic and natural geotextiles are used to mitigate water erosion processes on hillslopes. Jute and coir are most suitable materials for the production of woven geotextiles. They are used for a variety of purposes – from natural fibre composite building materials to a soil protective agent. They were tested under laboratory conditions, without soil. This enabled us to focus on the reaction of the woven geotextiles to simulated rainfall. ECC 700 (coir), ECC 400 (coir), and ECJ 500 (jute) were tested. The Norton Ladder Rainfall Simulator was selected for spraying. Each simulated rainfall event lasted 15 min. An artificial hillslope with a gradient of 7.2 degrees was used. Jute absorbed water more effectively than both types of coir, and ECC 400 was more effective than ECC 700. The measured values were entered into the KINFIL hydrological model, which confirmed a positive impact of jute on delaying the ponding time and on reducing the total discharge. In practice, it can be suggested that jute prevents drying of the soil better than coir, and thus promotes better vegetation growth. The results also demonstrated that jute material is suitable for erosion control of hillslope surface for a short time (the time of the grass cover reinforcement), because it has good adhesion and reduces the total overland flow in an effective manner.


Sports tourism has received growing attention in academic research over the past two decades but limited focus has been given to understanding the consumer and factors influencing decisions to include sport as part of the trip. This research provides, through a focus on the sport of golf, insight into the characteristics of the sports tourist, how participation is included in trips, how the emotional rewards gained from participation can influence sports tourist behaviours, and thus influence the selection of locations deemed suitable for sports participation. Specifically the aim of this thesis is to evaluate the relationships between golfer characteristics, golfer behaviours and destination choice.

The research employs a grounded theory methodology, underpinned by a constructivist epistemology. This informed the process used to gather and analyse data as well as the presentation of this thesis. Three iterations of data (presented as discrete chapters) provide a robust analysis of literature and the twenty-seven interviews with UK-based golf tourists.

Analysis elucidated the golfer characteristics, concluding with the development of a golf tourism participation spectrum. This understanding of the golf tourist informed the development of a substantive theory explaining the relationship between golf tourist behaviours and destination selection. A model detailing that the relationship is constructed through six conceptual strands (construction of the golf holiday, emotional rewards of participation, total trip spend, amenities and support facilities, course characteristics and influences of reputation). The first four of these strands directly influences golfer behaviour, with the latter two strands combining with behaviour to determine destination selection. Significant to the substantive theory is the identification of four spheres of influence (group dynamics, the role of competitions and ability, golfing capital and the role of intermediaries) which interact with the conceptual strands to govern destination selection.

This thesis concludes by proposing a model which considers the findings in relation to the wider sport tourism sector.


This paper presents the rehydration performance of binary binders made with dehydrated cement paste (DCP) and phosphogypsum (GP). DCP was obtained by thermal treatment of hardened cement pastes in which the initial water to cement ratio was 0.5. DCP we mixed with phosphogypsum (PG) to prepare the binary binders . The effect of PG on the physical and mechanical properties of the binary binders was investigated. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to indentify the structural characteristics of the rehydration products. The results showed that the setting time was prolonged and the compressive strength increased slightly by mixing DCP with PG. Microstructural observations indicated that an remarkable amount of ettringite intergrows with the hydrated calcium silicate to form a network structure. Thus, the addition of phosphogypsum can not only utilize the industrial by-product, but enhances the hydraulic properties of the DCP.


This paper is the sequel of the previous papers [1] and [2]. More precisely, we study the regularity of the solutions of the evolutionary variational inequality governing the general financial evolutionary problem. Specifically we obtain that such a solution is continuous and Lipschitz continuous with respect to time and we illustrate the achieved result through numerical examples. Moreover the numerical examples enables us to understand the behaviour of the financial equilibrium and the impact of the components of the model on the financial equilibrium.


Patients with comorbid mental health and substance use disorders are at greater risk for mortality and have higher cancer care costs. At JADPRO Live Virtual 2021, Lisa W. Goldstone, MS, PharmD, BCPS, BCPP, talked through general considerations in the oncology setting for persons with comorbid mental health or substance use disorders, strategies for recognizing when patients with new or preexisting mental health symptoms or disorders may benefit from treatment and/or referral, and first and second-line pharmacotherapy options.