Connectors are powerful architectural elements that allow the specification of interactions between software components. Since the connectors do not include behavior in UML, the components include the behavior for coordinating the components, complicating the designs of components and decreasing their reusability. In this study, we propose the enrichment of UML connectors with behavioral specifications. The goal is to provide separation of concerns for the components so that they are freed from coordination duties. The reusability of the components will increase as a result of such exogenous coordination. Additionally, using the associated behaviors, we aim to resolve the ambiguities that arise when n-ary connectors are used. We use a series of QVTo transformations to transform UML models that include connector behaviors in ALF specifications into UML models which include fUML activities as connector behavior specifications. We present a set of example connectors specified using the proposed method. We execute the QVTo transformations on the example connectors to produce models that represent platform-independent definitions of the coordination behaviors. We also present and discuss cases from real-life large-scale avionics software projects in which using the proposed approach results in simpler and more flexible designs and increases component reusability.


We present a theoretical description of macroscopic diffusion caused by convective overshoot in pure-hydrogen DA white dwarfs using 3D, closed-bottom, radiation hydrodynamics co5bold simulations. We rely on a new grid of deep 3D white dwarf models in the temperature range $11\, 400 \le T_{\mathrm{eff}} \le 18\, 000$ K where tracer particles and a tracer density are used to derive macroscopic diffusion coefficients driven by convective overshoot. These diffusion coefficients are compared to microscopic diffusion coefficients from 1D structures. We find that the mass of the fully mixed region is likely to increase by up to 2.5 orders of magnitude while inferred accretion rates increase by a more moderate order of magnitude. We present evidence that an increase in settling time of up to 2 orders of magnitude is to be expected, which is of significance for time-variability studies of polluted white dwarfs. Our grid also provides the most robust constraint on the onset of convective instabilities in DA white dwarfs to be in the effective temperature range from 18 000 to 18 250 K.


Three hundred and thirty seven truck drivers, in transit from Mombasa to destinations within east and central Africa were interviewed on their knowledge on AIDS and sex practices using a pre-defined questionnaire. Nearly all of them, 99% (3.7/321), had heard of AIDS through mass media and from friends. When asked for a definition of AIDS, 87% (336/485 responses) described it as a sexually transmitted disease (STD) which causes body wasting and death. The majority were aware of the correct risk reducing behaviours: 76% (228/300) knew that use of condoms can prevent the transmission/acquisition of STDs but only 32% (90/295) had ever used them. This was in spite of the fact that 61% (226/309) admitted to visiting prostitutes. Various reasons were given for not using condoms. About 32% (34/188) claimed that they did not sleep with prostitutes while 18% (34/188) did not see the need for using condoms. Condoms were unavailable to another 18% (34/188). The data obtained show a clear lack of correlation between the correct knowledge of AIDS and application in the prevention of acquisition and transmission of STD.


Pleiotropic mutants of Alcaligenes eutrophus with the phenotype Hno- have been characterized previously. They are deficient in several diverse metabolic activities, including hydrogen oxidation, nitrate and urea assimilation, denitrification, and various substrate transport systems. Phenotypically similar mutants were identified among hydrogenase-deficient strains of Pseudomonas facilis. The Tn5-labeled hno gene was cloned from a genomic DNA library of A. eutrophus and used to identify the corresponding unimpaired wild-type DNA sequence. The recombinant plasmid pCH148 contained an insert of 12.3 kilobase pairs and was shown to restore the Hno+ phenotype to mutants of A. eutrophus and P. facilis. A cosmid isolated from a DNA library of P. facilis also exhibited intergeneric Hno-complementing activity. The cloned hno loci from both organisms showed DNA homology by Southern blot hybridization. A subclone of pCH148 which contained a 6.5-kilobase-pair insert was constructed. The resulting hybrid, pCH170, not only was able to complement Hno- mutants but also relieved glutamine auxotrophy in NtrA- mutants of enteric bacteria. This suggests that the hno gene product from A. eutrophus is functionally similar to the NtrA protein, which has been identified as a novel sigma factor (sigma 54) of RNA polymerase.


ABSTRACT Academic dishonesty has serious consequences for human lives, social values, and economy. The main aim of the study was to explore a model of relations between personal and cultural variables and academic dishonesty. The participants in the study were N = 2,586 individuals from nine countries (Pakistan, Israel, Italy, India, the USA, Peru, Romania, Ghana, and Poland). The authors administered the Academic Dishonesty Scale to measure academic dishonesty, the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale to measure distress, the Almost Perfect Scale – Revised to measure perfectionism, the Brief Self-Control Scale to measure self-control, and the Singelis Scale to measure independent self-construal. The results showed that the theoretical model was well fitted to the dataset in six countries: Pakistan, the United States, Romania, Ghana, Israel, and Poland. However, it was not well fitted in Italy, India, and Peru. Our results also showed that perfectionism significantly predicted academic dishonesty, but not in all countries. Self-control significantly predicted cheating, falsification, and plagiarism in the USA. Moreover, we found that distress was related to cheating o0nly in Ghana. Finally, independent self-construal predicted academic dishonesty. Our findings provide a cross-cultural contribution to the debate on academic dishonesty by highlighting its significant predictors and may inform interventions aimed at eliminating it. Our results can be used in preventing and curbing academic dishonesty. Knowledge on cross-cultural differences can be useful in international education for example, as an indicator accepting or relaxing attitude toward academic dishonesty in students from different countries.


The compounds of total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity using ethanolic and hot aqueous extracts of Clinacanthus nutans (Sabah Snake Grass) was conducted at the School of Sustainable Agriculture in Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Sandakan, Sabah. The objectives of this study were to determine and evaluate the total phenolic content, total flavonoids content and antioxidant activity present in ethanol and hot aqueous extracts of Clinacanthus nutans plant, in order to elucidate the underlying relationship between potential antioxidant activity with the compounds of phenolic acids and flavonoid
acids. The total phenolic content and total flavonoid content were estimated through the oxidation by molybdotungstate reagent (Folin-Ciocalteu) and total flavonoid test respectively. Meanwhile, the antioxidant activity was assessed through 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free scavenging radical assay. Datas were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. It was found; highest total phenolic content (1979.67 ± 126.93 mg GAE/100 g) was observed in ethanolic extract followed by (815.97 ± 20.52 mg GAE/100 g). There was a significant difference between these two extracts. Meanwhile, in total flavonoid content test, the ethanol extract (1716.01 ± 11.63 mg QE/100 g) had higher total flavonoid content as compared to hot aqueous extract (617.34 ± 4.42 mg QE/100 g) and they were significantly different (p<0.05). Present study showed that stronger antioxidant activity was observed in the ethanolic extract with the lowest IC50 value (34.11 ± 3.78µg/mL), whereas aqueous extract with high IC50 value (99.46 ± 0.79 µg/mL). Both of the total phenolic content and total flavonoid content exhibited strong negative correlation (r=0.99) with antioxidant activity in Clinacanthus nutans plant extracts.


Conformal mapping with complex function based on plane elasticity mechanics is an analytical method for resolving stress and displacement at any point of a half-plane domain. Using complex function conformal mapping method in this article we investigated the relationship between load on tooth surface and maximum stress at tooth root for calculating the maximum compressive stress on the opposite side of working flank and maximum tensile stress on working flank side when loads are applied to tooth top and root of working flank side, respectively. The maximum tensile and compressive stress at the tooth root are the main forces that cause fatigue cracking of the tooth root, which may extend along the elastomer compound-cord interface resulting in shear cracking of the belt tooth. The results of our calculation reveal the mechanisms whereby tooth shear cracking causes fatigue failure of synchronic belt, which are consistent with the experimental research results of Lizuka.


Heavy precipitation events (HPEs) affect the southeastern area of France frequently during the months of September–November. Very high amounts of rain can fall during these events, with the ensuing flash floods causing widespread damage. The cases of 6 September 2010 and 1–4 November 2011 represent the different large‐scale conditions under which these episodes can occur. These HPEs are forecast with differing levels of skill by the Méso‐NH model at 2.5 km resolution. The case of 6 September 2010 is used to test different methods of addressing cloud physics parametrization uncertainties. Three ensembles are constructed, where the warm‐process microphysical time tendencies are perturbed by different methods. Results are compared by examining the spatio‐temporal distribution of the precipitation field as well as looking at ensemble statistics. The ensemble methodology that induces the most dispersion in the rainfall field is deemed the most suitable. This method is then used to examine the sensitivity of four cases from November 2011 to errors in the microphysical and turbulent parametrizations. It appears that the sensitivity to microphysical perturbations varies according to the model skill for the HPE. Events where the model skill is high (low) show low (moderate) sensitivity. These cases show a stronger sensitivity to perturbations performed upon the turbulent tendencies, while perturbing the microphysical and turbulent tendencies together produces even greater dispersion. The results show the importance and usefulness of ensembles with perturbed physical parametrizations in the forecasting of HPEs.


Interleukin-1 (IL-1) plays a crucial role in numerous inflammatory diseases via action on its only known signaling IL-1 receptor type 1 (IL-1R1). To investigate the role of IL-1 signaling in selected cell types, we generated a new mouse strain in which exon 5 of the Il1r1 gene is flanked by loxP sites. Crossing of these mice with CD4-Cre transgenic mice resulted in IL-1R1 loss of function specifically in T cells. These mice, termed IL-1R1ΔT, displayed normal development under steady state conditions. Importantly, isolated CD4 positive T cells retained their capacity to differentiate toward Th1 or Th17 cell lineages in vitro, and strongly proliferated in cultures supplemented with either anti-CD3/CD28 or Concanavalin A, but, as predicted, were completely unresponsive to IL-1β administration. Furthermore, IL-1R1ΔT mice were protected from gut inflammation in the anti-CD3 treatment model, due to dramatically reduced frequencies and absolute numbers of IL-17A and interferon (IFN)-γ producing cells. Taken together, our data shows the necessity of intact IL-1 signaling for survival and expansion of CD4 T cells that were developed in an otherwise IL-1 sufficient environment.


Tubular vesicles represent abundant structural motifs which are observed both in experiments and in nature. We analyse them within the theory of bending elasticity and determine the equilibrium solutions at fixed volume, surface area, and segment length without imposing any specific symmetry or periodicity. We identify four different non-periodic equilibrium shapes. Depending on the precise value of the constraints or the corresponding Lagrange multipliers, these four shapes include: (i) snake-like and (ii) helical structures, (iii) tubes with a spherical body, and (iv) tubes with a discoidal body. However different in the details, all of the shapes have the same general cylindrical morphology which is either globally modulated or is a superposition of an additional structural motif and the cylinder. These results point to a great significance of the circular cylindrical shape and offer a comprehensive and general analysis of the shape of tubular vesicles.


Twice in this century popular revolts against colonial rule have occurred in the Banten district of West Java. These revolts, conducted largely under an Islamic leadership, also proclaimed themselves Communist. They sought to overturn the status quo in the name of revolution, but also looked back to the pre-colonial era for inspiration. Bantenese society in the early twentieth century possessed strong local characteristics which distinguished it from the rest of Java. Although there had been some spread of cash crops, its economy was extremely vulnerable due to infertility of the soil and poor irrigation. Migration, both temporary and permanent, provided the region with a lifeline and an opportunity for economic advancement for some. Village society was dominated by three powerful groups: the religious leaders, local strongmen or bandits and nobles who were descendants of the former sultans. Great resentment was felt towards both the Dutch and the local Indonesian administration, many of whom were non-Bantenese. These two groups were the targets of local hostility. The primary division that ran through Bantenese society was therefore not between peasant and landlord but between peasant and agent of government. Advantage was taken of this division by the Sarekat Islam in the 1910s and by the Communist Party (PKI) in the 1920s. The Communist Party succeeded in mobilizing a large part of Bantenese society under its wings and this political mobilization culminated in the revolt of November 1926. Whilst the revolt was Communist in name, however, its leadership was in the hands of the traditional power holders of rural Bantenese society, especially the religious leaders. The revolt was followed by a period of sharp colonial repression and enforced political quiescence. The collapse of the wartime Japanese occupation administration in September 1945 was followed by a popular uprising in Banten led by the same groups who had spearheaded the 1926 revolt.


Year‐to‐year fluctuations of rainfall in the northern Negev desert provide an opportunity to characterize and assess the temporal dynamics of desertification, phenology, and drought processes. Such information was retrieved and analyzed by combined use of satellite imageries in the reflectivity and thermal spectral bands. Data covering four years of coarse spatial resolution and images from a high revisit time satellite, namely the NOAA‐14, were used. The images were processed to produce the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and the land surface temperature (LST). These measures were applied to the sand field in the northwestern Negev (Israel), which is almost totally covered by biological soil crusts, and to an adjacent region in Sinai (Egypt), consisting mainly of bare dune sands. Various manipulations of the data were applied. Time series presentation of the NDVI and LST reveals that the NDVI values correspond to the reaction of the vegetation to rainfall and that LST values represent seasonal climatic fluctuation. Scatterplot analysis of LST vs NDVI demonstrates the following: the two different biomes (Sinai and the Negev) exhibit different yearly variation of the phenological patterns (two seasons in Sinai moving along the LST axis, and three seasons in the Negev, where the NDVI axis represents the growing season); the Sinai has an ecosystem similar to that found in the Sahara, while the Negev, only a few kilometers away, has an ecosystem similar to the one found in the Sahel; and drought indicators were derived by using several geometrical expressions based on the two extreme points of the LST‐NDVI scatterplot. The later analysis led to a discrimination function that aims to distinguish between the drought years and the wet years in both biomes. Results from the current study show that a great deal of information on dryland ecosystems can be derived from four, out of five, NOAA/AVHRR spectral bands. The NDVI is derived from the red and the near‐infrared bands and the LST from the two thermal bands. Combined use of these two products provides more information than any product alone.


Maria Chapdelaine, the quintessential novel of the rugged life of early French-Canadian colonists, is based on the author's experiences as a hired hand in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean area. A young woman living with her family on the Quebec frontier, Maria endures the hardships of isolation and climate. Maria must eventually choose between three suitors who represent very different ways of life: a trapper, a farmer, and a Parisian immigrant. Powerful in its simplicity, this novel captures the essence of faith and tenacity, the key ingredients of survivance. Translated into many languages, Maria Chapdelaine is enshrined as a classic of Canadian letters. A new introduction by Michael Gnarowski examines its relevance and provides insights into Louis Hemon's life. Louis Hemon was born in 1880 and was raised in Paris, where he qualified for the French Colonial Service. Unwilling to accept a posting to Africa, Hemon embarked on a career as a sports writer and moved to London. In 1911 he sailed for Quebec and was struck and killed by a train in Northern Ontario in 1913.


In this computer age of ours, why not try and imagine a code that describes and models "Eastern Europe". Think of the code neatly typed in billions of lines and printed on crisp paper pages, bound in thick, heavy volumes solemnly lining the long shelves of the oval library in the British Museum. A matt glass roof permits grey English daylight to touch their leather backs softly. A cosy world of knowledge and order, safely contained, smoothly transmitted from one generation to another: can the writ ing of Eastern Europe ever be so comfortable? Probably not. Something is not quite right in this dream about an established, ordered and shared meaning of "Eastern Europe".


: This paper discusses the use of total parenteral nutrition in the management of patients with acute renal failure. The influence of nutritional management on survival of patients with acute renal failure, is shown by statistical analysis of our results before and after the institution of a policy of total parenteral nutrition.


&bgr;2-Adrenoceptors (AR) play an important role in regulation of vascular and bronchial smooth muscle tone; functional &bgr;2-AR, however, also exist in human heart where they can mediate positive inotropic and chronotropic effects. Recent studies have discovered that &bgr;2-AR are polymorphic. The most common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are: Arg16Gly, Gln27Glu, Thr164Ile in the coding region, and Arg-19Cys in the 5′ upstream peptide. These SNPs affect receptor function in vitro; however, conflicting data exist on their functional relevance in vivo. This might be due to the fact that the four SNPs in the 5′ upstream peptide and in the coding region, respectively, are linked and form certain haplotypes. This review gives an overview on the contribution of &bgr;2-AR polymorphisms to cardiovascular diseases or altered drug responses. In addition, the relevance of SNPs vs. haplotypes for &bgr;2-AR functional responsiveness is discussed.


The new paradigm in the field of International Cooperation is that institutions are the fundamental cause of long-run economic development. However, the lack of both a clear consensus on which are the specific institutions that promote development, and a theory that integrates economic, political and cultural aspects that lie behind these institutions, is making highly confusing to put this paradigm into practice. This essay reviews the academic literature, laying down a conceptual framework and the available empirical evidence on specific institutions, in order to understand which are these pro-growth institutions, and the political nature of the problem that entails trying to put them into practice.


Occurrence and implications of magmatic epidote in granitic rocks is reviewed. The presence of magmatic epidote in granodiorites, tonalites and trondhjemites is commonly used as evidence of magma crystallisation at pressure in the region of 6 to 8 kbar. The epidote is easily identified as they are usually euhedral, overgrowth on euhedral allanite, associated with magmatic flow, included in primary muscovite and have fine scale oscillatory zoning. The concept of magmatic epidote and its pressure is apply to granitic rocks from Peninsular Malaysia. Work on the barometry of Malaysian granitoid based on the aluminium content of amphiboles indicate that the highest crystallisation pressure of the granites is 4.98 kbar, which is below the crystallisation pressure of magmatic epidote. This may suggest that the Peninsular Malaysia granitic magmas may not have crystallised the epidote at low pressure.


BACKGROUND
The aim of the study was to evaluate the toxicokinetics of 2-methylnaphtalene (2-MN) during and after inhalation exposure.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Male Wistar rats were exposed to 2-MN vapours at nominal concentrations of 200 or 400 mg/m3 in the dynamic inhalation chamber for 6 hours or 5 days (6 h/day). Blood samples were collected during and after exposure. Blood concentrations of 2-MN were estimated by gas chromatography using the headspace technique.

RESULTS
During a 6-hour exposure to 200 or 400 mg/m3, blood 2-MN concentration increased rapidly within the first or second hour of exposure, respectively, after reaching a plateau. The elimination of 2-MN from blood followed an open two-compartment model.

CONCLUSION
2-MN was rapidly eliminated from blood of the animals exposed by inhalation to 2-MN. During exposure, lung retention of the chemical was found to decrease. Under conditions of repeated 2-MN exposure, no significant systemic 2-MN accumulation could be observed.


Co‐Ni‐Re‐Mn‐P and Co‐Ni‐Re‐P alloy films for perpendicular magnetic recording media were prepared by an electroless plating method, and the effect of film thickness on magnetic properties and recording characteristics was investigated. This effect was found to differ greatly for the two alloy systems. In the case of Co‐Ni‐Re‐Mn‐P alloy films, the perpendicular anisotropy magnetic field and the perpendicular coercivity decreased with decreasing film thickness, and suitable magnetic properties could not be maintained for films thinner than 0.2 μm. However, in the case of Co‐Ni‐Re‐P alloy films, the values of , , and perpendicular anisotropy energy increased with decreasing film thickness, and magnetic properties suitable for perpendicular recording were obtained in the thinner films. The limiting recording density of increased with decreasing film thickness, and was observed for a disk with a 0.05 μm thick Co‐Ni‐Re‐P alloy film in combination with a ring head. The relationship between recording current and reproduced voltage for perpendicular recording was also measured in the thin medium thickness range for Co‐Ni‐Re‐P alloy films, and the typical behavior for perpendicular magnetic recording was confirmed in the thinner 0.05 μm film thickness. It is suggested that electroless Co‐Ni‐Re‐Mn‐P alloys are suitable for single‐layer media and that Co‐Ni‐Re‐P alloys are suitable for composite anisotropy media.


The time-dependent Hartree-Fock theory is applied to the large amplitude dynamics of slabs of spin and isospin symmetric nuclear matter. The slabs are translationally invariant in two transverse dimensions, and with the simplified effective interaction used in this work, the problem is reduced to a set of coupled nonlinear equations for time-dependent functions of a single spatial variable. By specification of appropriate initial conditions, large amplitude oscillations of a single slab, the scattering of a slab from an external potential barrier, and collisions of two slabs have been investigated. The results evidence a wide variety of dynamic phenomena, including fusion, compound nucleus formation, dissipation, strongly damped collisions, shock wave propagation, and fragmentation. The microscopic aspects of the dynamics, the relation to fluid mechanics, and the practical and conceptual problems arising from the theory are discussed in detail.


The synthesis and characterisation of supramolecular model
systems mimicking the light reactions on the donor side of Photosystem II
(PSII) in green plants have been reviewed. In these systems, manganese
complexes and tyrosine are electron donors, modelling the manganese cluster
and tyrosineZ in PSII. The donors have been covalently linked to
a photosensitizer, a ruthenium(II) tris-bipyridyl
complex, that plays the role of the P680 chlorophylls in PSII.
It has been demonstrated that, in the presence of an external electron
acceptor in solution, the model systems can undergo an intermolecular
electron transfer from the photoexcited state of RuII to an
acceptor, followed by an intramolecular electron transfer from the
coordinated Mn complexes or the tyrosine unit to the photogenerated
RuIII. This leads to regeneration of the RuII and
oxidation of the Mn complexes or generation of a tyrosine radical. The
process closely mimics the primary reaction steps on the donor side of
PSII.


Due to its high theoretical capacity as high as 990 mA h g−1, Sn is considered as a potential anode material for high-capacity lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, the huge volume expansion during the alloying/dealloying process causes poor cycling stability and low rate capability. To address this gap, Gd doped Gd–Sn alloys are introduced in this work. Herein, the Gd–Sn alloys are prepared by arc-melting two different starting bulk metals Gd and Sn with atomic ratios of Gd : Sn = 1 : 3 and 1 : 6. Then, the obtained Gd–Sn powders mixed with graphene at a mass ratio of 1 : 10 are deployed to prepare the Gd–Sn–graphene composites by a ball-milling route. XRD results show that the characteristic peaks of the obtained Gd–Sn–graphene composites are consistent with GdSn3, β-Sn, and graphene phases, where the well-dispersed Gd–Sn alloy particles are distributed with sizes of about hundreds of nanometers. In addition, graphene was homogeneously dispersed with the GdSn3 and Sn particles, when the composite has an atomic ratio of Gd : Sn = 1 : 6 and graphene content of 9 wt% (GdSn6/G composite). The electrochemical characterization shows that the GdSn6/G composite has a higher reversible discharge capacity than that of the Gd–Sn powders. At a current density of 100 mA g−1, the first charge and discharge capacities are 547.1 and 900.2 mA h g−1, and a stable capacity of 455.3 mA h g−1 could be maintained after 30 cycles. Even at a current density of 500 mA g−1 (about 1C rate), a good reversible capacity of 403.9 mA h g−1 could be achieved. The enhanced performance may be attributed to the rare earth metal Gd with good toughness, and graphene with good electrical conductivity and mechanical strength.


Perhaps one of the most remarkable features of T-type calcium channels is their low-threshold of activation that makes these channels important candidates for calcium entry near the resting membrane potential of neurons. Hence, they mediate low-threshold burst discharges that occur during different forms of neuronal rhythmogenesis, but play also important roles in sensory transmission, as well as hormone and neurotransmitter release. Additionally, they have been implicated in an increasing number of neuronal pathologies including neuropathy, autism spectrum disorders and some forms of epilepsy. More recently, an implication of T-type calcium channel in the processing of Amyloid Precursor Protein was documented, with possible implication in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.


SUMMARY: The main objective of the European COST C21 Action was to increase the knowledge and promote the use of ontologies in the domain of urban development, in the view of facilitating the communications between information systems, stakeholders and urban experts at a European level. This special issue of IT-CON consists in a selection of the best papers presented during the final conference of this COST Action. It provides an overview of the main themes addressed during this research and introduces different approaches for developing and maintaining urban ontologies.


The post-Millennial expansion of music festivals in the UK has been accompanied by a marked upsurge in sponsorship and branding activities (Anderton 2009). These sponsorship and branding activities provide the necessary financial and marketing support required by many events in order to survive in an increasingly competitive and saturated market, but they also raise questions regarding the 'true meaning' of festivals. In particular, there is a tension between a once prevailing understanding of music festivals as spaces of countercultural critique and alternative models of living in the country, and their contemporary position as important leisure and tourist resources that are positively mediated through radio, television, magazines and the internet (Anderton 2011). This tension is perhaps felt most keenly at rock and pop music festivals held in rural locations, where historical associations with the hippie counterculture and New Age Travellers of the 1970s and 1980s have created long-lasting social, cultural and political stereotypes and ideologies. The post-Millennial period has also seen the growth of small 'boutique' music festivals which often serve niche markets and tie into those social, cultural and political stereotypes and ideologies in various ways. This paper will examine how music festivals and sponsors of various sizes have created branded rural landscapes that not only communicate and negotiate ideologies related to the hippie counterculture, but also link into changing imaginaries of the rural.


Forest ecological service function are more concerned throughout the world due to the environmental degradation and economic development imbalances. As a developing country, Chinese forest ecological compensation policies and laws have been constantly adjusted and perfected in recent years. This paper analyzes the status quo of China's forest ecological compensation policies and laws. Based on these policy and law systems analysis, the main problems are discussed in detail. The big problems conclude the unclear definition of ecological compensation, the low standard of the compensation, the too narrow coverage of the compensation and lack of diversity channels and market mechanism.


This technical note deals with the estimation of the whole trajectory of a stochastic dynamic system with highest probability, conditionally upon the past observation process, using a maximum Gaussian mixture. We first recall the Gaussian sum technique applied to minimum variance filtering. It is then shown that the same concept of Gaussian mixture can be applied in that context, provided we replace the Sum operator by the Max operator.


Abstract Geoarchaeological research within Sicily continues to characterize the effects of anthropogenic and geological processes upon the island's Holocene alluvial landscape developments. Interdisciplinary approaches have been used including geomorphological mapping, archaeological survey and excavations to characterize land-use practices though the mid- to late Holocene. Landscape development changes are recorded in the alluvial sediments as a consequence of land use by the indigenous and Roman settlers of Sicilian valleys in the Nebrodi and Polizzo Mountains. A marked change in erosion has been identified during the late Roman occupation of Sicily, probably as a product of intensive pastoralism and land clearing. Sedimentation during indigenous hilltop occupation of north–central and western Sicily was dominated by coarse-grained (cobble or boulder) deposits attributed to flash-flooding. Sedimentation that temporally coincided with the Greek and later Roman occupation of the adjacent valleys is marked by fine-grained deposits. These data continue to support the geological and archaeological interpretations of human–landscape interactions in Sicily. Furthermore, such geoarchaeological data may be used in models to strengthen our present and future landscape conservation methods.


Recent research suggests that search volumes of the most popular search engine worldwide, Google, provided via Google Trends, could be associated with national suicide rates in the USA, UK, and some Asian countries. However, search volumes have mostly been studied in an ad hoc fashion, without controls for spurious associations. This study evaluated the validity and utility of Google Trends search volumes for behavioral forecasting of suicide rates in the USA, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Suicide-related search terms were systematically collected and respective Google Trends search volumes evaluated for availability. Time spans covered 2004 to 2010 (USA, Switzerland) and 2004 to 2012 (Germany, Austria). Temporal associations of search volumes and suicide rates were investigated with time-series analyses that rigorously controlled for spurious associations. The number and reliability of analyzable search volume data increased with country size. Search volumes showed various temporal associations with suicide rates. However, associations differed both across and within countries and mostly followed no discernable patterns. The total number of significant associations roughly matched the number of expected Type I errors. These results suggest that the validity of Google Trends search volumes for behavioral forecasting of national suicide rates is low. The utility and validity of search volumes for the forecasting of suicide rates depend on two key assumptions ("the population that conducts searches consists mostly of individuals with suicidal ideation", "suicide-related search behavior is strongly linked with suicidal behavior"). We discuss strands of evidence that these two assumptions are likely not met. Implications for future research with Google Trends in the context of suicide research are also discussed.


The scientific revolution that started with the human-genome sequencing project, carried out with first-generation sequencing technology, has initiated other sequencing projects, including those for plant species. Different technologies have been developed together with the second- and third-generation sequencing platforms called 1396984945next-generation1396986481 sequencing. This review deals with the most relevant second-generation sequencing platforms, advanced analysis tools, and sequenced plant genomes. To date, a number of plant genomes have been sequenced, with many more projected for the near future. Using the new techniques and developed advanced bioinformatics tools, several studies including both plant genomics and transcriptomics were carried out. Likewise, completion of reference genome sequences and high-throughput resequencing projects presented opportunities to better understand the genomic nature of plants and accelerated the process of crop improvement. Modern sequencing and bioinformatics approaches have led to overcome the challenges that arose mainly in plant genomes with large size, high CG content, heterozygosity, transposable elements, repetitive DNA, and homopolymers or polyploidy, as may be the case with the most important crops. There is no doubt that the rest of the species will also benefit from such breakthroughs, which also include direct RNA sequencing without requiring cDNA synthesis. In fact, we are not in a postgenomic era as is sometimes stated, but rather in the beginning of a genomic revolution.


Balanites aegyptiaca has multiplicity of uses and almost every part of the plant is useful including its flowers, leaves, bark, root and fruit. In this study, oil from Desert date (Balanites aegyptiaca) kernel seed was extracted, analyzed and used in the formulation of soap and lotion. The physical parameters determined were oil content, specific gravity, refractive index and moisture content. These were found to be 45.32% ± 0.0026%, 0.90 ± 0.03, 1.45% and 0.114% ± 0.04%, respectively. The chemical parameters evaluated include saponification value (200.02 ± 0.12 mg KOH/g), acid value (2.14 ± 0.28 mg KOH/g), iodine value (104.39 ± 0.00 100/g), peroxide value (2.95 ± 0.00 mEq/kg) and free fatty acid (0.82% ± 0.01%). The oil quality assessments test indicates %FFA content of 0.84% and the fatty acids composition of the oil was evaluated using GC-MS as FAME; the oil contains about 47.52% unsaturated fatty acids. The seed kernel of Balanites aegyptiaca is a good source of vegetable oil. Soap formulated from the oil is considered a good soap based on the soap quality parameters determined. Lotion formulated has a good stability when subjected to lotion stability test.


Background: The characteristic clinical heterogeneity and mostly slow-growing behavior of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NENs) cause problems in finding appropriate treatments. Thus, the current therapy options are not satisfactory. PKI-587 is a highly potent, novel dual inhibitor of PI3K and mTORC1/C2. Aim: We assessed the effects of PKI-587 in different GEP-NEN tumor models, including the poorly differentiated cell line LCC-18, and compared them with those of the established mTORC1 inhibitor everolimus. Methods: We treated BON, QGP-1, KRJ-I, and LCC-18 cell lines with increasing concentrations of the inhibitor PKI-587, and compared the results with those of everolimus and DMSO. We assessed the impact of the treatments on viability (WST-1 assay), on apoptotic processes (caspase 3/7 assay, JC-1), and on cell cycle regulation (flow cytometry). We determined alterations in signaling mediators by phosphor-specific Western blot analysis and conducted multiplexed gene expression analysis (nCounter® technology). Results: In all cell lines, PKI-587 dose-dependently inhibited proliferation, whereas everolimus was less effective. Treatment with PKI-587 led to cell cycle arrest and induction of apoptosis and successfully suppressed activity of the direct mTORC1 target 4E-BP1, a crucial factor for tumor genesis only partially inhibited by everolimus. Gene expression analyses revealed relevant changes of RAS, MAPK, STAT, and PI3K pathway genes after treatment. Treatment-dependent and cell line-characteristic effects on AKT/Rb/E2F signaling regarding cell cycle control and apoptosis are extensively discussed in this paper. Conclusion: PI3K/mTOR dual targeting is a promising new therapeutic approach in neuroendocrine tumor disease that should be evaluated in further clinical trials.


China has a biosafety regulatory framework in place for both domestic GM crop commercialization and imports. China imported about four times as many soybeans as it produced domestically in 2010 and is also expected to become a major importer of maize in the near future. Both China's soybean and maize imports are dominated by GM varieties, with most soybean imported from the US, Brazil and Argentina and maize imported mainly from the US. China's import approval process takes on average 2-3 years, and can only commence when a submitter for import approval has already received full regulatory approval in their country of origin, resulting in significant asynchronicity (for maize, for example, only 11 out of some 29 GM events authorized in the US had been approved in China by late 2010). The China paper indicates that trade disruptions due to China's zero threshold approach to LLP could result in a slight increase in domestic maize price and large rise in soybean price, with knock-on effects on the livestock sector and overall social welfare, and also have repercussions in the export markets. The paper also points out that although China has commercialized several GM crops and has a significant number in the research and regulatory pipeline, it has so far not opted to seek approval of its GM crop events in any foreign country. This could lead to trade disruptions affecting Chinese rice exports, although these exports are declining, but also growing exports of processed rice products.


Many modern machine learning classifiers are shown to be vulnerable to adversarial perturbations of the instances. Despite a massive amount of work focusing on making classifiers robust, the task seems quite challenging. In this work, through a theoretical study, we investigate the adversarial risk and robustness of classifiers and draw a connection to the well-known phenomenon of "concentration of measure" in metric measure spaces. We show that if the metric probability space of the test instance is concentrated, any classifier with some initial constant error is inherently vulnerable to adversarial perturbations.One class of concentrated metric probability spaces are the so-called Lévy families that include many natural distributions. In this special case, our attacks only need to perturb the test instance by at most O(√n) to make it misclassified, where n is the data dimension. Using our general result about Lévy instance spaces, we first recover as special case some of the previously proved results about the existence of adversarial examples. However, many more Lévy families are known (e.g., product distribution under the Hamming distance) for which we immediately obtain new attacks that find adversarial examples of distance O(√n).Finally, we show that concentration of measure for product spaces implies the existence of forms of "poisoning" attacks in which the adversary tampers with the training data with the goal of degrading the classifier. In particular, we show that for any learning algorithm that uses m training examples, there is an adversary who can increase the probability of any "bad property" (e.g., failing on a particular test instance) that initially happens with non-negligible probability to ≈ 1 by substituting only Õe(√m) of the examples with other (still correctly labeled) examples.


Sir, Opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome (OMS) is a rare but distinctive disorder, characterized by irregular, continual, and conjugated chaotic saccades of the eyes accompanied by appendicular myoclonus and truncal ataxia. No etiological factor can be found in 50% of adult cases. In 20% of cases it may be paraneoplastic and may also be a manifestation of brainstem stroke or infection. The most common tumors, which give rise to OMS are breast and lung cancers and infectious agents are Epstein-Barr virus and enteroviruses such as Coxackie B. A 41-year-old woman presented with severe vertigo and gait unsteadiness for ten days. There was no history of any antecedent viral infection or vaccination. Neurological examination revealed coarse eye movements with severe truncal ataxia and limb myoclonus. Laboratory examination (routine hematological tests, urine and cerebrospinal fluid examination, serological tests for infections, oncological bands workup, magnetic resonance imaging of brain and electroencephalography) revealed no abnormality. As assays for paraneoplastic antibodies couldn't be performed due to technical limitations, the patient was considered to be a case of idiopathic OMS. Therapeutic trial with prednisolone (1 mg/kg/orally) and clonazepam (4 mg/day) was attempted. Because of the lack of any beneficial effect, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVI g) (0.4 g/kg/day for five days) was added on the sixth day and Prednisolone and clonazepam were tapered in the following five days. On the third day of IVI g treatment, muscle jerking and eye movements stabilized. She began to sit without assistance and during the next two weeks the patient gradually recovered. She was symptom free within eight weeks. Physical symptoms and repeated laboratory examinations for occult malignancy after one-year interval was negative. She has been asymptomatic for two years. The response to immunotherapy is unclear in paraneoplastic and idiopathic OMS, because the rarity of this disorder hinders controlled clinical studies and the possibility of spontaneous remissions makes interpretation difficult in isolated cases. In adults under 40 years of age, the clinical evolution is more benign and the effect of IVI g seems more effective. IVI g is an immunmodulating agent that has multiple activities, including neutralization of pathogenic autoantibodies, suppression of inflammatory mediators, complement inactivation, functional blockage of Fc receptors on macrophages and modulation of T-cell functions. Treatment with IVI g has been reported in a few idiopathic adult-onset OMS cases in literature. Pless et al. first reported beneficial effects of IVI g in 1996. Bataller et al analyzed 10 idiopathic and 14 paraneoplastic adult OMS patients. IVI g was used in five of the idiopathic cases. They concluded that idiopathic OMS presents an age dependent prognosis and immunotherapy seems to be associated with a faster recovery. Our case suggests that patients with idiopathic OMS treated with IVI g may have a faster recovery and this treatment should be recommended in cases with severe neurological dysfunction.


When constructing high-performance real-time systems, safe and tight estimations of the worst case execution time (WCET) of programs run on pipelined processors with caches are needed. To obtain tight estimations both path and timing analyses need to be done. Path analysis is responsible for eliminating infeasible paths in the program and timing analysis is responsible for accurately modeling the timing behavior of dynamically scheduled processors employing pipelining and caching. This thesis presents a new method, based on cycle-level symbolic execution, that combines path and timing analyses for programs on high-performance processors. An implementation of the method has been used to estimate the WCET for a suite of programs running on a high-performance processor. The results show that by using a combined analysis, the overestimation is significantly reduced compared to previously published methods. The method automatically eliminates infeasible paths and derives path information such as loop bounds, and performs accurate timing analysis for a multiple-issue processor with an instruction and data cache. The thesis also identifies timing anomalies in dynamically scheduled processors. These anomalies invalidate the basic assumption made in previously published timing analysis methods: that the maximum instruction execution time represents the worst-case behavior. To handle these anomalies, a method based on program modifications is suggested that makes it possible to safely use all previously published timing analysis methods even for architectures where timing anomalies can occur. Finally, the use of data caching in real-time systems is examined. For data caching to be fruitful, data accesses must be predictable when estimating the WCET. The results from an empirical study show that many accesses are indeed predictable. Thus, data caching can be expected to be efficient in real-time systems.


This paper presents the technique that can considerably improve basicity and transesterification activity of calcined natural calcite. Calcined calcite was refluxed in water followed by the calcinations at 600 oC. The characterization results indicate that this procedure substantially increases both the specific surface area and the amount of basic site. Hydration and subsequent calcination also generates a new calcium oxide with less crystalline. ME content was enhanced to 93.9 wt% in 1 hr from 75.5 wt% of calcined calcite. The results imply that the active sites produced by the calination of hydrated sample at 600 oC have higher basicity than those generated from calcinations of fresh calcite at 800 oC. The present study provides new insights for improving catalyst activity by tailoring the preparation conditions.


This paper evaluates the logistics for production chemicals used on the offshore installations of the coast of Norway. Statoil provided the following problem description: There are an increasing number of fields on the Norwegian continental shelf that are going in to mature stage of its production. In this part of the field's life cycle the need for production chemicals are increasing. The problem for the supply chain is that the tank capacity on-board the installations are limited and the procurement process is significant. The technology on the tanks on-board is old and manual readings of the tank level are needed. This could lead to the need for priority calls by the supply vessels, which are costly, or in the worst case stop in production. In the first part of the paper the offshore supply chain at Statoil is described, and a description of the importance of the production chemicals is given. A brief description of the theory related to the problem within the subject of Supply Chain Management is provided, and a chapter describing the field work at Statoil is also given. It was concluded that simulation modelling was to be used in the analysis part of the work. Discreet event simulation is a common method for analysing complex systems. This method allows the user to evaluate effect of changes on a system prior to making them. This is useful since introducing changes in the existing system could be very costly. The simulation case looks at the situation on three of Statoil's installation on the Norwegian continental shelf. The values that are evaluated is the tank levels for the different chemicals, and how these values develop over time as changes are introduced to the case in different scenarios. There were developed four different scenarios: Scenario one: The systems were modelled with the existing tank capacities with four different demand settings. If no problems were found in this scenario it was assumed that the system functioned satisfactory: AS-IS demand based on the average demand over the last three years 10% increase in this average demand 25% increase of this average demand 50% increase of this average demand Scenario two: Introducing increased capacity. This scenario was evaluated for the cases that had an inadequate result during the first scenario. In this scenario the tank capacities were increased to be able to last for 10 days with a demand given as the maximum possible in today's situation. The simulation was conducted for the same demands as in scenario one. Scenario three: This report is also evaluating the effect of Integrated Operations, and one important topic in this field is sharing of real time data. Based on this the model was alternated so that the tank levels could be monitored in real time, automatic tank level reading, providing an "IO" improvement to the system. A simulation run with this setup was done for all the installations for the same demand values as in scenario one, and the tank utilization grade was compared to the case in scenario one. Scenario four: In this scenario the automatic tank reading setup was combined with the increased capacity of scenario two. This is assumed to be the most realistic of the improvements, as installation of new and larger tanks offshore most likely would feature this new technology as well. This simulation study can be seen as a "what-if" analysis. And the results are presented below: Scenario one: Satisfactory results for both installation A and B for all the demand levels, indicating a sufficient tank capacity at the given demand. Unsatisfactory results were found for the chemicals H2S remover and Nitrates at installation C Scenario two: Increasing the tanks at installation C for the chemicals mentioned above gave a very large improvement in the result, indicating that the capacity in the existing setup is insufficient for the demand situation. The result was also that there were no problems when the demand rose from the initial average to the 50% increased level. Scenario Three: Allowing for continuous monitoring of the tank levels gave an improved utilization of the tanks at all the installations. The benefits of this alternation to the system was found to be largest in the situations that had the worst results in the original setup used in scenario one. Scenario four: This scenario gave a perfect result for all the demand values that was tested on the case of H2S remover and Nitrates for Installation C. The good results from the alterations in scenario two and three continued to improve when they were combined. Using simulation as a method for analysing the offshore supply chain provides a good overview of the situation and the possible problems. The two possible improvements, increasing the capacity and implementing automatic tank readings both gave good results. Since the possibility to do this evaluation on the real system would not be possible due to the fact that the cost of such alteration would be too large, it was found that simulation provides a good alternative to evaluating the supply chain. The simulation model does not give a recommended or optimal improvement for the cases where problems were discovered, but could be used to evaluate how the system would perform under different circumstances. As stated in the conclusion, no cost calculations have been conducted on the results from the simulation. The result of such an analysis could be that some, or all, the improvements used in scenario two-four are unfeasible. This would have to be evaluated before a recommended solution could be provided.


Some commentators have observed that today's Cabinet ministers are younger and less experienced than their predecessors. To test this claim, we analyse the data for Labour and Conservative appointments to Cabinet since 1945. Although we find some evidence of a decline in average age and prior experience, it is less pronounced than for the party leaders. We then examine the data for junior ministerial appointments, which reveals that there is no trend towards youth and inexperience present lower down the hierarchy. Taking these findings together, we propose that public profile is correlated with 'noviceness'; that is, the more prominent the role, the younger and less experienced its incumbent is likely to be. If this is correct, then the claim that we are witnessing the rise of the novice Cabinet minister is more a consequence of the personalisation of politics than evidence of an emerging 'cult of youth'.


Abstract The endeavor to trace the will of the deceased and respect it accordingly is the central concern of this essay. It deals with the wills of Franz Kafka and Max Brod, each of whom separately left written wishes about how to dispose of Kafka's manuscripts after they die. In the months prior to his death Kafka explicitly expressed his wishes regarding the fate of his manuscripts in two letters addressed to Brod (which were never actually sent) in which he was instructed to set them on fire. Through his disregard of Kafka's instructions Brod clarified that he acted out of a twofold loyalty: to the public (the literary and cultural value of the manuscripts) and to Kafka himself (his true wish was otherwise). Brod himself expressed his wish regarding the fate of Kafka's manuscripts in gift letters addressed to Ilse Hoffe, as well as in his wills. The issue of the title to Kafka's manuscripts was discussed in Israeli court and ostensibly decided, in 1974 after Brod's death, in favor of Ilse Hoffe. However, the matter returned to court upon her death in 2008. This time the court ruled that Kafka's manuscripts did not belong to Ilse Hoffe or her heirs. An appeal against the court's decision is currently pending. Kafka's wish is different than Brod's wish, nevertheless they are linked by a conceptual thread. Both wishes could potentially detract from the manuscripts' cultural value: Kafka by destroying them and Brod by privatizing them. In both cases a tension prevails between the private interest of autonomy and the public interest of preservation of cultural assets and their accessibility. The question of how to interpret the wishes of Kafka and Brod is examined by reference to the issue of free will and "liberating bonds" in the story of Odysseus and the sirens (also following Kafka's version), by examining the idea of the author's "moral right," by focusing on the interrelations between text-author-interpreter, and by reference to the account of law as reflected in Kafka's writings.


Patients with cancer are at increased risk of venous thromboembolism (vte). Anticoagulation therapy is used to treat vte; however, patients with cancer have unique clinical circumstances that can often make decisions surrounding the administration of therapeutic anticoagulation complicated. No national Canadian guidelines on the management of established cancer-associated thrombosis have been published. We therefore aimed to develop a consensus-based, evidence-informed guideline on the topic. PubMed was searched for clinical trials and meta-analyses published between 2002 and 2013. Reference lists of key articles were hand-searched for additional publications. Content experts from across Canada were assembled to review the evidence and make recommendations. Low molecular weight heparin is the treatment of choice for cancer patients with established vte. Direct oral anticoagulants are not recommended for the treatment of vte at this time. Specific clinical scenarios, including the presence of an indwelling venous catheter, renal insufficiency, and thrombocytopenia, warrant modifications in the therapeutic administration of anticoagulation therapy. Patients with recurrent vte should receive extended (>3 months) anticoagulant therapy. Incidental vte should generally be treated in the same manner as symptomatic vte. There is no evidence to support the monitoring of anti-factor Xa levels in clinically stable cancer patients receiving prophylactic anticoagulation; however, levels of anti-factor Xa could be checked at baseline and periodically thereafter in patients with renal insufficiency. Follow-up and education about the signs and symptoms of vte are important components of ongoing patient care.


Purpose: To determine geometric uncertainties in GTV and ITV delineations using RPM sorted 4DCT images for radiotherapytreatment planning.Methods and Materials: Three targets have been embedded within a cork block (to simulate lungtissue) and attached to a programmable motion controller to simulate lung/tumor motion. We input several breathing patterns including ideal sine waves with varying amplitudes, and realistic patient breathing patterns. The cine slices were reconstructed using RPM signal. The three targets (of known dimensions) were contoured and their dimensions were measured in the direction of motion in the 4DCT images. We measured GTV dimensions reconstructed in the phase‐binned images (10 phases) and ITV dimensions reconstructed in the CT MIP and CT average images.Results: ITV measured in CT MIP images is superior to all other techniques used in our study, with errors < 2 mm in all cases except one, and on average 1.1 mm. The reconstruction is accurate even in cases of irregular breathing and varying amplitudes, with dimensions along the direction of motion within 9% of the expected values. For each set of phase‐binned CTimages, the GTV is not consistently greater or less than the actual target dimension. The errors for individual targets were maximized at large input amplitudes with the largest uncertainties at 15 mm. At phase 0 and 50 %, the measured errors were minimum. Conclusions: We have performed a comprehensive evaluation of the limitations of 4DCT image reconstruction and its use in treatment planning for target delineation. Specifically, we observed that a general trend of increased GTV delineation uncertainty is seen in phase‐binned CTimages with increasing breathing amplitude. However, CT MIP images allowed consistent ITV delineation with minimal uncertainties for all input amplitudes. This study may be useful in guiding clinical judgments in 4DCT and gating procedures.


Teaching and learning Shakespeare takes place across the world. Pedagogical matters have been the subject of much discussion in the last few decades. This article begins by reviewing that discussion, showing how different approaches – textual, contextual and active (or performance) – connect with the language of the plays. No study, it is pointed out, has conducted an empirical investigation as to what exactly students find problematic when they read the language of Shakespeare's plays, an obvious first step, one might think, in designing an approach. The main aim of this article was to describe a study designed to do exactly this. It was conducted with two groups of Shakespeare students, one with English as a first language and one with English as an additional language. Participants were asked to identify difficulties in extracts from plays, rate specific linguistic forms according to difficulty and discuss what they think of Shakespeare's language. Common areas of difficulty included archaic words, borrowings from other languages, coinages and false friends. With these findings in mind, the article briefly reflects on pedagogical solutions that are corpus-related, arguing that these address some of the problems associated with traditional textual approaches by requiring the active involvement of learners, treating language in a contextualised fashion and focussing on the language itself.


This research assists portfolio managers in estimating expected losses on a portfolio of distressed debt issuances as the predicted costs exclusively associated with bankruptcy filing and default. The pro-posed model conveys high significance among investment managers of non-investment grade debt is-suances, where bankruptcy filing is a real hazard for the underlying assets. We offer simple derivations, general guidelines, and a numerical example for estimating the necessary parameters of the model. Portfolio managers could deploy the formulae within a dynamic code, which can be frequently cali-brated to better identify superior investment strategies and optimize investment performance on high-yield debt issuances.


Information security is not a technical issue; it is a management issue. It rests on three cornerstones—critical infrastructures, organization, and technology. While critical infrastructures are beyond the direct control of the organization, balancing them is a critical component of corporate governance. Total security is neither technically feasible nor operationally practicable. Therefore the organization must determine what information assets must be protected and the degree of protection to be provided for them. As Internet-based commerce diffuses through society, there will be decreasing tolerance on the part of customers for losses stemming from perceived or actual cyber vulnerabilities. Only senior management can initiate the plans and policies that address the different aspects of security in a balanced and integrated manner. Leaving security primarily to the IT function will strengthen just one of the cornerstones—namely, technology—and will not yield the intended results. Security lapses are management failures more than technical failures. This article presents an organizational security approach that senior managers can use as a roadmap to initiate security plans and policies and audit their implementation.


ONE OF the major deterrents to routine clinical application of the transplantation of organs is the problem of obtaining functioning organs in sufficient numbers from cadaveric sources. A central feature of any program designed to procure suitable cadaveric organs is the capability of preserving such organs in a functional state for a reasonable interval. An effective method of storing organs must meet the following requirements: (1) available within a few minutes after the death of a potential donor; (2) portable to move easily and quickly over an area within 50 miles of the transplanting hospital; (3) effective for at least 24 hours to allow time for the preparation of the recipient and essential histocompatibility tests; and (4) prevent functional deteriorization of the organ during its interval of preservation and be easily applicable to the heart, lung, liver, and pancreas as well as the kidney. Our experiences in attempting to develop


This Acousto-Optics feature celebrates the scientific careers of two remarkable scientists, Antoni Sliwinski and Adrian Korpel. The feature includes original papers based on a representative selection of topics that were presented at the Tenth Spring School on Acousto-Optics held in Poland in May 2008.


: In this paper the immunosuppressive effects of Gui Zhi Tang (a famous Chinese medicine) on the murine immune functions are reported. Varying dosages of Gui Zhi Tang administrated orally, i.p. and i.m. were able to inhibit the amounts of PFC, SRFC and the DTH response induced by BSA and the proliferation response of murine spleen cells to Con A and LPS. Further studies showed that Gui Zhi Tang had the inhibitory effect on Interleukin-2 production of murine spleen cells, which might be one of the mechanisms leading to the immunosuppressive effects of Gui Zhi Tang.


We study contests where, subject only to a capacity constraint on mean performance, contestants, facing a rank-dependent payoff function, choose arbitrary performance distributions. In the case of symmetric capacity, we derive closed-form solutions for equilibrium performance distributions and analyze the effect of contest structure on equilibrium behavior. We show that equilibrium performance distributions are never dispersionmaximizing and are always right-skewed when the contest is selective. When contestants' capacities are private information, contests serve as a selection mechanism. We show, contrary to the ruin-and-risk-taking intuition, that weaker contestants do not always gamble on high-risk strategies and that, when the capacities of weak and strong contestants are sufficiently different, the contest mechanism produces perfect selection efficiency. Finally, we examine the effect of various modifications of the contest mechanism and apply our results to actual contests, such as student examinations and competition between mutual funds for star rankings.


Statistical analysis by Sarti shows that the correlation between height and the level of education is stronger among men of older generations than among recent ones. Is education among men becoming more egalitarian? That would be true if height had the same social meaning at each generation. Since the Second World War, the average height increases by one centimeter every ten years among men in Western Europe; but the distribution of heights among generations is stable. Among tall men, the proportion of individuals coming from the working class families is increasing and among the short men, it is the proportion of individuals coming from middle and upper class families. Height is less and less an information about the family of origin. When all individuals reach their genetic potentiality, height takes a new meaning for important decision making processes. Short men are in greater danger of being discriminated against in education and in job market but also in mate selection. When shared, beliefs are cultural constraints. As a nexus of cultural forces, height contributes to social inequalities among men.


In order to study the bonding characteristic of the BFRP(Basalt Fiber Reinforced Plastics for short) bars and the basalt fiber reinforced concrete, the BFRP was embedded into the cubic concrete specimen which mixed the basalt fiber sized the edge length 150 mm. By changing the diameter of the BFRP, the bonding length of the BFRP and the basalt fiber volume content of the basalt fiber reinforced concrete, the experimental results indicate that the average bonding strength decreased while the bonding length increased and it become weaker while the diameter of the BFRP was bigger, and it shows the best effect of the bonding strength when its fiber content was 0.1% comparing with three kinds of fiber content. The bond-slip constitutive model of BFRP bar and the basalt fiber concrete corresponded to the continuous curve model.


Agriculture in the United States is a recognized national resource but it can be threatened by ecological disturbances causing potential harm to the agricultural industry. Changes in soil microfloral structure could cause disruptions in soil ecosystems. Hosta plants are known producers of inhibitory allelopathic chemicals that disrupt the growth of competing organisms. The blackworm-annelid is a test model organism for the inhibitory effects of allelochemicals. Previous studies reported that the variety Guacamole (G) was a strong producer of allelochemicals such as phenols and other flavonoids antioxidants. Fragrant Bouquet (FB) produced a lower level of allelochemicals when assayed for seed germination. It is hypothesized that Hosta extracts will have inhibitory physiological effect on these worms and follow a concentration gradient for survival correlated with altered pulse rates. Aqueous extracts of Hosta leaves were made and divided by concentration, (full, half, and quarter strength). Physiological effects were measured by observing pulse rates/beats of blackworms after incubation for 15 or 7.5 minutes (BPM). Results were compared to the base-line rates of blackworms incubated in spring water. Blackworms exposed to full strength G extract died exhibiting hemorrhaging and aneurysms of the dorsal blood vessel (DBV). Blood was observed in the coelomic cavity. Lower extract concentrations resulted in higher survival rates but worms still showed increased pulse rates. Pulse rates were higher than baseline controls, 16.8 BPM. Half strength induced 36.7 BPM, while quarter strength induced 30.6 BPM. Worms treated with FB extract showed decreased mortality. Pulse rates for quarter strength FB were lower than quarter strength G, approaching control rates. These data reinforce the hypothesis that G and FB extracts differ in their levels of mortality, G being most lethal. Between varieties a concentration gradient exists, that is, both mortality and pulse rate decrease with dose. Lumbriculus variegatus is shown here to be a viable model organism to assess the allelopathic properties of Hosta varieties. Future research will assess allelopathic properties of other Hosta varieties in a search for a naturally occurring, plant-derived biocide.


Power systems with a large share of inherently intermittent energy sources require new approaches to system operation. Demand side management is seen as one potential resource for maintaining power balance in a future energy system with large amounts of volatile renewable energy generation. Existing demand response programs require flexibility in a set time frame from the electricity consumers in reaction to economic incentives. For a more detailed qualitative analysis of consumer flexibility, not only price but also notice time are imperative parameters. Former has been studied in numerous references whereas the impact of the latter has not yet been examined in depth. This paper presents a review of existing demand response programs and reflects on consumers' flexibility with respect to notice time. While some schemes include fixed notification schedules, others allow for variable notice time, or even continuous updating. In this paper, the consequences of notice time and update intervals on flexible electricity consumers are studied in Demand Bidding model with continuous forecast updates.


Nowadays the modern smartphones include several sensors which are usually adopted in geomatic application, as digital camera, GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receivers, inertial platform, RFID and Wi-Fi systems. In this paper the authors would like to testing the performances of internal sensors (Inertial Measurement Unit, IMU) of three modern smartphones (Samsung GalaxyS4, Samsung GalaxyS5 and iPhone4) compared to external mass-market IMU platform in order to verify their accuracy levels, in terms of positioning. Moreover, the Image Based Navigation (IBN) approach is also investigated: this approach can be very useful in hard-urban environment or for indoor positioning, as alternative to GNSS positioning. IBN allows to obtain a sub-metrical accuracy, but a special database of georeferenced images (Image DataBase, IDB) is needed, moreover it is necessary to use dedicated algorithm to resizing the images which are collected by smartphone, in order to share it with the server where is stored the IDB. Moreover, it is necessary to characterize smartphone camera lens in terms of focal length and lens distortions. The authors have developed an innovative method with respect to those available today, which has been tested in a covered area, adopting a special support where all sensors under testing have been installed. Geomatic instrument have been used to define the reference trajectory, with purpose to compare this one, with the path obtained with IBN solution. First results leads to have an horizontal and vertical accuracies better than 60 cm, respect to the reference trajectories. IBN method, sensors, test and result will be described in the paper.


Based on the isotherms of adsorption of the cells of Xanthomonas campestris B-610 to glass and polyvinyl fibers, immobilized systems were produced, in which the cell content was sufficient for enzymatic synthesis of Virazole (1-[beta-D-ribofuranosyl]-1,2,4-triazole-3-carboxamide) using adenosine as a donor of ribose (50-60% conversion of 1,2,4-triazole-3-carboxamide). The immobilized cells thus obtained retain their enzymatic activity for six months and can be used repeatedly.


Carbon cycling in the coastal zone affects global carbon budgets and is critical for understanding the urgent issues of hypoxia, acidification, and tidal wetland loss. However, there are no regional carbon budgets spanning the three main ecosystems in coastal waters: tidal wetlands, estuaries, and shelf waters. Here we construct such a budget for eastern North America using historical data, empirical models, remote sensing algorithms, and process‐based models. Considering the net fluxes of total carbon at the domain boundaries, 59 ± 12% (± 2 standard errors) of the carbon entering is from rivers and 41 ± 12% is from the atmosphere, while 80 ± 9% of the carbon leaving is exported to the open ocean and 20 ± 9% is buried. Net lateral carbon transfers between the three main ecosystem types are comparable to fluxes at the domain boundaries. Each ecosystem type contributes substantially to exchange with the atmosphere, with CO2 uptake split evenly between tidal wetlands and shelf waters, and estuarine CO2 outgassing offsetting half of the uptake. Similarly, burial is about equal in tidal wetlands and shelf waters, while estuaries play a smaller but still substantial role. The importance of tidal wetlands and estuaries in the overall budget is remarkable given that they, respectively, make up only 2.4 and 8.9% of the study domain area. This study shows that coastal carbon budgets should explicitly include tidal wetlands, estuaries, shelf waters, and the linkages between them; ignoring any of them may produce a biased picture of coastal carbon cycling.


While the literature on collective memory suggests that a multivocal type of commemoration will be constructed in response to a difficult past, Yitzhak Rabin's commemorations provide a case study of a different type of commemoration of challenging events: a fragmented commemoration. A fragmented commemoration consists of multiple times and spaces in which different discourses of the past are aimed at disparate audiences. The author offers a theoretical model within which the emergence of both types of commemoration (multivocal and fragmented) can be understood and analyzed. The model consists of three dimensions: (1) the political culture of the commemorating society, (2) the relevance of past to present, and (3) the power of agents of memory. Explanatory models consisting of a dynamic interplay of agents, cultures, and structures prove valuable as a basis for the study of various sorts of cultural productions in general and commemorative types in particular.


SIR,-In 1964 the then Ministry of Health' issued a waming to the family doctor that "there is evidence that separation from the parent or parent substitute before the age of 5 may have a serious effect on the emotional growth of children and may form the basis of neurotic reactions in later life." A recent instance shows that one doctor at least has, properly, found it right to ignore this advice. As reported in the Guardian on 16 January, a mother wished, with the support of her doctor, to place her infant in the care of the children's department as she felt unable to care for the child. Her plea was rejected and the child died. The reason for rejecting the mother's plea was the "likely effect of parting the child from her mother." The coroner commented "I can't see the point of leaving a child with its mother merely to let it die of starvation." This tragic instance has arisen because of the fallacious belief that separation is synonymous with deprivation. Not a single investigation has shown that separation per se leads to mental ill health in children. As demonstrated by this instance, deprivation can occur without separation; indeed the great majority of deprived children live at home. In a small number of instances and in the right circumstances separation is essential to overcome deprivation and to give the child an opportunity for emotional growth. Separation need not lead to deprivation if the placement of the child is carefully selected by skilled, trained professional workers. May the now Department of Health urgently reconsider its policy and advice.-I am, etc., J. G. HOWELLS.


AbstractThe temple building program described in Ezekiel chapters 40-48 culminates in a description of paradisiacal national borders and internal tribal allotments in 47:13-48:29. David H. Engelhard was the first to tentatively identify the form of this pericope to be Ezekiel's prophetic adaptation of the classical ancient Near Eastern royal grant. While this identification is a step in the right direction, I argue that 47:13-48:29 more closely follows the form of grants concerned with the tenure of temple lands, offerings, and sinecures surrounding the establishment or reinstitution of a temple cult. Unlike the classical grants of land in which the focus was on the gift of land, in 47:13-48:29 the focus is on the proper tenure of the temple. Thus Ezekiel's particular description of land in these chapters serves to establish in a concrete manner the interrelationship between people, priests, prince, land, and temple in paradise.


Magnetic particles are very efficient magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. In recent years, chemists have unleashed their imagination to design multi‐functional nanoprobes for biomedical applications including MRI contrast enhancement. This study is focused on the direct relationship between the size and magnetization of the particles and their nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation properties, which condition their efficiency. Experimental relaxation results with maghemite particles exhibiting a wide range of sizes and magnetizations are compared to previously published data and to well‐established relaxation theories with a good agreement. This allows deriving the experimental master curve of the transverse relaxivity versus particle size and to predict the MRI contrast efficiency of any type of magnetic nanoparticles. This prediction only requires the knowledge of the size of the particles impermeable to water protons and the saturation magnetization of the corresponding volume. To predict the T2 relaxation efficiency of magnetic single crystals, the crystal size and magnetization – obtained through a single Langevin fit of a magnetization curve – is the only information needed. For contrast agents made of several magnetic cores assembled into various geometries (dilute fractal aggregates, dense spherical clusters, core–shell micelles, hollow vesicles…), one needs to know a third parameter, namely the intra‐aggregate volume fraction occupied by the magnetic materials relatively to the whole (hydrodynamic) sphere. Finally a calculation of the maximum achievable relaxation effect – and the size needed to reach this maximum – is performed for different cases: maghemite single crystals and dense clusters, core‐shell particles (oxide layer around a metallic core) and zinc‐manganese ferrite crystals.


The aim of this chapter is to classify normal and extra systole heart sounds using artificial intelligence methods. Initially, both heart sounds have been passed from Butterworth, Chebyshev, Elliptic digital filter in specific frequency values to remove noise. Afterwards, features of heart sounds have been obtained for classification. For this process, wavelet transform and Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) methods have been applied. Training and test data have been created for classifier by taking means and standard deviation of gained feature. Support vector machine (SVM) and artificial neural network (ANN) methods have been used for classification of these heart sounds. Using wavelet and MFCC features, classification success of SVM has been obtained as 93.33% and 100%, respectively. Using wavelet and MFCC features, classification success of ANN has been obtained as 83.33% and 90%, respectively.


Sulfur emission in the form of SO2 in flue gas is the most serious pollutant associated with coal combustion. Calcium carbonate sulfur scrubbing, the process most commonly in use today, is costly, produces a large amount of waste and leaves a considerable amount of SO2 in the gas. The carbonate eutectic method for removing SO2 from flue gas at 450–650 °C was initially proposed in the 1970's but despite its great efficiency could not be used due to the complexity of the carbonate melt regeneration stage. We propose a simple way to remove sulfur from the carbonate eutectic melt by purging it with CO. In contrast to expectation, this reaction leads to the reduction of sulfate to carbonyl sulfide gas that leaves the melt, rather than to sulfide ions that remain in the melt. The experiments conducted show that nearly complete sulfur removal from the melt is possible at 550 °C and that the reaction rate is sufficiently high for a large scale process. The proposed modifications provide solutions to two critical issues: (i) at 550 °C there is no problem of corrosion because a reaction cell of stainless steel with high chromium content is stable with respect to the carbonate eutectic melt at that temperature and (ii) removal of sulfur in the form of COS, rather than H2S, provides considerable freedom in choosing the final product: either sulfuric acid or elemental sulfur. In addition, we verified that fly ash does not dissolve in the carbonate eutectic melt and therefore will not interfere with SO2 removal. One can foresee that the carbonate melt-based SO2 removal technique may become a practical and viable method for limiting sulfur emission to the atmosphere.


Abstract. Autonomous and highly automated driving has become one of the key research topics – even in mapping sciences. Today, it has been clearly proven that the desired autonomy can be reached solely by progressive development, where maps and requirements against environmental models shall be modified. The research of the past decades resulted in the specifications for building high-definition (HD) maps, which contain all necessary field objects with their relevant features in a sophistically designed database. Maps have also become indispensable tools in reliable automotive development processes as simulations request accurate and detailed environment descriptions. The most accepted simulator map format is ASAM's OpenDRIVE, having a complete ecosystem nowadays with ultra-fine resolution pavement surface model, traffic flow description, and essential modules to produce those components by mainly automatic data collection and processing. Simulations enable efficient analysis of vehicle behavior as well as testing workflow for (onboard) vehicular and infrastructure sensors. With respect to the requirements of HD maps, not only their geometric fidelity but also the correct topology is expected. The available technology already serves OpenDRIVE models for various scenarios, where the topologic correctness is hard to test. The current research puts the emphasis on the topology analysis: with parsing the existing models, topology descriptors are derived, then a test suit containing rules of acceptable cases is applied. The rule set is built of items for detecting errors and warnings considering topology parameter tolerances; the result is quality documentation after a comprehensive testing approach. The actual topology testing environment forms an excellent base for (semi)automatic error fixing platforms involving artificial intelligence.


The physically-chemically bounded water is an important parameter directly related to the gain of mechanical strength during the hydration of cements. In this work, quantitative determinations of the physically - chemically bounded water of two types of belite cements, called FABC-2-W and FABC-2-N, were carried out by means of thermogravimetry analyses during a period of 180 days of hydration. The hydrated products were characterized by X-ray diffraction and BET surface area. Important direct quantitative correlations were obtained between the combined water and technological characteristics of cements such as the compressive mechanical strength or the BET surface area. TG measurements for hydrated FABC-2-W and FABC-2-N cements were carried out in flowing nitrogen on a TGA/SDTA 851 (Mettler) in the temperature range from 25 to 1100°C with heating rate of 10 °C min-1 and nitrogen flow rate of 25 mL min-1. BET surface area was measured using nitrogen adsorption at 77 K, on an ASAP 2010 (Micromeritics).


Objective: To perform a comparative analysis between the frequency of prematurity and low birth weight among newborns of adolescent and adult mothers, and to evaluate selected maternal data. Methods: A comparative cohort study involving 703 pregnant women and their newborns at a public hospital in the city of Sao Paulo (270 mothers aged 10-19 years, and 433 aged 20-35 years), during the period from March to August 2003. Results: The birth of premature or low birth weight children was not prominent in any of the age groups; the small differences found were not statistically significant. However, significant differences were found between the two age groups in the items: number of gestations, with a predominance of first pregnancies among adolescents (70.3%), and a greater number of second or third pregnancies among adults (26.9 and 53.3%, respectively); in the prenatal period, fewer clinic visits among adolescents and more visits among adults (45.1% and 63.3%, respectively). Conclusion: The group of pregnant adolescents in the population studied did not differ from the group of adults as to frequency of prematurity and low birth weight. Among adolescents, there was a significantly higher number of primiparous patients compared to adults, and a lower number of prenatal visits.


The glutamate hypothesis of schizophrenia suggests that hypofunction of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors may be critical for schizophrenic symptoms; therefore, pharmacological approaches that enhance NMDA function may be beneficial for the treatment of schizophrenia. Several lines of evidence indicate that NMDA and metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) 5 receptors are closely associated signaling partners and that a selective mGlu5 receptor agonist might provide a viable approach for increasing NMDA receptor function in the treatment of schizophrenia. The orthosteric binding sites across members of the mGlu receptor subtype for a particular endogenous ligand are often highly conserved, making it difficult to achieve high selectivity for the specific mGlu5 receptor. The advanced currents of drug discovery have developed multiple highly selective allosteric modulators of mGlu5 receptors. In the present review, we provide an update of the recent patents and development of positive allosteric modulators of the mGlu5 receptor and explore their therapeutic potential for schizophrenia.


In this paper, we explore supervised classification methods for video shot segmentation. We transform the temporal segmentation problem into a multi-class categorization issue. This approach provides a uniform framework for using different kinds of features extracted from the video and for detecting various types of shot boundaries. The approach utilizes manual labeled training data and a simple classification structure, which eliminates arbitrary thresholds and achieves more reliable estimation than previous threshold-based methods. Contrastive experiments on 13 videos (/spl sim/4 hours) show excellent performance on the 2001 TREC video track shot classification task in terms of precision and recall.


Nonprofit Organisations (NPOs) in India play an important role as change agents for social and economic development. Though they command substantial amounts of resources, their financial performance measurement and reporting is a major concern. In absence of a single regulatory authority and specific accounting standards for NPOs, the practices of accounting and reporting vary across organisations. Based on an exploratory study, this paper documents the current status on requirements of accounting and reporting vis-a-vis the current practices of NPOs, identifies the gaps, and proposes an action plan to bridge the gaps. The paper classifies the gaps in accounting and reporting under conceptual and institutional frameworks. In order to bridge the gaps in the conceptual framework, the paper recommends the need for developing a uniform accounting and reporting system for all NPOs that should start with conceptualizing information needs of the stakeholders and end with conceptualizing appropriate financial statements to meet these needs and, in the process, resolve any ambiguity in the accounting treatment of specific transactions. At an institutional level, the paper suggests consultative processes among various stakeholders to develop the proposed system and recommends a need for amendments in various Acts to implement it.


Diet may aid osteoporosis and fracture prevention as it is modifiable, but limited evidence for a role of vitamin K1, vitamin C and iron exists, despite suggestions of potential underlying mechanisms. Positive associations between these nutrients and bone health have been reported in population studies; however, evidence is scarce in men, in British populations, for nutrient status and for fracture risk. Combining measures of dietary intake with biomarkers may limit errors associated with establishing population intakes, but no such studies exist in bone health. Therefore, this thesis aimed to investigate micronutrient intakes and blood measures and i) their cross-sectional associations with heel ultrasound and ii) their prospective associations with fracture risk in a sub-set of EPIC-Norfolk participants. An additional aim was to explore means of limiting the impact of measurement errors on the association between vitamin C and bone health. The main results showed significant associations between higher intakes of vitamin K1 and C and 0.6-5.5% higher heel ultrasound in both sexes, and additionally with total and plant-based iron intakes in women (0.4-5.8%). Moreover, upper versus lower quintiles of plasma vitamin C concentrations in men showed significant associations with reduced fracture risk at the hip (HR:0.35, 95%CI:0.16-0.80) and spine (HR:0.26, 95%CI:0.10-0.69). In women, upper versus lower quintiles of vitamin K1 intake (HR:0.47, 95%CI:0.24-0.91), total iron intake (HR:0.41, 95%CI:0.21-0.79), animal-based iron intake (HR:0.44, 95%CI:0.24-0.82) and serum ferritin concentrations (HR:0.30, 95%CI:0.14-0.64) were significantly inversely associated with spine fracture risk. In contrast, upper versus lower quintiles of animal iron intake in men was significantly associated with higher hip fracture risk (HR:2.29, 95%CI:1.11-4.73). . In further investigations, combining vitamin C intake and plasma status strengthened the associations with bone health in men, but not in women. In conclusion, this thesis provides novel insights into the role of diet in osteoporosis and fracture prevention.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the roles and perceptions of elementary school nurses in the management and prevention of childhood obesity within the school environment. An emailed online survey was distributed to school nurses of 35 elementary schools located in Washington County in Northwest Arkansas. The survey used for this study contained 42 questions and was an adaptation of the Minnesota School Nurse Survey, which was developed by Dr. Martha Y. Kubik. The study sample consisted of all school nurses employed by the Elkins School District, Farmington School District, Fayetteville School District, Greenland School District, Lincoln School District, Prairie Grove School District, Springdale School District, and West Fork School District. The number of complete survey responses was seventeen. Data was analyzed using frequency distribution to examine the prevalence of key variables. Interestingly enough, the majority of nurses surveyed agreed that schools should provide annual assessments of students' weight, height, and body mass index and make that information available to parents, but disagreed that the school nurse has adequate time to supervise and monitor obesity prevention efforts at school. Additionally, since the majority of nurses surveyed disagreed that the school nurse is prepared to supervise and monitor obesity prevention efforts at school, future focus needs to include increased professional development about measures in which the school nurse can participate in to increase obesity management and prevention and increased time and support from the school and healthcare professionals. SCHOOL NURSES' PERCEPTIONS OF OBESITY PREVENTION AND MANAGEMENT 2 An Evaluation of Northwest Arkansas Elementary School Nurses' Perceptions of Their Roles in the Management and Prevention of Obesity


A fractographic study was carried out on fatigue crack closure and crack growth rates in an Al-Cu alloy under conditions of monotonic and cyclic yield at the notch root. Comparative tests were also conducted on smooth specimens subject to elastic loading conditions. A notch root fatigue crack can see substantial difference between crack closure and opening stress. This difference is considered responsible for local mean stress effects observed in notch fatigue response to complex load sequences. The difference between closure and opening stresses diminishes to negligible proportions as stress excursions reduce to elastic interval and is therefore hardly observed in long cracks. To support validation effort on predictions, notch root crack growth rates were determined from optical fractography under a programmed load adaptation of the FALSTAFF load sequence. The results of these measurements suggest that scatter in short crack growth data is similar to that in long cracks at comparable growth rates. Life to initiation of (naturally initiating) multiple notch root cracks is dissimilar. The crack having been in existence longest appears to assume the role of the dominant crack and accelerates others (smaller) cracks.


Aim. To clarify whether cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection can affect the results of living related donor kidney transplantation. Subjects and methods. A study group included 17 (7.27%) patients (10 men and 7 women; 8 children and 9 adults) aged 3 to 51 years who had developed resistant CMV infection. For comparative analysis, a control group was formed from 113 patients (61 men and 52 women; 40 children and 73 adults) aged 1 to 61 years, whose CMV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) had always been negative, i.e. CMV DNA was absent. The duration of CMV infection episodes was 44 to 232 days. Results. The patients were given valganciclovir in a dose of 450 mg/day. CMV PCR was negative in all the patients at the end of therapy. None of the patients died; one graft was lost. In the control (negative CMV PCR) group, 6 grafts were lost in 113 patients lost and 4 patients died. Statistical analysis showed that the results of related donor kidney transplantation were virtually equal. Conclusion. Suppression of resistant CMV infection can be achieved with the longer use of valganciclovir or its higher dose. CMV infection fails to affect the results of related donor kidney transplantation.


Epilepsy is a disease that creates many problems for people with such a diagnosis in the enjoyment of their social rights. Despite the existing regulatory legal acts governing the protection of health and the social rights enjoyment by citizens with epilepsy, there are many questions on this topic both regarding accessibility of these norms to people with epilepsy and in terms of compliance of the current legislation with the norms of the Constitution of the Russian Federation. In this article, we tried to reflect the basic norms of the current legislation in the Russian Federation governing the provision of medical care to people with epilepsy, providing them with free medications, admission of patients with epilepsy and epileptic syndrome to various types of work, education, military service, possession of weapons, driving, and pay attention to the problems of people diagnosed with epilepsy.