Moss biomonitoring technique was used for a heavy-metal pollution study in Macedonia in the framework of the International Cooperative Program on Effects of Air Pollution on Natural Vegetation and Crops (UNECE IPC Vegetation). Moss samples (n = 72) were collected during the summers of 2002, 2005, and 2010. The contents of 41 elements were determined by neutron activation analysis, atomic absorption spectrometry, and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Using factor and cluster analyses, three geogenic factors were determined (Factor 1, including Al, As, Co, Cs, Fe, Hf, Na, Rb, Sc, Ta, Th, Ti, U, V, Zr, and rare-earth elements–RE; Factor 4 with Ba, K, and Sr; and Factor 5 with Br and I), one anthropogenic factor (Factor 2, including Cd, Pb, Sb, and Zn), and one geogenic-anthropogenic factor (Factor 3, including Cr and Ni). The highest anthropogenic impact of heavy metal to the air pollution in the country was from the ferronickel smelter near Kavadraci (Ni and Cr), the lead and zinc mines in the vicinity of Makedonska Kamenica, Probištip, and Kriva Palanka in the eastern part of the country (Cd, Pb, and Zn), and the former lead and zinc smelter plant in Veles. Beside the anthropogenic influences, the lithology and the composition of the soil also play an important role in the distribution of the elements.


In this paper, translator training is discussed as a form of language revitalisation. Translation has the potential to stimulate the development of an underused language, but this potential is often accompanied by a risk of unwanted source-language influence. In translator training, minority language translators learn to control this influence and critically assess their own translation solutions. If translator training succeeds in empowering speakers of an endangered language to translate, and to translate with an awareness of how their translations might influence the development of the minority language, it can justly be considered language policy par excellence.


During the past decade, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has undergone rapid economic growth and development. This expansion stems from the increase in the Kingdom's production of petroleum--oil being the source of most of the country's exports, foreign exchange, and government revenues. However, despite this growth, Saudi Arabia is one of the top foodstuff importers among developing countries. It has been estimated that the value of Saudi agriculture imports in 1981 increased about 33 percent to approximately $6 billion--double the 1979 value and six times the 1976 level. Among agricultural imports, rice is entirely imported from abroad, for the local production of rice is very insignificant. As the main element of the Saudi diet, rice is worthy of study from the production and marketing aspects, as Saudi Arabia is almost entirely dependent on the international market: i.e., dependent on export receipts as well as on import supplies. The purpose of this paper is to point out the factors influencing the consumption of that completely imported staple food. This paper will present first a background of Saudi Arabia, then it will discuss aspects of agricultural development and foreign trade. Next, the quantitative analysis for rice consumption will be presented, and an OLS model will be applied on the available time series data. Following this, the results of the analysis will be used to forecast the future rice demand to the year 1990. In the summary chapter, policy implications and recommendations will be offered.


Introduction/Background Treatment of patients with ovarian cancer needs specialized skills and infrastructure. Longitudinal treatment characteristics in Germany are so far unknown at a national level. Methodology All German hospitals treating patients with ovarian cancer were asked to document all patients with first diagnosis in the third quarter in 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016. Details of tumor, treatment and outcome were documented. This analysis is focusing on patients with AOC (advanced ovarian cancer) FIGO III/IV and the endpoint 2Y-PFS (year-progression free survival) (OS data immature for 2016 cohort). Results In 2016, QS Ovar included 65% of all patients in Germany treated in 244 hospitals. 2522 of 3512 (71.8%) documented patients have AOC. The rate of complete resection has improved from 33.3% in 2004 to 50.7% in 2016 and the application of platinum + taxane from 83.1 to 89.9%. The additional application of bevacizumab was 54% in 2012 and 67.3% in 2016. The median PFS in patients with complete resection was 26.7 months versus 16.1 months for RD (residual disease) 1–10 mm and 11.1 months for RD >10 mm (p<0.001). The 2Y-PFS of all pts was 36.3%. The 2Y-PFS increased in patients with RD >1 cm from 11.3 to 31.3% and from 27.6% to 40.5% in RD 1–10 mm. An increase in 2Y-PFS was also seen in patients with complete resection from 44.8% to 61.8%. Conclusion QS Ovar provides representative data of the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer in Germany. Increasing rates of successful surgery and use of standard systemic treatment are associated with an increased 2Y-PFS in all subgroups of patients with advanced OC, but further potentially responsible factors should also be discussed (e.g. centralization). Mature OS data are expected in about 2 years. Disclosure QS Ovar was supported by Amgen, Astra Zeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Essex, Roche. Harter: Honoraria: Astra Zeneca, Roche, Sotio, Tesaro, Stryker, ASCO, Zai Lab, MSD Advisory Board: Astra Zeneca, Roche, Tesaro, Lilly, Clovis, Immunogen, MSD/Merck; Research funding (Inst): Astra Zeneca, Roche, GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, Medac, DFG, European Union, DKH, Tesaro, Genmab Pfisterer: Honoraria: Roche, Astra Zeneca, Tesaro, Amgen, Clovis, MSD; Advisory Board: Roche, Astra Zeneca, Tesaro, Clovis, MSD; Travel: Roche, Tesaro; Research funding: Roche, Tesaro Hilpert: Honoraria: Astra Zeneca, Clovis, Roche, Tesaro, MSD, PharmaMar, Pfizer, Novartis; Advisory Board: Astra Zeneca, Roche, Tesaro, Clovis, MSD, PharmaMar Sehouli: Honoraria: PharmaMar, Clovis, Tesaro, Roche, Astra Zeneca, Advisory Board: PharmaMar, Clovis, Tesaro, Roche, Roche Diagnostics, Astra Zeneca, Merck, Bayer, Eisei, Johnson and Johnson, MSD, Novocure, Amgen, Lilly; Research funding (Inst): PharmaMar, Clovis, Tesaro, Roche, Astra Zeneca, Medimmune, Bristol Myers, Lilly; Travel: PharmaMar, Clovis, Tesaro, Roche, Astra Zeneca Lamparter and Kerkmann: nothing to disclose du Bois: Advisory Board: AstraZeneca, Roche, Tesaro, Clovis, BioCad, Genmab, and Pfizer.


Fish contribute a significant amount of animal protein to the diets of people in Bangladesh, about 63% of which comes from aquatic animals. In Bangladesh, fish is mainly derived from two sources: capture and culture. Aquaculture has shown tremendous growth in the last two decades, exhibiting by about 10% average annual growth in production. Capture fisheries, although still the major source of supply of fish, have become static or are in decline due to over-fishing and environmental degradation, and it is now believed that aquaculture has the greatest potential to meet the growing demand for fish from the increasing population. At present, aquaculture production accounts for about one-third of the total fish production in Bangladesh. This paper examines the impact of an aquaculture development project in Bangladesh on food security, with particular emphasis on the poor. The analysis shows a positive impact of aquaculture development on employment, income and consumption. A number of implications for policy in areas that might strengthen these outcomes are discussed and recommendations are presented.


Coherent structures and their impact on the near-bed time-averaged flow structure in a water-worked gravel-bed (WGB) and a screeded gravel-bed (SGB) are analyzed. Instantaneous velocities were measured using a particle image velocimetry system in the WGB and SGB flows in a flume with rectangular cross section. To ascertain the response of the WGB with respect to the SGB to the coherent structures, the time- and double-averaged flow, and the spatially averaged (SA) turbulence parameters, the experimental flow conditions for both the beds were kept identical. The surface gravels in the WGB were spatially organized owing to the water action. By contrast, the surface gravels in the SGB were randomly poised. These result in a higher roughness height in the WGB than in the SGB. Time series analysis for the instantaneous velocity and vorticity on a central vertical plane along the streamwise direction proves that the coherent structures in the near-bed flow zone are constituted by rapidly and slowly moving fluid streaks. Besides, the time-averaged streamwise velocity, vorticity, turbulence level, third-order correlations, and turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) budget are analyzed in the WGB and SGB. Their contours are plotted on the central vertical plane to study their spatial distributions. In addition, the SA higher-order correlations and TKE budget in the WGB and SGB are examined. A comparative study infers that the higher roughness in the WGB than in the SGB causes both the time-averaged and SA turbulence parameters in the former to be greater than those in the latter.


B. A. Siahsar, M. Allahdoo, and H. S. Hassani. 2011. Genetic variation among and within tritipyrum (Thinopyrum bessarabicum×Triticum durum) lines using PCR-based molecular markers. Cien. Inv. Agr. 38(1): 127-135. Primary hexaploid tritipyrum lines are amphiploids between Triticum durum and Thinopyrum bessarabicum, which can set seed in at least 250 mM NaCl. Genetic variation within and among 14 lines of primary tritipyrum were investigated by using 2 random and 6 semi random primers that produced clear and reproducible DNA amplicons. Average values for Nei's gene diversity (h) and Shannon indices (I) were 0.115 and 0.178, respectively. These results indicated low variation within primary tritipyrum lines, probably related to unbiased chromosome and partial aneuploidy. Total genetic diversity (H T) and gene diversity within lines (H S) were 0.2114 and 0.1156, respectively. The coefficient of genetic differentiation (G ST) was equal to 0.4534. AMOVA showed highly significant (P<0.001) genetic differences among lines. From the total genetic diversity, 51.54% is attributable to 14 tritipyrum lines and 48.16% to differences within lines. Fixation index (FST) was 0.4815. Genetic distance, calculated on the basis of allele frequencies among lines, ranged from 0.064 to 0.226 with an average of 0.1156. Grouping of populations based on UPGMA and Nei ' s gene diversity are indications of genetic similarity between some populations. Pop6 and populations located in group III had the highest genetic distance. These results could be used in breeding and cross programs to breed a new tritipyrum plant.


Rain streaks removal is an important issue of the outdoor vision system and has been recently investigated extensively. In this paper, we propose a novel tensor based video rain streaks removal approach by fully considering the discriminatively intrinsic characteristics of rain streaks and clean videos, which needs neither rain detection nor time-consuming dictionary learning stage. In specific, on the one hand, rain streaks are sparse and smooth along the raindrops direction, and on the other hand, the clean videos possess smoothness along the rain-perpendicular direction and global and local correlation along time direction. We use the l1 norm to enhance the sparsity of the underlying rain, two unidirectional Total Variation (TV) regularizers to guarantee the different discriminative smoothness, and a tensor nuclear norm and a time directional difference operator to characterize the exclusive correlation of the clean video along time. Alternation direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is employed to solve the proposed concise tensor based convex model. Experiments implemented on synthetic and real data substantiate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method. Under comprehensive quantitative performance measures, our approach outperforms other state-of-the-art methods.


Introduction The evidence that the elevated intraocular pressure of glaucomatous eyes is associated with increased resistance to outflow of aqueous humor has stimulated careful study of the trabecular meshwork. The histologic changes which have been described in the meshwork of eyes with proved open-angle glaucoma include, among other findings, swelling of trabecular sheets, degeneration and fragmentation of the collagen core, and proliferation of endothelial cells. A consideration of such changes raised the question of glaucoma as a connective tissue disorder. 1-3 The use of fluorescein-labeled antibodies has demonstrated γ-globulin in many of the connective tissue disorders and suggested immunogenic components of these disease processes. 4 In the present investigation similar evidence for the presence of γ-globulin was found in the trabecular meshwork of glaucomatous eyes. Methods Material from 25 eyes with chronic open-angle glaucoma was studied. Eighteen eyes were obtained from 16 patients (14 at autopsy and 4 at


Our previous studies demonstrated that Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides (Gl-PS) exhibit potent immunomodulating effects. Immunomodulation plays an important role in hematopoiesis. To investigate the possible mechanism by which Gl-PS promote myelopoiesis during myelosuppression induced by cyclophosphamide, mice were injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) once daily with 2.5 mg/kg of Gl-PS for 10 days and were treated i.p. once daily with cyclophosphamide (100 mg/kg) on days 2 through 4. In the present study in vivo and in vitro, we find that Gl-PS selectively bind to bone marrow stromal cells, stimulate the secretion of hematopoietic growth factors, and enhance the clonogenic activities of hematopoietic and stromal cells to promote hematopoiesis in myelosuppressed mice.


&NA; Delay of the operation in toe transplantation was performed with circulatory crisis, and 100 percent survival of the transplants was achieved. In 10 cases of toe transplantation in which circulatory crisis occurred, the operation was delayed. The vascular pedicle was divided, and the toe was transferred 17 to 21 hours after the donor toe was dissected. To investigate the mechanism of delayed toe transplantation, experiments in rabbits were carried out. In 36 rabbits, the hind limbs were severed except for the vascular pedicle. The endothelin content and nitric oxide content of the tissues in the hind limb and the arterial wall were tested in postoperative intervals of 4, 8, 16, 24, and 48 hours, respectively. The results showed that in 10 cases of delayed toe transplantation, all toes survived. As for the results of the experiment, there was significant increase of endothelin content and decrease of nitric oxide content in the local tissues and the arterial wall 4 to 8 hours after the operation. In postoperative 16 to 24 hours, endothelin content returned to normal level, and nitric oxide content increased remarkably. It is concluded that delayed pedicle division and toe transfer is an effective method in toe transplantation with vascular variations and circulatory crisis. The mechanism is related to the endothelin and nitric oxide content in the local tissue and the arterial wall. The indications for delayed toe transfer are also discussed. (Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 105: 1675, 2000.)


Background Over the past 20 years in Russia functions of hospital pharmacies (HP) have significantly narrowed to only supplying drugs because of compounding departments closing and the lack of clinical training of hospital pharmacists (there is no specialisation in hospital pharmacy). Purpose To analyse the everyday practice of hospital pharmacies in order to understand their key functions in hospitals and to find general problems in their pharmaceutical practice. Materials and methods A systematic review has been conducted in conjunction with a questionnaire survey and in-depth interview of chief pharmacists in city clinical hospitals in Moscow. Results In the period from May to October 2013 in Moscow there were 37 city clinical hospitals. All of the hospitals surveyed had a pharmacy in their structure. 32 HP (86%) had a compounding department, 4 of them prepared intravenous sterile solutions that are not commercially available. 67% of pharmacists noted that there is a tendency for doctors to prescribe fewer compounded drugs. Cytotoxic drugs and total parenteral nutrition were not prepared in the hospital pharmacies surveyed. According to the results of a questionnaire survey the key functions of HP were: – to supply drugs and to consult to doctors on availability of medicines in pharmacy; – to introduce new drugs into the pharmacy and inform doctors of their properties. All hospital pharmacists were responsible for the quality control of drugs. Pharmacoeconomic research was only carried out by 25% of pharmacies. 71% of HP participated in the creation of the formulary system in each hospital. 21% took part in clinical trials held in the hospitals. All the pharmacies surveyed provided clinical services. The survey showed that the basic needs of pharmacists in their practice are: – to modernise policy (most of the orders and acts regulating the activities and the provision of HP were developed in the period from 1972 to 1987); – to develop information resources for HP; – to develop training courses focused on hospital pharmacists; – to regularly supply pharmacies with modern compounding equipment; – to increase the prestige of specialty and attract young pharmacists (58% of staff are in the 41–55 age range). About 67% of pharmacists consider that HP practice standards (including compounding of drugs) are up to date. Conclusions Our study identified the main directions of hospital pharmacy and the basic ways in which hospital pharmacy practice needs to develop if hospital pharmacists are to provide a modern service in Moscow. No conflict of interest.


The main task of an immune system is to detect and eliminate the non-self materials called antigens such as virus and cancer cells which come from inside and outside of the living system.A negative-selection algorithm proposed is able to detect any change,which is inspired by the negative-selection mechanism of an immune system. In this paper, the algorithm is improved to make it suitable for the fault diagnosis of a mechanical equipment. Moreover, based on the improved algorithm a new method of fault diagnosis of reciprocating pumps is proposed and its feasibility is proved by on-line fault diagnosis of reciprocating pumps successfully. In addition, the method of the novel fault diagnosis can also be applied to other fields.


High-grade neuroendocrine carcinomas (NEC) of the endometrium are rare and account for <1% of all endometrial carcinomas. Both small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (SCNEC) and large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) morphologies have been reported. Little is known regarding the molecular features of endometrial NEC including how they compare to pulmonary NEC (the most common site for these neoplasms) and the more common endometrial carcinoma histotypes. In this study, we investigated the molecular alterations in a series of endometrial NEC using a targeted next generation sequencing panel (Oncopanel). Fourteen NEC were sequenced; pure NEC (n=4) and mixed (n=10) with endometrioid adenocarcinoma (n=9) or carcinosarcoma (n=1). The NEC components of mixed tumors comprised LCNEC (n=6) and SCNEC (n=4). The 4 pure NEC comprised LCNEC (n=2) and SCNEC (n=2). Molecular analysis classified tumors into the 4 The Cancer Genome Atlas groups: (1) POLE-mutated/ultramutated (1/14; 7%), (2) microsatellite instability/hypermutated (6/14; 43%), (3) TP53 mutated/copy number high (2/14; 14%), or (4) no specific molecular profile (5/14; 36%). Overall, 50% of cases were ultramutated or hypermutated. In 8 cases of mixed carcinomas, the different histologic components were macrodissected and separately sequenced; molecular alterations were nearly identical among the 2 components, with the non-NEC component harboring slightly increased tumor mutational burden. Only 2 carcinomas (both with pure SCNEC morphology) had a molecular profile that would be expected in typical pulmonary SCNEC (RB1 deletion and TP53 mutations). Our findings, similar to data from NECs of other anatomic sites, suggest that the molecular context may be important when selecting therapies for women with endometrial NEC. Immune checkpoint inhibition may be a reasonable approach to treatment of microsatellite instability-NEC and we thus recommend that all endometrial NEC be tested for mismatch repair abnormalities, either molecularly or by mismatch repair protein immunohistochemistry.


This paper presents study review on control method for two-mass systems either in speed control or position control. The systems should be modeled as two-mass or multi-mass systems when flexible couplings or long shaft with low stiffness are used to connect the actuator with other elements. Due to this, the finite but small elasticity of the shaft gets magnified and has a vibrational effect on the load position which may reduce positioning accuracy. This vibration gives the unstable performance response of the plant. Many control method have been developed to solve this problem are studied. On the other hand,  one-mass system is only applicable in the case a rigid coupling with high stiffness is used and there are no flexible elements. Fundamental concept of two-mass systems and their control method are reviewed and explained either in linear or rotary systems.


The abundant hardware resources on current reconfigurable computing systems provide new opportunities for high-performance parallel implementations of scientific computations. In this paper, we study designs for floating-point matrix multiplication, a fundamental kernel in a number of scientific applications, on reconfigurable computing systems. We first analyze design trade-offs in implementing this kernel. These trade-offs are caused by the inherent parallelism of matrix multiplication and the resource constraints, including the number of configurable slices, the size of on-chip memory, and the available memory bandwidth. We propose three parameterized algorithms which can be tuned according to the problem size and the available hardware resources. Our algorithms employ linear array architecture with simple control logic. This architecture effectively utilizes the available resources and reduces routing complexity. The processing elements (PEs) used in our algorithms are modular so that it is easy to embed floating-point units into them. Experimental results on a Xilinx Virtex-ll Pro XC2VP100 show that our algorithms achieve good scalability and high sustained GFLOPS performance. We also implement our algorithms on Cray XD1. XD1 is a high-end reconfigurable computing system that employs both general-purpose processors and reconfigurable devices. Our algorithms achieve a sustained performance of 2.06 GFLOPS on a single node of XD1


About a decade the background of the both public and scientific increasing interest in the topic "mobbing". But unfortunately the term "mobbing" is often applied in dubious and inflationary way as synonym for each professional disagreement. The reason for this may among others be that until today no internationally acknowledged standard definition on mobbing exists. According to the in German operational and judicial practice contemporarily most frequent and favourite paraphrases mobbing includes: intended chicanery/hostility (systematics) towards a person (purpose, asymmetry of power) in certain frequency/continuity (at least once a week for six months) with the intention to ostracize a person from his/her employment. In the European states prevalence varies between 2% and 15%, in Germany a national report supports with representative data about 3%, here women are more affected than men. The highest prevalence rates are found in services sector and in public health, social services and education. Aetiology places mobbing mainly as a multi-factor process with complex reciprocity between individual and professional/social factors conditioned in many cases by unresolved conflicts or occupational changes. In first place mobbing is no medical diagnosis, but health injuries resulting from mobbing makes this phenomenon more and more important for social and professional medicine. In view of diagnostic safeguarding with respect to differential diagnostic clarification of a mobbing case good interdisciplinary cooperation of both internal and external protagonists is recommended. Mobbing interventions include individual (for instance social support) as well as operational measures (for instance role of top executives, calling in of a mediation committee). Prevention against occupational mobbing must given high attention. An essential part is regarded the introduction of occupational conventions against mobbing. Within the scope of juridical examination of mobbing results (for example regarding potential impairments of health) in individual case aspects of criminal, civil, social, industrial or occupational law have checked. Mobbing and by means of mobbing caused or conditioned impairments of health are due to present valid juridical regulations neither regarded as occupational disease according to section sign 9 paragraph 1 or 2 SGB II nor as industrial accident. From aspect of prevention ( section sign 14 SGB VII/ section sign 20 SGB V) mobbing has to be considered as a serious psychosocial health hazard conditioned by work. Language: de


The research presented in this dissertation investigates the development and the performances of a new type of Wave Energy Converter (WEC) aimed to provide water delivery and energy storage in the form of potential energy. The Oscillating Water Column Wave Pump (OWCP) concept was proposed and tested through a series of experimental investigations supported by scientific theory. The OWCP was developed after an extensive study of the existing wave energy technology available, from which it emerged that the Oscillating Water Column (OWC) device could be further implemented for water delivery purposes. The existing theory of the OWC was employed to develop a mathematical theory able to describe the system wave response and water removal of the OWCP. In order to understand and validate the mathematical models of the OWCP, experimental investigations were carried out under the influence of incident linear waves in a two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) wave flume. The experimental equipment and methodology are outlined, including the description of wave flumes, models and data acquisition equipment. Experimental tests were used to verify the concept of the OWCP and assess its performances, investigating both the response of the device to the waves with and without water removal. In order to increase the efficiencies of delivery, array configurations of multiple OWCPs were adopted. The research demonstrated that up to 14% of the energy carried by the incoming waves can be converted into useful potential energy for a single device. Moreover a further increase of the efficiencies can be obtained with the array configuration improving the overall capability of the OWCP, for optimal separation distance between the array components. Further model tests are required to extended this research to validate the developed mathematical models as an effective prediction tool of the performances of the OWCP and further increase the efficiency of water removal that can be achieved.


Martin and Deutscher's remarkable 1966 paper 'Remembering' still offers great riches to memory researchers across distinctive traditions, both in its methodological ambition (successfully marrying phenomenological and causal discourses) and in its content. In
this short discussion, after briefly setting the paper in its context, we hone in on two live and under-explored issues which have gained attention recently under new labels – the extended mind hypothesis, and the constructive nature of memory. We suggest that
Martin and Deutscher's causal analysis of memory is compatible with the idea that activities of remembering may be distributed across heterogeneous social and external resources, focussing in on their neglected example of creatures who 'remember as we do' as long as they carry round metal boxes which are given to them at birth. We then argue that the causal analysis is in some tension with the extent to which remembering is a constructive activity, because there may be no clear way to determine the appropriate 'limits of accuracy' within which a past event or experience must be represented.


The complexity of intelligent computer vision systems demands novel system architectures that are capable of integrating various computer vision algorithms into a working system with high scalability. The real-time applications of human-centered computing are based on multiple cameras in current systems, which require a transparent distributed architecture. This paper presents an application-oriented service share model for the generalization of vision processing. Based on the model, a vision system architecture is presented that can readily integrate computer vision processing and make application modules share services and exchange messages transparently. The architecture provides a standard interface for loading various modules and a mechanism for modules to acquire inputs and publish processing results that can be used as inputs by others. Using this architecture, a system can load specific applications without considering the common low-layer data processing. We have implemented a prototype vision system based on the proposed architecture. The latency performance and 3-D track function were tested with the prototype system. The architecture is scalable and open, so it will be useful for supporting the development of an intelligent vision system, as well as a distributed sensor system.


Distributive politics represents one of the most important and controversial aspects of legislative policymaking. In the U.S. Congress, controversies over distributive politics are most evident in the area of legislative earmarking. In this article, we employ a unique set of data matching earmarks to their legislative sponsors to assess the leading explanations of distributive politics. We find that members of the majority party do considerably better than equally situated members of the minority. Moreover, party leaders target earmarks to those holding pivotal agenda-setting positions and to electorally vulnerable members. These findings have direct implications for both the extensive political science literature on distributive politics and the practical politics of earmarking reform.


Stigma towards epilepsy results in barriers to social integration, education, employment, and marriage, with increased divorce rates. There is a societal need to realise that many persons with epilepsy (PWE) lead normal lives and can be highly educated with effective employment. Integration of PWE into sports is therapeutic both for PWE (decreased seizure frequency, decreased comorbid conditions, and increased psychosocial skills) and society. Stand Up For Epilepsy (SUFE), overseen by the ILAE Task Force on Sports and Epilepsy, is an international project in which action photographs with PWE were taken as a means to destigmatise epilepsy. This autobiographical narrative describes how SUFE initiated effective athlete-PWE interactions with positive PWE, athlete, and parent responses. Expansion of SUFE is recommended to further destigmatise epilepsy. Participation in SUFE can serve as a personal odyssey for PWE.


The objective of the study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of 800 microg misoprostol every 12 h, up to three doses, for pharmacological second-trimester abortion. The misoprostol doses were always administered by doctors into the vagina. Two-hundred and sixty-nine women with gestations within 12 and 20 weeks were recruited into the study. The main outcomes measured were successful abortion (passage of fetus and placenta without surgery), side effects and mean drop in hemoglobin, vaginal bleeding and mean time of return of menstruation. Complete abortion occurred in 245/269 (91.1%, 95% confidence interval 87-94%) patients. Vaginal bleeding lasted 15.7 +/- 4.1 days. The mean drop in hemoglobin, calculated 24 h after abortion, were statistically significant (p = 0.0001), as also was the mean hemoglobin measured 14 days after abortion, but without clinical relevance. According to the results obtained, 800 microg of misoprostol administered every 12 h, up to a maximum of three doses, could be a valid method for abortion within 12 and 20 weeks of gestation.


A computational model utilizing the finite difference method was developed to simulate the behavior of a simple thermal storage system. The system analyzed utilizes the deposition of heat from a fluid to a solid matrix in the initial part of cycle followed by heat removal in the latter part. The storage system was divided into perpendicular slices with respect to the direction of the heat transfer fluid (HTF) flow. To further reduce the area of the slice on which the calculations were performed, the symmetry of the design was then used. Two dimensional conduction and convection calculations were performed within the plane generated by each slice. Interaction between the slices was limited to only the HTF flow rate. It was assumed that the system would experience no losses to the ambient and the HTF contained in each slice would be fully mixed. First and Second Law analysis were incorporated as a means of evaluating different configurations of the storage system design. A technique that allows the designer to choose between design options is discussed.Copyright © 2003 by ASME


Besides their role in hemostasis, platelets are involved in inflammatory and immunological processes, and we hypothesize that platelet activation may play an immunopathogenetic role in HIV-1 infection. Blood was drawn from 15 controls and 20 HIV-1-infected patients with normal platelet counts, classified into groups of non-AIDS and AIDS. Platelet activation was detected using flow cytometry with mAbs against the release markers P-selectin and CD63, mAb against GPIb, and the probe annexin V detecting surface exposure of aminophospholipids. The amount of microvesicles was measured using mAb against GPIIIa. Compared to controls, blood samples from HIV-1-infected patients showed significantly enhanced levels of microvesicles and activated platelets as detected by their exposure of P-selectin, CD63, and aminophospholipids, as well as reduction in GPIb expression. Increased expression of P-selectin and amounts of microvesicles were most pronounced in advanced clinical and immunological disease. When studying the effect of HIV-1 protease inhibitor therapy (indinavir) on platelet activation, we found that concomitant with a profound decrease in plasma viral load, there was a near normalization of several of the parameters reflecting enhanced platelet activation. Finally, we demonstrated that platelets may be an important source of the chemokine RANTES in HIV-1-infected patients. Although both unstimulated and SFLLRN-stimulated platelets from asymptomatic patients had enhanced release of RANTES, platelets from AIDS patients were characterized by markedly enhanced spontaneous, but decreased SFLLRN-stimulated release of this chemokine. Taken together, these results, which demonstrate for the first time increased platelet activation in HIV-1-infected patients with normal platelet counts, may represent a previously unrecognized immunopathogenic factor in HIV-1 infection.


BACKGROUND
Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) has been shown to improve glycemic control and reduce hypoglycemia with consistent use. Youth, however, are unlikely to use CGM consistently. We compared psychological characteristics of youth with type 1 diabetes, their parents, and adults with type 1 diabetes randomized to CGM or standard blood glucose monitoring (BGM). This study was an ancillary study, and participants completed the questionnaires at the 6-month visit of the main study.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Participants enrolled at a single site of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation CGM trial completed questionnaires and provided diabetes management data. Participants were randomized to the CGM or BGM group for 6 months.

RESULTS
Parents in both groups reported more fear of hypoglycemia than youth in the corresponding groups. CGM youth and parents reported more negative affect around BGM than those in the BGM group. CGM youth reported more trait anxiety than BGM youth, whereas CGM adults reported less state and trait anxiety than BGM adults. CGM parent-proxy report of depression was significantly higher than that reported by BGM parents.

CONCLUSIONS
Youth, their parents, and adults report different psychological impacts of CGM use. In some groups and with some variables, CGM use was associated with a positive psychosocial impact, whereas in others CGM use was associated with a negative psychosocial impact. Future research should explore the psychological consequences of CGM use.


The phenomenon of "dirty hands" is typically framed as an issue for normative or applied ethical consideration—for example, in debates between consequentialism and nonconsequentialism, or in discussions of the morality of torture or political expediency. By contrast, this paper explores the metaethical dimensions of dirty-hands situations. First, empirically-informed arguments based on scenarios of moral dilemmas involving metaethical aspects of dirty hands are marshaled against the view that "ought implies can." Second, a version of moral realism is conjoined with a version of value-pluralism that charitably accommodates and explains the central features of the phenomenology related to dirty hands. It is not simply that agents are or are not justified in getting their hands dirty (les mains sales); rather, in certain situations, it is the nature of the moral domain itself to be intractably messy (le sale monde), such that dirty hands are unavoidable. The paper concludes by considering some important normative and psychological implications of this view.


viscera into the chest, causing serious pulmonary and cardiac complications. The congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is classified according to the location of the protrusion, including in hiatal hernia, Morgagni-Larrey hernia, and Bochdaleck hernia as results of inadequate obliteration of the lumbar elements in the pleuroperitoneal area, during the eighth and tenth week of intrauterine development. We investigating a full-term pregnant woman complained about water broke and being diagnosed as congenital diaphragmatic hernia from fetomaternal ultrasound. Later, patient was underwent Caesarean section due to PROM, low pelvic score, and oligohydramnios with amniotic fluid index 1. A baby boy was born: weight 3200 gram with AS 1/3/4, then was directly intubated by the perinatologist as early neonatal resuscitation for congenital diaphragmatic hernia neonates. Due to limited facility of oxygen supply, the baby's breathing was connected to HFO between 10 minutes. Later, the baby did not survive the early 2 days due to fail of breathing in stabilisation and preparation for diaphragm correction. We also investigated that there was decrease of vitamin A in mother's serum as risk factor on diaphragm's development in utero.


Chronic, highly antibiotic-resistant infections in cystic fibrosis (CF) lungs contribute to increasing morbidity and mortality. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common CF pathogen, exhibits resistance to multiple antibiotics, contributing to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). These bacterial populations display genetic and phenotypic diversity, but it is unclear how this diversity affects susceptibility to bacteriocins. R-pyocins, i.e. bacteriocins produced by P. aeruginosa, are phage tail-like antimicrobials. R-pyocins have potential as antimicrobials, however recent research suggests the diversity of P. aeruginosa variants within CF lung infections leads to varying susceptibility to R-pyocins. This variation may be linked to changes in lipopolysaccharide (LPS), acting as the R-pyocin receptor. Currently, it is unknown how frequently R-pyocin-susceptible strains are in chronic CF lung infection, particularly when considering the heterogeneity within these strains. In this study, we tested R2-pyocin susceptibility of 139 P. aeruginosa variants from 17 sputum samples of seven CF patients and analyzed LPS phenotypes. We found that 83% of sputum samples did not have R2-pyocin-resistant variants, while nearly all samples contained susceptible variants. there was no correlation between LPS phenotype and R2-pyocin susceptibility, though we estimate that about 76% of sputum-derived variants lack an O-specific antigen, 40% lack a common antigen, and 24% have altered LPS cores. The absence of a correlation between LPS phenotype and R-pyocin susceptibility suggests LPS packing density may play a significant role in R-pyocin susceptibility among CF variants. Our research supports the potential of R-pyocins as therapeutic agents, as many infectious CF variants are susceptible to R2-pyocins, even within diverse bacterial populations. IMPORTANCE Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients often experience chronic, debilitating lung infections caused by antibiotic-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, contributing to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The genetic and phenotypic diversity of P. aeruginosa populations in CF lungs raises questions about their susceptibility to non-traditional antimicrobials, like bacteriocins. In this study, we focused on R-pyocins, a type of bacteriocin with high potency and a narrow killing spectrum. Our findings indicate that a large number of infectious CF variants are susceptible to R2-pyocins, even within diverse bacterial populations, supporting their potential use as therapeutic agents. The absence of a clear correlation between lipopolysaccharide (LPS) phenotypes and R-pyocin susceptibility suggests that LPS packing density may play a significant role in R-pyocin susceptibility among CF variants. Understanding the relationship between LPS phenotypes and R-pyocin susceptibility is crucial for developing effective treatments for these chronic infections.


Conceptual rainfall‐runoff models are commonly used to estimate potential changes in runoff due to climate change. The development of these models has generally focused on reproducing runoff characteristics, with less scrutiny on other important processes such as the conversion from potential evapotranspiration (PET) to actual evapotranspiration (AET). This study uses three conceptual rainfall‐runoff models (GR4J, AWBM, and IHACRES_CMD) and five catchments in climatologically different regions of Australia to explore the role of ET process representation on the sensitivity of runoff to plausible future changes in PET. The changes in PET were simulated using the Penman‐Monteith model and by perturbing each of the driving variables (temperature, solar radiation, humidity, and wind) separately. Surprisingly, the results showed the potential of a more than sevenfold difference in runoff sensitivity per unit change in annual average PET, depending on both the rainfall‐runoff model and the climate variable used to perturb PET. These differences were largely due to different ways used to convert PET to AET in the conceptual rainfall‐runoff models, with particular dependencies on the daily wet/dry status, as well as the seasonal variations in store levels. By comparing the temporal patterns in simulated AET with eddy‐covariance‐based observations at two of the study locations, we highlighted some unrealistic behavior in the simulated AET from AWBM. Such process‐based evaluations are useful for scrutinizing the representation of physical processes in alternative conceptual rainfall‐runoff models, which can be particularly useful for selecting models for projecting runoff under a changing climate.


The computation of physiological factors and factor images by factor analysis in dynamic structures using the constraints of positive factors and spatial distribution of these factors (FADS), currently used by a number of research workers, is investigated. While the positivity constraints used may be quite acceptable physically, they cannot be strictly said to have direct correlations with the underlying physiological mechanisms in a dynamic study. In principle, FADS estimates the underlying model in the absence of a priori physiological information, and therefore, it is possible that in some situations an incorrect model is extracted. A procedure called IBFADS (information-based factor analysis in dynamic structures) is described which incorporates the IM (intersection method) technique previously developed into FADS, in order to reduce the error in the estimation of the correct model. IM uses a constraint based on physiology of one of the dynamic structures in the model. A computer simulated dynamic phantom study is used to demonstrate IBFADS.


Greening the economy is mostly about improving water governance and not only about putting the existing resource saving technical alternatives into practice. Focusing on the second and forgetting the first risks finishing with a highly efficient use of water services at the level of each individual user but with an unsustainable amount of water use for the entire economy. This might be happening already in many places with the modernization of irrigated agriculture, the world's largest water user and the one offering the most promising water saving opportunities. In spite of high expectations, modern irrigation techniques seem not to be contributing to reduce water scarcity and increase drought resiliency. In fact, according to the little evidence available, in some areas they are resulting in higher water use. Building on basic economic principles this study aims to show the conditions under which this apparently paradoxical outcome, known as the Jevons' Paradox, might appear. This basic model is expected to serve as guidance for assessing the actual outcomes of increasing irrigation efficiency and to discuss the changes in water governance that would be required for this to make a real contribution to sustainable water management.


The nuclear industry has been aggressively pursuing risk-informed regulation for the past seven years. In this pursuit, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has established a basic framework for reviewing and granting risk-informed regulations. Focused regulatory guides have been specifically prepared in the areas of Plant Technical Specifications, In-Service Testing, In Service Inspections and Graded Quality Assurance. While these regulations have not supplanted traditional deterministic regulations, they have been used to support focused changes to the plant design basis. As the industry continues to mature the use of PSA information in day to day plant operations will grow. Today, risk insights are required by federal regulation for all plant maintenance activities. In addition, the regulator reserves the right to include consideration of risk in applications where the outcome could have a significant impact on risk. Despite, the major strides made in development and use of risk information, the industry and the regulator were operating without an agreed to PSA standard. Over the past three years the ASME has formed a committee of stakeholders, both commercial and regulatory, to develop a workable standard for the development and utilization of PSA data in the nuclear industry. The ASME PSA standard has recently been issued. The current standard has been developed to support licensing applications and is focused on the development and use of the Level 1PSA and the calculation of the Large Early Release Frequency (LERF). The ASME standard is unlike most standards in that it is tiers, and includes guidance for using results when specific items in the standard are not in complete compliance with specific standard elements. The tiers included in the standard are reflective of the level of detail in the PSA elements. The ability to use PSAs with many elements acceptable only at the lowest tier will be more limited than for more sophisticated PSAs and therefore, applications may be limited in scope and would likely involved strong deterministic support as well. As PSA tiers increase the reliance of the decision on the PSA may increase. The acceptability of the PSA elements is established via peer review process. It is the intent of this panel discussion to explore the implications of the recently released ASME PSA standard, and other focused standards under development on the nuclear industry and the role of the ASME standard in the associated regulatory process. The panelists will explore expectations of the industry, needs of the regulator and challenges of the PSA peer review process.Copyright © 2002 by ASME


Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL), with support from Southern California Edison (SCE), a major utility in the Los Angeles area, has developed a prototype electronic interactive Energy Information Kiosk: a personal computer with touch screen provides information linked to video images stored on an optical disc. The kiosk uses text, graphics, animation, sound, and video to communicate effectively. This project's goals were: to demonstrate SCE's commitment to provide relevant, useful energy services to its customers; to highlight specific incentive programs; to provide users with contacts to people and resource materials at SCE; and most importantly, to provide technical guidance for building design professionals who want to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. 4 refs., 8 figs.


The question of why some countries or regions experience higher growth rates and levels of development than others has been debated and studied for long time and remains one of the most important issues in political and economic debates. The aim of this thesis is to investigate some of the factors that contribute to the unevenness of economic performance among European regions, focusing in particular regional industrial composition, spatial and network relations and the technological and institutional characteristics of the regions. The role of industrial structure and composition of regions is assessed in relation to their knowledge and technological features (Chapter 1). Our results indicate that related variety exerts positive effects in only regions characterized by higher technological and knowledge capabilities, whereas no significant effect is found for average or less advanced areas. More generally, we conclude that different levels of knowledge endowment may condition the way knowledge-related externalities affect the local economy. Following this insight, we study spatial and network relations as sources for new knowledge (Chapter 2). In line with the previous literature we find that spatial and trade linkages indeed contribute to channeling new ideas and technologies in the regional economy, with a positive effect on local productivity. However, network connections to most advanced regions – which would potentially grant access to highly valuable knowledge - have no beneficial effect unless the "linking-in" region presents high level of absorptive capacity. Recent literature on institutions has shown how quality of government and social capital are important determinant of economic and innovative performance. Following some contributions in Evolutionary Economic Geography, we investigate how institutional factors interplay with industrial compositions. In Chapter 3, we show how industrial relatedness and bridging social capital are key drivers of regional diversification. Unlike, formal institutions do not directly affect regional branching, though some evidence suggests that they contribute to limiting the potentially negative effects of bonding social capital. The role of industrial relatedness in allowing knowledge and ideas to flow is further studied in relation to the presence, entry and exit of multinational enterprises (MNEs) (Chapter 4). We find that the number of MNEs in related sectors has significant effects on industrial employment only in knowledge-intensive industries in advanced regions. Additionally, the positive relation between employment level and proximity to industries attracting foreign companies provides supportive evidence of short-term knowledge spillovers. However, both intra- and inter-industry spillovers of MNEs are heterogeneous across industries and regions. Positive MNE externalities appear to be stronger in advanced sectors and, more surprisingly, in Eastern EU regions. These regions, however, are also those that suffer the most in the case of MNE exits.


Thin films of copper indium disulphide and zinc sulphide were fabricated, for use as absorber and window layers respectively for photovoltaic devices. The copper indium disulphide was produced in two stages. In the first stage, a copper indium alloy was produced on molybdenum-coated glass substrates by sputtering from metallic targets. A number of slides were placed together on each platten, giving a total area for deposition of approx. 100 cm2. A rotating turntable allowed a large number of very thin layers of copper and indium to be deposited alternately,
resulting in very good mixing to form the alloy. A range of powers were applied to the copper and indium targets, to produce films of different compositions, including stoichiometric, copper-rich and indium-rich material. Rutherford backscattering analysis showed a high degree of compositional uniformity, both over the area of the deposited film, and with depth through the film.
Three different methods were used to convert the copper indium alloy to copper indium disulphide. The first method involved evaporation of sulphur inside a graphite box, in which the substrate (with a copper indium precursor film) was enclosed. The sulphur diffused to fill the enclosed space, thus eliminating the limitations of line-of-sight evaporation. A strip heater was used in the initial experiments. Subsequently, a tube furnace was used to provide a more uniform and stable temperature. This allowed substrates up to 25 mm x 25 mm to be used. Temperatures up to 450C were used. X-ray diffraction showed essentially
complete conversion to copper indium disulphide for films heated to 400C for 40 minutes. This relatively low temperature allowed soda-lime glass, rather than borosilicate glass, to be used for the substrates. Both uniformity and adhesion to the substrate were good.
The second method also involved heating sulphur in the tube furnace to produce vapour. The size of the substrates used was as above - 25 mm x 25 mm. In this case, the sulphur vapour was transported over the substrates in a flowing argon stream. This provided an alternative mechanism for overcoming line-of-sight limitations. A similar range of temperatures was used, again allowing soda-lime glass to be used. X-ray diffraction again showed essentially complete conversion to copper indium disulphide for films heated to 400C for 40 minutes. Adhesion to the substrate was good. Uniformity was good, though less so than for material
produced using the graphite box.
A third method involved electrolytic conversion using a sulphur-containing solution. Both water and ethanediol were used as solvents. X-ray diffraction of films produced using water as a solvent showed a high degree of conversion to
copper indium disulphide. However, uniformity and adhesion were poor. Films produced with ethanediol as a solvent had improved uniformity and adhesion, but showed only partial conversion to copper indium disulphide. This was improved,
to some extent, by a subsequent anneal in vacuum at 400C for 30 minutes.
Zinc sulphide was produced by chemical bath deposition. Tri-sodium citrate was used as a complementary complexing agent, as a non-hazardous substitute for hydrazine hydrate, which had been used in previous work. The films produced
showed high optical transmittance (~ 90 %) over the wavelength range longer than 330 nm. They had good uniformity and adhesion to the substrate. Inclusion
of aluminium compounds in the deposition solution, in combination with a postdeposition anneal in vacuum at temperatures up to 400C, resulted in a significant
reduction in the resistivity of the films (~ 1 ohm for a 1cm2 device).
Partially-completed devices, consisting of copper indium disulphide and zinc sulphide layers, were sent to Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati, India, where zinc oxide layers were added, to form complete photovoltaic devices. Voltage-current characteristics showed open circuit voltages of 300 to 400 mV and short circuit current densities of approx. 10 mAcm-2. The corresponding fill factor was 0.4.


In advanced-stage epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) standard of care is upfront debulking surgery (UDS) followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. Interval debulking surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy(NACT-IDS) is a reasonable alternative.

 This study was a retrospective review of patients of Stage III/IV EOC treated either by UDS or NACT-IDS between January 2016 and December 2018 to report the comparison of progression-free survival(PFS) and overall survival(OS) of patients with advanced-stage EOC treated with either UDS or NACT-IDS.

 Out of 50 patients, 19 (38%) underwent UDS, and 31 (62%) received NACT. The mean follow-up duration was 27.7 months. No gross residual disease was achieved in 52.6% of the UDS group and in 70.4% of the NACT-IDS group. The median PFS of 20 and 30 months was observed in the UDS and NACT-IDS groups, respectively (log-rank P = 0.054). The median OS was 36 months in the NACT-IDS group and could not be reached in the UDS group (log-rank P = 0.329). Only residual disease was significantly associated with survival (hazards ratio 3.03, 95% confidence interval: 1.19–7.74) on multivariate Cox regression analysis.

 In advanced-stage EOC, the survival outcomes of NACT-IDS are comparable with those of UDS. Apart from the patient-specific parameters, the decision for UDS or NACT-IDS should take in account the expertise of the surgeon and the institutional capacity as a whole.


Objective The rising incidence of inflammatory bowel disease in Asia supports the importance of environmental risk factors in disease aetiology. This prospective population-based case-control study in Asia-Pacific examined risk factors prior to patients developing IBD. Design 442 incident cases (186 Crohn's disease (CD); 256 UC; 374 Asians) diagnosed between 2011 and 2013 from eight countries in Asia and Australia and 940 controls (frequency-matched by sex, age and geographical location; 789 Asians) completed an environmental factor questionnaire at diagnosis. Unconditional logistic regression models were used to estimate adjusted ORs (aOR) and 95% CIs. Results In multivariate model, being breast fed >12 months (aOR 0.10; 95% CI 0.04 to 0.30), antibiotic use (aOR 0.19; 0.07 to 0.52), having dogs (aOR 0.54; 0.35 to 0.83), daily tea consumption (aOR 0.62; 0.43 to 0.91) and daily physical activity (aOR 0.58; 0.35 to 0.96) decreased the odds for CD in Asians. In UC, being breast fed >12 months (aOR 0.16; 0.08 to 0.31), antibiotic use (aOR 0.48; 0.27 to 0.87), daily tea (aOR 0.63; 0.46 to 0.86) or coffee consumption (aOR 0.51; 0.36 to 0.72), presence of hot water tap (aOR 0.65; 0.46 to 0.91) and flush toilet in childhood (aOR 0.71; 0.51 to 0.98) were protective for UC development whereas ex-smoking (aOR 2.02; 1.22 to 3.35) increased the risk of UC. Conclusions This first population-based study of IBD risk factors in Asia-Pacific supports the importance of childhood immunological, hygiene and dietary factors in the development of IBD, suggesting that markers of altered intestinal microbiota may modulate risk of IBD later in life.


Abstract The present essay investigates the representation of the First World War in Italian fascist cinema by analyzing some of the major films about the war made during the Fascist regime and, notably, Marco Elter's Le scarpe al sole (1935), Giovacchino Forzano's 13 uomini e un cannone (1936) and Oreste Biancoli's Piccolo alpino (1940). The films will be examined from an original and specific angle, devoting special attention to their portrayal of the Austrian enemy. Little consideration has been paid so far in scholarly research to this aspect. The essay will specifically address the question, investigating the changing representation of WWI and, particularly, the metamorphosis of Austria from foe to friend in Italian cinema in the course of the twenty years of Fascist regime. In doing so, the essay will place the above films against the background of the Fascist regime's foreign policy, with special regard to the Italian-Austrian politics of friendship during the 1930s, followed at the end of the decade by Italy's alliance with Nazi-Germany and the birth of the Rome-Berlin axis.


This article addresses the various aspects concerning gender dissimilarities in the cardiovascular system. It examines sex differences in the genetic susceptibility to cardiovascular disease (CVD) development or outcome: with the presence of either XX or XY chromosomes, every cell is sexually differentiated and there exist postpuberal differences between male and female cardiovascular systems. The main action mechanisms of sex steroid hormones are discussed, mainly as to testosterone (Te) in men and 17beta-estradiol (E2) and progesterone (Pro) in women. In women, susceptibility to CVD is known to increase in the postmenopausal period, when the ovarian hormone function expires. Some concepts of the sex-based differences in anatomy and physiology are also explained. Although they have the same structural elements, women and men use them in a different way to guarantee cardiovascular system homeostasis. Some examples of differences between men and women in pathological cardiovascular function are given. A further important issue regards the prevalence and role of cardiovascular risk factors in the two genders. Compared to boys of the same age, adolescent girls and premenopausal women have a more favorable risk profile: lower blood pressure (BP), less atherogenic lipid profile, and lower prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors. Women develop CVD later than men and diabetic women have a considerably higher mortality rate compared to men of the same age. Finally, there exist several clinically significant differences between men and women as to prevalence, presentation, management and outcome of CVD. Clinical peculiarities related to gender in presentation of some CVDs, such as coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke and heart failure, are described. We are absolutely convinced that only an accurate knowledge of the sex-specific pathophysiology may allow determination of the appropriate diagnostic instruments and to implement tailored treatments of CVD in men and women.


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A major type of substantive testing procedure performed during the audit examination are analytical procedures. The use of analytical procedures (APs) in the preliminary stages of the audit examination is required for both United States (U.S.) and international audits. Despite this requirement, neither international (International Auditing Guideline 12 and Australian Statement of Auditing Practice 17) nor U.S. (Statement on Auditing Standards No. 56) auditing standards provide guidance concerning the use of preliminary APs for specific account balances or in specific circumstances. This research represents a descriptive examination of auditor judgments concerning the use of preliminary APs in the audit engagement. Our results indicate that auditors believe that performing preliminary APs generally results in a significant reduction in the need for substantive tests of details; however, the reduction in substantive testing varied according to which APs were performed. The high levels of judgment consensus noted in this research indicate that, while specific guidance for preliminary APs has not been provided by U.S. auditing standards, it appears that firms examined in this study have developed structured approaches with respect to the use of preliminary APs. Finally, the higher level of consensus noted for the judgments of senior accountants and staff accountants compared to those of audit managers may reflect either the structured nature of the task examined in this study or the greater degree of senior and staff accountant familiarity with the use of preliminary APs.


In this paper, a target signal detection method using multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm is proposed. The MUSIC algorithm is a subspace-based direction of arrival (DOA) estimation method. Using the inverse of the eigenvalue-weighted eigen spectra, the algorithm detects the DOAs of multiple sources. To apply the algorithm in target signal detection for GSC-based beamforming, we utilize its spectral response for the DOA of the target source in noisy conditions. The performance of the proposed target signal detection method is compared with those of the normalized cross-correlation (NCC), the fixed beamforming, and the power ratio method. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms the conventional ones in receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves.


Summary A total of 3 broiler diets were pelleted to determine the effects of diet formulation on pellet quality. Dietary treatments consisted of corn and soybean meal (SBM)-based control, the control with crystalline Val, and the control with crystalline Val and Ile. As crystalline amino acids (AA) increased in the diets, corn concentrations increased as SBM and choice white grease (CWG) were removed to balance for nitrogen-corrected metabolizable energy (MEn). Diets contained 54.2, 56.4, and 57.5% corn; 39.1, 37.1, and 36.2% SBM; and 2.5, 2.1, and 1.9% CWG in the control, Val, and Val + Ile diets, respectively. Corn was ground to approximately 1,000 µm and used to mix 1,100 lb of feed per treatment. There were 3 replicates per treatment with time of processing as a blocking factor and treatment order randomized within each block. Diets were pelleted via steam conditioning (10 × 55 in., Wenger twin staff preconditioner, Model 150) using a pellet mill (CPM Model PM 1012-2 HD) equipped with a 3/16 × 1 ¼ in. pellet die. The target conditioning temperature was 185°F for 30 s at a 34 lb/min production rate. Pellet samples were collected and cooled in an experimental counterflow cooler for 15 min to determine percent fines, standard pellet durability index (PDI; ASABE S269.4, 2007), modified PDI (three 19-mm hex nuts) and Holmen NHP100 for 60 s. Hot pellet temperature decreased ( P < 0.01) in the control diet compared to Val and Val + Ile diets, which were 184.5, 185.1, and 185.088 ° F, respectively. Pellet mill kilo-watts (kW) were 9.1, 8.9, and 10.3 for control, Val, and Val + Ile diets, respectively. Pellet mill kW increased ( P < 0.05) in pelleted Val + Ile diets compared to the control and Val diets. Percent fines decreased ( P < 0.01) and PDI increased ( P < 0.01) as crystalline AA increased and added fat decreased in the diet. For the control, Val and Val + Ile diets, PDIs were 66.5, 73.6


With tooth attrition, the height of the alveolar crest does not increase to keep pace with active tooth eruption and the cemento-enamel junction-alveolar crest distance increases slightly with age in aboriginal skulls. But there is no atrophy of the alveolar bony margin. Some decrease in interalveolar height does occur. This does not necessarily mean that passive eruption with exposure of cementum is normal. Rather it is postulated that the epithelial attachment proliferates onto cementum, inhibiting alveolar crest addition, while the base of the gingival sulcus remains at the cemento-enamel junction. During the course of this investigation, it was found that the distance between the cemento-enamel junction and alveolar crest increased more rapidly with advancing wear in the lower molar region than in the upper. In the lower first molar region, the lingual distance was significantly greater than that between cemento-enamel junction and alveolar crest on the buccal aspect during each stage of wear. The size of the tooth, as reflected in the robustness index, had no influence on the processes or rate of active eruption, bone deposition at the alveolar crest, or measurements taken between cemento-enamel junction and alveolar crest.


Understanding the perceptions and experiences related to the end of life (EoL) of boys and men with Duchenne muscular dystrophy from their own and/or family perspective is limited based on the available qualitative empirical studies. This systematic review was done with a thematic synthesis of qualitative evidence according to the PRISMA Statement Guidelines and the SPIDER search tool. The review included empirical, qualitative, and relevant full-text studies published in 2000-2023 in the EBSCO Discovery Service, ISI Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and ProQuest databases. From o total of eight included qualitative studies, four main key themes were identified: "Being a parent/caregiver" - psychosocial aspects, needs, and experiences; "Communication about EoL with healthcare and other professionals" - positive experiences and personal shortcomings; "Discussions about…" - the issue of EoL, dying and death; and "End of life" - end-of-life care, planning and the need for palliative care.


Objective Test the hypothesis that individual differences in episodic memory and verbal fluency in cognitively normal middle-aged adults will predict progression to amnestic MCI after 6 years. Method The analysis sample included 842 male twins who were cognitively normal at baseline (M=56 years), completed measures of episodic memory and verbal fluency at baseline and again 6 years later (M=62 years). Results Poor episodic memory predicted progression to both amnestic MCI (OR=4.42, 95% CI [2.44, 10.60]) and non-amnestic MCI (OR=1.92, 95% CI [1.32, 3.44]). Poor semantic verbal fluency also independently predicted progression to amnestic MCI (OR=1.86, 95% CI [1.12, 3.52]). In the full sample, a semantic-specific fluency latent variable at wave 1 (which controls for letter fluency) predicted change in episodic memory at wave 2 (β=.13), but not vice-versa (β=.04). Associations between episodic memory and verbal fluency factors were primarily explained by genetic, rather than environmental, correlations. Conclusions Among individuals who were cognitively normal at wave 1, episodic memory moderately-to-strongly predicted progression to MCI at average age 62, emphasizing the fact that there is still meaningful variability even among cognitively normal individuals. Episodic memory, which is typically a primary focus for AD risk, declined earlier and more quickly than fluency. However, semantic fluency at average age 56 predicted 6-year change in memory as well as progression to amnestic MCI even after accounting for baseline memory performance. These findings emphasize the utility of memory and fluency measures in early identification of AD risk.


Design impacts every part of our lives. The design of products and services we encounter in all areas and walks of life influences the way we go about our daily activities. It is hard to imagine any activity of our daily lives that is not dependent on a designed artefact in some capacity. Our clothing, mobile phones, computers, cars, tools and kitchenware all enable and hold in place our everyday practices. Design impacts our built and natural environment through urban planning and architecture, and it impacts our health and safety by promoting or restricting activities that may or may not be healthy, or cause harm. Cooper et al. (2011) explain that in the past 100 years, 'we have designed systems of transport, work, and entertainment that mean we are less active' (p. 135) and which can be counter productive to our health where they lead to a lack of exercise. Simultaneously designers have improved the diagnostic and treatment devices for the non-communicable diseases affected by this lack of exercise (Cooper et al., 2011). Design can furthermore shape our views and expectations of how we should behave in our world through its implicit values. For instance, designs of the mobile phone and web 2.0 platforms have changed the way we interact and plan for work and leisure, as well as shifting the expectations for when and where we are available.


Hiroshima, Japan—Growing crystals of a protein for x-ray analysis of its structure is largely a matter of trial and error. But crystallographers meeting last month in Hiroshima got some good news about ways to make the process more reliable. The first detailed comparison of crystals grown in orbit with ones grown on Earth showed that space-grown crystals can approach perfection. And a clutch of new techniques presented at the meeting should speed the process of finding optimal crystal-growing conditions on Earth.


Abstract : In order to investigate pre-breakdown electron avalanches initiated in uniform fields in a high purity gas, a bakeable time resolved drift tube capable of operating near breakdown was constructed. The results of an investigation of electronic and ionic reactions in oxygen at pressures of 4, 8, 16, and 32 torr are reported as a function of E/p (ratio of electric field strength to pressure). The electron avalanches are started by photoelectrons. The electrons are known to undergo both ionization and dissociative attachment. It is also known that the atomic O(-) thus formed may further undergo detachment, charge transfer, or three body ion conversion. O2(-), O3(-), and O4(-) were also observed. In order to generate computed pulse shapes, continuity equations for the densities of the various charge carriers in the reactions were integrated and the solutions programmed. Results in oxygen gave new measurements of Townsend's first ionization coefficient, the attachment, detachment, and total loss reaction rates attributed to atomic O(-) as well as confirming measurements of the detachment and effective attachment reaction rates attributed to O2(-) and O3(-). (Modified author abstract)


BACKGROUND
As facial nerve palsy is usually of sudden onset and of obscure etiology, a survey of large series may provide new information.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The files of 40 children suffering from acute facial nerve palsy seen in 3 pediatric and 1 otorhinolaryngologic (ORL) departments between 1980 and 1990 were analysed. Patients with congenital palsy and those with paralysis that appeared after injury or in the course of acute or chronic disease (otitis media, tumor) were excluded from the study. The children were 9 months-16 years old (mean: 7 year 1 month). There were 22 left and 18 right facial nerve palsies. The palsy was moderate in 17 children, severe in 15, and total in 5. Etiologic factors (viral serologic studies, CSF examination), ORL studies and electromyogram of the facial nerve were analyzed in the majority of cases. Corticosteroids were used in 30 patients.

RESULTS
A viral etiology was suspected and/or confirmed in 13 children; abnormalities were seen in 6 of the patients who underwent lumbar puncture. A familial facial nerve palsy was seen in 1 case and kidney disease in 2 cases. 23 cases appeared to be idiopathic. A moderate permanent residual weakness was seen in only 4 children. The mean time for recovery was 32 days (4-140 days). Corticosteroids did not influence the incidence of complete recovery, but decreased the time for recovery (26 versus 37 days) only in the patients who were treated before the 3rd day of the disease. Patients with idiopathic palsy recovered 23 days before those with viral etiology.

CONCLUSIONS
Idiopathic and post-viral facial nerve palsies seem to have an excellent prognosis. Corticosteroids seem to have no effect although there is some evidence of benefit when treatment is begun early.


Purpose
Services for people with intellectual disabilities in the UK have evolved over the years from hospital-based care to more community provision. There are multiple reasons for these changes, however, often it was due to changes in social policy or following a scandal in provision. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach
Providing services to meet the health and social care needs of people with intellectual disabilities is well-established in the four countries of the UK with support from legislation. There are often specialist mental health and social care teams. Dedicated professionals work with people with intellectual disabilities who experience mental health problems with a focus on support in the community. A range of services for children and adults and for offenders exist across the UK that often vary in composition and structure.

Findings
The challenges in providing mental health services for children and adults with intellectual disabilities in the future include recruitment and training of the workforce with the remit of enhancing community support and reduced in-patient care.

Practical implications
This paper helps the reader to understand how ID mental health services are organised in the UK.

Originality/value
This paper gives a summary of the ID mental health services in the UK. Even though there are various papers looking at different aspects of mental health services for people with ID in the UK, this paper brings all that information together to help reader get a better understanding of the mental health services for people with ID.


There is evidence that high hydrostatic pressure can solate and weaken gel-like structures within cells. It was thus of interest to determine its effect on the mechanical properties of the cell surface since it has been suggested that there is a gel-like cortex beneath the plasma membrane which makes a significant contribution to its mechanical properties. The mechanical property measured was the resistance to deformation when the eggs were compressed mechanically. The eggs of Arbacia were compressed by placing a small plate made either from a fragment of coverslip or Melinex plastic sheet on a small group of eggs (20-100) so that the eggs supported the plate. The deformation of the eggs was determined by measuring their increased diameter. The mechanical properties of the cell membrane of unfertilized eggs appear to be unaffected by high hydrostatic pressure. When compressed fertilized eggs, from which the fertilization membrane had been, removed by urea treatment, were subjected to pressure of about 7x10 4 kN m -2 (10000 lb/in. 2 ) there was a significant increase in cell diameter. This increase was such that it appeared as if the resistance to deformation of the membrane were about quartered. Surprisingly after a few minutes the diameter decreased again indicating a contraction at the membrane even while under high hydrostatic pressure. Release of the hydrostatic pressure resulted in a further reduction in diameter and thus contraction at the surface, the final diameter sometimes being less than that before the hydrostatic pressure was applied.


The present study is an attempt to explore the potentials for expanding trade and investment under the ambit of sub-regional cooperation comprising four contiguous countries of Eastern South Asia which includes the two fast growing economies -India and China and the two developing economies of Bangladesh and Myanmar (BCIM). The initiative to explore potential opportunities of cooperation in this sub-region, which came to be known as Kunming Initiative, is essentially a track-II endeavour. The major objective of this initiative is to promote economic cooperation among the countries of this sub-region by making best use of their comparative advantages. The idea is to realise the potential benefits accruing from the abundant natural, human and other resources, based on mutual complementarities, through deeper integration of the constituent economies of the BCIM sub-region.


With the ongoing development of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technologies, user's dependence on these technologies has drastically risen. Ranging anywhere from industrial applications to agriculture or geodetic applications, the growing demand has stimulated the need for more sophisticated equipment with seamless accuracy. However, the signal received by a GNSS receiver has always faced the risk of contamination by many different sources of error, and this issue decreases the GNSS positioning accuracy. One of the most notable errors is the delay that occurs mainly in the troposphere layer, which mostly relies on the meteorological condition parameters. In this work, an artificial neural network (ANN)‐based mitigation technique in order to eliminate troposphere delay is presented. Our ANN model trained using the surface meteorological parameters, namely, temperature, humidity, wind speed, maximum wind direction, and pressure with the number of satellites achieved by a GNSS receiver. The result showed that ANN model successfully improved the position accuracy level of the GNSS receiver in both horizontal (2D) and three dimensions (3D) at 43.77% and 19.19%, respectively.


Combining an understanding of neuro-ophthalmologic anatomy with proper imaging techniques provides a powerful method to detect lesions involving the afferent and efferent visual pathways. Precise documentation of the extent of injury within the nervous system is becoming increasingly important to assess and monitor the effect of neurologic therapies. This review will focus on those common neuro-ophthalmologic problems that have exquisite localizing value on neuro-imaging.


Unfortunately, the computers we use for everyday activities can be infiltrated while simply browsing innocuous sites that, unbeknownst to the website owner, may be laden with malicious advertisements. So-called malvertising, redirects browsers to web-based exploit kits that are designed to find vulnerabilities in the browser and subsequently download malicious payloads. We propose a new approach for detecting such malfeasance by leveraging the inherent structural patterns in HTTP traffic to classify exploit kit instances. Our key insight is that an exploit kit leads the browser to download payloads using multiple requests from malicious servers. We capture these interactions in a "tree-like" form, and using a scalable index of malware samples, model the detection process as a subtree similarity search problem. The approach is evaluated on 3800 hours of real-world traffic including over 4 billion flows and reduces false positive rates by four orders of magnitude over current state-of-the-art techniques with comparable true positive rates. We show that our approach can operate in near real-time, and is able to handle peak traffic levels on a large enterprise network --- identifying 28 new exploit kit instances during our analysis period.


The word "sustainability" has been applied to resources such as energy and water, in addition to products, processes, urban infrastructure such as a city, or a quasi-natural infrastructure such as an eco-system. While there have been reasonable attempts made to evaluate the sustainability status of product and process systems from economic, environmental and societal impacts perspectives, no such systematic or rigorous analysis has been attempted for water and energy as resources, or water and energy supply systems. This discussion covers the essential sustainability concerns of water and energy systems and provides some thoughts on how one evaluates sustainability status and pathways for improvements.


Air interface multiple access (MA) schemes to support broadband wireless communications (BWC) are presented. These encompass a mixture of core protocols, a number of network technologies, various bearer link types, and different traffic components in a common transport channel. We consider these schemes, which use a medium access control (MAC) virtual region (VR) concept developed to cope with diverse services and applications. We propose a dynamic broadband multiple access (DBMA) scheme to allocate and share the capacity. A model for this channel is then considered in further detail, and simulations results are presented. These feature the channel capabilities in supporting different types of traffic (i.e. VBR, UBR, CBR) and its level of performance when applying dynamic access permission probabilities. For a given system bandwidth, these minimise queue delays and packet dropping while maximising system capacity in the number of users supported for mixed traffic categories.


In 22 patients with apallic syndrome brainstem auditory and somatosensory evoked potentials were recorded, in 8 patients the course during rehabilitation was observed. Clinically the patients were scored with Glasgow-coma scale, Karnofsky-index and Goldenberg-scale. The outcome of rehabilitation was estimated by the "Glasgow-outcome scale". No correlation was found between results of evoked potentials and clinical state. First evoked potentials measurements of apallic patients allowed no prognosis. Evoked potentials are an important prognostic factor after severe head trauma, but have no value for the prognosis of apallic patients.


An Islamic equity financing, namely Musharakah financing, which operates based on profit and loss sharing (PLS) principle seems to be idle in the Islamic banking operations. Even though Islamic banks was founded based on the idea of equity financing or PLS, in reality, its application in Islamic banking operations is very minimal as the current operations of Islamic bank are dominated by the debt based financing system. This gives difficulties to a certain market segment of borrowers, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in getting access to financing due to their difficulties in fulfilling debt financing requirement, mainly in providing collateral and high interest payment. Despite the resilience of Musharakah financing in the financial market, many past studies put emphasis on the need to utilize Musharakah financing for the development of SMEs. This study therefore, aims to examine the potential of Musharakah as an alternative financing for SMEs. To fulfill this objective, the main attributes of Musharakah financing, namely profit and lost sharing together with its moderating factor, namely trust were examined and tested among SMEs in Malaysia. Using survey by way of a questionnaire, this study found that the main attributes in Musharakah financing have potential in providing SMEs with greater access to financing. Furthermore, the moderating factors also play a significant role in strengthening the impact of PLS in Musharakah financing towards SMEs access to financing. The results demonstrate the viability of Musharakah financing as an alternative financing for SMEs which need crucial attention from the Islamic banks.


: Simultaneous repair of a radial tear at the tibial attachment site of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus under special circumstances requiring tibial valgus osteotomy is technically difficult. First, most patients who need an osteotomy have a narrowed medial tibiofemoral joint space. In such a situation, the pull-out suture technique is more difficult to perform than in a normal joint space. Second, pulling out suture strands that penetrate the posterior horn of the medial meniscus to the anterior tibial cortex increases the risk of transection during osteotomy. We performed a meniscus repair combined with an opening wedge tibial valgus osteotomy without complications and present our technique as a new method for use in selective cases necessitating both meniscus repair of a complete radial tear and opening wedge tibial osteotomy.


Large quantities of organic wastes are produced mainly in big cities, annually. There is urgent demand for safe and possibly economic practices for its use. Forest plantations have been studied as a potential ecosystem able to absorb organic residues as fertilizers or soil conditioners. This study evaluated the effects of the application of 15 tons/ha of composted organic waste of the city of São Paulo, and mineral fertilizers in a Eucalyptus grandis plantation on a very poor sandy soil, (NEOSSOLO QUARTZARÊNICO Órtico típico, according to the Brazilian soil classification). It was measured wood production, nutrient contents (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) in the components of the litter and of the trees and the physical and chemical changes in the soil properties, 86 months after the establishment of the plantation. It was studied the decomposition of the litter and the nutrient flow through rainfall, throughfall and stemflow, between 30 and 60 months of age of the trees. Nutrient budgets were obtained taking into account tree biomass data and nutrient contents of the litter and above ground parts of the trees at seven years of age. It was observed that the municipal composted organic wastes resulted in a increase of 45.6% in wood volume and 36.5% in biomass of the trunk under bark, as compared to the control. It also increased the velocity of the litter decomposition on average of 28% and 16% for leaves and twigs respectively, increased the base saturation and the pH level and the availability of water in the soil (from 13% to 25% more available water in the first layer of the soil, 0-10 cm). The balance of nutrients, in the test plots, showed that those plots that received municipal composted organic wastes presented the largest contents of N, P, K and Ca, 86 months after the establishment. As well, after harvesting, remained the largest nutrient pools in the same plots, contributing significantly to keep the forest productivity. The rain also contributed to the replacement of nutrients, 36% of N, 28% of P, 73% of K, 65% of Ca and 42% of Mg of total exported during wood harvesting. This study emphasized again the importance to keep the bark on site to the economy of nutrients. The bark accounted for about 32% of the amount of nutrients present in the above ground biomass of the trees. The large quantity of nutrients in the liter highlights the importance to conserve the organic matter to contribute to the sustainability of the production system.


Cervical cancer represents one of the major problems of health women worldwide, espe‐ cially in the developing countries. If discovered in its earliest stages, cervical cancer is successfully treatable; however, due to lack of proper implementation of screening pro‐ grams, the majority of cervical cancer patients are diagnosed in advanced stages, which dramatically influence their outcome. Almost a half of these patients will suffer recur ‐ rence or metastasis in the following 2 years after therapy. If there are no immediate pros ‐ pects in terms of developing new or more effective therapies, identifying new tools for early diagnosis, prognosis and treatment prediction remains a big challenge for cervical cancer. miRNAs have been validated to be key players in cell physiology, alterations in miRNA expression being associated with cancer progression and response to therapy. Cervical cancer studies have showed that alterations of miRNA expression can be identi ‐ fied in tumor tissues, exfoliated cervical cells and patients serum and that their transcrip ‐ tion pattern is regulated by the present HPV genotype. Furthermore, miRNAs have been associated with patients response to therapy, therefore suggesting their potential to be used as biomarkers for cervical cancer diagnosis, prognosis and treatment response.


We consider iterative algorithms of the form x := f(x), executed by a parallel or distributed computing system. We first consider synchronous executions of such iterations and study their communication requirements, as well as issues related to processor synchronization. We also discuss the parallelization of iterations of the Gauss-Seidel type. We then consider asynchronous implementations whereby each processor iterates on a different component of x, at its own pace, using the most recently received (but possibly outdated) information on the remaining components of x. While certain algorithms may fail to converge when implemented asynchronously, a large number of positive convergence results is available. We classify asynchronous algorithms into three main categories, depending on the amount of asynchronism they can tolerate, and survey the corresponding convergence results.


International human rights law treaties and their monitoring institutions raise important questions about the moral standing of institutions outside of the state and on what terms such institutions should be understood in political theory. The unmatched institutional nature of human rights treaty bodies presents a challenge for political theorists as it is not clear what the theoretical conception of these institutions ought to be and what concepts are relevant in assessing the point of these institutions. The aim of this article is to supply an argument for what the appropriate conception of authority applied to human rights bodies, as a distinct type of international institution, should be. For this, we survey the repertoire of moral reasons available in assigning authority to human rights treaty bodies in the current literature and assess the strengths and weaknesses of such reasons. The central argument of the article is that a successful theory for the justification of authority of international institutions has to account, firstly, for the very purpose of the authoritative relationship and, secondly, provide special and sufficient content-independent reasons to comply with the directives of these institutions.


Over the last seven years the software stack of the next generation B factory experiment Belle II has grown to over one million lines of C++ and Python code, counting only the part included in offline software releases. There are several thousand commits to the central repository by about 100 individual developers per year. To keep a coherent software stack of high quality that it can be sustained and used efficiently for data acquisition, simulation, reconstruction, and analysis over the lifetime of the Belle II experiment is a challenge. A set of tools is employed to monitor the quality of the software and provide fast feedback to the developers. They are integrated in a machinery that is controlled by a buildbot master and automates the quality checks. The tools include different compilers, cppcheck, the clang static analyzer, valgrind memcheck, doxygen, a geometry overlap checker, a check for missing or extra library links, unit tests, steering file level tests, a sophisticated high-level validation suite, and an issue tracker. The technological development infrastructure is complemented by organizational means to coordinate the development.


We show that the presence of sufficiently significant switching costs, which are increasing in the degree of product differentiation, generates an equilibrium configuration with maximal differentiation within the framework of a Hotelling model with linear transportation costs. The equilibrium with maximal differentiation offers a formalization of the idea that competing firms have noncooperative incentives to establish maximal switching cost barriers. The equilibrium incentives for commitments to high switching costs can be explained with poaching profits, which are increasing in the switching costs. Ex ante competition for market shares in period 1 is unable to eliminate these poaching profits.


This chapter describes spin-wave excitations in nanosized dots and rings in the presence of the vortex state. The special attention is paid to the manifestation of the competition between exchange and dipolar interactions in the spin-wave spectrum as well as the correlation between the spectrum and the stability of the vortex. The calculation method uses the dynamic matrix for an all-discrete system, the numerical diagonalization of which yields the spectrum of frequencies and spin-wave profiles of normal modes of the dot. We study in-plane vortices of two types: a circular magnetization in circular dots and rings and the Landau state in square rings. We examine the influence of the dipolar-exchange competition and the geometry of the dot on the stability of the vortex and on the spectrum of spin waves. We show that the lowest-frequency mode profile proves to be indicative of the dipolar-to-exchange interaction ratio and the vortex stability is closely related to the spin-wave profile of the soft mode. The negative dispersion relation is also shown. Our results obtained for in-plane vortices are in qualitative agreement with results for core-vortices obtained from experiments, micromagnetic simulations, and analytical calculations.