The ageing population structure, with concomitant increase in the prevalence of the pathologies of age and the morbidity associated with prostatectomy, require that we look to alternative forms of treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Although prostatic growth is dependent on androgens, especially dihydrotestosterone, the effect of steroids is probably mediated by other regulators. Androgens and oestrogens are believed to provide the hormonal environment that is essential for other biochemical factors to induce hyperplasia and perhaps malignancy. The aim of this study was to investigate one of the newly discovered relevant biochemical "factors" (epidermal growth factor). This growth factor is found in high concentrations in prostatic fluid and its relationship with the hormonal environment, steroid receptors and the presence of prostatic pathology have been examined. Benign prostatic hyperplasia and carcinoma are known to occur predominantly in two different regions of the gland. Variations in growth factor binding and steroid receptors within the gland have therefore been studied, as well as differences between patient groups. Use of new computerised morphometric techniques allowed the measurement, and more accurate comparison of the amounts of stromal and glandular tissue in different samples of prostatic tissue. These were correlated with the biochemical data from the same samples. The results show increased epidermal growth factor binding in BPH and a close association between steroid receptors and growth factor receptors in the abnormal part of the prostate. Although this suggests up regulation of the growth factor receptors in BPH, receptor binding is also found to be closely related to tissue morphometry. These findings should help understanding of growth regulation in the prostate and the pathogenesis of BPH. Ultimately it is hoped that this will also help identify those groups of patients who will respond to pharmacological treatment as opposed to those who will require prostatectomy for relief of their symptoms.


A survey of the occurrence of a no. of enzymes possibly involved in the C1 dissimilatory pathway in organisms using the serine pathway of C assimilation indicated that neither the methanol dehydrogenase nor the NH4-independent dye-linked formaldehyde dehydrogenase had a specific role in the oxidn. of formaldehyde. Conversely, the activities of enzymes involved in the methenyl-THF pathway were induced during growth on MeOH or MeNH2, suggesting a potential dissimilatory role for this pathway. [on SciFinder (R)]


To have the "right" competence for a specific work task has become very important in a world of high competition, continuous developments and fast changes. Without the necessary skills to handle a task the future for an enterprise can easy become uncertain. Since time is limited the process of acquiring relevant competence has to be efficient. There are many ways to build up knowledge in a new field. A common practice is to let the employees take courses in house or outside the company. The knowledge providers for these activities are typically learning institutes, educational companies or universities.The WBL-IE project presents a model that focuses on SMEs Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and work based learning, where tailor made learning activities play an important role. This model tries to pin- point the key educational areas of interest for the actual company. The start point is to find out the specific needs that the enterprise has and what complimentary skills and competences are necessary to strengthen, broaden and make better use of the knowledge that already exist within the company.The WBL-IE project target SME with less than 250 employees. Characteristic for these companies are that they have slimmed organisations and often no real focus on Continuous Engineering Education (CEE). Education activities are therefore closely linked to short term requirements and actions. The SME´s are acting on a high competitive market and often need to make very prompt decisions based on strategic choices.The WBL-IE work is based on earlier research in education modes in industrial engineering. One of the most interesting findings came from an interview campaign regarding continuous education in SMEs active in industrial engineering. Very few of the companies if any had a plan for their competence development to present. But at a deeper analysis you could find an important number of learning activities going on. There was in fact an unwritten competence development plan.  This means that SMEs already have a competence development process going on. With this observation in mind a new approach to the implementation of education activities in SMEs was developed, the WBL-IE concept. The WBL-IE concept starts with an interview session with a number of stakeholders in the company organization. The interviews are made after a guide especially developed by WBL-IE with the goal the give a realistic and complete picture of the many different learning processes going on in the organization. The role of WBL-IE is both to introduce the concept and implement and maintain it. The role means to have resources for analysing, proposing and supporting the competence development in SMEs active in industrial engineering. One of the most important factors in the implementation is the facilitator. The facilitator is a person with the ability to enhance the different learning processes in the company.The concept of WBL-IE model involves creating a learning environment that promotes focused learning in different settings. To meet the stakeholder on her/his home arena gives a deeper understanding of the companies' situation and in which direction they are aiming at. A thorough understanding of the current state will help the stakeholder and the facilitator to pin point key issues to address and together develop a plan that will be beneficial for the company. A program for pilot tests is running and findings/results will be reported.


Insulin action in vivo is determined by both transendothelial insulin transport (TET) across the capillary and subsequent insulin binding and postreceptor events. To examine TET under non-steady-state conditions, we performed intravenous glucose tolerance tests (IVGTT; 0.3 g/kg; n = 7) on conscious dogs. At basal, insulin in lymph was only 53 +/- 7% of plasma insulin (P < 0.001), whereas lymph glucose exceeded plasma levels (109 +/- 4 vs. 104 +/- 4 mg/dl, respectively; P < 0.02). On injection, dynamics of glucose in plasma and lymph were similar, suggesting rapid equilibration of glucose between compartments. In contrast, insulin appearance in lymph was delayed relative to plasma (5.1 +/- 1.3 vs. 2 +/- 0 min), peaked later (21 +/- 2 vs. 8 +/- 2 min), attained peak value of only 52 +/- 6% of plasma insulin (range, 35-76%), and remained lower than plasma insulin throughout the IVGTT (P < 0.05 or better). Minimal model-derived insulin sensitivity (SI) averaged 3.55 +/- 0.75 x 10(-4) min-1/(microU/ml). There was a strong linear relationship between lymph insulin and its effect on glucose disappearance [X(t), r = 0.95 +/- 0.01]. Determination of the relative contributions of TET and post-TET insulin-sensitive processes to overall SI revealed that cellular sensitivity to interstitial insulin dominated (r2 = 0.55), but was not the exclusive determinant of, overall SI, as insulin transport was also important (r2 = 0.21). TET is a previously unrecognized contributor to SI in vivo.


Robust and high-density biosensors incorporating suspended lipid membranes require microfabricated apertures that can be readily integrated into complex analysis systems. Apertures with well-defined, three-dimensional geometries enable the formation of suspended lipid membranes and facilitate reduced aperture size compared to vertical-walled apertures. Unfortunately, existing methods of producing apertures with well-defined, three-dimensional geometries are based on complex and expensive fabrication procedures, some of which yield apertures in excessively fragile thin-film materials. Here, we describe a microfabrication method utilizing incline and rotate lithography that achieves sloped-wall microapertures in SU-8 polymer substrates with precision control of the aperture diameter, substrate thickness, and wall angle. This approach is simple, is of low cost, and is readily scaled up to allow highly reproducible parallel fabrication. The effect of the incident angle of UV exposure and the size of photomask features on the aperture geometry were investigated, yielding aperture diameters as small as 7 μm and aperture wall angles ranging from 8° to 36° measured from the normal axis. Black lipid membranes were suspended across the apertures and showed normalized conductance values of 0.02-0.05 pS μm(-2) and breakdown voltages of 400-600 mV. The functionality of the resulting sloped-wall microapertures was validated via measurement of reconstituted α-hemolysin activity and the voltage-gated channel activity of alamethicin.


30 patients were enrolled in a double blind study designed to determine the efficacy and subjective preferences in reducing deposit accumulation, both lipid and protein, between an in-eye cleaning/re-wetting drop and a control re-wetting drop while wearing silicone hydrogel contact lenses on a 30 day continuous wear schedule. The patients had previously worn these contact lenses on a continuous wear schedule for a minimum of two weeks prior to enrollment in this study, and were asked to determine their preferences based on comfort, vision, and contact lens cleanliness. 27 patients completed the study of two thirty day continuous wear periods. With regard to comfort, 55.56% preferred the control drops, 29.63% preferred the in-eye cleaning/re-wetting drops, and 14.81% had no preference. With regard to vision 33.33% preferred the control drops, 25.93% preferred the in-eye cleaning/re-wetting drops, and 40.74% had no preference. With regard to lens cleanliness 48.15% preferred the control drops, 25.93% preferred the in-eye cleaning/re-wetting drops, and the remaining 25.93% had no preference. Biomicroscopy results of contact lens wetting, deposits, and numbers of mucin balls were equivalent for the two drops. In-eye cleaning/re-wetting drops appear to be compatible with silicone hydrogel contact lenses worn on a continuous wear basis and are similar in performance to re-wetting drops.


Plasma-assisted cleaning of extreme UV optics EUV-induced surface plasma chemistry of photo-active agents The next generation of photolithography, extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, makes use of 13.5 nm radiation. The ionizing photon flux, and vacuum requirements create a challenging operating environment. Because of high EUV absorption, the optical elements must be reflective rather than transmissive and must use multilayer mirrors (MLM) of the highest quality. MLMs consist of approximately 50 Mo/Si bi-layers, stacked to form an artificial 1D Bragg crystal. Since it is expensive to manufacture such optics, the lifetime of Mo/Si multilayers is one of the critical parameters for evaluating their performance. In case of vacuum MLMs might be oxidized or contaminated by carbon. In order to develop cleaning/reduction mechanisms one should characterize the plasma chemistry induced by EUV radiation on multilayer top surface. Model systems were developed, both experimentally and theoretically, allowing contamination scaling laws to be studied. The knowledge of EUV-induced plasma formation and evolution allows plasma-induced effects and photo-induced effects to be distinguished. The best illustration of the influence of high-energy photons on cleaning mechanisms has been obtained experimentally for amorphous carbon by comparing carbon removal in a surface wave discharge plasma and an EUV-induced plasma. The results presented provide basic know-how required to adopt radiation-induced plasma surface etching for industrial multilayer mirror cleaning. It has been shown that plasma is a very effective tool for surface carbon cleaning and oxide reduction. Using EUV plasma does not require the installation of additional devices for plasma (or radical) generation, and EUV-induced cleaning could be realized without interrupting production operations. This will help to extend the lifetime of EUV optics.


Manipulation of nanoparticles with atomic force microscopes (AFMs) has been under development for a decade and is now well established as a technique for prototyping nanodevices and for other applications. Until now, the manipulation process for particles with sizes of a few nanometers has been very labor intensive. This severely limits the complexity of the structures that can be built. Particle sizes on the order of 10 nm are comparable to the spatial uncertainties associated with AFM operation, and a user in the loop has been needed to compensate for these uncertainties. This paper addresses thermal drift, which is the major cause of errors for AFMs operating in ambient conditions. It is shown that drift can be estimated efficiently by using Kalman filtering techniques. This approach has firm theoretical foundations and is validated by the experimental results presented in this paper. Manipulation of groups of 15-nm particles is demonstrated under program control, without human intervention over a long period of time, in ambient air and at room temperature. Coupled with existing methods for high-level motion planning, the manipulation capabilities introduced here will permit assembling, from the bottom up, nanostructures that are more complex than those being built today with AFMs. Note to Practitioners-Nanomanipulation with scanning probe microscopes (SPMs) has potential applications in nanodevice and system prototyping, or in small-batch production if multitip arrays are used instead of single tips. However, SPM nanomanipulation is still being used primarily in research labs. A major obstacle to its wider use is the labor and time involved in the process. These are largely due to spatial uncertainty in the position of the tip (which is analogous to a robot's end effector) relative to the sample being manipulated. Today, a skilled user is needed to determine where the tip is and to correct manipulation errors due to inaccurate positional estimates. The major cause of this spatial uncertainty is thermal drift between the tip and the sample. At the time scales relevant to manipulation, the drift can reach values comparable to the size of the objects, especially if these are below /spl sim/10 nm. The techniques discussed in this paper compensate for the drift and enable automated manipulation, with associated savings in time and labor, and increased complexity of the resulting structures.


Bolivia has experienced high economic growth rates in the last decade and a half. This fast growth, however, varies largely across its administrative regions. Considering this heterogeneous-growth context, this article documents the evolution of income disparities and convergence patterns of the Bolivian regions over the 1988-2014 period. In particular, using a distribution dynamics approach, this article evaluates both the long-run equilibrium and the transition dynamics of the cross-sectional distribution of regional GDP per capita. The main results show a clear pattern of regional divergence for the period 1988-2000. In contrast, the 2000-2014 period points to a much more complex pattern of (di)convergence: the long-run equilibrium distribution is characterized by both a process of convergence arising from the top and a process of divergence near its bottom tail. Overall, the evolution of the external shape of the distribution and the intra-distribution dynamics suggest that the process of regional growth in Bolivia may be characterized by at least two convergence clubs. Moreover, these clubs are identifiable in periods of both low and high national growth.


Using password is, perhaps, still the most versatile method of securing secret and confidential information, even though several recent studies have pointed out possibility of breaching it. A general trend of having different passwords for several user accounts of the same user (such as multiple email accounts, multiple social networking accounts, etc.) can barely overcome the possibility as users mostly prefer retaining similarity among own passwords, which results in the possibility of breaching almost all passwords once only one password gets breached. Consequently, several research studies attempted to strengthen passwords. However, none of the studies is yet to get wide popularity for not being able to achieve a delicate balance between strength of password and user friendliness. To achieve this goal, we present a new password based authentication system in this paper. The proposed system is based on intermixing between a fixed text (conventional part of a password) and a free random text (newly added) at different pre-defined indices having different per-defined lengths. The addition of the free random text adds an additional level of difficulty in breaching the password. We present different variants of our proposed system along with their possible attack models. We demonstrate strength of our proposed system through rigorous analytical formulation and numerical simulation. Besides, we confirm achieving a delicate balance between strength of the password and user friendliness through performing real user evaluation.


The safety and efficiency of therapy by peroral anticoagulants (PA) depend on a laboratory monitoring based on the prothrombin test (PT). The test is distinguished through its variability conditioned by different means of results' presentation as well as through the sensitivity of thromboplastin and a type of a device used in coagulation detection. WHO recommended, 1983, to standardize the thromboplastin preparations through adjusting their sensitivity (the so-called International Sensitivity Index--ISI) to blood coagulation defects induced by PA versus the primary international reference thromboplastin. Thromboplastin ISI as well as the mean normal prothrombin time (MNPT) of blood plasma are used to calculate the international normalized ratio (INR). The presentation of PT results as INR is justified exclusively for the PA-therapy stabilized patients. The INR system makes it possible to optimize the PA therapy only if the laboratory expert and clinician can clearly understand the PT standardization essence and observe the key WHO recommendations, i.e. definition of a coagulometer-specific ISI by manufacturing companies, estimation of MNPT by laboratories and use of the correct anticoagulant concentration.


This publication is the outcome of a symposium held at UC Berkeley in February 2007, organized by the Center for Global Metropolitan Studies at the Institute of Urban and Regional Development, UC Berkeley. It brought together urban and regional planners, architects, engineers, developers, artists, and academics to examine the perspectives of a largely underrepresented topic: shrinking cities. The Future of Shrinking Cities: Problems, Patterns, and Strategies of Urban Transformation in a Global Context presents research carried out under the aegis of the Shrinking Cities International Research Network (SCiRN) and – in addition – selected case studies from the United States. The purpose of the publication is to encourage and inform discussion to improve the quality of life in shrinking cities. The authors identify and examine critical projects and issues in shrinking cities and present lessons learned from relevant projects and experiences in the US and abroad. The comparative approach to shrinking cities, incorporating a wide range of case studies in order to widen the debate, is both unique and innovative. The shrinking city phenomenon is a multidimensional process, comprising cities, parts of cities, or entire metropolitan areas that have experienced dramatic decline in their economic and social bases. Thus, urban shrinkage is often a challenge on the wide scale of metropolitan regions and requires policy-makers to redefine traditional paths of regional governance. Urban decline and the loss of employment opportunities are closely linked in a downward spiral, leading to an out-migration of population. The joint work places shrinking cities in a global perspective, setting the context for in-depth comparisons of selected cities considering specific social, economic, environmental, cultural, and land-use issues. Especially in the United States, planning practice is to a large extent concentrated on either managing urban growth or tackling redevelopment in a fragmented – not a regional – way, despite the fact that in many metropolitan regions urban shrinkage reaches beyond individual cities. In this regard, the papers will help initiate a redefinition of regional governance in the U.S. and also in the other participating countries via comparative research on shrinking cities. Karina Pallagst et al (eds.) With contributions by Thorsten Wiechmann, Emmanuele Cunningham-Sabot, Sylvie Fol, Cristina Martinez-Fernandez, Chung-Tong Wu, Hans Harms, Sergio Moraes, Robert Beauregard, Ivonne Audirac, Karina Pallagst, David Leadbeater, Helen Mulligan, Jasmin Aber, Jose Vargas, Rollin Stanley, Teresa Gillotti, Daniel Kildee, Joseph Schilling, Gabi Troeger-Weis and Hans-Jorg Domhardt.


Past research has highlighted a number of case- and court-level characteristics that may be associated with differences in case processing time, yet other factors remain relatively unexplored. Drawing on an extensive case-level data set of misdemeanor and felony cases resolved in New York City's court system, the current study contributes to our knowledge of case processing time by examining the association between the relative volume of arraignments (at the borough level) and case processing time. The analysis employs standard regression techniques to assess the relationship between case volume and case processing time while controlling for a number of individual- and case-level characteristics. Results suggest the relative volume of cases coming into the court system is positively associated with case processing time, net of several relevant case-level characteristics. These findings contribute to the small and inconsistent findings reported in prior work. Implications of these findings for future research and criminal justice policy are discussed.


Family business studies are becoming more pervasive in Malaysia, and several studies have focused on factors that shape family-owned business performance levels. Succession planning issues, and specifically the succession issues and experiences of second or third
generation family business owners (2GO/3GO), have not yet been explored at length. This study aims to revisit various factors that shape family firm performance by
examining succession issues and transition experiences encountered by successors. Data were drawn from self-administered surveys completed by 55 2GOs and 3GOs.
Descriptive, correlation and regression analyses were conducted to interpret our findings. The findings show that management styles, relationships between family members, values and beliefs and successor training significantly influence family business performance levels. The relationship between antecedents and business performance is found to be partly mediated by succession issues and fully mediated by sucession experience. Both theoretical and practical implications and avenues for future research are discussed


Widespread poverty is an urgent challenge for the world. Creating opportunities for steady employment at reasonable wages is the best way to take people out of poverty. Reducing poverty through employment requires two major thrusts: 1) generate employment, and 2) increase employability. To increase employment, I argue for focusing on small and medium sized enterprises, which are the main engine of job creation. To increase employability, a good starting place to focus on is the youth. This paper describes in detail two organizations, TechnoServe and Employment Generation & Marketing Mission, which are implementing these ideas and effectively helping to reduce poverty.


The Indian retail market, which is the fifth largest retail destination globally, has been ranked as the most attractive emerging market for investment in the retail sector by AT Kearney's eighth annual Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), in 2009. India is an attractive emerging retail market: a potential goldmine. According to a research, the share of retail trade in India's gross domestic product (GDP) was between 8–10 per cent in 2007.   At present, that is 2008 – 2009, the share is 12 per cent, and it will certainly reach 22 percent by 2010.   Though lacs and lacs of retail shops available in India, contributing to its GDP, the movement from unorganized sector to organized sector, causal for competition among them, is inevitable.  The present study reveals that how the factors like price, quality, offers, sales force conduct, shelf arrangement, discounts, packing facilities and customer care, brand choice and availability of a variety of products affect the behaviour of the customers and their level satisfaction at Femina. The research has been conducted with an aim to help the retailer – Femina to adopt suitable strategies to improve their share in the retailing industry.  Though it is newly established in Tiruchirappalli, it has been far and wide welcomed by the public.  The findings of the research prove this truth.  Nearly 125 customers were studies using convenience sampling.  Almost majority of the customers are willing to go for repeat purchases from Femina.


Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are powerful cosmic explosions, signaling the death of massive stars. Among them, GRB 221009A is by far the brightest burst ever observed. Because of its enormous energy (Eiso ≈ 1055 erg) and proximity (z ≈ 0.15), GRB 221009A is an exceptionally rare event that pushes the limits of our theories. We present multiwavelength observations covering the first 3 months of its afterglow evolution. The x-ray brightness decays as a power law with slope ≈t−1.66, which is not consistent with standard predictions for jetted emission. We attribute this behavior to a shallow energy profile of the relativistic jet. A similar trend is observed in other energetic GRBs, suggesting that the most extreme explosions may be powered by structured jets launched by a common central engine.


Homomorphic encryption, which enables the execution of arithmetic operations directly on ciphertexts, is a promising solution for protecting privacy of cloud-delegated computations on sensitive data. However, the correctness of the computation result is not ensured. We propose two error detection encodings and build authenticators that enable practical client-verification of cloud-based homomorphic computations under different trade-offs and without compromising on the features of the encryption algorithm. Our authenticators operate on top of trending ring learning with errors based fully homomorphic encryption schemes over the integers. We implement our solution in VERITAS, a ready-to-use system for verification of outsourced computations executed over encrypted data. We show that contrary to prior work VERITAS supports verification of any homomorphic operation and we demonstrate its practicality for various applications, such as ride-hailing, genomic-data analysis, encrypted search, and machine-learning training and inference.


Answering the call for alternative approaches to researching project management, we explore the evaluation of project success from a subjectivist perspective. An in-depth, longitudinal case study of information systems development in a large manufacturing company was used to investigate how various project stakeholders subjectively perceived the project outcome and what evaluation criteria they drew on in doing so. A conceptual framework is developed for understanding and analyzing evaluations of project success, both formal and informal. The framework highlights how different stakeholder perspectives influence the perceived outcome(s) of a project, and how project evaluations may differ between stakeholders and across time.


Far‐infrared absorption spectra have been measured for molecular beam epitaxial InAs/Al0.36Ga0.64Sb multiquantum wells by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy using light incident normal to the layers. The special band lineup for this heterostructure system causes an overlap of the electron and hole states. The measured absorption peak varies in the wavelength range of 5–10 μm in the temperature range of 100–300 K.


This study introduces a framework for the information-theoretic analysis of brain functional connectivity performed at the level of electroencephalogram (EEG) sources. The framework combines the use of common spatial patterns to select the EEG components which maximize the variance between two experimental conditions, simultaneous implementation of vector autoregressive modeling (VAR) with independent component analysis to describe the joint source dynamics and their projection to the scalp, and computation of information dynamics measures (information storage, information transfer, statistically significant network links) from the source VAR parameters. The proposed framework was tested on simulated EEGs obtained mixing source signals generated under different coupling conditions, showing its ability to retrieve source information dynamics from the scalp signals. Then, it was applied to investigate scalp and source brain connectivity in a group of children manifesting episodes of focal and generalized epilepsy; the analysis was performed on EEG signals lasting 5 s, collected in two consecutive windows preceding and one window following each ictal episode. Our results show that generalized seizures are associated with a significant decrease from pre-ictal to post-ictal periods of the information stored in the signals and of the information transferred among them, reflecting reduced self-predictability and causal connectivity at the level of both scalp and source brain dynamics. On the contrary, in the case of focal seizures the scalp EEG activity was not discriminated across conditions by any information measure, while source analysis revealed a tendency of the measures of information transfer to increase just before seizures and to decrease just after seizures. These results suggest that focal epileptic seizures are associated with a reorganization of the topology of EEG brain networks which is only visible analyzing connectivity among the brain sources. Our findings emphasize the importance of EEG modeling approaches able to deal with the adverse effects of volume conduction on brain connectivity analysis, and their potential relevance to the development of strategies for prediction and clinical treatment of epilepsy.


Background The Shariah hospital aims to provide health services inclusive of the appropriate code of ethics of Sharia, which exceeds the standard of service expected of conservative hospitals. Hospital care depends on the performance of health professionals. The study aimed to assess the relationship between the implementation of the ethical code of Shariah hospitals and the performance of health personnel. Methods The study is a quantitative analysis that collects cross-sectional data from 119 health personnel respondents in one Shariah hospital in Indonesia. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results The implementation of the ethical code of Shariah hospitals, whether explicit or implicit, has a significantly positive influence on the performance and well-being of health personnel, which is evident from the t value of 4.31 (more substantial than the t value of 1.960). This implementation should run consistently and with the commitment of all parties. Conclusion Such insight, in turn, can be counted as an input to an approach to health services, particularly in increasing the performance rates in hospital. This study is the first to provide new insight into discussion about Shariah hospital's code of conduct by presenting its beneficiary to not only improve health personnels' performance but also provide the inclusive health service for all religions and cultures which is essential in further study.


Anicteric hepatitis occurring in the absence of epidemics of infectious hepatitis has been infrequently reported in the English language literature. Only three references have been located pertaining specifically to this condition in the past 15 years. 1 During the first seven months of 1954, 43 cases of anicteric hepatitis associated with upper respiratory infections were observed and treated. These cases occurred sporadically in young men at an Air Force base in Colorado. This illness deserves emphasis because of its unusual nature and the possibility of chronic sequelae if it is unrecognized. In the 43 cases observed, the age range of the men was from 17 to 32; a large majority were in the age group 17 to 22, as would be expected in a military population. Anicteric hepatitis was first encountered in these men in January, 1954, and sporadic cases have continued to appear to the time of this writing.


fetus, so one needs to perform the right scan at the right time; we were lucky to get the last one in 10 minutes. Conclusions: Measuring the distance between the aorta and the trachea is easy to learn and takes less than 20 seconds to obtain, with easier recognition of the landmarks on the parasagittal view than the axial one. Its reliability in assessing the pouch sign in more than 10 000 fetuses is interesting, but the pouch sign is so difficult to visualize that it cannot be utilized as a first sign of pathology. Moreover, it occurs only in atresia without fistula of the upper part of the esophagus.


HIRSCHSPRUNG's disease with aganglionosis of the lower small intestine as well as the entire colon presents a particular challenge to the surgeon. Eight years ago we encountered an infant with aganglionosis of the entire colon and approximately half the small bowel. The surgical procedure which we ultimately employed to cope with this desperate situation proved to be successful, and the child is now leading a normal life. Since then, the operation has been performed on four additional infants with aganglionosis of the entire colon and terminal small bowel with uniform success. Comment About 5% of infants with Hirschsprung's disease will have the entire colon aganglionic. Extensive aganglionosis of the small bowel in addition is less frequent. Without surgery, most of these infants will die during the first few weeks of life although occasionally, one may live to be several years of age. 1,2 A recent collective review of 29 cases


We perform the global analysis of polarized Semi-Inclusive Deep Inelastic Scattering (SIDIS), pion-induced polarized Drell-Yan (DY), and $W^\pm/Z$ boson production data and extract the Sivers function for $u$, $d$, $s$ and for sea-quarks. We use the framework of transverse momentum dependent factorization at N$^3$LO accuracy. The Qiu-Sterman function is determined in a model-independent way from the extracted Sivers function. We also evaluate the significance of the predicted sign change of Sivers function in DY with respect to SIDIS.


† Use of Composites are increasing day by day because they offers advantages such as low weight, corrosion resistance, high fatigue strength, faster assembly, etc. MMCs posses significantly improved properties including high specific strength, specific modulus, damping capacity and good wear resistance compared to the unreinforced alloys. It is durable and highly efficient for automobile or aircraft. It exhibits higher competence for machining complex shapes with greater accuracy. Homogenous Continuous reinforcements can result in dramatic improvements in MMCs properties, consist of lightweight metal alloys, but cost remains high. Cost reduction can be achieved by cheaper reinforcements, simpler fabrication methods. It is possible to tailor their properties as per the requirement of various industrial applications by suitable combinations of matrix, reinforcement and fabrication method. This paper presents an up-to-date review of progress and benefits of different routes for fabrication and machining of composites. The purpose of this review to provide a reliable scientific basis for the researchers planning to synthesize particulate reinforcement, Wettability, porosity MMC in the stir casting.


As part of a continuing study of the effect of cluster environment on the star formation properties of galaxies, we have undertaken an Hα objective prism survey of the nearby cluster, Abell 1060. We detect 33 galaxies in emission, 24 of which are cluster members. We present new radial velocity measurements and Hα+[N ii] equivalent widths and fluxes for a number of these galaxies. We distinguish between galaxies with diffuse and compact emission, the latter having been associated in previous work with a disturbed morphology of the galaxy and most likely resulting from tidally-induced star formation from galaxy–galaxy or cluster–galaxy interactions. The fraction of cluster spirals in Abell 1060 detected with compact emission agrees with the expected fraction for a cluster of its richness, as derived from results of a previous survey of 8 clusters. Some of the detected cluster early-type spirals exhibit anomalously high global Hα equivalent widths, as compared to galaxies of similar type in the field.


Durable resistance to wheat stem rust fungus can be achieved by developing and deploying varieties that have race-nonspecific, adult plant resistance (APR) conferred by multiple minor, slow rusting genes. Wheat lines 'Kingbird, 'Kiritati', 'Huirivis#1', 'Juchi', 'Muu' and 'Pavon 76' showed high levels of APR to Ug99 races of stem rust fungus when tested in Kenya. The F5 and F6 generation recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations developed from the crosses of moderately susceptible 'PBW343' with five resistant parents were used in mapping. The non-Sr26 fraction of the 'Avocet' x Pavon 76 RIL population, developed earlier for leaf rust and stripe rust resistance studies, was also included. Field phenotyping of the parents and RILs were conducted at Njoro, Kenya for at least two years with Ug99+Sr24 (TTKST) race under high stem rust pressures. The continuous variation of APR in each RIL population and genetic analyses indicated quantitative nature of resistance that was likely governed by 3 or 4 minor genes. Single and joint year analyses by Inclusive Composite Interval Mapping (ICIM) using informative DArT and/or SSR markers identified consistent APR QTLs on chromosomes 1AL, 3BS, 5BL, 7A and 7DS in Kingbird; 2D, 3BS, 5BL and 7DS in Kiritati; 2B, 3BS, 4A, 5BL and 6B in Juchi; 2B, 3BS, 7B in Huirivis#1; 2B, 3BS and 5BL in Muu; and 1BL, 3BS, 5A and 6B in Pavon 76. QTLs on each genomic regions explained 1046% of the phenotypic variation for APR. Pseudo-black chaff phenotype associated with APR gene Sr2 on chromosome 3BS in all six resistant parents and identification of an APR QTL in the same region in all mapping populations confirmed the role of Sr2 in reducing stem rust severity. The 1BL QTL in Pavon 76 was in the same region where pleiotropic APR gene Lr46/Yr29/Pm39 is located. Similarly a 7DS QTL in Kingbird and Huirivis#1 was in the chromosomal region where pleiotropic APR gene Lr34/Yr18/Pm38 is located. These results indicate that the above two pleiotropic resistance genes confer APR to stem rust in addition to leaf rust, yellow rust 1CIMMYT, Nairobi, Kenya; 2CIMMYT, Apdo. Postal 6-641, 06600, Mexico, DF, Mexico; 3Syngenta Seeds S.A.S Ferme de Moyencourt 78910 Orgerus France; 4INIFAP-CEVAMEX, Apdo. Postal 10, 56230, Chapingo, Mexico; 5Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute, (KARI)Njoro, P.O. Njoro, Kenya. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com and powdery mildew. Further studies are underway to saturate the genomic regions harboring new APR QTLs with additional molecular markers.


INTRODUCTION
Smoking is a well-established correlate of suicidal behavior. It is not known if familial risk factors contribute to this association.

METHODS
Data were obtained via semistructured interviews with 1,107 twin fathers, 1,919 offspring between ages 12-32 years, and 1,023 mothers. Familial vulnerability to nicotine dependence and suicidal behavior was modeled via father and maternal self-report of these behaviors. Multinomial logistic regression models were computed with and without familial risk factors to estimate the association between offspring ever smoking, regular smoking, nicotine dependence, and a 4-level offspring suicide variable: (a) none, (b) ideation, (c) ideation + plan, and (d) ideation + plan + attempt or ideation + attempt. All models were stratified by gender and adjusted for sociodemographics, familial risk factors including parental suicidal behavior, nicotine dependence, and conduct disorder, and offspring conduct disorder, depression, alcohol abuse/dependence, and illicit drug abuse/dependence.

RESULTS
After adjusting for covariates and familial risk factors, ever smoking was not significantly associated with suicidal behavior in males and females. In males, regular smoking was associated with ideation + plan (odds ratio [OR] = 5.47; 95% CI: 1.05-28.60), and in females, regular smoking was associated with ideation + plan + attempt or ideation + attempt. In both genders, nicotine-dependent smoking was associated with ideation + plan + attempt or ideation + attempt (males: OR = 6.59; 95% CI: 1.91-22.70, females: OR = 3.37; 95% CI: 1.25-9.04). Comparison of models with and without familial risk factors indicated that there is no mediation of smoking status and suicidal behavior by familial risk.

CONCLUSIONS
Smoking and nicotine dependence are correlated with suicidal behaviour. Contributions from familial risk factors did not significantly alter this association.


CASE DESCRIPTION
A 7-year-old 573-kg (1,261 -lb) Swiss Warmblood gelding was evaluated because of signs of acute abdominal pain.

CLINICAL FINDINGS
Physical examination revealed a markedly distended abdomen with subjectively reduced borborygmi in all abdominal quadrants. A large, gas-distended viscus was present at the pelvic brim preventing complete palpation of the abdomen per rectum. Ultrasonographic evaluation could not be safely performed in the initial evaluation because of severe signs of abdominal pain.

TREATMENT AND OUTCOME
Ventral midline celiotomy was performed, and right dorsal displacement of the ascending colon was corrected. Progressive signs of abdominal pain after surgery prompted repeat ventral midline celiotomy, and small intestinal incarceration in a large, radial mesojejunal rent was detected. The incarceration was reduced, but the defect was not fully accessible for repair via the celiotomy. Repair of the mesenteric defect was not attempted, and conservative management was planned after surgery; however, signs of colic returned. A standard laparoscopic approach was attempted from both flanks in the standing patient, but the small intestine could not be adequately mobilized for full evaluation of the rent. Hand-assisted laparoscopic surgery (HALS) allowed identification and reduction of jejunal incarceration and repair of the mesenteric rent. Although minor ventral midline incisional complications were encountered, the horse recovered fully.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE
HALS techniques should be considered for repair of mesenteric rents in horses. In the horse of this report, HALS facilitated identification, evaluation, and repair of a large radial mesenteric rent that was not accessible from a ventral median celiotomy.


In plants, members of bZIP transcription factors are involved in various biological processes such as organ and tissue differentiation or vascular development. Moreover, the basic leucine zipper (bZIP) is one of the largest transcription factor families which play an important role in environmental stress responses. However, few bZIP genes are related to abiotic stress responses. Some studies have found that transgenic plants overexpressing the bZIP genes enhanced tolerance to abiotic stresses. Several of stress-related genes in maize have been identified and characterized. A ZmbZIP72 gene belonged to A group could be strongly induced by ABA and abiotic stresses. Some previous studies have shown that overexpression of the ZmbZIP72 gene resulted in improved drought and salt tolerance of a transgenic Arabidopsis. In this work, the ZmbZIP72 gene from drought-treated maize was isolated and sequenced with 894 bp in full-length of the coding region. Nucleotide comparison of the ZmbZIP72 gene and a GenBank sequence (accession number HQ328839) revealed that two changes were found at positions 486 (A to C) and 493 (C to T), respectively. Changes in predicted amino acid sequence were at positions 102 (Lys>Asp) and 105 (Pro>Ser). The newly isolated ZmbZIP72 gene was ligated with RD29A promoter and 35S terminator to create a RD29::ZmbZIP72::35S cassette in pRTL2 vector. Afterwards, this cassette was constructed into pCAMBIA1301 and the new recombinant pCAMBIA1301 vector carrying ZmbZIP72 construct has transformed into A. tumefaciens strain EHA105 which is material for plant transformation.


The main objective of the presented paper is to examine and assess the changes in labour productivity in the EU agriculture in the context of the diversity of its level and dynamics of change underlying the identification of labour productivity convergence/divergence processes taking place in agriculture. The labour productivity convergence processes in the EU agriculture were analysed based on data from the period between 2005 and 2016, by testing two its basic types, namely sigma and beta convergence. The analysis applied statistical measures describing the degree of labour productivity differentiation in agriculture of the EU countries and cross-sectional regression function. The research showed that sigma and beta convergence exist in general in the EU-28 countries.


Current land use and transportation trends, coupled with increasing consumption of vital resource lands and habitat, are undermining 30 years of environmental progress and threatening the quality of the air, water, land and living resources in the Mid-Atlantic Region. This Trends and Solutions Series is a comprehensive, datadriven, visual presentation that describes the trends and forces behind sprawl development, unsustainable transportation trends, consumption of vital resource lands, and destruction of habitat in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The Series also includes trends in quality of life, economic data, and showcases solutions to current land use problems, including transit-oriented development. For the past three years, the EPA Region 3's Center for Sustainability has been developing and presenting the Series, which has been viewed by over 1000 people, including government officials, universities, local government officials, and non-profit organizations. The goals of the Series are to 1) concretely link air, water, land pollution, and loss of habitat with current land use and transportation practices; 2) promote better transportation and land use decision-making by local governments and citizens by visually demonstrating land use strategies that protect the land, air, and water, promote healthy communities, and advance a sustainable economy. Data and trends has been synthesized into a complex and telling story of how land use and transportation choices, including the dramatic increased in impervious surfaces such as roads, highways and parking lots, are now being linked with a decrease in water quality and aquatic life. Data includes sources from EPA, DOT, USFWS, U.S. Forest Service, National Resources Inventory Data, American Farmland Trust, and the Chesapeake Bay Program. Most of the indicators have been reviewed for validity by a team of EPA scientists and managers.


The increasing use of cryosurgical ablation of the prostate for prostatic carcinoma necessitates that surgical pathologists be aware of the cryosurgically induced histologic changes in the prostate. Twenty-one patients at our institution underwent prostatic cryosurgery, and 17 subsequently had follow-up biopsies. The Gleason combined scores ascribed to the original tumors were 4 (two patients), 5 (six patients), 6 (seven patients), 7 (one patient), and 8 (one patient). Histologic examination revealed residual carcinoma (four patients, with Gleason combined scores of 4, 5, 6, and 8), necrosis (all 17 patients), hyalinization (nine patients), fibrosis (nine patients), granulomatous inflammation (three patients), foci of calcification (eight patients), squamous metaplasia (four patients), transitional metaplasia (two patients), hemosiderin deposition (six patients), edema (two patients), bacterial colonization (one patient), and hemorrhage (one patient). The grade of residual carcinoma in all four patients was identical with the grade assigned before the cryosurgical ablation. The stroma surrounding the residual tumor did not display any postcryosurgical histologic changes, and we postulate that these areas were not adequately frozen. In conclusion, prostatic cryotherapy induces a variety of histologic changes in normal and diseased tissue.


Ethical leadership has become a fundamental building block amongst the corporate organizations globally. However, minimal research evidence was found from a higher education institution (HEI) perspective, including the evidence from a South African higher education setting. Due to the lack of research linking the ethical leadership's style and employee's engagement (EE) at higher education institutions, it becomes important to find out if ethical leadership can positively promote the EE, which, in turn, can promote various other benefits at the institutions. Therefore, this study aims to examine this from the perspective of ethical leadership style and its impact on the EE. This study focused on a large HEI (Higher Education institution) based in KwaZuluNatal (South Africa). Quantitative data collection employed the probability sampling targeting 420 employees. Questionnaires were used as data collection tools and obtained a response rate of 312 (74%). The results show that the average mean value for EE (M = 2.87) was weak in comparison to the measurement standard of 3.00, which implied a lack of EE between leadership and employees. In addition, the results indicate that ethical leadership can positively influence the EE (M = 4.27), thus, indicating the need for more ethical leadership at this institution. Furthermore, the current lack of employee's engagement by leaders that do not exhibit the ethical leadership style can result in employees' disengagement at the institution. Anrusha Bhana (South Africa), Sachin Suknunan (South Africa)


In society, in nature, in technologic process and mainly in transportation it is no possible eliminate creation crisis and crisis situations. Everybody to try finding ways for minimize its behaviors and outcomes. In frame prevention activities we need prepare several measures for solving crisis situations in specific environment, space and time. Mathematical simulation can prepare several solutions, in good occasion also optimal solutions. The railway transport has prepared many specific organize, technical, and material proceedings for solving crisis situation. In article is described computing program for sophisticated solving of some problems.


Ultrasonic technique is an indispensable diagnostics to evaluate internal conditions. The conventional ultrasonic technique using a wave property, such as a reflected wave, wave speed, attenuation of amplitude and frequency spectrum is, however, not effective in some cases. In this study, we propose to use an instantaneous frequency of the ultrasonic pulse. The instantaneous frequency expresses a transition of the frequency of the ultrasonic pulse, so that it is sensitive to a slight variation of the ultrasonic frequency. The effectiveness is demonstrated through an experiment on adhesive strength of epoxy adhesive, which is controlled by curing process. The conventional ultrasonic technique is difficult for an evaluation of this adhesive strength. On one hand, the instantaneous frequency of an ultrasonic pulse, which passes through the adhesive layer, certainly distinguishes the difference of the adhesive strength. It is also shown that the adhesive characteristics pertaining to their strength are modeled as damping coefficients, which is demonstrated through a simple simulation of one-dimensional ultrasonic wave propagation.


Promoting and underlining the importance of structural thinking, Structural Systems: Behaviour and Design will provide readers with a comprehensive understanding of the behaviour of a wide range of structural systems based on the load-carrying mechanisms involved. Bringing together a wide array of structural types and covering the behaviour and design of both steel and reinforced concrete (prestressing inclusive), the author employs an integrated qualitative and quantitative approach to the examination of each structural element. Topics are introduced in a logical manner, building on concepts discussed and explained in previous chapters, providing readers with a sound understanding of the universal principles of structural behaviour and enabling them to apply safe conceptual and preliminary designs, whatever design codes they are working with. Building on the fundamental concepts and basic structural systems covered in Volume 1, this volume looks at the more advanced topics of spatial structural systems, dynamic behaviour and seismic response, and soil-structure interaction. Each topic is treated in a predominantly practical way and supported throughout with illustrative diagrams, equipping readers with the analytical tools and structural understanding required to undertake the design of complex structures, including bridges, buildings, space covering roofs and foundations.


Networks-on-Chip (NoCs) offer a scalable means of on-chip communication for future many-core chips. This work explores NoC router microarchitectures which leverage traffic pattern biases and imbalances to reduce latency and improve throughput. It introduces STORM, a new, low-latency, fair, highth-roughput NoC router design, customized for the traffic seen in a two-dimensional mesh network employing dimension-order routing. Compared to a baseline NoC router with equivalent buffer resources, STORM offers single cycle operation and reduced cycle time (17% less than the baseline on 45nm CMOS). This design yields a higher overall network saturation throughput (13% higher than the baseline) in an 8x8 2D mesh network for uniform random traffic. STORM also reduces packet latencies under realistic workloads by 36% on average.


A summary is given of the main sets of data requiring the existence of f0(1370). Crystal Barrel data on pbar-p ->eta eta pizero contain a visible f0(1370) peak and require at least a 19 standard deviation contribution. This alone is sufficient to demonstrate its existence. More extensive data on pbar-p ->3pizero at rest contain delicate interferences which determine the mass and width independently in 1S_0 and 3P_1 annihilation and agree within 5 MeV for both mass and width. The peak in 2pi is at 1282 +- 5 MeV, but the rapid increase in 4pi phase space with mass displaces the 4pi peak to 1360 MeV. BES II data for J/Psi ->phi-pi-\pi contain a visible f0(1370) ->2pi signal>8 sigma. In all cases, a resonant phase variation is required.


BACKGROUND
The goal of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of ipsilateral opposite-side aspiration, a new method to overcome resistant pneumothorax after failure of a simple aspiration. The patient position is reversed (from prone to supine or vice versa) and the aspiration repeated.

METHODS
Between January 1, 2010, and April 3, 2012, 129 consecutive, CT image-guided, percutaneous needle biopsies of lung nodules were performed in 127 patients (75 men, 52 women; mean age, 67.8 years; range, 26-88 years). Two patients underwent repeated biopsies. The mean lesion diameter was 38 mm (range, 8-110 mm). Core biopsy and fine-needle aspiration (FNA) were performed in 126 procedures; in three cases, only FNA was performed. In the cases with symptomatic minimal pneumothorax and in all patients with pneumothorax > 10 mm, immediate, simple, manual aspiration was performed. Ipsilateral opposite-side aspiration was performed when simple aspiration failed.

RESULTS
Among 129 CT image-guided biopsies, pneumothorax was detected by CT scan in 54 (42%); 51 (39%) were detected during the biopsy. Delayed pneumothorax occurred in two patients (1.55%). Manual aspiration to treat pneumothorax was performed in 27 of 129 procedures (21%). Simple aspiration was successful in 20 of these 27 cases (74%). Ipsilateral opposite-side aspiration was accomplished in the remaining seven cases (26%) and was successful in six cases (86%). Two of 129 procedures (1.55%) required chest tube placement.

CONCLUSIONS
Immediate, simple, percutaneous aspiration of iatrogenic pneumothorax was successful in 74% of patients needing treatment. Our proposed new method of ipsilateral opposite-side aspiration offers a solution for patients who remain with resistant pneumothorax after simple aspiration.


The revelation of Islam in Arabic, its emergence in the Western Arabian Peninsula, and its acquaintance with Biblical literature seem to be clear indications for Islam's birthplace and its religious foundations. While the majority of academic scholarship accepts the historicity of the revelation in Mecca and Medina, revisionist scholars have started questioning the location of early Islam with increasing fervour in recent years. Drawing on the isolation of Mecca and the lack of clear references to Mecca in ancient and non-Muslim literature before the mid-eighth century, these scholars have cast doubt on the claim that Mecca was already a trading outpost and a pilgrimage site prior to Islam, questioning the traditional Islamic and Orientalist view. Space, thus, plays a prominent role in the debate on the origins of Islam, although space is almost never conceptually discussed. In the following paper, I challenge the limited understanding of space in revisionist as well as mainstream scholarship. For the most part, this scholarship is not really interested in the multi-religious landscape sui generis, but understands early Islam either as a stable or an unstable entity that either reworked or digested the impact of Judaism and Christianity. In contrast, my contention is based on the view that Islam emerged neither "in" Mecca nor anywhere else, but that Muslims' practical and symbolic actions produced such places as Mecca, Medina, and the Ḥijāz as the central places of Islam. My argument is threefold: Firstly, the production of the Meccan space and its central meaning for Islam were mutually dependant, gradual processes. Secondly, the creation of an exclusively Muslim space in the Ḥijāz conversely inscribed multi-religiosity into the general topology of early Islam. Thirdly, the early history of Islam hints at practices of un/ doing differences, exemplified by instances of sharing, the creation of ambivalence, and processes of purification. Moreover, my contribution questions the way in which research on the origins of Islam has become a meaningful object of knowledge about the "true" nature of Islam against the background of populist discourses on Islam.


There is a general consensus that the mortality rates for asthma in much of the developed world have been increasing for the past 10-15 years. This has occurred despite an improved information base regarding diagnosis and management as well as the development of novel and more effective therapeutic modalities. Several explanations have been proposed for this increase, including a statistical artifact based on a change in the coding criteria for asthma from the International Classification of Diseases Version 8 (ICD-8) to ICD-9, worsened pollution, delays in seeking medical help, behavioral changes, deficits in asthma education of both patients and primary care providers, toxicity of beta agonists, and noncompliance with medications. We suggest that although all of these are potential etiological factors, there may exist still another major etiological risk. There have been dramatic changes in our eating habits and food preparation. In general, we eat less total calories, more meals outside the home, and more refined or prepared foods. With the emphasis on reducing the intake of saturated fats and cholesterol, we eat more polyunsaturated fats both by choice and secondary to manufacturers' attempts to improve the appeal of foods to health-conscious government and the public. The drive to remove animal fats and cholesterol from our diet has resulted in the replacement of animal fats with vegetable oil in food manufacture, fast-food frying, and even home preparation. One result of these dietary habits has been a doubling from 8 to 15% of the percentage of the polyunsaturated linoleic acid in body fat. We postulate that this, and other nutritional changes, will render asthma a more difficult syndrome to manage and will contribute adversely to the inflammatory abnormalities in airways.


Pollution is essentially a biological phenomenon in that its primary effect is on living organisms. A biological investigation of a polluted lake or stream has several advantages over chemical analyses. It is less time-consuming because a single series of samples can reveal the status of the animal and plant communities which themselves represent the results of the summation of the prevailing conditions. The animals and plants provide a record of the prevailing conditions and are not affected by a temporary alleviation of a polluting effluent. Intensive studies were carried out by Gaufin and Tarzwell in 1952 and 1956 to determine the effects of organic pollution on the aquatic communities of Lytle Creek and the value of these populations as indicators of pollutional conditions. The studies revealed that little reliance could be placed upon the mere occurrence of a single species in a given locality as an indicator of pollution. In the creek the nine species of macroinvertebrates which were most numerous in the septic zone also occurred in the recovery and clean water zones, but in much smaller numbers. The septic zone had less than one fifth as many species as the clean water zone, but the total number of organisms per unit area was many times greater. The septic zone was characterized by species adapted to live in low dissolved oxygen concentrations or those able to secure their oxygen directly from the air. In the clean water zone there was a great variety of invertebrate communities, each consisting of many different species. Most of the species which occurred in the septic and recovery zones were also found in very limited numbers in the clean water zones. In addition, there was also present a wide variety of forms which were intolerant of conditions in the polluted zones. Most of these were the gill-breathing, immature stages of such insects as the mayflies, stoneflies, caddis flies, and alder flies. In evaluating the reliability of aquatic organisms as indicators of pollutional conditions and water quality, one must consider the different indicator organisms not separately but as biological associations or communities. The organisms should be considered as groups according to their morphological adaptations and physiological requirements. Several formal systems for the biological assessment of pollution based on community composition have been suggested. A reduction in community diversity has been noted in a number of rivers polluted by organic wastes. Diversity indices, based on information theory, are very useful for comparing changes in community composition in streams altered by pollution.


Abstract Anthropogenic underwater noise pollution of seas and oceans caused by shipping can have negative effects on marine animals. The aim of this study was to evaluate quantitatively how much the underwater noise levels in the Slovenian Sea were influenced by anthropogenic pressures and meteorological parameters in the period from 2015 until 2018. For this purpose, correlation method and least squares multiple linear regression analysis were used. The results of this study show that the correlation of underwater noise levels with the dredging activity is significant but low, while correlation with the ship densities is insignificant, which could be due to reduced sound wave propagation in the shallow sea levels. Correlation of the underwater noise levels with the wind speed was significant but low to medium, which could be explained by the breaking waves generated by the wind that produced sound.


Analysis was carried out on the sensory, mineral, functional, and proximate properties of maize semolina fortified with bambara groundnut flour using different formulations. The sensory evaluation of maize semolina fortified with bambara nut flours was carried out using the different formulations. Sample MWB which is sample produced between 40% maize, 40% wheat and 20% bambara nut flours. It had 7.60% color, 7.90% flavor, 6.90% taste, 8.50% texture, and 9.00% acceptability, respectively. The calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and phosphorus contents were 92.59 mg/kg, 179.46 mg/kg, 300.58 mg/kg, 16.35 mg/kg, and 6.80 mg/kg, respectively. For the functional properties, the oil absorption capacity (g/g) was 6.0, water absorption capacity (g/g) was 7.80, emulsion capacity was 54.00%, gelation capacity was 22.60%, foam capacity was 48.30%, and bulk density was 0.78 g/ml. The moisture content, ash content, crude fat, crude fiber, and the crude protein composition were 12.29%, 1.60%, 5.60%, 3.80%, 17.38%, and 59.33% carbohydrate, respectively. The results showed that the nutritive value of bambara nut flour incorporated into maize semolina flour can be used to supply protein to the human diet.


In this paper, we address dynamic spectrum access for Primary Operators (POs) for LTE-Advanced systems. We propose a dynamic spectrum access framework that exploits the capabilities of carrier aggregation to efficiently utilize the unutilized spectrum which varies with time and space when static spectrum access policies are adopted. A spectrum owner (SO) adopts an auction scheme for accessing spectrum for the dynamic requests. Furthermore, we introduce an accurate model driven by real-life statics and LTE-A standard specifications for estimating the bandwidth required to satisfy the traffic demands of an operator's subscribers for a projected demand model. For the auction process, we map the spectrum access problem into a bounded knapsack problem which is solved using dynamic programming in pseudo-polynomial time. The solution uses the generalized second price strategy. Simulation results show more than 20% reduction in the required spectrum and up to 80% reduction in the average unutilized spectrum as compared with traditional static spectrum access due to the on-demand spectrum assignment.


Mutualistic communities maximize their structural stability [Also see Research Article by Rohr et al.] Interactions between species in a community may be mutually beneficial, competitive, or exploitative. The resulting ecological networks strongly influence the population dynamics of species (1). Nonrandom features of such networks may reflect organizing processes. For example, mutualistic networks such as plant-pollinator communities are "nested." Specialist pollinator species visit plant species that are subsets of those visited by more generalist pollinators (see the figure). But what drives the emergence of nestedness? On page 416 of this issue, Rohr et al. (2) provide theoretical and empirical evidence for the decade-old idea that nestedness prevails because it stabilizes mutualistic networks.


In this Opinions in the Profession article, we aim to highlight the distinct importance of functional cognition as an assessment and intervention priority in children. In this paper, we use the population of critically-ill children as a specific case example. Functional cognition is the ability of individuals to use and integrate their thinking and processing skills to accomplish desired tasks in their everyday lives in meaningful contexts. We propose three themes through which occupational therapists can assume a more active role in understanding and addressing functional cognition and its impact on occupational performance in critically ill children. Supported by literature, we assert that occupational therapists should: (a) reframe and use the language of functional cognition with a pediatric perspective, (b) use and develop specific assessments to address functional cognition with critically ill children, and (c) include a functional cognition lens during occupation-focused interventions with critically ill children. As the profession of occupational therapy continues to prioritize the practice area of functional cognition, assessment and intervention guidelines will need to be further established and more evidence developed for pediatric specific populations. We urge occupational therapists working with critically ill children to begin to consistently use functional cognition as an essential element in all assessment and intervention planning. Comments The authors report no potential conflicts of interest.


With climate change, heat waves have become more frequent and intense. Rotating power outages happen when the power supply is unable to meet the cooling demand increase resulting from extreme high temperatures. Power outages during heat waves expose residents to high risks of overheating. In this study, we propose a novel data-driven inverse modelling approach to inform decision makers and grid operators on planning rotating power outages. We first infer the building thermal characteristics using the connected smart thermostat data, and used the estimated thermal dynamics to simulate the thermal resilience during a heat wave event. Our proposed method was tested for the California power outage in August 2020 by using the open source Ecobee Donate Your Data dataset. We found in California the power outage should not last more than two hours during heat waves to avoid overheating risks. Informing the residents in advance so they can prepare for it through pre-cooling is a simple but effective strategy to expand the acceptable power outage duration. In addition to assisting power outage planning, the proposed method can be used for other applications, such as to evaluate a building energy efficiency policy, to examine fuel poverty, and to estimate the load shifting potential of building stocks.


Purpose: This research employs a modified Team-Based Learning method to realise students perspective on how it can develop traits characteristics such individual growth and important life skills, like critical thinking. In fact the higher education has been criticized for not developing the competences specific for professional expertise, which are a necessary requirement in the training of psychologists in Europe today. The present work goes beyond the employment of TBL method mainly in courses regarding healthcare, enriching the small number of studies that used TBL in teaching Psychology. Methods: Taking part in these study 50 psychology students of a university of the northwester Italy. The study used the qualitative method of the diary. Participants were asked to write a diary about their TBL experience. The content of the diaries was analysed using the qualitative analysis software NVivo. Results: The topics strictly concerning the team and its functioning, emerged are: team, communication, comparisons with other teams, feelings, group atmosphere, TBL method's strengths, TBL method's weaknesses and evaluation. Participants identified TBL as a positive experience and one, which the university system should employ more in its courses. This experience allowed them, in their opinion, to develop important life skills, like critical thinking. From those findings is possible to affirm that modified TBL is a method much appreciated by students because improve their personal growth. They identified overall positive emotions arising from the TBL experience, especially in relation to their expectations about the result of the final exam. Generally, students appreciate TBL experience: teams are described with a positive impression of teammates, as a place where mutual listening and open and a collaborative atmosphere are experienced. Conclusion: This study improves the lacking literature about the employment of TBL in psychology classes by qualitative approach.


In today's increasingly dynamic business setting innovation is known for being of importance and accomplishing a competitive advantage. The research on innovation has acknowledged the role of knowledge being the foundation of competitive advantage. Many companies imply that knowledge sharing is the reason for the competitive edge. In today's business world it is gradually turning to become a knowledge environment. This paper addresses the impact of knowledge creation on crowdsourcing in terms of innovation. The objective of this study is to understand the importance of crowdsourcing and knowledge creation within innovation management. Innovation is the outcome from implementing structural knowledge. In this study we will seek to understand and recognize how crowdsourcing can be utilized to enhance the formation of structural knowledge. In our findings we acknowledge that crowdsourcing has a constructive influence on innovation. Knowledge sharing also has an effect on the level of innovation in organizations. The methodology will mainly be based on an interpretivist approach from our literary review. Our research findings from all the literature will primarily be of a qualitative approach. There is also a case study covered in this thesis describing using knowledge management with crowdsourcing as a way to promote innovation.


The study investigated popular election results regarding the relationship between the variables of county board member defeat or re‐election and the reappointment or dismissal of county school superintendents, in the state of North Carolina, within a one, two, three or four year time frame. All 100 county school districts were studied over a 12‐year period of time in which an ex post facto quasi‐experimental research design was used to determine the relationship between incumbent board member defeat and superintendent turnover following six general elections. Results of the study show there was stability in both superintendent reappointment and incumbent school board member re‐election. These findings do not support previous research regarding the dissatisfaction theory in that previous studies found significant differences between superintendent turnover and incumbent school board member defeat. This study, unlike others, focused on county public superintendent turnover and county board member election ...


A study is made of a fairly general algorithm for tracking properties that can be described in a linear regression form (including autoregressive models and the like). An explicit expression for the mean square error between the estimated and the true (time-varying) parameter is established. For slow adaptation this expression can be arbitrarily well approximated by a much simpler expression. The treatment differs from related studies, using weak convergence theory, averaging, etc., in that the results are not asymptotic in nature and they are applicable also to the transient phase, as well as over unbounded time intervals.<<ETX>>


Some species of soil bacteria and most organisms living in extreme environments such as salt lakes or coal or salt mines have effective protective mechanisms that enable them to function under adverse conditions. A common way to protect against harmful environmental factors is the production and accumulation of substances with an osmoprotective effect. One of such substances is ectoine, or 1,4,5,6-tetrahydro-2-methyl-4- -pyrimidine-carboxylic acid of an amphoteric nature. The effect of ectoin, mainly based on the binding of water molecules, has found wide application in the protection of macromolecules and cells. This work is a review of the use of this amino acid in human and veterinary medicine.


Sciaenids are one of the major component of the demersal
trawl The total catch of this resource during 1990-94 period was
1.50,142 t contributing 8.86% to the demersal catch of India. A
number of species are found in different states of India. Of which
biological and stock assessment studies were made on eleven important
species. Crustaceans and fish appear to be the chief food
in Juvenile and adult stage respectively. Most of the species have a
protracted spawning season. Among all the species studied the largest
asymptotic length was estimated for O.ruber from Tuticorin and
the smallest for J. sina from Cochin. The highest Z of 7.59 was
recorded for K. axillaris from Chennai and the lowest was for O.
cuvierifrom Mumbai. The average exploitation rate (E) and the Lc/
Lao was 0.62 and 0.53 respectively. The present yield is 91.222 t
and the MSY is 1.42,613 t for all the species taken together. The
exploitation rate for almost all the stocks in the states appears to be
more than the optimum level


Fitting equilibrium dynamical models to observational data is an essential step in understanding the structure of the gaseous hot haloes that surround our own and other galaxies. However, the two main categories of models that are used in the literature are poorly suited for this task: (i) simple barotropic models are analytic and can therefore be adjusted to match the observations, but are clearly unrealistic because the rotational velocity $v_\phi(R,z)$ does not depend on the distance $z$ from the galactic plane, while (ii) models obtained as a result of cosmological galaxy formation simulations are more realistic, but are impractical to fit to observations due to high computational cost. Here we bridge this gap by presenting a general method to construct axisymmetric baroclinic equilibrium models of rotating galactic coronae in arbitrary external potentials. We consider in particular a family of models whose equipressure surfaces in the $(R,z)$ plane are ellipses of varying axis ratio. These models are defined by two one-dimensional functions, the axial ratio of pressure $q_{\rm axis}(z)$ and the value of the pressure $P_{\rm axis}(z)$ along the galaxy's symmetry axis. These models can have a rotation speed $v_\phi(R,z)$ that realistically decreases as one moves away from the galactic plane, and can reproduce the angular momentum distribution found in cosmological simulations. The models are computationally cheap to construct and can thus be used in fitting algorithms. We provide a python code that given $q_{\rm axis}(z)$, $P_{\rm axis}(z)$ and $\Phi(R,z)$ returns $\rho(R,z)$, $T(R,z)$, $P(R,z)$, $v_\phi(R,z)$. We show a few examples of these models using the Milky Way as a case study.


Vertical Axis Wind Turbines (VAWTs) are used to harness wind energy to meet renewable energy targets. Operations in dusty environments, such as in deserts, could adversely impact on its performance output. In order to analyse this, both clean and dusty environments have been numerically simulated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) based techniques, where the dusty environments constitute of various sand particle sizes. Comparative studies between clean and dusty environments have been presented. Critical analysis of the erosion rate on a rotor blade of the VAWT has also been carried out. It has been shown that sand particles decrease the torque output of the VAWT. It has also been shown that increase in sand particle size decreases the performance of the VAWT. The results obtained have been used to develop a novel semi-empirical prediction model for the torque output of the VAWT as a function of sand particles' size.


Ethnomedicine using mostly plants is of pivotal importance nowadays in several Transylvanian regions in Romania. In this study (2007–2015), one Swabian-German, one Hungarian, three Csango-Hungarian and nine Szekely-Hungarian villages were selected to collect ethnomedicinal treatments for various gastrointestinal diseases. Some of the studied villages have partial or no permanent medical and pharmaceutical services. The 374 inhabitants interviewed used mostly medicinal plants based on ancient knowledge. The 78 (53 wild and 25 cultivated) plants documented have 181 local names and are used to treat ailments such as loss of appetite, bloating, stomach ache, gastric ulcer, and diarrhea, mostly in tea form. This knowledge decreases continuously because of loss of interest among young people and through frequent use of media sources and books. Although some of these plants have also been described in official medicinal sources, several data suggest the need for further fieldwork and new experimental analyses to...


In this paper, the deformation fields of LY12 crack samples loaded by an SHTB are real-time investigated with the time interval of 10 µs by an optical system, which consists of a high-speed camera, a flash light, a frame grabber and a synchronization device with the delay-time less than microsecond. The cracks are preset by using the three-points bending method in a MTS fatigue machine. The crack is 2mm long with a flare angle of 60 degree. During the experiments, the dynamic deformation images are captured by the high speed camera and analyzed by newly developed software based on Digital Correlation theory. And the displacements fields near crack-tips according to the changes of the flare angle and radius during the impact process are obtained. Experimental results acquired in this paper are proofed, by compared with the theoretical calculations.


PurposeVarious research studies in the past have found biological gender to be a differentiator for money attitudes. However, the beliefs and attitudes that people have towards money can also be the result of the gender socialisation, which may have a greater impact on how one relates to money. Since, gender is an important aspect for understanding financial choices and decisions, it becomes pertinent to learn as to which aspect of gender, the biological or the psychological, impact the money attitudes and beliefs that a person holds. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.Design/methodology/approachThis empirical work attempts to understand gender differences in money attitudes from the biological gender and psychological gender perspective. The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and Tang's money ethic scale (MES) were used for this study. The hypotheses raised were tested on a sample of 224 respondents from India.FindingsThe results suggested that money attitudes can be better understood when seen from the lens of psychological gender and not biological gender. Further, androgyny individuals were found to exhibit more balance in their money attitude dimensions than masculine or feminine individuals.Originality/valueBelief and attitudes towards money would impact how contented people are with the compensation they receive, their financial planning choices and also their financial well-being. This insightful study adds to the scant literature that exists on understanding money attitudes from psychological gender perspective and would pave the way for more work in this area.


This study aims to investigate the ways classroom interactions in Interactive Read Aloud construct students' reading comprehension, and the strategies implemented by teacher before Interactive Read Aloud to produce classroom interactions in English as a foreign language context. This study employed a case study approach, and used two types of instruments which were classroom observation, and written documents to answer the research questions. The result of the study revealed that to construct students' reading comprehension, confirming, modeling, extending, and building interactions were produced during Interactive Read Aloud, and also revealed several strategies that were applied before Interactive Read Aloud to produce classroom interactions which were reading the book several times, formulating the learning objectives and questions, building students' background knowledge, identifying where students prediction should be shared, and devising opportunities for students to explore the story more. It is thus recommended for EFL young learners' teachers who implement this method to produce the interactions, and conduct the strategies before the implementation thus the interactions that construct students' reading comprehension are produced.


Most fluid flows of practical applications are turbulent. In flows involving interactions with flexible structures, such as an aircraft skin, the knowledge of turbulent wall-pressure fluctuations is critical. Both measurements and direct numerical simulations of the wall-pressure fluctuations are difficult and costly. Therefore, the use of the semi-empirical turbulent wall-pressure fluctuation models is wide spread. One of the most widely used models is that due to Corcos (Resolution of Pressure in Turbulence," J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 35(2), pp. 192–199). The biggest advantages of this model are simplicity and ease of use. However, the model has several weaknesses as well and therefore many models have been proposed to address them. In this paper, we briefly review existing models and then propose a model that remedies their weaknesses. The proposed model keeps the simplicity of the Corcos model and it is given in both space-frequency and wavenumber-frequency spaces. The new model accurately captures the convective peak and shows better agreement with experimental data at lower wavenumbers.


Background When someone needs to know whether and when to seek medical attention, there are a range of options to consider. Each will have consequences for the individual (primarily considering trust, convenience, usefulness, and opportunity costs) and for the wider health system (affecting clinical throughput, cost, and system efficiency). Digital symptom assessment technologies that leverage artificial intelligence may help patients navigate to the right type of care with the correct degree of urgency. However, a recent review highlighted a gap in the literature on the real-world usability of these technologies. Objective We sought to explore the usability, acceptability, and utility of one such symptom assessment technology, Ada, in a primary care setting. Methods Patients with a new complaint attending a primary care clinic in South London were invited to use a custom version of the Ada symptom assessment mobile app. This exploratory pilot study was conducted between November 2017 and January 2018 in a practice with 20,000 registered patients. Participants were asked to complete an Ada self-assessment about their presenting complaint on a study smartphone, with assistance provided if required. Perceptions on the app and its utility were collected through a self-completed study questionnaire following completion of the Ada self-assessment. Results Over a 3-month period, 523 patients participated. Most were female (n=325, 62.1%), mean age 39.79 years (SD 17.7 years), with a larger proportion (413/506, 81.6%) of working-age individuals (aged 15-64) than the general population (66.0%). Participants rated Ada's ease of use highly, with most (511/522, 97.8%) reporting it was very or quite easy. Most would use Ada again (443/503, 88.1%) and agreed they would recommend it to a friend or relative (444/520, 85.3%). We identified a number of age-related trends among respondents, with a directional trend for more young respondents to report Ada had provided helpful advice (50/54, 93%, 18-24-year olds reported helpful) than older respondents (19/32, 59%, adults aged 70+ reported helpful). We found no sex differences on any of the usability questions fielded. While most respondents reported that using the symptom checker would not have made a difference in their care-seeking behavior (425/494, 86.0%), a sizable minority (63/494, 12.8%) reported they would have used lower-intensity care such as self-care, pharmacy, or delaying their appointment. The proportion was higher for patients aged 18-24 (11/50, 22%) than aged 70+ (0/28, 0%). Conclusions In this exploratory pilot study, the digital symptom checker was rated as highly usable and acceptable by patients in a primary care setting. Further research is needed to confirm whether the app might appropriately direct patients to timely care, and understand how this might save resources for the health system. More work is also needed to ensure the benefits accrue equally to older age groups.


Abstract. The intent of this paper is to demonstrate the cultural value that Virtual Heritage experiences can generate. As a proof of concept, game resolution assets were optimized from high polygon image based models (IBMs) and rendered in real-time, within a Head Mounted Display (HMD). The case study of lot 3317 was chosen to facilitate heuristic explorations pertinent to the history of the St. Lawrence Seaway, Canada. This case study explores methods in creating and validating heritage values, while valourizing assets as a cultural resources for use in the future. While at the same time, challenging the current spatial dynamics by conceptually reducing the distance between the viewer and the flooded landscape. In addition to demonstrating the cultural values generated through the veneration of lot 3317, the paper aims to provide a model for optimizing and post processing meshes produced through Under-Water Image-Base Modelling.


Abstract The Bulgarian countryside has suffered a significant phenomenon of rural emigration since the early 1970s. The main consequence of rural depopulation has been a decline of investments in Bulgarian farms and in their own level of technical and economic efficiency. The aim of this research was to assess afterwards the enlargement of the European Union in 2007, the technical efficiency by a non-parametric approach such as the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), using some findings and variables investigated in the Farm Accountancy Data Network annual survey from 2007 till 2015. Farms have been stratified into functions of their typology of farming and their geographical localization. Research findings have pointed out that specialized farms as dairy farms and granivores ones have had the highest levels of technical efficiency compared to mixed farms and wine farms. To sum up, financial subsidies allocated by the Common Agricultural Policy have had a positive impact towards farmers, both increasing the technical efficiency and also in reducing the socio-economic marginalization of Bulgarian rural areas.


Export cartels are generally exempted from domestic competition laws. The status quo causes inefficiencies and unnecessary friction in various markets around the world. As such, their treatment represents a gap in international antitrust. Despite several attempts, multilaterally agreed restrictions on export cartels elude the international community for a number of reasons, such as market access demands and protecting 'national champions'. This essay examines trade friction occurring in the form of export cartels: what are they, are they problematic, and whom do they affect most? It explores the challenges that have prevented deeper international cooperation to address export cartels by building on prior legal discourse, in order to identify those issues on which a resolution hinges. The essay concludes by proposing both substantive resolutions as well as appropriate facilitators for negotiations and enforcers of a resolution.


The government plays a critical role in the promotion of recycling strategy among supply chain members. The purpose of this study is to investigate the optimal government policies on closed-loop supply chains and how these policies impact the market demand and the returning strategies of manufacturers and retailers. This paper presents a design of closed-loop supply chains under government regulation by considering a novel three-stage game theoretic model. Firstly, Stackelberg models are adopted to describe the one-shot game between the manufacturer and the retailer in a local market. Secondly, based on the Stackelberg equilibriums, a repeated and dynamic population game is developed. Thirdly, the government analyzes the population game to find the optimal tax and subsidy policies in the whole market. To solve the proposed model, the idea of backward induction is adopted. The results suggest that, by collecting tax and allocating subsidy, the government can influence the market demands and return rates. The centralized supply chain structure is always preferred for the government and the market. The government prefers to allocate subsidy to low-pollution, low-profit remanufactured products. The environmental attention of the government affects the subsidy policy.


This guide is intended to guide SLS students through certain benchmark assignments in the SLS 1106 course across all of HCC.


Zn-Cu-Pb vanadate ores (descloizite, mottramite, and vanadinite) in the Otavi Mountainland, Namibia, once were considered the greatest vanadium deposits in the world, with resources estimated at several million tons of vanadium ore. The deposits, now mostly exhausted, occurred in collapse breccias and solution cavities related to a karstic network associated with the post-Gondwana land surfaces in carbonate rocks of the Neoproterozoic Otavi Group, which already contained primary sulfide orebodies. Although a supergene, post-Damaran origin has been generally accepted, the timing and genesis of this mineralization style remains controversial. Mottramite and Cu descloizite are particularly abundant around Cu sulfide deposits (Tsumeb type), whereas descloizite occurs in the areas surrounding primary sphalerite-willemite orebodies (Berg Aukas type). The V deposits the Otavi Mountainland represent a special low-temperature, weathering-related, non-sulfide ore type, also fairly widespread in other areas of southern Africa (e.g., Zambia, Angola).

Here we describe the geologic setting of the main V deposits and their ore mineralogy, present some comprehensive major and trace element data for the vanadate ore minerals and gangue carbonates, as well as fluid inclusion microthermometry, O, C, Sr, and Pb isotope analyses, and direct (U-Th)/He descloizite thermochronometry. The vanadates are considered to have formed during a late phase in the depositional history of the post-Damaran supergene ores. Calcite and dolomite gangue are paragenetically coeval with the vanadates, occurring with the vein- and breccia-related ores and as cement in the deeper parts of the recent karst infills. The acidic conditions of sulfide alteration, coupled with a low Eh caused by the influence of organic matter, could have been favorable for vanadate precipitation. Geochemical results and isotope data indicate that most vanadate deposits were formed at temperatures of ~40° to 50°C by meteoric waters interacting with Neo-proterozoic shales, carbonates, and related primary sulfide ores, which were subjected to multiple weathering events in a karst environment.

The age of most deposits appears to be generally confined to the Tertiary, with a distinct period of descloizite formation dated at 24 to 33 Ma. The V ores are genetically related to post-Gondwanan erosional episodes, controlled by tectonomorphological evolution following rifting phases in the Atlantic realm and spanning the period from the end of the Cretaceous to Pleistocene.


We experimentally study the propagation of microwaves in an artificial honeycomb lattice made of dielectric resonators. This evanescent propagation is well described by a tight-binding model, very much like the propagation of electrons in graphene. We measure the density of states, as well as the wave function associated to each eigenfrequency. By changing the distance between the resonators, it is possible to modulate the amplitude of next-(next)-nearest-neighbors hopping parameters and to study their effect on the density of states. The main effect is the density of states becoming dissymmetric and a shift of the energy of the Dirac points. We study the basic elements: an isolated resonator, a two-level system and a square lattice. Our observations are in good agreement with analytical solutions for corresponding infinite lattice.


In primary cultures of chicken skeletal muscle, decreasing the [CO2] of the gaseous phase below 10(-3)% resulted in inhibition of cell proliferation and cytolysis. With 10(-3)% CO2-air, cell proliferation was slightly retarded and myotube formation was inhibited approximately 90% compared to cultures receiving 5% CO2-air. Changes in pH were not effective. Culture in low [CO2] resulted in the accumulation of lipoidal inclusions and unique cytoplasmic structures. Increasing time in culture with low [CO2] resulted in an increase in the length of G1 of the cell cycle. The inhibition was reversed by the addition of 5% CO2-air at any time in culture up to 2 wk with a minimum time of 3--6 h required. Lipoidal inclusions decreased in number and the unique cytoplasmic structures were absent. During the first 3 days in culture, myoblasts showing dependence on [CO2] for myotube formation increased in number, and the effect of elevated [CO2] on these cells was long lasting. The data suggest that some aspect of myoblast differentiation relating to cell recognition and fusion is affected by decreased [CO2].


The levels of DNA and RNA in gastric mucosa were assayed in 50 patients suffering various morphological variants of chronic gastritis and 73 cases of stomach cancer. Nearly identical rise in nucleic acid concentrations was identified in both atrophic gastritis and stomach cancer as compared to atrophy-free gastritis and normal condition. A link between atrophic gastritis and gastric cancer was suggested.