We describe a group of related approaches to quantitative evaluation and prioritization of system requirements and proposals. In formulating requirements for new systems, analysts face difficult tasks of selecting between alternative requirement decompositions, identifying questionable or low-priority requirements, eliminating requirements that add unnecessary costs, projecting cost impact of the requirements and then evaluating alternative system design proposals against the stated requirements. We seek approaches that require modest investments of time and can be applied even at the early stages of the requirements formulation process. We show that the Analytical Hierarchy Process can be applied to provide such evaluation mechanisms and illustrate our approach with a detailed example.


Mental health difficulties are prevalent in autistic people with ~14%–50% having experienced depression and ~40%–80% having experienced anxiety disorders. Identifying interventions that improve autistic people's mental health is a top priority. However, at present, there is no high-quality network meta-analysis of benefits and harms of different interventions. We conducted a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials, searching MEDLINE, EMBASE, other databases, and trial registers until 17 October 2020. We included randomised controlled trials reporting anxiety or depression in a suitable format. We calculated effect estimates and 95% credible intervals using Bayesian network meta-analysis. Our search identified 13,794 reports, of which 71 randomised controlled trials (3630 participants) were eligible for inclusion. All trials had high risk of bias. The follow-up period ranged from 1 to 24 months. Evidence indicates uncertainty about the effects of different interventions, with more high-quality evidence needed. Available evidence suggests that some forms of cognitive behavioural therapy may decrease anxiety and depression scores in autistic children and adults; mindfulness therapy may decrease anxiety and depression scores in autistic adults with previous mental health conditions; and behavioural interventions may provide some benefit for depression in autistic children. We recommend that autistic people are given access to mental health interventions available to non-autistic people, following principles of person-centred care. PROSPERO registration ID: CRD42019136093 Lay Abstract Nearly three out of four autistic people experience mental health problems such as stress, anxiety or depression. The research already done does not guide us on how best to prevent or treat mental health problems for autistic people. Our aim was to look at the benefits and harms of different interventions on mental health outcomes in autistic people. We searched all the published randomised controlled trials (RCTs) about interventions for mental health conditions in autistic people until 17 October 2020. We also searched for RCTs that were not published in peer-reviewed journals. These were obtained from registers of clinical trials online. We then combined the information from all these trials using advanced statistical methods to analyse how good the interventions are. Seventy-one studies (3630 participants) provided information for this research. The studies reported how participants were responding to the intervention for only a short period of time. The trials did not report which interventions worked for people with intellectual disability. In people without intellectual disability, some forms of cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness therapy may be helpful. However, further research is necessary. Many trials used medications to target core features of autism rather than targeting mental health conditions, but these medications did not help autistic people. Until we have more evidence, treatment of mental health conditions in autistic people should follow the evidence available for non-autistic people. We plan to widely disseminate the findings to healthcare professionals through medical journals and conferences and contact other groups representing autistic people.


Can acting managers win the job? Or are the scales tipped so far in the outside candidates' favor that it's not worth venturing into this shaky territory? If you want to be your former boss' successor, take note of the cautionary tales offered here. From power and control issues to strategies for protecting yourself if the unmentionable happens--you lose the position to some outsider--insights are offered on why you should think twice about accepting the acting manager job.


Systemic vasculitides (SV) are severe multiorgan diseases whose early diagnosis and treatment can significantly improve prognosis. Improving the classification of SV may lead to a significant reduction in the likelihood of diagnostic errors. The presented paper deals with the results of the International Consensus Conference on the Nomenclature of SV (Chappel Hill, USA) in 2012. The nomenclature and definitions of the major forms of SV were revised and additional categories of vasculitis were included into the classification, by relying on the current trends in the practical use of terms, on the current ideas on the specific features of manifestations of diseases, and on achievements in studying the pathogenesis.


Virtual assembly training systems show a high potential to complement or even replace physical setups for training of assembly processes in and beyond the automotive industry. The precondition for the breakthrough of virtual training is that it overcomes the problems of former approaches. The paper presents the design approach taken during the development of a game-based, virtual training system for procedural assembly knowledge in the EU-FP7 project VISTRA. One key challenge to address when developing virtual assembly training is the extensive authoring effort for setting up virtual environments. Although knowledge from the product and manufacturing design is available and could be used for virtual training, a concept for integration of this data is still missing. This paper presents the design of a platform which transfers available enterprise data into a unified model for virtual training and thus enables virtual training of workers at the assembly line before the physical prototypes exist. The data requirements and constraints stemming from industrial partners involved in the project will be discussed. A second hurdle for virtual training is the insufficient user integration and acceptance. In this context, the paper introduces an innovative hardware set-up for game-based user interaction, which has been chosen to enhance user involvement and acceptance of virtual training.


Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the color stability of a heat polymerized resin, an auto-polymerizing resin, a urethane dimethacrylate resin and a CAD/CAM PMMA block resin stored in different storage media. Materials and methods 60 disc-shaped specimens (15×2 mm) were fabricated for each group. A total of 240 disc-shaped specimens were thermal-cycled for 5,000 cycles. Then specimens were randomized into 4 groups (n= 15) according to storage media: coffee, coke, red wine and distilled water (control group). The color measurement of each sample was performed using a spectrophotometer before and after storage (after 7 and 30 days), and color changes (ΔE) were calculated. Results All the denture base materials demonstrated dissimilar color changes after stored in the different storage media in both evaluation stages. In all storage media, CAD-CAM denture base resins showed the minimum in color change. In all denture base resins, red wine showed a higher degree of color change than coke or coffee. Conclusion The color stability of CAD-CAM denture base resins is better than any of the other kind of denture base resins. The color change values of all groups except Eclypse stored in red wine had clinically detectable values.


Objectives: Caring for a child with a cancer can result in significant financial strain on families, which in turn can affect parental emotional, physical, and social health. We explored the supportive factors and resources that helped single parents of children with cancer throughout the caregiving process. Methods: Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, we recruited 29 single parents of children with cancer that were at least 6 months postdiagnosis and 2 hospital social workers across 4 Canadian pediatric oncology centers. Results: Many parents had knowledge of, accessed, and received support from family, friends, community (eg, teachers, religious organizations) and cancer organizations and government programs. Nonetheless, they reported a number of unmet needs. Conclusions: Participants reported their need for more social-emotional, practical, and financial support to assist them with their caregiving duties. We recommend that hospitals provide education to describe (a) supports available to families and (b) parental caregiver needs to families' support networks. Further research is needed to identify limitations of the current public benefit schemes for caregivers.


Extract:

In music as in life, nothing is more important than people. Professional music-makers need audiences, and to reach those audiences, they need the support of many other people, from promoters and agents to fans who will rave about them to their friends. And artists of all kinds need contact with fellow artists: to inspire them, to collaborate with them, to compete with them, and simply to acknowledge them as peers. In isolation from people who value the music you value, it's hard to know how good you are, or how to take your work to the next level.

As a recent report on the music industry put it, 'talent... cannot exist unless it is recognised by others in a network.' The Valuing Electronic Music project is an attempt to find out how this process of recognition happens in the digital age. We collected data on millions of user accounts on the SoundCloud website, focusing in particular on a random sample of 150 000. We also spoke to a range of people involved in London-based electronic music scenes (electronic music, followed by hip hop, being the kinds of music that are most represented on SoundCloud). Then we organised a public discussion between three electronic music-makers and an expert on electronic dance music, and interviewed writers, musicians, and promoters at the Convergence festival in London.

These discussions enabled us to focus on the value of different kinds of relationships between music-makers and promoters, DJs, and other people involved in electronic music: for example, we found that music-makers may treat responses from live audiences and from well-informed listeners (including other music-makers) as more valuable than anonymous 'clicks' on a website. As we will discuss below, they may have good reasons for this preference, because people who are involved in a scene may be able to add more value to their music than people who are not, and websites such as SoundCloud may be more effective for cementing relationships with local audiences than for growing an international fanbase. You can listen in on some of the conversations we had via our website (http://www.valuingelectronicmusic.org/media).

(Allington, Jordanous, and Dueck, 2015: 1)


Neuroimaging studies have identified multiple brain regions that are associated with semantic and syntactic processing when comprehending language. However, existing methods cannot explore the neural correlates of fine-grained word syntactic features, such as part-of-speech and dependency relations. This paper proposes an alternative framework to study how different word syntactic features are represented in the brain.
To separate each syntactic feature, we propose a feature elimination method, called Mean Vector Null space Projection (MVNP). This method can remove a specific feature from word representations, resulting in one-feature-removed representations. Then we respectively associate one-feature-removed and the original word vectors with brain imaging data to explore how the brain represents the removed feature.
This paper for the first time studies the cortical representations of multiple fine-grained syntactic features simultaneously and suggests some possible contributions of several brain regions to the complex division of syntactic processing. These findings indicate that the brain foundations of syntactic information processing might be broader than those suggested by classical studies.


Minimal missed detection rate of primary users is critical for adoption of cognitive radio networks, underlining the need for robust collaborative sensing combined with near-optimal single-node detection methods. Although correlation-based detection methods potentially provide needed per-node performance improvements for correlated signals, their performance for realistic blind sensing is unclear since the type and extent of correlation may be unknown in practice. Although standard Neymon-Pearson (NP) based detection can be applied when correlation is perfectly known, difficulty arises when the correlation is random, which is the focus of this paper. A tighter bound for the performance of correlation-based methods is developed herein based on a signal with random correlation and NP detection under the assumption of correlation distribution information (CDI). Simulations of existing ad-hoc correlation-based detectors are compared to the upperbound using a simple uniform random correlation model (RCM). Additionally, a measurement campaign is presented where radio-frequency (RF) spectra in many bands of interest are measured throughout a large sub-urban environment, generating realistic models for the random signal correlation. The measurement-based model indicates limits on performance gains possible with correlation-based detection and how well existing ad-hoc techniques can be expected to perform in practice.


In vitro genotoxicity assessment routinely employs an exogenous metabolic activation mixture to simulate mammalian metabolism. Activation mixtures commonly contain post-mitochondrial liver supernatant (i.e. S9) from chemically induced Sprague Dawley rats. Although Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) test guidelines permit the use of other S9 preparations, assessments rarely employ human-derived S9. The objective of this study is to review and evaluate the use of human-derived S9 for in vitro genetic toxicity assessment. All available published genotoxicity assessments employing human S9 were compiled for analysis. To facilitate comparative analyses, additional matched Ames data using induced rat liver S9 were obtained for certain highly cited chemicals. Historical human and induced rat S9 quality control reports from Moltox were obtained and mined for enzyme activity and mutagenic potency data. Additional in vitro micronucleus data were experimentally generated using human and induced rat S9. The metabolic activity of induced rat S9 was found to be higher than human S9, and linked to high mutagenic potency results. This study revealed that human S9 often yields significantly lower Salmonella mutagenic potency values, especially for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, aflatoxin B1 and heterocyclic amines (~3- to 350-fold). Conversely, assessment with human S9 activation yields higher potency for aromatic amines (~2- to 50-fold). Outliers with extremely high mutagenic potency results were observed in the human S9 data. Similar trends were observed in experimentally generated mammalian micronucleus cell assays, however human S9 elicited potent cytotoxicity L5178Y, CHO and TK6 cell lines. Due to the potential for reduced sensitivity and the absence of a link between enzyme activity levels and mutagenic potency, human liver S9 is not recommended for use alone in in vitro genotoxicity screening assays; however, human S9 may be extremely useful in follow-up tests, especially in the case of chemicals with species-specific metabolic differences, such as aromatic amines.


Human diabetes mellitus is characterized by impaired insulin response to intravenous glucose. In search of possible factors which impair insulin release, we have investigated the effect of naloxone, a specific opiate receptor blocker, on insulin responses to glucose in subjects with non-insulin-dependent diabetes, as well as in normal subjects. Naloxone was given as a priming dose of 0.4 mg followed by a constant infusion of either 0.4 mg (N = 7), 2 mg (N = 7), or 4 mg (N = 8) for 90 min. Acute insulin response to glucose (mean change 3–10 min insulin), second phase insulin secretion (change 10–60 min), as well as glucose disappearance rates (﹪/min) were significantly increased in the diabetics receiving the two higher doses of naloxone (2 and 4 mg, respectively). None of these effects were seen in diabetics receiving saline or in normal subjects receiving naloxone. These results seem to suggest that sensitivity to endogenous opiates may play some part in non-insulin-dependent diabetes.


A combination of market forces, cost constraints, and other factors necessitate incremental evolution of a fully automated highway system (AHS) rather than instantaneous deployment. Thus, an understanding of the interdependencies among required AHS functional capabilities is essential for planning. This paper proposes a set of three AHS functional evolution reference models that include essential as well as supplemental functions. The reference models include lateral motion handling, longitudinal motion handling, obstacle handling, and selected infrastructure support functions. This family of three models is used to present the needs of baseline autonomous tactical vehicle operation, the benefits of adding inter-vehicle communications, and the benefits of adding infrastructure support. The reference models reveal a critical need for vehicle motion prediction capability, and suggest that both communications and infrastructure support are beneficial but not mandatory for achieving an AHS. Furthermore, there appear to be a number of safety and efficiency benefits that can be realized with only partial automation and in some cases no automation. These results could help set priorities and guide strategies for incremental introduction of AHS technology into vehicles and roadways. KeywordsAHS functional evolution; incremental deployment


Occupational safety and health should be the subject of education, as it prepares students for their future occupation, and further adult education, including retraining. Nowadays, as society supports technical education via dual learning, this issue is becoming particularly necessary. Schools ensure students' safety and health in education, training and other related activities as well as in the provision of school services. In order to secure this task the schools adopt preventive measures based on risk assessment associated with the school activities and environment. When establishing specific measures the school takes into account predominantly the possible threat to students in education of individual subjects, movement within school, and the participation of students in various school-organised events. Subsequently, the educational institution provides continuous education in this area for its students and employees and requires the observance of relevant legal standards by systematic control. It takes into account the age of students, their abilities, and their physical and mental maturity. The aim of this article was to find out how students at different age levels (students of secondary school and elementary schools) understand and observe the principles of safety and health which is a central prerequisite in preparedness for future occupation. In the conclusion part of this paper, we present some solution suggestions; highlight the importance of suitable curricula at schools and educational institutions. Education methods must reflect current, valid and enforceable safety and health regulations at work. It is therefore essential that risk assessment is included in the education process.


ABSTRACT We describe methods for measuring crystal orientation fabric with sonic waves in an ice core borehole, with special attention paid to vertical-girdle fabrics that are prevalent at the WAIS Divide. The speed of vertically propagating compressional waves in ice is influenced by vertical clustering of the ice crystal c-axes. Shear-wave speeds – particularly the speed separation between fast and slow shear polarizations – are sensitive to azimuthal anisotropy. Sonic data from the WAIS Divide complement thin-section measurements of fabric. Thin sections show a steady transition to strong girdle fabrics in the upper 2000 m of ice, followed by a transition to vertical-pole fabrics below 2500 m depth. Compressional-wave sonic data are inconclusive in the upper ice, due to noise, as well as the method's inherent insensitivity to girdle fabrics. Compared with available thin sections, sonic data provide better resolution of the transition to pole fabrics below 2500 m, notably including an abrupt increase in vertical clustering near 3000 m. Our compressional-wave measurements resolve fabric changes occurring over depth ranges of a few meters that cannot be inferred from available thin sections, but are sensitive only to zenithal anisotropy. Future logging tools should be designed to measure shear waves in addition to compressional waves, especially for logging in regions where ice flow patterns favor the development of girdle fabrics.


In the current work, the diagnosis of a reverse osmosis desalination unit is reported. Over the two last decades, the studied desalination unit was supplying a 1,200 bed hotel. The feed water was driven from a well near the sea. The desalination unit has two stages giving an average recovery equal to 81%. The behaviour of all water streams with respect to aggressiveness and scaling tendency was assessed. The second stage reject water was shown to exhibit a very high scaling behaviour with an instantaneous precipitation in the absence of feed water pH adjustment. The analyses have shown that the produced water was very aggressive. The second stage module autopsy has revealed a sharp decrease in the membrane performances because of mineral as well as organic fouling. The inorganic scale was essentially made of coesite, calcite and kaolinite clay. The presence of silica and clay was attributed to an inadequate pre-treatment process, whereas the presence of calcite crystals at the membrane surface reveals that the chemical inhibition performed at the pre-treatment process without adjusting the pH was not able to prevent calcium carbonate precipitation. A periodic acid wash of the second stage membranes is then necessary to guarantee the desired objectives of this stage.


Two new macrobicyclic ligands which are potentially quinquedentate have been prepared and characterised. Variable-temperature NMR studies show that the nickel(II) complex of one of these ligands exists as a mixture of two conformers at low temperature which take part in two independent exchange processes as the temperature is raised. In the first, one conformer undergoes a form of self exchange and in the second, the two conformers interconvert. The ESR spectrum of the cobalt(II) complex of one of the new ligands indicates that it exists as a mixture of four- and five-co-ordinate species, with the five-co-ordinate material arising from intermolecular binding of the ligand secondary amine group to the cobalt(II) ion. This complex binds dioxygen reversibly and the O2 adduct has reasonable stability with respect to autoxidation.


Introduction The decision to perform endovascular intervention in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) may be guided by physiologic imaging such as CT perfusion (CTP) demonstrating a salvageable penumbra, but such studies can delay transfer to the angiography suite. Flat Panel Detector CT (FPD-CT) allows pre, intra and post-procedural physiologic assessment using rotational images acquired on the angiography table; however these measurements have not been correlated with conventional perfusion techniques. We began a prospective, observational comparison of standard, multi-slice CTP with FPD-CT perfusion for AIS interventions, and report our initial results.

Methods Patients with AIS that are candidates for endovascular intervention and have standard CTP images available were enrolled in the study after obtaining informed consent and following the IRB approved protocol. FPD-CTP images were obtained with aortic contrast injection and commercially available workstation image assessment (Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) before and after intervention, and compared with standard CT perfusion and follow up images.

Results A total of 3 cases have been enrolled. All demonstrated anatomic correlations between perfusion defects in the standard CTP and the FPD-CTP. Case example: A 58 year old man developed left sided hemiplegia and standard CTP demonstrated a right MCA defect with a small core infarction (Fig 1 A). Pre-intervention FPD-CTP showed the same defect pattern (Fig 1 B), and successful mechanical thrombectomy was performed (Fig 1 C,D). Post-intervention FPD-CT showed reversal of perfusion defect outside the core infarct (Fig 1 E). The patient had good clinical recovery and only small infarct on follow up CT (Fig 1 F).

Conclusions Early experience with FPD-CTP imaging shows correlation with standard CTP images and reversal of perfusion defect following successful recanalization, suggesting it may be a valuable aid for decision making in AIS intervention.

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Pumped storage power plants are typically controlled using a two-degree-of-freedom control structure in which the feedforward part is static. For set point changes of the generator output, this control structure leads to pressure oscillations due to the non-minimum phase nature of pumped storage power plants. In order to improve the control performance, a flatness-based feedforward is developed as an add-on for the already existing two-degree-of-freedom control. Thereby a differentially flat dynamic model of a real power plant, derived on first principles, is used for both the design of a dynamic feedforward part and the design of consistent smooth trajectories for set point changes of the generator output. In view of trajectory planning, the effect of using different trajectory function types is addressed in detail. The improved control performance using the new control concept is shown in simulations, also in comparison with the widespread conventional two-degree-of-freedom control with static feedforward part.


Many foraging experiments have found that subjects are suboptimal in foraging tasks, waiting out delays longer than they should given the reward structure of the environment. Additionally, theories of decision-making suggest that actions arise from interactions between multiple decision-making systems and that these systems should depend on the availability of information about the future. To explore suboptimal behavior on foraging tasks and how varying the amount of future information changed behavior, we ran rats on two matching neuroeconomic foraging tasks, Known Delay (KD) and Randomized Delay (RD), with the only difference between them being the certainty of the cost of future opportunities. Rats' decision-making strategies differed significantly based on the amount of future certainty. Rats on both tasks still showed suboptimality in decision-making through a sensitivity to sunk costs; however, rats on KD showed significantly less sensitivity to sunk costs than rats on RD. Additionally, on neither task did the rats account for travel and postreward lingering times as heavily as prereward foraging times providing evidence problematic for the Marginal Value Theorem model of foraging behavior. This suggests that while future certainty reduced decision-making errors, more complex decision-making processes unaffected by future certainty were involved and likely produced these decision-making errors within subjects on these foraging tasks. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).


In this paper, the universal nonlinear finite element software LS-DYNA is applied to the explicit dynamics simulation of shield's soil cutting in tunneling, and using Non-reflective boundary of DYNA's module, accurately conduct the dynamic analysis of shield's tunneling. Finally Making visualization processing on the computed results with the post-processing soft LS-PREPOST. Compared with results of static's simulation and small-sized shield experiment indoor, the explicit dynamics simulation used in the paper is in good agreement with them. Through the alleosis chat of internal energy, we can see that LS-DYNA can be commendably utilized to explicit dynamics simulation of soil cutting of shield's cutter, simultaneously, we also concluded that moderately increasing the cutter opening rate will have a significant impact on improving the unearthed rate of soil residue, tunneling efficiency and lowering the total thrust force of the shield.


Understanding the mechanisms underlying tree spatial arrangements may provide significant insights into the processes in the maintenance of species coexistence. We examined the potential role of habitat heterogeneity, dispersal limitation, negative density dependence, fire history, and unilateral intraspecific and interspecific interactions of adults on juveniles in shaping the spatial patterns of four dominant tree species (Abies concolor, Pinus lambertiana, Calocedrus decurrens, and Quercus kelloggii) after fire in the Yosemite Forest Dynamic Plot, California, USA. We used the univariate pair correlation function and implemented three point pattern processes (homogeneous Poisson process, inhomogeneous Poisson process, and homogeneous Thomas process) to evaluate the potential contributions of habitat filtering and dispersal limitation. We used a bivariate null model to evaluate unilateral intraspecific and interspecific interactions of adults on juveniles. We also used the pairwise correlation function to investigate the spatial patterns of density dependence. To understand the effect of fire, we used the univariate pair correlation function to investigate pattern changes during the six years following fire. We compared spatial pattern changes in both sprouting species (Quercus kelloggii) and seeding species (Abies concolor), and also examined the changes in patterns of large-diameter individuals of Abies concolor, Pinus lambertiana, and Calocedrus decurrens in 2013 (pre-fire), 2016 (two years post-fire), and 2019. Comparing the contributions of the homogeneous Thomas process and the inhomogeneous Poisson process at different spatial scales showed the importance of dispersal limitation and habitat heterogeneity at finer scales (0 m to 5 m) and coarser scales (5 m to 60 m), respectively, which suggests that the joint effects of dispersal limitation and habitat heterogeneity contribute to the spatial patterns of these three dominant tree species. Furthermore, the results showed that the young individuals of Abies concolor and Pinus lambertiana were more commonly found around the conspecific adults. Juvenile regeneration to the 1 cm diameter threshold was highly aggregated following the fire. Large-diameter trees of Abies concolor, Pinus lambertiana, and Calocedrus decurrens generally did not exhibit patterns different from complete spatial randomness (Calocedrus decurrens), or displayed only slight aggregation (Abies concolor and Pinus lambertiana). In addition, Abies concolor and Pinus lambertiana showed positive and negative conspecific density dependence in the immediate post-fire period, respectively.


Judicial diversity debates and reform initiatives have been a feature of several common law jurisdictions over many years. To date two strands of diversity, gender and ethnicity have dominated these debates. General arguments used to rationalise judicial diversity, the need for judicial appointments procedures to conform with the demands of equality and equal opportunity laws, that a diverse judiciary has a greater capacity to be sensitive to the needs and experiences of the diverse users of the legal system, that the judiciary be reflective of the diversity of the nation that it serves, that a diverse judiciary is a more accountable judiciary in complex western legal democracies, necessitates the incorporation of sexuality as a dimension of judicial diversity. But sexuality is and remains notable by its absence.

The first objective of this article is to gather together and offer a critical analysis of existing data on the sexual composition of the judiciary. My second objective is to introduce and offer an analysis of new data that I have generated as part of an ongoing study of sexual diversity and the judiciary. The data has been generated by way of a series of interviews with lesbians and gay men who are members of the judiciary and legal professionals in various jurisdictions, in particular in Australia, England and Wales and South Africa. Within the confines of this article I limit my analysis of this data to the ways in which members of the judiciary experience and manage the boundary between invisibility and visibility.


1. Summary
The aim of medical audit is to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of medical care. Achieving this aim may involve a cycle of activities: (i) observing practice; (ii) setting a standard of practice; (iii) comparing the observed practice with the standard; (iv) implementing change; and (v) re-observing practice. This paper reviews those methods which have been used and tested in clinical practice at the various stages of the cycle. Some principles involved in the choice of what to audit are also described.

As definitive cost effective methods of auditing have not yet emerged, further initiatives and experimentation are required in clinical practice.


Delayed graft function (DGF) occurs in a significant proportion of deceased donor kidney transplant recipients and was associated with graft injury and inferior clinical outcome. The aim of the present multi-center study was to identify the immunological and non-immunological predictors of DGF and to determine its influence on outcome in the presence and absence of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) antibodies. 1,724 patients who received a deceased donor kidney transplant during 2008–2017 and on whom a pre-transplant serum sample was available were studied. Graft survival during the first 3 post-transplant years was analyzed by multivariable Cox regression. Pre-transplant predictors of DGF and influence of DGF and pre-transplant HLA antibodies on biopsy-proven rejections in the first 3 post-transplant months were determined by multivariable logistic regression. Donor age ≥50 years, simultaneous pre-transplant presence of HLA class I and II antibodies, diabetes mellitus as cause of end-stage renal disease, cold ischemia time ≥18 h, and time on dialysis >5 years were associated with increased risk of DGF, while the risk was reduced if gender of donor or recipient was female or the reason for death of donor was trauma. DGF alone doubled the risk for graft loss, more due to impaired death-censored graft than patient survival. In DGF patients, the risk of death-censored graft loss increased further if HLA antibodies (hazard ratio HR=4.75, P < 0.001) or donor-specific HLA antibodies (DSA, HR=7.39, P < 0.001) were present pre-transplant. In the presence of HLA antibodies or DSA, the incidence of biopsy-proven rejections, including antibody-mediated rejections, increased significantly in patients with as well as without DGF. Recipients without DGF and without biopsy-proven rejections during the first 3 months had the highest fraction of patients with good kidney function at year 1, whereas patients with both DGF and rejection showed the lowest rate of good kidney function, especially when organs from ≥65-year-old donors were used. In this new era of transplantation, besides non-immunological factors, also the pre-transplant presence of HLA class I and II antibodies increase the risk of DGF. Measures to prevent the strong negative impact of DGF on outcome are necessary, especially during organ allocation for presensitized patients.


Amorphous metal hydroxides (AMHs) of earth-abundant transition metal elements (Fe, Co and Ni) have emerged as promising electrocatalysts for developing clean energy and conversion, especially toward the anode oxygen evolution reaction (OER), owing to their low cost, high conductivity and amorphous structures. Here, as a proof-of-concept experiment, a rapid one-step and very effective synthesis strategy is reported for the first time to produce a family of ionic liquid-modified AMH nanoparticles as highly efficient OER electrocatalysts. The ionic liquid-modified bimetallic FeNi hydroxide nanoparticles exhibit remarkable OER activity with a Tafel slope of 54.4 mV dec−1 and an overpotential of 300 mV for 10 mA cm−2 (loading: ∼0.009 mgFeNi cm−2). Further, the universal applicability of this strategy for designing the AMH nanoparticles extends to other metallic hydroxide nanoparticles (Fe, Co, Ni, FeCo and NiCo). This work may provide a novel synthetic protocol to design amorphous metal hydroxide nanoparticle catalysts for the efficient OER.


The difference between in vivo and in vitro inhibitory effects on epididymal 5a-reductase was investigated by using epididymides obtained from patients treated with chlormadinone acetate (6chloro-3,20-dioxo-4,6-pregnadien-17-yl acetate, CMA) or ethinylestradiol (17a-ethynyl-1,3,5 (10)-estratriene-3,17-diol, EE2). In the in vitro study CMA exhibited competitive inhibition, whereas EE2 was a noncompetitive inhibitor of human epididymal 5a-reductase. Their in vitro inhibitory effects were weak compared with the effect of finasteride ((-)-N-tert-butyl-3-oxo-4-aza-5a-androst-1-ene-17f3 carboxamide), a steroidal 5a-reductase inhibitor. The Ki values for CMA, EE2, and finasteride were 1.4 x 10-5 M, 1.5 x 10-5 M, and 1.3 x 10-9 M, respectively. Despite their weak in vitro inhibitory potency, CMA and EE2 strongly inhibited testosterone 5a-reductase in vivo. There were regional differences in inhibitions by CMA and EE2 on human epididymal 5a-reductase activity depending on the site of the epididymis; the efferent ductules, the head, the body or the tail. In vivo administration of CMA reduced epididymal 5a-reductase activity by 49.7% to 89.4%. In vivo administration of EE2 reduced epididymal 5a-reductase activity by 82.7% to 96.3%. The apparent Km values for the enzyme in patients treated with CMA or EE2 and untreated patients did not differ significantly. The Vmax values were significantly decreased in treated patients. These findings suggest that the marked in vivo inhibition of 5a-reductase induced by CMA and EE2 was not related to the direct action of these compounds, but resulted from a reduction in the amount of the enzyme.


Optical tweezers use tightly focused laser beams to hold and move microscopic objects in a solvent. However, many applications require simultaneous control over multitude of particles, positioning them in 3D space at desired locations with desired symmetry, which is made possible by the use of holographic optical tweezers using the technique of beam shaping and holography. We have designed and developed a holographic optical tweezer set-up using a phase only liquid crystal, reflective spatial light modulator. We employ the technique of phase modulation to modulate the phase of the beam by generating holograms using Random Superposition (RS) and weighted Gerchberg Saxton algorithm (WGS) algorithm for generating desired patterns of light at the trapping plane. A 4×4 array of beams with square symmetry was generated using WGS algorithm and trapped polystyrene particles of size 1.2 micron in a 4×4 two dimensional array. There were uniformity issues among the trap intensities, as we move away from the zeroth o...


Patient controlled analgesia (PCA) and Patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) pumps are methods of pain control with complex smart infusion devices and are widely used in hospitals. Smart PCA/PCEA pumps can be programmed with the dose and rate of medications within pre-set ranges. However, adverse effects have been reported associated with these pumps' use. In this paper, we describe a prevalence observational study where observers used an electronic data collection tool to record pump settings and medications with PCA pumps, corresponding medication orders to identify errors. The results showed that there were many labeling and tubing change tag errors, which were a violation of hospital policy. A few potential harmful medication errors were identified but no critical errors. Study results suggest the importance of a standard process of PCA pump use. Next steps include implementing a safety bundle for improving PCA practice to support safe and effective pain management.


This article describes the nanomaterials and technology application research being performed by the Nano and Advanced Materials Institute (NAMI) in Hong Kong. Five focused market sectors are identified where nanomaterials and technologies can add significant value in Hong Kong and the surrounding Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. The five areas are sustainable energy, display and solid-state lighting, building/construction materials, environmental technologies, and medical and health care products.


The objective of this study was to develop an integrated simulation model of an automatic blast furnace in a full-scale steelmaking factory. The integrated simulation model introduces a set of optimizing alternatives through sensitivity analysis. The simulation model is built by considering all major and detailed operations and interacting systems of the blast furnace workshop. The workshop is composed two parallel blast furnace each containing of a joint raw material storage and furnace and cast-iron stations. Furthermore, there are 54 operations for each blast furnace workshop. The results and the structure of the integrated simulation model were verified and validated by comparative analysis and t-test. Moreover, the monthly production rate of cast-iron station is chosen as the performance measure for the actual system and simulation model in a twelve months trial. The results of t-test shows the average monthly production of cast-iron for the two system is statistically equal (at α=0.05). Also, the industrial engineering unit and the production managers accredited the integrated model. After this stage, the simulation was run for a period of six months to evaluate major bottlenecks in the system. Finally, two optimizing alternatives, which can save the company millions of Dollars, are introduced and their economic advantages are discussed. The integrated simulation model has several unique features. First, it is integrated and considers all operations, maintenance, repairs, quality control activities, systems' limitations and interaction with other systems. Second, it is coded in parametric fashion so any alternative may be easily retrieved. Third, it is a practical tool due to its verification, validation and accreditation. Finally, a standard procedure for development of integrated simulation model for similar blast furnace or workshops is introduced.


After discussing basic principles of school finance, and comparing selected education-related variables in southeastern states, this paper examines how schools districts are financed in Kentucky. Emphasis is given to issues of funding adequacy, efficiency and equity, and the lawsuit culminating in the 1990 Educational Reform Act. Changes in the formulae by which state school funds are distributed are discussed in detail. Estimated per pupil school revenue data for the 1989-90 and 1990-91 years are analyzed to determine how funding inequality changed. In the aggregate, per pupil revenues across county school districts (i) have risen without exception; (ii) have become less variable as measured by a reduced standard deviation and; (iii) become less dependent on locally raised taxes. Nevertheless, funding differences among and within metro and non-metro areas remain, as demonstrated by a variety of measures, including coefficients of variation, relative mean deviation, Gini coefficients and Theil indices. Most importantly, perhaps, increases in funds have been directed primarily towards Eastern Kentucky, where nearly two-thirds of all pupils live under "economically deprived" conditions. The reason for this result is obvious when the new funding formula is examined.


On the role of language and consciousness in the process of becoming "one of our own" upon the example of Professor Lazar Gulkowitsch Based on archive materials, the article explores the importance of language and consciousness in the process of becoming an Estonian citizen upon the example of Professor Lazar Gulkowitsch (1898–1941). The scholar of Wissenschaft des Judentums, Lazar Gulkowitsch was born and raised in a traditional Jewish family in Zirin (Belarus), he acquired his doctoral degree in philosophy at the Albertus University in Konigsberg, worked at Leipzig University (Germany) first as a lecturer on Late Hebrew, Jewish-Aramaic, and Talmudic Studies at the faculty of theology and then as an associate professor of the Study of Late Judaism at the faculty of philosophy. In 1934–1940 he was the head of the chair for Jewish Studies at the University of Tartu (Estonia). He was killed by the Nazis during the occupation of Estonia in the summer of 1941. His scholarly objective was to capture the phenomenon of Judaism as a historical and current entity especially from the aspect of language by exploring Hebrew as a reflection of and basis for the history of Jewish ideas; outlining both its formal-grammatical and material-conceptual aspects. For this purpose he applied a method based on the history of ideas (begriffsgeschichtliche Methode), defining the central ideas of the Jewish culture (God, good, Hesed, etc.). Language—a central part in his scholarly work—also played an important role to him in the process of becoming an Estonian citizen.


We report the catalytic addition of C-H bonds at the C2 position of heteroarenes, including pyrroles, indoles, benzofurans, and furans, to unactivated terminal and internal alkenes. The reaction is catalyzed by a combination of Ni(COD)2 and a sterically hindered, electron-rich N-heterocyclic carbene ligand or its analogous Ni(NHC)(arene) complex. The reaction is highly selective for anti-Markovnikov addition to α-olefins, as well as for the formation of linear alkylheteroarenes from internal alkenes. The reaction occurs with substrates containing ketones, esters, amides, boronate esters, silyl ethers, sulfonamides, acetals, and free amines.


Hepatic parenchymal tissue is known to be one of the major sites of thyroid hormone metabolism as well as glucagon action. Alterations in circulating thyroid hormone concentrations, as well as hyperglucagonemia, are well documented in subjects with hepatic cirrhosis and advanced liver dysfunction. Also, we have documented recently that hyperglucagonemia induced in normal subjects alters thyroid hormone metabolism, with lowering of serum T3 and a rise in serum reverse T3 (rT3) levels. Thus, it is conceivable that rising glucagon concentrations are responsible for altered thyroid hormone levels in hepatic cirrhosis. To examine this hypothesis, this study determined relationships between plasma glucose, glucagon, insulin, and insulin:glucagon ratio on one hand, and thyroid hormone concentrations on the other, in 51 subjects with hepatic cirrhosis. Significant negative correlations were noted between plasma glucagon and serum T3 (r = -0.418, p less than 0.001) as well as T3:T4 ratio (r = -0.627, p less than 0.0001), whereas significant positive correlations were observed between plasma glucagon and serum rT3 (r = 0.504, p less than 0.001) as well as rT3:T4 ratio (r = 0.644, p less than 0.0001). No such significant relationships were noted between either insulin, glucose and insulin:glucagon ratio on one hand and any of thyroid hormone indices on the other. Therefore, this study indicates that, in hepatic cirrhosis, circulating glucagon concentrations may play a major contributing role in induction of altered serum thyroid hormone concentration by influencing thyroid hormone metabolism.


We consider approximations of signals by the elements of a frame in a complex vector space of dimension $N$ and formulate both the noiseless and the noisy sparse representation problems. The noiseless representation problem is to find sparse representations of a signal $\mathbf{r}$ given that such representations exist. In this case, we explicitly construct a frame, referred to as the Vandermonde frame, for which the noiseless sparse representation problem can be solved uniquely using $O(N^2)$ operations, as long as the number of non-zero coefficients in the sparse representation of $\mathbf{r}$ is $\epsilon N$ for some $0 \le \epsilon \le 0.5$, thus improving on a result of Candes and Tao \cite{Candes-Tao}. We also show that $\epsilon \le 0.5$ cannot be relaxed without violating uniqueness.
The noisy sparse representation problem is to find sparse representations of a signal $\mathbf{r}$ satisfying a distortion criterion. In this case, we establish a lower bound on the trade-off between the sparsity of the representation, the underlying distortion and the redundancy of any given frame.


ABSTRACT Evidence for shared processing of structure (or syntax) in language and in music conflicts with neuropsychological dissociations between the two. However, while harmonic structural processing can be impaired in patients with spared linguistic syntactic abilities (Peretz, I. (1993). Auditory atonalia for melodies. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 10, 21–56. doi:10.1080/02643299308253455), evidence for the opposite dissociation–preserved harmonic processing despite agrammatism–is largely lacking. Here, we report one such case: HV, a former musician with Broca's aphasia and agrammatic speech, was impaired in making linguistic, but not musical, acceptability judgments. Similarly, she showed no sensitivity to linguistic structure, but normal sensitivity to musical structure, in implicit priming tasks. To our knowledge, this is the first non-anecdotal report of a patient with agrammatic aphasia demonstrating preserved harmonic processing abilities, supporting claims that aspects of musical and linguistic structure rely on distinct neural mechanisms.


This study aims to assess, establish, or strengthen best practices in warehousing and distribution processes of the National Food Authority (NFA) rice. Good Warehouse and Distribution system includes protection from insects, rodents and birds, ease of loading and unloading, efficient use of space, ease of maintenance and management, and prevention of moisture re-entering the grain after drying. The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) mentioned in a Journal dated July 2017 that 25 to 50 percent of the total grain value (Quantity and Quality) was lost between harvest and consumption in developing countries. Proper storage is vital to the stability of the country's grain supply. To achieve this end-goal, good warehouse management must be pursued. The National Food Authority (NFA) is one of the most important policy instrumentalities of the Philippine Government with respect to Agricultural price policy and Food security. The study used a combination of quantitative and qualitative design and methodological that obtained credible evidence and conclusion achieved. Quantitative data were collected through the use of structured questionnaire survey between variables as attested by Saunders et al. (2010) Qualitative data, on the other hand, were gathered through the open interview questions with the respondents to acquire a detailed and comprehensive data about sustainability practices in the supply chain management of NFA rice. The result of the study shows that warehouses whether where it is located, Region III or Region XIII and what type, Owned or Lease do not have a Relative Humidity monitoring device. This device is important in monitoring the moisture content of the warehouse. Maintaining a trucker's equipment checklist are industry practice. It is important to avert any delays that might happen in the distribution of rice.


A prospective study of 55 confirmed or presumptive cases of cerebral toxoplasmosis in HIV positive patients in Brazil was performed to describe clinical characteristics and to identify predictive factors for clinical response to the anti-Toxoplasma treatment. Cerebral toxoplasmosis led to the diagnosis of HIV infection in 19 (35%) patients, whereas it was the AIDS defining disease in 41 (75%) patients. Of these, 22 (54%) patients were previously know to be HIV-positive. At diagnosis of cerebral toxoplasmosis, only 4 (7%) patients were on highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), and 6 (11%) were receiving primary cerebral toxoplasmosis prophylaxis. The mean CD4+ cell count was 64.2 (+/- 69.1) cells per microliter. Forty-nine patients (78%) showed alterations consistent with toxoplasmosis on brain computed tomography. At 6 weeks of treatment, 23 (42%) patients had complete clinical response, 25 (46%) partial response, and 7 (13%) died. Alteration of consciousness, Karnofsky score less than 70, psychomotor slowing, hemoglobin less than 12 mg/dL, mental confusion, Glasgow Coma Scale less than 12 were the main predictors of partial clinical response. All patients were placed on HAART within the first 4 weeks of diagnosis of cerebral toxoplasmosis. One year after the diagnosis, all available patients were on HAART and toxoplasmosis prophylaxis, and only 2 patients had relapse of cerebral toxoplasmosis. In Brazilian patients with AIDS, cerebral toxoplasmosis mainly occurs as an AIDS-defining disease, and causes significant morbidity and mortality. Signs of neurologic deterioration predict an unfavorable response to the treatment. Early start of HAART seems to be related to better survival and less relapses.


The use of production functions as tools for analyzing agronomic relationships and crop growth is gaining importance the world over. Their predictive value in crop adaptation trials for specific agro-ecological sites particularly in semi arid lands is of special interest, but little, if any work is being done with this regard in Kenya. A chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) cultivar, ICCV 95423 was therefore planted under four tillage systems namely, Conventional (CT), Double Digging (DD), Furrow (FT) and Strip Tillage (ST) and under three sowing dates (two weeks apart) at Naivasha. The aim was to develop evapotranspiration and biomass yield (ET-yield) relationships and determining their potential use in analyzing growth (LAI and DM production) of chickpea. Estimated yields (computed) were produced using the 1st season`s (Jan-May `05) functions and validated with the 2nd season (Jun-Oct '05) actual yield data sets. The relationships exhibited very high regression correlation coefficients (R2>0.93) indicating the potential reliability of the functions in predicting chickpea yields. Rate of increase in biomass production per hectare millimeter increase in water use was 17.5kg ha-mm 1. Biomass yields estimated from season II ET data were validated and had a reliability of 0.859 and 0.952 when linear and curvilinear functions were fitted, respectively. The January to June crop produced DM at a higher rate of 685.2 kg ha 1 per unit LAI as compared to 309 kg ha 1 LAI -1 for season II crop. Quadratic functions proved able to account for more variations in DM production than linear functions. They can therefore, be used reliably in analyzing and predicting DM production of chickpea in Naivasha. Chickpea has great agronomic potential for use as a food and forage crop in the dry highlands of Kenya.


This thesis presents a theoretical and experimental investigation of the interaction of electronically excited Rydberg hydrogen atoms with metal surfaces and the associated charge-transfer process. As a Rydberg atom approaches a metal surface, the energies of the Rydberg states are perturbed by the surface potential generated by the image charges of the Rydberg electron and core. At small atom-surface separations, the Rydberg atom may be ionised by resonant charge transfer of the Rydberg electron to the continuum of delocalised unoccupied metal states, with which the Rydberg electron is degenerate in energy. Typically, this 'surface ionisation' can be measured by extracting the remaining positively charged ion-cores with externally applied electric fields. By applying various levels of theory, from classical to fully time-dependent quantum calculations, this thesis explores various experimentally relevant effects on the charge-transfer process, such as the magnitude and direction of the externally applied electric field, the atom collisional velocity, the presence of local surface stray fields and electronically structured surfaces. The theoretical results give insight into the previous experimental work carried out for the xenon atom and hydrogen molecule, and point out some of the fundamental differences from the hydrogen atom system.Experiments involving Rydberg hydrogen atoms incident on an atomically flat gold surface, a rough machined aluminium surface and a single crystal copper (100) surface are presented, providing for the first time the opportunity to make a quantitative comparison of theory and experiments. The ability to control the critical distance at which charge-transfer occurs is demonstrated by using Rydberg states of varying dimensions and collisional velocities. By changing the collisional angle of the incident Rydberg beam, the effect of Rydberg trajectory is also investigated. By manipulating the polarisation of the Rydberg electron with electric fields, genuine control over the orientation of the electron density distribution in the charge-transfer process is demonstrated. This property was predicted by the theory and should be unique to the hydrogen atom due to its intrinsic symmetry. By reversing the direction of the electric field with respect to the metal surface, electrons rather than positive ions are detected, with ionisation dynamics that appear to be very different, as predicted by quantum calculations. Experiments involving the single crystal Cu(100) surface also suggests possible resonance effects from image states embedded in the projected bandgap which are shown from quantum calculations to play an important role in the surface charge transfer of electronically structured metal substrates.The experimental technique developed in this work provides some exciting future applications to study quantum confinement effects with thin films, nanoparticles and other bandgap surfaces. The ability to control the Rydberg orbital size, electronic energy, collisional velocity and orientation in the charge-transfer process will provide novel ways of probing the surface's electronic and physical structure, as well as being a valuable feature in offering new opportunities for controlling reactive processes at metallic surfaces.


Abstract A statistical technique is described that uses the geographical distribution of lithological indicators of climate (carbonates, evaporites, coals and tillites) to estimate the past position of the geographic pole. This technique was used to estimate the movement of the South Pole across the supercontinent of Gondwana during the Palaeozoic. Our results indicate that during the Cambrian and Early Ordovician the South Pole was located adjacent to northwestern Africa. The pole moved into the Amazon Basin during the Late Ordovician and into south-central Argentina during the Silurian. Throughout the Devonian and Early Carboniferous the pole moved slowly from a location in southern Argentina to a position near the south coast of Africa. From the Late Carboniferous and into the Permian the South Pole swung eastward across central Antarctica. The Early Palaeozoic and Late Palaeozoic portions of the palaeoclimatically determined APW path are in good agreement with available palaeomagnetic data. The Middle Palaeozoic portion of the palaeoclimatically determined APW path agrees better with the palaeomagnetic data that places the South Pole in southern Argentina, than with the palaeomagnetic results that place the Devonian pole in central Africa.


The present work was aimed to formulate and evaluate osmotic pump delivery system of Amlodipine Besylate using two osmogens (NaCl and KCl) by wet granulation method. The osmogens used in this study did not alter the physicochemical properties of drug, as tested by FTIR. Prior to compression, the prepared granules were evaluated for flow and compression characteristics. After compression, the tablets were evaluated for thickness, hardness, weight variation, friability, percentage of weight gain, drug content, and in vitro release studies. The tablets were further coated and evaluation of coated tablets were performed and compared with uncoated tablets. The coated tablets after drying were drilled on the surface using Microdrill to get delivery orifices of different diameters (0.5mm, 1.0mm & 1.5mm). The percentage of weight gain after coating was found to be between 5.57-7.11%.A slow drug release was observed in coated tablets compared to uncoated formulations. The optimized formulation, F3 (1.5mm diameter pore size) showed maximum drug release 88.2% at the end of 24 th hours. The optimized formulation F3 (1.5mm diameter) was found to be stable even after subjected to stability study maintained at 25±2C/60±5%RH and 40±2C/ 75±5% RH for two months. In conclusion, Amlodipine Besylate may be successfully formulated as elementary osmotic pump tablets to provide a control release of drug upto 24 hours.


The paper describes a critical approach to the existing clinical classifications of central nerve system (CNS) lesion, which do not consider a morphological substrate. It proposes the clinical and morphological directionality of the major classifications of brain lesions: intraventricular, leptomeningeal, and cerebellar hemorrhages and periventricular leukomalacia. The differential diagnosis of periventricular leukomalacia with teleencephalic gliosis, edematous hemorrhagic leukoencephalopathy and other brain lesions. This is a discordance between the clinical, neurosonographic, and morphological classifications of perinatal CNS lesions. The author proposes to elaborate the clinical, morphological, and functional criteria for the differential diagnosis of brain lesions in children, by taking their pathomorphology as a basis.


Digitised vertical aerial photography was used to investigate the instantaneous distributional patterns of Lesser Flamingos Phoeniconaias minor at Kamfers Dam, South Africa. Image processing software was applied to differentiate high and low density flocks, based on earlier work, suggesting formation of dense aggregations in response to food abundance (in this case, the cyanobacteria Arthrospira fusiformis). Ripley's K analysis showed a regular arrangement of individuals in the densest flocks, potentially reducing interference without cost to foraging efficiency in highest food concentrations. Where inter-bird distances exceeded 0.70 m (s.d. ± 0.06 m, 95% C.I.), flamingos were arranged irregularly and showed clustered distributions. Flamingos aggregated to forage in the densest flocks in shallow waters, but imagery showed that the birds always maintained a consistent distance from mainland shorelines, whereas on an isolated artificial island they showed no such avoidance pattern. We hypothesised that this distance was maintained due to perceived predation risk from mainland predators and predicted that it would be inversely correlated with flock size (due to predator detection and dilution effects) but positively correlated with vegetation on shore (which functions as cover for predators). Generalised linear mixed modelling showed that flocks adjacent to vegetated shores (mean = 14.0 m ± 2.9, 95% C.I.) were arranged significantly further from the shore than those near unvegetated shorelines (4.1 m ± 2.8, 95% C.I.), supporting our second hypothesis. However, there was no correlation with flock size over the range of flock sizes included in the analysis, suggesting that flock size benefits are more related to foraging than to predation avoidance. We suggest that the density, shape and position of Lesser Flamingo flocks at this site is driven by food abundance but modified by perceived risk of predation. Further studies combining simultaneous aerial survey and mapping of food density and distribution are required to verify the precise relationships involved.


In the region extending from Arabia to Southern Anatolia, elaborate geometric tilings and patterns still cover the walls, floors and ceilings of extant monuments from the Mamluk period (1250 – 1517). These planar Islamic patterns may be classified as belonging to the various two-dimensional space groups based on the distance-preserving transformations or isometries of the plane (translations, rotations, reflections and glide-reflections) that they possess. Classifying the ornamental patterns of these Mamluk monuments allows us to determine which symmetries were preferred and intuitively recognized as being "right" by the Mamluk culture. This paper will discuss and illustrate examples of the different wallpaper groups represented in the Mamluk art found in present day Egypt and Syria.


ABSTRACT Knowledge of the evolution of carbonate cementation in hydrocarbon reservoirs is key to understanding the history of fluid flow during petroleum accumulation. The Stevens sands is a sequence of marine shales and deep-sea fan sands that was deposited within the Miocene Monterey Formation in the south-central part of the San Joaquin basin, California, during the upper Miocene (10-6 Ma). Rapid, high-precision in situ oxygen and carbon isotopic analyses of carbonate phases using the ion microprobe operated in multi-collection mode, in conjunction with electron microprobe analyses, indicate that carbonate cement zones within the Stevens sands at North Coles Levee (NCL) have had a complex and protracted fluid history. Three main generations of carbonate cement were identified. The relative timing of carbonate cement precipitation within the Stevens sands at NCL was estimated using the thermal and burial history of the San Joaquin basin, in situ oxygen isotope data, and cementation temperatures derived from equilibrium oxygen isotope fractionation factors for calcite-water and dolomite-water. Precipitation of these cement zones began soon after sediment deposition ( 7 Ma) and is ongoing. Early dolomite was precipitated at a temperature of 10°C, near the sediment-water interface, and soon after sediment deposition. Calcite cements, which are the most abundant variety, precipitated semicontinuously between 4 Ma and 5 Ma, at temperatures between 50°C and 65°C, and depths of 800 m to 1300 m. Fe-dolomite, which is paragenetically late, appears to have precipitated at temperatures near 100°C in response to pore-pressure reduction, which accompanied exploitation of the gas cap within the last 35 years. Carbon in these cements was likely derived from several sources including marine, maturing hydrocarbons, and a zone of methanogenesis.


1. Phosphoribulokinase was purified 286-fold from extracts of autotrophically grown cells. 2. The enzyme had a molecular weight of 237000 and showed a pH optimum of 9.0 in both crude extracts and purified preparation. MgCl(2) was required for activity; full activation was obtained at 5mm-MgCl(2) and the K(m) was approx. 0.5mm. 3. The ATP-saturation curve was sigmoidal and the degree of positive co-operativity increased at higher MgCl(2) concentrations. The ATP-binding sites appeared to be non-interacting at low ribulose 5-phosphate concentrations. 4. Lineweaver-Burk plots for ribulose 5-phosphate showed abrupt transitions between apparently linear sections. The apparent K(m) and V(max.) values increased with increasing concentrations of ribulose phosphate. The transitions may be explained by a sequence of negative and positive co-operativity in the catalytic rate constants. 5. Phosphoribulokinase activity was inhibited by AMP and phosphoenolpyruvate and was activated by NADH. The presence of AMP or phosphoenolpyruvate increased s(0.5) (substrate concentration required for half-maximal velocity) for both ribulose 5-phosphate and ATP but V(max.) was not changed. The sigmoidicity of the ATP-saturation curve increased in the presence of AMP but was not affected by phosphoenolpyruvate. The transitions in the ribulose 5-phosphate-saturation curves were more abrupt in the presence of either inhibitor. NADH lowered the s(0.5) for both ribulose 5-phosphate and ATP. The activator did not affect the degree of positive co-operativity between ATP-binding sites, but the ribulose 5-phosphate-binding sites appeared to be non-interacting in its presence. 6. A sequence of positive and negative co-operativity in the interactions of AMP-binding sites was suggested by the Hill plots. In the presence of NADH (and phosphoenolpyruvate) the sensitivity to inhibition by AMP was less below a certain AMP concentration and increased above that concentration. 7. Examination of the interactions between ligands indicated that phosphoribulokinase can be regulated effectively by changes in effector concentrations similar to those reported to occur in vivo.


Abstract : The investigation of the mechanical properties of seasonal snow cover aims mostly at applications in avalanche release and avalanche control but also at no less important problems such as vehicle mobility in snow, snow removal, or construction on snow. Primary needs are (1) constitutive equations, that is, relations between the stress tensor and the motion, and (2) fracture criteria which limit the region of validity of constitutive equations., Both can be tackled from the aspect of continiuum theories and structure theories. With modern continiuum theories the characteristic nonlinear behavior of snow can be taken into account and also the strong dependence on stress and strain history. When thermodynamics is introduced, more insight into the deformation and fracture processes can be gained. High initial deformation rates cause low dissipation, elastic behavior, and brittle fracture, whereas when dissipative mechanisms can develop, ductile fracture occurs. The advantage of structural theories lies in the immediate physical insight into deformation mechanisms, but the disadvantage is that only simple states of stresses acting macroscopically on a snow sample can be considered. Different approaches have been elaborated: for low-density snow the concept of chains (a series of stress-bearing grains) or the neck growth model (consideration of stress concentrations in bonds between grains) and for high-density snow the pore collapse model (snow idealized as a material containing air voids). Structural constitutive equations were applied to the calculation of stress waves in snow. Recorded acoustic emissions, indicating intergranular bond fractures, can also be used for the construction of constitutive equations.


Municipal and agricultural wastewater contain a variety of microorganisms and in particular enteric viruses. For the reuse of this treated wastewater it is important to ensure the efficiency of purification treatments and disinfection practices, that have often been insufficient to lower the viral load below the risk level. For this reason, for the routine analysis of recycled waters, the research into pathogenic viruses (e.g. HAV) and classical bacterial parameters (E. coli, enterococci and Salmonella) has to be associated with specific viral indicators such as somatic coliphages, adenovirus and TTV. The results of environmental monitoring, carried out in a wastewater treatment plant, showed the presence of adenovirus DNA in 100% of collected samples and TTV DNA in 95% (19/20) of raw sewage and in 85% (17/20) of the exit samples, while HAV was detected only in 2 samples over 40 (5%). The quantitative analysis has revealed an average reduction of 2 log for adenovirus and 1.58 log for TTV. The bacterial indicators were reduced by 1.74 log and 1.99 log respectively for E. coli and enterococci, while for somatic coliphages an average reduction of 2.2 log was observed. No significant correlation was shown between these parameters, confirming their inadequacy for the virological risk assessment. However the results of adenovirus confirm it as the best indicator to evaluate the efficacy of wastewater depuration plant in eliminating viruses.


The identification of factors associated with breast recurrence as first event (62 cases, 10%) following conservative surgery and radiation therapy are drawn out from a series++ of 618 mammary carcinomas of clinical size less than 40 mm, stage I and II (UICC), with a median follow up of 8 years. The most powerful predictive characteristic associated with the likelihood of breast recurrence is multiple foci of invasion (42.9% vs 8.9, P = 0.0001, relative risk [RR]: 6). After this rarely cited feature, young age, less than 40 years (20% vs 7.3%, P = 0.0001, RR: 2.8), extensive in situ carcinoma more than 25% (19.2% vs 8.7%, P = 0.003, RR: 2.5) were found also persistent in the Cox model, but not histologic size more than 25 mm (18.9% vs 9.1%, P = 0.01, RR: 2.3). The site of recurrence was studied on the 54 salvage mastectomy done. A high rate of recurrence at distance of the initial site was found: 37% whose more than half, 22%, were multicentric. No significant difference in the mean delay of appearance was noted between recurrence near or at distance of the initial cancer (mean delay 52 months vs 64 months). From the recurrence the evolution is not very favourable: excluding simultaneous metastases found at the preoperative investigation, ten cases, mammary recurrence is followed by a metastatic syndrome in 36% of cases against 17% without it (P = 0.01, RR: 1.9). Metastatic evolution is not significantly linked with the time, early or late, of the mammary recurrence (54.5% before 5 years vs 39% after) but with the association of a controlateral cancer (P = 0.03). Locally ten of the 54 mastectomy presented a thoracic recurrence, often in case of multicentric breast recurrence (P = 0.05) and not significantly when skin or areola were invaded by carcinoma.


We consider discrete pairwise energy minimization problem (weighted constraint satisfaction, max-sum labeling) and methods that identify a globally optimal partial assignment of variables. When finding a complete optimal assignment is intractable, determining optimal values for a part of variables is an interesting possibility. Existing methods are based on different sufficient conditions. We propose a new sufficient condition for partial optimality which is: (1) verifiable in polynomial time (2) invariant to reparametrization of the problem and permutation of labels and (3) includes many existing sufficient conditions as special cases. %It is derived by using a relaxation technique coherent with the relaxation for energy minimization. We pose the problem of finding the maximum optimal partial assignment identifiable by the new sufficient condition. A polynomial method is proposed which is guaranteed to assign same or larger part of variables %find the same or larger part of optimal assignment than several existing approaches. The core of the method is a specially constructed linear program that identifies persistent assignments in an arbitrary multi-label setting.


This paper is motivated by structured sparsity for deep neural network training. We study a weighted group L0-norm constraint, and present the projection and normal cone of this set. Using randomized smoothing, we develop zeroth and first-order algorithms for minimizing a Lipschitz continuous function constrained by any closed set which can be projected onto. Non-asymptotic convergence guarantees are proven in expectation for the proposed algorithms for two related convergence criteria which can be considered as approximate stationary points. Two further methods are given using the proposed algorithms: one with non-asymptotic convergence guarantees in high probability, and the other with asymptotic guarantees to a stationary point almost surely. We believe in particular that these are the first such non-asymptotic convergence results for constrained Lipschitz continuous loss functions.


ABSTRACT Current policy interventions in cultural industries tend to be highly localized and dominated by a cluster agenda. This article provides a critical evaluation of cultural industry development policies from a city network perspective based on the case of China. Drawing on quantitative data sources, we first conduct a systematic investigation into the geographical distribution of 252 publicly listed cultural firms within mainland China as well as the organization of their city-based buyer–supplier relationships across multiple spatial scales. Based on this empirical work, we then discuss whether cultural industry clusters could be a viable policy instrument for different cities and which spatial scale(s) should be taken into consideration while implementing cultural industry development programs. Our study generates a more comprehensive understanding of the functioning of local clusters and translocal networks in the operation of cultural industry firms and provides some implications for the formulation of urban cultural policies and planning schemes.


A new method of identifying the coherency of a group of generators using spectrum analysis technique is presented. First, the rotor angles of generators in the early part of the transients are predicted by the Taylor series expansion of the power system model. The values obtained are taken as sample data for the spectrum analysis with an FFT algorithm. The coherency criteria based on the spectra are presented and the coherent groups of generators can be quickly identified. A 34-bus 9-machine power system is used to illustrate that the proposed method is a fast and practical one.


This paper discusses grammatical gender in Norwegian by bringing together data from first language acquisition, Norwegian heritage language, and dialect change. In all these contexts, gender is often claimed to be a vulnerable category, arguably due to the relative non-transparency of gender assignment. Furthermore, the feminine gender is in the process of being lost in many Norwegian dialects, as feminine agreement forms (for example, the indefinite article) are merged with the masculine. The definite suffix, in contrast, is quite stable, as it is acquired early and does not undergo attrition/change. We argue that the combined data provide evidence that gender and declension class are separate phenomena, and we outline a possible formal analysis to account for the findings.*


In recent years, probabilistic approaches have found many successful applications to mobile robot localization, and to object state estimation for manipulation. In this paper, we propose a unified approach to these two problems that dynamically models the objects to be manipulated and localizes the robot at the same time. Our approach applies in the common setting where only a lowresolution (10cm) grid-map of a building is available, but we also have a high-resolution (0.1cm) model of the object to be manipulated. Our method is based on defining a unifying probabilistic model over these two representations. The resulting algorithm works in real-time, and estimates the position of objects with sufficient precision for manipulation tasks. We apply our approach to the task of navigating from one office to another (including manipulating doors). Our approach, successfully tested on multiple doors, allows the robot to navigate through a hallway to an office door, grasp and turn the door handle, and continuously manipulate the door as it moves into the office.


In this paper, edge detection techniques and their performance are compared when applied in license plate detection using an embedded digital signal processor. License plate detection remains to be the crucial part of a vehicle's license plate recognition process. The edge detection algorithms compared in this work are those reported capable of delivering real-time performance. These are Canny-Deriche-FGL, Haar and Daubechies-4 wavelet transform and the classic Sobel. These particular algorithms are chosen and compared due to their good performance on digital signal processors. The comparison is drawn in terms of speed and detection success of a license plate. The results show Haar wavelet-based edge detector performs better on a DSP with LP detection speed of 7.32 ms and 98.6% success using 45,032 UK images containing license plates at 768×288 resolutions.


The telecommunications sector is one of the most innovative, high-growth, capitalintensive yet volatile sector of the economy. This research addresses critical concerns of how, when, and why an enterprise or a service provider should undertake new investments. The study investigates the power of flexibility in investment decision making process, by applying the real options methodology. Five case applications are studied: a) investment decisions in next generation wireless networks; b) investing in integrated wireless networks; c) migration to wireless broadband internet services; d) valuing deployment of Wi-Fi networks in enterprise markets; and e) valuing Hosted VOIP services for enterprise markets. The case studies are analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively.


. Due to its nutritional and economic value, the tomato is considered one of the main vegetables in terms of production and consumption in the world. For this reason, an important study is the volume of the fruit related to the loss of mass. This process develops in the fruit mainly after the harvest. This parameter affects the economic value of the crop, the scientific community has been progressively addressing the problem. However, there is no non-contact method that allows volume estimation. In this work a quantitative method is developed that allows to estimate the volume of the tomato fruit by means of a 3D reconstruction technique. The method is based on a camera that acquires different views of the silhouette of the fruit and by means of image processing a 3D point cloud is generated and later a Delaunay triangulation technique, which allows the estimation of the 3D volume of the tomato fruit. This volume estimation allows the design of precise strategies focused on the prediction of tomato postharvest by producers, distributors and consumers.


of an industrial medical service, as is already the case at Slough and Harlow. More concentration of accident cases in designated units will, in the absence of peripheral casualty services, result in these units being swamped with trivial conditions to an even greater extent than is the case with the casualty departments, and the day of treating these patients effectively, economically, and with the minimum loss of time-both at the time of the accident and during the all-important period of aftercare-will be further away than ever.-I am, etc.,


The traditional methods of virus diagnosis depend on the isolation of the infecting agent, either by animal inoculation or by tissue culture techniques, and by serological tests to detect an increase in antibody titre. Both methods, although reliable, have certain disadvantages, mainly because of the time it takes for a result to become available. In recent years there has been a move towards direct microscopy to detect the virus antigen, either by electron-microscopy or by immunofluorescence. Electron-niicroscopy has proved to be invaluable for the detailed study of the size and shape of virus particles. Many virus laboratories are making increase use of electron-microscopes for diagnostic purposes, but they are expensive and their use is naturally limited. Immunofluorescence provides an alternative approach, but diagnostic laboratories undertaking such techniques should not underestimate the technical skill required to achieve reliable results. This new monograph on the application of immunofluorescence gives a clear account of how these techniques can be -applied to the rapid diagnosis of virus diseases. The authors write with considerable experience, particularly in relation to the diagnosis of respiratory virus infection. They go into great detail, and quite correctly, on the use of immunofluorescence, and the preparation of material, reagents, and specimens, which those about to embark on the use of these techniques will find invaluable. Although rapidity of diagnosis is useful in many circumstances it must also be reliable, and the authors stress the importance of detecting non-specific fluorescent staining and the pitfalls which can lead to false-positives and false-negatives. This is of particular importance in the diagnosis of smallpox and rabies. The book is clearly written and well produced. The standard of the illustrations is excellent. It is strongly recommended both for clinicians and for laboratory workers.


Clonally transmissible cancers are tumour lineages that are transmitted between individuals via the transfer of living cancer cells. In marine bivalves, leukemia-like transmissible cancers, called hemic neoplasia, have demonstrated the ability to infect individuals from different species. We performed whole-genome sequencing in eight warty venus clams that were diagnosed with hemic neoplasia, from two sampling points located more than 1,000 nautical miles away in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea Coasts of Spain. Mitochondrial genome sequencing analysis in tumour tissues from neoplastic animals revealed the coexistence of haplotypes from two different clam species. Phylogenies estimated from mitochondrial and nuclear markers confirmed this leukemia originated in striped venus clams and later transmitted to clams of the species warty venus, in which it survives as a contagious cancer. The analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences supports all studied tumours belong to a single neoplastic lineage that spreads in the Seas of Southern Europe.


By the time of the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence of 1716 the Newtonian and Leibnizian systems of natural philosophy had reached maturity. Each system consisted of different physical as well as metaphysical principles which, taken together, formed a world view. At the time of their famous debates, Leibniz at 70 and Newton at 74, the founders of two highly developed scientific philosophies, were struggling to establish and defend the ontological and mechanical bases of differing bodies of organized knowledge.


BACKGROUND Cardiovascular risk is increased in patients with gout. We compared cardiovascular outcomes associated with febuxostat, a nonpurine xanthine oxidase inhibitor, with those associated with allopurinol, a purine base analogue xanthine oxidase inhibitor, in patients with gout and cardiovascular disease. METHODS We conducted a multicenter, double‐blind, noninferiority trial involving patients with gout and cardiovascular disease; patients were randomly assigned to receive febuxostat or allopurinol and were stratified according to kidney function. The trial had a prespecified noninferiority margin of 1.3 for the hazard ratio for the primary end point (a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or unstable angina with urgent revascularization). RESULTS In total, 6190 patients underwent randomization, received febuxostat or allopurinol, and were followed for a median of 32 months (maximum, 85 months). The trial regimen was discontinued in 56.6% of patients, and 45.0% discontinued follow‐up. In the modified intention‐to‐treat analysis, a primary end‐point event occurred in 335 patients (10.8%) in the febuxostat group and in 321 patients (10.4%) in the allopurinol group (hazard ratio, 1.03; upper limit of the one‐sided 98.5% confidence interval [CI], 1.23; P = 0.002 for noninferiority). All‐cause and cardiovascular mortality were higher in the febuxostat group than in the allopurinol group (hazard ratio for death from any cause, 1.22 [95% CI, 1.01 to 1.47]; hazard ratio for cardiovascular death, 1.34 [95% CI, 1.03 to 1.73]). The results with regard to the primary end point and all‐cause and cardiovascular mortality in the analysis of events that occurred while patients were being treated were similar to the results in the modified intention‐to‐treat analysis. CONCLUSIONS In patients with gout and major cardiovascular coexisting conditions, febuxostat was noninferior to allopurinol with respect to rates of adverse cardiovascular events. Allcause mortality and cardiovascular mortality were higher with febuxostat than with allopurinol. (Funded by Takeda Development Center Americas; CARES ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01101035.)


Polymyositis and dermatomyositis are systemic inflammatory diseases with unknown etiology and prognosis. Pulmonary involvement is increasingly recognized to be a major complication and a common cause of morbidity and mortality in these diseases. Thus a thorough pulmonary evaluation is necessary to permit appropriate management. There are three categories of pulmonary complications in myositis: aspiration pneumonia, hypoventilation, and interstitial lung disease (ILD). ILD is a frequent pulmonary complication in patients with myositis, and respiratory symptoms are not reliable signs for diagnosis. The strongest predictive factor for ILD in patients with myositis is the presence of antihistidyl transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) synthetase antibodies (anti-Jo-1), but ILD may also be present in patients without these autoantibodies. Therefore, all patients with polymyositis or dermatomyositis should be investigated with chest radiography, high-resolution computed tomography, and lung function tests.


: A research project conducted at the Norwegian Lutheran Hospital in 1977 (213 deaths) was repeated in 1987 (100 deaths). The purpose was to discover if and how terminal care had changed during the ten years. Data sources were case records, nurses' reports, interviews with closest relatives about 12 weeks after the death (response 95% in 1977 and 72% in 1987). Openness about death had not increased. There was some improvement of palliative treatment. In 1987, 79% of all terminal patients had received such treatment, compared with 51% in 1977. The percentage receiving life prolonging treatment, such as parenteral supply of fluids, had fallen from 62% in 1977 to 25% in 1987, and the percentage treated with antibiotics from 31% in 1977 to 15% ten years later.


Poland is a country with significant potential for the development of organic farming. This is due to the possession of rural areas characterized by favorable natural and productive conditions. The advantages of Polish agriculture include relatively clean environment, low chemicals consumption, large labor resources and relatively low labor costs. The main objective of conducted research was to present factors determining the leading of organic farms in the conditions of fragmented agriculture in south Poland. The research was conducted in the Malopolska Voivodeship in 2017. Source material for analysis was primary information collected using PAPI method. In the survey participated 50 certified organic farms chosen by using purposive method of sample selection. In the area structure of surveyed organic farms dominated farms from 5.1 ha to 10 ha. The most popular direction of agricultural production on farms was the growing vegetables. Owners of organic farms as one of the main reasons for moving the farm from conventional to organic systems, considered the possibility of obtaining subsidies for one hectare of cultivation. These subsidies provide them financial support especially in the first years of operation on the market. The least important reason for transformation a farm from conventional to organic system was the factor associated with the reduction of environmental pollution as a result of the change in system of farming. As one of the advantages of running a organic farm, producers pointed the possibility of selecting disease-resistant plant and animal species and creating additional workplaces. On the other hand, as a basic disadvantage of organic farming, farmers pointed out the difficulties in finding market for the products from the farm. Most farm owners cooperate with various organizations connected with ecology. Very popular among them are also different kind of training courses, which are aimed at expanding knowledge of organic production. At the same time the educational activity of the surveyed farms is very low. Only in a few farms was conducted educational activity for children or people interested in ecology. Keywords: organic farms, Malopolska Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.033


This manuscript describes customization of copolymers to be used for polymer‐driven protein purification in bioprocessing. To understand how copolymer customization can be used for fine‐tuning, precipitation behavior was analyzed for five target antibodies (mAbs) and BSA as model impurity protein, at ionic strength similar to undiluted cell culture fluid. In contrast to the use of standardized homopolymers, customized copolymers, composed of 2‐acrylamido‐2‐methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS) and 4‐(acryloylamino)benzoic acid (ABZ), exhibited antibody precipitation yields exceeding 90%. Additionally, copolymer average molecular weight (Mw) was varied and its influence on precipitation yield and contaminant coprecipitation was investigated. Results revealed copolymer composition as the major driving force for precipitation selectivity, which was also dependent on protein hydrophobicity. By adjusting ABZ content and Mw of the precipitant for each of the mAbs, conditions were found that allowed for high precipitation yield and selectivity. These findings may open up new avenues for using polymers in antibody purification processes. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 29:1484–1493, 2013


Background/Aims: Pain is common in aged care residents with dementia; yet it often goes undetected. A novel tool, the electronic Pain Assessment Tool (ePAT), was developed to address this challenging problem. We investigated the psychometric properties of the ePAT. Methods: In a 10-week prospective observational study, the ePAT was evaluated by comparison against the Abbey Pain Scale (APS). Pain assessments were blindly co-performed by the ePAT rater against the nursing staff of two residential aged care facilities. The residents were assessed twice by each rater: at rest and following movement. Results: The study involved 34 residents aged 85.5 ± 6.3 years, predominantly with severe dementia (Psychogeriatric Assessment Scale – Cognitive Impairment score = 19.7 ± 2.5). Four hundred paired assessments (n = 204 during rest; n = 196 following movement) were performed. Concurrent validity (r = 0.911) and all reliability measures (κw = 0.857; intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.904; α = 0.950) were excellent, while discriminant validity and predictive validity were good. Conclusion: The ePAT is a suitable tool for the assessment of pain in this vulnerable population.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The goal of thrombolytic therapy in patients with acute ischemic stroke is early recanalization, but this may result in delayed reperfusion injury. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the neuroprotective effect of agmatine in a transient ischemic cat model by using MR perfusion imaging and histopathologic analyses. METHOD: One-hour temporary occlusion of the left middle cerebral artery of cats was performed in the control ischemia group ( n (cid:1) 10), and 100 mg/kg of agmatine was intravenously injected immediately after recanalization in the agmatine-treated group ( n (cid:1) 15). MR imaging was performed at 1, 24, and 48 hours after recanalization, and the perfusion patterns were investigated. Terminal–deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated nick and end-labeling (TUNEL) and hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) stainings were performed at the corresponding sections. RESULTS: In the control ischemia group, the number of TUNEL-positive cells was significantly increased in the areas with reperfusion hyperemia ( P (cid:2) .05). In the agmatine-treated group, no significant increase in the number of TUNEL-positive cells was noted in the areas of reperfusion hyperemia. The difference in the number of TUNEL-positive cells between the control ischemia and agmatine-treated group in the areas of reperfusion hyperemia was significant ( P (cid:2) .05). The total number of TUNEL-positive cells and the area of severe ischemic neuronal damage on H&E stain were also significantly attenuated in the agmatine-treated cats compared with the control ischemia cats ( P (cid:2) .05). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that agmatine has neuroprotective effects against reperfusion injury and ischemia.


Abstract Our current knowledge of star formation and accretion luminosity at high redshift (z > 3–4), as well as the possible connections between them, relies mostly on observations in the rest-frame ultraviolet, which are strongly affected by dust obscuration. Due to the lack of sensitivity of past and current infrared instrumentation, so far it has not been possible to get a glimpse into the early phases of the dust-obscured Universe. Among the next generation of infrared observatories, SPICA, observing in the 12–350 µm range, will be the only facility that can enable us to trace the evolution of the obscured star-formation rate and black-hole accretion rate densities over cosmic time, from the peak of their activity back to the reionisation epoch (i.e., 3 < z ≲ 6–7), where its predecessors had severe limitations. Here, we discuss the potential of photometric surveys performed with the SPICA mid-infrared instrument, enabled by the very low level of impact of dust obscuration in a band centred at 34 µm. These unique unbiased photometric surveys that SPICA will perform will fully characterise the evolution of AGNs and star-forming galaxies after reionisation.