Background Physical and sexual abuse victimization have been connected with negative effects on health long after the abuse has stopped. When athletes encounter situations of defeat and entrapment, the likelihood that suicidal ideation will emerge is increased in situations when negative motivational elements are present, for instance, at low levels of social support. Objective To examine associations between suicidal ideation and sexual and physical abuse among active and recently retired elite Athletics (track and field) athletes. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting Swedish elite Athletics. Participants Athletes (n=402) who had been selected for a Swedish Athletics team for international competitions between 2011 and 2017. Assessment of risk factors Lifetime experience of sexual and physical abuse, athlete personal and sociodemographic characteristics, Athletics participation, sense of coherence (SOC-13), and coping strategies (Brief Cope). Main outcome measurements Suicidal ideation and 1-year period prevalence of non-sports injury. Results 192 athletes (47.8%) returned complete data sets. The prevalence of suicidal ideation was 15.6% (males 17.4%; females 14.2%) and the non-sports injury prevalence was 8.0% (males 11.6%; females 5.7%). Suicidal ideation was among females (Nagelkerke R2 =0.33) associated with sexual abuse victimization (Odds ratio (OR) 5.94, 95% Confidence interval (CI) 1.42–24.90; P=0.015) and lower sense of coherence (OR 0.90, CI 0.85–0.96; P=0.001). Among males (R2 =0.25), suicidal ideation was only associated with use of behavioural disengagement for coping (OR 1.51, CI 1.18–1.95; P=0.001). Non-sports injury prevalence was among females (R2 =0.23) associated with sexual abuse victimization (OR 8.61, CI 0.02–0.90; P=0.039) and participation in an endurance event (OR 7.37, CI 1.11–48.90; P=0.039), while among males (R2 =0.11) only having immigrant parents (OR, 5.67, CI 1.31–24.45; P=0.020) was associated with having sustained an injury outside sports. Conclusions Given that about one out of six athletics athletes had experienced suicidal ideation, the present results warrant and can be used in suicide prevention among elite athletes.


Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) through fiber optic has been deployed in downhole monitoring for over two decades. Several technological advancements led to a wide acceptance of this technology as a reliable surveillance technique. This paper presents a comprehensive technical review of all the applications of DAS.
 The paper starts with the fundamentals of fiber optic deployment. Then, an overview of all the applications of DAS including seismic application (vertical seismic profiling), microseismic (hydraulic fracturing characterization), well and pipe integrity (such as leak detection and cement quality), and well and pipe flow monitoring is provided. Flow monitoring contains injection and production flow estimation, phase determination, gas and water breakthrough identification, gas lift surveillance, pump and flow control device performance evaluation, sand production detection, and flow regime recognition.
 This paper reviews the basics of DAS, fiber types, installation methods, types of recorded data, data processing, historical development, current applications and limitations. The paper provides a concise review using several field cases from over two hundred published papers of Society of Petroleum Engineering (SPE) and journal databases. The applications of DAS in downhole monitoring can be generally divided into the qualitative and quantitative applications. The study discusses deployment methods, case by case worldwide field performance and interpretation/modeling. It also summarizes main lessons, key results, and challenges including data quality, signal to noise ratio effect, and operational conditions such as the installation of the fiber and the complexity of quantitative production prediction and flow profiling. In addition, a comparison between deployment of DAS and other methods is reviewed.
 This study is the foundation for an ongoing study on wellbore and reservoir surveillance through real time distributed fiber optic sensing (DAS) records along the wellbore. It summarizes the historical development and current limitations to identify the existing gaps and reviews the lessons learned during the two decades of the application of DAS in downhole monitoring.


We consider the problem of numerically approximating the solution of an elliptic partial differential equation with random coefficients and homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions. We focus on the case of a lognormal coefficient and deal with the lack of uniform coercivity and uniform boundedness with respect to the randomness. This model is frequently used in hydrogeology. We approximate this coefficient by a finite dimensional noise using a truncated Karhunen-Loeve expansion. We give estimates of the corresponding error on the solution, both a strong error estimate and a weak error estimate, that is, an estimate of the error commited on the law of the solution. We obtain a weak rate of convergence which is twice the strong one. In addition, we give a complete error estimate for the stochastic collocation method in this case, where neither coercivity nor boundedness is stochastically uniform. To conclude, we apply these results of strong and weak convergence to two classical cases of covariance kernel choices, the case of an exponential covariance kernel on a box and the case of an analytic covariance kernel, yielding explicit weak and strong convergence rates.


A novel integration-based yield estimation method is developed for yield optimization of integrated circuits.This method tries to integrate the joint probability density function on the acceptability region directly. To achieve this goal,the simulated performance data of unknown distribution should be converted to follow a multivariate normal distribution by using Box-Cox transformation(BCT).In order to reduce the estimation variances of the model parameters of the density function,orthogonal array-based modified Latin hypercube sampling (OA-MLHS) is presented to generate samples in the disturbance space during simulations.The principle of variance reduction of model parameters estimation through OA-MLHS together with BCT is also discussed.Two yield estimation examples,a fourth-order OTA-C filter and a three-dimensional(3D) quadratic function are used for comparison of our method with Monte Carlo based methods including Latin hypercube sampling and importance sampling under several combinations of sample sizes and yield values.Extensive simulations show that our method is superior to other methods with respect to accuracy and efficiency under all of the given cases.Therefore,our method is more suitable for parametric yield optimization.


Abstract. The tropopause layer plays a key role in manifold processes in atmospheric chemistry and physics. Here we compare the representation and characteristics of the lapse rate tropopause according to the definition of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as estimated from European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis data. Our study is based on ten-year records (2009 to 2018) of ECMWF's state-of-the-art reanalysis ERA5 and its predecessor ERA-Interim. The intercomparison reveals notable differences between ERA5 and ERA-Interim tropopause data, in particular on small spatiotemporal scales. The monthly mean differences of ERA5 minus ERA-Interim tropopause heights vary between −300 m at the transition from the tropics to the extratropics (near 30° S and 30° N) to 150 m around the equator. Mean tropopause temperatures are mostly lower in ERA5 than in ERA-Interim, with a maximum difference of up to −1.5 K in the tropics. Monthly standard deviations of tropopause heights of ERA5 are up to 350 m or 60 % larger than for ERA-Interim. Monthly standard deviations of tropopause temperatures of ERA5 exceed those of ERA-Interim by up to 1.5 K or 30 %. The occurrence frequencies of double tropopause events in ERA5 exceed those of ERA-Interim by up to 25 percentage points at mid latitudes. We attribute the differences between the ERA5 and ERA-Interim tropopause data and the larger, more realistic variability of ERA5 to improved spatiotemporal resolution and better representation of geophysical processes in the forecast model as well as improvements in the data assimilation scheme and the utilization of additional observations in ERA5. The improved spatiotemporal resolution of ERA5 allows for a better representation of mesoscale features, in particular of gravity waves, which affect the temperature profiles in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere and thus the tropopause height estimates. We evaluated the quality of the ERA5 and ERA-Interim reanalysis tropopause data by comparisons with COSMIC and MetOp Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite observations as well as high-resolution radiosonde profiles. The comparison indicates an uncertainty of the first tropopause for ERA5 (ERA-Interim) of about ±150 m to ±200 m (±250 m) based on radiosonde data and ±120 m to ±150 m (±170 to ±200 m) based on the coarser resolution GPS data at different latitudes. Consequently, ERA5 will provide more accurate information than ERA-Interim for future tropopause-related studies.


This article explores the concepts of bullying and harassment, defines the terms and their implications, and explores similarities and differences between the two. It also examines pertinent legislation and identifies strategies to raise awareness and optimise a bullying and harassment-free perioperative environment. Bullying and harassment in the workplace was the focus of this presentation at NATN Congress 2002. Challenging behaviours involving patients and carers is another topic in itself.


We use evolutionary computation (EC) to automatically find problems which demonstrate the strength and weaknesses of modern search heuristics. In particular, we analyze particle swarm optimization (PSO), differential evolution (DE), and covariance matrix adaptation-evolution strategy (CMA-ES). Each evolutionary algorithm is contrasted with the others and with a robust nonstochastic gradient follower (i.e., a hill climber) based on Newton-Raphson. The evolved benchmark problems yield insights into the operation of PSOs, illustrate benefits and drawbacks of different population sizes, velocity limits, and constriction (friction) coefficients. The fitness landscapes made by genetic programming reveal new swarm phenomena, such as deception, thereby explaining how they work and allowing us to devise better extended particle swarm systems. The method could be applied to any type of optimizer.


What happens when the historically marginalised part of a country becomes overnight a reservoir of potential national wealth? In 2012, commercially viable crude oil deposits were confirmed in Turkana County, Kenya, home to some of East Africa's few mobile pastoralists. This thesis examines the dynamics of resource extraction that unfolded since then, including promises of development and social inclusion for this hitherto relegated region. Oil is unusual in that it is a highly lucrative commodity with tremendous economic potential. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of policies around 'ethical extraction' and the requirement that oil companies need to leave communities better off than they found them. This thesis argues that despite the social performances of global best practices, oil has actually exacerbated the precarious living conditions in the county instead of providing the stability that was promised. The net result is a community that lives in a cycle of impermanence characterised by temporary jobs, incomplete infrastructure, and inconsistent development projects. This has resulted from a combination of the fragile and indeterminate nature of oil itself, the technical nature of jobs in the extractives industry, the unequal power relations between industry and government, and the ambiguous ethical codes that appear to breed secrecy more than accountability and transparency.
The thesis includes an analysis of Turkana's rapidly shifting position within Kenyan political and economic structures; an account of the redefinition of entitlements to resources and revenues and how this has shaped local political, socioeconomic, and ethnic identities; and a discussion of how the Kenyan state, corporate actors, third-sector agencies, and local populations are seeking to design the prospective future with oil. It develops an original analytical framework in order to explore how histories of marginalisation and uncertainty shape the processes of natural resource development. Anthropologists have long examined the relationship between pastoral societies and modernisation, particularly their exclusion from national social compacts and political life. This study aims to contribute anthropological perspectives on the extractive industries by investigating the uneven distribution of early oil benefits and the competing responsibilities for constituting and securing a rightful share of the profits. This involves paying attention to the power relations and governance techniques that perpetuate marginalisation and to the internal dynamics of livelihood struggles and social relations in pastoral areas.


Although conjunctions and oppositions frequently occur in planetary systems, eclipserelated phenomena are usually described from an Earth-centric perspective. Space missions to different parts of the Solar system, as well as the mounting number of known exo-planets in habitable zones and the possibility of sending featherweight robot
spacecraft to them, prompt broader considerations. Here, we derive the geometry of eclipses, transits and occultations from a primarily exo-Earth viewpoint, and apply the formulation to the Solar system and three types of three-body extrasolar planetary systems: with 1 star and 2 planets (Case I), with 2 stars and 1 planet (Case II), and
with 1 planet, 1 star and 1 moon (Case III). We derive the general conditions for total, partial and annular eclipses to occur at exo-syzygy, and implement them in each case in concert with stability criteria. We then apply the formalism to the TRAPPIST-1, Kepler-444 and Kepler-77 systems – the first of which contains multiple potentially
habitable planets – and provide reference tables of both Solar system and TRAPPIST- 1 syzygy properties. We conclude by detailing a basic algebraic algorithm which can be used to quickly characterize eclipse properties in any three-body system.


The binding of the codon UUC to the isolated anticodon loop of tRNAPhe (yeast) has been studied as a model of codon recognition by a simple adaptor. Fluorescence titrations demonstrate that UUC binds to the isolated anticodon loop with an equilibrium constant of 1.4 X 10(3) M-1 (at 7.2 degrees C). Equilibrium sedimentation curves reveal that UUC binding induces association of anticodon loops beyond the dimer stage. A set of complete sedimentation curves obtained for various reactant concentrations was analyzed according to a model with an infinite number of subsequent association steps for UUC-anticodon loop complexes and with equal affinity for each step. The coupling of association and sedimentation was considered quantitatively, and the information resulting from conservation of mass was used by integration. According to this procedure, the experimental data can be described by an isodesmic association constant of 8 X 10(3) M-1 with satisfactory accuracy. Temperature-jump relaxation detected by fluorescence measurements provides independent evidence for codon-induced association of the anticodon loop. The data are consistent with the following mechanism: UUC preferentially binds to one of two loop conformations with a rate constant of 4.5 X 10(6) M-1 s-1; the UUC-anticodon loop complex undergoes association with a rate constant of 6.5 X 10(6) M-1 s-1. The reactions observed for the isolated anticodon loop are surprisingly similar to those observed previously for the complete tRNA, suggesting that simple hairpin loops are appropriate adaptors for a translation process at an early stage of evolution; the codon-induced association of the hairpin loop should be very useful to facilitate the transfer of cognate amino acids during translation.


This paper explores gendered violence of India's Partition in by examining Bombay cinema's first ghost story in 1949. The archive of India's independence and Partition into two new states is wounded by the lack of testimony about the atrocities of 1947. Retrieving historical subjectivity means having to read texts that are not included within an official archive. I argue that research about Partition must move beyond a fixation on state-centric, English-language colonial and national archives, as well as literary narratives by elites that are often used to "fill in the gaps". If one is to retrieve some sense of collective recognition of sexual violence, the task before the historian is to grapple with the fragments left behind at the level of popular cultural imagination.


Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) is a pathogenic virus that causes disease in the domestic cat. FIV is found worldwide and can give rise to an infection that is very similar to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the syndrome that is aquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). As FIV is a significant pathogen of cats, is found worldwide and induces similar pathology to that induced by HIV, developing a vaccine to FIV would not only benefit the domestic cat population but would provide an insight into the requirements for a HIV vaccine. To further the research into a FIV vaccine, the main aim of this study was to evaluate feline CD40 ligand (CD40L) as an adjuvant in a DNA vaccine against FIV. Initially, the biological activity of the previously cloned feline CD40L was demonstrated using proliferation assays and a CD40L feeder layer system. Once the biological activity of feline CD40L had been proven, a FIV DNA construct was selected for use in a DNA vaccine. To determine whether CD40L would enhance the immune response to FIV, an immunogenicity trial was conducted in mice. BALB/c mice were injected with CD40L DNA alone, FIV DNA alone or FIV DNA and CD40L DNA together. A control group was inoculated with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) only. The study demonstrated that CD40L enhanced the humoral immune response in mice to FIV but the results of the cell- mediated immune response to FIV were inconclusive. Studies were also conducted in the cat. Specified pathogen free (SPF) cats were inoculated with FIV DNA alone, CD40L DNA alone, or FIV and CD40L DNA. A control group was inoculated with PBS only. This study demonstrated that CD40L enhanced the cell- mediated response to FIV, but no anti-viral antibodies were detected in any of the groups post-vaccination. To further test the efficacy of a CD40L adjuvanted FIV DNA vaccine, the vaccinated cats were challenged intraperitoneally (i.p) with the virulent FIV isolate FIV-Glasgow 8 (FIV-GL8). No cats developed sterilising immunity to the FIV challenge as all vaccinated cats became virus isolation positive; however overall the viral loads were lower in the FIV and CD40L vaccinated cats than in the other groups. In the vaccine trial it was noted that there was a degree of enhancement of infection in the groups that were inoculated with FIV DNA or CD40L DNA alone. The final part of this study investigated potential modes of enhancement of FIV infection.


Nanofluids exhibit enhanced thermal conductivity superior to traditional heat transfer fluids. The conventional theoretical models cannot explain the large enhancement of the thermal conductivity of nanofluids. It has been proposed that an interfacial structure formed by liquid molecular layering might play an important role. To date there is no known procedure to properly calculate the nanolayer thickness, and all previous investigators arbitrarily adopt a layer thickness which is consistent with experimental results. Here we investigate the thermal conductivity structure of this interfacial layer and its impact on the effective thermal conductivity and an expression for the thermal conductivity profile in the nanolayer is investigated using matching boundary conditions for the general heat conduction equation. An expression for the thickness of the nanolayer is derived. The assumed profile for the thermal conductivity within the nanolayer, k = kO (1 - alpha r)m, is found to be appropriate when m < 15. It is found that the thickness of the nanolayer is approximately 19% and 22% of the radius of a nanoparticle, for Al2O3/ethylene glycol and CuO/H2O nanofluids, respectively. This evaluation of the nanolayer thickness is consistent with the range of values used by several authors in their theoretical models for the thermal conductivity of nanofluids which include a nanolayer.


This article investigated the damage conditions of cereals infrastructures in city of Mianyang, Sichuan province, after the '5.12' Wenchuan Earthquake. The guidelines of restoration and reconstruction program with cereals infrastructure were brought forward in this paper. Based on the analysis of local cereals production and consumption, as well as the prediction of social development in the future, this article proposed respectively the restoration and reconstruction projects those should be planned. Economic benefit and social benefit to be brought by these projects were also analyzed. This paper will provide some references to the recovery of other cities those also destroyed in the earthquake.


A two-dimensional finite-element model of an electrical impedance tomographic phantom has been investigated. It is perceived that an understanding of the basic measurement system will enable the design of improved data collection hardware, e.g. the number and size of the electrodes. The presented model has sixteen electrodes spaced equidistantly on the perimeter and a centrally placed anomaly. The system is excited using the adjacent-electrode constant-current drive scheme. The size and conductivity of the anomaly are varied in order to investigate how the measurement system will behave to changes in input. Measures of the system's sensitivities to these variations in the anomaly are defined. The four measures derived from the calculated boundary voltages are contrast sensitivity, spatial or radial sensitivity, visibility and rms voltage difference. Results are presented for the four measures, showing how they vary with the parameters of the anomaly. In particular, these results show that there is a clear and distinct difference between spatial and contrast sensitivity. The relationship between the calculated visibility values and the conductivity contrast of the anomaly differs from that predicted theoretically, but is in agreement with the measured relationship. It can also be seen that the presented model is more than twice as sensitive to changes in an anomaly that is more resistive as compared to one that is more conductive than the background or surrounding material.


Testing as a Service (TaaS) is a new business and service model that provides efficient and effective software quality assurance and enables the use of a cloud for the meeting of quality standards, requirements and consumer's needs. However, problems that limit the effective use of TaaS involve lack of standardization in writing, execution, configuration and management of tests and lack of portability and interoperability among TaaS platforms — the so-called lock-in problem. The lock-in problem is a serious threat to software testing in the cloud and may become critical when a provider decides to suddenly increase prices, or shows serious technical availability problems. This paper proposes a novel approach for solving the lock-in problem in TaaS with the use of design patterns. The aim to assist software engineers and quality control managers in building testing solutions that are both portable and interoperable and promote a more widespread adoption of the TaaS model in cloud computing.


Summary
1. Macrophytes in running waters experience an often dynamic and harsh environment. To avoid breakage, plants have to reduce the experienced drag force. However, by reducing leaf area, photosynthetic production is less. Aquatic plants therefore have to find a balance between reducing drag and maintaining photosynthetic capacity.

2. In the experiments in this study, we assessed to what extent different morphological strategies (emergent vs. submerged) were able to minimize drag while maximizing leaf area.

3. From our measurements, it is clear that with increasing water velocities, emergent plant species have a drag value three to four times higher than submerged species.

4. To test the versatility of leaves, leaves were removed and their effect on drag and bending was investigated. Almost 60% of the drag is contributed by the leaves, and stems bend less when leaves are removed.

5. Because high submerged leaf area increases not only plant drag but also photosynthetic yield, a trade-off between both parameters was investigated in the function of stream velocity. Emerged species had a more favourable trade-off at low stream velocities. However, with increasing stream velocity, submerged species could reduce their drag more in comparison with blunt objects. Within these submerged species, a clear distinction was seen between those (Potamogeton natans) concentrating their leaf area on or just beneath the water surface (Stuckenia pectinata) and those with more or less evenly distributed biomass (Callitriche platycarpa and Ranunculus penicillatus).

6. These results indicate that aquatic plants with an emergent strategy are able to take better advantage of zones with reduced hydraulic forces than submerged plants. Additionally, this plant occurrence will be determined by the relationship between total plant drag and root strength.


The research aims at finding out how the development of social learning model based on metacognitive strategies or PS MEDIM model fosters the mathematics self-efficacy of students which is valid, practical, and effective. In order to obtain the valid, practical, and effective model, instruments and learning tools are well developed. The product of this research is a social learning model based on metacognitive strategies that can foster self-efficacy in mathematics. The development is conducted simultaneously. When developing the model, instruments and tools that support learning model of PS MEDIM are also developed. This research is research development (developmental research) which refers to the modification of the development of Tjeerd Plomp model with 4 phases of development. The first phase is a preliminary investigation. The second phase is designing. The third phase is realization. The fourth phase testing, evaluation, and revision. There is also a trial test of PS MEDIM learning model that is conducted in class XI IPA1 and XI IPA2 of SMAN 9 Makassar. There are some results of the research. First, the model, instruments, and the learning tools of PS MEDIM are valid. Second, the model of PS MEDIM is eligible to apply in the classroom. Third, the model of PS MEDIM does not meet the criteria of practicality. It indicates that the components of the model of PS MEDIM has not been implemented as expected and does not meet the criteria of effectiveness. From 4 criteria of effectiveness, there is only one criterion fulfilled. The students' positive response to the learning model of PS MEDIM, and other three criteria have not been met. The classical completeness is not reached. The student's activity has not been as expected. In addition, the teacher's ability for teaching and learning management is still in "medium" category.


Medicinal plants indicated for chronic diseases usually have good safety margins as they are intended for lifelong treatments. We hypothesized that they may provide patients with baseline protection to cancers and multidrug resistance-reversing phytochemicals resulting in successful prevention and/or adjuvant treatment of chemotherapy-resistant cancers. We selected 27 popular herbal infusions widely used in Nigeria for diabetes and studied their effects on a panel of liver (HepG2), colon (Caco2), and skin (B16-F10) cancer cells. Cytotoxicity was measured using the SRB staining assay. The 2D antimigratory effect was evaluated using an Oris™ platform. The P-glycoprotein (P-gp) efflux activity was evaluated using Rh-123 as a fluorescent probe. The inhibition of tyrosinase-mediated melanogenesis was evaluated by colorimetric enzymatic assays. Our results show that melanoma cell proliferation was strongly inhibited by Anogeissus leiocarpus (Combretaceae), Bridelia ferruginea (Phyllanthaceae), D. ogea (Leguminosae), and Syzygium guineense (Myrtaceae) extracts (GI50 = 50 µg/ml). Alstonia boonei (Apocynaceae), Gongronema latifolium (Asclepiadaceae), and Strophanthus hispidus (Apocynaceae) were preferentially toxic against Caco2 (GI50 = 50, 5 and 35 µg/ml, respectively). The most active extracts against different drug resistance mechanisms were B. ferruginea (inhibition of P-gp efflux, and impairing tyrosinase activity) and X. americana (inhibition of P-gp efflux). A. leiocarpus, Kaya senegalensis (Meliaceae), S. guineense, and Terminalia avicennioides (Combretaceae) significantly inhibited B16-F10 cell migration. Lupeol, ursolic acid, quercitrin, epicatechin, gallic acid, and ellagic acid were dereplicated by HPLC and HPTLC as their bioactive phytochemicals. In conclusion, the above in-vitro activities of herbal infusions regularly consumed by Nigerian diabetic patients may either act as a baseline chemoprotection or as sensitizing agents.


The accurate but expensive product of geminals ansatz may be approximated by a geminal power, but this approach sacrifices size consistency. Here we show both analytically and numerically that a size consistent form very similar to the product of geminals can be recovered using a network of location specific Jastrow factors. Upon variational energy minimization, the network creates particle number projections that remove the charge fluctuations responsible for size inconsistency. This polynomial cost approach captures strong many-electron correlations, giving a maximum error of just 1.8 kcal/mol during the double-bond dissociation of H2O in an STO-3G atomic orbital basis.


Companies and partnerships are the backbone of business and constitute most types of business structures. They help foster economic growth, boost employment in countries and generate tax income for governments. Therefore, the survival of companies and partnerships coupled with increases in their numbers is considered an indicator of strength and stability of a country. Conversely, dissolution of companies and partnerships is a negative indicator because countries and societies lose all these advantages thereby. The legal consequences of dissolution of a company are the termination of the company, with its legal entity coming to an end and its removal from Companies House Register. The company name is then available for usage by a new company. This thesis aims to show the importance of addressing the causes of dissolution of companies and partnerships in the law of Saudi Arabia, in Islamic Law (with which Saudi law must comply), and in English law, one of the oldest and most important legal systems in existence. This aim will be achieved through the exploration and analysis of these causes. Critique will be made of some of these causes and suggestions for law reform and alternative methods of dissolution of companies and partnerships. This takes into account two aspects. Firstly, that law reform should be comprehensive, which means that it should include all causes of dissolution of both companies and partnerships; secondly, that law reform should encourage the continuance of business wherever possible. Additionally, this thesis aims to clarify the meaning of "companies" and "partnerships" and to distinguish between them as far as possible, as the distinction is not always clear as in the case of quasi-partnerships. Moreover this thesis will demonstrate the meaning of dissolution in Saudi law and English law.


Problems in the radioimmunodetection of cancer typically involve small lesions having low object contrast. As such, the imaging device utilized must have a high spatial resolution as well as high detection efficiency. In addition, the imaging device must be interfaced to a computer system to allow data manipulation to include background substraction, contrast enhancement, and organ subtraction techniques to be used. While the conventional scintillation camera is the most widely used imaging device in conventional nuclear medicine imaging procedures, this system does not provide adequate imaging performance for radioimmunodetection of cancer. This is true since these devices typically do not provide adequate object contrast when detecting small lesions in the presence of moderately high background activity. The Pho/Con (Searle Radiographics) is a tomographic imaging device which, when interfaced to a computer system, is capable of providing adequate lesion detection for this specialized procedure. The newest version of this tomographic imaging system has a spatial resolution and a detector efficiency which are comparable to those of the conventional scintillation camera. The system has the added advantage of relatively constant high-spatial-resolution performance as well as high sensitivity over a wide range of depths. In addition, the imaging process involves a rectilinear scanning motion which results in inherently uniform response in each plane of interest. These combined properties result in high detection of small lesions in cases where the object contrast is extremely low. These inherent imaging properties when combined with the improved contrast provided with computer manipulation of data make this system ideal for radioimmunodetection problems. In this paper, the importance of spatial resolution, count density, lesion size, and object contrast are discussed in relation to the detectability of lesions in radioimmunodetection of cancer. In addition, the characteristics of the Pho/Con and its advantages in lesion detection are described.


In this study, a simple method of performing treatment dose verification for Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) and Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) using an Electronic Portal Imaging Device (EPID) was investigated. This work was based on a model for IMRT verification using Varian EPIDs presented by Lee et al. (2009). The method presented by Lee et al. (2009) was modified and extended upon to include equipment from different vendors, different treatment planning systems, and to include verification of VMAT. The EPID dose verification QA system was designed and tested using an Elekta Axesse TM LINAC with an iViewGT TM EPID (Elekta AB, Sweden), and a Siemens Oncor Impression TM LINAC with an OptiVue 1000ST TM EPID panel (Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc, USA). The EPID dose verification system compared flood field (FF) corrected EPID images (calibrated to absolute dose) and dose fluences generated by a treatment planning system (TPS) at a pre-determined depth in water (dref). The depth in water was determined as the depth in water that had closest agreement to the dose response properties of the EPID. Methods to determine d ref are described and validation of the dosimetry system have been made with Step and Shoot IMRT and dynamic VMAT fields for 6 and 10 MV beam energies. Two different planning systems were used for patient field generation for comparison with the measured EPID fluences, XiO® v4.64 and Monaco® v3.10 (Elekta AB, Stockholm, Sweden). All measured IMRT and VMAT patient fields achieved greater than 95% agreement with the planning fluences (using 3 cGy / 3 mm gamma criteria) and were comparable to the pass-rates obtained by using the MapCHECK® two-dimensional diode array (Sun Nuclear Corporation, Florida, USA) as per current department procedure for IMRT dose verification. The dosimetry system developed using the EPID was found to be a suitable tool for use in clinical pre-treatment dose verification and has since been implemented clinically.


Eagle syndrome (ES) is characterized by symptomatic elongation of the styloid process or ossification of the stylohyoid ligament causing irritation and inflammation of the trigeminal, facial, glossopharyngeal, and vagus nerves. The use of robotic surgery has been accepted as a first-line treatment for some head and neck squamous cell carcinomas but not for styloidectomy. The aim of this article is to document our experience with a transoral robotic approach to treat ES and to present the outcomes of 6 patients.The author present the transoral robotic surgery as a successful alternative for the surgical management of ES. Our experience with this approach has been excellent, granting an optimal vision of the surgical field with the consequent safe manipulation of the instruments avoiding injuries to healthy tissue.


Abstract Rotational grazing (RG) is a livestock management practice that rotates grazing cattle on a scale of hours to days among small pastures termed paddocks. It may beneficially affect stream channels, relative to other livestock management practices. Such effects and other beneficial effects on hydrology are important to RG's potential to provide a highly multifunctional mode of livestock farming. Previous comparisons of effects of RG and confinement dairy (CD) on adjoining streams have been restricted in scale and scope. We examined 11 stream-channel characteristics on a representative sample of 37 small dairy farms that used either RG or CD production methods. Our objectives were: (1) to compare channel characteristics on RG and CD farms, as these production methods are implemented in practice, in New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, USA; and (2) to examine land use on these farms that may affect stream-channel characteristics. To help interpret channel characteristic findings, we examined on-farm land use in riparian areas 50 m in width along both sides of stream reaches and whole-farm land use. In all states, stream-channel characteristics on RG and CD farms did not differ. Whole-farm land use differed significantly between farm types; CD farms allocated more land to annual row crops, whereas RG farms allocated more land to pasture and grassland. However, land cover in 50 m riparian areas was not different between farm types within states; in particular, many RG and CD farms had continuously grazed pastures in riparian areas, typically occupied by juvenile and non-lactating cows, which may have contributed sediment and nutrients to streams. This similarity in riparian management practices may explain the observed similarity of farm types with respect to stream-channel characteristics. To realize the potential benefits of RG on streams, best management practices that affect stream-channel characteristics, such as protection of riparian areas, may improve aggregate effects of RG on stream quality and also enhance other environment, economic and social benefits of RG.


The Psychological Round Table (PRT) was an important yet anomalous society founded by young American experimental psychologists. Although it was secretive, it encouraged contact among young experimental psychologists. Although it was motivated by perceived inequities in professional psychology, it was governed by an autocratic minority. And although it was self-consciously informal and irreverent, it clandestinely used formal selection procedures. These aspects of the PRT are documented and explained (counter to L. Benjamin, 1977) as manifestations of the PRT's devotion to psychological experimentation, specially understood. Secrecy, specifically, served not to protect PRT participants from senior colleagues but to create an environment free of political and professional influences and thus taken to be well suited to the vetting of experiments. In this regard, the PRT is distinguished from more familiar scientific societies.


Background: Secondary deformities of the bilateral cleft lip are unfortunately very common, and severe cases can involve scar contracture, vermilion deficiency, and a tight upper lip. In these cases, reconstruction often requires replacement of the central philtral unit with full-thickness tissue, including vermilion, orbicularis oris, and skin. The Abbe flap offers full-thickness reconstruction of the central aesthetic unit of the upper lip by replacing the deficient and scarred tissue and restoring functional competence to the oral sphincter. Methods: A review was performed of the authors' operating room video files to evaluate their technique for performing secondary bilateral cleft lip revision using the Abbe flap. Results: The Abbe flap has been used successfully for secondary revisions of the bilateral cleft lip at the Texas Children's Hospital. A technique video was made using video clips from two secondary bilateral cleft lip revisions. Conclusions: Results of bilateral cleft lip repair are often poor because of inappropriate use of the hypoplastic prolabial tissue, failure to anatomically reunite the orbicularis muscle, and scarring. The Abbe flap is an effective tool for reconstruction of the philtral landmarks, reconstitution of oral competence of the orbicularis, and recreation of Cupid's bow and the central pout. Although this procedure is relatively straightforward, special attention to designing the new philtrum, marking intact landmarks, and careful dissection of the labial artery are required for successful reconstruction.


Performing data-mining tasks such as clustering, classification, and prediction on large datasets is an arduous task and, many times, it is an infeasible task given current hardware limitations. The distributed nature of peer-to-peer databases further complicates this issue by introducing an access overhead cost in addition to the cost of sending individual tuples over the network. We propose a two-level sampling approach focusing on peer-to-peer databases for maximizing sample quality given a user-defined communication budget. Given that individual peers may have varying cardinality we propose an algorithm for determining the optimal sample rate (the percentage of tuples to sample from a peer) for each peer. We do this by analyzing the variance of individual peers, ultimately minimizing the total variance of the entire sample. By performing local optimization of individual peer sample rates we maximize approximation accuracy of the samples. We also offer several techniques for sampling in peer-to-peer databases given various amounts of known and unknown information about the network and its peers.


The deposition mechanism of metal-Ru films including incubation time was investigated for Ru films prepared by metal organic chemical vapor deposition from (2,4-Dimethylpentadienyl)(ethylcyclopentadienyl)Ruthenium (DER) - O2 system. Substrates with amorphous top-layer having various Hf/Si ratio, SiO2 (native oxide)/(001)Si (SiO2), HfSiON/SiON/(001)Si (HfSiON) and HfO2/SiON/(001)Si (HfO2), were used as substrates. The deposition temperature dependence of the deposition amount at the fixed deposition time ranging from 210 oC to 300 oC revealed that the deposition amount depended on the deposition temperature below 250 oC, while it was almost constant above this temperature. Incubation time depended on the kinds of substrate at 210 oC and the substrate surface was fully covered in a shorter time with smaller deposition amount for the substrates with shorter incubation time. In addition, the film with shorter incubation time had smaller surface roughness.


From December 1966 through December 1984, there were 561 pancreas transplants reported to the American College of Surgeons/National Institutes of Health Organ Transplant Registry, including 60 from 1966 through June 1977, 206 from July 1977 through December 1982 and 295 from January 1983 through December 1984. One-year graft function-survival rates (insulin-independent) in each of the three periods were 3%, 20% and 40%, and the corresponding patient survival rates were 40%, 72% and 77%. Currently 140 patients have functioning grafts, 76 for more than one year. Of the transplants since July 1977, one-year graft survival rates according to technique are 41% for enteric drainage (N = 155), 30% for polymer injection (N = 260) and 29% for urinary drainage (N = 47). Pancreas graft survival rates at one year according to whether or not the recipients have had a kidney transplant were 35% for recipients of simultaneous grafts (N = 281), 28% in recipients of a pancreas after a kidney (N = 112) and 26% in recipients of a pancreas only who did not have uremia (N = 106); corresponding patient survival rates were 69%, 83% and 83%. Overall, one-year pancreas graft survival rates according to whether the patients did or did not have end-stage diabetic nephropathy were 33% versus 25% and the corresponding patient survival rates were 73% versus 84% (P < .01). Patient survival rates were significantly higher in those without than in those with end-stage diabetic nephropathy. An analysis of technically successful grafts according to principal immunosuppressant showed one-year function rates of 46% in 258 cyclosporine-treated recipients and 26% in 143 azathioprine-treated recipients. Pancreas graft survival rates have progressively improved and the procedure has become safer with advances in surgical technique and immunosuppression. Pancreas transplantation is currently applicable to patients with diabetes mellitus whose complications are, or predictably will be, more serious than the possible side effects of long-term immunosuppression.


Platinum drugs and PARP inhibitors (PARPis) are considered to be effective to BRCA-associated cancers, in which DNA repair is impaired. These agents cause stalled and collapsed replication forks, and create double strand breaks efficiently in the absence of repair mechanisms, resulting in arresting cell cycles and inducing cell deaths. However, recent studies have shown that the chemotherapy failed due to the emergence of drug resistance. In this study, we develop a stochastic model of the BRCA-associated cancer progression, in which there are four cancer populations with: (i) functional BRCA, (ii) dysfunctional BRCA, (iii) functional BRCA and a growth advantage, and (iv) dysfunctional BRCA and a growth advantage. The four populations increase in number from one cancer cell with normal repair function until the total number reaches a detection size. We derive formulas for the probability and the expected number of each population at the time of detection. Furthermore, we extend the model to consider the tumor dynamics under treatment. Results from the model are validated with good agreements with the clinical and experimental evidence in BRCA-associated cancers. Based upon the model, we investigate the condition in which the emergence of drug resistance under treatment is originated from either pre-existing intrinsic drug resistant population or de novo population by secondary mutations, and identify the condition of effective treatment by platinum drugs and PARPis. Our results imply that different types of cancers have a preferential way of acquiring resistance to platinum drugs and PARPis according to the growth and mutational characteristics.


Hungarian pedagogues agree that children should be listened to, have their rights recognised, and their voices heard.  The UNCRC recommends that children's rights should be part of early childhood education, but this is not typical in Hungarian kindergartens and there is little pedagogical material to support the education of children about their rights.  This paper focuses on 5 kindergartens each typically accommodating over 150 children between the ages of 3-6 years old across Hungary. Six pedagogues worked with multi-age groups (4 kindergartens) and same-age groups (2 kindergartens).  The research adopted participatory methods to gather children's views recognising them as valuable collaborators.  Children provided insight into their own lives through play based creative activities that focused on eliciting children's thoughts and feelings.  Pedagogues collected video data using a 'toolkit' of children's play activities during a 6-week period of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Pedagogues reflected on children's play through a series of online focus groups with emphasis on how children expressed their views and preferences through play. Participants were encouraged to examine the power relationships between children and adults and analyse their role in knowledge production rather than knowledge extraction. Six themes emerged through thematic analysis, mapped to the 4 guiding principles of children's rights: participation, survival, development and protection.  The findings highlight the juxtaposition between children's life-as-experienced and life-as-told by adults; the skill of pedagogues to hear and sensitively interpret children's voices based on their play and the challenge to slow down and reflect on practice.


The G protein–coupled receptor activated by oxytocin translocates to the nucleus to regulate genes involved in specifying osteoblasts. Oxytocin is a hormone that activates a G protein–coupled receptor (GPCR) to mediate social bonding, stimulate lactation, and promote bone formation. Di Benedetto et al. found that the addition of oxytocin to primary mouse osteoblasts or a preosteoblastic cell line stimulated the internalization and nuclear accumulation of the oxytocin receptor (Oxtr), a result observed by immunofluorescence confocal microscopy, immunogold electron microscopy, and subcellular fractionation. Monitoring the movement and colocalization of an enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP)–tagged Oxtr in osteoblasts from Oxtr-/- mice showed the sequential movement of EGFP-Oxtr from the plasma membrane to endocytic vesicles, transient colocalization with the adaptor protein arrestin, and finally accumulation in the inner nuclear membrane and colocalization with the importin protein Tnpo1. Knockdown of arrestin 1, arrestin 2, or Tnpo1 inhibited oxytocin-induced expression of osteoblast differentiation genes without reducing oxytocin-induced phosphorylation of extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK). Similarly, introducing Oxtr with mutations in serine residues necessary for the interaction with arrestins into the Oxtr-/- osteoblasts blocked oxytocin-mediated activation of gene expression without affecting ERK phosphorylation. Thus, the GPCR Oxtr appears to signal from the nucleus to stimulate an osteoblast differentiation transcriptional response. A. Di Benedetto, L. Sun, C. G. Zambonin, R. Tamma, B. Nico, C. D. Calvano, G. Colaianni, Y. Ji, G. Mori, M. Grano, P. Lu, S. Colucci. T. Yuen, M. I. New, A. Zallone, M. Zaidi, Osteoblast regulation via ligand-activated nuclear trafficking of the oxytocin receptor. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 111, 16502–16507 (2014). [Abstract] [Full Text]


The aggregation of available information is of great importance in many branches of economics, social sciences. Often, we can only rely on experts' opinions, i.e. probabilities assigned to possible events. To deal with opinions in probabilistic form, we focus on the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence based pools: linear, logarithmic and KL-pool (Sečkárová, 2015). Since occurrence of events is subject to random influences of the real world, it is important to address events assigned lower probabilities (unlikely events). This is done by choosing pooling with a higher entropy than standard linear or logarithmic options, i.e. the KL-pool. We show how well the mentioned pools perform on real data using absolute error, KL-divergence and quadratic reward. In cases favoring events assigned higher probabilities, the KL-pool performs similarly to the linear pool and outperforms the logarithmic pool. When unlikely events occur, the KL-pool outperforms both pools, which makes it a reasonable way of pooling.


Position weight matrices (PWMs) are the standard way to model binding site affinities in bioinformatics. However, they assume that symbol occurrences are position independent and, hence, they do not take into account symbols co-occurrence at different sequence positions. To address this problem, we propose to construct finite-state machines (FSMs) instead. A modified version of the Evidence-Driven State Merging (EDSM) heuristic is used to reduce the number of states as FSMs grow too quickly as a function of the number of sequences to reveal any useful structure. We tested our approach on sequence data for the transcription factor HNF4 and found out that the constructed FSMs provide small representations and an intuitive visualization. Furthermore, the FSM was better than PWMs at discriminating the positive and negative sequences in our data set.


The epithelium of the guinea pig yolk sac is involved in the selective transport of macromolecules to the fetus. We studied the compartments involved in sorting and transepithelial transport of protein tracers and the effect of lowered temperature (18°C) on these events. Explants of yolk sac were incubated with a mixture of cationized ferritin (CF) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP, Sigma type VI). At 4°C, both tracers were bound to the cell surface and binding of an HRP‐gold complex was shown to be inhibited by mannan. At 37°C and 18°C, both tracers were taken up into tubules and vesicles in the apical cytoplasm. Usually the tubules contained a mixure of tracers, but they often showed a polarized distribution with CF and HRP at opposite ends. The vesicles also contained mixtures of the tracers, but some contained only one. In addition, there were some irregularly shaped vacuoles composed of saccules that contained either a mixture, HRP alone, or CF alone. These results suggest that these adsorbed ligands are binding to unique microdomains of the endocytic complex. After 20 min at 37°C coated vesicles 100 nm in diameter were located in the apical cytoplasm and coated vesicles of the same size were located at the lateral cell membrane. Usually they contained only HRP or CF, although occasional mixtures were seen. At 18°C, HRP was transported across the cells in 100 nm vesicles. However, transport of CF was completely inhibited at the lower temperature. Although uptake at 18°C was slower than that at 37°C, experiments with 125I‐CF allowed comparison of time points at which equal uptake had occurred. These experiments demonstrated that inhibition of CF transport was not due to decreased amounts of internalized CF. These differences in transport of HRP and CF suggest that multiple compartments are involved in the sorting and transepithelial transport of protein, and at least one is perturbed by lower temperature.


Large-scale datasets for natural language inference are created by presenting crowd workers with a sentence (premise), and asking them to generate three new sentences (hypotheses) that it entails, contradicts, or is logically neutral with respect to. We show that, in a significant portion of such data, this protocol leaves clues that make it possible to identify the label by looking only at the hypothesis, without observing the premise. Specifically, we show that a simple text categorization model can correctly classify the hypothesis alone in about 67% of SNLI (Bowman et. al, 2015) and 53% of MultiNLI (Williams et. al, 2017). Our analysis reveals that specific linguistic phenomena such as negation and vagueness are highly correlated with certain inference classes. Our findings suggest that the success of natural language inference models to date has been overestimated, and that the task remains a hard open problem.


This paper gives an unified explanation of some of the most widely known facts of the cartel literature: prices gradually rise, then remain constant, there can be price wars and some cartels break down. In this model consumers are loss averse and efficiency of a competitive fringe is not publicly observable. In the best collusive equilibrium, the price expectation can be so low that loss aversion makes consumers not buy at the maximal collusive price: firms then set a lower price that rises in time with consumers' expectations. This increasing price path is bounded from above by the presence of the fringe. If the fringe sets a low price during a sufficient number of periods, there can be price wars and collusion can eventually break down.


The results of quantum-dynamical computations for the isotopic analogues of the chemical reaction H + H2 → H2 + H and experiment for the analogues of the F + H2 → HF + H reaction are examined to determine if there exists isotopic invariance relations. A theorem due to Kuntz et al. is shown to imply the invariance of the transmission coefficient in classical systems when all masses are scaled by a common factor. The theorem is found to be approximately satisfied for quantal systems. Isotopic invariance of the surprisal associated with energy disposal for systems under the same mass scaling is shown to be another consequence of the theorem. Evidence for additional invariance relations, even when the masses are not scaled by the same factor, is presented. Of particular interest is the invariant representation of the detailed (state-to-state) transmission coefficients.


This paper introduces the design and testing of a scalable, low-cost, self-contained WEC device that can be easily deployed in remote, undeveloped locations around the world. This novel design relies on a two-way mechanical rectifier and flywheel system to convert opposing angular into single-directional turning of the dynamo. In effect, this device is able to harness energy from virtually all wave-induced motion. The design can be implemented as a shoreline, nearshore, or offshore device with minimal modification and without need for permanent supporting structure. Another unique characteristic of the design is that all components are fully contained inside the device itself. This feature significantly increases robustness of the device and virtually eliminates the need for regular maintenance. The device's construction leverage off-the-shelf components that are widely available in order to minimize cost. A prototype is tested at a fishing community with a relatively inconsistent and low level of wave activities. Experimental results demonstrate that a relatively small prototype operating in calm wave conditions can provide basic lighting and emergency power where electricity is not yet available.


Pluripotency is a developmental ground state that can be recreated by direct reprogramming. Establishment of pluripotency is crucially dependent on the homeodomain-containing transcription factor Nanog. Compared with other pluripotency-associated genes, however, Nanog shows relatively low sequence conservation. Here, we investigated whether Nanog orthologs have the capacity to orchestrate establishment of pluripotency in Nanog–/– somatic cells. Mammalian, avian and teleost orthologs of Nanog enabled efficient reprogramming to full pluripotency, despite sharing as little as 13% sequence identity with mouse Nanog. Nanog orthologs supported self-renewal of pluripotent cells in the absence of leukemia inhibitory factor, and directly regulated mouse Nanog target genes. Related homeodomain transcription factors showed no reprogramming activity. Nanog is distinguished by the presence of two unique residues in the DNA recognition helix of its homeodomain, and mutations in these positions impaired reprogramming. On the basis of genome analysis and homeodomain identity, we propose that Nanog is a vertebrate innovation, which shared an ancestor with the Bsx gene family prior to the vertebrate radiation. However, cephalochordate Bsx did not have the capacity to replace mouse Nanog in reprogramming. Surprisingly, the Nanog homeodomain, a short sequence that contains the only recognizable conservation between Nanog orthologs, was sufficient to induce naive pluripotency in Nanog–/– somatic cells. This shows that control of the pluripotent state resides within a unique DNA-binding domain, which appeared at least 450 million years ago in a common ancestor of vertebrates. Our results support the hypothesis that naive pluripotency is a generic feature of vertebrate development.


ABSTRACT Aim: Although Multidisciplinary Tumor Boards (MDTBs) are universally recommended, a recent survey from the USA did not find a significant effect on patient outcome at Veterans Administration Hospitals. We aimed at evaluating the use and benefit of MDTB worldwide. Methods: We conducted an ASCO survey of a randomly selected cohort of 5357 ASCO International members in October-November 2013. Survey was approved by ASCO International Affairs Committee and built on SurveyMonkey website. Results: 501 ASCO members practicing outside of the USA responded. The majority (86%) participates in MDTB at their own institutions. Majority held weekly specialty and/or General MDTBs. 89% of 409 respondents attended to seek advice to make treatment decisions. 1-25% change in type of surgery or treatment plan occurs in 44-49% of breast cancer cases. 25-50% change in surgery was reported in 14-21% of cases. 1-25% change occur in 47-50% of colorectal cancer cases, with 25-50% change in surgery type/treatment plans reported in 12-18% of colorectal cancer cases. Multinomial regression showed that non-medical oncologists were 2.5 times more likely than medical oncologists to have a change in treatment plans of more than 50% in breast tumor boards (p-value = 0.03). Also, physicians who have been practicing for less than 15 years were 1.21 and 1.75 times more likely in breast and GI tumor boards. Vast majority said MDTB helps them make management decisions. 96% of 430 respondents said that the overall benefit to the patient is worth the time and effort spent of tumor boards. 96% said tumor boards have a significant teaching value. Suggestions to improve efficiency included a more effective moderator, better time management, criteria for selecting cases, and written pre-meeting summaries. Mini-Tumor Boards held with available specialists were favored. 425 of 448 said MDTBs should be required where cancer patients are treated. Conclusions: ASCO International Survey shows that tumor boards are commonplace and useful multidisciplinary forums for patient management worldwide and worth the time spent. Change of treatment occurs more frequently when breast cancer cases are presented by non-medical oncologists. Mini-tumor boards may improve time efficiency and are favored when full-team is not available. Suggestions for more efficiency are discussed. Disclosure: All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


It is argued in this thesis that the colloquial poetry which came to be the dominant
poetic form after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution had been largely developed
before 1959 and drew on the twin influences of poetry written in the Anglo-Saxon
countries and developments from within Spanish-American poetry itself,
developments which, before the advent of Nicanor Parra, reached their most mature
form in the Spanish Civil War verse of Cesar Vallejo. It will also be argued that,
despite its political engagement with the Communist Bloc, there was little in the way
of poetic influence on poets associated with the Cuban Revolution from Communist
Bloc writers, the main exception to this being Bertolt Brecht.
Soviet and Chinese pronouncements on literature are compared with those of
the leadership of the Cuban Revolution, a comparison which reflects favourably on
the Cubans, whilst not ignoring the shortcomings of Cuban attitudes towards literary
freedom. The history of political poetry within Spanish America demonstrates that
there were many local antecedents which the colloquial poets could add to what little
they took from the Communist Bloc. The way that political viewpoints manifested
themselves in the colloquial poetry examined is given consideration, as this helps
demonstrate the appropriateness of colloquialism to the politically-charged period
after 1959, as does the extent to which a poet might have succeeded in getting his
message across in a poem. That colloquialism was not imposed by the Cuban
authorities is shown by the fact that poetry written in other styles was published
during the period in question; that non-Cuban writers also chose to write colloquial
verse; and that writers opposed to the Revolution, notably Heberto Padilla and
Reinaldo Arenas, also used colloquialism to convey their message.


The relations between video-game experience and cognitive abilities were examined in the current study. In two experiments, subjects performed a number of working memory, fluid intelligence, and attention-control measures and filled out a questionnaire about their video-game experience. In Experiment 1, an extreme-groups analysis indicated that experienced video-game players outperformed nonplayers on several cognitive-ability measures. However, in Experiments 1 and 2, when analyses examined the full range of subjects at both the task level and the latent-construct level, nearly all of the relations between video-game experience and cognitive abilities were near zero. These results cast doubt on recent claims that playing video games leads to enhanced cognitive abilities. Statistical and methodological issues with prior studies of video-game experience are discussed along with recommendations for future studies.


After being called 'Hollywood of the East', Egypt's soft power has witnessed a decline from the start of the years 2000s; due to 9/11/2001 and its aftermath, until it reached its lowest point since the Arab Spring in 2011. The deterioration hit its media sector, arts industry, sports and diplomacy. However, since 2014 a revival for one of its soft power capabilities happened. Its diplomacy. Diplomacy is on the rise and has some potential to restore Egypt's status as 'an active' regional player. To illustrate that Egypt is now a temporary Security Council member in the United Nations for two years. This status earned after a lot of recommendation from Arab, African and Islamic blocks in the Security Council. To win this seat it required a lot of diplomatic efforts and lobbying which were successful at the end after being absent from non-permanent membership in UNSC since 1997. The first signs of decline in its diplomatic power started in 2006. This was due to USA's neglect for Egypt and putting a lot of pressure on it from Bush junior's Administration to comply with US values and interests in the region. This has been accentuated in the Bush Doctrine and was a natural outcome of September 11 attacks in 2001. The argument in here is that despite the decline in Egyptian status on all levels, and its soft power among them, due to turmoil resulting from the Arab Spring yet Egypt still has potential for revival and gaining a leading role due to its soft power. This study will be based on qualitative analysis to prove the argument. A diplomat and an academic have been interviewed to further illustrate the ideas expressed in this article. There are a number of issues that show success in Egypt's diplomacy to prove this argument since 2014.


This paper introduces the notion of PoP (Policy of Policies) used to define standard policy replacement strategies in a policy-based network. We also propose an architecture to support PoP within PDPs (Policy Decision Points originally defined by the IETF). The notion of PoP, and the proposed architecture allow the automation of the policy replacement task currently manually executed by the network administrator based on the network business plan.


Approximately 50% of college students report a heavy drinking episode in the past 2 weeks. This pattern of heavy episodic drinking places them at risk for experiencing alcohol-related problems. In addition, important ethnic differences exist between European American and African American college students in terms of drinking. European American college students report consuming more alcohol than African American college students, but little research exists on the differences in types and rates of problems. The current study sought to examine the differences in problems among 451 African American and European American college students using a comprehensive measure of alcohol-related problems. The effect of gender was also examined as research has found consistent gender differences in drinking. European American students experienced more problems overall and greater levels of social/interpersonal problems and risky behaviors even after controlling for drinking level. In addition, women reported significantly greater levels of problems in all domains except physical dependence, risky behaviors, and self-perception when drinking was controlled for.


When studying robots collaborating with humans, much of the focus has been on robot policies that coordinate fluently with human teammates in collaborative tasks. However, less emphasis has been placed on the effect of the environment on coordination behaviors. To thoroughly explore environments that result in diverse behaviors, we propose a framework for procedural generation of environments that are (1) stylistically similar to human-authored environments, (2) guaranteed to be solvable by the human-robot team, and (3) diverse with respect to coordination measures. We analyze the procedurally generated environments in the Overcooked benchmark domain via simulation and an online user study. Results show that the environments result in qualitatively different emerging behaviors and statistically significant differences in collaborative fluency metrics, even when the robot runs the same planning algorithm.


The coiled coil is a ubiquitous protein-folding motif. It generally is accepted that coiled coils are characterized by sequence patterns known as heptad repeats. Such patterns direct the formation and assembly of amphipathic alpha-helices, the hydrophobic faces of which interface in a specific manner first proposed by Crick and termed "knobs-into-holes packing". We developed software, SOCKET, to recognize this packing in protein structures. As expected, in a trawl of the protein data bank, we found examples of canonical coiled coils with a single contiguous heptad repeat. In addition, we identified structures with multiple, overlapping heptad repeats. This observation extends Crick's original postulate: Multiple, offset heptad repeats help explain assemblies with more than two helices. Indeed, we have found that the sequence offset of the multiple heptad repeats is related to the coiled-coil oligomer state. Here we focus on one particular sequence motif in which two heptad repeats are offset by two residues. This offset sets up two hydrophobic faces separated by approximately 150 degrees -160 degrees around the alpha-helix. In turn, two different combinations of these faces are possible. Either similar or opposite faces can interface, which leads to open or closed multihelix assemblies. Accordingly, we refer to these two forms as alpha-sheets and alpha-cylinders. We illustrate these structures with our own predictions and by reference to natural variants on these designs that have recently come to light.


Background Health literacy is a priority for health policy. However, there is limited research on how health literacy influences sexual health, particularly among men who have sex with men (MSM). Aim To review sexual health literacy research among MSM in high-resource countries (UK, Canada, USA, Australia). Methods We searched relevant databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Health and Psychosocial Instruments, Web of Science) to identify research which examined sexual health literacy and MSM explicitly and implicitly (using formal and informal articulations of health literacy) along with a set of sexual health and MSM terms. Relevant articles were identified, coded and assessed to illustrate the range of evidence available. Results We found no studies explicitly focusing on sexual health literacy, and three exploring health literacy. Findings highlight the need for tailored information, healthcare and promotion for different groups of MSM, variable health literacy levels, and the importance of social context. We found 611 articles that implicitly explored sexual health literacy. We analysed a sub-sample which focused on interactive health literacy (negotiating, applying knowledge and interaction). There was a strong focus on communication and negotiation (verbal, non-verbal and online) with sexual partners and health providers, and the varying contexts within which these interactions take place. Discussion We found no research on explicit sexual health literacy with MSM. Clinic-based interventions could use health literacy as a tool to improve sexual health. Findings suggest that tailored health information, communication skills, and the role of social context in shaping sexual health literacy skills could play a critical role.


s 117 Results:Themanual approach provided intra-operator CVof 6.6%and 3.9% forDD and 6.5% and 6.6% for IMT (first and second operator). The automatic approach provided CV equal to 6.6%, 5.4%, 4.5% and 3%, respectively. Inter-operator CV were 11.3% for DD and 3.9% for IMT (manual), and 10.9% and 5.8% (automatic). Bland-Altman analysis provided non-significant bias for both IMTandDDmeasurements comparing manual and automatic approach. In the whole population, radial IMT was correlated with age (r Z 0.35, p Z 0.02) and pulse pressure (rZ 0.41, pZ 0.008), notwith BMI (rZ 0.05, pZ 0.76) andmeanbloodpressure (r Z 0.17, p Z 0.28). No sex differences were observed. Conclusions: We obtained good CV values for both the intraand inter-operator reproducibility; furthermore, the manual and the automatic approach provided similar results. Radial IMT increases with age and pulse pressure. P129 DETERMINATION OF THE DIASTOLIC PRESSURE DECAY CONSTANT (TAU) FROM RADIAL TONOMETRY: DEMOGRAPHIC AND HEMODYNAMIC ASSOCIATIONS IN NORMAL AND HYPERTENSIVE INDIVIDUALS Joseph Izzo, Sherif El-sayed, Rahil Ahmed, Peter Osmond, Benjamin Gavish University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA Introduction: The feasibility of measuring the diastolic pressure-decay constant (tau) in normal and hypertensive humans is not established and the clinical and physiological relevance of tau is not known. Methods: Studies were performed in the non-invasive cardiac laboratory in subjects who had been supine for at least 30 minutes. Measurements included standard oscillometric cuff BP, echocardiography (stroke volume [SV] and systemic vascular resistance [SVR]), pulse wave velocity (PWV, both aortic [heart-femoral] and peripheral [femoral-ankle]), and radial tonometry (Sphygmocor). Tau was estimated by photo-digitizing the pulse contour (Webplot digitizer) and modeling the terminal diastolic component according to the formula: P Z A + (SBP-A)*exp(-(t-t0)/tau), where P is pressure, A is the modeled diastolic BP, and t0 is the start of the mono-exponential diastolic pressure decay. Results: Full data were available In 76 individuals (mean age 55 years, weight 84 kg, BP 138/79 mmHg, resting HR 67; 45% female). Using simple Pearson correlations, tau was positively correlated with age, female gender and SVR, but negatively correlated with HR (all p < 0.05). Tau was unrelated to blood pressure (systolic, diastolic, mean or pulse pressure) or to peripheral or central PWV. In a forward stepwise multiple regression model of tau that included various hemodynamic indicators, only SVR survived, whereas BP, HR, SV, and PWV were excluded. Conclusions: Tau can be estimated from radial tonometry and is most closely related to SVR, age, and female gender. Further application of tau (e.g. in the study of circulatory models) also seems feasible. P130 COMPARISON BETWEEN PWV MEASURED FROM CUTANEOUS LENGTH BY SPHYGMOCOR AND BY MRI LENGTH TRACED ALONG THE WHOLE AORTA Marina Cecelja King's College London, UK Background: Accuracy of non-invasive PWV as m/sec is impeded by crude surface estimates of aortic length. We compared PWV measured using the Sphygmocor via surface length measurements with PWV measured using MRI with distance traced more precisely along the whole imaged aortic length. Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed in 74 asymptomatic women aged between 51e80 years of age. Carotid-femoral PWV was measured using Sphygmocor. The path distance between the carotid and femoral sites was estimated from the distance between the sternal notch and femoral artery at the point of applanation. Phase-contrast MRI was performed at the level of the aortic arch and distal to the aortic bifurcation to obtain aortic flow. Aortic distance was measured by tracing the centre of the aorta from a black-blood MRI sequence. Results: Mean ( SD) carotid-femoral transit time (TT) measured by Sphygmocor (58 11 ms) was 2.9 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.85e5.0]ms higher than aortic TT measured by MRI (54 12 ms). The carotid-femoral surface distance estimate (552 33 mm) was 15 [142e162]mm higher than the aortic length estimate (399 32 mm). Corresponding PWVs estimated with Sphygmocor and MRI were 9.87 2.1 and 7.63 1.9 (P< 0.001) m/s, respectively. PWV differences between Sphygmocor and MRI decreased to 0.50 (0.13e0.86)m/s when Sphygmocor PWV was calculated using the MRI path length. Conclusion: In these older women, the PWV difference between Sphygmocor and MRI is reduced when MRI length estimates are used. The difference between PWV measured by Sphygmocor and MRI is in part due to the accuracy of distance measurements.


Accompanying the continuous growth of the aquaculture fish farming industry in the recent years, the usage of Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV) for regular inspections of net integrity has become increasingly common. For a human ROV operator, routine inspections can be repetitious and time consuming, and improving the regularity and efficiency of these operations are of interest. The aim of this study was therefore be to develop a robust technique for automatic detection of net damage with an ROV mounted camera and computer vision, which later can be employed either as an aid for a human operator or be embedded into an automatic solution in the future. Information from temporal background segmentation, edge detection, motion estimation and multiple image channels was incorporated into a high-redundancy combinatorial system design for background segmentation. Assessment of net damage was made from the resulting binary foreground image by employing a detection scheme based on morphological operations. The background segmentation performance, detection accuracy and robustness of the developed system was evaluated on previously recorded video material from real ROV operations and a simulated test setup. Results showed that the background segmentation process provided a stable and comprehensive binary foreground image, but with reduced ability to segment certain foreground objects. The damage assessment methodology, on the other hand, displayed a rigorous evaluation capability. With some additional measures, the developed procedure seems promising for achieving robust net damage detection in a practical implementation.


This paper presents a single-phase line interactive uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system, allowing output voltage conditioning, such as voltage harmonic suppression and sag or swell compensation. Additionally, the UPS input current is also conditioned, allowing current harmonic suppression and reactive power compensation. In other words, the UPS system acts as a true unified power quality conditioner (UPQC), when it is working in standby operation mode. Both voltage and current sinusoidal UPS references are generated by using a phase-locked loop (PLL) combined with a self-tuning filter (STF), allowing the implementation of a simplified control strategy, in which by controlling the UPS dc-bus voltage, is possible to control the amplitude of the sinusoidal reference current of the series converter and, consequently, the power flow through the UPS. The power rate handled by both series and parallel PWM converters depends on the operation conditions of the UPS system, such as, among others, the amplitude difference between the input and output voltages. In standby mode, the amplitude of the UPS output voltage can vary in order to follow the amplitude of the input voltage within a limited range defined by design requirements. This strategy will allow an effective optimization of the UPS system efficiency. Mathematical analyses and validation results are presented in order to evaluate the performance of the line interactive UPS system.


Herein, we explore the intrinsic ability of cellulose dissolved in NaOH(aq) to reversibly capture CO2. The stability of cellulose solutions differed significantly when adding CO2 prior to or after the dissolution of cellulose. ATR-IR spectroscopy on cellulose regenerated from the solutions, using ethanol, revealed the formation of a new carbonate species likely to be cellulose carbonate. To elucidate the interaction of cellulose with CO2 at the molecular level, a 13C NMR spectrum was recorded on methyl α-D-glucopyranoside (MeO-Glcp), a model compound, dissolved in NaOH(aq), which showed a difference in chemical shift when CO2 was added prior to or after the dissolution of MeO-Glcp, without a change in pH. The uptake of CO2 was found to be more than twice as high when CO2 was added to a solution after the dissolution of MeO-Glcp. Altogether, a mechanism for the observed CO2 capture is proposed, involving the formation of an intermediate cellulose carbonate upon the reaction of a cellulose alkoxide with CO2. The intermediate was observed as a captured carbonate structure only in regenerated samples, while its corresponding NMR peak in solution was absent. The reason for this is plausibly a rather fast hydrolysis of the carbonate intermediate by water, leading to the formation of CO32−, and thus increased capture of CO2. The potential of using carbohydrates as CO2 capturing agents in NaOH(aq) is shown to be simple and resource-effective in terms of the capture and regeneration of CO2.


RENEWED interest in plasma substitutes or plasma extenders and emergency substances has been brought about by the apparently successful production and use of dextran and polyvinylpyrrolidone abroad, the favorable impression made by their trial here, as outlined in the previous communication, and most important, the definite need for supplies of this type which may be stock-piled in large quantities for indefinite periods against major disasters. It is now well established that certain exogenous as well as endogenous macromolecular colloids are capable of increasing and maintaining blood volume by means of their osmotic pressure, hydrophilic properties and slow elimination from the vascular system. It is the purpose of this communication to evaluate the pathologic tissue changes resulting from the introduction of these colloids rather than their physiologic effects or their effectiveness in shock and dehydration. As outlined by Hueper 1 and others, 2 the four exogenous macromolecular substances now most available


Anything Like Us is a collection of poems with a critical introduction. In this introduction, I explore modern alternatives to Romantic and Neo-Romantic lyric expression. I conclude that a contemporary lyric that desires to be, in some fashion, about itself, must exhibit an acceptance of the mediating influences of time and language, while cultivating an inter-subjective point-of-view that does not insist too much on the authority of a single, coherent voice. The poems in Anything Like Us reflect, in both form and content, many of the conclusions advanced in the introduction. Nearly all the poems concern the desire for, and failure to find, meaningful connections in an uncertain world .


In this letter, a compact wideband bandpass filter with a wide stopband is proposed. The filter is composed of three parts: a half-wavelength (λ/2) microstrip resonator with a loaded broadside-coupled microstrip/CPW (BCMC) stub, two λ/4 I/O feeding-lines, and two microstrip short-stubs. The loaded BCMC stub can not only introduce the perturbation to affect the λ/2 microstrip resonator acting as a dual-mode resonator, but also provide two transmission zeros to improve the upper passband selectivity and suppress the first odd-mode spurious. Then, to avoid the first even-mode spurious, two microstrip short-stubs are employed to obtain another transmission zero. Meanwhile, two λ/4 I/O feeding-lines are employed to obtain strong passband enhancement around the dual-resonances. To verify the mechanism mentioned above, a bandpass filter is designed. The proposed filter has the merits of low insertion loss, good passband selectivity, wide stopband, flat group delay, and a compact size.


Background The management of long bone fractures is complex and the risk of healing complications persists. Previous studies have reported widely varying incidence and cost estimates for fracture healing complications, with the majority focusing on small cohorts with specific fracture types and treatment methods. Also, there is a lack of research on patient outcomes. The aim of this study was to describe the incidence, inpatient costs and 12-month outcomes of readmissions for healing complications following long bone fracture. Methods All humeral, tibial and femoral fractures registered by the Victorian Orthopaedic Trauma Outcomes Registry over a 5-year period were linked with hospital data to identify 2-year readmissions for non-union, delayed union or mal-union. Study outcomes for patients with complication readmissions included hospital length of stay, inpatient costs, function (Extended Glasgow Outcome Scale), work status and quality of life (EQ-5D) measured 12 months post-injury. Cases with and without complications were compared using univariable and multivariable methods. Results Of the 3908 patients included, 9% were readmitted for healing complications within 2 years of their index fracture. The most common complication type was non-union (77% of complications). Admissions for fracture healing complications incurred an extra 3 days in hospital and costs of up to AUD $25,000 per patient (AUD $5.4 M in total). Patients with healing complications reported worse function, quality of life and return to work rates 12 months post-injury. After adjusting for key confounders, patients had higher odds of developing complications if they were older, receiving compensation or had multiple fractures. Conclusions Patients who develop complications have poorer outcomes and place additional burden on healthcare and compensation systems. As such, there is a need to prioritise future research aimed at preventing fracture healing complications and improving patient outcomes.


Health worker migration is a major concern globally and for the Irish healthcare system. The steady migration of Irish doctors continues due to the current working conditions, poor training, lack of career paths etc; and the lack of retention initiatives being implemented. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate which solution(s) will encourage junior doctors to stay in the Irish healthcare system and if this solution impacts on the overall decision of junior doctors to stay in Ireland. This study examines global health worker migration and its effects on the Irish healthcare system. Concepts relating to employee retention and the relevant motivational theories are discussed along with the concerns within the Irish healthcare system that are currently enhancing the migration of junior doctors, all of which gave rise to the development of the proposed solutions within this study. This mixed-method study used convenience sampling to get responses from junior doctors from one Irish hospital, Beaumont Hospital. A survey was distributed online and hardcopy using a four-point Likert scale from which junior doctors' interest was rated off, free text qualitative comment boxes, open ended and close ended questions were also used. Statistical Package for Social sciences (SPSS) analysed the quantitative data and qualitative themes were identified. The result of this study revealed that 'A guarantee of a consultant post in Ireland' was identified as being the solution that best encourages junior doctors to stay in the Irish healthcare system, although it has no statistical significance in the overall junior doctors' decision to stay in Ireland. A qualitative theme of career progression accompanied it of which management must recognise and satisfy to encourage junior doctor retention in Ireland.


A real time environment model is built to simulate IEC/ISA Fieldbus protocol behavior in the industrial applications. The closed loop control system is one of these important applications. Extensive study for the Fieldbus different variables and parameters as well as its behavior under noisy channels lead to the calculation of an average Fieldbus time delay that encounter any frame on the link. The effect of this Fieldbus time delay over closed loop control system stability is studied using the discrete root locus analysis. The paper used MATLAB real time environment to focus on the second order closed loop system communicating through the IEC/ISA Fieldbus network.


Using the blocking effect of the foam for remediation of high permeability contaminated aquifers Liquid foam has been studied as a blocking agent in porous media, especially for Enhanced Oil Recovery applications. The goal of foam injection is to block high-permeability layers in the media in order to reach the oil in low-permeability layers. This technique can also be used for remediation. However, contrary to oil industry, soils are non-consolidated porous media with high permeability as well as low pressure and temperature operational conditions. Foams can also be used to desorb pollutant thanks to the low surface tension of surfactant or push the pollutant to a recovery well thanks to foam high viscosity. In both cases, the benefits of using foam instead of monophasic surfactant solution is to create a homogeneous high viscous fluid that limits fingering. In this study, we assume that groundwater velocity is too high (10 m/day) to use conventional in situ remediation techniques like oxidation/reduction because of short contact time. That is why the main goal is to create a foam barrier upstream to temporarily divert the groundwater flow away from the treatment area downstream. While the pollution is isolated from the groundwater flow, other techniques can be used to actually remediate more efficiently the polluted aquifer. Moreover, the pilot polluted aquifer soil is heterogeneous with a very high hydraulic conductivity (10-4-10-2 m/s). Two different experimental setups were used to obtain the results. The first one is composed of a column of sand or glass beads, instrumented with pressure sensors to monitor the pressure gradient during foam flow. Mass balance was also conducted to measure the water saturation in the column. The second one is composed of a thin 1 m large and 50 cm high tank to model a 2D flow. The tank is instrumented with pressure and water saturation sensors. In addition, an imaging technique is used to measure the evolution of foam volumes, streamlines and water saturations. During the experiments, foam is injected from the bottom of the tank and water is injected from left to right to model a groundwater flow. Finally, the experimental results are compared with numerical models in order to validate them. The validated model can be then used to simulate foam injection for field scale studies. The surfactant has been chosen based on low toxicity, foamability and foam stability tests. Then, thanks to the column experiments, a specific behavior of foam in high permeable porous media was identified with two successive different regimes of foam flow ("weak" and "strong" foam) as well as necessary injection conditions for its generation. Finally, the influence of injection parameters on the foam blocking properties, such as the "Resistance Factor", the residual water saturation, the radius of influence or the stability under a groundwater flow, has been investigated. The parameters studied are the injection method (gas and surfactant co-injection, Surfactant-Alternating-Foam (SAF), foam pre-generation), the flow rates, and the foam quality. The results show the applicability of this technique and its limits for a field usage.


Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the flexural strength of the stems of three maxillary expanders screws of Morelli, Forestadent and Dentaurum brands. Methods: The sample consisted of nine expander screws (totalizing of 36 stems), three from each brand, all stainless steel and 12 mm of expansion capacity. The stems of the expander screws were cut with cutting pliers close to the weld region with screw body, then fixed in a universal testing machine Instron 4411 for tests of bending resistance of three points. The ultimate strength in kgF exerted by the machine to bend the stem of the 5 mm screw was recorded and the flexural strength was calculated using a mathematical formula. During the flexural strength test it was verified the modulus of elasticity of the stems by means of Bluehill 2 software. The flexural strength data were subjected to ANOVA with one criterion and Tukey's test, with significance level of 5%. Results: Forestadent screw brand showed the greatest bending strength, significantly higher than Dentaurum. Morelli showed the lowest resistance. Conclusion: The flexural strength of the screws varied according to the brand. Forestadent screw showed the greatest resistance and Morelli the lowest. All the three screws were found adequate for use in procedures for rapid maxillary expansion.


Purpose: A phase III, randomized, double-blind study was conducted by the North Central Cancer Treatment Group to determine the efficacy and toxicity of oral glutamine for the prevention of acute diarrhea in patients receiving pelvic radiation therapy (RT). Patients and Methods: All 129 patients enrolled from 14 institutions between February 1998 and October 1999 were eligible. Patients receive d4go fglutamine or placebo orally, twice a day, beginning with the first or second day of RT and continuing for 2 weeks after RT. During treatment, patients were assessed weekly for toxicity, and a bowel function questionnaire was administered. The primary measures of treatment efficacy were diarrhea levels measured by maximum grade of diarrhea, incidence of diarrhea, and average diarrhea score. After completion of RT, the bowel function questionnaire was administered weekly for 4 weeks and at 12 and 24 months. Toxicity was measured by National Cancer Institute common toxicity criteria. Results: The median age of patients was 69 years (range, 34 to 86 years). The two treatment arms were balanced with respect to all baseline factors. There were no significant differences in toxicity by treatment. Quality-of-life scores and the mean number of problems reported on the bowel function questionnaire were virtually identical for both treatment groups. The incidence of grade 3 or higher diarrhea was 20% for the glutamine arm and 19% for the placebo arm (P .99). The maximum number of stools per day was 5.1 for the glutamine arm and 5.2 for the placebo arm (P .99). Conclusion: There is no evidence of a beneficial effect of glutamine during pelvic RT. J Clin Oncol 21:1669-1674. © 2003 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.


In recent years, various types of applications of electromagnetic techniques to microwave thermal therapies have been developed. The authors have been studying the coaxial-slot antenna, which is one of the thin microwave antennas, for the minimally invasive microwave thermal therapies, such as interstitial microwave hyperthermia. From the results of our previous studies, it was clear that the coaxial-slot antenna with two slots generates a localized heating region only around the tip of the antenna. In this paper, we confirm the heating characteristics of the coaxial-slot antennas with two slots from a viewpoint of clinical use, and introduce the results of two clinical trials.


The effect of electron irradiation on the phase transformation in binary Fe-Nd and ternary Fe-Nd-B alloys was investigated. Electron irradiation induced nano-crystallization of amorphous-to-crystal (A-C) transition was observed in several Fe-Nd-B metallic glasses. In Nd2Fe14B compound, solid-state amorphization (SSA) of crystal-to-amorphous (C-A) transition occurred under electron irradiation. With further irradiation, the amorphous phase obtained by SSA transformed to the nano-crystalline phase through irradiation induced crystallization, resulting in crystal-to-amorphous-to-crystal (C-A-C) transition. A-C, C-A and C-A-C transition were also observed in some ternary Fe-Nd-B and binary Fe-Nd alloys. The electron irradiation technique is effective for the formation and control of nano-crystalline structure through A-C transition of amorphous phase and/or C-A-C transition of metallic compounds. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.MJ200702]


To characterize further non‐vascular smooth muscle cells (NVSMC) in the choroid of the human eye, extensive morphological studies were performed including a three‐dimensional distribution of NVSMC in the adult human eye and their appearance during development. Whole mounts and sections through the choroid and sclera of eyes of 42 human donors (between the 13th week of gestation and 89 years of age) were stained with antibodies against smooth muscle actin and other markers for smooth muscle cells. On the basis of their morphological localization, three groups of NVSMC could be distinguished in the adult eyes: (a) a semicircular arrangement of NVSMC in the suprachoroid and inner sclera, around the entry of posterior ciliary arteries and nerves; (b) NVSMC parallel to the vessels in the posterior eye segment between the point of entry of the posterior ciliary arteries and the point of exit of the vortex veins; and (c) a dense plaque‐like arrangement of NVSMC in the suprachoroid, overlying the foveal region. The last of these groups showed most pronounced interindividual differences. During development, the first NVSMC to be observed at the 20th week of gestation belonged to group b. A complete NVSMC network was first observed in a 6‐year‐old donor eye. All three groups stained positive for smoothelin, caldesmon and calponin in all localizations. The NVSMC show a distinct distribution that might reflect different aspects of their function in the choroid and suprachoroid. All cells could be histochemically characterized as truly contractile.