The matter of scale is often ignored when analysing accessibility and its effects on population change. While accessibility has a concentrating effect on the activities of society on a regional scale, it also has a decentralising effect within urban areas in developed countries, including Finland. Population change is the outcome of numerous individual location choices. However, the scale on which these choices form a pattern related to transport accessibility is unclear, because the increasing stochasticity in an accurate resolution forces consideration of the effect of accessibility on population dynamics in the context of local characteristics. The matter of scale on modelling the relationship between transport accessibility and population change is considered in this article by comparing results using six different resolutions: namely side lengths of grid cells involving 2, 4, 8, 12, 16 and 24 kilometres. Road, air and rail accessibility were related to population change with non-linear regression, generalised additive models (GAM). Road accessibility was assessed by potentials originating from a gravity model. For revealing the effect on population change, air and rail accessibility were calculated as travel times to airports and stations. Analyses were based on exact population grid-cell data, an accurate model of road and rail networks and using geographical information systems (GIS). The study shows that population change was strongly related to potential accessibility. Airport accessibility also had high importance, whereas railway accessibility did not have any significant effect. The relevance of modelled relationships was noted to be clearly dependent on geographical scale. The models have good predictive ability at a 24 × 24-km resolution, but in resolutions more accurate than 12 × 12 km, much of the predictive power decreases. Our results strongly indicate that scale matters in accessibility analysis, and it should be taken into account in forthcoming population change studies.


The recent spikes of global food prices induced a rapid increase in mass media coverage, public policy attention, and donor funding for food security and for agriculture and rural poverty. This has occurred while the shift from low to high food prices has induced a shift in (demographic or social) location of the hunger and poverty effects, but the total number of undernourished and poor people has declined over the same period. We suggest that the observed pattern can be explained by the presence of a global urban bias on agriculture and food policy in developing countries, and we discuss whether this global urban bias may actually benefit poor farmers. We argue that the food price spikes have succeeded where others have failed in the past: to move the problems of poor and hungry farmers to the top of the policy agenda and to induce development and donor strategies to help them.


To the Editor: Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is an emerging infectious disease worldwide and is increasingly reported in Asia (1). We describe a community case of invasive MRSA infection, which appeared as bacteremia and pneumonia; CA-MRSA was initially suspected, and eventually the patient was treated successfully with ampicillin/sulbactam.

A 52-year-old man with chronic eczema was admitted to the Prince of Wales Hospital, Hong Kong, with fever and chills. Before admission, he had been treated for infected eczematous lesions for several weeks with oral ampicillin, cloxacillin, and cefazolin. He had no history of hospitalization in the past 10 years, and none of his family members were healthcare workers. Examination showed an oral temperature of 40°C, blood pressure 95/55 mm Hg, and no audible murmur. Cellulitis in the left leg complicated his eczematous skin lesions. Chest radiograph showed right-middle-zone pneumonia. Neutrophilia (leukocytes 15.5 × 109/L, neutrophils 86%), thrombocytopenia (platelets 55 × 109/L), prolonged activated partial thromboplastin time (43.6 s), and elevated bilirubin level (31 μmol/L) were observed. Two initial blood cultures grew gram-positive cocci in clusters, identified as S. aureus by positive results for catalase and slide/tube coagulase and a negative result for ornithine decarboxylase. Intravenous cloxacillin (2 g every 6 h) was given on days 2–5. Antimicrobial drug susceptibility testing was performed by the disk-diffusion method (1 μg oxacillin/disk, Mueller-Hinton agar, 2% NaCl), followed by MIC determination with the agar dilution method in accordance with NCCLS (former National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards, now Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute) recommendations (2). One blood isolate was identified as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), with an oxacillin MIC 4 μg/mL. The other isolate was identified as methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA), with an oxacillin MIC of 0.5 μg/mL. In view of a possible CA-MRSA infection (which could have been β-lactam–resistant), cloxacillin was substituted with intravenous vancomycin plus rifampin on day 5.

However, the patient's condition progressively deteriorated from day 2 to day 10 with persistent fever, chills, hypotension, and hemoptysis. A repeated chest radiograph showed small lung cavities with fluid, and a thoracic computed tomographic scan confirmed multiple lung abscesses. Results of an initial transthoracic echocardiograph were normal, but a subsequent transesophageal echocardiograph demonstrated tricuspid valve vegetation.

The MRSA isolate was susceptible to gentamicin, cotrimoxazole, erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, fusidic acid, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, vancomycin, and rifampin; a different pattern of multidrug-resistant MRSA isolates from that usually found in our facility (2,3). The isolate was also susceptible to ampicillin/sulbactam, with an equivalent breakpoint MIC <8/4 μg/mL by disk testing (2). Latex detection for PBP2a (Slidex MRSA-Detection, bioMerieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection for mecA were both negative, predicting nonresistance to oxacillin (2–5). A nitrocefin-disk test was positive for β-lactamases, and a 4-fold reduction in MIC was demonstrated in the presence of sulbactam (6). Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) gene locus was not detected (1). Community-acquired BORSA (borderline oxacillin-resistant S. aureus), infective endocarditis, and lung abscesses were diagnosed. Intravenous ampicillin/sulbactam (3 g every 6 h) was given on day 10 with rifampin; vancomycin treatment was stopped. Defervescence occurred 3 days later, subsequent blood cultures became sterile, and radiographic changes gradually resolved. Ampicillin/sulbactam was given for 6 weeks without complication.

As this case suggests, BORSA can sometimes be confused with CA-MRSA because of similar clinical signs and symptoms and overlapping oxacillin MICs (2–8 μg/mL and 4–64 μg/mL, respectively) (1,4,6). Both pathogens can appear as community-acquired infections and may be related to previous antimicrobial drug usage (6,7). Although CA-MRSA has been associated with soft tissue infections and necrotizing pneumonia (7,8), MSSA or BORSA strains can also cause these diseases. Thus, in view of potentially different treatment options, when MRSA isolates (e.g., oxacillin MICs >4–8 μg/mL) are associated with community-acquired, serious infections (e.g., blood isolates) and are not multidrug resistant, one can consider mecA (or PBP2a) testing to delineate the resistance mechanism (Table). If mecA is present, further testing for PVL gene locus with or without staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec) type IV can be performed to diagnose CA-MRSA; if mecA is not detected, further testing for BORSA may be indicated, and β-lactam therapy should be evaluated individually. If these pathogens are not differentiated and all are treated as CA-MRSA, a non–β-lactam antimicrobial drug, such as vancomycin, will be used (1,4,7,8). However, for serious and deep-seated S. aureus infections (e.g., bacteremia, endocarditis), vancomycin is inferior to β-lactam antimicrobial drugs, even when in vitro testing indicates susceptibility. Treatment failures have been encountered (4). Linezolid is a good alternative but limited by availability and cost, and clindamycin therapy can be associated with inducible resistance. For BORSA-associated infections, β-lactam antimicrobial drugs, including high-dose penicillinase-resistant penicillins (PRPs) (e.g., cloxacillin) or β-lactam/β-lactamase–inhibitor combinations (e.g., ampicillin/sulbactam) are regarded as treatments of choice (4,6,9).

Table

Comparison between methicillin-sensitive and methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus

BORSA initially described nonheteroresistant strains of S. aureus with oxacillin MIC <2 mg/L, which produce ample β-lactamases and are rendered fully susceptible to PRP by β-lactamase-inhibitors (4,6). Subsequent BORSA strains described have had higher oxacillin MICs (4–8 mg/L) (4). The proportion of BORSA among clinical isolates of S. aureus varies (1.4%–12.5%) but is usually ≈5% (4,10). A BORSA infection outbreak among dermatology patients with severe skin diseases has also been reported (10). Postulated resistance mechanisms include overproduction of conventional penicillinases, production of an inducible, plasmid-mediated, membrane-bound methicillinase, and in some cases, point mutations of penicillin-binding-proteins (4). The clinical importance of BORSA is unknown since early clinical/animal data suggest treatment efficacy of PRP (against strains with MIC <2 mg/L) (4,6,9). Whether BORSA with higher oxacillin MICs (4–8 mg/L) will respond equally well to PRP is less clear. Further studies into the treatment of BORSA, including pharmacokinetic considerations, are needed (4). However, high-dose β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations (e.g., ampicillin/sulbactam), as shown in animal models, are at least as effective as PRP (9). In conclusion, our report suggests that mecA (or PBP2a) detection may help manage serious, community-acquired, non–multidrug-resistant MRSA infections because of the potential confusion between BORSA and CA-MRSA.


GEPETO (for GEoPrivacy-Enhancing Toolkit) is a flexible software that can be used to visualize, sanitize, perform inference attacks and measure the utility of a particular geolocated dataset. The main objective of GEPETO is to enable a data curator (e.g., a company, a governmental agency or a data protection authority) to design, tune, experiment and evaluate various sanitization algorithms and inference attacks as well as visualizing the following results and evaluating the resulting trade-off between privacy and utility. In this paper, we propose to adopt the MapReduce paradigm in order to be able to perform a privacy analysis on large scale geolocated datasets composed of millions of mobility traces. More precisely, we design and implement a complete MapReduce-based approach to GEPETO. Most of the algorithms used to conduct an inference attack (such as sampling, kMeans and DJ-Cluster) represent good candidates to be abstracted in the MapReduce formalism. These algorithms have been implemented with Hadoop and evaluated on a real dataset. Preliminary results show that the MapReduced versions of the algorithms can efficiently handle millions of mobility traces.


Advertising is no longer on the defensive. It has survived the snobbery of the 50s, the conspiracy theories of the 60s and the semiology of the 70s to be embraced and apotheosised by the 80s. The Consumerist Manifesto is the first book to examine the advertising process from within the agency itself, and from the wider perspective of advertising's dual relationship as both consumer and object, with contemporary cultural theory. Martin Davidson follows the creation of successful campaigns and explores how advertising has succeeded in setting the tone for even larger aspects of our material and personal lives. With the impact of postmodernism and popular culture, and the subsequent collapse of the old anti-advertising critique, the books reveals how advertising came to be embraced as the idiom of the enterprise culture, and how it became central to the decades assault on traditional notions of political and cultural value. Martin Davidson explores the wider implications of advertising's dominance for cultural theory, art, anthropology and language. Finally, Martin Davidson asks how this new critique will have to develop if the industry's new credibility is to be maintained.


TRISS (Trauma and Injury Severity Score) is one of the most commonly used trauma score. Currently, there is no data about using TRISS in the care of polytrauma patients at emergency department of dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (CMH). This research was intended to evaluate whether TRISS can predict the mortality of polytrauma patients at CMH. This was an analytic descriptive study with retrospective cohort design. Data was collected from medical records of polytrauma patients who were admitted to emergency department of CMH from 2011-201 4 then we analyzed the relationship between TRISS and patient's prognosis. Furthermore, we conducted bivariate and multivariate analysis by SPSS 20 software. Seventy medical records were included in this study. The majority of patients were male (65%) in young age. There were 69 patients who experienced blunt trauma, with the majority (94.3%) were caused by motor vehicle accident. After receiving trauma care, there were 26 deaths, while other 44 patients survived. From bivariate and multivariate analysis, we found a significant difference between TRISS and patient's prognosis. TRISS strongly predicts polytrauma patient's mortality (AUC 0,899; IK95% 0,824-0,975). TRISS has 84,6% sensitivity and 81.8% specificity with optimal intersection point ≤ 90,5. TRISS is able to predict the mortality of polytrauma patients at CMH.


The ovarian-carcinoma-associated sebaceous gland antigen (SGA) defined by the OM-1 monoclonal antibody (McAb) is a highly glycosylated protein of molecular weight ∼ 360 kilodaltons. The HMFG1 and HMFG2 McAbs also detect highly glycosylated high-molecular-weight glycoproteins synthesized by a wide variety of human epithelia. Comparison of the distributions of expression of SGA and the molecules detected by the HMFG1 and HMFG2 McAbs showed thai SGA was expressed by a strict subset of HMFG1- and HMFG2-positive cells. The relationship of SGA to HMFG1- and HMFG2-positive molecules was subsequently examined at the molecular level. Analysis of immunoprecipitates from biosynthetically labelled ovarian carcinoma cell lines indicated that HMFG1 and HMFG2 reacted with molecules indistinguishable by this method from SGA. Western blot analysis of proteins present in human milk fat globule membrane preparations showed that SGA was present in these preparations together with protein components reactive with the HMFG1 and HMFG2 antibodies. Western blot analysis, probing for the OM-1-reactive determinant, on proteins specifically immunoprecipitated from ovarian cell lysates by the three antibodies conclusively proved that SGA carries the HMFG2 antigenic determinant. Conversely, SGA does not react with the HMFG1 antibody. These results demonstrate the existence in human epithelia of more than one HMFG2-positive molecule. SGA is therefore one of at least two independently expressed HMFG2-positive human epithelial mucins.


Since Saccharomyces cerevisiae does not inherently possess the capability to utilize pentose sugars released from hemicellulose degradation, the degradation and utilization of hemicellulose poses a conundrum to bioethanol production by consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) using S. cerevisiae. In this study, S. cerevisiae was exploited for its ability to degrade xylan, one of the major polysaccharide chains present in hemicellulose. Different hemicellulases from Trichoderma reesei, namely: endoxylanase (Xyn2), β-xylosidase (Bxl1), acetylxylan esterase (Axe1), α-D-glucuronidase (Glr1) and α-L-arabinofuranosidase (Abf1), were heterologously secreted by S. cerevisiae. A mixture experimental design was adapted to statistically describe the synergistic interactions between the hemicellulases and to determine the optimum formulations for the hydrolysis of xylan substrates. The hydrolytic activities of the hemicellulase mixtures were then improved by displaying the hemicellulases on the yeast surface to serve as whole-cell biocatalysts. The engineered yeast strains displaying hemicellulases were further engineered with xylose-utilization genes to enable abilities of utilizing xylose as a sole carbon source. The resulting consortia were then able to grow and produce ethanol from different xylan substrates.


PURPOSE
To determine the effectiveness, costs, and cost-effectiveness of strategies for the management of hepatocellular adenoma (HA) in women who are otherwise healthy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A Markov model was developed to estimate the quality-adjusted life expectancy (in quality-adjusted life-years [QALYs]), lifetime costs (in 2007 U.S. dollars), and net health benefits (QALY equivalent) of surgery, transarterial embolization (TAE), radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and watchful waiting. Model parameters and their distributions were derived from the literature and the hospital database.

RESULTS
In patients with HA tumors suitable for RFA, RFA had the highest effectiveness (23.89 QALYs) and lowest costs ($2965). The treatment decision was sensitive to RFA-related mortality. In patients with tumors unsuitable for RFA, watchful waiting combined with TAE in cases of hemorrhage had the highest effectiveness (23.83 QALYs) and lowest costs ($8493). The treatment decision was sensitive to probability of tumor growth, probability of hemorrhage, and hemorrhage-related mortality.

CONCLUSION
According to the model results, the most favorable treatment strategy for patients with small HAs was RFA. In patients with HA unsuitable for RFA, watchful waiting was the optimal strategy.


Quantitative analysis of beverages prepared at home by staff of the Addiction Research Foundation revealed a lower and much more variable caffeine content of both tea and coffee than had been reported in earlier studies, most of which were based on analysis of laboratory-prepared beverages. Median caffeine concentration of 37 home-prepared samples of tea was 27 mg per cup (range, 8 to 91 mg); for 46 coffee samples the median concentration was 74 mg per cup (range, 29 to 176 mg). If tea and coffee as drunk contain less caffeine than generally supposed, the potency of caffeine may be greater than commonly realized, as may the relative caffeine content of certain commercial preparations, including chocolate and colas. The substantial variation in caffeine content emphasizes the need to establish actual caffeine intake in clinical, epidemiologic and experimental investigations of caffeine effects.


On-screen tourism destinations provide tourists with a mixture of reality and mass-media experience. This study builds a conceptual framework of authenticity evaluating the relationship between fantasy proneness, authenticity, and destination loyalty. It is among the first to compare perceived authenticity of dual images of a destination, both the film location and the story's setting. Using Game of Thrones and the city of Dubrovnik as a case, it applies a mixed method of interviews followed by a main survey with both closed- and open-ended questions. The primary findings show that the relationship between authenticity of the film location (Dubrovnik) and loyalty is positive, but such relationship is insignificant for the authenticity of the story's setting (King's Landing). This investigation enriches our understanding of the complex assessments of authenticity and expands the theory of imagination by evaluating the effects of fantasy proneness on perceived authenticity in the context of on-screen tourism.


In the article the author seeks to follow the history of the term "mountain man" and to point to the scope of its functioning in various literary, cultural and environmental contexts. The author draws on both examples from literature and various types of narratives disseminated through the new media. Referring to the various ways of defi ning the term and then using it in various types of discourses, he examines its transformation from an archetype (discussing, first of all, the evolution in the way of seeing highlanders as the first inhabitants of the mountains and the links between this notion, as well as the term "mountain man" and its use with regard to people visiting the mountains disinterestedly in search of aesthetic or other experiences) to a stereotype of the "mountain man" strongly rooted in the modern collective consciousness and imagination. An important context for the present analysis is provided by the history of European imperialism and colonialism. The article features a number of examples from writings by Polish and foreign authors.


Fault-tolerant event detection is fundamental to wireless sensor network applications. Existing approaches usually adopt neighborhood collaboration for better detection accuracy, while need more energy consumption due to communication. Focusing on energy efficiency, this paper makes an improvement to a hybrid algorithm for dynamic event region detection, such as real-time tracking of chemical leakage regions. Considering the characteristics of the moving away dynamic events, we propose a return back condition for the hybrid algorithm from distributed neighborhood collaboration, in which a node makes its detection decision based on decisions received from its spatial and temporal neighbors, to local non-communicative decision making. The simulation results demonstrate that the improved algorithm does not degrade the detection accuracy of the original algorithm, while it has better energy efficiency with the number of messages exchanged in the network decreased.


A new high-efficiency audio power amplifier has been developed. This amplifier consists of a conventional power amplifier and a self-oscillating switching power supply which is arranged to vary the power supply output voltage according to the input signal voltage. The new amplifier achieves a higher efficiency than the conventional amplifier, by making the collector voltage of the emitter-follower-transistor follow the waveform of the output signal. Applying this idea to class A amplifiers, a one-third power dissipation can be achieved compared with the conventional class A amplifier. A power MOSFET is used as a switcher. The switching frequency is from 150 kHz to 300 kHz. The new amplifier shows sufficient favorable characteristics. Switching noise is suppressed to a low noise level, which has no influence on the AM tuner or other audio equipment. By stabilizing the single-ended push-pull (SEPP) output transistors, the amplifier can reproduce high quality tone. The present idea is also applicable to dass B power amplifiers and may be suitable for PA or car audio power amplifiers.


This paper proposes a novel 3D scene interpretation approach for robots in mobile manipulation scenarios using a set of 3D point features (Fast Point Feature Histograms) and probabilistic graphical methods (Conditional Random Fields). Our system uses real time stereo with textured light to obtain dense depth maps in the robot's manipulators working space. For the purposes of manipulation, we want to interpret the planar supporting surfaces of the scene, recognize and segment the object classes into their primitive parts in 6 degrees of freedom (6DOF) so that the robot knows what it is attempting to use and where it may be handled. The scene interpretation algorithm uses a two-layer classification scheme: i) we estimate Fast Point Feature Histograms (FPFH) as local 3D point features to segment the objects of interest into geometric primitives; and ii) we learn and categorize object classes using a novel Global Fast Point Feature Histogram (GFPFH) scheme which uses the previously estimated primitives at each point. To show the validity of our approach, we analyze the proposed system for the problem of recognizing the object class of 20 objects in 500 table settings scenarios. Our algorithm identifies the planar surfaces, decomposes the scene and objects into geometric primitives with 98.27% accuracy and uses the geometric primitives to identify the object's class with an accuracy of 96.69%.


A resilient and robust state feedback control scheme is proposed to control a large class of uncertain nonlinear systems with locally conic type of nonlinearities and driven by finite energy disturbances. Resilience property is achieved by satisfying various performance requirements in the presence of bounded perturbations in the feedback gain. System models are also allowed to contain a high degree of uncertainty involving perturbations in the center and the radius of the cone in which the nonlinearity resides that result in a robust design. Linear matrix inequality (LMI) techniques are used in the mathematical formulation. Various commonly used performance criteria are treated in a unified framework. Illustrative examples are included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology and to compare the relative performance of the controllers.


The best way to understand the Meditations is through the lens of Descartes's theistic metaphysics rather than via his programme for physical science. This applies to his use of the concept of 'nature' in the Sixth Meditation, which serves Descartes's goal of theodicy. In working this out, Descartes reaches a conclusion about the functional role of sensory perception that is, paradoxically, not far from that offered by Darwinian naturalism. So far from being inherently geared to tracking the truth, the role of sensation is linked to its survival value for the organism. In virtue of his theistic metaphysics however, Descartes is able to set this conclusion against the background of other cognitive faculties that are in principle accurate detectors of the truth; the absence of such a resource for modern Darwinian naturalists creates difficulties for the presumption that humans are cognitively equipped to search for the truth.


AIMS--To investigate a female patient with a tumour mass of the terminal ileum, to define the nature of the tumour, and to correlate its morphology and behaviour with similar types of tumours of the large intestine and stomach. METHODS--Tissues obtained at colonoscopy, from hemicolectomy specimens, and from liver and peritoneal biopsy specimens were studied macroscopically, microscopically, histochemically, and immunohistochemically for epithelial membrane antigen (EMA), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), neuron specific enolase (NSE), and S100 protein. RESULTS--Macroscopic examination showed a tumour of the terminal ileum protruding into the caecum. Microscopically the tumour showed two components, one adenoma with moderate dysplasia and the other carcinoid tumour. The adenomatous component stained positively for EMA and CEA and negatively for NSE. The carcinoid component stained positively for NSE and negatively for EMA and CEA. Histochemically the carcinoid area was argyrophil positive and argentaffin negative. Only the carcinoid had metastasised, to the liver, peritoneum, and the lymph nodes, at the time of diagnosis. CONCLUSION--The morphological, histochemical, and immunohistochemical findings confirm the diagnosis of a composite adenoma-carcinoid tumour of the terminal ileum.


The aim of this experiment was to establish the effect of the ProBio Original preparation (hereinafter "preparation") on the composting process of biologically degradable waste in garden composters. The first stage of research was focused on the effect of different concentrations of the preparation onto the composting process in garden composters. Monitored parameters were the effect of the preparation on the course of temperatures during the composting process, material volume decrease and effect on the quality of the composted material. The input raw material was freshly cut grass provided by Centrální kompostárna (Central Composting Plant) Brno, a.s. The experiment was carried out in five garden composters (290 L) for a period of 13 weeks. Three composters were enriched with the preparation at different concentrations, two of them were reference composters. During the experiment, the course of the composting process was monitored (temperature, loss in material volume) as well as the compost quality (C/N ratio, nutrients, heavy metals). During the experiment, a positive influence was observed of the preparation on the course of temperature in the composters. The enriched composters reached in the mineralization phase the thermophilic temperature ranges for a period of two weeks. The rate of composted material volume reduction in the composters with the preparation was higher than that in the reference composters. Moreover, a positive effect of the preparation was observed on the compost quality. As compared with composts from the reference composters, Ca and Mg concentrations in the resulting compost from the enriched composters were higher. The effect of the preparation on the concentration of other nutrients was not demonstrated.


We demonstrate a 10-GHz multiwavelength pulsed generator based on a fiber optical parametric oscillator. By introducing two separated intracavity branches, simultaneous mode-locking at two different wavelengths in the L-band is achieved. Due to the parametric process between the pump and the two mode-locked signals, two idlers are generated in the S-band. Hence, simultaneous generation of a 10-GHz pulse train at four different wavelengths located in both the S- and L-band is accomplished. The wavelength of the generated pulse trains can be tuned over 54 nm, with the wavelength span from 1500 to 1617 nm. The stability of the proposed scheme is also experimentally investigated.


Populist radical right-wing parties across Europe garner support for welfare chauvinistic promises to limit government spending on immigrants and focus on natives' welfare instead. However, most research on the so-called immigration-welfare nexus does not study welfare chauvinism but instead focuses on generalized support for the welfare state. Using Swedish register-linked survey data from 2013, we study three hypothetical pathways into welfare chauvinism: via ethnic prejudice, operationalized as a desire for social distance; via the direct experience of immigrant unemployment and putative welfare receipt in the neighborhood context; and via immigrant competition at the workplace. Based on our sample of native-born Swedes, we find that both negative prejudice and the share of unemployed immigrants among the neighborhood population provide two distinct and independent routes into chauvinism, while workplace competition does not.


Purpose
This study aims to identify and analyze research that promotes sustainable consumption among university students, understand what areas of consumption were addressed, how consumption was intended to become more sustainable and what results were reported.

Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review was conducted using the Scopus and Web of Science databases and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses methodology. Main criteria for inclusion were focus on changing the consumption behavior of university students, not just diagnosing them, and that students were directly involved in the efforts.

Findings
A total of 1,619 articles were extracted, and 34 were included in the study. These selected investigations conducted between 2012 and 2022 focused on areas of consumption such as food, plastic waste, fashion, energy and water. Sustainable consumption was promoted through training programs ranging from one-hour seminars to full-semester courses, marketing and communication campaigns and direct experimentation and interventions. Most articles reported positive results.

Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to research carried out to reduce current consumption by university students; it does not include research aimed at improving students' professional skills for promoting sustainable consumption.

Practical implications
This study compiles previous research on reducing consumption by university students in a structured manner according to the consumption area, applied strategy and the results obtained.

Originality/value
This research is unique and will serve as a source of inspiration and consultation for academics and university managers concerned about human consumption. It presents successful projects and strategies that can be implemented in their own universities to make their students' consumption more sustainable.


This paper presents a dynamical system model for FGA, a force-based genetic algorithm, which is used as decentralized topology control mechanism among active running software agents to achieve a uniform spread of autonomous mobile nodes over an unknown geographical area. Using only local information, FGA guides each node to select a fitter location, speed and direction among exponentially large number of choices, converging towards a uniform node distribution. By treating a genetic algorithm (GA) as a dynamical system we can analyze it in terms of its trajectory in the space of possible populations. We use Vose's theoretical model to calculate the cumulative effects of GA operators of selection, mutation, and crossover as a population evolves through generations. We show that FGA converges toward a significantly higher area coverage as it evolves.


We show that a local measurement of temperature and voltage for a quantum system in steady state, arbitrarily far from equilibrium, with arbitrary interactions within the system, is unique when it exists. This is interpreted as a consequence of the second law of thermodynamics. We further derive a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a solution. In this regard, we find that a positive temperature solution exists whenever there is no net population inversion. However, when there is a net population inversion, we may characterize the system with a unique negative temperature. Voltage and temperature measurements are treated on an equal footing: They are simultaneously measured in a noninvasive manner, via a weakly-coupled thermoelectric probe, defined by requiring vanishing charge and heat dissipation into the probe. Our results strongly suggest that a local temperature measurement without a simultaneous local voltage measurement, or vice-versa, is a misleading characterization of the state of a nonequilibrium quantum electron system. These results provide a firm mathematical foundation for voltage and temperature measurements far from equilibrium.


Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease characterised by breach of self-tolerance and production of autoantibodies, particularly rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-citrullinated protein antibodies (ACPA). Many events can lead to loss of tolerance in RA and they include genetic, environmental and epigenetic factors as well as post-translational modifications. Current therapies in RA tend to treat symptoms or slow down the disease progression but no cure exists at the moment. This review provides a summary of the main recent research advances regarding new therapies in RA and new studies about the effect of genetic, environment and epigenetics in this autoimmune disease. Moreover, it summarises the present knowledge about the role of "new" autoantibodies in RA focussing on anti-carbamylated protein antibodies (anti-CarP), anti-hinge antibodies, anti-acetylated protein antibodies and anti-malondialdehyde-acetaldehyde adducts (MAA) antibody. Finally, a brief summary on the recent role of Fab N-glycosylation is reported.


The Gaia-ESO Public Spectroscopic Survey is an ambitious project designed to obtain astrophysical parameters and elemental abundances for 100,000 stars, including large representative samples of the stellar populations in the Galaxy, and a well-defined sample of 60 (plus 20 archive) open clusters. We provide internally consistent results calibrated on benchmark stars and star clusters, extending across a very wide range of abundances and ages. This provides a legacy data set of intrinsic value, and equally a large wide-ranging dataset that is of value for homogenisation of other and future stellar surveys and Gaia's astrophysical parameters. This article provides an overview of the survey methodology, the scientific aims, and the implementation, including a description of the data processing for the GIRAFFE spectra. A companion paper (arXiv:2206.02901) introduces the survey results. Gaia-ESO aspires to quantify both random and systematic contributions to measurement uncertainties. Thus all available spectroscopic analysis techniques are utilised, each spectrum being analysed by up to several different analysis pipelines, with considerable effort being made to homogenise and calibrate the resulting parameters. We describe here the sequence of activities up to delivery of processed data products to the ESO Science Archive Facility for open use. The Gaia-ESO Survey obtained 202,000 spectra of 115,000 stars using 340 allocated VLT nights between December 2011 and January 2018 from GIRAFFE and UVES. The full consistently reduced final data set of spectra was released through the ESO Science Archive Facility in late 2020, with the full astrophysical parameters sets following in 2022.


Today the Internet has provided great opportunities for enterprise integration among internal departments, external partners and other service providers. Web services systems have recently found their way into many applications such as e-commerce, corporate portals and e-learning. Construction of new services or introducing new functions to existing services requires an evaluation of every organization needs. Current approaches to portal composition often require major programming effort; this is time consuming and requires considerable developer expertise. The selection of a web portal platform and it implementation should be seen as a process of building an infrastructure and foundation for the future. The current market of portal products goes from licenses products to open-source alternatives. In this paper, we explore and identify the requirements for a basic portal framework in the design, implementation and deployment of an Educational Web Portal Service at the School of Health Professions (SHP), University of Puerto Rico. We also discuss the benefits of this platform and some of the tools provided by the portal environment to fulfill the organization needs and the lessons learned during the architecture design and software implementation.


Utilizing a comprehensive dataset for Turkish manufacturing firms, we analyse differentials in the post-entry effects on productivity of exporting to markets with different income levels. We employ propensity score matching techniques with multiple treatments, together with a differences-in-differences (DiD) methodology. Controlling for firm level mark-ups, we explore whether the post-entry effects on productivity are driven by changes in physical productivity. The results confirm the learning-by-exporting hypothesis, and suggest physical productivity gains, in particular for exports to high income countries as opposed to middle low-income countries, even after controlling for the composition of exports. This suggests that where a firm export does matter for productivity growth.


The hypothesis was that the cellular architecture of the lymphoid tissue was determined by antigenic stimulation. In order to test that hypothesis chickens were produced and maintained in an environment as free from antigens as possible. The chickens were then challenged with an antigen and the cellular changes in the lymphoid tissue, especially the spleen, examined. The thesis thus falls into three sections. In Section 1, after the concept of germ-free life was introduced, the practical problems of producing and maintaining germ-free chickens were discussed in relation to the needs of the present work. A detailed description then followed of the method by which germ-free chickens were produced and maintained in this study. The use of the germicide "Portex D.C.R." was described for sterllizing the surface fertile a eggs in order to obtain germ-free chickens. In Section II the lymphoid tissue of the conventional chickens was described. In order to form bose-line or norm for the study of the effect of antigens in germ-free chickens the lymphoid tissue of the four weeks old unstimulated germ-free chicken was stufied. Serum proteins from these birds were immuncelectrophoresed. It was shown that in the unstimulated four week old germ-free chicken no germinal centres were present in the spleen and that there were fewer cells of the plasmacellular series when compared with four week old conventional chickens. The level of immune-globulins was lower in germ-free chickens than in conventional chickens. Having established this norm it was then possible (Section III) to challenge the germ-free chickens with an antigen in an attempt to induce germinal centre formation and study the way in which germinal centres were formed. The tissues from the germ-free chickens stimulated with a known antigen were examined using conventional histology and immunofluorescence; serum antibodies were estimated and serum proteins were immunoelectrophoresed. In experiment I an attempt was made to induce germinal centre formation in conventional birds using Shigella glexneri as antigen. In the next two experiments a soluble protein antigen (Human serum albumin) was administered to seven day old germ-free chickens (expt. 2) and to seven day old conventional chickens (expt. 3) to induce germinal centre formation. In the remaining three experiments a staphylococcus isolated from a chickens was used as antigen. Germ-free chickens were given the staphylococcus as a primary injection at seven days old (expt. 4) and at twenty-one days old (expt. 5) and as a secondary injection at twenty-one days old (expt. 6) following a primary at seven days old. From there experiments it was concluded that the cellular architecture of the same age was not the same. In germ-free chickens both the soluble protein antigens (HSA) and the particulate antigen (staphylococcus) induced proliferation of cells of the plasmacellular series but germinal centres were found in the spleen following stirculation with staphylococcus. Further, the response to the same dose of the same antigen (staphylococcus) varied with the age of the chicken during the neonatal period. A greater number of germinal centres and a greater proliferation of cells of the plasmacellular series was induced following injection of staphylococcus into 21 day old germ-free chickens than into 7 day old germ-free chickens. A secondary challenge with staphylococcus at 21 days old in germ-free chickens following a primary injection at 7 days old induced a greater number of germinal centres than a primary injection at 21 days old. The germinal centre appeared to be formed in the spleen not by rapid multiplication of a small focus of cells but by aggregation of haemocytoblasts in the periarteriolar lymphocyte sheath. Lymphocyres did not appear to be incorporated in germinal centre formation but seemed to be formed from haemocytoblasts within the germinal centre. No cellular changes were induced in the thymus or bursa of Fabricius following antigenic stimulation of germ-free chickens. It was clear from the experimental work that the cellular architecture of the spleen of the chicken was dependent upon immunogenic stimulus.


Currently, efficient photon anti-Stokes (upconversion) luminescence is mostly limited to lanthanide (Ln3+) doped materials. There are a few reports on upconversion behaviors of transition-metal ions, whose (Stokes) emissions are known to be tunable by changing the crystal fields of the hosts. Herein, Yb/Ln/Cr (Ln = Er, Ho) tri-doped glass ceramics were fabricated by a melt-quenching route and subsequent glass crystallization, where Cr3+ dopants were evidenced to be incorporated into the precipitated LiGa5O8 nanocrystals and Ln3+ ions remained in the glass matrix. An intense Cr3+ upconversion luminescence assigned to the 2E → 4A2 transition was observed upon 980 nm laser excitation via energy transfer from Yb3+ sensitizers to Er3+ activators/bridging-centers and finally to Cr3+ emitting centers. Importantly, the investigated glass ceramics presented temperature-dependent upconversion fluorescence intensity ratios for Er3+ 2H11/2/4S3/2 thermally coupled states as well as Cr3+/Ln3+ non-thermally coupled states and temperature-sensitive upconversion decays of Cr3+ 2E/4A2 thermally coupled states, enabling their promising applications in self-calibrated multi-modal temperature sensing.


This paper examines through Rosi Braidotti"s theory of nomadism two of Marina Carr"s most outstanding female dramatic characters, Hester Swane and Anna Karenina. This critical theoretical approach argues that these nomadic female identities are structurally opposed to fixity. By averting the normative versions of themselves and by engaging in the dynamics of power relations they free themselves from the constraints of phallogocentrism in their different contexts. Hester Swane and Anna Karenina, despite their very different social backgrounds, share the commonality of being nomadic representations. The dramatic works By the Bog of Cats (2004) and the stage adaptation Anna Karenina (2016) display an array of female characters which conform to social norms. This paper argues that unlike these female characters, Anna and Hester are transgressive women; they are ruthless nomadic female fighters and cannot be considered victims of the social constraints that attempt to define them as sub-beings. The paper further concludes that although their deaths at the end of each play are inescapable, their suicide eludes them to a freer ontological existence.


In recent decades, literary critics have become increasingly interested in the ways that contemporary historical novels are used to write "history from below." In On Lies, Secrets, and Silence (1978), Adrienne Rich describes a process she calls "re-visioning," a process that is defined as "looking back, of seeing with fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new critical direction" (35). Many female authors of contemporary historical novels engage in exactly this process, looking back in time and reinserting the histories of women into the dominant narrative of history in which they are often excluded or marginalized. Novelists like Philippa Gregory, Diana Gabaldon, and Tracy Chevalier have made feminist politics clearly visible in their bestselling historical novels. And yet, for all their potential and visible disruptions of patriarchal ideology, many of these popular novels also make use of literary archetypes, tropes, and narrative patterns that reinstate hegemonic ideologies about individual identity and social structure. Using Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl (2001) as a case study, this paper argues that popular women's historical novels often exist in tension between the pulls of revisionary feminist historiography and the popular romance narrative.


The overall objective of this study is to assess the effects of motivation on organizational performance in private sector. The study addressed three research questions, namely: what are the motivation packages offered to employees at MHS Massana Hospital, what are the factors motivating employees to perform their job better and the last question is the employees motivation related to organizational performance. Using MHS Massana hospital as a case study, a sample of 63 respondents selected based on stratified random and purposive sampling, the quantitative and qualitative approach were adopted in which self administered questionnaires and interviews were used for collection of data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and SPSS to answer the three research questions posed for the study. The findings revealed that motivation of employees' increase commitment, retain employees, increase productivity and increases organizational performance. Promotion, medical allowance, training, overtime, salary and responsibility allowance as a motivation packages offered at MHS Massana contributes more on employees work performance than house allowance, responsibility allowance, hospital loan and bonus. Employees were not satisfied with hospital loan, basic pay, time for salary pay and medical allowance. This study used Herzberg theory to assess the effects of motivation on organization performance. The researcher concluded that, there is a relationship between employees' motivation and organizational performance. Hospital management should invest on employees' motivation for the success of their organization.


Historically, elearning has adopted the most common pedagogical models in Distance Education and it has been gaining increasing importance, as Higher Education Institutions are offering more and more online degrees. However there is a gap between theory and practice. What are the actual pedagogical models followed by the teachers online? Do they follow the theoretical models or do they adopt a mix of different models? What is the role of the services and tools available in the pedagogical practices, namely the Personal Learning Environments (PLEs)? How are Higher Education Institutions adapting themselves and which are the future trends for elearning? This paper tries to shed some light on these questions based on two interviews: one to Prof. Graham Attwell and the other to Prof. Jose Lagarto. Showing some skepticism about the adoption of elearning by Universities, the interviewees consider that PLEs are indeed capable of bringing a quality increase in the learning process. They also consider it is necessary to adopt several pedagogical models in elearning.


In this paper, we study modeling and identification of stochastic systems by Generalized Factor Analysis models. Although this class of models was originally introduced for econometric purposes, we present some possible applications of engineering interest. In particular, we show that there is a natural connection between Generalized Factor Analysis models and multi-agents systems. The common factor component of the model has an interpretation as a flocking component of the system behavior.


Drag anchors, including the vertically loaded plate anchors, play a very important role in deepwater mooring systems. However, the behavior of the anchor has never been clearly known, especially the trajectory of the anchor in soils when pulled into the seabed. Positioning in seabed soils is especially important for drag anchors because the working performance of the anchor is closely related to the embedment depth and orientation of the anchor and the properties of the surrounding soils. Hence, studying the trajectory by analytical and experimental methods is critical for the further application of drag anchors in offshore engineering. An overview of the present trajectory measurements demonstrates that there has not been an acceptable measurement technique for laboratory model flume experiments. In this paper, a contact measurement technique, which is based on the knowledge of the motion characteristic of the drag anchor in soils, is developed and applied in measuring the trajectory of the anchor models. This technique is easier to perform and has little effect on the behavior of drag anchors in soils. The measurement precision and applicability of the technique are verified through specially-designed experiments. Being an important application, the measurement technique can be adopted to detect the movement direction of the anchor with an arbitrary fluke section. The present work has demonstrated that through model tests and employing the developed technique, the movement direction of any type of drag anchor can be effectively and easily determined.


Since Crohn's original description,1the histopathologic criteria for the diagnosis of regional enteritis have not been conspicuously altered. Despite technical refinements and search for specificity of various histologic parameters2-9in the disease, it may be said that there are no pathognomonic features in regional enteritis. This is predicated upon the following: (1) the small intestine has, in the majority of instances, a restricted mode of reactivity to various and diverse agents; (2) regional enteritis is a progressive disease with a fluidity of transition between various histopathologic changes; and (3) the appearance of the intestine, at any given time during the clinical course of the disease, is a composite of "primary" and "secondary" reactions with obscuration of the primary lesion by the latter in the progression of biologic time.5 The sequence of morphologic changes occurring in regional enteritis may then be considered to represent a spectrum with considerable


Legumes, of which Vicia sativa is one, can be used successfully as green fertilizers. They can contribute to improving the characteristics of soil: density, porosity, humus accumulation in the soil, and they live in symbiosis with nodule bacteria, which can make atmospheric nitrogen fixation happen. (CLARK, 2007, JEON et al., 2009). Plants can foster their own growth, by chemical changes (the case of the available nutriments) and biological changes at soil level (NIU ET AL. 2007). Through some substances named elicitors, the plant select the microflora in the area near the root, and together with this selection, some other changes are taking place in the dynamics of vital processes in the soil. Among the sources of energy used by microorganisms, the cellulose in plant debris contains the largest quantity of organic carbon. Because of the microbial decomposition of this polysaccharide, the humus content of soil increases. Because of the contribution that cellulolysis has in increasing the fertility potential of soils, the study in this paper is focussed on this vital soil parameter. The soil, moderately glazed Eutric Cambisol, is to be found in Ciacova commune, Timis County. The soil was sown with common vetch (Vicia sativa). Soil lab analysis was performed in the autumn of 2011. In order to determine the cellulolytic potential, we took 10 soil samples from the edaphosphere and near-root area of species Vicia sativa, plus a control variant. The sapling depth was between 0 and 20 cm. The method for finding the quantity of decomposed celluloses was the one presented by STEFANIC (2006). The study revealed positive development of this vital process in the area near the root, under the influence of vegetal exudates and moisture index. These chemical changes in the near-root area lead to selection of the microbial community, while at the same time inducing increased microbial activity. The decomposing process and the moisture content depend on the humus in the soil. By reference to the edaphosphere, vicinity is noticed between the control variant and the near-root area. The % variance on PC1 is 80.997 and on PC2 19.003 so we choose to represent the eigenvalues only on the most significant axis (PC1).


Abstract. A new regional coupled ocean–atmosphere model is developed to study air–sea feedbacks. The coupled model is based on two open-source community model components: (1) MITgcm ocean model; (2) Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) atmosphere model. The coupling between these components is performed using ESMF (Earth System Modeling Framework) and implemented according to National United Operational Prediction Capability (NUOPC) consortium. The regional coupled model allows affordable simulation where oceanic mixed layer heat and momentum interact with atmospheric boundary layer dynamics at mesoscale and higher resolution. This can capture the feedbacks which are otherwise not well-resolved in coarse resolution global coupled models and are absent in regional uncoupled models. To test the regional coupled model, we focus on a series of heat wave events that occurred on the eastern shore of the Red Sea region in June 2012 using a 30-day simulation. The results obtained using the coupled model, along with those in forced uncoupled ocean or atmosphere model simulations, are compared with observational and reanalysis data. All configurations of coupled and uncoupled models have good skill in modeling variables of interest in the region. The coupled model shows improved skill in temperature and circulation evaluation metrics. In addition, a scalability test is performed to investigate the parallelization of the coupled model. The results indicate that the coupled model scales linearly for up to 128 CPUs and sublinearly for more processors. In the coupled simulation, the ESMF/NUOPC interface also scales well and accounts for less than 10 % of the total computational resources compared with uncoupled models. Hence this newly developed regional model scales efficiently for a large number of processors and can be applied for high-resolution coupled regional modeling studies.


The authors put forward a new design of experimental setup in order to study the mechanism of magnetic fluid seal, and used Ansys to simulate the magnetic field distribution in the setup, the results prove its rationality. The experiment to study the way of pressure transmission has been done on the experimental setup. The experimental conclusion shows that pressure transmission is based on the recoverability of the magnetic fluid seal. When pressure exceeds the ability of the seal stage, there is a leak path in the magnetic fluid, and then the gas flows to the next stage, after that, the leak path disappears. Pressure transmits from one seal stage to the next one in this way.


We propose a general model underlying the problem of designing trading strategies that leak no information to frontrunners and other exploiters. We study major scenarios in the market and design a family of algorithms that can be proven to leak no information in important scenarios. These algorithms can serve as building blocks for more challenging real-world scenarios beyond our current scope. In contrast to previous work, the strategies we propose protect trader using the existing trading infrastructure.


The compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM) is a mature storage medium with complex error control. It comprises four levels of Reed Solomon codes allied to a sequence of sophisticated interleaving strategies and 8:14 modulation coding. New storage media are being developed and introduced that place still further demands on signal processing for error correction. It is therefore appropriate to explore thoroughly the limit of existing strategies to assess future requirements. We describe a simulation of all stages of the CD-ROM coding, modulation, and decoding. The results of decoding the burst error of a prescribed number of modulation bits are discussed in detail. Measures of residual uncorrected error within a sector are displayed by C1, C2, P, and Q error counts and by the status of the final cyclic redundancy check (CRC). Where each data sector is encoded separately, it is shown that error-correction performance against burst errors depends critically on the position of the burst within a sector. The C1 error measures the burst length, whereas C2 errors reflect the burst position. The performance of Reed Solomon product codes is shown by the P and Q statistics. It is shown that synchronization loss is critical near the limits of error correction. An example is given of miscorrection that is identified by the CRC check.


DEAR READERS OF THE INTERNET JOURNAL OF ANESTHESIOLOGY My name is Rick Hayner, I am 48 years of age, totally blind, and have mild Cerebral Palsy since birth. I have had 23 operations, and 15 of them were done under ether anesthesia. The reason I became interested in the field of anesthesiology is because of the tremendous difference between the last two ether inductions. The first 14 inductions were done with an anesthesia machine. The Anesthesiologist started with nitrous oxide, oxygen and gradually added the ether to the mixture. This induction was very pleasant and didn't give me any strange sensations with. It was almost like laying in bed and falling asleep. I had been asked to breathe deeply. I was told that the deeper I breathed, the faster I would go to sleep. I was premedicated with visteryl and atropine. Then I received an open drop induction which was done without any premedication whatsoever. I remember being put on the operating table, and a wet towel or washcloth was put over my eyes. The Doctor who gave me the ether this time was our family doctor. He had been my friend as well as my doctor for all of my life. I loved this man as if he were my own father. Doctor Fox was in his mid 60s at this time. He then told me he was going to put the mask on my face. I noticed that there was no gas flow at all during this induction, where as I could hear the gas flow during the previous inductions. Doctor Fox then put the mask on my face. As I remember, it didn't actually touch my face in any way, but it was like he held it just above my face. I decided to do exactly what I had done before, and tried to take a big deep breath. The result was that I coughed so violently that my head began to ache. I tried 4 more times, with exactly the same result. For about the next 5 minutes, I did everything within my power to get my face away from that mask. I remember that I did not try and use my hands, and why that was I'll never know. The final act was to sit up on the table, and all of a sudden, there were about 4 people restraining me. However, they didn't have to restrain me for long, because the first of 4 sensations began at that point. The first sensation was a tingling sensation that was in my lips, fingers, and toes. If I remained perfectly still, the tingling wasn't too bad. However, if I fought, or tried to move, the tingling became far worse. Because of this, I didn't fight any more. The second sensation was sort of a floating sensation. It was almost as though the table was no longer below me. It didn't really scare me that much, but it seemed kind of strange. By the way, all 4 sensations were occurring at the same time at the end of what I remember of the induction. The third sensation was that my breathing acquired a pitch of around 110 hertz. it was in perfect rhythm with my breathing. The last sensation was what happened to my hearing. Sounds that were very close to me didn't change at all. However, sounds farther away than say 5 or 6 feet began to echo in very strange rhythm patterns with one beat of the three beat pattern slightly louder than the other two. When I first heard a sound, it would sound extremely loud. After that, the echoing began. The first echo was very soft, and then the echoes became louder and louder and faster and faster until the echoes got very distorted and ran together and finally disappeared. At this time all of my senses were totally strange. If someone touched me, it almost felt as though they were hitting me. About at this time, someone dropped something made of metal, like a bucket or bed pan or something like this outside of the or. The volume of this sound was tremendous. I tell people that it sounded like someone dropping a 50 pound weight from a set of barbells from a height of perhaps 80 or 90 feet onto a concrete sidewalk. The only difference was Letter to the Editor: Ether Anesthesia 2 of 3 the tremendous echoing that occurred. These four sensations became less noticeable and less noticeable until I finally went to sleep. I remember hearing the pa system when I first started to wake up, and the voices echoed in the same way as they did when I went to sleep, but not nearly as loud. I think I woke up faster than I went to sleep. I also remember how strange water tasted after I woke up. If you know any anesthesiologists who are old enough to remember giving ether, or who use ether in their research, I'd be very interested in hearing from them. My e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.com COMMENT FROM THE EDITOR I would like to encourage anesthesiologists who are experienced in ether anesthesia to contact Rick Hayner. Rick is blind and uses a a text based program with speech output to read e-mail messages and access the Internet pages. However, he can't click on symbols to go to different links. If anybody knows a program with special browser abilities for the blind please contact me at email@example.com or Rick directly at firstname.lastname@example.com . Browsing through the "Recordings For The Blind And Dyslexic Catalog", Rick found the audio book "Anesthesia, the third edition" edited by Ronald D. Miller. It is on 90 cassettes, and due to the recording technique, and the special machines he uses to play the tapes, each tape plays for a total of 4 hours. Rick read the entire first volume of that book around 6 times. He ordered chemistry books to help him understand the chemistry behind drug uptake and metabolism. He spent hundreds of hours reading this book, and learning more and more about our specialty. He might know more about the theoretical background of some anesthesiology aspects than we anesthesiologists do. We are proud that Rick Hayner agreed to join the editorial board of The Internet Journal of Anesthesiology and represent lay persons in the board. Our editorial board is looking forward to getting his input.


Intervening at the nexus of queer anthropology, black resistance, and Latin American and Caribbean culture and politics, I examine sites, modalities, and limits of "erotic subjectivity" during Cuba's Special Period in Time of Peace (Periodo Especial en Tiempo de Paz)—the economic crisis of the 1990s. I trace how nonheteronormative black Cubans have been reinventing ways to participate, officially and unofficially, in a number of fraught, uneven exchanges on the ground. I aim to outline a genealogy of the political possibilities for nonheteronormative black Cubans. [queer, black, Cuba, subjectivity, gender]


Qishta is a popular Middle Eastern coagulated cream product, prepared using a traditional heating and skimming process. This study in Lebanon aimed to assess the microbiological and chemical profile of the product. Samples selected from 31 different manufacturers and outlets were analysed using standard methods. The plate counts for the various microorganisms were either of borderline acceptability or unacceptable for Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes (detected in 32%, 7% and 42% of the analysed samples respectively). Chemically, the mean moisture content [67.5 (SD 2.6) g/100 g] and pH (6.53) were relatively high. High counts of spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms and the nature of its chemical composition make qishta highly perishable.


that giving patients detailed information before hernia repair did not significantly increase their anxiety but say that it would help in subsequent litigation.' Although I accept the philosophy behind their conclusion, elective hernia repair is unlikely to give rise to many cases of litigation. Anxiety may be associated with practically every operation. It is doctors' utmost duty to warn of the most serious and most common complications: the Sidaway case in the English courts is a precedent.2 Lord Bridge stated that if a complication occurs in more than 10% of cases the patient must be told. In the case of specific risks, such as death, paralysis, and blindness, the patient must also be told even if the risk is less than 1%. This common law, also quoted by the NHS Management Executive's Guide to Consent for Examination or Treatment,3 is not applicable in Kerrigan and colleagues' study: complications do not occur in more than 10% of patients after elective hernia repair, nor are there specific risks of death, paralysis, or blindness. Thus the choice of this procedure for examining consent is not appropriate. The information sheets given to both groups in the study were inadequate and did not satisfy the Department of Health's guidelines3 as they did not mention possible alternatives to elective hernia repair. Doctors should make their own judgment as to how much information each patient needs. There is no point in loading patients with all possible information available. As long as the doctor has explained the procedure, its alternatives, and complications in broad terms no legal action will ensue. I disagree with the authors that unless all details are given litigation may ensue. The House of Lords applied the "broad nature" test in the case of Chatterton v Gerson.4 I accept that at times of stress many patients do not absorb oral information, and thus a combination of oral and written information is ideal. The Department of Health's guidelines suggest that a relative, friend, or nurse should be present during the explanation. This gives the patient another opportunity for obtaining procedural information, especially when a nurse is present. Most patients ask questions more freely of nurses than doctors. Finally, all doctors should remember the landmark of the "Bolam test" with regard to the best interests of the patient.5 The doctor must be honest and must explain in simple terms, understandable to the patient, what is best for the patient. If the patient is unsure, ideally a friend or relative should be present when consent is obtained.


Impact assessment (IA) has gone from an innocuous technical tool typically used in the pre-legislative phase to an instrument at the heart of the European institutional machinery. However--in deviation from its roots as a tool governing delegated rulemaking in the US--most experience with IA in the EU has been gathered in a legislative context. Against the background of the recent evolution of the EU's old 'comitology' system into a two-track system of delegated acts and implementing measures, this contribution discusses in three parts the 'whys,' 'whats' and 'hows' of extending IA to 'non-legislative rulemaking.' It explores various aspects of the rulemaking process that IA--if properly applied--could strengthen: consultation, control and quality.


Escape from the CD8+ T cell response through epitope mutations can lead to loss of immune control of HIV replication. Theoretically, escape from CD8+ T cell recognition is less likely when multiple TCRs target individual MHC/peptide complexes, thereby increasing the chance that amino acid changes in the epitope could be tolerated. We studied the CD8+ T cell response to six immunodominant epitopes in five HIV-infected subjects using a novel approach combining peptide stimulation, cell surface cytokine capture, flow cytometric sorting, anchored RT-PCR, and real-time quantitative clonotypic TCR tracking. We found marked variability in the number of clonotypes targeting individual epitopes. One subject recognized a single epitope with six clonotypes, most of which were able to recognize and lyse cells expressing a major epitope variant that arose. Additionally, multiple clonotypes remained expanded during the course of infection, irrespective of epitope variant frequency. Thus, CD8+ T cells comprising multiple TCR clonotypes may expand in vivo in response to individual epitopes, and may increase the ability of the response to recognize virus escape mutants.


Human trafficking has garnered the attention of policymakers, the media, and academics for years. However, controversy, competing discourses, and a lack of conceptual clarity often complicate efforts to prevent and address the problem of human trafficking in local contexts throughout the U.S. Interviews with 13 local service providers on the islands of O'ahu, Maui, and Hawai'i were conducted to explore discourses on human trafficking in the Islands. Critical discourse analytical methodologies were used to: 1) map discourse strands, 2) understand how human trafficking is situated in a context of other phenomena, and 3) explore how key social actors were characterized. Results indicated that participant discourses were both idiosyncratically constructed according to individual preference, experience, and values, and were influenced by prevailing cultural and societal discourses. The implications of these discourses, in terms of their ability to hinder or aid socially just understandings of the issue, are discussed.


Fine-grained classification often requires recognizing specific object parts, such as beak shape and wing patterns for birds. Encouraging a fine-grained classification model to first detect such parts and then using them to infer the class could help us gauge whether the model is indeed looking at the right details better than with interpretability methods that provide a single attribution map. We propose PDiscoNet to discover object parts by using only image-level class labels along with priors encouraging the parts to be: discriminative, compact, distinct from each other, equivariant to rigid transforms, and active in at least some of the images. In addition to using the appropriate losses to encode these priors, we propose to use part-dropout, where full part feature vectors are dropped at once to prevent a single part from dominating in the classification, and part feature vector modulation, which makes the information coming from each part distinct from the perspective of the classifier. Our results on CUB, CelebA, and PartImageNet show that the proposed method provides substantially better part discovery performance than previous methods while not requiring any additional hyper-parameter tuning and without penalizing the classification performance. The code is available at https://github.com/robertdvdk/part_detection.


Most leaks from underground liquid storage systems occur in the piping rather than the tank itself. The piping system is the most vulnerable component of the system, requiring great care during installation and protection from vibration, temperature fluctuations and ground movement such as frost heaves. Continual monitoring for leaks is essential. Liquid flows in a piping system when some form of pressure, positive or negative, is applied. Thus, a change in pressure can indicate a loss of liquid. Several systems monitor system pressure for losses and a successful leak detection system may incorporate several techniques, including continuous mechanical line pressure monitors, continuous electronic pressure monitors, direct and indirect tightness testing, vapor monitoring, and cable systems. In addition there are a number of containment technologies for reducing the contact of a leaked substance with the environment.


Agriculture is facing increasing challenges under volatile commodity markets, on-going climate change with more frequent extreme weather events and tightened environmental constraints. Crop rotation is considered essential and may even gain more importance for sustainable farming in the context of climate change challenges while monocropping is expected to become increasingly problematic. This is, among others, because of increasing plant protection challenges due to warmer climate which is expected to result in severe droughts, heavy rainfall and waterlogging in northern latitudes more frequently. Such changes require improved soil structure and water retention, also aided by crop rotations, to avoid yield losses. Our objective is to build and apply a dynamic optimization model of farm level crop rotation on many field parcels over 30-40 years. The model takes into account various adaptation management methods such as fungicide treatment, soil improvements such as liming, and nitrogen fertilization, simultaneously with dynamic crop rotation choices. However, these management options come along with costs. Using the model, outcomes of crop growth simulation modeling can be included into economic analysis. Simulated new cultivars, suited for a longer growing season, can be defined as alternatives to current cultivars, both having specific nutrient and other input requirements such as water, labor or pesticides. The model is used in evaluating the value of future cultivars and other management practices in climate and socio-economic scenarios. The first results show that expected market prices have major impacts on the management choices, the resulting yield levels, production and income over time.


The health of the people is the basis of prosperity and development of the country. In 1986 the Ottawa Charta was resolved. Poland has already adopted the concept of the health promoting school in 1992. Promotion of health is a process whereby the population can achieve better control of their health status. The educational reform in Poland explored three avenues : health education, ecology, and social behaviour. The modern and manifold programmes of health promotion and ecology in schools are being realised, taking into consideration all the aspects of health care and protection of the environment, healthy style of living, responsibility for one's own health, knowledge of all disciplines of health. The author outlines the procedures and their course, describes the methods and assesses profits and results.


Abstract A rapid changeover capability is central to today's thinking in respect of responsive, small batch manufacturing. Mass customization and other modern manufacturing paradigms have prompted companies to adapt swiftly to market turbulence and at the same time avoid the traditionally high unit costs associated with custom-made or small-volume products. Historically, an operation-focused approach has been adopted in reducing changeover times; however, it is argued that there is a significant benefit if there is a focus on equipment design. There is a considerable challenge to design and build cost-effective changeover-capable equipment. This challenge would be greatly assisted by the availability of a coherent design for changeover (DFC) methodology. The authors have been researching the changeover area for many years and present their latest thinking in two parts. In the first part of this paper the basic concepts for a formal DFC methodology are introduced. Drawing lessons from various existing DFX methodologies, including design for assembly and design for variety, these concepts set out the basics for a novel DFC methodology. The debated DFC methodology is presented in the second part alongside an illustrative case study [1].


Barium titanate ferroelectric films on Pt substrates were fabricated by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique. The barium titanate films sintered at different temperature (600°C, 900°C, 1050°C, 1150°C, 1200°C) for 2h, which were prepared via repeated EPD-sintering route 2~3 times were sufficiently dense and had uniform microstructure. The XRD pattern and SEM microphotography have been measured in order to investigate the effects of the final annealing temperature on the phase compositions and microstructure of the film. The experiment results showed that barium titanate films were crystallized into the tetragonal phase at 1050°C and above. The room temperature dielectric constant (ε) and loss tangent (tanδ) at 1kHz were respectively determined for different samples sintered at 600°C, 900°C, 1050°C, 1150°C and 1200°C. Both ε and tanδ showed anomaly peaks at 125°C. The results showed that typical BaTiO3 films sintered at 1050°C having higher dielectric constant (ε=2300) and lower dielectric loss (tanδ=0.02). The room temperature remanant polarization (Pr) and coercive field (EC) were found to be 1.9μC/cm2 and 35kV/cm, respectively.


Real-time visualisation of large power systems, by tracking the system states, is a challenging task as it involves processing a large measurement set to obtain the system states. This study proposes a hierarchical parallel dynamic estimation algorithm to estimate the states of a large-scale interconnected power system. The power system is decomposed into smaller subsystems, which is processed in parallel to obtain a reduced order state estimate. This information is then transmitted to the central processor, which collates the individual reduced order estimates to obtain the global estimates. Each processor uses state matrix of smaller dimension, thereby reducing the computational burden. The low-level processors utilise only a fraction of the global measurements in the proposed approach, and there is no need for any information exchange from the central processor to the low level processors, which helps in reducing the communication requirements. Moreover, detection of anomalies can also be carried out at the local processors without the need for any separate bad data detection at the central processor. IEEE 30- and 118-bus systems are used as test beds to study the proposed approach.


Cholesterol crystallization is a key step in gallstone formation and is influenced by numerous factors. Human bile contains various bile salts having different hydrophobicity and micelle-forming capacities, but the importance of lipid composition to bile metastability remains unclear. This study investigated the effect of bile salts on cholesterol crystallization in model bile (MB) systems. Supersaturated MB systems were prepared with an identical composition on a molar basis (taurocholate/phosphatidylcholine/cholesterol, 152 mM:38 mM: 24 mM), except for partial replacement of taurocholate (10, 20, and 30%) with various taurine-conjugated bile salts. Cholesterol crystallization was quantitatively estimated by spectrophotometrically measuring crystal-related turbidity and morphologically scanned by video-enhanced microscopy. After partial replacement of taurocholate with hydrophobic bile salts, cholesterol crystallization increased dose-dependently without changing the size of vesicles or crystal morphology and the rank order of crystallization was deoxycholate>chenodeoxycholate>cholate (control MB). All of the hydrophilic bile salts (ursodeoxycholate, ursocholate and beta-muricholate) inhibited cholesterol precipitation by forming a stable liquid-crystal phase, and there were no significant differences among the hydrophilic bile-salt species. Cholesterol crystallization was markedly altered by partial replacement of bile salts with a different hydrophobicity. Thus minimal changes in bile-salt composition may dramatically alter bile lipid metastability.


This paper empirically analyzes the relationship between the instability of firm performance and the use of atypical employees, such as part-time and temporary workers, by using the panel data of more than 8,000 firms from 1994 to 2006. Globalization and innovation are highlighted as the forces that increase the volatility of firm performance, which in turn increases the demand for flexible labor forces. According to the job flow analysis, jobs of temporary and contract workers are more unstable compared with part-time jobs. The results suggest that temporary workers are not necessarily substitutes for regular fulltime jobs, but rather that temporary workers are the substitutes for part-time, casual or contract jobs. After controlling for various firm characteristics, the volatility of a firm's sales growth is a significant determinant of the ratio of atypical employees. This relationship is stronger for manufacturing firms. Among the highly volatile firms, the ratio of atypical employees has a strong positive relationship with productivity. These results suggest that the desirable policy-mix for the economy is the combination of 1) the provision of a sufficient safety-net and training opportunities for atypical workers, and 2) enabling firms to adjust labor input flexibly.


Abstract Habitat fragmentation affects bat assemblages living in forests by changing species composition, species richness and population densities. The aim of this paper was to determine the structure of bat assemblages in fragmented forests of central Poland (Experimental Forest Station SGGW in Rogów) based on data concerning bat fauna of this area. Our work is based on published as well as unpublished data collected between 2011–2017 and the two main methods employed during field work were: (1) evening and night bat netting, (2) detection of flying bats on transects or in points by using ultrasound detectors. 16 bat species were observed with the most common ones being serotine bat Eptesicus serotinus (Schreb.), common noctule Nyctalus noctula (Schreb.) and brown long-eared bat Plecotus auritus (l.). less numerous in overall but frequently observed in some sites were the western barbastelle Barbastella barbastellus (Schreb.) and the Daubenton's bat Myotis daubentonii (Kuhl). The following species occurred rarely: greater mouse-eared bat Myotis myotis (Bork.), Natterer's bat M. nattereri (Kuhl), whiskered bat M. mystacinus (Kuhl), Brandt's bat M. brandtii (evers.), northern bat Eptesicus nilssonii (Keys. & Blas.) parti-coloured bat Vespertilio murinus l., lesser noctule Nyctalus leisleri (Kuhl), common pipistrelle Pipistrellus pipistrellus (Schreb.), nathusius' pipistrelle P. nathusii (Keys. & Blas.), soprano pipistrelle P. pygmaeus (leach) and grey long-eared bat Plecotus austriacus (Fish.). Fragmented forests of the study area did not differ significantly in terms of bat species composition from other fragmented forests of central Poland (Płońsk Plain) nor the large forest complexes of the Bolimowska and Kampinoska Forests. In this study area, however, bat assemblages were characterized by a lower relative abundance of the common noctule and a higher relative abundance of the serotine bat as compared to assemblages in other forests of central Poland. In conclusion, the forest fragmentation near Rogów does not significantly affect bat richness and fertilized habitats are suitable for relatively large populations of species such as the western barbastelle and lesser noctule.


The specificity of H-2 unrestricted cytotoxic T cells was analyzed in secondary CML responses. A/J strain effector cells, sensitized against A.Tlab lymphoid cells, lysed target cells from strains with differing H-2 haplotypes but all sharing Qa-1b/Tlab alleles; whereas, target cells from strains with Qa-1a/Tlaa were not. When B6.Tlaa animals were in vivo-primed and challenged in vitro with B6 stimulator cells, no cytotoxic effector cell activity was generated. However, if B6.Tlaa animals were primed in vivo with A.BY cells and then rechallenged in vitro with either A.BY or B6 stimulator cells, cytotoxic effector cells were generated that lysed target cells from strains with Qa-1b/Tlab alleles. This suggests that factors in addition to Qa/Tla may play a role in the generation of anti-Qa/Tla effector cell activity. It was also noted that targets from strains with Qa-1a/Tlaa alleles were killed, although to a much lesser extent than the Qa-1b/Tlab targets. SWR anti-DBA/1 efffector cells strongly lysed target cells frrom strains with Qa-1b/Tlab, lysed Qa-1a/Tlaa targets to a lesser extent, and produced no cytotoxic effect on B6.Tlaa target cells. These data suggest that in addition to a CML target antigen associated with Qa-1b/Tlab, there may be an additional specificity recognized by cytotoxic T cells controlled by a gene outside of Qa-1b/Tlab.


The multigene family of proteins known as the cytochrome P-450-dependent monooxygenases play a central role in the metabolism of hormones and foreign compounds. As part of our studies into the function and regulation of these proteins we have isolated a little studied constitutively expressed isozyme CYP2C7 and have investigated its substrate specificity and mode of regulation. Interestingly the haem of this enzyme in its isolated form is almost 100% in the high spin state. The enzyme was active in the metabolism of a range of model resorufin substrates, but exhibits highest activity towards benzyloxyresorufin. Indeed, this isozyme appears to play a significant role in the metabolism of this substrate in microsomal samples from untreated male rats. Tissue distribution studies indicated that CYP2C7 was expressed in liver, kidney and possibly muscle tissue. Cytochrome P-450 CYP2C7 could not be significantly induced by any of a wide range of known modulators of cytochrome P-450 expression at the mRNA level, however some significant changes in protein expression were observed. Some of the agents used (e.g., diethylnitrosamine and carbon tetrachloride) caused a significant reduction in the expression of this protein. In agreement with other reports where mRNA levels were measured we found that the level of CYP2C7 protein expression was sexually differentiated. Female rats express two to three times the level found in males, the sex difference being reversible by hypophysectomy.


Ionic liquids have been intensively investigated as alternative stable electrolyte solvents for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). A highest overall conversion efficiency of over 8% has been achieved using a ionic-liquid-based electrolyte in combination with an iodide/triiodide redox couple. However, the relatively high viscosities of ionic liquids require higher iodine concentration in the electrolyte due to mass-transport limitations of the triiodide ions. The higher iodine concentration significantly reduces the photovoltaic performance, which normally are lower than those using organic solvent-based electrolytes. Here, the concept of incompletely solvated ionic liquid mixtures (ISILMs) is introduced and represents a conceptually new type of electrolyte solvent for DSCs. It is found that the photovoltaic performance of ISILM-based electrolytes can rival that of organic solvent-based electrolytes. Furthermore, the vapor pressures of ISILMs are found to be considerably lower than that for pure organic solvents. Stability tests show that ISILM-based electrolytes provide highly stable DSCs under light soaking conditions. Thus, ISILM-based electrolytes offer a new platform to develop more efficient and stable DSC devices of relevance to future large-scale applications.


BACKGROUND
It has been reported that women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) benefit from metformin therapy.

METHODS
A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study of obese (body mass index >30 kg/m2), oligo-/amenorrhoeic women with PCOS. Metformin (850 mg) twice daily was compared with placebo over 6 months. All received the same advice from a dietitian. The primary outcome measures were: (i) change in menstrual cycle; (ii) change in arthropometric measurements; and (iii) changes in the endocrine parameters, insulin sensitivity and lipid profile.

RESULTS
A total of 143 subjects was randomized [metformin (MET) = 69; placebo (PL) = 74]. Both groups showed significant improvements in menstrual frequency [median increase (MET = 1, P < 0.001; PL = 1, P < 0.001)] and weight loss [mean (kg) (MET = 2.84; P < 0.001 and PL = 1.46; P = 0.011)]. However, there were no significant differences between the groups. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the independent variables (metformin, percentage of weight loss, initial BMI and age) in order to predict the improvement of menses. Only the percentage weight loss correlated with an improvement in menses (regression coefficient = 0.199, P = 0.047, odds ratio = 1.126, 95% CI 1.001, 1.266). There were no significant changes in insulin sensitivity or lipid profiles in either of the groups. Those who received metformin achieved a significant reduction in waist circumference and free androgen index.

CONCLUSIONS
Metformin does not improve weight loss or menstrual frequency in obese patients with PCOS. Weight loss alone through lifestyle changes improves menstrual frequency.


Multi-modal hashing focuses on fusing different modalities and exploring the complementarity of heterogeneous multi-modal data for compact hash learning. However, existing multi-modal hashing methods still suffer from several problems, including: 1) Almost all existing methods generate unexplainable hash codes. They roughly assume that the contribution of each hash code bit to the retrieval results is the same, ignoring the discriminative information embedded in hash learning and semantic similarity in hash retrieval. Moreover, the length of hash code is empirically set, which will cause bit redundancy and affect retrieval accuracy. 2) Most existing methods exploit shallow models which fail to fully capture higher-level correlation of multi-modal data. 3) Most existing methods adopt online hashing strategy based on immutable direct projection, which generates query codes for new samples without considering the differences of semantic categories. In this paper, we propose a Semantic-driven Interpretable Deep Multi-modal Hashing (SIDMH) method to generate interpretable hash codes driven by semantic categories within a deep hashing architecture, which can solve all these three problems in an integrated model. The main contributions are: 1) A novel deep multi-modal hashing network is developed to progressively extract hidden representations of heterogeneous modality features and deeply exploit the complementarity of multi-modal data. 2) Learning interpretable hash codes, with discriminant information of different categories distinctively embedded into hash codes and their different impacts on hash retrieval intuitively explained. Besides, the code length depends on the number of categories in the dataset, which can reduce the bit redundancy and improve the retrieval accuracy. 3) The semantic-driven online hashing strategy encodes the significant branches and discards the negligible branches of each query sample according to the semantics contained in it, therefore it could capture different semantics in dynamic queries. Finally, we consider both the nearest neighbor similarity and semantic similarity of hash codes. Experiments on several public multimedia retrieval datasets validate the superiority of the proposed method.


Our work consisted in carrying out an experimental investigation in order to study the structure of the flow field issuing from a bent chimney and deviated when meeting a parallelepiped obstacle. For the matter we used: the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV). A parallel numeric simulation of the problem was also elaborated and compared with the above mentioned experimental results. A three-dimensional numerical model based on the RMS turbulence closure model was used. The adopted grid is not uniform, particularly refined near the chimney and around the obstacle. A good level of agreement was achieved between the experimental data and numerical calculations. Once the model validated, we studied the effects of the distance separating the chimney and the obstacle. The tested values are Dch-obs= 10 cm and Dch-obs= 20 cm.


Construction schedulers make use of several tools as project management software of general purpose and spreadsheets for applying the Last Planner System of Production Control. This widespread practice has the disadvantage of working with questionable algorithms and models difficult to adapt to the construction industry, besides having to work with disconnected and complex information to manage data. In this paper a new layout and computation of multidimensional non-cyclic directed graphs based on its adjacency matrices is presented. All the precedence relationships are considered, in addition to the optimal and discretionary fragmentation of task in real conditions with work and feeding restrictions. This approach has been implemented with Visual Basic for Excel. A new approach for the representation and computation of projects for the Last Planner System of Production Control is presented. This approach is integrated with the management of the Earned Value and ad-hoc complex optimization. LPS TM , CPM, EVM and PPC are found to be complementary, and the


Background: Men entering correctional facilities have high rates of human immunodeficiency virus, sexually transmitted infections (STI), and hepatitis. Many prisons offer screening, treatment, and vaccination services; however, little is known about the rates of these infections in men after release to the community. Methods: Young men were recruited from prisons in Mississippi, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin as part of a human immunodeficiency virus/STI/hepatitis intervention study. Participants were offered screening for Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC), Chlamydia trachomatis, trichomoniasis, syphilis, hepatitis B (HBV) and C (HCV) 6 months after release. Logistic regression was performed to identify associations with prevalent infections. Results: Of 248 eligible men, 178 (71.8%) participated. Their mean age was 22.5 years, and 92% reported multiple lifetime incarcerations. At 6-month postrelease, 79% reported unprotected vaginal or anal sex, and 26% tested positive for 1 or more infections (GC, 1%; C. trachomatis, 12%; trichomoniasis, 8%; syphilis, 0%; HCV, 6%; HBV, 1%). Of all, 55% were susceptible to HBV infection. Active STI (GC, C. trachomatis, or trichomoniasis) was associated with less education (odds ratios [OR], 2.25; P < 0.05). HCV infection was associated with injection drug use (OR, 69.70; P < 0.05) and being white (OR, 7.54; P < 0.05). HBV susceptibility was associated with older age (OR, 3.02; P < 0.05), more education (OR, 2.39; P < 0.05), or incarceration in Mississippi (OR, 6.69; P < 0.05) or Rhode Island (OR, 2.84; P < 0.05). Conclusions: Effective screening and prevention programs are needed for this population before and after release from custody to prevent acquisition and further transmission of these infections.