Several clinical studies have reported differential expression of microRNAs (miRs) in placentas from women with preeclampsia (PE) compared to normotensive women. Whether or not miRs play a role in the etiology of PE is unknown. Given the important role of maternal immune system activation and inflammation in PE, we developed a mouse model of PE via activation of Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3) which exhibit hypertension, endothelial dysfunction, and proteinuria only when pregnant. miR-210 is increased in placentas of women with PE, but whether TLR3 activation in pregnant mice and human cytotrophoblasts (CTBs) increases miR-210 and the effects on miR-210 targets related to inflammation are unknown. miR-210 expression was up-regulated in placentas of poly I:C-treated control mice (P-PIC: 4.9 fold, p<0.05 vs. controls) similar to that in women with PE. Both HIF-1α and NF-κB p50 are known to bind to the promoter of miR-210 and induce its expression. HIF-1α (1.5 fold, p<0.05 vs. controls) and NF-κB p50 (2.7 fold, p<0.05 vs. controls) expression were increased significantly in placentas of P-PIC mice. Target identification algorithms and gene ontology predicted STAT6 as a target of miR-210 related to inflammation and STAT6 was decreased significantly in placentas of P-PIC mice. Increased production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-4, which is regulated by STAT6, plays a critical role during normotensive pregnancy but failed to increase in P-PIC mice. Pregnant TLR3 KO mice treated with poly I:C, which did not develop hypertension, did not have increased placental expression of HIF-1α, NF-κB p50, and miR-210 or decreased expression of STAT6 and IL-4. To determine the placental etiology, human CTBs were treated with poly I:C and HIF-1α, NF-κB p50, and miR-210 expression were increased significantly while STAT6 and IL-4 expression decreased significantly. Inhibition of miR-210 in CTBs using anti-miR-210 significantly increased STAT6 and IL-4 expression and overexpression of miR-210 decreased STAT6 and IL-4 expression in CTBs. Taken together our data suggest that TLR3 activation induces placental miR-210 via HIF-1α and NF-κB p50 which in turn decreases STAT6 and IL-4 expression and may contribute to the development of PE.


The boundary between the religious and the secular spheres of life is contested in many parts of the world. From the latter decades of the 20th century, controversies over issues such as the legalization of same-sex marriage, assisted dying, and freedom of speech, as well as clashes around reproductive rights and equality issues, have all featured highly on national political agendas. Set against a backdrop of the "return of religion" to public life, these debates and tensions have given rise to the notion that secularism might be in a state of crisis or moving toward some form of post-secular condition. The term "secularism" is itself also contested. The precise nature of the "secular" and the "religious" spheres of life is subject to interpretation, and secularism in practice can be manifest in a number of ways. This ranges from exclusivist forms of secularism in countries such as the United States and France to inclusive secularism in the case of India. Supporters of a role for religion in public life maintain that religion provides a range of valuable public goods and gives individuals a sense of meaning and identity. Secularists, on the other hand, claim that the separation of church and state provides the best framework for upholding the rights and freedoms of all citizens regardless of their religion or belief.


In 1870, Albert Bierstadt painted one of the most novel subjects of his career: Puget Sound on the Pacific Coast. The canvas resulted from newly reawakened interest in a region the artist had visited only briefly seven years before. Although Bierstadt claimed to have painted "a portrait of the place," he had never actually made it to Puget Sound in 1863 and the painting has long been dismissed as another "superb vision of dreamland." This book reveals the fact-within-the-fiction of Bierstadt's spectacular, eight-foot-wide view of Puget Sound. It follows his travels around the Washington Territory in 1863, travels that were far more extensive than previously known. It identifies the artist's source material in Northwest Coast native artifacts, early historical accounts of the region, and the sketches he made on the Columbia River and Washington and Vancouver Island coasts. It compels us to reconsider the function of the painting--to see it not as a landscape, but as a historical work, a narrative of an ancient maritime people, and a rumination, on the ages-old mountains, basaltic rocks, dense woods, glacial rivers, and surf-pounded shores that have given this region its look and also shaped its culture.


ABSTRACT Sound studies and Deaf studies may seem at first impression to operate in worlds apart. We argue in this article, however, that similar renderings of hearing, deafness, and seeing as ideal types—and as often essentialized sensory modes—make it possible to read differences between Sound studies and Deaf studies as sites of possible articulation. We direct attention to four zones of productive overlap, attending to how sound is inferred in deaf and Deaf practice, how reimagining sound in the register of low-frequency vibration can upend deafhearing dichotomies, how "deaf futurists" champion cyborg sound, and how signing and other non-spoken communicative practices might undo phonocentric models of speech. Sound studies and Deaf studies emerge as fields with much to offer one another epistemologically, theoretically, and practically.


Decentralized network services, such as naming systems, content distribution networks, and publish-subscribe systems, play an increasingly critical role and are required to provide high performance, low latency service, achieve high availability in the presence of network and node failures, and handle a large volume of users. Judicious utilization of expensive system resources, such as memory space, network bandwidth, and number of machines, is fundamental to achieving the above properties. Yet, current network services rely on ad hoc mechanisms and heuristic based techniques to manage scarce resources and, consequently, fall short of expectations.
This thesis presents a principled approach for building high performance, robust, and scalable network services. The key contribution of this thesis is to show that near-optimal resolution of the fundamental cost-benefit tradeoff between resource consumption and performance through mathematical optimization enables network services to meet system-wide performance goals efficiently. This thesis develops a practical approach for near-optimal resource management in three stages: analytically model the cost-performance tradeoff as a constrained optimization problem, determine a near-optimal resource allocation strategy on the fly, and enforce the derived strategy through light-weight, decentralized mechanisms. It builds on self-organizing structured overlays, which provide failure resilience and scalability, and complements them with stronger performance guarantees and robustness under sudden changes in workload. This work enables applications to meet system-wide performance targets, such as low average response times, high cache hit rates, and small update dissemination times with minimal resource consumption. Alternatively, applications can make the best use of available resources, such as storage and bandwidth, and derive maximum advantage in performance.
I have implemented an extensible framework called Honeycomb to perform near-optimal resource management on structured overlays based on the above approach and built three critical network services using it. These services consist of a new name system for the Internet called CoDoNS that distributes data associated with domain names, an open-access content distribution network called CobWeb that caches web content for faster access by users, and an online information monitoring system called Corona that notifies users about changes to web pages. Simulations and performance measurements from a planetary-scale deployment show that these services provide unprecedented performance improvement over the current state of the art.


A health environment screening procedure has been developed, which is a questionnaire assessing the significance of factors, such as lifestyle, habitat, genetics, public health care, mentality. The developed procedure can ascertain the contribution of each factor to the health of man or a group of individuals, thus defining the factors that may cause diseases, optimize, and individualize the organization of prophylactic care.


The incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in the pediatric population is increasing. Technological advances in medicine and imaging techniques, improved awareness of the disease, and longer survival of life-threatening or chronic medical conditions all contribute to the increase in VTE rates. There is a paucity of data on management of VTE based on properly designed clinical trials, but there is significant advancement in the last 2 decades. This review summarizes the progress made in pediatric thrombosis, including epidemiological changes, advances in anticoagulant agents, and outcomes of VTE.


The purpose of this article is to provide a perspective on (1) the criteria that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Pietermaritzburg use to select their suppliers, and (2) the supply challenges they face. The selection of suppliers is an important task of the procurement professional, who is responsible for managing a firm's supply base - a critical role in all sectors of the economy - and thus protecting and defending the cost structure of the SME. This study presents a cross-case analysis of eleven case studies compiled by postgraduate students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Purposive sampling was used to select the cases reviewed. The results reveal that the majority of participants have a formal procurement policy in place.
The main criteria used to select suppliers include pricing, quality, on-time delivery and reputation/reliability. Challenges identified by participants include late deliveries and uncertain availability of stock from suppliers. The main limitation of this study is that only eleven SMEs were included. Therefore, the stated supplier selection criteria and procurement challenges faced are not exhaustive. However, insights from this study could assist parties in procurement to focus their attention on supplier-related challenges that may be within their control, and if solved could lead to cost savings, and improved quality and service delivery.


Sodium 2-olefinsulfonate (AOS) is used as reactive surfactant to prepare 10 nm around magnetic CoFe2O4 nanoparticles in advance. Magnetic P(St-BA-AOS)-coated CoFe2O4 composite nanoparticles has been synthesized in situ soapless emulsion. The effects of the amount of the initiator, monomer concentration and polymerizing temperature on the convention of monomer are investigated. So the polymerizing conditions are KPS=4.010-3mol/l St=0.75mol/l, mMP=20g/l, T=75 BA=0.15mol/l t=6.0h [AOS]=2% without any surfactant in the latex system. Results of IR and TEM analysis demonstrate that the desired polymer chains has been covalently bonded to the surface of CoFe2O4 nanoparticles, and confirmed that the composite particles have the core-shell structure. Copolymer P(St-BA-AOS) has a good hydrophile ability with functional groups such as -SO3Na and -COO- groups. The saturated magnetization of CoFe2O4/ P(St-BA-AOS) composite could reach 2.10emu/g, and show the characteristics of super-paramagnetism.


SrAl2O4:Eu,Dy is presumably the best known persistent luminescent phosphor. At room temperature, its green emission remains visible for hours after switching off the excitation. It is known that upon lowering the temperature of the phosphor a second photoluminescence emission band arises in the blue part of the visible spectrum, although its origin is still the subject of discussion. In this paper we thoroughly study the origin of both emission bands in SrAl2O4:Eu,Dy and we attribute this to europium ions substituting for the two different Sr sites in the phosphor's monoclinic host lattice. The photoluminescence properties, the thermal quenching behavior, and photoluminescence lifetime of both emission bands are investigated. A lanthanide energy level scheme is constructed for both sites. Using an integrated approach, i.e., combining charging, afterglow, and thermoluminescence measurements in the same run, we study the charging or trap filling processes in SrAl2O4:Eu,Dy upon excitation with site selective excitation wavelengths and at different temperatures. We show that trap filling is a thermally activated process when the green emitting center is excited at 435 nm. Furthermore, we also demonstrate that the distribution of filled traps after charging depends strongly on the excitation wavelength and thus on which Eu 2+ center has been excited. This suggests trapping of the electron close to the ionized Eu 2+ ion, without full delocalization to the conduction band during the trapping process. Finally, the quantum efficiency of the persistent luminescence is estimated at 65 (+/−10)%.


Helium is commonly used as a tracer gas for leakage measurements across the world. This gas is easy to use without safety issues and enables to measure a very wide magnitude of leakage rates with well proven detectors (Mass Spectrometers). Nevertheless, shortage and price increase of helium in several world areas, encourage industry users to look for alternative tracing gases for leakage measurement.The Valve Commission of CETIM has decided to investigate the use of two alternative tracer gas mixtures in the field of packing fugitive emissions testing according to ISO 15848-1. This standard allows the use of Helium and Methane as tracer gases. The leakage measurements based on Hydrogen tracer gas has been developed in the recent years, with the use of Hydrogen (5%)-Nitrogen (95%) mixture for safety concerns.The test programme involves comparative fugitive emission measurements on graphite packing, following ISO 15848-1 test procedure with Helium, Hydrogen (5%)-Nitrogen (95%) and Methane (10%)-Nitrogen (90%) mix tracer gases. Several measuring methods are investigated as sniffing, accumulation, flushing and global vacuum using the relevant detectors for the different gases and measurement methods.Whereas the measurements did not appear to be sensitive enough with the Methane (10%)-Nitrogen (90%) for some measurements methods, the Hydrogen (5%)-Nitrogen (95%) mixture has shown a good potential for fugitive emission measurements according to ISO 15848-1.© 2012 ASME


The object of the investigation presented in the paper are measurements related to diagnostics of induction motors, especially damages caused to bearings. Due to the fact that the amplitude of the network voltage basic harmonic in the current spectrum is high in comparison with components responsible for damages of bearings, there has been proposed a preliminary elimination of this component from the analog current signal. The problem with interpretation of diagnostic measurements in present systems is difference between measurement results of characteristic frequencies and theoretical calculations. In the proposed measurement system this problem was solved in such a way that the value of the angular speed and of the supply frequency is calculated on the basis of appropriate components in the very same current spectrum that is further used in the search for diagnostic components. The paper presents also the measuring system and provides results of the investigations carried out on motor encumbered with specially prepared defect.


Person identification based on eye movements is getting more and more attention, as it is anti-spoofing resistant and can be useful for continuous authentication. Therefore, it is noteworthy for researchers to know who and what is relevant in the field, including authors, journals, conferences, and institutions. This paper presents a comprehensive quantitative overview of the field of eye movement biometrics using a bibliometric approach. All data and analyses are based on documents written in English published between 2004 and 2019. Scopus was used to perform information retrieval. This research focused on temporal evolution, leading authors, most cited papers, leading journals, competitions and collaboration networks.


Abstract The measurement of the amount of impurities in tritiated gases can be achieved by means of mass spectrometry or gas phase chromatography. A growing number of disadvantages associated to the "life expectancy" of the mass spectrometer and its tricky maintenance (when enclosed in a gloves box) have led us to acquire a micro gas phase chromatograph. This device is based on a modular concept with the injector, the column and the detector packed in a compact unit which is easy to replace. Thanks to constant improvement in the field of capillary column, new micro chromatographs are now able to perform measurement in absence of pre-column and presence of argon instead of nitrogen as a carrier gas. Of importance, this new apparatus allow better performances (running time: 1 m 30 sec, limit of detection: < 10 ppm). However, in normal use, this apparatus requires 800 millibar in the inlet, a pressure that doesn't match with the feature of our process gas. To overcome this inconvenience, we have developed an automatic functioning system with a bellows that samples and compresses the gas to pressures compatible with the micro gas chromatograph. The apparatus and the experimental procedures will be presented as well as experimental performances (reproducibility, detection limits…) for some impurities such as nitrogen, oxygen and helium.


Countries' absolute and relative international reserves adequacy has recently attracted considerable attention. The analysis has however concentrated on the largest and most advanced economies. We apply various methodologies for assessing reserve adequacy in Central America, taking into account the region's high degree of deposit dollarization. We find that reserve cover is low both in an absolute and relative sense, suggesting further reserve accumulation is an important policy option for reducing vulnerabilities.


Epoxy resin- and polymethylometacrylate-based polymeric matrices in the device for calibration of gas analytical equipment for analysis of organochlorine compounds are compared. Use of an organochlorine substance solution in polymethylmetacrylate matrix as a generator of these substances microconcentrations helps prolong the period of the device service to 15 months if the deviations of the concentrations from their mean value are up to 10%. An optimal composition of a polymethylmetacrylate-based matrix is offered.


Approximate K-Nearest Neighbor Search (AKNNS) has now become ubiquitous in modern applications, such as a fast search procedure with two-tower deep learning models. Graph-based methods for AKNNS in particular have received great attention due to their superior performance. These methods rely on greedy graph search to traverse the data points as embedding vectors in a database. Under this greedy search scheme, we make a key observation: many distance computations do not influence search updates so that these computations can be approximated without hurting performance. As a result, we propose FINGER, a fast inference method for efficient graph search in AKNNS. FINGER approximates the distance function by estimating angles between neighboring residual vectors. The approximated distance can be used to bypass unnecessary computations for faster searches. Empirically, when it comes to speeding up the inference of HNSW, which is one of the most popular graph-based AKNNS methods, FINGER significantly outperforms existing acceleration approaches and conventional libraries by 20 to 60 across different benchmark datasets.


The mechanical and fatigue properties of Cu - Al - Mn shape memory alloys with different phase fractions at room temperature were investigated. The specimens with different chemical compositions (Al: 8.9 - 12.5 wt. % and Mn: 3.3 - 9.3 wt. %) were tensile loaded with 10-3 s-1 tensile strain rate. Austenitic specimens have the highest tensile strength and fracture strain. Yield strength, tensile strength and elongation of martensitic alloys were lower compared with austenitic alloys. Fracture strain of martensitic alloys depend only little on the chemical composition. Specimens of martensitic, austenitic and three different multiple phase specimens were tested in the high cycle fatigue range at room temperature. The Woehler curves for multiple specimens depend on the phase fraction at testing temperatures. Different elements as Co, Ni, Fe and Si were alloyed to CuAl11.6Mn5. All decreased the ductility of the specimens, and their fatigue properties. Maxima could be detected in the strain amplitude dependence of damping for multiple phase specimen. These maximum are shifted to lower damping and to higher strains with increasing number of mechanical cycles, compared to the as cast condition for not cycled specimen. The strain amplitude dependence of damping in martensitic and austenitic Cu – Al – Mn shape memory alloys does not change much during mechanical cycling.


The problem of accurately predicting relative reading difficulty across a set of sentences arises in a number of important natural language applications, such as finding and curating effective usage examples for intelligent language tutoring systems. Yet while significant research has explored document- and passage-level reading difficulty, the special challenges involved in assessing aspects of readability for single sentences have received much less attention, particularly when considering the role of surrounding passages. We introduce and evaluate a novel approach for estimating the relative reading difficulty of a set of sentences, with and without surrounding context. Using different sets of lexical and grammatical features, we explore models for predicting pairwise relative difficulty using logistic regression, and examine rankings generated by aggregating pairwise difficulty labels using a Bayesian rating system to form a final ranking. We also compare rankings derived for sentences assessed with and without context, and find that contextual features can help predict differences in relative difficulty judgments across these two conditions.


LISREL: Issues, Debates, and Strategies examines issues of concern to researchers already familiar with the basics of structural equation modeling. Building on his earlier work in Structural Equation Modeling in LISREL, Leslie Hayduk explains procedures that maximize researchers' control over the meanings of their concepts and integrates the modeling of single and multiple indicators. The constraints and deceptions of the factor model are used to highlight measurement issues and the debate over whether one should estimate a measurement model prior to estimating a structural model is reviewed, extended, and evaluated. For sociologists, political scientists, psychologists, and researchers in science, medicine, and education, LISREL offers a wealth of useful information: A loop-equivalent to the standard recursive model is presented as grounding an interpretation style that can be used to challenge any or all the effect estimates from recursive models. (Loop-equivalent provide an appealing alternative conceptualization of longitudinal processes.) Models with acceptable negative R2's are discussed and LAR2 is introduced as a more appropriate indication of error variance for variables touching reciprocal relationships or loops. The logic connecting partial correlations, tetrads, equivalent models, and LISREL is presented and recent advances in this area are reviewed. Phantom variables and a modeling trick combine to illustrate how stacked models based on differing sets of indicator variables can be used: to identify otherwise unidentified models, to control for unmeasured variables, and to integrate models based on diverse data sets. A more appropriate Monte-Carlo-test model is proposed and a brief review of the recent literature is provided.


The question of how to efficiently, holistically, and successfully develop leaders has been the focus of scholars and practitioners for several decades. Embedding the process of leader development in organizational contexts allows participants to develop and apply leadership knowledge, skills, and identity awareness. Embeddedness facilitates the holistic integration of the interactive processes of leader development (which focuses on increasing the leadership capacity of an individual) and leadership development (which focuses on increasing the leadership capacity of an organization), which is referred to in this article as leader(ship) development (LD). Two sub-processes involved in LD (i.e., general and situational identity development and knowledge/skill/social capital development) and four mechanisms of embeddedness that facilitate holistic LD (i.e., leader identity integration, opportunities to learn and develop in the organization, organizational support and feedback, and helping relationships) will be described. A discussion on the ways by which management education pedagogy can integrate and facilitate embeddedness and provide guidance for future research will follow.


We present quantum dynamical calculations for the inelastic scattering of atoms at a nonrigid surface at finite temperature. The surface degrees of freedom are discretized and treated in a multiconfigurational wave function picture. The thermal averaging is carried out with the random phase thermal wave function approach. We show that it is sufficient to restrict the random phases to the intermediate basis of single particle functions, discuss the convergence of the method with the number of configurations and realizations, and analyze the flow of energy between different parts of the system for a range of temperatures between 4 and 500 K.


Normal movement of the upper limb is very complex. Following a stroke a patient can be left with a non-functional arm. The aim of rehabilitation is to minimise impairments and reduce disability and handicap. Outcome measures are required to guide and evaluate rehabilitation. In this study the impairments of spasticity and/or contracture and muscle weakness were assessed. Spasticity and/or contracture were assessed using the Modified Ashworth Scale. Muscle strength was measured by assessing grip strength with the Standard Jamar dynamometer. Upper limb disability was measured with the Nine Hole Peg Test (a test of manual dexterity) and the Action Research Arm Test (a test of upper limb function with the components of reach and grasp or fine manipulation). Twenty-two stroke subjects were assessed on five different occasions post stroke. The initial assessment was carried out 2-4 weeks post stroke and then at 4, 8, 20 and 32 weeks following that assessment. The assessment at week 8 was approximately 3 months post stroke and the assessment at week 32 was approximately 6 months post stroke. The aim of the study was firstly, to look at the validity and reliability of the four tests chosen to measure impairment and disability and secondly, to find out if the four tests were able to detect changes in the hemiplegic upper limb over a 6 month period following acute stroke. All the tests did detect change with most of that change occurring in the first 3 months. The most responsive test to change appeared to be grip strength. This study suggests that the tests are suitable outcome measures to use, to guide and evaluate therapeutic intervention after stroke, although there is a need for standardisation of the methodology, equipment, procedure and the scoring used for these tests.


Characterization of Mug33 reveals complementary roles for actin cable-dependent transport and exocyst regulators in fission yeast exocytosis' General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact firstname.lastname@example.com providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Introduction The interplay between actin filaments and subcellular vesicles is a key feature of membrane trafficking in yeast. Work in budding yeast from the 1970s onwards has identified many of the key molecules and mechanisms governing efficient endocytosis and exocytosis (Novick et al., 1980; Riezman, 1985), including several proteins regulating actin dynamics (Galletta and Cooper, 2009). During endocytosis, actin patches at the cell membrane are recruited to drive vesicle internalization (Gourlay et al. Once internalized, vesicles are transported on actin cables to an endosomal compartment (Huckaba et al., 2004). During exocytosis, actin cables are used for type V myosin-dependent transport of exocytic vesicles from the post-Golgi compartment to the plasma membrane (Govindan et al. The exocyst, a multiprotein complex essential for polarized secretion in cell types from yeast to mammals, functions to tether exocytic vesicles at the plasma membrane before SNARE-mediated


The main objective of this text is to offer a solution to the present debate about abortion. Two experts could represent the most important opinions about this topic. On the one hand, Julián Marías, the Spanish philosopher, who thinks that abortion is always a crime against human life and dignity. On the other hand, we will find a different view in the works of Peter Singer in an article of M. A. Warren. The reasons from one and another will be shown to find a solution to this intricate controversy.


OBJECTIVE—A selective rise in hypothalamic lipid metabolism and the subsequent activation of SUR1/Kir6.2 ATP-sensitive K+ (KATP) channels inhibit hepatic glucose production. The mechanisms that link the ability of hypothalamic lipid metabolism to the activation of KATP channels remain unknown. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—To examine whether hypothalamic protein kinase C (PKC) mediates the ability of central nervous system lipids to activate KATP channels and regulate glucose production in normal rodents, we first activated hypothalamic PKC in the absence or presence of KATP channel inhibition. We then inhibited hypothalamic PKC in the presence of lipids. Tracer-dilution methodology in combination with the pancreatic clamp technique was used to assess the effect of hypothalamic administrations on glucose metabolism in vivo. RESULTS—We first reported that direct activation of hypothalamic PKC via direct hypothalamic delivery of PKC activator 1-oleoyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycerol (OAG) suppressed glucose production. Coadministration of hypothalamic PKC-δ inhibitor rottlerin with OAG prevented the ability of OAG to activate PKC-δ and lower glucose production. Furthermore, hypothalamic dominant-negative Kir6.2 expression or the delivery of the KATP channel blocker glibenclamide abolished the glucose production-lowering effects of OAG. Finally, inhibition of hypothalamic PKC eliminated the ability of lipids to lower glucose production. CONCLUSIONS—These studies indicate that hypothalamic PKC activation is sufficient and necessary for lowering glucose production.


Bulk MgB2 samples were synthesized by hot isostatic pressing under pressures up to 200MPa at 950°C. In these conditions, full densification of samples was obtained (~98% of theoretical density). SEM, EDS and XRD analysis on final dense bodies were used to evaluate samples, and show increasingly better control over the amounts of secondary MgO (down to ~10%) and complete prevention of formation of MgB4 by using simple glass encapsulation techniques and addition of Mg(s) to the capsule. The samples display superconducting properties, including a narrow critical transition in electrical properties (Tc ~36-38K). Magnetic studies were performed, allowing the determination of the superconducting fraction and critical current density Jc of the materials. Contrary to the Tc, the Jc is quite sensitive to the processing and microstructure and values from 0.3 to 0.6x106 A/cm2 are obtained at 10K. The reduction of Jc with the applied magnetic field requires further improvements to reduce weak links.


SummaryCarthamus lanatus is a widespread and troublesome weed of crops and pastures in Australia. It is viewed as a target for both inundative and classical biological control. As fungal biological control agents are often specific in terms of their host range, the genetic variation within the host may be important in their successful deployment. The detection of genetic variation in populations of C. lanatus from New South Wales was studied using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based, intersimple sequence repeats (ISSR) analysis. DNA extracted from plant samples from 11 locations in New South Wales was compared with one sample from Western Australia and one accession of the closely related crop plant, safflower. The analysis indicated that there were two distinct groups of C. lanatus that correlated with location (northern and southern regions). Within-group genetic diversity, as determined by the Shannon genetic diversity index, was low at 0.33 in the southern group and 0.22 in the northern group. The presence of these groups may have implications for the biological control of C. lanatus using exotic fungi. In any screening of candidate agents, representatives of these populations should be included.


This article argues that, in informing our understanding of the possibilities and challenges associated with new technologies in educational contexts, we need to explore what counts to children when using digital texts in classrooms, and what children think counts for their teachers. It suggests that such insights can be gained by investigating children's interactions around these texts and, drawing on Goffman's work, considering how these are framed. This is illustrated using examples from a study of classroom digital literacy events. The article suggests it is important to consider how frames disrupt, intersect with and over-layer each other.


cardiography, on left-to-right shunts, and on tricuspid atresia. There are three minimonographs by John Keith which include two of less than one and a half pages, and one, on the E.C.G. in ventricular septal defect, is all over in 20, albeit pertinent, lines. As would be expected, there are tables of most useful data prepared by Dr. Ziegler. As pointed out, this book consists of a series of lectures and must therefore be accepted and reviewed as such. It will of course be of interest to all concerned with paediatric cardiology, but £6 is a lot to pay for a series of lectures which cannot fulfil the need for a reference book on this subject to be kept in all major cardiac departments. It may be noted that some well-known names are misspelt. R. W. D. TURNER.


Scattered trees in general and scattered Faidherbia albida in particular are preserved in agricultural landscapes in Ethiopia. A study on this tree species was conducted at Meskan District of Gurage Zone, Ethiopia with the objectives of assessing the status of soil properties under it and its population distribution in agricultural landscapes. Twenty four  soil samples from the surface layer (0-10 cm) were taken from under six  isolated mature F. albida trees at 3 concentric transects (1, 3 and 5 m) from the tree trunk  and compared with soils taken from the adjacent open areas, 12 m far from the trees. In addition, 24 undisturbed soil samples were also collected from same points using core samplers for bulk density and moisture content determinations. The collected soil samples were analyzed following standard laboratory procedures. Assessment of the population distribution of the species was carried out at three different altitudinal zones, that is,1800-2000 m above sea level (asl), 2000-2200 m asl and 2200-2400 m asl and from four land use types (homestead, farmlands, woodlots and grazing land). A complete count and Y frame transect sampling methods were used to estimate number of stem per ha. The results revealed that organic matter (OM%), organic carbon (OC%) and total nitrogen (TN%) significantly differ between radial distances. The three parameters, were higher at 1 m distance compared with the values at 5 and 12 m distances. Though the difference is statistically not significant, available P and moisture content (MC) showed a decreasing trend, and bulk density (BD) and carbon nitrogen ratio (C/N) showed an increasing trend with increasing distance from the trees trunk. Population status of F. albida in the farms is dominated by higher diameter classes, with only 2% share of stems in the younger DBH-class of less than 5 cm. This may not indicate a threat to the species as it appear  as the community do not cut and harvest the whole tree but only lop which eventually may prolong the life span of the trees. Thus, this finding suggests that scattered F. albida trees are important agro-forestry resource to sustain soil fertility and subsequently crop yields. They are also important sources of multiple products such as fodder and shade for livestock during dry period, fuel and fencing material for households.

 Key words: Faidherbia albida, soil property, population status, sustainability, Ethiopia.


This study aimed to investigate the critical control points for the contamination in a factory experiencing a problem with coliform bacteria and Escherichia coli, and to prevent economic losses and also to protect public health by facilitating production under hygienic conditions. Samples were taken from a total of 20 control points, which involved every stage of production from the beginning to the end, including milk, all equipment, surfaces, air, hands of staff and water; yoghurt samples were taken on the same day. Microbiological analysis of all samples was performed to determine total mesophilic viable count, micrococci-staphylococci, coagulase positive staphylococci, enterobacter, coliform bacteria, E. coli, enterococci, yeast and moulds. The evaporators, milk pump, and hands of staff were determined to be critical control points for enterobacter and coliform bacteria, particularly E. coli, in the factory, but there was no risk after the training and checking of the personnel for hygiene. It was shown that factories having various contamination sources were inevitable because of the unstandardized design of milk factories in Turkey. It is necessary to determine critical control points in all factories and organized auto-control systems in order to eliminate or at least minimize the risks.


At the conclusion of a 31-day recovery period following a previous sorghum feeding trial (Sell et al., 1983), 128 White Leghorn hens were used in a subsequent 44-day study to investigate the effects of methionine supplementation of sorghum-soybean meal diets on laying hen performance. The hens were arrayed into four nutritional treatments in each of two constant environments (22 and 28 C) based on their egg production during the last 10 days of the recovery period within a previous treatment and environment so that equal numbers of hens from the previous treatments were represented in the new treatments. Nutritional treatments consisted of either low (RS610) or high (savanna) tannin sorghum-soybean meal diets containing 13% protein and supplemented with either .2% DL-methionine (Met) or an isonitrogenous level of L-glutamic acid (Glu). With both high (HTS) and low tannin sorghum (LTS) diets, Met supplementation resulted in greater egg production, egg weight, feed intake, and less hen weight loss as compared with Glu addition, but with the exception of hen weight loss, the magnitude of the response was much greater with HTS. Hens fed the HTS diet supplemented with Glu showed greatly reduced egg production and feed efficiency as compared with those fed LTS similarly supplemented. In contrast, little difference in egg production and feed efficiency was observed between hens fed HTS and LTS diets supplemented with Met. All parameters studied except hen weight appeared to be reduced slightly by the higher temperature.


A citrate method to synthesize 0.94Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3-0.06BaTiO3 nano-powder was studied. The stable gel was obtained by the control of the pH value and temperature of the precursor solution. The BNBT nano-powder was produced after calcining the xerogel at 600°C~800°C. The average grain size of the powder calcined at 700°C for 3 h is 50 nm, and the grain size of the ceramic sintered at 1080°C is 0.7 μm. The sintering temperature used is 100°C lower than the BNBT ceramic prepared by traditional method, but the electrical properties were comparable. In addition, it was found that the ball-milling process has important effect on the morphology of the ceramics and the orientation crystals were eliminated due to the disintegration of agglomerates during milling.


This study examines how the use of a foreign country's media and culture influences perceptions of that country. A total of 315 Korean and 290 Japanese college students were surveyed in 2002 to facilitate the author's analysis of the flow of cultural products between Korea and Japan and the impact of their use. Between countries cultural products flow in one direction because of differences in market size and cultural competitiveness. This paper aims to reconfirm the asymmetric flow of cultural products between Korea and Japan. Its results reveal that Korean college students spend 25.40% of their media usage time consuming Japanese media products, whereas only 1.79% of Japanese students devote any time at all to Korean products. Next, studying both domestic and foreign media use, the author examined the effects of asymmetric cultural consumption on how Koreans and the Japanese perceive each other. Perception of a country is described in terms of three variables: cultural affinity, product purchase intention, and preference for the country. Use levels of foreign media, cultural exposure to the foreign country, and social demographics were hypothesized to influence these variables. Traveling experience to the counterpart country and preference for that country's food were measured to represent cultural exposure. Gender was a significant variable influencing cross-cultural perception. For Japanese students, first-hand exposure to Korean culture affected their perception of Korea significantly, whereas Korean students were more strongly affected by media use. Interestingly, Korean students' domestic media use negatively affected their cultural proximity to Japan, while Japanese students' domestic media use positively affected their intentions to purchase Korean products.


We investigate the impact of dust-induced gas fragmentation on the formation of the first low-mass, metal-poor stars (< 1M_sun) in the early universe. Previous work has posited the existence of a critical dust-to-gas ratio, below which dust thermal cooling is unable to cause fragmentation. Using silicon-based (rather than carbon-based) dust compositions, we compute such critical dust-to-gas ratios and associated critical silicon abundances. We evaluate the robustness of these critical values by considering variations in the dust chemical composition, grain size distribution, and star formation environment. Variations in the dust chemical composition are less important than variations in the size distribution, and the most likely environment where dust cooling becomes significant is in a rotationally supported protostellar disk. We test the dust cooling theory by comparing to silicon abundances observed in metal-poor stars. Several stars have silicon abundances low enough to rule out fragmentation induced by dust which follows a standard Milky Way grain size distribution. Moreover, two of the most iron-poor stars have such low silicon abundances that even dust with a shocked grain size distribution cannot easily explain their formation. We see evidence that stars with [Fe/H] < -4.0 exhibit either high carbon and low silicon abundances or the reverse. This suggests that the earliest low-mass star formation in the most metal-poor regime likely proceeded through two distinct pathways, one that relied on fine structure cooling and one that relied on dust cooling. This naturally explains both the carbon-rich and carbon-normal stars at extremely low [Fe/H].


Inclusive Finance India Report 2014 presents in-depth research and analysis on financial inclusion with evidence on the decisive shift in the positioning of microfinance within the financial system of India. Following up on Microfinance State of the Sector Report 2013 by the authors, this year's report focuses on recent developments in inclusive financing and efforts by governments and banks in extending financial services to the unbanked and underbanked regions and populations. The report tracks the progress of financial inclusion initiatives across institutional structures and delivery models, including the main microfinance channels. It contributes to an understanding of the complexities of the financial inclusion process, reviews policy development on inclusive finance, and highlights key challenges and opportunities for diverse stakeholders. A comprehensive reference on annual trends and progress of financial inclusion and the microfinance sector, the report synthesizes data and inputs from the Reserve Bank of India, NABARD, Ministry of Finance, banks, apex financial institutions, technology services providers, sector experts, and resource agencies. It serves to provide a perspective on the practice of financial inclusion in India as well as informing the policy formulation process.


Integrated project delivery (IPD) is a mode of project procurement recognised as facilitating superior project performance. However, this success is contingent on effective cost management practices that share cost data with all project stakeholders in an accurate, timely and transparent manner. Despite an extensive literature on aspects of cost management, none identifies the essential ingredients required of an effective cost management system, sufficiently robust to support successful IPD projects. Candidate cost management augmenting practices are drawn from the literature, and presented for scrutiny in questionnaire form, to fifty IPD experienced experts, based in the USA, UK and Australia. Findings reveal activity-based costing (ABC) to be effective at identifying overhead costs and creating accounting transparency. Similarly, earned value management (EVM), in combination with ABC, is effective at developing mathematical models for equitable risk-reward distribution. Moreover, web-based management systems, as supported by Building Information Modelling (BIM), are effective at generating trust and collaboration on which IPD success depends. A questionnaire survey using purposive sampling was conducted to assess the factors driving success of implementing IPD regarding cost management process. The contribution to knowledge made by this paper is in identifying requisite support mechanisms essential to elevate traditional cost management practices to the higher standard needed to ensure IPD delivery success.


We present results for solving electrically large electrodynamic problems using NVIDIA graphics processing units. The problems are solved using method of moments, surface integral-equation formulation, and higher-order basis functions. The large dense system of linear equations, which is filled by using method of moments, is solved with out-of-core approach accelerated with graphics processing units. Three electrically large examples are considered: a perfect electric conducing cube scatterer with up to 33 λ side length, a horn antenna with up to 125 λ length, and Cassegrain reflector antenna with up to 280 λ reflector diameter. The presented results show that problem of up to 200 000 unknown (complex) coefficients can be solved within 24 h on one personal computer with one graphics processing unit.


Abstract Mark Blyth's rebuttal to our constructive critique of Polanyi "blithely" takes for granted the accuracy of Polanyi's now‐outdated historiography of capitalism—by means of a loose, overly expansive definition of capitalism that question‐beggingly equates it with modernity. Blyth emphasizes the need to view markets as "socially embedded," with which we agree—but he appears not to take account of the individual self‐interest that is thus embedded. Similarly, he asserts a priori the role of ideas in history, in parallel to the economists he condemns (unfairly) for reading ideas out of history a priori. All of this poorly serves the cause of extracting Polanyi's welcome emphasis on social embeddedness and on the empirical from the ideological and methodological certitudes and errors in which The Great Transformation placed them.


A 19 year old West Indian girl applied Drula Bleaching Wax for two or three months in order to lighten the colour of her skin. She subsequently developed severe irregular hypopigmentation of her hands, arms, neck, and legs. Despite discontinuing the use of the cream hypopigmentation continued for some weeks. The monomethyl ether of hydroquinone, present in the product used by our patient, is a popular depigmenting agent in Europe but is used infrequently in the UK. It is closely related chemically to the monobenzyl ether of hydroquinone, which is prohibited from use in cosmetic products in the UK because of its known severe and irregular depigmenting qualities. In contrast hydroquinone is generally considered safe from these adverse reactions. We wish to draw attention to the disfiguring cosmetic results in our patient following the application of monomethyl ether of hydroquinone.


The accuracy of templates used for the preoperative planning of the fixation of intramedullary fractures depends on radiological magnification. To study the accuracy of these templates, we randomly selected 100 femoral and 100 tibial radiographs taken after stabilisation by an intramedullary nail using a standard technique. We then compared the known nail length with the corresponding measurements on the radiographs.

The mean magnification factor for the femur was 9% and for the tibia 7%; these differ considerably from the range of magnification of the manufacturers' templates (femur, 15% to 17%; tibia 10% to 15%). We conclude that templates are unreliable for the selection of implant length and that this should be done by intraoperative measurements.


The Neutron instrument BIODIFF is a single crystal diffractometer for biological macromolecules that has been built in a cooperation of Forschungszentrum Juelich and the Technical University of Munich. It is located at the research reactor FRM-II in Garching, Germany, and is in its commissioning phase now. The control and data acquisition system of BIODIFF is based on the so-called "Juelich-Munich Standard", a set of standards and technologies commonly accepted at FRM-II, which is based on the TACO control system developed by the ESRF. In future, it is intended to introduce TANGO at the FRM-II. The Neutron Image Plate detector system of BIODIFF is already equipped with a TANGO subsystem that was integrated into the overall TACO instrument control system.


Advent of internet technologies specially, website is considered as a most efficient medium to catch and disseminate diverse kind of information, thus, every institution has its own website and is using this medium for imparting variety of information to the targeted users. This study aims to evaluate and analyse the services, facilities and other information available on the library websites of 28 National Institute of Technology (NITs) between February1-28, 2015, by using a checklist. The results of this study revealed that the majority of NIT library websites are providing information with regard to their name, logo, about library book collection, electronic resources, accuracy, diverse services and sections, but, lacking of library mission statements, currency, reliability search interfaces, Web 2.0 applications and cutting edge technologies like cloud-based services. It is also discovered from this study that most of NIT library websites need to improve. This study will be helpful to judge the quality and diverse facilities present on the 28 NIT library websites in India.


Most of present many-core scheduling and application mapping approaches rely on strict assumptions, e.g. uninterruptible availability of all cores, which significantly limits their scope of application. In this paper we consider a Limited Migrative Model (LMM). LMM is the novel approach in the real-time embedded domain, which gives the possibility to efficiently analyse scenarios that involve occasional core shutdowns for various reasons (e.g. energy and thermal management, load balancing, fault tolerance), thus allowing to embrace the full potential and flexibility of many-core platforms. The contributions of this work are as follows. First, we propose the classification of schedulability guarantees for LMM. Then, we introduce various priority assignment and application mapping techniques and subsequently study their impacts on (i) derived schedulability guarantees for critical and time-constrained applications, and (ii) the performance of best-effort workload. The experiments show that LMM is a valuable approach, even when assuming an uninterruptible availability of all cores, while it exhibits clear benefits in cases where, due to necessity to perform occasional core shutdowns, a higher amount of flexibility is desired. Priority Assignment and Application Mapping for Many-Cores Using a Limited Migrative Model Borislav Nikolic, Konstantinos Bletsas and Stefan M. Petters CISTER/INESC-TEC, ISEP Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal Email: {borni, ksbs, firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract—Most of present many-core scheduling and application mapping approaches rely on strict assumptions, e.g. uninterruptible availability of all cores, which significantly limits their scope of application. In this paper we consider a Limited Migrative Model (LMM ). LMM is the novel approach in the real-time embedded domain, which gives the possibility to efficiently analyse scenarios that involve occasional core shutdowns for various reasons (e.g. energy and thermal management, load balancing, fault tolerance), thus allowing to embrace the full potential and flexibility of many-core platforms. The contributions of this work are as follows. First, we propose the classification of schedulability guarantees for LMM . Then, we introduce various priority assignment and application mapping techniques and subsequently study their impacts on (i) derived schedulability guarantees for critical and time-constrained applications, and (ii) the performance of best-effort workload. The experiments show that LMM is a valuable approach, even when assuming an uninterruptible availability of all cores, while it exhibits clear benefits in cases where, due to necessity to perform occasional core shutdowns, a higher amount of flexibility is desired.


The Ukraine conflict has created a deep and long-running crisis of confidence in relations between the West and Russia, as Moscow challenges the foundations of the European security order. Russia's behaviour in the Baltic and Arctic regions, which it shares with members of NATO and the European Union, has become increasingly confrontative and presents an impediment to regional cooperation and security. While growing instability looms over these two regions, all the states there should maintain at least low-level regional cooperation with Russia, in order to prevent any further escalation of security tensions and at least partially restore trust.


In this paper the Burtless and Hausman model is used to estimate water demand in Salatiga, Indonesia. Other statistical models, as OLS and IV, are found to be inappropiate. A topic, which does not seem to appear in previous studies, is the fact that the density function of the loglikelihood can be made arbitrary high if observations are located exactly on a kink of the budget constraint. To avoid this problem, a discretization technique is used to work with genuine probabilities. The unconditional distribution of water demand is explored with parametric and semiparametric techniques. An important conclusion is that the distribution of water demand is not unimodal and that data are clustered aroundkinks. Main estimation results are a price elasticity of approximately -1.2 and an income elasticity of 0.05. Price and income elasticities are mutually dependent. The estimated model is finally used to investigate consequences for social welfare when a uniform price level is chosen. It is argued that without loss of total welfare, the complex rate structure can be replaced by a uniform marginal price.


Any assessment of flood risk for a coastal site should include assessment of direct hazards caused by wave overtopping as well as flood extent and volumes. The direct hazards are likely to be critical for users and property on or immediately behind the defence line. This paper summarises recent advances in methods to predict wave overtopping; summarises present guidance on levels of direct hazards caused by wave overtopping; and discusses key areas where present knowledge and guidance are insufficient.

Recent work in UK, the Netherlands and Germany has derived substantially improved and extended guidance on the prediction of wave overtopping in the new EurOtop Manual http://www.overtopping-manual.com/. The EurOtop Manual has drawn together results of national and European research projects to formulate the best prediction methods and advice available. Those tools are based on results of previous field and laboratory studies, most of which require simplifying the structure being analysed. The paper discusses the manual, but will also highlight areas for future improvement, both in prediction tools for overtopping, and its consequences, and hence guidance on tolerable limits.


This paper proposes a novel wireless relay selection scheme involving multiple mobile Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to support communicating ground users. The goal is to optimize the transmit power levels and trajectories of the relaying UAVs in order to maximize the data rate transmission of the ground users which are suffering from the absence of direct link. Assuming that each UAV is initially characterized by a predefined trajectory for a primary task, we propose to modify it whenever it is needed and the energy and trajectory boundaries constraints allow. We propose to solve this problem using an iterative two steps solution; first, a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) problem is formulated to optimally determine the users- UAVs associations and the UAVs' corresponding transmit power levels. In the second step, an efficient algorithm based on a recursive shrink-and-realign process is proposed to optimize the UAV trajectories. The performance of the proposed method shows advantages in terms of average throughput compared to the predefined trajectories solution.


This paper presents an efficient approach for implementing spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) on the SpiNNaker neuromorphic hardware. The event-address mapping and the distributed synaptic weight storage schemes used in parallel neuromorphic hardware such as SpiNNaker make the conventional pre-post-sensitive scheme of STDP implementation inefficient, since STDP is triggered when either a pre- or post-synaptic neuron fires. An alternative pre-sensitive scheme approach is presented to solve this problem, where STDP is triggered only when a pre-synaptic neuron fires. An associated deferred event-driven model is developed to enable the pre-sensitive scheme by deferring the STDP process until there are sufficient history spike timing records. The paper gives detailed description of the implementation as well as performance estimation of STDP on multi-chip SpiNNaker machine, along with the discussion on some issues related to efficient STDP implementation on a parallel neuromorphic hardware.


This paper explores the considerations of sexualisation and gender stereotyping in the recent UK government report Letting Children be Children. This report, the Bailey Review, claimed to represent the views of parents. However, closer reading reveals that, while the parents who were consulted were concerned about both the sexualisation and the gender stereotyping of products aimed at children, the Bailey Review focuses only on the former and dismisses the latter. 'Sexualisation' has four faces in the Bailey Review: it is treated as a process that increases (1) the visibility of sexual content in the public domain, (2) misogyny, (3) the sexuality of children, and (4) the mainstream position of 'deviant' sexual behaviours and lifestyles. Through this construction of 'sexualisation', gendered relations of power are not only hidden from view but also buttress a narrative in which young women are situated as children, and their sexuality and desire rendered pathological and morally unacceptable as judged by a conservative standard of decency. Comparison of the treatment of sexualisation and gender stereotyping in the review is revealing of the political motivations behind it, and of wider discourse in these areas.


Abstract Nowadays high-throughput omics technologies are routinely used in biological research. From the omics data, researchers can easily get two gene lists (e.g. stress-induced genes vs. stress-repressed genes) related to their biological question. The next step would be to apply enrichment analysis tools to identify distinct functional/regulatory features between these two gene lists for further investigation. Although various enrichment analysis tools are already available, two challenges remain to be addressed. First, most existing tools are designed to analyze only one gene list, so they cannot directly compare two gene lists. Second, almost all existing tools focus on identifying the enriched qualitative features (e.g. gene ontology [GO] terms, pathways, domains, etc.). Many quantitative features (e.g. number of mRNA isoforms of a gene, mRNA half-life, protein half-life, transcriptional plasticity, translational efficiency, etc.) are available in the yeast, but no existing tools provide analyses on these quantitative features. To address these two challenges, here we present Yeast Quantitative Features Comparator (YQFC) that can directly compare various quantitative features between two yeast gene lists. In YQFC, we comprehensively collected and processed 85 quantitative features from the yeast literature and yeast databases. For each quantitative feature, YQFC provides three statistical tests (t-test, U test and KS test) to test whether this quantitative feature is statistically different between the two input yeast gene lists. The distinct quantitative features identified by YQFC may help researchers to study the underlying molecular mechanisms that differentiate the two input yeast gene lists. We believe that YQFC is a useful tool to expedite the biological research that uses high-throughput omics technologies. Database URL: http://cosbi2.ee.ncku.edu.tw/YQFC/


Background The present study aimed at investigating the role of depression and attachment styles in predicting cell phone addiction. Methods In this descriptive correlational study, a sample including 100 students of Payame Noor University (PNU), Reyneh Center, Iran, in the academic year of 2013-2014 was selected using volunteer sampling. Participants were asked to complete the adult attachment inventory (AAI), Beck depression inventory-13 (BDI-13) and the cell phone overuse scale (COS). Findings Results of the stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that depression and avoidant attachment style were the best predictors of students' cell phone addiction (R2 = 0.23). Conclusion The results of this study highlighted the predictive value of depression and avoidant attachment style concerning students' cell phone addiction.


SIR, Your journal acts as the official organ oflhe St John's Hospital Oermatologieal Society and, through the journal, I would like to raise the question—VVhiiher the Prosser White Oration? The annual oration sel up by Prosser White when he was President of the London Dermatologieal Society (iarer rhe St John's I Iospital Dermatological Society) was delivered almost annually from 1921 until 1989. The oration wasfimded from the proeeeds ofa large sum of money bequeathed by Prosser White to the Society, and his name was added posthumously to the annual {Hation. In 1990 the Annual General Meeting of the St John's Society supported a motion from C l̂ouncil to drop the name of Prosser White. While this proeess was undouhtedly technically correct, il seetits sad that the demise of an institution almost 70 years old was not mure widely debated. The Prosser White Oration had become a national, if not international, event in dertnatology (see the lisi of orators) which surely transcended thc boundaries ofthe local society which spawned it? Indeed, the Si John's Society itself is now an international fellowship. It seems to me inappropriate that the abrupt obliteration of his name from the Dermatological Calendar was not more widely discussed, e.g. in the form ofa letter to members.


Background and Issues: Preventable hospitalization utilization among stroke survivors is common. Although about 1/3 of potentially preventable hospitalizations are attributed to recurrent ischemic stroke, other comorbidities that lead to hospitalization are prevalent and need to be monitored. Timely and appropriate care for community-dwelling stroke survivors is critical. Since family caregivers provide the majority of care in the home, support and education of caregivers is essential to monitoring comorbid conditions. Purpose: This project's aim was to develop brief educational modules on common comorbid conditions (e.g. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, gastroenteritis); have family caregivers and nurse practitioners (NPs) review the content for validity; and then construct 8-10 minute voice-over PowerPoint presentations for each module. Methods: Based on evidence from randomized controlled trials, these modules were developed to provide caregivers with needed information to competently care for stroke survivors. Each module was concisely written at an 8th grade reading level and consists of: 1) a short introduction to the topic and key points; 2) what caregivers can do to alleviate the condition, should watch for, and should report to healthcare providers; 3) linked websites for more information and references; and 4) a four-question assessment about what they learned. Results: Once developed, these modules were evaluated by family caregiver (n=10) and NP (n=5) reviewers. The caregivers thought that the modules were appropriate in length to facilitate easy reading and understanding. The NPs noted that some content needed to be added, such as additional websites and drug information, but overall believed the modules contained supportive resources for caregivers. To provide an alternate learning modality, audio-presentations that highlight pertinent information for each module were then constructed. Conclusions: Registered nurses are well-suited to assess, teach, and support family caregivers. These modules are appropriate for inclusion in web-based or in-person education/support for these caregivers.


Dispersal distances overestimate the gene-flow scale l (the square-root of the mean squared distance travelled from birth to reproduction) when egg laying is concentrated early in dispersal and when there is mortality during dispersal. If egg laying follows a square-root normal distribution in time, as it does in several Drosophila species, then l is reduced to about 0.6 of that estimated from dispersal alone, unless egg laying is concentrated in a very brief period. If mortality is such that the half-life is earlier than the mean fecundity day, then l will be reduced still more relative to the dispersal estimate, and will be very sensitive to small changes in mortality. Overestimating l yields overestimates of the amount of selection needed to maintain geographic differences in gene frequencies. If mortality increases in suboptimal habitats, then the neighborhood size will be smaller in those areas, because increased mortality decreases l. This means that l is smallest, allowing the greatest differentiation and genetic innovation, precisely where it is most needed. This lends support to Wright's shifting balance hypothesis. If l is adjusted to local conditions, then we do not necessarily expect a positive relationship between environmental and genetic heterogeneity. Data from Drosophila pseudoobscura are used to make the models realistic, and it is shown that l depends on the distances among traps or breeding sites. It is therefore essential to know the geometry of breeding sites and the life history parameters to estimate l.


People have a fundamental need to belong with others. Social exclusion impairs this need and has various effects on cognition, affect, and the behavior of excluded individuals. We have previously reported that activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) could be a neurocognitive index of social exclusion (Kawamoto et al., 2012). In this article, we provide an integrative framework for understanding occurrences during and after social exclusion, by reviewing neuroimaging, electrophysiological, and behavioral studies of dACC and rVLPFC, within the framework of intrapersonal and interpersonal processes of social exclusion. As a result, we have indicated directions for future studies to further clarify the phenomenon of social exclusion from the following perspectives: (1) constructional elements of social exclusion, (2) detection sensitivity and interpretation bias in social exclusion, (3) development of new methods to assess the reactivity to social exclusion, and (4) sources of social exclusion.


Generation of object-boundary-matched depth map is important to semi-automatic 2D to 3D conversion for high quality perception of converted 3D video. This paper proposes an accurate depth map generation method using an MRF-based initial contour tracking followed by a robust graph-cut-based contour refinement. The proposed MRF-based contour tracking puts a constraint on the variation of angular-radial distance for robust modeling of object motion in the presence of shape deformation. In addition, the proposed contour refinement eliminates ambiguous seeds, which might cause confusion in graph-cut segmentation, resulting in accurate contour in the presence of complex background. Experiment results show the superior tracking performance of the proposed scheme, especially when there is complex background and/or object deformation, indicating the power of the proposed scheme in object-boundary-matched accurate depth map generation.


The carp's egg-mRNA and DNA induced, single-tail-finned goldfish were used for mating. The offspring developed double, single and modified single tail fin. The combined frequency of the single and modified single tail fin formation in the mRNA-and DNA-injected series were 39.6% and 38.3% respectively. The corresponding frequency of the control series was 3.8%. These results show that the exogenous mRNA and DNA have altered the tail fin formation not only in the goldfish developed from the injected eggs but also in their offspring.


Since the beginning of the phenomenon of new psychoactive substances (NPS), synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs) have been the largest and most prevalent subclass of these drugs in Europe. Many countries implemented specific legislation scheduling classes of substances defined on the basis of their chemical structure to reduce supply. We describe the identification and analytical characterization within the EU project ADEBAR plus of 1-(cyclobutylmethyl)-N-(2-phenylpropan-2-yl)-1H-indole-3-carboxamide which resulted in the formal notification through the Early Warning System of the European Monitoring Centre for Drug and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). This is the first identification of this new SCRA worldwide and the analytical data was distributed (inter-)nationally right after identification in 2019. First, the substance was isolated from the herbal material using preparative high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Structure elucidation and analytical characterization were performed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), gas chromatography-solid state infrared spectroscopy (GC-sIR), liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-quadrupole time of flight-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-qToF-MS), Raman spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The new compound contains a cyclobutyl methyl group as a side chain and has not been described in any patent to our knowledge. Based on the semisystematic nomenclature of SCRAs, we propose Cumyl-CBMICA as a short name for the compound.


This dissertation explores the question: why, when encountering the products of many new technologies delivering information via a new media, do I often experience a feeling of disquiet or estrangement? I use the example of laser-photographic printing to explore the issue through a program of practice-based research. The outcome of this line of enquiry includes an original contribution via three series of large-format digital photographic works: Presenting "The Amazing Kriels", Home At Last, and Pure.

In this thesis, which supports the main body of the research, that is, the practice-based research, I will briefly review the case for artefact as noise within photographic printing, articulate a significant difference between the artefact levels of traditional analogue and Lambda prints, present original dialogical evidence for estrangement in the latter, and identify it via readings of Sigmund Freud's "The Uncanny" and McLuhan's "The Gadget Lover", as a function of the uncanny. I will propose an original rewriting of McLuhan's ideas of "hot" and "cool" media, as well as the cycles of irritation/mediation repression within McLuhan's media theory as a direction for future research, and relate them to a shift from large-scale analogue photographic printing to Lambda printing.


The FDA has stepped up its efforts to improve the safety and security of the nation's drug supply by encouraging use of a state-of-the-art technology that tags product packaging electronically. The technology, called radiofrequency identification (RFID), allows manufacturers and distributors to more precisely track drug products through the supply chain. RFID makes it easier to ensure that drugs are authentic and creates an electronic pedigree, a record of the chain of custody from the point of manufacture to the point of dispensing. Electronic pedigrees will improve patient safety and protect the public health by allowing wholesalers and retailers to rapidly identify, quarantine, and report suspected counterfeit drugs and conduct efficient, targeted recalls. In November 2004, the FDA published a compliance policy guide for industry on implementing RFID studies and pilot programs. Acting FDA Commissioner Dr. Lester M Crawford says the agency's actions were designed with one main goal: "to increase the safety of medications consumers receive by creating the capacity to track a drug from the manufacturer all the way to the pharmacy." The FDA acknowledged the leadership of Johnson & Johnson in establishing standards for RFID technology and participating in RFID pilot studies. The agency also applauded initiatives announced by Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and Purdue Pharma. Pfizer announced its plans to place RFID tags on all bottles of sildenafil intended for sale in the US in 2005. GlaxoSmithKline has announced that it intends to begin using RFID tags on at least one product deemed susceptible to counterfeiting. Purdue Pharma announced that it is placing RFID tags on bottles of oxycodone to make it easier to authenticate, as well as to track and trace, the medication. Based on the availability of sufficient RFID tags, Purdue also plans to tag bottles of hydromorphone. The FDA considers electronic pedigrees to be a type of electronic safety net, which allows illicit drug transactions to be rapidly identified and potentially transmitted to the FDA. This could improve the agency's ability to conduct investigations of suspected counterfeiting or the diversion of prescription drugs. The FDA believes its compliance guide will clear the way for more pilot programs that involve RFID tagging of all packages of certain products, especially those that are highly likely to be counterfeited. The FDA hopes that more firms will use RFID technology and gain experience with transferring, storing, and securing data that RFID provides. The scope of the compliance guide is based on information the FDA obtained concerning RFID feasibility studies examining the use of this technology for various business purposes, including inventory control and tracking and tracing of drugs. To encourage these studies, the guide announces the FDA's intention to exercise enforcement discretion if certain studies trigger regulatory requirements. The FDA's actions are key steps in implementing a major recommendation of the agency's report, "Combating Counterfeit Drugs." That report recommended that RFID technology be in widespread use throughout the pharmaceutical industry by 2007.


Lacrimo-auriculo-dento-digital syndrome, which has an autosomal-dominant pattern of inheritance, typically affects the lacrimal apparatus, ears, teeth, and hands. More recent case reports have uncovered involvement of the kidneys and the respiratory and skeletal systems. Salivary gland malformation may also be a feature of the syndrome, leading to dry mouth. The characteristics of the syndrome vary among individuals, but dental anomalies seem to be prevalent. Microdontia and hypodontia occur, possibly with gray enamel, wear, and caries. This case report introduces a new three-generation family of six individuals affected with lacrimo-auriculo-dento-digital syndrome and concentrates on the dental presentation and management of two of the members.


In this study I examined whether or not the relationship between active procrastination and academic motivation is distinct from the relationship between passive procrastination and academic motivation in order to distinguish between 2 types of procrastination within a self-determination theoretical framework. Data were collected from 278 Korean undergraduates. The findings indicated that high identification and low external regulation increased active procrastination and high external regulation and low intrinsic motivation increased passive procrastination. The findings also showed that active procrastination was inversely proportional to passive procrastination. These findings support the idea that, compared to passive procrastination, active procrastination might be related to relatively autonomous forms of motivation, and might be a form of delay distinct from passive procrastination.


Abstract. The Mediterranean is one of the most cyclogenetic regions in the world. The cyclones are concentrated along its northern coasts and their tracks are oriented more or less west-east, with several secondary tracks connecting them to Europe and to North Africa. The aim of this study is to examine scenarios in the development of Mediterranean cyclones, based on five selected winter seasons (October–March). We detected the cyclones subjectively using 6-hourly Sea-Level Pressure maps, based on the NCAR/NCEP reanalysis archive. HMSO (1962) has shown that most Mediterranean cyclones (58%) enter the Mediterranean from the Atlantic Ocean (through Biscay and Gibraltar), and from the south-west, the Sahara Desert, while the rest are formed in the Mediterranean Basin itself. Our study revealed that only 13% of the cyclones entered the Mediterranean, while 87% were generated in the Mediterranean Basin. The entering cyclones originate in three different regions: the Sahara Desert (6%), the Atlantic Ocean (4%), and Western Europe (3%). The cyclones formed within the Mediterranean Basin were found to generate under the influence of external cyclonic systems, i.e. as "daughter cyclones" to "parent cyclones" or troughs. These parent systems are located in three regions: Europe (61%), North Africa and the Red Sea (34.5%) and the Mediterranean Basin itself (4.5%). The study presents scenarios in the development of Mediterranean cyclones during the winter season, emphasizing the cyclogenesis under the influence of various external forcing. The large difference with respect to the findings of HMSO (1962) is partly explained by the dominance of spring cyclones generating in the Sahara Desert, especially in April and May that were not included in our study period.


The paper deals with the discrete event simulation of a modular assembly plant for automotive derivation boxes. A simulation package has been developed in objectoriented language in order to consider the new requirements of industrial automation: reconfigurability, flexibility, adaptivity on strategic horizons, evolving customers' demands. These needs can be satisfied by means of intelligent, flexible plants and adaptive management. The example case is analysed, considering different layouts and dispatching schedules.


Background . The role of pathological response, which develops as a result of systemic therapy for localized and locally advanced high risk prostate cancer, is not still fully understood. There are no clear indications for neoadjuvant therapy and no data on the relationship between neoadjuvant therapy and median of overall or progression free survival. According to increasing interest for neoadjuvant chemohormonal therapy followed by radical prostatectomy, we evaluated the features of pathological response and its effects on overall and progression free survival rates. Objective . Estimating residual disease and pathologic response to neoadjuvant therapy of high risk prostate cancer and its relationship with oncological results. Materials and methods . This was a prospective randomized study: patients with prostate cancer of high and very high-risk groups (prostate specific antigen levels >20 ng/ml and/or Gleason score ≥8 and/or clinical stage ≥T2c) were treated with neoadjuvant chemohormonal therapy followed by radical prostatectomy (n = 36). The neoadjuvant course included the intravenous administration of docetaxel once every 21 days (75 mg/m 2 up to 6 cycles) and the antagonist of the gonadotropin releasing hormone degarelix according to the standard scheme (6subcutaneous injections every 28 days). The prostate tissue was evaluated for the residual disease, features of pathological response according to the ABC system. Additionally, the expression of IHC markers (p53, bcl-2, p16, Ki-67, androgen receptors, c-MYC, ERG, PTEN) was evaluated on postoperative material using tissue microarray. Results . A totally of 480 H&Epostoperative and 775 H&E biopsy slides were analyzed. Group A included 10 (32.3 %) cases, group B — 16 (51.6 %), and group C — 5 (16.1 %). The variance analysis revealed a significant difference in the frequency of more localized forms of prostate cancer in group B (43.7 %) (p = 0.028). During assessment we did not found any relationship ABC system assignment and preoperative prostate specific antigen level, the presence of a positive surgical margin, the pathological stage of diseases or regional lymph nodes involvement. However, the values of relapse-free survival vary sharply between groups: the highest median of relapse-free survival was found in group B — 23.02 ± 12.61 months, patients of groups A/C could not achieve the level of median relapse-free survival — 11.7 ± 6.43 and 16.19 ± 16.54 months respectively. Conclusion . The effectiveness of neoadjuvant chemohormonal therapy for high risk prostate cancer can be assessed by the features of pathologic response through ABC system which has demonstrated own versatility and reproducibility in presented material. Neoadjuvant therapy with docetaxel and degarelix can improve the treatment outcomes of prostate cancer patients at high and very high risk of disease progression. The data on changes in the prostate tissue can be helpful in predicting the duration of the effect after chemohormonal therapy with subsequent surgery.


In this work, we investigate the H/sub /spl infin// control problem for a class of linear discrete-time systems with Markovian jump parameters. The jump parameters considered here are modeled by a discrete-time Markov process. Our attention is focused on the design of a state feedback controller such that both stochastic stability and a prescribed H/sub /spl infin// performance are required to be achieved when the real system under consideration is affected by both unknown nonlinearity and norm-bounded real time-varying uncertainties. Sufficient conditions are proposed to solve the above problem, which are in terms of a set of solutions of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs).


Abstract:This roundtable intervention applies the concept of cruel optimism, as formulated by Lauren Berlant, to situations of decolonization with the purpose of understanding the myths and fantasies of political self-determination. It also examines the idea of a Jacobin spirit, as explored by C. L. R. James, as a counterpoint to the limits of cruel optimism. This intervention subsequently concludes that interpretations of decolonization that assert either tragic or utopian outcomes must be redrawn to accommodate these competing perspectives. Decolonization and revolution, as mutual political phenomena of the "Third World Historical," inhabit temporalities of incompletion, of unsustained dialectics, that require the continuation of political struggle by other means.


Students' writing of parody can provide a more persuasive vehicle than conventional academic writing to move students from their intuitive awareness of irony to critical analysis of rhetorical strategies. Combining parody writing with strong critical reflection can encourage a more complex view of language choices, audience identification, genres, and persuasion.


In this paper, a novel iterative two-stage dual heuristic programming (DHP) is proposed to solve the optimal control problems for a class of discrete-time switched nonlinear systems subject to actuators saturation. First, a novel nonquadratic performance functional is introduced to confront control constraints of the saturating actuator. Then, the iterative two-stage DHP algorithm is developed to solve the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation of the switched system with the saturating actuator. Moreover, the convergence and optimality of the two-stage DHP algorithm are strictly proven. To implement this algorithm efficiently, there are two neural networks used as parametric structure to approximate the costate function and the corresponding control law, respectively. Finally, simulation results are given to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.


This paper presents the National Economic and Development Authority's (NEDA) quarterly macroeconomic model (QMM) of the Philippines and discusses the results of historical and policy simulations using the model. With its strict adherence to modern macroeconomic general equilibrium analysis, the current model deviates substantially from its predecessor. The core block is based on a general equilibrium macro-model with monopolistic competition a la Blanchard and Kiyotaki [1989] that allows the derivation of the domestic price level (PGDP) and aggregate output (GDP). The real and monetary/external sectors of the model are linked through an open economy is-lm aggregate demand framework, which embeds the portfolio balance approach to exchange rate determination; the model assumes a fully flexible exchange rate regime. The model distinguishes between domestic inflation, computed as the PGDP percent change and consumer price inflation (CPI) percent change. The latter is derived econometrically as the weighted average of domestic inflation and imported goods inflation. Expected inflation is assumed to be a weighted average of forward-looking and backward-looking expectations of individuals. The historical simulation results show the model's adequate tracking ability. Fifteen policy experiments are presented in this paper. For each experiment, an exogenous/policy variable is changed to determine if it has a stagflationary, recessionary, or expansionary effect. The results for all experiments show that their effects on the price level and output conform to predictions of economic theory. The model is clearly a work-in-progress as yearly updates are required to maintain the model.


We present a detailed theoretical investigation of the quantum magnetotransport properties of topological insulators under strain. We consider an external magnetic field perpendicular to the surface of the topological insulator in the presence of strain induced by the substrate. The strain effectsmix the lower and upper surface states of neighboring Landau levels into two unequally spaced energy branches. Analytical expressions are derived for the collisional conductivity for elastic impurity scattering in the first Born approximation. We also calculate the Hall conductivity using the Kubo formalism. Evidence for the beating of Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations is found from the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the collisional and Hall conductivities. In the regime of a strong magnetic field, the beating pattern is replaced by a splitting of the magnetoresistance peaks due to finite strain energy. These results are in excellent agreement with recent HgTe transport experiments.


Objective
This study explores the plans women in same-sex stepfamilies make to preserve stepparent–child relationships in the event of an origin parent's death.

Background
The incomplete institutionalization of stepparent–child relationships leaves them legally vulnerable, and this vulnerability may be compounded for lesbian stepparent families given that existing policies (such as second-parent or joint adoption) are not accessible to them.

Method
This study is based on in-depth phone interviews with 39 birth, adoptive, and stepparents residing in 17 states. All were raising children from previous relationships and did so for at least one year before study participation. Some grounded theory strategies were adopted to code the transcribed data.

Results
Findings indicate that three approaches were used: (a) relying solely and informally on family members, (b) outlining in-the-event-of-death wishes in wills for extended family to follow, and (c) assuming that the children were old enough to choose for themselves.

Conclusion
Findings suggest that existing family policies leave stepparent–child relationships legally vulnerable in the event of the origin parent's death.

Implications
The three plans participants articulated may promote division rather than unify a support network for children at a time when they are most needing stability. Family life educators can play a key role in mitigating these divisions by teaching families tools to foster harmonious coparenting relationships among multiple parents.


The article by Weingarten et al 1 provides a very important contribution to the debate on the role of cerebral imaging in patients with headaches. Finding the most appropriate strategy of evaluating patients with headaches that balances the need for early diagnosis of serious conditions and patient reassurance with cost-effectiveness is difficult, especially since most headaches resulting from brain tumors do not have features of increased intracranial pressure and are often indistinguishable from tension headaches. 2 Although we would agree that most patients with headaches do not need cerebral imaging unless they have other symptoms and signs suggestive of an intracranial lesion, there is a group of patients with brain tumors who have headches as the sole presenting symptom and no neurologic findings. In a retrospective review (unpublished data) of 100 consecutive patients with malignant gliomas operated on at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass, 30 patients had headaches as


Abstract 4883 Background MGUS is considered an incidental finding in the diagnostic work-up for multiple myeloma (MM) and related malignancies. Biologically, MGUS precedes all MM; however, its clinical significance and the utility of annual follow-up of these patients remain unknown. We studied a large series of MGUS patients to determine why clinicians ordered serum protein electrophoresis (SPEP) that resulted in an MGUS diagnosis, the subsequent diagnoses found based on test indications, and how malignant transformations are found. Methods Using our electronic medical database, we identified all MGUS patients diagnosed from January 1995-May 2009 at our institution. We excluded those who developed malignant transformation within 2 years of MGUS diagnosis. We reviewed the medical records to confirm the diagnosis and obtained relevant clinical data. To determine the likelihood of clinicians diagnosing a malignancy as a result of ordering SPEP, in recent years, we retrieved the number of patients with SPEP performed from 2004-2008 for indications other than follow-up of previously diagnosed MGUS, MM, and related malignancies. Results We found 361 MGUS patients with a median age at diagnosis of 74 years (range, 27-96). Fifty four percent were men and the median follow up time was 3 years (range, 0-37). The most common indications for monoclonal gammopathy testing were anemia (44%), bone symptoms/signs (20%), high creatinine (19%), elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (13%), and neuropathy (12%). Fifty-nine percent of patients had only 1 indication, 31% had 2 indications, and 10% had 3 or more indications. The departments that most commonly diagnosed MGUS were internal medicine (30%), hematology (19%), nephrology (11%), family practice (10%), and neurology (9%). The most common subsequent diagnoses were etiology unknown (22%), kidney disease (21%), chronic inflammation (12%), autoimmune conditions (9%), and iron deficiency (7%). The indications associated with an unknown diagnosis were anemia (38%), neuropathy (20%), and bone symptoms/signs (18%). Fifteen (4%) MGUS patients developed MM or a related malignancy at a median time of 4 years (range, 2-28). Of the transformations, 60% were detected because of symptoms and 40% were detected at scheduled MGUS follow-up. Of the 6 patients with malignant transformations detected at follow-up, 2 required treatment within a month of diagnosis, while 4 patients were observed for at least 6 months before initiating treatment. In 2004-2008, 7,090 patients had SPEP9s performed to look for conditions associated with monoclonal gammopathy. This resulted in the diagnoses of 179 (3%) MGUS9s and 89 (1%) malignancies. Conclusions At our institution, clinicians have a low threshold looking for malignancies associated with monoclonal gammopathy when evaluating elderly patients presenting with symptoms or signs seen in these conditions. This is despite the extremely low likelihood of finding one. For patients incidentally found to have MGUS, the rate of malignant transformation was low as expected; however, majority of transformations were found due to symptomatic presentations outside of scheduled follow-up visits. Our study calls into question the utility of the current practice of routinely following patients with MGUS. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


We evaluate new observational constraints on the two-parameter scale-dependent spectral index predicted by the running-mass inflation model by combining the latest cosmic microwave background anisotropy measurements with the recent 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey data on the matter power spectrum, with Lyman α forest data and finally with theoretical constraints on the reionization redshift. We find that present data still allow significant scale dependence of n, which occurs in a physically reasonable regime of parameter space.


Experiments were conducted to: (1) test the response of oysters to different doses of the oyster parasite Perkinsus marinus and to 2 stages, meronts or prezoosporangia; and (2) investigate the synergistic effects of temperature, salinity and infective cell concentration on P. marinus infection in oysters. A dose-dependent response of P. marinus infection was found in oysters inoculated with 0, 10, 102, 104, and 105 meronts or prezoosporangia per oyster and maintained at 22 to 25°C and 14 to 21 ppt for 8 to 12 wk. The minimum dose required to infect oysters was 102 meronts or prezoosporangia per oyster through shell cavity inoculation. Interactive effects between temperature, salinity, and infective cell dose on p marinus prevalence was insignificant In the experiment, in which oysters were challenged by 0, 2.5 X 103 or 2.5 X 104 meronts per oyster and held at 9 temperature-salinity regimes (10, 15 and 25°C at 3, 10 and 20 ppt). However, there was a significant positive interaction relevant to infection intensity between temperature and salinity, and between temperature and meront dose. Temperature was the most important factor followed, respectively, by the infective cell dose and salinity in determining the susceptibility to P. marinus in oysters. Reduced condition index was observed in moderately to heavily infected oysters and in oysters at 25OC.


Introduction of the method of treatment of partial deafness with cochlear implants has given many patients the previously inaccessible chance to (re)enter the world of sounds. This method of treatment had been developed and introduced to the world's medicine by H. Skarżyński in 2002, after the extensive research since 1997. This task involved creation of a multispecialty team of experts, development of a special surgical method, and concept of the therapy reflecting on the world largest number of hearing improving surgeries being performed for 13 years averaging 15,000 otosurgical procedures yearly. This chapter introduces the treatment of partial deafness, considered as the Polish School in world science and medicine.