In settings characterized by imperfect information about an underlying state of nature, but where inferences are made sequentially and are publicly observable, decisions may yield a cascade in which everyone herds on a single choice. While cascades potentially play a role in a variety of settings, from technology adoption to social processes such as mate selection, understanding cascade phenomena is imperative for financial markets. Previous empirical efforts studying cascade formation have used both naturally occurring data and laboratory experiments. In this paper, we combine one of the attractive elements of each line of research - observation of market professionals in a controlled environment - to push the investigation of cascade behavior into several new directions. Numerous empirical insights are obtained; perhaps most importantly, we find that market professionals behave quite differently than a control group of student subjects. In particular, market professionals, more so than students, base their decisions on the quality of the public signal, leading them to be more likely to disregard bad signals. And, unlike in the case with students, for market professionals, the propensity to be Bayesian does not differ significantly across the gain and loss domains. These results have important implications in both a positive and normative sense.


Iraq being one of the developing countries of the world considers energy efficiency and the impact of its generation on the environment an imperative process in improvement of its power generation policies. Iraq bearing high temperatures all year long results in reduction of air density, therefore, Inlet air Cooling and Steam Injection Gas Turbines are a striking addition to the regenerative gas turbines. Regenerating Gas turbines tend to have a high back work ratio and a high exhaust temperature, thus, it leads to a low efficiency in power generation in hotter climate. Moreover, STIG and IAC through fog cooling have known to be the best retrofitting methods available in the industry which improve the efficiency of generation from 30.5 to 43% and increase the power output from 22MW to 33.5MW as the outcomes of computer simulations reveal. Additionally, this happens without bringing about much extensive change to original features of the power generation cycle. Furthermore, STIG and spray coolers have also resulted in power boosting and exceeding generation efficiency of gas turbine power plant.


Today, policies of combat to poverty prioritize women as owners in programs of income transference, among them, Bolsa Familia Program. Considering that women empowerment is influenced by this social policy, this research aimed to identify the dimensions of the process of empowerment achieved by riparian women, beneficiary of the program. The research was performed at Combu Island, Belem do Para. Four riparian mothers took part in the study. For data collection, the Sociodemographic Inventory and semi structured interviews were used. As procedure of organization of information, content analysis was used. The categories, which appeared from the beneficiary perceptions were adapted from literature and defined as economic, family, social and psychological empowerment. The results showed that after the entrance in BFP the notion of a owned income and bigger control of resources were obtained by a parcel of the participants, providing a partial economic empowerment. The befit increased the purchase power, and gave to these women grater management over family decision-making. The ownership of the program's card made them to feel benefited when following-up children, providing social visibility to these mothers, when not depending completely of the husbands' intermediation. Lastly, the benefit generated in the participants a feeling of stability, for having money, security for the family monthly needs. The empowerment that riparian women achieved shows that they passed to interfere in the dynamics and providing of the family before the lack or not of their husbands' income.


Reporters founded that mycorrhizal association in plant kingdom improves the plant growth. The present attempt has been on the use of Mycorrhiza for Helianthus growth in stress condition of the adverse red soil of konkan region, India and other climatic factors. Earlier reporters for the purpose to avoid chemical fertilisers, founded that Deproteinised juice (DPJ) or foliage whey induces appropriate plant growth and enhance soil fertility. During present investigation, mycorrhiza from Costus sp application to soil of potted sunflower plants influence was compared with organic DPJ addition obtained from fenugreek foliage during the process of green crop fractionation (GCF) technique. This whey is randomly disposed during this technology of leaf protein preparation, so appropriate use of it is advised. Whether the mycorrhiza and DPJ combination treatment were feasible for seed germination and the seedling growth of the Helianthus plant, it was analysed and compared with control. Studies were experimented on the effect of mycorrhiza treated alone and DPJ treated alone whether improves the plant growth. DPJ if added with mycorrhiza in soil, showed significant rate of germination. In earlier research it was elucidated that the DPJ contains phytohormones auxins, gibberellins and cytokinins in unknown quantity which boosts the plant growth comparative to mycorrhizal influence. The chlorophyll content of the DPJ treated plants enhanced as compared with control while the content showed no significant difference with mycorrhiza.


The differential transformation, an approach based on Taylor's theorem, is proposed as convenient for finding an exact or approximate solution to the initial value problem with multiple Caputo fractional derivatives of generally non-commensurate orders. The multi-term differential equation is first transformed into a multi-order system and then into a system of recurrence relations for coefficients of formal fractional power series. The order of the fractional power series is discussed in relation to orders of derivatives appearing in the original equation. Application of the algorithm to an initial value problem gives a reliable and expected outcome including the phenomenon of symmetry in choice of orders of the differential transformation of the multi-order system.


Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) dominate various computer vision tasks since Alex Krizhevsky showed that they can be trained effectively and reduced the top-5 error from 26.2 % to 15.3 % on the ImageNet large scale visual recognition challenge. Many aspects of CNNs are examined in various publications, but literature about the analysis and construction of neural network architectures is rare. This work is one step to close this gap. A comprehensive overview over existing techniques for CNN analysis and topology construction is provided. A novel way to visualize classification errors with confusion matrices was developed. Based on this method, hierarchical classifiers are described and evaluated. Additionally, some results are confirmed and quantified for CIFAR-100. For example, the positive impact of smaller batch sizes, averaging ensembles, data augmentation and test-time transformations on the accuracy. Other results, such as the positive impact of learned color transformation on the test accuracy could not be confirmed. A model which has only one million learned parameters for an input size of 32x32x3 and 100 classes and which beats the state of the art on the benchmark dataset Asirra, GTSRB, HASYv2 and STL-10 was developed.


To identify environmental, viral, and genetic factors that may influence the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), large prospective studies are being conducted in Haimen City, China and Senegal, and a case-control study of genetic variation in the detoxification of aflatoxin-B1 was carried out in Shanghai, China. Analysis of 78 HCCs that have occurred among 51,020 men enrolled in a large prospective study in Haimen City, China showed a strong association of HCC with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. There were also significant associations of HCC risk with occupation (farming), history of a clinical episode of hepatitis in adulthood, and a family history of HCC. Study of 52 HCC cases and 116 controls for genetic polymorphisms and HCC risk showed a significant association with epoxide hydrolase (EPHX) mutant alleles (1/2, 2/2) and a borderline association with homozygous deletion of the glutathione-S-transferase mu (GSTM1) gene. There was a multiplicative interaction of these polymorphisms with chronic HBV infection such that HBsAg-positive persons who were GSTM1 null and were EPHX 1/2 or 2/2 had 135 times the risk of HCC as HBsAg-negative persons with the wild type genotypes for GSTM1 and EPHX. The risk of HCC is not uniform among persons with chronic HBV or HCV infections. Studies of genetic, viral, and environmental interactions may permit identification of those individuals at highest risk within groups at increased risk of HCC. Prevention strategies could then be targeted at those individuals.


A critical problem in planning sampling paths for autonomous underwater vehicles is balancing obtaining an accurate scalar field estimation against efficiently utilizing the stored energy capacity of the sampling vehicle. Adaptive sampling approaches can only provide solutions when real-time and a priori environmental data is available. Through utilizing a cost-evaluation function to experimentally evaluate various sampling path strategies for a wide range of scalar fields and sampling densities, it is found that a systematic spiral sampling path strategy is optimal for high-variance scalar fields for all sampling densities and low-variance scalar fields when sampling is sparse. The random spiral sampling path strategy is found to be optimal for low-variance scalar fields when sampling is dense.


In this essay, I discuss my approach to teaching Decedents' Estates. I hope to inspire each professor who reads this article to find his or her authentic self in the classroom and use it to motivate students to find their passion in law school and beyond. I also share my approach to show the various ways to engage and assess students. The methods that I outline may be adjusted to fit any course -- law school or otherwise. At my institution, Charlotte School of Law, the Decedents' Estates course is a required upper level course. My approach is to motivate students and inspire active learning and deep thinking in a large classroom. Although I have an assigned casebook, I supplement it with additional materials. By blending problems, music, and popular culture with the traditional cold-call Socratic method, I am able to engage different types of learners. While I would love for each of my students to be as passionate as I am about the subject of Estates and Trusts, my goal is not so far-fetched. Like any other law professor, I want them to understand how to identify legal issues and how to apply the law to various fact patterns in an organized way. Additionally, I want them to understand the importance of the subject for both legal and practical purposes because this is an area where many of them might actually find work. I strive to demonstrate my passion for the subject area *395 because it is the passionate teacher who "motivate[s] students to take their courses more seriously" and "inspire[s] them to explore the subject matter further outside of class." I try to find a healthy balance between teaching the students to "think like lawyers" and having them "do like lawyers." Since I cannot teach them everything that they will encounter in practice, I use some of my time to help them transfer what they know to novel situations that they may encounter in practice. My students are not only prepared for the bar examination, they are also prepared to use the knowledge both personally and professionally. In this article, I outline the approaches that I use to reach large numbers of students and encourage active learning. I use visual aids, music, problems, and simulated legal activities to "show" rather than "tell" the classroom. My approach promotes rigor, but not fear. I attempt to make cold calling fun and I encourage active learning through simulated exercises and the use of popular culture references in the fact patterns. The students become team players in the classroom when I engage them with relevant stories from newspaper headlines or have them perform oral arguments using the lyrics of a song to identify legal concepts. Active participation helps students achieve "content mastery," "higher-level thinking skills," "professional skills," and "[p]ositive attitude." As Denise Knight states, "[f]ew instructors would quibble with the notion that promoting active participation helps students to think critically and to argue more effectively." Part I of the essay reminds law professors that they are educators who teach law and Part II discusses the design of my course.


Website history can be considered an emerging discipline at the intersection between media history and Internet history. In this discipline, the individual website is regarded as the unifying entity of the historical analysis rather than the Internet or the Web. Writing the history of a website involves using many sources and methods similar to those used in writing the history of any other media type. But one document type requires special attention: the archived website. This is so because the problems involved in finding, collecting and preserving the website are different from those characterizing the archiving of other types of traces of human activity, including other media types. The primary problem is that the actual act of finding, collecting and preserving changes the website that was on the live web in a number of ways, thus creating a unique version of it and not simply a copy. The present article sets out, first, to discuss to what extent the archived website can be considered a new type of historical document and how its characteristics affect the task of the website historian who must later use it; second, the article discusses and attempts to formulate some methodological principles, rules and recommendations for a future critical textual philology of the website.


BACKGROUND
The association between moderate alcohol intake and elevated bone mineral density observed in several epidemiologic studies might result from common genetic pathway regulating both phenotypes. In this study, we determined whether there is a relationship between alcohol preference and high bone mass or strength and whether bone mass-regulating genes segregate during selective breeding of alcohol preferring rats.

METHODS
Six different lines of male rats with high or low preference for alcohol consumption were used in this study. The high alcohol preference lines are alcohol-preferring (P), high-alcohol-drinking 1 (HAD1), and high-alcohol-drinking 2 (HAD2), and their corresponding low alcohol preference lines are alcohol-nonpreferring (NP), low-alcohol-drinking 1 (LAD1), and low-alcohol-drinking 2 (LAD2). Bone mass phenotypes were determined using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT), and biomechanics in long bones and lumbar vertebrae from rats at 3 and 6 months of age.

RESULTS
P rats had significantly higher bone mass and strength compared with NP rats, mainly due to higher cortical bone in long bones and lumbar vertebrae. HAD2 rats also had significantly higher bone mass compared with LAD2 rats, but mostly due to increased trabecular bone leading to increased strength only in lumbar vertebra. Conversely, HAD1 rats had significantly lower bone mass and strength compared with LAD1 rats in long bones. The vertebral bone mass and strength did not differ between HAD1 and LAD1 rats.

CONCLUSIONS
This study demonstrated that preference for alcohol consumption had no consistent relationship with high bone mass or strength, as each alcohol-preferring rat line had their unique bone mass phenotypes. However, genes regulating bone mass and strength appear to segregate with alcohol preference genes in P and HAD rat lines, suggesting that alcohol preferring rat lines may be useful for identifying genes that regulate bone mass and structure.


Cyclic voltammetry, square-wave voltammetry and controlled potential electrolysis have been used to study the electrochemical oxidation behaviour of niclosamide at a glassy carbon electrode. The number of electrons transferred, the wave characteristics, the diffusion coefficient and reversibility of the reactions have been investigated. Following optimisation of voltammetric parameters, pH, and reproducibility, a linear calibration curve over the range 1 x 10 -6 – 1 x 10 -4 mol dm -3 niclosamide was achieved. The detection limit was found to be 8 x 10 -7 mol dm -3 . For eight successive determinations of 1 x 10 -5 mol dm -3 niclosamide, a relative standard deviation of 3.6% was obtained. This voltammetric method was applied for the determination of niclosamide in tablets. KEY WORDS: Niclosamide, Electrochemical oxidation, Cyclic voltammetry, Square wave voltammetry, Glassy carbon electrode, Determination of niclosamide Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2003 , 17(1), 95-106.


Purpose: This study assessed the extent to which visual impairment impacts on vision-related quality of life in Indonesia, by comparing four groups of people: those with 1) normal vision, 2) corrected visual impairment, 3) uncorrected visual impairment, and 4) blindness. Method: Purposive sampling was used. There were 162 respondents, between 21 and 86 years of age. Participants with normal vision and blindness were community-dwellers in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Those with corrected and uncorrected visual impairment were recruited from an eye clinic. This cross-sectional study used NEI VFQ-25 to assess vision-related quality of life. The total scores and 11 NEI VFQ-25 subscales scores of four respondent groups were analysed using ANOVA, followed by post-hoc analyses to reveal between group differences. Results: There was a significant difference in the NEI VFQ-25 total scores among the four respondent groups. Respondents with normal vision had the highest score and those with blindness had the lowest. There were also significant differences among the four groups for the 11 subscales. Post-hoc analyses revealed no significant difference between respondents with normal vision and corrected visual impairment in the total and 9 NEI VFQ-25 subscales. Respondents with uncorrected visual impairment and blindness had significantly lower vision-related quality of life compared to those with normal vision or corrected visual impairment in the total and 5 NEI VFQ-25 subscales, indicating that visual impairment decreases vision-related quality of life. Conclusion: Visual impairment has a detrimental impact on a person's vision-related quality of life. The negative impact of visual impairment can be minimised by correction. Failure to correct visual impairment leads to significantly lower vision-related quality of life.


Among all fields of healthcare about 45% of medical errors occur in the operating theatre. Wrong site procedures remain one of the most preventable medical errors. Unintentional wrong-sided peripheral nerve block is relatively a rare event in anesthesia care. However, the incidence is unknown but each time wrong-sided block occurs it represents a mistake and a potential for harm. The surgical safety checklist was established in 2008 by the world Health organization (WHO) as a part of the "Safe surgery save Lives" initiative. We report in this article a case of wrong sided continuous popliteal sciatic nerve block and discuss the role of the WHO's checklist in preventing wrong side peripheral nerve block and surgery.


This paper investigates approaches to improving automatic speech recognition (ASR) performance in a target language using resources in other languages. In particular, we assume that we have untranscribed speech in a different language and a well trained ASR system in yet another language. Concretely, we structure this as a multi-task problem, where the primary task is acoustic model training in the target language, and the secondary task is also acoustic model training but using a synthetic data set. The synthetic data set consists of pseudo transcripts generated by decoding the untranscribed speech using a well trained ASR model. We compare and contrast this with using labeled data sets, i.e. matched audio and human-generated transcripts, and show that our approach compares favorably. In most cases, we see performance improvements, and in some cases, depending on the selection of languages and nature of speech data, performance exceeds that of systems using labeled data sets as the secondary task. When extended to larger sets of data, we show that the mismatched data approach performs similarly to in-language semi-supervised training (SST) when the secondary task pseudo transcripts are generated by ASR models trained on large diverse data sets.


ABSTRACT This paper investigates whether different capitalist varieties in Central and Eastern Europe have different records of post-accession compliance. Drawing on an explorative cluster analysis of 25 EU member states and additional case study evidence, its results suggest that there are two broader clusters of Central and East European countries, which are associated with different Varieties of Capitalism and privilege certain explanatory factors for (non-) compliance over others: I identify a cluster comprising the Baltic States and Slovakia that leans toward a liberal market economy type. I argue that post-accession compliance processes in this cluster are dominated by market-based modes of coordination, in which government ideologies and effectiveness gain greater explanatory power. The second cluster is associated with coordinated market economies marked by a more inclusive political process that privileges the interplay of preferences of various state and non-state actors to explain compliance after EU accession.


Introduction: Crohn's disease (CD) is typically a chronic relapsing condition of the gastrointestinal tract. Granulomas can be present which are typically non-necrotizing. CD can be triggered as well as complicated by gastrointestinal infections. We present an atypical case of Crohn's disease with necrotizing granulomas that was triggered by Clostridium difficile infection (CDI).
Case Report: A 40 years woman presented with chronic diarrhoea and investigations showed CDI. With no sustained response to metronidazole and vancomycin she came forward for a colonoscopy which showed features of Crohn's disease. This was confirmed on histology. After a period of remission on adalimumab she required a right hemicolectomy for a severe flare. The resection specimens showed necrotizing granulomas. No alternative cause for necrotizing granulomas was found. The patient had recurrent CDI during follow-up requiring faecal microbial transplant resulting in symptom resolution. Since the patient declined the traditional immunosuppressive medications used in CD due to recurrent upper respiratory tract infections, we commenced her on oral naltrexone. She has currently been in complete remission for 30 months with low dose naltrexone. Initial diagnosis was made difficult and then revisited due to infectious gastroenteritis, recurrent diclofenac use and extra-intestinal manifestations.
 Conclusion: CD triggered by infectious gastroenteritis and other confounders can make the diagnosis challenging. Necrotizing granulomas - though uncommon - can be present in CD. Recurrent CDI is known to be more common in CD and could act a trigger of CD flares. Low dose naltrexone may be used as a potential treatment for CD in selected cases.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the effect of the aqueous extract of the Vigna angularis, popularly known as "Azuki beans", in rats subjected to an experimental model of moderate chronic kidney disease.

METHODS
Thirty rats underwent two surgeries - Ormrod and Miller (1980) - to obtain Moderate Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD-M). The animals were randomized into 3 groups. Group 1 (Control): distilled water. Group 2 (Azuki): Vigna angularis 5% aqueous extract. Group 3 (Treatment): 10mg/kg of enalapril maleate. The rats received their respective treatments for 14 days.

RESULTS
The treatment with azuki beans produced an increase in urine output from the second day until the end of the experiment compared to the Control groups (p<0.01) and Treatment (p<0.05). The treatment with azuki also produced significant reductions in the levels of glucose, triglycerides, VLDL, uric acid, Alanine aminotransferase (p<0.05), urea and serum creatinine (p<0.01), besides having produced a significant increase in the levels of HDL when compared to the Control group.

CONCLUSION
Treatment with Azuki beans produced improvements in the parameters of renal function and significantly reduced glucose levels, triglycerides, VLDL, alanine aminostransferase, uric acid and creatinine, besides having produced a significant increase in the levels of HDL in rats submitted to a model of moderate chronic kidney disease.


A research pump intended for both flow visualization studies and direct measurement of hydrodynamic radial and axial forces has been developed. The impeller and the volute casing are constructed from Plexiglas which facilitates optical access for laser velocimetry measurements of the flow field both inside the impeller and in the volute casing. The pump housing is designed for flexibility allowing for each interchange of impellers and volute configurations. The pump rotor is supported by three radial magnetic bearings and one double acting magnetic thrust bearing. The magnetic bearings have been calibrated to characterize the force versus coil current and air gap relationship for each bearing type. Linear calibration functions valid for rotor eccentricities of up to 2/3 of the nominal bearing clearances and force level of ±58 N (13 lbf ) and ±267 N (60 lbf ) for the radial and axial bearings, respectively, were found. A detailed uncertainty analysis of the force calibration functions was conducted such that meaningful uncertainty bounds can be applied to in situ force measurements. Hysteresis and eddy current effects were quantified for each bearing such that their effect on the in situ force measurements could be assessed. By directly measuring the bearing reaction forces it is possible to determine the radial and axial hydraulic loads acting on the pump impeller. To demonstrate the capability of the magnetic bearings as active load cells representative hydraulic force measurements for a centered 4 vane 16 degree log spiral radial flow impeller operating in a single tongue spiral volute casing were made. At shut-off a nondimensional radial thrust of 0.084 was measured. A minimum nondimensional radial thrust of about 0.007 was observed at the nominal design flow. The nondimensional radial thrust increased to about 0.019 at 120 percent of design flow. The nondimensional axial thrust had a maximum at shut-off of 0.265 and decreased steadily to approximately 0.185 at 120 percent of design flow. Two regions of increasing axial thrust, in the flow range 75 to 100 percent of design flow, were observed. The measurements are compared to radial and axial force predictions using classical force models. The direct radial force measurements are compared to a representative set of radial force measurements from the literature. In addition, the directly measured radial force at design flow is compared to a single representative radial force measurement (obtained from the literature) calculated from the combination of static pressure and net momentum flux distribution at the impeller exit.


Infections of the bovine mammary gland are, in addition to the affliction of the animals, a great economic burden in the dairy industry. A better understanding of the innate immune response of the host could lead to a better selection of mastitis resistant cows or to better prophylactic and therapeutical treatments. The objective of the present study was to investigate the involvement of the epithelial cells into the outcome of mastitis induced by different pathogens. Primary epithelial cell cultures isolated from milk of Brown swiss cows and coloured german goats, and tissue of cows were used to test the immune response. Because the cells of the cows showed different responses to isolated bacterial endotoxins (lipopolysaccharide, lipoteichoic acid, and peptidoglycans) compared to whole bacteria, they were treated with heat inactivated (10 MOI) gram-negative Escherichia coli (E.coli), a very common pathogen causing acute and severe intra-mammary infections, with Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CNS), both prevalent cause of chronic and subclinical, and, Streptococcus uberis (Str.uberis) an inducer of acute and chronic mastitis. Goat cells were treated with 10 MOI heat inactivated S.aureus causing in opposite to cows an acute, clinical mastitis and LPS. In cows E.coli induced an increased mRNA expression of interleukin-(IL) 8, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF) and granulozytes, macrophage-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) within a 30 min treatment. IL-8, IL-6 and TNF mRNA levels were still elevated after 60 min, 90 min, 6 h and 24 h. After 6 h S.aureus induced an increase in mRNA expression of IL-6, IL-8, TNF and SAA. After a 24 h treatment the expression of these immunomodulators was still elevated. Interestingly, Str.uberis in the same concentration did only induce the mRNA expression of GM-CSF after 60 min and the IL-8 after a 6 h treatment but had no influence on other immunomodulator mRNA expression. CNS treated cells needed a MOI of 50 for any reaction. This MOI induced a reaction on mRNA levels of IL-6 and IL-8 but not on TNF after 6 h. In goats S.aureus induced an increase in mRNA expression of IL-8 and TNF after 1 and 6 h. After a 24 h treatment just the mRNA level of TNF was elevated.
In conclusion mammary gland epithelial cells are involved in the different immune response to various mastitis pathogens. In cows, E.coli always induced an earlier immune response compared to S.aureus. This pathogen induced a later and probably for the immne system weaker reaction, not strong enough to cause an acute intramammary infection. Str.uberis in the same concentration induced only an increased GM-CSF and IL-8 mRNA expression after a 60 min or a 6 h treatment, respectively. This bacterium probably stimulates different immune relevant gene expressions not measured here or does not stimulate the mammary gland epithelial cells. The cells needed a 5-fold higher dose of KNS to respond with induced mRNA levels of IL-6 and TNF but not IL-8. KNS maybe does not stimulate the immune system enough to induce an acute mastitis and is like by the epithelial cells just recognized in very high dosis. IL-8 plays an important role as a chemotactic stimulus that is missing here. Goat mammary gland epithelial cells showed a early increase of IL-8 and TNF, that could be high enough, combined with the response of the immune cells in the milk, to induce an acute and severe intra-mammary infection.


Objective: To investigate the relationship between the presence of demarcated opacities and hypoplasia on permanent teeth and the caries status of the primary predecessor teeth in a cohort of Chinese children. Methods: The study sample consisted of 250 children living in a non-fluoridated area in Southern China whose caries status of primary teeth at the age of 3–6 years had been recorded annually in a previous study. A follow-up examination of their permanent teeth was conducted when they were about 12 years old. The presence of enamel defects was determined by consensus of 2 dentists according to the modified DDE index. Results: 56.8% of the 250 children examined had demarcated opacities, while 10.8% of them had hypoplasia. Demarcated opacities and hypoplasia were found in 5.8 and 1.3% of the teeth examined, respectively. A higher prevalence of demarcated opacities was found in those permanent teeth of which their primary predecessor teeth had caries than in those without (7.5 vs. 3.8%, p < 0.001). A similar finding was obtained for the prevalence of hypoplasia (1.9 vs. 0.4%, p < 0.001). Conclusion: There was an association between caries in primary teeth and the presence of demarcated opacities and hypoplasia in their permanent successors.


Porphyria involving more than 4,000 persons occurred in Eastern Turkey from 1956 to 1961 due to ingestion of hexachlorobenzene (HCB), a fungicide added to wheat seedlings. During a site visit in 1977, 32 porphyric Turks (mean age, 29 years) were examined. Porphyrin concentrations were determined with samples of urine and stool from 29 porphyric and 10 control Turks and compared with results from 40 subjects in the United States. Distinctive clinical features were found in porphyric subjects, including hyperpigmentation, hirsutism, severe scarring, short stature, pinched facies, small hands, painless arthritis, weakness, and enlarged thyroids. Porphyrin levels were still substantially elevated in five subjects. Hexachlorobenzene, which is fat soluble, was detected in maternal milk of one porphyric patient and in one other patient's fat. The level of HCB was not considered sufficient to account for persistence of porphyria but may be a clue to the cause of pembe yara (pink sore), in which many children who were breast-fed by affected mothers died with associated weakness, convulsions, and annular erythema.


Compania Minera Antamina is a polymetallic mining complex that produces copper and zinc concentrates as primary products and molybdenum and lead/bismuth/silver concentrates as by-products. In 2007, Metso Process Technology and Innovation (PTI) was contracted to increase SAG mill throughput by integrating and optimising blast fragmentation, crushing and grinding for the harder M4/M4A (CuZn) ores. Following the implementation of recommendations provided by Metso PTI, the SAG mill throughput increased from 2750tph to reach an average of 3600tph for the remainder of 2007. Due to continued application of mine to mill integration and optimisation philosophy, by 2010, the concentrator consistently exceeded the target of 4400tph while processing harder CuZn ores.


The Covid-19 crisis has forced most governments around the world to close educational institutions in an attempt to contain the spread of the pandemic, impacting over 91% of the world's student population according to UNESCO. Uganda is among the countries where schools have been closed for at least 2 years. Uganda subscribes to the UN's 2030 sustainable development goal (SDG) 4 which is grounded on notions of equity and fairness. The SDG 4 agenda: 'Ensures inclusive and equitable quality education and promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all'. Similarly, Uganda's Education Sector Strategic Plan 2018-2020 stipulates delivery of equitable, relevant and quality education for all. Notably in Uganda, with 42 million people (UBOS 2020) in lock down and mostly confined in their homes, digital technologies are becoming a necessity, as they become one of the main ways to access education, but also one remaining vectors for social interactions to take place. For instance, the 2019 communication sector report by the Uganda Communications Commission shows that the country's internet penetration stands at 37.9% with over 23 million internet users, who mostly use mobile phones. According to the same report, mobile internet subscription stood at between 14.3 to 15.2 million persons out of the 42 million Ugandans. Meanwhile about 1.1 million to 1.4 million Ugandans have actively subscribed to pay-tv services. This clearly shows the digital gap as of 2020, given that a large proportion of the population (estimated at 62-96%) does not have access to the internet or pay-tv. The present article aims to demonstrate that in the current Covid-19 crisis, much as digital technologies are helping to reach wider audiences globally, Uganda, like other Sub-Saharan African countries, still faces several challenges which directly or indirectly affect lifelong learning. Our hypothesis is that some of the most vulnerable students from Universities living in rural communities, people living with disability are the most difficult to reach if ICTS serve as the main instrument for promoting lifelong learning. A survey of a convenient sample of 350 Ugandan students from various socioeconomic backgrounds was conducted. Preliminary results show that despite the fact that digital technologies have enabled the closing of the gap of continued access to lifelong learning during the Covid-19 pandemic in Uganda, there are still existing challenges in implementing Inclusive lifelong learning such as mobile phones, unstable electricity, poor infrastructure and accessing the lowest technology in order to close the educational gap.


Data visualizations combine numeric data with visual representation, and these modes allow them to express certain kinds of knowledge more easily than others. This chapter uses examples of historical data visualizations in order to examine what ways of knowing they privilege. What is the difference between the spatial organization of tools in prehistoric homes and a photograph or bar chart showing information about the same tools, in terms of the kinds of knowledge they enable? How do the systems for gathering and visualizing data during the 18 th and 19 th centuries shape our understanding of the world? How do data visualizations make us feel that they are objective? How do they shape our ideas of what is possible?


Human interaction recognition is very important in many applications. One crucial cue in recognizing an interaction is the interactive body parts. In this work, we propose a novel Interaction Graph Transformer (IGFormer) network for skeleton-based interaction recognition via modeling the interactive body parts as graphs. More specifically, the proposed IGFormer constructs interaction graphs according to the semantic and distance correlations between the interactive body parts, and enhances the representation of each person by aggregating the information of the interactive body parts based on the learned graphs. Furthermore, we propose a Semantic Partition Module to transform each human skeleton sequence into a Body-Part-Time sequence to better capture the spatial and temporal information of the skeleton sequence for learning the graphs. Extensive experiments on three benchmark datasets demonstrate that our model outperforms the state-of-the-art with a significant margin.


This paper proposes to measure and to evaluate gender gaps and gender inequalities by means of the decomposition of an inequality measure. A three-terms decomposition of the Gini index is applied, thus allowing to take into account also the role of overlapping between female and male subpopulations. We develop an unified framework for the evaluation of gender gap, linking traditional measures, based on subgroups income means, to the approach related to inequality decomposition, and showing how overlapping component represents a key issue in gender gap analysis. An analysis of the income distribution of the Italian households shows how gender gaps represent a major source of inequality, without particular improvements during the last 20 years.


We compare high-resolution optical and radio imaging of 12 luminous submillimeter galaxies at a median z = 2.2 ± 0.2 observed with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and the MERLIN and Very Large Array (VLA) radio interferometers at comparable spatial resolution, ~0.″3 (~2 kpc). The radio emission is used as a tracer of the likely far-IR morphology of these dusty, luminous galaxies. In ~30% of the sample the radio emission appears unresolved at this spatial scale, suggesting that the power source is compact and may be either an obscured active galactic nucleus or a compact nuclear starburst. However, in the majority of the galaxies (8/12; ~70%), we find that the radio emission is resolved by MERLIN/VLA on scales of ~1'' (~10 kpc). For these galaxies we also find that the radio morphologies are often broadly similar to their rest-frame-UV emission traced by our HST imaging. To assess whether the radio emission may be extended on even larger scales (≫1'') resolved out by the MERLIN+VLA synthesized images, we compare VLA B-array (5'' beam) to VLA A-array (1.″5 beam) fluxes for a sample of 50 μJy radio sources, including five submillimeter galaxies. The submillimeter galaxies have comparable fluxes at these resolutions, and we conclude that the typical radio-emitting region in these galaxies is unlikely to be much larger than ~1'' (~10 kpc). We discuss the probable mechanisms for the extended emission in these galaxies and conclude that their luminous radio and submillimeter emission arises from a large, spatially extended starburst. The median star formation rates for these galaxies are ~1700 M☉ yr-1 (M > 0.1 M☉), occurring within regions with typical sizes of ~40 kpc2 and giving a star formation density of 45 M☉ yr-1 kpc-2. Such vigorous and extended starbursts appear to be uniquely associated with the submillimeter population. A more detailed comparison of the distribution of UV and radio emission in these systems shows that the broad similarities on large scales are not carried through to smaller scales, where there is rarely a one-to-one correspondence between the structures seen in the two wave bands. We interpret these differences as resulting from highly structured internal obscuration within the submillimeter galaxies, suggesting that their vigorous activity is producing windblown channels through their obscuring dust clouds. If correct, this underlines the difficulty of using UV morphologies to understand structural properties of this population and also may explain the surprising frequency of Lyα emission in the spectra of these very dusty galaxies.


Learn from a legend. Lou Tepper, coach to more than 20 NFL linebackers, including 3 Butkus Award winners, has created the most in-depth book ever written on football's most important defensive position.
 In Complete Linebacking, players and coaches receive a clinic on fundamentals, presnap keys, and techniques used by inside and outside linebackers in specific defenses, including the 32, 31, 52, 51, and 33. Coverage includes 4 key linebacker diagnostic tests, 44 drills to improve linebacking skills, presnap communication, relaying defense signals from the sideline, and special practice and game grading systems to evaluate and maximize performance.
 The authoritative guide on playing the position, Complete Linebacking is a must-have for any linebacker, head coach, or defensive coach in today's fast-paced, ever-evolving game.


Introduction The term 'intelligence' derives 'from the Latin verb intelligere which in turn comes from inter-legere meaning to "pick out" or discern.' Here it encapsulates the processing and sharing of gathered data, experiences and other information to develop knowledge, highlight innovation and demonstrate the impact of hospice care. Aims Case studies are a powerful example of those experiences which contribute to hospice care intelligence. Providing a practical approach to learning and facilitating networking, they encourage service development and the sharing of new ideas and innovation. We are developing a case study resource bank to share experiences and practical project learning with hospice colleagues. Approach This ongoing project is creating a new resource by collating existing and researching new case study materials for various audiences. The value and impact of access to this fledgling case study resource is indicated by the example of work done by the national fundraising support team in gathering case studies on income generation to share on the members' area of our website. A hospice adopted a new community engagement idea outlined in a case study from this resource. The activity raised significant additional income for the hospice and has now been incorporated into their annual income generation programme. To help raise the profile of hospice care and inspire innovation, the project team invite hospice and palliative care colleagues to contact us with activity updates and project news so that, together, we can more effectively share information on emerging work and ideas in hospice care delivery and development.


Developments in the provision and quality of digital data are creating possibilities for finer resolution spatial and temporal measurement of the properties of socio-economic systems. We suggest that the "lifestyles" datasets collected by private sector organisations provide one such prospect for better inferring the structure, composition and heterogeneity of urban areas. Clearly, deprivation and hardship are inextricably linked to incomes from earnings and transfer payments. In many countries (e.g. the UK) no small area income measures are collected at all, and this forces reliance upon commercial sources. Yet, the use of such data in academic research is not without considerable problems. In the same spirit as Gordon and Pantazis (1995) we thus think it necessary to retain some linkage to population census data ? but in a way which is much more sensitive to spatial context. A critical issue is thus to understand the scales at which both income, and the variables that are used to predict it, vary (see also Rees, 1998; Harris and Longley, 2002). We address some of these issues in the context of the debate about the intra-urban geography of hardship and social exclusion. Low income fundamentally restricts the abilities of people to participate actively in society (Harris and Longley, 2002), yet reliable, up-to-date income measures at fine spatial scales are rarely available from conventional sources. As a consequence, many indicators of deprivation are reliant upon data sources that are out of date and/or entail use of crude surrogate measures. Some measures bear little clear correspondence with hardship at all. Other widely-used indicators are spatially variable in their operation. The broader issue concerns the scale and extent of ?pockets? of hardship and the scale ranges at which difference is deemed manifests. The problems are further compounded if each of the range of surrogate measures used to specify a concept operates at different scales. Taken together, it remains unclear whether meaningful indicators of social conditions can ever be adequately specified, or whether generalised representations can be sufficiently sensitive to place. Using a case study of Bristol, UK, we compare the patterns of spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity observed for a small area ("lifestyles") income measure with those of the census indicators that are commonly used as surrogates for it. This leads to specification of spatial dependence using a spatially autoregressive model, and accommodation of local heterogeneity using geographically weighted regression (GWR). This analysis begins to extend our understanding of the determinants of hardship and poverty in urban areas: urban policy has hitherto used aggregate, outdated or proxy measures of income in a less critical manner; and techniques for measuring spatial dependence and heterogeneity have usually been applied at the regional, rather than intra urban, scales. The consequence is a limited understanding of the geography and dynamics of income variations within urban areas. The advantages and limitations of the data used here are explored in the light of the results of our statistical analysis, and we discuss our results as part of a research agenda for exploring dependence and heterogeneity in spatial distributions.


In this paper, a new kind of symmetry and its conserved quantities of a mechanical system in phase space are studied. The definition of this new symmetry, i.e., a Noether–Mei symmetry, is presented, and the criterion of this symmetry is also given. The Noether conserved quantity and the Mei conserved quantity deduced from the Noether–Mei symmetry of the system are obtained. Finally, two examples are given to illustrate the application of the results.


Ten patients with intracranial internal carotid artery (ICA) aneurysms were managed by combining ICA ligation with an extracranial to intracranial bypass procedure. Nine of these grafts were proven patient by angiogram. One patient was unable to return for postoperative angiograms; his graft ahd appeared patent on physical examination. Seven aneurysms were intracavernous, two were giant carotid-ophthalmic aneurysms, and one aneurysm was at the intracranial bifurcation of the ICA. Despite occlusion cerebral blood flow (CBF) measurements of 20 ml/100 gm/min or less in six patients, only one patient was unable to tolerate ICA ligation. Three patients developed transient aphasia, but there were no permanent neurological deficits associated with the carotid occlusion. Seven patients had improvement in pre-existing extraocular palsies or visual field defects. Others remained stable. The combination of an extracranial to intracranial microvascular bypass procedure with ICA ligation seems to be an effective method of treatment for aneurysms near the base of the skull that cannot be obliterated by a direct intracranial approach. The addition of the bypass procedure permits ICA ligation in patients who would not otherwise have tolerated occlusion of that vessel. Intraoperative xenon CBF measurements are an important adjunct to the operation.


On the basis of predicted amino acid sequence characteristics, herpes simplex virus type 1 gene UL10 is thought likely to encode a membrane protein with eight potential transmembrane regions. Previously, a protein with an apparent M(r) 47,000 on SDS-PAGE was identified as a product of this gene. Here we have further characterized this protein, and show that it is modified by N-linked glycosylation, associates with membranes from infected cells, and is a component of the virus particle. It is not essential for virus growth in tissue culture. To investigate its role in vivo a deletion mutant lacking the majority of the UL10 open reading frame was constructed (UL10-del). The in vitro growth properties of this virus were consistent with previous studies; it grew to give slightly lower yields than wild-type and revertant viruses, and had no apparent temperature-sensitive or host range phenotype. In vivo, in a mouse model, UL10-del was capable of establishing a latent infection, although it was impaired for growth at the periphery, and for spread to and/or growth within the nervous system relative to wild-type or revertant viruses.


The publicity about online 'predators' who prey on naive children using trickery and violence is largely inaccurate. Internet sex crimes involving adults and juveniles more often fit a model of statutory rape--adult offenders who meet, develop relationships with, and openly seduce underage teenagers--than a model of forcible sexual assault or pedophilic child molesting.This is a serious problem but one that approaches different from those in current prevention messages emphasizing parental control and the dangers of divulging personal information. Developmentally appropriate prevention strategies that target youths directly and acknowledge normal adolescent interests in romance and sex are needed. These should provide younger adolescents with awareness and avoidance skills while educating older youths about the pitfalls of sexual relationships with adults and their criminal nature. Particular attention should be paid to higher risk youths, including those with histories of sexual abuse, sexual orientation concerns, and patterns of off- and online risk taking. Mental health practitioners need information about the dynamics of this problem and the characteristics of victims and offenders because they are likely to encounter related issues in a variety of contexts.


Objective: This prospective study was undertaken to examine the effects of subclinical intraamniotic infection on fetal behavioral patterns. Methods: Amniotic fluid was obtained from four groups of patients (n = 99): group 1, patients with preterm premature rupture of the fetal membranes (PPROM) without infection; group 2, patients with PPROM and infection; group 3, patients with preterm labor (PTL) and without infection; and group 4, patients with PTL and infection. Fetal biophysical profiles were obtained on admission to the labor suite. Amniotic fluid was analyzed for the presence of microorganisms and endotoxin to confirm intraamniotic infection; cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and IL-8 were also assayed. Results: We found no association between low scores for biophysical parameters and subclinical infection in patients with PPROM or PTL. Conclusions: We could not demonstrate that upon a patient's admission to the labor hall absent fetal breathing and absent fetal movement, as well as reactivity, correlate with subclinical intraamniotic infection. Elevated cytokines, i.e. IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8 were associated with subclinical chorioamnionitis.


Between Jewish Refugees and German Soldiers The Rumanian-born artist Joseph Salamon is widely known for his art, especially his many sculptures in bronze, stone and wood, which can be seen all over Denmark and are exhibited in Argentina, the USA, Europe, and Israel as well. He has lived, studied and worked in Israel and Italy before settling down in Denmark in 1960. In this article, Joseph tells the story about his childhood in Romania before and during the Second World War. We hear about the everyday life of a Jewish family in Bucharest, anecdotes from relatives and the horrible realities of the Holocaust. But Joseph also tells about his peculiar encounters with German soldiers, some of whom Joseph got along with on a relatively friendly basis and who – according to Joseph – helped save many Jews in the neighbourhood. We are also told about the many Jewish refugees from Poland and Hungary that his father's company saved and sheltered. After the war, Josef and his parents move to Israel. Like many other Jewish families, they had suffered the loss of family and friends and hoped for a new beginning. Joseph, now in his 80's, has wanted to pass on parts of his life story that he has not spoken of publicly before.


Introduction Many pregnant women, undergoing prenatal diagnostic testing, experience anxiety and distress at the time of the test and while they are waiting for their results. Aims and objectives The present study was carried out to investigate the psychological experiences of women undergoing combined first trimester screening for chromosomal abnormalities. Methodology This is a prospective longitudinal study carried at the Fetal Medicine Unit at the Royal Free Hospital. A total of 115 women attending the foetal medicine unit for the combined screening in the first trimester were interviewed, 100 women completed the forms and were recruited in the study. An informed consent was obtained. The participating women were seen when they first attended the FMU for the first trimester scan. They were interviewed by the research fellows, using a semi-structured questionnaire to assess their anxiety using Spielberg State-Trait-Anxiety Inventory (STAI) scale. Their feeling was catergorised to six caterogries calm, tense, upset, relaxed, content and worried) with a scale of 1(not at all) to 4 (very much). STAI is one of the most frequently used measures of anxiety in applied psychology research and considered to be a reliable and sensitive measure of anxiety. Recalled anxiety was measured by contacting them three weeks later, by the telephone. By this time they had received the results of their combined screening tests. The information gathered was used to assess the psychological effects while they were waiting for their results, to audit our counselling services and to design the debriefing leaflet for the patients.


In the present study, the possible role of cortocotropin-releasing hormone (CRF) in the action of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) on the pituitary-adrenal axis and open-field activity of rats was tested. CGRP administered into the lateral brain ventricle led to a dose-dependent increase in plasma corticosterone level, which could be blocked by pretreatment with CRF antiserum. CGRP injected into the lateral brain ventricle increased the grooming and rearing activity and decreased the locomotor activity in an open field. On pretreatment with CRF antiserum, the action of CGRP on grooming was blocked, while the action on locomotion and rearing activity was unchanged. The results suggest that the CGRP-induced action on pituitary-adrenal activation is mediated by CRF. The action of CGRP on grooming in an open field is related to the pituitary-adrenal activation, and either CRF or adrenocorticotropic hormone or both may be involved in mediating the action of CGRP. The action of CGRP on rearing and locomotion is not affected by CRF antiserum, indicating that the two behavioral actions are regulated by different mechanisms.


Neonatal intensive care units represent simultaneously one of the great success stories of modern medicine, and one of its most controversial developments. One particularly controversial issue is the resuscitation of extremely preterm infants. Physicians in the United States generally accept that they are required to resuscitate infants born as early as 25 weeks and that it is permissible to resuscitate as early as 22 weeks. In this article, I question the moral pressure to resuscitate by criticizing the idea that resuscitation in this context "saves" a human life. Our radical medical advancements have allowed us to intervene in the life of a human before it makes sense to say that such an intervention "saves" someone; rather, what the physician does in resuscitating and treating an extremely preterm infant is to take over creating it. This matters, I argue, because "rescues" are much more morally urgent than "creations."


Empirical research on the influence of package size on consumers' quality perception has been scarce. Yan et al. (2014), an initial study focusing on this topic, showed that a small package generates higher perceived quality than a large package of the same brand. To cultivate a deeper understanding of such an effect, this paper aims to extend that study by examining the process by incorporating the evaluation context as a moderator.,Two experiments were carried out. In Study 1 (n = 380), the effect of package size on perceived quality was investigated by comparing a standalone context in which a single package size was presented and a context in which two different package sizes were shown. In Study 2 (n = 436), a standalone context was compared with another context in which participants viewed two different sizes but directed their attention to only one.,The findings indicate that the package size effect is not universal, and that it generally appears in a standalone context. In the contexts where two sizes were presented, it appears when consumers' attention is directed to only one size, whereas the effect does not manifest when consumers focus equal attention on both. The impact of the evaluation context is also stronger for small packages than for large packages.,This paper adds knowledge to packaging and cue-utilisation literature by clarifying a boundary condition of the impact of package size on consumers' quality perception.


Due to the complication of stress distribution around the crack tips, it is hard to obtain the fracture parameters (Stress intensity factor, J-integral factor) in a 3-dimention complex model. In order to get the accurate result of SIF of 3-D thin-walled structure, this paper describes a calculation procedure of 3dimention thin-walled models. It uses ANSYS to create model with singular elements around the crack tips and obtain SIF accurately. An example model of one part of barrel with crack is calculated. Through results comparison with that of theoretical formula and results of ABAQUS, it shows that the SIF calculation of ANSYS is accurate. To make the calculation procedure high efficient, this paper made a program for the barrel model using APDL to automate the model creation and analysis procedure, another program is also made to transfer model including boundary conditions from ANSYS to ABAQUS automatically.


The MediaCtrl work group in the IETF has produced a complete
architecture for controlling media server resources in Internet
Protocol (IP) based networks. An important function in the MediaCtrl
architecture is the Media Resource Broker entity which monitors and
allocates media resources to requesting applications. This document
introduces a Media Resource Broker (MRB) Location Function (MLF) which
works in partnership with MRB's in large deployments providing a
light weight scaling and failover mechanism.


To evaluate the possible relationship between ultrasound markers and second trimester maternal serum markers, the current study evaluates seven ultrasound markers in 2183 control pregnancies. We identified 2183 women with apparently normal singleton fetuses who underwent a second trimester ultrasound (14–22 weeks) and maternal serum biochemistry (triple test) screening over a three-year period. Among the 2183 apparently normal fetuses, 304 (14%) had a known normal karyotype and the remaining fetuses were presumed to be normal. A total of seven ultrasound markers were recorded: three were treated as continuous variables and four as categorical variables. The continuous variables were nuchal fold thickness (NF), humerus length (HL), and femur length (FL). These variables are gestational age dependent and as a result were expressed as multiples of the median. Results: The regression equations derived for the continuous variables of nuchal fold thickness (NF), femur length (FL) and humerus length (HL) were NF = − 1.9597 + 1.8888 (BPD) − 0.1727 (BPD) (BPD; FL = − 0.9371 + 0.8595 (BPD; and HL = − 0.6439 + 0.7775 (BPD) respectively. Among the continuous variables, weakly negative but statistically significant correlations were observed between HCG and both femur length (p < 0.01) and humerus length (p < 0.01). A significant correlation was observed between Log HL (MOM) and Log FL (MOM) (p < 0.01). Among the categorical ultrasound markers, no significant correlations at the 1% level (p < 0.01) were found with the biochemical markers. However, at the 5% (p < 0.05) level, the median HCG (MOM) was lower when an EIF was detected. Hyperechoic bowel also tended to be associated with higher median HCG (MOM) and AFP (MOM) levels (p < 0.05). We found that ultrasound and biochemical markers are largely independent in unaffected pregnancies. However, previous data (Souter et al. Benn et al.) has shown that there are some significant correlations between pairs of serum and ultrasound parameters in Down syndrome pregnancies. Correlation coefficients can be viewed as weighting factors in risk estimation with positive correlations diminishing the importance of the two variables in the calculation. For accurate risk estimation, correlation in both affected and unaffected pregnancies need to be considered.


From June 1973 through November 1988, fifteen cases of ovarian pregnancy were admitted to the Shanghai First People's Hospital. All these cases met the four criteria for the diagnosis as listed by Spiegelberg. The incidence of ovarian pregnancy as compared to those of normal and ectopic pregnancy are 1:3 179 and 1:28.1, respectively, which are higher than foreign data reported. Ovarian pregnancy is quite similar to tubal pregnancy in clinical manifestations. Etiological analysis does not reveal any close relationship with inflammation of the female genital tract. However, application of IUD increases the risk of ovarian pregnancy. The principle of management is wedge resection of the diseased ovary.


At first glance, screening for lung cancer is straightforward. You can find lung cancer at an early stage with a CT scan, so if you do a lot of CT scans you will save a lot of lives. However, the devil is in the details. One of the problems is that a chest CT detects nodules in many patients; deciding when a nodule is just background noise or warrants closer attention is an important component of the screening process. Nuances of how to do this are still being developed.


The increasing failures of chemotherapeutics and antibiotic resistance exhibited by pathogenic microbes have led to the screening of several medicinal plants for their potential antimicrobial activity. Thus, the present endeavour deals with the exploration of antibacterial efficacy of Curcuma caesia (Roxb.) (Family Zingiberaceae) against bacterial cultures procured from IMTECH, Chandigarh as a screen for potential candidates for the development of natural antibiotics. The agar well diffusion assay was performed to screen antibacterial activity, and ZOI was recorded. The results were analyzed using one way ANOVA with DMRT. A broth macro-dilution assay was used to determine (MIC) and (MBC). Finally, the purified fraction was chemically characterized by spectral analysis. The antibacterial activity profile revealed that the methanolic root extract exhibited broad-spectrum antibacterial potentiality. The extract exhibiting the highest antibacterial activity was purified by column chromatography and further with HPLC, and TLC analyzed the band pattern. The bio-efficacy of the purified fraction was assessed against pathogenic bacteria, and the MIC and MBC were determined. The maximum zone of inhibition was recorded against B. cereus (MTCC 430) and K. pneumoniae (MTCC 3384). The purified fraction from a crude extract of C. caesia (Roxb.) indicates that the molecular weight of the purified compound is 368, the molecular formula is C21H20O6. Its chemical characteristics and structural properties were found to be similar to that of 1, 7-bis (4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione. However, this is the first report of the presence of curcumin in C. caesia (Roxb.) from Bastar demonstrating antibacterial property. INTRODUCTION: The therapeutic power of herbs had been recognized since the creation of the universe, and botanic medicine is one of the oldest practiced professions by humanity 1 .


We review 4E (embodied, embedded, extended and enactive) approaches to the analysis of art and aesthetic experience. We argue that extended mind analyses that focus on tool use miss important aspects, and that it requires 4 or more E's to address the broad spectrum of aesthetic experiences that correlate to the broad variety of artistic genres. We develop an enactive, affordance-based approach to understanding art and aesthetic experience. Considering both the potential and the limitations of any particular approach, we argue that there is no one unified set of principles that will make sense of all art everywhere.


Primary and secondary forms of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) are characterized by depletion of podocytes and constitute a central manifestation of chronic progressive glomerular diseases. Here we report that podocytes undergo apoptosis at early stages in the course of progressive glomerulosclerosis in TGF-beta1 transgenic mice. Apoptosis is associated with progressive depletion of podocytes and precedes mesangial expansion. Smad7 protein expression is strongly induced specifically in damaged podocytes of transgenic mice and in cultured murine podocytes treated with TGF-beta. TGF-beta1 and Smad7 each induce apoptosis in podocytes, and their coexpression has an additive effect. Activation of p38 MAP kinase and caspase-3 is required for TGF-beta-mediated apoptosis, but not for apoptosis induced by Smad7. Unlike TGF-beta, Smad7 inhibits nuclear translocation and transcriptional activity of the cell survival factor NF-kappaB. Our results suggest a novel functional role for Smad7 as amplifier of TGF-beta-induced apoptosis in podocytes and a new pathomechanism for podocyte depletion in progressive glomerulosclerosis.


Aspects of the reproductive biology of the landlocked large type ayu Plecoglossus ahivelis in Lake Biwa,"ooayu", were investigated from August to October in 1980. In more than half the number of ovaries after the first spawning, degeneration of developing eggs or collapse of the whole ovary was observed. Hence, after the first spawning, a small number of fish seemed to attain the second maturation. All the fish which attained the second maturation were skinny and half of them had lower gonadosomatic indexes and smaller number of mature eggs compared to those in the first maturation. No significant differences of egg diameter for various maturation stages of egg were indicated between the dwarf type ayu,"koayu", and the ooayu. The pattern of oocyte development of ooayu showed the"trimodal twice spawning type". Resting ocoytes in the peri-nucleolus stage which are usually present all the year round in the general serial spawners, were not observed in the ovary of ooayu after the second spawning. This fact suggests that ooayu have an inherent regulating mechanism of oocyte development adapted to the annual life of the fish, i.e. they discharge all oocytes in a single spawning season in spite of their serial spawning habit.


Abstract:When searching for some reflection of themselves in Georgia's official narratives, policies, and symbolic landscapes, members of the country's minority groups are often left to ask, "Who and where are we?" The existence of a territorial state by the name of Azerbaijan next door complicates matters for Georgia's largest minority group, the Georgian Azeri-Turks, in that members of this group are widely considered "Azerbaijanis," or as belonging historically to the territorial state of Azerbaijan rather than to Georgia. In this article, symbolically imbued landscapes are framed as sites wherein narratives of identity are articulated, negotiated, and, at times, contested by members of the Georgian Azeri-Turkic community in the border region of Kvemo Kartli. By highlighting the ways in which community leaders problematize official control over symbolic landscapes in the region, I seek to answer the following question: How do encounters with national identity narratives in the landscape affect or reflect understandings of collective identity among the Georgian Azeri-Turks of Kvemo Kartli?


The purpose of this paper is to explore how fund mangers, as cultured observers, make sense of social, environmental and ethical (SEE) information about companies. The paper uses a qualitative research approach involving in depth interviews with fund managers in Sweden. The analysis is influenced by a combination of system and network theories where social networks are imposed on fund managers when they make sense of corporate information. With reference to a growing SRI market, the rationales of social forces imposed on fund managers do not seem to have changed in order for them to include social aspects. Instead, these aspects are taken care of elsewhere in organizations, leaving fund managers as nodes in social networks, outside. However, if social aspects become an issue for the market positioning of companies, they could probably make more of a difference to the rationales of social forces surrounding fund managers. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.


We investigated the contribution of bilingual experience to the development of cognitive reserve (CR) when compared with other, traditionally more researched, CR proxies, in a sample of cognitively healthy senior (60 +) bilingual speakers. Participants performed in an online study where, in addition to a wide inventory of factors known to promote CR, we assessed several factors related to their second language (L2) use. In addition, participants' inhibitory executive control was measured via the Flanker Task. We used Structural Equation Modeling to derive a latent composite measure of CR informed by traditional CR proxies (i.e., occupational complexity, marital status, current and retrospective socio-economic status, physical exercise, perceived positive support, maximal educational attainment, frequency of leisure activities and extent of social network). We examined whether bilingualism may act as a mediator of the effects of such proxies on cognitive performance therefore assessing the unique contribution of dual language use to CR. First, our analyses revealed facilitatory effects of both L2 age of acquisition and L2 proficiency on the executive performance. Second, our analyses confirmed the moderating role of bilingual experience on the relationship between other factors known to promote CR and cognitive integrity, revealing a strong contribution by bilingualism to CR development. Our findings provide further support to the notion that bilingualism plays an important role in mitigating cognitive decline and promoting successful aging.


A study has been carried out during the 2001 ripening period with Tempranillo variety grafted onto 110R, in order to know the productive and qualitative differences provoked by different geographic locations in the region of Castilla y Leon (Spain), through experimental plots located on the West side of the Duero river valley, in the Apellation of Origin (A.O.C.) Ribera del duero, and on the East side, in the Cigales A.O.C. The vines were head trained and 2-bud spur pruned, with a radial distribution of the spurs and 10 buds per vine. The Ribera del Duero vineyard was planted in 1987. The annual rainfall along the last 10 years has been 421 mm 3 layers can be distinguished on the soil of the trial with the following kind of textures: the first one is a loamclay- sandy soil, the second is clayey and the third one, deepest, is clayey-loam. The Cigales vineyard was planted in 1993. The annual rainfall along the last 10 years has been 399 mm 3 layers can be distinguished on the soil of the trial with the following kind of textures: the first and second layers are sandy-loam soil and the third one, deepest, is sandy-clay. The average temperature during the vegetative cycle in Cigales A.O.C. is higher than in Ribera del Duero A.O.C. On the other hand, at the beginning of the ripening period the temperatures are lower in Cigales, which together with the soil conditions have provoked a lower vegetative development and the variations on the vegetative-reproductive balance. The soil and climate conditions in the Ribera del Duero experimental plot have provoked a higher vegetative development of the vines and different characteristics of the berries with respect to the Cigales plot, probably due to a lower water stress along the vegetative cycle. The berry weight in the Cigales A.O.C. has been 25% lower than in Ribera del Duero A.O.C. The differences in berry weight were maintained along the ripening period. The vineyard conditions of the Ribera del Duero A.O.C. have allowed to obtain, for a similar yield per vine to the Cigales A.O.C., berries with higher sugar concentration and lower pH. However, the total acidity has shown statistical differences only in the first sample, becoming the results similar over the ripening period. The differences in pH are not correlated with the total acidity evolution, which could be due to the higher potassium concentration in the Cigales A.O.C, being in this case lower the total acidity of the berries. The phenolic maturity has also been affected by the soil and climate conditions, so the Ribera del Duero plot has shown a higher total polyphenols index along the ripening period than the Cigales plot. The total anthocyanins concentration maintained similar values in both plots, although the final concentration at harvest was lower in the Cigales A.O.C. The extractable anthocyanins concentration, measured by Glories method, has followed a similar evolution than the total anthocyanins in both areas of study.


Real-time applications such as e-commerce, flight control, chemical and nuclear control, and telecommunication are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their data needs, resulting in greater demands for real-time data services that are provided by real-time databases. Since the workload of real-time databases cannot be precisely predicted, they can become overloaded and thereby cause temporal violations, resulting in damage or even a catastrophe. Imprecise computation techniques address this problem and allow graceful degradation during overloads. In this paper, we present a framework for QoS specification and management consisting of a model for expressing QoS requirements, an architecture based on feedback control scheduling, and a set of algorithms implementing different policies and behaviors. Our approach gives a robust and controlled behavior of real-time databases, even for transient overloads and with inaccurate runtime estimates of the transactions. Further, performance experiments show that the proposed algorithms outperform a set of baseline algorithms that uses feedback control.


Rapid advances in modern computing and information technology have enabled millions of people to interact online via various social network and gaming services. The widespread adoption of such online services have made possible analysis of large-scale archival data containing detailed human interactions, presenting a very promising opportunity to understand the rich and complex human behavior. In collaboration with a leading global provider of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), here we present a network science-based analysis of the interplay between distinct types of user interaction networks in the virtual world. We find that their properties depend critically on the nature of the context-interdependence of the interactions, highlighting the complex and multilayered nature of human interactions, a robust understanding of which we believe may prove instrumental in the designing of more realistic future virtual arenas as well as provide novel insights to the science of collective human behavior.


Lin'an City, a building located in the downtown, surrounding and supermarkets, banks, residential quarters, office space and many other enterprises and adjacent companys.Complex building is difficult to remove. The direction of the main building collapsed requires accurately, to ensure blasting construction safety and the safety of the adjacent environment. To this end, on the basis of the removal program design,construction specific issues that need attention and contingency plans were discussed. Such blasting and demolition projects control points and the problem should pay attention to are summarized.


Objectives: To investigate the long-term impact of multivessel coronary artery disease (MVD) on cause-specific mortality in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treated with reperfusion therapy. Methods and results: Patients with STEMI (n  =  395) treated with primary angioplasty or thrombolysis in the setting of a randomised clinical trial were enrolled in the study. Follow up was 8 (2) years. For patients who died all available records were reviewed to assess the specific cause of death. MVD was present in 57% of patients. Patients with MVD were older and more of them had diabetes and previous myocardial infarction. Compared with the non-MVD group, residual left ventricular ejection fraction was lower (45.9% v 49.6%, p  =  0.001) and total mortality was higher in patients with MVD (32% v 19%, p  =  0.002). After adjustment for potential confounders this association was not significant (hazard ratio 1.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.9 to 2.2). When the specific cause of death was considered, sudden death was comparable between patients with and without MVD (10% v 8%, p  =  0.49) but death caused by heart failure was significantly higher in patients with MVD (hazard ratio 7.4, 95% CI 1.7 to 32.2). Conclusion: Patients with STEMI and MVD have a higher long-term mortality than do patients with non-MVD. MVD is not an independent predictor of long-term total mortality or sudden death. However, MVD is a very strong and independent predictor of long-term death caused by heart failure.


Dust-obscured galaxies (DOGs) are a subset of high-redshift (z ≈ 2) optically-faint ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs, e.g., LIR > 1012 L☉). We present new far-infrared photometry, at 250, 350, and 500 μm (observed-frame), from the Herschel Space Telescope for a large sample of 113 DOGs with spectroscopically measured redshifts. Approximately 60% of the sample are detected in the far-IR. The Herschel photometry allows the first robust determinations of the total infrared luminosities of a large sample of DOGs, confirming their high IR luminosities, which range from 1011.6 L☉  1013 L☉. The rest-frame near-IR (1–3 μm) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of the Herschel-detected DOGs are predictors of their SEDs at longer wavelengths. DOGs with "power-law" SEDs in the rest-frame near-IR show observed-frame 250/24 μm flux density ratios similar to the QSO-like local ULIRG, Mrk 231. DOGs with a stellar "bump" in their rest-frame near-IR show observed-frame 250/24 μm flux density ratios similar to local star-bursting ULIRGs like NGC 6240. None show 250/24 μm flux density ratios similar to extreme local ULIRG, Arp 220; though three show 350/24 μm flux density ratios similar to Arp 220. For the Herschel-detected DOGs, accurate estimates (within ∼25%) of total IR luminosity can be predicted from their rest-frame mid-IR data alone (e.g., from Spitzer observed-frame 24 μm luminosities). Herschel-detected DOGs tend to have a high ratio of infrared luminosity to rest-frame 8 μm luminosity (the IR8 = LIR(8–1000 μm)/νLν(8 μm) parameter of Elbaz et al.). Instead of lying on the z = 1–2 "infrared main sequence" of star-forming galaxies (like typical LIRGs and ULIRGs at those epochs) the DOGs, especially large fractions of the bump sources, tend to lie in the starburst sequence. While, Herschel-detected DOGs are similar to scaled up versions of local ULIRGs in terms of 250/24 μm flux density ratio, and IR8, they tend to have cooler far-IR dust temperatures (20–40 K for DOGs versus 40–50 K for local ULIRGs) as measured by the rest-frame 80/115 μm flux density ratios (e.g., observed-frame 250/350 μm ratios at z = 2). DOGs that are not detected by Herschel appear to have lower observed-frame 250/24 μm ratios than the detected sample, either because of warmer dust temperatures, lower IR luminosities, or both.


The aims of this study are to investigate the effect of Y (yttrium) addition in the Mg-Al- Ca alloys on microstructure and mechanical properties. In additions, the alloys were solution treated in order to achieve a better understanding of the precipitation mechanisms. The as-cast microstructure of Mg-5Al-3Ca alloy and Mg-5Al-3Ca-xY alloys contains dendritic α-Mg matrix and eutectic intermetallic compound at grain boundary. The hardness values of Mg-Al-Ca alloy with Y additions were slightly increased than that of Mg-Al-Ca with no Y addition. It is because of reduction of α-Mg phase and presence of (Mg,Al)2Ca and Al-Y rich intermetallic phase at grain boundary and α-Mg matrix grains. Also, hardness value of yttrium (Y) containing alloys was increased with increasing Y contents. Compared to Mg-5Al-3Ca alloy, maximum strength and yield strength of the alloys with Y additions have slightly increased with increasing Y additions in the case of as-cast samples.


Improved understanding of wind gusts in complex terrain is critically important to wind engineering and specifically the wind energy industry. Observational data from 3D sonic anemometers deployed at 3 and 65 m at a site in moderately complex terrain within the northeastern United States are used to calculate 10 descriptors of wind gusts and to determine the parent distributions that best describe these parameters. It is shown that the parent distributions exhibit consistency across different descriptors of the gust climate. Specifically, the parameters that describe the gust intensity (gust amplitude, rise magnitude, and lapse magnitude; i.e., properties that have units of length per time) fit the two-parameter Weibull distribution, those that are unitless ratios (gust factor and peak factor) are described by log-logistic distributions, and all other properties (peak gust, rise and lapse times, gust asymmetric factor, and gust length scale) are lognormally distributed. It is also shown that gust factors scale with turbulence intensity, but gusts are distinguishable in power spectra of the longitudinal wind component (i.e., they have demonstrably different length scales than the average eddy length scale). Gust periods at the lower measurement height (3 m) are consistent with shear production, whereas at 65 m they are not. At this site, there is only a weak directional dependence of gust properties on site terrain and land cover variability along sectorial transects, but large gust length scales and gust factors are more likely to be observed in unstable atmospheric conditions.


We derive a new generalization of Prony's method to reconstruct M-sparse expansions of (generalized) eigenfunctions of linear operators from only suitable values in a deterministic way. The proposed method covers the well-known reconstruction methods for M-sparse sums of exponentials as well as for the interpolation of M-sparse polynomials by using special linear operators in . Further, we can derive new reconstruction formulas for M-sparse expansions of orthogonal polynomials using the Sturm–Liouville operator. The method is also applied to the recovery of M-sparse vectors in finite-dimensional vector spaces.


The purpose of this study was to obtain information on the availability of full-time teaching positions, job qualifications, and methods of recruitment in dental hygiene education. A questionnaire was mailed in 1990 to 198 dental hygiene program directors to acquire data on faculty positions and recruitment. The initial and follow-up mailings produced an 86% response rate. Data were analyzed using frequency distributions and chi-square analyses. Seventy-seven authorized openings for full-time faculty were reported: 60 were vacancies resulting from the departure of a faculty member. The minimum educational qualification was the baccalaureate degree for faculty positions in associate degree programs, and the master's degree or higher for teaching positions in baccalaureate degree programs. The type of experience required was primarily clinical, although teaching and research were preferred. The majority of positions available were at the entry levels of instructor and assistant professor. The recruitment method reported to be most successful in locating prospective faculty candidates was placement of a notice in a professional journal.


This paper explores the complex relationship between transgendered people and cities in the USA, and, in particular, their relationship with queer spaces within those cities. Some have argued that queer spaces occur at the margins of society and constitute a safe haven for LGBT oppressed by the hetero-normative nature of urban areas. Data from a survey of 149 transgendered individuals indicate that although queer spaces provide a measure of protection for gender variant people, the gendered nature of these spaces results in continued high levels of harassment and violence for this population. The author argues that the strongly gendered dimensions of these spaces suggests that a discursive re-visioning of gender is needed to create more transgender friendly urban spaces.


Angiostatin, a proteolytic fragment of plasminogen, inhibits the growth of primary and metastatic tumors by suppressing angiogenesis. When used in combination with ionizing radiation (IR), angiostatin demonstrates potent antitumor synergism, largely caused by inhibition of the tumor microvasculature. We report here the temporal interaction of angiostatin and IR in Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) tumors growing in the hind limbs of syngeneic mice. Tumors with an initial mean volume of 510 +/- 151 mm3 were treated with IR alone (20 Gy x 2 doses on days 0 and 1), angiostatin alone (25 mg/kg/day divided twice daily) on days 0 through 13, or a combination of the two as follows: (a) IR plus angiostatin (days 0 through 13); (b) IR plus angiostatin (days 0 and 1); and (c) IR followed by angiostatin beginning on the day after IR completion and given daily thereafter (days 2 through 13). By day 14, tumors in untreated control mice had grown to 6110 +/- 582 mm3, whereas in mice treated with: (a) IR alone, tumors had grown to 2854 +/- 338 mm3 (P < 0.05 compared with untreated controls); and (b) angiostatin alone, tumors had grown to 3666 +/- 453 mm3 (P < 0.05 compared with untreated controls). In combined-treatment groups, in mice treated with: (a) IR plus longer-course angiostatin, tumors reached 2022 +/- 282 mm3 (P = 0.036 compared with IR alone); (b) IR followed by angiostatin, tumors reached 2677 +/- 469 mm3 (P > 0.05 compared with IR alone); and (c) IR plus short-course angiostatin, tumors reached 1032 +/- 78 mm3 (P < 0.001 compared with IR alone). These findings demonstrate that the efficacy of experimental radiation therapy is potentiated by brief concomitant exposure of the tumor vasculature to angiostatin.


Sir, We have recently managed a patient with a splenic flexure colonic carcinoma, who had an unusual distribution of lymph node metastases. This questions the validity of transverse colectomy for this condition. The classical treatment of resectable colonic carcinoma has been excision in continuity with its vascular supply in an attempt at reducing local recurrence by removing involved or potentially involved lymph nodes. This is based on Jamieson and Dobson's work' which suggested that the lymphatic drainage ofthe colon followed its main blood supply. However, blood supply to the splenic flexure has been shown to be somewhat variable. Griffiths2 demonstrated that it was supplied by the inferior mesenteric artery via the left colic in 89% of cases and by the superior mesenteric artery via the middle colic in 11%. He also noted that the middle colic was absent in 22% of cases. These findings were confirmed by Sierocinski3 who found in 100 post-mortem dissections that the middle colic vessel supplied the splenic flexure in only 19. Where the middle colic is absent, the ileocolic supplied the transverse colon and the left colic supplied the splenic flexure. Goligher4 has advocated transverse colectomy for splenic flexure carcinoma, ligating both middle colic at its origin and the ascending branch of the left colic to remove those nodes most likely to be involved. We report the case of an 83 year old female admitted as an emergency with vomiting and abdominal pain. Plain abdominal X-rays and a gastrografin enema revealed a stenotic lesion at the splenic flexure with complete obstruction. At laparotomy a splenic flexure carcinoma was found and an extended right hemicolectomy performed with an end to end ileocolic anastomosis. The patient made an uneventful recovery and was discharged home. Histological examination of the specimen showed a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma of the splenic flexure with one of eight local lymph nodes involved (Duke's stage C Jass Class IV). However, one node at the ileo-colic junction showed adenocarcinomatous deposits. Aldridge5 has shown that patients with a splenic flexure carcinoma have a reduction in 5 year survival rate even when variables such as age, sex, Duke's stage and tumour differentiation were excluded. Three possibilities have been suggested to explain this. Firstly, that the carcinoma may be biologically different, and, secondly, that the host reaction may differ, but these seem unlikely. Lastly, the method of surgical management of the lymph nodes may be inadequate suggesting that an extended right hemicolectomy would be more appropriate. The higher local recurrence rate of tumours of the splenic flexure would seem to support this view. We suggest, therefore, that an extended right hemicolectomy should be performed for lesions of the splenic flexure. This avoids a colo-anastomosis, and problems due to inadequate bowel preparation and obstruction. It may also remove involved lymph nodes in cases where lymphatic drainage does not follow the classical pattern.


Plug In Electric Vehicles (PEVs) can contribute to the decarbonisation of the transport sector and to alleviate some of the negative local impacts of car driving. As current market shares for PEVs in Germany are still small, it is important to investigate the social acceptance of electric mobility, taking into account different actors in the innovation system. Therefore we draw a link between the social acceptance concept (socio-political, market and local acceptance) and the technological innovation systems (TIS) approach and conduct a literature review. The results show that the majority of studies deal with the demand side of electric mobility, focusing on market acceptance. For a transition towards an electric transport system a deeper systemic understanding of all actors is necessary. The paper shows where the potentials for further acceptance research on electric mobility lie and provides an approach, which can be developed further and transferred to similar technologies.


Abstract:This study provides evidence of differential productivity impacts between the outsourcing of ongoing IT operations and the outsourcing of IT design and build activities. Additionally, this study finds differential productivity impacts between manufacturing and service sectors. Evidence shows that a large portion of IT budgets are dedicated to ongoing operations, yet ongoing operations is seldom researched. This study differentiates the impact of spending IT outsourcing related to ongoing IT operations versus spending on IT outsourcing to build new systems. Using industry-level data from twenty-five service industries and nineteen manufacturing industries for the years 1998 to 2004,1 examine the impact on outsourcing ongoing operations from the design of new systems and I compare the effects in manufacturing and services. This study shows that outsourcing IT design services positively contributes to productivity, while outsourcing IT operations does not. Furthermore, this study shows that the positive impact of IT design is greater for manufacturing industries.Keywords: IT outsourcing; business value of IT; industry-level; IT operations(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)INTRODUCTIONCIOs are faced with the question of how much of an IT budget to spend on developing new systems and how much to spend supporting existing IT systems. Recent commentary (Butler and Gray 2006) in the IS literature has begun to acknowledge that the IS community has not investigated the role of IT operations, but rather has focused on issues surrounding the building of new IT systems. According to recent Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) data, spending IT operations accounted for 55 percent of all expenditures on outsourced IT for the period from 1998- 2004. Research into the economic impacts of IT has typically focused on either (A) aggregate levels of IT expenditure or (B) levels of IT capital. Increasingly researchers have tried to address issues such as under what conditions IT spending result in what performance does and what investments are complimentary to investment in IT. Using Industry-level BEA data, this study compares the economic impact of outsourcing IT operations versus the impact of outsourcing the design of IT systems. Furthermore, the study compares the impact in manufacturing to impacts in services. Recent research has also investigated what the economic impact of outsourcing IT operations is. This study addresses the following research questions:Does the productivity impact of outsourcing IT operations differ from the productivity impact of design/build activities?If so, do these effects vary between manufacturing and service sectors?These questions are important because (1) spending on IT operations is a substantial portion of the IT budget, (2) this can provide insight as to what functions to outsource, (3) this can provide further insight into what the industry- level impacts of IT spending are, and (4) this can provide insight as to what sectors benefit from what type of outsourcing.CONCEPT DEVELOPMENTThe purpose of this study is to compare the impacts of outsourcing of IT operations and outsourcing IT design in both services and manufacturing. It is important to understand the current state of industry-level analysis, how manufacturing and services differ, and how IT operations differ from building IT systems.Industry-level AnalysisThis paper uses IT investment at the industry-level; therefore, an overview of industry-level studies should be included. IT operations have been researched indirectly through survey research on the impact of reliable systems (Butler and Gray 2006). The author was unable to find any study on the economic impact of spending on IT operations. IT outsourcing research conducted at the industry level (Han et al. 2005) and at the firm-level have shown IT outsourcing to have positive contributions to productivity (Chang and Gurbaxani 2005b). …


Abstract In Capital and Ideology, Thomas Piketty poses the intriguing thesis that ideology, or ideas about how society should be governed, is a powerful determinant for how society will be governed-as long as we take advantage of historical switch points. In this review essay I challenge this thesis by pointing out that many powerful ideas have run aground because of countervailing institutional arrangements. Oftentimes, they are leftovers from earlier times that precede the change and are now strategically employed for reconstituting private wealth. Clearly, ideology and institutions are deeply intertwined. I credit Piketty for putting ideology on the map of institutionalists in history, political sciences, sociology, and law. I therefore call for more research on the interaction of ideas and institutions.