Abstract Geographic isolation is suggested to be among the most important processes in the generation of cichlid fish diversity in East Africa's Great Lakes, both through isolation by distance and fluctuating connectivity caused by changing lake levels. However, even broad scale phylogeographic patterns are currently unknown in many non‐cichlid littoral taxa from these systems. To begin to address this, we generated restriction‐site‐associated DNA sequence (RADseq) data to investigate phylogeographic structure throughout Lake Tanganyika (LT) in two broadly sympatric rocky shore catfish species from independent evolutionary radiations with differing behaviors: the mouthbrooding claroteine, Lophiobagrus cyclurus, and the brood‐parasite mochokid, Synodontis multipunctatus. Our results indicated contrasting patterns between these species, with strong lake‐wide phylogeographic signal in L. cyclurus including a deep divergence between the northern and southern lake basins. Further structuring of these populations was observed across a heterogeneous habitat over much smaller distances. Strong population growth was observed in L. cyclurus sampled from shallow shorelines, suggesting population growth associated with the colonization of new habitats following lake‐level rises. Conversely, S. multipunctatus, which occupies a broader depth range, showed little phylogeographic structure and lower rates of population growth. Our findings suggest that isolation by distance and/or habitat barriers may play a role in the divergence of non‐cichlid fishes in LT, but this effect varies by species.


OBJECTIVE
To examine germline single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) as markers of response to gemcitabine platinum (GP) combination chemotherapy in urothelial carcinoma (UC).

METHODS
Saliva or blood was prospectively collected from 216 patients treated with GP for UC of the bladder between 1991 and 2011. Based on reported associations with gemcitabine and cisplatin response or putative mechanisms of gemcitabine or cisplatin/carboplatin activity, we selected SNPs of interest and were able to genotype 59 SNPs (using the SequenomMass ARRAYiPLEX platform) in 261 patients randomly split 2/3 into a training set (n = 174) and 1/3 into a test set (n = 87). Logistic regression was used to test the association between response to GP and SNPs.

RESULTS
The median age at diagnosis was 64 years (range: 28 - 85) for the discovery set and 67 years (range: 30 - 84) for the validation set. Males composed 76% and 69%, and white non-Hispanics composed 88% and 91% of the training and test validation sets, respectively. Three SNPs on GALNTL4 (rs7937567, rs12278731, and rs9988868) and one intergenic SNP (rs1321391) were significantly associated with response to GP in the training set and were used to build a SNP score. However, when assessed in the test set, the SNP score was not significantly associated with response.

CONCLUSION
Multiple SNPs selected from previous studies failed to predict response to GP in this cohort. Larger studies capable of accounting for population-based allele frequency heterogeneity may be required for replication of genetic alterations important to pharmacogenomics.
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Aluminium-silicon alloys have low density, high electrical and thermal conductivity and high resistance to corrosion at ambient temperature. However, these alloys usually contain numerous alloying and impurity elements, which consist essentially of a fairly ductile matrix of alpha aluminium solid solution with a variety of non-ductile particles of silicon and various intermetallic compounds. The shape and distribution of these constituents largely control the deformation behaviour of the alloy. The addition of magnesium makes the alloys lighter and harder, but its hardening effect is fully responsive only after proper heat treatment. Therefore, in the present study, microstructures and properties of the alloys have been evaluated on the as-cast and heattreated conditions. Results show that the addition of magnesium to aluminium-silicon eutectic base alloy refines microstructure up to certain level and increases the strength and hardness at the expense of ductility.


Dilated cardiomyopathy can be the end-stage form and common denominator of several cardiac disorders of known cause, such as hypertensive, ischemic, diabetic and Chagasic diseases. However, some individuals have clinical findings, such as an increase in ventricular chamber size and impaired contractility (classical manifestations of dilated cardiomyopathy) even in the absence of a diagnosed primary disease. In these patients, dilated cardiomyopathy is classified as idiopathic since its etiology is obscure. Nevertheless, regardless of all of the advances in medical, pharmacological and surgical procedures, the fate of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (of idiopathic or of any other known cause) is linked to arrhythmic episodes, severe congestive heart failure and an increased risk of sudden cardiac death. In this review, we will summarize present data on the use of cell therapies in animal models of dilated cardiomyopathies and will discuss the few clinical trials that have been published so far involving patients affected by this disease. The animal models discussed here include those in which the cardiomyopathy is produced by genetic manipulation and those in which disease is induced by chemical or infectious agents. The specific model used clearly creates restrictions to translation of the proposed cell therapy to clinical practice, insofar as most of the clinical trials performed to date with cell therapy have used autologous cells. Thus, translation of genetic models of dilated cardiomyopathy may have to wait until the use of allogeneic cells becomes more widespread in clinical trials of cell therapies for cardiac diseases.


A constructivism-based approach to teach the object-oriented (OO) programming paradigm in introductory computer courses was developed and used for several years. A multientity system from every-day life was adopted, to exploit the novice programmer's existing knowledge and build on it the OO conceptual framework. A sequence of assignments has been designed and developed to allow students exposed to this approach to experiment with Java programming and see how the OO conceptual framework is implemented. In this paper, this sequence of assignments is presented, discussed and evaluated in the context of the defined approach. The set of assignments that is based on a software-engineering-centered view and more precisely on a design-first approach, comes with the description of the strategy and graded hints that lead students to the final solution. Although it was first implemented as supplementary material, it quickly became the core component of the course.


Bile acids are considered as extremely toxic at the high concentrations reached during bile duct obstruction, but each acid displays variable cytotoxic properties. This study investigates how biliary obstruction and restoration of bile flow interferes with urinary and circulating levels of 17 common bile acids. Bile acids (conjugated and unconjugated) were quantified by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry in serum and urine samples from 17 patients (8 men and 9 women) with biliary obstruction, before and after biliary stenting. Results were compared with serum concentrations measured in 40 age- and sex-paired control donors (20 men and 20 women). The total circulating bile acid concentration increases from 2.7 µM in control donors to 156.9 µM in untreated patients with biliary stenosis. Serum taurocholic and glycocholic acids exhibit 304- and 241-fold accumulations in patients with biliary obstruction compared to controls. The enrichment in chenodeoxycholic acid species reached a maximum of only 39-fold, while all secondary and 6α-hydroxylated species –except taurolithocholic acids – were either unchanged or significantly reduced. Stenting was efficient in restoring an almost normal circulating profile and in reducing urinary bile acids. Conclusion These results demonstrate that biliary obstruction affects differentially the circulating and/or urinary levels of the various bile acids. The observation that the most drastically affected acids correspond to the less toxic species supports the activation of self-protecting mechanisms aimed at limiting the inherent toxicity of bile acids in face of biliary obstruction.


In this study, (sodium alginate/acrylamide) interpenetrating polymer networks ((NaAlg/AAm)IPN) have been prepared at definite composition. The aqueous solution of 3% (w/v) sodium alginate and 50% (w/v) acrylamide was irradiated with 60Co-γ rays at a dose rate of 0.07 kGy/h up to 5 kGy. The percent conversion was determined gravimetrically and 100% gelation was achieved at 5 kGy dose. To understand whether the semi-interpenetrating polymer network of sodium alginate is performed, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra of polyacrylamide (PAAm), sodium alginate, and the semi-interpenetrating polymer network were recorded. It is found that the FTIR spectra of PAAm, NaAlg, and the semi-interpenetrating polymer network are different. The thermograms of PAAm, sodium alginate, and the semi-interpenetrating polymer network were recorded for investigating their thermal character. (NaAlg/AAm)IPN hydrogels were immersed to swell in a solution of pH 7, at a temperature of 25°C. The swelling results at pH 7.0 indicated that (NaAlg/AAm)IPN hydrogel, containing 3% NaAlg showed maximum % swelling in water but swelling increased in the order of water > Magenta > Methylene Blue > Safranine-O > Methyl Violet. Diffusion of water and aqueous solution of dyes within (NaAlg/AAm)IPN hydrogels was found to be of Fickian character at the initial stage of swelling with regard to values calculated for diffusion coefficient of (NaAlg/AAm)IPN hydrogels in water and aqueous solution of dyes. Some diffusion parameters were calculated from swelling of (NaAlg/AAm)IPN in water and dyes and their adsorption isotherms were plotted. In the adsorption experiments, the efficiency of (NaAlg/AAm)IPN hydrogels to adsorb Magenta, Safranine-O, Methylene Blue, and Methyl Violet dyes from water was studied. (NaAlg/AAm)IPN hydrogels showed different adsorption for different aqueous solution of dyes at pH 7.0. Adsorption isotherms were constructed for (NaAlg/AAm)IPN-dye systems. S type adsorption in the Giles classification system was found. Thermal and spectroscopic characterization of semi-interpenetrating polymer network of sodium alginate and acrylamide and dye adsorbed semi-interpenetrating polymer network of sodium alginate and acrylamide was recorded. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008


Objective: To compare health status in term of clinical attachment loss and pocket depth adequately-controlled vs. inadequately-controlled type 2 diabetes. Study Design: Cross-Sectional study. Setting: Department of Periodontology, Khyber College of Dentistry, Peshawar. Period: 1st May 2021 to 30th January 2022. Material & Methods: A total of 142 participants with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), aged between 35 and 65 years, and with a DM duration exceeding 3 years, along with a minimum of seven teeth per arch determined through clinical examination, were included. Participants with type 1 diabetes mellitus, smokers, pregnant women, those on medications inducing gingival enlargement, those who underwent periodontal therapy in the last six months, and patients undergoing orthodontic treatment were excluded. Pocket depth and clinical attachment loss at six points on each reference tooth (including upper and lower first molars, first premolars, and central incisors) were measured using a Michigan 'O' Probe featuring William markings on a periodontal pocket chart. The arithmetic mean value was then calculated. To compare the two groups (adequately controlled diabetics and inadequately controlled diabetics), the mean pocket depth and mean clinical attachment loss were analyzed separately using an independent samples t-test. Results: The mean duration of DM, age, periodontal pocket depth, clinical attachment were 6.42 ±2.76 years, 50.77 ±9.50 years, 4.03 ±0.74mm, and 4.74 ±0.74mm. The males were 80(56%) and females were 62(44%). The mean PPD was less in well controlled (3.45±0.36mm) than poorly controlled diabetes (4.76±0.36mm) statistically significantly (p<0.001). Similarly mean CAL was less in adequately controlled (4.16±0.36mm) than inadequately controlled diabetes (5.47±0.36mm) statistically significantly (p<0.001). Conclusion: Inadequately controlled diabetes mellitus is associated with adverse periodontal health status.


Policy-based management provides the ability to (re-) configure differentiated services networks so that desired quality of service (QoS) goals are achieved. Relevant configuration involves implementing network provisioning decisions, performing admission control, and adapting bandwidth allocation dynamically according to emerging traffic demands. A policy-based approach facilitates flexibility and adaptability in that the policies can be changed without changing the implementation. However, as with any other complex system, conflicts and inconsistencies may arise in the policy specification. In this work, we concentrate on the policy conflicts that may occur for static resource management aspects of QoS provisioning, known as network dimensioning. The paper shows how conflict detection can be achieved using event calculus in conjunction with abductive reasoning techniques to detect the existence of potential conflicts in partial specification and generate explanations for the conditions under which the conflicts arise. We finally present some conflict detection examples from our initial implementation of a policy conflict analysis tool. Although we focus on network dimensioning, many of the types of conflicts we illustrate could arise in other applications.


In this collection, esteemed poet and translator David R. Slavitt brings to life John Milton's Latin poetry with deft, imaginative modern English translations. While Milton is recognized as one of the most learned English poets in history, his Latin poetry is less well known. Slavitt's careful rendering brings Milton's Latin poems-many written in his late teens-into the present. He keeps true to the style of the originals, showing Milton's maturing poetic voice and the freedom he found working in Latin. On the Gunpowder PlotO, sly Guy Fawkes, you plotted against your king and the British lords, but did you intend to be kindand make up for your malice in this thing with at least a show of piety? Do we findan intention, perhaps, of sending the members of court up to the sky in a chariot made of firethe way Elijah traveled. Or do I distort the simple wickedness of your desire? Featuring an introduction by Gordon Teskey, this comprehensive English-language collection of Milton's Latin poems pays due respect to a master. Poetry lovers, Milton fans, and scholars of either will welcome, enjoy, and learn from this work.


Objective:To investigate whether deranged physiologic parameters at admission to an ICU in Tanzania are associated with in-hospital mortality and compare single deranged physiologic parameters to a more complex scoring system. Design:Prospective, observational cohort study of patient notes and admission records. Data were collected on vital signs at admission to the ICU, patient characteristics, and outcomes. Cutoffs for deranged physiologic parameters were defined a priori and their association with in-hospital mortality was analyzed using multivariable logistic regression. Setting:ICU at Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Patients:All adults admitted to the ICU in a 15-month period. Measurements and Main Results:Two hundred sixty-nine patients were included: 54% female, median age 35 years. In-hospital mortality was 50%. At admission, 69% of patients had one or more deranged physiologic parameter. Sixty-four percent of the patients with a deranged physiologic parameter died in hospital compared with 18% without (p < 0.001). The presence of a deranged physiologic parameter was associated with mortality (adjusted odds ratio, 4.64; 95% CI, 1.95–11.09). Mortality increased with increasing number of deranged physiologic parameters (odds ratio per deranged physiologic parameter, 2.24 [1.53–3.26]). Every individual deranged physiologic parameter was associated with mortality with unadjusted odds ratios between 1.92 and 16.16. A National Early Warning Score of greater than or equal to 7 had an association with mortality (odds ratio, 2.51 [1.23–5.14]). Conclusion:Single deranged physiologic parameters at admission are associated with mortality in a critically ill population in a low-income country. As a measure of illness severity, single deranged physiologic parameters are as useful as a compound scoring system in this setting and could be termed "danger signs." Danger signs may be suitable for the basis of routines to identify and treat critically ill patients.


Various soluble and insoluble proteins (6.25 mg) were incubated at 37 C with partially purified protease from Bacteroides amylophilus (156 micrograms) in 2.0 ml of .1 M potassium phosphate buffer, pH 7.6, for 2, 4, 6 and 18 hr, and the liberated amino acids were determined by the ninhydrin method. Results showed that (1) although soluble, serum albumin and ribonuclease A were resistant to hydrolysis; (2) soluble and insoluble proteins of soybean meal were hydrolyzed at almost identical rates; (3) soluble proteins from soybean meal, rapeseed meal and casein were hydrolyzed at different rates, and (4) treatment of resistant proteins (serum albumin, ribonuclease A and insoluble fish meal and rapeseed meal proteins) with mercaptoethanol in 8 M urea or oxidation with performic acid rendered these proteins susceptible to hydrolysis. It is concluded that (1) solubility or insolubility of a protein is not by itself an indication of the protein's resistance or susceptibility to hydrolysis by rumen bacterial protease; (2) structural characteristics of the properties which renders feed protein resistant to degradation is the presence of crosslinking disulfide bonds.


Abstract. Geographic services of NATO member states produce standardised topographic maps for geographic support of their foreign missions. The MGCP data are used for the maps creation of the scales of 1:50,000 and 1:100,000. Topographic maps used for military training in own territory mostly remain in original form without full standardisation. NATO with support of the Defence Geospatial Information Working Group prepares a new standard for the Defence Topographic Map. The geographic service of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic has started the preparation process of the new topographic maps edition compliant with the new standard. Two prototypes of map sheets of scales of 1:25,000 and 1:50,000 were created in 2020, which serve for basic verification of map content symbolisation and applied technology. Procedures for generalization of the map content for the scale of 1:100,000 will be completed in next two years.


Astrocytoma cells were transfected with an expression vector for the structural phosphoprotein ppUL83 (pp65) of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV). Once made, pp65 showed the same characteristics as naturally produced protein and was stable for several days in astrocytoma cells, as it is during HCMV replication in fibroblasts. In permanently transfected cells, pp65 was homogeneously dispersed in the cell nucleus and showed a preferential methanol-stable association with condensed chromatin throughout cell division. Furthermore, pp65 could be detected bound to metaphase-arrested chromosomes in pp65-expressing astrocytoma cells, and in fibroblasts and astrocytoma cells during productive virus infection.


This paper explores the extent to which private sector participation has had an impact on Shanghai9s water policy since the late 1990s. This study focuses on the private sphere where private companies in the Shanghai water sector have adapted to new changes in political and economic circumstances. Recent findings based on fieldwork and data from 2000 to 2004 disclose that the Shanghai government has been committed to implementing reforms for private sector participation in the water sector. In response, private companies have actively participated in the process of privatisation. Such private sector participation, however, is unlikely to continue on a smooth path unless the Shanghai government establishes adequate legal and regulatory frameworks for private companies. The study concludes that privatisation in the Shanghai water sector will be an unavoidable process for the rationalisation of water services stimulated by the programme of economic reforms initiated in the late 1970s. But this process has been and will continue to be, balanced first by the government9s role in regulating privatised water services, second by the contribution of private companies in service provision and third by the continuous interaction between the government and private companies to achieve provision of high quality water in Shanghai.


This paper deals with dynamic responses of viscoelastic shock absorbers to protect a finger under impact forces by a sliding rigid object. The outline of the viscoelastic absorber is tube and the cross section of the absorber is in the shape of hollow semi circle. The sliding object having initial velocities collided with the absorbers. And the relevant restoring forces are measured using Levitation Mass Method proposed by Fujii. In this paper, we carry out numerical analysis of dynamic response for the viscoelastic absorbers under the same conditions with the experiment using LMM. The absorbers are modeled using a nonlinear concentrated spring with nonlinear hysteresis. This nonlinear spring is connected to the levitated block, which is modeled by three-dimensional finite elements. The experimental data are compared with the calculated ones using our proposed FEM.


Human hair consists of proteins, lipids, water, trace elements and pigments. The composition of the first four of these components is the focus of this Chapter. About two decades ago the emphasis on the proteins of hair was on its amino acid constituents which provided important information on the relative amounts of different functional groups in different types of hair and in different regions of the fiber. However, as a result of advances in the characterization and classification of the different proteins and genes of keratins and keratin associated proteins the focus today is on the proteins themselves. Several important new contributions to the composition of the surface layers of hair and the proteins of the cell membrane complex have been and are continuing and therefore are summarized in this Chapter. The current state of changes in the amino acids, proteins and lipids of hair by morphological region (including KAP and keratin proteins and where they reside), chemical and sunlight damage, diet, puberty and menopause, and other factors have been and are being made and are summarized here. An expanded section on metals in hair, where in the fiber these metals reside and the functional groups that they bind to and their effects on hair chemistry, toxicity and disorders are included.


Serum concentrations of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and thyroid autoantibodies in pregnant patients with thyroid disease at various stages of pregnancy were determined by in-house ELISAs. In normal pregnancy, serum TSH levels were significantly elevated (p < 0.05) from 13 weeks of gestation. The normal reference ranges for TSH for the second (0.6-5.0 mIU/l) and third trimester (0.6-5.6 mIU/l) were significantly higher (p < 0.05; p < 0.01 respectively) compared to 0.4-4.5 mIU/l for the first trimester. In pregnant thyroid patients, serum TSH levels correlated highly (p < 0.001) to T4 (r = 0.740), FT4I (r = 0.683) and MicAb (microsomal antibodies) (r = 0.825) but weaker (p < 0.01) to T3 (r = -0.512), FT3I (r = 0.520) and TgAb (thyroglobulin antibodies) (r = 0.618). Thus, measurement of TSH with the highly sensitive ELISA (enzyme linked immunosorbent assay) would form a useful first line test for thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy while measurement of thyroid autoantibodies would aid in the diagnosis of autoimmune hypothyroidism.


We study wave propagation in the buffered bistable equation, i.e., the bistable equation where the diffusing species reacts with immobile buffers that restrict its diffusion. Such a model describes wave front propagation in excitable systems where the diffusing species is buffered; in particular, the study of the propagation of waves of increased calcium concentration in a variety of cell types depends directly upon the analysis of such buffered excitability. However, despite the biological importance of these types of equations, there have been almost no analytical studies of their properties. Here, we study the question of whether or not the inclusion of multiple buffers can eliminate propagated waves. First, we prove that a unique (up to translation) traveling wave front exists. Moreover, the wave speed is also unique. Then we prove that this traveling wave front is stable, i.e., that any initial condition which vaguely resembles a traveling wave front (in a way we make precise) evolves to the unique wave front. We thus prove that multiple stationary buffers cannot prevent the existence of a traveling wave front in the buffered bistable equation and may not eliminate stable wave fronts. This suggests (although we do not prove) that the same result is true for more complex and realistic models of calcium wave propagation, a result of direct physiological relevance.


Study Design. Questionnaire survey. Objective. To explore spine surgeons' attitudes toward the involvement of nonphysician clinicians (NPCs) to screen patients with low back or low back–related leg pain referred for surgical assessment. Summary of Background Data. Although the utilization of physician assistants is common in several healthcare systems, the attitude of spine surgeons toward the independent assessment of patients by NPCs remains uncertain. Methods. We administered a 28-item survey to all 101 surgeon members of the Canadian Spine Society, which inquired about demographic variables, patient screening efficiency, typical wait times for both assessment and surgery, important components of low back–related complaints history and examination, indicators for assessment by a surgeon, and attitudes toward the use of NPCs to screen patients with low back and leg pain referred for elective surgical assessment. Results. Eighty-five spine surgeons completed our survey, for a response rate of 84.1%. Most respondents (77.6%) were interested in working with an NPC to screen patients with low back–related complaints referred for elective surgical assessment. Perception of suboptimal wait time for consultation and poor screening efficiency for surgical candidates were associated with greater surgeon interest in an NPC model of care. We achieved majority consensus regarding the core components for a low back–related complaints history and examination, and findings that would support surgical assessment. A majority of respondents (75.3%) agreed that they would be comfortable not assessing patients with low back–related complaints referred to their practice if indications for surgery were ruled out by an NPC. Conclusion. The majority of Canadian spine surgeons were open to an NPC model of care to assess and triage nonurgent or emergent low back–related complaints. Clinical trials to establish the effectiveness and acceptance of an NPC model of care by all stakeholders are urgently needed. Level of Evidence: 1


Contrary to what its name suggests, Nemesia arboricola is not strictly arboreal in habit. Here we compare female specimens of N. arboricola collected from arboreal and terrestrial nests. We furthermore describe the male of N. arboricola for the first time as well as two recently discovered species of Nemesia (N. maltensis sp. nov. and N. cominensis sp. nov.). Nemesia maltensis is described from both sexes, N. cominensis is described from the female and a juvenile male specimen. For N. cominensis we discuss the sexual dimorphism of juvenile male and female spiders. Field observations and laboratory observations show remarkable features of the Maltese Nemesia fauna that are unknown from Nemesia species found elsewhere. Particularly, the arboreal dwellings of N. arboricola and the absence of a trapdoor to close off the burrow entrance in N. maltensis appear to be exceptional. The composition of the Maltese Nemesia fauna, as located in the central Mediterranean, is finally discussed in relation to the different Nemesia species-complexes occurring in the eastern and western Mediterranean basin.


Abstract Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a molecularly heterogeneous group of malignancies with frequent genetic abnormalities. G-quadruplex (G4) DNA structures may facilitate this genomic instability through association with activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), an antibody diversification enzyme implicated in mutation of oncogenes in B-cell lymphomas. Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing analyses in this study revealed that AID hotspots in both activated B cells and lymphoma cells in vitro were highly enriched for G4 elements. A representative set of these targeted sequences was validated for characteristic, stable G4 structure formation including previously unknown G4s in lymphoma-associated genes, CBFA2T3, SPIB, BCL6, HLA-DRB5 and MEF2C, along with the established BCL2 and MYC structures. Frequent genome-wide G4 formation was also detected for the first time in DLBCL patient-derived tissues using BG4, a structure-specific G4 antibody. Tumors with greater staining were more likely to have concurrent BCL2 and MYC oncogene amplification and BCL2 mutations. Ninety-seven percent of the BCL2 mutations occurred within G4 sites that overlapped with AID binding. G4 localization at sites of mutation, and within aggressive DLBCL tumors harboring amplified BCL2 and MYC, supports a role for G4 structures in events that lead to a loss of genomic integrity, a critical step in B-cell lymphomagenesis.


Competitive systems are most commonly described mathematically using MacArthur's consumer-resource model, leading to the "competitive exclusion principle" which limits the number of coexisting competing species to the number of available resources. Nevertheless, several empirical evidences - in particular bacterial community cultures - show that this principle is violated in real ecosystems. Another experimental evidence that cannot be explained in this framework is the existence of diauxic (or polyauxic) shifts in microbial growth curves: bacteria consume resources sequentially, using first the one that ensures the highest growth rate and then, after a lag phase, they start growing slower using the second one. By introducing adaptive metabolic strategies whose dynamics tends to maximize species' relative fitness, we are able to explain both these empirical evidences, thus setting the paradigm for adaptive consumer-resource models.


Abstract Introduction: Our research aimed to assess the application of direct coercive measures based on the opinions of medical staff. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was held using an original questionnaire, implemented in 2019 and 2020, with 205 medical staff as respondents (including 170 nurses and 23 doctors) in 3 hospitals in Poland. Results: According to healthcare staff opinions, the most frequent reason for the application of direct coercive measures involved the patients' aggression directed at themselves (active self-abuse, 70.73%) or others (67.80%). Other reasons for coercion (such as damaging or throwing things, disturbing the operation of the facility, and passive self-abuse) accounted jointly for 80.04% of the cases. The main reason for the significantly more frequent application of coercion (once a month or more often) involved alcohol consumption (25.6%) and consumption of other psychoactive substances (18.84%; p < 0.001). It was significantly more frequently used (once a month or more often) for mentally ill patients (24.15%) than for patients with intellectual disabilities (5.8%; p < 0.001). The most frequently used measure was immobilisation (once a month or more often: 37.68%), and the rarest one was seclusion (6.76%). Conclusions: The most frequent reason for the application of coercive measures involved self-abuse or aggression caused by the consumption of psychoactive substances. Frequent application of the measures for other reasons that do not directly threaten human life or health requires further research. In particular, the frequent use of immobilisation compared to the infrequent use of seclusion requires further research. To protect patients' rights, it is urgently needed to clarify ambiguous terms used to describe reasons for the application of coercive measures by the legislator. Preventing violent behaviour through architectural solutions and preparing staff and wards for crisis intervention would benefit patients and staff. The public funding of the hospital-type facilities from which the respondents came highlights the need for government investment in treatment facilities where people with mental disorders and mental illnesses are located.


scopy a small percentage of patients showed Giardia lamblia or Entamoeba histolytica infections and were treated with metronidazole (or other anti-amebic agent). However, it was found that in patients with a similar chronic history but who had not had E. histolytica identified in the stool a course of metronidazole produced the same dramatic stibjective improvement in about 24 hours, with stool improvement within a few days. Most cases that presented with this clinical picture were therefore regarded as having gastrointestinal amoebiasis even in' the absence of positive identification in the stool. Tetracycline was more effective than the sulphonamides in treatment but was inferior to metronidazole, and it 'was assumed that tetracycline, as a weak .anti-amoebic agent, was suppressing even if not eradicating the amoebae whereas the sulphonamides were treating only a superimposed upset in bacterial flora. After treatment with metronidazole patients felt cured rather than improved, but "relapses" are difficult to interpret when the patient remains in the area of possible reinfection. Is finding two stools and one specimen of jejunal aspirate negative for amoebae sufficient to exclude amoebiasis? Even if they did not have amoebiasis might these patients in London respond to metronidazole in the same way as the patients in Katmandu? I wouid also be interested to know whether any of the authors' series had received metronidazole treatment, without lasting benefit, before their referral to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases.-I am, etc.,


A controlled-atmosphere cone calorimeter was used to investigate the burning of one epoxy/fiberglass and two brominated epoxy/fiberglass composites. The composites were tested in normal oxygen and oxygen-enriched environments (oxygen concentration up to 30 percent) at 25, 35, and 50 kW/m 2 heat fluxes. Results indicate that the heat flux had a major effect on the ignitability of epoxy/fiberglass and brominated epoxy/fiberglass while the oxygen concentration had a minor effect. The ignitability of epoxy/fiberglass was similar to that of brominated epoxy/fiberglass except the critical heat flux for ignition. For epoxy/fiberglass, the peak mass loss rate, peak heat release rate, and total heat released increased with the increase of oxygen concentration and heat flux, and the average specific extinction area decreased with the increase of oxygen concentration and heat flux. For brominated epoxy/fiberglass, the peak heat release rate and total heat released increased with the increase of oxygen concentration. In comparison with epoxy/fiberglass, brominated epoxy/fiberglass self-extinguishes faster, and produces more carbon monoxide (CO) and less carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) during burning. The upward flame spread rate and upward flame spread length of each composite obtained in separate experiments can be correlated with the peak heat release rate data obtained from the cone calorimeter tastes. The controlled-atmosphere cone calorimeter was effective in differentiating the burning of epoxy/fiberglass and brominated epoxy/fiberglass and is an effective tool for selecting materials to be used in the oxygen-enriched environments.


When VIX—a market index of volatility—increases, a firm's response is to defer growth of investment. Simultaneously, the expected time to ruin, E(T), shortens, causing the firm's value to decline more than commonly used valuation models suggest. The authors derive the characteristics of E(T) and revise valuation models that assume cash flows are growing perpetuities. They find that "value trap," high-growth stocks, and "irrational exuberance" can be explained by incorporating E(T) into the traditional valuation models. Their empirical results show that the sensitivities of the 49 industry portfolios to the change in VIX are all significantly negative and undiversifiable and could be proxies for E(T).


Social Internet of Things (SIoT) is a specialized form of adaptive networks, where any change in one node can affect other nodes in the network. Millions of devices, including vehicles, buildings, healthcare, industries, and several other types of devices, share and exchange sensitive data among each other. Interconnection of these devices changes the paradigms of the world around us and puts a great effect on the overall society. The number of nodes, types of devices, layout of the overall network, and sensitivity of the data adds more and more complexity in the domain of SIoT. In this paper, our contribution is twofold, first, we provide a brief and comprehensive overview of the social aspects of the IoT by selecting the most recent papers to investigate the complexity, adaptivity, and other social aspects of the IoT and their implications. The main aim of this paper is to analyze the benefits of IoT to the society, social acceptance of IoTs, and social connectivity of different age groups. Second, we forecast the future trends and predict the world in the year 2020. We provide a detailed analysis by using several different data tables to present the future trends of different aspects of SIoT. With this survey, we aim to provide an easy and concise view of different challenges in implementing SIoT and how it will affect the future smart cities and overall impact on the society.


Despite tremendous efforts, precise control in the synthesis of porous materials with ideal nanocages for desired gas separation applications still remains a challenge. Microporous metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have provided rich chemistry to enable precise control and design of structures, pore cavities, and functionalities at the molecular level. Here, we propose and design a microporous MOF (termed as ZJUT-1, ZJUT = Zhejiang University of Technology) with a fine-tuned nanocage, exhibiting the desired size, shape, and functionalities that are suitable for trapping a single propyne (C3H4) molecule. Adsorption and computational studies indicate that such optimized nanocages can not only reduce the uptake of propylene (C3H6), but also strengthen the C3H4–host interactions through multiple hydrogen-bonding between SiF62−/–NH2 and C3H4 molecules. This material thus shows remarkably different C3H4 and C3H6 adsorption capacities, with the largest uptake ratio of 3.06 at 1 bar and 298 K, affording a very high selectivity (up to 70) for C3H4/C3H6 (1/99) separation. The actual breakthrough experiments demonstrate that ZJUT-1 can efficiently remove trace amounts of C3H4 from the important raw C3H4/C3H6 mixtures under ambient conditions with 0.19 mmol g−1 C3H4 uptake capacity to produce 99.9995% pure C3H6.


This paper presents a simulator tool that can simulate large databases of visually realistic longitudinal MRIs with known volume changes. The simulator is based on a previously proposed biophysical model of brain deformation due to atrophy in AD. In this work, we propose a novel way of reproducing realistic intensity variation in longitudinal brain MRIs, which is inspired by an approach used for the generation of synthetic cardiac sequence images. This approach combines a deformation field obtained from the biophysical model with a deformation field obtained by a non-rigid registration of two images. The combined deformation field is then used to simulate a new image with specified atrophy from the first image, but with the intensity characteristics of the second image. This allows to generate the realistic variations present in real longitudinal time-series of images, such as the independence of noise between two acquisitions and the potential presence of variable acquisition artifacts. Various options available in the simulator software are briefly explained in this paper. In addition, the software is released as an open-source repository. The availability of the software allows researchers to produce tailored databases of images with ground truth volume changes; we believe this will help developing more robust brain morphometry tools. Additionally, we believe that the scientific community can also use the software to further experiment with the proposed model, and add more complex models of brain deformation and atrophy generation.


The amount of woody biomass available for biofuel production depends on tree growth rate, harvesting techniques, harvest cost, government policies, and established traditions within the industry. Comparing estimates of biomass availability across studies is difficult because of different methodologies for estimating biomass supply, compounded by inconsistent and often unspecified assumptions. Studies differ in their definition of biomass (i.e., tree size, parts of tree) and consideration of ecological and economic factors (i.e., harvest productivity and costs, competing demand, compliance with existing regulations). In particular, existing restrictions on bio-mass harvesting for biofuels under the Federal Renewable Fuel Standard often are not included. Additionally, because most biomass availability studies ignore current biomass uses, an overestimation of available bio-mass for future uses results. Presented are new estimates for the amount of economically available biomass in Maine, taking into consideration both economic (integrated harvesting for pulp and precommercial thinning) and ecological factors. It is found that biomass availability varies greatly, depending on the relative location of the biorefinery, biomass harvesting site, and existing wood consumers (e.g., pulp mill). Indeed, harvesting and transporting woody biomass without an existing use for the high-value forest products (saw logs and pulp) probably makes woody biomass for energy production uneconomical. This finding is contrary to some existing studies and suggests that economic consideration needs greater emphasis in estimating biomass availability for biofuels.


Using the RQMD model, transverse momentum dependence of the anisotropic flow v2 for π, K, nucleon, φ, and Λ, are studied for Au + Au collisions at √ s NN = 200 GeV. Both hydrodynamic hadron-mass hiragracy (hhmh) at low pT region and particle type dependence (baryon versus meson) at the intermediate pT region are reproduced with the model calculations although the model underpredicted the overal values of v2 by a factor of 2-3. As expected, when the rescatterings are turned off, all v2 becomes zero. The failure of the hadronic model in predicting the absulte values of hadron v2 clearly demonstrate the need of early dense partonic interaction in heavy-ion collisions at RHIC. At the intermediate pT , the hadron type dependence cold also be explained by the vacume hadronic cross sections within the frame of the model. The measurements of collective motion of hadrons from high-energy nuclear collisions can provide information on the dynamical equation of state information of the system [1, 2, 3]. Specifically, the strange and multi-strange hadron flow results have demonstrated the partonic collectivity [5] and the heavy-flavor flow will test the hypothesis of early thermalization in such collisions [4]. At RHIC, the measurements [6, 7] of elliptic flow v2 and nuclear modification factor RAA has lead to the conclusion that hadrons were formed via the coalescence/recombination of massive quarks [8, 9, 10]. This finding is directly related to the key issue in high-energy nuclear collisions such as deconfinement and chiral symmetry restoration. In addition, it also touched the important problem of hadronization process in high-energy collisions. Therefore a systematic study with different approaches becomes necessary. In this report, using a hadroic transport model UrQMD(v2.2)/RQMD(v2.4) [11, 12], we study the v2 of π, K, p, φ, and Λ from Au + Au collisions at 200 GeV. Properties of centrality denpendet and freeze-out time dependent will be discussed. We try to answer some specific questions like how much the observed features can be reproduced by the hadronic model and why. In this approach, the vacumme cross sections are used for strong interactions. Unlike the treatment in most hydrodynamic calculations, the transition from strong interaction and free-streming is determined by the local density and gradual. As we will discuss in the paper, the shortcomes of this method is lack of the partonic interactions which is important for the early dynamics in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions [13]. In order to take care of both partonic and hadronic interactions in high-energy nuclear collisions, a combination of hydrodynamic model for early stage (the perfect fliud stage) and hadronic transport model for later stage and freeze-out has been tried [14, 15].


To provide COSMOS, a dynamic model based manipulator control system, with an improved dynamic model, a PUMA 560 arm was disassembled; the inertial properties of the individual links were measured; and an explicit model incorporating all of the non-zero measured parameters was derived. The explicit model of the PUMA arm has been obtained with a derivation procedure comprised of several heuristic rules for simplification. A simplified model, abbreviated from the full explicit model with a 1% significance criterion, can be evaluated with 805 calculations, one fifth the number required by the recursive Newton-Euler method. The procedure used to derive the model is laid out; the measured inertial parameters are presented, and the model is included in an appendix.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, characterized by the accumulation of β‐amyloid plaques and the formation of neurofibrillary tangles. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small vesicles surrounded by a lipid bilayer membrane, which may be involved in the progression of AD. Glycans are essential building blocks of EVs, and we hypothesized that EV glycans may reflect pathological conditions of various diseases. Here, we performed glycan profiling of EVs prepared from sera of three AD patients (APs) compared to three healthy donors (HDs) using lectin microarray. Distinct glycan profiles were observed. Mannose‐binding lectins exhibited significantly higher signals for AP‐derived EVs than HD‐derived EVs. Lectin blotting using mannose‐binding lectin (rPALa) showed a single protein band at ~ 80 kDa exclusively in AP‐derived EVs. LC‐MS/MS analysis identified a protein band precipitated by rPALa as CD61, a marker of platelet‐derived exosomes (P‐Exo). Sandwich assays using Tim4 with specificity for phosphatidylserine on EVs and antibodies against P‐Exo markers (CD61, CD41, CD63, and CD9) revealed that P‐Exo is significantly elevated in sera of APs (n = 16) relative to age‐ and sex‐matched HDs (n = 16). Tim4‐αCD63 showed the highest value for the area under the curve (0.957) for discriminating APs from HDs, which should lead to a better understanding of AD pathology and may facilitate the development of a novel diagnostic method for AD.


The area of robust detection in the presence of partly unknown useful signal or interference is a widespread task in many signal processing applications. In this paper, we consider the robustness of a matched subspace detector in additive white Gaussian noise, under the condition that the noise power is known under null hypothesis, and unknown under alternative hypothesis when the useful signal triggers an variation of noise power, and we also consider the mismatch between the signal subspace and receiver matched filter. The test statistic of this detection problem is derived based on generalized likelihood ratio test, and the distribution of the test statistic is analysis. The computer simulation is used to validate the performance analysis and the robustness of this algorithm at low SNR, compared with other matched subspace detectors.


The purpose of this paper is to identify the current status of fuel cell technology and to establish whether said technology is mature enough to be implemented into the Swedish Armed Forces. The question to be answered in this paper is as follows: Can hydrogen gas and fuel cells be used as an alternative source of energy within the Swedish Armed Forces? This paper is based on theoretical studies and reports from prior research done on fuel cells. By studying these facts a predictive answer has been obtained. The answer I have come to, is that the maturity of fuel cell technology is currently inadequate for the Swedish Armed Forces to implement, especially considering its harsh working conditions.


A novel high-power broadband source based on the combined action of stimulated Raman scattering and parametric four-wave mixing in a highly nonlinear dispersion-shifted fiber ring cavity is investigated experimentally. An output spectrum of 1510-1580 nm with a stable power of 91 mW is demonstrated with a dual-wavelength pumping scheme.


In the last two decades academic discourse has come to be seen
as a purposeful interaction between writers and readers in
which the writers try to construct a credible representation of
themselves and their research and to align themselves with the
discourse community by evaluating their own work and views and
the work and views of others. The study of stance in academic
writing has concentrated primarily on showing differences in
the preferences of academic communities by discipline. This
paper seeks to examine differences in the expression of stance
in academic English in the writing habits of novice Czech
writers and expert native writers on the basis of an analysis
of the use of certain hedges and boosters in published research
articles and unpublished undergraduate and graduate
dissertations.


━━ Objective. The University Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN)-Clinical Trials Registry (CTR) is a unique web-based registry of clinical trials in Japan. Clinical trials must be registered to a public data-base when submitting to medical journals. We evaluated the current status of the publication of Japanese lung cancer clinical trials using the UMIN-CTR. Methods. We searched for trials that had been registered to the UMIN-CTR before October 2005 to identify publications associated with the trial results in the UMIN-CTR database. Forty-eight trials concerning lung cancer treatment were found. A final search for publications was performed using the PubMed and UMIN-CTR databases on December 2014. Results. Thirty-one (64.6%) trials were published. Among them, 16 showed positive results concerning primary endpoints and 15 had negative ones. There was no significant difference in publication rates according to the number of participants ( (cid:2) 100 and <100). The studies in which a planned final analysis date in the UMIN-CTR was described by an investigator were significantly more frequently published than those without this description (84.2% vs 51.4%, p=0.021). Conclusion. Approximately two-thirds of trials including negative trials have been published. The UMIN-CTR serves a function as the Japanese clinical trial registry.


It has become increasingly important for content providers (CPs) to reach consumers with low latency. Peering links that connect CPs directly to access Internet service providers (access ISPs) have been used for this purpose thus providing one-hop AS paths from CPs to users. While providing improved latency, these peering links still do not give CPs control over the entire end-to-end path to their users. This has made it difficult for CPs to completely manage user experience. Motivated by this, we propose the deployment of Zero-Hop Networks (ZeN), where a CP's entire end-to-end path to users is under its control. We believe it is important to respond to the compelling demand for ZeN and enable its provision over the shared Internet infrastructure so that all may continue to reap its benefits. In this paper we lay out the vision for ZeN, describing its goals and challenges. We propose to deploy ZeN by allowing CPs to extend their network's control over the access ISP substrate in a way that allows the CP to control the entire end-to-end path. We develop two strawman architectures based on Software-Defined Networking ideas: one based on resource reservation and the other based on network virtualization. We also discuss some elements of a research agenda that is needed to bring ZeN deployments to realization.


We study a novel curriculum learning scheme where in each round, samples are selected to achieve the greatest progress and fastest learning speed towards the ground-truth on all available samples. Inspired by an analysis of optimization dynamics under gradient flow for both regression and classification, the problem reduces to selecting training samples by a score computed from samples' residual and linear temporal dynamics. It encourages the model to focus on the samples at the learning frontier, i.e., those with large loss but fast learning speed. The scores in discrete time can be estimated via already-available byproducts of training, and thus require negligible extra compute. We discuss the properties and potential advantages of the proposed dynamics optimization via current deep learning theory and empirical studies. By integrating it with cyclical training of neural networks, we introduce "dynamics-optimized curriculum learning (DoCL)", which selects the training set at each step by a weighted sampling based on the scores. On nine different datasets, DoCL significantly outperforms random mini-batch SGD and recent curriculum learning methods both in terms of efficiency and final performance.


Epidemiological and experimental evidence exists to suggest that pomegranate and its juice possess chemopreventive and anticancer properties. The anthocyanidin delphinidin is a major polyphenol present in pomegranates and has been shown to be responsible for these effects. Plant polyphenols are recognized as naturally occurring antioxidants but also catalyze oxidative DNA degradation of cellular DNA either alone or in the presence of transition metal ions such as copper In this paper we show that similar to various other classes of polyphenols, delphinidin is also capable of causing oxidative degradation of cellular DN/\. Lymphocytes were exposed to various concentrations of delphinidin (10,20,50 n-M) for 1 h and the DNA breakage was assessed using single cell alkaline gel electrophoresis (Comet assay). Inhibition of DNA breakage by several scavengers of reactive oxygen species (ROS) indicated that it is caused by the formation of ROS. Incubation of lymphocytes with neocuproine (a cell membrane permeable Cu(l) chelator) inhibited DNA degradation in intact lymphocytes in a dose dependent manner. Bathocuproine, which is unable to permeate through the cell membrane, did not cause such inhibition. We have further shown that delphinidin is able to degrade DNA in cell nuclei and that such DNA degradation is also inhibited by neocuproine suggesting that nuclear copper is mobilized in this reaction. These results indicate that the generation of ROS possibly occurs through mobilization of endogenous copper ions. The results are in support of our hypothesis that the prooxidant activity of plant polyphenols may be an important mechanism for their anticancer properties. © 2008 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.


Seventy-five homosexual men with generalized lymphadenopathy for at least three months (lymphadenopathy syndrome [LAS]), subsequently shown to be seropositive for antibody against human immunodeficiency virus, were enrolled in a prospective study in Atlanta in 1982 and 1983. As of Nov 30, 1987, twenty-two (29%) of the 75 were known to have developed acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) three to 60 months after enrollment and five to 69 months after onset of LAS. The six-year cumulative incidence of AIDS, by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, was 38%. The cumulative incidence in years 4, 5, and 6 (30%) was significantly higher than in years 1, 2, and 3 (11%), suggesting that the risk for AIDS increases after the third year of LAS and that many more study participants will eventually develop AIDS. A precipitous decline in the T-helper cell count frequently heralds the diagnosis of AIDS; this decrease appears to occur at different times after the onset of LAS in different persons. The four-year cumulative incidence of AIDS following observations of T-helper cell counts less than 200/mm3, 200 to 299/mm3, 300 to 399/mm3, and 400/mm3 or greater was 84%, 41%, 25%, and 18%, respectively; these data are important for determining prognosis in the individual patient as well as for determining the suitability of candidates and baseline data for drug trials.


Two different strains of Escherichia coli exhibiting unusual patterns of resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics were isolated from patients at Cochin Hospital. Both isolates showed a low level of resistance to amoxycillin, ticarcillin and ureidopenicillins but were susceptible to cephalosporins, aztreonam and imipenem; beta-lactamase inhibitors potentiated the activities of the beta-lactams to only a limited extent. All resistance characteristics of the strains were transferable by conjugation to E. coli K12. Resistance was shown to be due to beta-lactamases of pI 5.20 and relative molecular masses of 24,000. The hydrolytic and inhibition profiles of these enzymes were similar to each other but differed from those of broad-spectrum beta-lactamases (TEM-1). The rates of hydrolysis (Vmax) of amoxycillin (c. 200%) were higher than that for TEM-1 (84%). Ticarcillin, ureidopenicillins and cephaloridine were hydrolyzed slowly. However, as for TEM-1, no hydrolysis was observed with cefoxitin, third generation cephalosporins, aztreonam and imipenem. The high Km values demonstrated the poor affinity of these enzymes for their substrates. Unlike TEM-1, they were poorly inhibited by beta-lactamase inhibitors. These two enzymes differed from each other as follows: (i) the concentrations of clavulanic acid required for 50% beta-lactamase inhibition were 31 mumol/L for one enzyme (E-SAL) and 9.4 mumol/L for the other (E-GUER); (ii) p-chloromercuribenzoate was a more active inhibitor of E-SAL then E-GUER. The titration curve method and DNA-DNA hybridization studies demonstrated that both enzymes were structurally related to TEM-1. The novel plasmid-encoded enzymes produced by the two isolates of E. coli appeared to be almost identical and to be derived from TEM-enzymes. On the basis of their presumed phylogeny and their biological properties, we propose that these beta-lactamases be given the generic name TRI (TEM Resistant to beta-lactamase Inhibitors).


The 825T allele of the gene GNB3 which encodes the beta 3 subunit of heterotrimeric G proteins is associated with enhanced signal transduction via G proteins through the generation of a splice variant termed Gbeta3s. It was detected following a classical candidate gene approach using cell lines from patients with enhanced signal transduction and essential hypertension. The high frequency of the 825T allele in 'old' ethnicities, e.g. bushmen and Australian aborigines as well as in black populations, together with its strong association with obesity suggests that the 825T allele is a true 'thrifty genotype'. Development of obesity associated with the 825T allele is strongly influenced by lifestyle, e.g. physical activity, and other exogenous influences like pregnancy. In hypertension the 825T allele is associated with low renin activity and appears to strongly predict the development of left ventricular hypertrophy. In type 2 diabetes the 825T allele was reported to be predispose for end-stage renal disease, whereas this effect has not yet been confirmed for patients with type 1 diabetes.


When manufacturers and retailers vacate traditional locations, they leave holes in a city's fabric that signal a shifting urban-industrial terrain. Who should mend these spaces, and how should they approach the problem? Using Toronto's Dundas Square and surrounding area as a case study, this book meticulously reconstructs the redevelopment process to explore the theories and practices used. It traces the labyrinth of competing interests that can sideline and nearly overwhelm the public planning function. In these circumstances, Moore Milroy concludes that practising planners are marooned by planning theories that begin from the premise that urban space is a social construction and only secondarily a function of technology and aesthetics.


This article considers Justice Robert H. Jackson's great but less than completely remembered December 1944 dissenting opinion in Korematsu v. United States. As we recall that infamous decision upholding military orders excluding Japanese Americans from the West Coast during World War II, we regularly, properly credit Justice Jackson for being one of three Supreme Court justices who refused to assist in enforcing racist orders by judging them to be authorized by the Constitution. We recall much less often that Jackson also wrote in Korematsu, with explicit resignation about judicial powerlessness, that civilian courts, up to and including the Supreme Court, perhaps should abstain from attempting to hold military commanders to constitutional limits in wartime. Jackson's Korematsu dissent, considered in full, is a coherent, candid, laudable testament to the better human capacities, including his own. The opinion is in part autobiographical, emanating from Jackson's outlook and upbringing as a rural American civilian who viewed life as pacific and individually autonomous and saw law as most workable in such times of peace and unthreatening personal freedom. The opinion also is grounded in Jackson's direct and formative pre-Court experiences with executive power, including its apex in military command. Jackson's Korematsu dissent also fits into his general views of people and power, and particularly into what he saw as the idea of law itself: the product of human beings struggling, by employing selfless reason, to impose some limits on what they and their governments otherwise can perpetrate. And despite Jackson's apparent pessimism about the power of courts to protect constitutional liberties from military command threats during wartime, his Korematsu opinion also displays, and has as part of its bottom line, his characteristic optimism about United States democracy, from its smallest people to its most powerful leaders. In his years after Korematsu, Justice Jackson had unique experiences that confirmed his 1944 perspective on the vast nature of executive power, including military power. These experiences also confirmed his hopeful view that the people who possess such power are capable of restraining themselves in its exercise. At Nuremberg in particular, where Jackson was the chief United States military prosecutor of the surviving Nazi leaders following Germany's unconditional surrender to the Allies, he worked closely with military leaders who exercised such restraint, and Jackson himself functioned as - and tried with considerable success to live up to the responsibilities of being - one of those powerful commanders.


A Bose-Einstein condensate with time varying scattering length in time-dependent harmonic trap is analytically investigated and soliton-like solutions of the Gross-Pitaeviskii equation are obtained to describe single soliton, bisoliton and N-soliton properties of the matter wave. The influences of the geometrical property and modulate frequency of trapping potential on soliton behaviour are discussed. When the trap potential has a very sinall trap aspect ratio or oscillates with a high frequency, the matter wave preserves its shape nearly like a soliton train in propagation, while the breathing behaviour, which displays the periodic collapse and revival of the matter wave, is found for a relatively large aspect ratio or slow varying potential. Meanwhile mass centre of the matter wave translates and/or oscillates for different trap aspect ratio and trap frequencies.


A prominent vertical dolerite dyke, up to 30 m wide and which can be traced for over 100 km, is compositionally homogeneous along much of its length and shows no evidence of flow differentiation. Associated parallel dykes are compositionally distinct and are unrelated by closed-system processes. The main dyke has geochemical characteristics of the Maloti or Senqu Units in the upper part of the main Lesotho basalt sequence, whereas the parallel dykes are geochemically similar to the lower Mafika Lisiu Unit. On the basis of size and composition the main dyke may well represent a fissure which once fed effusions of Karoo basalt.


Kim et al . (1) from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center investigated the possibility to enhance the effect of radionuclide therapy by vascular-targeted photodynamic (VTP) therapy in an experimental prostate cancer animal model. They used bombesin-antagonist peptide as a targetor which is binding gastrin releasing peptide receptor (GRPr) and it was labeled with high energy beta-emitting radionuclide 90 Y and the radionuclide was linked with DOTA-chelate. This peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) compound, 90 Y-DOTA-AR (bombesin antagonist) radiopeptide was followed by therapy with WST-11 (Weizmann STeba-11 drug; a negatively charged water-soluble palladium-bacteriochlorophyll derivative, Tookad ® Soluble) application. This VTP approach generates reactive oxygen/nitrogen species within tumor blood vessels, resulting in their instantaneous destruction and causes rapid tumor necrosis. Radionuclide emitting charged particle forms Cherenkov luminescence imaging (CLI) which can be used to monitor the retention of the accumulated 90 Y-PRRT. In this work, they demonstrated that the instantaneous arrest of tumor vasculature trapped radiopharmaceuticals in the vicinity of the tumor and thus improved the efficacy of targeted radiotherapy (1).


The activity of dopamine β-hydroxylase (DBH) in plasma ranged from 2 to 100 units per liter of plasma in 82 apparently healthy subjects (ages 22 to 35 years). A nonnormal pattern of distribution was evident: 62 subjects had values below 35 units (18 � 1), while 13 of the remaining 20 subjects had values above 60 units (80 � 5). Those with low DBH activity had lower values for urinary catecholamine excretion (31 � 3 micrograms), with normal and stable blood pressure; those with high DBH activity had higher values for urinary catecholamine excretion (72 � 6 micrograms), with greater lability of arterial blood pressure. The DBH activity was significantly elevated in patients with labile (74 � 2 mm-Hg) or fixed (57 � 2 mm-Hg) essential hypertension. The results indicate that plasma DBH activity is low and that it falls within a narrow range in young adults with normal and stable blood pressure.


Background There are a number of infant mannequins available for teaching newborn and infant bag mask ventilation (BMV) skills. These include the NeoNatalie newborn mannequin and the Baby AnneTM infant mannequin (both Laerdal Medical Foundation, Stavanger, Norway). Objectives To examine user preference and user ability to perform effective BMV with these mannequin models. Methods Each participant was randomised to use the Baby AnneTM infant mannequin (BA) and the NeoNatalie mannequin fully filled with air (NNA), fully filled with water (NNW) and filled with 50% air and 50% water (NNAW), each for a 30 second period. Participants were asked to rate the level of fidelity of the mannequins to a "real baby" on a 5-point likert scale in terms of appearance, weight, feel, tone and realism of ventilation. Results 20 participants completed this study (10 doctors, 10 nurse/midwives). Fidelity: BA was similar to NNWA in terms of appearance and similar to NNW in terms of weight. However, in terms of touch, muscle tone and realism of ventilation, NNW and NNWA were similar and greatly exceeded BA and NNA. Breaths: Although all configurations were generally comparable, NNW had the most effective breaths delivered. Discussion The NNW and NNAW were both shown to have the highest level of fidelity to a "real baby" and had the highest number of effective ventilations delivered. The NNA was disliked in terms of fidelity, and the most difficult to bag due to the difficulty in positioning the airway. This study suggests that NeoNatalie configurations that contain water are the easiest to provide BMV.


Background —Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) signaling is a central regulator of resistance artery tone. Therefore, S1P levels need to be tightly controlled through the delicate interplay of its generating enzyme sphingosine kinase 1 and its functional antagonist S1P phosphohydrolase-1. The intracellular localization of S1P phosphohydrolase-1 necessitates the import of extracellular S1P into the intracellular compartment before its degradation. The present investigation proposes that the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator transports extracellular S1P and hence modulates microvascular S1P signaling in health and disease. Methods and Results —In cultured murine vascular smooth muscle cells in vitro and isolated murine mesenteric and posterior cerebral resistance arteries ex vivo, the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (1) is critical for S1P uptake; (2) modulates S1P-dependent responses; and (3) is downregulated in vitro and in vivo by tumor necrosis factor- (cid:1) , with significant functional consequences for S1P signaling and vascular tone. In heart failure, tumor necrosis factor- (cid:1) downregulates the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator across several organs, including the heart, lung, and brain, suggesting that it is a fundamental mechanism with implications for systemic S1P effects. Conclusions —We identify the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator as a critical regulatory site for S1P signaling; its tumor necrosis factor- (cid:1) –dependent downregulation in heart failure underlies an enhancement in microvascular tone. This molecular mechanism potentially represents a novel and highly strategic therapeutic target for cardiovascular conditions involving inflammation. ( Circulation . 2012;125:2739-2750.) collagenase, and elastase. The resulting cell suspension was washed several times in phosphate-buffered saline and plated in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum and 1% penicillin-streptomycin. Cell cultures were maintained at 37°C with 5% CO 2 split at a seeding density of 10 6 cells. Immunostaining for (cid:1) -actin, positive polymerase chain reaction results for myocardin and MyoD, and negative polymerase chain reaction results for endothelial NO synthase confirmed smooth muscle cell identity.


Petri games are a multiplayer game model for the automatic synthesis of distributed systems. We compare two fundamentally different approaches for solving Petri games. The symbolic approach decides the existence of a winning strategy via a reduction to a two-player game over a finite graph, which in turn is solved by a fixed point iteration based on binary decision diagrams (BDDs). The bounded synthesis approach encodes the existence of a winning strategy, up to a given bound on the size of the strategy, as a quantified Boolean formula (QBF). In this paper, we report on initial experience with a prototype implementation of the bounded synthesis approach. We compare bounded synthesis to the existing implementation of the symbolic approach in the synthesis tool ADAM. We present experimental results on a collection of benchmarks, including one new benchmark family, modeling manufacturing and workflow scenarios with multiple concurrent processes.


Pooled samples of lumbar CSF from nine patients with neurologic disorders were aliquoted and subjected to the differential influence of temperature for four hours. The determination of the gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA) levels in CSF by ion-exchange-fluorometric analysis before and after incubation showed a progressive increase in GABA content of CSF as a function of temperature, reaching a maximum at 50 degrees C. However, no increases in GABA level were noted in CSF incubated at 80 degrees C or 100 degrees C. These in vitro increases in the GABA content of untreated CSF appear to be entirely secondary to enzyme action, subject to individual and temperature variability, and necessitate standardization of clinical CSF protocols.


Voice conversion systems deal with the conversion of a speech signal to sound as if it was uttered by another speaker. The conversion of the spectral features has attracted a lot of research attention but the conversion of pitch, modeling the speakerdependent prosody, is often achieved by just controlling the F0 level and range. However, the detailed prosody, including different linguistic units at several distinct temporal scales, can carry a significant amount of speaker identity related information. This paper introduces a new method for the conversion of the prosody, using wavelets to decompose the pitch contour into ten temporal scales ranging from microprosody to the utterance level, which allows modeling the different timings of the prosody phenomena. The prosody conversion is carried out in the wavelet domain, using regression techniques originally developed for the spectral conversion of speech. The performance of the proposed prosody conversion method is evaluated within a real voice conversion system. The results for crossgender conversion indicate a significant improvement in naturalness when compared to the traditional approach of shifting and scaling the F0 to match the target speaker's mean and variance.


New Agendas, New Mandates Susie Tharu Satish Poduval Pavan Kumar IT may already be a truism to say that higher education is in crisis in our time. Along a whole gamut of dimensions (ranging from the tortured lives of 5 per cent of the Indian eighteen-year-olds who may hope for entry into its precincts and the 95 per cent who as yet may foster no such aspiration, empty classrooms, demoralised teachers, and rapidly changing job markets, to budgetary allocations that have changed the macro-economic planning of tertiary education into a farce), institutions are crumbling, certitudes wearing thin. But what exactly constitutes this crisis? How might it be analysed? What does it imply for students, planners, teachers, administrators, for the existing disciplines and curricular formations?


With the theory of M.W.Sayers, the pavement surface roughness was simulated by the sine curve. Through the Mat lab and VC + + program, the dynamic vehicle load caused by pavement surface roughness was analyzed and calculated. Given the dynamic road and environment factors and combined the test results of highway surface roughness, the deterioration law of pavement roughness were studied by amendment Shell permanent deformation theory. A new prediction method was put forward to predict the remaining life of asphalt concrete pavement, which was proved to be reasonable and reliable and can provide a valuable basis for the scientific decision-making of asphalt pavement management.


The apatite drain system is a new method for acid mine drainage (AMD) treatment. Laboratory tests and field experiments showed that this technique can remove high concentrations of iron and aluminum in AMD having a pH below 4.0. In addition, this system removes both ferric and ferrous iron, whereas a constructed wetlands system removes only ferric iron when converted from the ferrous state in the wetland. A geochemical model, MINTEQA2, was used to simulate the changes in concentration of aqueous constituents, and in the pH and the potential mineral phase. Results of MINTEQA2 support the conclusions of the laboratory and field experiments. Apatite is effective in removing iron, sulfate, and aluminum from AMD; pH was inversely proportional to the flow rate until the equilibrium point was reached (pH = 4.09 at 25°C). Also, the role of apatite as a precipitant and pH buffer was limited by its solubility.


Light microscopic and ultrastructural observations were made in the bull rete testis and the ductuli efferentes with emphasis on the presence of sperm in the epithelium. Phagocytosed sperm in various stages of degeneration were found in the epithelial cells lining the rete testis and in the nonciliated cells of the ductuli efferentes. Phagocytosis was more prevalent in the rete testis than in the ductuli efferentes. Besides the epithelial cells, degenerating sperm components and residual bodies were in the luminal macrophages of the rete testis. The degeneration of sperm heads presumably progressed in the following order: (i) disruption of the cell membrane, (ii) aggregation of small vesicles, probably of Golgi origin, between the disrupted cell membrane and an outer acrosomal membrane, (iii) loss of the acrosomal matrix, and finally (iv) disintegration of the nuclear chromatin. These degenerative changes probably resulted from increased lysosomal activity of phagocytosing cells. The possible importance and causes of spermiophagy are discussed.


BACKGROUND
Clinical-grade human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) ideally should be derived and maintained in xeno-free culture conditions using defined chemicals or materials of human origin. This will reduce the possibility of xeno-derived pathogenic infection and/or unfavorable immune reaction in clinical application. The present study therefore aimed to derive autogenic feeders from hESCs and evaluate their capability to support the pluripotency of hESCs in xeno-free culture conditions.

METHODS AND RESULTS
H9 hESCs were cultured in media containing human serum (HS), serum replacement (SR) or KFM combination, to generate autogenic feeders (named HSdF, SRdF and KFMdF, respectively). Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, flow cytometry and immunofluorescence analysis using pluripotent stem cell markers, markers of early cell lineages and surface markers revealed that HSdF, SRdF and KFMdF likely belonged to different cellular subpopulations. The efficiency of the autogenic feeders in maintaining pluripotency of H9 hESCs using media containing SR, fetal bovine serum, HS or 1% HS plus various combinations of growth factors was evaluated by flow cytometric analysis of Oct4 expression. All three autogenic feeders were shown to be capable of maintaining the undifferentiated status of H9 hESCs in SR-containing media in long-term culture. When supplemented with bFGF, activin A and noggin, hESCs could also be maintained favorably on KFMdF in a medium containing 1% HS without losing their pluripotent potentials both in vitro and in vivo.

CONCLUSIONS
Novel autogenic feeders can be derived from hESCs under xeno-free conditions and they can robustly maintain the pluripotent identity of hESCs in xeno-free media containing a low concentration of HS.


Objective: To evaluate and compare the clinical effects of three surgical procedures for the periodontal treatment of root surface exposure after resection of epulis. Methods: Thirty patients with epulis were selected in this study and the exposed root surfaces of the patients' teeth were covered with laterally transposition flap, laterally pedicled transposition flap or coronally advanced flap combined with a connective tissue graft in the treatments of epulis. At the time of follow-up during the operation, 3 months after operation and 6 months after operation, respectively, the color, shape and quality of the gum in the operation area and the coordination of the diaphragm and diaphragm were observed, and the root surface exposure (recession depth, RD) and angle were recorded. Keratinized tissue height (KTH), root coverage rate (RC) and patients' satisfaction with the surgery were also recorded. Results: The flap widths in groups of laterally pedicled transposition flap and coronally advanced flap combined with a connective tissue graft were significantly wider than that in the group of laterally transposition flap at three-month and six-month follow-ups after the surgery. The width of keratoderma [(2.70±1.16) mm] in the group of laterally transposition flap was significantly lower at 6 months postoperatively than that in the other two groups [(4.80±1.14) and (4.90±1.66) mm, respectively] (P<0.01). At the 6th month after surgery, the root flap coverage was at the lowest level [(24±43)%] in the group of laterally transposition flap, and it was significantly lower than that in the other two groups [(80±23)% and (86±24)%, respectively] (P<0.01). There was no significant difference of the root flap coverage between groups of laterally pedicled transposition flap and coronally advanced flap combined with a connective tissue graft. At the time of follow-up, patients were satisfied with the aesthetic effects of the three surgical procedures. Conclusions: After the resection of the gingival tumor, the defect of the gingiva is caused. The laterally pedicled flap and pedicled flap combined with connective tissue transplantations for soft tissue repairing can achieve satisfactory aesthetic effects which are superior to the effect of simple flap technique.


This paper presents a new approach to disambiguate company names in the Twitter social network. We have focused on making lighter the processing of comparing company profiles with tweets in order to obtain a competitive real-time system. With this aim, we only use the home page of each company as information source to create a unique profile. On the other hand, we compute the similarity of a tweet in connection to a profile by comparing the content of the tweet with the profile. Both steps do not use any other external information source and all the process is developed in an unsupervised way. We have tested our application with the test WePS-3 CLEF ORM corpus obtaining encouraging results.


Aluminium composite materials reinforced with amorphous iron borides (Fe/B) have been manufactured following a powder metallurgical (PM) route. Aluminium particles were mixed with 20% (by wt.) Fe/B particles (obtained by mechanical alloying during 36 h from iron and boron powders, 50% by wt. mixture). Mixes were uniaxially pressed and sintered at different temperatures (ranging from 650 to 1100 °C). The effect of sintering temperature on the corrosion resistance of those materials has been studied and related to the formed microstructures. Moreover, those materials were compared to a wrought and a PM plain aluminium. Their behaviour is studied through cyclic anodic polarization curves in chloride media. In the Al + 20%Fe/B composites, low sintering temperatures (650–950 °C) exert a negative effect. However, when the material was sintered at high temperature (1000–110 0°C) its behaviour was very similar to the pure sintered aluminium.


This chapter shares the experience of two action research projects ReMap Lima and cLIMA sin Riego, where mapping has been used with three main objectives: to make visible what is otherwise 'invisible'; to open up dialogue between different stakehold‐ ers in the city and to arrive at concrete actions, collectively negotiated between citizens and policy makers. Two case study sites were chosen in Lima, Peru: Barrios Altos (BA) in the historic centre and José Carlos Mariátegui (JCM) at the edge of the city. The approach adopted applies a participatory action methodology based on grounded applications and advanced technologies for community-led mapping and visualisa‐ tion. The chapter reflects upon three interrelated sites of the mapping process: the reading, writing and audiencing of maps and explores how these can provide opportunities to break away from the polar positions often established between Claimant/ marginalised group and the state, thus aiming to contribute to a process of spatial co-learning across typically confronted actors. The two case studies show different possibilities for interrogating the city to provide a spatially and socially grounded way of co-producing knowledge for action that can contribute to the planning of just urban futures.


A phase I gene transfer clinical study was undertaken to examine the ability to introduce a potential anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) gene therapeutic into hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC), thereby contributing to multilineage engraftment. The potential therapeutic effect of genetically modifying HPC with protective genes in HIV-infected adults depends in part on the presence of adult thymic activity and myeloid capacity in the setting of HIV replication. Herein we report the presence and expression of a retroviral vector encoding an anti-HIV-1 ribozyme in mature hematopoietic cells of different lineages, and de novo T-lymphocyte development ensuing from genetically engineered CD34(+) HPC. Sustained output of vector-containing mature myeloid and T-lymphoid cells was detected even in patients with multidrug-resistant infection. In addition, the study showed that the degree of persistence of gene-containing cells was dependent on transduced HPC dose. These novel findings support the concept of gene therapy as a modality to effect immune reconstitution with cells engineered to inhibit HIV replication and this report represents the first demonstration of long-term maintenance of a potential therapeutic transgene in HIV disease.


In various prior work, Poisson models have been proposed for normalization scan and delayed coincidence measurements in PET systems. In these models, the mean measured counts are given by pair-wise products of a set of unknown detector efficiency or singles rate parameters. Additionally, several kinds of iterative algorithms have been proposed for solving the associated maximum likelihood estimation problem, and have exhibited strong empirical performance. To our knowledge, however, no analysis has been given proving that these algorithms actually converge, but only that convergence, should it hypothetically occur, would have to be to a stationary point of the loglikelihood. One of the main obstacles to a complete convergence analysis is showing that the loglikelihood actually possesses a finite maximizer. As we will show, there are cases where the loglikelihood function for these applications can approach its maximum value only by letting the unknown parameters tend asymptotically to infinity. In such cases, convergent behavior is not possible with any algorithm because there is nothing to converge to. In this article, we derive sufficient conditions - for cylindrical PET system geometries - guaranteeing not only that a unique and finite maximizer exists, but also that the loglikelihood maximization is equivalent to minimizing a strictly convex function. The latter obviates many questions of convergent algorithm design, since virtually any minimization algorithm with standard monotonicity and stationary properties will convergently minimize a strictly convex function when the minimizer exists. The conditions that we derive are, moreover, readily verifiable by pre-analysis of the projection measurements and show that failure of a solution to exist is a very rare event, except for unrealistically low count scans or for systems with unrealistically dense patterns of malfunctioning detectors.


Radionuclide therapy is widely used as an effective modality in the management of bone pain. The main indication for this treatment is symptomatic bone metastases, confirmed by bone scintigraphy. We present a case of small cell lung cancer (SCLC) stage T4N2M1b, with a good metabolic response to systemic therapy and radiotherapy of the primary tumor and locoregional disease, which became metabolically less active and remarkably smaller in size (reduction to 1/6 of the original volume). In spite of the good overall response, the patient developed a syndrome with severe bone pain and had progression in the bone marrow metastases, confirmed by 18F-FDG PET/CT. The patient received 153Sm-EDTMP treatment with a good clinical response. However, in the whole body bone scan with the therapeutic dose, there was no visual evidence of bone metastasis. Retrospectively, by drawing the region of interest, it was possible to identify one metastatic site. The possible mechanisms of the efficacy of this treatment modality, in this specific setting, are also discussed.


Monoclonal antibodies (IG1, k) directed against a surface component of Plasmodium berghei sporozoites (Pb-44) confer complete protection to mice against a lethal inoculum of parasites. The degree of protection is a function of the number of parasites used in the challenge and of the antibody concentration in serum. Passive transfer of 10 micrograms of antibody per mouse abolished or profoundly diminished the infectivity of 10(3) sporozoites, but much higher amounts of antibody were required for complete protection against challenge with 10(4) parasites. Fab fragments of the monoclonal antibodies were as effective as the intact antibodies in mediating protection as determined by the neutralizing assay. This observation suggests that the antibodies interfere with a parasite function necessary for its infectivity, such as, for example, the ability to penetrate into the target cell or to multiply in the hepatocytes. When sporozoites are incubated with the intact monoclonal antibodies at 37 degrees C, a long filament appears at its posterior end (circumsporzoite precipitation [CSP] reaction). Fab fragments are ineffective at high concentrations. However, if after treatment with Fab, the sporozoites are incubated with rabbit antibodies to mouse k-chains, a strong CSP reaction is observed. We conclude that the CSP reaction can result from the cross-linking of Pb44 and that it has the characteristics of a capping reaction followed by the shedding of the immune complexes.


ABSTRACT Non-communicable diseases, such as the metabolic syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease, constitute serious public health threats in developed countries. Besides environmental factors, genetic predispositions contribute to the onset and progression of the disease. State-of-the-art mouse models recently highlight the involvement of Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5)–driven microbiota composition in the development of metabolic disorders. Here, we discuss the causes and consequences of an altered enteric microbiota and provide information on a similar mechanism in another species, the pig. We show for the first time that a single nucleotide polymorphism in the porcine TLR5 gene conferring impaired functionality is associated with changes in the intestinal microbiota in adult sows and neonatal piglets. Changes in the developing adaptive cellular immune response support the concept of TLR5-driven changes of the microbe-host interplay also in the pig. Together, these findings suggest that pigs with impaired TLR-functionality might represent a model for TLR5-driven diseases in humans.


According to Aristotle, demokratia is an invalid form of constitution unless it operates in conjunction with the rule of law. Historically, the idea of the rule of law was connected with wealthy elites in Athens. However, after a series of upheavals between the Athenian mass and elites, the demos accepted the rule of law as a valid check on demotic power. Rule of law required legal codification, which outlined a framework within which democratic law functioned. The Athenian law court became the arena for enforcing the law, thereby ridding the city of negative socio/political influences. Hybris, political corruption, and general questions of legality all came under the power of the democratic courts of law, which exerted the legitimate power of the combined community. Nevertheless, tradition maintained a strong influence on law, especially in the law courts. Bound up in legal arguments were ideas of Athenian identity and it became accepted that the juries would assess the character of the accused against the character of the Athenian demos in the course of making its decision. Athenian elites who previously continued feuds extra-legally submitted to the law courts, which offered an arena for dispute resolution. Ultimately, the rule of law in the Athenian demokratia upheld Athenian law, created a legal framework, and allowed personal and political disputes to be settled before they dissolved into stasis, offering the Athenian demokratia its most successful mechanism for creating social, political, and legal, stability.


ABSTRACT Construction is one of the most dangerous occupations. The most prominent reason for worker accidents is unsafe behavior, particularly rooted in the inability to recognize and appropriately respond to risk factors. Previous studies have investigated worker perception and comprehension of construction hazards and safety information in laboratory settings. A relationship has been found between workload and workers' situation awareness (SA), a useful concept for understanding risk perception and comprehension. However, it is necessary to investigate the actual construction environment to increase the real-world applicability of the research results. This experimental study analyzed workers' SA in relation to physical and mental workloads acquired while performing work at a construction site. Perception (Level-1-SA) and comprehension (Level-2-SA) were measured using the SA Global Assessment Technique as subjects walked inside a facility under construction and performed inspection or construction works. Statistically significant differences were found between perception and comprehension of safety-related information. It was also found that mental load negatively affected SA. This study provided external validation of previously investigated effects of workload on workers' perception and comprehension of safety-related elements at real construction sites. The study's findings can improve the understanding of workers' safety behaviors and help suggest directions for safety management guidelines. Graphical Abstract


In the landscape architecture design process, "concept" is important for providing uniqueness to a design. However, many landscape designers today do not rely on a well-defined concept, thus obstructing the development of their designs. This study aimed to identify the problems that Malaysian landscape designers face in developing a strong design concept. To address this issue, in-depth and focus group interviews were conducted by guiding the participants through a conceptual thinking procedure in which eighteen participants took part. The respondents were chosen among Malaysian professional landscape designers through purposeful sampling. Results indicated that most Malaysian landscape designers neglect the post- design evaluation stage, which obstructs the development of a strong concept for subsequent landscape designs. The results aim to contribute to a better understanding of the importance of design concept and the factors that contribute to its development among Malaysian landscape designers.


The aim of this study was to determine the effects of gender, slaughter weight, stocking density, lairage time and season on carcass and meat quality parameters in a low-input production system. The study was conducted on 400 slaughter pigs (200 barrows and 200 gilts) with live weight of 115.0 ± 4.70 kg. Barrows had higher slaughter and carcass weights, fat thickness and lower meatiness. Heavier pigs had higher hot and cold carcass weights, fat thickness, lower meatiness, and higher incidences of pale, soft and exudative (PSE) and dark, firm and dry (DFD) meat. Low stocking density during transportation increased skin lesion score, pH 45 value and the incidence of DFD meat; while high stocking density decreased pH 45 value and increased T 45 value and the incidence of PSE meat. Long lairaging reduced slaughter weight, carcass weight, dressing percentage and backfat thickness and increased skin lesion score. After overnight lairaging, pH 45 value and the incidence of DFD meat became higher. After short lairaging, the pH 45 value was lower, while the incidence of PSE meat increased. Pigs slaughtered in winter had the highest slaughter weight, backfat thickness, pH 45 value and incidence of DFD, and the lowest meatiness. Pigs slaughtered in summer had the lowest slaughter and carcass weights and pH 45 value, and the highest incidence of PSE meat. In conclusion, gender influenced carcass quality, slaughter weight and lairage time, and season affected carcass and meat quality, while stocking density had an impact on meat quality. Keywords: DFD meat, gender, lairage time, low-input slaughter system, PSE meat, season, slaughter weight, stocking density


We give a new proof for the fact that the number of torus fixed points for the degenerated flag variety is equal to the normalized median Genocchi number, using the identification with a certain Schubert variety. We further study the torus fixed points for the symplectic degenerated flag variety and develop a combinatorial model, symplectic Dellac configurations, so parametrize them. The number of these symplectic fixed points is conjectured to be the median Euler number.