Background and Goal of Study: The educational value of port folios consisting in a promotion of a deep, reflective and student-centred learning is well known. There are concerns regarding port folio assessment relating to its reliability, practicability and student acceptance of the process. The aims of this study were to identify and analyse students' at titudes to the port folio assessment process in our practical course of Anaesthesiology. Materials and Methods: During 2010 and 2011 medical students of our optional course of Anaesthesiology used a structured port folio during a practical period of 60 hours in the OR, ICU and pain clinic. They were asked to collect educational evidences (making preoperative assessment, complimenting informed consents, learning technical skills with a predefined minimum of anaesthetic procedures to be done, performing medical treatments potoperatively in critical ill patients, understanding acute and chronic pain management as well as anaesthetic care at the labour) under supervision from the tutor. A voluntary questionnaire containing open and multiple choice questions was used to obtain feedback from our medical students at the end of the course. A Likert scale from 0-5 (0=poor, 5=excellent) was used. Data are presented as percentages, means or absolute values. Results and Discussion: A total of 46 5th-year medical students (31 women, mean age 23.4 years) filled in the questionnaire at the end of their practical period (95.6% response rate). 76% of them didn't have any port folio experience before; 65% didn't know anything about port folio at all. The Likert scale mean scores of the recorded variables were the following: it is easy to fill in the port folio (3.5), it is useful for achieving practical outcomes (4.3), it was a positive experience (3.7), opinion about the tutor as a guide (4.3), would you recommend the use of a port folio (3.47) and thinking in choosing Anaesthesiology as your future speciality (3.43). All students and tutors agreed that there was too much paperwork and the process was time-consuming. Conclusion(s): The port folio was very well accepted among our students and it helped them to improve learning. Paperwork should be kept within manageable limits. Providing evidence for achieving all learning outcomes and skills, not just theoretical knowledge, using a port folio is useful for reflective clinical practice.


Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) have been shown to be very useful in tasks of speech recognition and are the preferred features in state of the art speech recognition systems. The author present features derived from filter bank outputs whose performance is comparable to that of MFCCs for connected digit recognition using a hidden Markov model (HMM) based speech recognition system. The feature extraction method we present is easily implementable in floating gate analog VLSI circuitry which makes it a viable option for low power speech recognition tasks.


Chromaffin cells, which secrete catecholamines in response to acetylcholine, express high levels of the Src-family tyrosine kinases. These kinases contain protein-protein interaction domains which bind signal transduction proteins that participate in a variety of cellular processes. To determine if signalling proteins bind c-Src in chromaffin cells, we examined c-Src immunocomplexes for co-precipitating proteins. We discovered a phosphotyrosine phosphatase (PTPase; EC 188.8.131.52) activity which associates with specific subcellular pools of c-Src in vivo and which preferentially binds the SH2 (Src homology 2) domain of c-Src in vitro. Known PTPases were not identified by blotting of c-Src immunocomplexes with a panel of anti-PTPase antibodies, suggesting that the PTPase may be a novel family member. The c-Src-PTPase complex is enriched in the plasma membrane fraction and exists in several large complexes, as revealed by gel-filtration analysis. This PTPase activity is altered rapidly following stimulation by secretagogues, decreasing within 30 s and returning to basal levels by 60 s of stimulation. Both the subcellular localization and rapid activity changes suggest that the c-Src-associated PTPase may function in early signalling events emanating from the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. In support of this is the co-precipitation of a PTPase activity with the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and co-chromatography of this receptor with one or the c-Src-PTPase complexes.


Expectations that gender‐mainstreaming efforts would effectively advance gender equality have been disappointed in contemporary sub‐Saharan Africa. Examining this apparent disconnect, we focus on the narratives through which policy‐makers relate to, and dis/engage with, gender issues. Using in‐depth interviews and stakeholder meetings, our multi‐step analysis identifies story episodes from which we reconstruct stories and narratives. The analysis reveals a complex ecology of 22 stories, clustered in five main narratives. While most stories unfold a gender equality narrative, four competing narratives emerge. Shifts during conversations from the gender equality to other narratives reveal that the discursive engagement with gender mainstreaming is accompanied by simultaneous resistance, deconstruction and revocation. These narrative shifts exercise four distinct power effects: They (1) shift blame for ineffective gender implementation; (2) legitimize policy inaction; (3) foreground and naturalize patriarchy; and (4) promote the diversion of resources. The implicit communicative strategies exercise power through ideas (persuade listeners that the equality narrative is inappropriate), power over ideas (gender equality ideas are rejected or frustrated) and power in ideas (entrenched patriarchy ideas are reproduced). Attention to ideational power through policy narrative contributes to explain implementation issues with gender mainstreaming in Uganda, and is likely to be relevant beyond this case.


The contextual combinatorial semi-bandit problem with linear payoff functions is a decision-making problem in which a learner chooses a set of arms with the feature vectors in each round under given constraints so as to maximize the sum of rewards of arms. Several existing algorithms have regret bounds that are optimal with respect to the number of rounds T. However, there is a gap of Õ(max(√d, √k)) between the current best upper and lower bounds, where d is the dimension of the feature vectors, k is the number of the chosen arms in a round, and Õ(·) ignores the logarithmic factors. The dependence of k and d is of practical importance because k may be larger than T in real-world applications such as recommender systems. In this paper, we fill the gap by improving the upper and lower bounds. More precisely, we show that the C2UCB algorithm proposed by Qin, Chen, and Zhu (2014) has the optimal regret bound Õ(d√kT + dk) for the partition matroid constraints. For general constraints, we propose an algorithm that modifies the reward estimates of arms in the C2UCB algorithm and demonstrate that it enjoys the optimal regret bound for a more general problem that can take into account other objectives simultaneously. We also show that our technique would be applicable to related problems. Numerical experiments support our theoretical results and considerations.


In the textile production, there may appear many fabric defects. To fabric defects, there are a lot of image-based inspection techniques: Fourier transform, Sobel algorithm of edge inspection, fast Fourier transform (FFT) et. However, Wavelet transform is a kind of multiresolution algorithm, and its multiresolution character corresponds to time-frequency multiresolution of human vision. The result of the research indicates that wavelet transform gives better results than the other traditional methods. So in this article, we use wavelet transform and BP neural network together to inspect and classify the fabric defects. A plain white fabric is adopted as the sample, and the distinguishing defects are oil stains, warp-lacking, and weft-lacking. An area camera with 256times256 resolution is used in the scheme, a grabbed image is transmitted to a computer for wavelet transform, and then the corresponding image data are then used in BP neural network as input. The result shows that the fabric defectspsila classification rate can be up to 95% with above method.


We administered the FINRA Foundation's National Financial Capability Study questionnaire to members of the RAND American Life Panel (ALP) in 2012 and 2018. Using this unique, longitudinal data set, we investigate the evolution of financial literacy over time and shed light on the causal effect of financial knowledge on financial outcomes. Over a six-year observation period, financial literacy appears to be rather stable, with a slight tendency to decline at older ages. Moreover and importantly, financial literacy has significant predictive power for future financial outcomes, even after controlling for baseline outcomes and a wide set of demographics and individual characteristics that influence financial decision making. This estimated relationship is significantly stronger for older individuals, for women, and for those with lower income than for their counterparts in the study. Altogether, our findings suggest that differences in the stock of financial knowledge may lead to increasing inequality over the life course.


Abstract Climate change has become one of the main challenges facing humanity. Over the past decade, this phenomenon, which may have been caused by natural variability and/or human activity, has attracted many scholars from different scientific disciplines to warn of its potential consequences. The author of this paper has decided to address the existence of this important phenomenon in organizational literature. However, upon exploring different academic databases, the rarity of research focusing on climate change and its relationship and/or effect on HR or organizational aspects became obvious. Accordingly, the author recommends other HR and organizational scholars devote considerable space to this phenomenon in their field.


Tissue factor (TF) initiates the extrinsic coagulation cascade and is a high-affinity receptor for coagulation factor VII. TF also participates in protease-activated receptor (PAR)1 and PAR2 activation. Human epithelial basal cells were previously purified on the basis of TF expression. The purpose of this study was to determine if tracheobronchial epithelial basal cell-associated TF drives coagulation and/or activates PARs to promote basal cell functions. We used human tracheobronchial tissues to isolate human airway epithelial cells using specific cell surface markers by flow cytometry and studied TF expression by immunostaining. TF-dependent fibrin network formation was observed by confocal and scanning electron microscopy. TF knockdown was done using short hairpin RNA, and TF mRNA was measured using quantitative RT-PCR. We found that 97 ± 5% of first-passage human tracheobronchial epithelial cells were basal cells, and 100% of these basal cells expressed TF. Basal cell-associated TF was active, but TF activity was dependent on added extrinsic coagulation cascade factors. TF inhibition caused basal cell apoptosis and necrosis. This was due to two parallel but interdependent TF-regulated processes: failure to generate a basal cell-associated fibrin network and suboptimal PAR1 and PAR2 activity. The data indicate that membrane surface TF mediates airway epithelial basal cell attachment, which maintains cell survival and mitotic potential. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of basal cell-associated TF activity in normal and injured tissues and of the potential for repair of airway epithelium in lung disease.


Some key parts used in such area as the national defence are made of high performance hard and brittle materials, and they should meet not only the requirement of geometry accuracy but also that of specified physical performance in manufacturing. The Radome is one of such key parts in the active homing guidance weapon, with a typical complicated surface. In order to meet the electric thickness requirement, a controlled removal grinding point-by-point is needed for the radome during its precision machining. A special 3-coordinates equipment with spherical diamond grinding wheel is adopted; the grinding paths are generated in the planes normal to the cutter axis with a Z-level profile machining method; the feed step is determined by step screening method; and the stepping between layers is carried out according to the remaining scallop crest height. Process conditions including the grinding depth and the workpiece speed are determined through experiments, and the process errors under different processing conditions are analyzed to put forward an optimized processing tactics. As a result, a basis for precision removal process of any other part of high performance hard and brittle materials with complex surface is established, and a technology support for precision machining of key parts in the national major projects is provided.


Background: Plant's are ability to manage with abiotic stress factors are mainly altered the metabolic pathways and produces a varied range of secondary metabolites. Secondary metabolite manufacture is a serious part of the defense response in stress circumstances. Objectives: The study was aim to find out the impact of drought stress factor on in vitro antioxidant potential of chloroform insoluble fraction (phenolics) of leaves and flowers extract of Tridax procumbens. Materials and Methods: The matured leaves and flowers of Tridax were collected widely from the four different locations;- Hilly dry-terrain; Hilly wet-terrain; Low dry–land; Low wet-land. The collected leaves and flowers of Tridax were washed with distilled water, shade dried, coarsely powdered and extracted using 70% ethanol and fractionated by chloroform to obtained chloroform insoluble fractions. The chloroform insoluble fraction then subjected into various in vitro free radical scavenging activities. Results: The drought stress significantly increased the sucrose content in the leaves, chloroform insoluble fractions (water soluble), total phenolics and decreased relative leaf water contents and chloroform soluble fractions when compared with well water state of Tridax. The in vitro free radical scavenging activities results revealed that drought had constructive effects on radical scavenging and antioxidant capacity. Conclusion: In dry land of the Tridax procumbens (both hilly dry-terrain and low dry-land) induced drought stress-related metabolic alterations and free radical production. In this condition Tridax need oversupply of reduced phenolics for tolerance and prevent the oxidative damage of the cells. As a result the metabolic processes are shifted towards biosynthesis of highly reduced phenolics in the Tridax for better adaptation.


Immune thrombocytopenic purpura is a rare autoimmune disorder. ITP is a multicausal disease that can be mainly caused by infection (H. pylori , viral infection), excessive alcohol consumption, drugs like antibiotics, diuretics and can also be inherited genetically. In this case, a 40-year-old male came to the tertiary care hospital with complaints of high-grade fever, upper respiratory tract infection symptoms generalized weakness, and headache. On examination, petechial rashes over the abdomen were observed. Symptoms and blood reports were found to be similar with immune thrombocytopenic purpura. The patient was diagnosed with anemia of infection and inflammation. Immune thrombocytopenic purpura is not curable and only symptomatic treatment can be provided. This case report layout an insight of ITP, pathophysiology, and pharmacotherapy in accordance with the hospital guidelines. Early detection of ITP will assist with further complications that are related to ITP.


Doctors will be forced to declare any gifts or trips they have received from drug companies from next year, under new government plans.

The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has said that he plans to extend the existing rules and regulations over gifts and hospitality in connection with the promotion of medicines to anyone able to supply or prescribe them.

The government intends to introduce a new "sunshine rule"—which refers to shining a light on, or transparency over, doctors' dealings with the drug and medical device industries next year. The new rule means that NHS staff found to be abusing their position by taking extravagant gifts or hospitality and lobbying for unnecessary or overly expensive medicines or procedures would face serious action.

NHS organisations will have to maintain a hospitality register where staff must declare gifts and hospitality that they receive from drug companies and medical device manufacturers. It will be the responsibility of NHS organisations, such as hospitals and clinical commissioning groups, …


Teacher Definitions of Integration in Primary Grades Jeanne S. Prestwich Department of Teacher Education, BYU Master of Arts One obstacle that challenges the implementation of effective curriculum integration practices is the confusion caused by the existence of numerous definitions of this construct in the literature. This concern is further compounded by the potential disconnect between the varied definitions proposed by scholars and classroom teachers' acceptance and use of curriculum integration. The purpose of this study was to analyze K-3 grade teachers' self-reported definitions of curriculum integration. Teachers responded to an Internet survey in which they provided their personal definition of curriculum integration, described integrated teaching examples from their own classroom, and rated six teaching scenarios for quality of integration. Results suggest that teachers may not share the wide variety of definitions of integration described in the literature. Teachers in this study seemed to generally share one definition of integration, as measured by their explanation of the term integration and by the teaching examples they provided. In addition, the majority of the teachers' definitions aligned with their teaching examples, suggesting that the teachers both define and practice integration in similar ways. Finally, when teachers ranked teaching scenarios written to illustrate different levels of quality of curriculum integration, the majority of the teachers again appeared to agree on a shared definition. There were no statistical differences based on grade level, years of experience and education level. In addition to presentation of results, implications for future research and practice are discussed.


Patients with isolated closed-head injuries are characterized by excessive nitrogen loss, hyperglycemia, and increased caloric demand. However, the relative contributions of specific metabolic events such as protein breakdown and synthesis or glucose production and utilization to the physiological changes prevalent during isolated closed-head injury remains unestablished. By use of isotopic dilutions of L-[1-13C]leucine and D-[3-3H]glucose, components of protein and glucose metabolism were examined in patients with isolated closed-head injury (n = 7). Normal overnight-fasted volunteers (n = 8) were also studied as a reference point for comparison. Despite prevailing hyperinsulinemia (29 +/- 5 microU/ml), head-injured patients had elevated plasma leucine concentrations (183 +/- 22 vs. 144 +/- 8 mumol/l), whole body proteolysis (331 +/- 44 vs. 150 +/- 7 mg.kg-1.h-1), protein synthesis (248 +/- 38 vs. 126 +/- 11 mg.kg-1.h-1), and amino acid oxidation (84 +/- 11 vs. 23 +/- 3 mg.kg-1.h-1). Therefore nitrogen loss normally associated with isolated closed-head injury is primarily due to an increase in the rate of whole body proteolysis, with a greater proportion of the resultant amino acids being oxidized for energy. Furthermore, head-injured patients were hyperglycemic (6.7 +/- 0.3 mumol/l) with increased rates of glucose turnover (an estimate of production and utilization) compared with the controls (4.0 +/- 0.7 vs. 2.5 +/- 0.2 mg.kg-1.min-1). Hence, these data suggest that head injury, even in the absence of peripheral trauma, induces a physiological state of accelerated metabolism associated with resistance to insulin action.


Binary NiTi shape memory alloy cast ingots with large scale size are produced by using vacuum induction melting (VIM) in lime crucible, the oxygen and carbon contents are less than 500ppm. Usually, oxygen was introduced into the melts by the dissolution of lime during melting, resulting in higher content of oxygen over 500ppm. VAR + VIM ingot metallurgy is prone to produce materials with a good chemical homogeneity. However, it is difficult for one single melting of NiTi by VIM in the lime crucible. So in the present paper, the segregation of chemical composition and the consistency of transformation temperature in NiTi alloys in as-casted condition along the cross-section area on edge and center, in homogeneization-treated condition, and in as-forged condition along the longitudinal-section area on head and tail, are measured and analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), OM, SEM, and XRD, to indicate the chemical homogeneity in microscopic and macroscopic scale.


In the trials of utilization of technology for the society, efforts have shown benefits of the ICT use in facilitating education from different perspectives based on different waves of technological change. The recent development in technologies has also resulted in change of user behavior and usage patterns towards different areas of life, and consequently in the area of education. A new wave of change has started and is expecting to proliferate with stronger connectivity and interoperability of various devices, named as the Internet of Things (IoT). The internet of things is expected to give strong impacts on different areas of life including healthcare, transportation, smart homes, smart campus, and more. Consequently, there are inherent benefits to the education environment that are not yet well established in literature. The paper studies the potential benefit and impact of the IoT evolution concept in both the physical and the virtual learning environment and suggests a paradigm with use case scenarios. The results of an experimental evaluation on the aspects of applying IoT technology in education are presented and discussed in order to verify the set of related hypotheses.


Morphological changes in the pulmonary artery and its major branches were studied histologically and histochemically on autopsy cases of polyarteritis nodosa (23), systemic lupus erythematosus (10), systemic scleroderma (12), and rheumatoid arthritis (5). The ages of the fatalities ranged from 9 months to 77 years. An identical type of lesions was revealed: disorders of the connective tissue, destruction of elastic fibers, alterations of vasa vasorum, with cellular reactions typical of each nosological form reflecting the peculiarities of the immunological processes. The initial stage in the genesis of lesions in the vascular walls of the major pulmonary arteries is the involvement of vasa vasorum as a regular disorder of the microcirculatory ways in all collagen diseases.


A two-dimensional mathematical model is developed to simulate laser truing and dressing of bronze-bonded diamond grinding wheel. Based on the model, the ablation depth produced on bond and diamond abrasives by an acousto-optic Q-switched YAG pulsed laser under different parameters as well as the temperature field on grinding wheel surface produced in the laser ablation process are numerically simulated. An experimental study on laser truing and dressing of grinding wheel is also conducted. In the study, the wheel surface is ablated by the single-pulsed laser and measured with a measurement device for surface topographic information. Both the theoretical analysis and the experimental results indicate that the truing and dressing processes can be simultaneously realized with the laser ablation as a single process.


The study deals with the practice of local economic development in Hungary, and pays specific attention to the role of local governments in this process. In our interpretation local economic development means conscious intervention into the local economy. In the course of that process the actors may use internal and external resources too. The initiator of intervention may be external actors (e.g. government, European Union, foreign investment), but the key element of process is the involvement of local actors, who are the initiators of LED activities, or acceptors, or supporters, or manipulators of external development conception. We use the local economic development term in a wider sense, so the intervention into the local economy includes infrastructure development, development of public utilities, human resources development, business development, creation of internal economies, and community development too. The purpose of this article is to present a brief review of the role of some actors (e.g. central government, county governments, RDA-s, regional development councils) but first of all the role of municipal governments in economic development in Hungary. The study highlights the problems of the financing and the planning of local economic development and deals with the networking practices of local actors too. The article collects the LED tools and strategies of local governments and analyses the success of local economic development in Hungary.


ABSTRACT This study examines the experience of the Japanese automotive industry in Europe in the 1980s and attempts to compare the Korean automotive industry since the 1990s in search of strategic implications. The underlying assumption is that local production and transplants of Japanese automotive industry in the 1980s are critically related to the protective posture of the EU in the political economic context of the internal market. Based on this, this study argues that repetitive patterns of transition from trade to transplants is related to the contextual circumstance in Europe and this will provide a conforming case for the theory of off-shore manufacturing and important strategic implications for the Korean firms at their emerging status in European markets. JEL Classification: F18, F21, M16 Keywords: Foreign direct investment; Transplant; Industrial location; Korean automotive industry; Japanese automotive industry; European internal market; Localization I. INTRODUCTION The rapid transplant and successful market entry of Japanese automotive industry in Europe during the 1980s clearly affected the global restructuring of the world car industry. An unequal distribution of production and consumption in three major centers-North America, Western Europe, and Japan-was mainly responsible for the massive trade surplus of the Japanese automotive industry and prompted these firms to establish overseas production plants. The changing mode of market entry by transplant instead of export was allegedly to circumvent existing or expected tariff walls and reduce financial imbalances as the high exchange value of the yen enhanced cost competitiveness of overseas production (Jones and North, 1991). Compared to the establishment of plants in the USA and Canada, which has been generally welcomed, experience in Western Europe face a controversial dimension. Increased imports of Japanese motorcars and relatively closed market conditions are suggested as factors behind the transplants (Rawlinson and Wells, 1992). Export-led growth of the Japanese automotive industry consequently has caused increasing political unrest among nations in Western Europe who have large but less competitive indigenous automotive industries to protect. Considering this situation, it is considered a sensitive agenda to allow Japanese motorcar manufacturers to increase production capacity within their domestic markets. In particular, political and economic integration in Europe have posed environmental uncertainties for Japanese motorcar manufacturers as well as member states of the EU. The purpose of this study is to identify the motivations and spatial decisions of the Japanese automotive industry's experience in Europe in the 1980s. Existing literature relating to Japanese transplant of production by means of FDI mainly focus on the transplantation and localization of Japanese management style and practices. Despite the expectation, theoretical and empirical assessments of the motivations and spatial decisions of Japanese transplants in Europe, in particular, are surprisingly limited. This study also compares the transplant and industrial location of the Korean automotive industry since the 1990s in search of strategic implications. Recent years witnessed the rapid development of the Korean automotive industry in Europe showing similar patterns of trade and transitions to transplant with that of the experience of Japanese motorcar manufacturers in their formative years. Western Europe became the second largest motorcar trading partner after the U.S. Since the mid 1990s, Korean motorcar manufacturers manifested market presence in Europe via transplant by means of joint ventures with local companies and green-field investments. Recently commenced transplants of the Korean automotive manufacturers and their experience from the 1990s are considered comparable to the Japanese automotive industry's experience from the 1980s. …


Three-dimensional flow phenomena have been observed in a shock tube experiment for shock waves and vortices by using an interferometric CT (Computed Tomography) technique with a N2pulse laser. A model with small duct, which has a pair of circular open ends, is introduced in a test section of diaphragmless shock tube, and can be rotated around its central axis to change the observation angle. The projection image of density distribution for each observation angle is obtained by using a fixed Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Three-dimensional density distribution is reconstructed from these projection images. The shock Mach number is 2.3 in nitrogen gas of 19.4kPa initial pressure at the exits of the open ends. The resultant 3-D density flow fields are illustrated by several imaging technique to clarify 3-D features of shock waves, vortices, and their mutual interactions. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is also applied to the 3-D flow fields. The CFD results can represent density and another properties in flow fields, and these properties are useful for identifying the phenomena. The mutual validation between the experimental CT density results and these CFD results is discussed. Three-dimensional features of flow fields are investigated in detail by analyzing the experimental CT results with CFD results.


A questionnaire was sent to one third of the ophthalmologists and optometrists in Oregon and Washington . It contained questions pertaining to practitioner attitudes toward their educational backgrounds in visual training. Questions dealing with some of the controversial issues in visual training's role in strabismus and amblyopia therapy were also included. Lastly, profile information and data concerning the practice in general was gathered from each survey recipient. The respondent population was divided into groups by profession and extent of VT offered. The different groups responses were then tabulated and statistically compared within and between professions.


Background. Circumsporozoite protein (CS) is the antigenic target for RTS,S, the most advanced malaria vaccine to date. Heterologous prime-boost with the viral vectors simian adenovirus 63 (ChAd63)-modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) is the most potent inducer of T-cells in humans, demonstrating significant efficacy when expressing the preerythrocytic antigen insert multiple epitope–thrombospondin-related adhesion protein (ME-TRAP). We hypothesized that ChAd63-MVA containing CS may result in a significant clinical protective efficacy. Methods. We conducted an open-label, 2-site, partially randomized Plasmodium falciparum sporozoite controlled human malaria infection (CHMI) study to compare the clinical efficacy of ChAd63-MVA CS with ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP. Results. One of 15 vaccinees (7%) receiving ChAd63-MVA CS and 2 of 15 (13%) receiving ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP achieved sterile protection after CHMI. Three of 15 vaccinees (20%) receiving ChAd63-MVA CS and 5 of 15 (33%) receiving ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP demonstrated a delay in time to treatment, compared with unvaccinated controls. In quantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses, ChAd63-MVA CS was estimated to reduce the liver parasite burden by 69%–79%, compared with 79%–84% for ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP. Conclusions. ChAd63-MVA CS does reduce the liver parasite burden, but ChAd63-MVA ME-TRAP remains the most promising antigenic insert for a vectored liver-stage vaccine. Detailed analyses of parasite kinetics may allow detection of smaller but biologically important differences in vaccine efficacy that can influence future vaccine development. Clinical Trials Registration. NCT01623557.


Computer systems play an increasingly important role in modern enterprises. Such systems represent a major investment, and their performance has major effects on profitability, utilization and user satisfaction. Much effort is therefore directed at the efficient management of these systems, and this paper is a step in this direction. Specifically, we consider the optimal allocation of programs and data to various storage devices in order to minimize the expected operational costs, subject to capacity and timing constraints. This problem is one of the many optimization problems that the system management faces, and its solution, though suboptimal for the whole system, might contribute considerably to the overall system's performance and costs. An effective procedure for the optimal storage allocation is presented, whose application to an actual large-scale operating system resulted in high relative savings. This procedure, with minor modifications, might be applied to many allocation problems which face users and management of computer systems.


SPIN STRUCTURE OF THE DEUTERON Nevzat Guler Old Dominion University, 2009 Director: Dr. Sebastian E. Kuhn Double spin asymmetries for the proton and the deuteron have been measured in the EG1b experiment using the CLAS detector at Jefferson Lab. Longitudinally polarized electrons at energies 1.6, 2.5, 4.2 and 5.7 GeV were scattered from longitudinally polarized NH3 and ND3 targets. The double spin asymmetry A‖ for the proton and the deuteron has been extracted from these data as a function of W and Q with unprecedented precision. The virtual photon asymmetry A1 and the spin structure function g1 can be calculated from these measurements by using parametrization to the world data for the virtual photon asymmetry A2 and the unpolarized structure functions F1 and R. The large kinematic coverage of the experiment (0.05 GeV 2 < Q < 5.0 GeV and 1.08 GeV < W < 3.0 GeV) helps us to better understand the spin structure of the nucleon, especially in the transition region between hadronic and quark-gluon degrees of freedom. The results on A1, g1 and the first moment Γ 1 1, as well as the higher moments Γ1 and Γ 5 1, using the entire data set for the deuteron, are presented in this thesis. The moments are compared to theoretical and phenomenological calculations. In addition, parameterizations of the world data on the asymmetries and the spin structure functions are studied to create and refine the models on these quantities that can be used in various applications. Finally, the neutron asymmetries are extracted from the combined proton and deuteron data and the preliminary results are demonstrated. c ©Copyright, 2010, by Nevzat Guler, All Rights Reserved


According to constructal theory, the flow architecture emerges in time such that it provides progressively greater access to its currents. The emergence of flow architecture in nature is analogous to emergence of configuration in man-made (engineered) flow systems, and that features of materialization of design can be predicted based on the constructal theory. To support this view, we show that the emergence of configuration in natural flow systems can be approached based on the constructal law. Man-made flow systems achieve high performance by acquiring the suitable architecture (configuration). In this study, we also rely on the constuctal law to design a device for particulate matter control with an optimized function. Therefore, the emergence of optimal flow architecture is analogous to both natural and man-made systems. The features of materialization of design do not occur by chance, and can be explained or predicted based on this physical law.


As an ectomycorrhizal fungal genus that contains matsutake and other edible mushrooms, Tricholoma has great economic and ecological significance. However, the phylogenetic relationships within the genus remain unsettled. To clarify the infrageneric relationships of Tricholoma, including the identification of monophyletic subgenera and sections, three phylogenetic analyses were conducted employing single-locus (ITS), five-locus (ITS/RPB2/EF-1α/MCM7/mtSSU) and 50-locus (45 single-copy orthologous genes plus the aforementioned ones) DNA nucleotide sequences. Our data indicated that ITS sequences could serve the species delimitation of Tricholoma in most cases and monophyletic groups recognition in some cases, and the five-locus dataset could resolve a section-level phylogeny of this genus, while the 50-locus dataset could clarify the delimitation of subgenera and settle the relationships among sections within this genus. A fifty-locus dataset was firstly employed to construct a robust phylogeny of Tricholoma. Based on this, a new infrageneric arrangement for the genus Tricholoma, with four subgenera, of which two are in accordance with the previous subgenera Pardinicutis and Sericeicutis, and eleven sections, is suggested. Subgenus Pardinicutis, occupying the basal position, only harbors sect. Pardinicutis, while the subg. Sericeicutis comprises sects. Lasciva and Sericella located at the sub-basal position with good support. Subgenus Terrea is newly erected here and consists of sect. Terrea, sect. Atrosquamosa and two as yet unnamed phylogenetic lineages. Besides an unnamed section-level lineage, subg. Tricholoma consists of sects. Genuina, Muscaria, Rigida, Tricholoma, Fucata and Matsutake, of which the two latter are newly proposed. The previously defined subg. Contextocutis is clustered within subg. Tricholoma and is a synonym of the latter. Tricholoma colossus, T. acerbum and their allies, which used to be allocated in sect. Megatricholoma (or genus Megatricholoma), are relocated to sect. Genuina since they form a strongly supported monophyletic group and share rusty or black spots on lamellae with other species in this section. Taxonomic descriptions of the new infrageneric taxa and a key to subgenera and sections of the genus Tricholoma are presented.


Palm Oil is a fantastic plant for the people of Riau Province. It can be seen from the rapid development of plantations, in 2001 palm oil plantations covered an area of    1,119,798 ha and in 2010 it increased to 1,925,341 ha with a growth of 36.02%. Palm oil plantation activities brought economic impact on society, both for the people who are directly involved with the activities of plantations and for their surrounding community. To anticipate the rapid development, a model avoiding inequality of income among farmers needs to be designed, especially for self-supporting farmers in a partnership pattern. Institutional model aims to increase the welfare of rural farmers in the form of Palm Oil Based Agroestate (ABK). The concept of Palm oil Based Agroestate collaborates between farmers, cooperatives, and business enterprises. Through the ABK program, farmers will have an opportunity to buy/have shares of the Palm oil Factory (PKS). There are two main business activities of ABK model; first, business activitiet hat build palm oil plantations and factories of the derivative industry; if necessary the settlement of participaing farmers will be established by the developers; second, managing plantations and participating farmers-owned factories as well as market the products carried out by a business enterprise or a cooperative formed by the participant farmers. DOI :  https://doi.org/10.21632/irjbs.4.3.171-188 Keywords:  Institutional economics, agroestate, palm oil


This paper aims to study the influence of aggregate shape and size on the tensile strength, compressive strength and fracture energy in mesoscopic modeling of concrete. For this purpose, several numerical models under three loading cases, uniaxial tension, uniaxial compression and bending resistance test are analyzed utilizing the software ABAQUS/Explicit. The mechanical responses and cracking behaviors well match the realistic situations of experiments. Various stress-strain curves and fracture patterns are presented and compared, which indicate that the aggregate size has very small effect on the tensile strength, compressive strength and fracture energy, and the effect of aggregate shape is a little more significant than that of the size.


The paper presents the characteristics of sheep production as a subsystem of the sustainable bioeconomy. The potential of this production is very large. Sheep provide many products that have multiple uses. Key features of sheep production is the production of healthy food, utilization of resources of agricultural origin in the industry, supporting of ecology and tourism, generation of renewable energy from biogas. It all makes the sheep production is a subsystem of the sustainable bioeconomy.


Agmatine, an endogenous polyamine and putative neuromodulator, is known to have neuroprotective effects on various neurons in the central nervous system. We determined whether or not topically administered agmatine could reduce ischemic retinal injury. Transient ocular ischemia was achieved by intraluminal occlusion of the middle cerebral artery of ddY mice (30-35 g) for 2 h, which is known to also induce occlusion of the ophthalmic artery. In the agmatine group (N = 6), a 1.0 mM agmatine-containing ophthalmic solution was administered four times daily for 2 weeks before occlusion. In the control group (N = 6), a 0.1% hyaluronic acid ophthalmic solution was instilled at the same times. At 22 h after reperfusion, the eyeballs were enucleated and the retinal sections were stained by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL). Transient ocular ischemia induced apoptosis of retinal cells in the entire retinal layer, and topically administered agmatine can significantly reduce this ischemic retinal injury. The proportion of apoptotic cells was definitely decreased (P < 0.001; Kruskal-Wallis test). Overall, we determined that topical agmatine application effectively decreases retinal damage in an in vivo ocular ischemic injury model. This implies that agmatine is a good candidate as a direct neuroprotective agent for eyes with ocular ischemic diseases.


OBJECTIVE
Lupus nephritis is characterized by intrarenal inflammation. To assess the extent and severity of disease activity and renal involvement, this study examined the expression of transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta) and monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) in the urinary sediment of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

METHODS
We studied 106 patients with SLE who were classified according to their disease status as those with active disease, those with disease in remission, and those with nonrenal SLE. Ten healthy subjects were used as controls. Lupus activity was assessed by the SLE Disease Activity Index (SLEDAI). If renal biopsy was performed, the histologic activity index and chronicity index were determined, and a morphometry analysis of renal scarring was performed. The urinary expresssion of TGFbeta and MCP-1 messenger RNA (mRNA) was studied by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and the corresponding protein concentrations of TGFbeta and MCP-1 in the urine were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

RESULTS
Expression of TGFbeta and MCP-1 mRNA in the urinary sediment was significantly elevated in the active disease group (P < 0.001 for both). These expression levels of TGFbeta and MCP-1 mRNA correlated with the SLEDAI score (TGFbeta r = 0.71, P < 0.001; MCP-1 r = 0.72, P < 0.001), and also significantly correlated with the histologic activity index (TGFbeta r = 0.487, P = 0.004; MCP-1 r = 0.357, P = 0.038). The urinary protein concentration of MCP-1, but not of TGFbeta, correlated with the SLEDAI score (r = 0.66, P < 0.001). However, neither the protein concentration of TGFbeta nor that of MCP-1 as measured by ELISA in the urine correlated with the histologic activity index.

CONCLUSION
The measurement of urinary mRNA expression may be a noninvasive method for the assessment of lupus disease activity and the severity of renal involvement in patients with lupus nephritis.


Introduction The relationship between small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and coeliac disease is poorly understood. SIBO is recognised as a cause of persisting symptoms in patients with treated coeliac disease. However, there are very few data on SIBO in untreated coeliac disease. We aimed to assess the prevalence of small bowel bacterial overgrowth in untreated coeliac disease, and to compare with non-coeliac controls. Methods Data were collected from consecutive patients with a new diagnosis of coeliac disease, and non-coeliac controls having glucose hydrogen-breath test (GHBT) for gastrointestinal symptoms. All subjects had GHBT performed on a normal, gluten containing diet. A subset of coeliac patients was retested after 6 months on a gluten-free diet (GFD). Concurrent serology (endomysial antibody (EMA) and tissue transglutaminase (tTG)), symptoms, biochemical data (B12, folate, iron, haemoglobin), and duodenal histology were recorded from the coeliac group. None had antibiotics in the 4 weeks prior to testing. A positive result was a rise in hydrogen of at least 20ppm, or methane of 12ppm, over the baseline for each gas. Results 43 patients with untreated coeliac disease were identified, 13 male, median age 47 years (range 18–75). They were compared against 43 age and sex matched non-coeliac controls. In the coeliac group 8/43 (18.6%) had a positive result compared with 4/43 (9.3%) controls (p=0.35). Those with coeliac disease had similar baseline values of hydrogen (9.6 ppm ± 8.8) compared with non-coeliacs (11.1 ppm ± 6.7).Peak hydrogen values in coeliacs were significantly lower (12.6 ppm ± 13.6) than in non-coeliacs (28.3 ppm ± 51.6). In the coeliac group, 4/8 with a positive result had a significant rise in methane but not hydrogen. Positive result in the coeliac group was not associated with age, sex, tTG level, presenting complaint, or histological features. 12 patients, including 3 with a positive methane result were retested on GFD. All three were persistently methane positive but the absolute peak methane levels had fallen from a mean of 64 ppm to a mean of 49 ppm. There was no significant difference between the peak level of hydrogen before (7.2 ppm ± 4.2) or after (8.8 ppm ± 5.3) gluten-free diet. Likewise there was no significant change in peak levels of methane before (19.5 ppm ±) or after (16.9 ppm ±) gluten-free diet. Conclusion 18.6% of patients presenting with new diagnosis coeliac disease may have SIBO which could contribute significantly to the symptom profile. Clinicians should be mindful of SIBO as a cause of presenting symptoms as well as persisting symptoms in coeliac disease.


The study of shocks in solid, crystalline metals has been ongoing since the early works of Rankine and Hugoniot in the latter half of the 19th century. However, the understanding of the behaviour of such materials under these extreme conditions remains an area of active research because of the paucity with which models can predict experimental observations. The modern era has seen a huge increase in the ability to solve many of the problems of this area of study by numerical, rather thatn analytic, means. One of these tools has been the use of computers to provide a numerical solution to the many–body problem posed by consideration of the medium as being composed of interacting atoms. The issue, then, has been transferred from one of dealing with many particles (which remains a problem for some aspects) to one of being able to develop a model which correctly describes the atomic interactions. However, it has been found that approximately correct models provide sufficient fidelity to enable qualitative studies to be undertaken. The study undertaken here has used this advantage to consider the behaviour of metallic materials under weak shock conditions. A comparison with some previous studies is given, which shows that, in order to avoid certain behaviours not observed experimentally, the simulation must contain thermal motion equivalent to at least room temperature. This thermal motion, and its resultant misalignment of the atoms, prevents spurious transfer of uni-directional momentum into rebounding translational supersonic waves. Further examination of the initial generation of dislocations indicates differences in the behaviour of not only the three high symmetry directions, but in the way that shear stress is relieved initially in low symmetry crystals as well. This behaviour gives some indication as to how the elastic precursor, commonly observed in weak shock experiments, decays from the level predicted by the Rankine–Hugoniot conservation relations to the much lower level observed experimentally. However, a very large discrepancy exists between the amplitude of the elastic wave observed in these simulations and that of experiments. It is shown that the existence of defects within the crystal can account for at least some of this discrepancy. However, computational limitations not only prevent the creation of realistic sample sizes, but also prevent the simulation of realistic defect densities and microstructures. This computational limtation, then, means that it is not currently possible to recreate the low Hugoniot elastic limits observed experimentally. The inability of atomistic simulations to recreate experimental data notwithstanding, useful analysis of shock behaviour is demonstrated. This fortuity is used to examine the behaviour of bicrystals under shock loading. It is shown that the difference in shock speed, together with the difference in response of the two crystal orientations leads to an interaction which modifies the behaviour from that observed in single crystal simulations. Further use is made of the ability of modern simulation methods to recreate salient features of dynamic processes to examine the behaviour of metallic substrates under high–speed impact from nanometer sized particles. Here the plasticity of the substrate is shown to be vital to ensuring that the simulation results are faithful to experiment, and hence to space science work. In order to capture this behavioour correctly, issues of substrate size and boundary behaviour are seen to be key.


The vascular endothelium is a crucial regulator of vascular function and homeostasis. Nitric oxide (NO) is an important paracrine substance released by the endothelium to regulate vasomotor tone. Risk factors for atherosclerosis, as well as atherosclerosis per se, are associated with endothelial dysfunction and decreased bioavailablilty of NO. Indeed, endothelial dysfunction is integral to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, endothelial dysfunction relates to an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. L-Arginine is an essential amino acid required by the constitutive enzyme, endothelial NO oxide synthase (eNOS), to produce NO. Administration of L-arginine improves endothelial function in animal models and in humans with hypercholesterolemia and with atherosclerosis. Clinical trials to date support potential clinical applications of L-arginine in the treatment of coronary artery disease and peripheral arterial disease, as well as in the prevention of in-stent restenosis. The mechanism of benefit of L-arginine on endothelial function is unclear, because intracellular concentrations of L-arginine far exceed that required by eNOS. One potential explanation of this "arginine paradox" is that L-arginine restores endothelial function in atherosclerotic patients, in whom there are elevated levels of asymmetric dimethylarginine, an endogenous inhibitor of eNOS. Given the promising findings of early studies of L-arginine as a potential therapy for cardiovascular disorders, large-scale clinical trials are warranted.


This book is a transcription of the proceedings of the "Black Writers Redefine the Struggle: A Tribute to James Baldwin" Conference held on April 22-23, 1988 at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The Conference was developed by five-college faculty members involved with black literary studies and would revolve around Chinua Achebe and James Baldwin, both outstanding writers and major cultural figures, who were teaching at the University at the same time: one the prototypical writer of Africa--the other the preeminent living embodiment of the literature of the Black Diaspora. Originally, the conference would assess where black writing, black struggle for full articulation, liberation, and recognition stood at its time and what its prospects and priorities might be. Before the Conference, however, Baldwin succumbed to cancer. The Conference still went on and was retitled as a tribute to James Baldwin and focused on his impact on Black writing. Throughout the Conference are extraordinary readings in several genres and voices by Chinua Achebe, Irma McClaurin-Allen, Andrew Salkey, Michael Thelwell, and John Edgar Wideman.


BACKGROUND
To further improve the outcome of clinical islet transplantation analysis of the impact of donor- and process-related factors could be of great importance.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Thirty-eight consecutive clinical islet transplantations were performed with consecutive islet isolations. Univariate analysis for donor- and isolation-related variables were correlated with recipient C-peptide levels at 2 and 4 weeks after transplantation. "Warm ischemia time" was defined as the time from start of University of Wisconsin solution perfusion in the donor until the pancreas was removed to the back table.

RESULTS
Short "warm ischemia time" (WIT), low expression of tissue factor (TF) in pancreatic tissue, and high creatinine levels in the donor were variables related to high C-peptide values after islet transplantation. Furthermore, hospitalization length longer than 4 days was associated with low C-peptide levels. The number of islet equivalents (IEQ) did not correlate with the clinical outcome, possibly due to the fact that IEQ number was included in the release criteria for clinical islet transplantation

CONCLUSIONS
Successful clinical islet transplantation is strongly correlated with donor and pancreas procurement factors rather than isolation process-related variables. "WIT" may induce TF expression in the pancreatic tissues. TF has been identified as the main trigger of the instant blood-mediated-inflammatory reaction in clinical islet transplantation. Therefore, assay of TF expression in pancreatic tissues could be applied as useful screening tool to identify "good" pancreata for clinical transplantation.


In this Thesis the new tool ALMABEST for the dynamic energy simulation of the whole building coupled to HVAC systems is presented. This tool, developed in the Matlab environment, consists of two libraries, ALMABuild and ALMAHVAC, dedicated to the building and HVAC system modelling respectively; this Thesis is focused in particular on ALMABuild.
In the first part of this Thesis, the description of ALMABuild, which consists of a Simulink library and a set of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), is presented. It is emphasized how the use of these GUIs allows to overcome the drawback of other Simulink-based tools in terms of introduction of building data and of implementation of the model in the Simulink desktop. The benchmark of ALMABuild has been performed following the BESTEST procedure.
In the second part of this work, applications of the ALMABEST tool are illustrated with the aim to highlight the main features of this tool. In particular, the detailed evaluation of the spatial distribution of radiative, indoor air and operative temperature obtained by means of ALMABEST has been used in order to compare the indoor local comfort conditions obtained by six different emitters. Furthermore, the impact of the temperature sensor position in a room on the local indoor comfort conditions and on the dynamic response of the emitters has been analysed.
The coupling of the Matlab Optimization Toolbox with ALMABuild is illustrated by means of a series of single and multi-objective optimizations in which the total annual energy demand is minimized by modifying a series of specific building parameters. Finally, the impact of occupant interactions with windows on comfort and heating energy consumptions is analysed. Results emphasize how the presence of occupants and their active behaviour cannot be ignored if an accurate and realistic evaluation of the building performance have to be obtained.


Synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) using macromolecular templates (Mw > 1.5 kDa), and proteins in particular, is highly demanding. So it is no wonder that this issue has attracted significant attention for nearly last two decades, especially in the field of selective chemosensor devising. Despite an extensive research effort in this field, there had been only a limited progress made till the beginning of the present decade. New approaches and new ideas that were proposed in the last few years raised protein imprinting to a completely new level. This progress prompted us to prepare a comprehensive overview of the research accomplished toward devising MIP based chemosensors for selective protein determination.


The LTC®3877 is a VID-programmable, constant frequency current mode step-down controller using an advanced and proprietary architecture. This new architecture enhances the signal-to-noise ratio of the current sense signal, allowing the use of very low DC resistance power inductors to maximize efficiency in high current applications. This feature also dramatically reduces the current sensing error, so that current sharing is greatly improved in multi-phase low DCR applications. In addition, the controller achieves a minimum on-time of just 40ns, permitting the use of high switching frequency at high step-down ratios. The LTC3877 features dual high speed remote sense differential amplifiers, programmable current sense limits and DCR temperature compensation to limit the maximum output current precisely over temperature. The LTC3877 also features a precise 0.6V reference with guaranteed accuracy of ±0.5%. The LTC3877 is available in a low profile 44-lead 7mm × 7mm QFN package.


Background Specialist Preterm Labour (PTL) clinics are a relatively novel innovation and allow translation of current research into clinical practise in an effort to reduce and prevent spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB) rates. A paucity of clinical guidance in this area is testimony to their recentness. Our aim was to evaluate our clinics performance over the past 5yrs with a view to identifying auditable standards and suggestions for improvement. Method Data was collected from January 2008–December 2012 on all new patients, including; demographics, indication for referral, cervical length, treatment, gestation at delivery and short term neonatal outcomes. Treatments include history or ultrasound indicated cerclage, vaginal progesterone and Arabin cervical pessary. Results Data from 504 patients was collected. Demographic data and delivery data was obtained in 100% of cases, with 97% having neonatal outcome data. 100% of cervical length data was available from 2011 onwards, with 22–80% available prior. Overall referrals increased from 70patients/yr to 129 patients/yr. The most common indication for referral was previous sPTB (60%). Previous PPROM and previous cervical surgery accounted for 18% and 17% of referrals respectively, other referrals include threatened PTL. For all attendees PTB rates have improved over the 5 yrs from 40% to 27.1%. Conclusion Our data demonstrate a development in the quality of data collection over time. In the absence of current national standards we have identified auditable standards for documentation and patient follow up. Standardisation of specialised preterm labour clinic data sets nationally will also allow for data sharing and improve clinical practice.


The energy generation efficiency of Building Intergraded Photovoltaic Systems (BIPV) system relies much on the panel's surface solar radiation received. In the projection of annual power generation of photovoltaic panels, local global solar radiation plays a pivotal role for reliable estimation process. The purpose of this paper is to develop an hourly typical solar radiation year (TSRY) as fundamental meteorological database for utilizing the estimation process. The TSRY should be interpretable to local long-term climate variations, thus, ten years' hourly meteorological data were gathered to formulate a typical year by means of modified Sandia method herein. A total of four cities' hourly typical years from northern to southern Taiwan were established in this paper. Orientation and inclination effect of the PV panel were also discussed in terms of daily averaged global solar radiation that cumulate from TSRY.


Pursuing Animal History as Body History, this paper focuses neither on animals nor on humans, but rather on bodies and the different societal demands made on them. It rejects the simple attribution of a history and an actor- or even subject-status to humans and animals per se. Instead, the paper suggests a historical problematization of the processes that produce humans or animals as having a history and as being actors or even subjects. Against this background, I try to demonstrate the usefulness of distinguishing between a praxeological approach in a broad sense on the one hand and a genealogical perspective in a narrow sense on the other. I thus understand Animal History less as an expanded form of Cultural History, but much more as a special form of Social History, placing at the center of interest neither the nature/culture dichotomy nor the concept of life, but rather the concept of the social.


This research was inspired by the need of a flexible and cost effective biometric security system. The flexibility of the wireless sensor network makes it a natural choice for data transmission. Swarm intelligence (SI) is used to optimize routing in distributed time varying network. In this paper, SI maintains the required bit error rate (BER) for varied channel conditions while consuming minimal energy. A specific biometric, the face recognition system, is discussed as an example. Simulation shows that the wireless sensor network is efficient in energy consumption while keeping the transmission accuracy, and the wireless face recognition system is competitive to the traditional wired face recognition system in classification accuracy.


Use of horizontal guided sonar in addition to vertical echo sounder may improve biomass estimation of pelagic fish schooling near the surface. But proportions of horizontal guided sonar to vertical echo integration estimates have been shown to be very variable, and it is necessary to provide better knowledge on factors that influence acoustic recordings of fish near surface before a reliable method of combining sonar and echo integration estimates can be established. To explore factors that influence horizontal sonar recordings of fish biomass near surface, we collected and analysed data from two acoustic surveys on Norwegian spring-spawning herring (Clupea harengus L.) in the Norwegian Sea in 1997 and 1998, and two acoustic surveys off the southwest coast of Africa, investigating pilchard (Sardinops sagax), anchovy (Engraulis capensis) and round herring (Etrumeus whiteheadi) off the coast of Namibia in 1994, and sardinella (Sardinella sp.) off the coast of Angola in 1995. The ratios of fish densities obtained by sonar to those obtained by echo sounder varied both with respect to location and between different years within a specific location. For three of the four surveys, the biomass estimated by sonar was significantly higher than the estimates by echo sounder, whereas in the remaining survey there was no significant difference in estimated biomass. Periods of bad weather, shallow, or low- density patchy fish distributions and mixture of the target species with other species contributed to the higher and more variable sonar estimates. Still a goal should be to improve knowledge about the factors that contributes to variations between simultaneously recorded echo sounder and sonar data. An aim should be to combine the recordings from both methods in the biomass estimations, or at least assess which of the estimates that are less biased under the prevailing environmental conditions and actual school distribution.


Objective:To examine temporal trends and predictors of linkage to HIV care, longitudinal retention in care and viral suppression among injection drug users (IDUs) infected with HIV. Design:Community-based, prospective cohort study. Methods:We prospectively studied 790 HIV-infected IDUs participating in the AIDS Linked to the Intravenous Experience (ALIVE) study from 1998 through 2011. IDUs were considered linked to care if they attended any HIV care visit during follow-up and retained in care if they reported HIV clinic attendance at every semi-annual study visit. We used logistic regression to identify predictors of poor retention in care and failure to achieve sustained viral suppression in response to ART. Results:Of 790 HIV-infected IDUs studied, 740 (93.6%) were ever linked to care. The majority of IDUs (76.7%) received ART at some point during observation and of these, most (85.4%) achieved viral suppression. However, over a median of 8.7 years of follow-up, only 241 (30.5%) IDUs were continuously retained with no 6-month lapses in HIV care and only 63 (10.2%) had sustained viral suppression at every study visit after first receiving ART. Suboptimal engagement in care was associated with poor access to medical care, active drug use, and incarceration. Conclusion:Compared with national estimates of retention in care and virologic suppression in the United States, IDUs are substantially less likely to remain fully engaged in HIV care. Strategies to optimize HIV care should acknowledge the elevated risk of poor engagement in care among IDUs.


Adhesive joining is today viewed as one of the key t chnologies to achieve decreased emissions in the automobile industry. To decrease w eight, optimal material selection often results in different materials for different parts. This leads to the necessity to join mixed material. Here, the use of adhesives is the m ost promising joining technology. For a rational design process, good models for strength analysis of adhesively joined structures are essential. With cohesive modelling, fracture of the adhesive layer is modelled with a stress-deformation law. This law often denoted a cohesive law gives the traction exerted on the adherends due to the de formation of the adhesive layer. This thesis is concerned with experimental methods t measure cohesive properties of engineering adhesives and standardized methods to m easure the fracture energy of adhesives. A new method to measure cohesive laws is developed. With this method, the cohesive law of an epoxy adhesive is measured in sh ear. In peel loading, with elastically deforming adherends, the cohesive law is shown to b e independent of the geometry of the specimen. If the adherends deform plastically the f racture energy increases. Experiments are performed in order to determine the temperature dependence of the cohesive layer for an epoxy adhesive. It is shown that the peak stress is trongly dependent on the temperature while the fracture energy shows only sm all temperature dependence. Experiments are also performed to study the influen ce of strain rate in peel and shear loading. The experiments show that the peak stress increases with an increasing strain rate and that the fracture energy increase in peel loading and decreases in shear with increasing strain rate. A new method to experimenta lly determine the relation between damage and plasticity in the adhesive during the fr acture process is developed. For the present adhesive, it is shown that only minor plast icity occurs during the fracture process in peel loading. For peel, several commonly used methods to evaluate the fracture energy using the double cantilever beam specimen are critically stud ied. For some methods the error in evaluated fracture energy is larger than 40 %. It i s shown that the evaluated fracture energy is more dependent on the choice of method th an on the cohesive properties of the adhesive layer.


Pattern matching algorithm is one of the Core algorithms in the detection engine of the intrusion prevention system. Efficiency of the intrusion prevention system is determined by pattern matching algorithm. A survey of the pattern matching algorithm is described in this thesis. The Wu-Manber algorithm which is one of the multi-pattern matching algorithm is explained in detail and the improvement of the Wu-Manber algorithm is presented to improve the efficiency. By dividing the pattern group into two subgroups and dealing with the two subgroups in different methods, the QWM algorithm enhanced the efficiency of pattern matching. Experimental results show that when pattern group contains a pattern that is less than three bytes, the performance of the improved Wu-Manber algorithm is much better than the traditional Wu-Manber algorithm.


Context. Most of what is known about clustered star formation to date comes from well studied star forming regions located relatively nearby, such as Rho-Ophiuchus, Serpens and Perseus. However, the recent discovery of infrared dark clouds may give new insights in our understanding of this dominant mode of star formation in the Galaxy. Though the exact role of infrared dark clouds in the formation process is still somewhat unclear, they seem to provide useful laboratories to study the very early stages of clustered star formation. Infrared dark clouds have been identified predominantly toward the bright inner parts of the galactic plane. The low background emission makes it more difficult to identify similar objects in mid-infrared absorption in the outer parts. This is unfortunate, because the outer Galaxy represents the only nearby region where we can study effects of different (external) conditions on the star formation process. Aims: The aim of this paper is to identify extended red regions in the outer galactic plane based on reddening of stars in the near-infrared. We argue that these regions appear reddened mainly due to extinction caused by molecular clouds and young stellar objects. The work presented here is used as a basis for identifying star forming regions and in particular the very early stages. An accompanying paper describes the cross-identification of the identified regions with existing data, uncovering more on the nature of the reddening. Methods: We use the Mann-Whitney U-test, in combination with a friends-of-friends algorithm, to identify extended reddened regions in the 2MASS all-sky JHK survey. We process the data on a regular grid using two different resolutions, 60´´ and 90´´. The two resolutions have been chosen because the stellar surface density varies between the crowded spiral arm regions and the sparsely populated galactic anti-center region. Results: We identify 1320 extended red regions at the higher resolution and 1589 in the lower resolution run. The linear extent of the identified regions ranges from a few arc-minutes to about a degree. Conclusions: The majority of extended red regions are associated with major molecular cloud complexes, supporting our hypothesis that the reddening is mostly due to foreground clouds and embedded objects. The reliability of the identified regions is >99.9%. Because we choose to identify object with a high reliability we can not quantify the completeness of the list of regions. Full Table 1 is only available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (126.96.36.199) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/515/A51


Studies published over the last 50 years, such as those reviewed by Gibbs (1981), support a view that there are more effective means of student learning than the didactic lecture, yet lectures prevail as a cornerstone of most courses in Higher Education.

This session presents case studies from four disciplines, three scientific the other business, which applied the inverted or flipped classroom model in an attempt to improve undergraduate student learning and achievement. Didactic lectures based on knowledge transfer were replaced with technology supported ways to deliver content, and contact time was used in a more interactive way to promote a deeper understanding of the material.

Our approach has been to use a prescribed "reading list" in advance of the lecture, comprising tutor-produced screencasts and written notes with videos, journal papers, book chapters and other third-party produced materials to facilitate the knowledge transfer which normally takes place in the lecture. In the contact time the principles of Just in Time Teaching (Novak et al, 1999) were applied. Students were 'tested' on the material that they had explored in their private study time through a short, online, pre-lecture quiz which also asked for reflections on gaps in their understanding. The lecturer was then able to assess how well the students understand the material and address areas of weakness in the lecture. The lecture theatre became a much more discursive environment using the principles of Peer Instruction (Mazur, 1997) to stimulate small group discussion by using hand held voting pads for questions that apply knowledge to solving a problem or analysing a scenario.

We conclude that there are several successful uses of the technique and explain these principles drawing on Mazur's guidelines for ConcepTest questions.

The presentation will consider the following questions:
• Do learners engage with the assigned reading list and reading quiz?
• Does this version of the flipped classroom model increase student achievement on assessment?
• Is there an effect on lecture attendance?
• Do learners prefer traditional or flipped delivery?

We will involve delegates in an interactive activity using hand held voting pads in which they will experience participating in a Peer Instruction session.
The session will allow time for discussion, including an opportunity for delegates to reflect on how these principles might be transferable to their own practice.


PURPOSE
This Phase I study was undertaken to define the toxicity, pharmacodynamics, and maximum tolerated dose of the combination of R115777, a farnesyl transferase inhibitor, with gemcitabine and cisplatin in patients with advanced solid tumors.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Thirty patients with solid tumors received a median of 2.5 cycles (range 1-30+) through five dose levels. R115777 was administered p.o. twice daily for 14 days. Gemcitabine was infused 15 min after the ingestion of R115777 on days 1 and 8. Cisplatin was administered starting 30 min after completion of the gemcitabine infusion on day 1. Cycles were repeated every 21 days. Toxicities were graded by the National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria and recorded as maximum grade per patient for each treatment cycle. At the maximum tolerated dose, accumulation of prelamin A in buccal mucosa cells of patients was evaluated as a marker of farnesyl transferase inhibition by R115777.

RESULTS
Neutropenia and thrombocytopenia were the most common toxicities. Dose-limiting toxicity in cycle 1 was myelosuppression with thrombocytopenia alone (4 patients), neutropenia alone (1 patient), or a combination of both (3 patients). Common nonhematologic toxicities were anorexia, rash, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue, none of which was dose limiting in the first cycle. At the maximum tolerated dose, defined as R115777 300 mg twice daily p.o., 1000 mg/m(2) gemcitabine, and 75 mg/m(2) cisplatin, inhibition of prelamin A farnesylation in buccal mucosa cells of patients was demonstrated, confirming that R115777 inhibits protein farnesylation in vivo. Nine objective responses (one complete response and eight partial responses) were documented in 27 evaluable patients.

CONCLUSION
The combination of R115777 with gemcitabine and cisplatin was well tolerated and showed evidence of antitumor activity. The maximum tolerated dose of R115777 successfully inhibits farnesyltransferase in patients in vivo. This combination warrants further evaluation in a number of tumor types.


Environmental stimuli such as gravity and light modify the plant development to optimize overall architecture. Many physiological and molecular biological studies of gravitropism and phototropism have been carried out. However, sufficient analysis has not been performed from a mechanical point of view. If the biological and mechanical characteristics of gravitropism and phototropism can be accurately grasped, then controlling the environmental conditions would be helpful to control the growth of plants into a specific shape. In this study, to clarify the mechanical characteristics of gravitropism, we examined the transverse bending moment occurring in cantilevered pea (Pisum sativum) sprouts in response to gravistimulation. The force of the pea sprouts lifting themselves during gravitropism was measured using an electronic balance. The gravitropic bending force of the pea sprouts was in the order of 100 Nmm in the conditions set for this study, although there were wide variations due to individual differences.


Purpose: We systematically reviewed the available evidence, and obtained and compared summary estimates of the sensitivity and specificity of cytology and the urine based markers bladder tumor antigen, BTA stat (Polymedco, Redmond, Washington), BTA TRAK (Polymedco), NMP22 (Matritech, Cambridge, Massachusetts), telomerase and fibrin degradation product in detecting primary bladder cancer. Materials and Methods: Studies on the diagnosis of primary bladder cancer published from 1990 through November 2001 in English and German were retrieved from MEDLINE and EMBASE data bases. In our research we included studies that evaluated 1 or more of the markers, used cystoscopy as the reference standard and allowed the construction of a 22 contingency table for a per patient analysis. The data plus items on study and clinical characteristics were extracted by 2 observers. Sensitivity and specificity for each marker were estimated using a bivariate random effect meta-analysis. A multivariable analysis was performed to explain study variation. Results: A total of 42 studies were included in our review. Only 2 studies were available on fibrin degradation product, hence a meta-analysis was not possible. Cytology had the best specificity at 94% (95% CI: 90% to 96%). This figure was significantly better than that of the other markers except for telomerase (specificity 86% [71% to 94%]). Telomerase had the best sensitivity (75% [71% to 79%]) but it was not significantly better than that of BTA stat (70% [66% to 74%]). Case control designs yielded lower values for sensitivity for the tumor markers cytology, bladder tumor antigen and BTA stat. Conclusions: Cytology has the best specificity and telomerase the best sensitivity. However, none of the markers studied here is sensitive enough to be recommended for daily routine.


Application run-time is a fundamental component in application and job scheduling. However, accurate predictions of run times are difficult to achieve for parallel applications running in shared environments where resource capacities can change dynamically over time. In this paper, we propose a run-time prediction technique for parallel applications that uses regression methods and filtering techniques to derive the application execution time without using standard performance models. The experimental results show that our use of regression models delivers tolerable prediction accuracy and that we can improve the accuracy dramatically by using appropriate filters.


This chapter investigates the fit of genetic, phenotypic, and linguistic data to two well-known models of population history. The first of these models, termed the population fissions model, emphasizes population splitting, isolation, and independent evolution. It predicts that genetic and linguistic data will be perfectly tree-like. The second model, termed isolation by distance, emphasizes genetic exchange among geographically proximate populations. It predicts a monotonic decline in genetic similarity with increasing geographic distance. While these models are overly simplistic, deviations from them were expected to provide important insights into the population history of northern Island Melanesia. The chapter finds scant support for either model because the prehistory of the region has been so complex. Nonetheless, the genetic and linguistic data are consistent with an early radiation of proto-Papuan speakers into the region followed by a much later migration of Austronesian speaking peoples. While these groups subsequently experienced substantial genetic and cultural exchange, this exchange has been insufficient to erase this history of separate migrations.


Patent attorney privilege is a key aspect of the working relationship between a client and her or his patent attorney. The capacity to withhold communications from a court, should litigation arise, facilitates the provision of full and frank advice to the client. The privilege in Australia arises from s 200(2) of the Patents Act 1990 (Cth) – a provision that has been held to not protect communications with patent attorneys not registered under the Patents Act. Given the increasing internationalisation of the patent system, this limitation may impact directly on the system's operation. This article considers a number of issues relating to the existence of the privilege in Australia and overseas, and raises a number of specific options for the reform of patent attorney privilege in Australia.


Dr. William S. Haubrich's curiosity knows no bounds, nor does that of his readers. The overwhelming demand for more histories of yet more words is satisfied in the eagerly awaited second edition of "Medical Meanings: A Glossary of Word Origins". Here the reader will find not just etymology and explanations of medical terminology but lessons in history and popular culture. They will learn what really ailed John Merrick, a.k.a., the Elephant Man; what odd deformity plagued the House of Hapsburg, rulers of Spain from 1493 to 1780; and, what the connection is between fetal alcohol syndrome and Little Orphan Annie. Charming, witty, and a rollicking learning experience, the second edition of "Medical Meanings" is fully updated and revised to include over thirty per cent more of the definitions, histories, and amusing anecdotes readers of the first edition so treasured. Charley horse is a term commonly used to describe pain and stiffness, usually in thigh muscles and especially that consequent to athletic stress. One explanation is that Charles II of England, following the Restoration in 1660, rewarded soldiers disabled by service in the Loyalist cause with appointment to undemanding government jobs. Such gimpy veterans were known as 'Charleys'. Later, the same Charley came to be given to an elderly, often partially lame horse retired from strenuous service and reserved for family use. Another story is that a somewhat decrepit horse named Charley was employed to haul a roller back and forth across the playing field of the Chicago White Sox baseball team in the 1890s. If all this seems devious, it's because it is. Pithode is the nuclear barrel-like figure formed in the process of cellular mitosis. The Greek pithos was a wine cask. Rowdy medical students at Johns Hopkins University in the 1890s formed what they called The Society of Pithotomists, a reference to their penchant for tapping into kegs of wine or beer.


AIM
To describe supervisors' experiences of supervising nursing staff who care for older people in order to develop an understanding of the opportunities and limitations involved in supervision.

BACKGROUND
Little is known of what group supervision of nursing staff means for the supervisor, particularly in regards to care of the old.

METHODS
A reflective life-world research approach, based upon phenomenological epistemonology was used. Two supervisors with 2 years experience of supervising nursing staff caring for older people were interviewed.

CONCLUSIONS
Results point to the need for support for supervisors in order to enable them to develop their supervisory abilities and skills.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT
Support is of crucial importance for both the ability to supervise and the quality of supervision.


This paper reports on the progress of the first court-ordered trial of alcohol ignition interlocks in Queensland. It focuses on the predominant factors affecting the implementation of the program and the current self-reported impact of using interlocks on key program outcomes such as drinking and drink driving behaviours. The report highlights issues influencing participation rates, the relationship between the downloaded and self-reported data and provides suggestions for future interlock programs.


[Purpose] Lung metastases in patients with tongue cancer are resistant to various therapies, resulting in poor outcomes. In the present study, we examined whether such lung metastases are controllable by adjuvant chemotherapy targeting micrometastases in the lung. We used a micrometastasis model using a rat tongue carcinoma cell line (RSC3) tagged with the green fluorescent protein gene (RSC3LM-GFP) in nude mice.[Methods] Lung metastases were formed after intravenous (i. v.) injection of 1 (3)×105 tumor cells in a low (high) metastasis model. TS-1 (5-fluorouracil derivative)(20mg/kg) was orally administered from day 1 Postinjection (early administration) and from day 7 post-injection (late administration) 5 times per week for 3 weeks. Mice bearing lung metastases underwent autopsy 4 weeks after injection, and the lungs were removed. The numbers of lung metastases were determined by GFP fluorescence.[Results] Lung metastasis including micrometastasis could be clearly visualized under illumination with blue light. In the low metastasis model, GFP-positive metastatic nodules in the lung were more strongly reduced by early TS-1 oral administration than by late administration (p<0.003). Survival was also much longer in mice with early TS-1 treatment than in those with late treatment in the low metastasis model (p<0.02), but not in the high metastasis model.[Conclusion] These results indicate that the sensitivity of lung metastases of tongue carcinoma to TS-1 depends on the timing of drug administration and the number of metastases. Small numbers of micrometastases in the lung at an early stage are most susceptible and can be effectively eliminated by chemotherapy targeting micrometastasis, leading to longer survival of mice.


AIM
Rural hospitals in New Zealand provide broad generalist clinical services, including procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA). This study was designed to explore patterns of procedural sedation use including indications, equipment, medications, logistical and medical staff support available by rural hospitals, and whether current professional guidelines support rural sedation practice.

METHODS
Through the New Zealand Rural Hospital Research Network, 17 rural hospitals were enrolled in an online survey during February 2018. The electronic survey consisted of 31 questions, regarding general information, staffing level and procedural sedation practice. Further questions sought information on clinical documentation and training guidelines.

RESULTS
Most participating sites represented larger rural hospitals and were distributed equally throughout New Zealand. All performed procedural sedation. The distance of rural hospitals to their referral hospitals varied, with the closest being 65 km and the furthest at 326 km away. This study found that staffing and equipment available for rural procedural sedation varied, with the majority of rural hospitals having access to only one doctor out of hours, and only half having access to two doctors within daytime hours. A majority of the respondents felt that a minimum safe level for procedural sedation in their rural hospital required only a single doctor. Procedural sedation is frequently performed in rural hospitals in New Zealand, with the majority of respondents performing PSA at least once a week or more. Ketamine is the preferred PSA agent. A wide variety of procedures are undertaken including orthopaedic and injury treatments, abscess incision and drainage, and cardioversions. Patient transfer to another centre for the purpose of PSA is infrequent, occurring a few times a month or less for all hospitals.

CONCLUSION
This exploratory survey of rural hospital PSA practice demonstrated that PSA is a commonly performed procedure for a variety of indications. Staffing, equipment and techniques available for rural PSA vary according to institution. There is no current professional framework that suitably defines minimum standards for rural PSA practice, and specific training resources are limited. Providing procedural sedation and analgesia is an essential rural hospital service which is patient and whānau (Māori-language word for extended family) centred, saves patient transfers, and should be supported by a safe, pragmatic and realistic framework of tools, recommendations and training for rural practitioners.


Next-generation 3D video games make use of normal maps to improve the realism and the visual detail of scenes and models. The use of normal maps typically leads to increases in data storage and bus bandwidth requirements. To cope with the increased demands of normal maps, compression techniques can be used. Unfortunately, most texture compression techniques are poorly suited for normal map compression. The application of such techniques on normal maps often leads to a degradation of visual quality. This paper presents an adaptive approach to the task of compressing normal maps used by next-generation 3D video games. The proposed method attempts to retain visual detail while reducing storage requirements. Experimental results demonstrate overall compression performance and visual quality that is superior to the performance of existing techniques. The proposed method can be used to deliver improved photo-realism in 3D video games.


Weakly supervised semantic segmentation has attracted much research interest in recent years considering its advantage of low labeling cost. Most of the advanced algorithms follow the design principle that expands and constrains the seed regions from class activation maps (CAM). As well-known, conventional CAM tends to be incomplete or over-activated due to weak supervision. Fortunately, we find that semantic segmentation has a characteristic of spatial transformation equivariance, which can form a few self-supervisions to help weakly supervised learning. This work mainly explores the advantages of scale equivariant constrains for CAM generation, formulated as a self-supervised scale equivariant network (SSENet). Specifically, a novel scale equivariant regularization is elaborately designed to ensure consistency of CAMs from the same input image with different resolutions. This novel scale equivariant regularization can guide the whole network to learn more accurate class activation. This regularized CAM can be embedded in most recent advanced weakly supervised semantic segmentation framework. Extensive experiments on PASCAL VOC 2012 datasets demonstrate that our method achieves the state-of-the-art performance both quantitatively and qualitatively for weakly supervised semantic segmentation. Code has been made available.


A new Cu(II) complex C40H38N4CuO2 (1) was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, mass spectrometry and also authenticated by single crystal X-ray studies. Structural analysis of 1 reveals the distorted square planar geometry around the Cu(II) centre and the presence of C–H⋯O and N–H⋯π hydrogen bonding interactions. The sensing behaviour of 1 towards L-tryptophan (L-Trp) was identified by UV-vis spectroscopic and cyclic voltammetry experiments. In the UV titration of 1 with L-Trp, four distinct isosbestic points were observed. Furthermore, on modifying the surface of the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) by 1 (1-GCE) the oxidation potential of L-Trp at +0.32 V is revealed, which is considerably lower than the values previously reported for other electrodes. Additionally, the 1-GCE can detect L-Trp with a noteworthy detection limit (185 nM), sensitivity (3.156 μA μM−1 cm−2) and with distinguished selectivity in the presence of various other amino acids. The 1-GCE also displays excellent reproducibility, repeatability and long term stability. Finally, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) investigations were carried out to gauge the effects of modification with 1 on the characteristics of the GCE. Moreover, the molecular docking study of 1 with various proteins reveals the π–π stacking interaction with L-Trp.


This paper suggests that studies on local currencies (LCs) should engage in spatial analyses, as far as their territorial distribution is highly heterogeneous. It provides a statistical overview of the territorial features of LCs functioning in France, wherein their number has increased solidly and remarkably fast over the last decade. However, there is a huge variety in their extent, and their development has not been spatially even, especially with regards to the administrative subdivision of the country in departments (counties or departments that correspond to the NUTS-3 level of regions according to the administrative territorial classification of the EU). This uneven distribution let us presume that it is interrelated with different territorial conditions, which motivated our research. We build a size index of LCs and provide a cluster presentation of them as of 2018. A departmental territorial breakdown of data shows statistically significant spatial concentrations of LCs in France. We then provide insights into the reasons for such concentrations.


Background. Comorbidities are conditions that occur simultaneously but independently of another disorder. Among skin cancer patients, comorbidities are common and may influence management. Objective. We compared comorbidity assessment by traditional medical interview (MI) and by standardized patient-reported questionnaire based on the Adult Comorbidity Evaluation-27 (ACE-27). Methods. Between September 2011 and October 2013, skin cancer patients underwent prospective comorbidity assessment by a Mohs surgeon (MI) and a radiation oncologist (using a standardized patient-reported questionnaire based on the ACE-27, the PRACE-27). Comorbidities were identified and graded according to the ACE-27 and compared for agreement. Results. Forty-four patients were evaluated. MI and PRACE-27 identified comorbidities in 79.5% and 88.6% (p = 0.12) of patients, respectively. Among 27 comorbid ailments, the MI identified 9.9% as being present, while the PRACE-27 identified 12.5%. When there were discordant observations, PRACE-27 was more likely than MI to identify the comorbidity (OR = 5.4, 95% CI = 2.4–14.4, p < 0.001). Overall comorbidity scores were moderate or severe in 43.2% (MI) versus 59.1% (PRACE-27) (p = 0.016). Limitations. Small sample size from a single institution. Conclusion. Comorbidities are common in skin cancer patients, and a standardized questionnaire may better identify and grade them. More accurate comorbidity assessments may help guide skin cancer management.