ABSTRACT Purpose: Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are used by men for their aesthetic and performance-enhancing effects and are associated with risk for side effects. Our research aims to deepen knowledge and understanding of men´s experiences of using AAS. Method: This phenomenological study is based on the reflective lifeworld research approach. Lifeworld interviews were conducted with twelve men about their experiences of using AAS. Results: By using AAS, men strive towards a muscular, strong and athletic ideal. Self-imposed demands, self-discipline and performance accelerate male physical development. The perfect male body ideal thus attained is fragile from both an existential and a biological perspective. The perfect self-image can easily be shattered by adversity. A man's very existence may be jeopardized if the use of AAS is revealed to others or if the body is let down by illness. Conclusions: Men´s use of AAS is a complex phenomenon. It partly concerns a traditional view of masculinity that is reflected in the community. It requires both broad and deep knowledge and understanding to be able to meet men using AAS in their problems and vulnerability; a meeting that is hampered by their low trust in healthcare, and by the fact that AAS are illegal.


In this article, the author develops a simple stock-market model of a stochastic type and derives a few of its statistical properties. Particular attention has been given to those properties relevant to the random walk hypothesis of share prices. The basic premise of this article is that the quantity demanded and the quantity supplied of a share are both a function of price and another variable representing the effect of information. In the first section of the article, the author describes the model. Diverse types of information can affect the market price of a share, ranging from the obvious specific news content of a change in the directors' board of a firm to more global events. It would be impossible to list explicitly all the variables which may affect the quantity demanded or supplied at a given price, so one may conveniently represent these effects by random variables. The derivations are heavily dependent on properties of random variables, and that these properties hold quite independently of the economic interpretation of the model. It is well known, and is intuitively obvious, that the first difference of a random series is negatively autocorrelated.


BACKGROUND & AIMS
Liver transplant recipients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) develop recurrent hepatitis soon after transplantation and, in some cases, progress to fibrosis within the first 2 years. Our goals were to identify molecular processes influencing the liver disease progression and to find potential gene markers of early fibrosis.

METHODS
We performed gene expression profiling on serial liver biopsy specimens obtained from 13 (11 infected and 2 uninfected) transplant recipients within the first year after transplantation at 0, 3, 6, and 12 months. The data were compared with clinical observations and with a gene expression database obtained for 55 nontransplant HCV-infected and uninfected liver samples.

RESULTS
We identified several specific gene expression patterns. The first pattern was unique for the transplant recipients regardless of their infection status. The corresponding genes encoded stress response proteins and blood proteins involved in coagulation that were differentially expressed in response to posttransplantation graft recovery. The second pattern was specific to HCV-infected samples and included up-regulation of genes encoding components of the interferon-mediated antiviral response and immune system (antigen presentation, cytotoxic response). This up-regulation pattern was absent or suppressed in the patients who developed early fibrosis, indicating that the disease progression might result from an impaired liver response to infection. Finally, we identified gene expression patterns that were specific for 12-month biopsy specimens in all 4 HCV-infected patients who developed early fibrosis.

CONCLUSIONS
The identified gene expression patterns may prove useful for diagnostic and prognostic applications in HCV-infected patients, including predicting early progression to fibrosis.


Abstract: This paper examines Cicero9s relation to Roman imperialism by focusing primarily upon his speech in behalf of Pompey9s special command against Mithradates (Pro lege Manilia, 66 BC) and his speech in favor of extending Caesar9s command in Gaul (De provinciis consularibus, 56 BC). These two moments in which Cicero contributed substantially to the empowerment of the two great imperialist generais who destroyed the Republic suggest the need to reassess versions of Cicero9s career which see film primarily in terms of domestic Roman politics and cast him as the heroic, would-be savior of the Republic. Applying a Marxist reading particularly indebted to Pierre Macherey, I try to explore the internal contradictions of the texts as pointers to the contradictions of late Republican society, contradictions which constitute the very conditions of possibility for Cicero9s political participation.


It is currently a challenge to evaluate and compare network processor-based (a.k.a. NPU-based) applications due to the heterogeneity of the application designs and hardware architectures. Many research works have been done in the area of packet classifications, which were directed towards proposing high-speed firewall implementation algorithms. However, few researches focus on providing standard benchmarking methodology for a specific class of firewall. This paper presents a benchmarking methodology for NPU-based stateful firewall. The aim is to allow 'apple-to-apple' comparison among similar firewalls available in the market, and to provide practical benchmarks that exhibit realistic performance numbers. The key aspects of this work are benchmark specifications, separation of benchmark granularity in a layered manner, and the means of measurement. Finally, a system-level benchmark is applied on a stateful firewall implemented on Intel's IXP1200 network processor as a proof-of-concept of this work.


The formulation and implementation of the Love's condition constraint for the source reconstruction method (SRM) in near-field antenna measurements is analyzed in the context of inverse problems. To this end, the SRM is first analyzed to identify the non-unique or non-radiating current sources which may be present. Next, the advantages and disadvantages of general regularization techniques, which may address the non-radiating currents, are presented which serve to motivate the use of the Love's condition constraint. The main methods of formulating the constraint are then presented, one of which is a novel technique developed for this paper. Following this, the formulation methods are analyzed in order to predict the similarities and differences of the methods in the context of addressing the non-radiating currents of the SRM. This analysis is reinforced by simulated antenna measurements. In particular, the novel formulation method is demonstrated to provide a greater regularizing effect (in the examples considered), at the cost of computational complexity.


In this paper, we propose an effective way for biasing the attention mechanism of a sequence-to-sequence neural machine translation (NMT) model towards the well-studied statistical word alignment models. We show that our novel guided alignment training approach improves translation quality on real-life e-commerce texts consisting of product titles and descriptions, overcoming the problems posed by many unknown words and a large type/token ratio. We also show that meta-data associated with input texts such as topic or category information can significantly improve translation quality when used as an additional signal to the decoder part of the network. With both novel features, the BLEU score of the NMT system on a product title set improves from 18.6 to 21.3%. Even larger MT quality gains are obtained through domain adaptation of a general domain NMT system to e-commerce data. The developed NMT system also performs well on the IWSLT speech translation task, where an ensemble of four variant systems outperforms the phrase-based baseline by 2.1% BLEU absolute.


Hydrogen cracking is one of the most common defects that get induced in the welding of the pipes or we can say that in pipeline welding. Here in this paper pipes are of X80 steels, the use of this steel had been come into picture since 1985 and it becomes very helpful in transporting oil and gases through long distances and effect and remedies of hydrogen cracking are discussed in order to obtain good weld characteristics in electric arc welding. To prevent cracking and to achieve high strength the X80 steels are made of ultra-low carbon, ultra-low sulphur, micro-alloying elements (niobium, vanadium and titanium) and molybdenum.


The format of this Library of Living Philosophers volume differs from that of its fifteen predecessors. Because of Sartre's failing eyesight, it was not possible for him either to read the critical essays or to respond in the usual way to his critics. Nor did he feel able to prepare an autobiography. Thus, in order to collect the material needed for the volume, it was necessary to conduct personal taped interviews with Sartre and then to have those interviews translated, edited, and arranged in an order that would approximate as closely as possible the customary format of the volumes in the Library of Living Philosophers series. Skillfully and conscientiously conducted, the interviews themselves resulted in a unique and valuable document. At the time they occurred, Sartre was in good health except for his near-blindness, and he answered questions in a lively and easy manner. Although he seemed most comfortable when talking autobiographically, he nevertheless responded to many of the philosophical questions raised by the contributors to this volume.


This research is designed to study consumers' purchasing attitudes to counterfeit luxury goods on electronic marketplaces (e-marketplaces). And two research hypotheses are proposed in this research. Based on data analysis of 243 samples, this study explores the dimensions of consumer attitudes (morality and law, accessibility, burden-bearing, function effectiveness, economical efficiency) and motivations (conspicuous psychology, rebel psychology, social identity, self-enjoying and cost performance) to luxury counterfeit goods on e-marketplaces. It is found that the major reasons for consumers to choose e-business channels to buy luxury counterfeits are convenience, information acquisition, product and service. In particular, the findings indicate that online consumers' attitudes toward luxury counterfeit products significantly impact purchasing motivation; online consumers' attitudes and motivations positively impact purchasing intention.


In previous work (Sinka & Schelletter 1998), we have addressed the morphosyntactic development of two bilingual children and the issues raised by the opposition between the Single System and the Separate Development hypotheses. Interactions between the two language systems were found to be very rare, consistent with the Separate Development Hypothesis. This is further underlined by the developmental lead-lag pattern evidenced in the emergence of Functional Categories (Schelletter, Sinka & Garman 1999, Garman, Schelletter & Sinka 1999). More recently (Sinka, Garman & Schelletter 2000), we have supplemented our investigation of early grammatical development by using a lexical profiling approach to focus on the evidence from the acquisition of main verbs. Results suggest that the lead-lag order of development for the two languages in each child is the same as for the grammatical system, and each bilingual child appears to be developing the system of main verbs independently for each language, although there are some commonalities across languages, e.g. in the development of the verb 'to be'. In this paper we extend the lexical profiling approach to the analysis of noun vocabulary. We look at the general characteristics of types and tokens, and then consider more fine-grained analysis of the nouns used by each child in terms of grammatico-semantic categories. The findings will be discussed in relation to the Separate Development Hypothesis.


Deep-space communication and navigation is faced with two challenges in the future: (1) the potential retirement of the largest antennas of NASA's Deep Space Network and (2) an anticipated need for increasing ground system capacity so as to support higher data rates to and from missions operating at remote locations in the solar system, as well as in anticipation of a larger number of simultaneously flying missions. In the transmitting, or uplink, direction, one approach to increasing the effective transmitted power is to array multiple antennas. This is attractive mainly because it promises a lower construction cost than equivalent (large) single antenna systems. In addition, it has the potential for increasing the reliability of the uplink and reducing maintenance costs. This paper introduces the concept of uplink arraying by examining technological challenges and possible solutions to them. Arraying principles are presented and error sources described. The main challenge is to maintain carrier phase alignment among the antennas, and this must be done by periodic calibration. Presently, two calibration methods are being developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as part of an uplink arraying demonstration effort. These methods are briefly discussed.


We discuss interplays between log-concave functions and log-concave sequences. We prove a Bernstein-type theorem, which characterizes the Laplace transform of log-concave measures on the half-line in terms of log-concavity of the alternating Taylor coefficients. We establish concavity inequalities for sequences inspired by the Pr\'ekopa-Leindler and the Walkup theorems. One of our main tools is a stochastic variational formula for the Poisson average.


Oral and maxillofacial surgeons now have the capabilities to plan a total treatment for the entire face. In some instances, a team may be formed to deal with ancillary areas of expertise. Patients may be directed to members of the team who are cognizant of each other's capabilities. In this manner, the most complete type of treatment plan may be suggested to the patient.


: Background: A lot of studies indicate that cancer chemotherapy results in memory and motor impairment immediately following therapy. On the other side, crocin as the chemical constituent isolated from the Saffron is effective on memory and motor impairement. In this study, the effect of crocin on memory and motor impairment induced by cisplatin injection was studied in adult male rats. Materials and Methods: In this study, male Wistar rats (n=50) were divided into 5 groups: Control, Sham, Cisplatin (2 mg/kg/week for 21 days), Crocin (30 mg/kg for 21 days) and Cisplatin+Crocin. Sham group was administrated with Saline. Then, inhibitory avoidance memory, balance and exploratory behaviors were assessed by shuttle box, rotarod and open field apparatus, respectively. Results: Crocin improved memory impairment induced by cisplatin ( P <0.01). Cisplatin also impaired balance in rotarod test. Rearing frequency and total distance traveled in open field test were significantly decreased ( P <0.001 and P <0.05, respectively) compared to Control group. Conclusion: We conclude that crocin injection following the use of anticancer drugs (e.g. cisplatin) might have a protective effect against the cisplatin-induced impairement in cognitive function, balance and explorative behavior.


In the hostile and highly corrosive marine environment, advanced composite materials can be used in marine current turbines due to their high strength-to-weight ratios and excellent resistance to corrosion. A composite material marine current turbine (CMMCT), which has significant advantages over traditional designs, has been developed and investigated numerically. A substantial improvement in turbine performance is achieved by placement of a duct to concentrate the energy. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) results show that the extracted power of a ducted CMMCT can be three to four times the power extracted by a bare turbine of the same turbine area. The results provide an insight into the hydrodynamic design and operation of a CMMCT used to shorten the design period and improve technical performance.


The purpose of this study is to investigate into the acute and perennial under-representation of women in Nigerian Politics. In Nigeria women make up half of the population and they have been known to have contributed in no small measure to the development and sustenance of the society yet they are hardly there in the political scene. We have tried in this paper to establish the ethical and theoretical basis for women active participation in Nigerian politics which among other things border on their personhood and the concept of equality, justice and human rights. The African and indeed Nigerian value system explored in this paper point to the complementarity that exists between both sexes for social harmony and cohesion. This study shows that the major militating factors against women participation in politics include; lack of democratic culture among Nigerian populace, and the general negative mind-set about the nature and ability of women. This paper therefore, proffered strategies for addressing the issue of empowering women politically.


Chancellor George Osborne has set out government spending plans up to 2020. These involve big cuts to Whitehall and welfare, but also promises including a new phase of house building. Our experts from across the sectors give their thoughts on how the axe has fallen. For further updates on Twitter, follow @ConversationUK.


The Endurance of Palestinian Political Factions is an ethnographic study of Palestinian political factions in Lebanon through an immersion in daily home life. Perla Issa asks how political factions remain the center of political life in the Palestinian camps in the face of mounting criticism. Through an examination of the daily, mundane practices of refugees in Nahr el-Bared camp in particular, this book shows how intimate, interpersonal, and kin-based relations are transformed into political networks and offers a fresh analysis of how those networks are in turn metamorphosed into political structures. By providing a detailed and intimate account of this process, this book reveals how factions are produced and reproduced in everyday life despite widespread condemnation.


The descriptive quality of bug reports is one of the essential parts of defect management. Sometimes they provide inadequate or incorrect data about software problems, which can lead to incomplete defect fixing or omission of serious defects. Therefore, it is vital to evaluate and improve the quality of bug reports. This paper proposes an approach that helps to resolve this problem by predicting various indicators. The values of these indicators allow QA engineers to evaluate the quality of defect description and correct it in a suitable way. This paper also introduces Nostradamus, a new open source tool built to implement the approach. The tool uses machine learning techniques to analyze the data stored in software defect repositories and evaluates the interdependence of defect attributes, including such a crucial element as a defect description. This paper describes the approach, the tool that is based on it and the typical use cases.


Patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency resulting from paralysis of respiratory muscles have been supported most commonly by mechanical ventilation via a tracheostomy. Acute and long-term morbidity and mortality have been associated with tracheostomy. Noninvasive alternatives for providing mechanical respiratory support include negative pressure "body ventilators" and positive pressure ventilation via a nasal, oral, or oronasal interface. Intermittent positive pressure ventilation via the nose, mouth, or oronasal combination is effective and convenient for the majority of patients when the interface is sufficiently airtight and comfortable to permit effective long-term use. Construction of custom-fabricated interfaces for the administration of assisted ventilation is presented. These interfaces provide better fit for greater interface seal and comfort than commercial masks. They allow more patients to benefit from assisted positive pressure ventilation in the home without resorting to a tracheostomy.


Desiccation (water loss by drying or freeze-thaw sufficient to generate matric suction), can influence the performance of a tailings deposit both positively and negatively. The significance of desiccation is largest in tailings that have been dewatered prior to deposition, by thickening or filtration. Such tailings can be "stacked" or deposited with a significant slope, which usually implies that a substantial volume of tailings remain above water. Under such conditions the tailings, by accident or by design, may undergo desiccation before burial by fresh tailings. Desiccation can contribute substantially to strength, above and beyond the contribution arising from increase in density, through stress history effects. For some deposits, it is required practice that at least some tailings undergo desiccation to improve, particularly when those tailings for a structural part of a deposit. If, however, tailings remain exposed to the atmosphere in an unsaturated state for some period of time, this may have potential negative consequences through oxidation of sulphide minerals and the formation of acid drainage. This paper describes previous research on the strength gained through desiccation in tailings, and on modelling work that incorporates unsaturated soil phenomena into consolidation analysis. Both types of research are applied to a real field site, providing an example of how novel improvements to tailings management can arise out of application of principles of unsaturated soil mechanics.


This paper proposes two MOF metamodels to support the representation and management of XML and DTD metadata. A metamodel defines a model to build models. It is a set of related metadata used to build models. The MOF defines an abstract language and a framework to support the specification, implementation and management of platform independent metamodels. XML and DTD are standard languages for flexible semi-structured data in the web, which are supported by a variety of tools, and are used for describing, storing and interchanging metadata. This approach takes advantage of the flexibiblity of the W3C standards and of the interoperability of the OMG ones to support metadata management. The proposed metamodels may be used by any applications that needs to represent XML and DTD metadata.


An immediate consequence of T cell activation via the T cell receptor (TcR)/CD3 complex and CD2 antigen is the hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol‐(4,5)‐bisphosphate and the generation of inositol‐(1,4,5)‐trisphosphate and diacylglycerol which then regulate intracellular calcium and protein kinase C. Changes in cellular levels of phosphoinositides phosphorylated on the D‐4 and D‐5 position during T cell activation have been well documented. Recently it has been proposed that phosphoinositides phosphorylated on the D‐3 position of the inositol ring by a novel phosphoinositide (PI) 3 kinase may also be important in cell activation. In the present study we have examined the levels and regulation of D‐3 phosphoinositides in T cells activated by the TcR/CD3 complex and CD2 antigens. The data show the existence of phosphatidylinositol‐(3)‐monophosphate [PtdIns(3)P], phosphatidylinositol‐(3,4)‐bisphosphate [PtdIns(3,4)P2] and phosphatidylinositol‐(3,4,5)‐trisphosphate [PtdIns(3,4,5)P3] in T cells. Activation of the TcR/CD3 complex or CD2 antigen results in modulation of PtdIns(3,4)P2 and a putative PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 in T cells but does not change levels of PtdIns(3)P. These data provide the first evidence that lipid products of a PI 3 kinase exist in T cells.


Near-facility environmental monitoring is defined as monitoring near facilities that have the potential to discharge or have discharged, stored, or disposed of radioactive or hazardous materials. Monitoring locations are associated with nuclear facilities such as the Plutonium Finishing Plant, Canister Storage Building, and the K Basins; inactive nuclear facilities such as N Reactor and the Plutonium-Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Facility; and waste storage or disposal facilities such as burial grounds, cribs, ditches, ponds, tank farms, and trenches. Much of the monitoring consists of collecting and analyzing environmental samples and methodically surveying areas near facilities. The program is also designed to evaluate acquired analytical data, determine the effectiveness of facility effluent monitoring and controls, assess the adequacy of containment at waste disposal units, and detect and monitor unusual conditions.


This paper investigates the effects of an unknown speech sample's segmental content (the specific vowels and consonants it contains) on its chances of being successfully classified by an automatic accent recognition system. While there has been some work to investigate this effect in automatic speaker recognition, it has not been explored in relation to automatic accent recognition. This is a task where we would hypothesise that segmental content has a particularly large effect on the likelihood of a successful classification, especially for shorter speech samples. By focussing on one particular text-dependent automatic accent recognition system, the Y-ACCDIST system, we uncover the phonemes that appear to contribute more or less to successful classifications using a corpus of Northern English accents. We also relate these findings to the sociophonetic literature on these specific spoken varieties to attempt to account for the patterns that we see and to consider other factors that might contribute to a sample's successful classification.


The striatum shows general topographic organization and regional differences in behavioral functions. How corticostriatal topography differs across cortical areas and cell types to support these distinct functions is unclear. This study contrasted corticostriatal projections from two layer 5 cell types, intratelencephalic (IT-type) and pyramidal tract (PT-type) neurons, using viral vectors expressing fluorescent reporters in Cre-driver mice. Long-range corticostriatal projections from sensory and motor cortex are somatotopic, with a decreasing somatotopic specificity as injections move from sensory to motor and frontal areas. Somatotopic organization differs between IT-type and PT-type neurons, including injections in the same site, with IT-type neurons having higher somatotopic stereotypy than PT-type neurons. Furthermore, IT-type projections from interconnected cortical areas have stronger correlations in corticostriatal targeting than PT-type projections do. Thus, as predicted by a long-standing basal ganglia model, corticostriatal projections of interconnected cortical areas form parallel circuits in basal ganglia-thalamus-cortex loops.


Nowadays efficient and productive knowledge management is a key competency for organizations and require proper arrangement of factors such as people, processes and organizational infrastructures. The purpose of this study was to investigate attitude and skill in applying knowledge management (KM) of agricultural experts. The paper was conducted using survey research. The sample was consisted of 120 experts in Jihad-e-Keshavarzi Organization of Mazandaran province. Data was gathered using questionnaire. The most important findings of the study showed that monthly income, organizational characteristics of experts, group-human factors, infrastructural factors, strategic and management factors, structural and process factors, access to information resources and technologies and attitude to development of knowledge management had positive and significant correlations with skills in applying knowledge management. Results of stepwise regression analysis also showed that independent variables of access to information resources and technologies, structural and process factors, organizational characteristics of experts, infrastructural factors, group-human factors and monthly income explained 50 percent of the variability in the skill in applying knowledge management. Keywords: Knowledge management, Experts, Jihad-e-Keshavarzi, Mazandaran, Iran


Nepal has reached a critical phase. The new constitution is in the making, and with its promulgation, the country would enter into a new phase of democracy along with a number of structural changes. During the last two decades, many significant issues have emerged on the scene of Nepali society and polity. The process of political transition has unfolded many dimensions of considerable importance. The questions of stabilization of democracy, federalism, ethnicity, regionalism, social inclusion, gender, etc., are becoming the core issues. The demography, migration and health issues are gaining currency demanding immediate attention. The media has started acquiring a relevant role in this context. The civil society too finds itself assuming new shape and role accordingly. The present volume is thus successful in taking account of a lot of issues that happened in Nepal, especially after the advent of democracy in the 1950s. The book has tried to link the past with the present; it tries to analyse the present with the lens of historical realities. The permanent nature of transition in Nepal has been attributed to power-greedy rulers of the past who always tried to play India or China card to remain in power. Similarly, marginalization of ethnic communities, Dalits, women, etc. by the King, political parties like the Nepal Congress and the CPN (UML) has been described as the prime reason behind the rise and growth of Maoist movement in Nepal.


AIM: To detect an association between the sudden epidemic with respiratory symptoms, and fogging with dichlorovos in Jaipur town and to find out probable mechanism of causation of the epidemic. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In this community based study of the epidemic, house to house survey of households selected using systematic random sampling was carried out. The incidence in the exposed and unexposed population, the relative risk and attributable risk were calculated. RESULTS: The incidence of cases was high (58.9%) in subjects present on roads at the time of fogging as compared to in those who were inside rooms of the houses (5.4%) and in those who were not in the locality at that time (1.8%) [Relative Risk (RR)=32.7 and Attributable Risk (AR)=96.9%]. CONCLUSION: High RR and AR in the present epidemic indicate strong association between fogging and occurrence of symptoms. In absence of signs and symptoms of organophosphorus poisoning it suggests that this could have been due to an inappropriate solvent or defective functioning of fog generator, leading to generation of an unusual dark fog, that might have irritated eyes and respiratory tract of exposed residents.


Knowledge and understanding of interrelationships between grain yield and yield-related traits would ensure progress from selection in maize breeding programs through the use of appropriate selection indices. One hundred and fifty-six early-maturing maize inbreds were evaluated at five environments in Nigeria, for 2 years to assess the relationship between grain yield and yield-related traits of maize inbreds under drought and wellwatered conditions. Genotypes, and genotype × environment interaction mean squares were significant (P<0.05) for grain yield and other measured traits under drought and well-watered conditions. Under drought, plant and ear aspects, ear height, ears per plant (EPP), leaf senescence, number of seeds per ear, and seeds per row had direct effects on grain yield, accounting for 76% of total variation. Under well-watered conditions, days to silking, ear aspect, ear height, EPP, ear length, 100-kernel weight, number of seeds per row, plant height, and stalk lodging had significant direct effects on yield. Genotype main effect plus genotype × environment interaction (GGE) biplot identified plant and ear aspects, days to anthesis and silking, ASI, EPP, stay green characteristic, plant and ear heights, ear diameter, number of seeds per ear, number of seeds per row, and ear length as the most reliable traits for indirect selection for grain yield improvement under both research conditions. Plant and ear aspects, ear height, stay green characteristic, number of seeds per ear, and number of seeds per row were identified by both path–coefficient and GGE biplot analyses as the most reliable traits for selecting for grain yield under drought. Ear aspect, EPP, days to silking, plant and ear heights, number of seeds per row, and ear length were the most reliable traits for selecting for improved grain yield under well-watered conditions.


Nowadays, the usage of Internet has grown rapidly over the past years and it has become a common medium for delivering and trading of goods, services and information at global marketplace. Even though this method of business transaction or exchange has started to win the hearts of Malaysian buyers, the elements influencing the willingness to purchase online are still unknown. Therefore, the objective of the current study is to examine the elements that influence buyer's intention to purchase online (dependent variable). The main independent components are trust and loyalty to website visited. A total number of 78 (100 percent) returned questionnaires were accepted, coded and were subject to further analysis. The findings supports all the hypotheses stated in the current study. The results indicates that website trust contributed 16.1 percent (R 2 = 0.161) and website loyalty contributed 28.6 percent (R 2 = 0.286) respectively to the variance in intention to purchase online.


Background/Aims The prognosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) is poor. The serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) level has been identified as a prognostic indicator of recurrence and reduced overall survival. The aim of this study was to identify preoperative prognostic factors and to create a prognostic model able to assess the early recurrence risk for patients with resectable PAC. Methods A series of 177 patients with PAC treated surgically at the St. Andrea Hospital of Rome between January 2003 and December 2011 were reviewed retrospectively. Univariate and multivariate analyses were utilized to identify preoperative prognostic indicators. Results A preoperative CA 19-9 level >228 U/mL, tumor size >3.1 cm, and the presence of pathological preoperative lymph nodes statistically correlated with early recurrence. Together, these three factors predicted the possibility of an early recurrence with 90.4% accuracy. The combination of these three preoperative conditions was identified as an independent parameter for early recurrence based on multivariate analysis (p=0.0314; hazard ratio, 3.9811; 95% confidence interval, 1.1745 to 15.3245). Conclusions PAC patient candidates for surgical resection should undergo an assessment of early recurrence risk to avoid unnecessary and ineffective resection and to identify patients for whom palliative or alternative treatment may be the treatment of choice.


This paper examines the lived experience of older women participants in (a) a low-impact exercise to music (ETM) class and (b) a yoga class to uncover what is important for them in taking part in these classes. Researcher S is the instructor of the ETM group and draws upon individual and focus group interviews and participant observation. Researcher B is a member of the yoga class where she interviewed the women and undertook participant observations. Both authors are a similar age to the older women interviewees. Through a phenomenological interpretative approach, the paper examines the women's perceptions of their exercise class and yoga experiences, highlighting pleasurable experiences and features that contribute to this enjoyment. The paper considers relationships between pleasure, wellbeing, the senses, physical activity, and aging, drawing upon a variety of analyses. It pays attention to the contextual features of the ETM and yoga classes in making available and accessible pleasurable physical activity experiences for the women and draws, in part, on 'typologies' of pleasure to frame the debate around older women, physical activity, and senses of pleasure. Our research highlights the considerable wellbeing affects for women when physical activity provision takes account of context (the spatial, cultural, social, and sentient).


This paper deals with the problem of robust speed control of electrical servodrives. A robust speed controller is developed using an artificial neural network (ANN), which creates a nonlinear characteristic of controller. An original method of neural controller synthesis is presented. The synthesis procedure is performed in two stages. The first stage consists in training the ANN and at the second stage controller settings are adjusted. The use of the proposed controller synthesis procedure ensures robust speed control against the variations of moment of inertia and stator magnetic flux. Simulations and laboratory results validate the robustness of the servodrive with permanent magnet synchronous motor


Searching for information is a ubiquitous activity, performed in a variety of contexts and supported by rapidly evolving technologies. As a process, information search often has a spatial aspect: spatial metaphors help users refer to abstract contents, and georeferenced information grounds entities in physical space. Although information search is a major research topic in computer science, GIScience and cognitive psychology, this intrinsic spatiality has not received enough attention. This article reviews research opportunities at the crossroad of three research strands, which are (1) computational, (2) geospatial, and (3) cognitive. The articles in this special issue focus on interface design for spatio-temporal information, on the search for qualitative spatial configurations, and on a big-data analysis of the spatial relation "near".


Seasonal epidemics of influenza A virus are a major cause of severe illness and are of high socio-economic relevance. For the design of effective antiviral therapies, a detailed knowledge of pathways perturbed by virus infection is critical. We performed comprehensive expression and organellar proteomics experiments to study the cellular consequences of influenza A virus infection using three human epithelial cell lines derived from human lung carcinomas: A549, Calu-1 and NCI-H1299. As a common response, the type I interferon pathway was up-regulated upon infection. Interestingly, influenza A virus infection led to numerous cell line-specific responses affecting both protein abundance as well as subcellular localization. In A549 cells, the vesicular compartment appeared expanded after virus infection. The composition of autophagsomes was altered by targeting of ribosomes, viral mRNA and proteins to these double membrane vesicles. Thus, autophagy may support viral protein translation by promoting the clustering of the respective molecular machinery in autophagosomes in a cell line-dependent manner.


Abstract In vivo extracellular electrophysiology and genetic-engineering-assisted optical stimulation combined (in vivo optoEphys) has proven its great potential to be one of the best tools for study of the intricate networks inside the brain. Micro-LED optoelectrode, the Michigan Probe with monolithically integrated cell-sized LEDs, enabled in vivo optoEphys at the highest spatial resolution to date. However, high-magnitude stimulation artifact had prevented experiments from being conducted at a desirably high temporal resolution. Here, we report engineering schemes with which the magnitude of stimulation artifact generated from μLED optoelectrode can be greatly reduced for nearly artifact-free in vivo experiments. The second-generation μLED optoelectrodes, fabricated using heavily boron-doped silicon wafer and equipped with dedicated EMI shielding layers, exhibited capability to record neuronal activities during fast-switched optical stimulations without degradation in signal quality. We believe that the novel μLED optoelectrodes will lead to exciting discoveries of the brain's circuit-level mechanisms.


There is underutilisation of electronic tax filing systems in tax agencies despite presence of electronic tax administration systems. The objective of this study was to find how this has influenced tax compliance. Data collection was mainly through a questionnaire. Analysis of data was done through SPSS Version 20 and Excel. The study concluded that electronic filing system actually influences tax compliance. The study also established that there was a positive attitude by clients towards electronic filing. Electronic filing has also significantly increased the ease of doing business. Correlation analysis revealed a positive correlation (0.533) between assessing tax obligations accurately and the ease of doing business. The study was mainly directed at large clients and to one component of compliance which is filing, with less focus on other components of compliance, hence, the study recommends more research on the impact of e-filing on payment and e-filing on tax evasion and avoidance.

 Key words: Electronic filing, e-filing, taxation, tax compliance, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA), Zimbabwe.


As(III) removal from low-arsenic concentration drinking water treated by coagulation with mixture titanium tetrachloride and titanium sulfate as coagulants were studied in this paper. Without any pre-oxidation process, the residual concentration of As(III) after treated by the coagulant (concentration of 25mg/L) was less than 4μg/L,which can be satisfied the most rigid guideline for arsenic maximum contaminant level (MCL) proposed by WHO or USEPA. Operated with rapid water dynamics will get the better efficiency for As(III) removal. In the pH range of 3-6 the variation of As(III) removal efficiency was minimal, but the As(III) removal declined gradually with the increase of pH while in the alkaline range. Ferrous salts can significantly increase the efficiency of As(III) removal by coagulation treatment with mixed titanium salts as coagulant.


The Master Thesis is carried out at Sony Ericsson Mobile Communication AB. In the course of the
 project, inspired from the theory of complexity management, software customization at the company
 was studied and analyzed with respect to the customization offerings, the processes and the tool.
 Using the domain analysis technique, especially the feature modeling approaches, a dedicated model is
 developed to visualize and document the software customization offerings at the company. The model
 revealed a wide range of offerings and further analysis deemed a considerable number of them as nonvalue-
 adding. The analysis as well discovered unsuitable scoping of the offerings, considering the
 customization policy.
 The mapping of the customization procedure revealed a considerable number of involved processes,
 process steps and organizations. The procedure is further studied in terms of the lead time, the amount
 of rework and the quality of outputs, as the indicators of process complexity. Lack of reuse during
 software development is perceived as the main reason for delays in delivery and inconvenient quality of
 the software product, which further influences the customization processes due to their considerable
 interdependencies. The overlapping development and customization is identified as another reason for
 the considerable rework along the customization stream.
 As another driver of process complexity, the software customization tool is studied. The analysis
 identified the inadequacies in the performance of the software customization tool in terms of its
 response time, user interface and configuration, leading to a higher margin for error and thereby higher
 rework. The complicated set of customization offerings is perceived as a partial reason behind the
 complexity of the customization tool.
 Based on the relative importance of the identified performance objectives, the Master Thesis provides
 solutions and recommendations to manage the inefficiencies within the software customization
 offerings, processes and tool. To reduce the complexity in the product dimension, a guideline is
 developed for identification and elimination of the non-value-adding software customization offerings.
 To facilitate domain analysis activities, a dedicated feature model is developed to structure and visualize
 the product knowledge. Furthermore, using the object-oriented analysis technique, the structure and
 the content of a software customization tool is proposed, aiming at increasing the opportunity for reuse
 of the static customization data, improving the efficiency of data-entering and by these means
 enhancing the quality of the associated processes.
 Identifying one of the root causes for the long lead time as the considerable rework, several high level
 solutions and recommendations are provided to improve the speed and the quality of the product
 development and customization processes. Among which the project provides recommendations for
 application of new software development paradigms to shorten the time-to-market, management of the
 customer approval periods to reduce the rework, and modular customization of the software product to
 facilitate reuse of the static data as well as customization verification.


Density of nerve fibers, axonal growth, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), and substance P, and serotonin immunoreactivity as well as concentration were all determined in a murine model of contact allergy. Female Balb/c mice were sensitized on the back with oxazolone and 6 days later challenged with the same antigen on the dorsal surface of the ears, while control mice received the vehicle only. Then, 24 hr postchallenge, one ear was processed for immunohistochemical staining, while the other was frozen and processed for gas chromatography-mass spectrometry or radioimmunoassay (RIA). Protein gene product 9.5 (PGP 9.5) positive nerve fibers showed a tendency to increase in inflamed ears versus control ears in epidermis as well as the dermis. Growth-associated protein-43 (GAP-43) positive fibers in the epidermis were increased (p < .01) in inflamed ears, compared with control ears, as was the case for the dermal fibers, indicating increased axonal growth. Total (epidermis and dermis) numbers of CGRP and substance P positive nerve fibers tended to increase in the inflamed skin in contrast to control skin. In contrast, RIA demonstrated a lower (p < .05) concentration of CGRP in the inflamed ears compared with controls and a tendency for substance P to decrease in concentration in eczematous ears versus controls. There was no difference in serotonin concentration, or in the number of serotonin positive mast cells, between the inflamed and control skin, whereas semiquantification of serotonin positive platelets showed an increase in the inflamed (+/+) compared with control ears (+). Our results indicate that 24 hr after being challenged with the antigen, at the peak of murine skin inflammation, axonal growth, sensory neuropeptides, as well as serotonin may be involved.


The decision-making process is critical to the success of any construction project.
Construction personnel have to make decisions on a daily basis and must be able to
justify these decisions. Wrong decisions can be costly in terms of time, quality, cost
and relationships. Effective time-management requires decisions to be assessed in
terms of urgency and importance, and dealt with accordingly.
This paper discusses the results of a survey that was undertaken to investigate the
characteristics of decisions taken on construction sites in Hong Kong. The results
demonstrated that important decisions were mainly concerned with technical,
engineering and financial aspects. Experience and knowledge were found to be the
main contributing factors behind taking decisions. The results also revealed that one
third of decisions were made within an hour and another 40 % were made on the same
day. Most of the important decisions taken had produced satisfactory results but these
could have been improved if more time had been available for collecting relevant
information or acquiring experience. However, over 40 % of these decisions could
have been avoided through adequate preparatory work such as a complete design,
better co-ordination and better planning.


Development and growth of surface and subsurface cracks on rail profile is one of the major reasons for deterioration of rails near the halting zones. Rail tracks are subjected to combination of thermal loads during the sliding motion of the wheel while braking and structural load due to the weight of the vehicle. In this paper, an FEA model is been developed to study and analyze the effect of coupled thermo-mechanical load during braking on contact stress and contact area at the rail-wheel interface. Both elastic and elasto-plastic FEA models are used and compared with analytical Hertzian approach to accurately predict rail-wheel contact parameters. A synthetic loading spectrum is proposed to simulate the combination of thermal and thermo-mechanical loading cycles on the rail during braking of vehicle. The loading cycle is used to predict the growth of previously present flaws using Modified Paris Law and Generalized Frost-Dugdale approach. It has been found that elasto-plastic FEA is inclined to predict lesser contact stresses than the elastic FEA or Hertzian model. Furthermore, shape of the contact patch for elasto-plastic FEA is observed to be unsymmetrical in the rolling direction unlike the elliptical contact area in elastic FEA approach. Macro scale initial cracks having length more than 2 mm are also realized to grow faster than their smaller counterparts under the combined effect of thermal and mechanical loads.


This paper reviews the evidence regarding the main trends in the height of the British population since the early eighteenth century. We argue that the average heights of successive birth cohorts of British males increased slowly between the middle of the eighteenth century and the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Average heights fell during the second quarter of the nineteenth century, before rising from the 1850s onwards. This analysis is supported by an examination of the main trends in children's heights during the twentieth century. Our findings are compared with the results of an alternative method of measuring human welfare - a modified version of the United Nations' Human Development Index. The main trends in human development reinforce the conclusions drawn from our own interpretation of the anthropometric evidence.


Multi-species microbial communities often display functions - biochemical activities unattainable by member species alone, such as fighting pathogens or degrading wastes. Artificially selecting high community function is useful but rarely attempted. Here, we theoretically examine artificial selection of Helper-Manufacturer communities. Helpers digest Waste and generate Byproduct essential to Manufacturers; Manufacturers divert a fraction of their growth to make Product. Thus, community function - total Product accumulated as a low-density "Newborn" community grows over "maturation time" T into an "Adult" community - is costly to Manufacturers. Despite pre-optimizing Helper and Manufacturer monocultures, community function is sub-optimal. To improve community function, we simulate community selection by allowing cells in Newborn communities to grow and mutate, and select highest-functioning Adults to "reproduce" by diluting each into multiple Newborns. We find that fluctuations in Newborn composition during community reproduction (e.g. due to pipetting) can interfere with selection, and reducing fluctuations (e.g. via cell sorting) facilitates selection.


This article presents a new concept, "co-Change-orientated Communication" (co-COC), to address the need for theoretical developments beyond mainstream assumptions by drawing from contemporary, critical developments in strategic communication. A two-phased, qualitative methodological strategy was employed. Firstly, a thematic analysis of a sample of literature according to specific parameters and contextual bases was conducted. Secondly, to identify an exemplar for co-COC, a document analysis was done of selected 2016 Fortune "Change-the-World" organisations' annual and sustainability reports. In congruence with the themes of the literature, the document analysis revealed that co-COC is a bottom-up concept and elicits the attributes of meaningful dialogue, employee engagement, collaboration and co-creation, and encourages dissent. To realise the implementation of co-COC, the document analysis indicated the antecedents of stakeholder engagement, organisational agility, leadership agility and a change-able culture. co-COC contributes to the body of knowledge on strategic and change communication and serves as a heuristic for future research. Furthermore, co- COC provides theoretical development beyond the conventional, which not only affirms the critical role of change communication in the successful management of change, but could also assist communication professionals to realise the need for the inclusion of contemporary developments in strategic communication.


A green and one-step synthesis of graphene quantum dots (GQDs) has been implemented using pulsed laser ablation from aqueous graphene. The synthesized GQDs are able to enhance the photoluminescence (PL) of GaAs epilayers after depositing them on the GaAs surface. An enhancement of PL intensity of a factor of 2.8 has been reached at a GQD concentration of 1.12 mg ml−1. On the basis of the PL dynamics, the PL enhancement in GaAs is interpreted by the carrier transfer from GQDs to GaAs due to the work function difference between them.


Global change causes widespread decline of coral reefs. In order to counter the anticipated disappearance of coral reefs by the end of this century, many initiatives are emerging, including creation of marine protected areas (MPAs), reef restoration projects, and assisted evolution initiatives. Such efforts, although critically important, are locally constrained. We propose to build a "Noah's Ark" biological repository for corals that taps into the network of the world's public aquaria and coral reef scientists. Public aquaria will serve not only as a reservoir for the purpose of conservation, restoration, and research of reef-building corals but also as a laboratory for the implementation of operations for the selection of stress-resilient and resistant genotypes. The proposed project will provide a global dimension to coral reef education and protection as a result of the involvement of a network of public and private aquaria.


We present a differentially private mechanism to display statistics (e.g., the moving average) of a stream of real valued observations where the bound on each observation is either too conservative or unknown in advance. This is particularly relevant to scenarios of real-time data monitoring and reporting, e.g., energy data through smart meters. Our focus is on real-world data streams whose distribution is light-tailed, meaning that the tail approaches zero at least as fast as the exponential distribution. For such data streams, individual observations are expected to be concentrated below an unknown threshold. Estimating this threshold from the data can potentially violate privacy as it would reveal particular events tied to individuals [1]. On the other hand an overly conservative threshold may impact accuracy by adding more noise than necessary. We construct a utility optimizing differentially private mechanism to release this threshold based on the input stream. Our main advantage over the state-of-the-art algorithms is that the resulting noise added to each observation of the stream is scaled to the threshold instead of a possibly much larger bound; resulting in considerable gain in utility when the difference is significant. Using two real-world datasets, we demonstrate that our mechanism, on average, improves the utility by a factor of 3.5 on the first dataset, and 9 on the other. While our main focus is on continual release of statistics, our mechanism for releasing the threshold can be used in various other applications where a (privacy-preserving) measure of the scale of the input distribution is required.


The ecosystem is an evolutionary result of natural laws. Food Web (or Food Chain) embeds a set of computation rules of natural balance. Based one the concepts of Food Web, one of the laws that we may learn from the natural besides neural networks and genetic algorithms, we propose a theoretical computation model for mobile agent evolution on the Internet. We define an agent niche overlap graph and agent evolution states. We also propose a set of algorithms, which is used in our multimedia search programs, to simulate agent evolution. Agents are cloned to live on a remote host station based on three different strategies: the brute force strategy, the semi-brute force strategy, and the selective strategy. Evaluations of different strategies are discussed. Guidelines of writing mobile agent programs are proposed. The technique can be used in distributed information retrieval which allows the computation load to be added to servers, but significantly reduces the traffic of network communication.


Large-angle Coulomb collisions affect the rates of energy and momentum exchange in a plasma, and it is expected that their effects will be important in many plasmas of current research interest, including in inertial confinement fusion. Their inclusion is a long-standing problem, and the first fully self-consistent method for calculating their effects is presented. This method is applied to "burn" in the hot fuel in inertial confinement fusion capsules and finds that the yield increases due to an increase in the rate of temperature equilibration between electrons and ions which is not predicted by small-angle collision theories. The equilibration rate increases are 50%-100% for number densities of 10(30)  m(-3) and temperatures around 1 keV.


Kesterite Cu2ZnSn(SxSe1-x)4 (CZTSSe) semiconductor materials have been extensively studied over the past decade, however despite significant efforts, the open circuit voltage remains below 60% of the theoretical maximum. Understanding the optical and electrical properties is critical to explaining and solving the voltage deficit. This review aims to summarize the present knowledge of optical and electrical properties of kesterites and specifically focuses on experimental data of intrinsic defects, charge carrier density and transport, and minority carrier lifetime and related rate-limiting recombination mechanisms. It concludes with suggestions for further investigation of the electrical and optical properties of kesterite materials.


The foundations of 'mature' welfare states in 'developed' capitalist countries, especially (but by no means exclusively) in the English speaking world, are changing. At one level such change reflects the economic imperatives associated with globalisation. Social protection for workers in rich nations depends increasingly on the outcome of international competition for capital investment and therefore the extent to which domestic labour market participation can be promoted, labour force costs can be constrained, and/or labour productivity can be maximised. At another level, however, the change reflects shifting political orthodoxies and moral assumptions. The social protectionist ethic is giving way to an ethic of self-responsibility (e.g. Bauman 1993, Rose 1999). This paper aims to explore the shifting ethical foundations of the 'welfare-to-work' or 'workfare' state (Peck 2001; Lodemel and Trickey 2001; Jessop 2002). It will be argued that the shifts entailed are more complex and multi-layered than might at first appear. To do so, the paper starts with a discussion of the historical context, with particular emphasis for illustrative purposes on the example of the UK. The second part of the paper offers a critical analysis of competing moral discourses and ethical concepts of responsibility. The final part of the paper presents a heuristic taxonomy of welfare-to-work regimes and presents a critique of dominant approaches to welfare-to-work.


The article presents the interwar initiatives of the Polish Ministry of Transport (for some time functioning under the name of the Ministry of Railroad) that served to encourage appropriate language use. In order to promote linguistic correctness in rail transport, the ministry established the Language Commission, which functioned in 1919–1938. The members of this organisation, which was an advisory body of the ministry, included linguists (A.A. Kryński, K. Król, S. Szober). The commission published lists of phrases of foreign origin that were deemed incorrect, especially those used in official letters. Recommended equivalents were provided, too. The commission also Polonized German terminology. These initiatives serve as evidence of language awareness at the time. They also bring new arguments to the discussion of Poland's linguistic politics in the interwar period.


This paper elaborates upon the effects on the art of war of the crusades launched in the first half of the 15 th century against the Hussites, who intended to reform the Catholic Church. It places this episodic, although rather interesting and controversial period in the process of the "revolution of war", the changes in warfare, that took place in Europe. In the essay questions are answered about the problems arising in connection with the use of Hussite tactics. About the conditions of the Hungarian army's participation, e.g. the composition of the participating Hungarian contingents, it presents more exact answers than any preceding project. The paper highlights the interdependences between the Hussite wars on the one hand and the obsoleteness of Sigismundian military architecture and chivalric warfare on the other. It also describes the direct and indirect effects of these wars on the development of the Hungarian art of war.


To document information on medicinal plants and to describe the traditional health care practices of ethnic groups of Denbia district. Field survey and personal discussion methods had been used in the collection of data. A list of 25 plants belonging to 24 genera and 18 families that are used for their therapeutic purposes by the ethnic groups of Denbia district, North Gondar zone, North western Ethiopia with their local names, ethno medicinal claims, modes of preparation and methods of applications to treat common ailments are highlighted here. The present study has documented curious ethno medicinal facts on the plant therapies currently utilized by the ethnic groups of Denbia district. The study could contribute partial remedies in the preservation of cultural heritage and a base to researchers for further pharmacological and phytochemical studies.


An abundance of real-world examples highlights Lauren Haworth Lakes and Julie McKnight's PROC TABULATE by Example, Second Edition. Beginning and intermediate SAS users will find this step-by-step guide to producing tables and reports using the TABULATE procedure both convenient and inviting. Topics are presented in order of increasing complexity, making this an excellent training manual or self-tutorial. The concise format also makes this a quick reference guide for specific applications for more advanced users. A very handy section on common problems and their solutions is also included. With this book, you will quickly learn how to generate tables using macros, handle percentages and missing data, modify row and column headings, and produce one-, two-, and three-dimensional tables using PROC TABULATE. Also provided are more advanced tips on complex formatting with the Output Delivery System (ODS) and exporting PROC TABULATE output to other applications.


Nuclear factor B (NFB) is an inducible transcription factor that tightly regulates the expression of a large cohort of genes. As a key component of the cellular machinery NFB is involved in a wide range of biological processes including innate and adaptive immunity, inflammation, cellular stress responses, cell adhesion, apoptosis and proliferation. Appropriate regulation of NFB is critical for the proper function and survival of the cell. Aberrant NFB activity has now been implicated in the pathogenesis of several diseases ranging from inflammatory bowel disease to autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. Systems governing NFB activity are complex and there is an increased understanding of the importance of nuclear events in regulating NFB's activities as a transcription factor. A number of novel nuclear regulators of NFB such as I Band PDZ and LIM domain 2 (PDLIM2) have now been identified, adding another layer to the mechanics of NFB regulation. Further insight into the functions of these molecules raises the prospect for better understanding and rational design of therapeutics for several important diseases.


In 1989-90 a survey was carried out of the prevalence of snoring and related symptoms in 782 4 to 5 year old children. Two years later, in 1992, the same group of children was studied to gather information on the natural history of snoring and the related behaviour problems. A total of 507/782 (64.8%) completed questionnaires were received. Comparison of the responses with the 1989-90 survey showed that those who did not reply to the questionnaire were no different from the respondents in terms of the prevalence of snoring, daytime sleepiness, hyperactivity, and restless sleep. The overall prevalence of habitual snoring did not change between the two surveys (12.1% in 1989-90 v 11.4% in 1992), though more than half of the children who snored habitually in the original survey no longer did so. There was little change in the prevalence of hyperactivity (24.2% in 1989-90 v 20.7% in 1992) or restless sleep (both 39%) among the 507 who responded to the present survey. The prevalence of daytime sleepiness, however, did decrease substantially (20.7% in 1989-90 v 10.2% in 1992). There was moderate agreement between the individual questionnaire responses for the 1989-90 and 1992 surveys for snoring (weighted kappa 0.52), but poor agreement for the other symptoms (daytime sleepiness 0.37, hyperactivity 0.35, and restless sleep 0.38). Trend analysis showed that the increasing prevalence of sleepiness, hyperactivity, and restless sleep across the snoring categories was highly significant. Daytime sleepiness, hyperactivity, and restless sleep were all significantly more common in the habitual snorers than in those who never snored. Relative risks (95% confidence interval) were as follows: daytime sleepiness 6.13 (2.5 to 14.9), hyperactivity 2.78 (1.6 to 4.7), and restless sleep 2.3 (1.6 to 3.2). Though habitual snoring and the associated behaviour problems resolved spontaneously over two years in about half of the children with these symptoms, there is still the same overall percentage with these problems due to the emergence of new cases.


Epha4b gene expression may contribute to variances in facial formation including functional differences such as nose shape and clinical conditions such as cleft palate. During craniofacial development, neural crest cells migrate to the pharyngeal arches then differentiate to form bone, muscle, and cartilage cells. The Eph/ephrin signaling pathway guides the streams of migrating neural crest cells into the pharyngeal arches; epha4b, a gene encoding an Eph receptor, contributes to this signaling pathway. To determine how epha4b expression differs between species at different developmental stages, in situ hybridization, a process that stains areas of gene expression, was performed. African cichlid fish are an ideal model because species have evolved various morphologies based on their feeding. For instance, species such as Labeotropheus fuelleborni evolved a short mandible for biting and species such as Maylandia zebra evolved a long mandible for suction feeding. M. zebra embryos demonstrated low epha4b expression in pharyngeal arch one while L. fuelleborni demonstrated more epha4b expression, suggesting a negative correlation between level of epha4b expression and mandible length. Understanding the factors contributing to craniofacial development and variation will help discover treatments for facial birth defects and conditions.


The effect of writing and reading training on preferred font type and size in low-vision students was evaluated in 35 children. An ophthalmologist confirmed low vision according to ICD-10–CM. Children identified the font type and size they could best read. The writing subtest of the Jebsen–Taylor Hand Function Test, read in 1 min., and legibility as measured by the number of readable written letters were used in evaluating the children. A writing and reading treatment program was conducted, beginning with the child's preferred font type and size, for 3 months, 2 days per week, for 45 min. per day at the child's school. Before treatment, the most preferred font type was Verdana; after treatment, the preferred font type and size changed. Students had gained reading and writing speed after training, but their writing legibility was not significantly better. Training might affect the preferred font type and size of students with low vision. Surprisingly, serif and sans-serif fonts were preferred about equally after treatment.


After the successful experimental demonstration of the prior published concept on laser-based monitoring of space debris in early 2012, we will present further technological and conceptual advancements of this position sensing scheme. The laser based measurement of LEO space debris positions in general offers the potential of a very high accuracy on the order of 10 meters in 3D, which in turn is the input for orbit processing of objects which are seemingly on collisional course.
We argue that it is beneficial for the photon budget to make use of the so called fundamental wave, which is present in frequency doubled laser systems anyway. Thus, the here proposed move to near infrared wavelength is technologically easy to achieve and promising towards an operational laser-based debris ranging and tracking system.


The Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) paradigm offers network operators benefits in terms of cost efficiency, vendor independence, as well as flexibility and scalability. However, in order to profit most from these features, new challenges in the area of management and orchestration of the virtual network functions (VNFs) need to be addressed.,,In particular, this work deals with the VNF chain placement problem (VNFCP). For a given network situation, the task consists of determining the number, location, and assignment of VNF instances and the routing of demands. At the same time, several metrics like CPU utilization and the delay of individual flows need to be taken into account. For applicability in networks with dynamically changing conditions, algorithms need to explore the solution space of this NP-hard problem in a timely manner.,,The contribution of this work is threefold: firstly, we design MO-VNFCP, a multi-objective heuristic for the VNFCP. Secondly, we investigate the convergence behavior of the algorithm in a case study. Finally, we provide a comparison between the proposed algorithm and an alternative approach from literature.


In this paper, a model reference learning control (MRLC) law is proposed for a class of nonlinear and time varying system. The robustness of the MRLC system to dynamics fluctuations, output measurement noises and errors in initial conditions is analyzed. The design method for analyzing the MRLC system is developed and sufficient conditions for the convergence are derived. An application of the MRLC to robotic impedance control is addressed and an impedance learning control (ImpLC) approach is presented.


The "Corporate Immune System" (CIS) is an outgrowth of an evolutionary trend reflecting firms' adaptation to challenges including growing corporate complexity, threats to corporate value, and political compromise. Similar to biological immune systems, corporations have adopted a range of internal mechanisms to ward off threats. The CIS performs an internal regulatory function that lowers monitoring costs for government regulators through internal mechanisms such as a monitoring board, compliance and risk management systems, compensation, and an enhanced chief legal officer (CLO) role. It complements external corporate governance strategies: shareholder empowerment, markets, litigation, gatekeepers, and top-down public regulation. Today's corporate boards are much more informed, organized, skilled, and accountable than their historical antecedents. Although far from perfect, they continue to evolve and improve. The CIS, recognizing the potential of collaborative inside‐out reforms in the corporate arena is, on balance, a promising development. But this trend also raises concerns that merit further discussion.


Nt‐Sd‐RLK encodes an S‐domain lectin receptor‐like kinase that is induced in response to microbe‐associated molecular pattern molecules (MAMPs) such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In this study, we investigated the alternative splicing of Nt‐Sd‐RLK in response to LPS stimulation. Our data indicate that in nonstimulated cells, a shorter transcript of Nt‐Sd‐RLK is generated and that in response to LPS, alternative splicing produces the full‐length transcript. We propose that the extracellular domain of Nt‐Sd‐RLK encoded by the shorter transcript functions in pathogen surveillance. Once this domain binds LPS, alternative splicing generates the kinase domain‐containing Nt‐Sd‐RLK that activates downstream signalling leading to a defence response. Thus, our findings suggest that plant defence signalling may be regulated through the alternative splicing of receptor‐like kinases involved in pathogen recognition.


Seventy years ago, on August 20, 1947, the International Medical Tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, delivered its verdict in the trial of 23 doctors and bureaucrats accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their roles in cruel and often lethal concentration camp medical experiments. As part of its judgment, the court articulated a 10-point set of rules for the conduct of human experiments that has come to be known as the Nuremberg Code. Among other requirements, the code called for the "voluntary consent" of the human research subject, an assessment of risks and benefits, and assurances of competent investigators. These concepts have become an important reference point for the ethical conduct of medical research. Yet, there has in the past been considerable debate among scholars about the code's authorship, scope, and legal standing in both civilian and military science. Nonetheless, the Nuremberg Code has undoubtedly been a milestone in the history of biomedical research ethics.1-3 Writings on medical ethics, laws, and regulations in a number of jurisdictions and countries, including a detailed and sophisticated set of guidelines from the Reich Ministry of the Interior in 1931, set the stage for the code. The same focus on voluntariness and risk that characterizes the code also suffuses these guidelines. What distinguishes the code is its context. As lead prosecutor Telford Taylor emphasized, although the


The S1−D1 mixing angle for nucleon-nucleon scattering, ǫ1, is calculated to next-to-next-to-leading order in an effective field theory with perturbative pions. Without pions, the low energy theory fits the observed ǫ1 well for momenta less than ∼ 50 MeV. Including pions perturbatively significantly improves the agreement with data for momenta up to ∼ 150 MeV with one less parameter. Furthermore, for these momenta the accuracy of our calculation is similar to an effective field theory calculation in which the pion is treated non-perturbatively. This gives phenomenological support for a perturbative treatment of pions in low energy two-nucleon processes. We explain why it is necessary to perform spin and isospin traces in d dimensions when regulating divergences with dimensional regularization in higher partial wave amplitudes. email@example.com firstname.lastname@example.com email@example.com


Inhibition of microbial growth by weak acid preservatives increases with medium acidification, since these agents enter cells in the undissociated state. Many of the effects of these acids are due to the cytoplasmic acidification they cause as they dissociate in the higher pH environment of the cytosol. Sorbic and benzoic acids, two widely used preservatives, were found to exert pronounced effects on the heat shock response and thermotolerance of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These effects were strongly influenced by the pH of the culture medium. In low pH cultures sorbate inhibited the induction of thermotolerance by sublethal heat shock, causing strong induction of respiratory-deficient petites among the survivors of heat treatment. However, when the culture pH was above 5.5 sorbate acted as a powerful chemical inducer of thermotolerance in the absence of any sublethal heat treatment. Sorbate and benzoate also inhibited heat induction of the major heat shock proteins in low pH yeast cultures. This appears to result from lack of induction of the heat shock element (HSE) promoter sequence since sorbate prevented heat induction of a HSE-lacZ fusion at low pH. The uncoupler carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) and the plasma-membrane-ATPase inhibitor diethylstilboestrol were identified as additional inhibitors of heat induction of heat shock proteins. Numerous chemicals induce the heat shock response in the absence of heat stress, but sorbate, benzoate, CCCP and diethylstilboestrol are the first compounds shown to act as selective inhibitors of heat-induced protein expression in yeast. In the presence of sorbate concentrations which, at low pH, totally inhibit both the heat shock response and growth of cells competent in respiration, respiratory-deficient petites still retain a limited capacity for growth and for heat induction of heat shock proteins. This restoration of a response to heat shock in acidified sorbate-treated cultures of petites might contribute to their higher capacity for growth in the presence of sorbate.


Early diagenetic Mn-Fe carbonates, occurring in thin layers, nodules, and burrows, were recovered from Cenozoic silts and clays from the Arctic Ocean and the Norwegian-Greenland Sea during Ocean Drilling Program Leg 151. At Sites 909 (Fram Strait; Miocene-Quaternary) and 911 (Yermak Plateau; Pliocene-Quaternary), fine-crystalline siderite, enriched in Ca and/or Mg, is the predominant carbonate. Variable δ13C values (-21.8 to +7.9‰ PDB) suggest that dissolved carbon was derived from the Fe-reduction suboxic zone, the oxidation of marine organic matter in the bacterial sulfate-reduction zone, and the early stages of methanogenesis. The range of δ18O values for siderite (-6.3 to +5.1‰ PDB) indicates precipitation over a temperature range of 4-56°C during successive burial.

At Site 913 (East Greenland Margin; Eocene-Quaternary), concentrically zoned microspherules and rhombohedra of ferroan rhodochrosite and manganoan siderite, 20-600 μm in diameter, are the main authigenic carbonates. Although they have low δ13C values (-22.3 to -13.8‰ PDB), elevated pore-water sulfate concentrations indicate low sulfate-reducing activity and suggest that dissolved carbon may have been partially derived from thermogenic methane. The variable δ18O values for rhodochrosite (-11.9 to +1.5‰ PDB) and siderite (-11.4 to -10.3‰ PDB) suggest precipitation at elevated temperatures (60-100°C) during progressive burial. The close association with barite cement suggests that carbonate precipitation at Site 913 may have been influenced by hydrothermal fluids. However, active circulation of hydrothermal fluids is precluded by the occurrence of geochemical gradients in Site 913 pore waters.

Pore waters at the three sites reflect various evolutionary pathways that are partly due to variations in the extent of interaction with volcanic ash layers and the underlying basaltic crust, which led to an overall decrease in Mg2+, K+, and δ18O and an increase in Ca2+ with depth. However, pore waters at Site 913 have evolved more extensively to Na-Ca-Cl brines. The sources of freshwater that cause the downhole decrease in Cl- and Na+ concentrations at Sites 909 and 913 are poorly constrained. The possible influence of meteoric-water incursion is suggested by the δD-δ18O relationship of pore waters and the low δ18O values of Site 913 authigenic carbonates.


This paper presents an extended Model Predictive Control scheme called Multi-objective Model Predictive Control (MOMPC) for real-time operation of a multi-reservoir system. The MOMPC approach incorporates the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II), multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) and the receding horizon principle to solve a multi-objective reservoir operation problem in real time. In this study, a water system is simulated using the De Saint Venant equations and the structure flow equations. For solving multi-objective optimization, NSGA-II is used to find the Pareto-optimal solutions for the conflicting objectives and a control decision is made based on multiple criteria. Application is made to an existing reservoir system in the Sittaung river basin in Myanmar, where the optimal operation is required to compromise the three operational objectives. The control objectives are to minimize the storage deviations in the reservoirs, to minimize flood risks at a downstream vulnerable place and to maximize hydropower generation. After finding a set of candidate solutions, a couple of decision rules are used to access the overall performance of the system. In addition, the effect of the different decision-making methods is discussed. The results show that the MOMPC approach is applicable to support the decision-makers in real-time operation of a multi-reservoir system.


Investigations into the economics, practicalities and technicalities of using recycled demolition aggregate in concrete precast products started in 2001. At that time, there were six demolition contractors around Liverpool and they were using mobile crushers which were suited for road subbase material but not for the smaller sized aggregate required for precast concrete products. It was estimated that if all six worked round the clock, i.e. assuming there was enough feed material, they would still have found it difficult to maintain the required supplies for a single precast factory. Investment in equipment was therefore required to guarantee supply and improve the quality of the recycled demolition aggregate. The market forces and the incentives/drivers for construction companies to adopt sustainable practises have encouraged investment of several million pounds to be made in new recycling plants and this has resulted in "urban quarries". Work on reducing the carbon footprint of concrete construction needs to consider not only the replacement of the aggregate with recycled ones but also to consider a reduction or complete replacement of Portland cement in concrete mixes. Alkali activated binders and geopolymers have seen applications in ceramics, hazardous waste containment, fire-resistant construction materials and refractories but the most interesting application is their use to replace Portland cement-based concretes. Several factors affecting the reactivity of fly ash as a precursor for geopolymer concrete have been investigated. These include physical and chemical properties of various fly ash sources, inclusion of ground granulated blast furnace slag (ggbs), chemical activator dosages and curing temperature. Alkali-activated fly ash was found to require elevated curing temperatures and high alkali concentrations. A mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate was used and this was shown to result in high strengths, as high as 70 MPa at 28 days. The partial replacement of fly ash with ground granulated blast furnace slag (ggbs) was found to be beneficial in not only avoiding the need for elevated curing temperatures but also in improving compressive strengths. It became apparent that the main obstacle to commercialisation of these new alternative binders was the cost of the activating solutions, i.e. the sodium hydroxide and the sodium silicate. The latter is the most expensive one and results in geopolymer concretes that cannot compete on price with Portland cement concretes. Attempts therefore concentrated on developing a procedure for the production of sodium hydroxide from waste streams, which in this case was ground glass cullet. Production of eco-friendly concretes thus becomes commercially possible.


The multiple cliff-ringed lava plains on the moon are breath taking and how they came to be has puzzled scientists and even philosophers. However, multi-cliff ringed basins are also found in many different locations on other worlds. So, what created the basins? The suggestion of Quantum FFF Theory is that the double charged static electric fields assumed to be active concentric around new physics black holes should be the origin of circular cliff formation after the impact of a special comet which is only based on one nuclear black hole. Many comets however seem to be created around more than one new physics black hole as we may have observed in comets like 67P C-G and Shoemaker Levy 9. The resulting lava plains of such crashed comets are supposed to be represented by less circular gravity variations or less circular cliffed plains. Recent discussions around the foundation of black hole theory principles by Stephen Hawking and others, is a clear sign of great uncertainty about the nature of black holes and adjacent subjects.


Purpose: Patients with 1p/19q codeleted low-grade glioma (LGG) have longer overall survival and better treatment response than patients with 1p/19q intact tumors. Therefore, it is relevant to know the 1p/19q status. To investigate whether the 1p/19q status can be assessed prior to tumor resection, we developed a machine learning algorithm to predict the 1p/19q status of presumed LGG based on preoperative MRI. Experimental Design: Preoperative brain MR images from 284 patients who had undergone biopsy or resection of presumed LGG were used to train a support vector machine algorithm. The algorithm was trained on the basis of features extracted from post-contrast T1-weighted and T2-weighted MR images and on patients' age and sex. The performance of the algorithm compared with tissue diagnosis was assessed on an external validation dataset of MR images from 129 patients with LGG from The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA). Four clinical experts also predicted the 1p/19q status of the TCIA MR images. Results: The algorithm achieved an AUC of 0.72 in the external validation dataset. The algorithm had a higher predictive performance than the average of the neurosurgeons (AUC 0.52) but lower than that of the neuroradiologists (AUC of 0.81). There was a wide variability between clinical experts (AUC 0.45–0.83). Conclusions: Our results suggest that our algorithm can noninvasively predict the 1p/19q status of presumed LGG with a performance that on average outperformed the oncological neurosurgeons. Evaluation on an independent dataset indicates that our algorithm is robust and generalizable.


Neutropenic diets (ND) are often prescribed to cancer patients aiming to reduce infection risk. The goal of this meta-analysis was to determine if ND indeed reduced the risk of infection and death in cancer patients compared to regular diets (RD). We identified studies in cancer patients that compared the effect of ND vs. RD on the risk of infections and mortality of any cause. The overall effect was calculated by use of a random effects model. Four studies were identified encompassing 918 patients. There was no difference in major infection or mortality rates between ND and RD groups. When analyzing for the overall composite outcome of any infection or fever, the hazard ratio was significantly higher in the ND arm (relative risk = 1.18, confidence interval: 1.05 to 1.34, P= 0.007). When the analysis was restricted to only the randomized trials, both groups had a comparable composite outcome. This meta-analysis shows no superiority with respect to mortality or infection of using a neutropenic diet in cancer patients. Larger studies are needed that study a broader range of nutritional issues, including the microbiome, in this patient population. Until then, it may be time to relax the restrictions of ND.


New research shows that among today's numerous strategic alliances, the most successful are in companies with a department specifically assigned to overseeing alliances. Management professors Jeffrey H. Dyer, Prashant Kale and Harbir Singh came to that conclusion after conducting an in-depth study of 200 corporations and their 1,572 alliances.

The number of strategic alliances has increased dramatically over the past decade, with more than 20,000 reported during the last two years alone. On average, the top 500 global companies each participate in 60 major strategic alliances. Fraught with risk, almost half fail. The authors set out to discover why some companies manage alliances effectively when others fail.

They found that organizations such as Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Eli Lilly & Co. and Parke Davis, which excel at generating value from alliances, have a dedicated strategic-alliance function. Companies with a dedicated function were better at solving problems related to the four key alliance-management elements ? knowledge management, external visibility, internal coordination and accountability.

A dedicated function, the authors show, acts as a focal point for learning and for leveraging feedback from prior and ongoing alliances. It systematically establishes processes to articulate, document, codify and share alliance know-how.

The authors found that one benefit of creating an alliance function was that it compelled companies to create metrics for evaluating the performance of all their alliances. And regular evaluations alerted senior managers to intervene when a particular alliance was struggling.

Many companies with dedicated alliance functions report codifying alliance-management knowledge. They create guidelines to help with specific aspects of the alliance life cycle, such as partner selection or alliance negotiation. Some companies establish training programs, both formal ones and informal ones ? such as roundtables that let managers of various alliances share their experience.

When done properly, dedicated alliance functions offer internal legitimacy to alliances, assist in setting strategic priorities and draw on resources across the company. That is why, the authors advise, the function cannot be buried within a particular division or be relegated to low-level support within business development.


We analyze the V-band photometry data of the Be star omega CMa, observed during the last four decades. The data is fitted by hydrodynamic models based on the viscous decretion disk (VDD) theory, in which a disk around a fast-spinning Be star is formed by material ejected by the central star and driven to progressively wider orbits by means of viscous torques. For the first time, we apply the model for both the disk build up and the dissipation phases. Our simulations offer a good description of the photometric variability in both phases, which suggests that the VDD model adequately describes the disk structural evolution. Furthermore, our analysis allowed us to determine the viscosity parameter (alpha) of the gas, as well as the net mass loss rate. We find that alpha is variable, ranging from 0.1 to 1.0, and that build up phases have larger values of alpha than the dissipation phases. Additionally, we find that, contrary to what is generally assumed, even during quiescence the outward mass flux is never zero, suggesting that the star alternates between a high mass-loss phase (outburst) and a low mass-loss phase (quiescence).


Diagnostic morphological features (e.g., rectilinear seafloor scarps) and lateral offsets of the Upper Quaternary deposits are used to infer active faults in offshore areas. Although they deform a significant seafloor region, the active faults are not necessarily capable of producing large earthquakes as they correspond to shallow structures formed in response to local stresses. We present a multiscale approach to reconstruct the structural pattern in offshore areas and distinguish between shallow, non-seismogenic, active faults, and deep blind faults, potentially associated with large seismic moment release. The approach is based on the interpretation of marine seismic reflection data and quantitative morphometric analysis of multibeam bathymetry, and tested on the Sant'Eufemia Gulf (southeastern Tyrrhenian Sea). Data highlights the occurrence of three major tectonic events since the Late Miocene. The first extensional or transtensional phase occurred during the Late Miocene. Since the Early Pliocene, a right-lateral transpressional tectonic event caused the positive inversion of deep (>3 km) tectonic features, and the formation of NE-SW faults in the central sector of the gulf. Also, NNE-SSW to NE-SW trending anticlines (e.g., Maida Ridge) developed in the eastern part of the area. Since the Early Pleistocene (Calabrian), shallow (<1.5 km) NNE-SSW oriented structures formed in a left-lateral transtensional regime. The new results integrated with previous literature indicates that the Late Miocene to Recent transpressional/transtensional structures developed in an ∼E-W oriented main displacement zone that extends from the Sant'Eufemia Gulf to the Squillace Basin (Ionian offshore), and likely represents the upper plate response to a tear fault of the lower plate. The quantitative morphometric analysis of the study area and the bathymetric analysis of the Angitola Canyon indicate that NNE-SSW to NE-SW trending anticlines were negatively reactivated during the last tectonic phase. We also suggest that the deep structure below the Maida Ridge may correspond to the seismogenic source of the large magnitude earthquake that struck the western Calabrian region in 1905. The multiscale approach contributes to understanding the tectonic imprint of active faults from different hierarchical orders and the geometry of seismogenic faults developed in a lithospheric strike-slip zone orthogonal to the Calabrian Arc.


Low-impact development (LID) is a common management practice used to infiltrate and filter stormwater through vegetated soil systems. The pollutant reduction potential of these systems is often characterized by a single pollutant removal rate; however, the biophysical properties of soils that regulate the removal of pollutants can be highly variable depending on environmental conditions. The goal of this study was to characterize the variability of soil properties and nitrogen (N) cycling rates in bioretention facilities (BRFs). Soil properties and potential N cycling processes were measured in nine curbside bioretention facilities (BRFs) in Portland, OR during summer and winter seasons, and a subset of six sites was sampled seasonally for two consecutive years to further assess temporal variability in soil N cycling. Potential N cycling rates varied markedly across sites, seasons, and years, and higher variability in N cycling rates was observed among sites with high infiltration rates. The observed seasonal and annual changes in soil parameters suggest that nutrient removal processes in BRFs may be highly variable across sites in an urban landscape. This variability has important implications for predicting the impacts of LID on water quality through time, particularly when estimated removal rates are used as a metric to assess compliance with water quality standards that are implemented to protect downstream ecosystems.


Emergency conversion to cardiopulmonary bypass in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting is recognized to increase operative mortality and morbidity. We conducted a retrospective review of 616 consecutive patients who were planned for off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting from April 2001 to July 2004. Fourteen patients (2.3%) required emergency conversion to cardiopulmonary bypass. Operative mortality was 13.3% in the conversion group and 1.2% in the non-conversion group (P-0.001). The incidence of reoperation for bleeding was 7.1% and 1.0%, respectively (Ps0.032) and that of respiratory failure was 35.7% and 3.3%, respectively (P-0.001). Multivariable analysis showed that mitral regurgitation and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were predictors of emergency conversion with all causes except for bleeding, and that mitral regurgitation and no use of a heart positioning device were predictors of emergency conversion due to hemodynamic compromise during distal anastomosis of the circumflex artery territory. In conclusion, emergency conversion in offpump coronary artery bypass grafting increases operative mortality and morbidity. Mitral regurgitation and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are risk factors for emergency conversion. Use of a heart positioning device decreases hemodynamic compromise during anastomosis of the circumflex artery territory. 2006 Published by European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.