Na(+)/H(+) exchanger (NHE)3 is the predominant NHE on the brush-border membrane of the proximal tubule in adult animals. NHE8 has been localized to the brush-border membrane of proximal tubules and is more highly expressed in neonates than in adult animals. However, the relative role of NHE8 in neonatal renal acidification is unclear. The present study examined if there was a compensatory increase in NHE3 in NHE8-null neonatal mice and whether there was a compensatory increase in NHE8 in NHE3-null neonatal mice. In addition, we examined whether wild-type, NHE3-null, and NHE8-null mice had an increase in NHE activity in response to metabolic acidosis. We found that at baseline, there was comparable renal NHE3 mRNA, total protein, and brush-border membrane protein abundance as in neonatal control and NHE8-null mice. There was comparable renal NHE8 mRNA, total protein, and brush-border membrane protein abundance in NHE3-null neonatal and control mice. Both NHE3- and NHE8-null mice had a comparable but lower rate of NHE activity than control mice. We next imposed metabolic acidosis in wild-type, NHE3-null, and NHE8-null mice. Acidemic NHE8-null mice had an increase in brush-border membrane vesicle NHE3 protein abundance and NHE activity compared with vehicle-treated mice. Likewise, NHE3-null mice had an increase in NHE8 brush-border membrane protein abundance and NHE activity in response to metabolic acidosis. In conclusion, both NHE3 and NHE8 likely play a role in neonatal acidification.


Summary Maple syrup urine disease in humans results from inherited defects in branched chain a-ketoacid dehydrogenase, a mitochondrial multienzyme complex. A variety of genetic changes may produce this phenotype by affecting the function of any of the three complex-specific subunits. The varied clinical expression observed in patients may be partially explained by the defects in the involved subunit. Here we report localization of the gene for the branched chain acyltransferase component of the complex to human chromosome 1 and describe a proband who is a compound heterozygote at this locus. One allele, inherited from the father, produces transcripts with 124 nucleotides deleted from the coding region. The deletion is not found in the branched chain acyltransferase gene, implying that the deleted transcripts arise by an error in transcript processing. Cells from the patient's mother contain 50% of the normal amount of mRNA for the subunit, and the proband has inherited this nonexpressing allele from her. As a result, the proband produces no acyltransferase protein and therefore has greatly impaired complex activity. A phenotypically normal sibling is shown to be genetically similar to the mother having inherited the mother's nonexpressing allele and the father's normal allele.


This paper reports updated findings from a randomized evaluation of a generous, privately-funded scholarship program for Nebraska public college students. Scholarship offers boosted college enrollment and persistence. Four years after award receipt, randomly-selected scholarship winners were 13 percentage points more likely to be enrolled in college. Enrollment effects were larger for groups with historically low college attendance, including nonwhite students, first-generation college-goers, and students with low high school GPAs. Scholarships shifted many students from two- to four-year colleges, reducing associate's degree completion in the process. Despite their substantial gains in four-year college enrollment, award winners from the first study cohort were slightly less likely to graduate on time than control applicants, suggesting that scholarships delay degree completion for some students. Projected graduation rates using the last cohort of pre-experimental scholarship applicants indicate that scholarships are likely to increase bachelor's degree completion within five years.


Abstract Early Hauterivian mixed Fe-oxide–phosphate ooids from the Lower Cretaceous condensed succession of the Alpine Provencal Domain are ellipsoidal, 200–2000 µm in diameter, and the main component of a sedimentary body, 0–100 cm thick, that can be traced laterally for tens of kilometers. Cathodoluminescence, EDS microprobe, backscattered electron imaging, epifluorescence, XRD, and micro Raman spectroscopy reveal that ooid cortices consist of variable proportions of Fe-oxide-rich and Ca-phosphate-rich layers. SEM observations show that phosphate-rich layers are composed of a dense matrix of micrometer-size, rod-shaped, commonly curved phosphate grains, whose size and shape strongly suggest a microbial origin. Conversely, Fe-oxide-rich ooid cortical layers consist of aggregates of micrometer-size, plate-like crystals of hematite that point to an inorganic precipitation. We suggest that the ooidal condensed interval records a long sedimentary history in an open shelf environment subject to a background accumulation of organic-rich, fine-grained sediments. It was periodically interrupted by high-energy, storm-related events that resulted in winnowing, reworking, and oxygenation that favored precipitation of Fe-oxides around nuclei of biogenic origin. Such precipitation was not uniform on the outer surface of ooids and influenced their ellipsoidal shape. After the return to background conditions, Fe-ooids were buried and driven from an oxic to a post-oxic subbottom geochemical environment where rod-shaped Fe-reducing bacteria colonized Fe-ooid outer surfaces. Decomposition of organic matter and release of P bound on Fe-oxides increased pore-water concentration of phosphate, which precipitated at the outer surfaces of the ooids, thus preserving the microbial community. The bimineralic composition of these ooids discloses a complex and prolonged history of cyclic alternations of oxic and post-oxic geochemical conditions, which are in turn related to alternating sediment accumulation and winnowing phases with exposure at the seafloor.


Abstract Transferred-arc cleaning is being investigated as a solvent-free cleaning method for various metallic substrates. With the recent increase in attention given the hazards involved in the storage, use and disposal of organic solvents, cleaning methods which promise comparable cleaning effectiveness with reduced hazards are being sought. Transferred-arc cleaning of tungsten substrates has been studied to identify the effect of processing conditions on cleaning and roughening characteristics. A Box-Behnken response surface designed experiment varying the chamber pressure, substrate standoff distance and plasma torch arc current while observing the transferred-arc voltage, current, surface cleanliness and surface roughness was performed. The results of the analysis show the effect of the various independent variables on the measured responses. Particular difficulties in roughening tungsten are due to its exceptionally high arc voltage for metal arc attachment. The results presented here provide an enhanced understanding of the arcing properties of various cathode materials. Such information is useful in obtaining the desired cleaning and/or roughening of the substrate.


"Reframing Darwin: Evolution and the Arts in Australia" is a book of essays about the impact of Darwinian thought on Australian art, science and culture, beginning with the voyage of HMS Beagle and finishing with bio-ethics and the Post-Darwinian body. These essays accompany the exhibition Darwin's Cornucopia: Charles Darwin in Australia, showing at The Ian Potter Museum of Art the University of Melbourne from August 14 to November 1, 2009. An impressive range of international scholars have contributed material to the volume. Roger Macdonald writes about his multi-award winning book "Mr Darwin's Shooter"; John Mulvaney considers Walter Baldwin Spencer's introduction of Darwinian science at the University of Melbourne; Danielle Clode explores debates about nineteenth century evolutionary biology and Richard Aitkens looks at garden history and evolutionary botany. Jeanette Hoorn uncovers Darwin's ideas in Tom Roberts' portraits; Jonathan Smith discusses Darwin's subversion of Victorian gender norms; Amelia Scurry examines Tasmanian artist Louisa Meredith's involvement within the scientific community in Hobart; Ted Gott examines the arrival in Melbourne of the bronze statuette Gorilla carrying off a woman 1887 by French artist Emmanuel Fremiet and Barbara Creed explores issues around bio ethics and cloning and the emergence of a 'post-Darwinian' body in contemporary Australian art. This volume shows how pervasive the ideas of Charles Darwin are in the Australian arts and sciences. It reflects the great influence his thinking has had in the international community and in cultures the world over in the bicentenary year of his birth.


Spectacular achievements in the health of individuals have not been matched by equivalent improvement in the health of whole populations. Indeed it is against the background of deterioration in levels of population health in some parts of the world and the emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases in association with powerful globalizing forces that there has been a recrudescence of interest in 'Public Health'. Here attention is drawn to the dominant values that have shaped our world, to the differences between broad and narrow definitions of public health, to some values that need to be promoted, and to an ethic of public health that considers both human rights and human needs.


Although more women than men enroll in U.S. doctoral programs (U.S. Department of Education, 2009), they, especially ethnic minorities, are less likely to obtain a doctoral degree (V. Castro, Garcia, Cavazos, & A. Y. Castro, 2011). Challenges associated with work-life balance in graduate school are more pronounced among women and international students (Brus, 2006; Haynes et al., 2012; Oswalt & Riddock, 2007), thus, these students often struggle to complete their programs. Many graduates, however, have described undergoing a transformative process characterized by moments of tension, stress, and identity shift (Jazvac-Martek, Chen, & McAlpine, 2011; Walker, Golde, Jones, Bueschel, & Hutchings, 2008). This trio-ethnography explores the experiences of two doctoral students and a tenure-earning assistant professor in the academic pipeline. This paper seeks to engage doctoral students, faculty members, and administrators with the stories of three women to consider the ways they transformed themselves and each other as they sought to understand their academic experiences through dialogue.


A consideration of Memorabilia 4.6 as a whole and in context reveals that Xenophon's Socrates taught his companions to be "more dialectical" (dialektikōteroi) by deliberately offering them bad, simplistic, or fallacious arguments in order to provoke debate, discussion, and dialectic. This reading indicates why Xenophon introduces the chapter modestly by saying "I will try to explain even this" (the first words of 4.6.1) and why some of the arguments that follow have generated a decidedly mixed scholarly response. Although the chapter as a whole will be analyzed and discussed, particular attention is given to the use of the word "hypothesis" in the chapter (4.6.13-14) and the fact that Socrates identifies Odysseus as "a safe speaker" at 4.6.15.


Bangladesh has in recent decades achieved reasonably rapid economic growth and significant progress in social development indicators despite many impediments: the desperate initial conditions after gaining independence, lack of resources, natural disasters, widespread corruption, and a record of systemic governance failure. By identifying the sources of growth stimulus and the drivers of social transformation, the paper addresses what it calls Bangladesh's development surprise. The policy-making process is analyzed as the outcome of incentives created by patronage politics as opposed to the compulsion for the government to play an effective developmental role. The paper examines the governance-growth nexus as affecting the pace and quality of growth and its inclusiveness. If the governance environment has been barely adequate to cope with an economy breaking out of stagnation and extreme poverty, it increasingly may prove a barrier to putting the economy firmly on a path of modernization and global integration. Bangladesh's experience also shows that it is possible to make rapid initial progress in many social development indicators by creating awareness through successful social mobilization campaigns and by reaping the gains from affordable low-cost solutions. Further progress, however, will require increased public social spending and improved quality of public service delivery.


Lateral deposits alongside several glaciers located in the eastern Jotunheimen and Lyngen are observed higher up than what would be expected according to the theory on the formation of lateral moraines. By using the accumulation area ratio (AAR) of 0.6 on these glaciers the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) from the Little Ice age (LIA), and at present, were calculated. The lateral deposits occur above the estimated ELA on all glaciers with varying amount. The maximum position of lateral moraines (MELM) is also a method used to estimate ELA, but the data in this study suggests that by using all of the lateral deposits as the basis for these estimations the accumulation area ratio under LIA must have been varying from 10 to 44 % on these glaciers. This will most likely underestimate the ELA on glaciers under this period. It is suggested that they are deposited because of increased rockfall and debrisfall during the LIA, which have made ice-cored moraines at the glacier margin. They could also have been melted out over the existing lateral moraine which would create the illusion that the moraine is higher. Since the deposits are above the ELA they are not made as a result of sediments following the flow lines of the glacier and consequently can't be characterized as lateral moraines.


DDT (1,1,1-trichloro-2,2-di-p-chlorophenylethane) and DDE (1,1-dichloro-2,2-di-p-chlorophenylethylene, a non-insecticidal analogue of DDT) were found to bind with various nerve components of rat brain. The amount of DDT binding exceeded that of DDE only in the fraction containing mainly the nerve endings. Among various components in the nerve-ending fraction, a subfraction containing mainly the pre- and post-synaptic complexes had the highest affinity for DDT in comparison with that for DDE. By using an ;acetone-powdering' technique on brain preparations, the Sephadex-column method was shown to provide reliable results for studies on the binding of DDT or DDE with soluble proteins in the nerve tissues. From these results it was concluded that DDE had a higher affinity for soluble components of the rat brain than did DDT.


This report is an update to CFPB's May 2020 report and December 2020 blog regarding the effects of COVID-19 on consumer credit applications, as reflected in credit report inquiries. It examines the different paths of recovery for different types of credit applications. Auto loan applications fell dramatically early in the pandemic, then recovered most of their initial drop by June 2020 and have been close to their usual level since early 2021. New mortgage applications had an initial dip but were above usual levels by May 2020 and have remained so through May of 2021. Credit card inquiries also experienced a large drop early in the pandemic and stayed depressed for much longer, remaining 30 percent below pre-pandemic levels in September 2020. Nevertheless, they recovered by spring of 2021 and have remained around pre-pandemic levels.


Amiodarone, a powerful antiarrhythmic drug, may exert its effect by antagonism of the thyroid hormone, probably at the receptor level. The aim of this study was to investigate whether amiodarone affects the levels of thyroid hormone receptor (TR) messenger RNA (mRNA) subtypes in mouse hearts. Mice were treated with 10, 25, and 50 mg/kg body weight (BW) amiodarone or vehicle (propyleneglycol) intraperitoneally, daily for 14 days. The heart rate dose-dependently decreased in the 25 mg/kg BW (p < 0.05) and 50 mg/kg BW (p < 0.005) amiodarone-treated mice compared with control. Serum T3 levels were significantly decreased by 25% (4.2 +/- 0.7 pM) in the 50 mg/kg BW amiodarone group in comparison to control (5.6 +/- 1.4 pM; p < 0.05). The serum T4 levels were 1.3 times higher in 50 mg/kg BW amiodarone-treated mice (13.2 +/-1.6 pM) compared with the control (10.3 +/- 1.3 pM; p < 0.005). Determination of TRalpha1, alpha2, beta1, and beta2 mRNA in the heart were performed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)/enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Both in treated and untreated mice, TRalpha2 mRNA had the highest density in mouse heart, whereas TRbeta2 mRNA had the lowest density. Amiodarone dose-dependently downregulated the levels of TRalpha1 and beta1 mRNA in comparison to the control. There were, however, no differences in the TRalpha2 and TRbeta2 mRNA levels in the mice heart treated with different doses of amiodarone in comparison with the control group. In conclusion, this study shows that amiodarone subtype selectively downregulates the TR mRNA levels in mouse myocardium in a dose-dependent manner. These results support a thyroid hormone-dependent action of amiodarone.


This paper was written for KLICT to evaluate the focus area Transparency in Netchains. It revisits the definitions and research agenda in the review paper with which the focal area started (Hofstede 2002). The definition of transparency has turned out to serve its purpose. The research has progressed especially in the area of defining transparency and identifying information to share. Questions about aims and context of transparency have also been addressed but much remain to explore. Theory from several disciplines has been used: social sciences, economics, law, organisation sciences, engineering and information technology. In the second part of the paper we look ahead. In future, operational aspects of transparency will remain within management studies, whereas strategic transparency, less directly related to individual product or service offerings of involved enterprises, is likely to become subsumed in the study of governance of netchains. This will be an interdisciplinary field inspired by institutional economics and social anthropology. The role of the consumer as the main stakeholder of netchains needs strengthening. The role of the citizen and the government as stakeholders in transparency also need investigating.


We present a comprehensive analysis of the linear quadratic Gaussian control approach applied to adaptive optics (AO) and multiconjugated AO (MCAO) based on numerical and experimental validations. The structure of the control law is presented and its main properties discussed. We then propose an extended experimental validation of this control law in AO and a simplified MCAO configuration. Performance is compared with end-to-end numerical simulations. Sensitivity of the performance regarding tuning parameters is tested. Finally, extension to full MCAO and laser tomographic AO (LTAO) through numerical simulation is presented and analyzed.


A coding system for magnetic recording channels combining a high-rate error detection code with a list Viterbi algorithm (LVA) is proposed. This coding system can provide a coding gain of up to 2-3 dB for a modified extended extended partial response class IV (EEPR4) channel. A pipelined implementation of the LVA is presented, and an accurate estimation technique for the LVA performance is developed.


Vehicle license plate recognition system is an important research topic of the applications of intelligent transportation by using computer vision, image processing and pattern recognition technology. In this paper, a set of robust features are calculated from license plate characters based on angle, transit and Kirsch edge detector, and then classified using fusion of SVMs. The proposed recognition method is evaluated on a database of Iranian license plate characters consisting of 10,000 binary images, and the recognition rate of 99.68% is achieved. Also, we obtained 99.75% accuracy using four-fold cross validation technique on 10,000 dataset. Further we evaluated our method on the available dataset that contain 1200 sample. Using 70% samples for training, we tested our method on whole samples and obtained 99.85 % correct recognition rate. In addition, experimental results have demonstrated our method has better performance on Iranian license plate character recognition in comparison with contemporary methods.


The Cancer Information Service, a telephone information and referral service, was implemented to provide cancer patients, their family members, community physicians, and health professionals access to current information about new methods of cancer detection, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation. The use of the service was evaluated over a thirty-six month period by an analysis of more than 20,000 inquiries. Initial findings suggest that the impact of diagnosis and treatment of cancer upon patients and their family members creates needs for information and support not met by patient-physician relationships. Results also suggest that telephone intervention by para-professional counselors can be effective with respect to providing information about cancer and its treatment, as well as limited psychosocial support and referral to available community resources.


ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to determine whether expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) protein in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is consistent in humans and animal models of COPD and to investigate the role of this protein in lung epithelial cells. CTGF in lung epithelial cells of ex-smokers with COPD was compared with ex-smokers without COPD by immunofluorescence. A total of twenty C57Bl/6 mice and sixteen non-human primates (NHPs) were exposed to cigarette smoke (CS) for 4 weeks. Ten mice of these CS-exposed mice and eight of the CS-exposed NHPs were infected with H3N2 influenza A virus (IAV), while the remaining ten mice and eight NHPs were mock-infected with vehicle as control. Both mRNA and protein expression of CTGF in lung epithelial cells of mice and NHPs were determined. The effects of CTGF overexpression on cell proliferation, p16 protein, and senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-gal) activity were examined in cultured human bronchial epithelial cells (HBECs). In humans, CTGF expression increased with increasing COPD severity. We found that protein expression of CTGF was upregulated in lung epithelial cells in both mice and NHPs exposed to CS and infected with IAV compared to those exposed to CS only. When overexpressed in HBECs, CTGF accelerated cellular senescence accompanied by p16 accumulation. Both CTGF and p16 protein expression in lung epithelia are positively associated with the severity of COPD in ex-smokers. These findings show that CTGF is consistently expressed in epithelial cells of COPD lungs. By accelerating lung epithelial senescence, CTGF may block regeneration relative to epithelial cell loss and lead to emphysema.


There has been growing acknowledgment among scholars, prison staff and policy-makers that gender-informed thinking should feed into penal policy but must be implemented holistically if gains are to be made in reducing trauma, saving lives, ensuring emotional wellbeing and promoting desistance from crime. This means that not only healthcare services and psychology programmes must be sensitive to individuals' trauma histories but that the architecture and design of prisons should also be sympathetic, facilitating and encouraging trauma-informed and trauma-sensitive practices within. This article problematises the Trauma-Informed Care and Practice (TICP) initiatives recently rolled out across the female prison estate, arguing that attempts to introduce trauma-sensitive services in establishments that are replete with hostile architecture, overt security paraphernalia, and dilapidated fixtures and fittings is futile. Using examples from healthcare and custodial settings, the article puts forward suggestions for prison commissioners, planners and architects which we believe will have novel implications for prison planning and penal practice in the UK and beyond.


This article offers a review of shifts in feminist legal theory since the early 1990s. We first use our respective histories and fields of expertise to provide a brief overview and highlight some key themes within feminist legal theory. We then examine Social & Legal Studies (SLS), asking whether it has met its key goal of integrating feminist analyses at every level. Our review suggests that SLS has offered many important contributions to feminist legal scholarship but has not fulfilled its lofty goal of integrating feminist analyses at every level of scholarship. It features feminist work quite consistently and some degree of mainstreaming is evident, as is the international reach of SLS. Too many articles fail, however, to incorporate or even mention feminist approaches. We end with thoughts about, and hopes for, the future of legal feminism, examining efforts to revitalize the field and suggesting possible directions for the future.


Background: Metabolic syndrome (MBS) has been reported as a frequent comorbidity in psoriatic patients. The main pathogenesis is considered to be inflammation in this association. MBS has been investigated in eating disorders as well. While psoriasis has some psychiatric comorbidities, the link between psoriasis, MBS, and eating disorders (EDs) is unknown. Methods: The study was designed as a cross-sectional, randomized, and controlled trial. A total of 100 patients with psoriasis were included in the study. Sociodemographic data, clinical sub-type of psoriasis, Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) scores, and associated diseases were registered for each patient. The criteria for diagnosis of MBS developed by the International Diabetes Foundation (IDF) was used. These are central obesity (waist circumference $94 cm in men or $80 cm in women), plus two of the following: elevated triglycerides ($150 mg/dL), reduced high-desity lipoprotein cholesterol (.40 mg/dL for men; .50 mg/dL for women), elevated blood pressure ($130 mmHg systolic or $85 mmHg diastolic), and elevated fasting blood glucose ($100 mg/dL). Additionally, the Eating Attitude Test (EAT), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and psychiatric interview were performed for all patients. Results: There were 45 female and 55 male patients, aged between 18 and 85 years old (median 41.12 ± 16.01). MBS was present in 31% of the patients with psoriasis. There was no correlation between the severity of psoriasis and MBS. EAT scores were $30 in 7/100 patients. Four out of 31 patients with MBS (12.9%) had ED and 3/69 patients were without MBS (4.3%). Mean ED scores were compared statistically and the difference was significant Conclusion: Defining risk factors leading to comorbidities is important in psoriasis. EDs seem to have an impact on the development of MBS in psoriasis. Establishment and treatment of EDs in patients with psoriasis may prevent the onset of MBS and other comorbidities due to MBS.


Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explore contemporary consumption trends in Poland, with special consideration for the determinants of consumer attitudes adopted when choosing food products. Design/Methodology/Approach: The research method was a diagnostic survey with the use of a research tool - a questionnaire. The basic source of data presented in this article was information collected from a survey carried out in December 2020. In the process of preparing this publication, both literature analysis of the discussed issue and questionnaire research were used. The article presents in detail differences in behaviour patterns at the stage of making purchasing decisions in Poland, depending on gender, education, and percapita income in the household. Findings: The conclusions from the study indicate that consumers in Poland display some differences at the stage of analysing whether a product is organic. When shopping for food products, they adopt various attitudes which can be distinguished based on consumption determinants. The knowledge obtained can be used both for practical purposes and for further theoretical considerations. Practical Implications: The article sheds some light on the determinants of the purchasing choices of contemporary consumers in Poland, and on the attitudes they adopt when choosing food products. This knowledge can influence the means of conveying information about the ecological nature of products, facilitating the forms of presenting labels and compositions by producers so as to meet consumer expectations, and using the knowledge about the factors characterising each of the attitudes to present information about producers ' own activities in a way better tailored to expectations. Originality/Value: This article presents the results of a study on the determinants of shopping choices conducted on a representative group of1000 Poles at the end of2020.


Abstract This study partitions selection in a natural metapopulation of a riparian plant species, Silene tatarica, into individual- and patch-level components by using contextual analysis, in which a patch refers to a spatially distinct stand of individual plants. We estimated selection gradients for two morphological characters (plant height and number of stems), their respective patch means, and plant density with respect to reproductive success in a two-year study. The approach was also extended to partition selection separately within habitats with varying degrees of exposure to river disturbances and herbivory. The selection differentials and gradients for plant height were positive at both individual and patch levels, with selection forces highest in the closed habitat with low exposure to disturbance. This pattern suggests that local groups with taller than average plants are more visible to pollinators than to groups that are shorter than average plants; and, within patches, individuals with short stature are visited less often than taller ones. Selection on the number of stems was in opposition at individual and patch levels. At the individual level the character was selected toward higher values, whereas selection at the patch-level favored smaller mean number of stems. The strength of the latter component was associated with the intensity of herbivory in different habitats, suggesting that the patch-level selection against a large number of stems might be due to high attractiveness of such patches to the main herbivore, reindeer. Consequently, direction and strength of selection in spatially structured populations may depend significantly on fitness effects arising at the group level.


Robot is an electrical or electronic mechanical device that works automatically that can work alone without outside control. By using robots in production activities, the process will be more efficient and effective. In this study, robots are made using a microcontroller as a robot controller and color detector to separate goods based on color. Color sensor is useful for getting color data. The detected color consists of Red, Green, Blue, all colors are processed in a microcontroller that functions as the brain in the robot that is made.


INTRODUCTION
Lowe Syndrome, or Oculocerebrorenal Dystrophy (OCRL), has a recessive inheritance linked to X chromosome. It presents cataracts and glaucoma, delay in neuropsychomotor development, cognitive deficits, and renal Fanconi syndrome.

OBJECTIVE
Describe five patients with OCRL, attended at Tubulopathy outpatient clinic.

METHOD
We performed a retrospective assessment of 5 male patient clinical charts of OCRL patients.

RESULTS
Mean age at first consultation was 76.5 and mean follow up interval was 30.5 months (8-53 months). Symptoms and clinical signs included cataracts and nystagmus. Neuropsychomotor development and weight and height deficits were present in whole cases, as well as polyuria, polydipsia, and intestinal constipation, metabolic acidosis, phosphaturia, bicarbonaturia, proteinuria, hypercalciuria, hyperuricosuria. Nephrocalcinosis was identified in one, renal lithiasis in three, and reduced kidney size in two patients. We found pathological fractures and rachitism in two, bone rarefaction and delay of bone age in all of the patients. One patient presented a reduction in the rhythm of glomerular filtration. Therapeutically, all patients received alkali, phosphorus and vitamin D reposition in addition to a dietary orientation adequate to their needs.

CONCLUSION
This study emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis and medico-nutritional followup, to avoid complications related to metabolic disturbances.


Objective: To test the hypothesis that there are disparate outcomes of patients undergoing free tissue transfers of the head and neck in 3 different hospital populations; private, public (county) and veterans administration (VA). Study Design: Retrospective chart review. Methods: Reviewed were the consecutive patients that underwent free tissue transfers of the head and neck by a single surgeon between July2000 and July2008 at the affiliated hospitals of an academic medical center in a large metropolitan area. Data were reviewed for pre-operative variables (prior irradiation and chemotherapy, ASA score); free tissue transfer characteristics (flap area, harvest and ischemia times); intra-operative variables (estimated blood loss, fluid administration); post-operative variables (medical/surgical complications, intensive care unit [ICU] and total hospital days); and post-treatment mortality. Results: There were 57, 47 and 61 patients comprising the study populations at the private hospital, public hospital and VA hospital, respectively. Statistically significant factors were: age (p<0.0001), intraoperative fluid administration (p=0.008), ICU days (p<0.0001), total hospital days (p=0.0002), and surgical complications (p=0.002). Four (7%), five (11%) and four patients (7%), respectively, experienced total flap loss requiring an additional flap (p=ns). Prior irradiation and/or chemotherapy, ASA score, and free tissue transfer characteristics did not differ significantly among hospital populations. There were no significant differences in posttreatment Kaplan-Meier survival curves (p=0.299). Conclusion: Free tissue transfer can and should be performed in different hospital populations with comparably high rates of success. Although the VA patients had more surgical complications postoperatively, this did not significantly affect postoperative survival when compared to the two other hospital populations. ICU and total hospital stays should be safely reduced in the public and VA hospitals, which may reduce hospital costs at these institutions. Outcomes Comparison of Free Tissue Transfers of the Head and Neck in Three Different Hospital Populations Larry L Myers, MD Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, TX


ABSTRACT Natural Killer (NK) cells are important components of the immune system in the defense against tumor growth and metastasis. They release exosomes containing proteins and nucleic acids, including microRNAs (miRNAs). NK-derived exosomes play a role in the anti-tumor NK cell function since they are able to recognize and kill cancer cells. However, the involvement of exosomal miRNAs in the function of NK exosomes is poorly understood. In this study, we explored the miRNA content of NK exosomes by microarray as compared to their cellular counterparts. The expression of selected miRNAs and lytic potential of NK exosomes against childhood B acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells after co-cultures with pancreatic cancer cells were also evaluated. We identified a small subset of miRNAs, including miR-16-5p, miR-342-3p, miR-24-3p, miR-92a-3p and let-7b-5p that is highly expressed in NK exosomes. Moreover, we provide evidence that NK exosomes efficiently increase let-7b-5p expression in pancreatic cancer cells and induce inhibition of cell proliferation by targeting the cell cycle regulator CDK6. Let-7b-5p transfer by NK exosomes could represent a novel mechanism by which NK cells counteract tumor growth. However, both cytolytic activity and miRNA content of NK exosomes were reduced upon co-culture with pancreatic cancer cells. Alteration in the miRNA cargo of NK exosomes, together with their reduced cytotoxic activity, could represent another strategy exerted by cancer to evade the immune response. Our study provides new information on the molecular mechanisms used by NK exosomes to exert anti-tumor-activity and offers new clues to integrate cancer treatments with NK exosomes.


Compression tests between parallel plates are applied to validate pressure as a grape berry maturity indicator and to define precisely the methodology of this measurement. Samples involve Cabernet franc variety of vine from four experimental plots belonging to two geological areas (Saumurois and Anjou). Two compression ratios (70 and 20 p. cent of the berry height) and two berry positions (equatorial and pedunculary) are applied. Compression ratio of 70 p. cent gives maximum force and maximum pressure arising from various phenomena (skin bursting, juice ejection, pip crushing), which are difficult to separate from each other and to explain. Equatorial compression should be favoured to prevent the peduncle from interfering on the contact area between the tool and the berry, and to avoid berry resistance to the compression. Results should be expressed as pressure in order to compensate for the influence of the size on the developed force and to allow precise comparison between berries with different size. Compression ratio should be lower than that corresponding to the skin breaking. A rate of 1 mm.s-1, a compression ratio of 20 p. cent and an equatorial position give pressure values allowing to differentiate berries according to their terroirs, degree of maturity and heterogeneïty. Physical results are validated by comparison with chemical analysis (anthocyanins, °Brix, malic acid) from similar samples. Mots clés : baie de raisin, Vitis vinifera, test de compression, degré de maturité, méthodologie


This work presents the definitive visual history of the people, politics and events of the epic conflict that shaped the modern world, World War II. From the build-up of hostility in the years leading up to the war, through to the reverberations still felt in the aftermath, this is a compelling, accessible and immediate history of World War II. Discover how deep-seated local fears and hatreds escalated into one vast global conflict that was fought out to the bitter end. Find out about key battles, political and economic forces, individual leaders and technological advances that influenced the course of the war. Cross-referencing appears throughout and timelines and global maps establish an overview of each year of the conflict. Packed with images, including rarely seen colour photographs and unforgettable first person accounts, "World War II" is a uniquely accessible account of history's most devastating conflict.


The availability and use of educational resources in classrooms has increased remarkably; however, preservice teachers graduate from initial teacher education institutions (ITEIs) and join the profession without the skills for teaching in these new learning environments. This qualitative study was conducted in four South African public ITEIs. It is aimed at examining mathematics lecturers' integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) into teaching and its implications for preservice teachers' readiness to teach in contemporary classrooms. Individual interviews were conducted with 12 mathematics education lecturers and 20 fourth-year students in five focus groups. The findings revealed that whilst the lecturers had some knowledge of how to teach with digital technologies in lecture rooms, they did not model specialised mathematics teaching skills to their students. Informed by activity theory, this study identified institutional gaps in the implementation of digital technologies for teaching. Institutions seemed to view access to technology as sufficient for effective use by lecturers. Initial teacher education institutions should therefore establish and regulate structures that equip and support lecturers with desired ICT pedagogical skills if preservice teachers are to be prepared for the modern classrooms.Transdisciplinarity Contribution: This research contributes to literature on the use of ICTs in Initial Teacher Education. Although it focuses on Mathematics Education, its findings demonstrate the importance of Professional Development if the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) of lecturers in these institutions will adequately prepare preservice teachers for the modern classroom.


Teleost fishes exhibit wide and temporally stable inter-individual variation in a suite of aerobic and anaerobic locomotor traits. One mechanism that could allow such variation to persist within populations is the presence of tradeoffs between aerobic and anaerobic performance, such that individuals with a high capacity for one type of performance have a reduced capacity for the other. We investigated this possibility in European seabass Dicentrarchus labrax , each measured for a battery of indicators of maximum locomotor performance. Aerobic traits comprised active metabolic rate, aerobic scope for activity, maximum aerobic swimming speed, and stride length, using a constant acceleration test. Anaerobic traits comprised maximum speed during an escape response, maximum sprint speed, and maximum anaerobic burst speed during constant acceleration. The data provided evidence of significant variation in performance among individuals, but there was no evidence of any trade-offs among any traits of aerobic versus anaerobic swimming performance. Furthermore, the anaerobic traits were not correlated significantly among each other, despite relying on the same muscular structures. Thus, the variation observed may reflect trade-offs with other morphological, physiological or behavioural traits.


Research in information and communication technology in education places an increasing emphasis on the use of qualitative analysis (QA). A considerable number of approaches to QA can be adopted, but it is not always clear that researchers recognize either the differences between these approaches or the principles that underlie them. Phenomenography is often identified by researchers as the approach they have used, but little evidence is presented to allow anyone else to assess the objectivity of the results produced. This paper attempts to redress the balance. A small-scale evaluation was designed and conducted according to 'pure' phenomenographic principles and guidelines. This study was then critiqued within the wider context of QA in general. The conclusion is that pure phenomenography has some procedural weaknesses, as well as some methodological limitations regarding the scope of the outcomes. The procedural weaknesses can be resolved by taking account of good practice in QA. The methodological issues are more serious and reduce the value of this approach for research in collaborative learning environments. DOI: 10.1080/09687760600837058


Background: The pathological classification of cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis has been a matter of debate and controversy for histopathologists. Objective: To identify and specify the glycotypes of capillary endothelial cells in usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) compared to those found in normal tissue. Methods: Sections of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded blocks from 16 cases of UIP were studied by lectin histochemistry with a panel of 27 biotinylated lectins and an avidin-peroxidase revealing system. Results: High expression of several classes of glycan was seen de novo in capillary endothelial cells from patients with UIP including small complex and bi/tri-antennary bisected complex N-linked sequences bolund by Concanavalin A and erythro-phytohemagglutinin, respectively, GalNAca1 residues bound by Helix pomatia and Maclura pomifera agglutinins, and L-fucosylated derivatives of type II glycan chains recognized by Ulex europaeus agglutinin-I. Glycans bound by agglutinins from Lycopersicon esculentum (β1,4GlcNAc) and Wisteria floribunda (GalNAc) as well as GlcNAc oligomers bound by Phytolacca americana and succinylated Wheat Germ agglutinin were also seen in the capillary endothelial cells of UIP. In contrast, L-fucosylated derivatives of type I glycan chains were absent in cells from cases of UIP when Anguilla anguilla agglutinin was applied, unlike the situation in normal tissue. Conclusion: These results may indicate existence of two distinct populations of endothelial cell in UIP with markedly different patterns of glycosylation, reflecting a pattern of differentiation and angiogenesis, which is not detectable morphologicall


Neurology as a distinct specialty is relatively new in the history of medicine. Beginning with Charcot, who built his neurology on a firm phenomenologic basis, the specialty of neurology was developed rapidly by such outstanding clinicians as Babinski, Duchenne, Erb, Marie, and Hughlings Jackson. In the 19th century, clinical observations increasingly were linked to neuroanatomical substrates. At the turn of the century, neuropathology gained a foothold, and clinical methods were developed further by such luminaries as Ramon y Cajal. Primitive laboratory procedures began to relate spinal fluid and brain electrical changes to human disease. A cadre of superb clinicians emerged, and neurology departments began to appear at medical schools, where residents were taught to interpret signs and symptoms carefully at the bedside. Mentored by superb clinicians, but lacking definitive laboratory and imaging procedures, these young neurologists continued the tradition of a specialty renowned for deductive reasoning. Neurologists were able to predict things other physicians could not, often with startling accuracy. But the specialty was plagued by lack of definitive studies to confirm clinical impressions, and an even more pervasive paucity of treatments for most neurologic conditions which exacted such a heavy human toll. Crude laboratory and radiologic tests, including angiography, were the only tools available. The clinicopathologic conference was in its heyday, and unexpected and startling revelations frequently were made at the autopsy table.


This paper attacks the challenging problem of zero-example video retrieval. In such a retrieval paradigm, an end user searches for unlabeled videos by ad-hoc queries described in natural language text with no visual example provided. Given videos as sequences of frames and queries as sequences of words, an effective sequence-to-sequence cross-modal matching is required. The majority of existing methods are concept based, extracting relevant concepts from queries and videos and accordingly establishing associations between the two modalities. In contrast, this paper takes a concept-free approach, proposing a dual deep encoding network that encodes videos and queries into powerful dense representations of their own. Dual encoding is conceptually simple, practically effective and end-to-end. As experiments on three benchmarks, i.e. MSR-VTT, TRECVID 2016 and 2017 Ad-hoc Video Search show, the proposed solution establishes a new state-of-the-art for zero-example video retrieval.


Considering that vernacular architecture may bear important lessons on hazard mitigation, this chapter focuses on the European Mediterranean countries and studies traditional seismic-resistant architectural elements and techniques that local populations developed to prevent or repair earthquake damage. This area was selected as a case study because, as a highly seismic region, it has suffered the effect of many earthquakes along the history and, thus, regions within this area are prone to have developed a Local Seismic Culture. After reviewing seismic resistant construction concepts, a wide range of traditional construction solutions that, in many cases, have shown to improve the seismic performance of vernacular constructions of these regions is presented, as a contribution to the general overview of retrofitting building systems provided in this book. The main motivation is that most of these techniques can be successfully applied to preserve and to retrofit surviving examples without prejudice for their identity.


We present a radio-quiet quasar at z = 0.237 discovered "turning on" by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF). The transient, iPTF 16bco, was detected by iPTF in the nucleus of a galaxy with an archival Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectrum with weak narrow-line emission characteristic of a low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER). Our follow-up spectra show the dramatic appearance of broad Balmer lines and a power-law continuum characteristic of a luminous ( erg s−1) type 1 quasar 12 yr later. Our photometric monitoring with PTF from 2009–2012 and serendipitous X-ray observations from the XMM-Newton Slew Survey in 2011 and 2015 constrain the change of state to have occurred less than 500 days before the iPTF detection. An enhanced broad Hα/[O iii] λ5007 line ratio in the type 1 state relative to other changing-look quasars also is suggestive of the most rapid change of state yet observed in a quasar. We argue that the >10 increase in Eddington ratio inferred from the brightening in UV and X-ray continuum flux is more likely due to an intrinsic change in the accretion rate of a preexisting accretion disk than an external mechanism such as variable obscuration, microlensing, or the tidal disruption of a star. However, further monitoring will be helpful in better constraining the mechanism driving this change of state. The rapid "turn-on" of the quasar is much shorter than the viscous infall timescale of an accretion disk and requires a disk instability that can develop around a black hole on timescales less than 1 yr.


In this article, we describe the modeling of a manufacturing process of cheese to the milk believed using formalism DEVS (discrete event system specification) [Zeigler, 1976]. The approach of B.P. Zeigler makes it possible to model various software applications, of distributed systems, dynamic systems and systems of production, independently of simulation. Some is the model, modeling and simulation is separate. Formalism DEVS makes it possible to use the same technique of simulation the some either applicability of the system and thus the some or model chooses. Because of the types of data and uncertainty of some among, we use the theory of fuzzy subsets developed by Zadeh [Zadeh, 1975]. Moreover, we present a short synopsis of the basic concepts of the fuzzy logic used in our problem, to model dubious data of manufacturing process


This thesis extends the machinery of Mutational Analysis to accommodate numerical methods that are commonly used today, such as the Midpoint Method, Heun Method, and Runge-Kutta Methods. This is done by developing Taylor expansions in Mutational Spaces of Higher Order. Another extension of Mutational Analysis to Stochastic Mutational Analysis is considered. This extension is used to accommodate more realistic and robust models than the deterministic counterpart. A biologically relevant model is used as an illustration of this extension.


Can anonymous written feedback collected during classroom assessment activities be used to assess students' cognitive development levels? After library instruction in a first-year engineering design class, students submitted minute papers that included answers to "what they are left wondering." Responses were coded into low, medium and high categories correlated to cognitive stages following a codebook that was developed based largely on Perry's model and on two semesters' worth of prior student feedback. Preliminary analysis suggests that subjects exhibit characteristics in keeping with the range of cognitive levels identified by previous research at this institution, but that they tend to be weighted toward the lower end of the spectrum. While this study does not reveal cognitive development levels as reliably as the work of previous researchers, it does propose an easy method for identifying general cognitive development levels of student cohorts and offers recommendations for using this knowledge to improve instructional effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]


To characterize bioavailability of soybean isoflavones, proposed anticarcinogenic food components, eight women, ages 20-41 y, were fed 0.9 mg isoflavones/kg body wt from soymilk at 0730, 1230 and 1730 h for 1 d. Subjects consumed three background diets in random order: a diet prepared for them (basic foods diet) or a self-selected diet at the specified times, or a self-selected diet eaten ad libitum. In a second study, women were fed single isoflavone doses of 0.8-1.4 mg/kg in breakfast casseroles containing tofu, tempeh, cooked soybeans or texturized vegetable protein. Both studies were conducted in randomized, cross-over designs. Plasma, urine and fecal isoflavones were measured by reverse-phase HPLC. After consumption of background diets, 48-h urinary recovery of daidzein (D) was 26-27%, and of genistein (G), 18-20% of the dose given with each diet. At 24 h after consumption of different background diets, plasma D and G concentrations were similar (1.4 +/- 0.7 mmol/L) and were not affected by diet selection. Urinary recoveries of D over 24 h from the various soy foods were 38-51%, and of G, 9-16% of the dose given. In both studies, urinary recovery of D was significantly greater than that of G. Only a few percentage of the total isoflavone dose was recovered in feces, probably due to bacterial breakdown of these compounds. Therefore, isoflavone bioavailability may not be affected by choice of background diet or food source of isoflavones.


In this dissertation two methods for spatio-temporal encoding in medical ultrasound imaging are investigated. The first technique is based on a frequency division approach. Here, the available spectrum of the transducer is divided into a set of narrow bands. A waveform is designed for each band, making it possible to transmit with several transmitters simultaneously and separate the signals at the receiver using a simple filtering operation. The separated signals can therefore be processed independently of each other. This facilitates transmission of more acoustic energy, which increases the signal to noise ratio and simultaneously the penetration depth so that the medical doctor can image deeper lying structures. The method is tested both experimentally and in simulation and has also evaluated for the purpose of blood flow estimation. The work presented is based on four papers which are also included in the dissertation. The second method is based on encoding the transmitters with pseudo-random sequences. The signals can be separated after only one transmission using an estimation based technique. Broadband decoding can, therefore, be performed at the receiver after a single transmission. This increases the amount of data acquired in every transmission and can potentially reduce motion artifacts. The work presented utilizing this method is based on three papers which are included in the dissertation.


[Summary of the book containing this chapter:] Even in our increasingly sexualized culture hard-core pornography and the representation of explicit sex is still hard to swallow. This lively and provocative new collection of essays by leading scholars explores screen representations of pornography and sex in a variety of cultural, historical, and critical contexts. Contributions cover a wide range of topics from sex in the multiplex to online alt-porn, from women in stag films to the excesses of extreme pornography, and a variety of contemporary case studies including porn performance, fashion in hard-core, and gay and lesbian pornography.


The United States population is rapidly aging, and retaining direct care workers (DCWs) will continue to be a workforce concern for the industry in addressing the demand for long term care services. To date, scant literature exists that addresses the DCW perspective of leadership behaviors and their influence on organizational commitment. To respond to this deficiency, this research studied leadership behaviors of direct importance for DCWs at the immediate supervisor level, and provided empirical insight into organizational commitment among workers closest to patient care. Research on leader behaviors has focused on managerial and executive levels, with scant consideration in long term care at the lower hierarchical levels. Transformational leadership was hypothesized to have a significant positive relationship with organizational commitment, specifically affective and normative commitments, and a significant inverse relationship with continuance commitment. The quantitative correlational study explored the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational commitment among 322 direct care workers employed by nonprofit, multi-level long term care organizations located in the Midwest. Results revealed a statistically significant relationship between overall transformational leadership and organizational commitment as well as affective and normative commitment dimensions, with no significant relationship found between transformational leadership and continuance commitment. The study results are beneficial to industry leaders, researchers, and policymakers for addressing operational policies, leadership training, human resource practices, and workforce policy development. Operational policies should reflect the values of the organization and follow from a compelling, collective vision and mission. Human resources practices warrant review if not aligned with the vision, mission, and values. Leadership development training should considered for continuing education for supervisors at all levels as well as for potential policy alternatives.


An application-oriented integration concept for a half-bridge switch assembly has been developed based on the latest generation 70-μm-thin insulated gate bipolar transistors and diodes, which are rated at 600 V/200 A. This paper addresses the design and reliability of the assembly, with a fully bondwireless approach using cylindrical copper bumps. Advanced numerical structural simulation techniques are also applied to assess the influence of interconnect characteristics (material, size, and shape) and try to determine an optimum solution for reducing the stress and creep strain development in the solder joint. Preliminary experimental tests of the power module are also carried out at different switching frequency and loads to prove the validity of the proposed solution in terms of electromagnetic performance.


Drug hydrolytic degradation, caused by atmospheric and inherent humidity, significantly reduces the therapeutic effect of pharmaceutical solid dosages. Moisture barrier film coating is one of the most appropriate and effective approaches to protect the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) from hydrolytic degradation during the manufacturing process and storage. Coating formulation design and process control are the two most commonly used strategies to reduce water vapor permeability to achieve the moisture barrier function. The principles of formulation development include designing a coating formulation with non-hygroscopic/low water activity excipients, and formulating the film-forming polymers with the least amount of inherent moisture. The coating process involves spraying organic or aqueous coating solutions made of natural or synthetic polymers onto the surface of the dosage cores in a drum or a fluid bed coater. However, the aqueous coating process needs to be carefully controlled to prevent hydrolytic degradation of the drug due to the presence of water during the coating process. Recently, different strategies have been designed and developed to effectively decrease water vapor permeability and improve the moisture barrier function of the film. Those strategies include newly designed coating formulations containing polymers with optimized functionality of moisture barrier, and newly developed dry coating processes that eliminate the usage of organic solvent and water, and could potentially replace the current solvent and aqueous coatings. This review aims to summarize the recent advances and updates in moisture barrier coatings.


In this paper, a liquid cooling solution has been reported for 3-D package in package-on-package format. A high heat dissipating chip is mounted on a silicon carrier, which has copper through-silicon via (TSV) for electrical interconnection and hollow TSV for fluidic circulation. Heat transfer enhancement structures have been embedded in the chip carrier. Cooling liquid, de-ionized water is circulated through the chip carrier and heat from the chip is extracted. The fluidic channels are isolated from electrical traces using hermetic sealing. The research work has demonstrated liquid cooling solution for 100 W from one stack and total of 200 W from two stacks of the package. The fluidic interconnections and sealing techniques have been discussed.


Diffuse digestive malakoplakia appears exceptional. A case of rectocolic malakoplakia with multiple localisations is reported in a 22 year old man presenting with inflammatory bowel disease. The most prominent clinical features were deterioration of his general condition, fever, and rectal bleeding, with fistula. Endoscopy revealed pseudotumoral masses and multiple colorectal ulcerations. Diagnosis was based on histological examination of colorectal biopsies. Clinical and histological remission was obtained after colonic diversion associated with broad spectrum antibiotherapy. These findings raise the problem of the possible association between inflammatory bowel disease and malakoplakia. They also confirm that, as previously reported, favourable outcome in digestive malakoplakia is possible.


Thousands of children go to school every day facing an unexpected potential killer that's only about the size of a penny: the peanut. Unfortunately, even though it is known that the presence of peanuts in schools may create a significant and even life-threatening health risk for severely allergic children, many schools fail to enact and enforce peanut policies. Because of how vital peanut policies can be for children severely allergic to peanuts, I argue that schools should be peanut-free to help protect these children while at school and help them avoid the possible anxiety or bullying that comes with some of the other solutions schools propose.


This thesis analyzes China's public diplomacy in the field of Sino-Africa relations, arguing that China has adopted public diplomacy with soft power as a vital component of its foreign policy on the continent from the early 2000s onward. The necessity of public diplomacy in China's foreign policy was driven by the objective of developing close economic ties with African countries even as Beijing faced manifold issues in its relations. To comprehend the link between China's public diplomacy and Sino-Africa economic ties, the research adopts an International Relations approach of neoliberal institutionalism, examining the use of public diplomacy to manage the asymmetric relations between China and Africa, in which China wields economic dominance over Africa. With the rising importance of public diplomacy globally in the twenty-first century, China has employed its public diplomacy to explain and justify its rising global influence, and to dispel negative publicity in the international society. While China has a government-centered public diplomacy system, unlike that of the West, various actors (governmental, semi-governmental, and non-governmental actors) systematically engage in China's public diplomacy through diverse instruments such as foreign aid, media, institutions for exchanging culture, and language training to the populations of foreign countries.

The Chinese government deploys its public diplomacy in African countries based on smart power, which combines soft power (culture) and hard power (China model and economic power), as most of China's public diplomacy is linked to aid projects, grants, and low-interest loans for building closer economic relations with African countries. China's public diplomacy seeks to build a positive image of China that focuses on a mutual sense of solidarity to elicit connectedness and shared identity between China and partner countries, mutual development, and harmonious coexistence through diverse public diplomacy activities. Public diplomacy fills the gap between China and Africa in asymmetrical economic relations that give rise to issues of distrust and discontent towards China – such as the exploitation of African wealth, and accusations of neocolonialism. By conducting fieldwork in Nigeria and South Africa, the research confirms that China's public diplomacy is integral to its foreign policy that focuses on China's economic development and securing its position on the global stage through African partnerships, bilateral and multilateral (FOCAC). It also discovered that Chinese public diplomacy not only promotes an amicable and friendly environment that promotes deepen relations for economic objectives, but also boosts China's claim to be a global great power in the new era, as President Xi Jinping has ordered.


Online foreign exchange trading requires in-depth analysis and accurate. One of the techniques is technical analysis to determine the levels of support and resistance which will be able to withstand the movement of currency exchange rates. Among these is the popular use of pivot level. The questions, which level forms support and resistance? Is there any correlation among Yesterday Open Price, Yesterday Close Price and Today Open Price to the formation of support and resistance? Using historical data of currency exchange rate movements almost last 20 years, this is a descriptive and quantitative research approaches. The study examines correlation among Yesterday Open Price, Yesterday Close Price and Today Open Price relative with its position to pivot point, to determine the areas which serve as resistance and support. The research uses Structural Equation Model (SEM) method with Path Analysis approach. The research affirmed that there are significant correlations between Yesterday Close Price and Today Open Price on determination of resistance and support area. This research can be used as a basis for developing Decision Support System in term of Expert Advisor for online forex trading.


This paper contributes to the generalization of Rademacher's differentiability result for Lipschitz functions when the domain is infinite dimensional and has nonabelian group structure. We introduce the notion of metric scalable groups which are our infinite-dimensional analogues of Carnot groups. The groups in which we will mostly be interested are the ones that admit a dense increasing sequence of (finite-dimensional) Carnot subgroups. In fact, in each of these spaces we show that every Lipschitz function has a point of Gâteaux differentiability. We provide examples and criteria for when such Carnot subgroups exist. The proof of the main theorem follows the work of Aronszajn and Pansu.


We revisit the mass ratio R between molecular hydrogen (H2) and atomic hydrogen (HI) in different galaxies from a phenomenological and theoretical viewpoint. First, the local H2 mass function (MF) is estimated from the local CO luminosity function (LF) of the FCRAO Extragalactic CO-Survey, adopting a variable CO-to-H2 conversion fitted to nearby observations. This implies an average H2-density Omega(H2)=(6.9±2.7)x10^(-5)/h and Omega(H2)/Omega(HI)=0.26±0.11 the local Universe. Secondly, we investigate the correlations between R and global galaxy properties in a sample of 245 local galaxies. Based on these correlations we introduce four phenomenological models for R, which we apply to estimate H2 masses for each HI galaxy in the HIPASS catalogue. The resulting H2-MFs (one for each model for R) are compared to the reference H2-MF derived from the CO LF, thus allowing us to determine the Bayesian evidence of each model and to identify a clear best model, in which, for spiral galaxies, R negatively correlates with both galaxy Hubble type and total gas mass. Thirdly, we derive a theoretical model for R for regular galaxies based on an expression for their axially symmetric pressure profile dictating the degree of molecularization. This model is quantitatively similar to the best phenomenological one at redshift z=0, and hence represents a consistent generalization while providing a physical explanation for the dependence of R on global galaxy properties. Applying the best phenomenological model for R to the HIPASS sample, we derive the first integral cold gas MF(HI+H2+helium) of the local universe.


This dissertation studies the effectiveness of various non-monetary incentives in encouraging economically-relevant behavior. Chapter 1 looks at the provision of information about others' donations as a way to increase contributions to charity. Results from a laboratory experiment show that when individuals donate out of image concerns, informing them in the early stages of a solicitation campaign about small contributions from others increases the extensive and intensive margins of giving. A central contribution is to demonstrate that the timing of the information—and not just its content—greatly affects donation behavior. Chapter 2 delves into the recent and booming phenomenon of crowdfunding to study the effect of goal setting on charitable giving. Using a dataset from a nation wide crowdfunding platform, it is shown that donors make larger contributions, at a faster pace, in order to be the ones who reach the recipients' fundraising targets. Results indicate that the behavior is motivated by donors deriving a heightened feeling of impact during completion. The Chapter thus provides insight into what mechanisms work and why in the understudied environment that is crowdfunding for charity. Finally, Chapter 3 shifts gears and studies the exertion of effort in the workplace. It explores in a laboratory experiment whether giving workers autonomy through delegation of contract choice intrinsically motivates effort. The Chapter finds a null result under several specifications, casting doubt on an intrinsic link between autonomy and motivation of effort. Altogether this dissertation contributes to the understanding of how and why non-monetary incentives serve—or fail to serve—as powerful means of directing economic behavior.


Experiments were performed to determine average heat transfer coefficients and friction factors for turbulent flow through annular ducts with pin fins. The measurements were carried out by means of a double-pipe heat exchanger. The total number of pins attached to the inner wall of the annular region was 560. The working fluids were air, flowing in the annular channel, and water through the inner circular tube. The average heat transfer coefficients of the pinned air-side were obtained from the experimental determination of the overall heat transfer coefficients of the heat exchanger and from the knowledge of the average heat transfer coefficients of the circular pipe (water-side), which could be found in the pertinent literature. To attain fully developed conditions, the heat exchanger was built with additional lengths before and after the test section. The inner circular duct of the heat exchanger and the pin fins were made of brass. Due to the high thermal conductivity of the brass, the small tube thickness and water temperature variation, the surface of the internal tube was practically isothermal. The external tube was made of an industrial plastic which was insulated from the environment by means of a glass wool batt. In this manner, the outer surface of the annular channel can be considered adiabatic. The results are presented in dimensionless forms, in terms of average Nusselt numbers and friction factors as functions of the flow Reynolds number, ranging from 13,000 to 80,000. The pin fin efficiency, which depends on the heat transfer coefficient, is also determined as a function of dimensionless parameters. A comparison of the present results with those for smooth sections (without pins) is also presented. The purpose of such a comparison is to study the influence of the presence of the pins on the pressure drop and heat transfer rate.


We have demonstrated the elevated reflex thresholds and decreased bandwidth effect in listeners with sensorineural hearing loss, and we have extended this generalization to include those with hearing loss related to presbycusis. A bivariate plotting method has been described for predicting hearing loss from reflex threshold data that is characterized by a low rate of false positives, while successfully identifying those with a moderate degree of hearing loss (greater than 32 dB) more than 80% of the time. We found no evidence of decreasing reflex threshold with age. Instead, our reflex thresholds for normal hearing subjects tend to remain the same or increase slightly as age increases. It is hoped that these findings will stimulate further work to correlate reflex thresholds with hearing levels. This information should be used to test infants (especially those at high risk for hearing loss) and other subjects unable to respond to conventional audiometric testing.


Tidally locked gas giants, which exhibit a novel regime of day–night thermal forcing and extreme stellar irradiation, are typically in several-day orbits, implying a modest role for rotation in the atmospheric circulation. Nevertheless, there exist a class of gas-giant, highly irradiated objects—brown dwarfs orbiting white dwarfs in extremely tight orbits—whose orbital and hence rotation periods are as short as 1–2 hr. Phase curves and other observations have already been obtained for this class of objects, raising fundamental questions about the role of an increasing planetary rotation rate in controlling the circulation. So far, most modeling studies have investigated rotation periods exceeding a day, as appropriate for typical hot Jupiters. In this work, we investigate atmospheric circulation of tidally locked atmospheres with decreasing rotation periods (increasing rotation rate) down to 2.5 hr. With a decreasing rotation period, we show that the width of the equatorial eastward jet decreases, consistent with the narrowing of the equatorial waveguide due to a decrease of the equatorial deformation radius. The eastward-shifted equatorial hot-spot offset decreases accordingly, and the off-equatorial westward-shifted hot areas become increasingly distinctive. At high latitudes, winds become weaker and more rotationally dominated. The day–night temperature contrast becomes larger due to the stronger influence of rotation. Our simulated atmospheres exhibit variability, presumably caused by instabilities and wave interactions. Unlike typical hot Jupiter models, the thermal phase curves of rapidly rotating models show a near alignment of peak flux to secondary eclipse. This result helps to explain why, unlike hot Jupiters, brown dwarfs closely orbiting white dwarfs tend to exhibit IR flux peaks nearly aligned with secondary eclipse. Our results have important implications for understanding fast-rotating, tidally locked atmospheres.


Abnormal eating behaviours are specific to frontotemporal lobar degeneration and increase caregiver burden. Topiramate, an anticonvulsant, suppresses cravings for alcohol and other substances and is a potential treatment for binge eating. However, there are few reports on topiramate efficacy for abnormal eating behaviours in frontotemporal lobar degeneration patients. We present three Japanese frontotemporal lobar degeneration patients with abnormal eating behaviours. Topiramate was effective, especially for compulsive eating, in cases with distinct lobar atrophy, but not for all abnormal eating behaviours.


Existing optical microscopy techniques compromise between resolution, photodamage, speed of acquisition and imaging in to deep samples. This often confines a technique to a certain biological system or process. We present a versatile imaging system which can switch between imaging modalities with sub millisecond transition times to adapt to the needs of a wide range of sample types. The imaging modalities provide the minimally invasive but low-resolution epi-fluorescence though increasing invasive but higher resolution confocal and structured illumination until the highest resolution is achieved through the most intrusive, localisation microscopy. The ability of the system to overcome the limitations of conventional single mode microscopy is demonstrated by several biological investigations. The ideas presented in this work allow researchers to move away from the model of a single imaging modality to study a specific process and instead follow those processes using the most suitable method available during the lifetime of the investigation.


Purpose: The risk of prostate cancer among persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH) is not well understood and may be obscured by different opportunities for detection. Materials and Methods: We identified 123,472 (37,819 PWH and 85,653 comparators) men enrolled in the Veterans Aging Cohort Study, a prospective national cohort of PWH and demographically matched, uninfected comparators in 2000–2015. We calculated rates of prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status and fit multivariable Poisson models comparing the rates of PSA testing, prostate biopsy, and cancer incidence. Results: The mean age at enrollment was 52 years. Rates of PSA testing were lower in PWH versus uninfected comparators (0.58 versus 0.63 tests per person-year). Adjusted rates of PSA screening and prostate biopsy were lower among PWH (incidence rate ratio [IRR] 0.87, 95% CI 0.75–0.84 and IRR 0.79 95% CI 0.74–0.83, respectively). The crude IRR for prostate cancer was lower in PWH versus controls (IRR 0.90, 95% CI 0.83–0.97). However, in a multivariable model adjusting for PSA testing, cancer incidence was similar by HIV status (IRR=0.93, 95% CI 0.86–1.01, p=0.08). Among patients who received a prostate biopsy, incidence of prostate cancer did not differ significantly by HIV status (IRR 1.06, 95% CI 0.98–1.15, p=0.15). Among incident cancers, there were significant differences in the distributions of Gleason grade (p=0.05), but not cancer stage (p=0.14) by HIV status. Conclusions: When accounting for less PSA testing among PWH, the incidence of prostate cancer was similar by HIV status. These findings suggest that less screening contributed to lower observed incidence of prostate cancer in PWH.


Every body contains multitudes, but no body is immune to the ideology of oneness: one true self, one sexuality, one gender, one vision of the world, one true God. For many who identify (or who have been named by others) as transgender, queer, and nonbinary, the refusal to fit within the illusion of one set of sex and gender expectations has been met with violence and suppression. While the myth of oneness is a powerful story that shapes the contours of our societies and our selves, it is not the only myth. Performances, fictions, rituals, and theologies can transform current realities.
 The(y)ology: Mythopoetics for Queer/Trans Liberation is a manifesto for artists, teachers, theologians, clergy, and activists looking for ways to resist rigid paradigms of gender, sexuality, self, and the sacred. In these pages, we are called to tell new stories about who we are and how we relate to each other within our ecosystems. The myths discussed wrestle with and transform the complex mytho-histories that have birthed and, often, harmed us. No story comes from nothing, and, more radically, perhaps no story is fully irredeemable.
 In The(y)ology, feminist philosophies join with trans poetics, literary theory with liberation theologies, drag performance with kabbalah, ecologies with pornographies, and ancient theater with queer autobiographies. However ambitious its scope might be, The(y)ology is fundamentally about encouraging us all to think playfully and to play thoughtfully with the mythologies that define our lives.


Native English accents (British and American) are known as highly favored and accepted varieties compared to other existing accents in English as foreign language (EFL) context. Notwithstanding the research accomplished on EFL learners' attitudes toward either of the accents (British or American), studies are still scant regarding the investigation of their perspectives in detail toward one of the accents specifically within the context of Iran. The aim of this study is to examine the Iranian EFL learners' attitudes toward the two major known English accents (British and American. Additionally, the study highlights the major factors contributing to the learners' preferences toward either of the accents (British or American). To that aim, a developed and validated questionnaire was distributed among 108 EFL learners selected from two of the major EFL contexts (universities and private institutes). The results indicated that the majority of the learners preferred American over British English accent. Besides, factor analysis revealed that American English exposure, lack of guidance, and lack of reinforcement toward British accent were among the mentioned factors accepted by learners for their preference of American. Finally, the study concludes with interpretations regarding the learners' decision making issues in either of the two major accents, and recommendations are provided for revisiting the EFL learners' attitudes and insights toward native English accents.


This article assesses the first decade of the trade-environment debate, and explores the possibilities for reconciliation of competing positions on trade-environment issues. It explores three aspects of the continuing conflict over trade and environment in the World Trade Organization. Rejecting both optimistic and pessimistic accounts of the past and future of the trade-environment debate it argues that important changes have occurred that have transformed the debate. But, despite the normalization of the trade-environment debate around the concept of sustainable development significant points of contention remain among the various participants.


A new mechamism is investigated to generate spatially periodic temperature and density irregularities along the geomagnetic field in the ionospheric E‐region, using ground transmitted powerful HF (high frequency) waves. A thermal instability is first excited and then stablized by the nonlinear damping from the inelastic electron collisions with N2 and O2. Electron temperature enhanced by powerful HF waves reduces the recombination rates of electrons and NO+ and O2+ ions, and subsequently increases the plasma density. The thermal diffusion of electrons evolves the perturbation into spatially periodic density irregularities along the geomagnetic field. The spatial period between 400 m and 1.6 km of the irregularities varies with the HF wave power and frequency. The optimal conditions for exciting these irregularities are achievable at sites for ionospheric heating experiments. The investigated mechanism works effectively only in the presence of ionization sources, such as UV radiations during the daytime and precipitated energetic particles at night.


The human DEK proto-oncogene is a nuclear protein with suspected roles in human carcinogenesis. DEK appears to function in several nuclear processes, including transcriptional regulation and modulation of chromatin structure. To investigate the clinicopathological significance of DEK in patients with non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), we analyzed DEK immunohistochemistry in 112 NSCLC cases. The results showed that DEK was overexpressed mainly in the nuclear compartment of tumor cells. In squamous cell carcinoma, DEK-positive expression occurred in 47.9% (23/48) of cases, and in lung adenocarcinoma, DEK-positive expression occurred in 67.2% (43/64) of cases and correlated with differentiation, p-TNM stage, and nodal status. Moreover, in lung adenocarcinoma, DEK expression was significantly higher compared with DEK expression in squamous cell carcinoma. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with low DEK expression had higher overall survival compared with patients with high DEK expression. Depleting DEK expression inhibited cellular proliferation and migration. Furthermore, in DEK-depleted NSCLC cells, we found that RhoA expression was markedly reduced; in conjunction, active RhoA-GTP levels and the downstream effector phosphorylated MLC2 were also reduced. Taken together, DEK depletion inhibited cellular migration in lung cancer cell lines possibly through inactivation of the RhoA/ROCK/MLC signal transduction pathway.


A significant control force and power are often necessary to obtain better performance. However, the actuators that deliver the control force are always subject to limits in their magnitude which is commonly known as actuator saturation. Windup phenomenon is the common detrimental effect on the closed-loop system caused by this limitation on the control input magnitude. Anti-windup scheme is commonly used to prevent such detrimental effect. In this study, the actuator power consumption of the vehicle active suspension system augmented with anti-windup compensator is further investigated numerically. The simulation results show that the active suspension system augmented with anti-windup compensator can manage the trade-off between performance and the actuator power consumption.


BACKGROUND
Post-spinal cord injury (SCI), individuals may exhibit mild to moderate impairments in aspects of speech influenced by impaired respiratory support. However, limited research has been conducted into the impact of these impairments on activity and participation when living in the community.

AIMS
To examine the nature and extent of voice and communication function in a group of individuals with cervical SCI living in the community, and to explore participant perceptions of the impact of these deficits on levels of activity and participation.

METHODS & PROCEDURES
Participants included 14 individuals who had sustained a SCI above C8 level and had returned to living in the community. All completed a series of speech and voice assessments, the Voice Handicap Index, the Australian Therapy Outcome Measures Voice scale, four voice perception questions, and the General Short Form of the Communicative Participation Item Bank.

OUTCOMES & RESULTS
As a group, participants were found to have reduced vocal intensity and phonatory duration. Vocal quality was mildly altered in 93% and pitch control, breath support for speech, speech rate and phrase length impacted in one-quarter or more of the group. All reported impacts, though three individuals reported that their impairments had more extensive impact on communication in daily life.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS
Individuals post-SCI experience mild speech and voice deficits that can have negative impacts on functional communication. The monitoring of communication function may help to identify those individuals who could benefit from additional support and intervention on return to community life.


Background: Mechanical neck pain is the most common type of neck pain and commonly to accompany with radiculopathy. Patients of neck pain exhibit greater activation of accessory muscles, (sternocleidomastoid, anterior scalene, and upper trapezius muscles) and may also show changed patterns of motor control of other postural muscles as pelvic muscles for reducing activation of painful muscles of neck. Aim of the study: To determine if there is an association between gluteus maximus inhibition and overactivity of upper fibres of trapezius in patients with chronic mechanical neck pain with radiculopathy. Materials and Methods: Forty female patients participated in this study diagnosed as chronic mechanical neck pain with radiculopathy. Amplitude and onset of muscle activation were assessed by using the surface electromyography (EMG) during prone hip extension test. Results: The results of this study demonstrated that there is no correlation between the amplitude of EMG activity of right and left gluteus maximus and the amplitude of EMG activity of right and left upper trapezius (P<0.05). Conclusion: It can be concluded that the overactivity of the upper trapezius muscle in patients with chronic mechanical neck pain with radiculopathy is not related to the inhibition of the gluteus maximus muscle during prone hip extension test.


In cognitive radio (CR) technology, the trend of sensing is no longer to only detect the presence of active primary users. A large number of applications demand for primary user behavior correlation in spatial, temporal, and frequency domains. To satisfy such requirements, we study the statistical relationship of primary users by introducing a Bayesian network (BN) based framework. How to learn such a BN structure is a long standing issue, not fully understood even in the statistical learning community. To solve such an issue in CR, this paper proposes a BN structure learning scheme which incurs significantly lower computational complexity compared with previous ones. Thus, with this scheme, cognitive users could efficiently understand the statistical pattern of primary networks.


The determination of the ratio of urate compared to creatinine present in a sample. The measurement may be expressed as a ratio or percentage.


Attribute reduction can simplify condition attributes in the decision table, while the simplified decision table has same functionality with that before simplification. Based on the introduction of basic attribute reduction algorithm based on discriminability matrix, the paper presented a kind of improved attribute reduction algorithm based on discriminability matrix. The algorithm utilized the frequency of attribute in the matrix as determination basis for the importance of attributes and proposed the heuristic attribute reduction algorithm, so as to improve efficiency of attribute reduction. The specific attribute reduction example shows that the algorithm use heuristic method to determine the second-best. It can significantly reduce complexity in time and spatial in solving and improve efficiency.


2 Abstract: Mobile Adhoc network is a group of wireless nodes that form a network without any kind of infrastructure support. Security in wireless adhoc networks is hard to transmit the data. By using an impulsive wireless adhoc network we can easily provide security for the data transmission. An impulsive adhoc network uses hybrid even symmetric or asymmetric keys. It establishes trust between users in order to exchange the secret keys to encrypt the data. Depending on first visual contact the trust will be based among users. Our proposal is a complete protocol towards oneself safe convention that can make the users to share information in secured manner. This protocol contains all functions required to operate without any external support. It has been verified and implemented in order to check the performance and procedure of protocol in adhoc networks.


Introduction and Overview Knocking at Freedom's Door: Race, Equity and Affirmative Action in U.S. Higher Education* The American Dream lies at the very heart of the U.S. cultural ethos. At the center of this ideal is the emphatic conviction that, in this society, education opens the door to success. The belief that even the poorest citizen can achieve greatness with talent and hard work is one of this nation's most cherished cultural tenets (Hochschild, 1995). In most instances for those who adhere to these beliefs, talent is equated with educational attainment. African Americans have embraced this viewpoint to the extreme. Dating back to when slaves were forbidden to learn to read and write under threat of death or physical harm, African Americans have invested education with mythic qualities, holding it up as both hope and salvation for the future. Yet no matter how much education African Americans have achieved, they have still suffered discrimination based on skin color. Nevertheless, Black people in the United States have continued to crave and embrace education as the ultimate solution (Allen & Jewell, 1995). Despite the paradox of societal stereotypes depicting Blacks as lazy, ignorant, and mentally inferior-even as the nation developed history's most elaborate system of institutional barriers intent on denying them opportunities for schooling-African Americans continued to value and pursue education. The "holy grails" of education in general and higher education in particular have long embodied Black people's hopes and frustrations as they seek the "promised land" of freedom and opportunity. Education has long been seen as an essential foundation of democracy. The extent to which citizens of any society are afforded equal educational opportunity speaks volumes about openness and power relations within that society. For African Americans, the centuries-old struggle for access to and success in higher education has been emblematic of a larger fight for personhood and equality. In this struggle, progress has come in fits and starts, interspersed with rollbacks and lost ground (Allen & Jewell, 1995). From 1965 to 1995, equal opportunity programs, and later affirmative action programs, represented rays of hope and promise for the nation's disenfranchised. For a relatively brief moment, U.S. society cracked open the doors of opportunity. Groups previously excluded from key positions and institutions slipped into those settings, although not necessarily in massive numbers. Nevertheless, they found some purchase where folks like themselvesBlacks, Latinos, Asians, and women-had not previously been allowed to set foot in any sizeable numbers, except to clean or to serve food. In the case of African Americans, a country torn asunder by racial conflict and on the verge of precipitating a second Civil War cracked open the doors to higher education briefly. Under the imperatives of equity, inclusiveness, and diversity, U.S. universities enrolled African Americans from the tobacco fields of North Carolina, the ghettoes of New York City, the fruit and vegetable orchards of California, and the foundries of Saginaw. Equal opportunity and affirmative action programs gave minorities, women, and others who were routinely pushed to this society's fringes the chance to prove their worth. These programs did not guarantee success; they only provided the chance to compete and the opportunity to succeed-or fail-on one's own merit. Having proven their value and effectiveness, affirmative action programs are today under severe, extensive attack. Yet, make no mistake about it: affirmative action is currently being challenged precisely because of its effectiveness. Affirmative action programs have made, or promise to continue to make, significant inroads against the established status quos of racial and patriarchal hierarchy. Powerful, vested interests see this progress and are determined to first stem and then reverse the gains. …


The limits of production processes of composites are explored increasingly. A higher performance and a higher quality are demanded at lower cost prices. Inevitably, a thorough understanding of the processes occurring during the production is essential to meet the imposed demands. The research presented here aims to increase the fundamental knowledge on a crucial part of the Resin Transfer Moulding (RTM) production technology: the impregnation behaviour of textile reinforcements. In RTM, a near-net-shaped, dry, textile preform is manufactured and placed in a closely fitting mould. Resin is subsequently injected, typically at a pressure varying between 2 and 10 bars relative to the atmospheric pressure. The textile reinforcement is made of a fibre bundle structure, which can either be a preform made of (a stack of) woven fabrics or Non?Crimp Fabrics (NCF), or be a preform manufactured employing automated preforming technologies such as braiding and fibre placement technologies.


the problems of "diagnosis by therapeutic trial," specifically the risks of exposing the patient to potential adverse reactions from inappropriate therapy or the possibility of missing another treatable diagnosis. A number of infections in patients with AIDS may present in a similar manner to P carinii pneumonia.' Consequently, the authors' management approach may lead to patients with essentially untreatable conditions such as cytomegalovirus pneumonia being placed at risk of drug related reactions. Leucopenia, rashes, and fever will occur in up to 65% ofpatients with AIDS treated with co-trimoxazole.2 Alternatively, there may be an inappropriate delay in diagnosing other treatable infectious agents such as tuberculosis, which is being increasingly recognised in AIDS.3 An alternative method of diagnosing P carinii pneumonia and of reducing the demand for bronchoscopy would be the examination of induced sputum stained with methenamine silver or Giemsa stains. This has been shown in two studies to have a sensitivity greater than 55%4 5 and this experience is now being confirmed in other centres. TIMoTY MCDONNELL Division ofPulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO 80262, USA