Performance and carcass and cut yield of finishing pigs of three sexual categories fed diets with different levels of ractopamine were studied. Forty-eight hybrid animals (initial weight of 92.1±2.4 kg) were distributed in a completely randomised design in 3 × 2 factorial arrangement (three sexual categories: surgically castrated males, two females and immunologically castrated males - with or without 10 ppm of ractopamine), totalling six treatments and eight repetitions with one animal per experimental plot during 28 days. Ractopamine improved weight gain and feed conversion of all sexual categories. The best results were obtained with immunologically castrated males, which, in turn, had lower carcass yield and backfat thickness in the belly. In the absence of ractopamine, depth and loin eye area were higher in females but no differences in these variables were observed between categories when this additive was used. Ractopamine increased the sirloin yield in all sexual categories. There was no difference in bonus index. Ractopamine improves the performance of pigs of 92 to 125 kg. Immunologically castrated males have the best performance responses to ractopamine, but with losses in carcass yield, loin characteristics and backfat thickness of the belly.


p-type dye sensitized solar cells (p-DSCs) derived from nickel oxide (NiO) photocathodes have been obtained via rapid discharge sintering (RDS) of parent metal oxide nanoparticles deposited onto differently treated substrates utilizing a plasma atmosphere with microwave radiation as heat source. This method produces NiO thin films (0.6 < l < 6 mu m) with mesoporous features and large surface areas as required for efficient dye-loading and high photocurrents. Erythrosine B (ERY) was used to sensitize the oxide in the visible spectrum. We have analyzed and compared the photoelectrochemical performances of the p-DSCs assembled with the various types of NiO samples prepared by RDS techniques with different treatments of the supporting substrate prior to, or during, spray deposition of the NiO nanoparticles. The best photovoltaic performances were obtained when the transparent conducting substrate (TCS) was heated during spraying. We believe that this is because the charge transfer through the NiO film and the charge collection at the TCS/NiO film interface were the most efficient with this sample. To our knowledge, the photovoltaic performances reported here are the best achieved with the commercial dye ERY as sensitizer.


We have surveyed two science fields totaling 1 deg2 with Bolocam at 2.1 mm to search for secondary Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies caused by the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE). The fields are in the Lynx and Subaru/XMM SDS1 fields. Our survey is sensitive to angular scales with an effective angular multipole of ℓeff = 5700 with FWHMℓ = 2800 and has an angular resolution of 60 arcsec FWHM. Our data provide no evidence for anisotropy. We are able to constrain the level of total astronomical anisotropy, modeled as a flat-band power in , with most frequent 68%, 90%, and 95% CL upper limits of 590, 760, and 830 μK2CMB. We statistically subtract the known contribution from primary CMB anisotropy, including cosmic variance, to obtain constraints on the SZE anisotropy contribution. Now including flux calibration uncertainty, our most frequent 68%, 90%, and 95% CL upper limits on a flat-band power in are 690, 960, and 1000 μK2CMB. When we instead employ the analytical spectrum suggested by Komatsu and Seljack in 2002, and account for the non-Gaussianity of the SZE anisotropy signal, we obtain upper limits on the average amplitude of their spectrum weighted by our transfer function of 790, 1060, and 1080 μK2CMB. We obtain a 90% CL upper limit on σ8, which normalizes the power spectrum of density fluctuations, of 1.57. These are the first constraints on anisotropy and σ8 from survey data at these angular scales at frequencies near 150 GHz.


The main purpose of this research is considered of performance techniques for competent of tax system in country. Base of this research, this question will discusses why the tax system in country is ineffective? Although several answers bear in mind for this question for people and most of tax agents, but as a researcher, they attempt to find a strict and scientific answer for aforesaid question. In this study, statistics community consists of 250 persons of tax agents and payers in Ilam province. In this article they use of library and field approach. The information provided by questionary. They examine the investigations assumptions with use of 35 questions involving 4 choices. The validity of questionary questions is evaluated by ALFA test (? = 0.85) probably, we can plan for competent of tax system based on given results. There is a significant direct relationship between tax regulations and tax evasion. Further, there is a significant direct relationship between tax system efficiency and tax evasion tricks. Results of the present study suggest that any change, though small, in the body of tax rules and regulations would equally affect tax evasion, whether it is positive or negative.


Reactions to contrast agents are uncommon but range from mild urticaria to life threatening anaphylactic reactions. Majority of these reactions occur due to intravenous administration of iodinated contrast media. Acute reactions to MRI gadolinium-based contrast are much less common but they do occur and thus have to be managed. Usual presentations include urticaria, nausea, vomiting, angioedema, bronchospasm, laryngospasm and systemic hypotension. Majority of these reactions occur within the first twenty minutes after administration of contrast. Therefore, their recognition and prompt treatment are critical for good patient outcome. Attendant to this the radiology department must be adequately prepared to handle these emergencies as and when they do occur. This means an up to date emergency tray must be checked regularly before the start of the procedure, ensure there is epinephrine, antihistamines, beta-2-agonists metered dose inhalers, IV fluids, and ready supply of oxygen. Close collaboration of radiology staff with the hospital emergency response team is critical since severe reactions will need the intervention of this team.


At a time of diminishing resources, the sum of apparently minor personal decisions about food can have immense impact. These individual choices are heavily influenced by language, as those with vested interests seek to persuade individuals to act in certain ways. This makes the language of food politics a fitting area for an expanding applied linguistics oriented towards real-world language-related problems of global and social importance. The paper draws upon five consecutive research projects to show how applied linguistics research may contribute to public policy and debate, and also how, by entering such new arenas, it can develop its own methods and understanding of contemporary language use.


gamma-Fe2O3magnetic nanoparticles ranging in average diameter from 2 to 4 nm were precipitated within an alginate hydrogel and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Mossbauer spectroscopy, and SQUID magnetometry. Regardless of the initial Fe valence state of the starting chloride salt, Mossbauer spectroscopy confirmed that gamma-Fe2O 3 was the only phase present. As expected, the nanoparticles exhibited superparamagnetic behavior with the magnetic moments becoming frozen with decreasing temperature as evidenced by a bifurcation in the zero-field-cooled (ZFC) and field-cooled (FC) magnetizations and a hysteresis in the Mv-vs.-H curves. The values of effective magnetic anisotropy ( ~ 106 ergs/cm3 ) determined from the differences between the ZFC and FC magnetizations were found to be an order of magnitude larger than the magneto-crystalline anisotropy for bulk gamma -Fe2 O3 , and are probably the result of surface and particle size dependent effects. Likewise, the nanoparticle size distributions as deduced from the blocking temperature distribution function f(TB) based on fits to the difference in the ZFC and FC magnetization curves as well as from fits of the MV-vs.-H curves with a Langevin function in the superparamagnetic regime indicate fairly broad distributions of particle sizes with the particle sizes being comparable to those deduced from XRD measurements. The smaller saturated magnetization values found for these nanoparticles than the bulk value combined with the non-zero slope of the high-field magnetization data suggests that these nanoparticles have a non-negligible surface layer of non-collinear spins surrounding a ferrimagnetically ordered gamma-Fe2O3 core.


This research is a class action research that aims to describe whether there is an increase in student achievement in citizenship education subjects through the implementation of discussion and assignment methods. The subjects in this study were students of class VII-2 SMP Gemah 9 Ambon with a total of 23 students. The research procedure is a series of stages of research from beginning to end. The PTK procedure includes 2 cycles with 2 meetings per cycle. Each cycle consists of four stages as follows: 1) planning; 2) implementing actions; 3) observation and evaluation of actions; and 4) reflection of actions. In this study the data were analyzed to determine the effectiveness of a learning method in teaching and learning activities with a qualitative descriptive approach consisting of 3 stages, namely: 1) Data reduction; 2) data presentation and presentation; and 3) drawing conclusions. This research is said to be successful if students in learning get a value of =70 (KKM = 70) and or more with an average completeness level of 75% or more. The results of the study show that: (1) The application of the discussion method and the task of learning citizenship education in VII grade students of SMP Gemah 7 Ambon can improve student achievement as seen from the increase in learning achievement tests, namely from the first cycle of 61.6 experiencing an increase in the second cycle to 77.6; (2) The application of the discussion and task method is very effective to be used in the learning of citizenship education in VII grade students of SMP Gemah 7 Ambon in 2018/2019 in odd semester; (3) The steps of applying the discussion method and the task, namely as many as two research cycles are adjusted to the steps in the learning plan so that it can improve the learning achievement of Grade VII students of SMP Gemah 7 Ambon.


Stimulated influx of Ca2+ across the plasma membrane of T lymphocytes is an essential triggering signal for T-cell activation by antigen. Regulation of the T-cell Ca2+ conductance is not understood; conflicting evidence supports direct activation by inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) or by a signal generated by the depletion of intracellular Ca2+ stores. We have used the perforated-patch recording technique to compare the biophysical properties of Ca2+ currents activated by T-cell receptor stimulation and by thapsigargin, a Ca(2+)-ATPase inhibitor that depletes intracellular stores without generating IP3. Both currents are blocked by Ni2+, are inwardly rectifying, are highly Ca(2+)-selective, and exhibit voltage-independent gating with a unitary chord conductance of approximately 24 fS in isotonic Ca2+. Fluctuation analysis suggests that the underlying Ca2+ transporter is a channel rather than an iron carrier. Thus, in terms of ion permeation, gating, and unitary conductance, the Ca2+ current activated by thapsigargin is indistinguishable from the elicited by crosslinking of T-cell receptors. Moreover, the unitary Ca2+ conductance is > 100-fold smaller than that of previously described IP3-gated, Ca(2+)-permeable channels in T cells [Kuno, M. & Gardner, P. (1987) Nature (London) 326, 301-304]. These results demonstrate that mitogen-activated Ca2+ influx is controlled by the state of intracellular Ca2+ stores rather than by the direct action of IP3 on Ca2+ channels in the plasma membrane.


Serous microcystic adenoma is a rare exocrine tumour of the cystic neoplasm of pancreas seen predominantly in the elderly population. The first patient was a 56-year-old diabetic woman with abdominal pain, constipation and loss of weight since two months. The second patient was a 73-year-old female with complaints of abdominal pain and back pain since one year. The third patient was a 72-year-old diabetic man with complaints of burning sensation in the right lumbar region since two months. Clinical and laboratory examinations were normal. The radiological examinations of the first two patients showed multiloculated cystic lesion in the pancreas and of the third patient was suggestive of islet cell tumour. The histopathological examination of the three patients showed multiple cysts of varying sizes lined by cuboidal epithelium, showing no atypia. All the three patients were diagnosed as serous microcystic adenoma of pancreas. On follow up, all three patients had no recurrence. Serous epithelial neoplasms need to be differentiated from their non-neoplastic counterparts and other neoplastic lesions with cystic changes, in view of the differences in management. Serous microcystic adenomas have excellent prognosis.


Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a dynamic planning model for earth moving operations through capturing the operations context level (scope change, skill level, etc.). Method Uncertainties, scope, and changes in project condition call for dynamic modeling of earthmoving operations. Static planning and scheduling methods such as CPM and PERT neglect – and are incapable of – considering project dynamics and causal-effect loops that exist between project variables. In an effort to address this challenge, system dynamic modeling and simulation is utilized in this research to plan and simulate earth moving operations. The developed model consists of three modules: (i) a work flow module that focuses on work execution from excavating the material until dumping it as demonstrated in; (ii) a resource module that captures the resources' interactions and estimates the required resources based on the variables governing the site condition and management requirement; and (iii) a cost module that estimates associated costs with project's operations. Results & Discussion The model was tested using a real case from Marzouk and Moselhi. The model outputs demonstrate that including the project context variables and their cause-effect loops to the planning stage of this category of projects improves the planning process. The developed system dynamic model is expected to enhance project modelling; capturing the interactivity among its variables to provide more realistic modelling for its schedule and cost. It also can assist members of project teams to predict a variety of likely scenarios and develop suitable action plans.


Gender is a key — but often overlooked — determinant of tobacco use, especially in Asia, where sex-linked differences in prevalence rates are very large. In this article we draw upon existing data to consider the implications of these patterns for gender equity and propose approaches to redress inequity through gender-sensitive tobacco control activities. International evidence demonstrates that, in many societies, risk behaviours (including tobacco use) are practised substantially more by men and boys, and are also viewed as expressions of masculine identity. While gender equity focuses almost exclusively on the relative disadvantage of girls and women that exists in most societies, disproportionate male use of tobacco has profound negative consequences for men (as users) and for women (nonusers). Surprisingly, health promotion and tobacco control literature rarely focus on the role of gender in health risks among boys and men. However, tobacco industry marketing has masterfully incorporated gender norms, and also other important cultural values, to ensure its symbols are context-specific. By addressing gender-specific risks within the local cultural context — as countries are enjoined to do within the Framework Convention's Guiding Principles — it may be possible to accelerate the impact of mechanisms such as tobacco pricing, restrictions on marketing, smoking bans and provision of accurate information. It is essential that we construct a new research-to-policy framework for gender-sensitive tobacco control. Successful control of tobacco can only be strengthened by bringing males, and the concept of gender as social construction, back into our research and discussion on health and gender equity.


Background and aims Along with the improved cure rate in paediatric cancer, awareness of treatment related late effects has become increasingly important. Osteonecrosis is an emerging complication of intensive chemotherapy including high doses of steroids. We aimed to describe clinical and imagiologic characteristics of survivors of paediatric hematologic malignancies who developed osteonecrosis. Material and methods We evaluated 6 patients with osteonecrosis as a complication of leukaemia or lymphoma treatment between September 1998 and September 2013. Osteonecrosis was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the symptomatic joints. Results Of 563 patients, 6 (4 girls, 2 boys) (1,1%) developed symptomatic osteonecrosis, in a total of 11 joints. The median age at diagnosis of malignancy was 14 years (range 10–18 years) and the median interval between primary diagnosis and onset of osteonecrosis related symptoms was 33 months (range 11–120 months). Underlying malignancies were acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (n = 3) and Hodgkin Lymphoma (n = 3). Affected joints were hip (n = 7), knee (n = 3) and elbow (n = 1). All patients had received previous corticosteroid therapy at a median dose in prednisone equivalent of 4239 mg/m2 (range 3918–4600 mg/m2). Treatment of osteonecrosis included restriction of weight-bearing, physiotherapy and analgesics. One patient had to undergo arthrotomy. All patients showed improvement in pain and motor function. Conclusions In our cohort, there has been a predominance of female adolescents. Weight-bearing joints were the most commonly affected. Increased awareness for skeletal symptoms during follow-up of patients with hematologic malignancies allows early detection of osteonecrosis, leading to prompt intervention and may prevent more severe morbidity.


Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus the role of conservation, sustainable forest management, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD+) has rapidly become a dominant approach in mitigating climate change. Building on the Foucauldian governmentality literature and drawing on a case study of Ulu Masen Project in Aceh, Indonesia, this article examines the practices of subject making through which REDD+ seeks to enroll local actors, a research area that remains relatively underexplored. It interrogates the ways in which local actors react, resist or maneuver within these efforts, as they negotiate multiple subject positions. Interviews and focus group discussions combined with an analysis of documents show that the subject making processes proceed at a complex conjuncture constituted and shaped by political, economic and ecological conditions within the context of Aceh. The findings also suggest that the agency of communities in engaging, negotiating and even contesting the REDD+ initiative is closely linked to the history of their prior engagement in conservation and development initiatives. Communities are empowered by their participation in REDD+, although not always in the ways expected by project implementers and conservation and development actors. Furthermore, communities' political agency cannot be understood by simply examining their resistance toward the initiative; these communities have also been skillful in playing multiple roles and negotiating different subjectivities depending on the situations they encounter. Keywords: REDD+, subject-making, agency, resistance, Indonesia, Aceh


ABSTRACT Plastic marine debris is increasingly recognised as one of the greatest threats to global oceans, and the humans who depend on them. This study documents plastic ingestion in 24 species caught or sold for human consumption in the South Pacific. Fish were collected from local fishermen and markets in remote locations, including French Polynesia, Lord Howe Island and Henderson Island (Pitcairn group). Gastrointestinal tracts of 126 fish were visually examined and plastic was found in 7.9% of individual fish and 25% of species. The plastics were mostly microplastics (fragments, nurdles and rope). There was no significant difference in plastic ingestion in relation to feeding style, length, region or species. This is concerning as plastic appears to be widespread across species, lifestyles and habitats. This is the first report of plastic in South Pacific fish, raising concerns about the transfer of pollutants in a region that is largely oceanic and heavily dependent on seafood. The remote locations of the study also provide evidence of the widespread nature of this issue. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


Information gathering from sources outside the company plays a critical role in most innovation projects. Particularly, it seems promising to approach external market experts to develop an in-depth understanding of current use problems, changing customer needs and trends for new product solutions. When planning expert interviews, firms are confronted with the question of whether knowledge is distributed rather homogeneously or heterogeneously ("scattered") among a pool of experts. This issue strongly determines how many experts need to be interviewed in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of a given search field for innovation. In the present paper, we analyse expert interviews that were conducted in the context of an innovation project in the field of surgical hygiene products. We find high heterogeneity of expert knowledge: market experts in our sample vary in terms of the market information they provide for the particular product field. We argue that this finding is in alignment with the concept of "bounded rationality" and the theory of "contextual development of knowledge". Our findings have implications for the management of external information gathering and the identification of market experts.


This ten-year survey of the use of student mental health services offered by the University of North Carolina suggests that increased usage over time has been due to greater availability of staff and a broadening of services offered rather than to an increase of the prevalence of mental illness among the student body. The authors believe that college psychiatry, as one of the earliest examples of the provision of mental health services to a community, can be used as a model for other aspects of public health psychiatry.


Grade is one of the key aspects of crop quality. In this article, I summarize basic issues and review some findings from empirical and theoretical research on grading. To begin with, I discuss how to measure quality by comparing three indices: individual attributes, grade, and price. Then I explain why grade is necessary. The underlying rationale is found in market failure caused by information asymmetry. Next, taking the impact of global warming on rice as an example, I demonstrate the importance of grade in farm economy. Empirical evidence indicates that higher temperature decreases farm revenue by deteriorating quality rather than quantity. Finally, I turn to the policy question of how to improve grade. Specifically, I focus on quality payment, which sets different subsidy rates by grades. Theoretical analysis shows that, under plausible assumptions, quality payment improves both grade and yield in a more cost effective manner than other types of payments such as quantity payments, area payments or decoupled payments.


An automated deburring procedure using a robot manipulator is considered for the removal of burrs in the presence of robot oscillations and bounded uncertainties in the tool holder. Electronic compliancy (impedance control) is proposed as an adaptive mechanism to satisfy the requirements of this application. The development and implementation of the impedance control methodology on an active end-effector or the whole robot are examined for precision deburring and grinding tasks.<<ETX>>


The article focuses on how dynamic game characters create friction in a ludo mix strategy consisting of primarily ludic media, disturbing the narrative coherency that trans- or cross-media strategies strive for. In particular, dynamic game characters, with a development structure that the player influences, cause narrative inconsistencies with the character's transmedia appearances. Yet, in Japanese media and ludo mixes, character proliferation is the norm so that different versions of the same character can exist without any issues of narrative coherency. Through a case study of the Fire Emblem: Three Houses ludo mix, this article argues that the Japanese concept of the kyara, a proto-character, demonstrates to be an excellent means to avoid a clash between the dynamic game character in one work and its appearance in another work. It concludes that through the use of the kyara, the IP owner avoids any clash between the dynamic game character's appearance in its source work and its appearance in other ludic works, thereby giving the impression that the player's agency over the dynamic game character stays intact.


Mesangial cells in culture change shape and become less adhesive in response to cAMP elevation (e.g., treatment with isoproterenol plus isobutylmethylxanthine (IM). Inhibitors of serine proteases inhibit cellular shape change in response to IM. To further examine the role of cell surface proteases in shape change, adhesion plaque proteins (i.e., preparations of ventral membranes and extracellular matrix) were separated in SDS-polyacrylamide gels containing gelatin with and without plasminogen. Four discrete zones of lysis were evident in plasminogen gels (indicative of activation of plasminogen) from control adhesion plaques: one inconspicuous zone with a Mr approximately 150 kD, another at approximately 115 kD, and a doublet at approximately 35-32 kD. Another diffuse zone of lysis centered around Mr approximately 70 kD and contained a defined band of approximately 56 kD. Adhesion plaques contained most of the plasminogen activators (PA). 5 min after IM treatment, the Mr approximately 150- and approximately 115-kD PA were increased in activity. Vasopressin (VP), which prevented shape change and adhesion loss when added along with IM, inhibited the increase in these PA. Preincubation with monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies to urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) totally inhibited the IM-inducible shape change and adhesion loss. Activation of plasminogen throughout the gels revealed multiple protease resistant bands that markedly increased with IM treatment (maximal at 45 min). These may represent focal control mechanisms. uPA thus may mediate focal proteolysis, which results in shape change and decreased adhesion.


Isidore of Seville (circa 570-636) was the author of the Etymologiae,. the most celebrated and widely circulated encyclopaedia of the western Middle Ages. In addition, Isidore's Synonyma were very successful and became one of the classics of medieval spirituality. Indeed, it was the Synonyma that were to define the so-called 'Isidorian style,' a rhymed, rhythmic prose that proved influential throughout the Middle Ages. Finding the Right Words is the first book-length study to deal with the transmission and reception of works by Isidore of Seville in Anglo-Saxon England, with a particular focus on the Synonyma. Beginning with a general survey of Isidore's life and activity as a bishop in early seventh-century Visigothic Spain, Claudia Di Sciacca offers a comprehensive introduction to the Synonyma, drawing special attention to their distinctive style. She goes on to discuss the transmission of the text to early medieval England and its 'vernacularisation,' that is, its translations and adaptations in Old English prose and verse. The case for the particular receptiveness of the Synonyma in Anglo-Saxon England is strongly supported by both a close reading of primary sources and an extensive selection of secondary literature. This rigorous, well-documented volume demonstrates the significance of the Synonyma to our understanding of the literary pretensions and pedagogical practices of Anglo-Saxon England, and offers new insights into the interaction of Latin and vernacular within its literary culture.


Introduction Implementation of health technology assessment (HTA) is still in an early stage with some heterogeneity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Our objective was to assess the current and future status of HTA implementation in the MENA region by focusing on regional commonalities. Methods Preparatory discussions for the first ISPOR conference in the MENA region indicated some potentially generalizable trends of HTA roadmaps. To widen the perspective, a policy survey was conducted among conference participants by applying an HTA implementation scorecard. Discussion group members helped to validate key conclusions during and after the conference. Results Health policy experts in MENA countries would like to facilitate HTA implementation and expect significant changes with some generalizable directions in 10 years compared to the current status according. HTA capacity building has to be strengthened by more graduate and postgraduate programs. Increased public budget and enhanced institutionalization are necessary success factors of HTA implementation. The scope of HTA has to be extended from pharmaceuticals to non-pharmaceutical technologies and to revision of previous policy decisions. Although cost-effectiveness with explicit threshold remains the most preferred HTA criterion, several other criteria have to be considered, maybe even by applying an explicit MCDA framework. The role of local evidence and data has to be strengthened in MENA countries, which translates to the extended use of local patient registries and payers' databases. Duplication of efforts can be reduced if international collaboration is integrated into national HTA implementation. Discussion Our results should be viewed as an initial step in a multi-stakeholder dialogue on HTA implementation. Each MENA country should develop its context-specific HTA roadmap, as such roadmaps are not transferable without taking into account country size, economic status, public health priorities and adopted systems of health care financing.


The modern landscape of Suffolk is still essentially a medieval one, though much of it is even earlier: the five hundred medieval churches and ten thousand 'listed' houses 'of historic or architectural interest', and the 'Hundred' lanes going back at least to the tenth century, are often found to be set in a landscape created before the Roman conquest. "Suffolk in the Middle Ages" opens with a discussion of the earliest written records, the place-names, as a guide to settlement-patterns, including the setting of Sutton Hoo. Among the grave-goods found in that celebrated ship and discussed here was the whetstone-sceptre; asked to carry it from its showcase in the British Museum to the laboratory, the author acknowledges a closer feeling of involvement even than helping to re-open the ship in its mound in 1966. His explanation of the presence of the whetstone-sceptre, printed here, has never been challenged. The identification of a carved Anglo-Saxon cross at Iken in 1977 prompted the essay here on St Botolph and the coming of East Anglian Christianity. This leads to a consideration of the Danish invasion of East Anglia, and a reexamination of the posthumous victory of King Edmund and Christianity as portrayed in an imaginary Breckland warren on the front of this book. Scarfe's carefully reasoned argument that the Metropolitan Museum's famous walrus ivory cross was made for the monks' choir at Bury has never been refuted. Life in Bury abbey is vividly reconstructed: it was the most richly documented flowering of the work of East Anglia's apostles, Felix and Fursa, which also led to the phenomenal establishment in Suffolk by 1086 of four hundred of the five hundred medieval churches. In four East Suffolk essays, Southwold, Dunwich, Yoxford and Wingfield are exposed to Norman Scarfe's interpretative skills. He reveals a past few could have guessed at, often quite as curious as the 'Two Strange Tales' unravelled in his concluding pages.


A measurement of the production of prompt (cid:2) + c baryons in Pb–Pb collisions at √ s NN = 5 . 02 TeV with the ALICE detector at the LHC is reported. The (cid:2) + c and (cid:2) − c were reconstructed at midrapidity ( | y | < 0 . 5) via the hadronic decay channel (cid:2) + c → pK 0S (and charge conjugate) in the transverse momentum and centrality intervals 6 < p T < 12 GeV/ c and 0–80%. The (cid:2) + c / D 0 ratio, which is sensitive to the charm quark hadronisation mechanisms in the medium, is measured and found to be larger than the ratio measured in minimum-bias pp collisions at √ s = 7 TeV and in p–Pb collisions at √ s NN = 5 . 02 TeV. In particular, the values in p–Pb and Pb–Pb collisions differ by about two standard deviations of the combined statistical and systematic uncertainties in the common p T interval covered by the measurements in the two collision systems. The (cid:2) + c / D 0 ratio is also compared with model calculations including different implementations of charm quark hadronisation. The measured ratio is reproduced by models implementing a pure coalescence scenario, while adding a fragmentation contribution leads to an underestimation. The (cid:2) + c nuclear modification factor, R AA , is also presented. The measured values of the R AA of (cid:2) + c , D + s and non-strange D mesons are compatible within the combined statistical and systematic uncertainties. They show, however, a hint of a hierarchy ( R D 0 AA < R D + s AA < R (cid:2) + c AA ) , conceivable with a contribution from coalescence mechanisms to charm hadron formation in the medium.


Inflation and earnings growth can push some tax payers into higher brackets in the absence of inflation-indexed schedules. Moreover, inflation may affect the composition of individuals' income sources. As a result, depending on the relative tax burden of labour and capital, inflation may decrease or increase the difference between before-tax and after-tax income. However, whether some and if so which percentiles of the income distribution net benefit from inflation via taxation is a widely unexplored question. We make use of a novel dataset on U.S. pre-tax and post-tax income distribution series provided by Pike ty et al. (2018) for the years 1962 to 2014 to answer this question. To this end, we estimate local projections to quantify dynamic effects. We find that inflation shocks increase progressivity of taxation not only contemporaneously but also with some repercussion of several years after the shock. While particularly the bottom two quintiles gain in share, it is not the top but the fourth quintile that lastingly loses.


Aleksandr Vampilov's "Duck Hunting" (1967) is a revolutionary drama which initiated the new Soviet theatre and the new post-Soviet theatre later on. Vreneli Farber underlines the wealth of the author's dramaturgic techniques: "Vampilov conveys his ideas in a variety of ways: a play-within-a-play, symbolism …, character contrasts …, farce and tragedy, and an inconclusive ending. This play reflects… his moving away from mainstream Socialist Realism [1] ". The real discovery of the play is its main character ― Viktor Zilov, who evokes many contradictory responses in the world critique. Over the course of few days the thirty year old engineer lives a small life, full of hypocrisy, disillusions and searching for his real "self", and a small death in "a series of "recollections" 1 ". The question of the play's finale is still debatable. Few critics assert that the central protagonist manages to find his way back to himself.          The overwhelming majority suggests that the character's "self-evaluation" ultimately becomes his "self-destruction".                                                                              I consider the problem of the protagonist of Aleksandr Vampilov's play from the phenomenological point of view for the first time, as uncommon literary works require uncommon approaches from their researchers. Phenomenological analysis will make it possible to prove that Viktor Zilov accomplishes not the re-evaluation , but the revolution ; that he revolts against former himself and emerges victorious. My focus is on Zilov's cues, which favor the display of his main traits to a considerable extent, as well as on communicative strategies of some other characters and stage directions from the drama. [1] Farber V., The playwright Aleksandr Vampilov.  An Ironic Observer , New York, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 2001, p. 83.


Both relative adjectives (RAs) like ' big ' and absolute adjectives (AAs) like ' empty ' are sensitive to the context: in the former case, the context determines how much size is required to count as big; in the latter, the context determines how much deviation from total emptiness is allowed to count as empty. Whereas it is generally agreed that the role of context with RAs is to fix the value of a threshold variable, the status of absolute adjective thresholds, and therefore the role of context in their interpretation, remains an object of debate. Some researchers have argued that all gradable adjectives have context-sensitive threshold variables that are assigned values by the same mechanisms ( Lassiter & Goodman 2013 ). Others have claimed that AAs have fixed, endpoint-oriented meanings and that sensitivity to context arises from pragmatic reasoning about imprecision ( Kennedy 2007 ; Syrett, Kennedy & Lidz 2009 ; van Rooij 2011 ; Burnett 2014 ; Qing & Franke 2014 ). In an eye-tracking Visual World experiment, we investigate RAs and AAs used as restrictive modifiers. We find that target identification is significantly faster for both types of adjectives when the visual context supports a restrictive interpretation of the predicate, although this effect is considerably delayed in the case of AAs. We conclude that for RAs, the target facilitation effect is driven by the lexical semantics of the predicate itself. However, it is argued that the extra processing cost observed with AAs results from pragmatic reasoning about imprecision.


Aim of this research study is to investigate and establish the characteristics of brain dominances (BD) and multiple intelligences (MI). This experimentation has been conducted for the sample size of 552 undergraduate computer-engineering students. In addition, mathematical formulation has been established to exhibit the relation between thinking and intelligence, and its correlation has been analyzed. Correlation analysis has been statistically measured using Pearson's coefficient. Analysis of the results proves that there is a strong relational existence between thinking and intelligence. This research is carried to improve the didactic methods in engineering learning and also to improve e-learning strategies. Keywords—Thinking style assessment, correlational analysis, mathematical model, data analysis, dynamic equilibrium.


In July 2017, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) delivered two opinions on the alleged non-compliance of South Africa in failing to arrest the Sudanese president, Omar Al-Bashir, while he was within its territory in 2015. The judgments concern the vexed question in international criminal law of whether there is a duty on ICC states parties to arrest a head of state for whom the ICC has issued an arrest warrant, despite the immunity from arrest which heads of state enjoy under customary international law. Both the Majority and the Minority Opinion found that there was a duty on South Africa to arrest Al-Bashir but each relied on different reasoning, or 'legal avenues' as they are referred to in this article. The subject of this case note is the Minority Opinion as it uniquely considers each of the most prominent legal avenues relied on by previous courts and in the literature. This note provides an analysis of the Minority Opinion's reasoning in respect of each avenue, namely the 'analogy avenue', 'Genocide Convention avenue', 'waiver avenue' and 'customary international law avenue'. It concludes that none of these avenues can be firmly relied upon yet, and that the question is therefore yet to be definitively resolved.


Image quality degradation caused by harmonic leakage was studied for finite amplitude distortion-based harmonic imaging. Various sources of harmonic leakage, including transmit waveform, signal bandwidth, and system nonlinearity, were investigated using both simulations and hydrophone measurements. Effects of harmonic leakage in the presence of sound velocity inhomogeneities were also considered. Results indicated that sidelobe levels of the harmonic beam pattern were directly affected by harmonic leakage when the harmonic signal was obtained by filtering out the fundamental signal. Because sidelobe levels also increase with the bandwidth of the transmitted signal, a trade-off exists between axial resolution and contrast resolution. It is concluded that accurate control of the frequency content of the waveform prior to propagation is necessary to optimize imaging performance of tissue harmonic imaging. The filtering technique was also compared with the pulse inversion technique. It was shown that the pulse inversion technique effectively suppresses harmonic leakage at the cost of imaging frame rate and potential motion artifacts.


The determination of aquifer parameters is fundamental to groundwater resources assessment. This important topic has received much attention in the literature over many years. Singh (2008) presented a method for determination of parameters for an ideal confined aquifer, based on early drawdown data. The Theis well function (Theis 1935), the topic of interest here, arises as a core part of the analysis. It is, of course, essential that approximations to the Theis well function be robust and accurate so that reliable estimates of aquifer parameters are obtained. Two approximations for the Theis well function were presented by Singh (2008). The purposes of this discussion were (1) to examine these two approximations, in particular their relative error as reported by the author, and (2) to alert readers to an existing, easy-to-calculate approximation to the Theis well function.


Pontrjagin's seminal topological classification of two-band Hamiltonians in three momentum dimensions is hereby enriched with the inclusion of a crystallographic rotational symmetry. The enrichment is attributed to a new topological invariant which quantifies a $2\pi$-quantized change in the Berry-Zak phase between a pair of rotation-invariant lines in the bulk, three-dimensional Brillouin zone; because this change is reversed on the complementary section of the Brillouin zone, we refer to this new invariant as a returning Thouless pump (RTP). We find that the RTP is associated to anomalous values for the angular momentum of surface states, which guarantees metallic in-gap states for open boundary condition with sharply terminated hoppings; more generally for arbitrarily terminated hoppings, surface states are characterized by Berry-Zak phases that are quantized to a rational multiple of $2\pi$. The RTP adds to the family of topological invariants (the Hopf and Chern numbers) that are known to classify two-band Hamiltonians in Wigner-Dyson symmetry class A. Of these, the RTP and Hopf invariants are delicate, meaning that they can be trivialized by adding a particular trivial band to either the valence or the conduction subspace. Not all trivial band additions will nullify the RTP invariant, which allows its generalization beyond two-band Hamiltonians to arbitrarily many bands; such generalization is a hallmark of symmetry-protected delicate topology.


Lung ultrasound is a reasonable tool for detection of manifestations of COVID-19, to facilitate the division of patients flow of infected with SARS-CoV-2 from those affected by other pathologies Often, a reason for the incorrect separation of the flows is the possibility of false-negative rRT-PCR results We aimed to evaluate the advantages of performing Lung Ultrasound (LUS) in patients with a negative swab, to confirm the suspicious of COVID-19 at the bedside, according to the recent findings of typical lung ultrasound lesions of COVID19 related pneumonia We analyzed 11 non-critical patients admitted to Emergency Department in the Internal Medicine ward, during outbreak, as Covid-19 negative patients affected by pneumonia The result of the ultrasound findings conditioned the consequent allocation of the patient 9/11 patients had typical LUS findings for COVID-19, but only 3/11 patients had a second positive nasopharyngeal swab, and 2/11 had positive swab on pleural fluid 6/11 patients remained negative with strongly suspicious LUS lesions, and so treated and isolated as Covid-19 positive 2/11 had negative swab and none LUS findings, thus treated as affected by other pathologies These findings clearly show how LUS plays an important role together with the chest x-ray in identifying patients with interstitial pneumonia from COVID-19


We explore the challenge of preserving patients' privacy in electronic health record systems. We argue that security in such systems should be enforced via encryption as well as access control. Furthermore, we argue for approaches that enable patients to generate and store encryption keys, so that the patients' privacy is protected should the host data center be compromised. The standard argument against such an approach is that encryption would interfere with the functionality of the system. However, we show that we can build an efficient system that allows patients both to share partial access rights with others, and to perform searches over their records. We formalize the requirements of a Patient Controlled Encryption scheme, and give several instantiations, based on existing cryptographic primitives and protocols, each achieving a different set of properties.


ABSTRACT: The objective of this paired watershed study is to quantify the effects of upland forest harvesting and Streamside Management Zones (SMZs) on stream water quantity and quality in North Carolina. Four watersheds ranging from 12 to 28 hectares (i.e., two on Hill Forest and two on Umstead Research Farm) with perennial stream channels were gauged for flow monitoring and water quality sampling. We are also monitoring two additional larger (i.e., 32 and 46 hectares) watersheds at Hill Forest. The study started in 2007 and the first two years will be used to calibrate watershed runoff and stream water quality. During year three, one watershed from each pair will be treated. The treatment watersheds will be completely harvested with the exception of the SMZs, which will be maintained according to the NC 'Neuse River Buffer Rules' (a mandatory 50-foot buffer along streams in the Neuse River Basin). The two remaining watersheds will remain undisturbed as controls. A severe drought in 2007 caused one of the streams in the Umstead watershed to stop flowing, so it was excluded from analysis. Pretreatment daily runoff (measured in mm/day) from the two smaller paired and two larger watersheds at Hill Forest were significantly correlated (r 0.93, p = 0.0001 and r 0.96, p = 0.0001, respectively). We also found that turbidity, total suspended solids, and discharge were generally related to precipitation. We will continue to monitor the watersheds to document SMZs influence on water quality and understand the hydrologic process of headwater piedmont watersheds.


The state of the art in human computer conversation leaves something to be desired and, indeed, talking to a computer can be down-right annoying. This paper describes an approach to identifying "opportunities for improvement" in these systems by looking for abuse in the form of swear words. The premise is that humans swear at computers as a sanction and, as such, swear words represent a point of failure where the system did not behave as it should. Having identified where things went wrong, we can work backward through the transcripts and, using conversation analysis (CA) work out how things went wrong. Conversation analysis is a qualitative methodology and can appear quite alien — indeed unscientific — to those of us from a quantitative background. The paper starts with a description of Conversation analysis in its modern form, and then goes on to apply the methodology to transcripts of frustrated and annoyed users in the DARPA Communicator project. The conclusion is that there is at least one species of failure caused by the inability of the Communicator systems to handle mixed initiative at the discourse structure level. Along the way, I hope to demonstrate that there is an alternative future for computational linguistics that does not rely on larger and larger text corpora.


Supplemental digital content is available in the text. BACKGROUND Platelet behavior in trauma-induced coagulopathy is poorly understood. Injured patients have impaired platelet aggregation (dysfunction) in ex vivo agonist-stimulated platelet aggregometry (PA). However, PA assumes that platelets are inactivated before ex vivo stimulated aggregation, which may be altered by injury. We hypothesized that following trauma, platelet aggregation (area under the curve) is decreased regardless of injury burden, but that (1) minor injury is associated with an increased baseline electrical impedance, characteristic of a functional platelet phenotype (platelets that activate in response to injury), and that (2) severe injury is not associated with an increased baseline electrical impedance, characteristic of a dysfunctional phenotype (platelets that do not activate well in response to injury) compared with healthy controls. METHODS Blood from 458 trauma patients and 30 healthy donors was collected for PA. Baseline electrical impedance (Ω); platelet aggregation stimulated by adenosine diphosphate, collagen, thrombin, and arachidonic acid; and rotational thromboelastometry were measured. Multivariate regression was performed to identify associations of PA measures with blood transfusion. RESULTS Compared with healthy controls, injured patients had impaired platelet aggregation in response to ex vivo stimulation, regardless of injury burden. However, minorly injured patients had increased endogenous platelet activation (baseline electrical impedance, Ω: with shock, p = 0.012; without shock, p = 0.084), but severely injured patients did not have significant increases in endogenous platelet activation (baseline electrical impedance, Ω: with shock, p = 0.86; without shock, p = 0.37). For every 10 Ω increase in baseline electrical impedance, there was an 8% decrease in units of blood transfused in the first 24 h (−0.08; confidence interval, −0.14 to −0.02; p = 0.015). CONCLUSION Injury and shock confer differential patterns of platelet aggregation in PA. Minor injury overestimates the presence of platelet dysfunction, while severe injury induces a truly dysfunctional phenotype—platelets that do not activate nor aggregate appropriately after injury. This is consequential in improving accurate phenotyping of postinjury platelet behavior for platelet-based therapeutics. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Prognostic, level IV.


Chalcides bedriagai were found to live under rocks, mostly at body temperatures between 25-35°C, and were active between mid-March and mid-October. Population density (excludingjuveniles) was 42 Ha-I in an abandoned field habitat, 990 Ha-1 in the utilised sub-habitat. Larger females had more young (overall range 1-6 per year), but offspring size and relative clutch mass (mean 0.37) were independent of maternal size. Escape success was linearly related to substrate temperature (T5}, ranging from 0 at l 7°C to 0.5 at 37°C. Pregnant females were found under rocks with higher T5 than other adults, and had reduced food intake. Food consumption of adults in summer was estimated from the production of urates as 1 2mg dry weight .g live weight-I .day1 • This is similar to that of a cool temperate lacertid and a tropical nocturnal gecko, but only half that of a warm temperate lacertid. Energy expenditure on hibernation, maintenance and activity was estimated from the annual temperature profile and values of metabolic rate. Estimates were also made for energy used in reproduction, growth and sloughed skins. The total annual budget suggested an average daily food intake only half of that estimated in summer, and half of that expected from a general relation for active lizards in warm climates.


BACKGROUND
High body mass index (BMI) is associated with increased rates of complications after total hip arthroplasty. Studies to date have evaluated risk mainly as a dichotomous variable according to BMI thresholds. The purpose of this paper was to characterize the risk of complications and implant survival according to BMI as a continuous variable.

METHODS
Using prospectively collected data from our institutional total joint registry, we analyzed 21,361 consecutive hips (17,774 patients) treated with primary total hip arthroplasty between 1985 and 2012 at a single institution. The average BMI at the time of surgery was 28.7 kg/m(2) (range, 15 to 69 kg/m(2)). Estimates of revision surgery and common complications associated with BMI were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method of assessing survivorship, with associations of outcomes assessed using a Cox model.

RESULTS
Utilizing smoothing spline parameterization, we found that reoperation (p < 0.001) and implant revision or removal rates (p = 0.002) increased with increasing BMI. Increasing BMI was associated with increased rates of early hip dislocation (p = 0.02), wound infection, and, most strikingly, deep periprosthetic infection (a hazard ratio of 1.09 per unit of BMI >25 kg/m(2); p < 0.001). However, we found no association between increasing BMI and any revision for mechanical failure of the implant or between increasing BMI and revision for aseptic implant loosening. There was an inverse correlation between increasing BMI and risk of revision for bearing wear.

CONCLUSIONS
The rates of reoperation, implant revision or removal, and common complications after total hip arthroplasty were strongly associated with BMI.


The standard cosmological model, based on general relativity with an inflationary era, is very effective in accounting for a broad range of observed features of the universe. However, the ongoing puzzles about the nature of dark matter and dark energy, together with the problem of a fundamental theoretical framework for inflation, indicate that cosmology may be probing the limits of validity of general relativity. The early universe provides a testing ground for theories of gravity, since gravitational dynamics can lead to characteristic imprints on the CMB and other cosmological observations. Precision cosmology is in principle a means to constrain and possibly falsify candidate quantum gravity theories like M theory. Generalized Randall-Sundrum brane-worlds provide a phenomenological means to test aspects of M theory. I outline the 1+3-covariant approach to cosmological perturbations in these brane-worlds, and its application to CMB anisotropies


CONTEXT
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a prevalent disorder in reproductive aged women associated with a number of endocrine and metabolic complications, including increased risk of endometrial cancer.

OBJECTIVE
To study the effect of the characteristic increased androgen levels in PCOS on the endometrium, a novel scaffold-free multicellular endometrial organoid was established.

DESIGN
Human endometrial organoids were constructed using primary endometrial epithelial and stromal cells from endometrial tissues. Organoids were treated for 14 days with physiologic levels of estradiol and testosterone to mimic a normal follicular phase or PCOS hormone profiles. Organoids were harvested for immunostaining and RNA sequencing.

SETTING
Academic institution.

PATIENTS
Endometrial tissues from 10 premenopausal women undergoing hysterectomy for benign pathologies were obtained following written consent.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Organoid architecture, cell specific markers, functional markers, proliferation and gene expression were measured.

RESULTS
A method to generate scaffold-free endometrial organoids containing epithelial and stromal cells was established. These organoids exhibited distinct organization with epithelial cells lining the outer surface and stromal cells in the center of the organoids. Epithelial cells were polarized, organoids expressed cell type specific and functional markers, as well as androgen-, estrogen- and progesterone receptors. Treatment with PCOS hormones increased cell proliferation and dysregulated genes in endometrial organoids.

CONCLUSIONS
A new multicellular, scaffold-free endometrial organoid system was established that resembled physiology of the native endometrium. Excess androgens in PCOS promoted cell proliferation in endometrial organoids, revealing new mechanisms of PCOS-associated with risk of endometrial neoplasia.


The literature suggests that American Indians need a unique mental health approach based on different cultural norms. Yet research supporting the existence of cultural differences among American Indian mental health clients is rare. The hypothesis of this study was that American Indian and White, non-Hispanic mental health care recipients have differences in demographic characteristics, services received, and attitudes which may necessitate an alternative therapeutic approach for American Indians. Research methods were an analysis of a secondary data base and a field study using a questionnaire. Preliminary analysis identified a difference in rate of mental health services received between all American Indian residents (rate of 1/100 population) and White, non-Hispanic residents (11/100 population) of upstate New York. The study found that thirty-eight American Indian subjects were more likely to have an alcohol problem or to report a religion other than Christian or Jewish, and less likely to have been treated over one year ago or to have completed high school than thirty-eight White, non-Hispanic recipients of services matched by age, gender and program. On an attitudinal questionnaire, fourteen American Indian clients differed from twenty-six White clients regarding the importance to good or poor mental health of the following: has visions, sees things others do not, guides life according to spirits, views things differently at different times, is bored, attempts to improve self, and communicates directly and honestly. There were differences in response between eleven federally enrolled members of the Seneca Nation and three other American Indians. The results indicate the importance of assessing degree of acculturation in social work practice and of the synthesis of the client's belief system with the therapeutic process. Policy implications are that the awareness of cultural differences and the extent of difficulties in care related to these must be clarified so that American Indians can help design their own mental health care. Future research needs to replicate these findings with other American Indian groups and to identify successful treatment approaches based on different cultural characteristics and beliefs.


To determine the distribution of heterogeneities in the saturated zone of an unconfined aquifer in Boise, ID, we compute tomograms for three adjacent well pairs. The fluvial deposits consist of unconsolidated cobbles and sands. We used a curved-ray, finite-difference approximation to the eikonal equation to generate the forward model. The inversion uses a linearized, iterative scheme to determine the slowness distribution from the first arrival traveltimes. The tomograms consist of a layered zone representing the saturated aquifer. The velocities in this saturated zone range between 0.06 to 0.10 m/ns. We use a variety of methods to assess the reliability of our velocity models. Finally, we compare our results to neutron-derived porosity logs in the wells used for the tomograms. The comparison shows that the trends in porosity derived from the tomograms match the trends in porosity measured with the neutron probe.


Only a small proportion of children who might benefit from bone marrow transplant (BMT) have an HLA-identical sibling. To provide this potentially curative therapy to patients without a matched related donor, marrow transplants using less well matched related donors or unrelated donors (identified through computerized donor registries) have been performed. We report the outcome of 24 consecutive unrelated donor BMT's performed on children. Eligible diagnosis included acute leukemia (AL) (n = 15), chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) (n = 4), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) (n = 3), and severe aplastic anemia (SAA) (n = 2). All donor/recipient pairs were sero-matched at 5 or 6 of the 6 HLA A, B, and DR antigens. Several different preparative regimens were used, but fractionated total body irradiation (TBI) was used in 20 patients. All recipients received graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) prophylaxis with cyclosporine-A (CSA), four with short course methotrexate (MTX), 14 in combination with short course MTX and methylprednisolone (MPS), and five in combination with a mouse monoclonal antibody to CD5, coupled to the A-chain of ricin (Xomazyme-65). One patient received CSA and MPS alone after a T-cell depleted marrow transplant. Twenty of 23 evaluable recipients engrafted (87%). Two patients with CML never engrafted and had autologous marrow recovery, one patient with SAA died at 128 days without evidence of engraftment, and there was one early death at day + 9. Fourteen of 20 patients (70%) with stable donor-derived hematopoiesis developed significant acute GVHD ≥ grade II). Eleven of 15 engrafted patients who survived > 100 days after BMT developed chronic GVHD (73%). Thirteen patients survive, 10 disease-free; 2 yr actuarial survival and disease-free survival are 47% and 41%, respectively. Of the 19 engrafted patients with leukemia or MDS, only three have relapsed. The actuarial relapse risk at 2 yr is 24%. Unrelated donor transplants in children are associated with an increased risk of GVHD and nonengraftment compared to matched sibling transplants. Increased donor age is significantly associated with a greater risk of acute GVHD.


Traditionally sports people have dedicated an enormous amount of preparation to their physical conditioning and technical skills. The importance and attention to psychological preparation can often be over looked. The diversity, unpredictability and intensity of sport places challenges to the athlete both on a physically and psychologically level. The human mind is complex with people learning and developing at different speeds. Psychological skills will be an inherent ability for some to control their state under pressure and maintain focus during extreme circumstances of uncertainty. Sports psychology is striving hard to investigate athletic performance, to stabilise it and to improve sports performance by seeking an appropriate balance between physiological and psychological dimensions of performance. Sports psychology is a healthy field with a bright future and within physical education, the field continues to grow. Sports psychology offers advancements in the mental aspects of athletic competition and performance. Research shows that mental training, in addition to physical training, can improve results much more than physical training alone. Sports psychology has significantly changed lives of many athletes, coaches and other sports and exercise professionals. Mental Game Coaching is that the segment of sports psychology that concentrates specifically on helping athletes break through the mental barriers that are keeping them from performing up to their peak potential. By focusing on the mental skills needed to be successful in any sporting competition, mental game coaching seeks to achieve the overall goal of performance improvement. Sports psychology encompasses various branches of psychology as they are related to our ability to understand athlete performance, how to make it better, and how to improve exercise programmes.


Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) is key to initiating somatic hypermutation (SHM) and class switch recombination (CSR), but its mode of action and regulation remains unclear. Since Pax-5 and Id-2 transcription factors play an opposing role in AID regulation, we have studied the expression of Pax-5, Id-2, and prdm-1 genes in 54 chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) B cells. In 21 cases, presence of AID is constantly associated with high expression of the complete form of the Pax-5 gene (Pax-5a) and lower expression of the Id-2 and prdm-1 transcripts. In 33 cases, the absence of AID expression and CSR is associated with a reduction of Pax-5a and the appearance of a spliced form with a deletion in exon 8 (Pax-5/Delta-Ex8). Stimulation with CD40L+interleukin 4 (IL-4) induces CSR, the presence of AID transcripts, up-regulation of Pax-5a and down-regulation of Pax-5/Delta-Ex8, and Id-2 and prdm-1 transcripts. Pax-5a and Pax-5/Delta-Ex8 are translated into 2 isoforms of the B-cell-specific activator protein (BSAP) and both are able to bind the AID-promoter region. Overall, these results suggest that Pax-5/Delta-Ex8 could play an important role in the control of its own transcription and indirectly in AID expression and CSR.


Tetanus neurotoxin reaches the CNS by axonal retrograde transport and thus becomes inaccessible to current treatments. A possible strategy to improve current therapy for tetanus disease would be the vectorization of Fab'2 fragments, allowing their delivery into the CNS. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether after cationization anti-tetanus Fab'2 fragments are able to cross the blood-brain barrier, the first obstacle to CNS delivery. We used primary cocultures of bovine brain capillary endothelial cells and newborn rat astrocytes as an in vitro model to study the binding and transport of cationized Fab'2 (cFab'2) fragments across the brain endothelium. We first show that cationization does not alter Fab'2 affinity for tetanus toxin. Then we demonstrate that after cationization Fab'2 fragments are able to bind to the negative charges on the surface of endothelial cells and subsequently to be transported across the endothelial cell monolayer without any modification of affinity. Finally, using fluorescence microscopy, we show that cFab'2 fragments are transported through endocytotic vesicles. The present study demonstrates that cationization allows Fab'2 directed against tetanus toxin to be transported through brain endothelium by adsorptive-mediated transcytosis. We suggest that this vectorization way could be a promising delivery strategy for carrying anti-tetanic immunoglobulin fragments across the blood-brain barrier to improve tetanus treatment.


In this paper we are concerned with the solution of compressed sensing (CS) problems where the signals to be recovered are sparse in coherent and redundant dictionaries. We extend the primal-dual Newton Conjugate Gradient method (pdNCG) in [T. F. Chan, G. H. Golub, and P. Mulet, SIAM J. Sci. Comput., 20 (1999), pp. 1964--1977] to CS problems. We provide an inexpensive and provably effective preconditioning technique for linear systems using pdNCG. Numerical results are presented on CS problems which demonstrate the performance of pdNCG with the proposed preconditioner compared to state-of-the-art existing solvers.


The application of conventional approaches to diabetic wound regeneration has some limitations. Thus, skin substitutes could be a new therapeutic possibility. In this regard, fibrin scaffolds are promising materials due to their desirable characteristics. Since defective fibroblasts caused by diabetes can disrupt regeneration, it seems that the use of living cells can improve the healing process. Thus, based on this fact, a cellular fibrin membrane was used to evaluate the diabetic wound healing in rats. The fibrin membrane was fabricated using fresh frozen plasma on which isolated fibroblasts were cultured. The wound model was created on 36 diabetic rats that were randomly divided into three groups: control, membrane, and cellular fibrin membrane (CM). Wound photogramography and immuno-histopathological staining were performed during consecutive days after treatment. Macroscopic evaluation of the wounds indicated a noteworthy enhancement of wound closure in the CM group. In the CM group, the re-epithelialization rate on day 7, 10 (p < 0.001), and 14 (p < 0.05), the fibroblast percentage on day 3 (p < 0.01) and 7 (p < 0.05) and the collagenization in all days were significantly higher than those of other groups (p < 0.001). The fibroblast number in the CM group on day 10 was significantly (p < 0.01) lower than that in the other groups. Contrary to the neutrophil and angiogenesis percentages that had no significant difference among the groups at different points of time (p > 0.05), the macrophage percentage on day 7 (P < 0.01), 10, and 14 (p < 0.05) was significantly lower in the CM group as compared to that in other groups. Overall, it seems that the use of a fibroblast-loaded fibrin membrane is an attractive strategy to promote diabetic wound healing.


This is the final report of a research on food security and markets in Indonesia. The research is part of a wider study on food security and markets covering the Southeast Asian countries of Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia. The primary objective of this NGO-based research is to examine the interaction between the state and the private sector in the process of rice trading in Indonesia. The research is aimed at generating policy proposals for promoting the development of sustainable and dynamic rice-producing sectors capable of improving food security and markets in the country. Data for this report was drawn primarily from field investigation, in-depth interviews and desk analyses. Field investigation was conducted in four Indonesian provinces, namely, West Java, East Java, Lampung and DKI Jakarta, from May to June 1999. Collector traders, rice milling units, wholesalers, retailers and farmers in the four provinces were interviewed directly, using a traditional questionnaire. Likewise were policy-makers and government officers, researchers and university faculty members, on whom were used an open-ended questionnaire. This report is organized in the following manner. Chapter 2 reviews the general concept and application of food security and markets, including price stabilization policies and rice trading structures. Chapter 3 examines recent developments in the Indonesian rice economy, covering trends in rice production and consumption, movements of domestic and border prices, import and buffer stock arguments, and regional disparities in rice security. Chapter 4 examines the role of the private sector in rice trading, with emphasis on rice trading map and patterns of transaction. An analysis of marketing margins and economic and marketing efficiencies is used as a basis for arriving at new investment decisions. Chapter 5 discusses the role of the state in rice trading, focusing on price stabilization policies, the state procurement system, special market operations and general food security issues. Regional cases of state intervention broaden the discussion of incentive systems, barriers to entry and policy implications on farmers' welfare. Chapter 6 is a synthesis of sound and market- friendly policies in rice trading. The discussion includes potential areas of policy intervention and the workability of a market mechanism, and the future policy reforms on food security and rice trading. Chapter 7 closes the report with an overall summary of the research results and proposals for promoting the development of sustainable and dynamic rice-producing sectors in post-crisis Indonesia.


OBJECTIVE: To clarify the clinical and pathological characteristics of gastric cancer in the elderly. METHOD: Clinical and pathological characteristics of patients who died during 1986-94 with gastric cancer which did not undergo surgery were studied retrospectively. The patients were divided into three groups according to age: A (65-74 years, n = 38), B (75-84 years, n = 77), and C (85 years and over, n = 43). RESULTS: Borrman type-1 was more frequent in group C and Borrman type-4 was frequent in group B. "Early cancer", protruded type (type I or type IIa) was more frequent in group C. In cases of advanced cancer some patients did not undergo surgery because the cancer was to advanced, and others had concomitant diseases that made surgery risky. In all groups, a few patients refused surgery. In cases of "early cancer", the most reason for not undergoing surgery was a concomitant disease in all groups. Other reasons were general weakness and dementia in group C, second malignancy and dementia in group B, and second malignancy in group A. After advanced cancer was diagnosed, 9.6% survived for 1 year, and 1.7% for 2 years. After early cancer was diagnosed, 50.7% survived for 1 year, 15.2% for 3 years and 7.8% for 4 years. The survival rates did not differ by age. In all age groups, gastric cancer was frequently the main cause of death in patients with advanced cancer, but many patients with "early cancer" died of other causes.


Underground engineering construction in the city can not avoid bringing about perturbation on the surrounding rock and soil and then endanger the adjacent buildings' safety. This paper fixes the data of the ground settlement and moving calculation parameters by doing a back analysis of monitoring data which comes from ground settlement caused by subsurface excavation and combing with other engineering experience. This paper predicts the ground settlement,horizontal moving,horizontal deformation and the distortion of incline and curvatural by using the probability integral method.With the numerical simulation,the paper obtains the displacement, axial strain and structural moment's deformation law which caused by the frame structure's settlement.The result will provide technical support for the disaster prevention and reduction of underground engineering.


The penetration performance of a shaped charge jet is affected strongly by factors such as straightness, stretch rate, and breakup time. Straightness is related to manufacturing tolerances, assembly techniques, and system integration features. Stretch rate and breakup time are controllable features of charge design. A higher stretch rate is desirable for short standoff performance. The stretch rate is easily altered by a change of explosive or modification of the angle with which the detonation wave sweeps the liner surface, however, an increased stretch rate generally results in a decreased breakup time. Many of the recent gains in shaped charge performance have been made possible by increasing the effective breakup time of the jet.
 Several models exist for calculating breakup time. They include analytic models, such as Chou & Carleone's dimensionless strain rate model, and empirical or semi-empirical models such as Walsh's theory and those proposed by Pearson, et al. These models can be applied to raw hydrocode calculation data and used to determine a Jet Characterization (JC) file. The JC file can then be used to perform further calculations, such as Penetration Versus Stand Off (PVSO) curves.
 This paper details adaptation of the Chou & Carleone model for predicting breakup time using hydrocode data. The hydrocode is used to determine the physical parameters of the jet which are then extrapolated back to a virtual origin for breakup time calculation. This results in a model that is design independent, relying on hydrocode determination of jet variables. The model implementation will be discussed, and comparisons of predicted jet characteristics will be made to test data for several charge geometries.


The views expressed in this paper are those of the author. No responsibility for them should be attributed to the Bank of Canada.


Perceptual history influences current perception, readily revealed by visual priming (the facilitation of responses on repeated presentations of similar stimuli) and by serial dependence (systematic biases toward the previous stimuli). We asked whether the two phenomena shared perceptual mechanisms. We modified the standard "priming of pop-out" paradigm to measure both priming and serial dependence concurrently. The stimulus comprised three grating patches, one or two red, and the other green. Participants identified the color singleton (either red or green), and reproduced its orientation. Trial sequences were designed to maximize serial dependence, and long runs of priming color and position. The results showed strong effects of priming, both on reaction times and accuracy, which accumulated steadily over time, as generally reported in the literature. The serial dependence effects were also strong, but did not depend on previous color, nor on the run length. Reaction times measured under various conditions of repetition or change of priming color or position were reliably correlated with imprecision in orientation reproduction, but reliably uncorrelated with magnitude of serial dependence. The results suggest that visual priming and serial dependence are mediated by different neural mechanisms. We propose that priming affects sensitivity, possibly via attention-like mechanisms, whereas serial dependence affects criteria, two orthogonal dimensions in the signal detection theory.


In this project, we consider the shape optimization of a dielectric scatterer aiming at efficient directional routing of light. In the studied setting, light interacts with a penetrable scatterer with dimension comparable to the wavelength of an incoming planar wave. The design objective is to maximize the scattering efficiency inside a target angle window. For this, a Helmholtz problem with a piecewise constant refractive index medium models the wave propagation, and an accurate Dirichlet‐to‐Neumann map models an exterior domain. The strategy consists of using a high‐order finite element (FE) discretization combined with gradient‐based numerical optimization. The latter consists of a quasi‐Newton (BFGS) with backtracking line search. A discrete adjoint method is used to compute the sensitivities with respect to the design variables. Particularly, for the FE representation of the curved shape, we use a bilinear transfinite interpolation formula, which admits explicit differentiation with respect to the design variables. We exploit this fact and show in detail how sensitivities are obtained in the discrete setting. We test our strategy for a variety of target angles, different wave frequencies, and refractive indexes. In all cases, we efficiently reach designs featuring high scattering efficiencies that satisfy the required criteria.


In 1716 Giambattista Vico published De rebus gestis Antonj Caraphaei to celebrate Neapolitan Antonio Carafa who emigrated to Vienna in 1662 to serve at the Court of Leopold I of Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor. After becoming familiar with the intrigues of the Viennese court, Carafa gradually learned the secrets of state and the arts of public administration and of governing. Enjoying the favors of the emperor and of the royal princes related to the Habsburgs, Charles of Lorraine and Maximillian of Bavaria, Carafa was allowed to leave the Viennese court for the Hungarian marshes. His military experience grew under the leadership of generals such as Montecuccoli and Lorraine and he was promoted to higher ranks according to the many accomplishments that revealed his bravery, foresight, prudence, strategy, and political diplomacy. Leopold appointed him Military Governor first of Upper Hungary and then of Transylvania as well as General Commissary of all imperial armies on all fronts: Rhine, Danube, and Po. However, because of the jealous attacks of his rivals, Carafa was recalled to Vienna where he died of despair.


Layered P2 -type 〖Na〗_0.67 〖Fe〗_0.5 〖Mn〗_0.5 O_2 is regarded as a promising cathode material for sodium ion batteries. This layered transition metal oxide material is susceptible to structural instability and suffers from poor capacity retention. In this work P2 -Type 〖Na〗_0.67 〖Fe〗_0.5 〖Mn〗_0.5 O_2 cathode material was prepared by the citric acid assisted sol-gel method. To ameliorate the stability of the structure and cycling performance, Manganese (Mn) was partially doped with Nickel (Ni) to form P2 -type 〖Na〗_0.67 〖Fe〗_0.5 〖Mn〗_(0.5-x) 〖Ni〗_x O_2. The increased Ni content reduced the reversible capacity but improved cyclability. The improved electrochemical performance of the 〖Na〗_0.67 〖Fe〗_0.5 〖Mn〗_(0.5-x) 〖Ni〗_x O_2 electrode is attributed to the Ni doping, which alleviates the Jahn-Teller distortion of 〖Mn〗^(3+) thereby corresponding to a lower capacity decay rate. For long term cycling, it is beneficial to cycle within the voltage range of 1.5V-4.0V, to minimize the strain on the P2-type crystal structure. If the cut-off voltage is any higher even though it may show a higher reversible capacity, decay rate will be further exacerbated, resulting in a decreased coulombic efficiency. The initial discharge capacity for 〖Na〗_0.67 〖Fe〗_0.5 〖Mn〗_0.5 O_2 is 125mAh/g and is expected to improve once the pure phase P2 -type crystal structure has been formed. The Ni substituted 〖Na〗_0.67 〖Fe〗_0.5 〖Mn〗_(0.5-x) 〖Ni〗_x O_2 potentially serves as a feasible high capacity and stable cathode material for sodium ion batteries.


The pyrrolidine framework is present as key structure in many natural products with interesting biological and pharmaceutical activities.[1] It is also used in organic chemistry playing different roles such as ligand, organocatalyst or building block in chiral pool synthesis.[2] Furthermore, these properties are very often influenced by the configuration of the stereogenic center present in the molecule. For this reason, new and efficient routes are required to synthesize chiral proline derivatives in a stereocontrolled way. With this in mind, our group has established a good approach to this scaffold employing as key steps an organocatalytic cascade process based on a Michael addition/imine formation sequence and a novel base-promoted rearrangement reaction (Scheme 1). Therefore, the reaction between enones and aminomalonates has been studied using a chiral primary amine as catalyst, due to the known ability of the latter to activate α,β-unsaturated ketones as Michael acceptors under iminium ion formation.[3] A sequential diastereoselective reduction leads to enantiopure 1,3-disubstituted pyrrolidines in good yield and enantioselectivity, which are transformed into the desired trisubstituted proline derivatives through a base-promoted rearrangement/deprotection reactions under mild conditions.

[1] For selected reviews, see: (a) Nair, V.; Suja, T. D. Tetrahedron 2007, 63, 12247; (b) Hanessian, S. ChemMedChem 2006, 1, 1300; (c) Pyne, S. G.; Tang, M.-Y. Curr. Org. Chem. 2005, 9, 1393; (d) Liddell, J. R. Nat. Prod. Rep. 2002, 19, 773; (e) Sardina, F. J.; Rapoport, H. Chem. Rev. 1996, 96, 1825.
[2] For selected reviews, see: (a) Mukherjee, S.; Yang, J. W.; Hoffmann, S.; List, B. Chem. Rev. 2007, 107, 5471; (b) Erkkila, A.; Majander, I.; Pihko, P. M. Chem. Rev. 2007, 107, 5416; (c) Berkessel, A.; Groger, H. Asymmetric Organocatalysis; Wiley-VCH: Weinheim, 2005.
[3] For recent reviews, see: (a) Melchiorre, P. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 9748; (b) Xu, L.-W.; Luo, J.; Lu, Y. Chem. Commun. 2009, 1807; (c) Chen, Y.-C. Synlett 2008, 13, 1919.


Rearing indigenous chickens have been debatably documented as a promising conduit out of poverty for small-scale rural farmers in sub-Saharan African countries. However, the information about indigenous chickens is scanty and the debate remains inconclusive. This paper explores the impact on indigenous chickens (IC) in alleviating food insecurity among the small-scale farmers of Mukoma village in Mt Darwin a semi-arid region in Zimbabwe. Majority of the community people are food insecure specifically in time of drought and other natural calamities. The study employed the mixed methodology making use of both qualitative and quantitative techniques. Information about the survey was solicited by the management of a well- structured interview guide, observations, and focus group discussions. A questionnaire was also used to gather quantitative information relating to the socio-economic standing of the respondents, production, challenges and marketing of the IC. Analysis of data was done using descriptive statistics and multiple regressions using SPSS version 20. Findings showed that 85% of the smallholders are food insecure. The majority (75%) of the food insecure group is unemployed and keep indigenous chickens ranging from 5-35. The results indicated that the marketing structure was not favorable to the small-scale farmers. The indigenous chickens are barter traded by 45% of the respondents with food items like maize and cooking oil. In addition, the respondents sell the chickens to obtain income used for buying food, paying school fees and other household basics. All respondents acknowledged the importance of the IC as a safety net during times of adverse weather conditions. Despite the outlined importance of IC, the results revealed the following challenges faced by the small-scale farmers as; high morbidity of chickens due to New Castle, shortage of vaccines, lack of feed, unavailability of viable markets, lack of access to credit, high transport costs of markets, theft and lack of knowledge on good practices in raising the chickens. All the mentioned challenges faced by the IC small-scale farmers in of Mukoma village were found to be significant at P<0.05 in raising a substantial quantity of chickens. The paper in light of the challenges suggests the scaling up of services rendered by the government extension and veterinary departments to assist the farmers. Awareness campaigns and prevention of New Castle disease should be the government and non-governmental organization's priority. The paper also recommends the government to ensure road infrastructure is improved to reduce the cost to the markets for the farmers.


Science-policy interfaces (SPIs) are tools that can be used to improve environmental conservation and management in the Mediterranean region. However, in order to do so, a shared understanding of the concept needs to be established, and current gaps need to be identified. This document is based on the work of several institutions, including Plan Bleu, and sets out to provide stakeholders in Mediterranean environmental governance with a brief analysis of the SPI concept within the regional context. Science-policy interfaces


OFDM is a frequency-division multiplexing (FDM) system used as a digital multi-carrier modulation method. A large number of closely spaced orthogonal sub-carrier signals are used to carry data on several parallel data current or channels. In this paper, BER performance of MIMO (Multi-Input Multi-Output) OFDM system has been compared for AWGN channel, Rayleigh fading channel and Rician fading channel. Later analyze how with different value of Diversity parameter BER performance of Rayleigh fading channel and Rician fading channel has been effected. This paper has been divided into two parts. In first part basic function of OFDM has been introduced and then in second part BER performance of OFDM has been analyzed.


In rotating machinery, the detection of local damage is one of the most important issues. This kind of change of technical condition produce local disturbance according to temporal (local) change of stiffness of kinematic pair (tooth-tooth contact, rolling element-outer/inner race etc). In many practical, i.e. industrial cases, vibration signature of such change is weak in sense of produced energy, so consequently, completely masked by other vibration sources in machine. The general concept of signal processing for local damage detection is to use so called signal enhancement, i.e. a kind of tool that may improve signal to noise ratio. One may find many approaches used in the literature. Most of them use signal filtering (classical, adaptive and optimal filters), decomposition (wavelets) or extraction (blind source separation). Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) is one of such techniques that can be used with signal decomposition problem. In this paper, EMD will be used for vibration signal decomposition in order to extract information about local perturbation of arm (carrier) in planetary gearbox used in heavy mining machine, i.e. bucket wheel excavator. As a result of application of EMD, one may obtain several time series with different properties of sub-signal. Due to predefined task, namely local disturbance detection, several criteria have been investigated in order to select the most informative empirical mode. First criterion was kurtosis calculated for every mode with very simple decision rule (max kurtosis is the best). It was found that such approach is not optimal due to some random impulses that are not related to damage. To improve results, it is proposed to combine envelope spectrum and kurtosis. If envelope spectrum contains family of components related to arm (carrier) shaft frequency and signal is spiky (kurtosis is high) result of EMD for given mode is optimal in sense of carried information. However, in this approach decision was made based on visual inspection of the envelope spectra of each mode, which is non-effective way. Finally two parameters have been proposed: 1) Pearson correlation coefficient of an empirical mode and the empirically determined local mean of original signal; 2) a relative power of an empirical mode.


Congress Main Topics Hemophilia: social, economic and psychological aspect. Role of nurses in the treatment of hemophilic patients. High technology applied in hemophilia and von Willebrand disease. Clinical and diagnostic aspect in unusual hemostatic syndromes. Acute coronary syndromes. From athero-inflammation to athero-thrombosis. Oral anticoagulant in secondary prevention of myocardial infarction. From the 60þ trial up to the WARIS II study. Arterial and venous thrombophilia. Risk factors, diagnosis, antithrombotic treatment in critical situations. Gene therapy in hemostasis. Nitric oxide and endothelial functions. Angiogenesis: from experimental model to clinical uses. Thrombotic diseases in women in preand postmenopause. Pregnancy and fetal loss. Truths and fictitious. Exercise and thrombotic events: incidence, mechanism of disease, prevention.


Co and Si were selected as substitutes to improve performance of TbDyFe giant magnetostrictive alloys for special purpose, respectively. The results showed that the Co-doped Tb0.36Dy0.64Fe2 alloys can possess giant magnetostriction over a wide temperature range from -80 to 100 . Optimum magnetostriction, high electrical resistivity and improved corrosion resistance was obtained in Tb0.3Dy0.7(Fe1-xSix)1.95 system. High performance grain-aligned rods with <110> preferred orientation have been successfully prepared by zone melting unidirectional solidification. This paper also presents the design and fabrication of Giant Magnetostrictive Actuator (GMA) for active vibration control with oriented TbDyFe rods. Experimental results showed that the GMA possesses good static and dynamic performance. Excellent damping effect, 20-30 dB under the frequency range from 10 Hz to 120 Hz was obtained.


Clinical imaging modalities provide clinical data with a variety of resolutions, clinical implementation costs, and various levels of complexity when applied and interpreted. Imaging techniques that are aimed at molecular imaging require the utilization of ionizing radiation that can pose safety risks and questions related to their frequent use. Microwave sensing and imaging (MSI) is emerging as an alternative method based on nonionizing electromagnetic (EM) signals that lie over a wide frequency range. The main advantages of using EM signals is the low health risk, low cost of implementation, low operational cost, ease of use, and user friendliness. The development of such systems may revolutionise treatments and contribute to advanced safe and cost effective detection and/or treatments. MSI has been used for tumour detection (breast), blood clot/stroke detection, heart imaging, bone imaging, cancer detection, and localization of in-body radio frequency (RF) ablation sources. The introduction of tailor made agents to enhance microwave (MW) dielectric contrast may provide a very useful clinical tool. In MSI applications, nanomaterials that change the dielectric constant when concentrated in tumours could be an elegant solution for tumour detection. MW devices used for sensing can also induce focused and controlled elevation of temperature in tissues (hyperthermia, ablation). This dual operation of MW devices can be combined with smart temperature responsive drug delivery systems to provide integrated tumour therapy and targeted drug delivery systems. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of this emerging technique and its potential in diagnostics and therapy.


In order to be able to protect human rights, it is first necessary to see the denial of those rights. Aside from experiencing human rights violations directly, either as a victim or as an eyewitness, more than any other medium film is able to bring us closer to this aspect of the human experience. Yet, notwithstanding its importance to human rights, film has received virtually no scholarly attention and thus one of the primary goals of this book is to begin to fill this gap. From an historical perspective, human rights were not at all self-evident by reason alone, but had to gain standing through an appeal to human emotions found in novels as well as in works of moral philosophy and legal theory. Although literature continues to play an important role in the human rights project, film is able to take us that much further, by universalizing the particular experience of others different from ourselves, the viewers. Watching Human Rights analyzes more than 100 of the finest human rights films ever made-documentaries, feature films, faux documentaries, animations, and even cartoons. It will introduce the reader to a wealth of films that might otherwise remain unknown, but it also shows the human rights themes in films that all of us are familiar with.


This research work has focused on the contribution of temperature on the yield of cocoa in Ondo state. A supervised classification was done to show the locations and the corresponding temperature. The interpretation charts show that months with high cocoa yield are relatively hot with temperature above 30 o C. Abrupt monthly mean temperature below 30 o C during the fruiting period—November to January correspond to low sunshine, thereby impeding ripening and quick drying of cocoa beans, hence low cocoa production. It has also shown the temperature range (27°C - 33°C) in the cocoa producing areas of Ondo state. This was achieved by the temperature model for cocoa production in the state.


Two models of writing a companion to the history of Dutch literature for Non-Dutch readers are discussed here: a 'narrative synthesis' vs. a broader 'study of cultural history'. They both take here into account the Renaissance perspective. The impulse for the article is a book by Norbert Morciniec, Historia literatury niderlandzkiej do końca 19. wieku (History of Dutch literature till the end of the 19th century), published in 2019. This book is compared both with a former book of Dorota & Norbert Morciniec from 1985, Historia literatury niderlandzkiej (History of Dutch Literature) and the large two-volume history of the literature from the Low Countries, Widzę rzeki szerokie… (I see broad rivers…) from 2018, edited by Jerzy Koch & Piotr Oczko. The situation in 1985 and that in 2018/19 are defi nitely varied: not many translations of Dutch literature into Polish at the beginning, and no academic centres… Today it is not so: thanks to the pioneering work of Norbert Morciniec.


Purpose

Zika virus (ZIKV) statistics in Honduras are the highest among countries in Central America. National risk communication strategies have primarily focused on vector control and are integrated into existing approaches for Dengue and Chikungunya. Given the new evidence on ZIKV, there is a need to revamp risk communication strategies so that they are informed by dynamic listening methods such as knowledge, attitudes, and practices. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional survey was administered to 604 respondents in 21 designated Honduran communities using a two-stage, 30-cluster sampling method.

Findings

Almost eight out of ten Hondurans knew that Zika can be transmitted by the bite of a mosquito; however, only 2 and 0.1 percent, respectively, were aware that Zika can be spread by sexual intercourse and from a pregnant woman to her fetus. In total, four out of ten Hondurans knew that there is a causal relationship between Zika and microcephaly in newborns, and three out of ten knew that there is an association between Zika and Guillian-Barre syndrome. Overall, 50 percent of respondents said that they did not have enough information about the disease.

Social implications

The findings of this study clearly identify information priority gaps that need to be urgently addressed by national stakeholders involved in public health activities to protect the most vulnerable population against Zika disease and its complications.

Originality/value

This study is the first of its kind in Central America to inform any national risk communication strategy since the inception of the ZIKV response, particularly among at risk populations.