PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate whether formal authority of the HR department has any impact on line managers' evaluations of HR department effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies were conducted in Vietnam. Study 1 comprised a survey of 405 line managers to test the hypothesized model. Study 2 comprised a survey conducted with 155 line managers validated the findings from Study 1. Structural equation modeling and PROCESS macro were used to analyze the data.FindingsLine managers' perceptions of the HR department's formal authority had a positive and indirect impact on HR department effectiveness through the HR department's strategic involvement and influence. Public sector line managers tended to perceive their HR departments as possessing a higher level of formal authority than did their private sector counterparts.Research limitations/implicationsThis study extends the theory of political influence as it applies to the HR department. Specifically, the study provides empirical evidence of the influences of an organization's political conditions on the perceptions of HR department effectiveness. This study also contributes to the extant literature on HRM in Vietnam by showing how Vietnam's HR departments can utilize power and influence in accordance with specific ownership types.Practical implicationsPublic sector HR managers could establish their formal authority among stakeholders as a way to enhance the recognition of HR department effectiveness. This can be done by relying on the presence of the traditional bureaucratic characteristics of the public sector which confer the HR department with formal authority.Originality/valueThe study contributes an understanding of the determinants of HR department effectiveness in the context of Vietnam. Research findings show that highly formal authority practices in the public sector affect the way line managers perceive the strategic involvement of the HR department. The more formal the authority, the more the public sector HR department is perceived to be involved in the strategic management process. Thus, formal authority is a prerequisite that public sector HR departments need to signal its importance among line managers. To have a long-term influencing role in the organization, the HR department in the public sector needs to develop its political and influencing skills. In contrast to this, the private sector HR department needs to develop a strategic partnership with line managers in order to increase its influence and perceived effectiveness.


Diseases and climate change are major factors limiting grape productivity and fruit marketability. Lasiodiplodia theobromae is a fungus of the family Botryosphaeriaceae that causes Botryosphaeria dieback of grapevine worldwide. Abiotic stress may change host vitality and impact susceptibility to the pathogen and/or change the pathogen's life cycle. However, the interaction between both stress drivers is poorly understood for woody plants. We addressed the hypothesis that distinct morpho-physiological and biochemical responses are induced in grapevine (Vitis vinifera)–L. theobromae interactions depending on when water deficits are imposed. Grapevines were submitted to water deficit either before or after fungus inoculation. Water deficit led to the reduction of the net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, and transpiration rate, and increased the abscisic acid concentration regardless of fungal inoculation. L. theobromae inoculation before water deficit reduced plant survival by 50% and resulted in the accumulation of jasmonic acid and reductions in malondialdehyde levels. Conversely, grapevines inoculated after water deficit showed an increase in proline and malondialdehyde content and all plants survived. Overall, grapevines responded differently to the primary stress encountered, with consequences in their physiological responses. This study reinforces the importance of exploring the complex water deficit timing × disease interaction and the underlying physiological responses involved in grapevine performance.


Users of digital self-tracking devices benefit from information about themselves. Thereby, the explanatory power of this information heavily depends on post-adoption continued usage of these devices. Thus, the aim of our research is to empirically analyze the factors that lead to continuous use of self-tracking devices. So far, research has largely focused on phases until IS adoption in a work environment and little on postadoption use in a consumer context which centers on either continuance or discontinuance. To advance research in this area, we develop a conceptual model that combines both in one comprehensive model by building on established post-adoption theories. We will continue our research with a quantitative-empirical evaluation of the developed model. With our research, we aim at contributing to both a better theoretical understanding in the field of IS post-adoption in a consumer context and giving practical implications for producers of self-tracking devices.


Detecting epistatic interactions at the gene level is essential to understanding the biological mechanisms of complex diseases. Unfortunately, genome-wide interaction association studies (GWAIS) involve many statistical challenges that make such detection hard. We propose a multi-step protocol for epistasis detection along the edges of a gene-gene co-function network. Such an approach reduces the number of tests performed and provides interpretable interactions, while keeping type I error controlled. Yet, mapping gene-interactions into testable SNP-interaction hypotheses, as well as computing gene pair association scores from SNP pair ones, is not trivial. Here we compare three SNP-gene mappings (positional overlap, eQTL and proximity in 3D structure) and used the adaptive truncated product method to compute gene pair scores. This method is non-parametric, does not require a known null distribution, and is fast to compute. We apply multiple variants of this protocol to a GWAS inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) dataset. Different configurations produced different results, highlighting that various mechanisms are implicated in IBD, while at the same time, results overlapped with known disease biology. Importantly, the proposed pipeline also differs from a conventional approach were no network is used, showing the potential for additional discoveries when prior biological knowledge is incorporated into epistasis detection.


Utilization of cyanide as the sole nitrogen source by Pseudomonas fluorescens NCIMB 11764 (Pf11764) occurs via oxidative conversion to carbon dioxide and ammonia, the latter satisfying the nitrogen requirement. Substrate attack is initiated oxygenolytically by an enzyme referred to as cyanide oxygenase (CNO), which exhibits properties of a pterin-dependent hydroxylase. The pterin requirement for Pf11764 CNO was satisfied by supplying either the fully (tetrahydro) or partially (dihydro) reduced forms of various pterin compounds at catalytic concentrations (0.5 µM). These compounds included, for example, biopterin, monapterin and neopterin, all of which were also identified in cell extracts. A related CNO-mediated mechanism of cyanide utilization was identified in cyanide-degrading P. putida BCN3. This conclusion was based on (i) the recovery of CO2 and NH3 as enzymatic reaction products, (ii) the dependency of substrate conversion on both O2 and NADH, and (iiii) utilization of cyanide, O2 and NADH in a 1:1:1 reaction stoichiometry. In contrast to findings reported for Pf11764, it was not possible to demonstrate a need for exogenously added pterin as a cofactor for the PpBCN3 enzyme system. However, results which showed that cells of PpBCN3 contained approximately seven times the amount of pterin as Pf11764 (of which a significant portion was protein-bound) were interpreted as indicating that sufficient bound CNO-cofactor exists, thus eliminating any need for a supplemental source.


ABSTRACT Most species are distributed such that their density and occupancy is greatest in one habitat, although they are found in other habitats. For example, a species with a high affinity for forests (its primary habitat) may also use urban areas and shrublands (its alternative habitat), although occupancy of these habitats would be lower. While habitat loss is the main conservation threat for most species, less is known about how changes in primary and alternative habitats impact populations. We used a systematic bird survey of the state of Illinois that spanned the past century to investigate how use of specific habitats was related to population changes. Specifically, we used a hierarchical Bayesian model to investigate the relationship between changes in statewide occupancy (probability a species would occur in a study site) and use of specific habitats (probability a species would be in a specific habitat within our study sites) for 66 species sampled in 1906–1909 and 2006–2008. Changes in the use of alternative habitats, and not primary habitats, was related to overall changes in statewide occupancy. Many species that increased over the past century did so by increasing their use of urban areas, while declining species declined the most in agricultural and grassland areas. Although primary habitats form the core of a species' distribution, alternative habitats may provide opportunities for a species to expand its distribution; conversely, declining species may abandon alternative habitats and contract into primary habitats. Consequently, alternative habitats may play an important role in the future of many species. Understanding this role could be crucial for successful conservation.


An apparatus that generates and deflect silver-109 atoms with an inhomogeneous and homogeneous magnetic field was constructed. The experimental results found using this apparatus were used to make a recommendation, to the idea of removing silver-110 atoms from the helium fluid of Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) with an inhomogeneous magnetic field based on the Stern-Gerlach principle. It is shown that experimental results corresponded well with the theoretical predictions. The apparatus was also used for a practical for a course for mechanical engineers in modern physics.


For a healthy environment for hot spring recreation, this study discussed the diffusion in the bathroom of hydrogen sulfide gas from hot sulfur springs for an improvement of this harmful situation. Based on empirical measurements and then comparing the results with CFD simulation, the analysis exposed the distribution status of indoor hydrogen sulfide and its diffusion behavior. Results indicate that sulfur springs produce high levels of hydrogen sulfide that are hazardous. And the high concentrations can be improved under ideal ventilation, which was determined by the air exchange rate, flow field efficiency, turbulence and vortex phenomena.


ABSTRACT
 Invasions by nonnative plants have changed the structure of many terrestrial ecosystems and altered important ecological processes such as fire, the dominant driver in grassland ecosystems. Reestablishing fire has been proposed as a mechanism to restore dominance of native plants in grasslands invaded by nonnative plants, yet fire may function differently in these altered systems, potentially affecting animals in novel ways. To assess whether invasions by nonnative plants alter the effects of fire on animals, we performed a manipulative experiment in semi-desert grasslands of southeastern Arizona that have been invaded by a perennial, nonnative grass from Africa, Lehmann lovegrass (Eragrostis lehmanniana). We applied fire to 36 of 54 1-ha plots established along an invasion gradient where dominance of E. lehmanniana ranged from 0% to 91% of total live plant biomass. Over the 5-year period from 2000 to 2004, we used mark-recapture methods to assess how population and community attributes of small mammals varied along the gradient of nonnative grass and in response to fire. We quantified changes in presence of 17 species, abundance of 9 species, total abundance of all species combined, species richness, and species composition. Based on 11,226 individual mammals from 24 species, we found that effects of nonnative-grass dominance varied with habitat preferences of each species, resulting in composition of the small-mammal community changing predictably along the invasion gradient. As dominance of nonnative grass increased, presence and abundance of granivorous heteromyids and insectivores (e.g., Chaetodipus, Perognathus, Onychomys; pocket mice and grasshopper mice) decreased, whereas presence and abundance of omnivorous and herbivorous murids (e.g., Reithrodontomys, Sigmodon; harvest mice and cotton rats) increased. Species richness of the small-mammal community averaged 8.4 species per plot and was highest at intermediate levels of nonnative-grass dominance where vegetation heterogeneity was greatest. Abundance of all small mammals combined averaged 26.9 individuals per plot and did not vary appreciably with nonnative-grass dominance. During the 4- to 8-week period immediately after fire, abundance of 6 of the 9 most common species changed, with 5 species decreasing and 1 species increasing on burned plots relative to unburned plots. During this same time period, species richness of small mammals decreased by an average of 3 species (38%) and total abundance of all species combined decreased by an average of 16 individuals (61%) on burned plots relative to unburned plots. Effects of fire on vegetation biomass, on presence of 9 of 17 mammalian species, and on abundance of 4 of 9 mammalian species remained evident ≥2 years after fire. Effects of fire on most small-mammal species varied with the degree of nonnative-grass dominance, suggesting that fire functioned differently 0n areas invaded by nonnative plants relative to areas dominated by native plants. Specifically, effects of fire on presence of 12 of 14 species and abundance of 7 of 9 species varied along the gradient of E. lehmaniana. During this post-fire period, however, composition of the small-mammal community in areas dominated by nonnative grass transitioned towards composition of areas dominated by native grasses, suggesting that fires had some restorative effect on habitat for small mammals. The relative strength of this effect will likely depend in general on the structural and compositional contrasts between invaded and native plant communities. Despite the reported ineffectiveness of fire at reducing dominance of nonnative plants, restoring fire to grasslands invaded by nonnative plants can help maintain the mosaic of vegetation conditions necessary to support the diverse assemblage of animals that inhabit these fire-governed ecosystems.


This article is a brief review of dry etching as applied to pattern transfer, primarily in silicon technology. It focuses on concepts and topics for etching materials of interest in micromechanics. The basis of plasma-assisted etching, the main dry etching technique, is explained and plasma system configurations are described such as reactive ion etching (RIE). An important feature of RIE is its ability to achieve etch directionality. The mechanism behind this directionality and various plasma chemistries to fulfil this task will be explained. Multi-step plasma chemistries are found to be useful to etch, release and passivate micromechanical structures in one run successfully. Plasma etching is extremely sensitive to many variables, making etch results inconsistent and irreproducible. Therefore, important plasma parameters, mask materials and their influences will be treated. Moreover, RIE has its own specific problems, and solutions will be formulated. The result of an RIE process depends in a non-linear way on a great number of parameters. Therefore, a careful data acquisition is necessary. Also, plasma monitoring is needed for the determination of the etch end point for a given process. This review is ended with some promising current trends in plasma etching.


Using the data obtained through out pedological studies and researches conducted by specialists from OSPA Timisoara and materialized in "Banat soils map", updated in 1999 and 2003 with new pedological studies and also with data gathered from the agricultural and forest sites of the national monitoring syste. The researches regarding the evolution of the agro-ecosystems quality and productivity from the Vinga High Plain tries to highlight the quality and quantity changes emerged in the agricultural ecosystem. It concerning a surface of 141249 hectares (72721ha in Timis County and 68528 ha in Arad county), belonging to cadastral territorys situated in Vinga Plain or in the areas of low plain near this or near Lipova Hills : Variaş, Satchinez, Orţişoara, Maşloc, Sânandrei, Biled, Becicherecu Mic, Timişoara, Dumbrăviţa, Giarmata, Remetea Mare, Ghiroda (in Timiş County) and Secusigiu, Felnac, Şagu, Vinga, Arad, Fântânele, Zăbrani, Lipova (in Arad county). The examination of eco-pedological conditions, were setting in order and processing dates were made according to "The Pedological Studies Elaboration Methodology ", (vol. I, II, III) of ICPA Bucharest, in 1987 and Romanian Taxonomic System of Soils (SRTS-2003). There are presented some aspects regarding the physical and geographical characterization of investigated area. Here are briefly introduced the geology and lithology of surface materials, clime conditions, land drainage etc., as defining elements for edaphic resources' main characteristics. Also, regarding the soil conditions have been determined the defining characteristics for the ecosystems productivity, granulated structure and humus content. In close relation with the first two aspects have been established the water content and the cationic change capacity. In order to determine the complex relation that take place between different soil characteristics and agro-ecosystems components, the researches were conducted both on field and laboratory. Studying the natural conditions (relief, lithology, hydrology, clime) and the antrophic ones it can be observed that the diversity of pedoclimatic conditions and the specific characteristics of the studied area have a great impact upon land resources and the way lands are used in general and in particular the agricultural ones (and also upon their actual and future productivity).


The effects of three bisethyl polyamine analogs on mitochondrial structure and function were examined in human HeLa and L1210 murine leukemia cells. N, N' Bis-[3(ethylamino)-propyl]1-7- heptane diamine (BEPH), and its octane (BEPO), and butane (BESPM) derivative, were shown by electron microscopy and/or Rhodamine 123 uptake studies to alter the structural integrity of mitochondria when both cell lines were treated at the approximate IC50 dose of each drug. At this dose, BEPH had no marked effects on levels of the naturally occurring polyamines, putrescine, spermidine or spermine, in either cell line whereas BEPO and BESPM treatment did result in pool depletion. Southern blot analysis demonstrated a time and dose-dependent loss of mitochondrial DNA from BEPH-treated L1210 cultures suggesting that loss of mitochondrial integrity extended to the DNA level. Treatment of L1210 cells with all three analogs revealed marked reductions in the activity of two mitochondrial enzymes citrate synthase and cytochrome C oxidase. HeLa cells treated with all three analogs exhibited markedly reduced levels of ATP, complete loss of cytidine triphosphate (CTP) and near total depletion of uridine triphosphate (CTP) and near total depletion of uridine triphosphate (UTP). There was also a loss of colony forming ability in HeLa cells which could be nearly completely reversed by the addition of either uridine or cytidine suggesting that NTP reduction may be the primary antiproliferative determinant in these cells. Growth inhibition by BEPH in L1210 cells was markedly potentiated by the glycolysis inhibitor, 2-deoxyglucose, which had no such effect in otherwise untreated cells. This suggests that BEPH treatment of L1210 cells results in impairment of mitochondrial ATP synthesis and activation of the glycolytic pathway for energy production. 2-deoxyglucose treatment also completely prevented the increase of ATP by BEPH treatment of L1210 cells. It is concluded that all three bisethyl polyamines alter HeLa and L1210 mitochondria both structurally and functionally and that these alterations may play a primary role in the antiproliferative activity of these agents in HeLa cells. In L1210, the different spectra of cellular biochemical changes following bisethyl polyamine treatment suggests that additional mechanisms may be in effect.


The estimation of vitamin dependent red cell enzymes before and after in vitro vitamin supplement offers a new approach to the assessment of vitamin nutritional state. To facilitate the clinical application of the principle involved, enzyme assay and aspartate aminotransferase have been made suitable for routine use. Reference ranges have been obtained for enzyme activity and vitamin effect, and the coefficients of variation for the techniques under normal use have been calculated. The assays are useful for hospital patients suspected of poor vitamin B nutrition i.e. the elderly, and chronic alcoholics.


PURPOSE
This study aimed to examine the factors associated with the development of higher burden in informal caregivers of patients with dementia, using dyadic data.

DESIGN AND METHODS
Seventy-two dyads of patients with dementia and their informal caregivers were assessed, the former in terms of behavioral-psychological symptoms and autonomy, the latter in terms of burden and individual needs.

FINDINGS
Caregivers at risk for developing higher burden are those who are female, whose care recipient present psychiatric symptoms and lower autonomy, and those who recognize the need for more information/support.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
Interventions should offer caregivers the tools to provide care, maintaining their psychological well-being. Interventions should target not only common aspects of caregiver burden but also the specificities of caring for a person with dementia.


A moving object recognition approach is presented in this paper. The motion of an object includes the linear or nonlinear translation and rotation. For a 3-D object, the images taken by a camera are in planar form. They are varied by different distances between camera and the object, variant angles and timing for taking. pictures. However, the change rate among these images taken at different instant are logically related. The brightness level between any two neighbour string cells of machine digital scanning raster varies according to the Markovian random walk process. Thus, the direction and position of a moving object can be found by the variations of the cell random walk. The angles between a machine digital scanning raster and the edges of an object in a planar image are called pseudo-refractional angles. The variations of angles can be used as features for object recognition. Together with the Kolmogorov complexity program, the probability function of the process can be changed into a finite length of string arrays to simplify the recognition procedure. The distance between camera and the object can be measured by a radar or supersonic signal for military or industrial applications.


A 47-year-old African American man was admitted with 4 days of back pain, nausea and vomiting, and low urine output. There was no history of fever, dysuria, frequency, hesitancy, viral symptoms, trauma, rash, or constipation. Despite his past medical history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia he denied taking any medications for 18 months, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, acetaminophen, or antacids. He denied smoking and alcohol but admitted to cocaine use. No significant FH. Physical examination results were as follows: BP 235/125 mm Hg, heart rate 90 beats/min, temperature 98°F, O2 saturation normal; lungs and heart normal, abdomen soft but bilateral costovertebral angle tenderness. Neurological examination was normal. Laboratory tests yielded the following results: creatinine (Cr) 10.5 mg/dL (1.2 mg/dL in 2010), blood urea nitrogen 63 mg/dL, glucose 151 mg/dL, Ca 9.4 mg/dL, PO4 6.1 mg/dL, Hgb 15 g/dL, white blood cells (WBC) 9100, platelets 167 000, amylase/lipase normal, aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase (AST/ALT) normal, bilirubin 1.4 mg/dL, alkaline phosphatase 39 IU/L, creatine phosphokinase 127 µg/L. Hepatic panel, C- and P-ANCA (cytoplasmic– and perinuclear–antineutrophil cytoplasm antibodies, respectively), anti-GBM (anti–glomerular basement membrane), antimyeloperoxidase, antinuclear antibody, and Helicobacter pylori were all negative. C3, C4 normal, urinalysis: 2+ blood, no white blood cells or eosinophils, no casts, no albumin, negative for nitrate/leukocyte esterase and bacteria. Imaging: chest radiograph, abdominal radiograph, computed tomography of the abdomen, electrocardiography, and transthoracic echocardiography were all normal. Course. The patient's urine output declined from 700 to 400 cm3/d and the on third day he required hemodialysis with Cr 14 mg/dL. Renal biopsy showed typical findings of interstitial nephritis. The patient was dialyzed for 10 days and responded to steroids and went home with an improving Cr of 3.5 mg/dL, back to baseline of 1.5 in 8 weeks. Discussion. Internists encounter patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) on a daily basis, most of which can be explained by prerenal azotemia, acute tubular necrosis (ATN), obstruction, or rhabdomyolysis among other etiologies. Cocaine is only rarely implicated as an etiology of AKI and if it is, usually the injury is due to ATN or pigment effects. Acute interstitial nephritis (AIN) caused by cocaine, on the other hand, has only been described in a handful of cases. AIN is a renal lesion that causes a decline in creatinine clearance and is characterized by an inflammatory infiltrate in the kidney interstitium and is most often associated with drug therapy. AIN can also be seen in autoimmune disorders like systemic lupus erythematosus, Sjögren's syndrome, or sarcoidosis; or with infections remote to the kidney like Legionella, leptospirosis, and streptococcal disease. Our case was very similar to the other reported cases of AIN due to cocaine in that all have occurred in middle-aged African American males and all have responded to steroids. This case reminds clinicians to consider AIN in patients with AKI and a history of cocaine abuse.


Objective: Erythromelalgia is a rare disorder associated with neuropathic pain that commonly affects the lower extremities. This pain is often refractory to multimodal treatment. Both pharmacologic management and interventional anesthetic blocks have been used with varying and often limited success. To date, little experience has been gained with the use of spinal cord stimulation in treating pain associated with erythromelalgia. Case Report: We present a case of successful treatment of pain secondary to erythromelalgia with a spinal cord stimulator in an 80-yearold woman. This patient had severe pain and debility secondary to erythromelalgia, having undergone trials of multiple medical therapies before presenting to our clinic. Dual-lead percutaneous spinal cord stimulation was successfully implanted without complication, leading to excellent pain control, now 18 months postimplant. Conclusions: Spinal cord stimulation may be a promising treatment of neuropathic pain associated with erythromelalgia.


Poly(styrene-co-butadiene) rubber (SBR) and polybutadiene rubber (BR)/clay nanocomposites have been prepared. The effects of the incorporation of inorganically and organically modified clays on the vulcanization reactions of SBR and BR were analysed by rheometry and differential scanning calorimetry. A reduction in scorch time (ts1) and optimumtime (t95) was observed for both the rubbers when organoclay was added and this was attributed to the amine groups of the organic modifier. However, ts1 and t95 were further increased as the clay content was increased. A reduction in torque value was obtained for the organoclay nanocomposites, indicating a lower number of crosslinks formed.The organoclays favoured the vulcanization process although the vulcanizing effect was reduced with increasing clay content. The tensile strength and elongation of SBR were improved significantly with organoclay. The improvement of the tensile properties of BR with organoclay was less noticeable than inorganic-modified clay. Nevertheless, these mechanical properties were enhanced with addition of clay. The mechanical properties of the nanocomposites were dependent on filler size and dispersion, and also compatibility between fillers and the rubber matrix.


We report here a simple genetic system for investigating factors affecting Ty1 target-site preference within an RNAP II transcribed gene. The target in this system is a functional fusion of the regulatable MET3 promoter with the URA3 gene. We found that the simultaneous inactivation of Hir3 (a histone transcription regulator) and Cac3 (a subunit of the chromatin assembly factor I), which was previously shown by us to increase the Ty1 transposition rate, eliminated the normally observed bias for Ty1 elements to insert into the 5' vs. 3' regions of the MET3-URA3 and CAN1 genes. The double cac3 hir3 mutation also caused the production of a short transcript from the MET3-URA3 fusion under both repressed and derepressed conditions. In a hir3Delta single-mutant strain, the Ty1 target-site distribution into MET3-URA3 was altered only when transposition occurred while the MET3-URA3 fusion was actively transcribed. In contrast, transcription of the MET3-URA3 fusion did not alter the Ty1 target-site distribution in wild-type or other mutant strains. Deletion of RAD6 was shown to alter the Ty1 target-site preference in the MET3-URA3 fusion and the LYS2 gene. These data, together with previous studies of Ty1 integration positions at CAN1 and SUP4, indicate that the rad6 effect on Ty1 target-site selection is not gene specific.


Virus-specific RNA synthesis was studied in amniotic AO cells nonpermissive for influenza virus. Syntheses of complementary RNA were found to be greatly reduced in AO cells, as compared with the sensitive MDCK cells. Only primary transcription takes place in AO cells, resulting in the production of poly-A RNAs serving as a template for the synthesis of virus-specific polypeptides. The synthesis of virion-type RNA is absent, since no synthesis of nonpoly-A transcripts (which are the templates for the synthesis of the respective RNA) could be made evident in the resistant AO cells.


In this article, we consider the limit of quasi-local conserved quantities [31,9] at the infinity of an asymptotically hyperbolic initial data set in general relativity. These give notions of total energy-momentum, angular momentum, and center of mass. Our assumption on the asymptotics is less stringent than any previous ones to validate a Bondi-type mass loss formula. The Lorentz group acts on the asymptotic infinity through the exchange of foliations by coordinate spheres. For foliations aligning with the total energy-momentum vector, we prove that the limits of quasi-local center of mass and angular momentum are finite, and evaluate the limits in terms of the expansion coefficients of the metric and the second fundamental form.


Abstract South African editors currently work in a highly diversified industry that comprises a number of different sectors. As a result of this, the role of the editor remains contentious, with varied definitions and demarcations of editorial tasks and skills. This article sets out the argument that editorial work in South Africa is characterised by specific factors which determine the importance (or otherwise) of certain editorial tasks and skills in each sector. To demonstrate this, this article reports on the findings of an empirical investigation that surveyed South African editors from all sectors of the industry on the tasks and skills associated with their everyday work. Statistical tests are applied to the data collected from the questionnaire used in this study in order to identify the extent to which the various editing sectors differ in terms of the importance of editorial tasks and skills. The data are analysed utilising the factor-analysis and descriptive-analysis techniques. Following these analyses, three factors are identified as characterising the main differences in the importance of editorial tasks and skills within the sectors of the South African editing industry. These factors are the importance of the reader for the publication, the formality of the publishing environment and the type of text to be edited.


Despite well-established research on the applications of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) in the American culture, TPB has not been fully tested in the Kenyan culture. This study compared the applications of TPB in predicting smoking intentions (i.e., future and weekend smoking intentions) of Kenyan and American young adults. Data were collected from 252 Kenyans and 227 Americans. The Kenyan participants consisted of 41.7% females with a mean age of 25 years (SD = 4.81). The American participants (49.3% females) had an average age of 19 years (SD = 1.30). Multi-group path analysis was performed to test the equivalence of a TPB-based mediation model in Kenyans and Americans. Significant differences of TPB application were detected. In the American model, smoking consequence beliefs were indirectly associated with smoking intentions through attitudes whereas neither direct nor indirect effects of smoking consequence beliefs were detected in the Kenyan model. Instead, normative beliefs indirectly associated with future and weekend smoking intentions through attitudes and subjective norms in the Kenyan model. Despite some overlapping paths, there were cultural variations on specific associations among TPB constructs between Kenyans and Americans. Cultural adaptations may be needed when applying TPB in the Kenyan cultural context.


This chapter discusses relevant recent advances made in innate immunity, the complexity of lymphocyte participation, the mechanistic basis of granuloma formation/regulation, and the protective/destructive roles of the granulomatous responses through the presentation of various diseases and disease models. Advances made during the past decade revealed an extensive complexity in the granulomatous cellular response. A protective organized granulomatous response against intracellular pathogens encompasses the functional cell-mediated immunity (CMI) activity of several lymphocyte subsets; endothelial cell activation; participation of adhesion molecules; secretion of the necessary cytokines and chemokines; lymphocyte and macrophage homing; and macrophage-mediated microbicidal effects. The inefficient granulomatous response generates only loose cellular infiltration, without extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition and intimate cell-cell contact that prevent cellular activation. Virtually all granulomatous responses are accompanied by variable degrees of tissue damage. A large body of evidence indicates that most of the granulomatous inflammatory diseases (such as tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, Crohn's disease) are induced and maintained by the Th1 subset of lymphocytes. Though in chronic granulomatous diseases the inflammatory response is continuous, there occur cases of spontaneous recovery or periods of remission and downmodulation. It is likely that apoptotic mechanisms may also be active in regulating granulomatous sarcoidosis. The concerted efforts of basic and applied research will provide new and better tools in the treatment of granulomatous diseases.


In the current study, the potential of a novel combination of a galactomannan with acarbose (100 mg) was evaluated for attaining a desired hypoglycaemic effect over a prolonged period of time. Three major antidiabetic galactomannans viz., fenugreek gum, boswellia gum, and locust bean gum were selected in order to achieve a synergistic effect in the treatment alongwith retardation in drug release. In vitro studies indicated that batches containing various proportions of fenugreek gum (AF40-60) were able to control drug release for a longer duration of approximately 10–12 h. In contrast, the matrices prepared using boswellia and locust bean gum were able to sustain the release for relatively shorter durations. Drug release mainly followed first-order release kinetics owing to the highly soluble nature of the drug. In vivo study depicted a significant reduction (p < 0.001) in the postprandial blood glucose and triglyceride levels in the diabetic rats on treatment with formulation AF40. Thus, the developed system provides a better control of the postprandial glycaemic levels and it also obviates the need of conventional multiple dosing of acarbose. Furthermore, it also reduces the occurrence of side effects like diarrhea and loss of appetite.


Abstract. Extreme precipitation events are major causes of severe floods and droughts worldwide. Therefore, scientific understanding of changing properties of extreme precipitation events is of great scientific and practical merit in the development of human mitigation of natural hazards, such as floods and droughts. Wetness and dryness variations during 1961–2008 in Xinjiang, a region of northwest China characterised by an arid climate, are thoroughly investigated using two extreme precipitation indices. These are annual maximum consecutive dry days (CDD) and annual maximum consecutive wet days (CWD), based on a daily precipitation dataset extracted from 51 meteorological stations across Xinjiang. As a result, we present spatial distributions of mean annual CDD and mean annual CWD and their trends within the study period. The results indicate that: (1) CDD maximize in the Taklimakan and Turban basins of southeast Xinjiang, while minima are found in the Tianshan Mountains and the Ili river valley of northwest Xinjiang. On the contrary, the longest CWD are observed in northwest Xinjiang and the shortest in the southeast part of the region. (2) On an annual basis, CWD temporal variability shows statistically positive trends and a rate of increase of 0.1d/10a. CDD temporal variability shows statistically negative trends and a rate of decrease of 1.7d/10a. (3) Goodness-of-fit analysis for three candidate probability distribution functions, generalised Pareto distribution (GPD), generalised extreme value (GEV) and Gumbel, in terms of probability behaviours of CDD and CWD, indicates that the GEV can well depict changes of CDD and CWD. (4) The CDD and CWD better describe wet and dry conditions than precipitation in the Xinjiang. The results pave the way for scientific evaluation of dryness/wetness variability under the influence of changing climate over the Xinjiang region.


European Union was created for enhancing the cooperation and economic development of country members. This very complex initiative is a long-term process that contributes to reduction of inequalities due to the expansion of trade relations, increased mobility of factors of production and dissemination of technology and gradually added more freedoms between countries and common policies in this respect. Among the main objectives of EU are economic and social cohesion, which must be achieved mainly by promoting the conditions for economic growth and reducing disparities between the levels of development of EU regions, ensuring a high level of employment and a balanced and sustainable economical growth. The European Funds are the financial instruments of the common policies, being significantly diversified and improved in the last decades. The EU enlargement implied new challenges and higher efforts to support such common policies from a very limited common budget. For new members from Eastern Europe that joined EU, these European Funds were seen as a very important and reliable support for boosting their economic development. This paper will discuss, from both theoretical and empirical perspectives, the possible impact of these funds on the economic development, with a specific focus on the Eastern European Countries (EEC).


ORIGINAL ARTICLE Introduction: Cutaneous leishmaniasis can lead to the loss of time, labor force, significant treatment costs and psychological problems. Also, cutaneous leishmaniasis is considered as an important health problem in Iran. This study was aimed to investigat the status of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Dashtestan district. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional and descriptive-correlational survey was performed on all confirmed leishmaniasis cases (86 person) following up in Dashtestan district health care centers during 2013-2014. Patient's general information such as age, sex, geographical region, number and site of ulcer, as well as the month and season of incidence were registered and analyzed by SPSS ver.24. All ethical issues were also addressed. Results: During 2013, the maximum percent frequency of the incidence of cutaneous leishmaniasis was related to the age-group of 0-4 years (41.9%) and during 2014, was related to the age group of 15-24 years (30.2%). During 2013 and 2014, the incidence of cutaneous leishmaniasis was higher in males than in females and the face was the most common site of the ulcer. During 2013 and 2014, autumn and winter had the most seasonal incidence and most of the cases were observed during September and January, respectively. Conclusion: Based on the study results, cutaneous leishmaniasis is high endemically in Dashtestan district. Therefore, control measures such as education, optimizing the environment and the application of appropriate coating for exposed age groups, especially children and young people are essential. Article History: Received: 27 July 2017 Accepted: 20 October 2017


ABSTRACT This critique of the term 'carer' argues that, although developed as a result of well-intentioned and socially-engaged research, it fails the people with whom it is most concerned, that is 'carers' and those who are cared for. The paper considers the historical and political development of the term 'carer' before examining research in various 'carer'-related settings in the United Kingdom, namely mental health, physical and intellectual impairment, cancer and palliative care and older adulthood and dementia. The article concludes that the term 'carer' is ineffective and that its continued use should be reconsidered. This conclusion is based on the consistent failure of the term 'carer' as a recognisable and valid description of the relationship between 'carers' and those for whom they care. Furthermore, use of the term may imply burden and therefore devalue the individual who is cared for and in this way polarises two individuals who would otherwise work together. Consequently, this commentary suggests that descriptions of the caring relationship that focus on the relationship from which it arose would be both more acceptable and useful to those it concerns. Furthermore, a more accessible term may increase uptake of support services currently aimed at 'carers', therefore inadvertently meeting the original aims of the term, that is, to increase support for 'carers'.


Several reputation systems have been proposed for mobile ad-hoc networks in order to stimulate cooperation among mobile nodes. However, whether or not the mobile nodes will agree on the reputation of other nodes is not studied. In this paper, we present a formal specification and analysis of a general class of mechanisms to locally update the reputation of mobile nodes. Given an initial assessment of the reputation of other mobile nodes, we formally show that under mild conditions, the mobile nodes will achieve reputation agreement. Our analysis captures reputation propagation using graph connectivity and makes use of a recent theoretical result [A. Jadbabaie, et. al., IEEE Control and Decision Conference, 2001]. We also evaluate the convergence speed of two reputation propagation mechanisms through simulations. Our simulations show that the speed of reputation propagation is an important factor for the convergence speed of reputation agreement.


The project explores the efficacy of an innovative bottom-up social marketing approach to encourage pro-environmental behaviour, using hairdressers as 'catalytic individuals' to diffuse knowledge relating to responsible chemical, energy and water use across their social networks. Hairdressers use a lot of energy, water and chemicals, but our research last year (Baden, 2010) indicated that, despite the increased concerns and public pronouncements on the importance of sustainability, little awareness has filtered into the hairdressing sector. This lack of attention to environmental issues by hairdressers then constitutes a social norm that is antagonistic to sustainability awareness, especially hair-washing, drying and colouring, which are activities that are also carried out at home. Thus the study aims to engage hairdressers, both in developing their own sustainability practices, and as 'catalytic individuals' to diffuse practices and ideas relating to responsible chemical, energy and water use across their social networks. The project isin the form of action research: Action Selected hairdressers will be interviewed to assess their current sustainability practices and extent to which they provide a model of environmentally friendly behaviours (e.g. reduced toxicity of hair products, water conservation, low use of energy in terms of drying and style) either through their practices or through their conversations with customers. Our pilot research found zero examples of such sustainability awareness, but a willingness to engage with the topic further. Twenty five hairdressers will then be invited to an event to raise awareness of sustainability issues in their work and encouraged to come up with their own ideas to reduce environmental impacts. We plan to create positive attitudes towards the project by making the event fun, with food and drink and inspirational speakers. A follow up event will be held four months later to share what worked and what didn't and engage the hairdressers in developing best practice benchmarks for their industry, and to enable them to attain the Steps Towards Environmental Management (STEM) certification. We plan to hold two events and two follow-up events, with a total sample size of 50 hairdressers. The research part of the action research will look at how hairdressers can be used to disseminate information about sustainability to the general public. Social networking theory proposes that information is best disseminated by weak ties (Granovetter, 1973). Diffusion of Innovations theory explores social networks and their role in influencing the spread of new ideas and practices. Of all occupations, hairdressers spend the most time generally chatting to a wide variety of people and comprise a weak tie for many. The research plans to explore the extent to which hairdressers involved in the development of sustainability benchmarks talk to their customers and other colleagues about sustainability and act as a diffuser of information on sustainability in areas related to the use of water, electricity and chemicals. This is cross disciplinary proposal which brings some of the theoretical insights from the disparate areas of network modelling (social network theory, diffusion theory); social psychology (e.g. self-determination theory, social learning theory, social norms) and marketing (word of mouth marketing, social marketing, catalytic individuals) and sustainability management together in one project that has real potential, both to transform a particular sector, and to test the efficacy of developing a more innovative and bottom-up approach to social marketing to address our urgent need for a transition to a low carbon economy.


A new tumor line derived from a human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma of a 56-year-old Caucasian male was estab lished in tissue culture and the nude mouse. In tissue culture, the neoplastic cells grew as large, epithelial-like, mucin-producing cells. Injection s.c. of 1 x 106 cultured neoplastic cells into nude mice resulted in tumor formation histologically closely resembling the original neoplasm. Ultrastructurally, the neoplastic cells showed characteristics of ductal epithelium. The allozyme phenotypic profile of the line was established in 14 genetically determined loci, and chromosome studies showed a near-tetraploid pattern. Production of macromolecules such as lactate dehydrogenase and carcinoembryonic antigen were present in measurable amounts in culture media, tumor cell extracts, nude mouse-grown tumors, and the serum of tumor-bearing mice in amounts relative to tumor size. Pancreatic enzymes were not detected. These characteristics make tumor line SW-1990 a valuable tool in studying various aspects of the biology of human pancreatic cancer.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
Approximately six million Germans have been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. A continuously increasing number of people with diabetes is expected within the next few years. Genetic disposition, age and especially lifestyle play an important role in the development of the disease. Diabetes normally develops during a long preclinical phase. During this preclinical phase an impaired glucose tolerance can easily be detected. Since an impaired glucose tolerance is often reversible the onset of diabetes can be prevented effectively by a change of lifestyle during this phase. The Bavarian Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service therefore determined the diabetes risk among its blood donors during two one-week study periods.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
The diabetes risk of the participating donors was assessed by using the FindRisk diabetes test published by the German Diabetes Foundation and the HbA1c test.

RESULTS
Approximately 12 percent of the participants (8187 persons aged 18-68 years) showed a moderate, high or even very high risk of developing diabetes within the next 10 years. The probability of developing the disease ranged from 17% (moderate risk) to 50% (very high risk). This corresponds to 3% of persons with unknown diabetes among the total population. An elevated HbA1c was found in approximately 5% of the donors in the first study week and in approximately 19% in the second study week. The analysis of the questionnaire and the HbA1c results indicated that elevated HbA1c values correlate with known diabetes risk factors. Persons with a body mass index greater than 25, an increased score in the FindRisk questionnaire and aged over 50 years more frequently showed an elevated HbA1c value.

CONCLUSIONS
The combination of a diabetes risk questionnaire and HbA1c testing could be used successfully for diabetes screening in an identified risk group.


Risk is one of the core attributes of environmental decision-making. Most often, the alternatives of environmental risky decision-making would involve monetary outcomes as well as environmental outcomes, triggering the tradeoff between profit seeking and environmental protection. Expected-value theory, Prospect theory, Equate-to-differentiate theory, as well as models such as MAUT, DRIFT, ITCH, however, solely focus on the decision-making process of homogeneous outcomes. Thus, it's a novel topic in behavioral decision research to explore how individuals evaluate, integrate and make choices on composite outcomes. Given that the conflict between environmental and monetary values is one of the primary causes that leads to the antagonism of profit seeking and environment protection, the present research focused on the effect of relative values on risky decision-making of composite money-environment gains. A total of 417 college students—specifically, 206 students participated in Experiment 1, 64 in Experiment 2, and 147 in Experiment 3 — participated in the study. In Experiment 1, New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEP) and Money Ethics Scale (MES) were used to measure individual's environmental and monetary values respectively. We inspected the effect of relative values, which was represented by the d-value of MES and NEP, on individuals' preference in the composite risky choice task in which two options had the same expected values based on pilot study. Experiment 2 examined the role of outcome weights in the influence of relative values on composite risky decision-making. Implicit association test was used to identify relative money-oriented and environment-oriented individuals. Experiment 3 used a scrambled-words task to prime one's monetary or environmental value orientation and explored its effect on weights allocation and composite risk preference. The results indicated that individuals with different relative values will differ in value evaluation and risk preference on the composite gains. The effect remained consistent whenever the relative values was measured by scale, implicit association test, or primed by scrambled-words task. Environment-oriented individuals tended to assign larger weights to the environmental gain in the composite than did money-oriented ones. In addition, compared to money-oriented individuals, environment-oriented individuals were more inclined to take risk in money for the sake of ensuring environmental benefits and more risk-seeking for an extra environmental improvement in the composite outcomes. Overall, the results suggested that activating and shaping decision makers' relative values could change their risk preference in decision making of composite money-environment gains and thereby promote pro-environment choices. Furthermore, this research initiated a new decision frame in which the options expanded from homogeneous sequential outcomes to heterogeneous composite outcomes.


Modern software-intensive systems must often guarantee certain quality requirements under changing run-time conditions and high levels of uncertainty. Self-adaptation has proven to be an effective way to engineer systems that can address such challenges, but many of these approaches are purely reactive and adapt only after a failure has taken place. To overcome some of the limitations of reactive approaches (e.g., lagging behind environment changes and favoring short-term improvements), recent proactive self-adaptation mechanisms apply ideas from control theory, such as model predictive control (MPC), to improve adaptation. When selecting which MPC approach to apply, the improvement that can be obtained with each approach is scenario-dependent, and so guidance is needed to better understand how to choose an approach for a givensituation. In this paper, we compare CobRA and PLA, two approaches that are inspired by MPC. CobRA is a requirements-based approach that applies control theory, whereas PLA is architecture-based and applies stochastic analysis. We compare the two approaches applied to RUBiS, a benchmark system for web and cloud application performance, discussing the required expertise needed to use both approaches and comparing their run-time performance with respect to different metrics.


Fanconi anemia (FA) is an inherited disease distinct from the failure of bone marrow, growth disturbance, predisposition to cancer and concomitant chromosomal abnormalities. FA is associated with genes involved in DNA replication and DNA repair processes. More than 20 proteins have been identified to be related with FANC pathway opera tion. Necessary prerequisite for activation and regulation of FA pathway is the monou - biquitination of heterodimer FANCD2-FANCI by core proteins of Fanc complex. The monoubiquitination of FANCD2-FANCI is crucial for nuclear localization of heterodi - mer, binding to chromatin and regulation of DNA repair procedure. Mutations of genes of FANC complex proteins associated with deficiency of DNA repair pathways affected cellular and genome instability. The interaction between proteins and ubiquitination affected genomic integrity and stability.


One of the optimization goals of a particle accelerator is to reach the highest possible beam peak current. For that to happen the electron bunch propagating through the accelerator should be kept relatively short along the direction of its travel. In order to obtain a better understanding of the beam composition it is crucial to evaluate the electric charge distribution along the micrometer-scale packets. The task of the Electro-Optic Detector (EOD) is to imprint the beam charge profile on the spectrum of light of a laser pulse. The actual measurement of charge distribution is then extracted with a spectrometer based on a diffraction grating.
The article focuses on developed data acquisition and processing system called the High-speed Optical Line Detector (HOLD). It is a 1D image acquisition system which solves several challenges related to capturing, buffering, processing and transmitting large data streams with use of the FPGA device. It implements a latency-optimized custom architecture based on the AXI interfaces. The HOLD device is realized as an FPGA Mezzanine Card (FMC) carrier with single High Pin-Count connector hosting the KIT KALYPSO detector.
The solution presented in the paper is probably one of the world fastest line cameras. Thanks to its custom architecture it is capable of capturing at least 10 times more frames per second than fastest comparable commercially available devices.


The use of fluorescence techniques has had an enormous impact on various research fields including imaging, biochemical assays, DNA-sequencing and medical technologies. This has been facilitated by the availability of numerous commercial dyes, but often information about the chemical structures of dyes (and their linkers) are a well-kept secret. This can lead to problems for applications where a knowledge of the dye structure is necessary to predict (unwanted) dye-target interactions, or to establish structural models of the dye-target complex. Using a combination of spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and molecular dynamics simulations, we here investigate the molecular structures and spectroscopic properties of dyes from the Alexa Fluor (Alexa Fluor 555 and 647) and AF series (AF555, AF647, AFD647). Based on available data and published structures of the AF and Cy dyes, we present two possible structures for Alexa Fluor 555. We also resolve conflicting reports on the linker composition of Alexa Fluor 647. A comprehensive comparison between Alexa Fluor and AF dyes by continuous-wave absorption and emission spectroscopy, quantum yield determination, fluorescence lifetime and anisotropy spectroscopy of free and protein-attached dyes, supports the suggestion that the Alexa Fluor and AF dyes have a high degree of structural similarity. In addition, we compared Alexa Fluor 555 and Alexa Fluor 647 to their structural homologs AF555 and AF(D)647 in single-molecule FRET applications. Both pairs showed excellent performance in solution-based smFRET experiments using alternating laser excitation demonstrating that the AF-fluorophores are an attractive alternative to Alexa- and Cy-dyes for smFRET studies, and suggesting their usefulness for other fluorescence applications.


The pipelined execution of multijoin queries in a multiprocessor-based database system is explored in this paper. Using hash-based joins, multiple joins can be pipelined so that the early results from a join, before the whole join is completed, are sent to the next join for processing. The execution of a query is usually denoted by a query execution tree. To improve the execution of pipelined hash joins, an innovative approach to query execution tree selection is proposed to exploit segmented right-deep trees, which are bushy trees of right-deep subtrees. We first derive an analytical model for the execution of a pipeline segment, and then, in the light of the model, we develop heuristic schemes to determine the query execution plan based on a segmented right-deep tree so that the query can be efficiently executed. As shown by our simulation, the proposed approach, without incurring additional overhead on plan execution, possesses more flexibility in query plan generation, and can lead to query plans of better performance than those achievable by the previous schemes using right-deep trees. >


By the time this editorial is published, the phrase "Happy New Year!" will be more than a little stale; however, with any luck, the new year will be happy as the world tentatively returns to something approaching a new "normal." For the nuclear medicine community, the new normal includes an opportunity to gather once again, either in person or virtually, to share the latest advances in molecular imaging and therapeutic procedures at the Mid-Winter Meeting in San Francisco, California. I hope you had the opportunity to kick off the new year in a positive way by attending the conference and catching up with friends and colleagues. Once again, the continuing education (CE) articles in this issue offer a diverse selection of topics. The SNMMI Clinical Trials Network continues its series discussing good clinical practices required in clinical research (1). The next CE offering discusses how V/Q lung imaging, a tried-and-true procedure in nuclear medicine for decades, can be enhanced using SPECT or SPECT/CT imaging (2). Finally, an overview of many PSMA-directed radiopharmaceutical therapy clinical trials using aor b-emitters in prostate cancer is discussed (3). The Quality and Practice Management section introduces a potential role nuclear medicine technologists may have to assist the radiologist in calculating total metabolic tumor volume for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) (4). Additionally, Blum et al. provide quantitative data analysis of 2 90Y-microsphere products comparing exposure rates and special safety considerations (5). In the United States, radiation safety and protection guidelines are commonplace; however, critical data are required in developing countries to optimize diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) and radiation protection guidelines in nuclear medicine imaging, including SPECT, SPECT/CT, and PET/CT. Fayad et al. discuss Qatar's work establishing DRLs for administered activity optimization for nuclear medicine procedures (6). The scientific manuscripts offer an assortment of topics, including optimized image quality for 90Y PET imaging, respiratory gating for lung lesions, a 99mTc-DMSA biodistribution issue associated with the quality of saline used in preparing the radiopharmaceutical, and an improved headrest for PET brain imaging. The teaching case studies offer a variety of examples where key facts or concepts are demonstrated and were helpful in a specific diagnosis. As always, I will conclude with my plea for your ideas, suggestions, or comments to improve JNMT content. But most importantly, I would also encourage you to consider sharing your expertise by writing up a research study from your institution, an interesting case study, or a brief communication discussing a project that resulted in a positive outcome in your work environment. Don't know where to start? Help is available! Contact me at ksthomas0412@ msn.com.


The Regional Mapping Programme of Geological Survey of Malaysia, Kuching, Sarawak undertook the detailed mapping at scale 1:50,000 of Miocene sediments in northwest Sarawak. The results presented here are based on the sedimentological, structural and biostratigraphic analyses. Four formations could be defined in this area. They are the Miri Formation in the Mid to Late Miocene, the Lambir Formation in the early Mid Miocene, the Sibuti Formation in the mid Early Miocene and the Suai Formation from early Early Miocene. Additional member is the Subis Limestone Member in the lower part of the Sibuti Formation which is located along the central anticlinorium of the Sibuti Formation. The former Belait Formation in the south wing of the Subis Anticlinorium is correlated to the same horizon as the Lambir Formation. The Suai Formation is newly proposed here instead of the former Setap Formation. Setap Village locates within the Sibuti Formation in our compiled geological map. Therefore, we cannot use that name for the older formation than the Sibuti Formation. The major trend of the Miocene formations is the NNE-SSW anticlinorium associated with minor foldings within them. They are blocked by the faults trending NNW-SSE. Several faults could be defined blocking approximately perpendicular to the trend of the formations. Displacement of most faulted blocks is not so prominent that we can correlate sedimentary units to the next block. However, there are two faults which have vertical and horizontal displacement components more than several kilometers. The southern Suai Fault trending approximately N-S associated with the secondary fault has great displacement to form formation boundary between the Suai and the Sibuti Formations. Some sediments supply directions are also discussed on the basis of paleocurrent analysis of turbidites within these formations.


Histiocytosis is a term applied to a group of rare disorders of the reticuloendothelial system. Eosinophilic granuloma is the most benign and localized of the three Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) entities that could be solitary or multiple. In 2015, the incidence of the disease was reported to be 1 in 9100000. Eosinophilic granuloma can affect almost any bone, but commonly involves the mandible when the jaws are affected. Conventional treatment of LCH includes surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and steroid injections (alone or in combination). Spontaneous regression of localized disease has also been reported. We report a 30-year-old man with the LCH solitary eosinophilic granuloma in the mandible. The patient had lost all the mandibular teeth because of a misdiagnosis with periodontitis and


This thesis examines the relationship between performance measurement tools and shareholder's wealth in the context of Malaysian public listed construction companies. The question guiding this study is focused on whether the development of performance measures had any impact on shareholder's value. After more than one decade of the Asian fi�nancial crisis, Malaysian fi�rms still focus on the conventional performance measures which are criticized due to general accepted accounting principles. Both traditional accounting measures and economic measures have failed in reflecting the company's true value due to lack of creating long term sustainability
of business. Thus, this study investigates the long run causal relationship between the performance measurement tools and shareholder's wealth creation. The study exploits panel data analysis techniques particularly Error Correction Models (ECM) to test for the existence of a relationship of error terms. Using a sample of panel
data of 280 observations over the period 2003-2012, this study fi�nds compelling evidence that shareholder value is a function of performance measures. The evidence obtained from the study shows the existence of co-integration between the EPS, EVA, DPR MVA and CSV in the short as well as the long run. The study found a strong impact of EPS, EVA and management's dividend payout decisions on created shareholder's value. It was also evidenced that dividend paid to the shareholders and increase market price of shares have signifi�cant influence on long term market value of stocks which in turn increases shareholders wealth. EPS is still considered to be the strong factor for the shareholders to identify their value. EVA as a value based performance tool dominates shareholder's wealth. The more the managers produce EVA, the more shareholder's wealth maximization will be created. The fi�nding showed signi�ficant support for EVA, but EVA was not reported by the companies and is not been used by investors for their investment decisions. EVA can
be utilized as a reward system for increasing management performance. These results conclusively support the claims made by EPS, EVA and DPR proponents and further support the potential usefulness of the performance metric for internal and external performance. Furthermore, MVA was found to have negative relationship with CSV which was contradicting with the theory that shed light on the increase in shareholder value when there is increase in stock market value and effi�ciency. Thus it is highly recommended to focus for future research on this contradict �finding.


Freud attributed uncovered incest, initially, to real abuse dissociated from self-consciousness, and later, to wishes repressed from consciousness. Dissociation is preferred on theoretical and empirical grounds. Whereas dissociation emerges from double-aspect materialism, repression implicates Cartesian dualism. Several studies suggest that abnormal individuals dissociate trauma from self-conscious source-monitoring, thereby convincing themselves that the trauma is imaginary rather than real, and re-experience the trauma as an unbidden image.


This study analyzed 24 IELTS Task One (data explanation) prompts for task type, diagram type, subject matter, level of critical thought, and geographical references, in order to determine whether Emirati university students' anecdotal claims of cultural bias on the IELTS academic writing exam (as experienced by the researcher in the past decade of teaching IELTS in the United Arab Emirates) are valid. The analysis found that the majority of the task types (88%) were non-process in nature (i.e. required the description of data in the form of a chart or graph, rather than the description of a process); 40% of the non-process prompts consisted of more than one diagram. The analysis revealed that 33% of the non-process prompts included bar graphs and 29% included line graphs. Pie charts appeared in 25% of the prompts and tables in only 17%. An Emirati student English preparatory program survey indicated the pie chart as the easiest to understand – a finding that may highlight a difference between the most commonly used IELTS prompt and the students' prompt preference. A content analysis of topics found a high percentage (58%) of subject matter related to the social sciences, with 79% of the geographical references pertaining to Western contexts. An analysis of the amount of critical thought needed for graph interpretation revealed 52% of non-process prompts required some form of critical thought. The study therefore found that the cultural bias perceived by Emirati students has some validity, given the students' socio-cultural and educational background.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Myocarditis has been recognized as a rare complication of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mRNA vaccinations, especially in young adult and adolescent males. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, myocarditis/pericarditis rates are ≈12.6 cases per million doses of second-dose mRNA vaccine among individuals 12 to 39 years of age. In reported cases, patients with myocarditis invariably presented with chest pain, usually 2 to 3 days after a second dose of mRNA vaccination, and had elevated cardiac troponin levels. ECG was abnormal with ST elevations in most, and cardiac MRI was suggestive of myocarditis in all tested patients. There was no evidence of acute COVID-19 or other viral infections. In 1 case, a cardiomyopathy gene panel was negative, but autoantibody levels against certain self-antigens and frequency of natural killer cells were increased. Although the mechanisms for development of myocarditis are not clear, molecular mimicry between the spike protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and self-antigens, trigger of preexisting dysregulated immune pathways in certain individuals, immune response to mRNA, and activation of immunologic pathways, and dysregulated cytokine expression have been proposed. The reasons for male predominance in myocarditis cases are unknown, but possible explanations relate to sex hormone differences in immune response and myocarditis, and also underdiagnosis of cardiac disease in women. Almost all patients had resolution of symptoms and signs and improvement in diagnostic markers and imaging with or without treatment. Despite rare cases of myocarditis, the benefit-risk assessment for COVID-19 vaccination shows a favorable balance for all age and sex groups; therefore, COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for everyone ≥12 years of age.


A proposal for performing quantum memory schemes with a light matter interface in Hollow Core Fibres is introduced. Various technical aspects of implementing such a scheme in the proposed interface are outlined and the different elements required to realize this scheme are discussed, primarily the detection of atomic levels and the extension of the scheme to magnetically trappable levels. A new method to dispersively measure populations and population difference of alkali atoms prepared in their two clock states is introduced, for future use in the Hollow Core Fibre interface. The method essentially detects the atom numbers based on the influence of the linear birefringence in the ensemble on the detection light beams via polarization homodyning. Sideband detection is performed after dressing the atoms with a radio-frequency field to circumvent low-frequency technical noises. The noise performance of this scheme is discussed along with design modifications aimed at reaching the atomic shot noise limit. Another technical aspect of realizing the quantum memory scheme in the proposed light-matter interface is the extension of the scheme to the trappable states of the atomic system as the atoms will be trapped in an atom chip magnetic field. We achieve this extension by showing the microwave spectroscopy of the ground state ensemble of radio-frequency dressed atoms which proves the existence of pseudo one-photon transitions between the trappable clock states. Finally, the preliminary designs and results of integrating an HCF in an atom chip experiment are discussed.


The NE-trending Pontesford Lineament centres on the Pontesford-Linley and adjacent faults in the Shelve/Longmynd inlier. To the NE it is usually drawn along the SE edge of the Cheshire Basin and to the SW along a variety of lines parallel to or converging with the Church Stretton Fault. New mapping and reassessment of published data suggest that SW of the Pontesford-Linley Fault the lineament is logically drawn along the Clun Forest Disturbance, a post-Pridoli (late Silurian) fold/fault belt, then across the NW side of the Llandrindod inlier to flank the Tywi Lineament. The lineament was intermittently active at least from mid-Ordovician through to Triassic time, with both strike-slip and dip-slip displacements that involved the upper part of the Precambrian basement. Late Ordovician and early Silurian strike-slip was particularly important. The lineament controlled the sites of several Silurian sedimentary basins. Ordovician contrasts across the lineament can be explained either by contemporary fault control or by subsequent large displacements juxtaposing unlike terranes. The long history of reactivation and basement control on the Pontesford Lineament is typical of lineaments throughout Wales and the Borderland. It suggests that both Caledonian and Variscan structural trends N of the Variscan Front may be inherited from older, pre-Silurian or even Precambrian, basement structures.


Abstract This study extends incivility theory and research by applying multilevel theory and analysis to explain the effect of group-level incivility on intention to remain. Previous research has shown that experiencing workplace incivility is associated with adverse individual well-being and behaviour, such as turnover intentions, but the majority of research has been at the individual level of analysis. Consequently it is unknown whether incivility is also a group-level phenomenon, and what the effects of group-level incivility are on the individual. Results from over 34,000 employees working in 179 organizations across Australia and New Zealand showed that target reports of incivility could be aggregated to the level of the organization to form a shared stressor, incivility environment, which affected employees' intention to remain over and above their personal experience of incivility. This shared or environmental incivility also had a cross-level interaction effect on the negative relationship between individual incivility and intention to remain, highlighting the importance of context on targets of incivility. The role of interactional justice climate was also examined and the data are consistent with justice having a mediating effect on the cross-level relationship between environmental incivility and intention to remain. The findings are relevant to studies of bullying and harassment.


This paper investigates the benefits of applying simple PID+nonlinear controller to subsea robot. This control structure has the advantage of only adding a supplementary nonlinear feedback loop to the existing linear PID-regulator and at the same time improving both the transient and stability margins. Several simulations and experiments have been performed on the experimental subsea robot (VORTEX) and have demonstrated the improvements of the PID+nonlinear controller over the simple PID.<<ETX>>


inability to access formal land registration systems fosters insecure land tenure and conflicts, especially in developing countries. This calls for low-cost and scalable mapping solutions aligning with fit-for-purpose land administration. The work presented in this article supports the UAV-based mapping of land tenure inspired by state-of-the-art approaches from remote sensing, geoinformatics and computer vision. The guiding question is how to develop an automated approach that promotes the paradigm shift towards cadastral intelligence which integrates human-based expert knowledge with automatically generated machine-based knowledge.


Wildfire is a major environmental hazard, yet the social and institutional aspects of wildfire risk management have received limited attention in the literature. Considering future climate change, changing demographics, and the increased demands on fire services more generally, there is an urgent need to better understand the significance of volunteers in emergency management. Volunteering brings together community actors and formal institutions in responding to natural hazards including wildfires. In this paper, we use systemic co-inquiry with volunteer leaders to better understand how to integrate formal and informal volunteers by addressing how resilience is being enacted and what opportunities exist for building community resilience. We examine practices of transitioning from past norms of volunteering to create new institutions for supporting community resilience to wildfires. Findings demonstrate the need for the emergency management sector to promote community resilience through the support of informal volunteers and move beyond traditional representations of rural fire brigade volunteers' roles as firefighters. Vulnerabilities at different organizational scales, community, brigade, and regional, limit existing arrangements for wildfire volunteering, and highlight the need to adapt to changing contexts. Opportunities for building community resilience are identified, including supporting non-firefighting roles for brigade volunteers; aligning with spontaneous volunteers for enhancing rural community disaster preparedness; and outreach to support preparedness activities in isolated and remote communities. Building on the direct experiences of our participants, we articulate the importance of institutional reflexivity involving localized reflection on volunteer organization as a vehicle for change toward more resilient wildfire futures.


Drought is a major concern among abiotic stresses in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production. Breeding resistant cultivars are the most effective means to manage drought stress. F6 recombinant inbred lines (RIL) derived from the cross of Berkut/Worrakatta were used to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) for drought tolerance at germination stage under treatment of PEG6000 using the wheat 50 K single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. Twenty-eight linkage groups were constructed, covering a length of 2220.26 cM. Eighteen QTL were detected based on the drought tolerance coefficients and D-value, explaining 2.7–6.5% of the phenotypic variances, in which 15 were likely to be novel. Three QTL, QGR.xjau-5AS, QCL.xjau-5AS and QD.xjau-5AS for GR, CL and D-value, respectively, at physical positions of 11.70–20.61 Mb between markers AX-111258240 and AX-94458300 on chromosome 5AS accounted for 3.4–4.8% of the phenotypic variances. Three QTL, QGP.xjau-5DL, QSH.xjau-5DL and QD.xjau-5DL for GP, SH and D-value, respectively, were flanked by markers AX-94524442 and AX-110998507 at 560.42–567.39 Mb on chromosome 5DL, accounting for 4.4–6.5% of the phenotypic variances. In addition, the candidate genes TraesCS5A02G022100, TraesCS5B02G014200 and TraesCS5D02G563900 were predicted. Based on transcriptional expression data, the results showed that the expression level of TaGATAs-5A, TaUbox-5B and TaGSTP-5D changed with the increase of treatment time under drought stress in tolerant and sensitive varieties. These are interesting targets in mining drought tolerance genes and the improvement of drought tolerance in wheat.


In this study, we aimed to determine the levels of some biochemical parameters in the seminal plasma of German Shepherd dogs. Seven German Shepherd dogs were used as materials. A total of 35 ejaculates, five from each dog, were collected. The seminal plasma of each ejaculate was separated by centrifugation at 5000 rpm for 10 min. Biochemical analyses of the seminal plasma were performed. In conclusion, the average concentrations of total protein, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium and potassium were 3.75 ± 0.21 g/dl, 3.22 ± 0.32 mg/dl, 2.49 ± 0.25 mg/dl, 4.50 ± 0.37 mg/dl, 137.25 ± 1.98 mEq/l and 12.25 ± 0.69 mEq/l, respectively.


This study explores the use of a particular causal morpheme, derived from a protoform that may be reconstructed as *[V/B]IDA, in the Portuguese-lexified creoles of Asia. A survey of the various formal means employed by the AsianPortuguese creoles to establish relationships of cause, reason, and purpose demonstrates that only three may be said with certainty to use or have used a *[V/B]IDA-related morpheme, viz. those of the Malabar (South India), Sri Lanka, and Batavia/Tugu (Java, Indonesia) – a geographical distribution which, it is argued, calls for an assessment of the exact role of South Asian populations in the formation of Batavia/Tugu creole, in addition to other pieces of linguistic and ethnographic evidence. In order to determine the etymology and synchronic transformations of these causal morphemes, this study also explores several diachronic and dialectal corpora of Portuguese, which reveals that the Portuguese expression por via de 'by way of' is a more likely source than another proposed alternative, por vida de 'by the life of'.


This is from the bestselling author of The Secret Scripture, a heartbreaking story of lost love. Jack McNulty, a former UN observer, has worked around the world and seen extraordinary things but, as he contemplates his return to Ireland after many years, his memories are dominated by his tumultuous marriage to Mai Kirwan. A great beauty with a vivid mind, Mai was also an elusive and troubled soul, stuck in a marriage that couldn't last. The Temporary Gentleman is a powerful account of one man's attempt to come to terms with the savage realities of the past.


The SAILMAST Validation Experiment employs an ultra-light graphite Coilable boom in a Scalable Architecture for the Investigation of the Load Managing Attributes of a Slender Truss. The investigation will validate the strength and stiffness attributes of versatile gossamer boom technology through correlation of inflight measurement with analytical prediction. Successful flight validation of deployable gossamer truss technology is a critical step forward in risk mitigation to make gossamer spacecraft systems a reality, enabling new classes of missions. Propellantless propulsion (solar sailing), large aperture sensors, and applications not yet conceived will be made feasible through the validation of this fundamental building block of gossamer structure. Analysis tools and techniques have been developed, correlated, and scaled to the proposed experiment system in order to predict on-orbit behavior and verify the suitability of measurement range and accuracy to ensure a successful, informative flight validation experiment.


The cell-associated glycoproteins of respiratory syncytial virus included GP1 (90K), VP70 (70K), VGP48 (48K) and GP26 (26K). The time course of virus protein synthesis in HeLa cells revealed that the nucleocapsid protein (VPN41) was the first to appear at 11 h post-infection followed by the appearance of the other viral proteins at 16 h post-infection. Pulse-chase experiments with [3H]leucine or [35S]methionine demonstrated that the precursor for VGP48 and GP26 was an uncleaved protein of 70K (VP70) which required at least 30 min to chase into its final products, while the precursor for GP1 was a glycoprotein of 46K, and also required at least 30 min to chase into GP1. Trypsin treatment of monensin-treated infected cells suggested that VP70 can be cleaved intracellularly into its products VGP48 and GP26.


Stress is a common experience of daily life and all organisms have evolved mechanisms and strategies to deal with crucial alterations in their internal and external environment. Events early in post-weaning life influence brain development and subsequent adult behaviour. This study was conducted to observe neurodegeneration in normal and stressed condition in Postweaning age group of mice. Experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of restraint stress and foot shock stress applied for 5 days (short duration) and 21 days (long duration). BALB/ C strain of Albino mice were used. In restraint stress, animals were restrained for 6 hours daily in a restraining device. In foot shock group, animals were given intermittent electric foot shock for 3 hours daily in an electric foot shock apparatus. Animal were sacrificed at the end of stress exposure period along with their age matched control mice and the brains were processed for histological examination both in control and experimental groups. Numbers of viable neurons in the cingulate gyrus regions were counted. The data were analysed between the groups. Results of the study revealed neurodegenerative changes in the stressed group compared to control in both the experimental groups. Severe neurodegenerative changes were observed on prolonged exposure to stress.


There has been a significant amount of work over the past 5 years on chip scale packaging. The majority of this work has been an extension of conventional IC packaging technology. Handling discrete devices during IC packaging for this type of CSPs results in a relatively high cost for these packages. This paper presents a wafer scale packaging technology called the Ultra CSP. Advantages of this wafer scale package include commonality with standard IC processing technology for the majority of the packaging process. This paper covers in detail the reliability results achieved for the Ultra CSP for a variety of package sizes and I/O counts covering the range typically seen in microcontrollers, flash and new DRAM architectures. There is also significant discussion on optimization work on board pad size, solder paste volume and solder paste type.


This paper undertakes an analysis of the narrativity of a form of discourse which has appeared recently (blogs) within the framework of an emergentist theory of narrativity and its discursive modes. The narrative/discursive characteristics of blogs emerge from a preexistent ground of more basic or less specific communicative practices; and narrative discursivity itself is an emergent phenomenon with respect to other cognitive and experiential phenomena. A number of formal and communicative characteristics of blog writing and of the blogosphere are discussed as emergent modes of experience within the pragmatic context of computer-mediated communication. A longer version of the paper in this volume can be found in SSRN http://ssrn.com/abstract=1113321


An investigation of particle disintegration was carried out using batch anaerobic reactors and a particle-rich substrate from pig manure supernatant. Two types of samples were applied, one high in suspended particles (raw feed) and another low in suspended particle content (centrifuged feed). Both feeds were digested with and without cellulase enzyme addition to obtain a better understanding of particle degradation mechanisms. An automatic methane potential test system (AMPTS) was used to carry out batch reactions at 35 °C. The raw feed with high-suspended solids had higher biomethane potential than the centrifuged feed but the conversion rate and methane yield was lower. The addition of cellulase increased biomethane production rates in both high- and low-particle content samples enhancing yield by 54% and 40%, respectively and converting 69% and 87% of feed chemical oxygen demand (COD), respectively. This implies that the feed particles have high contents of cellulose. This is also the case for the smaller particles remaining after centrifugation. Comparisons of anaerobic digestion model no. 1 (ADM1) simulations with experimental data reveal that classifying substrate particles into a fast and a slow degrading fraction with separate disintegration kinetics fit the experimental data better than lumping all particles into one parameter.


Centralized e-Learning technology has dominated the learning ecosystem that brings a lot of potential usage on media rich learning materials. However, the centralized architecture has their own constraint to support large number of users for accessing large size of learning contents. On the other hand, Content Delivery Network (CDN) solution which relies on distributed architecture provides an alternative solution to eliminate bottleneck access. Although CDN is an effective solution, the implementation of technology is expensive and has less impact for student who lives in limited or non-existence internet access in geographical area. In this paper, we introduce an IoT smart device to provide e-Learning access for content sharing on hybrid cloud environment with distributed peer-to-peer communication solution for data synchronization and updates. The IoT smart device acts as an intermediate device between user and cloud services, and provides content sharing solution without fully depending on the cloud server.


Attention is drawn to the use of a simple method of examination such as auscultation of the main vessels of the head in practical activity of the neuropathologist. The diagnostic significance of the method in vascular pathology of the brain is documented. The method of transorbital auscultation to be used in the diagnosis of stenosis of the intracranial strip of the internal carotid artery is described.


The use of L-carnitine is very popular in recent years, but because of the lack of clinical trials, they are still sufficiently descriptive, and thus remain a mystery. However, a very common complication in hemodialysis patients is caused by a decrease in the serious incidence put forward by recent studies. This study aims to show if there are common reduced complications in patients using L-carnitine. All the patients treated in our center, and who were included in this study and in each session (three sessions per week for at least four hours of receiving treatment), comprised adults. The assessment of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus (HBS-HCV) positive patients in the A±nfectious diseases specialist took an active part of this study. Our unit of L-carnitine application did not meet our criteria, except a few exceptions, where all patients 3/7 were 1 g IV. The excessive risk group of patients with high blood pressure arterial, in terms of intra-oculer bleeding, were evaluated by a specialist in eye diseases. In this evaluation, dialysis dose adjustments used in the treatment of heparin were taken into consideration. According to the guideline study, some of the incidence of complications are: Hypotension, muscle cramp, restless leg syndrome, nausea and vomiting, headache, chest and back pain, itching and chills and fever. For L-carnitine used in our center during the 12-month period in patients with complications, an average reduction was seen in densities and growth rates of the guideline study according to the following figures: 20% reduction in the incidence of hypotension, 36% reduction in the incidence of muscle cramps, 50% reduction in the incidence of restless leg syndrome, 100% reduction in the incidence of nausea and vomiting, 100% reduction in the incidence of chest and back pain, no change was seen in headache and chills and fever complications, while an increase of 40% was observed for itching. In this study, no change was observed in headache and chills and fever symptoms; although aside itching, all other complications reduced. In patients, itching was examined at the front of those people diagnosed with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) and in elderly people, and it was concluded that the situation may be a factor for the increase in complications.

 Key words: L-Carnitine, hemodialysis complications, end-stage renal disease (ESRD).


Karst aquifers provide large parts of the water supply for Mediterranean countries, though climate change is expected to have a significant negative impact on water availability. Recharge is therefore a key variable that has to be known for sustainable groundwater use. In this study, we present a new approach that combines two independent methods for karst recharge estimation. The first method derives spatially distributed information of mean annual recharge patterns through GIS analysis. The second is a process‐based karst model that provides spatially lumped but temporally distributed information about recharge. By combining both methods, we add a spatial reference to the lumped simulations of the process‐based model. In this way, we are able to provide spatiotemporal information of recharge and subsurface flow dynamics also during varying hydroclimatic conditions. We find that there is a nonlinear relationship between precipitation and recharge rates resulting in strong decreases of recharge following even moderate decreases of precipitation. This is primarily due to almost constant actual evapotranspiration amounts despite varying hydroclimatic conditions. During the driest year in the record, almost the entire precipitation was consumed as actual evapotranspiration and only little diffuse recharge took place at the high altitudes of our study site. During wettest year, recharge constituted a much larger fraction of precipitation and occurred at the entire study site. Our new method and our findings are significant for decision makers in similar regions that want to prepare for possible changes of hydroclimatic conditions in the future.


Annular pustular psoriasis (APP) is a rare form of pustular psoriasis with a chronic relapsing course and a good prognosis. The clinical picture is characterized by erythematous lesions, usually polycyclic, with the presence of small, sterile pustules on the circumference of the lesions and fine peeling. We present two cases of APP with diagnostic problems: a 65-year-old woman that suffered from intermittent APP with remission and exacerbation for many years, and an 83-year-old man with lesions that developed after atenolol treatment. In both cases, the patients were thought to have drug provocation, and therefore acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis (AGEP) was diagnosed. Only a thorough analysis of the course of the disease and histopathological examination allowed correct diagnosis. The clinical picture of APP is similar to AGEP, generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP), also known as von Zumbusch pustular psoriasis, and subcorneal pustular disease, and it requires accurate differential diagnosis.


This approximation to a year study considers London, 1914 as a site of early modernism's emergence. It focuses on the cultural interactions between experimental and popular artists, aesthetics, and institutions that were an impetus for, and influence on the development of early modernism. Chapter one discusses the complexity of early modernism's relationship with popular literary sphere. Two staged public events that happened in January are compared—G. K. Chesterton's trial of a Dickens character and Ezra Pound's dinner in honour of the poetic accomplishments of an old man who insisted he was not a poet. Both involved bids for literary autonomy and attempts at public self-fashioning. Neither included attempts to enact a separation of experimental and popular culture. Chapter two concerns the strategies by which the Egoist advertised its resistance to the commercialisation of literature. Attempts were made to shame profitable cultural arbiters, battles were waged against censorship in protection of the artist's right to autonomy, and attacks were made upon the purveyors of jingoistic war poetry. Rather than being evidence of vehement anti-commercialism, these resistances are shown to operate in the commercial interests of the little magazine. Chapter three considers the competition between rival experimentalisms, charting the way in which the compositors of BLAST appropriated notions of heroism from a new breed of adventure story—mechanical war fiction—to distinguish their talk of machines from that of the Futurists. By interacting with popular culture the Vorticists embraced an avant-garde aesthetic, even as they resisted certain kinds of avant-garde activity that they perceived to have been cheapened by their success and ubiquity. Chapter four re/visits three poets—formative Georgian Poetry contributor W. H. Davies, anthology abstainer Rose Macaulay, and one-poem-Imagiste Skipwith Cannell—to demonstrate the ways in which appearances in anthologies have distorted and deleted parts of the poetic record.