1. Which are the neglected or emerging aspects inthe discussed issue that need information and addi-tional knowledge for the formulation of a policy forsurveillance and Chagas disease control?Vector control - There are two recognized basic strat-egies for vector control and prevention of Chagas dis-ease. The first one is the destruction of intra andperidomiciliary foci of triatomines through chemicalcontrol with insecticides and the other is to avoid theinstallation of vectors inside dwellings by improvinghousing conditions and/or using tools of early detectionof triatomine populations that make possible theirprompt elimination (Schofield 1985, 1992, Schofield& Dias 1991, Rojas de Arias 1995, Rios 1997, Rojas deArias et al. 1999, 2005).The first strategy currently leads initiatives of tria-tomine elimination in the countries of the Southern Coneand Central America focused in the application of insec-ticide mass campaigns with different modalities accord-ing to the country's plans. The latter is focused in theestablishment of a surveillance program in the hands ofthe communities themselves and case-finding with toolsof early detection of triatomines in order to avoid re-infestations. This surveillance phase implies monitor-ing and supervision with technology transfer that shouldgive sustainability to the actions. Additionally, there isthe fundamental importance of the coverage and qualityachieved in the application of insecticides and the dura-bility of their effect at different post-application times(Diotaiutti & Texeira Pintos 1991, Gurtler et al. 1994,Ferro et al. 1995, Rojas de Arias 1995, 2004, 2005,Guillen et al. 1997). The surveillance phase is longer,expensive and difficult to maintain (Paulone et al. 1988).Besides, there are neglected aspects that need additionalknowledge. The massive insecticide application has re-cently shown the presence of populations with impor-tant levels of resistance in the North of Argentina andSouthern Bolivia. The mechanisms that have triggeredthis resistance are still unknown, as well as the approachsystems for control measures and if the phenomenon ispresent in other regions where massive chemical con-trol has been applied. On the other hand, there are fewstudies that have been performed about the remainingaspects of the early detection of triatomine populations,especially in the peridomiciliary area and the technol-ogy development of new tools that permit the early de-tection and timely elimination.An important advance in entomological surveillancehas been the incorporation of the geographic informa-tion system (GIS) for the location of triatomine infesta-tions, reinfestations, species distribution, and interven-tion monitoring. This tool has made possible a broaderand more dynamic vision of the behaviour of triatominepopulations impacted by control measures. It has alsoshown the behaviour of species that play an importantrole as secondary species.In recent years, there has been much progress in vec-tor genetics and potential vector species. The applica-tion of techniques of advanced cytogenetics, molecularbiology, cuticle hydrocarbons, and biological studies ofstructure, conformation and sensillas, have contributedto the knowledge of different species, especially in theSouthern Cone, where the actions and studies are in moreadvanced stages (SSA-EC 2005). However, potential vec-tor species still remain to be known as well as the vari-ability of the populations in relation to the impact of thechemical control.Transplacentary and transfusional transmission -Concerning other modes of transmission, although a pro-cess of vector elimination will give a significant impacton the transmission of Chagas disease, the transfusionaland congenital transmissions that are independent of thisshould be addressed in a public health context by the re-gional health services. For congenital transmission, thecontrol of chagasic pregnant women and the monitoringand treatment of their infected children should be con-sidered (Russomando et al. 1998). However, there arenot simple and economically accessible techniques thatwould make possible to discard a congenital Chagas in-fection at birth time in those children where parasito-logical infection is not detected. The screening in bloodbanks has been established in all Latin American coun-tries using diagnosis methods with high sensitivity andspecificity but sustainability must be guaranteed.Social aspects - The socio-cultural dimension ofChagas disease is undeniable because there is an asso-ciation between the forms of social organization andprecarious lifestyles. For this reason, it is necessary tostem from a conceptualization of health-disease as well


Abstract. Various approaches have been proposed for video anomaly detection. Yet these approaches typically suffer from one or more limitations: they often characterize the pattern using its internal information, but ignore its external relationship which is important for local anomaly detection. Moreover, the high-dimensionality and the lack of robustness of pattern representation may lead to problems, including overfitting, increased computational cost and memory requirements, and high false alarm rate. We propose a video anomaly detection framework which relies on a heterogeneous representation to account for both the pattern's internal information and external relationship. The internal information is characterized by slow features learned by slow feature analysis from low-level representations, and the external relationship is characterized by the spatial contextual distances. The heterogeneous representation is compact, robust, efficient, and discriminative for anomaly detection. Moreover, both the pattern's internal information and external relationship can be taken into account in the proposed framework. Extensive experiments demonstrate the robustness and efficiency of our approach by comparison with the state-of-the-art approaches on the widely used benchmark datasets.


The article presents the results of a study of the image of a "typical American" in the minds of Russian youth, using the example of students from Vladivostok city. The image was reconstructed using psychosemantic methods, such as verbal associations and the "pictogram" technique. The reconstructed image of a "typical American" in the minds of educated young Russians is visually pleasant, smiling, active and sociable, but hypocritical and self-interested.


Public health minister Tessa Jowell at the launch last week of an initiative aimed at encouraging employers to reduce incidence of back pain in the workplace. Employers will be able to bid for up to £50,000 for projects designed to tackle the problem. The drive is part of the government's Healthy Workplaces initiative.


Accurate modeling and using appropriate control strategies for scheduling of thermostatically controlled loads is the key to the successfull implementation of direct load control(DLC)programs. Physically based load model is adopted to characterize thermostatically controlled loads and Monte Carlo simulation method is used to obtain the normalised load by sampling in the range of values of parameters of the model. Customer override and equipment failure are considered and a DLC optimal scheduling model based on practical DLC control methods is proposed using an augmented max-min approach of fuzzy decision making theory. Numerical example shows that using the optimal schedul-ing model can not only get the given load reductions but also reduce the payback effect effectively,meanwhile,the overall comfort of DLC participants are less affected.


Macrophages are hematopoietic cells that populate every tissue. The characteristics shared by most tissue macrophages include a high phagocytic function and a degradative potential that allows them to clear foreign and damaged cells (Gordon and Taylor, 2005). In response to tissue infection, macrophages also participate in the induction of innate immunity, which plays a critical role in the killing of microorganisms and their pathogenic factors (Gordon and Taylor, 2005). Antigen-presenting cells, such as monocytes/macrophages, play major roles as sentinels of the first line of defense or as mediators that shape the adaptive immune response. Once activated by microbial products, macrophages acquire microbicidal competence that usually leads to effective immunity (Benoit et al., 2008). The adaptive responses to environmental signals are now recognized for both the mature and immature elements in the myelomonocytic differentiation pathway (Biswas and Mantovani, 2010). The orchestration of the immune response by macrophages (one of the first cells to recognize and respond to an infection or an inflammatory process) is complex and dynamic; macrophages interact with different immune cell populations, such as dendritic cells (DCs), neutrophils and lymphocytes, to recognize antigens and to initiate an adequate immune response at a systemic level or at the site of injury or infection. In this dynamic process, many signaling events are initiated that change the cell phenotype to one that better responds to the environment. In this chapter, the signaling events associated with macrophage adaptation and response to environmental signals will be presented, with a focus on the different phenotypes that these cells can assume in different situations. No part of this digital document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted commercially in any form or by any means. The publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this digital document, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information contained herein. This digital document is sold with the clear understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, medical or any other professional services. Rafael Paletta-Silva and José Roberto Meyer-Fernandes 148


Objective:To analyze the perfusion parameters and related pathological changes of rabbit VX2 liver cancer after three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy(3DCRT) and discuss the availability of perfusion-weighted imaging(PWI) as a clinical diagnosis of liver tumors,postoperative monitoring and efficacy evaluation.Materials and Methods:Of 13 New Zealand rabbits were implanted in liver with VX2 tumor by tissue block,each rabbit was treated by single 3DCRT.All of them were performed PWI and enhanced scanning 10 days before and after the radiotherapy by using a 1.5T MR scanner with EPI-SE sequence and SENSE technology.Finally,image quality of 3 rabbits were not good enough,13 were enrolled into statistic.Selecting the regions ofinterests(ROI) of lesions and surrounding normal liver tissue,perfusion values were measured and statistically analyzed.Maximal signal reduction slope(SRSmax) of the signal intensity versus time curves were created as quantitative index,specimens of vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF) were examined and compared with the perfusion-weighted images.Results:After radiotherapy,the SRSmax value of central and surrounding of tumor were statistically decreased than that before radiotherapy(P0.05),but there were no differences in normal liver parenchyma of tumor border;the SRSmax decreasing of different ROI was accordant to the range of the spoiled vascular endothelial growth factor(r=0.487,P=0.01).Conclusion:PWI can reflect the microcirculation and hemodynamic changes of rabbit models with hepatic VX2 tumors after 3DCRT.SRSmax can be used as an evaluating indicator for living tumor microvessels.


In this paper, we present a mixer-like microwave power amplifier (PA) characterization applicable to dynamically biased PAs. This approach takes into account the dynamic dependency of the PA with respect to the varying voltage supply and allows for modeling the up-conversion at the RF output, as well as the dynamically varying bias current. As case study, a hybrid GaAs microwave power amplifier is considered.


was totally one with his Father and with all other men'. John was 'used' by the later makers of the 'Alexandrian' christology. He supplied the key texts, but the christology of Chalcedon was not his christology. When John says the Word was God, what he meant has been presented fairly precisely by the NEB's 'what God was the Word was' 'it is a statement of equivalence rather than of identification'.


To constantly add to our understanding of child development, a valid, comprehensive, well-researched measure is needed. The recent revision and standardisation of the Griffiths Mental Development Scales Extended Revised (GMDS-ER) has necessitated investigations into its psychometric properties. This measure is used to identify developmental delays in children and critical decisions may be made, hence it is imperative that this measure be deemed both reliable and valid. This study aimed to contribute to the broader restandardisation project and focussed on gathering qualitative and quantitative construct-related validity evidence for one of the six Subscales of the GMDS-ER, namely the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale (Subscale D). An exploratory descriptive method using a triangulation approach was used to explore the construct-related validity evidence of the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale. A non-random purposively selected sample of 6 experts, who had worked at least 10 years with children assessing and evaluating the domain of eye-hand coordination, participated in a facet analysis to identify the underlying dimensions tapped by the Eye and Hand Coordination Subscale. The sample for the quantitative aspects of this study, the empirical validation of the construct model, was collected as part of the broader restandardisation and represented a stratified sample of 1026 children between the ages 24 months and 96 months from across the United Kingdom and Eire. Three measures, namely a biographical questionnaire, the GMDS-ER and a construct evaluation form were used to gather the qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data was analysed by means of a facet analysis and literature control which included examining other tests or subtests that tapped eye-hand coordination skills. The quantitative data was analysed by means of exploratory common factor analysis using oblique (DQUART)


Antony David C. Williams Spaces of Appearance: Writings on Contemporary Theatre and Performance This thesis, a collection of previously published materials, reflects a plural and evolving engagement with theatre and performance over the past fifteen years or so: as researcher, writer, editor, teacher, practitioner, spectator. These have rarely been discreet categories for me, but rather different modalities of exploration and enquiry, interrelated spaces encouraging dynamic connectivities, flows and further questions. Section 1 offers critical accounts of the practices of four contemporary theatre directors: Jerzy Grotowski, Robert Wilson, Peter Brook and Ariane Mnouchkine. Section 2 draws on elements of contemporary philosophy and critical thinking to explore the mutable parameters of performance. lt proposes performative mappings of certain unpredictable, energetic events 'in proximity of performance', to borrow Matthew Goulish's phrase: contact, fire, animals, alterity, place. Section 3 contains examples of documentation of performance practices, including a thick description of a mise en scene of a major international theatre production, reflections on process, training and dramaturgy, a performance text with a framing dramaturgical statement, and personal perspectives on particular collaborations. The external Appendix comprises a recently published collection of edited and translated materials concerning five core collaborative projects realised by Ariane Mnouchkine and the Theatre du Soleil at their base in the Cartoucherie de Vincennes, Paris. The core concerns of this thesis include attempts to think through: 9 • the working regimes, poetics and pedagogies of certain directors, usually in collaborative devising contexts within which the creative agency of performers is privileged;


The paper reviewed the origin and progress of the undersea feature names and introduced the evolving of SCUFN and its responsibility,and the development of the naming standard and regulation.On the basis of introduction to the situation on the undersea feature names in the main countries,such as Russia,USA,etc.,the authors analyzed the international trend on the undersea feature names.The undersea feature names are important to the marine research and the exploitation and management of ocean floor resources.


Diamond has been proposed as an excellent material for high-temperature, high-power, and high-frequency applications. The interest in diamond electronics is due to its large electric breakdown field, high-saturated current velocity and high-thermal conductivity. As silicon and gallium arsenide devices begin to reach their performance limits, there is a need to develop new, better performing materials such as diamond. Significant progress in the development of diamond as a semiconducting material has been made and diamond has been implemented into numerous conventional and novel device designs. In this work homoepitaxial diamond material properties and device performance are reviewed. In summary, the large activation energy of boron-doped p-type diamond and phosphorus-doped n-type diamond severely limits diamond's use in conventional semiconductor device designs. The large activation energy reduces the number of charge carriers, which limits the current handling capability and produces temperature-dependent device performance. To overcome diamond's limitations, novel devices, such as enhancement mode field effect transistors (FETs) that use a hydrogenated surface conducting layer or pulsed doped devices with almost complete ionization, have been investigated. These devices require further development. The initial results show promise for high-temperature, high-frequency, and high-power applications.


Since computer simulation based on complex adaptive system theory is a basic approach of social complex system research,a suitable modeling toolkit should be considered.Repast is one of most popular agent-based modeling and simulation toolkits,which is specifically designed for social science applications.The background of Repast is introduced in this paper.The main class packages of Repast are also briefly introduced.The characters of Repast simulation are analyzed from modeling and simulation aspects.The implementation of Repast simulation is discussed from several aspects,such as simulation steps,program framework,mechanism of schedule and display.A CarryDrop Repast Model is given as an example,which shows that agent-based simulation on Repast toolkit is convenient.In the end,the trait of Repast Toolkit is pointed out.


In a Conventional risk model using PSA for a NPP, loss of coolant accident (LOCA) are usually treated as fixed event groups by using break size. Most of PSA models divide this accident into small, medium, and large LOCA. In each group, safety function/systems are treated as applicable in the whole range of the break spectrum. Since many safety systems/functions are considered simultaneously in a single LOCA group, it is not possible to exactly find the applicable break spectrum in a single event tree. Present paper proposes new methodology for accident sequence analysis of LOCA. We suggest an integrated single ET construction for LOCA by incorporating a safety system/function and its applicable break spectrum into the ET.


With the advancing technology, it has taken a drift in the automobile industry with the introduction of Electric Vehicles. Electric Vehicles provide to humanity as a sustainable mode of transport, by not deteriorating the environment. This paper describes the procedure for modeling of an Electric Vehicle in MATLAB and Simulink, by explaining various- Motor Model, Battery Model, Power Model, and Regenerative System. Through Simulink, the designed Electric Vehicle is simulated and various factors like- Motor Torque, Vehicle Speed, State of Charge of Battery were calculated by providing Driving Cycle. The various observed factors were analysed for improving the model.


A facile and convenient synthesis of unsymmetric multisubstituted pyridines from β-ketoesters and ketene N,S-acetals or ketene N,N-acetals has been achieved in good yields catalyzed by Zn(NO3)2·6H2O in the presence of triethylbenzylammonium (TEBA) chloride in ethanol. This reaction was carried out under economical, one-pot reaction conditions (using easily obtained starting materials, and inexpensive catalyst and solvent) and offers considerable improvements over traditional methodology.


Funding: No specific financial support was available for this study. CEP Approval: Not applicable. Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest: None of the authors have any potential conflict of interest to disclose. Received on: Mar 20, 2018 Accepted on: Apr 06, 2018 Corresponding author: Paulo Sérgio Miranda de Oliveira Filho – Universidade Federal do Pará, Rua Augusto Corrêa, 1, Belém, PA, 66075-110. email@example.com


2007;84:1166-1173 Ann Thorac Surg Richard T. Clements, Cesario Bianchi and Frank W. Sellke Basel Ramlawi, Hasan Otu, Shigetoshi Mieno, Munir Boodhwani, Neel R. Sodha, Study Oxidative Stress and Atrial Fibrillation After Cardiac Surgery: A Case-Control http://ats.ctsnetjournals.org/cgi/content/full/84/4/1166 located on the World Wide Web at: The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is


The project is based on three theories: Bertanlanffy systems, several postulates of
Alvar Aalto, and geography represented in the Architecture. These three theories will
lead to a site that serves as a supplement to a whole understood primarily as a
natural system, where you will find the architectural project, in the Ilalo mountain.
The architectural object is a center where converge rest areas, supply areas, health
areas and areas for sports and fitness creating an Integral Sports Center.
The existence of this site is very important for the sports community of the city of
Quito, due to several surveys in this work it was concluded that more than 80 % of
people believe that there is no suitable area for sports with activities such as sport,
leisure and health. Another 86% of athletes consider their preference for sport close
to nature rather than done in city parks.
Then, coming to a clear need and with the Andean nature was born the idea of this
Integral Sports Center to help people who love sports and its relationship with the
natural environment.


The invention discloses a shutdown-free organic waste gas VOC activated carbon adsorption device, and belongs to the technical field of VOC waste gas purification. When activated carbon in an existing organic waste gas adsorption device reaches adsorption saturation, the device needs to be regularly maintained, an activated carbon adsorption layer needs to be replaced in time, a user needs to shut down the device to conduct inspection and maintenance, and accordingly the device can not normally work, production is stopped and great economic loss is caused to enterprises. The shutdown-free organic waste gas VOC activated carbon adsorption device solves the problem that unnecessary loss is caused for the user when the device needs to be maintained and production is stopped, the service life of the device is long, the waste gas purification efficiency reaches 95.9-99% or above, and the investment and management cost is greatly reduced.


The development of "new urbanization" human settlement environment is not only one of the important contents in the development of new urbanization, but also the key to be solved in the relationship between urban and rural areas. Therefore, this paper studies the intelligent algorithm in the intelligent monitoring model of human settlements under the improved fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (FCE). Taking Guizhou Province as an example, this paper studies and analyzes the karst landform and local land resource utilization, and evaluates the suitability of human settlements through the improved FCE algorithm. It is found that the evaluation results of coordinated development of residential environment and economy are consistent with the FCE results of human settlements. The higher the degree of coordination, the stronger the suitability of human settlements. The consistency between the degree of coordinated development and the evaluation results of the suitability of human settlements environment tests the scientificity and rationality of the FCE model of human settlements environment to a certain extent, so as to provide a scientific and feasible evaluation method for the suitability of human settlements environment.


The Automatic Fixture Removal (AFR) process is a new technique to extract accurate, high bandwidth models of interconnects that is both simple and accurate. This technique can be applied to all interconnects such as connectors, IC packages, cables, circuit board traces and even vias. It has comparable accuracy to traditional TRL techniques, but is much simpler to implement. This app note describes the AFR technique and why you will want to use it in your next measurement project. Measurements in Perspective Every high speed digital product designed and built today, operating above 50 MHz, has one problem in common: the interconnects between the chips are not transparent. This means if they are not optimized right from the beginning of the design process, the product probably will not work. In fact, the chance of success, if you do not optimize the interconnects, diminishes rapidly as data rates exceed 1 Gbps. This is the high speed digital regime. The ability to accurately simulate the performance of the interconnects is a critically important capability to assure optimized cost-performance before you build the product. The key element here is "accurate". How do you know how accurate your models, material properties or simulation tools really are? The only way to gain this sort of information is by comparison to measurement, your anchor to reality. While measurements are not a substitute for simulation, they can compliment simulations, for example, by using them to: • Emulate system performance using a measured behavioral model • Characterize a component • Verify a component to a spec • Validate a simulation/model to hardware • Extract material properties • Debug a problem But all measurements, especially at high frequency, have a critical limitation: what you want to measure is often buried deep inside an interconnect and not easily extracted. Courtesy of Wild River Technologies


E2 protein binding to the four E2 binding sites (E2BSs) at the long control region of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) 16/18 genome may exert either transcriptional activation/repression on E6 and E7 oncoproteins. Methylation status at the E2BSs may affect the relative binding of E2 protein to them. In this study, methylation percentage at E2BS 1, 2 (promoter‐proximal), and 4 (promoter‐distal) were assessed by pyrosequencing and compared among HPV 16/18‐positive cervical cancer, high‐grade, and low‐grade Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia, Atypical Squamous Cells of Undetermined Significance, and normal cervical epithelium. HPV 16 E2BS1&2 were more methylated than HPV 16 E2BS4 in cervical cancer whereas in cervical premalignant lesions and normal epithelium, HPV 16 E2BS1&2 were less methylated than HPV 16 E2BS4. HPV 18 E2BS1&2 remained more methylated than E2BS4 in all histological groups. HPV 16 E2BS1&2 methylation increased from high‐grade lesions to cervical cancer (P < 0.001). HPV 16 E2BS4 methylation increased from low‐grade to high‐grade premalignant lesions (P = 0.041). Both HPV 18 E2BS1&2 and E2BS4 methylation increased from low‐grade to high‐grade Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia (P = 0.019 and 0.001 respectively) and further increased form high‐grade lesions to cervical cancer (P < 0.001 and 0.005 respectively). Conclusively, HPV 16 E2BS1&2 (for transcriptional repression of E6/E7 oncoproteins) became more heavily methylated than E2BS4 (for transcriptional activation of E6/E7) in cervical cancer, favouring the differential binding of E2 protein to E2BS4. Increasing methylation at HPV 16/18 E2BSs are potentially useful adjunctive molecular markers for predicting progression from low‐grade to high‐grade cervical premalignant lesions and from high‐grade lesions to cervical cancer. J. Med. Virol. 87:1022–1033, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Transport models are applied to support the planner in the process of planning and decision making. Models attempt to replicate the system of interest and the systems behavior. The presented model considers the transportation system with its interactions between the several supply systems and the demand system. The transport model, implemented in a software product called VISUM, consists of: (1) a network model describing the structure of the supply systems, (2) a demand model simulating activities and generating trip chains, and (3) multi-modal assignment models to determine service quality and route choice.


A 16-year-old boy had osteosarcoma of the distal left femur diagnosed at age 10. At presentation there was no evidence of bony or pulmonary metastases. Five years later, the right ring finger was amputated because of bony recurrence at that site, and soon after the patient underwent bilateral thoracotomies for resection of pulmonary metastases. Follow-up evaluation with Tc-99m MDP skeletal scintigraphy demonstrated a large region of increased uptake in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. Noncontrast axial CT revealed a large calcified soft tissue mass in the left suprarenal region consistent with adrenal metastasis from osteosarcoma.


[Extract] In science, it's rare that a new idea comes along that stops people in their tracks. For ecologists, this has just happened, in a paper that found that species living in wild places have more genetic diversity than the same species living in areas dominated by people.

Why is this big news? For starters, it's a completely new reason to worry about the decline of wilderness.

My colleagues and I showed recently that wilderness areas have shrunk by a tenth globally in just the past two decades. Large wild areas are now mostly confined to cold, dry or otherwise inhospitable parts of the planet such as the far north and big deserts. Biologically rich rainforests have been destroyed the fastest.


However, there is currently no legal document regulating the use of mathematical models in the creation of emergency plans. On the basis of this, the article off ers a description of requirements for the necessary information of the two disciplines in cooperation and also proposals for streamlining the communication and cooperation between the two disciplines based on theoretical and practical knowledge as well as the results of the survey (Patrman, 2018). Abstract: The paper addresses the issue of connecting the fi elds of emergency planning and mathematical modelling in solving industrial emergencies. The fi rst part describes the diff erences in the requirements for the necessary information of the two disciplines to be interconnected. The second part deals with the proposal of a procedure for the use of mathematical modelling during incidents with leakage of dangerous substance based on theoretical and practical knowledge as well as from the results of the previously conducted survey. At the end of the paper, these proposals are presented on the model situation.


Abstract Background Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have been approved for non-small lung cancer (NSCLC). Adrenal insufficiency (AI) is a distinctive adverse event related to ICI. This can be either primary adrenal gland destruction or interference with corticotrophin (ACTH) secretion by the pituitary gland (secondary). As AI is relatively rare and symptoms and signs of AI are non-specific, the diagnosis of AI is often difficult. To clear the incidence and characteristics of AI related with ICI. We conducted a retrospective single center study. Methods We reviewed the medical records of patients with NSCLC who received pembrolizumab, nivolumab, atezolizumab or duravalmab at JCHO Kyushu Hospital between Feb 2017 and Jun 2019. Results A total of 114 patients with NSCLC received ICI. Eight patients (7.0%) were diagnosed with AI. Median age was 67 (range: 54 to 79). Six were male. Six out of eight patients were secondary AI, one patient was primary AI, and one patient was unknown. The median onset of AI from the first dose of ICI was 203 days (range: 38 to 763). The patients presented with fatigue, fever, nausea, diarrhea and/or dizziness. One patient was diagnosed because of repeating COPD/asthma attack. Hypocholesterolemia, hyponatremia, eosinophilia, hypoglycemia, and hyperkalemia were found 4, 2, 3, 1 and 1 out of 8 patients respectively. One patient didn't exhibit any above symptom. All of the patients had rapid resolution of symptoms after hydrocortisone replacement. Conclusions ICI-associated AI developed in 7.0% of patients requiring hydrocortisone replacement therapy. Symptoms and laboratory abnormalities at the time of onset varied. It is thought that patients using ICI therapy will further increase in the future, and patients who develop ICI-related AI will also increase. Clinicians should deepen their understanding of the nature of AI and provide appropriate information to patients so that AI can be quickly diagnosed and treated. Legal entity responsible for the study The authors. Funding Has not received any funding. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Recently, deep architectures, such as Deep Belief Network (DBN), have been used to learn features from unlabeled data. However, since DBN supports bi-directional inference and the units between two layers are fully connected, it is difficult to directly apply the traditional convolutional network to DBN, or scale DBN to fit the large images (e.g. 1024×768). In this paper, a new deep learning model, named Markov DBN (MDBN), is proposed to address these problems. This model employs a new way for DBN to reduce computational burden and handle large images. Markov sub-layers are also adopted to take the neighboring relationship of the inputs into consideration. To train MDBN, we devise Block Restricted Boltzmann Machine (BRBM) which chooses non-overlapping blocks as input. Furthermore, SIFT descriptor is employed to enable this model to learn translation, scaling and rotation invariant features. Experimental results on datasets Caltech-101 and Caltech-256 have demonstrated the superiority of our model.


The utility model provides automatic production equipment for an ignition coil case. The automatic production equipment for the ignition coil case comprises a stamping machine, three groups of stamping dies which are arranged on the stamping machine, five groups of guide rods which are symmetrically arranged on the two sides of the stamping machine, a feed device which is arranged at the feed end of the stamping machine, and a handling mechanism which is arranged on the guide rods on one side of the stamping machine, wherein the handling mechanism comprises a movable base, a driving motor which is fixedly arranged on a middle guide rod and is used for driving the movable base to move leftwards and rightwards, three handling devices which are arranged on the movable base, are correspondingly matched with the three groups of stamping dies and are used for handling ignition coil case raw materials, and a feed mechanism which is arranged at the feed end of the movable base, is matched with the feed device and is used for extracting the handling ignition coil case raw materials. Automatic feeding, automatic discharging and automatic handling can be realized in the stamping process, the problem of manual feeding, handling and stamping is effectively solved, the insufficiency of raw materials can be effectively reminded in time, the machine can be effectively prevented from running empty, and no influence is caused to the surfaces of products during production.


Background

Optic Pathway Gliomas (OPGs) are a type of benign tumour found in paediatric cohorts that are typically located in the anterior visual pathway and can result in irreversible visual impairment. Suffering from low vision has a significant negative impact on physical and emotional health, leaving many patients vulnerable and dependent on others (1). Research has been conducted that links structural changes in optic nerves to decreased levels of visual function in diseases such as multiple sclerosis (2,3), but to the author's knowledge, no investigation has been completed into the correlation of optic nerve size and visual function in children with OPGs.

Methods

A systematic literature review was conducted to investigate what method of assessing optic nerve size was the most reliable. This highlighted the need for three distinct, observational studies. The first retrospective, observational experiment investigated if cross-sectional area assessment of optic nerve size was reliable in measuring the optic nerves of 22 children with OPGs (aged 2-15 years). Optic nerve size was assessed from retrospective, structural MRI scans. The second observational experiment analysed the variation of optic nerve sizes in 30 healthy children (aged 5-16 years) in relation to their age, visual acuity and height. Optic nerve size was assessed from structural MRI scans and visual acuity scores were collected using the Sheridan Gardiner test. The third case-control, observational experiment investigated the correlation between optic nerve size, average retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness and visual acuity in 27 children with OPGs (aged 2-15 years). Moreover, the variation of optic nerve size and visual acuity according to age was compared between children with OPGs and 30 healthy controls (aged 5-16 years). Data from the previous studies were utilised, coupled with retrospective visual function assessments of visual acuity and OCT results.

Results

A measure of optic nerve size using a cross-sectional area technique was established to be reliable using a coefficient of variation and an intraclass correlation coefficient measure. Mean optic nerve size in the healthy paediatric cohort was 8.798mm² and it was found to negatively correlate with both age (R²=0.396) and height (R²=0.393). This is the first recording of maturation in a paediatric cohort demonstrating axonal decline, to the author's knowledge. In children with OPGs, optic nerve size was found to not correlate with RNFL thickness, age or visual acuity across all data in this dataset. However, the data for the left eyes did exhibit a significant negative correlation between these variables, and both optic nerve size and RNFL thickness were found to significantly predict visual acuity (R² = 0.402). RNFL thickness was also confirmed to correlate with visual acuity in both the left (R²=0.380) and the right eyes (R²=0.394). When optic nerve size and visual acuity of children with OPGs and the healthy cohort were compared, the OPG group was found to have significantly smaller nerves and poorer visual function. Lastly, despite issues with small sample sizes throughout the studies due to the difficulties in collecting usable MR images, information regarding faster or more motion resistant sequences have been accrued which will guide future paediatric imaging of awake cohorts.

Conclusion

A measurement method of optic nerve size has been validated as reproducible and has aided the researcher in demonstrating a previously unrecorded, negative correlation between optic nerve size with height and age in a healthy cohort. In the OPG cohort, this measurement method was used to find that optic nerve size was significantly smaller than in the healthy cohort, and that RNFL thickness correlated with visual acuity which was supported by the literature, while optic nerve size did not correlate with visual acuity. Moreover, RNFL thickness and optic nerve size were found to predict visual acuity, with RNFL thickness being the more significant predictor. Although, as this study was limited by a small sample sizes, these provide the preliminary findings on which to base a larger study.


Through the detection and study of the outlet passage's concrete in Zaohe pumping station,it is concluded that the main causes of concrete disease formation are compressive loads,foundation settlement,environmental factor and so on.According to the disease forms and extent of the concrete elements,the concrete cracks are repaired by Bics method,and the epoxy paste paint of H-S series is used for concrete carbonizing treatment.The quality testing results indicate that the project achieves the better remedial effect,which could provide a new method for the treatment of concrete disease in hydraulic structures.


In the last few years the use of fiber reinforced concrete is remarkably increased. In order to further encourage the use of this material it is necessary to provide the designer with codes and guidelines. The new Guidelines for Fiber Reinforced Concrete CNR-DT 204-2006 aims to satisfy this necessity.
In the present paper the use of CNR-DT 204-2006 is discussed by proposing practical applications. Firstly, the procedure to define the tensile behaviour of the material, starting from experimental laboratory results, is illustrated. Eventually, the design of beams under bending moment and shear for ultimate limit state is considered. In addition, some parametric curves are presented in order to better highlight the fiber contribution.


In this paper, we study various applications of the spectral invariants in the study of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms, which we construct in [Oh5,9]. We first construct a homological invariant norm on the Hamiltonian diffeomorphism group and a partial order on the set of time-dependent Hamiltonian functions on compact symplectic manifolds. We then obtain a lower bound of the the homological norm in terms of the symplectic area of certain pseudo-holomorphic curves and prove the semi-global C-flatness of the Hofer norm. This also gives rise to a new lower bound of the Hofer norm of non-degenerate Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms on compact symplectic manifolds, the optimal energy-capacity inequality, and results on the length minimizing property among all paths with fixed ends of some Hofer's geodesics of Hamiltonian paths. Some other application of spectral invariants to the study of minimal Hofer's geodesics is given in a sequel [Oh8]. MSC-class: 53D35, 53D40


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Current collection by positively polarized cylindrical Langmuir probes immersed in flowing plasmas is analyzed using a non-stationary direct Vlasov-Poisson code. A detailed description of plasma density spatial structure as a function of the probe-to-plasma relative velocity U is presented. Within the considered parametric domain, the well-known electron density maximum close to the probe is weakly affected by U. However, in the probe wake side, the electron density minimum becomes deeper as U increases and a rarified plasma region appears. Sheath radius is larger at the wake than at the front side. Electron and ion distribution functions show specific features that are the signature of probe motion. In particular, the ion distribution function at the probe front side exhibits a filament with positive radial velocity. It corresponds to a population of rammed ions that were reflected by the electric field close to the positively biased probe. Numerical simulations reveal that two populations of trapped electrons exist: one orbiting around the probe and the other with trajectories confined at the probe front side. The latter helps to neutralize the reflected ions, thus explaining a paradox in past probe theory.


The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials R 100 standard provides instructions for making and curing concrete test specimens in the field. However, further research is needed to compare the strength of the field-cured specimen with the strength of the actual in-place concrete item. The purpose of this combined laboratory and field study was to evaluate field-curing methods of concrete specimens for estimating the early opening strength of an in-place concrete item. The researchers used one Illinois Department of Transportation class PV mix to cast cylinders, beams, and in-place concrete slabs on October 2021 and February 2022 at an Illinois State University concrete experiment site. Concrete cylinders were cured using three methods: ambient air (Method #C1), insulated box/cooler (Method #C2), and power-operated box (Method #C3). Beams were cured using two methods: ambient air (Method #B1) and insulated plywood box (Method #B2). The cast-in-place specimens from each slab and cylinder were tested for compressive strength, and beams were tested for flexural strength after 1, 3, and 7 days of curing. One cylinder and one beam in each curing method along with slabs were embedded with sensors to collect temperature variation with time. Only Methods #C1, #C2, and #B1 were selected for evaluating further in the field, and data were collected from an IDOT District 5 box culvert demonstration project. Laboratory results showed that Method #C2 curing of 150 mm (6 in.) cylinders estimated early (1 to 3 days) compressive strength of an in-place concrete item within an acceptable range. For estimating the 7-day strength of an in-place concrete item, Method #C1 produced acceptable results. Further statistical analysis supported the results observed in the laboratory and field.


Taking the three-year-old Ulmus pumila L.rootstock of diameter 3 cm and ground diameter 0.7~1.0 cm of one-year as experimental materials,the survive rate of grafted seedlings of Ulmus pumila cv.'Jinye' were compared and studied via different budding treatments test.The results showed that after grafted the survival rate of Ulmus pumila cv.'Jinye' under control water treatment for nursery arbor,was higher than no water control stock in stubble rootstock nursery;control time of 20 d was the best.Running water slurry phenomenon was more serious before grafting,survival rate was the lowest.Therefore,20 d water control before graft,could reduce water run slurry,improve graft survival rate and increase economic benefits.


Embedded systems are increasingly becoming connected through wireless networking. These devices now form the basis of many of today's consumer products including cell phones and video game controll...


That this work was compiled under active service conditions in the East, where there was no access to any library of reference, may recount for much of its freshness and force, lhe authors, who have had three and a half years' personal experience of surgical work in every part of the field?from firing line to base?both in the Western and Eastern theatres of war, have furnished us with a living document full of original observation and clear, unbiassed deductions. As a record of sound surgical work carried out under trying and difficult conditions, it is of great scientific and practical value. How much has had to be learned by the surgeons of our Army during this war comes out, rather than is brought out, by the descriptions the authors give of the wounds met with in the earlier period, and the general evolution of the methods of wound treatment which has taken place since 1914. How well it has been learned is equally evident, from the


In my forthcoming book, The Curse of Ham, I explore the various images of the black African in early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I became interested in this topic because of a claim made by some that anti-Black sentiment in Western civilization has its roots in ancient Judaism, specifically in Rabbinic culture. The immediate focus of my investigation was therefore the literature of the Rabbis of late antiquity, that is, the talmudic and midrashic corpus of writings covering the first eight centuries of the Common Era. It quickly became apparent, however, that this focus needed a context, both diachronic and synchronic. Thus, the investigation began with the biblical, Ancient Near Eastern period and then moved into Hellenistic-Jewish literature before the rabbinic material was approached. As for the synchronic context, an exploration of contemporaneous Christian and Muslim literature became crucial for the following reason: The source for almost all of the Jewish material is scriptural exegesis, and scriptural exegesis traversed confessional boundaries in the Near East. Moving across such boundaries, biblical interpretations took on new forms, which, together with diachronic changes within Jewish civilization, provided the grid on which my exploration was mapped.


The invention belongs to the field of mechanical and electronic integration and particularly relates to a machining method for major-diameter inner taper pipe threads of a turbine air cylinder steam inlet pipe orifice. The machining method aims to solve the problem that the inner taper pipe threads, identical in screw pitch and different in diameter and depth, of the air cylinder steam inlet pipe orifice can not be machined through a cutter of the same size in the prior art. According to the machining method, the circumference equalizing approach method is adopted for designing a machine tool main program, through correction of parameters input into the program, the inner taper pipe threads, identical in screw pitch and different in diameter and depth, of the turbine air cylinder steam inlet pipe orifice can be machined through the cutter of the same size, and the machining efficiency is improved. The machining method is used for machining the major-diameter inner taper pipe threads of the turbine air cylinder steam inlet pipe orifice.


The possibility of using the signals of global satellite navigation systems for diagnosing the state of the sea surface and monitoring waves is considered. The behavior of navigation signals during various sea conditions is analyzed. The possibility of monitoring the disturbance by the magnitude of the fluctuation and the level of fading of the trend component of the received GNSS signal is shown.


In this proposed scheme, we presenting a new-fangled security primordial using on firm AI harms click spell, It may nothing only tries equal to progress together and make it to defence as well as using of puzzle. The aims it may to develop the security of puzzle IMAGE. Click spell, Stab to do these different goals like security-Puzzle Login using bubble sort; This may use-to develops the login of passing the test values; to afford a dictionary function for abusers to learn with reference to the importance and the spelling of alphabet words. In the addition, the user & password can be placed on the top of Image Selection. Security-Image puzzles solving using AES algorithm and OTP Generation. Security primordial is based on firm AI harms. A fundamental user & password security is to create Image Selection. Using Image Captcha and verification using Bitmap pattern, verification using images as convert into Binary.


These studies examine the influence of inorganic lead on expression of dihydropyridine receptors and molecular forms of acetylcholinesterase (AchE) in primary cultures of avian skeletal muscles. Treatment of avian muscle cultures with Pb{sup ++} in the concentration range 0-100 {mu}M caused graded reductions in the amounts of dihydropyridine receptors. These actions required at least 12 hours exposure to Pb{sup ++}, occurred without change in receptor affinity, and caused no discernible reduction in contractile activity of the cultured fibers. Under similar conditions treatment with Pb{sup ++} caused comparable reductions in the presence of AchE; in these cases the principal actions were observed as reductions in 7S AchE, an intracellular form of the enzyme. Since these actions are not observed in neural retina, they are concluded to be specific for skeletal muscle. The heterologous down regulation of both dihydropyridine receptors and specific intracellular forms of AchE indicates a distinct linkage between regulation of voltage-dependent calcium channels and AchE, as well as a pleiotropic activity of Pb{sup ++} on protein biosynthesis in general. In addition, these relationships suggest a novel mechanism through which Pb{sup ++} exerts its chronic mode of toxicity.


The Portfolio Decarbonization Coalition (PDC) was co-founded in 2014 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), AP4, Amundi and CDP. PDC's aim is to drive greenhouse gas emission reductions by mobilising a critical mass of institutional investors committed to gradually decarbonizing their portfolios.
This report – the second progress report published by the PDC – provides an overview of the decarbonization approaches and strategies of PDC's members, discusses the outcomes that have been achieved to date, and offers suggestions on how the process of portfolio decarbonization can be accelerated and its impacts in the real economy maximised.
The report finds that, over the past year, PDC's members have made significant progress in implementing their decarbonization commitments. For example, seventeen have now formal decarbonization-related objectives and targets covering some or all of their investment portfolios. All twenty-seven have started to take substantive action to decarbonize their investment portfolios. They have adopted a variety of approaches including engaging with companies to encourage them to set emission reduction targets, investing in environmental technologies and renewable energies, excluding fossil fuels from their investment portfolios, supporting the development of the green bond market, and playing an active role in policy debates on climate change.
There is clear evidence that decarbonization efforts are improving the carbon characteristics of PDC members' investment portfolios and funds. However, it is not yet possible to offer a definitive view on how portfolio decarbonization efforts – individually or in aggregate – will affect the real economy. It will take time for high level portfolio commitments to translate into tangible on-the ground changes.


Length of hospital stay and readmissions are outcome measures that have been largely overlooked in many studies that have evaluated the clinical evolution of pediatric patients with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). The aim of the present study was to identify predictors of prolonged hospitalizations or readmissions for acute lower respiratory infections (ALRIs) in infants with BPD. In a prospective cohort study, we determined independent predictors of prolonged hospitalizations or readmissions for ALRIs during the first 2 years of life in a population of infants with BPD living in Bogota, Colombia. Of a total of 138 patients included in the study, 83 (60.1%) had at least one hospitalization for ALRI during the follow‐up period. After controlling for potential confounders, we found that independent predictors of prolonged hospitalizations or readmissions for ALRIs included male gender (OR = 3.09; CI 95% 1.27‐7.52; P = 0.013), ambulatory oxygen therapy between 90 and 119 days (OR = 3.21; CI 95% 1.00‐10.24; P = 0.049), ambulatory oxygen therapy equal to or greater than 120 days (OR = 5.73; CI 95% 2.01‐16.32; P = 0.001), gestational age at birth (OR = 1.35; CI 95% 1.03‐1.76; P = 0.026), birth weight (OR = 0.997; CI 95% 0.996‐0.999; P = 0.010), and duration of breastfeeding equal to or greater than 6 months (OR = 0.39; CI 95% 0.16‐0.96; P = 0.039). The factors identified can be taken into account when planning policies to reduce duration of hospital stay and readmissions in infants with BPD.


Background One of the observer errors associated with blood pressure (BP) measurement using a mercury sphygmomanometer is end digit preference (EDP) which refers to the occurrence of a particular end digit more frequently than would be expected by chance alone. Published reports, mainly from outside Africa, have shown a high prevalence ranging from 22 to 90% of end digit zero in BP readings taken by healthcare workers (HCWs). This study examined the prevalence of EDP and patients' and physicians' characteristics influencing the occurrence of EDP. Methods A retrospective review was undertaken of BP readings of 114 patients seen over a two-month period at our hypertension specialty clinic. Results Nurses and physicians displayed a high frequency of preference for end digit zero in systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) readings. The preference for end digit zero was, however, higher for nurses than for physicians (SBP: 98.5 vs 51.2%, p < 0.001; DBP: 98.5 vs 64.3%, p < 0.001). Among the physicians, the consultant staff displayed the least preference for end digit zero compared to resident doctors. There was no statistically significant difference in gender, age, weight, height and BMI of those with BP readings with end digit zero compared with those with non-zero end digits. Conclusion The high prevalence of EDP for zero argues for the training, retraining and certification of HCWs in BP measurement and the institution of a regular monitoring and feedback system on EDP in order to minimise this observer error.


The area of Java is only 6% of the total area of Indonesia but it is inhabited by 70% of the 230 million Indonesians. More than 60% of the rural communities in Java depend on agricultural activities as their main source of income. Most of these communities are poor and live on the margins of forests, with an average landholding of less than 0.5 ha per household, hampering socio-economic development.


Gordon, Edmund W.; Armour-Thomas, Eleanor Computer Technology and Educational Equity. ERIC/CUE Urban Diversity Series, Number 91. ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, New York, N.Y. National Inst. of Education (ED), Washington, DC. Jun 85 400-82-0312 55p. ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education, Box 40, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 ($6.00 prepaid'. Reports General (140)


Based on the statistical data of flood occurrences from 1950 to 2000 in China, the characteristics of flood disaster were analyzed. The flood disaster in China was becoming more serious on occurring area and disaster - caused area in the latter 50 years of 20th century, and there were ten most serious flood disaster occurred years. Ration of occurring area and damaged area in serious water logging area against the whole country are both 47% , while the planting area is 39% of the whole country in these regions. Occurring area and damaged area in the north provinces of light water logging area and Henan, a province of serious water logging area decreased, and in most of other provinces was in increasing tendency. The reasons that caused the frequent occurrence of the flood disasters in the 1990s were analyzed, and advice on precautions and reduction measures against flood disaster were put forward.


Rural dwellers in the Niger Delta commonly use biomass for cooking and other activities. This study investigated the air quality index of fine particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) and coarse particulate matter 10 (PM10) and its health implications during outdoor combustion of fuelwood in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. A mini-volume air sampler (model: AEROCET 531) was used to measure PM2.5, PM10, and total suspended particulate (TSP) in the study area. A bimonthly triplicate sampling was carried out at 3 distances in 4 different states spanning one Calendar year. The results showed that PM2.5, PM10, and TSP ranged from 19.85 – 27.95µg/m3, 55.66 – 80.59µg/m3, and 74.29 – 140.44µg/m3, respectively. There was statistical variation across the different months, locations and distances, and their interactions. The concentration of PM2.5 and PM10 occasionally exceeds the World Health Organization limits of 25µg/m3 and 50µg/m3 for 24-hourly average, respectively. The air quality index showed no contamination to slight contamination in both seasons. The air quality index indicates that the air is slightly contaminated at the emission source which decreased as distance away increased. Therefore, there is a need for the regulatory agencies to consider PM2.5 and PM10 in the monitoring of ambient air quality to forestall potential hazards associated with human exposure.


The main purpose of introducing the PPBES to the Serbian Ministry of Defense and the Serbian Armed Forces is to provide a rational management of resources and to maintain and build capacity of the Ministry and the Serbian Armed Forces in order to achieve their goals, objectives and missions. Expected results of implementation of the PPBES are reflected in increasing the efficiency and rationalization of the defense planning to a higher level, ensuring compatibility with defense planning and budgeting system of the state and developing a foundation for the effective management of defense resources.


Abstract This study compared attitudes towards homosexuality of 164 students from two faculties at a rural Australian university. Eighty-two percent of participants were aged from 18–24 years, 65% percent of the sample were female with 58% of participants enrolled in a humanities course and 42% in a business course. A cross-sectional design using the Heterosexual Attitudes to Homosexuals (H.A.T.H.) and Fear of HIV/AIDS questionnaires found that for the total sample the major predictors of homophobia were fear of HIV/AIDS, gender, religiosity, and academic major. Business majors were significantly more homophobic than humanities majors. The findings imply that homophobia may be prevalent among university faculties and that staff and student programs need to be implemented to address homophobia, especially among business majors and lecturers.


The negative prognostic role of pathologic fracture in osteosarcoma is not determined, as previous case–control and retrospective cohort studies have produced contradictory results.


By using stochastic medium model in the foundation pit engineering ground surface movements, the adjacent ground surface movement and deformation due to dewatering and around body losing cross bloster was analyzed.


New supramolecular assembly patterns of zinc tetra(4-pyridyl)porphyrin into discrete (0D) cyclic tetrameric oligomers and polymeric 2D square-grids by self-coordination have been revealed.


The work of the Imperial Russian Musical Society (IRMS) in the cities of Siberia is examined in the article. Two main directions of activity – performance and education. The success of the work on organizing concerts was connected with the cities of Tomsk, Tobolsk, Omsk and Irkutsk, where professional musicians performed, efforts were undertaken in creation of orchestral and choral ensembles, and tours were organized by European performers. The programs included compositions by European and Russian classics, contemporary works, including little known oeuvres. By the efforts of the members of the organization, numerous thematic concerts devoted to the musical legacy (Mikhail Glinka, Anton Rubinstein, Piotr Tchaikovsky) were arranged. The genre scope of the compositions was quite broad – from songs and art songs to string quartets and symphonies. Outstanding performers took part in the concerts. Graduates of the Musical Classes of the IRMS had the opportunity to continue their education in conservatories, some of them became professional artists. The work of the Society was widely covered in the Siberian press, including the publications "Sibirskaya zhizn'" ["Siberian Life"], "Tomskiy listok" ["The Tomsk Leaf"], "Vostochnoe obozrenie" ["The Eastern Overview"], and "Sibirskiy vestnik" ["The Siberian Herald"]. The reported study was funded by Russian Foundation for Basic Research: Grant No. 17-04-00443 a. Keywords: Russian Musical Society (RMO), the musical culture of Siberia, Musical Classes, the Siberian press, musical performance.


Background and Purpose— Qualitative studies are increasingly used to investigate social processes and phenomena influencing health behaviors and service provision. We aimed to identify the scope of published qualitative studies of stroke, consider their relevance to development and delivery of services for people with stroke, and make recommendations for future work. Methods— Literature review of published articles was identified by systematically searching online literature databases using keywords from the start of each database until 2002. Articles were reviewed by 2 authors, using a standardized matrix for data extraction. The 2003 European Stroke Initiative recommendations for stroke management were used to categorize the literature for consideration of its contribution to stroke research. Results— We included 95 articles. Their empirical contribution includes an emphasis on recording the "human" experience of stroke; identification of needs as perceived by patients and their families, differences in...


A Multi-Aircraft Multi-Target Beyond Visual Range Air Combat (MMBVRAC) Real-Time Simulation System (RISS) is proposed. Interactive technology, the key to the design of MMBVRAC-RISS is discussed in detail. To solve the interactive problem, this paper proposes the data through exchange technology and relay exchange technology, which is quite fit for the MMBVRAC simulation. Meanwhile, to meet the synchronization need, the immediate synchronization technology and real-time synchronization technology are adopted and shown schematically in Fig. 1. There is a new concept, "real-time interactive simulation in network, independent tactics analysis on node", which means a pilot is able not only to take part in the whole MMBVRAC simulation, but also to evaluate strategy and tactics conveniently and independently after the simulation. The design philosophy of "independent tactics analysis on node" is quite distinctive in that Step Stamp technology is used, whereas Time Stamp or Absolute Time Stamp plays this role in the existing products. At last, the new concept and key technologies presented in this paper are verified by implementation of typical MMBVRAC simulation examples.-=


: e Audit Board of Indonesia (BPK), as an independent audit institution, was mandated by the 1945 Constitution to perform investigative audits to declare state losses. In the process of exercising its authority, BPK encounters issues related to its own organizational reputation. e objective of this research is to identify and examine how the auditor's independence affects the quality of an investigative audit and its effect on the credibility of the BPK. e main finding of the study is that the auditor's independence as a value has a positive impact on the BPK's reputation, which is represented by the quality of investigative audits. investigative audit, audit quality, organizational reputation, BPK, corruption..


ABSTRACT This study examines the prevalence and consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the workplace. Surveys were completed by 1,390 employees in 32 different companies representing different organization types. Over half of the women and almost a quarter of the males reported that they had been an IPV victim at some point in their lives with 16% reporting victimization in the previous 12 months. Younger workers and workers who witnessed IPV frequently as a child were more likely to be current IPV victims. Further, 41% of lifetime victims reported significant workplace consequences, such as missed days of work, tardiness, and perpetrator intrusion. Younger workers, a history of IPV physical injury, more frequent IPV events over longer periods of time, and a history of stalking were associated with a greater number of IPV work consequences. The cumulative effects of IPV as well as active victimization contribute to negative workplace consequences. With significant numbers of employees experiencing IPV and reporting workplace consequences, the present research underscores the need for employers to develop a more precise means of understanding cost and response.


Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) entangled state light field at the telecommunication wavelength of 1.5 μm is an important quantum source for the realization of continuous variable quantum information processing and some quantum protocols over optical fiber channel. When the EPR entangled state light field is distributed over the optical fiber channel, the disentanglement is always occured because the the EPR entangled state interacts with the fiber channel. It affects the performance of quantum information processing. In this paper, we theoretically calculated the positive partial transposition (PPT) of the entangled state distributed over the optical fiber channel in the single-channel and dual-channel distribution scheme, respectively. Three types of initial entangled light field was considered and analyzed, including an initial EPR entangled state, an EPR entangled state with asymmetric quadratures and an EPR entangled state with asymmetric modes. Furthermore, the influence of the extra noise in the optical fiber on the transmission distance of EPR entangled state over the optical fiber channel was investigated. In the single-channel scheme or dual-channel scheme, the extra noise in the optical fiber channel leads to disentanglement of the entangled state light field, and the transmission distance of EPR entangled state over the optical fiber channel decreases rapidly with the increase of the extra noise. For the sake of maintain the robustness of EPR entangled states in lossy optical fiber channels, the dual-channel scheme has more stringent requirements on the correlation quadrature symmetry and purity of the initial entangled state than the single-channel scheme. In the single fiber noise channel scheme, the maximum transmission distance and the robustness of the EPR entangled states with asymmetric modes is not sensitive to the asymmetry between modes. The change of asymmetry between modes does not lead to disentangle. The maximum transmission distance does also not change. However, the decrease of asymmetry between modes leads to disentangle in the double fiber noise channels scheme scheme. The maximum transmission distance is reduced and entanglement sudden death occurs. The results will lay a foundation for continuous variables quantum information processing based on optical fiber, such as realizing continuous variables quantum communication over optical fiber and constructing metropolitan quantum network over optical fiber.


This report presents the results of an investigation of the ground-water resources of the Pullman area, Whitman County, Wash. The investigation wa? made in cooperation with the State of Washington, Department of Conservatior, Division of Water Resources, to determine whether the 1959 rate of ground-wi.ter withdrawal exceeded the perennial yield of the developed aquifers, and if so, (1) whether additional aquifers could be developed in the area, and (2) whether the yield of the developed aquifers could be increased by artificial recharge. The Pullman area includes the agricultural district surrounding the city of Pullman, in southeastern Whitman County, and the western two-thirds of the Moscow-Pullman basin, which extends into Latah County, Idaho. Tl ^ mapped area comprises about 250 square miles. The area is in a region of smooth rolling hills formed by erosion of thick deposits of loess, which cover a dissected lava plain. The loess (Palouse formation of Pleistocene age) ranges in thickness from less than 1 foot to more than 150 feet. The underlying lava flows, part of the Columbia River basalt of Tertiary age, are nearly horizontal and form bluffs and low cliffs along the major streams. The total thickness of the basalt sequence in the area is not known, but it m^y be considerably greater than 1,000 feet beneath the city of Pullman. The basalt sequence is underlain by a basement mass of granite, granite gneiss, and quartzite, of pre-Tertiary age. The most productive aquifers in the area are in the Columbia River basalt. They consist of the permeable zones, commonly occurring at the tops of individual lava flows, which may contain ground water under either artesian or vater-table conditions. Two such permeable zones have produced more than 95 percent of the ground water used in the Pullman area, or as much as 870 million gallons per year (1957). These two zones are hydraulically connected and lie at depths ranging from about 50 to 170 feet below the land surface at Pullman. The area receives about 21 inches of precipitation annually, about two-thirds of it from October through March. Only a fraction of the precipitation reaches the aquifers; the remainder is returned to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration or leaves the area as surface runoff. The basalt is recharged mainly by infiltration from streams and downward percolation from the overlying loess. The ground water moves generally westward. However, most water in the artesian aquifers tapped by wells in the vicinity of Pullman may move toward the city of Pullman, which is the center of major pumping. The rate of movement ranges from extremely slow in the loess and the massive basalt to very rapid in the permeable zones of basalt. 1 2 GROUND WATER IN THE PULLMAN AREA, WASHITGTON The principal modes of discharge from the artesian aquifers r.re seepage to streams and pumpage from wells. The amount of natural discharge is unknown, but the pumpage ranged from about 340 to 870 million gallons per year, and during 1949-59 it averaged about 800 million gallons (2,500 ac-ft) per year. For about the last 25 years at least, the piezometric surface of the artesian zones has declined each year, indicating that the annual ground-water discharge from the artesian aquifers (including pumpage and natural discharge) has exceeded the recharge in the Pullman area. An analysis of the relation of pumpage to the decline in artesian level indicates that during 1952-59 an average of about 65 million gallons per year was removed from storage. Although the decl'ne in artesian pressures has resulted in an increase in the recharge to the aquifers, the present rate of pumping may be equal to or even exceed the perennial yield of the artesian aquifer in the report area under natural conditions. Geologic and hydrologic conditions seem favorable for the existence of potentially good aquifers below those which are now extensively developed. The deep aquifers seem to have only a slight hydraulic connection with the overlying artesian basalt aquifers. The best possibility for artificially recharging the artesian aquifers seems to be through the injection of water from streams into one or more wells that penetrate the artesian zones. In such an arrangement, the well could be us3d alternately for recharge and pumping. One perennial and several intermittent streams are possible sources of recharge water. The stream water is similar in chemical quality to that from the artesian aquifers and so would be suitable for recharge, but removal of sediment would be required prior to injection,


Central nervous system involvement from ovarian cancer is rare, and ovarian cancer-related orbital apex syndrome does not appear to have been previously reported. Only a few cases of choroidal metastases from primary ovarian origin have been reported in the literature. We describe what we believe to be the first case of ovarian cancer with the presentation of orbital apex syndrome and choroidal metastasis as a part of the manifestations. Progressively blurring vision and subsequent ophthalmoplegia of the left eye developed in a 37-year-old woman. Funduscopic examination revealed mild disc edema with flame-shaped hemorrhage and a one disc-sized choroidal mass. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging indicated an ill-defined lesion at the left superior orbital fissure with bony erosion. Systemic evaluation demonstrated an ovarian tumor with multiple organ metastases. Although the ophthalmoplegia cleared completely subsequent to chemotherapy and irradiation, visual acuity still remained the same, with no light-perception. The patient died seven months following the initial diagnosis.


A study of the stability of the copper catalyst has led to the first successful copper(I) catalysed alkoxydehalogenation of non-activated aryl chlorides.


The along-track components of current for 55 southward passages between Cape Moreton (27o02'S.) and Sugarloaf Pt (32o 27'S.) on the east Australian coast have been analysed. The currents are predominantly towards the south, but their variability is stressed. At any particular time, departures from the mean current show appreciable correlation for distances up to about 100 km. At a particular latitude, departures from the mean current are positively correlated for time differences up to 20 days, and show a slight negative correlation for time differences of the order of 30 or 40 days, indicating a weak periodicity with periods of the order of 70 days. The connection between these and other estimates of space and time scales for the east Australian current is discussed. No evidence of alongshore movement of current patterns was found.


Web of Things (WoT) allows users to create and share contents through a network. However, the social Web of things (SWoT) is a new concept merging the WoT and social capabilities of the modern internet. These devices are interconnected physical, social, real-time, semantic for better communication by the web. SWoT describes approaches, software architectural styles and programming designs that permit real-world objects to be part of the world communication; however, information privacy is mistreated since information is accessed in uncertainty ways by non-authoritative individuals. In this paper, we review complex privacy issues in SWoT with suggesting state of the art solutions to overcome avoidable scenarios basing on the current surveys, models, and architectures, enlightenment on the drawback's technology users. We justify that during devices and people interaction to the SWoT through credential assessment for access, content sharing throughout communication and controlling physical things will be the main privacy issues.


: Length Weight Relationship (LWR) has been estimated for fresh water fish species, Glossogobius giuris (Ham.) from Sukhna Lake, Chandigarh. The value of correlation coefficient (r) and exponent 'b' has been found to be 0.892** and 3.18 respectively for Glossogobius giuris (Hamilton), thereby signifying a positive allometric growth.


The progress in the synthesis and application in energetic formulations of Poly BAMO/AMMO, the copolymer of bis(3,3' azidemethyl)oxetane(BAMO) and 3 azidemethyl 3' methyl oxetane(AMMO), as well as the recovery of ingredients from certain formulation is summarized.Poly BAMO/AMMO is an excellent binder candidate for future high energy,recyclable green propellant.


Skin blemishes are big problems. We focused particular attention on "everlasting blemishes". We developed "ASTALIFT WHITENING ESSENCE", which contains Astaxanthin. Astaxanthin regulates cytokine levels during the production of melanin, and along with vitamin C, inhibits excessive melanin production. The "ASTALIFT WHITENING ESSENCE" combines substances that control formation of normal blemishes with other substances to act on "everlasting blemishes". We found this product moisturizes the skin and makes the skin more elastic. It also not only reduces the number and the size of blemishes, but inhibits the forming of wrinkles.


Cocurriculum in school have been part from the education system in Malaysia currently. It has become compulsory one activity to every student in all secondary school and primary school. Cocurriculum activity considered important us device to fulfil the aspiration ideal national education policy, that is unity among students which comprise from multi-racial. Jawatankuasa Kabinet's Report (1979) had said that every student need to be encouraged so participate a more active in cocurriculum activity. Each
student required to participate in a-body with uniform, a sport or game and a club or association in school. Cocurricular activity is part and parcel of the school curriculum. It
is important asa it contributes to physical, mental, emotional and social development of
students. The success in the implementation of cocurricular activity would depend on several factors such as finance, facilities and adequate equipment as well as proper involment by students and teachers. The primary objective of this study is to identify the problems in the implementation of cocurricular activity in five selected secondary schools in country of Perlis, five principle, 100 cocurricular teachers and I50 students were chosen as sample in the study. This is an exploratoly study and data were gathered through discussion, interviews and questionnaires. "Descriptive Statistic" and kualitatives imformations were use to analyse the data of this study. The results of this study showed that all the five selected schools faced inadequate facilities and equipment as well as financial problems. The selected schools. also problem in scheduling the activities. The cocurricular teachers most of them were not trained to supervise the activities. Further most of the students in this study were found to be involved
cocurricular. nose who were involved were self-motivated by teachers, friends and their
parents. On the other hand those who not involved indicated that they had to help their
parents at home and problem facilities and adequate equipment. This study has also
identified the opinions of the five principle and cocurricular teachers on the importance
of the cocurricular activities in an all-round development of students and suggestions and
recommendation or improving the implementation of cocurricular activities in state school of Perlis


Thefollowing interview with playwright William Yellow Robe r. was adapted from remarks prepared for the New WORLD Theater Multicultural Theater Festival and Conference in 1989 and a later interview conducted by New WORLD Theater artistic director Roberta Uno. Yellow Robe has had his work produced both in the ethnic and regional theater. His play Sneaky was published in Slant 6: New Theater from the Minneapolis Playwrights Center (New Rivers Press, 1990). Other works of his have been read or staged by Theater Center, the American Conservatory Theater, the New WORLD Theater, the Montana Repertory and the Purple Mountain Theater. Yellow Robe has served as the literary manager for the Seattle Group Theater and was a Jerome Fellow at the Minneapolis Playwrights Center in 1988. He was the only playwriting winner of the 1989 Princess Grace Award and currently serves as the literary manager for the Seattle Group Theater. An enrolled member of the Assiniboine Tribe of theFort Peck Indian reservation in northeast Montana, he was raised in traditional Indian ways in Wolf Point, Montana, where he graduated from high school. Raised by his mother, Mina Rose, he is the second youngest of nine children. Yellow Robe attended Northern Montana College in Havre and the University of Montana in Missoula where he studied history, journalism, and the performing arts. Although many of Yellow Robe's plays and short stories examine traditional Indian themes, he has also written for children's theater and, most recently, a play on AIDS. In the past three years he has written five commissioned plays. His one-act and full-length plays include: The Independence of Eddie Rose, Wink-Dah, Sneaky, Harvest, My Walks with Grandma, The People, The Breaking of Another Circle, The Pendleton Blanket, A Great Thing, Taking Aunty to the Wake, WA-KIK-NA, and A Coyote's Tale.


At some point in a CDROM title proposal's cycle - no matter how interesting its subject matter, revolutionary its interface, or marketable its price - there comes consideration of the bottom line. In publishing, this stage is known as the Profit and Loss (P&L) and reflects a series of workups balancing costs, revenues, gross profits, and margins.


The evaluation of acoustic or electromagnetic fields induced in the interior of inhomogeneous penetrable bodies by external sources is based on well known volume integral equations; this is particularly true for bodies of arbitrary shape and/or composition, for which separation of variables fails. In this paper we focus the investigation to acoustic (scalar fields) in inhomogeneous spheres of arbitrary composition, i.e., with r-, (theta) - dependent medium parameters. The volume integral equation is solved by a hybrid (analytical - numerical) method, which takes advantage of the orthogonal properties of spherical harmonics, and, in particular, of the so-called Dini's expansions of the radial functions; the optimum convergence of the former is, also, determined. The scalar case treated here, serves as a stepping stone for the solution of the more difficult electromagnetic problem.


Basaltic shergottites such as Shergotty, Zagami and EET79001 contain impact melt glass pockets that are rich in Martian atmospheric gases and are known as gas-rich impact-melt (GRIM) glasses. These glasses show evidence for the presence of a Martian regolith component based on Sm and Kr isotopic studies. The GRIM glasses are sometimes embedded with clusters of innumerable micron-sized iron-sulfide blebs associated with minor amounts of iron sulfate particles. These sulfide blebs are secondary in origin and are not related to the primary igneous sulfides occurring in Martian meteorites. The material comprising these glasses arises from the highly oxidizing Martian surface and sulfur is unlikely to occur as sulfide in the Martian regoilith. Instead, sulfur is shown to occur as sulfate based on APXS and Mossbauer results obtained by the Opportunity and Spirit rovers at Meridiani and Gusev. We have earlier suggested that the micron-sized iron sulfide globules in GRIM glasses were likely produced by shock-reduction of iron sulfate occurring in the regolith at the time when the GRIM glasses were produced by the meteoroid impact that launched the Martian meteorites into space. As a result of high energy deposition by shock (~ 40-60 GPa), the iron sulfate bearing phases aremore » likely to melt along with other regolith components and will get reduced to immiscible sulfide fluid under reducing conditions. On quenching, this generates a dispersion of micron-scale sulfide blebs. The reducing agents in our case are likely to be H2 and CO which were shock-implanted from the Martian atmosphere into these glasses along with the noble gases. We conducted lab simulation experiments in the Lindhurst Laboratory of Experimental Geophysics at Caltech and the Experimental Impact Laboratory at JSC to test whether iron sulfide globules can be produced by impact-driven reduction of iron sulfate by subjecting Columbia River Basalt (CRB) and ferric sulfate mixtures to shock pressures between 40 and 50 GPa under reducing conditions. The experimental products from the recovered samples were analyzed by SEM and microprobe techniques at JSC.« less


The EU claims to be a normative power which in its external relations acts as a teacher on gender issues. However, in spite of its commitments it does not yet systematically practice what it preaches. Also, the EU does not define but transfers the 'normal' as regards gender equality, based on standard-setting by other international and regional organizations. Finally, the EU does not offer an attractive model to others, who sometimes even have developed stronger gender equality norms than the EU. This can be explained by the constraining effect of the EU identity as market power and the concomitant underlying logic. As a result gender equality is considered marginal to trade and security issues. Typically the EU political arena sidelines feminist actors that seek to transform EU policies, and silences feminist voices from third countries. The paper starts with a plea to take gender issues seriously, and to adopt an intersectional approach.


This study on the " Developmental Preschool Teacher Evaluation Kit" aimed to develop an action research study applied in the field of kindergarten , and to verify implementation effectiveness and feasibility of the system First draft of discussion with the teachers group, the implementation of action strategies , experts' amended advice , action research to revise self-assessment test for measuring pre-school teachers, classroom observations, peer observation, growth plans, etc., the implementation of feasibility of the evaluation kit. Based on the action research, the researcher constructs the " Developmental Preschool Teacher Evaluation Kit." In this study, the progress of action in the first phase of revision of teaching guidance focuses on teaching environment and individual needs. The second phase of testing highlights "peer opinion report" to establish professional community interaction, exchange teaching skills and enhance the teaching accomplishment. Classroom observation serves a way to provide the specific behavior that will re-ignite teachers' work ethic. Finally, to verify the " Developmental Preschool Teacher Evaluation Kit." in kindergarten is feasible. Implementation process of the preschool teachers' change and growth depends on sublimating their own teaching concept, listening to their teaching belief with respect. It's the most efficient key to culminate more successful teaching guidance.


A Lecturer at STMIK PROVISI Semarang The study is aimed at describing to what extent Maxim Grice Cooperation Principles affect a child in her interaction/ answering questions, what maxims were violated and what possible factors cause that also to what extent she employed hedges in her answers. The Maxim Grice under investigation was maxim of quantity, maxim of quality, maxim of relevant, and maxim of manner. The subject of this research was a six year old child studying at the first grade of Sompok Elementary School. The data were collected from 3 interviews and 1 phone conversation. The data were recorded and then transribed to be further analyzed. The data reveals that a six year old child was quite aware   not to violate Maxim Grice ( quantity, quality, and manner) by delivering straight forward answers. The violation to maxim of quality, quantity, and relevant that did occur showed that she had  little knowledge of the topics. However, the use of hedges by the child also showed  that she actually tried to obey maxim of quality since she was not certain about the accuracy of the informatin she gave. Key Words : Maxim Grice, Hedges, violate


The influence of different conditions on the mechanical properties of short coir fiber reinforced polymer composites as well as glass fiber reinforced polymer composites have been analyzed and compared. Fiber length of 20 mm was found to be optimum for the best result. It is observed that the filler loading of 30 phr was most suitable for best results. Degradation studies were carried out in different solvents like 10% NaOH, 1 N HCl, and 10% NaCl and water. The effect of these solvents and water on the mechanical properties of the composites was studied in detail. The deterioration of mechanical properties of the coir/PE and glass/PE composites by environmental weathering was also studied.


Research continues to be a dirty word for many Indigenous people. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is a means to disrupt power dynamics by engaging community members within the research process. However, the majority of relationships between researcher and participants within CBPR are structured within Western research paradigms and they often reproduce imbalances of power. The purpose of this article is to reflect on the process of CBPR within a research project focused on Indigenous men's masculinity and mental health. In doing so, we aim to contribute to reflexive practice in CBPR and flatten research hierarchies to facilitate more equitable knowledge sharing. Our reflections highlight the importance of prioritizing healing, centering cultural protocols, negotiating language, and creating space for Indigenous research partners to lead. These critical lessons challenge Western researchers to ground their practices in Indigenous culture while they "sit outside the circle" to facilitate more equitable and engaged partnerships.


United Nations Commission of statistics, United Nations Statistical secretariat as executive agency of SC, statistics of United Nations specialized organizations and other international organizations, working for UN Secretariat are the structures which represent modern international statistics. The development and progress of international statistical standards, which are to provide consistency of national statistical indices, are the main scientific directions of international statistics activity. However, there are permanent differences between statistical data of the countries and international statistics. This problem can be solved by direct participation of national statistics in development of those standards and application of transitional keys method and purchasing power parity of currency. National statistics has active interaction with international one at all levels of development and realization of standards, in particular, in national product and shadow economy, labor market, foreign trade statistics and international economic transactions, in implementation the program of international comparison of social and economic development of countries and living standards. For this aim, common methodology of index analysis of consumer prices and inflation dynamics as well as Pareto-Lorenz-Giny methodology.


In the context of European integration, the creation of transnational tourism products represents the brand of an inter-state collaboration, which, based on a common strategy, implies objectives that aim at achieving the global development of a destination, making thus possible an efficient and effective allocation of resources, in order to achieve a sustainable development, both from a touristic point of view and from an economic, social, cultural, technological, etc. one. The route of the Danube could represent one of the most important European destinations, appertaining to more than one country; therefore, in order to develop and sustain its touristic potential, a common strategy is necessary, with an integrated marketing image, associated to a consistent tourism product, inspiring common values, regardless of the territory of the country it is located in. In this direction, a quantitative marketing research, conducted on 992 respondents, aged 18-24, in order to determine the opinions concerning the touristic potential of the Danubian harbours – as a fundamental element, precursory to the market analysis.


Status quo of wild animals protection and mangement facing problems were analyzed according to protection and management status quo in Xining.Protection and management of wild animals are quite importance for maintaining ecological balance,practicing strategy of large exploite in west of China,promoting sustainable development of society economic.improving cultural life and scientific research.Counter-measures of Strengthening wild animals protection and management were offered.


Inequality is a multidimensional phenomenon involving both economic and social processes, and regulated by a variety of political processes and policies. Measures of economic inequality, in terms of income and wealth, however, provide an effective picture of broad patterns of inequality. Between the end of the 1970's and mid2000's, such indicators have documented a general growth in inequalities within and between countries, highlighting a major aspect of economic development over that period. Considering inequalities in household disposable income, measured by the Gini coefficient, countries such as Germany, Spain, Greece, Ireland, the UK, Italy, Poland and Portugal, as well as the USA, Canada and Japan, have now a value around or above 0.30, a threshold of high income inequality among households; Denmark and Sweden, however, remain the least unequal advanced countries, with Gini values around 0.23. Almost all OECD countries have experienced a growth in such measures, with particularly strong increases in the USA, Finland, Norway, Germany, Portugal and Italy. A rise in income shares by the top quintile of the income distribution – the richest 20% among households – is a key determinant of greater inequalities over the last decade in Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Italy, as well as in the USA and Canada. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD 2008: 27–31) showed that the average annual growth of real incomes of the top quintile has been twice as large as that of the bottom quintile – the poorest 20% of households – in Finland, Sweden, the UK, Germany, Italy, as well as in the USA. The International Labor Organization (ILO 2009) believe that the recession that has followed the international financial crisis of 2008, is bound to further exacerbate income inequalities and to increase the problems of unemployment and poverty in Europe, making the already high social costs of inequality, even higher. Inequalities in disposable income are the result of changes taking place in the labour market, in other markets, in a series of social variables and in the redistributive activity of the welfare state. Our understanding of this chain of events and of the role played by each factor involved is by now supported by substantial evidence. First of all, labour market mechanisms influence wage dispersion among workers on the basis of education, skills, professional groups, types of labour contracts, presence of unions and, more generally, through the regulations of labour markets. These outcomes are, in turn, shaped by far-reaching economic processes – such as technological change and globalisation – and by institutional change in the labour market. In the case of transition economies, 'internal' factors of reforms – such as