Back-thinned silicon detectors offer a high response over a very broad spectrum for direct detection by providing an efficient optical path into the sensing silicon avoiding front face structures manufactured from metal, polysilicon, nitrides, and oxides that may absorb the incident light before reaching the sensing silicon. We have tested two CCDs with different back-surface shallow p+ implant thicknesses (basic and enhanced) at the M4 line (wavelength between 40 and 400 nm) at Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB)'s Metrology Light Source in Berlin. This characterization in the ultraviolet spectral range extends the soft X-ray quantum efficiency (QE) data set previously acquired with the exact same devices. Due to the short absorption depth and the scope for many types of interactions of the device materials with ultraviolet photons, QE measurement and stability of the device against extended exposure in the UV are of ongoing interest. Therefore, QE measurements have been carried out before and after exposures to quantify any change in behavior. To allow characterization of the passivation processes only, the devices have no antireflection coating. The measured QE of the standard back-thinned CCD is below 10% between 70 and 370 nm. An average additional 5% efficiency is achieved in the enhanced device within the same range. At the limits of the measured spectrum, toward soft X-rays or toward the visible range, the QE increases and the difference between the standard and the enhanced process is reduced as the photon absorption length increases beyond the immediate back-surface. The measured QE after long high-flux exposures at 200 nm shows remarkable improvement.


According to the generalization of mobile device use in our life, the complexity and diversity of mobile applications are increased, and thus the importance of application test to find faults and errors quickly and easily before release grows. This paper reviews the current automatic testing methodologies for mobile device applications and their element technologies. Also, well-known commercial tools for automatic testing are surveyed and case studies of their recent industry applications in domestic and foreign countries are performed.


Astronomy![Figure][1]

CREDIT: ISTOCKPHOTO (INSET) VOYAGER PROJECT/NASA

Neptune receives much less radiation from the Sun than either Jupiter or Saturn. Like these two large planets, though, it has a meteorologically active atmosphere, with clouds, storms and possibly a global circulation pattern. Most of Neptune's clouds evolve on a time scale of hours. One cloud, however, has appeared to persist since at least 1989, when it was first detected by the spacecraft Voyager 2. This cloud is located within a few degrees of the south pole, where the troposphere is known to be warmer and where, by analogy with Saturn's south polar environment, researchers suspect that a vortex may exist. Using the Keck Telescope in Hawaii, Luszcz-Cook et al. observed Neptune's south pole in the near-infrared, thereby probing the upper and lower troposphere. Images taken over 3 days in July 2007 show the south polar cloud splitting in two and then coming together again. The altitude observed is consistent with cloud formation due to upwelling and condensation of methane gas. Thus, rather than representing a single stable cloud, the bright feature observed by Voyager marks a site of persistent cloud activity, which may be related to a Neptunian south polar vortex and an organized circulation pattern.

Icarus 10.1016/j.icarus.2010.03.007 (2010).

 [1]: pending:yes


Balancing selection occurs when multiple alleles are maintained in a population, which can result in their preservation over long evolutionary time periods. A characteristic signature of this long-term balancing selection is an excess number of intermediate frequency polymorphisms near the balanced variant. However, the expected distribution of allele frequencies at these loci has not been extensively detailed, and therefore existing summary statistic methods do not explicitly take it into account. Using simulations, we show that new mutations which arise in close proximity to a site targeted by balancing selection accumulate at frequencies nearly identical to that of the balanced allele. In order to scan the genome for balancing selection, we propose a new summary statistic, β, which detects these clusters of alleles at similar frequencies. Simulation studies show that compared to existing summary statistics, our measure has improved power to detect balancing selection, and is reasonably powered in non-equilibrium demographic models or when recombination or mutation rate varies. We compute β on 1000 Genomes Project data to identify lo ci potentially subjected to long-term balancing selection in humans. We report two balanced haplotypes - localized to the genes WFS1 and CADM2 - that are strongly linked to association signals for complex traits. Our approach is computationally efficient and applicable to species that lack appropriate outgroup sequences, allowing for well-powered analysis of selection in the wide variety of species for which population data are rapidly being generated.


This report is a summary of the financial and production records kept by fruit farmers enrolled in the Telfarm/MicroTel record program through Michigan State University Extension. This report has three purposes: 1)to provide statistical information about the financial results on fruit farms during 1997; 2) to provide production costs for comparative analysis and forward planning; and 3) to provide information on the trends in resource use, income and costs during the last few years.


Background: Artocarpus heterophyllus (A. heterophyllus) leaves and Olea europea (OE) fruit oil are natural sources that have been traditionally used for health and skin care purpose. Objective: To assess the potential synergistic effect of combining ethanol extract of A. heterophyllus leaves (AHLE) and OE fruit oil in the formulation of clay masks, specifically in terms of their effect on facial skin. Methods: AHLE was obtained by the maceration method, while OE was purchased commercially. Total phenol and flavonoid content were calculated and a DPPH assay was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant properties. Furthermore, the four formulas prepared were F1 (AHLE 5%), F2 (OE 10%), F3 (AHLE 5% + OE 10%), and F4 (AHLE 2.5% + OE 5%). Adult women received weekly facial treatments with the formulated mask for one month. The effect of these treatments was evaluated based on several skin parameters, including moisture, oiliness, texture, collagen levels, pigmentation, sensitivity, and the presence of wrinkles. Furthermore, the data obtained were analyzed using the Wilcoxon sign-ranked test. Results: AHLE contained total phenolic, flavonoid, and antioxidant activity higher than OE. Clay masks in all formulations showed homogeneity and do not contain coarse grain. After four weeks of treatment, the efficacy of the formulations demonstrated a significant effect. F1 exhibited a reduction in wrinkles by 36.27%, while F3 improved oily skin by 21.39%, enhanced skin texture by 44.32%, reduced pigmentation by 30.30%, and decreased skin sensitivity by 49.18%. Furthermore, F4 demonstrated an increase in skin moisture levels by 27.89% and a boost in collagen production by 32.00%. Conclusion: The combination of AHLE and OE at 5% and 10% demonstrated superior effectiveness compared to their individual use.


Urbanization refers to the population shift from rural to urban residency, the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas, and the ways in which each society adapts to this change (Burgess, 2004). It can occur either organically or planned as a result of individual, collective and state action making city living highly beneficial. Therefore, it needs to be prepared to absorb huge increases in urban population and resulting pressure on basic infrastructure and livelihood opportunities. In order to secure a better future and to improve the quality of life of all the citizens, city needs to be reinvented, by incorporating creativity and innovation with the approaches, we use in its planning. This paper presents an overview of the progress, challenges and some key interventions to reinvent the city in South Asian region with the examples of good planning practices adopted in Shanghai and Hong Kong. These cities have been known for its efficient spatial planning processes, especially w.r.t land development and execution of plans. By formulating and implementing successful public policies, these cities have shown that better planning of cities can help countries to pave way towards higher economic prosperity, and achieve improved quality of life. Therefore, the selected cities, are taken as the cases, representing a strong form of urban governance and spatial planning being, implemented with relatively high levels of compliance with development control and planning regulations. And for Indian cities not being far away in terms of being developed as global importance, adoption of these good spatial planning practices becomes an inevitable process. There is a need to re-look at the spatial planning regime of Indian cities, and modify it appropriately to not only improve the overall economic growth but to also enhance livability.


Bioentrepreneurship education has evolved into at least three different types, all of which co-exist: Education 1.0 - In Service of Biotechnology Startups, Education 2.0 – In Service of Biotechnology Innovation Ecosystems, and Education 3.0 – In Collaboration with Biotechnology Innovation Ecosystems. Examples are given at all levels, along with a Case Study of the Bioentrepreneurship (BioE) program at the University of San Francisco (USF). The USF program draws from twelve expertise disciplines described by the Bioenterprise Innovation Expertise Model (BIEM 2.0), those essential disciplines bioenterprise requires to bridge the science/technology discovery/invention through to viable commercial product life cycle. As a result, the USF program reaches graduate students across the university. The utilization of the BIEM 2.0 model throughout the BioE courses is discussed, as well as the incorporation into the curriculum of BioTech Nation interviews with biotechnology industry executives and scientists. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the requirement to move the BioE courses to a remote modality, future plans include the development of a fully online Bioentrepreneurship (BioE) certificate, primarily targeting the California state biotechnology corridor of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego Biotechnology Innovation Ecosystems. Additional new BioE courseware will address the growing sector of Digital Health.


Contamination with SE is an important threat to food safety in egg production. Various risk factors exist for infection with and spreading of SE on a farm. A data set of regularly collected blood samples from hens at the end of lay was available for analysis. Data included information about infection with SE, date of sampling, housing system and flock size and whether there were hens of different ages on the farm or in the house. By using the mentioned data set, our objective was to identify risk factors associated with SE infection in laying hens. Multiple logistic regression was used to assess the contribution of different variables. Results showed that bigger flocks increased the chance of infection with SE in all housing systems. The system with the lowest chance of infection was the cage system with wet manure. An outdoor run increased the chance of infection only at farms with all hens of the same age. The presence of hens of different ages on a farm was a risk factor for deep litter systems only. This resulted in the highest chance of infection for a deep litter system on a farm with hens of different ages. On a farm with all hens of the same age, however, a deep litter system did not increase the chance of infection with SE compared with a cage system. The main risk factors associated with SE infection, therefore, were flock size, housing system, and farm with hens of different ages.


The fast and slow skeletal muscle fibers in fish are separated to a much greater degree than in mammals. MyoD is required for the maintenance of normal fiber type balance in muscles. So far, the upstream regulatory factors of MyoD in terms of controlling muscle phenotype are poorly understood. In the present study, we used Siniperca chuatsi as a model system and demonstrated that miR-143 expression was negatively correlated with MyoD expression in the fast and slow muscles of S. chuatsi. The luciferase reporter assay further verified the direct interaction between the miR-143 and MyoD. The miR-143 suppression also led to the significant increase in MyoD and fast myosin heavy chain gene expression in vivo. Taken together, our studies indicated that miRNA participates in controlling the performance of different muscle fiber types in vertebrates.


Neisseria commensals are an indisputable source of resistance for their pathogenic relatives; however, the evolutionary paths commensal species take to reduced susceptibility in this genus have been relatively underexplored. Here, we leverage in vitro selection as a powerful screen to identify the genetic adaptations that produce azithromycin resistance (≤ 2 μg/mL) in the Neisseria commensal, N. elongata. Across multiple lineages (n=7/16), we find mutations encoding resistance converge on the gene encoding the 50S ribosomal L34 protein (rpmH) and the intergenic region proximal to the 30S ribosomal S3 protein (rpsC) through duplication events. Importantly, one of the laboratory evolved mutations in rpmH is identical, and two nearly identical, to those recently reported to confer high-level resistance to azithromycin in N. gonorrhoeae. Transformations into the ancestral N. elongata lineage confirmed the causality of both rpmH and rpsC mutations. Though most lineages inheriting duplications suffered in vitro fitness costs, one variant showed no growth defect, suggesting the possibility that it may be sustained in natural populations. Finally, we assessed the potential of horizontal transfer of derived resistance mutations into multiple strains of N. gonorrhoeae. Though we were unable to transform N. gonorrhoeae in this case, studies like this will be critical for predicting commensal alleles that are at risk of rapid dissemination into pathogen populations. Importance Commensal bacterial populations have been increasingly recognized for their importance as sources of resistance for pathogens, however the collection of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) mechanisms within these communities are often understudied. The risk of reduced antibiotic susceptibility as a result of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is amplified in highly recombinogenic genera, such as the Neisseria. Indeed, there have been multiple documented cases of macrolide and beta-lactam resistance acquisition in the pathogen N. gonorrhoeae from close commensal relatives. This work uncovers multiple novel azithromycin resistance-conferring mutations in a Neisseria commensal through experimental evolution, investigates their fitness impacts, and explores the possibility of transfer to N. gonorrhoeae. Ultimately these types of studies will illuminate those resistance mutations that may rapidly be acquired across species boundaries.


Political secularism takes many forms but a fundamental distinction is between radical and moderate kinds. The latter is a genuine secularism and not just a failure to take secularism to its logical conclusion. The failure to appreciate this obscures the secularism that exists in western Europe. Namely, an accommodation of organised religion which sees it as a potential public good or national resource (not just a private benefit), which the state can in some circumstances assist to realise—even through an 'established' church. I adumbrate five types of reasons the state might be interested in religion: truth, danger, utility, identity and respect. The challenge facing such secularism today is whether it can be pluralised or multiculturalised, in particular whether it can accommodate Muslims. A ground for optimism is the respect that some people, especially some Muslims, have for religions other than their own.


SemEval 2019 Task 6 was OffensEval: Identifying and Categorizing Offensive Language in Social Media. The task was further divided into three sub-tasks: offensive language identification, automatic categorization of offense types, and offense target identification. In this paper, we present the approaches used by the Embeddia team, who qualified as fourth, eighteenth and fifth on the tree sub-tasks. A different model was trained for each sub-task. For the first sub-task, we used a BERT model fine-tuned on the OLID dataset, while for the second and third tasks we developed a custom neural network architecture which combines bag-of-words features and automatically generated sequence-based features. Our results show that combining automatically and manually crafted features fed into a neural architecture outperform transfer learning approach on more unbalanced datasets.


I am sure that every speaker must tell you, as indeed he certainly feels, that it is a great honour to have the opportunity to present a paper to your Society, which has such a distinguished role both in the history and in the most recent advances of science. I am glad to have this opportunity to speak to you. Upon being asked to talk on this topic, however, I became acutely aware of how active a field experimental psychology is today. Each year Psychological Abstracts publishes summaries of approximately 9500 articles presumed to be relevant to some branch of psychology. Of these approximately 1300 are in human experimental psychology and 1400 in comparative and physiological psychology, or a total of something like 2700 in the general area of experimental psychology. I cannot hope to do justice to such an avalanche of material. The best I can do is to give you a few brief samples from certain actively developing areas, but other equally active areas might just as well have been chosen. In order to be impartial, I have excluded my own work on motivational effects of electrical and chemical stimulation of the brain and on conflict behaviour,* which I have had ample opportunity to present in lectures elsewhere in your country.


096779952X, 9780967799520, . This is the most in-depth book by Dr. Richard Sauder, the world's premier investigator of underground bases and tunnels. In these pages, Dr. Sauder asks, and often answers, such questions as: Where are the secret underground bases? How far down do they go? What leaks are coming from the classified world? What has the U.S. Navy planned for beneath the ocean floor? Are there bases beneath the ocean? What's going on beneath Washington, D.C.? Are there high-speed, underground maglev systems? What is the connection with UFOs and the alien question? This is a book that truly goes where no other book has gone before. It is a must-read for any and all who are seeking to understand the full magnitude of the Matrix-like reality of our civilization. Using a combination of archival research, on-the-scene investigation, and first-hand interviews, Sauder takes the reader into a world that is under the ground and under the ocean. It is a world that we are supposed to think is impossible, and yet -after reviewing his evidence -seems all-too-likely. Jim Marrs, author of bestsellers "Crossfire," "Rule by Secrecy," and "The Rise of the Fourth Reich," said that "Hidden in Plain Sight" should be on your "must-read shelf." Timothy Good, author of the bestseller "Above Top Secret," called Sauder's book "brilliant, fascinating and revealing ... a must for all those interested in, and concerned about, the clandestine underground and undersea world beneath us.".


The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of cookbook making activities on young children`s mathematical concept and writing development. The participants were comprised of 50 five-year-old children from two intact classes from a kindergarten in Gyeonggi province, and they were divided into an experimental and a comparison group. The experimental group participated in cooking activities and produced cookbooks as extension activities whereas the comparison group carried out only cooking activities. The results indicated that the children in the experimental group received statistically higher scores in mathematical concept- and writing-tests, suggesting that cookbook making activities are a useful educational tool for enhancing young children`s mathematical concepts and facilitating their writing development.


The previous article in this series explained basic concepts related to statistical signals and statistical noise in research. This article explains statistical noise in the context of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies and offers suggestions on how noise in such studies may be reduced so as to better detect and understand the signal. Postrandomization bias related to RCTs and confounding in observational studies are discussed. Examples are provided to facilitate understanding.


Aims: Although the conventional method for reduction of acute mandibular dislocation has been a versatile one, it occasionally fails to relocate the condyle within the glenoid fossa. Application of heavy forces is inevitable in some clinical scenarios which potentially can cause damage to condylar structures. Moreover, the heavy force used in conventional method may be difficult for the patient to tolerate and also it can necessitate the use of adjunctive methods such as medications. The aim of this technical note is to present a novel method for reduction of acute anterior dislocation of mandibular condyle. Technique: Standing in front of the patient, the clinician should touch the coronoid process of the mandible along the upper vestibule intraorally, slightly rotate the mandible clockwise and apply a mild to moderate backward pressure over the coronoid process. This pressure would bring about the reduction of the condyle. Conclusion: This maneuver has been applied by the author for several years (at least in 130 cases) and it has been successful in almost all cases of anterior condylar dislocation. It is very effective and simple, comfortable for the patients and does not need any equipment or medications, eliminates the risk of damage to jaw structures and can promote as a common method.


This paper attempts to analyse life-time as well as period migration data in India derived from 1971 census through conventional techniques as well as by the log-linear modelling. The differences between lifetime and period migration flows are analyzed. (EXCERPT)


ABSTRACT Auburn University Libraries career ladder continues to be a successful promotional process for our library support staff.1 A total of 55 employees, some of whom were promoted twice, have benefited from participating in the system since its inception. Implemented in 1999, the job family/career ladder promotional process has improved our workforce, increased our ability to respond to changes in the workplace, has, in general, been a real morale-booster without becoming prohibitively expensive. Communication regarding the specific procedures and criteria proved to be challenging, and lessons have been learned along the way. Auburn University's Office of Human Resources is re-examining the career-ladder concept campus-wide. An update on Auburn University Libraries career ladder, its outcomes, how it has affected our workforce, and viewpoints from both the Libraries' and the University's perspective are presented in this article.


BackgroundBased on previous meta-analyses and comparative evidence, robotic approach might lead to a higher or at least similar spleen-preservation rates when comparing with laparoscopic approach in spleen preserving distal pancreatectomy (SPDP) for benign or low-grade malignant pancreatic tumors1–3. But high-quality evidence lacks and controversy exists. Therefore, we planned to initiate a prospective, patient-blinded, randomized, controlled trial (RCT) to compare robotic assisted spleen preserving distal pancreatectomy (RSPDP) with laparoscopic spleen preserving distal pancreatectomy (LSPDP), with special consideration to the success rate of splenic vessel-preserving (Kimura) approach, as well as perioperative variables, and cost analysis.MethodsPatients with benign or low-grade malignant pancreatic tumors are potential candidates for this RCT. Enrolled participants are randomized into RSPDP (observational arm) or LSPDP (control arm) groups as a ratio of 1:1. The primary outcome is the success rate of splenic vessel-preserving (Kimura) approach. The secondary outcomes include total success rate of spleen preserving (Kimura and Warshaw approaches), intraoperative variables, time to functional recovery, postoperative complications, mortality, and cost/efficacy analysis.DiscussionWe plan to conduct a randomized controlled trial to detect the potential advantages of robotic approach in spleen vessels preservation compared with traditional laparoscopic approach. RSPDP may improve spleen vessels preservation rate in selected patients.Trial registrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry, No: ChiCTR2000029177. Registered on 18 January, 2020.


Abstract. How do journalists in two formally authoritarian countries, the Czech Republic and South Africa, perceive the potential of media owners and other business people to influence their work? Multinomial ordinal regression analysis was applied to data collected in the Czech Republic and South Africa for the present 50 country-wide Worlds of Journalism (WoJ) Project. A total of 291 journalists in the Czech Republic and 371 journalists in South Africa were interviewed according to the WoJ protocol. Three aspects of media freedom, as perceived by the respondents, a r e discussed, namely the freedom journalists have to select news stories; to emphasize certain news aspects; and to participate in editorial discussion and decision making (news coordination). The results suggest that media owners as well as business people curb, but also support, journalists' freedom in dealing with the news. In the Czech Republic, a country in the global North and a former member of the Soviet bloc, the results show the influence of media owners and business owners supports the freedom of journalists in selecting their own stories. More influence of business people is associated with more freedom of journalists in aspects emphasized in the stories and in the frequency the journalists participate in newsroom coordination. In South Africa, a former white minority-ruled country in the global South, the results suggest that the influence of media owners seems to lessen journalists' freedom to select news and to emphasize certain news aspects, and coordination. Moreover, the perceived level of influence of business people in South Africa did not statistically significantly relate to all three aspects of journalists' freedom.Keywords: media economics, business ownership, freedom of press, Czech Republic, South Africa, news selectionJEL Classifications: L82, M20, P12, P26(ProQuest: ... denotes formula omitted.)IntroductionA long standing research issue in journalism and media studies is the influence, real or perceived, that media owners and businesses in general have on media freedom, more specifically on journalists' agency to select news stories; to emphasize certain news aspects and to participate in editorial discussion and decision making (news coordination) (e.g. Price, 2003; or Gilensa and Hertzmana, 2000).The interaction between business people and the media has been a standing topic of research, not the least because the results could also be of interest to business people and not only the academic sphere (see Tejkalova et al., 2015). For example, Dougal et al. (2012) used exogenous scheduling of Wall Street Journal columnists to identify a causal relationship between financial reporting and stock market performance. Moreover, it appears that more experienced, more trusted and reportedly independent journalists tend to have more influence over the stock market behavior (Li, 2014).The research question this paper addresses deal with the same question, but this time within the context of two formally authoritarian countries, the Czech Republic and South Africa, namely: How do journalists in these two countries perceive the potential of media owners and other business people to influence their work? Could one expect the situation in the two countries to be more or less the same after democratic independence was obtained in late 20th century?A fundamental question is of course whether one can compare the two previously authoritarian countries within the context of media freedom? The Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) was a Socialist country with a command economy and thorough and total control over mass media exerted by the ruling Communist Party, while South Africa was a well-functioning market economy, but distorted by its racial policy of apartheid and clampdowns on the free flow of information.Although the political change to a democratic dispensation happened in both countries roughly at the same time (1989 in the Czech case, and 1994 in the case of South Africa), the nature of the changes was relatively different. …


Liquid fuel fires occurring during industrial processes are serious safety concerns around the world due to their devastating impact on lives, the environment and property. In this study, a liquid nitrogen delivery system was set up to extinguish the oil pool fires in open space. Effects of liquid nitrogen flow rate, pipe diameter, and liquid nitrogen release distance on the suppression process were analyzed according to the mass loss, burning rate and temperature variations. When liquid nitrogen release distance was 0.50 m and pipe diameter was 0.04 m, fire extinguishing time was the shortest 1.6 s and the temperature decrease rate above the liquid fuel surface reached 275°C/s. Fuel surface cooling and blow off process were revealed through the experiments as two kinds of fire extinguishing mechanisms. Based on the flame images captured by high speed camera, the flame expansion phenomenon might occur early in liquid nitrogen injection, especially the situation of the higher flow rate of liquid nitrogen. Three approaches (ground fixed system, moving transportation, and directional transportation of liquid nitrogen) are provided for fire extinguishment of large scale fires. The results obtained provide important reference for the conduct of fire extinguishment for fires. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 36: 165–177, 2017


Traditional arguments that link credibility to a reputation for resolve, power, or strength are contrasted with a model that posits that credibility arises from the expectation of future, continued gains from retaining an honest record. Diplomatic statements are believed only if a country's or leader's credibility is unmarred. Leaders keep their word so that they are believed in later crises. Two environments are contrasted: one in which a country's record for honesty resides within the country as a whole and another in which reputation resides with individual leaders. In this latter case, citizens have an incentive to remove leaders caught bluffing. More robust than previous reputation theories, this model also offers comparative statics for when diplomacy will be more effective—namely, when leaders are domestically accountable.


S. Li in [Studia Sci. Math. Hungar. 29 (1994) 71–83] proposed a Kronrod type extension to the well-known Turán formula. He showed that such an extension exists for any weight function. For the classical Chebyshev weight function of the first kind, Li found the Kronrod extension of Turán formula that has all its nodes real and belonging to the interval of integration, [−1, 1]. In this paper we show the existence and the uniqueness of the additional two cases – the Kronrod exstensions of corresponding Gauss-Turán quadrature formulas for special case of Gori-Micchelli weight function and for generalized Chebyshev weight function of the second kind, that have all their nodes real and belonging to the integration interval [−1, 1]. Numerical results for the weight coefficients in these cases are presented, while the analytic formulas of the nodes are known.


Background We assessed the course of treatment in patients with persistent allergic rhinitis (AR) treated with montelukast, levocetirizine, or desloratadine alone or combinations of antihistamine and montelukast. Methods A 32-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover, double-armed study in 40 adult patients with history of persistent AR, clinical allergy to house-dust mites, and a total nasal symptom score of at least 5 (congestion of at least 2) has been performed. Patients with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, nonallergic rhinitis with clinical allergy associated with seasonal allergens, and other serious diseases were excluded. There were four 6-week treatment periods separated by 2-week washout periods. Twenty patients received either montelukast or antihistamine, a combination of montelukast and antihistamine, or placebo. The sequence of treatment was randomly assigned. Nasal symptoms were assessed using a 4-point scale at baseline, daily during the 1st week and on days 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 of treatment. Results Montelukast alone, levocetirizine alone, desloratadine alone, and the montelukast/antihistamine combinations significantly improved nasal symptoms during the first 24 hours. Improvement gradually increased during the 6 weeks of treatment, especially in patients receiving montelukast alone or in combination therapy with the antihistamine in both arms. Improvement at 42 days of treatment was significantly greater than that achieved on the 1st day of therapy in patients treated with the combination of montelukast and levocetirizine. Conclusion Montelukast alone or in combination with antihistamines gave a gradual increase in nasal symptom improvement within 6 weeks of treatment in patients with persistent AR.


Towards a New Paradigm for Monetary Economics presents a pioneer treatment of critical topics in monetary economics. Unlike the prevailing monetary theory, this book focuses not on the role of money in facilitating transactions, but on the role of credit in facilitating economic activities more broadly. The 'new paradigm' emphasizes the demand and supply of loanable funds, which in turn requires the understanding of the imperfections of information and the role of banks. One enlightening view is that credit is quite different from other commodities in the sense that the former is based on information and default risk. The book consists of two parts. The first part develops a basic model of credit based on banks' portfolio choices. The second part is dedicated to the policy implications, among which are the liberalization of financial markets, the East Asian Crisis, the 1991 US recession and the subsequent recovery.


Abstract This paper presents a new approach for modeling a discrete-event systems under the presence of faults. Input/Output automata are used to represent the nominal and faulty behavior of a plant for fault detection and identification. Assuming that a model of the nominal behavior of a plant is available, it is usually a nontrivial task to derive a model of the plant subject to actuator, sensor and system internal faults. This task often require some expertise or a large amount of data on the faulty behavior of the plant. The key aspect of the paper is the introduction of suitable functions enabling to reduce the amount of information needed to model a faulty behavior. The method presented here fits in the nondeterministic Input/Ouput automata framework where actuator, sensor and internal system faults are considered. The proposed approach is applied to a chemical plant for demonstration.


OBJECTIVE
The main goal of this study was to examine the vestibular ganglia from 11 patients with intractable classic Menière's disease (MD) for the presence or absence of DNA from three neurotropic viruses (herpes simplex virus, cytomegalovirus, and varicella zoster virus) using exquisitely sensitive molecular biologic techniques.

STUDY DESIGN
This was a prospective controlled study with vestibular ganglia from patients with MD and from patients with small vestibular schwannomas undergoing resection. Polymerase chain reaction was used for viral DNA detection from the ganglia along with known positive and negative polymerase chain reaction control subjects.

SETTING
The study was performed in an academic tertiary referral center.

PATIENTS
Patients for inclusion had medically uncontrolled MD, including documented fluctuating sensorineural hearing loss, episodic vertigo, and tinnitus who elected to undergo vestibular nerve section. Control patients were undergoing vestibular schwannoma removal.

INTERVENTIONS
The intervention was vestibular nerve section with removal of vestibular ganglion.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The presence or absence of viral DNA (herpes simplex virus, cytomegalovirus, and varicella zoster virus) in vestibular ganglion tissues detected by polymerase chain reaction.

RESULTS
No viral DNA was detected in the vestibular ganglia of patients with MD (p = 0.028) nor in the control group. The likelihood of a type II or beta type error was < 10%.

CONCLUSIONS
In patients with MD requiring surgical intervention, infection with herpes simplex virus, cytomegalovirus, or varicella zoster virus of the vestibular ganglia does not appear to play a major role in the pathoetiology of the disease.


The work presented here focuses on the analysis of a turbulent boundary layer saturated with saltating particles. Experiments were carried out in a wind tunnel 15m long and 0.6m wide at the University of Aarhus in Denmark with sand grains 242 μm in size for wind speeds ranging from the threshold speed to twice its value. The saltating particles were analysed using particle image velocimetry (PIV) and particle-tracking velocimetry (PTV), and vertical profiles of particle concentration and velocity were extracted. The particle concentration was found to decrease exponentially with the height above the bed, and the characteristic decay height was independent of the wind speed. In contrast with the logarithmic profile of the wind speed, the grain velocity was found to vary linearly with the height. In addition, the measurements indicated that the grain velocity profile depended only slightly on the wind speed. These results are shown to be closely related to the features of the splash function that characterizes the impact of the saltating particles on a sandbed. A numerical simulation is developed that explicitly incorporates low-velocity moments of the splash function in a calculation of the boundary conditions that apply at the bed. The overall features of the experimental measurements are reproduced by simulation.


Evidence of health disparities has been reported around the world. One of the intermediate factors between socioeconomic status (SES) and health is nutrition. Many studies reported socioeconomically disadvantaged people had more risk of obesity and lifestyle-related diseases than others in western society. Micronutrient intake affected by SES, but little evidence indicates that SES affects either energy intake or the macronutrient composition of the diet in western countries. In contrast, there is not enough evidence of a consistent relationship between SES and nutrition in Asian countries at present. The present status of nutrition disparities in Asia is considered to vary by economic level of the country. For developing countries in Asia, India and Vietnam, SES associates with BMI positively in women. For relatively developed countries in Asia, Korea and Japan, SES associates with BMI negatively in women. Low SES groups consume more carbohydrate, and less protein and fat, so not only micronutrient but also macronutrient intake is affected by SES both in developing and in developed Asian countries. There are some studies on the pathway from SES to diet/nutrition. The association between low SES and obesity may be mediated, in part, by the low cost of energy-dense foods, concern about food price and dietary knowledge. Nutrition policy research is required to reduce nutrition disparities in Asia. We need a collaborative study of the impact of potential political options on diet and on health with other academic fields.


collected from the Florida Keys, USA, and most closely resembling L. ceranoides Lamouroux (Liagoraceae, Rhodophyta), exhibited a heteromorphic life history in culture. Carpo spores released by cystocarps of field-collecte d female gametophytes gave rise to free-living, unise riate, filamentous thalli in long days (LD) and short days (SD) at 25°C. These uniseriate plants released monospores continuously in LD and SD, and on one occasion in SD they developed irregularly zonately divided tetrasporangia, the first time that this type of sporangium has been reported for the genus. Monospores developed into filamentous plants which released monospores that repeated this uniseriate phase. Prior to settlement, tetraspores showed amoeboid movement. After settlement, tetraspores germinated into dioecious, multiaxial gametophytes. Carposporophytes began to form on female plants, but carposporangia did not develop. Field-collected gametophytes were dioecious; spermatangia


Chronic constipation has been successfully treated with specific medications and bio-feedback therapy. Surgical manipulation for this condition can be an option when non-surgical interventions fail. We report here on a patient who was diagnosed as having intractable chronic constipation with hypoganglionosis. The patient was a 60 year-old male with the history of seizure and diabetes. This patient did not gain any clinical benefits from non-surgical regimens. Therefore, we performed a laparoscopically assisted total colectomy with J-pouch ileorectal anastomosis on this patient. The patient recovered from the surgery without complications and he had normal bowel functions. The postoperative anatomical pathology revealed a hypogaglionosis. In conclusion, a laparoscopically assisted total colectomy for a patient with intractable chronic constipation with hypoganglionosis is a good option and it may be a curative method.


We study a core question of interest in political science: Do candidates position themselves differently under different electoral systems and is their positioning in line with the expectations of spatial theories? We use validated estimates of candidate ideological positions derived from quantitative scaling of 7,497 Japanese-language election manifestos written by the near universe of candidates who competed in the eight House of Representatives elections held on either side of Japan's 1994 electoral reform. Leveraging variation before and after Japan's electoral reform, as well as within each electoral system, we find that candidates converge in single-member districts and diverge in multimember districts, and converge on copartisans when not faced with intraparty competition and diverge when they do. Our study helps to clarify debates about the effects of electoral systems on ideological polarization and party cohesion in Japan and more generally.


This engaging collection surveys and clarifies the complex issue of federal and state recognition for Native American tribal nations in the United States. Den Ouden and O'Brien gather focused and teachable essays on key topics, debates, and case studies. Written by leading scholars in the field, including historians, anthropologists, legal scholars, and political scientists, the essays cover the history of recognition, focus on recent legal and cultural processes, and examine contemporary recognition struggles nationwide.Contributors are Joanne Barker (Lenape), Kathleen A. Brown-Perez (Brothertown), Rosemary Cambra (Muwekma Ohlone), Amy E. Den Ouden, Timothy Q. Evans (Haliwa-Saponi), Les W. Field, Angela A. Gonzales (Hopi), Rae Gould (Nipmuc), J. Kehaulani Kauanui (Kanaka Maoli), K. Alexa Koenig, Alan Leventhal, Malinda Maynor Lowery (Lumbee), Jean M. O'Brien (White Earth Ojibwe), John Robinson, Jonathan Stein, Ruth Garby Torres (Schaghticoke), and David E. Wilkins (Lumbee).


This paper presents two algorithms for determining the most reliable paths of a communication network, taking into account both the reliabilities of nodes and links. A network is modeled by a linear graph. The first algorithm adapts a node labeling scheme; second is based on the shortest-path matrix algorithm. Both algorithms can be applied to oriented and nonoriented nonsymetric networks. The numerical examples confirm that both algorithms efficiently handle networks with hundreds of nodes and edges. The total amount of computation, expressed by the number of multiplications and comparisons, increases in the labeling procedure with the square of the number of nodes, and in the matrix method with the cube of the number of nodes.


The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has a major initiative underway focusing on using transit to enhance livable communities. The Corpus Christi Regional Transit Authority (RTA) received a Livable Community grant from the FTA in 1995. This grant has been used to make physical improvements around two of the RTA's transit stations, located in a low income area of the city, and to develop additional social service programs to serve local residents. Assessing the impact of this project, as well as other FTA Livable Community projects throughout the country can provide a better understanding of the role transit can play in ensuring sustainable transportation systems. This research project examined the approaches taken by the RTA and by other Livable Community projects and the effects of those approaches on transit systems and the communities.


The effects of triadimefon (TDF) were examined in male Sprague-Dawley rats. In this study, the acute administration of TDF (100 mg/kg) was found to significantly increase locomotor activity and induce stereotyped behavior. Acute administration of TDF was also found to significantly increase dopamine (DA) and homovanillic acid (HVA) levels while the dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) level remained unchanged in both the nucleus accumbens (NA) and striatal (ST) tissues when compared to control. Furthermore, DOPAC:DA ratios were significantly reduced in both brain regions suggesting an increase in DA turn overrate. On the other hand, in animals receiving repeated TDF administration, only the HVA level was significantly increased in both the ST and NA. TDF neither competed for binding to D2, D3 or D4 DA receptors nor altered the Kd or the Bmax of [3H] SCH 23390 and [3H] spiperone recognition sites associated with striatal D1 and D2 receptors, respectively. Meanwhile, TDF competed with [3H] GBR 12935 for binding to DA transporter sites with strong affinity, but repeated treatment with TDF had no sustained or cumulative effect on the DA transporter system. These results clearly show that acute TDF-induced behavioral effects may not be via binding to DA receptors, but through the interaction with DA transporter binding sites. Also, TDF does not appear to produce cumulative effects in the parameters evaluated.


Abstract:  Epidermal gene therapy may benefit a variety of inherited skin disorders and certain systemic diseases. Both in vivo and ex vivo approaches of gene transfer have been used to target human epidermal stem cells and achieve long‐term transgene expression in immunodeficient mouse/human chimera models. Immunological responses however, especially in situations where a neoantigen is expressed, are likely to curtail expression and thereby limit the therapy. In vivo gene transfer to skin has been shown to induce transgene‐specific immune responses. Ex vivo gene transfer approaches, where keratinocytes are transduced in culture and transplanted back to patient, however, may avoid signals provided to the immune system by in vivo administration of vectors. In the current study, we have developed a stable epidermal graft platform in immunocompetent mice to analyze host responses in ex vivo epidermal gene therapy. Using green fluorescent protein (GFP) as a neoantigen and an ex vivo retrovirus‐mediated gene transfer to mouse primary epidermal cultures depleted of antigen‐presenting cells (APCs), we show induction of GFP‐specific immune responses leading to the clearance of transduced cells. Similar approach in immunocompetent mice tolerant to GFP resulted in permanent engraftment of transduced cells and continued GFP expression. Activation of transgene‐specific immune responses in ex vivo gene transfer targeted to keratinocytes require cross‐presentation of transgene product to APCs, a process that is most amenable to immune modulation. This model may be used to explore strategies to divert transgene‐specific immune responses to less destructive or tolerogenic ones.


Microscale sliding friction experiments were performed on nanostructured poly-chloro-p-xylylene (PPX-Cl, a.k.a, parylene) films. Oblique-angle vapour-phase deposition resulted in nanostructured columnar films tilted 57°–63° relative to the surface. The mechanical response to sliding was studied relative to the film structural anisotropy by examining contact friction and deformation in three sliding orientations: 'with', 'against' and 'perpendicular' to the tilt axis of the columns. Friction coefficients were uniformly high (0.5–1.5) for all orientations. Neither frictional anisotropy nor depth hysteresis was observed for sliding perpendicular to the column tilt axis. However, sliding 'with' and 'against' the column tilt axis resulted in measurable friction anisotropy as well as depth hysteresis, with larger contact depths and higher friction coefficients for sliding 'with' the column tilt. In comparison, planar films did not exhibit either frictional anisotropy or depth hysteresis. The depth hysteresis during sliding parallel to the tilt axis is attributed to the lateral force contribution to the total contact loading. Contacts formed when the sliding orientation was perpendicular to the column tilt axis were nominally Hertzian, allowing estimation of elastic moduli of the films from the load–displacement data during sliding. These films may have applications in the area of tissue engineering for directional cell sheet growth, MEMS developments for directional microfluidic pumps and sensors for deformation induced detection.


Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL

EN2 is part of the HOX gene family and plays a role in foetal development. More recently a potential oncogenic role for the protein has been postulated and its utility as a cancer biomarker has been explored in prostate cancer (PrCa) and breast cancer. Carriers of mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes have an increased risk of PrCa (1.8-fold and 5-fold respectively) and their tumours tend to be more aggressive and advanced than sporadic cases. Currently there is no national screening program for BRCA mutation carriers in the UK, and the IMPACT study was set up to evaluate PSA screening in this particular group. Here we analyse the efficacy of the urinary EN2 protein and auto-antibody against EN2 in serum and urine as markers of early cancer detection within this higher risk group. Urine and serum were taken from the IMPACT screening study which enrolled individuals aged between 40 and 69 who were unaffected by PrCa at time of enrolment into the study (n= 418). All participants were from families harbouring a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation and were either BRCA mutation carriers themselves or controls with a negative predictive BRCA genetic test. They underwent annual PSA test with a PSA of > 3.0 ng/ml triggering a diagnostic biopsy. Annual urine and serum samples were collected from this cohort. EN2 protein was measured in the urine using an ELISA; (positive = > 42.5ng/ml). The autoantibody was measured in serum and urine; (positive = measurement of 2 standard deviations above the mean value when measured in a cohort of healthy volunteers). Using detection of EN2 protein in urine alone our initial results demonstrated the test had a sensitivity of 71.4% and a specificity of 75.4% when discriminating between those with a positive biopsy and those with a negative biopsy; the ROC AUC was 0.767. The difference in EN2 level between those diagnosed with cancer and those who were not was significant (p = <0.001). EN2 antibody measured in serum was less sensitive but more specific that the urinary protein (33.3% and 83.6% respectively), when combined with urinary protein the sensitivity is 85.7% with a specificity of 63.3% and ROC AUC 0.745. Further samples are in the process of being analysed and data and results of these will be presented. In addition a new assay to measure urinary antibody is currently under development and results from this test will be also shown. EN2 protein and auto-antibody measurement warrants further investigation as a PrCa biomarker in this higher risk group with genetic predisposition to PrCa.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3638. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-3638


The promotion of independent and life-long learning practices in the field of adult education in the 1970s established a way of learning that deviates from traditional classroom group instruction. Self-access learning gives adults the freedom and control over their own learning. Universities set up self-access centres to encourage learning environments where this kind of learning could take place. This paper discusses what proponents of self-access learning recognise as best practices and explores the issues experienced in this kind of learning in the context of where this research was conducted. The aim of this research is to identify the perceptions of students and tutors towards the use of the materials, services and facilities at a self-access centre in a university in Northern Thailand. A total of 20 students and 6 tutors participated in the survey questionnaire and among them 6 students and 4 tutors were invited to participate in in-depth followup interviews. Qualitative and quantitative data arising from questionnaires and interviews revealed the level of the students' English skills and the experiences of the users at the centre, both students and tutors. Recommendations derived from the data are given as suggestions for this centre. Finally, implications are listed for further study in this field.


This autobiographical novella was written in 1980 by one of China's leading dissidents, who was released from jail in late October 1990 again after being imprisoned as a pro-democracy activist in the wake of the Tiananmen incident of spring 1989. Wang recounts three episodes of extreme hardship in his life: incarceration in a Guomindang jail during the 1930s for his communist activism, on the run from Japanese troops during the 1940s in a bleak part of Shandong Province, and imprisonment as a "rightist" in Shanghai during the 1960s cultural revolution. The central theme of the three stories is extreme deprivation and "Hunger".


A method is described whereby a polyenergetic x-ray spectrum, as produced by a typical x-ray tube used in radiographic imaging, is approximated by an equivalent spectrum consisting of a small number of discrete x-ray photon energies, i.e. a line spectrum. The equivalent spectrum is found by a least squares fit to attenuation data for three different attenuating materials. Computer simulation and experimental measurements show that a three-energy equivalent spectrum accurately predicts the attenuation properties of the polyenergetic spectrum. The accuracy is limited by the uncertainty in the known values of the x-ray linear attenuation coefficients.


The analysis focuses on average waiting times to a fertile conception, as derived from non-contraceptive exposure in second and higher-order birth intervals. Life-table estimates are derived from exposure in the two-year periods preceding the survey, for 20 surveys in Africa, Asia and Latin America undertaken as part of the WFS programme. Differences in the waiting time to conception are examined as a function of the duration of lactation and post partum abstinence. In addition, the extent to which variations in waiting times are produced by country and regional effects, and effects due to age, duration of marriage and parity are examined. The analysis points out the dangers of deriving estimates of natural fertility from the sub-group of women who never breastfed.


Iatrogenic left main artery (LM) dissection is a catastrophic complication of coronary angiography and angioplasty that requires prompt management using stenting. Although LM dissection can be prevented, it cannot always be avoided and has a reported incidence rate of 0.02%. In the present report, a case of iatrogenic LM dissection that was successfully treated with multiple stents is presented and followed by a brief review of the literature.


Chylomicrons isolated from rat chyle were iodinated with iodine131 and the protein specific activity determined before and after incubation with normal rat serum. A marked decrease in chylomicron protein specific activity occurred during incubation because of adsorption of nonradioactive soluble serum protein as well as exchange of part of the labeled chylomicron protein with lipoprotein protein. Ultracentrifugal fractionation of serum after such incubation revealed significant radioactivity in all of the lipoprotein fractions, but with low specific activity reflecting dilution by larger protein pools. Serum proteins with density greater than 1.21 contained much less radioactivity.


Whilst objectivist epistemologies have been dominant in productivist agriculture, the local, cultural and environmental contexts of sustainable agriculture are more fully informed by constructivist epistemologies. Within constructivism, tacit knowledge – an intuitive knowledge that cannot be formalised – is explored empirically. Six types of tacit knowledge were identified as a result of working closely with a sustainable food network: the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership. Customs cohere around integrating food with other sustainable activity; developing a complex unregulated organisation requires savoire faire . The unique character of Brighton has developed an operational folklore , and network identity is important, particularly in relation to conventional agriculture and to the city as a whole. A confidence in people's roles has helped define network development and using different discourses, communicating the network in diverse contexts, is important for understanding the network. All these tacit knowledge elements have a strong influence over the network but have to be assimilated rather than learned.


Applying Consumer Culture Theory to acculturation and consumption we argue that first generation Nigerian women, living in Britain, actively use consumption, as a form of cultural resistance, to reassert their power in patriachical households. By interviewing British white and first generation Nigerian husband and wife we show how the latter negotiate cultural differences through consumption. In particular, the Nigerian husband's needs to replicate a position of power and dominance in the home produces various acts of cultural resistance using consumption by their wives – sometimes explicit and other times implicit.


Due to the climate change, natural disaster has been occurred more frequently and the number of snow disasters has been also increased. Therefore, many researches have been conducted to predict the amount of snow damages and to reduce snow damages. In this study, snow damages over last 21 years on the Natural Disaster Report were analyzed. As a result, Chungcheong-do, Jeolla-do, and Gangwon-do have the highest number of snow disasters. The multiple linear regression models were developed using the snow damage data of these three provinces. Daily fresh snow depth, daily maximum, minimum, and average temperatures, and relative humidity were considered as possible inputs for climate factors. Inputs for socio-economic factors were regional area, greenhouse area, farming population, and farming population over 60. Different regression models were developed based on the daily maximum snow depth. As results, the model efficiency considering all damage (including low snow depth) data was very low, however, the model only using the high snow depth (more than 25 cm) has more than 70% of fitness. It is because that, when the snow depth is high, the snow damage is mostly caused by the snow load itself. It is suggested that the 25 cm of snow depth could be used as the snow damage threshold based on this analysis.


The crystal structure of the title compound, C15H11FN2O3, was determined as part of a study on the biological activity of isoxazolone derivatives as p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitors. The dihedral angles between rings are isoxazole/benzene = 55.0 (3)°, isoxazole/pyridine = 33.8 (2)° and benzene/pyridine = 58.1 (2)°.


New 40Ar/39Ar thermochronologic data from the internal zone of the Penokean orogen in east-central Minnesota indicate rapid cooling from mid-crustal temperatures. Early Proterozoic metamorphosed cover rocks yield concordant hornblende and biotite plateau ages of - 1755 Ma. Underlying Archean basement gneiss yields concordant muscovite and biotite plateau ages of - 1705 Ma. These are some of the oldest cooling ages recorded in rocks buried during the 1830- 1860 Ma Penokean collisional orogeny. Cooling was coeval with regional rhyolitic volcanism and granite emplacement, suggesting a period of tectonic activity in this region during mid to late 1700 Ma. Based on similarities with Phanerozoic extensional regimes, we suggest, preliminarily, that these data might be explained by a previously unrecognized major extensional episode in the Lake Superior region.


The allowable tolerance for a drug is based on edible tissue, yet a majority of livestock shows use urine samples to test for the presence of performance enhancing drugs. Currently, there is limited data on the relationship between urine and plasma or target tissue concentrations used for withdrawal time calculations in food animal species. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare plasma and urine concentrations in goats administered 1 of 2 nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, flunixin meglumine and meloxicam, in order to determine withdrawal intervals for animals where urine is routinely tested at livestock shows.


Abstract Recent literature has urged the conservation science community to distinguish between human–wildlife and human–human conflict. Mislabelling conflicts is thought to constrain problem definition and hinder appropriate solutions. New to this discussion, we studied how the media is framing conflict. The focus of our research was conflict surrounding conservation of a protected species. The piping plover Charadrius melodus is federally listed as threatened on the Atlantic coast of the USA. Our research focused on characterizing the tone and framing in media coverage of the plover and its conservation. We were interested in how the source of the conflict was framed: are the species itself, policies, or the government agencies administering legal restrictions blamed for the conflict? We analysed 725 articles (199 unique articles, not including those run by multiple media sources) written about the plover in the region during January 2014–September 2015. Articles were analysed qualitatively by two coders. We found the overall tone of the unique articles was most frequently positive towards the bird and/or its conservation (48%), followed closely by neutral (or balanced) articles (46%). Few articles were negative (6%). Nonetheless, framing that blamed a source for the conflict was present in 34% of the unique articles. The plover itself was blamed in twice as many articles as the policies or government agencies enacting the regulations. This framing was also the strongest predictor of article tone. Understanding how the media portrays piping plovers can help guide organizations interested in proactive media relations and other solutions to de-escalate this conflict.


70 Introduction and objectives. The influence of coronary artery revascularization on the control of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with chronic myocardial infarction is uncertain. However, ablation of the arrhythmogenic circuit in these patients by aneurysm resection is useful for controlling ventricular arrhythmias. We made a prospective analysis of our clinical strategy in patients who were candidates for coronary artery revascularization and/or aneurysmectomy to determine its influence on the recurrence of ventricular arrhythmias. Patients and method. Prospective study of 17 consecutive patients with chronic myocardial infarction and ventricular arrhythmias unrelated with an acute ischemic event, who had coronary artery disease and/or ventricular aneurysm susceptible to aggressive treatment. We evaluated our clinical strategy and the recurrence of ventricular arrhythmias during a mean follow-up period of 33.64 months. Results. Two groups of patients were studied: patients with ventricular aneurysm (group I: 12 patients) and patients without ventricular aneurysm (group II: 5 patients). Seven patients of group I underwent endoaneurysmorrhaphy and endocardial resection (4 of these patients had associated revascularization procedures). Three patients were not candidates for aneurysmectomy or revascularization procedures. Two patients underwent only revascularization procedures. All the patients in group II were revascularized. The patients who underwent aneurysmectomy did not have recurrence of arrhythmias. In 5 of the 6 patients who underwent programmed electrophysiological stimulation after aneurysmectomy, no sustained arrhythmia could be induced. Patients who were only revascularized had a high rate of recurrence of ventricular arrhythmias (57%), which were inducible after revascularization. Conclusion. Aneurysmectomy and endocardial resection constituted, in our experience, an effective tool for controlling ventricular arrhythmias associated with left ventricular aneurysm. Coronary artery revascularization in patients with ventricular arrhythmias and chronic myocarSU R G E RY


While the problem of climate change directly interests persons and communities, the efforts to enhance cultural legitimacy on the problem still remains unsolved in our day. In this study, land use planning is regarded as a means to be used for enhancing cultural legitimacy on climate change, because land use planning has two-fold implications: one in terms of leaving significant impacts upon climate change, and the other, with regard to scope of its activities that are of concern of persons and communities directly. For this reason, land use planning can be considered as a bridge between climate change and its cultural legitimacy. In order to achieve this, it becomes necessary to identify those social groups whose actions and daily activities are of particular importance for land use planning and climate change and the modes of relationships in between should further be defined. There are four groups associated with land use planning and climate change: municipalities, users, investors and land owners, and non-governmental organizations and professional chambers. Proposed suggestions for enhancing cultural legitimacy on climate change are formulated separately for these groups. These suggestions are elaborated in the case of Turkish legal mechanisms and the planning


Background and Objectives Neuraxial blockade using a midline approach can be challenging. Part of this challenge lies in finding the optimal approach of the needle to its target. The present study aimed at finding (1) the optimal point of insertion of the needle between the tips of 2 adjacent spinous processes and (2) the optimal angle relative to the skin at which the needle should approach the epidural or subarachnoid space. Methods A computer algorithm systematically analyzed computed tomography scans of vertebral columns of a cohort of 52 patients. On midsagittal sections, the possible points of insertion of a virtual needle and the corresponding angles through which the epidural or subarachnoid space can be reached were calculated. Results The point chosen to introduce the needle between 2 adjacent spinous processes determines the range of angles through which the epidural or subarachnoid space can be reached. At the thoracic interspaces 1–2 through 3–4, thoracic interspaces 5–6 through 9–10, and at the lumbar vertebral interspaces 2–3 through 4–5, the optimal point of insertion is slightly inferior to the point halfway between the tips of the spinous processes. For thoracic interspace 4–5, the optimal point of insertion is slightly superior to the point halfway between the tips of the spinous processes. For the other interspaces, the optimal point of insertion is approximately halfway between the tips of the spinous processes. The optimal angle to direct the needle varies from 9 degrees at the thoracolumbar junction and at the lumbar interspaces 3–4 and 4–5, to 53 degrees at the thoracic interspace 7–8. Conclusions Our study has resulted in practical suggestions—based on accurate, reproducible measurements in patients—as to where to insert the needle and how to angulate the needle when performing neuraxial anesthesia using a midline approach.


These investigators attempted to diminish postherpetic neuralgia in 17 patients by making dorsal root entry zone (DREZ) lesions. They describe the clinical syndrome of pain after herpes zoster, the incidence of which increases with age, and discuss its pathology. They briefly review the medical and surgical treatment of postherpetic neuralgia. The results and complications of the DREZ procedure are reported.


Adaptation of web sites has been an area of great interest during the last years. In this context, development of techniques for knowledge discovery from web usage data have been developed. In this paper a methodological framework is proposed that exploits knowledge discovery from web usage data in support of a process for off-line adaptation of web sites. The proposed approach is based on a web site model consisting of a set of parameters. These parameters define a multidimensional space in which any web site can be located. The adaptation of the web site is based on combination of usage data and the web site model characteristics.


Contribution of bone turnover to the hypercatabolic state observed in sickle cell anemia is unknown. We examined the association between markers of bone turnover and basal rates of whole body protein turnover and energy expenditure in 28 adolescents with homozygous sickle cell anemia (HbSS) and in 26 matched controls with normal phenotype (HbAA). Whole body protein breakdown and synthesis were measured using a stable isotope of [15N]glycine, resting energy expenditure was measured by whole room indirect calorimetry, and the rate of pyridinoline cross-link (PYD) excretion in urine and fasting serum levels of the type I procollagen carboxy-terminal propeptide (PICP) were measured with commercial kits. Urinary PYD and serum PICP were significantly elevated in HbSS patients. The increase in procollagen synthesis, indicated by high levels of PICP, was significantly correlated with increased whole body protein synthesis. The increase in type I collagen degradation, indicated by high PYD excretion, was significantly correlated with increased protein breakdown. We conclude that increased rates of bone turnover contribute to the increased rates of protein turnover and energy expenditure observed in adolescents with homozygous sickle cell anemia.


Although spatial and temporal heterogeneity in grassland biomass and forage quality is well-recognized to play an important role in migratory ungulate population dynamics, attempts to directly quantify biomass and forage quality across temperate landscapes throughout the growing season are limited. It is generally recognized that biomass and forage quality are directly related to phenology, but little is known about how seasonal biomass and forage quality differs across land use and biophysical gradients with varying phenology patterns. This study uses field estimates of biomass, chlorophyll concentration, crude protein, and in vitro dry matter digestibility collected from 20, 250m2 grassland plots throughout the summers of 2013 and 2014 to quantify how biomass and forage quality differ across land uses and biophysical gradients in the migratory elk (Cervus elaphus) range in the Upper Yellowstone River Basin. Key findings were that irrigated agriculture had overall greater and longer available biomass and forage quality throughout the growing season compared to private and public grasslands with natural phenology patterns. And that areas that begin growth later in the season had overall greater biomass and forage quality than areas with mid and early phenology characteristics, but availability was shorter. These results suggest that seasonal patterns of biomass and forage quality differ with phenological characteristics across temperate landscapes. This information should be incorporated in our understanding of spatiotemporal patterns of vegetation important for studying migratory ungulate ecology and predicting the effects of climate change and human land use on vegetation dynamics in temperate landscapes.


Articular cartilage is a multiphasic, anisotropic, and heterogeneous material. Although cartilage possesses excellent mechanical and biological properties, it can undergo mechanical damage, resulting in osteoarthritis. Thus, it is important to understand the microscale failure behavior of cartilage in both basic science and clinical contexts. Determining cartilage failure behavior and mechanisms provides insight for improving treatment strategies to delay osteoarthritis initiation or progression and can also enhance the value of cartilage as bioinspiration for material fabrication. To investigate microscale failure behavior, we developed a protocol to initiate fractures by applying a microindentation technique using a well‐defined tip geometry that creates localized cracks across a range of loading rates. The protocol includes extracting the tissue from the joint, preparing samples, and microfracture. Various aspects of the experiment, such as loading profile and solvent, can be adjusted to mimic physiological or pathological conditions and thereby further clarify phenomena underlying articular cartilage failure. © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.


A 14-year-old girl presented at the hospital after discovering an abdominal tumor. CT scan and ultrasonography indicated a hepatic tumor and also revealed the absence of the portal vein. The patient was admitted to excise the hepatic tumor. It was found that the venous blood from the small intestines flowed into the left renal vein and then emptied directly into the inferior vena cava. A tumor extending from the right lobe through the middle portion of the liver was excised. The postoperative course was satisfactory and marked regeneration of the residual hepatic tissue was observed. Also the blood level of ammonia in the superior mesenteric vein was low, approximately 120 micrograms/dl, compared to the normal value of 350 micrograms/dl in the portal vein. This low blood level may indicate the presence of some homeostatic control mechanism.


Measurement problems of knowledge economy and the level of progress of countries on the way to it became one of the principal in developing the concept of the knowledge economy. Since knowledge is a special product, they can't be reduced to some monetary unit, as the production of goods and services. The world Bank's methodology offers the most versatile approach to measuring knowledge economy based on the basic statistical indicators, which involves the separation of countries by the components of the index of knowledge economy: advanced, "napitupulu" and "periphery". The article describes the evolution of methodologies for measuring the knowledge economy. Existing approaches to the measurement of the knowledge economy should also highlight the approaches associated with the construction of integral indices that represent the aggregate weighted indicators, compiled from a number of indicators and selected depending on the purpose and objectives of the study. To the components of the index of the knowledge economy include: index economic and institutional regime, education index, innovation index and the index of information technologies and communications. The article presents a comparison of KAM 2005 and 2012 at each component of the knowledge economy.


One of the most promising families of catalyst support materials from the point of view of durability in the PEFC are metal oxides. SnO2 can only corrode, in a strong acid, at potentials ! 1.4V, progressing through surface hydroxide formation. The bulk stability is backed up by simulated potential cycling, with minimal ESCA loss at 1.6V. The conductivity of pure SnO2, which forms the rutile crystal structure, is very small compared to C but can increase by orders of magnitude with formation of certain intrinsic defects which create electron donor levels in the band gap (which, at 3.6 eV, classes the undoped oxide as a wide band gap semiconductor). The ab-initio study evaluates the potential of extrinsic dopants to increase conductivity through adding n-type charge carriers to the system, investigating the influence of Ta on the thermodynamic stability and electronic properties through DFT calculations. Particular focus has been given to Ta, as TaO2 also forms with the rutile structure. This allows investigation of the full range of Ta doping concentration from an isolated defect to alloy by including it as a substitutional defect. A cluster expansion parameterised in terms of binary occupation variable that equal Sn or Ta is used to calculate the orderings (distributions of Ta:Sn atoms over the lattice at fixed concentration). It is found that alloys are stabilized thermodynamically by lattice distortions, with the creation of donor levels near the conduction band minimum (CBM) that with the relaxation of the lattice turn into states lying deep in the band gap that are calculated to give inadequate donation of electrons to the conduction band. This is indicative of collaborating Jahn-Teller active (JT) distortion modes of the disordered crystallite oxide which is shown through analysis of the spin density. The results suggest that alloying of metals in oxide systems is not a feasible approach to increasing conductivity with thermodynamic stability due to JT effects. The second part of this thesis explores the potential of hydrogen defects, which have been shown to form at interstitial and host oxygen sites under laboratory conditions. The same methodology is followed to establish the efficacy of hydrogen as an electron donor and its relation to other defects in SnO2. Much theoretical work has been devoted to the study of hydrogen in n-type semiconductors and experimental work supports that hydrogen can be expected to act as a conventional n-type donor in SnO2. It is found that interstitial H not only makes SnO2 metallic as recorded by the electronic structure, but further that the defect can bring about a large downward shift in the effective band gap. This also raises the possibility of activating Ta-induced deep donor levels.


Views from the Bridge was published in 1995. It is a book written as a series of seven essays, mainly intended for the professional natural scientist and the serious amateur. In the Preface, Dr Kenny mentions his first encounter with freshwater fishes as a boy playing in the St Ann's River (where Lechmere Guppy discovered the fish that now bears his name - and today is known the world over). Throughout this book Dr Kenny acknowledges the work and the help of colleagues and associates while, (as is only proper) omitting to mention the names of stumbling blocks in the path of scientific research. A brief postscript, bibliography, black-and-white photographs of three dozen freshwater fish and an index complete this memoir.


With the development of computer technology, the application of high technology in the ceramic industry is more and more popular. According to the modeling characteristics and production process requirements of ceramic products, this paper proposes an implementation method of 3D CAD system for ceramic industry. Relying on the advanced technology and kernel of ThinkDesign in curved surface processing and solid modeling, the system will realize an easy-to-use function of ceramic products special-type structure using GSM-a top technology, and help designers design new products quickly by establishing classified 3D material library of component models of ceramic products.


Chondroid syringoma is a rare tumor arising from the major and minor salivary glands. The incidence of chondroid syringoma is reported to be <0.01% among the primary skin tumors. Eighty percent of the chondroid syringomas are seen in older patients , commonly on head and neck region and mostly on the cheek and nose. The authors report a case discussing the surgical management of a chondroid syringoma and pointing out the importance of including this tumor in the differential diagnosis of small subcutaneous nodules in the head and neck region, in middle-age male patients.


Analytic formulation and contribution to treatment of psychotic disorders have little application in modern psychiatry. The medical model, largely based on psychopharmacology and biological conceptualisation of illness, particularly dominates the treatment of psychosis. While many analysts have worked with patients in psychotic states, it is rare to find analytic approaches to psychosis within the national health service (NHS) in the UK. We feel this a detriment to a sometimes difficult to treat patient group. Jung spent his early working years devoted to patients with psychosis at the Burgholzli hospital in Zurich. Later on in his career, Jung had personal experience of psychotic symptoms, interacting with visions and voices within his own mind, that are noted in his posthumous Red Book. Jung is, therefore, arguably one of the most experienced analysts and depth psychologists in the realm of psychosis. In this paper we describe Jung's in-depth psychological approach to the genesis of psychosis. We then discuss parallels with our contemporary understanding of the aetiology of psychosis. Our aim is to highlight the importance of an analytical approach and thinking in a) understanding the aetiology and b) contribution to treatment of such a complex and intractable disorder as psychosis.


1 Effects of the antihistamines, terfenadine (60 mg) and astemizole (10 and 20 mg), on performance (visuo-motor coordination, arithmetical ability and digit symbol substitution) and on mood were studied in six healthy adult females. The study was double-blind, placebo controlled and included an antihistamine with known central effects (triprolidine 10 mg in sustained release form). 2 There were no changes in performance after terfenadine (60 mg) and astemizole (10 and 20 mg). Triprolidine (10 mg) caused a decrement in visuo-motor coordination (P less than 0.01) 0.5 h after ingestion which lasted until 3.5 h (P less than 0.001). The subject assessed their performance as impaired from 1.5-3.5 h (P less than 0.05) with triprolidine (10 mg), and their mood assessments were also altered. 3 Terfenadine (60 mg) and astemizole (10 and 20 mg) are likely to prove useful antihistamines for those involved in skilled activity.


The advent of automated manufacturing processes and the possibility of directly translating virtual creations into physical artifacts brought forth the possibility of exploring a digital tectonic: the poetics of digitally conceived, structurally clarified and directly manufactured architecture. CAD/CAM equipment is being rapidly installed in schools of architecture without much thought given to its effect on the tradition of tectonics. To investigate these effects, this paper includes discussions of the tradition of architectural tectonics and of more recent works that illustrate the possibilities of digital tectonics. This discussion is followed by a brief survey of some of the research in the area of analog/digital pedagogy. Additionally, two experiments were conducted in an academic course setting that explored analog, digital, and hybrid approaches to the creation of architectural artifacts. The physical and virtual artifacts from the two experiments were analyzed and commonalities and differences were discerned. The research project reported in this paper further clarifies the notion of digital tectonics as the poetics of digitally constructed assemblages, and points to possible pitfalls of using CAD/ CAM equipment that disregard the materiality of components and their interconnectedness. ACADIA: Education


Large organizations often have users in multiple sites which are connected over the Internet. Since resources are limited, communication between these sites needs to be carefully orchestrated for the most benefit to the organization. We present a Mission-optimized Overlay Network (MON), a hybrid overlay network architecture for maximizing utility to the organization. We combine an offline and an online system to solve non-concave utility maximization problems. The offline tier, the Predictive Flow Optimizer (PFO), creates plans for routing traffic using a model of network conditions. The online tier, MONtra, is aware of the precise local network conditions and is able to react quickly to problems within the network. Either tier alone is insufficient. The PFO may take too long to react to network changes. MONtra only has local information and cannot optimize non-concave mission utilities. However, by combining the two systems, MON is robust and achieves near-optimal utility under a wide range of network conditions. While best-effort overlay networks are well studied, our work is the first to design overlays that are optimized for mission utility.


Abstract The Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX) steady-state linear plasma facility is currently under design at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The facility proposes to produce ITER divertor-relevant plasma conditions with steady-state heat fluxes up to 10 MW/m2 with ion fluxes up to 1024/m2‧s. Plasmas will be produced from a helicon source with additional electron cyclotron and ion cyclotron heating, contained by superconducting magnets. MPEX will be capable of including targets that have been neutron irradiated from the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) in order to examine the effects of divertor-relevant plasma fluence on neutron-damaged materials. Targets can then be remotely transferred to an exchange chamber and moved into a handling station that is far from the MPEX magnets. Because of the high heat fluxes, the target must be actively cooled. Because the targets are activated, remote handling is required. The challenge of providing both active cooling and remote handling simultaneously has required a design and analysis effort that is the subject of this study.


Parasomnia Overlap Disorder (POD) was described and named in 1997 with a series of 33 cases of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) combined with a disorder of arousal from non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep (sleepwalking, sleep terrors) that emerged idiopathically or symptomatically with neurological and other disorders. POD is a subtype of RBD in the International Classification of Sleep Disorders Diagnostic and Coding Manual, second edition (ICSD-2). An updated classification of POD also includes subclinical RBD-NREM parasomnia, RBD-sleep-related eating disorder, RBD-sexsomnia, RBD-rhythmic movement disorder, and status dissociatus (SD), which is another subtype of RBD in the ICSD-2. Similar to POD, a core feature of SD is sleep motor-behavioral dyscontrol, with release of dream-related behaviors suggestive of RBD, but with nearly continuous ambiguous polygraphic sleep precluding the identification of NREM/REM sleep states. SD exemplifies extreme state dissociation. SD is always a symptomatic disorder, and is causally associated with a broad range of neurologic disorders, often with thalamic, limbic, striatal, and pontine involvement. The parasomnia behaviors associated with POD and SD — typical RBD behaviors — can often be controlled with bedtime clonazepam therapy, including the abnormal dreaming.


This article introduces the view of political entrepreneurship, which is based on the development of unique interaction with political units to assist firms in their business. Based on a business network perspective, the aim is to develop a theoretical frame for analysis of this interaction. The question raised is how small entrepreneurs can develop relationships with political units in order to strengthen their business opportunities. Relationship commitment and knowledge are introduced as managerial elements determining the firms' influential and adaptive behaviour. A case study of a new venture in life science is used to illustrate the reasoning. The results manifest how even small firms can use their resources and knowledge to develop specific relationships with political units that support their business efforts. Issues related to loosely coupled relationships are brought forward as a theoretical foundation to aid the understanding of political entrepreneurship.


Personalised medicine promises individual and optimised treatment for each patient. Researchers identify markers correlating with a certain reaction to an active ingredient. However, such research results are easy to copy and research-driven companies are calling for effective IP protection.
This book shows that current European patent law can only offer limited protection. In the analysis of the patenting requirements and in view of statutory history, it can be shown that patenting practice has moved away from the normative framework and has become based on paradigms. The still-prevailing doctrine of absolute protection of substances is outdated.
As an alternative concept, Jan Krusche suggests a normatively oriented concept of patenting in order to make the patenting of information-based innovations as gene markers predictable. DNA therefore will only be patented in its functional context.


Traditional management of congenital nephrotic syndrome has been early bilateral nephrectomy with renal replacement therapy and subsequent transplantation. Management in the United Kingdom has moved towards unilateral nephrectomy and pharmacotherapy with ACE inhibition and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories to limit renal function and hence protein leak. The frequent administration of intravenous albumin is a mandatory requirement in almost all patients in the early stages of the disease. We report a series of seven patients in whom parents were trained in the administration of albumin via a central line in the home setting, with reduction in the need for prolonged hospital admission or attendance. We demonstrate that albumin can be safely administered in the home setting, over a short period of time per infusion, and is well tolerated. No mortality was directly attributable to the home albumin program. Complication rates were favourable compared to other home parenteral therapies. Administration of intravenous albumin can be safely performed in the home setting, reducing the length of in-patient stay and potentially delaying the need for nephrectomy and renal replacement therapy.


Introduction Recent U.S. legislation supports vocational rehabilitation efforts to maximize employment and community integration of persons with disabilities by providing job retention and career advancement services. The study presented here investigated employed persons with visual disabilities who applied for vocational rehabilitation services. Methods The sample included 4,499 competitively employed vocational rehabilitation applicants from the FY2015 RSA-911 report. Logistic regression was used to identify consumer characteristics and vocational rehabilitation services associated with losing competitive employment. Results Employed applicants tended to receive assessment, counseling and guidance, diagnosis and treatment, and rehabilitation technology. Characteristics that put employed applicants at increased risk of losing their jobs included being female, having a secondary disability, working fewer hours, having less education, or having a previous unsuccessful vocational rehabilitation employment outcome. There was a significant interaction between vocational rehabilitation case length and age: those served for longer periods were more likely to lose employment, particularly older consumers. Consumers who received short-term on-the-job support, diagnosis and treatment of impairments, or rehabilitation technology services were more likely to retain competitive employment. Discussion When developing rehabilitation plans for employed applicants, counselors may identify and attempt to provide services to address factors that put consumers at an increased risk of losing employment. Part-time employment at application is one risk factor that requires increased attention. Implications for practitioners Prompt service delivery is an important factor in facilitating job retention. Increased efforts to maintain consumer contact and motivation may influence the likelihood of job retention among employed applicants.


A calibration of reconstructed winter, spring and autumn precipitation series in Portugal from 1600 onwards is undertaken in the present study using new instrumental sources for the period of 1815–2012. As summer precipitation in Portugal is scarce and irregular, it is not considered. A consistency analysis of the calibrated time series is then undertaken using: (1) precipitation indices for Portugal in 1675–1799; (2) teleconnections between seasonal precipitation and large-scale atmospheric flow; (3) two paleoclimatic experiments (ERIK1 and ERIK2), generated from a global/regional climate model chain (ECHO-G/MM5); and (4) tree-ring records from oak trees in Portugal (Serra do Buçaco). These are the first multi-centennial records of tree-ring growth in Portugal (the earliest series begin in 1675). General agreement is found between indices and calibrated precipitation for their common period on an annual basis. Overall, the atmospheric teleconnection patterns are dynamically coherent between the instrumental and pre-instrumental periods. The inter-annual to inter-decadal variability in the calibrated series reveals similar distributions as in the paleoclimatic simulations. Low-frequency variability in spring precipitation is validated by 12 tree-ring series. This study provides calibrated seasonal precipitation series in Portugal from 1600 onwards, revealing high consistency with several independent sources for winter and spring, enabling future applications to climate research.


REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY
Fillies completely devoid of endometrial glands (uterine gland knockout; UGKO) would make ideal experimental models in which to study the role of endometrial histotroph in embryogenesis and early fetal development in the mare.

HYPOTHESIS
Administration of a synthetic progestagen plus oestrogen to newborn filly foals and, thereafter, at regular intervals to age 6 months, would permanently suppress endometrial gland development.

METHODS
Nine half-sister Thoroughbred filly foals were treated, in 3 groups, with: A) the weakly active progestagen, norgestomet, administered from birth to age 6 months, in subcutaneous implant form plus oestradiol valerate and norgestomet i.m. at fortnightly intervals; B) the strongly active oral progestagen, altrenogest, administered daily from birth to age 6 months plus fortnightly injections of oestradiol valerate and norgestomet; C) nothing (untreated controls). Endometrial biopsies were recovered from all fillies at ages 6 months and 2 years to assess the degree of endometrial gland morphogenesis and to determine immunohistochemically the presence or absence of oestrogen and progesterone receptors in the endometrial tissues.

RESULTS
Groups B and C showed no endometrial gland development, whereas Group A fillies showed a high degree of endometrial gland development, plus strong staining for both oestrogen and progesterone receptors at age 6 months. All 9 fillies showed full normal endometrial gland morphogenesis, development and function at age 2 years.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
While the administration of a strongly active progestagen over-rode the actions of the concomitantly administered oestrogen and suppressed endometrial gland development during the period of administration, treatment with oestradiol valerate together with a weakly active progestagen, stimulated precocious endometrial gland development. Neither steroid was able to create the desired UGKO experimental model and all fillies showed normal endometrial gland development and fertility after puberty. Hence, ovarian oestrogen, not progesterone, appears to be the basic stimulus for endometrial gland morphogenesis in the horse.


Compared with developed countries,the quality indexes of clean gasoline produced by China have big gap,such as high steam pressure,octane n umber distributing,and high content of olefin.In the future,gasoline of China will face bigger pressure because of sulfur,benzene and oxygen content.Based on the production situation,middle and long-term development direction of gasoline in China is adjusting equipment of oil refining and reducing the content of olefin and sulfur.