Staff training and development is a key to achieving organizational success and corporate development. This study is aimed at finding out the Impact of Training and Development on workers' productivity via the TETFund Academic Staff Training and Development 2010 Sponsorship. Results revealed that training and development programmes improve employees' skills and performance at work place, enhance their technical knowhow/wherewithal to with stand the challenges of contemporary times, thus, an effective tool for sustaining and enhancing workers' productivity in the academia.


Catfish (Pangasius pangasius) is one of popular freshwater fisheries commodities and its growth relatively fast. Fish growth and survival were affected by feed. The high-quality feed is expensive so it can be added with alternative feed ingredients such as Seligi leaf flour. Seligi leaf flour has 11.53% protein and 15.48% crude fibre. However, high crude fiber can be overcome by fermentation using probiotics. This study aims to determine the use of Seligi leaf flour fermentation (Phyllanthus buxifolius) in feed on fat retention and energy retention of catfish (Pangasius pangasius). This study used an experimental method with a completely randomized design (CRD) consisting of four treatments (0%, 2%, 4%, and 6%) with five replications. Data analysis used Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and continued with Duncan's Multiple Range Test. The results of the research that had been carried out were significant differences (P <0.05) on fat retention and energy retention of catfish. The highest fat retention and energy retention was in P2 treatment, while the lowest fat retention and energy retention was in P0 treatment.


IMPACT OF MASS MIXING ON THE LATERAL RESISTANCE OF DRIVEN PILE FOUNDATIONS Mark A. Herbst Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Master of Science Although it has been established that in-situ soil mixing has improved the bearing capacity of soils, additional research is needed to better understand the effect of soil mixing on lateral resistance of pile caps. To do this, in-situ soil mixing was used to strengthen weak clay adjacent to a pile cap of a driven pile foundation. The mass stabilization method or mass mixing was used to treat an 11 ft wide, 4.ft thick, and 10 ft deep zone consisting of an average 475 psf clay that was adjacent to a 9pile group in 3x3 pile configuration capped with a 9 ft x 9 ft x 2.5 ft, 5000 psi concrete cap. The mass mixing involved 220 cubic ft of in-situ soil and was mixed with an additional 220 cubic ft of jet grout spoils producing a mixing ratio of 1 to 1. All of the mass mixing took place after construction of the pile caps. Laboratory testing of the mass mix slurry showed an unconfined compressive strength of 20,160 psf or 140 psi. Lateral load testing of the pile foundation was then undertaken. The results of this testing were compared with similar testing performed on the same foundation with native soil conditions. The lateral resistance of the native soil was 282 kips at a pile cap displacement of 1.5 inches, and the total lateral resistance of the pile foundation treated with mass mixing was increased by 62% or 170 kips. Of the 170 kips, 90% to 100% can be attributed to the increased passive force on the face of the mass mixed zone and shear on the sides and bottom denoting that the mass mixed zone behaved as a rigid block.


Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) were proved as new technology to intervene in monitoring, managing and protecting environmental resources among others lake and water reservoir are mostly anxious resources. The objective of the study was to estimate the surface area change of the lake Naivasha using RS, GIS techniques and hydrological modeling for the lake water balance. Landat images Thematic Mapper/Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (TM/ETM+) taken respectively in the same month of January 1986; 1995; 2003 and 2010 were the input data used to assess the different changes of the lake area on one hand. on other hand the spread sheet data set helped to build the hydrological model to estimate the long term lake Level fluctuation, the rainfall versus evaporation as in flow and out flow from the lake. The lake volume showed the dynamic of ground water to simulate the long-term fluctuation of the lake level. The lake area changes from the model were calculated from the spread sheet input data from 1986 to 2003 while the lake area changes from the Landsat images were calculated from 1986 to 2010. The comparative results from the area lake changes both from Landsat images and hydrological model confirmed the correlation results, 45.72 Km2 or 32.03 % in 2010 for the Landsat while the hydrological model estimated to 12km2 or 8% area reduction in 2003. Keywords : Area lake change, Geographical Information System, Hydrological model, Landsat images, Lake Naivasha, Remote Sensing


This paper will present a software that was developed to diagnose well test data. The software monitors the data, and through a series of algorithms alarms the user in case of discrepancies. This allows the user to investigate possible source of errors and correct them in real time.
 Several datasets from previous operations were analyzed and the basic physics governing how a certain datum depends on others were laid out. All the well test data traditionally acquired were put on a matrix, showing the dependencies between each datum and other physical properties that are available - either measured or modelled. Acceptable fluctuations in acquired data were also identified for use as tolerance limits. The software scans through the data as it is acquired and raises an alarm when the identified dependencies are broken. The software also identified which parameter is most likely causing the error.
 The software was built based on previous well test data and reports. Subsequently, two field trials were conducted to fine tune the algorithms and allowable data fluctuations. The process of validating the software consisted of: (1) Identifying flagged errors that should have not been flagged (dependencies set too tight); (2) identifying errors that should have been flagged and were not (dependencies set too loose); (3) improving the user interface for ease of use. The results were positive, with several improvements in the error recognition and several discrepancies flagged that would not have been caught by the naked eye. The user interface was also improved, allowing the user to clear error messages and provide input to improve the algorithm. The field trial also demonstrated that the methodology is scalable to other data acquisition plans and to more advanced analytics. The algorithms are simple, allowing the software to be implemented in all operations. More advanced algorithms are likely to depend on job specific data and parameters.
 Traditional data acquisition systems used during well test only present the data. Alarms trigger the user's attention only when certain defined operability limits are about to be reached. Being able to confirm that the data is cohesive during the well test prevents a loss of confidence in the results and painful post processing exercises. Moreover, given the algorithms used are based on simple physics, it is easy to deploy the software in any operation.


The aim of the present study was to evaluate the expression of standard CD44 (CD44s) in colorectal cancer (CRC), its relationship with clinicopathological characteristics, and its potential prognostic significance. CD44s levels were measured on immunohistochemistry in tumors and surrounding normal mucosa from 74 patients with primary colorectal carcinomas. The patients were followed for a median period of 37 months. Expression of CD44s in primary tumor and surrounding normal mucosa tissues was demonstrated in 100% (74/74) and 37.9% (28/74), respectively. The expression of CD44s in tumors was significantly associated with the depth of invasion (P = 0.034) and lymph node involvement (P = 0.031). A significant difference was observed between the overall survival and level of tumor CD44s expression, especially for stage IV carcinoma (P = 0.038). Multivariate analysis indicated that TNM stage (P = 0.020) and tumor CD44s expression (P = 0.008) were independent predictors of overall survival in adenocarcinomas. CD44s overexpression may be an independent unfavorable prognostic factor for overall survival in advanced CRC, especially stage IV disease. Further investigation, however, is necessary to assess the biological roles of CD44 in CRC, and validate their possible value as novel therapeutic targets.


Two new species of Indigofera are described from western Queensland, one of which also extends into the Northern Territory. Indigofera erubescens Peter G. Wilson & Rowe, is a species sometimes confused with I. brevidens and, to a lesser extent, I. helmsii but readily distinguished from both by its rather small, red flowers; Indigofera queenslandica Peter G. Wilson & Rowe, is a species superficially similar in parts of its range to I. leucotricha in having a rather dense, greyish indumentum. Both species are illustrated and their conservation status discussed.


Purpose - The aim of this study is to use a financial approach based on the Du Pont expansion to investigate the impact of demographics, specialization, tenure, vertical integration, farm type, and regional location on the three levers of performance (ROE) – namely, net profit margins, asset turnover ratio, and asset-to-equity ratio. Design/methodology/approach - This research uses a system of equations in conjunction with 1996-2009 farm-level data from the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) to evaluate the factors driving farm-level profitability, namely, net profit margins, asset turnover ratio, and asset-to-equity ratio. The methodology employed in this study corrects heterogeneity and uses repeated cross-section estimation procedure to estimate the empirical models. Findings - The study finds that key drivers of net profit margins are operator education, farm size and typology, specialization, and level of government payments. Key factors affecting the asset turnover ratio component of the Du Pont model include asset turnover ratio is driven by operator age, contracting, specialization, and receiving government payments. Finally, key factors affecting asset-to-equity ratio component of the Du Pont model are farm size, farm typology, contracting, and specialization drive asset-to-equity ratio. Originality/value - Existing research does not examine the factors affecting returns to equity in faring at the farm-level. Specifically, a micro-level analysis of American farm's future structure and financial performance that accounts for the spatial and inter-temporal dimensions of profitability has never been conducted.


Current genotype-calling methods such as Robust Linear Model with Mahalanobis Distance Classifier (RLMM) and Corrected Robust Linear Model with Maximum Likelihood Classification (CRLMM) provide accurate calling results for Affymetrix Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNP) chips. However, these methods are computationally expensive as they employ preprocess procedures, including chip data normalization and other sophisticated statistical techniques. In the small sample case the accuracy rate may drop significantly. We develop a new genotype calling method for Affymetrix 100 k and 500 k SNP chips. A two-stage classification scheme is proposed to obtain a fast genotype calling algorithm. The first stage uses unsupervised classification to quickly discriminate genotypes with high accuracy for the majority of the SNPs. And the second stage employs a supervised classification method to incorporate allele frequency information either from the HapMap data or from a self-training scheme. Confidence score is provided for every genotype call. The overall performance is shown to be comparable to that of CRLMM as verified by the known gold standard HapMap data and is superior in small sample cases. The new algorithm is computationally simple and standalone in the sense that a self-training scheme can be used without employing any other training data. A package implementing the calling algorithm is freely available at http://www.sfs.ecnu.edu.cn/teachers/xuj_en.html.


The Ainu, a tribe who has inhabited in the northernmost area of Japan, the area which has traditionally been called "Yeso", used toxic substances of various kinds for hunting and fishing. Aconite (surku in Ainu), Ikema (penup in Ainu), Naniwazu (ketuhas in Ainu) and Aka-ei (aikoro chiep in Ainu), Japanese sting ray, were the most popular toxic substances used for the purposes.Since we have already published a report on Aconite, we should like to take up here the rest of the substances, that is to say, Ikema, Naniwazu and Aka-ei.1) Ikema (Cynanchum caudatum Maxim.)Ikema is a climbing plant. The Ainu mix beaten roots of this plant with the flesh of the salmon. They stuff salmon with this mixture and leave the stuffed salmon in haunting places of Bering Island Raven (Corvus corax behringianus Dyb.). Those Bering Island Raven who have pecked Ikema in the flesh of the salmon become intoxicated and giddy and loose balance to be readily captured by hunters.2) Naniwazu (Daphne kamtchatica Maxim, var. yesoensis Ohwi)This plant grows into a shrub of about 1 meter in height. The Ainu make use of the plant for catching Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus divergens Illiger) by smearing its sap on a harpoon or lance heads.3) Aka-ei (Dasyatis akajei Muller & Henle)The habitat of Aka-ei ranges from the tropics, sub-tropics to temperate zones. When grown up, the fish measures 1 meter or so in length. Its caudal sting (about 7-10 cm long) contains a venom. There are three ways of using the venom for hunting:a) To use the caudal sting as a lance to stab bears.b) To grind the caudal sting into powder and to spread it on the arrow heads together with aconite.c) To stick the caudal sting to the arrow heads. The Ainu use it repeatedly by sharpening it when its head is broken.As is evident from the above descriptions, plant poisons are used in the cases of 1) and 2) and the fish venom in the case of 3). Where did these methods of hunting and fishing using poisons and the venom originate? In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to make comparative studies between these methods of the Ainu and those of other tribes inhabiting in areas north of Yeso, such as Gilyak, Chukuchee, Koryak, Kamchadal, Yukagir, Aleut and Pacific Eskimo. To achive this end, it may also be necessary to make studies on the religious aspect of their life and on ceremonies and rites practiced by those tribes with regard to hunting and fishing.


Integrable systems on quantum groups are investigated. The Heisenberg equations possessing the Lax form are solved in terms of the solution to the factorization problem on the corresponding quantum group.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
Epidural analgesia is routinely used in obstetrics but has been blamed for possible effects on labor that lead to greater use of instruments or conversion to cesarean delivery. We aimed to assess this possibility in a cohort of obstetric patients receiving or not receiving epidural analgesia.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Prospectively enrolled full-term obstetric patients were distributed in 2 groups according to whether they received epidural analgesia or not. We compared maternal and fetal characteristics, obstetric variables, and type of delivery between groups to record the likely causes of difficult labor and delivery and detect a possible influence of epidural analgesia.

RESULTS
Of a total of 602 patients, 462 received epidural analgesia and 140 did not. Epidural analgesia was related to a higher rate of use of instruments but not cesareans (P < .01) and more frequent need for oxytocin (30.7% of the epidural analgesia group vs 0% of the group receiving no epidural analgesia, P < .001). The women receiving analgesia also had a longer mean (SD) duration of the dilatation phase of labor (6.4 [4.2] hours in the epidural group vs 4.7 [3.5] hours in the no-epidural group, P < .01) and of the expulsion phase (1.0 [0.6] hours vs 0.7 [0.6] hours, respectively; P<.01). We observed no effects on the incidence of tearing, rate of episiotomy, or other variables. Predictors of instrumentation or conversion to cesarean delivery were longer duration of the first phase (odds ratio [OR] 1.2; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.1-1.3), longer duration of the second phase (OR 2.3; 95% CI, 1.3-3.9), and maternal obesity (OR, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.9-1.2). Previous deliveries and initiation of epidural analgesia after the fetus has reached Hodge's first plane decreased risk 2.7-fold and 3.03-fold, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
Although epidural analgesia has traditionally been associated with a higher incidence of difficult labor and delivery, this association was not unequivocally evident in this cohort of patients. The apparent increase seems to be attributable to such obstetric factors as longer duration of stages of labor, higher body mass index, and first delivery.


Objective: To evaluate the clincal effect of mirtazapine for supportive treatment of senile unstable angina pectoris combined with depression.Methods:68 cases of senile unstable angina pectoris combined with depression were divided into two groups.The control group was treated with routine drugs,and the treated group was given mirtazapine(30mg/d),in addition to the routine treatment.The duration of observation was 6 months in two groups.Results:In treatment group there were 29 cases breaking out one or less time and 5 cases breaking out more than 2 times weekly. In control group there were 9 and 25 cases having aforementioned conditions respectinely.The difference in two groups was significant( P 0.01).In treated group there were 27 and 7cases given 2 and more than 2 mg of nitroglycerine a week,respectively,and more than 2mg of nitroglycerine a week,respectively,and in control group there were 10and 24 cases.Both groups differed remarkebly( P 0.01).In treated group the drop times of ST cector by the end of periods of 3 and 6 months were(73±15)and(51±15),respectively,and in control group the drop times were(101±23) and (118±24),respectively.The difference between two groups was great significant( P 0.05).The rehespitalized patients were 2 and 7 in treated group and in control groups( P 0.05).Conclusion: As a supportive drug against depression,mirtazapine is very effective for senile unstable angina pectoris combined with depression.


Diabetes mellitus (DM) has been shown previously to decrease hepatic synthesis of both albumin and albumin mRNA. These findings prompted us to ask whether decreased albumin expression is due to changes in the rate of gene transcription. A cell-free in vitro transcription assay demonstrated that activity of the albu- min promoter in hepatonuclear extracts was diminished 3- to 4-fold in diabetic compared with control animals. This decrease was abolished in extracts prepared from diabetic animals treated with insulin. The potential mechanisms for diminished activity were examined by mixing extracts from normal and diabetic animals prior to incubation with DNA templates. In the presence of limited amounts of albumin promoter DNA, addition of diabetic to control extract caused a reduction in promoter activity, suggesting that an in- hibitor or inhibitors of albumin promoter activity is/ are present in the liver of diabetic rats.


The authors apologize and state that in the original article "WEB-DL Endovascular Treatment of Wide-Neck Bifurcation Aneurysms: Long-Term Results in a European Study" by L. Pierot, J. Klisch, T. Liebig, J.-Y. Gauvrit, M. Leonardi, N.P. Nuzzi, F. Di Paola, V. Sychra, B. Mine, and B. Lubicz [AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2015;36:2314 –19, 10.3174/ajnr.A4445], there is an error in the author affiliations of Prof. M. Leonardi (M.L.). The correct version is given below. Department of Neuroradiology (M.L.), Ospedale Bellaria, IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna and DIMES, Bologna University, Bologna, Italy.


In Britain the Post Office has the responsibility of ensuring effective communication. Accordingly there is ongoing research in the area of data communications. Three areas are presented: i) The European study on data communications (The Eurodata Study) The history of the study, the structure and the result of the study are presented. ii) The internal Post Office data communication demand forecast The authors set down the objectives, method of approach and sources of information, method of analysis, a data traffic forecast, discussion of computer centers, and the use of internal P.O. data forecasts. iii) The Post Office data base project The need for such a project is established followed by comments on the modeling, analysis of units in the project, an application discussion and summary.. This part of the article develops the details of the proposed model of data transmission demand. The authors then present a data processi:ag application analysis, a section on terminology, a discussion on data collection, and three appendices dealing with i) terminology, ii) data collection, and iii) data characteristics.-7


A model of a hard oscillator with analytic solution is presented. Its behavior under periodic kicking, for which a closed form stroboscopic map can be obtained, is studied. It is shown that the general structure of such an oscillator includes four distinct regions; the outer two regions correspond to very small or very large amplitude of the external force and match the corresponding regions in soft oscillators (invertible degree one and degree zero circle maps, respectively). There are two new regions for intermediate amplitude of the forcing. Region 3 corresponds to moderate high forcing, and is intrinsic to hard oscillators; it is characterized by discontinuous circle maps with a flat segment. Region 2 (low moderate forcing) has a certain resemblance to a similar region in soft oscillators (noninvertible degree one circle maps); however, the limit set of the dynamics in this region is not a circle, but a branched manifold, obtained as the tangent union of a circle and an interval; the topological structure of this object is generated by the finite size of the repelling set, and is therefore also intrinsic to hard oscillators.


In this paper we prove an explicit formula for the arithmetic intersection
number $({\rm CM}(K).{\rm G}_1)_{\ell}$ on the Siegel moduli space of
abelian surfaces, generalizing the work of Bruinier-Yang and Yang. These
intersection numbers allow one to compute the denominators of Igusa class
polynomials, which has important applications to the construction of genus
$2$ curves for use in cryptography. Bruinier and Yang conjectured a
formula for intersection numbers on an arithmetic Hilbert modular surface,
and as a consequence obtained a conjectural formula for the intersection
number $({\rm CM}(K).{\rm G}_1)_{\ell}$ under strong assumptions on the
ramification of the primitive quartic CM field $K$. Yang later proved this
conjecture assuming that $\cal{O}_K$ is freely generated by one element
over the ring of integers of the real quadratic subfield. In this paper,
we prove a formula for $({\rm CM}(K).{\rm G}_1)_{\ell}$ for more general
primitive quartic CM fields, and we use a different method of proof than
Yang. We prove a tight bound on this intersection number which holds for
{\it all} primitive quartic CM fields. As a consequence, we obtain a
formula for a multiple of the denominators of the Igusa class polynomials
for an arbitrary primitive quartic CM field. Our proof entails studying
the Embedding Problem posed by Goren and Lauter and counting solutions
using our previous article that generalized work of Gross-Zagier and
Dorman to arbitrary discriminants.


A 22-year-old man was referred for palpitations. On transthoracic echocardiography, he was found to have a right ventricular outflow tract mass. Further cardiac imaging was conducted by means of transesophageal echocardiography, computed tomography, and cardiac magnetic resonance. Complete surgical resection of the tumor was achieved, and pathologic examination revealed the lesion to be a myxoma. Cardiac tumors located in the right ventricular outflow tract are rare and can present unusual diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Cardiac computed tomography and magnetic resonance are becoming more widely available and can be useful adjuncts in the management of such tumors.


One hundred patients took part in a randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of three 1 g doses of cephaloridine in preventing infection after abdominal hysterectomy. The first dose was given as an intravenous bolus at the commencement of surgery and the second and third as intramuscular injections 6 and 12 hours later. Given in this way, cephaloridine was found to be very effective in preventing febrile morbidity, abdominal wound infection and urinary tract infection. It was less effective in preventing pelvic wound infection and postoperative colonization of the vagina with Escherichia coli.


About 45% of the total drinking water in Ghana is produced from groundwater. The presence of arsenic and manganese in groundwater above the recommended WHO drinking- water guidelines pose a threat to consumers' health. To provide additional information on groundwater quality in the gold-belt zone of Ghana, nearly 290 well water samples from three regions namely Ashanti, Western and Brong-Ahafo, were analyzed for the presence of arsenic, iron and manganese. It was found that 5–12% of sampled wells had arsenic levels exceeding the 10 μg l −1 —WHO provisional guideline value. Communities within the studied area with high arsenic presence in their groundwater are located within the Birimian and Tarkwaian geological formations. Most of these arsenic contaminated wells (70%) have been in use for more than 15 years. Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti and Western regions had 5%, 25% and 50% of wells, respectively with iron levels above 0.3 mg l −1 , the drinking-water guideline value commonly accepted for iron. Thirteen percent of wells in Ashanti and 29% in the Western region exceeded 0.4 mg l −1 —the WHO health-based guideline value for manganese.


Abstract Although the host restriction factor APOBEC3G (A3G) has broad spectrum antiviral activity, whether A3G inhibits enterovirus 71 (EV71) has been unclear until now. In this study, we demonstrated for the first time that A3G could inhibit EV71 virus replication. Silencing A3G in H9 cells enhanced EV71 replication, and EV71 replication was lower in H9 cells expressing A3G than in Jurkat cells without A3G expression, indicating that the EV71 inhibition was A3G-specific. Further investigation revealed that A3G inhibited the 5′UTR activity of EV71 by competitively binding to the 5′UTR through its nucleic acid binding activity. This binding impaired the interaction between the 5′UTR and the host protein poly(C)-binding protein 1 (PCBP1), which is required for the synthesis of EV71 viral proteins and RNA. On the other hand, we found that EV71 overcame A3G suppression through its non-structural protein 2C, which induced A3G degradation through the autophagy–lysosome pathway. Our research provides new insights into the interplay mechanisms of A3G and single-stranded positive RNA viruses.


Aerospace meteorology plays an important role in the design, development, and operation of aerospace vehicles. Many of the issues and lessons presented occurred during the involvement of the authors with the development and interpretation of aerospace environment inputs, especially those of the terrestrial environment. Background for the actions needed to avoid the issue being repeated or the lesson having to be relearned is addressed. The engineering application importance and some issues associated with the presentation and interpretation of terrestrial environment guidelines associated with aerospace meteorology elements are presented.


Introduction ASA is an established treatment for symptomatic HOCM patients. Due to the relatively low numbers appropriate for ASA evidence is limited to case series, this is the largest reported UK group. Methods Patients referred to Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital for consideration of ASA from August 1999 to December 2012 were reviewed. All patients had resting or stress LVOT gradient ¡Ý50 mm Hg. All patients were trialled on β-blockers and/or verapamil prior to ASA. Only those taken to the lab with the intention of delivering alcohol were included. A mean follow up period of 4.2 (±3.33) years was observed, range 0.13–12.29. Results Procedure: 91 patients were identified, mean age 60.8(±14.4) years. 5 could not receive alcohol due to limitations identifying and instrumenting appropriate septal vessels. 17 (20%) patients required a second procedure, 7 (8%) required a third. Alcohol was not delivered in 17 procedures. 173 septal vessels were explored with echo contrast, 123 subsequently received alcohol. The LAD was the parent artery for 92% of treated septals, Cx in 2%, diagonal in 2%, LMS in 3%. Mean of 2.05 ml (±0.98) alcohol was injected. CK-MB was available in 82 procedures, mean peak value was 152.3(±136.6)ng/dl. Complications Heart block requiring new PPM was seen in 16/76(21%). There were no procedural deaths. One inpatient death was reported following haemodynamic compromise as a complication of pacemaker implantation post ASA. Distal infarction was seen in one patient, pericardial effusion without tamponade was seen in one patient, neither required further treatment. One episode of sustained VT was seen 2 weeks after ASA requiring cardioversion. Symptomatic response: 84 patients had satisfactory follow up data. Mean pre-procedural NYHA was 2.79 (±0.47), improving to 1.95 (±0.84) after ASA (p<0.0001). 60 (71.4%) patients improved by ≥1 NYHA category, 22(26%) reported no change, 2(2%) deteriorated. 24 patients had pre- and post-ASA CPEX testing with RER>1.1. Peak VO2 increased from 18.9 to 20.09 ml/min/kg (p=0.018), exercise time increased from 568 to 615 s (p=0.046). Echocardiogram: 77 patients had satisfactory echo data for LVOT gradient assessment. Mean pre-ASA peak resting gradient was 82.9(±51.2) mmHg, median 80, range 0–237 mm Hg. Mean post-ASA peak gradient was 16.8 (±34.7) mmHg (p<0.0001), median 6, range 0–240 mm Hg. SAM was improved or abolished in 43/69 (62%) of all patients with available data, 38/55(69%) of those with final resting gradient <20 mm Hg, 3/6 (50%) of those with gradient 20–50 mm Hg, and 2/8 (25%) of those with resting gradient >50 mm Hg. Arrhythmia Internal rhythm monitoring was available in 35 patients (16 ICD for 1¡ã and 2¡ã prevention, 19 PPM) over a mean of 3.74(±3.15) years. No appropriate ICD therapy was delivered. NSVT was seen in 9 patients, 7 had 1 episode <15 beats, 1 had 4 episodes <15 beats, 1 had 36 episodes <15 beats, she had multiple episodes NSVT before ASA. Survival: 14 of those that received alcohol died. None suffered sudden cardiac death. 6 suffered cardiac related death (one as inpatient), congestive cardiac failure in 5. Non-cardiac death was reported in 8. Conclusions ASA provides good resolution of symptoms and LVOT gradients in most. It is generally a safe procedure. There is room for improvement in ASA. Those unable to receive treatment via trans-coronary methods need an alternative.


Deep neural networks have recently achieved competitive accuracy for human activity recognition. However, there is room for improvement, especially in modeling of long-term temporal importance and determining the activity relevance of different temporal segments in a video. To address this problem, we propose a learnable and differentiable module: Deep Adaptive Temporal Pooling (DATP). DATP applies a self-attention mechanism to adaptively pool the classification scores of different video segments. Specifically, using frame-level features, DATP regresses importance of different temporal segments, and generates weights for them. Remarkably, DATP is trained using only the video-level label. There is no need of additional supervision except video-level activity class label. We conduct extensive experiments to investigate various input features and different weight models. Experimental results show that DATP can learn to assign large weights to key video segments. More importantly, DATP can improve training of frame-level feature extractor. This is because relevant temporal segments are assigned large weights during back-propagation. Overall, we achieve state-of-the-art performance on UCF101, HMDB51 and Kinetics datasets.


Stone duality relates logic, in the form of Boolean algebra, to spaces. Stone-type dualities abound in computer science and have been of great use in understanding the relationship between computational models and the languages used to reason about them. Recent work on probabilistic processes has established a Stone-type duality for a restricted class of Markov processes. The dual category was a new notion—Aumann algebras—which are Boolean algebras equipped with countable family of modalities indexed by rational probabilities. In this article we consider an alternative definition of Aumann algebra that leads to dual adjunction for Markov processes that is a duality for many measurable spaces occurring in practice. This extends a duality for measurable spaces due to Sikorski. In particular, we do not require that the probabilistic modalities preserve a distinguished base of clopen sets, nor that morphisms of Markov processes do so. The extra generality allows us to give a perspicuous definition of event bisimulation on Aumann algebras.


Summary In five untreated goats, mammary extraction of plasma triglycerides increased at parturition. In five goats that had as much secretion as possible regularly removed from one mammary gland beginning on d 143 of gestation, the change of triglyceride extraction occurred several d before parturition in the emptied gland but at parturition in the contralateral control gland. The experimentally induced early increase of extraction of plasma triglycerides preceded the increase of prostaglandin Fα concentration in mammary secretion at parturition, and occurred despite abnormally high concentrations of progesterone in the secretion.


We investigated the efficacy and limitation of hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) chemotherapy for colorectal liver metastases. In terms of prophylactic HAI following curative resection of liver, the 5-year disease-free survival of HAI group (12 g of 5-FU administered in 6 weeks) was 66.7%, whereas that of randomly selected control group was 20.0%. The difference was statistically significant (p = 0.045). Recurrent disease was confirmed in three cases of HAI group (one in liver) and in 8 patients of the control group (6 in liver). However, the overall survival was not significantly different between the groups. Thus, the short-term HAI of 5-FU is effective in decreasing the recurrence of disease. As for the treatment of unresectable liver metastases, some patients received HAI of 5-FU (1,000-1,500 mg/w) showed prolonged survival with partial remission of the disease. However, the 1-, 2-, and 3-year cumulative survival of HAI group (n = 27) was 69.3, 34.1 and 11.4%, respectively, against 61.3, 22.6 and 9.4%, respectively, in the transarterial embolization (TAE) group (n = 31). Therefore it is important to estimate the effect in the early phase of HAI, and aggressively continue the treatment in selected patients for whom it is suitable.


Background Attachment theory has been proven essential for mental health, including psychopathology, development, and interpersonal relationships. Validated psychometric instruments to measure attachment abound but suffer from shortcomings common to traditional psychometrics. Recent developments in multimodal fusion and machine learning pave the way for new automated and objective psychometric instruments for adult attachment that combine psychophysiological, linguistic, and behavioral analyses in the assessment of the construct. Objective The aim of this study was to present a new exposure-based, automatic, and objective adult-attachment assessment, the Biometric Attachment Test (BAT), which exposes participants to a short standardized set of visual and music stimuli, whereas their immediate reactions and verbal responses, captured by several computer sense modalities, are automatically analyzed for scoring and classification. We also aimed to empirically validate two of its assumptions: its capacity to measure attachment security and the viability of using themes as placeholders for rotating stimuli. Methods A total of 59 French participants from the general population were assessed using the Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ), the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP), and the Attachment Multiple Model Interview (AMMI) as ground truth for attachment security. They were then exposed to three different BAT stimuli sets, whereas their faces, voices, heart rate (HR), and electrodermal activity (EDA) were recorded. Psychophysiological features, such as skin-conductance response (SCR) and Bayevsky stress index; behavioral features, such as gaze and facial expressions; as well as linguistic and paralinguistic features, were automatically extracted. An exploratory analysis was conducted using correlation matrices to uncover the features that are most associated with attachment security. A confirmatory analysis was conducted by creating a single composite effects index and by testing it for correlations with attachment security. The stability of the theory-consistent features across three different stimuli sets was explored using repeated measures analysis of variances (ANOVAs). Results In total, 46 theory-consistent correlations were found during the exploration (out of 65 total significant correlations). For example, attachment security as measured by the AAP was correlated with positive facial expressions (r=.36, P=.01). AMMI's security with the father was inversely correlated with the low frequency (LF) of HRV (r=−.87, P=.03). Attachment security to partners as measured by the AAQ was inversely correlated with anger facial expression (r=−.43, P=.001). The confirmatory analysis showed that the composite effects index was significantly correlated to security in the AAP (r=.26, P=.05) and the AAQ (r=.30, P=.04) but not in the AMMI. Repeated measures ANOVAs conducted individually on each of the theory-consistent features revealed that only 7 of the 46 (15%) features had significantly different values among responses to three different stimuli sets. Conclusions We were able to validate two of the instrument's core assumptions: its capacity to measure attachment security and the viability of using themes as placeholders for rotating stimuli. Future validation of other of its dimensions, as well as the ongoing development of its scoring and classification algorithms is discussed.


In this paper, I study how to best assign responsibilities and design reward structures to take advantage of available information for a two-stage production process. Two alternative assignments compete. One resembles the American style push assignment where the responsibility for initiating production rests with initial stage agent, while the other assignment is similar to the Japanese style pull where initiating production is the responsibility of the final stage agent. I show that the key distinguishing feature between these assignments is the output under the pull allows for inference about quality enhancing activities where output under the push assignment does not. The ability to take advantage of such information to provide incentives for quality enhancement in turn dictates the choice between these two assignments. Based on this, I provide insights into the choice of an optimal assignment and the implications of the choice for product quality, productivity, and process improvement.


Hummingbirds and some insects exhibit a "Figure-8" flapping motion, which allows them to undergo variety of maneuvers including hovering. It is therefore desirable to have miniature air vehicle (FWMAV) with this wing motion. This paper presents a design of a flapping-wing for FWMAV that can mimic "Figure-8" motion using a spherical four bar mechanism. In the proposed design, the wing is attached to a coupler point on the mechanism, which is driven by a DC servo motor. A prototype is fabricated to verify that the design objectives are met. Experimental testing was conducted to determine the validity of the design. The results indicate good correlation between model and experimental prototype.Copyright © 2009 by ASME


Abstract According to the major conventional models of landscape evolution there ought to be no land surfaces older than Oligocene, save some that have been exhumed. In reality, substantial areas of the Australian continent (as well as other parts of Gondwana and of Laurasia) are of Mesozoic or greater ages. Surfaces of Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous ages are especially widespread. Many are of exhumed origin, but several notable features are of epigene-etch type. Their age ranges have been determined stratigraphically. In some instances (e.g. Gawler Ranges, Hamersley Surface, Eastern Uplands), the stratigraphic evidence is incontrovertible. Elsewhere the position and elevation of massifs, such as Arnhem Land, relative to Cretaceous shorelines demonstrate their essential antiquity. The survival of such very old palaeosurfaces is attributed to several factors, but particularly to unequal erosion, reinforcement mechanisms and the prevalence of vertical (epeirogenic or isostatic), rather than orogenic, earth movements.


This paper reports observation and modeling of five negative sprites occurring above two Florida thunderstorms. The sprites were triggered by unusual types of negative cloud‐to‐ground (CG) lightning discharges with impulse charge moment change ranging from 600 to 1300 C km and charge transfer characterized by a timescale of 0.1–0.2 ms. The negative sprite typically consists of a few generally vertical elements that each contain a bright core and dimmer streamers extending from the core in both downward and upward directions. Modeling results using the measured charge moment change waveforms indicate that the lower ionosphere was significantly modified by the CGs and the lower ionospheric density might have been increased by nearly 4 orders of magnitude due to the most intense CG. Finally, streamer modeling results show that the ionospheric inhomogeneities produced by atmospheric gravity waves can initiate negative sprite streamers, assuming that they can modulate the ionization coefficient.


This paper extends our previous studies on the assimilation of Internet-based e-business innovations by firms in an international setting. Drawing upon theories on the process and contexts of technology diffusion, we develop an integrative model to examine three assimilation stages: initiation → adoption → routinization. The model features technological, organizational, and environmental contexts as prominent antecedents of this three-stage assimilation process. Based on this model, we hypothesize how technology readiness, technology integration, firm size, global scope, managerial obstacles, competition intensity, and regulatory environment influence e-business assimilation at the firm level. A unique data set of 1,857 firms from 10 countries is used to test the conceptual model and hypotheses. To probe deeper into the influence of the environmental context, we compare two subsamples from developed and developing countries. Our empirical analysis leads to several key findings: (1) Competition positively affects initiation and adoption, but negatively impacts routinization, suggesting that too much competition is not necessarily good for technology assimilation because it drives firms to chase the latest technologies without learning how to use existing ones effectively. (2) Large firms tend to enjoy resource advantages at the initiation stage, but have to overcome structural inertia in later stages. (3) We also find that economic environments shape innovation assimilation: Regulatory environment plays a more important role in developing countries than in developed countries. Moreover, while technology readiness is the strongest factor facilitating assimilation in developing countries, technology integration turns out to be the strongest in developed countries, implying that as e-business evolves, the key determinant of its assimilation shifts from accumulation to integration of technologies. Together, these findings offer insights into how innovation assimilation is influenced by contextual factors, and how the effects may vary across different stages and in different environments.


An experimental study on the automation of the coffee roasting process was conducted. For this study, a temperature sensor, controllers, and motors were added to a manually operated coffee roaster. The temperature, time, and exhausting damper control were selected as the control parameters. The thermocouple measurements were severely influenced by the thermocouple size and location of the roaster. As a result, the standard thermocouple size and location of the roaster were experimentally set to show a similar trend of temperature change by using a previously installed thermometer. A standard roasting process was chosen through repeated roasting experiments and the advice of a roasting expert. The automation of the roasting process was successfully executed using temperature criteria, such as the bean input and first and second crack occurrence, and by controlling the exhausting damper opening time. The control parameters and roaster skills can be used for similar types of roasters for process automation.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue for a multi-dimensional and developmental notion of researcher positionality in conducting qualitative research, in lieu of the dichotomous notion of outsider and insider. The former emphasizes the agentive role researchers play in knowledge production, whereas the latter has been much challenged as oversimplified and insufficient in understanding the dynamic interactions in which field researchers engage.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper borrows Milner's (2007) four-level framework of research personality to reflect on one cross-cultural narrative inquiry study.

Findings
Reflective stories revealed that researcher positionality captures threads of intersectionality as well as inter- and intra-personal dynamics, and thus better informs the research process than what concept of insider/outsider dichotomy can do.

Research limitations/implications
The paper enriches the discussion of research positionality in qualitative research by involving a cross-cultural study where the researcher moved to-and-fro two sites.

Practical implications
The paper suggests a methodological and practical way of raising researcher's awareness and agency relative to positionality by exposing the researcher to cross-cultural settings.

Originality/value
While the multi-dimensional aspect of researcher positionality and its relatedness to research findings has been much discussed, not much acknowledgment has been given to the developmental aspect of research positionality.


We describe a genetically encoded micelle for targeted delivery consisting of a diblock polypeptide with segments derived from repetitive protein motifs inspired by Drosophila melanogastor Rec-1 resilin and human tropoelastin with a C-terminal fusion of an integrin-targeting fibronectin type III domain. By systematically varying the weight fraction of the hydrophilic ELP block and molecular weight of the diblock polypeptide, we designed micelles of different morphologies that modulate the binding avidity of the human wild-type 10th fibronectin domain (Fn3) as a function of shape. We show that worm-like micelles that present the Fn3 domain have a 1,000-fold greater avidity for the αvβ3 receptor compared to the monomer ligand and an avidity that is greater than a clinically relevant antibody that is driven by their multivalency. The amplified avidity of these micelles leads to significantly increased cellular internalization, a feature that may have utility for the intracellular delivery of drugs that are loaded into the core of these micelles.


In the last decade, hydraulic fracturing has been successfully applied in West Africa for the development of tight reservoirs. Since 2007, more than 200 fracturing stages have been achieved in 9 different fields targeting wells characterized by a wide range of conditions: from sandstone to carbonate formations, from low to high temperature reservoirs, and from old existing completions to new drilled wells.
 While applying this technology throughout the years, tailored solutions for treatments design have been continuously put in place to address the observed challenges and maximize the final oil recovery. The deployment of new technologies such as proppant flowback prevention additives, non-radioactive tracers for fracture height monitoring, and channel fracturing, to boost the fracture conductivity played a major role in achieving the desired results.
 The accumulated in-depth knowledge on hydraulic fracturing built from local experience allowed Eni West Africa to rapidly approach a new offshore tight oil field development with confidence that hydraulic fracturing would be an effetive stimulation technique. This paper will describe the fracturing campaign major milestones, from the promising results obtained on the exploration wells, to the optimization actions implemented during the first development phase. Thus far, six horizontal and two vertical wells were completed, including a total of 23 hydraulic fracturing stages during a single campaign spanning less than one year.
 On the first of the two vertical wells, each stimulated with a single frac stage, a non-radioactive tracer was employed for measuring the propped fracture height, and calibrating the frac model. For the horizontal wells, where 3 or 4 frac stages were implemented, a plug-and-perf (P&P) technique was selected. This method included coil tubing equipped with fiber optic, enabling precise perforation intervals placement, also providing flexibility in case re-perforation was required. Moreover, several actions were adopted to improve completion efficiency and cost-effectiveness, including perforation selection to limit near-wellbore pressure losses, and coiled tubing runs optimization for setting the bridge plug and perforating in a single trip.
 Finally, particular focus will be given to the steep achieved learning curve, describing the adopted decisions, to improve both completion performance and fracture conductivity.


Hepatitis C infection becomes chronic in most patients leading to end-stage liver disease. The standard-of-care treatment for HCV patients is only suboptimal. Several patients who exhibit undetectable viral load during, at the end of, or six months after cessation of therapy, observes relapse over variable time. This suggests that there may exist, a sub-clinical threshold, which governs the achievement of lasting cure. We propose an immunological model of hepatocytes and HCV to investigate this threshold behavior, where the infected hepatocytes are differentiated by the age of infection in them. The goal of the model is to obtain observed patient profiles if treatment is provided. Preliminary analysis of the model provides conditions for existence of two endemic equilibria for R0 < 1. Analysis of a reduced model without age of infection suggests backward bifurcation at R0 = 1. Artificial values of the parameters are taken to show bistability region for R0 < 1. However, it may not be possible to observe the patient profile in this region without treatment. The critical reproduction number below which the disease free equilibrium is stable may lead us to the decisive sub-clinical viral load threshold.


Many electronic commerce applications, including those developed for business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) uses, require operations in computing environments that are truly distributed. That is, users can request data access from multiple locations within a distributed computing system. To complicate this type of operation, however, data can be distributed and represented in multiple forms. As a result, system administrators are encountering increasing difficulty in developing and managing application-specific policies for users and data. A multi-tier (N-tier) architecture can provide a powerful solution for meeting the diverse needs of the electronic commerce applications. However, a drawback to multi-tier architectures is that they require that a user's credentials and the policy-to-data mapping context must be available in the middle tier of the system architecture. This paper addresses the management of users and data by presenting a framework for combining attribute certificates with a mobile policy for effective application-specific control specification and administration in a distributed computing environment. Attribute certificates provide mobility to credentials and also provide fine-grained information about security principles. A mobile policy allows application-specific policies to move along with the data to other elements of the distributed computing system. We propose a high-level definition language to specify policies that are application-specific and mobile, and present an algorithm for enforcing attribute-based mobile policies.


In order to prepare tilapia for winter, it were evaluated the effect of two levels of lipid (8.0 and 12.0%) and three levels of vitamin C (300.0; 600.0 and 1,200.0 mg of vitamin C/kg diet), with four replicates each treatment, plus two treatments, absent of test nutrients supplementation and supplemented with 6.0% of lipid and 125.0 mg of vitamin C/kg diet on growth performance and physiologic parameters during 112 days. It was utilized 192 fingerlings, with average weight of 5.57 ± 0.50g. Based on the results it was concluded that the additional energy coming from lipid is accumulated in abdominal cavity; fat deposition as a energy reserve for winter time was obtained in all lipid supplementation, however 8.0% supplementation seems to be more appropriate; the concentration of 600.0 mg of vitamin C/kg diet appears to be more economically appropriate and that vitamin C absence impairs erythropoiesis and collagen syntheses.


Ten strains of Escherichia coli isolated from 10 travellers with sporadic diarrhea who were returning to Tokyo, Japan, from abroad were found to be of serotype O121:NM and were positive in the Serény test for invasiveness; this suggests that this serotype can cause a shigellosis-like illness in humans. The E. coli O121:NM strains were positive in the cell invasion test in HeLa cells. Analysis of the plasmid content of these strains showed that they contained a high-molecular-mass plasmid of 120 to 140 MDa which has been associated with invasiveness and were positive in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for detection of the virulence plasmid-encoded proteins of Shigella spp. and enteroinvasive E. coli.


This study evaluates the performances of manufacturing sector and its effects on employment creation in Nigeria. Historical data relating to performance of some selected sectors of the manufacturing sector of the economy and employment were gathered. Secondary sources (Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Nigerian Economic Submit Group (NESG) and Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN)) were explored for data used in this study. Data were analysed using descriptive approach .This study documented that performances of the sector has not been encouraging given its overall percentage contributions to growth of Nigeria economy. Poor performances of manufacturing sector have far-reaching negative effect on the employment generation and standard of living of the people. Therefore, to improve this sector, this study recommends the strengthening of the infrastructures especially energy, transportation, security system, reduction of interest rate and avoidance of imposition of multiple taxes as the major impediments to manufacturing performances in Nigeria.


Background The incidence of oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) in New Zealand (NZ) has more than doubled over the last 14 years with 126 cases in 2010. Overseas studies have shown that human papillomavirus (HPV) plays a significant role in the development of these cancers. However, the role of HPV in OPC and the burden on the NZ health system is unclear. Aim The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and the genotypes of HPV associated with OPC in New Zealand. Methods In this study, 621 OPC were identified from cancer registry data from 1996–98, 2003–05, and 2010–12. Biopsies of 267 cases were then retrieved from laboratories throughout New Zealand. p16 immunohistochemistry and a human beta globin PCR were performed on all specimens. HPV genotyping was performed on all beta globin positive specimens using real-time PCR with melt analysis. Results Using a p16/PCR algorithm, 77.9% (95% CI: 71.1–83.5%) of cases were attributable to HPV. Of these, 98.5% were HPV 16 positive. There was also one case each of HPV 33 and 35. The percentage of HPV positive cases increased from 61.9% (95% CI: 40.9%– 79.2%) in 1996–98 to 87.5% (95% CI: 79.8%– 92.5%) in 2010–12. Results from the multivariable model, adjusted for sex and ethnicity found statistically significant associations between HPV positivity and timeframe (OR: 5.65, 95% CI: 2.60–12.30, 2010–12 vs 1996–98), and between HPV positivity and patient age (OR: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.33–0.99, ≥61 years vs ≤60 years). Conclusions This data is consistent with data from other developed countries showing an increase in cases of HPV positive OPC in New Zealand, and the majority of cases being attributable to HPV 16. These results support the recent inclusion of males into the nationally funded immunization schedule for Gardasil® 9.


Technogenic development of society is characterized these days by the increasing deficit of raw material sources and environmental deterioration. One of the effective decisions for industrially-domestic and food production waste disposal is application of overcritical water oxidization method (OCWO). With the observance of all ecological norms, this method not only decreases the volume of wastes, lowers the class of danger of the appearing ash residue, but also rationally uses secondary energy. The OCWO method gives an opportunity of converting no less than 99,99% of organic compounds of initial mixture into environmentally sound water and gas. Metals are distinguished as inorganic salts or oxides. Most steady inorganic compounds in these parameters are slightly soluble in overcritical water and are deposited or exited as gas at cooling and depressurization. This paper aims to estimate the perspectives of overcritical water oxidization method (OCWO) for industrial waste disposal.


The article examines debates surrounding the current family law reform in Mali to account for the way in which broader processes of social change, an international and national context of women's rights activism, as well as various interest groups will shape the ultimate outcome of legislative reform. The article focuses on the five main components of the proposed reform and analyzes the positions of the most important groups participating in the debate: women's rights activists supported by the international women's movement and international donor organizations, protagonists of the two influential wings of the national Muslim organization, and representatives of the state administration. It is argued that although state officials and protagonists of an "Islamic" position hold divergent ideological and normative orientations, they form temporary and shifting alliances around certain issues, often on the basis of pragmatic considerations. Also, while women's rights activists and "Muslim women" claim to represent women tout court, the positions and arguments of the former can be seen as representing particularistic, class-specific interests.


The study examined the loneliness and social dissatisfaction of elementary school students in relation to type of after-school care. 358 students completed the Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Scale and an information form that included age and the students' after-school care arrangements. Results indicated that children who were in self or sibling care had greater loneliness and social dissatisfaction compared to their peers under formal center care.


We present thermodynamic and neutron scattering data on silver ferrite AgFeO2. The data imply that strong magnetic frustration Θ/TN∼10 and magnetic ordering arise via two successive phase transitions at T2 = 7 K and T1 = 16 K. At T<T2, two metamagnetic phase transitions at B1∼14 T and B2∼30 T can be identified through the change of slope in the magnetization curve measured up to 53 T. These transitions roughly correspond to an eighth and a quarter of the saturation magnetizations. Unlike for the 'classical' delafossite CuFeO2, the wavevector of the magnetic structure is independent of temperature both at T<T2 and at T2<T<T1.


Astrologers in Madagascar, in West Bezanozano in particular, play a very important role in building the fundaments of the land of extended families (they give the destiny of the family). They are also invited by individuals or families to lay the foundations of village, house, tomb, or memory stones for the dead, and last but not least to lead the famadihana, a ritual for the dead making them ancestors. This chapter follows the practices of astrologers in making the fundaments of villages, houses and tombs. Making fundaments is making as it were a living horoscope, giving places a suitable destiny in relation to the surroundings and the people concerned. I also followed an astrologer/mason who was in charge of crafting a particular memory stone. The memory stone had to deviate from a direct line between village and tomb caused by a mistake in the tomb building having killed two astrologers in their work. Finally, I presented the central importance of the astrologer during the ritual of the famadihana where the destinies of the dead and the living have to be mediated to protect the living from the dead. General speaking, a good astrologer will never become rich, since he has to hold not only good destinies but also bad ones. The work of an astrologer can be extremely dangerous since he deals with real forces. During difficult assignments, people offer him a cock that accompanies him during work since people believe that the cock will die before any human, also an astrologer.


— I will focus my attention on the two papers I wrote with Roberto and Daniele Amati on justifying the QCD-improved parton model, a very basic tool used every day to estimate a variety of processes involving strong (as well as possibly other) interactions. While doing so, I will also touch on other occasions I had to work —or just interact— with Roberto during more than 30 years of our respective careers.


Down syndrome is a genetic and metabolic disorder, which can affect nutritional status. Therefore, assessments and nutritional interventions are needed for these individuals to have a better quality of life, growth and development. The aim of the study was to evaluate the anthropometric status of pupils having Down syndrome assisted by the Association of Parents and Friends of Exceptionals (APAE) from Araras-SP, School unit. We collected weight, height, waist-hip ratio and skinfold in two stages: before and after a lecture series on healthy eating APAE had given to employees for a week. After the completion of the lecture cycle, 15 students were identified as being overweight according to Cronk curve, 18 students showed high levels of waist-hip ratio, according to the World Health Organization classification, and 11 students had a high fat percentage, according to the classification of Guedes protocol. The results obtained in this study showed that the lecture series intensified weight loss and reduction in the body mass index of students.


We presented the clinicopathological features of 8 cases of intraventricular neurocytoma, which was a rare, benign tumor of neuronal origin and affected young patients. In each case the intraventricular tumor existed near the foramen of Monro and/or body of the lateral ventricle, and was associated with ventricular dilatation. A CT scan demonstrated a well-circumscribed iso- or hyperdense mass with some calcification, intratumoral cysts of various sizes and a heterogeneous enhancement. MRI, which was performed in 4 cases, confirmed a mass of isointense or slightly hyperintense on T 1-weighted images, and with multiple sites of attachment (mainly to the septum pellucidum and the head of the caudate nucleus). While these neuroimaging features are helpful in eliminating alternative diagnosis such as ependymomas, choroid plexus papillomas, subependymal giant cell astrocytomas and meningiomas, age of the patient and the tumor location within the lateral ventricle are important features for differential diagnosis.


. This study investigated the attitudes of the permanent residents and the squatter-settlements regarding the existence of crime, and the socio-environmental problems experienced by the permanent residents of Greater Breyten Urban Community due to the existence of the squatters in their areas. This growth of squatter settlements, informal settlements, slums along the formal settlement and or urban areas is a global phenomenon. The research design in this study involved a descriptive design which reveals potential relationships between variables. According to the study, the researcher was describing the attitude and impact of quarters on the social environment of the Greater Breyten area. Data was also analyzed using frequencies and percentages. The findings revealed that there are no significant differences between the attitudes of the permanent residents and those of the squatter-settlements regarding the existence of crime. Besides, the socio-environmental problems, the results indicated that the conditions of squatters are poor and unhealthy for human habitation. Considering the findings of the study, the researcher proposed that there be a multi-disciplinary approach to present and provide resources to address the problem of squatter-settlement.


Fractures in Carboniferous volcanic rocks located at Zhongguai Area (China) highly influence the accumulation and productivity of oil and gas. As such, the study of development periods and genetic mechanisms of tectonic fractures could throw useful information regarding the evaluation and development of that reservoir. Their tectonic origins caused high-angle and oblique shear fractures. The primary orientation of those fractures appears close to EW (270°±10°), NW (300°±15°), NE (45°±15°), and SN (0°±10°). At least four fracture generations can be found in Carboniferous volcanic rocks at Zhongguai Area. Combined with a tectonic evolution, they are based on the segmentation relationship of the fracture fillings, the thermometry measurement of the fracture filling inclusion, and the acoustic emission, as well. Affected by a new horizontal principal stress, the opening and permeability of nearly EW fractures are the best. In this way, a priority in the development of well's patterns should be considered close to EW fractures. The pressure change in the process of exploitation may damage the reservoir permeability of fractured volcano rocks severely. Accordingly, well patterns should be adjusted to dynamic changes of permeability happened during the oilfield development since some differences have been detected in distinct fracture sets.


This paper is a theoretical reviews of research in the field of organizational behavior. The purpose of the study is to reflect on how business productivity increases when corporate welfare is promoted. The model theoretical created titled «Generator model of the Culture of Innovation applying Happiness Management» has been divided into several phases, with an outline of the steps which must interact to provide solutions to problems in organizations in the current century. Current trends of management are beginning to consider the principles or philosophy of "Happiness Management" as future trends that can be applied to any organization, regardless of the sector where they operate. That is the reason why nowadays, it is necessary to implement cultures willing to get competitive and sustainable results in the company, thereby renewing in the first place corporate welfare and, consequently, its labor productivity, and secondly improving organizational performance generating competitiveness. Finally, the culture of innovation based on increasing corporate welfare improves the image of the company, being it projected in a positive way towards all its stakeholders.


Marital health advantages and the increase of interracial marriage (intermarriage) are well documented, but few studies investigate the health of intermarried people. We address this issue using aggregated data from the 2000–2013 Current Population Survey (CPS) and find that people with racial/ethnic minority spouses report lower self-rated health than those married to whites. Spousal race significantly moderated the association between respondent's race and self-rated health such that minorities in same-race marriages had lower odds of reporting better health than those intermarried to whites. However, we found no differences in self-rated health among minorities intermarried to other minorities. There was also limited evidence that gender and socioeconomic status (SES) moderated the interaction between respondent's race and spousal race. Our findings highlight the effects of marriage on the self-rated health of respondents and their spouse as well as the importance of examining differences in couple's racial composition when investigating racial disparities in spousal health.


Various types of 1.55-μm dispersion-shifted fiber have been presented. Among them, triangular core1 and similar fibers have the advantage in terms of optical loss. Recently, a triangular profile with a ring in the cladding was proposed to minimize the bending loss.2 Our paper now describes the effect of the ring on the transmission characteristics of triangular and Gaussian core fibers.3


The triboelectric material properties and mechanical stability of the contact layer are vital to achieving durable triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) with high output performance. Herein, a novel MXene/Ecoflex nanocomposite is introduced as a promising triboelectric material because of its highly negative triboelectric properties and mechanical stability. The MXene/Ecoflex nanocomposite with a fabric‐based waterproof TENG (FW‐TENG) is fabricated and designed to universally harvest energy from various human motions as well as the natural environment (rain and wind). The fabricated FW‐TENG delivers a maximum output peak power of 3.69 mW and a power density of 9.24 W m−2, respectively, at a matching load resistance of 4.5 MΩ under a frequency of 4.5 Hz and a force of 8 N. Furthermore, the applicability of this device in various products is investigated. The FW‐TENG can protect against a crash caused by rainy and humid weather. An FW‐TENG‐based self‐powered smart active device that detects motion on a carpet is demonstrated and is equipped with sleep monitoring motion sensors. The FW‐TENG not only has self‐powered benefits and excellent mechanical amenability but is also exceptionally reliable and stable against water intrusion, which are important characteristics to realize next‐generation wearable/portable technologies.


Current accounts of China's global rise emphasize economics and politics, largely neglecting the cultivation of China's people. Susan Greenhalgh, one of the foremost authorities on China's one-child policy, places the governance of population squarely at the heart of China's ascent. Focusing on the decade since 2000, and especially 2004 - 09, she argues that the vital politics of population has been central to the globalizing agenda of the reform state. By helping transform China's rural masses into modern workers and citizens, by working to strengthen, techno-scientize, and legitimize the PRC regime, and by boosting China's economic development and comprehensive national power, the governance of the population has been critically important to the rise of global China. After decades of viewing population as a hindrance to modernization, China's leaders are now equating it with human capital and redefining it as a positive factor in the nation's transition to a knowledge-based economy. In encouraging 'human development,' the regime is trying to induce people to become self-governing, self-enterprising persons who will advance their own health, education, and welfare for the benefit of the nation. From an object of coercive restriction by the state, population is being refigured as a field of self-cultivation by China's people themselves.


Summary The seismic quality factor, Q, is generally treated as frequency-independent, yet theory and field evidence suggest it may not be. We measure constant-Q and frequency-dependent Q(f), from downgoing direct-P arrivals in VSP data, over a 1000 m-thick granite interval in Cornwall, SW England, and a 700 m-thick interbedded shale-carbonate sequence in the Barents Sea, and find two significant results. First, we obtain consistent constant-Q and Q(f) values, although Q(f) values vary smoothly, with frequency-specific 'attenuation peaks'. In the granite, over 25–90Hz, constant-Q=7547, and Q(f)=35–100. For the sediments, over 15–110Hz, constant-Q=15240, and Q(f)=70–200. We conclude that our Q(f) workflow (using logarithmic decrement of individual frequencies' amplitudes after geometric spreading corrections, so not imposing an analytic Q(f) form) is workable. Second, attenuation in this granite is comparably high to that in these sediments. The granite has only naturally-occurring fractures, but they appear sufficient to increase attenuation above an intuitively-expected level. Well-log-based predictions of 1-D scattering contributions to attenuation, for both datasets, could clarify the origins of our measured Q(f). Overall, we urge that more Q(f) measurements are made, to support of studies of subsurface petrophysical properties and application of signal-processing tools that account for attenuation in seismic imaging.


Introduction: Repeat prescribing without medical consultation is a major reason for Primary Health Care demand in Portugal. There is no procedure to regulate RPSCM and the dimension of this reality is not known, nor the clinical and therapeutic profile of the patients that do RPSCM. Objective: To quantify and to characterize RPSCM in the region of Beira Interior, Portugal. Methods: We performed a descriptive observational study in a community pharmacy in Covilha. In a sample of 513 patients, who, in sequence, showed renewal of prescription drugs, were selected patients who had a RPSCM. All selected patients were subject to an interview to obtain demographic, clinical and therapeutic information. Results and Conclusions: In the whole sample, 199 patients presented 200 RPSCM, which allow to estimate a prevalence of RPSCM of 38.99% (CI 95%; 34.77-43.21). Patients, who do RPSCM, were mostly women (65.5%), aged over 65 years (62.0%) and pensioners (74.5%). The conditions that most often led to RPSCM were hypertension, dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, insomnia, depression and osteoporosis, also corresponding to the therapeutic areas with more RPSCM. The RPSCM increases patient's access to therapy and contributes to the rational medicines use. Monitoring this intervention is essential to optimize therapeutic results, leading to a better quality of life and reduced costs and waste in health care. It is essential the involvement of patients and different health professionals such as pharmacists who must go through specialized training.


In this paper we propose a programming model and the supporting technologies for designing and programming ServiceOriented Architectures (SOA) in the perspective of MultiAgent Systems and agent-oriented paradigms. In particular, the approach is meant to be useful for the design and programming of complex service-oriented systems, by providing first-class design tools to implement challenging features of nextcoming service applications. Indeed, besides autonomy, loose-coupled interactions, openness, flexibility, etc., the proposed design model promotes: (i) the use of a strong notion of agency, thus agents that can be defined along their mental attitudes to be fully autonomous systems, with pro-active and goal oriented abilities with respect of the achievement of their tasks; (ii) the definition artifactbased work environments where agents are meant to work and interact, thus enabling intelligent and cognitive agents to co-use, expose and manage web service technologies in a suitable functional fashion by the mean of special artifactbased infrastructures. Besides describing the basic concepts underlying the agent and artifact programming model for web services, a developing platform called CArtAgO-WS is introduced along with a describing example explored to show the approach in practice.


The Sahel is one of the regions in the world which has experienced the strongest climatic changes in the past decades. In a context of high population growth and mainly agriculture-based economies and livelihoods, these fluctuations can cause serious societal problems. Understanding past and predicting future climatic changes and their implications on natural and cultivated ecosystems are henceprimordial. Modelling efforts in the fields of hydrology and ecohydrology have already been undertaken, but are hindered by data availability as soon as the multi-decadal time scale is targeted. Indeed, in addition to being scarce, climatic data are often discontinuous in time, limiting the use of many modelling tools. In this study we produced a continuous and consistent data set at Niamey, Niger (13.5° N, 2.1° E) from 1950 to 2012 at different temporal scales (daily, 3-h and 30-min) that can be used as inputs in most LSM-type, vegetation and hydrological models. A stochastic component was introduced to reflect the uncertainty on the determination of missing data. Variables under study were: rainfall, air temperature, specific humidity, air pressure, wind speed, cloud cover, clear-sky longwave and shortwave radiation. Missing data were filled through regression methods, artificial neural networks, or by randomly selecting the missing variables from data classes presenting similar properties. The datasets showed an increase in temperature of over 1°C since the 1950s. They also maintained the diurnal and seasonal cycles for all variables, thus verifying their internal coherence. Uncertainty at the sub-daily scale did not propagate at longer time-scales for the climatic data. Finally, trends in the seasonal and diurnal cycle of main variables were analyzed and were found coherent with published data. As an illustration of a possible use of this dataset, variations in the water and energy budgets for 1950-2012 for a major ecosystem in the region were simulated using a detailed LSM/SVAT model (SiSPAT). This dataset could be used by the community to better understand and predict land-surface-atmosphere interactions in Central Sahel, including hydrological ones, such as historical changes in yield, growth of natural vegetation, changes in the water cycle and as a high-quality baseline for climate change impacts studies.


Introduction A growing body of evidence from animal models and cell culture studies indicate an important role of a local regulatory complement system (CS) in peritoneal injury during peritoneal dialysis (PD). We investigated the expression of the local regulatory CS (reflected by CD46,CD55,CD59) in the peritoneal tissue of patients with different membrane function characteristics. Patients and methods Biopsies from the parietal peritoneum were taken from 24 patients on PD, 22 uremic patients prior to PD. PD patients were grouped according to the dialysate-to-plasma ratio of creatinine (D/P Cre) and ratio of dialysate glucose at 4 hours versus dialysate glucose at time zero (D/D0 glucose) into low or low-average peritoneal transport status (L/LA) and high-average or high-transport status (HA/H) groups. CD46, CD55, and CD59 RNA expression were analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Further localization of membrane complement regulators (CRegs) and semiquantitatively analysis was done by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Results CD46 and CD59 expression were similar in all groups. CD55 expression was significantly decreased in the HA/H group compared to the L/LA group and to uremic controls (p < 0.05 and p = 0.05, respectively). No statistically significant differences in CD46, CD55, and CD55 expression were detected when considering the history of peritonitis. There was no statistically significant correlation between PD duration and the expressions of CD46, CD55, and CD59. IHC revealed strong CD46, CD55, and CD59 expression in mesothelial cells. CD55 and CD59 were additionally detected in the vasculature. Using IHC, CD46 was lower in PD patients compared to uremic controls (p>0.05), but there was no difference between the L/LA compared to the H/HA group. Moreover IHC confirmed decreased expression of CD55 in the HA/H group compared to the L/LA group and uremic controls (p<0.0001 and p = 0.0001, respectively). Conclusion CD55 expression is decreased in patients with fast transporter membrane function, whereas peritonitis and PD duration do not appear to alter CReg expression.


Precise ^66Zn/^64Zn and ^68Zn/^64Zn isotopic ratios of biochemical samples have been measured using multiple collector-ICP-mass spectrometry (MC-ICPMS). In order to eliminate the mass spectrometric interferences on Zn isotopes ( e.g. , ^64Ni^+ and ^136Ba^2+), we chemically purified the analyte using an ion chromatographic technique. The resulting precisions of the ^66Zn/^64Zn and ^68Zn/^64Zn ratio measurements were 0.05‰ and 0.10‰ (2SD), respectively, which were enough to detect the isotopic variation of Zn in nature. Red blood cell (RBC) samples were collected from five volunteers (four males and one female), including a series of 12 RBC samples from one person through monthly-based sampling over a year. These were analyzed to test possible seasonal changes and variations in ^66Zn/^64Zn and ^68Zn/^64Zn ratios among the individuals. The ^66Zn/^64Zn and ^68Zn/^64Zn ratios for a series of 12 RBC samples collected over a year were 0.43‰ and 0.83‰ higher than the values of highly purified Zn metal (JMC Zn), and no seasonal change could be found. The ^66Zn/^64Zn and ^68Zn/^64Zn ratios for RBC samples collected from five volunteers did not vary significantly. In order to investigate Zn isotopic heterogeneity in a human body, Zn isotopic ratios of a hair sample collected from one of the volunteers was also analyzed. The ^66Zn/^64Zn and ^68Zn/^64Zn ratios for the hair sample were 0.59‰ and 1.14‰ lower than the mean value of RBC samples. This result demonstrates that detectable isotopic fractionation occurs in the human body. The data obtained here suggest that the isotopic ratios of trace metals could provide new information about transportation of metal elements in vivo .


In this paper, we examine the problem of real-world image deblurring and take into account two key factors for improving the performance of the deep image deblurring model, namely, training data synthesis and network architecture design. Deblurring models trained on existing synthetic datasets perform poorly on real blurry images due to domain shift. To reduce the domain gap between synthetic and real domains, we propose a novel realistic blur synthesis pipeline to simulate the camera imaging process. As a result of our proposed synthesis method, existing deblurring models could be made more robust to handle real-world blur. Furthermore, we develop an effective deblurring model that captures non-local dependencies and local context in the feature domain simultaneously. Specifically, we introduce the multi-path transformer module to UNet architecture for enriched multi-scale features learning. A comprehensive experiment on three real-world datasets shows that the proposed deblurring model performs better than state-of-the-art methods.


The key intermediate 2-cyano-N-(furan-2-ylmethyl)ac etamide was obtained by the solvent free reaction o f ethyl cyanoacetate and furfurylamine. Cyclocondensation o f cyanoacetamide with acetylacetone, benzoylacetone or ethyl acetoacetates furnished the corresponding pyridinon e derivatives. Aminopyridone derivatives were obtai ned by treatment cyanoacetamide with arylidenemalononitril e, arylmethylidene-cyanoacetate or 2-(2-oxoindolin- 3- ylidene)-malononitrile. Reaction the cyanoacetamide with salicyaldehyde afforded 2H-chromene-3-carboxa mide derivatives depends on the reaction conditions. Rea ction the resulting of chromone with malononitrile, ethyl cyanoacetate or cyanoacetamide afforded the chromen opyridine derivatives. Evaluation of antibacterial and antifungal activities for the synthesized compounds was carried out to probe their activities. Most of the tested compounds showed significant activities.


In order to assess whether new theories are necessary to explain new forms of organizing or existing theories suffice, we must first specify exactly what makes a form of organizing "new." We propose clear criteria for making such an assessment and show how they are useful in assessing if and when new theories of organizing may truly be needed. We illustrate our arguments by contrasting forms of organizing often considered novel, such as Linux, Wikipedia, and Oticon, against their traditional counterparts. We conclude that even when there may be little that existing theory cannot explain about individual elements in these new forms of organizing, opportunities for new theorizing lie in understanding the bundles of co-occurring elements that seem to underlie them and why the same bundles occur in widely disparate organizations.


Background: The Ghanaian population aged 60 years and older will almost double to reach 14% of the total population by 2050. Ascertaining the pattern of health expenditures among this growing population group is important to inform policy makers about the targets for financial risk protection as part of achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030. This study aimed to estimate household expenditures among older adults and determine their direct medical costs.Methods: The World Health Organization's Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) Wave 2 was conducted in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russian Federation, and South Africa between 2014 and 2015, as a follow-up to Wave 0 in 2003 to 2004 and Wave 1 in 2007 to 2010. Survey questions explored sources of income and total directhousehold expenditures in the year preceding the interview. SAGE Ghana was implemented using face-to-face interviews in a nationally representative sample of persons aged 50+ years with a comparison sample of younger adults aged 18–49 years. Findings: Analyses included a total of 4,735 participants, with 1,948 (43.8%) males and 2,787 (56.2%) females, with a mean age of 57.6 (±16.7). The average annual household expenditure was US$ 2,458 (±7,374). Older adults had higher expenditure levels at US$ 2,501 (±8,307), as compared to younger adults, US$ 2,309 (±3,056). Direct health-related and food costs accounted for 10% and 35% respectively of the total household expenditure. The prevalence of catastrophic health expenditure in households of older adults in Ghana was 7.5% (95% CI 6.0% - 9.3%).Conclusion: These updated estimates on household expenditure among older adults provide needed evidence to support the inclusion of social protection mechanisms in the national ageing agenda. The National Health Insurance reduced the burden of direct health expenditure for households with older adults.


The present study was aimed to develop sustained release matrix tablet of Valsartan and to evaluate its efficacy in reducing hypertension. In this experiment, sustained release matrix tablets were prepared by direct compression method and Methocel K4M CR and Methocel K100M CR were used as polymer. The evaluation involves three stages: the micromeritic properties evaluation of powder blend, physical property studies of tablets and in-vitro release kinetics studies. The powder blend was evaluated for angle of repose, loose bulk density, tapped bulk density, Carr's index, Hausner's ratio, moisture content and total porosity and the tablets were evaluated for hardness, friability, thickness, drug content and in vitro dissolution parameters. The weight variation was observed to be within the prescribed limits for each formulation. In vitro release studies were carried out using USP apparatus type II at 100 rpm and dissolution medium consisted of 0.1N hydrochloric acid for the first 2 hours and phosphate buffer pH 6.8 from 3 to 24 hours, maintained at 37±0.5°C. Drug release at different intervals was measured by UV-visible spectrophotometer at 249 nm. The release of drug was plotted in zero order, 1 st order, Higuchi, Korsmeyer-Peppas and Hixson-Crowell release pattern. Kinetic modeling of in vitro dissolution profiles revealed that the drug release mechanism from all proposed formulations followed anomalous type or non-fickian transport. In this study formulation F8, F9 and F10 showed better drug release compared to others. Drug release from the matrix occurred by combination of two mechanism, diffusion and erosion of tablet.


For the inference of S-system models of genetic networks, this study proposes a new method, i.e., a two-phase estimation method. The two-phase estimation method is an extension of the decoupling approach proposed by Voit and Almeida. The decoupling approach defines the estimation of S-system parameters as a problem of solving sets of non-linear algebraic equations. Our method first transforms each set of non-linear algebraic equations, that is defined by the decoupling approach, into a set of linear ones. The transformation of the equations is easily accomplished by solving a linear programming problem. The proposed method then estimates S-system parameters by solving the transformed linear equations. As the proposed two-phase estimation method infers an S-system model only by solving linear programming problems and sets of linear algebraic equations, it always provides us with a unique solution. Moreover, its computational cost is very low. Finally, we confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method through numerical experiments.


Background A transient ischaemic attack (TIA) is a strong predictor of future stroke. Stroke is the most common cause of mortality in the United Kingdom. Management of risk factors can reduce the possibility of future strokes; however, these are often difficult to achieve optimally. Current evidence suggests that beliefs about causal attributions, severity and perceived risk of stroke may influence uptake of secondary prevention activities amongst this patient group. Aim To explore the illness beliefs of patients about TIAs and future risk of stroke, and to determine whether these beliefs determine secondary stroke prevention activities. Method A qualitative study comprising face-to-face, semi-structured interviews conducted in the homes of participants. Sampling was purposive and drawn from a single North London General Practice. A thematic framework analysis method was followed. Findings Eleven participants took part in the study (aged 46–86 years, three female participants and eight male participants). Time since diagnosis ranged from 2 to 25 years. There was a commonly held belief that TIAs are 'short-lived events' associated with full recovery, whereas strokes always lead to permanent 'disability'. Only those who believed their TIAs to be 'serious' undertook activities to prevent further recurrence. Concordance with medication was the most popular prevention activity. Conclusion The traditional medical definition of TIA and stroke do not reflect the views of patients who have had TIAs. One's perception of the severity of the initial TIA event and the risk of future stroke episodes may influence the uptake of secondary stroke prevention activities. Post TIA stroke prevention interventions should include tailored discussions focussing on the importance of the acute event and its implications for long-term health and future stroke risk.


In clinical practice, one drug is frequently used in combination with one or more other drugs, rather than as a sole regimen, and therefore healthcare providers need to carefully consider drug interactions. As mechanisms of drug interactions, metabolic enzymes of drugs are seen as one of the most likely interactive sites, where a majority of drugs are metabolized by cytochrome P450 (CYP). For this reason, providing appropriate information on CYP in package inserts is of grave importance. In fact, the package insert is the primary tool for supplying information on drugs to healthcare providers. The present study was designed to determine how many package inserts of prescription drugs marketed in Japan were providing CYP information. We searched the April 2003 version of "Drugs in Japan DB," which listed 2,022 prescription drugs, and found that only 239 package inserts (11.8%) mentioned CYP information and that only 194 (9.6%) specified CYP isozymes. To assess the improvement of package inserts, we searched "Drugs in Japan DB" from the January 2000 version to the April 2003 version. We found that CYP information had increased year by year (eg, 7.8-11.8% annually). For newly approved drugs, an analysis of the relationship between approval year and CYP information in package inserts (April 2003 version) revealed that recently approved drugs had more CYP information (eg, 45.5-51.3% of drugs in 1999-2002, compared to 6.8-26.1% in 1991-1996). A search for regulatory review documents for new drugs approved from 1999 to 2002 suggested that this recent improvement could be related to the increased number of studies identifying CYP isozymes involved in the metabolism or interaction with other drugs. Another reason for the recent improvement may be the fact that the guideline for package inserts for prescription drugs was revised in 1997, and the guidelines for drug interaction and pharmacokinetic studies were published between 1997 and 1999.


CONTENTS §1. The Kellogg conception and its development §2. Totally positive integral operators §3. The basic theorem. Oscillatory properties of a spectrum §4. The Kellogg property and the constant sign property §5. Characteristics of total positiveness of a kernel References


The Lower Devonian Seboomook Formation and Matagamon Sandstone in the area about Grand Lake Matagamon, northern Maine, comprise a westerly prograded delta-submarine slope complex, consisting of interbedded silty mudstone, turbidite beds, pebbly mud-stone, and slump units. Two channels with fills of siltstone and fine-grained sandstone and cut into fine-grained slope sediments are described. The smaller channel is contiguous with finegrained, graded levee deposits similar in texture and composition to the material cut by the channels. The assemblage of channels, abundant slumps in the extra-channel deposits, and other structures suggest gravity-induced deposition in a lower slope to base-of-slope environment. The size of the channels, meandering profile of the larger channel, and the sedimentary structures and texture of the fills indicate deposition on a submarine fan or rise. The data also indicate that most finegrained sediment outside the channels was transported downslope by partially channelized turbidity currents and overbank flows, much as materials are being deposited on modern subsea fans and continental rises.


In this paper, a novel high-capacity grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system based on Boost converter + dual-level four-leg inverter is proposed, which can perform both grid-connected system and active power filter (APF). Comparing with single-stage three-phase three-wire PV system, the proposed system not only allows a wide range of input voltage, but also can compensate unbalance loads current. This paper explains the control principle of unified control strategy of combination of PV grid-connected injection and active power filtering in detail. And the key of unified control is the current reference generation. Simulation results on MATLAB/Simulink are presented to demonstrate practicability of the unified control strategy. Applying proposed topology and control method to a 100kVA grid-connected PV system based on FPGA+DSP controller, the experimental results are given to verify correctness of the whole system and unified control strategy.


The history of the intervention of Social Work in the area of health has been built from a device that in the case of the Institutions of Higher Education, Social Sciences and Humanities this acquires a connotation of dispositivity in the Foucauldian sense of reproduction of social domination through the power of vigilance and punishment. In this sense, the objective of this work was to discuss the scope and limits of the positivity device for the case of Social Work and its history of intervention in public health institutions. The discussion will allow us to move towards a reconceptualization scenario in which we see an alternative intervention device that not only reproduces health policies, but also questions them in favor of the groups that are being violated.