It is quite often for general practitioners who want to use implants in their routine treatments to face with the problem of unfamiliar radiographic techniques commonly prescribed in modern implantology. These types of radiograph, which could show the jaws in multiple aspects, are not routinely used by general practitioners. However, for sophisticated very delicate treatment options like implantology, the main problem is that "a metal object want to be placed in an undercut-full and zigzag area like bone", and the so called plain radiographs cannot be used for this purposes without difficulty. In this literature review, based on the data of the most powerful databases including COCHRANE and PUBMED, the necessity of using cross-sectional techniques in pre-implant treatment discussed in detail.


This study investigated the activity, mode of inhibition, and interactions between lipoxygenase (LOX) inhibitors and compounds able to inhibit lipids oxidation (LPO) derived from green coffee beans (GCBs), wholemeal wheat flour (WF), and bread enriched with GCB, in comparison with pure chemical standards of the main active components—ferulic (FA) and chlorogenic acids (CGA). Both GCB and WF contain potentially bioaccessible and bioavailable LPO inhibitors acting synergistically. Both FA and CGA presented nearly additive interaction. Potentially bioaccessible LOX inhibitors from GCB and WF acted synergistically, whereas moderate antagonism was found for potentially bioavailable compounds. The activity of CGA and FA was quite similar (EC50 = 18.56 and 22.36 g DW/ml, respectively) and synergistic action between these components was found. The LPO activity of functional breads was positively correlated with the percentage of GCB (R2 = 0.98). Ferulic acid and CGA acted as competitive LOX inhibitors, whereas potentially bioaccessible compounds from bread enriched with GCB demonstrated an uncompetitive mode of action. Green coffee beans, WF, and the proposed functional product could be helpful in dietary therapy and prevention of so-called lifestyle disorders related with the lipid metabolism. Moreover, this paper highlights the need to study the interactions between the active ingredients of newly designed functional products.


These proceedings detail aeronautical and civil engineering communication on issues that affect each other's systems. The volume examines current subjects pertaining to design and performance of airfield pavements as related to the pavement designer/builder/maintainer and the aircraft/designer/builder operator. Topics include materials characterisation and construction practices and airfield pavement design considerations for aircraft operations.


Congenital adrenal hyperplasia is most frequently due to steroid 21-hydroxylase (21-OH) deficiency. Due to the existence of a pseudogene in tandem duplicated with the 21-OH gene, asymmetric recombination causes the majority of the molecular defects underlying this deficiency: gene conversions and deletions of the functional gene. Screening for a small array of mutations, those existing in the pseudogene together with deletions, allows the characterization of most mutated alleles, 91% in the Spanish population. We report the case of a boy from a nonconsanguineous family, diagnosed during the neonatal period of a salt-wasting form of the deficiency, in which this screening did not allow the characterization of the paternal or the maternal allele. This infrequent finding in a nonconsanguineous family was further investigated. Single-strand conformation polymorphism screening for new mutations revealed an abnormally migrating pattern when polymerase chain reaction fragments from 21-OH gene exon 1 of the patient and relatives were analyzed. Upon direct sequencing, the insertion of a T at position 64 (64insT, frameshift generating a stop codon at exon 2) was found in homozygosity in the patient. Microsatellite typing in the HLA region revealed the patient to be homozygous for five markers (heterozygosities 0.62 to 0.74). Apparently this new mutation was generated several generations ago and has been preserved for years. Consanguinity had been discarded for several generations, although both families could be traced back to a small rural area in Navarra (Spain).


In the title compound, C14H16ClNO2, the cyclohexyl ring has a chair conformation. The dihedral angle between the benzene ring and the mean plane of the four planar C atoms of the cyclohexyl ring is 45.2 (3)°. The two carbonyl groups are trans to one another, with an O=C—C=O torsion angle of −137.1 (3)°. In the crystal, molecules are linked by N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds forming chains propagating along [001]. A region of disordered electron density, situated near the unit-cell corners, was treated using the SQUEEZE routine in PLATON [Spek (2009 ▶). Acta Cryst. D65, 148–155]. It gave a solvent-accessible void of ca 400 Å3 for only 21 electrons. It is probably due to traces of the solvent of crystallization and was not taken into account during structure refinement.


We describe basic phenomenology in the physics of supercooling liquids at constant volume (most simulations), and at constant pressure (most laboratory experiments) before focusing attention on the exceptional cases that exhibit liquid–liquid phase transitions on constant–pressure cooling. We give evidence for point defects in glasses and liquids near Tg. Models based on defects predict transitions with density gaps in constant–pressure systems. We describe the energy landscape representation of such systems. Water, in these terms, is post–critical, and its nearly ideal glass formation can be related to nucleation–free protein 'funnel–folding'. For nucleated folding of proteins, a pseudo–gap should be present. Experimental methods of distinguishing between alternative folding scenarios are described.


The widespread and increasing use of cooperative learning is one of the great success stories of social and educational psychology. Its success largely rests on the relationships among theory, research, and practice. Social interdependence theory provides a foundation on which cooperative learning is built. More than 1,200 research studies have been conducted in the past 11 decades on cooperative, competitive, and individualistic efforts. Findings from these studies have validated, modified, refined, and extended the theory. From the theory, procedures for the teacher's role in using formal and informal cooperative learning and cooperative base groups have been operationalized. Those procedures are widely used by educators throughout the world. The applications have resulted in revisions of the theory and the generation of new research.


We have made a detailed study of the care that must be taken to correctly measure OH radical concentrations in flames. A large part of these studies has concerned collisional quenching of hydride radical species (OH, NH, and NH{sub 2}), in particular the dependence upon rotational level and collision velocity (temperature). The results on OH and NH have shown unique and interesting behavior from the viewpoint of fundamental molecular dynamics, pointing to quenching often governed by collisions on an anisotropic, attractive surface, whereas NH{sub 2} quenching appears to depend on state-mixing considerations, not dynamic control. This state-specific behavior of these small, theoretically tractable hydrides has direct ramifications for quantitative flame diagnostics. Our other effort in the diagnostic area has been repeated but unsuccessful searches for laser induced fluorescence in the vinyl radical.


Detailed knowledge of cellular networks that are modulated by Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is needed to understand viral replication and host response. So far, transcriptomic analyses of interactions between SARS-CoV-2 and cells were performed on mixed populations of infected and uninfected cells or using single-cell RNA sequencing, both leading to inaccurate or low-resolution gene expression interpretations. Moreover, they generally focused on annotated messenger RNAs (mRNAs), ignoring other transcripts, such as long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and unannotated RNAs. Here, we performed deep polyA+ transcriptome analyses of lung epithelial A549 cells infected with SARS-CoV-2, which were sorted based on the expression of the viral protein spike (S). To increase the sequencing depth and improve the robustness of the analysis, the samples were depleted of viral transcripts. Infection caused a massive reduction in mRNAs and lncRNAs, including transcripts coding for antiviral innate immune proteins, such as interferons (IFNs). This absence of IFN response probably explains the poor transcriptomic response of bystander cells co-cultured with spike positive (S+) ones. NF-{kappa}B and inflammatory response were among the pathways that escaped the global shutoff in S+ cells. In agreement with the RNA-seq analysis, inflammatory cytokines, but not IFNs, were produced and secreted by infected cells. Functional investigations revealed the proviral function of the NF-kB subunit p105/p50 and some of its known target genes, including IL32 and IL8, as well as the lncRNA ADIRF-AS1, which we identified as a novel NF-kB target gene. Thus, analyzing the polyA+ transcriptome of sorted populations of infected lung cells allowed unprecedented identification of cellular functions that are directly affected by infection and the recovery of coding and non-coding genes that contribute to SARS-CoV-2 replication.


Abstract Asia's rangelands and mountains are strongholds for several endemic ungulate species. Little is known about the ecology of these species because of the region's remoteness and the lack of robust scientific studies. Hunting, habitat modification, increased livestock grazing, disease and development are the major threats to the species. There is an urgent need for better monitoring to identify the size, distribution and dynamics of the populations of these species, and the threats to them, for effective conservation. The feasibility of standard scientific monitoring is greatly influenced by the remoteness of the region, the pre-existing scientific ideology, lack of expertise in the latest monitoring methods and awareness of biases and errors, and low capacity and logistical and financial constraints. We review the existing methods used for monitoring ungulates, identify the practical and institutional challenges to effective monitoring in Central Asia and categorize the methods based on various criteria so that researchers can plan better monitoring studies suited to particular species. We illustrate these issues using examples from several contrasting ungulate species. We recommend that scientific surveys should be complemented by increases in participatory monitoring, involving local people. The future of ungulate monitoring in Central Asia lies in a better recognition of the existing errors and biases in monitoring programmes and methods, allocation of more monitoring effort in terms of manpower, finances and logistics, understanding of robust scientific methods and sampling theory, and changing the scientific culture, as well as a commitment to ensuring that we monitor the things that matter.


Osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease among adults in the global context and the cause of major disability in the elderly. It is a disease with no cure established, and therefore the main objectives of treatment are to minimize the associated pain, slow the progression of disease and ensure a better quality of life for the patient. The algorithm of the treatment of osteoarthritis should include pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic components linked in an integrated manner and consider that surgery occurs when the bankruptcy of the above takes place. The main lines of action on the part of the pharmacist in osteoarticular pathology are early identification of disease, to act in modifiable risk factors, monitoring of treatment, set in a personalized manner, ensuring adherence, compliance, effectiveness and its safety. The patient should be involved and made responsible for the management of his disease and therapy. Training and education of the patient must also be concern of the Pharmacist. The study methodology consisted of a literature review in Pubmed and B-Online using as main keywords: "Osteoarthritis", "epidemiology", "risk factors", "obesity", "age", "symptoms", "signs", "treatment", "osteotomy", "arthroplasty", "acupuncture", "tens", "arthrodesis", "nutraceuthicals", "prevention" and "surgery". The high prevalence of musculoskeletal disease, high economic, social and personal costs associated and the prospect of its considerable increase due to the increase of its two main risk factors (aging population and obesity), justify a systematic analysis of this issue in order to build solid skills in health professionals who deal closely with these patients, particularly in pharmaceuticals.


Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology is expected to play a key role in the development of Software Defined Radio platforms. To reduce design time required when targeting such a technology, high-level synthesis tools can be used. These tools are available in current FPGA CAD tools. In this demo, we will present the design of a FFT component for Long Term Evolution standard and its implementation on a Xilinx Virtex 6 based ML605 board. Our flexible FFT can support FFT sizes among 128, 256, 512, 1024, 1536 and 2048 to compute OFDM symbols. The FFT is specified at a high-level (i.e. in C language). Both dynamic partial reconfiguration and run-time configuration based on input control signals of the flexible FFT will be shown. These two approaches provide interesting tradeoff between reconfiguration time and area.


Is territory a trap? Does the concept of territory trap us into false assumptions of internally homogeneous, externally bounded political communities that exercise uniform sovereignty across their domain? Against the background of debates about territory and the territorial state in international relations, this symposium brings together five contributions in political theory that advance a nuanced and systemic understanding of what territory is. Taken together, they indicate that there is much to the territorial paradigm beyond the modern, sovereign, and territorial state model. There are diverse conceptions of territory, which may be relevant across different legal and political orders. The various conceptual analyses of territory in this symposium suggest that the sovereign state model is only one way in which a sovereign political authority can be territorial. These essays provide the conceptual tools to formulate (and subsequently test) the hypothesis that the transformations in statehood may not be best described in terms of the rise and decline of territorial sovereignty, but as moves from one model of territorially bounded political authority to another. In political theory, it is only in recent years that this foundational concept has received sustained attention from political theorists. This symposium aims to take forward this welcome theoretical development.


Multiple surgical targets have been proposed for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with deep brain stimulation (DBS). However, different targets may modulate the same neural network responsible for clinical improvement. Here we analyzed data from four cohorts of OCD patients (N = 50) that underwent DBS to the anterior limb of the internal capsule (ALIC), the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) or the subthalamic nucleus (STN). Fiber tracts that were predominantly connected to electrodes in good or poor DBS responders were isolated from a normative structural connectome and assigned a predictive value. Strikingly, the same fiber bundle was related to treatment response when independently analyzing two large training cohorts that targeted either ALIC or STN. This discriminative tract is a subsection of the ALIC and connects frontal regions (such as the dorsal anterior cingulate, dACC, and ventral prefrontal, vlPFC, cortices to the STN). When informing the tract solely based on one cohort (e.g. ALIC), clinical improvements in the other (e.g. STN) could be significantly predicted, and vice versa. Finally, clinical improvements of eight patients from a third center with electrodes in the NAcc and six patients from a fourth center in which electrodes had been implanted in both STN and ALIC were significantly predicted based on this novel tract-based DBS target. Results suggest a functional role of a limbic hyperdirect pathway that projects from dACC and vlPFC to anteriomedial STN. Obsessive-compulsive symptoms seem to be tractable by modulating the specific bundle isolated here. Our results show that connectivity-derived improvement models can inform clinical improvement across DBS targets, surgeons and centers. The identified tract is now three-dimensionally defined in stereotactic standard space and will be made openly available.


Introduction: In recent years, there has been a growing concern about the lack of adequate nutrition Knowledge among nurses. Nutrition training in the medical curriculum and for healthcare professionals is contradictory, inadequate, and weak. Nurses are one of the most reliable sources of nutritional information for patients; and yet, little research has been done so far on nurses' information regarding their important role in nutritional care. Our study is designed to assess the current level of Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of nurses in intensive care units (ICUs). Methods: A four-part questionnaire was used in this study. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2019 to July 2020. The sample size consisted of 110 nurses based on the statistical data obtained from the nursing offices of two hospitals of Tabriz University of medical science including all the nurses working in the ICUs. Thereafter, all questionnaires were re-collected and data were finally analyzed. Results: Results showed that from 110 nurses which were included in this study, 73.6% had high Knowledge, 45.5% had moderate practices, and 58.2% had a positive attitude about nutritional support. Age and level of education had a significant correlation with their knowledge (P=0.005 and P=0.001, respectively). Nursing attitude had a significant correlation with age and the level of education (P=0.03 and P=0.003). And also, nursing practice had a significant relationship with age, work experience in the ICU, and the level of education (P=0.001, P=0.001 and P=0.004, P<0.05). Conclusion: Nurses surveyed in this study had a high knowledge, moderate practice and a positive attitude regarding nutritional care in patients admitted to the ICU.


This paper presents the results of a study of the basic factors underlying the selection of a preferable method of transmission for pulse-code modulation communication systems. A new method of transmission, called biternary, is described and is compared with quaternary transmission, as a means of doubling the channel capacity of PCM systems without requiring increased bandwidth or transmission facilities. It is found that biternary transmission is more tolerant of the effects of all types of interference than quaternary transmission, and significantly reduces a major problem of quaternary transmission excessive errors, caused by low frequency cut-off effects. The use of biternary transmission is planned in present and future military pulse-code modulation communication systems.


A recent study of 1979–2010 tropical tropospheric temperature trends in climate model simulations and satellite microwave sounding unit (MSU) observations concluded that, although both showed greater warming in the upper than lower troposphere, the vertical amplification of warming was exaggerated in most models. We repeat that analysis of temperature trends, vertical difference trends, and trend ratios using five radiosonde datasets. Some, but not all, comparisons support the notion that vertical amplification in models exceeds that observed. However, larger ranges of radiosonde trends compared with those for MSU, and the sensitivity of results to the upper‐tropospheric level analyzed, make it difficult to conclude unambiguously that models are inconsistent with radiosonde observations. The larger ranges are due to the availability of more radiosonde datasets with different approaches for adjusting measurement biases. Together these two studies highlight challenges of using imperfect observations of tropical tropospheric temperature over a few decades to assess climate model performance.


I. DATA BREACHES: AN OVERVIEWOn September 22, 2016, technology company Yahoo! announced that a third party had wrongfully gained access to at least 500 million Yahoo! user accounts, the largest data breach1 in history.2 Hackers stole individuals' names, telephone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, passwords, and security questions and answers.3 Because individuals often use the same email address, password, and security questions for multiple Internet accounts, the third party hacker could potentially gain access to additional private accounts, including financial accounts, of 500 million individuals.4More recently, Equifax - a major credit-reporting firm - announced that hackers accessed the personal information of more than 140 million U.S. customers.5 The obtained information includes individuals' names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and driver's license numbers.6 The hackers could use this extensive information to open new financial accounts in individuals' names, make fraudulent charges on their credit cards, and commit tax fraud.7 Due to the scope of the breach, the affected individuals will have to monitor their credit and personal accounts for the rest of their lives because hackers can use the stolen in formation for many years going forward to commit fraud, including "creating a new you."8The data breaches of Yahoo! and Equifax are two of the largest known data breaches and are part of a trend in recent years in which the size and scope of data breaches of major corporations have steadily increased.9 This trend is expected to continue as hackers become increasingly sophisticated and more personal information is stored digitally.10 Federal courts' interpretations of Article III standing requirements, however, frequently result in unjust outcomes for data breach victims.11 In everyday life, individuals provide businesses and other entities with their personal information. Indeed, it is inconceivable that individuals could successfully function in the modern world without sharing such information. Yet when the information falls into the hands of hackers, individuals may suffer identity theft, fraudulent credit card charges, and other consequences. Individuals whose private information is accessed therefore reasonably expend considerable time, energy, and money protecting their identity and financial accounts by purchasing credit-monitoring services, monitoring their accounts for fraudulent charges, disputing any fraud that occurs, and paying fees associated with credit freezes.In order to recover the costs incurred following a data breach, data breach victims frequently attempt to sue the companies that failed to adequately protect their information from hackers.12 Some federal courts, however, have found that data breach victims cannot satisfy Article III standing requirements. As a result, courts dismiss lawsuits against the organizations that allowed victims' information to be accessed due to insufficient data security safeguards. While this outcome may be justified legally under current Article III jurisprudence, many victims of data breaches cannot recover the costs they incur in response to a data breach.This Note attempts to propose a solution to the immediate dilemma faced by many victims of data breaches - that they cannot even get their day in court. First, I briefly review the constitutional law doctrine of Article III standing, focusing primarily on the injury-in-fact requirement.13 I then turn to a survey of the different approaches to Article III standing in data breach cases as applied in various federal jurisdictions and look at the impact of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Spokeo v. Robbins on data breach litigation going forward.14 I conclude with a proposed solution to the Article III hurdles faced by data breach plaintiffs by arguing that Congress should pass a comprehensive law regulating data breaches that would afford victims statutory standing to pursue their claims against companies that fail to adequately protect their information. …


A technique is described for typing field isolates of infectious bronchitis virus by plaque-reduction assay of the serum antibody response of chickens experimentally infected with such isolates. Also reported are use of the technique with field isolates and a comparison of results obtained in plaque-reduction assay and in tracheal-ring organ-culture assay.


Rationale: Maximal exercise testing is an absolute contraindication in patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis (SSAS). Instead of maximal testing, the 6 minutes-walk test (6MWT) may be recommended to evaluate functional capacity and to establish prognostic. The aim of this study was to compare the 6MWT with a maximal exercise test in patients with SSAS. Method: A ramp cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) on a cycle ergometer taken as control, and a 6MWT, both with a breath-by-breath gas analysis, were performed in a population with SSAS waiting for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). During both tests, patients were monitored with continuous electrocardiogram. Blood pressure was taken every 2 minutes during CPET and at the beginning and the end of the 6MWT test. Patients underwent both tests. Results: A total of 12 patients aged 79.5 ± 5.9 years participated to these evaluations. During the 6MWT, patients walked a mean distance of 335±74 m, producing a mean maximal workload of 48.5±13.2 watts during CPET. Through CPET, patients achieved a maximal oxygen consumption (VO2peak) of 11.9±4.2 mL/kg/min, which was similar to the VO2peak reached during 6MWT (12.8±2.5 mL/kg/min, p=0.062). For both tests, the respiratory exchanged ratio exceeded 1.1 (CPET=1.16±0.06 and 6MWT=1.12±0.09, p=0.241), which is one criterion of a maximal exercise capacity test. In comparison to CPET, a higher proportion of the 6MWT was performed at high intensity level (>85% VO2peak); 74.2±29.0% of the 6MWT vs. 31.5±24.0% of CPET, p=0.004*. During CPET, 8 patients experimented abnormal blood pressure (BP) response (4 dropped their BP and 4 achieved maximal BP value during recovery). No complication occurred during both tests except for 3 patients who experienced angina pectoris. In this high-risk elderly cohort, lean body mass was the better anthropometric feature associated with better exercise capacity during CPET (r=-0.73, p=0.03*). Conclusion: Both exercise tests were very demanding for patients with SSAS waiting for TAVI. The 6MWT was a maximal effort and high intensity exertion was maintained for almost 75% of the test. The 6MWT was as intense as CPET suggesting the importance of an adequate monitoring while testing those patients. Considering that CPET allow blood pressure measure throughout the test and included a lower test portion in high intensity level, CPET may be more appropriate to evaluate functional capacity in patients with SSAS.


Abstract Certain countries need to establish a faster, cheaper and more fit-for-purpose cadastre than those offered by conventional strategies. This paper reintroduces the strategy of the point cadastre: a cadastral system where geographic points are used to represent land parcels. When point features are combined with satellite imagery, freely available topographic maps (e.g. OpenStreetMap) and managed using cloud based geographic information services, a simple cadastral solution becomes apparent. This paper concentrates only on defining drivers and requirements for point cadastres. Three discrete studies were used to generate the requirements: expert group meetings, a pressure cooker meeting and an online questionnaire. The requirements are classified under preparation, functional, quality and architectural categories. Preparation requirements illustrate the need for contextual awareness before commencing any point cadastral project. Functional requirements are found to be similar to the requirements of parcel based cadastres; however, the necessity for parcel boundary identification is removed. Quality requirements promote the need for 'ease of use' and 'low cost': 'accuracy' is found to rank lowest out of six quality requirements. Architectural requirements provide various options for collecting, storing, maintaining and visualising the cadastral point information. Together, the requirements provide a basic blueprint for cadastral practitioners considering point cadastre solutions. Further work is required on development of indicators for assessing achievement of the requirements in practice.


In this paper, induction plasma spray processing is used to produce free-standing-parts of molybdenum silicide-B composition, the boron, and molybdenum silicide powders being blended to form the initial spray powders. The oxidation resistance for each of these composites is compared to those of molybdenum silicide and molybdenum disilicide plasma spray deposits, produced under identical conditions. The results indicated that the 2.0 wt% boron sample had excellent oxidation resistance and showed a mass change of almost zero after 24 hours of high temperature oxidation (1210 deg C). Paper includes a German-language abstract.


The United States is the epicenter of the Disney parks—Disneyland in Anaheim, California, is the original and the heartbeat, while Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, is a behemoth that attracts tens of millions of visitors a year. Walt may have spent his formative years in the American Midwest, but his imagination spread to all corners of the world. In addition to the U.S.-based destinations, Hong Kong, Paris, Shanghai, and Tokyo also host a variety of parks that showcase classic attractions as well as park exclusives. These resorts capture the Disney aesthetic, but each presents unique challenges and cultural sensitivities.


Comparison calculation of boron impurities, substituting for Si and C sites in cubic SiC, is performed in the framework of the cluster MNDO method. Impurity site preference, equilibrium geometry, potential energy surface, reorientation barriers, Franck - Condon shift, spin and charge density distribution and hyperfine parameters are under consideration. The reasonable values of all calculated parameters support the model of a Jahn - Teller centre with strong coupling for the impurity. Calculations predict the impurity to be the effective-mass-like acceptor.


The depositional architecture of aggrading coastal plain fluvial sequences includes both the three-dimensional interrelationships and geometries of component framework sand bodies and the distribution of bedding and internal structures within the framework facies. Examination of late Quaternary and Oligo-Miocene fluvial systems of the Texas Coastal Plain illustrates the architectural variety inherent in aggradational coastal plain sequences and indicates common depositional styles. I. Coastal plain sequences typically record deposition by multiple synchronous fluvial systems, ranging from large extrabasinal rivers to small streams draining the basin fringe and local intrabasinal streams. Identification and definition of the major systems and their component depositional elements (fluvial axes and interaxiai streamplains, lacustrine basins, or aeolian plains) is the initial step in reconstruction of basin paleogeography. 2. Contemporaneous major as well as minor rivers may possess grossly differing load, discharge, and geometric characteristics. Consequently, deposits of each depositional element commonly differ greatly in terms of internal structure, mineralogical and textural composition, and sand-body geometry. 3. Major extra basinal rivers typically enter the aggradational coastal plain at topographically or structurally stabilized points. Once on the coastal plain, the river will radiate from its point source in an attempt to aggrade the depositional surface as evenly as possible. Both nodal and random down-channel avulsions result in successive occupation of multiple channel trends. Facies maps of thick sequences of channel and associated deposits (i.e., sand isolith or percent maps) consequently show complex interweaving or distributing trends. Lateral spacing of major rivers determines the along-strike extent of distributary alluvial aprons. Long-term stability of the loci of sediment input favors vertical persistence of fluvial elements and systems. 4. Within fluvial axes, framework channel facies may form multilateral belts up to tens of miles in width, or may stack vertically. Dry climate and dominance of bedload or extremely flashy fluvial systems favor development of multilateral sand belts. Mixed-load fluvial systems are characterized by moderate to strong vertical stacking of framework sand bodies. 5. Significant vertical change in depositional style within major fluvial axes records the evolution of river pattern in response to extrinsic or intrinsic changes in the drainage or depositional basin. In the Texas Coastal Plain, mixed-load fluvial axes commonly exhibit evidence for upward decrease in river bedload content. Because fluvially deposited stratigraphic units peripheral to large marine sedimentary basins most likely consist of a mosaic of individual depositional systems and component elements, accurate description and interpretation of coastal plain paleogeography necessitates a hierarchical, three-dimensional approach to analysis of alluvial stratigraphy.


In recent years a remarkable progress was made in the construction of spatial cloaks using the methods of transformation optics and metamaterials.
The temporal cloaking, i.e. the cloaking of an event in spacetime, was also widely studied by using transformations on spacetime domains.
We propose a simple and general method for the construction of temporal cloaking using the change of time variables only.


This paper presents some of the benefits that FPL's Power Plant Engineering Department realized from implementing a reliability approach to civil engineering issues. The paper discusses some cost effective measures that can be implemented in a short period of time, require no new personnel, and provide immediate improvements in operating power plant availability. In addition, the paper presents a case study of how the use of these measures benefited FPL when addressing what, at first, appeared to be a simple reinforced concrete failure. By using a few basic reliability tools, the engineering staff was able to determine that the failure had significant potential for future cost and reliability impacts. Without the use of these tools, the concrete would probably have been repaired and the root causes for the failure and resulting impacts would not have been addressed.


Abstract:Stories offer time and space for connection. This has been particularly true during social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In this collective autoethnographic story, we explore how generative energies of storytelling and storylistening emerge within communities via virtual storytelling. With COVID-19 being a catalyst for change, we share our adaptation of the Storyscope Project story circles to facilitate connection through a virtual space. Our stories within this work reflect our experience of virtual Storyscope in the roles of host, facilitator, participant, and educator. Additionally, the collaborative process of our writing mirrors the unfolding of virtual Storyscope story circles. In other words, the practices of virtual storytelling and storylistening guided our inquiry and evolving discussion of a similarly evolving practice.


The unification of Europe in higher education in general and in medical education in particular is progressing. Since the Bologna declaration most of the European countries are in the process of introducing a two-cycle training programme in higher education that also affects medical training programmes (Patricio et al. 2008). Within the European legislature there is free mobility of professionals across the borders of Europe. To control for quality of education initiatives are taken across Europe to accredit higher education programmes (Dittrich et al. 2004) including medical training programmes (van Zanten et al. 2008). Within medical education the World Federation of Medical Education has been very instrumental in defining undergraduate and postgraduate standards of education which can be used for quality assurance or accreditation. The federation has developed global standards as well as European specification of these procedures (cf http:// www.wfme.org/). This harmonization of European medical education will develop further in the future ahead of us. Part of modern Europe is also the trend of mobility of the workforce (Jinks et al. 2000). This concerns both students as well professionals. An increasing number of schools in Europe start competing on the international market for recruiting their students, including, for example, my own institution. The question is: what is the voice of the patient in all this? How are the rights of the patient protected against this mobility? The patients will rightfully insist on the best of care. How is this guaranteed? There is increasing evidence that even with a European country medical schools produce different quality of medical graduates (McManus et al. 2008). What happens if we look at this from a European perspective? How different is a graduate coming from a medical school in Athens as compared to one from Tampere? Or from London compared to Warsaw? Even with the safeguards of accreditation of training programmes, we know, more or less for certain, that graduates will differ in proficiency across different schools and sites of training. The Rome treaty and the European legislation, however, is unequivocal. Principally professionals cannot be prevented to practice across the European boundaries. What implications does that have for the practice of health and the rights of the individual patient? One way of dealing with this issue of quality of graduates is to follow the North-American route of licensure examinations. By setting assessments at the end of undergraduate or postgraduate training programmes we can at least measure all our graduates against the same ruler and assure the public for some minimal level of competence. However, when I come to North America and explain that licensing examinations do not exist in my country, they sometimes congratulate me. The driving force of the licensure exams is definitely felt by schools and training programmes. If I speak to German students, I seldom hear any enthusiasm for the German system of fixed multiple exams during the undergraduate training programmes. Being part of an advisory board for a German school changing towards problem-based learning, I often encountered suggestions that these licensure exams are an actual impediment for any educational change. The question is whether standardized tests lead to standardized programmes. In the recent assessment literature one speaks of a paradigm shift by moving away from the 'testing culture' towards an 'assessment culture' (Gielen et al. 2003). Here we change from assessment of learning towards assessment for learning. By using the driving effect of assessment strategically it is advocated to embed assessment as much as possible with the learning itself (Wilson & Sloane 2000). Licensure examinations by definition separate the assessment from the ongoing learning. Will this lead to a conflict between the goals of the training programme and what is being tested in licensure exams? The licensure exams will probably measure those competencies and skills that are easily measured and may not include competencies and skills that are hard to measure. Will this not trivialize the ongoing learning? Could this not lead to a reductionistic harmonization of our training programmes preventing any pluriformity to further exist? Is pluriformity not at the heart of the European spirit and should this not be respected in our education programmes? The question about the utility of (European) licensure examinations was addressed in a symposium at the last AMEE meeting in Prague last year. In this issue of Medical Teacher we will report on this discussion. First we have a representative from the North-American continent. Don Melnick, President of the National Board of Medical Examiners, will describe the situation in the US, the arguments that have lead to their licensure procedures and the benefits that this approach had in his view (Melnick 2009). Being long enough in the assessment business, it is interesting to note how much the US licensure exams have changed over the


This paper describes a transmission line modelling (TLM) based discrete transform technique suitable for the solution of nonlinear circuits and equations. The nonlinear method presented complements a recently published linear TLM-based discrete transform technique and extends the overall method to both linear and nonlinear circuits and equations. The main features of the technique are that it operates directly and throughout in the time domain, and that it is as easily applied as the Laplace transform technique. An extra advantage is that it can be understood in terms of electrical concepts, allowing errors to be assessed and interpreted easily. The method is applied to both numerical and practical problems. Analytical and experimental results confirm its accuracy and stability.


Aim: Neck circumference (NC), a proxy for upper-body subcutaneous fat, is closely related to metabolic dysfunction, independent of other obesity indices. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between NC and the incidence and remission of metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), a novel concept proposed by an international consensus panel in 2020 through a community-based longitudinal cohort. Methods: This study included 1,549 community participants and was conducted from 2013 to 2016. MAFLD was diagnosed using the International Expert Consensus (2020) criteria. All participants underwent NC measurement and biochemical measurements. Elevated NC was defined as NC ≥38.5 cm in men and NC ≥34.5 cm in women. Results: A total of 1,549 subjects (638 men and 911 women), with an average age of 59.6 ± 7.3 years, were included. During a mean follow-up of 2.1 years, MAFLD occurred in 146 of the 870 participants without baseline MAFLD and was resolved in 225 of the 679 participants with baseline MAFLD. After adjusting for confounding factors such as age, sex, body mass index, waist circumference, fasting plasma glucose, and liver enzyme levels, multivariable logistic regression showed that higher NC at baseline was positively correlated with MAFLD occurrence (OR 1.96, 95% confidence interval: 1.21–3.31; p = 0.003) and negatively correlated with MAFLD remission (OR 0.57, 95% confidence interval: 0.40–0.80; p < 0.001). Conclusion: A higher NC is associated with an increased risk of MAFLD occurrence and a reduced probability of MAFLD remission, making NC measurement a potential predictor in MAFLD management.


= Abstract = A high rate of viral turnover, combined with an error‐prone polymerase, results in an increased frequency of mutational events during hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication, resulting in a diverse population of progeny virus (quasispecies). Not suprising then, particular selection pressures, both from within (host immune clearance) or from outside (vaccines and antivirals) the host, readily select out new "escape" mutants resulting in treatment failure. The introduction of nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) therapy for chronic hepatitis B has resulted in the emergence of antiviral drug resistance which has itself become the major factor limiting treatment effectiveness. Furthermore, due to the overlap of the viral polymerase and envelop reading frames in the circular HBV DNA genome, NA‐resistance associated mutations selected within the catalytic domains of the polymerase usually result in significant changes to the neutralising antibody binding domains of the hepatitis B surface antigen, including the emergence of antiviral drug associated potential vaccine escape mutants (ADAPVEM's). The main reason for this is that the neutralisation domain, the "a" determinant, is a conformational epitope. The public health significance of APADVEM's may then be very considerable in terms of the global program for control of hepatitis B via universal infant immunisation. Thus, prevention of resistance requires the adoption of strategies that not only effectively control active HBV replication but also prevent the emergence of APADVEMs.


Body postures provide information about others' actions, intentions, and emotional states. However, little is known about how postures are represented in the brain's visual system. Considering our extensive visual and motor experience with body postures, we hypothesized that priors derived from this experience may systematically bias visual body posture representations. We examined two priors: gravity and biomechanical constraints. Gravity pushes lifted body parts downwards, while biomechanical constraints limit the range of possible postures (e.g., an arm raised far behind the head cannot go down further). Across three experiments (N = 246) we probed participants' memory of briefly presented postures using change discrimination and adjustment tasks. Results showed that lifted arms were misremembered as lower and as more similar to biomechanically plausible postures. Inverting the body stimuli eliminated both biases, implicating holistic body processing. Together, these findings show that knowledge shapes body posture representations, reflecting modulation from a combination of category-general and category-specific priors.


Hash table is a fundamental data structure for quick search and retrieval of data. It is a key component in complex graph analytics and AI/ML applications. State-of-the-art parallel hash table implementations either make some simplifying assumptions such as supporting only a subset of hash table operations or employ optimizations that lead to performance that is highly data dependent and in the worst case can be similar to a sequential implementation. In contrast, in this work we develop a dynamic hash table that supports all the hash table queries - search, insert, delete, update, while allowing us to support $p$ parallel queries (p > 1) per clock cycle via $p$ processing engines (PEs) in the worst case i.e. the performance is data agnostic. We achieve this by implementing novel XOR based multi-ported block memories on FPGAs. Additionally, we develop a technique to optimize the memory requirement of the hash table if the ratio of search to insert/update/delete queries is known beforehand. We implement our design on state-of-the-art FPGA devices. Our design is scalable to 16 PEs and supports throughput up to 5926 MOPS. It matches the throughput of the state-of-the-art hash table design - FASTHash, which only supports search and insert operations. Comparing with the best FPGA design that supports the same set of operations, our hash table achieves up to 12.3 x speedup.


In today's competitive market, it is essential for companies to provide products which not only achieve high performance, but also appeal to the tastes of consumers. Therefore, a key element of design is an understanding of consumer preferences for product features. In this work, the random-effects ordered logit model is proposed as the modelling framework to capture the impact of both product and human attributes on consumers' ratings of qualitative system and sub-system attributes. To support the modelling, a series of methodologies are developed to both understand and model the influence of consumer heterogeneity upon product preferences. To illustrate the methodologies, a human appraisal experiment for understanding preferences for automobile occupant package design is analysed. An issue with analysing human appraisal experiments is that the effect of respondent heterogeneity must be understood to separate the influence of design factors from that of human factors. Hierarchical Bayes estimation and cluster analysis are used to gain an understanding of respondent rating styles, which are subsequently modelled explicitly in the ordered logit model. Smoothing spline regression is used to determine the functional form of the ordered logit model. The proposed ordered logit model is validated using a vehicle design case study.


Background: The impact of an episode of hyperkalemia on long term mortality is not well studied. Such a study is vital for development of a utilization strategy for new drugs for the treatment of hyperkalemia. To study the long term impact of hyperkalemia on mortality, we conducted a retrospective, observational casecontrol study in a tertiary care emergency department. We compared cases of non-hemolyzed serum potassium >5.3 mEq/L with normokalemic controls. Allcause mortality and causes of death were determined from social security death index, national death index, and medical record review over a follow-up period of 490 patient years.
Methods and Findings: A total of 287 consecutive subjects (223 cases, 64 controls) were identified among 14,483 patients. Cox proportional hazard regression showed that for each 1 mEq/L increase in admit potassium, all-cause mortality Hazard Ratio was 1.54, 95% Confidence Interval: 1.22-1.96. Subgroup analyses showed higher mortality in acute kidney injury and heart failure patients.
Conclusion: Hyperkalemia predicted all-cause mortality, when adjusted for age, sex, Charlson comorbidity index, and significant covariates (heart failure and end stage renal disease). The deleterious effect of admit hyperkalemia persisted in survivors from index episode throughout the study period. Cardiovascular mortality was statistically more prevalent. Future studies are needed for risk stratification strategies and mortality impact of newer drugs.


A series of tests were conducted to examine the filled tube shape with respect to the filling module type used and to investigate cone resistance properties of a dredged-soil-filled geotextile tube under water and drained conditions. Results based on the filling observation showed that the distribution of the accumulated fills inside the acrylic cell and vinyl tubes differs with respect to the type of filling modules. A crater formation around the inlet area was found during the test using I-type filling module and a horizontal sediment distribution was found during the test using inverse T-Type filling module. The dredged fill material was obtained from the Saemangeum area. The geotextile tube deformation of each filling stage was almost converged when the tube was fully drained. The cone resistance of the dredged fill in the geotextile tube under drained condition is large and is approximately 2~6 times that of the tube under water condition.


In the wake of the Paris Agreement on climate change, promises to phase out coal-fired power have suggested cause for optimism around energy transition globally. However, coal remains entangled with contentious development agendas in many parts of the world, while fossil fuel industries continue to flourish. This article discusses these entanglements through a climate justice lens that engages the cultural politics surrounding coal and energy transition. We highlight how recent struggles around phasing out coal have stimulated renewed critical debates around colonialism, empire, and capitalism more broadly, recognizing climate change as an intersectional issue encompassing racial, gender, and economic justice. With social movements locked in struggles to resist the development or expansion of coal mines, power plants, and associated infrastructure, we unpack tensions that emerge as transnational alliances connect disparate communities across the world. Our conclusion signals the need for greater critical engagement with how intersecting inequalities are coded into the cultural politics of coal, and how this shapes efforts to pursue a just transition.


Background: Food poisoning due to the bacteria is a big global problem in economically and human's health. This problem refers to an illness which is due to infection or the toxin exists in nature and the food that we use. One of the most important productive factors is Staphylococcus aureus. In general different strain of S. aureus produces several enterotoxins like: SEA, SEB, SEC. So, the existence of S. aureus in foods is a potential risk, especially if the foods are not storage in proper temperature. In this work, by designing of new primer the enterotoxin B (SEB) has been detected using PCR techniques.
Material and method: In this study, the primer explorer V4 software was used for designing specific primers. The extracted DNA genomic from S. aureus was using for PCR reaction. The PCR product analysed by agarose gel (1.2%) electrophoresis. Also specificity of this method was determined using different strains of S. aureus A (SEA), S. aureus C (SEC) and Vibrio cholera O1. Also, sensitivity was distinguished by serial dilution of S. aureus DNA genomic.
Results and conclusion: PCR assay showed a 226 bp specific amplified fragment. The sensitivity of this method determined about 200 CFU/ml and also the results showed that according to specific primers, the PCR is very specific. Therefore, this procedure is very sensitive and rapid technique for SEB detection of S. aureus. In conclusion, this PCR assay can be used like a simple diagnostic test in clinical laboratories for identification of foodborne disease.


This article criticises H. L. Ho's argument that the exclusion of improperly obtained evidence can best be understood in terms of a 'political' rather than 'epistemic' conception of the criminal trial. It argues that an epistemic conception of the trial, as an institution primarily concerned with arriving at accurate verdicts on the part of an independent and impartial fact-finder, is an important element of the rule of law. The court also has a duty to uphold other elements of the rule of law. The rule of law should be seen as concerned with upholding moral and political rights, including those of victims as well as defendants. The 'vindication principle', requiring decisions on exclusion of evidence to take account of both these sets of rights, is defended as being consistent with this understanding of the rule of law and with the epistemic conception of the trial.


BACKGROUND
In children with localized Ewing sarcoma (ES), addition of ifosfamide and etoposide to cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and vincristine (VDC/IE) improved 5-year overall survival (OS) to 70%-80%. Prior to delivery of VDC/IE in adults, 5-year OS was <50%. We reviewed our institutional outcomes for adults with ES who received VDC/IE-based treatment.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Between 1997-2013, 67 adults with localized ES were treated with curative intent. Local recurrence-free survival (LRFS), progression-free survival (PFS), and OS were determined using Kaplan-Meier method; comparisons were assessed with log-rank. Proportional hazard models were used to determine predictive factors.

RESULTS
All patients received VDC/IE (median 14 cycles.) Local therapy was surgery for 33, radiation therapy for 17, or both for 17. Median follow-up for living patients was 5.2 years. Six patients had disease progression on therapy. Site of first failure was local for three, local and distant for two, and distant for ten. Five-year LRFS was 91%; 5-year LRFS was 96% for nonpelvic disease and 64% for pelvic disease (p = .003). Five-year PFS was 66%, and 5-year OS was 79%. On multivariate analysis, pelvic site had a 3.3 times increased risk of progression (p = .01).

CONCLUSION
Survival for adults with localized ES treated with VDC/IE-based multimodality therapy appears to be better than historical data and similar to excellent outcomes in children. Pelvic site of disease remains a predictor of worse outcome. Given the paucity of literature for adult ES, these data help validate VDC/IE-based therapy as an appropriate treatment approach for this rare disease in adults.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
Ewing sarcoma (ES) is rare in adults. Treatment approaches for adults have been extrapolated from the pediatric experience, and there is a sense that adults fare less well than children. We reviewed treatment outcomes in adults with localized ES treated with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and vincristine in alternation with ifosfamide and etoposide (VDC/IE) as part of multimodality therapy. Survival outcomes appear to be better than historical data for adults and similar to the excellent outcomes for children. These data help validate VDC/IE-based therapy as an appropriate treatment approach for this rare disease in adults.


Xylem parenchyma cells (XPCs) in larch adapt to subfreezing temperatures by deep supercooling, while cortical parenchyma cells (CPCs) undergo extracellular freezing. The temperature limits of supercooling in XPCs changed seasonally from -30 degrees C during summer to -60 degrees C during winter as measured by freezing resistance. Artificial deacclimation of larch twigs collected in winter reduced the supercooling capability from -60 degrees C to -30 degrees C. As an approach to clarify the mechanisms underlying the change in supercooling capability of larch XPCs, genes expressed in association with increased supercooling capability were examined. By differential screening and differential display analysis, 30 genes were found to be expressed in association with increased supercooling capability in XPCs. These 30 genes were categorized into several groups according to their functions: signal transduction factors, metabolic enzymes, late embryogenesis abundant proteins, heat shock proteins, protein synthesis and chromatin constructed proteins, defence response proteins, membrane transporters, metal-binding proteins, and functionally unknown proteins. All of these genes were expressed most abundantly during winter, and their expression was reduced or disappeared during summer. The expression of all of the genes was significantly reduced or disappeared with deacclimation of winter twigs. Interestingly, all but one of the genes were expressed more abundantly in the xylem than in the cortex. Eleven of the 30 genes were thought to be novel cold-induced genes. The results suggest that change in the supercooling capability of XPCs is associated with expression of genes, including genes whose functions have not been identified, and also indicate that gene products that have been thought to play a role in dehydration tolerance by extracellular freezing also have a function by deep supercooling.


Pancreatic beta-cells are susceptible to reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are known to be generated by high or low glucose (LG), hypoxic, or cytokine-producing conditions. When we cultured mouse beta-cell-derived MIN6 cells in a LG condition, we detected a significant generation of ROS, including hydrogen peroxide, which was comparable to the ROS production in hypoxic or cytokine-treated conditions. ROS accumulation induced by the LG culture led to cell death, which was prevented by the ROS scavengers N-acetylcysteine and manganese(III)tetrakis(4-benzoic acid) porphyrin. We next investigated the mechanism of stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs), c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38, in ROS-induced MIN6 cell death. Activation of p38 occurred immediately after the LG culture, whereas JNK activation increased slowly 8 h later. Adenoviral p38 expression decreased MIN6 cell death, whereas the JNK expression increased it. Consistently, blocking p38 activation by inhibitors increased beta-cell death, whereas JNK inhibitors decreased it. We then examined the role of MAPK phosphatases (MKPs) specific for stress-activated protein kinases in beta-cell death. We found that MKP-1 presented an increase in its oxidized product after the LG culture. ROS scavengers prevented the appearance of this oxidized product and JNK activation. Thus, ROS-induced MKP inactivation causes sustained activation of JNK, which contributes to beta-cell death. Adenoviral overexpression of MKP-1 and MKP-7 prevented the phosphorylation of JNK at 36 h after the LG culture, and decreased MIN6 beta-cell death. We suggest that beta-cell death is regulated by interactions between JNK and its specific MKPs.


Neutron powder diffraction intensities have been measured for BaCl2 . D2O at 295 and 1.5 K and SrCl2 . D2O at 295 K (Pnma, Z = 4, R(wp) = 10.5%, 9.8%, and 10.2%, respectively). The structure data confirm the results of single crystal X-ray structure determination with respect to the heavy atoms. Additionally, previous spectroscopic findings can now be related to structural features. The previous interpretation of the two hydrogen bonds present in BaCl2 . D2O must be changed. Apart from the stronger hydrogen bond of the barium compound, which is nearly single in nature, all H-bonds of the isostructural MCl2 . H2O (M = Ba, Sr; X = Cl, Br, I) are bifurcated. Bifurcated H-bonds have been found to be stronger than expected from the individual H...Cl- distances because of the combined action of the two hydrogen bond acceptors.


A relevant number of experiments on short peptides has been performed in recent years. One of the major problems rises from the simultaneous presence of slightly different conformers at equilibrium in solution. In the present paper, the conformational characteristics of the Gly-l-Ala-Methyl amide dipeptide in D2O and DMSO solutions are investigated by nonlinear IR spectroscopy. The pump-probe scheme with ultrashort mid-infrared pulses, in the Amide I region, is used to determine the mutual orientation of the two C═O bonds and the dynamics due to solute-solvent interactions. The coupling between Amide I modes is evaluated from both linear and 2D spectra. The interconversion between the different conformations occurs on time scales longer than the vibrational lifetime, and the spectral diffusion observed in 2D spectra is attributed to the solvent dynamics. Quantum mechanical calculations and molecular dynamics simulations are performed to identify the most stable geometries. By comparing the experimental and the theoretical data, we establish the prevalence of β-like polar conformers in both water and DMSO solvents.


Although the bc1 complex is dimeric, the modified Q-cycle explains the behavior in normal forward flux through a monomeric mechanism. However, the need to minimize generation of reactive oxygen species raise questions about complexities associated with control and gating, the role of the dimeric configuration, complex dynamics (the Qo-site ballet), and involvement of atomistic processes are not readily accessible to direct study. Interactions across the dimer interface, a chemical spring-loaded ratchet, complexation of the intermediate semiquinone by ISPH to reduce reactivity with O2, and coulombic gating, are reviewed in the context of direct measurements of proton release, and further exploration through computational approaches using molecular dynamics supplemented by quantum chemical calculations to quantify atomistic features, in a new model of the Rhodobacter sphaeroides complex.


Very little information exists related to the interpersonal violence safety promoting behaviors of women with disabilities. Information about women's use of safety promoting behaviors was gathered from 305 disabled and deaf women who completed an anonymous Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview. Exploratory factor analyses revealed factors related to seeking abuse-related safety information, building abuse-related safety promoting skills, using relationship support, planning for emergencies, taking legal action, and managing safety in personal assistance relationships. Four of these factors demonstrated significant relationships to women's experience of different forms of abuse and their perpetrator's characteristics.


We have used a partial sciatic nerve ligation model to examine the time course for changes in the expression of mRNA for three peptides related to pain transmission at spinal sites (dynorphin, enkephalin and substance P), during the development of allodynia. Enhanced expression of mRNA for dynorphin and substance P was observed in the dorsal horn on the same side as the partial nerve ligation. Increased expression of dynorphin mRNA was biphasic. The initial increases in expression of dynorphin mRNA occurred at 3 h, and a secondary peak was observed 1-3 days after surgery. The secondary increases coincided roughly with increased substance P mRNA expression. However, both dynorphin and substance P mRNA returned to control values after 1 week despite continuing allodynia. No significant changes in expression of mRNA for enkephalin were observed. The elevation of substance P mRNA in intrinsic spinal cord neurons may be secondary to changes in immediate early genes c-fos and jun-B, whereas the expression of dynorphin and enkephalin mRNA is differently regulated. The results also suggest that changes in the expression of the three neuropeptides are not critically involved in the development and maintenance of chronic pain or allodynia.


Abstract Sensilla are sense organs in insects, typically consisting of a group of cuticle or epidermal cells that appear as hairs or rod-shaped structures. Sensilla serve as the functional elements of sensory systems. The goal of this study was to determine the type and distribution of sensilla in the antennae of Sitophilus granarius (L.) using light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This is one of the first studies in which the morphology and distribution patterns of sensilla on antennal segments of male and female S. granarius have been investigated using SEM, followed by TEM. Different morphological sensilla types, including two sensilla basiconica (SB) types, with two subtypes, four sensilla coeloconica (SC) types and five sensilla chaetica (SCH) types, with one subtype, have been identified on S. granarius antennae, whose external structure and shape are peculiar. TEM micrographs of SB on the antennae of S. granarius are characterized by strongly corrugated pores around the cuticle, while micrographs of SC longitudinal sections showed flat-tipped and smooth-surfaced pegs bearing an apical pore that is suggestive of a gustatory function. TEM micrographs of SCH longitudinal sections showed dendrite branches and cuticular pore arrow heads that may be involved in the perception of humidity, temperature, heat and CO2. Because SCH of different sizes were distributed around the head and rostrum, these may function as contact-chemoreceptors .These results are discussed in relation to the possible roles of the sensilla types in the host location behavior of S. granarius.


ABSTRACT The announcement by the Scottish Government of a global 'climate emergency' in May 2019, and the selection of Glasgow as the host city for the main COP26 talks to be held in late 2021 has helped focus attention to the impact of climate change in Scotland. The COVID-19 pandemic has also brought into sharp focus the disproportionate effect that shocks and stresses have on already vulnerable people and places. This short communication aims to contribute to these debates by clarifying existing strengths and open issues for an evidence-driven response to climate change in Scotland's marginalised communities. Growing support for rapid and radical climate action, both in Scotland and overseas, brings into question the role of learned societies and reasoned debate within a climate emergency. To this end, we synthesise recent Scotland-based research into issues relating to climate justice and, drawing on the outcomes of a workshop held in summer 2019, identify aspects where good progress has been made and areas where further work is required for an evidence-driven and just response to climate change in Scotland and beyond.


Unlike the traditional multiple-choice (MC) format, the discrete-option multiple-choice (DOMC) format does not necessarily reveal all answer options to an examinee. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the reduced exposure of item content affects test security. We conducted an experiment in which participants were allowed to view study guides prior to taking a test comprised of DOMC and MC items. Results showed that the DOMC format seems to offer a slight advantage over the MC format in the presence of item preknowledge. see demographic variables test performance. For of data collection, of credits an independent 𝑡 -test or an analysis of variance


Biofiltration low impact designs (LID) such as raingardens are proven Stormwater treatment technologies. However, with Auckland and other cities of New Zealand witnessing increasingly high density developments, the land required for such traditional LID is not readily available. While green roofs are a possible LID alternative, in high density developments their suitability depends on the angle or pitch of the roofs. Suspended raingardens can be an ideal LID alternative for urban environments, providing a runoff treatment without needing land space. This is a multi-stage research project aimed at creating a novel approach to stormwater treatment in urban environments. The first stage of this research is focused on finding suitable lightweight media for suspended raingardens. To ensure that this new approach is reasonably equivalent to the treatment efficiencies of conventional practices, we tested different light-weight media compositions with densities in the order of 350 kg/m in the laboratory. Our trials were batch experiments focused on assessing their efficacy of removing total suspended solids (TSS) and dissolved metals: lead (Pb), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) from Stormwater runoff. The media we tested complied with TP10 regulations from Auckland Council in terms of TSS removal. The removal of all three heavy metals was significant too. However, we also encountered some practical challenges with the use of these media during our experimental runs. This paper discusses these findings and the viability of suspended raingardens as an effective stormwater treatment alternative for high density urban environments.


The culture of fire in the context of climate change has become a complicated relationship between people and natural areas. The interaction between people and fire is not a new issue. The use of fire by humans in most aspects of life, especially in rural areas, together with rapid and haphazard growth of structures in wildfire-prone areas, has led to the owners and residents living there being less involved due to an urban conception of natural and forest areas. At the same time, rural areas have been decreasing and their populations aging due to migration to cities. Although the authorities responsible for forestry and civil protection, both at the national and regional-local levels, have implemented various wildfire prevention strategies in these areas, they have discovered that these are insufficient to curb the problem which is increasing with time. For this reason it has been concluded that the public should move from being part of the problem to being an active part of the solution. Furthermore, human behavior is largely unpredictable, especially in emergency situations, such as those in wildland-urban interface areas, which increases the risk value in these areas. Thus, through environmental and forestry education activities, as well as those in emergencies, it is possible to carry out information, training and awareness-raising efforts about the problem. This paper provides a summary of some of the examples of the current situation in Spain in wildfireprone areas in a wildland-urban interface situation and outlines what future recommendations and measures could be adopted to protect property and life and contribute to safer firefighting


One of the important characteristics in predicting the flow of two phases (gas and liquid) in the industrial equipment is the gas percentage in the liquid, which is called voidage. This characteristic can be measured by different methods; the optical method is one of them. In the present work, a He-Ne laser light is employed to measure the voidage. The measurement depends on the principle of laser light attenuation during its passage through a mixture of fluids, which is governed by Beer-Lambert law. The attenuated light is measured using silicon type detector and an oscilloscope with a plotter. The gas phase was air while the liquid phase was contaminated water situated in a vertical column. The experiments were done with different air flow rates in water (1, 2, 3, 4,5and 6 liters per minute) with two spot sizes of laser (5mm dia & 10 mm dia). The results illustrated the possibility of measuring the voidage using laser beam and are compared with another one based on the liquid level variation (level ratio) in the column. Furthermore, the results provide that the 10mm dia spot size of laser beam gives better results.


This paper examines which mechanisms are likely to dampen the price pressures in the wake of exchange rate movements. In addition to nominal frictions frequently used in sticky-price models, it jointly introduces two features that have hitherto been considered separately in the existing literature, i.e. a variable demand elasticity a la Kimball (1995) and distribution services in the form of non-traded goods as in Corsetti and Dedola (2005). The paper explores the respective role of each feature and assesses the quantitative importance of these theoretical explanations for the exchange rate pass-through to a broad range of prices as well as for the real exchange rate and for the trade balance. Segmentation of national markets through distribution services and imperfect competition with variable mark-ups are important for accounting for the observed stability of import prices "at the border". Hence, these mechanisms help to explain the observed stability of import prices in local currency with realistic durations of price contracts.


This paper presents a service-based grid computing model which emphasizes that a grid is a special computing system. By comparing this model with the traditional computing system model, we analyze their similarities and differences, which is important for related grid study. The proposed model is very useful for future study in grid computing: it not only provides instructions for developing a grid system, but also provides a framework for the theoretical grid research.


We report a case of thalassemia major in which severe cytoplasmic vacuolization was seen in white blood cells as well as in their precursors. Cytochemical examination of the vacuoles revealed Sudan Black staining. Consequently, we believe that our patient had Jordans' anomaly coexisting with thalassemia major.


The Sarbanes†Oxley Act demanded the presence of more financial experts on corporate boards to improve governance. Directors from lending banks require particular attention because of the conflicts of interest between shareholders and debtholders despite their financial expertise. In this paper, we examine whether commercial banker directors work in the best interests of shareholders in providing incentives to the CEO. We find that the CEO's compensation VEGA is lower if an affiliated banker director is on the board. Further, we find that commercial banker directors increase debt†like compensation (Sundaram and Yermack, 2007) and make it less sensitive to risk.


Interest in Wireless Power Transmission (WPT) technology has been increasing worldwide recently. This trend is proved by commercialized products such as electric toothbrush, wireless razor, and wireless charger for mobile phone battery. Studies for enhancing the applicability of the technology have been continuously conducted. Currently the WPT technology is based on the technologies using microwave, inductively coupling, and magnetic resonance. In the meantime, development of the microwave-based WPT faces difficulty due to health hazards involved in the technology, and application of the WPT technology using inductively coupling is restricted by area due to the problem of transmission length. In comparison, the WPT technology using magnetic resonance draws attention in terms of efficiency and transmission length. In this study, the sending coil based on the WPT technology using magnetic resonance system was replaced with an HTS coil to enhance transmission efficiency. Since the HTS coil has a zero resistance, power transmission loss can be minimized. At the same time, size of the current density could be increased to 100 times or more than typical coils. In addition, through impedance matching of LC device, maximal resonance properties were induced and consequently, frequency selection quality characteristics or Q was enhanced. As a result, the WPT type using the HTS coil showed a longer transmission length and better transmission efficiency compared with the WPT type using typical coils.


It is now more than two decades since the Great Ape Project was launched. How does such a cultural and political initiative fit in the ongoing construction of a politics of animal liberation, and in the larger contemporary moral and social landscape? An albeit tentative answer to this question will be possible only in the context of an illustration of what the Great Ape project is — of its starting point, its articulation, and the objections it elicited.


A clinical study was conducted on four adults to compare the relative efficacy of 0.2% chlorhexidine digluconate and 0.1% stannous fluoride (SnF2). Using a crossover experimental design, subjects rinsed twice daily for 5 days with SnF2 and then, after a 2-day interim recovery period, for 5 days with chlorhexidine. Statistically significant differences (P less than 0.05) in the relative efficacy of the two agents were found. Chlorhexidine was more effective in reducing Gingival and Plaque Indices, plaque wet weight and bacterial Colony Forming Units, calculated both per subject and per group.


The isokinetic dynamometer has been widely used to assess the muscle performance. Due to its high cost, the use of such device in clinical practice becomes unfeasible. The one-leg hop is a test to evaluate the strength and reliance on lower limbs that may be used in routine clinical trials at low cost, being no time-consuming. The present study aimed to assess whether there is any association between the hop test and the muscular function data provided by the knee evaluations at the isokinetic dynamometer in professional athletes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty volleyball players (8 women and 22 men) were evaluated by means of isokinetic dynamometer at speeds of 60o/s and 300o/s, and through the hop test at distance. RESULTS: It was observed a low correlation between the deficit of the peak torque (r = 0,441) and the work (r = 0,610) at 60o/s, with a deficit for hopped distance between lower limbs. Moreover, it was found a low correlation between the muscle performance and the distance reached during the hop test, except for women in the right lower limb. CONCLUSION: The current study has shown that the hop test cannot be used to replace isokinetic dynamometric tests for functional tests.


Talaq mu'allaq is a divorce that is effected by a matter or a time when the condition mentioned in the talak which is pronounced by the true husband occurs. When the talaq occurs, the relationship between the husband and wife was broken off. In this article the author discusses three existing problems; One, Ibn Hazm's opinion of talak mu'allaq in his book, Al-Muhalla that rejected the validity of talaq mu'allaq. Secondly, Ibn Hazm's method of law elicitation on the issue of talak Mu'allaq which only refers to the argumentation from Qur'anic verse by just looking to its meaning without considering the interpretation of the verses. He ignored the interpretation in detail and rejected the qiyas in the affairs of religion so that any problems related to his Islamic laws strongly prohibited the use of qiyas / logic. Third, about the indication of differences of opinion between the two, that is what distinguishes between Imam Shafi'i's opinion with Ibn Hazm itself is that of different ways of governing the law.


N. N. Gerber and H. A. Lechevalier (Appl. Microbiol. 13:935, 1965) reported the isolation of an earthy-smelling substance, geosmin, from the metabolic products of several Streptomyces species. They were not able to detect the presthat time, a partially purified extract of this odorous metabolite was prepared, the major portion of which was kept as a standard. This extract has now been compared directly with an authentic sample of geosmin (this sample was supplied by


Drawing upon narrative inquiry into the lived experience of an artist becoming an arts teacher, this research investigates curriculum in arts education. Its focus is the teaching experiences of a professional photographer in the process of becoming a photography teacher. This research began with two teaching assumptions about curriculum. The first was an acquisition-orientation to teaching; knowledge transmission that changes students' state from unknowing to knowing. The second was a making-orientation to teaching; methods and techniques training that allows students to replicate or produce knowledge. The first emphasized content while the second emphasized how students apply it. These assumptions eventually changed until they emerged as a communication-orientation to teaching that focuses on interaction with students and a sharing-orientation to teaching that engages dialogue between teacher and students instead of teacher monologue. With a communication-orientation and sharing-orientation to teaching, students became curriculum makers rather than curriculum receivers. These shifts in orientation meant students could share "their own stories" together with their own photographs, thus composing valuable narratives for the study—narratives that provided insight into how they see the world. Arts education is not only about transferring knowledge from teacher to students, but about sharing feelings with students. A communicating and sharing curriculum makes possible an encounter of minds between teacher and students, which was conceptualized as "relationship of minds" in this research. It enables us to better understand teaching and curriculum.


The restoration of oak woodlands often requires removal and management of woody invasive plants. This can trigger germination of the soil seed bank, which can alter restoration trajectories. In degraded deciduous woodlands generally, it is unclear whether the soil seed bank will contribute native plant material in sufficient quantities to help achieve restoration goals and allow practitioners to rely on passive restoration without supplemental seeding. To support restoration decision‐making around passive or active restoration in three Rhamnus cathartica‐invaded forest preserves in the Chicago region, we asked: (1) Does the soil seed bank differ from standing aboveground vegetation at reference and unrestored sites? and (2) Can the species richness, Shannon diversity, floristic quality (measured by abundance‐weighted mean coefficients of conservatism), or density of germinable seeds of native species in the soil seed bank be predicted by a site's restoration status (reference or unrestored)? We found that species composition differed significantly between aboveground vegetation and the soil seed bank at reference and unrestored sites, with a significant interaction between restoration status and location. Despite high variation among the three forest preserves, restoration status also predicted native species richness, diversity, floristic quality, and seed density in the soil seed bank, with unrestored sites significantly lower than reference sites in all measures. Results suggest that reintroduction of native seeds will be necessary to fully restore desired native plant communities in oak woodlands following the removal of invasive woody plants.


The issue of a stabile, long lasting bone-implant interface is still very valid. One of the new models of uncemented hip prosthesis is the Bicontact prosthesis made by Aesculap. This four-part endoprosthesis offers two types of cups: threaded München type and spherical Plasmacup type. The prosthesis stem is a wedged type stem, porous in the proximal type. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the value of Bicontact prosthesis in treatment of coxarthrosis. Our material consisted of 69 patients (38 female and 31 male) with 72 operated hips. Average age of the patients was 50.8 years. The mean follow-up was 24.5 months. Clinical and radiological evaluation according to Merle d'Aubine-Postel classification with Charnley's modification yielded 88% very good and good results. In 11 hips a similar complication was noted--fracture of the femur during final hammering of the prosthesis stem into the medullary canal. This was immediately repaired by circular wire fixation without any influence on the final result. This complication was observed during the first procedures. The learning curve of surgical technique allowed us to avoid this complication during subsequent procedures. We concluded that type of hip prosthesis was is very useful in in treatment of coxarthrosis.


MLL-rearranged leukemias are found in 5-10% of adult leukemias and over 70% of infant leukemias and are associated with intermediate to poor prognosis. We have recently shown that JMJD1C, a Jumonji domain containing lysine demethylase (KDM), is important for leukemia stem cell (LSC) function in MLL-AF9 and HOXA9 leukemias but dispensable for normal hematopoietic stem cell function, therefore a potential therapeutic target for acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
 To determine which domains within JMJD1C are essential for its function in AML, we performed a CRISPR/Cas9 negative selection screen against its coding sequence using guide RNAs (gRNA) tiled at ~ 30bp intervals. Specifically, gRNAs were cloned into a lenti-viral vector with a TdTomato marker gene, transduced into a clonal Cas9 expressing mouse MLL-AF9 leukemia and percentage of gRNA positive cells was analyzed by flow cytometry in a time course. JMJD1C Jumonji and Zinc finger domain (ZFD) and surrounding regions exhibited the most depletion at day 14 compare to day 2, comparable or higher than that of the positive control. To investigate the effect of mutating Jumonji and ZFD on MLL-AF9 leukemogenesis, we subject gRNA transduced MLL-AF9 Cas9 cells to colony forming cell assay. Mutating Jumonji or ZFD impaired colonegenic potential of MLL-AF9 Cas9 cells as evident by a significant reduction in the number of colonies. The resulting colonies appeared smaller and diffused, indicative of cell differentiation. Consistently, we observed impaired proliferation, increased apoptosis and increased expression of the myeloid differentiation marker Mac1 upon mutating these domains. Moreover, mutating Jumonji and ZFD prolonged survival of recipient mice compare to control in transplantation experiment. Finally, we performed chromatin-immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) on H3K27, K36 and K9 methylation in JMJD1C knockout versus floxed MLL-AF9 leukemia cells to identify histone marks that correlate with JMJD1C activity. We observed increased H3K36 trimethylation (me3) level on JMJD1C regulated genes loci in the knockout cells compare to controls. Similar increase was observed upon mutating Jumonji and ZFD using CRISPR/Cas9 in ChIP assay. Using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA), we found enrichment of JMJD1C regulated genes in the knockout cells in H3K36me3 ChIP-seq data but not H3K27me3 or H3K9 methylation data. Together, these data suggest that Jumonji and ZFD of JMJD1C are most critical for its function in AML and that methylated H3K36 can be used as a marker for JMJD1C activity at gene loci.
 Next, we performed single cell RNA-seq to examine the transcriptome change upon mutating the catalytic Jumonji domain. Our analysis showed a hierarchy within control leukemia cells with one cluster bearing more LSC property than the other. Upon mutating Jumonji domain, leukemia cells are driven into differentiated states that bear either more granulocyte or monocyte gene signatures. Using MAST, a single cell transcriptome GSEA tool, we observed enrichment of KRAS signatures in Jumonji mutated cells. This observation in addition to the increased expression of the IL-3 receptor subunit genes Csf2ra/b led us to examine whether the IL-3 signaling pathway is affected in these cells. Western blotting of IL-3 down signaling molecules ERK1/2 and STAT5 showed elevated phosphorylation in Jumonji mutated cells compare to controls both at basal level and in response to IL-3 stimulation. Consistently with this finding, Jumonji mutated cells showed increased sensitivity to inhibitors against RAS (Tipifarnib), MEK (Selumetinib) and JAK (Tofacitinib and Ruxolitinib). Finally, by mining published shRNA and gRNA screen, we observed that mouse as well as human MLLr leukemia cell lines with activating RAS mutations showed decreased or diminished response to knockdown or mutation of JMJD1C suggesting that the presence of RAS mutations render them resistant to JMJD1C modulation.
 Overall, we show that enzymatic domain of JMJD1C, the Jumonji domain, mediates its function in AML leukemogenesis, therefore can be targeted for potential therapeutic intervention. In addition, we uncovered a novel interplay between JMJD1C and IL-3 signaling pathway.

 No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


This study examines the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance among the employees. Job satisfaction is being discussed in term of its nine facets: pay, promotion, supervision, fringe benefits, contingent rewards, operating procedures, co-workers, nature of works and communication. On the other hand, job performance is being viewed in the aspects of contextual performance and task performance. The result of the study found that the two variables (job satisfaction and job performance) are correlated to each other and the relationship is significant.


A complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors is closely associated with the development of inflammatory bowel disease. Previous studies reported that the expression of the regulated upon activation, normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) gene is enhanced in the colonic mucosa of ulcerative colitis (UC). Quantitative differences in RANTES gene expression among numerous promoter genotypes have also been reported. The aim of the present study was to clarify the effect of RANTES promoter polymorphism on the risk of UC, including its clinical phenotypes. A total of 150 UC patients and 372 healthy control (HC) subjects participated in the study. The UC patients were classified by disease behavior, severity and extent of disease. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis was performed for polymorphisms at -28 C/G in the RANTES gene promoter region. Although no significant difference of the RANTES promoter genotype distribution was observed between the HC and UC groups, the G/G genotype was significantly higher among female (OR=3.95, 95% CI=1.22-12.82, P=0.03), non-steroid dependent (OR=3.37, 95% CI=1.16-9.85, P=0.03) and non-refractory (OR=3.76, 95% CI=1.29-10.98, P=0.02) UC patients. The G carrier was also found to be associated with an increased risk of rectal colitis (OR=2.21, 95% CI=1.12-4.39, P=0.03). The data indicate that the polymorphism of the RANTES promoter is not directly associated with the susceptibility to UC, but the -28 G allele is associated with female UC patients and mild clinical phenotypes of UC, including non-steroid dependency, non-refractory and rectal colitis.


Time and spatial /spl epsiv/-filter is proposed in order to improve the image quality of video compressed by DCT motion compensated coding. The /spl epsiv/-filter is a nonlinear digital filter proposed by authors before in order to remove small-amplitude random noise such as block noise and mosquito noise caused by DCT coding on images. Authors also proposed before motion compensated /spl epsiv/-filter which can efficiently remove such noise from video coded by motion compensated coding. In this paper, the extension of this motion compensated /spl epsiv/-filter to time domain is proposed, that is time and spatial /spl epsiv/-filter. It is shown that the noise is more powerfully removed from video than the previous method, while the complexity of the system is kept low. Moreover, the performance of this filter is shown to be improved by adaptive control of the parameter of the /spl epsiv/-filter.


Previously, in undoped and doped bulk GaAs with donor and acceptor densities, the maximum amount of blueshift of the donor-acceptor pair (DAP) transition peak observed is only -3 meV. For the first time, to the best of our knowledge, we have observed anomalously large blueshift of the DAP transition peak (-11 meV) in compensation-doped asymmetric-coupled quantum wells (QWs). Our sample was grown by MBE on a semi-insulating GaAs substrate. The epitaxial layers consist of 20 periods, each of which is composed of two GaAs QWs, respectively, coupled by a Al/sub 0.53/Ga/sub 0.47/As barrier.


The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of dietary inclusion of wheat or corn as the main source of starch in prepartum diets on colostrum composition, colostrum IgG1 and IgG2 concentrations, serum IgG1 and IgG2 concentrations of calves and efficiency of IgG1, IgG2 and total Ig absorption. For this purpose, thirty primiparous and twenty multiparous Holstein cows were used in a randomized complete blocks design. Cows were blocked by parity and expected calving dates and assigned to treatments at 27±2.5 d before calving. The dietary treatments contained corn or wheat grain as the main sources of starch. Blood samplesof calveswere drawn before the first colostrum feeding (0 h) at the birth and 24 h of life. The results indicated that prepartum diets had no effect on daily dry matter intake of cows. Lactose, fat and IgG2 concentrations in colostrum did not respond to dietary treatment, but protein, total solids, IgG1 and total IgG concentrations in colostrum were significantly higher for cows fed the wheat containing diet. At 24 h of age, serum IgG2 concentrations of calves were similar between the two treatments, while serum IgG1 and total IgG concentrations were significantly higher for calves fed colostrum from cows fed wheat containing diet. Prepartum starch source did not affect apparent efficiencies of IgG1, IgG2 and total IgG absorption. Briefly, the results indicated that feeding cows with the wheat containing diet in prepartum period increased colostrum quality and serum IgG1 concentrations in calves which in turn might have a positive effect on health, survival and growth of newborn calves.


This paper develops a theoretical model in which firms may choose multiple banking relationships to reduce the risk that financing will be denied by 'relationship banks' should the latter experience liquidity problems and refuse to roll over lines of credit. The inability to refinance from relationship banks signals unfavourable information about the quality of the firm's project, which may also prevent the firm from obtaining credit from other banks. We show that if this 'lemons' problem is severe, it is optimal to establish a relationship with more than one bank in spite of higher transaction costs; if it is mild, a single banking relationship is optimal. We find that the severity of the lemons problem depends directly on the inefficiency of bankruptcy procedures and inversely on the 'fragility' of the banking system. The paper concludes with a comparison of bank-firm relationships in Italy and the United States, characterized respectively by multiple and single banking. We present evidence that bankruptcy costs are significantly higher and banks less fragile in Italy than in the United States, suggesting that the factors identified by the theoretical model are relevant in practice.


This is the Australian Government's third intergenerational report. The report provides a basis for considering the Australian Government's fiscal outlook over the long term and the sustainability of economic growth in light of Australia's ageing population and other factors. The report provides an update of the long-term demographic, economic and spending projections and the implications for the sustainability of fiscal policy. Broad policy choices to address the sustainability challenges are discussed.


Reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) aims at minimizing a function of probabilistic design variables, given a maximum allowed probability of failure. The most efficient methods available for solving moderately nonlinear problems are single loop single vector (SLSV) algorithms that use a first-order approximation of the probability of failure in order to rewrite the inherently nested structure of the loop into a more efficient single loop algorithm. The research presented in this paper takes off from the fundamental idea of this algorithm. An augmented SLSV algorithm is proposed that increases the rate of convergence by making nonlinear approximations of the constraints. The nonlinear approximations are constructed in the following way: first, the SLSV experiments are performed. The gradient of the performance function is known, as well as an estimate of the most probable failure point (MPP). Then, one extra experiment, a probe point, per performance function is conducted at the first estimate of the MPP. The gradient of each performance function is not updated but the probe point facilitates the use of a natural cubic spline as an approximation of an augmented MPP estimate. The SLSV algorithm using probing (SLSVP) also incorporates a simple and effective move limit (ML) strategy that also minimizes the heuristics needed for initiating the optimization algorithm. The size of the forward finite difference design of experiment (DOE) is scaled proportionally with the change of the ML and so is the relative position of the MPP estimate at the current iteration. Benchmark comparisons against results taken from the literature show that the SLSVP algorithm is more efficient than other established RBDO algorithms and converge in situations where the SLSV algorithm fails.