Manganese (Mn) concentrations exceeding the EC limit (0.05 mg l"1) occur in potable waters supplied from many UK upland basins. Mn removal from raw waters is costly so basin management strategies for Mn control are sought. Streamwater chemistry and discharge were monitored in two basins (HS4 and HS7) within a UK upland water-gathering ground. Cluster analysis, factor analysis and chemical mixing model techniques enabled the timing, sources and hydrological pathways of Mn to be deduced. Elevated Mn con centrations (> 0.350 mg l 1) occur at HS4 in summer low flows arising from baseflow sources. At HS7, autumn storms contain maximum Mn, associated with flushing of soil stores. Chemical mixing models show that deep water accounts for 82% of Mn in runoff from HS4 but < 1% at HS7. Contrasting Mn behaviour in HS4 and HS7 demonstrates that basin management requires an extensive knowledge base due to the variability of hydrochemical processes.


As botulism is a common disease in buffaloes raised in the low lands of the State of Maranhao, Brazil, the occurrence of Clostridium botulinum spores was evaluated in buffalo breeding areas of 4 municipalities in the "Baixada Maranhense". Twenty eight samples of faeces, mud and soil were collected and divided into 140 subsamples, being 40 of faeces, 65 of mud and 35 of soil. Botulinum toxin was detected in the filtrates of 104 cultures (74.28%) from 140 subsamples through the inoculation of mice. Using the microcomplement fixation technique for the identification of C. botulinum toxins, type C (14.29%), D (82.14%) and CD complex (3.57%) were found. No significant differences (P>0.05%) between faeces, mud and soil samples were observed. There was a high contamination with C. botulinum spores of the buffalo faeces, mud and soil in the areas studied. Identification of other types and subtypes of C. botulinum was not attempted.


We present a new method for the solution of the gravimetric inverse problem applied to the reconstruction of the basement relief of discontinuous sedimentary basins where the density contrast between the sediments and the basement is supposed to be known and constant or varying monotonically with depth. The solution is stabilized through the total variation (TV) functional which does not penalize solutions presenting depth discontinuities. We compare the proposed method with the global smoothness (GS), the weighted smoothness (WS) and the entropic regularization (ER) using synthetic data produced by 2D and 3D basins with discontinuous basement relief. The solution obtained with the proposed method is better than those obtained with the GS and similar to or better than those obtained with the WS and ER methods. In contrast with the WS, the TV does not require a priori information about the maximum depth of the basin. In comparison with the ER, the TV is operationally simpler and requires the specification of only one regularization parameter. The methods TV, GS, and WS where applied to the gravity anomaly above the Steptoe Valley, Nevada, USA. The TV produced a basement relief estimate presenting sharp, high-angle discontinuities. The GS failed to reproduce a solution compatible with the tectonic environment of the area and the WS produced discontinuities with unsharpened edges. Moreover, the TV when compared with the WS defined more clearly a small and shallower sub-basin in the southern extreme of the area. The methods TV and ER were applied to the 1D gravity anomaly across the Buyuk Menderes graben, west Turkey, producing overall comparable solutions. The TV, however, produces betterdefined plateaus in the southern border of the graben.


Establishing a comprehensive model that addresses patient safety at UHF MRI with respect to motion is a non-trivial task because of the underlying computationally expensive frameworks. Using MARIE we computed a large number of pose simulations of 3 feasible coil models (birdcage, 4-channel and 8-channel pTx) in proximity to Duke body model to allow the parameter space to be well explored. It is found that a low order linear model can capture most of the variation in cpB1+. We also observe low variations in cpSAR for 2 realistic coil models across the conditions examined, with 8-channel coil being most robust.


ABSTRACT Although the pediatric eye examination can be made more challenging by inattention, poor cooperation, sleep, or just the wiggles, these should never be justification for an inadequate assessment of the child. In fact, a challenging patient should make the examiner ever more careful to get a good history and to look carefully for potential red flags that should be examined in greater detail. Missing a history of diplopia, or not noticing an abnormal pupil, or blurred disc margins, to name a few, may delay the diagnosis and treatment of potentially life-threatening entities. In this symposium, red flags in the pediatric eye examination will be reviewed in depth with emphasis on diagnosis, testing, and referral.


Wastewater from two (A and B) small-scale hair care product manufacturers located in the state of Minas Gerais were characterized, with regard to physical, chemical and ecotoxicological parameters. Wastewater characteristics typical for this industrial sector were found in three samples collected at each manufacturing plant, with high levels of both particulate and dissolved organic matter (soluble and total COD), oils and grease and acute toxicity to the microcrustacean Daphnia similis (EC50 < 0.5 %). Strong positive correlations between turbidity, oils and grease and acute toxicity were observed. It is worth mentioning that only one of the manufacturers operates a wastewater treatment plant, while the second discharges untreated wastewater to a local sewer system. Furthermore, neither of the two cities where the enterprises are located has a municipal sewage treatment plant, aggravating environmental impacts of the industrial contributions to sewage discharges in receiving waters. A battery of tests was performed with species from three trophic levels (primary producers and primary and secondary consumers) to select the most sensitive test organisms to the wastewaters evaluated. The microcrustacean Ceriodaphnia dubia is indicated for use in routine monitoring, since it exhibited the highest sensitivities to hair care products wastewaters, for both acute and chronic effects.


Background and aim: Symptoms of gynaecological disorders, including dysmenorrhea, leukorrhea, and premenopausal syndrome (PMS), are a common health concern, particularly among women of reproductive age. Due to the adverse effects of conventional treatments, the use of herbal remedies to treat various gynaecological disorders has increased. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of Sachi Saheli formulations in subjects suffering from dysmenorrhea, leucorrhoea, and PMS. Methods: This was a single-arm, open-label, non-randomised prospective study. Female participants were recruited based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Study interventions were given to all participants for 90 days. Changes in blood haemoglobin levels were assessed from the baseline to the end of the study. Subjective symptoms and the investigators' severity assessment on 27 questionnaires were evaluated at baseline and the end of the study. Safety was also assessed by measuring liver and kidney function's haematological and biochemical markers. Results: A total of 120 female subjects were enrolled. After treatment with Sachi Saheli syrup and tablets, blood haemoglobin levels increased significantly compared to baseline (p < 0.0001). All subjects showed significant improvement in anxiety, menstrual pain, depression, and vaginal discharge symptoms. A significant improvement in the severity of physical and affective symptoms across 27 parameters was also observed. There were no significant changes observed in laboratory safety parameters. None of the subjects reported any adverse events during the treatment period. Conclusions: Sachi Saheli syrup and tablet may improve the symptoms of dysmenorrhea, leukorrhea and PMS.


This research aimed to examine the potential of garlic as the coccidiosis control in rabbits either in vitro or in vivo. During in vitro, observed variables were rabbits oocysts that were sporulated, unsporulated, and abnormal in incubation for 3 days with the addition of garlic extract. The treatments were doses of garlic extract administration (0%, 1%, 2%, 4%, and 8%) and sulfaquinoxalline as a standard anticoccidiosis. Meanwhile during in vivo, the variables observed were the hematological profile of the experimental rabbits naturally infected with coccidia. The doses of garlic extract was administered orally to the experimental rabbits infected with coccidia were 0 mg, 10 mg, 20 mg, 40 mg, and 80 mg/rabbit.  As a standard coccidiosis drugs, the combination of sulfadiazine and trimethoprim was used.  The treatments were given for 6 days. The variables observed were the hematological profile of the coccidiosis rabbits, including the erythrocytes, hemoglobin, hematocrits, MCV, MCH, MCHC, and thrombocytes. The research employed a completely randomized design, with 5 repetitions. The data were further analyzed using the honestly significant difference test. The results showed that garlic extract administration significantly decreased (P<0.01) both the number of the sporulated and unsporulated oocysts (P<0.05), yet did not significantly influence the abnormal oocysts, but there was no significant difference within the entire hematological variables except in thrombocytes (P<0.05). Garlic extract administration decreased the excretion number of oocysts in the feces either in vitro or in vivo and influenced some hematological variables which provided a new propect for controlling coccidiosis naturally in rabbits.


The DZERO experiment located at Fermilab has recently started RunII with an upgraded detector. The RunII physics program requires the Data Acquisition to readout the detector at a rate of 1 KHz. Events fragments, totaling 250 KB, are readout from approximately 60 front end crates and sent to a particular farm node for Level 3 Trigger processing. A scalable system, capable of complex event routing, has been designed and implemented based on commodity components: VMIC 7750 Single Board Computers for readout, a Cisco 6509 switch for data flow, and close to 100 Linux-based PCs for high-level event filtering.


There is a school of thought that one should never volunteer - and that one should definitely never volunteer to be a pilot or a pathfinder. Introducing Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) into an important clinical support service - traditionally provided in-house - probably added somewhat to the risk profile. Len Wright provides the following article based on a presentation given during a series of IHEEM seminars on HTMO1 during 2006 and 2007.


To improve the crystallization and meanwhile adjust the band levels of perovskites, we design and synthesize a novel organic molecule, 4,4'-(spiro[cyclopenta[1,2-b:5,4-b']dithiophene-4,2'-[1,3]dioxolane]-2,6-diyl)bis(N,N-bis(4-methoxyphenyl)aniline) (TM1), to dissolve in an antisolvent for the antisolvent engineering of perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The coordination interactions between TM1 and Pb2+ ions in perovskites and the hydrogen bonds between the O atoms in the methoxy of TM1 and the MA+ in perovskites are characterized with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Owing to these interactions, TM1 can improve the perovskite crystallization, which reduces the trap density, enhances the interfacial hole extraction, and retards charge recombination as well, boosting short-circuit photocurrent notably. TM1 also shifts the valence band of perovskites upward by 0.17 eV, which aligns better with the highest occupied molecular orbital of hole transport materials and thus increases the open-circuit photovoltage significantly. As a result, the power conversion efficiency is enhanced from 17.22 to 20.21% by TM1. Moreover, TM1 can also improve device stability significantly. These findings demonstrate that TM1 is a kind of functional material as an additive in an antisolvent for both crystallization improvement and energy level adjustment of perovskites toward highly efficient and stable PSCs.


Nowadays, thanks to the development of microprocessors, stepping motors are widely used in robotics and in the numerical control of machine tools where they have to perform high-precision positioning operations. Nevertheless, the variations of the mechanical configuration of the drive, which are common to these two applications, can lead to a loss of synchronism for high stepping rates. Moreover, the classical open-loop speed control is weak and a closed-loop control becomes necessary. In this paper, the fuzzy logic principle is applied to control the speed of a stepping motor drive with feedback. An advanced test bed is used in order to evaluate the tracking properties and the robustness capacities of the fuzzy logic controller when variations of the mechanical configuration occur. The experiment has been performed using a low-cost 16 bit microcontroller in order to verify the design performance.


In order to establish a communication between a first communication terminal (TC1) and a second communication terminal (TC2) over a telecommunications network (RT), a server (SC) dynamically generates a first single-use key (K1) and a second single-use key (K2) respectively associated with the first and second communication terminals as a function of time data (DonT) related to at least one previous communication between the first communication terminal (TC1) and the second communication terminal (TC2), during a request to establish a call from the first communication terminal (TC1) to the second communication terminal (TC2). The server compares the first and second keys that were generated, and authorizes the establishment of the communication if the compared keys are identical.


Cloud, Fog, and Edge Computing paradigms have been introduced for data-driven organizations in order to facilitate data computation and processing in an easier manner. Considering that there has been a huge increase in the amount of data produced over the past couple of years, and it is expected that the amount of data produced will exponentially grow, recent research has focused on utilizing these paradigms in order to satisfy the growing demand of fast computation and data storage. In order to recognize the most suitable use for these models, this paper will evaluate the three computing paradigms: cloud computing, fog computing, and edge computing in terms of their architectures. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the non-functional requirements is conducted and used to propose the use of each paradigm in real-life applications.


This paper deals with the evolution of the issue of monopoly and large firms in Joan Robinson's writings. This issue reveals her growing detachment from the hypotheses and methods used to explain economic phenomena and constituting the basis of liberal orthodoxy. This methodological rupture (after 1933) led her to the view that monopoly represents a logical and natural end to the competitive struggle. Robinson's thought is also constructive, and this paper highlights her place in the development of theories of the firm and in the current relevance of her analysis of the power of large firms in circumstances of monopoly or oligopoly.


In relativistic heavy-ion collisions, the strong Lorentz-contracted electromagnetic fields are capable of producing copious numbers of lepton pairs through the two-photon mechanism. Monte Carlo techniques have been developed that allow the exact calculation of production by this mechanism when a semi-classical approximation is made to the motion of the two ions. Here, we develop a hybrid Monte Carlo technique that enables us to calculate the impact parameter dependence of the two-photon mechanism for lepton-pair production, and by using this result, we obtain the probability distribution for multiple-pair production as a function of impact parameter. Computations are performed for S+Au and Pb+Pb systems at 200 A GeV and 160 A GeV, respectively. We also compare our results with the equivalent photon approximation and elucidate the differences.


About the Editor viii List of Contributors ix Preface xii 1 Personality and Self-Regulation 1 Rick H. Hoyle Part I Temperament and Early Personality 19 2 Relations of Self-Regulatory/Control Capacities to Maladjustment, Social Competence, and Emotionality 21 Nancy Eisenberg, Natalie D. Eggum, Julie Sallquist, and Alison Edwards 3 Delay of Gratification: A Review of Fifty Years of Regulation Research 47 Renee M. Tobin and William G. Graziano 4 Self-Regulation as the Interface of Emotional and Cognitive Development: Implications for Education and Academic Achievement 64 Clancy Blair, Susan Calkins, and Lisa Kopp 5 Exploring Response Monitoring: Developmental Differences and Contributions to Self-Regulation 91 Jennifer M. McDermott and Nathan A. Fox Part II Personality Processes 115 6 Self-Regulation Processes and Their Signatures: Dynamics of the Self-System 117 Carolyn C. Morf and Stephan Horvath 7 Self-Regulation and the Five-Factor Model of Personality Traits 145 Robert R. McCrae and Corinna E. Lockenhoff 8 Self-Determination Theory and the Relation of Autonomy to Self-Regulatory Processes and Personality Development 169 Christopher P. Niemiec, Richard M. Ryan, and Edward L. Deci 9 Interest and Self-Regulation: Understanding Individual Variability in Choices, Efforts, and Persistence Over Time 192 Carol Sansone, Dustin B. Thoman, and Jessi L. Smith 10 Goal Systems and Self-Regulation: An Individual Differences Perspective 218 Paul Karoly 11 Acting on Limited Resources: The Interactive Effects of Self-Regulatory Depletion and Individual Differences 243 C. Nathan DeWall, Roy F. Baumeister, David R. Schurtz, and Matthew T. Gailliot Part III Individual Differences 263 12 Working Memory Capacity and Self-Regulation 265 Malgorzata Ilkowska and Randall W. Engle 13 Regulatory Focus in a Demanding World 291 Abigail A. Scholer and E. Tory Higgins 14 Self-Efficacy 315 James E. Maddux and Jeffrey Volkmann 15 Dealing with High Demands: The Role of Action Versus State Orientation 332 Nils B. Jostmann and Sander L. Koole 16 The Cybernetic Process Model of Self-Control: Situation- and Person-Specific Considerations 353 Eran Magen and James J. Gross 17 Modes of Self-Regulation: Assessment and Locomotion as Independent Determinants in Goal Pursuit 375 Arie W. Kruglanski, Edward Orehek, E. Tory Higgins, Antonio Pierro, and Idit Shalev 18 The Costly Pursuit of Self-Esteem: Implications for Self-Regulation 403 Jennifer Crocker, Scott Moeller, and Aleah Burson 19 Self-Regulation of State Self-Esteem Following Threat: Moderation by Trait Self-Esteem 430 Michelle R. vanDellen, Erin K. Bradfield, and Rick H. Hoyle 20 Individual Differences in Approach and Avoidance: Behavioral Activation /Inhibition and Regulatory Focus as Distinct Levels of Analysis 447 Timothy J. Strauman and Wilkie A. Wilson 21 Hypo-egoic Self-Regulation 474 Mark R. Leary, Claire E. Adams, and Eleanor B. Tate Author Index 498 Subject Index 524


Treatment of neuropathic pain is the primary focus of management for many patients with painful peripheral neuropathy. Antidepressants and anticonvulsants are the two pharmacological classes most widely studied and represent first‐line agents in the management of neuropathic pain. The number of pharmacological agents that have demonstrated effectiveness for neuropathic pain continues to expand. In the current review, we summarize data from randomized, controlled pharmacological trials in painful peripheral neuropathies. Although neuropathic pain management remains challenging because the response to therapy varies considerably between patients, and pain relief is rarely complete, a majority of patients can benefit from monotherapy using a well‐chosen agent or polypharmacy that combines medications with different mechanisms of action. Muscle Nerve 30: 3–19, 2004


Abstract Appropriate rehydration and nutrient intake in recovery is a key component of exercise performance. This study investigated whether the recovery of body net fluid balance (NFB) following exercise and thermal dehydration to −2 % of body mass (BM) was enhanced by a metered rate of ingestion of milk (M) compared with a carbohydrate–electrolyte solution (CE) or water (W). In randomised order, seven active men (aged 26·2 (sd 6·1) years) undertook exercise and thermal dehydration to −2 % of BM on three occasions. A metered replacement volume of M, CE or W equivalent to 150 % of the BM loss was then consumed within 2–3 h. NFB was subsequently measured for 5 h from commencement of rehydration. A higher overall NFB in M than CE (P=0·001) and W (P=0·006) was observed, with no difference between CE and W (P=0·69). After 5 h, NFB in M remained positive (+117 (sd 122) ml) compared with basal, and it was greater than W (−539 (sd 390) ml, P=0·011) but not CE (−381 (sd 460) ml, P=0·077, d=1·6). Plasma osmolality (Posm) and K remained elevated above basal in M compared with CE and W. The change in Posm was associated with circulating pre-provasopressin (r s 0·348, P<0·001), a biomarker of arginine vasopressin, but could not account fully for the augmented NFB in M compared with CE and W. These data suggest that a metered approach to fluid ingestion acts in synergy with the nutrient composition of M in the restoration of NFB following exercise and thermal dehydration.


The main advantage of wafer-level packaging is a smaller, thinner and lighter package with minimised electrical length and lower inductance. Presented is a printed circuit board electrical design to assemble a wafer-level package of a wireless radio core. The link impact and challenges are addressed in both time domain and frequency domain. The high-density interconnect substrate is analysed using a design of experiment technique to test the significance of structured variation. Its signal integrity and power delivery performance are compared with a similar design, but much thicker using a flip-chip package mounted on top of the conventional board. The thin board for wafer-level packaging provides better power delivery and signal performance than the traditional assembly.


TheTaupoVolcanic Zone (TVZ) is well known for its extraordinary rate of rhyolitic magma generation and caldera-forming eruptions. Less is known about how large volumes of rhyolitic magma are extracted and stored prior to eruption, and the role tectonics might play in the process of melt extraction and control of caldera eruption(s). Here we present a new model for the extraction, storage and simultaneous eruption of the4245 km paired Mamaku and Ohakuri magmas sourced from calderas centred 30 km apart (the Rotorua and Ohakuri calderas, respectively) in the central TVZ. The Mamaku and Ohakuri ignimbrites share a similar bulk pumice composition and the same phenocryst assemblage; however, bulk-rock compositions suggest several poorly mixed magma types in each erupted volume, which are randomly distributed throughout the eruptive deposits. To refine models of the pre-eruptive geometry of the magmatic system and discuss a possible origin for triggering of each eruption, we present an expanded database of matrix glass and quartz-hosted melt inclusion compositions along with the existing bulk-rock and mineral compositions. Major and trace element compositions show that the region produced five different magma batches, extracted from the same source region, and a continuous intermediate mush zone beneath the Mamaku^Ohakuri region is suggested here. These magma batches were most probably juxtaposed but isolated from each other in the upper crust, and evolved separately until eruption. The observed geochemical differences between the batches are likely to be generated by different extraction conditions of the rhyolitic melt from a slightly heterogeneous mush. The lack of evidence for more mafic recharge prior to eruption (for example, there are no bright cathodoluminescence rims on quartz crystals) suggests that a magmatic input is unlikely to be an eruption trigger. However, tectonic activity could be an efficient way to trigger the eruption of isolated magma batches, with the evacuation of one magma batch causing a disturbance to the local stress field and activating regionally linked faults, which then lead to the eruption of additional magma batches and associated caldera subsidence. In addition, the


This paper investigates the distribution of adjectives in Ancient Greek, with the aim of comparing it to Standard Modern Greek. We use a selection of texts from Classical Attic and New Testament koine. In Ancient Greek, like in Standard Modern Greek, all types of adjectives are allowed in prenominal position, and there is no evidence of movement of the noun over prenominal adjectives. As far as postnominal adjectives are concerned, in Classical and New Testament Greek they are systematically articulated in definite DPs, in a structure similar to the so-called polydefinite construction, that is typical of Standard Modern Greek. There is little evidence, in the texts explored, of structures of the type Article Adjective Article Noun, which are instead very common in Standard Modern Greek, and have been assumed to result from fronting the constituent [Article+Adjective] from its postnominal position. Finally, in Ancient Greek, there are cases of postnominal articulated non-adjectival modifiers of the noun, which are impossible in Standard Modern Greek. The paper explores these patterns, with particular attention to the mechanisms underlying polydefiniteness.


A method is presented for the deconvolution of the NMR spectrum of a chemical mixture without requiring physical separation of its components. The method, which is termed "Demix", is based on a principal component analysis of a series of one-dimensional (1D) spectra that are statistically modulated during preparation and TOCSY mixing periods. The largest principal components correspond to the 1D NMR spectra of the scalar J-coupled spin networks of the individual components of the mixture. The method is demonstrated for aqueous mixtures of the amino acids Glu, Leu, Lys, and Val.


Consumer photos are typically authored once, but need to be retargeted for reuse in various situations. These include printing a photo on different size paper, changing the size and aspect ratio of an embedded photo to accommodate the dynamic content layout of web pages or documents, adapting a large photo for browsing on small displays such as mobile phone screens, and improving the aesthetic quality of a photo that was badly composed at the capture time. In this paper, we propose a novel, effective, and comprehensive content-aware automatic cropping (hereafter referred to as "autocrop") method for consumer photos to achieve the above purposes. Our autocrop method combines the state-of-the-art context-aware saliency detection algorithm, which aims to infer the likely intent of the photographer, and the "branch-and-bound" efficient subwindow search optimization technique, which seeks to locate the globally optimal cropping rectangle in a fast manner. Unlike most current autocrop methods, which can only crop a photo into an arbitrary rectangle, our autocrop method can automatically crop a photo into either a rectangle of arbitrary dimensions or a rectangle of the desired aspect ratio specified by the user. The aggressiveness of the cropping operation may be either automatically determined by the method or manually indicated by the user with ease. In addition, our autocrop method is extended to support the cropping of a photo into non-rectangular shapes such as polygons of any number of sides. It may also be potentially extended to return multiple cropping suggestions, which will enable the creation of new photos to enrich the original photo collections. Our experimental results show that the proposed autocrop method in this paper can generate high-quality crops for consumer photos of various types.


Objective:To investigate the long-term efficacy of semicircular canal occlusion in the treatment of refractory Meniere's disease. Method:Fifteen patients with Meniere's disease who underwent semicircular canal occlusion were reviewed. The preoperative and postoperative frequency of vertigo ,quality of life, hearing and tinnitus level were compared. All patients were followed for more than 24 months. Result:Postoperatively, vertigo was controlled effectively in all 15 cases, and the control rate was 100%, of which 11 cases were completely controlled(Grade A) and 4 cases were basically controlled(Grade B). The improvement rate of quality of life was 100%. The hearing worse in 4 cases(26.7%) and stabilized in 11 cases(73.3%). The tinnitus was relieved in 7 cases(46.7%), unchanged in 7 cases(46.7%) and aggravated in 1 case(6.7%). Conclusion:Semicircular canal occlusion can effectively control the vertigo symptoms of refractory Meniere's disease and improve the quality of life. The long-term efficacy of semicircular canal occlusion is definite, but there is a risk of hearing loss.


The optimized link state routing (OLSR) protocol is a proactive mobile ad hoc network (MANET) routing protocol. Security aspects have not been designed into the OLSR protocol and therefore make it vulnerable to various kinds of attacks. Recent research efforts have focused on providing authentication and encryption techniques to secure the OLSR protocol against attacks from outside intruders. A second line of defense is required to provide intrusion detection and response techniques in protecting the OLSR protocol against attacks from inside intruders. In this paper, we describe security threats to the OLSR MANET routing protocol and present an intrusion detection solution based on protocol semantics checking. Our approach is based on semantic properties that are implied in the protocol definition and specify the correct OLSR routing update behavior. Conflict checking based on semantic properties is applied in every MANET node. Any abnormal protocol semantics triggers an intrusion alarm. While we use OLSR as an example, we argue that the presented approach can be applied to any multi-point relay (MPR) proactive MANET protocol.


In this study, Volterra analysis is extended to weakly nonlinear electromagnetic field problems. Generalized Green's functions and their Fourier transforms are introduced. These are used to express the nth order system response explicitly in terms of the system input, Although the theory is developed in general, homogeneous media are assumed in the examples for simplicity. Application of the Volterra approach is illustrated by investigating whistler-mode propagation in a cold collisionless electron plasma. After defining the nonlinear differential equations for propagation at an angle theta to the uniform magnetic field, exponential probing inputs are used to generate the generalized Green's functions. The second-order responses, which are expressed in terms of the generalized Green's functions, are examined in detail. Computer programs are used to numerically evaluate the second-order response to a sinusoidally varying time function.


The Indian Ocean hosts a vigorous basin-scale overturning that constitutes one of the major deep upwelling branches of the global meridional overturning circulation (MOC). The extent to which the deep Indian Ocean MOC is sustained by breaking internal waves is assessed by quantifying and comparing the energetics of the overturning and those of the regional internal wave field. A range of published inverse estimates of the circulation across 32°S is used to assess the basin average buoyancy fluxes. The turbulent dissipation needed to sustain the MOC ranges between 0.17 ± 0.04 and 1.19 ± 0.17 TW, which is consistent with the estimated 0.35?0.26+1.04 TW dissipated by breaking internal waves, as inferred from observed fine structure. Both estimates of turbulent dissipation are consistent with the total energy input into the regional internal wave field (0.21?0.05+0.08 TW) based on published estimates of energy conversion from winds, tides and geostrophic bottom flows. However, a discrepancy arises when comparing the energetics at different density levels. At mid-ocean density levels (?1000–3000 m) the dissipation of internal wave energy is found to be significantly smaller (factor 5–10) than the dissipation needed to sustain inverse estimates of the MOC. The uncertainty related to undersampling of internal wave breaking hot spots was analyzed and found to be small, which suggests that mixing processes other than wave breaking due to weak wave-wave interactions, may be significant in the deep Indian Ocean.


The paper investigates the optimisation of rotationally-symmetric shaped dielectric substrate lenses at millimetre wave frequencies. The aim is to determine the best lens profile that complies with an arbitrary desired far-field power template. The design procedure is briefly described in three main steps. First, determination of the starting lens shape using an analytical geometrical optics (GO) formulation; secondly computation of the radiation characteristics of the lens using a hybrid GO-PO (physical optics) technique accounting for diffraction effects and, thirdly, iterative optimisation of trial lens profiles using a local minimisation procedure based on a multidimensional conjugate gradient method (M-CGM). The characteristics of the optimisation algorithm are then studied numerically, in terms of convergence speed and analysis of sensitivity. To this end, the authors design, discuss and compare several shaped lenses radiating directive, secant-squared and conical beams. These various examples demonstrate very good performance and promising potentialy of optimised lens antennas for shaped-beam applications.


High-definition television (HDTV) with multi-channel audio will be the next generation of TV broadcasting for Europe. There is no unique definition of what `high definition' means, but loosely it provides about four or five times the digital data per picture that we see with standard definition television (SD). Why do we need to upgrade television? One of our basic human needs is a limitless search for something better than we have now. The something better can mean different things to different people in different places, but this search in itself is one of our nature-given human instincts. (4 pages)


A fossil packrat midden from 1280 m elevation in the limestone Livingston Hills south of Shafter, Presidio County, Texas, was radiocarbon dated at 15,695 ? 230 B. P. (A-1581 on Juniperus). The paleocommunity was a pinyonjuniper woodland with Pinus edulis and 26 associated species. Holacantha stewarti was an important desert species in the paleocommunity. A total of 139 species was recorded in the present xeric Chihuahuan Desert flora near the midden site. Late Pleistocene paleocommunities and the timing of biotic changes in the northern Chihuahuan Desert are discussed. The Chihuahuan Desert reaches its lowest elevations along the United States-Mexico International Boundary along the Rio Grande in the Big Bend of Texas. The varied geology and vegetation of the region produce as scenic a painted desert landscape as any in the southwestern deserts. However, the desert has not been in the Big Bend for long. Wells' (1966) analysis of fossil packrat (genus Neotoma) middens from the Big Bend found a xeric woodland with pinyon (Pinus cembroides var. remota) as low as 600 m elevation in Maravillas Canyon during the last glaciopluvial period. His sites were from 600 to 1200 m elevations in three areas peripheral to the Chisos Mountains. Wells (1977) suggested that the present Chihuahuan Desert vegetation entered the Big Bend less than 11,500 years ago. Here we report a late Pleistocene plant macrofossil assemblage from an ancient packrat midden from the west side of the Big Bend in the Livingston Hills (Fig. 1).


The electron injection process, which limits the electroluminescent performance of organic devices, has been enhanced tremendously by inserting a layer of LiF with appropriate thickness between the cathode and a quinacridone doped organic layer. Devices with an Al/LiF cathode demonstrated a luminance in excess of 20 000 cd/m2 and an external quantum efficiency of 3%, which is comparable to devices with a Mg/LiF cathode. These devices show maximum luminance of 45 000 cd/m2 prior to failure in continuous bias operation. For the same LiF thickness, the operating voltage for devices with Al/LiF was lower than the corresponding operating voltage for devices with Mg/LiF or Mg alone. Tunneling theory is used to explain this enhancement.


Human exhaled gases contain a wide range of volatile organic compounds, offering the potential for detecting physiological, cardiovascular, and endocrine disorders. For instance, nitric oxide (NO) concentration can be indicative of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Analyzing exhaled gases provides a noninvasive approach to disease detection without posing any risks to individuals. While electronic sensors have been developed over the past two decades for NO detection at high temperatures, few studies have explored optical detection in the ultraviolet to visible light range, which may have adverse effects on the skin. In this study, we designed a split-ring resonator metamaterial tailored for operation within the terahertz (THz) frequency range. Specifically, the metamaterial was designed to resonate at the NO frequency of 0.257 THz. To enhance gas absorption capacity, we incorporated a composite film layer consisting of ZnTiO3 and reduced graphene oxide onto the metamaterial. By sintering ZnTiO3 powder at different temperatures, we achieved an increase in component sensitivity (ΔT/T) from 2% to 16.4%. Overall, the proposed metamaterial holds promise for both physical monitoring applications and the development of wearable electronic devices.


The aim of this study was to determine chemical, nutritional and microbiological evaluation of whole or gutted meagre stored at 4 ± 1 oC. Whole ungutted (Group A), eviscerated (Group B), beheaded-eviscerated fish (Group C) and fillets (Group D) groups were created for this study. According to fatty acid analysis, it was determined that meagre is rich in PUFA content and the n3/n6 ratio is within the ideal limits. In all 4 groups, obtained from fillets values were the highest in general, quality parameters were found within acceptable limits. Psychrophilic and mesophilic aerobic bacteria counts exceeded the standards for fillet groups on 7th days of storage. According to microbiological analysis, ungutted, beheaded, eviscerated samples were not exceeded limit values on 9th day. In conclusion, whole or gutted (headed and eviscerated) storage of meagre is found to be more advantageous compared to fillets for storage at 4 ± 1 oC.


The TLA3 gene in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii encodes the chloroplast signal recognition particle protein CpSRP43, which has a role in coordinating signal recognition events in the chloroplast during photosynthesis (Kirst et al. 2012, Gao et al. 2015). This study examined the effect of light intensity and the effect of a deletion in the TLA3 gene, which resulted in the truncated light-harvesting antenna3, on the growth rate of the organism. We incubated both the wild type and the tla3 mutant under three light intensities of 1200 lux, 3000 lux, and 10000 lux at a constant temperature of 17˚C for a total of 14 days. We counted the cells 8.92, 11.96, and 13.96 days of incubation, plotted the counts using exponential equations, and obtained the growth rates from the slopes. We then used the two-way ANOVA to test our results for statistical significance. We observed a significant increase in the average growth rate of both the wild type and the tla3 mutant with increasing light intensity ( p- value = 2.05 x 10 -8 ). We also found that the reduction (in the photosynthetic apparatus) of photosynthetic pigments in the light-harvesting complexes from the deletion in the TLA3 gene caused the tla3 mutant to have a significantly lower average growth rate than the wild type at all the light intensities tested ( p- value = 4.99 x 10 -7 ). There was a statistically significant difference in the effect of light intensity on the growth rate between the wild-type and the tla3 mutant C. reinhardtii ( p- value = 1.84 x 10 -4 ). The average growth rate of the wild type increased sharply, whereas the tla3 mutant had a constant steady increase as light intensity increased.


SUMMARY
Two strains of Escherichia coli K12 carried R factors associated with the hsII host specificity determinants although they were apparently fi
+, while all other R factors carrying this host specificity have been found to be fi
-. When these two strains were used as donors of drug resistance, separation of two R factors from each strain was observed. The separated R factors were tested for fi character, and it was found that in both cases the original strains carried an fi
+ and an fi
- R factor, and it was the fi
- R factor which carried the hsII determinants.


The decline in numbers of religious in the West is discussed in numerous studies. While there is a consensus about the statistical reality of decreasing numbers, scholars disagree about the alleged reasons for this decline. This article maps the field and presents a survey of four categories of answers to the question of why religious life declined during the twentieth century. A distinction is made between theories that ascribe the decline to (1) historical, (2) societal, (3) ecclesial, and (4) theological reasons. The first category views the decline as part of a historical-cyclical pattern of growth and decline. The second encompasses explanations that focus on secularization, professionalization, or new societal opportunities for women. Thirdly, post-conciliar church-organizational reasons will be discussed. Finally, pre-conciliar theology is investigated as a potential reason for the decline. While none of the reasons discussed here can be excluded from at least contributing to the decline, we demonstrate that some authors are mistaken in their conclusions due to misinterpreting data in a way that obscures the possibility of an emerging decline before the statistics peak in 1965 (which marks the end of the Council). We also demonstrate how theology has been an underestimated but significant influence on the statistics of religious life.


A methodology for mapping numerical algorithms into systolic arrays is presented in this paper. This mapping is done using a transformation function which transforms the original sequential algorithm into a suitable parallel form. A program was developed to automatically generate this transformation. We consider both the case of arbitrarily large systolic arrays as well as the more realistic case of fixed-size systolic arrays requiring algorithm partitioning. An example of the algorithm is given to present the methodology and the results obtained with the program.


Abstract Litter size strongly affects reproductive output and is therefore of central interest for the understanding of life-history evolution. I investigated the effect of variation in litter size (natural and manipulated) on the energetics of reproduction in the highly precocial guinea pig (Cavia porcellus). Unlike the situation in altricial species, increasing litter size in this precocial rodent influenced maternal performance (increase in litter mass and decrease in mass of individual offspring) as strongly during gestation (68 days) as during lactation (20 days). To cover the energy cost of offspring production, mothers increased their daily food intake. Their daily increase in metabolizable energy intake varied significantly with litter size during gestation but not during lactation. Instead, offspring in large litters consumed more solid food during lactation than did offspring in small litters. The efficiency of energy conversion into offspring production was not affected by litter size, neither during gestation nor during lactation. Furthermore, manipulation of litter size did not influence a mother's total energy cost of lactation. As a consequence, offspring in enlarged litters grew significantly slower than offspring in reduced litters despite similar body masses at birth and significantly greater consumption of solid food by nursing offspring in large litters. Results suggest that the effect of litter size on the energetics of reproduction in the precocial guinea pig differs from that of altricial rodents. Consequently, ecological implications of variation in litter size in the precocial guinea pig might also be very different to those in altricial species.


Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are business activities capable of expanding employment opportunities, providing broad economic services to the community, playing a role in the process of equalization and increasing community income, encouraging economic growth, and playing a role in realizing national stability. The purpose of this study is to determine how MSMEs increase competitiveness in facing the "New Normal". The method used in this study is a qualitative method. The technique of determining the informants was done by purposive sampling. The data analysis process is done by reducing data and presenting the data that has been obtained for later drawing conclusions. The results of this study indicate that MSMEs continue to improve their competitiveness amid the pandemic that is still occurring in Indonesia, although the marketing is still relatively small, but MSME players continue to improve the quality of their products to welcome the "new normal" that will be carried out, so that the wheels the economy started again.


Fusariosis is an opportunistic infection, caused by a filamentous fungus, found on plants and in soil. The treatment of disseminated pattern, seen in immunocompromised patients with severe neutropenia, is difficult because of antifungal therapy resistance. A 12-year-old girl, who was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, developed multiple widespread skin papules and subcutaneous nodules, at day 20 of consolidation therapy. Histological examination with cultures of skin tissue revealed Fusarium species. Treatment was started with intravenous liposomal amphotericin B and voriconazole. To assess treatment response, FDG PET/CT performed at baseline, at 2 and 4 months, showed a partial response.


The effect of shark liver oil on cutaneous angiogenesis induced in mice by intradermal grafting of tumour cells was evaluated. It was shown that this substance (Ecomer) suppressed neovascular response in mice grafted with sarcoma L-1 syngeneic cells, human kidney cancer and human urinary bladder cancer cells. In addition, strong stimulatory effect of this drug on mice blood granulocyte number and their metabolic activity was observed.


With the extensive application of submodularity, its generalizations are constantly being proposed. However, most of them are tailored for special problems. In this paper, we focus on quasi-submodularity, a universal generalization, which satisfies weaker properties than submodularity but still enjoys favorable performance in optimization. Similar to the diminishing return property of submodularity, we first define a corresponding property called the single sub-crossing, then we propose two algorithms for unconstrained quasi-submodular function minimization and maximization, respectively. The proposed algorithms return the reduced lattices in O(n) iterations, and guarantee the objective function values are strictly monotonically increased or decreased after each iteration. Moreover, any local and global optima are definitely contained in the reduced lattices. Experimental results verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed algorithms on lattice reduction.


The influence of density differences on the mixing of the primary loop inventory and the Emergency Core Cooling (ECC) water in the downcomer of a Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) was analyzed at the ROssendorf COolant Mixing (ROCOM) test facility. ROCOM is a 1:5 scaled model of a German PWR, and has been designed for coolant mixing studies. It is equipped with advanced instrumentation, which delivers high-resolution information for temperature or Boron concentration fields. This paper presents ROCOM experiments in which water with higher density was injected into a cold leg of the reactor model. Wire-mesh sensors measuring the concentration of a tracer in the injected water were installed in the upper and lower part of the downcomer. An experiment with 5% of the design flow rate in one loop and 10% density difference between the ECC and loop water was selected for validation of the CFD software ANSYS CFX. A mesh with two million control volumes was used for the calculations. The effects of turbulence on the mean flow were modelled with a Reynolds stress turbulence model. The results of the experiment and of the numerical calculations show that mixing is dominated by buoyancy effects: At higher mass flow rates (close to nominal conditions) the injected slug propagates in the circumferential direction around the core barrel. Buoyancy effects reduce this circumferential propagation. The ECC water falls in an almost vertical path and reaches the lower downcomer sensor directly below the inlet nozzle. Therefore, density effects play an important role during natural convection with ECC injection in PWRs. ANSYS CFX was able to predict the observed flow patterns and mixing phenomena quite well.


In recent years, consumers' concerns about environmental and health issues related to food products have risen; consequently, the demand for organically grown products has increased. In this respect, the aim of this study was to investigate factors affecting consumers' potential willingness to pay premium prices for organic food products in Tabriz, Iran. An Ordered Logit regression model was applied to obtain the value of willingness to pay and determine the factors affecting it. Survey results showed that about 95 percent of the respondents were willing to pay a premium; while about 10 percent of them were willing to pay more than 35 percent premium for organic food products. Results revealed that factors like "individual's income", "family dimension", "environmental concerns" and "wholesome diet", besides "the general criteria of shopping", and "consumers' awareness of these products' characteristics" significantly increased consumers' willingness to pay a premium. According to the results, married respondents as well as females were willing to pay a higher premium. In addition, those who had children younger than 10 years old, elderly, or people with family members having special disease were significantly willing to pay a higher premium price for these products. More than 80 percent of the consumers mentioned "absence of certifications and organic labels", "lack of advertisement", and "higher prices" as their most important problems in purchasing organic food products.


As commonly known, the product development stage is quite complex, requires intensive knowledge, and is time-consuming. The selection of the excipients with the proper functionality and their corresponding levels is critical to drug product performance. The objective of this study was to apply quality by design (QbD) principles for formulation development and to define the desired product quality profile (QTPP) and critical quality attributes (CQA) of a product. QbD is a risk- and science-based holistic approach for upgraded pharmaceutical development. In this study, Ibuprofen DC 85W was used as a model drug, Cellactose® 80 along with MicroceLac® 100 as a filler, and magnesium stearate, stearic acid, and sodium stearyl fumarate as lubricants. By applying different formulation parameters to the filler and lubricants, the QbD approach furthers the understanding of the effect of critical formulation and process parameters on CQAs and the contribution to the overall quality of the drug product. An experimental design study was conducted to determine the changes of the obtained outputs of the formulations, which were evaluated using the Modde Pro 12.1 statistical computer program that enables optimization by modeling complex relationships. The results of the optimum formulation revealed that MicroceLac® 100 was the superior filler, while magnesium stearate at 1% was the optimum lubricant. A design space that indicates the safety operation limits for the process and formulation variables was also created. This study enriches the understanding of the effect of excipients in formulation and assists in enhancing formulation design using experimental design and mathematical modeling methods in the frame of the QbD approach.


As a joint research collaboration between the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL), and the University of Kashmir (KU), NARL installed an all-sky airglow CCD imager (with centre wavelengths of 630nm, 557.7nm [2nm band widths] and 840nm [150 nm wide band with blocking notch at 866 nm to avoid the contamination of molecular oxygen emissions]) in the University campus in Srinagar (75E, 34N, geographic) Jammu and Kashmir, India (western Himalayan region). To understand the upper atmospheric dynamics and ionospheric electrodynamics and their associated physical coupling mechanisms, the imager observes airglow emissions of OH molecules and atomic and molecular oxygen occurring at the heights of ~80-300 km. First-time airglow observations in Kashmir commenced in the night of August 11, 2017 and the present work reports on the characteristics of first-time observation of Medium Scale Travelling Ionospheric Disturbances (MSTIDs with horizontal wavelengths of ~100-300 km) which occurred during 20:30 - 22:30 hr. IST (Indian standard time) on August 15, 2017 (India independence day). Initially, the phase front of MSTIDs was aligned along the north-west and south-east direction and moved at ~57 m/s towards the south-west direction and finally the westward direction by aligning along the meridian before they disappeared. Along with SAMI-3 ionospheric model simulations, simultaneous multiwavelength airglow observations indicate that secondary gravity waves generated due to dissipation of upward propagating mesospheric gravity waves in the heights of ~85-95 km would have contributed to the generation of MSTIDs in the F region ionospheric plasma through electrodynamical coupling between the E and F region (Perkins instability) ionosphere.


Terrestrial ecosystems are a large carbon density and play an important role in the global carbon budget and mitigating global warming by carbon sequestration. To encourage additional carbon sequestration and storage in global vegetation and soils, we need to be clear about the distribution patterns of carbon density and the factors that influence these patterns. Therefore, the characteristics of the distribution patterns of carbon density in terrestrial ecosystems of the world and China are reviewed in this paper. At the global scale, the distribution of carbon in vegetation corresponds with the spatial pattern of biomass and generally decreases from low-latitude to high-latitude with the exception of boreal forests. In contrast, soil organic pools of carbon increase along the same gradient. The largest stores of carbon in biomass are in tropical and boreal forests, and the largest stores of soil carbon are in the high latitude ecosystems (boreal forest and tundra). Total carbon density of both vegetation and soils are highest in tropical and boreal forests. In the tropics more carbon is stored in vegetation than in soils, while in the boreal region far more carbon is stored in the soils. At the regional scale, these patterns might vary due to differences in climate, topography and human influence among regions. Several major factors, including climatic conditions, soil nutrients, biodiversity, climate and atmospheric CO 2 changes, land use and cover changes, all contribute to the storage and maintenance of carbon. For example, carbon density will be high in regions where temperature and precipitation are favorable for abundant plant growth. The enhanced carbon sequestered in response to elevated levels of CO 2 or nitrogen, or their combination, is less in species-poor than in species-rich regions. In a word, they can raise the carbon density in terrestrial ecosystems by directly or indirectly accelerating net primary production, or constraining respiration and decomposition. However, in spite of its great significance for explaining the present distribution patterns of carbon pools and estimating future changes, the mechanisms by which these processes occur are not fully understood. It is critical that we strengthen our research effort in this area of study. Although a great deal of effort has been put into the carbon density researches, there still remains much uncertainty regarding data collection, mechanistic explanations, and model construction in the relevant studies. In the future, we should establish a standardized and unified system to estimate carbon density, produce more accurate and useful models, and perform integrated studies at multi-scales and multi-resolutions levels.


William A. Wallace (1816-1899) went from his native Virginia to Texas in 1836, shortly after the battle of San Jacinto, "for the purpose ...of taking pay out of the Mexicans for the murder of his brother and cousin." His experiences as a hunter, Indian fighter, member of the Mier Expedition (1842-1844), defender of the "old Republic" in the Mexican War, and Texas Ranger were chronicled by his comrade John C. Duval in this free-hand biography, first published in 1870. Because Duval, as the editors note, felt free to adapt his materials in order to make the book more interesting and used many novelistic devices, "in his own way he achieves something of the effect of the twentieth-century school of biographers. He makes his characters live." Although Part I, dealing with Big-Foot's adventures as a hunter and Indian fighter, is a mixture of fact and fiction, Part II, the account of his role in the Mier Expedition, is unretouched, told from the point of view of an actual participant, and "stands as the most realistic straight narrative of this dramatic chapter in Texas history. [It] is the heart of the biography. The Indian adventures are a prologue for it; and Part III, the final comedy of Big-Foot in the settlements, makes an epilogue." In this classic of early Texas, the reader will recognize three literary traditions of the nineteenth century: the journals and memoirs of the pioneers; the romantic adventure story; and the broadly humorous yarn of the American frontier.


A particle confined to an impassable box is a paradigmatic and exactly solvable one-dimensional quantum system modeled by an infinite square well potential. Here, we explore some of its infinitely many generalizations to two dimensions, including particles confined to rectangle-, ellipse-, triangle-, and cardioid-shaped boxes using physics-informed neural networks. In particular, we generalize an unsupervised learning algorithm to find the particles' eigenvalues and eigenfunctions, even in cases where the eigenvalues are degenerate. During training, the neural network adjusts its weights and biases, one of which is the energy eigenvalue, so that its output approximately solves the stationary Schrödinger equation with normalized and mutually orthogonal eigenfunctions. The same procedure solves the Helmholtz equation for the harmonics and vibration modes of waves on drumheads or transverse magnetic modes of electromagnetic cavities. Related applications include quantum billiards, quantum chaos, and Laplacian spectra.


In this paper we consider a structural model for localized excess electron states in polar solvents with particular reference to dilute metal ammonia solutions and to the hydrated electron. The over‐all energetic stability of these species was assessed by considering simultaneously the electronic energy and the medium rearrangement energy. The present model consists of a finite number of loosely packed molecules on the surface of the cavity which are subjected to thermal fluctuations and a polarizable continuum beyond. The electronic energy was computed utilizing an electrostatic microscopic short‐range attraction potential, a Landau‐type potential for long‐range interactions, and a Wigner‐Seitz potential for short‐range repulsive interactions. The medium rearrangement energy includes the surface tension work, the dipole–dipole repulsion in the first solvation layer, and most importantly the short‐range repulsive interactions between the hydrogen atoms of the molecules oriented by the enclosed charge. The gross features of localized electron states in different solvents can be rationalized in terms of different contributions to the medium rearrangement terms. The energetic stability of the localized state of excess electrons in polar solvents was established and the cavity size in the ground state of the solvated electron could be uniquely determined. Experimental energetic and structural data such as volume expansion, coordination numbers, heats of solution, and spectroscopic properties are in qualitative agreement with the predictions of the present model. Optical line shape data calculated from the theoretical model do not agree with experiment; this discrepancy suggests that more data are required in regard to the excited states of the solvated electron.


This article examines the issue of social cohesion inside the European Union (EU). While the organisation is currently experiencing an economic crisis the article argues that issues surrounding minority rights are deeper and more troubling. Within the EU's current and prospective borders there remain issues surrounding national minorities, traditional migrants and intra-EU migrants. The intra-EU migrants are of particular interest in that they bridge the gap between the other two groups as they are migrants – with EU protected rights. This article argues that the EU itself must become involved in the maintenance of social cohesion. It recommends the use of quiet diplomacy, best illustrated by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe High Commissioner on National Minorities. After an examination of the use of quiet diplomacy by the various High Commissioners the article outlines the issues of social cohesion facing the EU. It concludes with the recommendation that the European Commission adopt the tenets of quiet diplomacy as a means of influencing dialogue and to promote minority protection within the union.


This chapter reviews empirical studies on weak form of efficiency with the aim of establishing whether the African market is inefficient or adaptive. The reviewed studies are categorised based on their methodological approaches to compare the power of linear and non-linear models in testing for weak-form efficiency. The studies on calendar anomalies, an indication of weak-form inefficiency, are reviewed to assess whether these anomalies are adaptive as portrayed by the relatively recent theory of adaptive market hypothesis (AMH). The scope of reviewed studies is also extended to developed and emerging markets to gain a broad comparison of the findings. This review revealed that non-linear dependence has been revealed in stock returns suggesting that non-linear models are best fit to test for the stock market efficiency. Reviewed studies produced contradictory findings with some supporting and others rejecting weak-form efficiency. Thus, most studies support the AMH, which suggests that market efficiencies and anomalies are time changing. This chapter concludes that most of the existing studies on AMH have been carried out in markets other than Africa, and hence, further empirical studies on the evolving and changing nature of efficiency in African stock markets are recommended.


Background Lung diseases related to collagen disorder are often accompanied by fibrosis and TGF-β is one of the essential mediators in tissue fibrosis. Leucine rich alpha-2 glycoprotein (LRG) is a novel serum protein that is increased in patients with inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis. LRG expression is increased in inflamed tissues, suggesting that the molecule is involved in the pathogenesis of the diseases. Since LRG has recently been reported as a modulator of TGF-β signals [1] [2], LRG may play a role in tissue fibrosis. Objectives In this study, we aimed to investigate the involvement of LRG in a murine model of lung fibrosis. Methods Wild type mice and LRG knockout (KO) mice were intratrachally treated with bleomycin and fibrosis were evaluated 21 days after the treatment. At the time of sacrifice, the lungs were harvested and processed for histological examination using hematoxylin and eosin staining, detection of collagen fibers using azan staining, and immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, the effect of LRG on TGF-β signaling was investigated using L929 mouse fibroblast cell line. Results Intratracheal administration of bleomycin increased LRG protein levels in bronchial alveolar lavage fluids (BALF) and lung tissues. When compared to wild type mice, fibrosis was markedly inhibited in LRG knockout (KO) mice, as evalulated by azan staining and by hydroxyproline assay. Although there was no significant difference in BALF TGF-β levels between WT and LRG KO mice, phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of Smad2 protein were attenuated in the lung of LRG KO mice. In vitro experiments using L929 revealed that LRG enhanced TGF-β-induced Smad2 phosphorylation and the expression of downstream genes, such as plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and alpha smooth muscle actin (SMA). Furthermore, TGF-β-induced Smad2 phosphorylation was enhanced by exogenous LRG protein in a dose-dependent manner. Although LRG has been reported to interact with endoglin, an accessory receptor of TGF-β, knockdown of endoglin showed no effect on LRG-induced enhancement of Smad2 activation. Conclusions These data demonstrate that LRG enhances TGF-β-induced activation of Smad2 cascade in fibroblasts leading to promote fibrosis in murine model of lung fibrosis. References Nature 2013 Jul 18; 499 (7458):306–11 Oncotarget 2015 May 10; 6 (13):11009–22 Acknowledgement We wish to thank K. Omori and Y. Maeda for their advice and expertise, E. Harada and R. Nishi for their technical assistance and the staff of Animal Bioscience Department of the Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology for their help in histopathological evaluation. Disclosure of Interest None declared


The present study uses EEG time-frequency representations (TFRs) with a Flanker task to investigate if and how individual differences in bilingual language experience modulate neurocognitive outcomes (oscillatory dynamics) in two bilingual group types: late bilinguals (L2 learners) and early bilinguals (heritage speakers—HSs). TFRs were computed for both incongruent and congruent trials. The difference between the two (Flanker effect vis-à-vis cognitive interference) was then (1) compared between the HSs and the L2 learners, (2) modeled as a function of individual differences with bilingual experience within each group separately and (3) probed for its potential (a)symmetry between brain and behavioral data. We found no differences at the behavioral and neural levels for the between-groups comparisons. However, oscillatory dynamics (mainly theta increase and alpha suppression) of inhibition and cognitive control were found to be modulated by individual differences in bilingual language experience, albeit distinctly within each bilingual group. While the results indicate adaptations toward differential brain recruitment in line with bilingual language experience variation overall, this does not manifest uniformly. Rather, earlier versus later onset to bilingualism—the bilingual type—seems to constitute an independent qualifier to how individual differences play out.


The distribution of species and species diversity can be affected by vicariance or dispersal. To understand their role in shaping species distribution and population structure these two processes must be estimated within and among populations. I analysed large-scale variation in the call structure of the Ryukyu Scops Owl Otus elegans. This owl is distributed over a 1200-km range, and only inhabits islands. Within this range, I studied this species across 22 continental islands of the Ryukyu Archipelago and two oceanic islands. The study aimed to assess whether there is variation in the acoustic structure of Owl hoot calls within islands, among major groups of islands and across a large area comprising a major biogeographical barrier (the Kerama Gap). The acoustic structure of calls was homogeneous within islands and among major island-groups. Acoustic differentiation, however, increased over longer geographical distances of up to about 1200 km. The acoustic structure of hoots of the Ryukyu Scops Owl populations was clearly divided into two groups, north and south of the Kerama Gap. It is suggested that the Kerama Gap acted as a biogeographical barrier and contributed to the differentiation between the two major island-groups. It is likely that this difference developed during the fragmentation of a widespread ancestral population by vicariant isolating events. There was also evidence of an effect of dispersal on vocal differentiation in subspecies inhabiting the two oceanic islands.


Protein kinase B/Akt (PKB) is an anti-apoptotic protein kinase that has strongly elevated activity in human malignancies. We therefore initiated a program to develop PKB inhibitors, "Aktstatins". We screened about 500 compounds for PKB inhibitors, using a radioactive assay and an ELISA assay that we established for this purpose. These compounds were produced as combinatorial libraries, designed using the structure of the selective PKA inhibitor H-89 as a starting point. We have identified a successful lead compound, which inhibits PKB activity in vitro and in cells overexpressing active PKB. The new compound shows reversed selectivity to H-89: In contrast to H-89, which inhibits PKA 70 times better than PKB, the new compound, NL-71-101, inhibits PKB 2.4-fold better than PKA. The new compound, but not H-89, induces apoptosis in tumor cells in which PKB is amplified. We have identified structural features in NL-71-101 that are significant for the specificity and that can be used for future development and optimization of PKB inhibitors.


I. Background Turkish Competition Authority (TCA) concluded its investigation in banking industry regarding "gentlemen's agreement" between 8 banks. The investigation has been launched in August…


Many people involved in the theory of euthanasia subject, as (physicians, clergy, philosophers, sociologists, biologists, lawyers, state, etc.) and in our efforts to a more practical approach is still valid. But there is an organized effort in Western societies for possible humanistic treatment of critically ill patients during the final confrontation with effective interventions in both pain and psychological collapse that although with the expected-without hope the end result. Since the father of medicine, Hippocrates, medical thought is strictly oriented in any way attempt to cure the patient and the man at all costs avoid the departure from life, even if they stay in it, because of inefficient treatment, has the result of many pains in a process devoid of any meaning in the end. Today in many advanced western societies is an attempt to address the different putting of a brave face on death of people suffering from incurable diseases at the final stage, taking into account the wishes of a patient who often can not withstand the sufferings which holds the disease, preferring to pass to settle the most delicate line that separates life from death, assisted by the doctors. Very briefly mention that we will explore the awareness of medical and nursing staff regarding the accommodation units (Hospices) / palliative care in Greece and some European countries. The palliative care, other than physicians requires psychologists, social physiotherapists, volunteers and priests. Initially, the concept of hospice / palliative care, shall then make a historical reference to the founders of this concept, facilities required and the personnel necessary to carry out this objective, we report on which countries and flourished there is this idea practical, social and economic benefits for a state and whether it is necessary to develop and establish this institution in Greece. After presenting the questionnaires received and answered, 80 health professionals (doctors and nurses) from Aretaieio Hospital and NIMTS. Based on responses to the questionnaire, considering how essential it is that institution in Greece. Furthermore, some experiences of patients with end-stage in narrative form, are mentioned and a refference on what happens around the world, European countries, Cyprus and Greece is made. It is worth noting that the structures of modern centers of hospice and palliative care is an indicator of civilization of a people. E-discriminatory access to, palliative care is a recognized human right without remains a luxury for the few to science and human care.


Computed tomography is a very sensitive and fairly specific imaging mode for diagnosing herniated disks in patients with low back pain and radiculopathy. We describe a new CT sign associated with posterior disk herniation that consists of a bony defect on the lower posterior angle of the proximal vertebral body and endplate shown on CT generated digital radiograms. This finding, by no means constant, is encountered frequently enough to be described as a sign of posterior disk protrusion. It often occurs concomitantly with posterior avulsion of a bone fragment probably related to avascular bone necrosis of the posterior inferior angle of the endplate.


The article critically examines the place of religion in modern conceptions of public space and asks whether the modern public space is "secular" in principle and what it means. Questioning the place of religious communities, traditions and claims in a public sphere clearly hinges on the conception of public sphere. The answer given will depend on the perspective we adopt, whether it is a normative perspective, a critical anthropological perspective and a philosophical-historical perspective. The article examines three answers that stand for three different perspectives and that are the following: Yes, No, and a qualified Yes. While each of perspectives defines the place of religion differently, the article retraces the evolution of a dialogue over the last twenty years. The tendency is to recognise the place of religion while adapting the notion of public sphere from secular and exclusive to post-secular and inclusive, while retaining the crucial normative aspect that public space holds for a democratic society.


An enantioselective variant of the synthesis of cross-conjugated cyclopentenones, based on D-glucose-derived chiral auxiliaries, is described. Minor modification of the method makes it applicable to the preparation of both enantiomeric series of products. Both enantiomers of the key intermediate in our roseophilin synthesis have been prepared.


OBJECTIVE
To study the change of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) around hematoma in acute intracerebral hemorrhage.

METHODS
Xenon-CT was performed on 5 patients of basal ganglia hemorrhage with the hematoma volume less than 30 ml, 3 males and 2 females, aged 56.8 +/- 5.6. within 36 hours of the onset and 13 days after to measure the rCBF was measured by 27 pixel rings respectively in the core of hematoma, edema region around the hematoma and compared with rCBF in the uninvolved hemisphere.

RESULTS
(1) all the 5 patients had a history of hypertension, the mean intracerebral hemorrhage volume was 13 ml +/- 7 ml (6.4 approximately 23.7 ml). The first examination was conducted 23 h +/- 6 h (19 approximately 34 h) after the onset and the second examination was conducted 13.0 d +/- 0.7 d (12 approximately 14 d) after the onset. (2) Within 36 hours of the onset, the mean rCBF in the core of hematoma was 15 ml.100 g(-1).min(-1) +/- 8 ml.100 g(-1).min(-1), and the mean rCBF in edema region around the hematoma was 30 ml.100 g(-1).min(-1) +/- 8 ml.100 g(-1).min(-1). Thirteen days after the onset the mean rCBF in the core of hematoma was 9 ml.100 g(-1).min(-1) +/- 4 ml.100 g(-1).min(-1), significantly reduced in comparison with that measured in the first examination (P = 0.014), and the mean rCBF in the edema region around the hematoma was 23 ml.100 g(-1).min(-1) +/- 13 ml.100 g(-1).min(-1), reduced in comparison with those measured in the first examination too, however, not significantly (P = 0.055). The rCBF reduction was more significant in the edema region adjacent to the hematoma (P = 0.004), but not in the distant edema region. During the first examination the rCBF in the edema region around the hematoma was lower than the enantiomorph rCBF by 20.9%. Thirteen days after, the rCBF in the edema region around the hematoma was lower than the enantiomorph rCBF by 46.3%, significantly greater than the reduction during the first examination (P = 0.324). There was no difference between the values of enantiomorph rCBF during the first and second examinations (P = 0.038).

CONCLUSION
There exists reduced perihematoma rCBF after intracerebral hemorrhage by xenon-CT examination, this phenomenon lasts 14 days and have the tendency of further reduced.


We examine the proposition that mid-gap broad cathodoluminescence emission spectra of cubic and wurtzite GaN centered at 1.9 eV (red) and 2.2 eV (yellow) respectively are of similar origin. At high excitation levels, the red band shows a small blue shift comparable with the shallow-donor/deep-acceptor pair (DAP) recombination path proposed for the yellow band. The temperature dependence of peak energy supports this view, while band width and symmetry properties suggest that at least one of the defects in the DAP emission is strongly coupled to the lattice. Photoluminescence data point to donor and acceptor ionisation energies of about 15 meV and 100 meV respectively in the cubic phase. Energy dependence of emission decay times and peak energy migration are also indicative of DAP process. Finally we observe differences in surface micromorphology, flat and tesselated in cubic GaN and granulated in the wurtzite layers. Excitonic emission is suppressed at grain boundaries in both cases, while the respective red and yellow emission maps show little correlation with morphology.


This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 15221 "Multi-disciplinary approaches to reasoning with imperfect information and knowledge - a synthesis and a roadmap of challenges".

This multi-disciplinary seminar brought together researchers from computer science, philosophy and psychology dealing with topics of rational reasoning, reasoning with imperfect information and rational decision making in real world problems. The different views from computational, logical and cognitive perspectives provided new insights on overlapping goals and complemtary questions, for instance, when psychologists being interested in new formal models and computer scientists being interested whether their developed methods are materially adequate discussed logical and terminological backgrounds with philosophers. The combination of introductory talks, presentations and discussions of current work of the participants and discussion groups dealing with general questions lead to fruitful discussions where challenges for new paradigms of rational reasoning as well as visions and foci for interdisciplinary work were raised.


When bone is cultured in acidic medium produced by a reduced bicarbonate concentration ([HCO(3-)]), a model of metabolic acidosis, there is greater net calcium efflux than when the same decrement in pH is produced by an increased partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PCO2), a model of respiratory acidosis. To determine the effects of metabolic and respiratory acidosis on bone cell function we cultured neonatal mouse calvariae for 48 h under control conditions (pH approximately 7.40, PCO2 approximately 41 mmHg, [HCO(3-)] approximately 25 meq/l) or under isohydric acidic conditions simulating metabolic (pH approximately 7.09, [HCO(3-)] approximately 12) or respiratory (pH approximately 7.10, PCO2 approximately 86) acidosis and measured osteoblastic collagen synthesis and alkaline phosphatase activity and osteoclastic beta-glucuronidase activity. Collagen synthesis was inhibited by metabolic (23.2 +/- 1.3 vs. 30.3 +/- 1.0% in control) but was not altered by respiratory (32.3 +/- 0.6) acidosis. Alkaline phosphatase activity was inhibited by metabolic (402 +/- 16 vs. 471 +/- 15 nmol P.min-1.mg protein-1 in control) but not altered by respiratory (437 +/- 25) acidosis. beta-Glucuronidase activity was stimulated by metabolic (1.02 +/- 0.06 vs. 0.78 +/- 0.05 micrograms phenolphthalein released.bone-1.h-1 in control) but not altered by respiratory (0.73 +/- 0.06) acidosis. Net calcium efflux in control was increased by metabolic (783 +/- 57 vs. 20 +/- 57 nmol.bone-1.48 h-1 in control) and by respiratory (213 +/- 45) acidosis; however, calcium efflux with metabolic was greater than with respiratory acidosis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


ABSTRACT\r Massachusetts senator and presidential hopeful John F. Kennedy visited Kansas in November 1959 as part of his strategy to win the Democratic Party nomination. Kennedy made stops in five cities in two days, meeting party officials and wooing potential delegates. The candidate first spoke in Kansas City and Wichita on November 19 before flying to Dodge City November 20 after another appearance in Wichita that morning. After a noon luncheon in Dodge City Kennedy made a speech in Salina before his stop in Hays. In Hays, Kennedy gave a television interview, met the press at a news conference, rode in a parade and spoke at a fundraiser.\r This thesis examines the "Kennedy effect," of how Kennedy's stop in Kansas fit into the electoral picture in Ellis County, the state and nationally. It also highlights how what Kennedy did in his 1959 run for the presidency followed his same strategy in winning his senate seat. Kennedy's actions repeated what he did in other states; the candidate knew he had to meet voters in person across the country. As was the case in previous campaigns, Kennedy collected contact lists during his Kansas visit to add to the voluminous file kept by his advisors.\r This thesis analyzes the events of the Kansas trip, focusing on the Hays appearance. It confirms the work of previous historians who described Kennedy's path to victory in the 1960 election and adds to the historical narrative by providing in intimate detail the events of one stop on one campaign swing. While other historians discuss the national strategy and events, this thesis describes what a day in the life was like for candidate John F. Kennedy.


The rootstock Freedom is the offspring of two open-pollinated parents (1613-59 and Dog Ridge 5), sources of root-knot nematode resistance. As phylloxera has increased in importance in vineyards, the risk of Vitis vinifera-derived phylloxera susceptibility from the unknown pollen donors is a concern. To clarify the pedigree of Freedom, genetic profiles of 31 potential progenitors were analyzed with 30 microsatellite markers. We confirm the reported parent (1613-59) and grandparent (1613C) of Freedom and identify 3306C (V. riparia x V. rupestris) as the pollen parent of 1613-59. We were unable to identify the pollen parent of Dog Ridge 5.


This paper deploys historical analysis, conceptual analysis and critical reflection to examine the history of ethnicised politics in Kenya and its negative impact on the management of the country's public affairs. It sets out with a conceptualisation of 'ethnicised politics'. It then traces the growth of ethnicised politics in Kenya from the dawn of British colonialism to the present. Thereafter, it reflects on the five-pronged negative impact of ethnicised politics on the country, namely, the gross disparities in economic development along ethno-regional lines, the disproportionately limited economic opportunities for ethnic minorities, the stunting of the growth of issue-based politics, the stoking of violent inter-ethnic conflicts, and the vulnerability of highly urbanised persons and/or those born out of mixed marriages with no strong ethnic loyalties. It concludes that contrary to the widely-held view that Kenyans ought to abandon their ethnic identities in pursuit of 'nation-building', respect for the right to cultural identity and the promotion of inter-ethnic equity would make political mobilisation along ethnic lines less attractive.


Comment on: Omar NN, et al. Tumor potential in rat wounds after short- and long-term administration of platelet-rich plasma. J Biol Regul Homeost Agents. 2017 Oct-Dec;31(4):889-899. Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) is a promising concentrate. But are there any disadvantages or contraindications regarding its application? Is the use of PRP indicated in wounds of patients undergoing resection for cancer. The presence of growth factors could promote tumor proliferation and recurrence. It is of the utmost importance to recognize any possible contraindication before we call it safe. The role of PRP in tumorigenicity deserves further experimental investigation and large-scale prospective randomized clinical trials.


One of the most important challenges for Less-Than-Truck-Load carriers consists of determining how to consolidate flows of small shipments to minimize costs while maintaining a certain level of service. For any origin-destination pair, there are several strategies to consolidate flows, but the most usual ones are: peddling/collecting routes and shipping through one or more break-bulk terminals. Therefore, the target is determining a route for each origin-destination pair that minimizes the total transportation and handling cost guaranteeing a certain level of service. Exact resolution is not viable for real size problems due to the excessive computational time required. This research studies different aspects of the problem and provides a metaheuristic algorithm (based on Ant Colonies Optimization techniques) capable of solving real problems in a reasonable computational time. The viability of the approach has been proved by means of the application of the algorithm to a real Spanish case, obtaining encouraging results.


OBJECTIVE To assess how left (LV) and right ventricular (RV) size, wall thickness, and mass depend on daily alcohol consumption. Among alcoholics, most common findings have been LV hypertrophy and mild systolic or diastolic dysfunction, accompanied occasionally by ventricular dilatation resembling dilated cardiomyopathy. Although it is commonly agreed that chronic heavy alcohol use is injurious to the heart, the dose-injury relation remains a matter of dispute. DESIGN Prospective series of 700 Finnish men aged 33–70 years who died out of hospital and underwent a medicolegal necropsy. METHODS AND RESULTS Data on alcohol use and other risk factors were obtained from the spouse. At necropsy, a transversal slice of the heart was traced on a transparent sheet and analysed later for LV and RV cavity areas and wall thicknesses. Coronary artery stenoses were measured from silicone casts of the arteries. In analyses of all men, daily alcohol dose predicted heart weight (β = 0.17, p < 0.001) and RV cavity area (β = 0.14, p = 0.007) independent of body size, age, coronary artery disease, hypertension, diabetes, and smoking. In the subgroup of men free of significant coronary artery disease, LV area averaged (SEM) 11.0 (1.0) cm2 in men drinking < 12 g/day, 7.7 (0.7) cm2 in those drinking 72–180 g/day, and 10.0 (0.9) cm2 in those drinking > 180 g/day (p = 0.054). Very heavy drinking (> 180 g/day) was associated with an increase in RV cavity area (p = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS The effects of alcohol on the heart in middle aged men are dose dependent but partly non-linear. In the absence of coronary artery disease, LV size shows a U shaped reduction with increasing daily alcohol use accompanied by an increase in RV size with very heavy drinking. These findings question the idea of progressive LV dilatation with increasing alcohol consumption among male victims of sudden death.


The Odstock dropped foot stimulator (ODFS) is a simple functional electrical stimulation (FES) device for the correction of dropped foot. Improved reliability, fine control of stimulation parameters, and careful application and follow-up have let to 86% compliance. Data on 56 patients (50 patients with hemiplegia, 5 patients with multiple sclerosis, and 1 patient with spinal cord injury) who have used the system for between 6 and 18 months are presented and show a statistically significant increase in walking speed with the stimulator at 3 months of 14% (p < 0.001); decreased effort of walking, measured as physiological cost index (PCI), of 37% (p < 0.001); and statistically significant improvement in functional mobility tests and questionnaires. No statistically significant carryover was seen although 3 patients had sufficient improvement in active ankle control and gait parameters to no longer need the stimulator. Six patients who used the stimulator all day every day had a problem with skin irritation, which we have not yet been able to solve. Two patients discontinued use after experiencing increased spasticity in the calf.


The incidence of spontaneously occurring tumors of the cervix and vagina was unusually high in an inbred strain of Brown Norway rats (BN/Bi). Fifty-four tumors were diagnosed in the cervixes or vaginas of 252 rats. Of the tumors, 7 were squamous cell carcinomas, 4 were leiomyomas, and the rest were sarcomas. These tumors were found in nearly 20% of all female rats that died naturally.


Low carbon-medium nitrogen 316 stainless steel (316FR) with improved creep strength was developed for structural material for the demonstration fast breeder reactor (FBR). Fatigue, creep-fatigue and creep crack propagation tests have been conducted using CT specimens of 316FR welded joints at 650•Ž in order to investigate the applicability of crack propagation evaluation methods to welded joints. The results obtained are as follows. The fatigue J-integral range of welded joints could be estimated using material data of the base metal by the simplified J-integral estimation methods, the reference stress method and the GE/EPRI method, when the crack opening ratio were considered. Heating time (testing time) made a difference in creep-fatigue and creep crack propagation rates estimated by the creep J-integral range. It was considered that the degradation of microstructure (from delta ferrite into sigmaphase) by high temperature aging, which reduced ductility, affected the crack propagation behavior.


In this paper we study the structure of labor market flows in Spain and compare them with France and the US. We characterize a number of empirical regularities and stylized facts. One striking result is that the job finding rate is slightly higher than in France, while the job loss rate is much higher, putting Spain half-way between France and the US. This suggests that while Spain has borne the full cost of its labor market reforms in terms of job precarity, the benefits in terms of job creation have been quite modest. We hypothesize that this has been due to the reform's credibility being imperfect, which leads to expectation of reversal.


Male guinea pigs of the inbred Hartley strain were castrated, thyroidectomized and castrated-thyroidectomized at 470–549 gm body weight. Thyroidectomy did not change the rate of growth of the body, carcass, internal organs or 48 individual muscles during the ensuing 51 days in either the normal or castrated animals. The administration of testosterone during the last 21 days in a group of castrated-thyroidectomized animals partially restored the weight of the castration-atrophied muscles while the seminal vesicles and prostates were increased to slightly above normal.


This is the fi rst randomised study comparing buprenorphine-naloxone with methadone for maintenance treatment of opioid dependence. A 17-week, double-blind, double-dummy trial of daily dosing compared buprenorphine-naloxone (8/2 mg and 16/4 mg) with methadone (45 mg and 90 mg) in 268 participants. The percentage of opioid-free urine samples over time did not differ by drug or dosage. The percentage of patients with ≥12 consecutive opioid-negative urine samples did not differ by drug and was signifi cantly greater for patients receiving higher doses of either agent. Induction success, compliance, nonopioid drug use, retention and Addiction Severity Index scores did not differ among groups. Buprenorphine-naloxone is a viable alternative to methadone in clinical practice.


This paper studies the vehicle scheduling problem in cities for the pickup and delivery service. Considering customer point as vehicle collaboration point, we propose a two-stage algorithm based on customer point collaboration through the theory of optimization. In addition to considering the problem whether the isolated customer point is collaborative, the algorithm also takes into account the problem whether the customers on the vehicle (picking up multiple customer points) can transfer its customers to the other basic vehicle. Moreover, the selection of the type of basic vehicles is no longer single; we can choose different types of vehicles suitable for different vehicle capacities according to the total number of people to carry. Finally, we perform simulation analysis and simulation results show that the algorithm proposed in this paper is feasible and effective.


This paper investigates the marketing orientation and marketing strategies of Dutch firms. The data used come from a large scale survey of senior marketing executives in The Netherlands: of 3000 questionnaires mailed in April 1994 550 were returned (18.3%). About 2 out of 3 companies support the vision that marketing should guide all of the company's operations. In line with this strong marketing vision many marketing related activities are the responsibility of top management. Responsibilities of the marketing department are limited to promotion related activities. Based on their marketing strategy Dutch companies can be split into four clusters: an ambitious group 'high value segmenters', a less ambitious group 'analyzers' with either low or high price positioning, and the defensive groups 'differentiated defenders' and 'reactors' (defensive, broad companies with no differentiation). The two clusters showing the clearest positioning (differentiated defenders and high value segmenters) show the best performance. * Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Groningen, Department of Economics. Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Groningen, and Professor of Direct Marketing, Erasmus University of Rotterdam. Got his degree in Marketing at the University of Groningen. The authors wish to thank Dun & Bradstreet International for delivering the list of the 3000 companies in the sample. Correspondence adress: University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics, P.O.Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands, tel. 31 50 3633694/3633683, fax 31 50 3637207, e-mail email@example.com or email@example.com


In this paper, we derive the exact probability distribution of post-scheduling signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) considering both user feedback and scheduling. We also develop an optimized adaptive modulation scheme in orthogonal random beamforming systems with M transmit antennas and K single-antenna users. The exact probability distributions of each user's feedback SINR and the exact post-scheduling SINR are derived rigorously by direct integration and multinomial distribution. It is also shown that the derived cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the post-scheduling SINR happens to be identical to the the existing approximate CDF for SINR higher than 0 dB. The closed form expressions of system performance, such as average spectral efficiency (ASE) and average bit error ratio (A-BER), are derived using the CDF of the post-scheduling SINR. The optimal SINR thresholds that maximize the ASE with a target A-BER constraint are solved using the derived closed form CDF and a Lagrange multiplier. Key contributions of this paper include the derivation of the exact CDF of post-scheduling SINR by direct integration, and its application to an optimized adaptive modulation based on a Lagrange multiplier. Simulations show the correspondence between theoretical and empirical CDF's, and the performance improvement of the proposed adaptive modulation method in terms of ASE.


The explicit expression for spatial-temporal Airy pulse is derived from the Maxwell's equations in paraxial approximation. The trajectory of the pulse in the time-space coordinates is analysed. The existence of a bifurcation point that separates regions with qualitatively different features of the pulse propagation is demonstrated. At this point the velocity of the pulse becomes infinite and the orientation of it changes to the opposite.


Investing on sharia stock is a good alternative for funding management because sharia stocks are far away from business which classified as illegitimate business according to Islam. Jakarta Islamic Index  (JII) used as a benchmark  in measuring performance of a stock investment which based on  sharia.  This research  aims to examine the value relevance of accounting information in explaining stock price.  This  research used  Return  on Asset,  Return  on Equity, Earning per Share, Debt to Equity Ratio, and Price to Book Value as proxies of accounting information. The  sample of this research was all the company which listed in JII for five times consecutively from 2007 until 2011. This research was explanatory research, which explain the existence of effect between the dependent and independent variables through a hypothesis testing.  The result  showed  that ROE, EPS, and PBV have significant influence on  stock price, while ROA and DER have no significant influence on the  stock price of companies  listed  in  JII. Although  it is a small sample size, some relevant changes and modifications can be included in future research to obtain better result. Keywords: Return on Asset, Return on Equity, Earning per Share, Debt to Equity Ratio, Price to Book Value, Stock Price, Jakarta Islamic Index