Background The study of osteoblasts and their osteogenic functions is essential in order to understand them and their applications in implantology. In this sense, this study try to study BMP-2 production and bone matrix deposition, in addition to other biological variables, in osteoblasts cultured on a rough double acid-etched titanium surface (Osseotite®, Biomet 3i, Palm Beach Garden, Florida, USA) in comparison to a smooth titanium surface (machined) and a control Petri dish. Material and Methods An in vitro prospective study. NHOst human osteoblasts from the femur were cultured on three different surfaces: Control group: 25-mm methacrylate dish (n = 6); Machined group: titanium discs with machined surface (n = 6) and Experimental group: titanium discs with a double acid-etched nitric and hydrofluoric Osseotite® acid surface (n = 6). A quantification of the mitochondrial membrane potential, and studies of apoptosis, mobility and adhesion, bone productivity (BMP-2) and cellular bone synthesis were carried out after culturing the three groups for forty-eight hours. Results A statistically significant difference was observed in the production of BMP-2 between the experimental group and the other two groups (22.33% ± 11.06 vs. 13.10% ± 5.51 in the machined group and 3.88% ± 3.43 in the control group). Differences in cellular bone synthesis were also observed between the groups (28.34% ± 14.4% in the experimental group vs. 20.03% ± 6.79 in the machined group and 19.34% ± 15.93% in the control group). Conclusions In comparison with machined surfaces, Osseotite® surfaces favor BMP-2 production and bone synthesis as a result of the osteoblasts in contact with it. Key words:BMP-2, Cytoskeleton, cell culture, bone matrix, apoptosis, cell viability.


Germans embraced the victorious Communist practices. The rapid disappearance of Soviet influences after 1990 makes one wonder how deep the changes in the East German population went and whether some remnants might not continue to linger subliminally. Finally, the book poses the paradox of the Soviet role in the initial stabilization and eventual collapse of the GDR. Although the bloody trail of rape and pillage, dismantling and reparations, expropriation and expulsion, incarceration and police brutality left little room for German Communists to create a better society, East Germany did eventually become a separate and somewhat successful state. Clearly the Russian military presence, reaffirmed in the crushing of the worker's rising of 1953, was an essential underpinning for SED rule. But the occupiers' arrogant insistence on adopting not only Marxism-Leninism but the entire Soviet model foundered on the Germans' equally obdurate sense of cultural and economic superiority which could not even be overcome by the Society for German-Soviet Friendship. Ironically, Naimark's study implies that Red Army occupation not only provided the opportunity for the German Left to create a socialist society, but that its excesses were also largely responsible for the ultimate failure of the antifascist dream. This pathbreaking book demonstrates that one can write GDR history in an interesting and illuminating way. Since established scholars may hesitate to venture into uncharted territory, it is up to their doctoral students to take up the challenge of exploring the rich archival holdings on East Germany in order to gain a fresh perspective on postwar history. One can only hope that, when it appears, their work will be able to overcome the present disinterest of Anglo-American intellectuals in this topic. Many commentators who knew little of the East to begin with apparently feel that the subject is finished with unification and that the GDR merely amounted to a dead end in twentieth-century German history. The widespread reluctance to engage East German history is a pity, since the intellectual stakes of this subject are considerable. Studying the GDR not only illuminates the difficulties of constructing a progressive postfascist Germany but also poses the broader ideological question of the practicability of socialism in general.


A Dissertation Submitted in Partial/ Fulfillment of the Requirements for Award
of the Degree of Masters of Science in Procurement (MSc PSCM) of Mzumbe
University


AIM:To study the prokinetic effect of Chinese herbs Zhuxiang powder (ZXP) on gastrointestinal motility mice and its mechanism. METHODS:The effects of ZXP on gastric emptying and intestinal propulsion were investigated in vivo by measuring gastric remainder rates and intestinal propulsion rates of Blue Dextron (BD) 2000. Based on the level of main effect of the orthogonal design list L16(2 15 ), the authors explored the mechanism of ZXP on gastric emptying by administering atropine intraperitoneally to mice 20 minutes prior to meal RESULTS:Compared with control group, the rates of gastric emptying and intestinal propulsion rates increased significantly in ZXP group (72.0± 12.4 % vs 63.7± 13.1 %,P Fructus Amomi >Rhizoma, Atractylodis Macrocephalae. There were first–grade mutual roles within Rhizoma, Atractylodis Macrocephalae and Radix Aucklandiae.The prokinetic effect of Chinese herbs Zhu Xiang Powder (ZXP) on gastrointestinal motility mice could be inhibited partially by atropine, especially on gastric emptying. CONCLUSION:ZXP can accelerate the gastric emptying and intestinal propulsion in mice significantly. The main herbs in ZXP are radix Aucklandiae and Fructus Amomi. The mechanism of ZXP promoting gastrointestinal motility is related partially to the cholinergic nerve function.


The invention relates to an optical element (POE) for multifocal image in a camera for vehicle applications with - at least one first and at least a second adjacent portion (T1, T2), wherein - at least a first subregion (T1) is adapted to effect a first axial displacement of the ray path in the camera, - which is formed at least one second partial area (T2) to effect a second axial displacement of the ray path in the camera, - the first from the second axial displacement is different, - the first axial offset is provided for a wide-area image in the camera, - said second axial offset is provided for a short-range image in the camera, and wherein - the second part area (T2) from the first subregion (T1) differs in that its cross section (T2_d1, T2_d2) varies in a vertical direction (20) of the short-range imaging.


We generalise Dwork's theory of $p$-adic formal congruences from the univariate to a multi-variate setting. We apply our results to prove integrality assertions on the Taylor coefficients of (multi-variable) mirror maps. More precisely, with $\mathbf z=(z_1,z_2,...,z_d)$, we show that the Taylor coefficients of the multi-variable series $q(\mathbf z)=z_i\exp(G(\mathbf z)/F(\mathbf z))$ are integers, where $F(\mathbf z)$ and $G(\mathbf z)+\log(z_i) F(\mathbf z)$, $i=1,2,...,d$, are specific solutions of certain GKZ systems. This result implies the integrality of the Taylor coefficients of numerous families of multi-variable mirror maps of Calabi-Yau complete intersections in weighted projective spaces, as well as of many one-variable mirror maps in the "Tables of Calabi-Yau equations" [arXiv:math/0507430] of Almkvist, van Enckevort, van Straten and Zudilin. In particular, our results prove a conjecture of Batyrev and van Straten in [Comm. Math. Phys. 168 (1995), 493-533] on the integrality of the Taylor coefficients of canonical coordinates for a large family of such coordinates in several variables.


The purpose of running higher vocational and technical education,the features,the high cost,and sustained development as well,are urgently needed to be realized by managerial administration.As per the present higher vocational education,the attitude should be alternated,the system of competition and encouragement should be introduced,so as to carry out managerial development,and run and supervise the college capital from an aspect of the form of value.Only by doing so,people can make the current capital as links in the country of educational market,not only allocate the resource in a wider range through the cross-industry,cross-aerated,cross-ownership way,but also vitalize the college capital by the way of reorganization,combination,annexation,joint-stock,easement,contacted management,etc.so as to broaden the development space of higher vocational college.


Ice layers in snowpacks are thought to retard or obstruct gas and melt water flow through the pack, yet there has been little published information on the permeability of ice layers in seasonal snow. In this paper, investigations of ice layer permeabilities are reported for prominent ice layers 1 to 3 mm thick in a seasonal snowpack. For distinct, fairly solid ice layers 1 to 3 mm thick, permeabilities ranged from 1 to 19 x 10 -10 m 2 ; these values are significantly lower than values for the surrounding snow. Within 24 h early in the melt season, the permeability of the surface crust increased 160%, from approximately 70 to 120 x 10 -10 m 2 . This increase in permeability was accompanied by a small increase in grain size and a decrease in albedo. The snow-air interface can exhibit dramatic changes in transport properties over relatively short periods of time, even without precipitation events. These changes, driven by the surface meteorology, affect transport properties such as permeability as well as albedo.


Beckmann et al. glUV: A global UV-B radiation dataset for macroecological studies Bowler et al. A collaborative project to assess the impacts of climate change on population trends Dalsgaard et al. Climate, range-size distribution and specialization in plant-hummingbird networks across the New World De Carvalho & Dahdouh-Guebas Global spatial dependence of the bioclimatic and environmental variables on the mangrove ecosystem Engler et al. Combining species distribution models with population genetic data: Good for Landscape Genetics but also good for Macroecology? Filz & Lötters The Invasion Potential of Pet Herps under Climate Change in Europe Fritz et al. Diversity-environment relationships through time: 20 million years of mammalian diversity dynamics, climatic conditions and biome shifts in the Northern Hemisphere Irl et al. Global pattern of treeline elevation on islands Keith & Connolly The role of macroecological processes in the generation and maintenance of Indo-Pacific coral biogeographic provinces Keyel et al. Integrating mechanisms into macroecology using a trait-based, spatially explicit metacommunity model Khaliq et al. Thermal tolerances of endotherms are phylogenetically conserved, but only in the tropics Kisel et al. Untangling the drivers of island colonization in flowering plants Knapp & Klotz Changes in the phylogenetic composition of a Central European urban flora over three centuries Liess Macroecological prediction of low-dose pesticide effects based on ecotoxicological mechanisms Lischke Macroecological studies with spatio-temporal population dynamical models – the example of tree species migration in the Alps under climate change May et al. Neutral theory and spatial patterns in tropical forests – moving beyond abundance distributions Meyer et al. Setting priorities for overcoming knowledge gaps in species distributions Nobis & Normand KISSMig – a simple R-tool to consider limited migration in modeling species distributions Pompe et al. Using ecological and life-history characteristics for projecting species responses to climate change Santos et al. Understanding the assembly of island parasitoid faunas through functional diversity Sarmento Cabral et al. Process-based niche models for macroecology Schleuning & Kissling Bridging scales: ideas for a better integration of the macroecology and community ecology of species interactions Schrodt et al. Functional diversity – ecosystem property relationships across Europe Schweiger et al. Optimal-sized prey availability shapes global distribution patterns of the Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos Stein et al. Environmental heterogeneity: a heterogeneous topic and a universal driver of species richness Tonkin et al. Dispersal constraints drive colonisation of restored river reaches by benthic invertebrates Zurell Predicting to novel environments: about extrapolating species-environment relationships and demography glUV: A global UV-B radiation dataset for macroecological studies Michael Beckmann, Tomáš Václavík*, Ameur M. Manceur, Lenka Šprtová, Henrik von Wehrden, Erik Welk, Anna F. Cord Department of Computational Landscape Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Permoserstraße 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany *email@example.com Macroecology has prospered in recent years due in part to the wide array of climatic data that has become available for research. However, important environmental variables are still missing, including spatial datasets on UV-B radiation, an increasingly recognized driver of ecological processes. To fill this gap, we developed a set of global UV-B surfaces (glUV) based on remotely sensed records from NASA's Ozone Monitoring Instrument. Following a similar approach used for the WorldClim and CliMond datasets, we processed daily measurements acquired over a period of eight years into six ecologically meaningful variables with a 15 arc-minute resolution. We correlated our datasets with selected variables of the existing bioclimatic surfaces to test for relations to known gradients and patterns. UV-B surfaces showed a distinct seasonal variance, while the intensity of UV-B radiation decreased towards higher latitudes and was modified by topographic and climatic heterogeneity. UV-B surfaces were correlated with global mean temperature and annual mean radiation data, but exhibited variable spatial associations across the globe. Our dataset provides new climatological information that can be readily used for macroecological analyses. As UV-B is a known driver of numerous biological patterns and processes, our dataset can help us better understand these dynamics in macroecology, biogeography and global change research. The glUV dataset is freely available for download at: http://www.ufz.de/gluv. A collaborative project to assess the impacts of climate change on population trends Diana Bowler*, Peter Haase Ingrid Kröncke, Oliver Tackenberg, Hans-Günther Bauer, Rob Brooker, Michael Gerisch, Klaus Henle, Thomas Hickler, Christian Hof, Stefan Klotz, Ingolf Kühn, Silvia Matesanz, Hermann Neumann, Bob O'Hara, David Russell, Oliver Schweiger, Moritz Sonnewald, Stefan Stoll, Michael Türkay, Fernando Valladares, Kok van Herk, Karin Voigtländer, Eric Welk, Katrin Böhning-Gaese (1) Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany (2) Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Clamecystraße 12, 63571 Gelnhausen, Germany (3) Senckenberg am Meer, Südstrand 40, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Germany (4) Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute of Ecology, Evolution & Diversity, Max-von-Laue-Straße 13, D-60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany (5) Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Am Obstberg 1, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany (6) The James Hutton Institute, Macaulay Drive, Craigiebuckler Aberdeen, AB15 8QH Scotland, UK (7) Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Permoserstraße 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany (8) Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Theodor Lieserstraße 4, 06120 Halle, Germany (9) Departamento de Biología y Geología, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Móstoles 28933 Spain (10) Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz, Am Museum 1, 02826 Görlitz, Germany (11) Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut, Senckenberganlage 25, D-60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany (12) Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales CSIC, Serrano 115 dpdo. E-28006 Madrid, Spain (13) Lichenologisch Onderzoekbureau Nederland, Goudvink 47, NL-3766 WK Soest, Netherlands (14) Martin Luther University Halle Wittenberg, Institute of Biology, Am Kirchtor 1, 06108, Halle, Germany *e-mail address of presenting author: email@example.com Understanding variation in species response to climate change will help determine which communities and ecosystems are most at risk. In this project, we are forming a network of data owners with long-term population data sets collected on any taxonomic group in a region of Central Europe. In collaboration with data owners, we investigate the role of species traits (ecology, morphology, physiology, life history) in explaining variation in population trends among species. By comparing the relationship between population trends and traits of a broad range of species, we ask whether there are generalities in how local populations are affected by climate change. We focus on the importance of the thermal niche because it can be expected to mediate the direct impacts of changing temperatures due to climate change. We present results of our analyses of long-term terrestrial, freshwater and marine data sets. Climate, range-size distribution and specialization in planthummingbird networks across the New World Bo Dalsgaard*, Jesper Sonne, Carsten Rahbek Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Univ. of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark *firstname.lastname@example.com Quaternary spatio-temporal climate stability is thought to facilitate high degree of endemism and high biotic specialization. Although a link between endemism and biotic specialization is often expected, the idea lack support from empirical evidence. Using data for 57 plant-hummingbird mutualistic networks distributed across the New World and structural equation modeling, we here demonstrate a strong relationship between macroecological patterns of endemism measured as the proportion of range-restricted hummingbird species and community-level biotic specialization. Although degree of specialization and endemism were directly associated with measurements of contemporary and Quaternary climate stability, our structural equation modeling results indicate that endemism explains a considerable amount of unique variation in biotic specialization – more so than the other way around. The results are in accordance with the hypothesized interrelatedness of hotspots of range-restricted species and biotic specialization, and although this partly illustrates the link of these to contemporary and Quaternary climate, it also indicates the unique effect of a shared evolutionary history of coexistent species. This emphasizes the role of range-size distribution processes in shaping biotic specialization. Global spatial dependence of the bioclimatic and environmental variables on the mangrove ecosystem Arimatéa de Carvalho Ximenes*, Farid Dahdouh-Guebas 1 Laboratory of Systems Ecology and Resource Management, Université Libre de Bruxelles ULB, Av. F.D. Roosevelt 50, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium; and 2 Laboratory of Plant Biology and Nature Management, Vrije Universiteit Brussel VUB, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium. *firstname.lastname@example.com Mangroves constitute a wetland forest ecosystem scattered worldwide throughout the tropical and subtropical regions located in coastal environments. This study analyses the spatial dependence of the bioclimatic and environmental of mangroves variables commonly used in species distribution modelling to describe the environment. This study was done using the


Amorphous silicon nitride (SiNx) layers are widely used for the electronic passivation of surfaces in Si solar cells. However, measurements have consistently shown that the effective recombination velocity Seff increases with decreasing excess carrier density Δn < 1015 cm–3 at acceptor densities below 1017 cm–3. This poor performance is not observed at surfaces diffused with dopants, which requires an additional high temperature process during cell fabrication. Understanding the poor performance at low Δn may therefore provide strate gies for cost reduction in solar cell processing. This paper presents a detailed quantitative analysis of this effect. It is concluded that the lifetime is reduced to a value near 1 μs in a 100–500 nm thin region underneath the SiNx layer. We predict, that to avoid this effect, a mere tenfold reduction of the density of defect states in this region is sufficient. A possible explanation of this effect are defects caused by H‐termination during wafer pretreatment. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Implicit computational complexity. Loosely speaking, the aim of implicit computational complexity is to replace clocks (or other explicit resource bounds) with certificates. For example, if we consider polynomial time computation, the idea is to define a structured programming language whose programs are guaranteed to be polytime by construction, i.e., because they satisfy some syntactic condition, not because their execution is artificially stopped after a polynomial number of steps (which is the "explicit" definition used in computational complexity). At the same time, such a programming language must be expressive enough so that every polynomial time function may be somehow implemented. Notable early examples of such methodology are the work of Bellantoni and Cook [BC92], Leivant and Marion [LM93], and Jones [Jon99]. Although there is an annual international workshop on the topic,1 implicit computational complexity is a niche research subject which rarely appears in mainstream programming languages conferences. Nevertheless, it is thematically relevant, both in terms of techniques (type systems, proof theory, semantics. . . ) and potential applications (mostly program analysis [JHLM10, DLG11], but people like Patrick Baillot, Gilles Barthe and Ugo Dal Lago are starting to develop applications to the verification of cryptosystems).


The meaning and the interpretation of colors in a design combined with various feelings through the culture of card games coming down from ancient times can reflect the society of the times. If you look into the origin and genesis of trump card, Hwatu and tarot card, you will find that it has been developed and redefined as one of the honorable cultural products which hold the tradition and astonishing meaning of its region, not just simply fingering plaything in a subculture. In addition, an unconsciousness world that cannot be described with letters would be disclosed through the color image of cards so, it is deeply related to psychology of colors.


The chapter interrelationships between regional and global economic integration on the one hand, and the emergence of environmental and resource-oriented policies in developing countries, on the other hand are discussed in this chapter. The chapter discusses the notions and processes of sustainable development, globalization, and institutions, including their interrelations. Three types of agents are identified: economic agents (national and transnational corporations), political bodies (national governments and supranational development organizations), and civil-society organizations (in particular, non-governmental organizations). Global has had a positive effect on national environmental policies in developing countries (especially the creation of environmental institutions), but its impact has also been negative (related to the erosion of national governments' authority).The chapter explores the possibilities to overcome this drawback by constituting a "countervailing power," focusing on the economic, political, and environmental realities faced by African countries. The chapter concludes that civil society may play an important role to fill the environmental governance void in developing countries, but it will not provide a panacea.


A transgenic animal as originally defined by Gordon and Ruddle (1981), is an organism carrying recombinant molecules that were intentionally introduced by human intervention. Classically this entailed the stable integration of the transgene within the host animal's genome and its transmission to progeny through normal breeding programmes. Transgenic chicken holds great promise in basic biological research and in industrial applications. Beyond their intrinsic value as model systems in biological research, transgenic chickens hold promise in many commercial and industrial applications. Chickens deposit large amounts of proteins into their eggs (Ivarie, 2003). A transgenic chicken could conceivably function as a bioreactor for the production of commercially or pharmaceutically important proteins, which are difficult or impossible to produce economically in prokaryotic systems. Gene transfer technology may also prove to be a useful complement to traditional poultry breeding methods in the improvement of commercially important production traits such as growth and disease resistance. Both intra and inter-species transfer could be used to introduce genes controlling desirable physiological functions unavailable in the existing pool of genetic variation (Etches, International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 6 Number 7 (2017) pp. 4379-4386 Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com


The objective of the study was to provide empirical evidence about the effect of corporate social resposibility, size and profitability toward return. The population of this study was manufacturie companies listed in Indnesian Stock Exchange in 2010-2013. The sampling technique used purposive sampling and the analysis method used mutiple regresion. The result of the study proved that corporate social responsibility and size have not effect to return. While profitability have a positive effet toward return.


Obtaining valid iris texture is the precondition of iris based personal verification and identification. With a special camera, illumination environment and users' cooperation play an important role in capturing high quality iris image. However, the captured iris images are usually corrupted by partial occlusion (by eyelids and eyelashes) and white spots (from specular refection). An efficient scheme of obtaining valid iris texture is described in this paper. The described scheme includes two parts: a new algorithm for locating iris texture and a novel algorithm for segmenting corrupted iris texture. In order to overcome the drawbacks of traditional iris texture location methods, which are sensitive to white spots and occlusion, a new location algorithm is proposed. The proposed location algorithm is able to locate iris texture rapidly by avoiding the tremendous computation demands imposed by Canny detector, Hough transformation and integrodifferential operator. In addition, a novel segmentation algorithm is proposed in the latter part of this paper to exclude the occlusion regions from the corrupted annular iris texture. Experiments show that the proposed scheme is efficient and robust for obtaining valid iris texture, even if partial occlusion and white spots appear. Moreover, the average time cost of our scheme is about 150ms on Pentium IV 2.8GHz PC, which satisfies the real-time requirement.


The Influence of General Allocation Funds and Special Allocation Funds to Economic Growth in Banjarmasin City. Economic growth or economic growth is the aggregate increase in national income or increase in output within a certain time.The population in this study is the Government of Banjarmasin City of South Kalimantan Province. Hypothesis testing in this study using multiple linear regression. The have been collected is data analyzed first with classical assumption test then hypothesis tested by SPSS 20 test instrument. The results showed that the General Allocation Fund had a positive effect on economic growth. It was evident from the results of the t test obtained a significant value of 0.028 <α where (α = 0.05) and Special Allocation Funds the t test results were 0.002 <α where (α = 0.05). The most dominant variable influencing economic growth in Banjarmasin City is the Special Allocation Fund because it has the smallest probability.Keyword: General Allocation Funds, Special Allocation Funds dan Economic Growt.


An SIM(Subscriber Identity Module) card lock function cancellation system, an SIM card lock function cancellation method, and a controlling method of a mobile communication terminal having an SIM card lock function are provided to authenticate SIM card lock function cancellation even when authentication software for cancelling an SIM card lock function is not mounted, and to minimize consumption of system resources during an SIM card lock function cancellation process. When power of a terminal(100) mounted with an SIM card is applied, the terminal(100) demands locking function cancellation of the SIM card to an external SIM card lock function cancellation device(S110). The device demands transmission of terminal ID information(S112-S116). The device receives the ID information from the terminal(100) to identify the terminal(100), and demands transmission of SIM card information to the terminal(100)(S118-S124). The device decides whether the SIM card is usable, and if so, the device transmits an SIM card usage message to the terminal(100)(S126-S146). The terminal(100) receives the message, and cancels a lock function of the SIM card.


Objective To explore the adaptive response of EL-4 cycle progression induced by low dose radiation in vitro.Methods EL-4 lymphoma cells were irradiated with the inductive doses(D1:25-200 mGy,12.5 mGy/min)and the challenging dose(D2:0.5-3.0 Gy,287 mGy/min).The interval time between D1 and D2 was 6 h.The cell percentages of each cell cycle phase were measured with flow cytometry.Results The cell percentages of G0/G1 phase in the D1 + D2 group with25-100 mGy(D1)and 1.5 Gy(D2)or 75 mGy(D1)and 25-200 mGy(D2)were invaribly lower than those in the D2 group,while the cell percentages of S phase increased significantly(P0.05,P0.01 or P0.001).Conclusion The results suggest that EL-4 lymphoma cells were irradiated with 25-100 mGy at 6h before 1.0-2.0 Gy exposure.The low-dose radiation could induce the adaptive response of the cell cycle progression in vitro.


The widespread use of experimental benchmarks in AI research has created new competition and collaboration dynamics that are still poorly understood. In this paper we provide an innovative methodology to explore this dynamics and analyse the way different entrants in these competitions, from academia to tech giants, behave and react depending on their own or others' achievements. We perform an analysis of over twenty popular benchmarks in AI, linking their underlying research papers. We identify links between researchers and institutions (i.e., communities) beyond the standard co-authorship relations, and we explore a series of hypotheses about their behaviour as well as some aggregated results in terms of activity, breakthroughs and efficiency. As a result, we detect and characterise the dynamics of research communities at different levels of abstraction, including organisation, affiliation, trajectories, results and activity. Submission under review 1 Universidad de Oviedo, email: firstname.lastname@example.com 2 Universitat Politècnica de València, email: firstname.lastname@example.com, email@example.com 3 JRC, European Commission, email: email@example.com 4 University of Cambridge, email: firstname.lastname@example.com 1st International Workshop on Evaluating Progress in Artificial Intelligence EPAI 2020 In conjunction with the 24th European Conference on Artificial Intelligence ECAI 2020 Santiago de Compostela, Spain


An investigntion is msde of a variant of hydrodynamic theory of multiple particle production in which the hydrodynamic stage is limited to unidimensional motion. By use of an approximate solution of the fundamental system of relativistic hydrodynamic equations and the method of successive approximations, it is possible to show that a one-dimensional approximation gives a good result all the way to final temperatures T/sub k/~ (1.5 to 2) mu c/sup 2/k ( mu is the mass of the pion and k is the Boltzmann constant). The use of a unidimensional approximation msde it possible to analyze relatively simply the dependence of certain characteristics (for example the energy) of intersction of high energy particles on the parameters of the theory (initial volume, final temperature). Comparison of the theoretical and experimental data leads to the conclusion that T/sub k/ ~ c/sup 2/k; this leads to a tertative deduction that nt this temperature the cross section of the interaction of secondary particles (apparentiy pions) is of the same order as the geometrical cross section.


Pituitary incidentalomas are almost completely asymptomatic,and therefore usually being detected either at autopsy or as incidental findings on head MRI(or CT) scans performed for other reasons having nothing to do with pituitary gland.The rate about finding pituitary incidentalomas in autopsy is about 10.7%,higher than it in imageology.10 % of microadenomas and 24 % of macroade-nomas will be enlarged if patients with pituitary incidentalomas can not get treatments.Therefore,MRI scans should be performed on these patients to make sure whether there is an enlargement about the tumor which is an specific indication for surgery.This article re-views the the literature about pituitary incidentalomas.


With human resources becoming the focus of attention,human resource accounting is gaining popularity and its appearance and development have widened the scope and horizon of accounting.The essay expounds the concept of human resource accounting,model of human resource business accounting and problems in the basic theory of human resource accounting.


The total cross section for the {gamma}n{r_arrow}p{pi}{sup {minus}}{pi}{sup 0} reaction has been measured over the photon energy range 450{endash}800 MeV at the 855 MeV MAMI Microtron in Mainz with the large acceptance detector DAPHNE and using a deuterium target. As expected, this reaction has a very similar cross section to the {gamma}p{r_arrow}n{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup 0} channel and its amplitude is strongly underestimated by the existing double pion photoproduction models. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}


With safety aspects due to closer human-robot interaction and increased requirements in energy effiency due to mobile applications, series elastic joint concepts receive high priority in contemporary robotics. Beyond making robots more safe and flexbile, such concepts can store energy and thus optimize the energetic efficiency of the robot's motion. Therefore adjusting the stiffness is advantageous, since the natural frequency of the drive train and the frequency of the desired trajectory can be matched [1, 2].


The last decade has seen increasing evidence of dysfunctions in the endogenous cannabinoid system in schizophrenia and of its relation with the typical cognitive impairment of the disorder. Studies in animal models, healthy volunteers, and psychotic patients clearly suggest an antipsychotic-like effect of cannabidiol (CBD). This study investigated the effects of CBD on selective attention in 28 schizophrenic patients with the Stroop Color Word Test (SCWT) and on these patients' electrodermal responsiveness to auditive stimuli. The subjects attended two experimental sessions, the first one without the administration of drugs. In the second session the subjects were divided into three groups that received a single dose of CBD 300 mg or CBD 600 mg or placebo. Improved performance was found in all three groups comparing the first and the second session, with patients who received placebo and CBD 300 mg performing better than those who received CBD 600 mg. The single, acute administration of CBD seems to have no beneficial effects on the performance of schizophrenic patients in the SCWT, although the hypothesis that the chronic administration may lead to improvement cannot be disregarded.


Human Thymine DNA glycosylase or hTDG was first discovered in 1993 in Josef Jiricny's laboratory from HeLa cells extract [1]. Thymine DNA glycosylase was named because of its ability to excise T from G∙T mispair which predominantly arise due to spontaneous deamination of 5-methyl cytosine at CpG sites in mammals by AID/APOBEC enzyme [2]. Initially TDG attracted attention due to its DNA repair activity initiating Base Excision Repair (BER) pathway. Participating in BER TDG protect our genome from hazardous mutation. Subsequent research on TDG opens up many new insights of TDG's structure, function and mechanism. Few recent discoveries like, TDG is essential for embryonic development, interacts with many transcription factors and regulates gene expression and its important role in active DNA demethylation brought TDG in limelight of research especially in the field of epigenetic. Thus in mammal TDG is an essential enzyme with multifunctional activity.


It was in 1853, when Turks still kept guards at the Belgrade fortress, that the first Belgrade Choral Society was founded. During their first period the Society's repertoire consisted of Liedertafel pieces composed mainly by German authors. In 1864 new statutes made provision for works by Slavonic and Serbian composers. The idea for the foundation of the Belgrade National Theatre (1868) also grew up within the Society. The choir toured a number of cities which are now on the territory of Yugoslavia, but were then under Turkish or Austro-Hungarian rule and after 1894 tours were organized to different foreign countries. An important contribution to the development of musical culture in Serbia was made in 1899, when the first Serbian Music School in Belgrade was founded under the Society's auspices. – It is interesting to note the Yugoslav character of the Society's policy, especially the activity of the first conductor who was not a Serb, but the Slovenian musician Davorin Jenko. Two Croats were also elected as the Society's presidents. During the hunderd and seventeen years of its existence, the Society's choir has been directed by almost 50 conductors, among them the most prominent conductors, composers, teachers and organizers of musical life in Serbia. By their manifold activities the First Belgrade Choral Society was able to lay solid foundations for the development of musical culture in Serbia.


In an effort to reduce vehicle crime in the UK, 22 percent of which occurs in car parks, London's Westminster City Council is testing a new automated parking management system that combines automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology with electronic tagging and radio frequency identification (RFID). Launched in 2001, the Integrated Recognition and Identification System (IRIS) was developed by Police5 a Wales-based company. The ANPR installation automatically captures and stores the number plate of a registered vehicle and cross checks it with the database of registered vehicles. If the two match, the parking barrier opens automatically.


Several compounds have been prepared to the treatment of breast cancer; however, some of these drugs may produce some adverse effects. The objective of this investigation carried out the synthesis of two azete-phenylene-dibenzoic acid derivatives (compounds 4 or 5) and analyze its theoretical interaction with the BRCA-1 protein surface. The preparation of 4 and 5 was carried out using a series of reactions which involves; i) addition (2 + 2); ii) etherification and iii) formation of allylamino groups. Chemical structure of azete derivatives was carried out using elemental analysis and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra. The following stage involved the theoretical evaluation of the interaction of both compounds 7 or 8 with BRCA-1 protein surface using a docking model. The results showed that compound 4 could bound to the different type of aminoacid residues of BRCA-1 protein compared with 5. All these data indicate that both compounds could be an alternative therapy for treatment of breast cancer via BRCA-1 protein inhibition.


Our corn hybrid evaluation program for corn silage at Penn State began in 2001 to develop a corn hybrid evaluation program with the objective of meeting industry and producer needs. We developed a partnership with the Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania and initiated an advisory team that consisted of seed industry representatives, dairy nutritionists, and dairy producers. We also have partnered with a commercial laboratory to provide their perspective on forage analysis techniques. Currently that laboratory is Cumberland Valley Analytical Services in Waynesboro Pennsylvania. One of the challenges we have encountered is the lack of consistency in the industry in the evaluation of corn silage quality and interpretation. In this presentation, we will discuss some of the foundations of our program and the directions for the future.


One of the basic methods for joining composites are adhesive joints. In contrast to traditional methods used in connecting metal structures (bolting, riveting), bonding ensures uniform stress distribution. Bonding requires appropriate technological conditions and proper surface preparation. In the case of bonding composites, surface preparation methods are based on mechanical processing. The authors conducted a study to compare the different methods of surface preparation used in the adhesive bonding of composites. As a parameter defining the efficiency of the method, stress failure in a tensile test was used. Specimens were made based on the ASTM-D1002 standard using a carbon-epoxy prepreg and DP-490 3M adhesive. The article contains the results of tensile tests for three types of surface treatment.


Summary form only given. Detection of human physical status is an important aspect of context awareness of modern health monitoring systems. In this paper, an approach for tracking body status by array signals from wearable body accelerometer sensors is presented. The method presented here is based on extended Kalman filter (EKF). The EKF takes the outputs of activity (standing, lying down and sitting) classifiers as the a priori knowledge of body postures and further computes the precise body posture and movement. This approach has been applied to activity monitoring and the experimental results indicate that the EKF are able to track various human activities with good accuracy.


Purpose – The paper describes the test of preexistent scales to measure behaviors of personal financial management, buying impulsiveness and financial strain Design/methodology/approach – From the back translation of scales published in English, an empirical research was carried out to certify the reliability and validity of these instruments. A survey through the internet was carried out with 195 respondents (postgraduate students and teachers from five Brazilian states, connected to business administration courses). Findings – The scales are reliable and showed construct validity. In the examination of scales' nomological validity, there is a negative relation between  buying impulsineness and financial management. Financial manegement has a negative effect on financial strain, and partially mediates the positive relationship between impulsiveness and financial strain. Originality/value – Results motivates the use of the scales in order to evaluate this trait of personal competence, supporting programs of financial education and the marketing planning of credit institutions.


An asymmetry in the angular distribution of slow particles in the azimuthal plane has been observed during high energy nuclear disintegration of photo emulsion nuclei exposed to 1.8 GeV/c k - and 20 GeV/c protons. The mechanism of disintegration is not in accordance with the cascade-evaporation model, which is based on isotropic emission of slow particles. Deviation from isotropy indicates that some of the slow particles might be emitted well before the thermal equilibrium is reached in the disintegrating system.


The coating with different kinds of microstructure was obtained through electroless plating by adjusting processing parameters.X-ray diffraction results show that these coating have amorphous,nanocrystalline structure or the mixture of both,respectively.The further results about interfacial tensiometer analysis indicate that these coating are hydrophobic with lower surface energy,and no linear corresponding relation between the surface energy and the microstructure.Compared with the uncoated stainless steel sample,anti-fouling experiments show that these coating can inhibit greatly the adhesion of crystallization fouling.Differential thermal analysis(DTA) results also indicate that the formation of nanocrystalline phase can improve the thermal stability of the coating.This conclusion provides a good theoretic fundamental study for the application of the coating in anti-fouling heat exchanger.


This method is superior to the conventional "over-the-needle" technique in many ways. The early appearance of blood in the hub of the needle facilitated by the heparinized flush in it might prevent a puncture of the posterior wall of the artery at the outset. Furthermore, it provides continuous evidence of the presence of a patent nondistorted cannula inside the artery from puncture to threading, as evidenced by a rising column of blood in the hub followed by the cover. Finally, the long length of the cover attached to the hub prevents the spillage of blood and may be particularly useful in infected individuals. The described technique is a no-hurry, no-spillage method of arterial cannulation that is very useful for teaching novices. The total volume of the cannula hub and cover is 2 mL, and most of the time the entire cannulation is over with a blood loss less than 1 mL, which is an important consideration in pediatric patients. The Seldinger technique is a 2-stage procedure requiring more skill, and it causes more spillage of blood while exchanging the needle with a guidewire. Gerber et al 1 prospectively compared wire-guided and conventional nonwire-guided arterial cannulation and did not find any superiority of the former technique, except in patients with absent or weak pulses. In the "over-the-wire" Seldinger technique, apart from the fact that intra-arterial positioning and patency of the cannula are not evident until the guidewire is removed, strict asepsis is also mandatory to prevent guidewire contamination. Therefore, the routine use of the Seldinger technique can significantly increase the cost and procedure time of arterial cannulation. Although our modified technique has been described before, 2 filling the cannula with saline to improve arterial puncture and its multiple advantages over the Seldinger technique have not been reported in the literature. We have been practicing this method for quite some time with a very high success rate. To the best of our knowledge, only 1 manufacturer (BD Insyte-W 20-G 48 mm and 22-G 25 mm; Becton Dickinson Infusion Therapy Systems Inc, Sandy, UT) supplies cannulas with a cover having both ends open and fitting properly with the hub. Therefore, we recommend that in view of its distinct advantages (this is the only technique that foretells the success of arterial cannulation without the need for observing the spurt of blood), all arterial cannulas should preferably have a transparent cover that can be fitted easily into the hub of the cannula or a long hub.


surface.Saturation flow decreases by 16%, speed and acceleration decreases by 30%, and start-up lost time increases by 27% .Based on the signal control theory of HCM and Webster and the character values of traffic flow under different road environment, the reasonable valuation of cycle length, green ratio, offset, yellow time and red time were analysed, the impact factors and the changes in scope of signal control parameters tmder icy road environment were accessed. Simulation results show that the normal signal control plan can increase delay, queue length and traffic congestion under icy road environment. Therefore, the traffic signal control system should address the suitable signal control plan based on different mad environments.


We seek to create fixed-length features from dorsal finger skin images extracted by the SURF interest point detector to combine it in the privacy enhancing helper data scheme. The source of the biometric samples is the GUC45 database which features finger vein, fingerprint and dorsal finger skin images for modality fusion. First, the region of interest (ROI) is extracted, after which SURF features are extracted, and finally two different approaches for creating fixed length feature vectors are applied. SURF performance on the ROI is comparable to the PolyU database reported in the literature, namely an equal error rate of 0.74%. Of the two explored approaches for fixed-length features creation, averaging the descriptor components proved the most successful, achieving an equal error rate of 11.72%. Potential run-time performance increases were discovered as a side-effect. Without changing the complexity of the SURF matching scheme, a reduction in run-time of 75%-80% has been achieved, with only minimal precision loss; EER increases from 0.74% to 1%. The complexity of the matching can be reduced from O(n2) to constant time, but at a higher precision cost and resulting in an EER of 16.51%.


Abstract
 We report the first confirmed Myotis sodalis (Indiana Bat) maternity colony in Virginia, discovered at Fort A.P. Hill Military Reservation in Caroline County along the Piedmont-Coastal Plain Fall Line. Acoustic surveys conducted in 2014 indicated likely presence of Indiana Bats on the installation. Subsequent focal mist-netting during May–June 2015 resulted in capture of 4 lactating females that we subsequently radio tracked to a maternity colony site containing at least 20 individuals. The core roosting-area was comprised of Pinus taeda (Loblolly Pine) snags with abundant exfoliating bark and high solar exposure. This forest patch was adjacent to a large emergentshrub wetland and within a larger matrix of mature, mid-Atlantic hardwood forests. The site where we found the colony location is 140 km east of the nearest known hibernaculum and is outside of the previously documented extent of this species' occurrence.


Summary

A patient treated for routine dental care had a medical history of temporoman-dibular joint trauma. A pretreatment panoramic radiograph showed evidence of a fractured condyle; however, further radiographic testing showed no fracture and that the original fracture seen was an artifact. This artifact may have been caused by superimposition of ear cartilage over the mandibular condyle during radiography.

By coincidence, the patient was injured in an area that fit the original radiographic observation of a condylar fracture. However, it would be rare to find a condyle with the distal portion fractured at the angle indicated on the radiograph, and unusual for such a condition to remain undetected for 9 years. Remodeling of the bone would have been expected, and this would affect the appearance of the supposed fracture.


We unify and generalize several known results about systems of random polynomials. We first classify all orthogonally invariant normal measures for spaces of polynomial mappings. For each such measure we calculate the expected number of real zeros. The results for invariant measures extend to underdetermined systems, giving the expected volume for orthogonally invariant random real projective varieties. We then consider noninvariant measures, and show how the real zeros of random polynomials behave under direct sum, tensor product and composition.


To use solar energy into electricity, a solar panel system is needed which of course uses solar panels. As we know, a solar panel system has quite a lot of non-linear equipment, for example is an inverter. The use of this inverter will affect the power quality of the output of solar panels, one of which is disturbance. At a frequency range of 9 – 150 kHz, electrical equipment with an inverter will produce a disturbance in the system. So, in this paper, the study was conducted to observe the characteristics of the disturbance frequency of 9 – 150 kHz towards total demand distortion on on-grid solar system in the electrical system at the gas station so that it can be used as a guide for future disturbance and solar energy research.


Social comparison research suggests that people seek upward comparisons if the achievement seems attainable, but avoid them if it appears unattainable. This experiment (N = 169) manipulated attainability by presenting body-improvement articles about dieting/exercising (experimental group) or body-unrelated articles (control group). Social comparison choices were recorded through selective advertisement exposure, as participants browsed a computerized magazine with both "ideal body" ads and "regular person" ads. Body satisfaction was measured before and after exposure. Body-dissatisfied readers in the control group circumvented ideal body ads compared to satisfied readers. Body-dissatisfied participants in the experimental group viewed ideal body images longer than in the control group. No impact of ideal body imagery exposure on body satisfaction was found.


Processing the Si3N4 ceramic is a big challenge because of its high hardness and brittleness. Femtosecond (fs) laser is an excellent method to process the Si3N4 ceramic. However, the temporal evolution of the fs laser induced plasma from the initialization to the disappearance is still lacking for deeply understanding the laser-matter mechanisms. In this study, we employ the pump-probe shadowgraphy and the ultrafast plasma imaging to observe the whole shockwave evolution on Si3N4 ceramic. We find that the shockwave propagates in a spherical law and the velocity of shockwave decreases rapidly in the first 50 ns, and finally approaches to the speed of sound at the delay of 430 ns. The relationship between plasma melting, expansion and shockwave propagation was revealed to provide further insight into the fs laser ablation of Si3N4 ceramic.


This article examines the middle management representations of organization and managerial roles within a specific bicultural organizational context. The argument explores the extant cross-cultural management literature and identifies two predominant positions: a functionalist-stable stance and a dynamically interpretive perspective of culture. Historically, both positions have contributed to understanding management roles and behaviours in different cross-cultural contexts; however, each also possesses limitations. In response, the argument elaborates a multi-paradigmatic model and framework that synergise elements of the respective approaches. An interpretive methodology using a distinctive qualitative case study of the Franco-German collaborative media venture ARTE is developed. The researchers conducted 31 interviews with French and German ARTE middle managers in order to determine their perceptions of middle-manager roles in this context. The article identified differences in managerial role perceptions and behaviours as well as hybrid working practices as a result of intercultural adaptation and learning in addition to implications, limitations and future directions in the study.


Subtitle: Deliveries of RTGs have declined, but high demand for RMGs and automated units continues, writes Brian Robinson. Tables: RTG/RMG cranes delivered in 2007.


The paper introduces an embedded flow rate measurement system with a user interface to visualize data. The sensor transfers flow data to the microcontroller through I2C protocol. The microcontroller then wirelessly transmits data to a laptop by Bluetooth low energy. Qt creator is used to develop a user interface to visualize the flow rate waveform and Bluetooth profile of the device. Clinical Relevance— Respiration induced motion introduces uncertainties in radiotherapy treatment of the lung. The treatment field is often wide to compensate and invariably leads to irradiation of healthy tissues. Respiratory gating is one of the solutions [1] and this requires a real-time respiratory monitoring system. It should also be minimal in order to not physically interfere with the treatment setup or cause anxiety to the patient.


The corrosion behavior of X52 steel in CO2/H2S saturated aqueous solution of 5% NaCl at a temperature of 35℃ was investigated based on measurement of potentio-dynamic polarization curve and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and weight loss test in combination with surface analysis by means of scanning electron microscopy,energy dispersive spectrometry,and X-ray diffraction.It was found that the X52 steel was dominated by H2S corrosion in the selected test conditions.The corrosion rate decreased with increasing test time and tended to reach steady.The corrosion product film had two-layer structure.The outer layer was more compact and enriched with Fe and S elements,while the inner layer was looser and enriched with Fe and O elements.Such a kind of two-layer structure of the corrosion product film might be related to its ion selectivity.


Algal aquaculture worldwide is estimated to be a $5–6 billion U.S. per year industry. The largest portion of this industry is represented by macroalgal production for human food in Asia, with increasing activity in South America and Africa. The technical foundation for a shift in the last half century from wild harvest to farming of seaweeds lies in scientific research elucidating life histories and growth characteristics of seaweeds with economic interest. In several notable cases, scientific breakthroughs enabling seaweed‐aquaculture advances were not motivated by aquaculture needs but rather by fundamental biological or ecological questions. After scientific breakthroughs, development of practical cultivation methods has been accomplished by both scientific and commercial‐cultivation interests. Microalgal aquaculture is much smaller in economic impact than seaweed cultivation but is the subject of much research. Microalgae are cultured for direct human consumption and for extractable chemicals, but current use and development of cultured microalgae is increasingly related to their use as feeds in marine animal aquaculture. The history of microalgal culture has followed two main paths, one focused on engineering of culture systems to respond to physical and physiological needs for growing microalgae and the other directed toward understanding the nutritional needs of animals—chiefly invertebrates such as mollusks and crustaceans—that feed upon microalgae. The challenge being addressed in current research on microalgae in aquaculture food chains is to combine engineering and nutritional principles so that effective and economical production of microalgal feed cultures can be accomplished to support an expanding marine animal aquaculture industry.


Tetraquarks, bound states composed of two quarks and two antiquarks, have been the subject of intense study but have yet to be understood from first principles. Previous studies of fully-heavy tetraquarks in nonrelativistic effective field theories of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) suggest different conclusions for their existence. We apply variational and Green's function Monte Carlo methods to compute tetraquarks' ground- and excited-state energies in potential nonrelativistic QCD. We robustly demonstrate that fully-heavy tetraquarks are bound in QCD for sufficiently heavy quark masses. We also predict the masses of tetraquark bound states comprised of $b$ and $c$ quarks, which are experimentally accessible, and suggest possible resolutions for previous theoretical discrepancies.


'Quizi(s),' 'Tal vez': Free Variants?" (Hispania, 55 [May, 1972], 320-27) examined in detail the distribution and function of the three Spanish equivalents to English 'perhaps." He demonstrated that acaso, especially in Spanish America, is rarely followed by the subjunctive, and that it frequently appears in rhetorical questions where it has the meaning "by chance." The data indicated that quiza(s) is followed more frequently by the subjunctive than by the indicative; but the subjunctive is largely confined to sentences with future time reference. The article stated that tal vez, the most frequent adverb of possibility in American Spanish, governs subjunctive more often that indicative. This analysis, part of a broader study, suggested to me a pilot survey of acaso, quizd(s) and tal vez which might point out trends to be researched in a comprehensive, computer-assisted project. My sample consists of twentieth-century Spanish American works, geographically distributed throughout the area, and including all genres. The sample includes ten novels, 15 dramas, ten essays and seven issues each of three different newspapers. See the list of works consulted at the end of this study.) I determined for each adverb and for the entire sample the percentage of subjunctive vs. indicative constructions and of present-reference vs. past. I also calculated the percentage represented by each tense in the entire sample and for each adverb. I then broke down the re-


Palaeoceanographic changes can act as drivers of diversification and speciation, even in highly mobile marine organisms. Shearwaters are a group of globally distributed and highly mobile pelagic seabirds. Despite a recent well‐resolved phylogeny, shearwaters have controversial species limits, and show periods of both slow and rapid diversification. Here, we explore the role of palaeoceanographic changes on shearwaters' diversification and speciation. We investigate shearwater biogeography and the evolution of a key phenotypic trait, body size, and we assess the validity of their current taxonomy.


It is essential to automatically distinguish epileptic seizure forms of electroencephalography (EEG) signals in assisting in clinical diagnosis and monitoring of epilepsy. We found there is a special phenomenon that limits the ability to accurately identify epileptic forms. Some non-epileptic EEG signals show similar features to that of epileptic ones. We call such epileptic-like abnormalities boundary-type signals. Considering the existence of such type of signals, in this work a novel workflow employing deep learning is put forward for an automated seizure detection and epilepsy diagnosis. To distinguish the boundary type prior to the classification, a generative model, deep convolutional generative adversarial network, is employed, which is trained to find a representative time frequency diagram for the non-epileptic data, so as to distinguish more implicit boundary-type signals. Next, a structure-modified VGG16, a deep convolutional neural network is trained to detect normal and seizure classes. Tested on the Bonn University database, the proposed method achieved good performance.


Long-term experiments are indispensable for investigations on the long-term effects of various crop production methods and technologies. The long-term experiments set up in Martonvasar by Bela Győrffy are now 50 years old and can be considered as part of the national heritage. The most important of these experiments involve crop rotation vs. monoculture trials, the comparison of fertilisation systems, studies on the interactions and carry-over effects of organic and mineral fertilisers, fertiliser rate experiments and polyfactorial experiments. The long-term experiments in Martonvasar form an integral part of maize and wheat research and provide a place for testing the agronomic responses of maize hybrids and wheat varieties. Valuable scientific results are obtained from these experiments regarding the reasons for yield depression in monocultures, the yieldincreasing effect of crop rotations, the comparative benefits of organic and mineral fertilisation, the agronomic responses of genotypes, the sustainab...


M. Zoghi & M. Alivandivafa (2014). EFL Reading Anxiety Inventory (EFLRAI): Factorial Validity and Reliability. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 32: 318-329. Original DOI: 10.1177/0734282913513686 In the above article, there were errors in the author's affiliation. The revised affiliations are shown below. Masoud Zoghi, Department of ELT, Ahar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahar, Iran Marziyeh Alivandivafa, Department of Psychology, East Azarbaijan Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran


Sustainability of agricutural building's behavior is important characteristic which influence not only expenditure of its design, building and management, but also the choice of housing, working safety, and ease of implementation of these decisions. Models of sustainability assessment suggested in scientific and special literature are based by only several different criteria, so in that way sustainability connot be measured overall. There is no single summarizing indicator which would cover all the aspects of the building's sustainability behavior. The aim of this article is to present methodology for assessment of the agricultural building's sustainability behavior. Presented methodology is based on "Copras" method of multi – criteria evaluation which is build on selected and justified 76 criteria, and they are grouped in 12 parts. It also includes innovative recommendations for the experts' assessment for using mentioned criteria. JEL Codes: C02, C51, Q56, Q58, R01.


Au-polyimide nanocomposites have been synthesized by implanting different doses of Au+ ions in 100nm thick films of pyromellitic dianhydride-4,4′ oxydianiline polyimide, prepared by glow discharge vapor deposition polymerization. Unambiguous evidence of Au nanoclusters growth is found only at the highest implantation doses (5×1016Au+∕cm2). Structural, compositional, and optical characterizations show that the implantation induces the compactation of the initial film due to H and C loss. The resulting structure is a composite containing 2–3nm gold nanoparticles arranged in a layer of about 40nm and, just beneath the sample surface, a 15nm thick carbon-rich layer. Optical simulations suggest the presence of a gold-carbon core-shell structure in the nanoparticles.


Glaucoma is a chronic condition that may lead to visual field loss and potential blindness. Although, it is considered to be incurable it can be managed with the aid of eye drops. However, patients are frequently nonadherent to their medication regimen and therefore experience decreased overall health outcome. It is important that healthcare professionals possess adequate knowledge to engage with patients in encouraging and educating them to increase their health literacy and adhere to their medicine regimen. This paper examines final year pharmacy students" understanding of glaucoma, its management and recognising its symptoms in a community setting. A 10 question survey was specially designed for pharmacy students, testing their baseline knowledge without the use of external sources such as a BNF or NICE guidelines. It was found that students showed inadequate knowledge of glaucoma with only 34.4% of the participants knowing the aetiology of primary open angle glaucoma. Although this study is small in sample size, it follows a pattern found in various studies using other health care professional students. Therefore, it appears a problem exists in the teaching of glaucoma in universities.


ABSTRACT Identity formation is particularly challenging for stigmatized minorities. The minority stress model (MSM) posits that both negative stereotypes and their internalization represent stressors. There is evidence that this applies to the gifted, too. However, their status is ambiguous, given that both negative and positive stereotypes exist. Furthermore, individual wellbeing also hinges on one's identity stage, as outlined in the Cass identity model (CIM). The CIM was applied to gifted identity development in a survey of 742 high-IQ society members (16–79 years). Identity stages could be reliably and validly assessed with a new measure and were related to adjustment and coping as expected. Latent class analysis revealed four groups, which resembled the CIM, but with a few notable exceptions. Ordinal-logistic regression showed that years since first suspicion and since diagnosis of giftedness predicted group membership. In sum, identity development in the gifted examined here shows similarities with the CIM stages (which are differentially related to wellbeing and feelings toward one's own giftedness) but has its own specific characteristics, too.


One function of a vehicle traffic flow guidance system is route optimization.Given a set of OD pair,there could be many possible routes for a driver to get his destination.A useful traffic flow guidance system should have the capability to effectively support the driver to find an optimal route by his preference.In this paper,different kinds of the driver requirements are fully considered.Based on gray relation analysis theory and the improved AHP,an optimal route selection method to a driver's preference is proposed.


It was shown that the piezoelectric power generation can be boosted by using the synchronized switch power conditioning circuits. This letter reports a self-powered and self-sensing mechatronic design in substitute of the auxiliary electronics towards a compact and universal synchronized switch solution. The design criteria are derived based on the conceptual waveforms and a two-degree-of-freedom analytical model. Experimental result shows that, compared to the standard bridge rectifier interface, the mechatronic design leads to an extra 111% increase of generated power from the prototyped piezoelectric generator under the same deflection magnitude excitation. The proposed design has introduced a valuable physical insight of electromechanical synergy towards the improvement of piezoelectric power generation.


This feature reviews an innovative method of determining the influence of the degree of repellency on the amount of ink adsorbed during the printing process. Repellency is expressed by the Cobb 60 coefficient and wetting time. The feature establishes relationships between the mass of printing ink remaining of the print and the degree of sizing and other paper parameters such as: fibre and filler Composition, sizing, grammage, thickness, apparent density, smoothness, Cobb value, wetting time and ash content. The knowledge of these relationships will facilitate improved control of the papermaking process, enabling papermakers to engineer papers for their end use. The papers were printed under standard conditions using a Rolland Practika offset sheet feed press and an IGT apparatus. A cobalt pigment was added to the ink to enable analysis of the ink which is transferred to the paper in very small quantities. During the chemical analysis on SPECOL, the weight of ink adsorbed by each of the 10 paper samples was determined. To confirm the observations, the concentration of cobalt on the printed papers surface was measured with ICP - MS. The following conclusion was drawn: an increase in the degree of paper repellency is followed by a decrease of ink weight on the surface of the printed papers. Due to other paper properties, this is not a linear relation. The analysis shows significant differences in the degree of ink adsorption between papers with almost the same Cobb 60 coefficient values.


To find effective and practical methods to distinguish gas-liquid two-phase flow patterns, new flow pattern maps are established using the differential pressure through a classical Venturi tube. The differential pressure signal was first decomposed adaptively into a series of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) by the ensemble empirical mode decomposition. Hilbert marginal spectra of the IMFs showed that the flow patterns are related to the amplitude of the pressure fluctuation. The cross-correlation method was employed to sift the characteristic IMF, and then the energy ratio of the characteristic IMF to the raw signal was proposed to construct flow pattern maps with the volumetric void fraction and with the two-phase Reynolds number, respectively. The identification rates of these two maps are verified to be 91.18% and 92.65%. This approach provides a cost-effective solution to the difficult problem of identifying gas-liquid flow patterns in the industrial field.


A dehydro-thermal treatment has been used to crosslink α-amylase (EC 3,2,1,1)-poly(vinyl alcohol) blends in order to reduce their water solubility and to favour their potential use as bio-artificial polymeric materials based on enzymes. The influence of a thermal treatment on the thermal and biological stability of the enzyme blended with a synthetic polymer was carefully studied by means of calorimetry and biological assays. The values of the kinetic parameters obtained from the biological assays indicate that the enzyme specificity for the substrate in all the blends examined is not affected by the thermal treatment. In addition, the results of the releasing tests showed that the thermally crosslinked α-amylase-poly(vinyl alcohol) blends can be considered suitable for manifacturing delivery systems able to release enzymes.


To select the extraction process of total peony glycoside(TPG) from Paeonia veitchii Lynvh. HPLC was used to control paeoniflorin as indicators. By comparison with the two purification methods for TPG, The results showed: yield of TPG and content of paeoniflofin were higher with macroporous resin. Paeoniflofin in Paeonia veitchii Lynvh is more than 77% of the content.


A nonlinear variance equation has been derived and applied to the threshold voltage of a 0.1 /spl mu/m SOI MOS device. The equation enabled an analysis of the effects of process-parameter fluctuations to be made. The analysis showed that the effect of the nonlinear terms (15.48%) is more important than the effect of the mixed term (0.02%), and almost as important as the contribution of the second most dominant input-process parameter (21.98%). This illustrates the importance of the proposed nonlinear equation.


When the non-freezeable (bound, amorphous, vitreous) water of pea or soybean embryos is examined by dielectric methods, three state transitions can be observed. The lowest occurs at the glass transition temperature (Tg) of pure amorphous water, is invariant with water content and is probably associated with crystal defects and other interfaces. The second, at about -60°C, is dependent upon water content and probably reflects rotational mobility of side chains (β-transition). It can be seen by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) as well, but the energies are too small to detect by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The third is the glass transition, which reflects the increase in diffusional mobility in the sample. The increase in fluidity can be measured by DMA and the increase in heat capacity of water is detectable by DSC. This is the transition that has been associated with changes in seed storage stability. Heretofore, DSC has been the method of choice because of its availability, familiarity and its ease of operation and interpretation. However, at low sample water contents, DSC signals become small and diffuse and the assignment of Tg becomes difficult. Because DMA is the most sensitive to local motion, it provides the most credible information on changes in sample viscosity that occur during glass transition. We have recently examined embryos in the Perkin-Elmer DMA-7 and found that DMA provides richer data for these studies than does DSC.


In 2009 and 2010, withdrawal rates from a Pharmacology unit of accelerated QUT nursing students in the first year of their degree, were higher than for continuing students. The cohort of 216 accelerated students in 2011 had university or non-university qualification or equivalent experience and included domestic and international students. A previously tested intervention was introduced in 2011 to improve retention rates and support all Pharmacology students in their first year of nursing. The intervention involved a community website, on-line tutors and an "O week" workshop comprising information about library resources, effective learning strategies and learning tips from a previous student as well as review anatomy, physiology and microbiology lectures. Withdrawal rates for accelerated students in the Pharmacology unit improved and all students found the workshop and review lectures to be informative and valuable. The intervention was therefore successfully transferred to a large, diverse cohort of accelerated nursing students.


According to the research on City Spatial Development Strategy planning of Guiyang, this thesis found the challenges which urban planning of Guiyang is facing. This thesis suggests that urban planning should take the environment, capacity, development and spatial contrition of the city into account. This thesis also has opinions for focus issues on urban planning.


The invention discloses a method of estimating channel quality indication (CQI) in a time division duplex (TDD) system. The method is as follows: according to the shared reference signal transmitted by the base station, the terminal estimates the channel, obtains the channel estimation matrix on each downlink subcarrier; using the channel estimation matrix of the subcarrier in the sub-band frequency, to obtain the channel estimation matrix corresponding to the sub-band frequency; using the channel estimation matrix corresponding to the sub-band frequency, to obtain the pre-coding matrix used by the sub-band frequency at next downlink transmission; using the channel estimation matrix of the subcarrier in the sub-band frequency and the pre-coding matrix of the sub-band frequency, to compute CQI corresponding to the sub-band frequency. The invention also discloses a user terminal. Adopting the invention, when using the non-codebook pre-coding processing mode in the TDD system, and when the terminal estimates CQI of the downlink channel, the pre-coding grain is embodied in CQI, and more accurate downlink channel quality information can be obtained.


Narcotic drugs have inspired much storytelling and literary dreaming, if rather less actual writing. Of those few novels that slide out of the smoke on to paper, we assume addiction is a requisite for authenticity and yet an enormous hindrance to productivity. After all, it is hardly playing by the rules of decadence and dereliction to find the willpower and tenacity to finish a manuscript. But a tiny number do convince the public that theirs is a genuine account of an addiction whose clutches the writer escaped for long enough to scribble down a compelling narrative. The first sentence of the novel begins, "Bombay, which obliterated its own history by changing its name and surgically altering its face, is the hero or heroin of this story, a great and broken city." The opening sentence runs on for seven pages and sets the tone of the novel. The narrator has left New York City after being caught trying to buy drugs. Upon arrival in Bombay, he immediately finds an opium den and begins his descent into the squalid world of poverty, prostitutes, and pyali. Episode after episode for year after year for more than 30 years, the drug use and casual sex continue with little evidence of redeeming social value. The city, which is as much the center of the novel as the narrator, remakes itself in the course of the novel. Called Mumbai since 1995, it is now the commercial and entertainment center of India. As the novel makes clear, however, efforts to stamp out the lawlessness that it endured when the novel opens in the 1970s have not worked. Opium gave way to heroin and the raw underworld continued on its merry way. This review takes a critical look on the very work, effects, style, prose and criticism.


This document specifies the 2NN Patch HTTP status code to allow
servers to perform partial updates of stored responses in client
caches.


Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a eukaryotic RNA degradation pathway that targets for degradation faulty mRNAs with premature termination codons as well as many physiological mRNAs encoding full-length proteins. Consequently, NMD functions in both, quality control and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression, and it has been implicated in the modulation of cancer progression. To investigate the role of NMD in cancer, we knocked out SMG7 in the HT1080 human fibrosarcoma cell line. SMG7 is involved in deadenylation-coupled exonucleolytic mRNA decay, one of the two main degradation pathways in mammalian NMD. Genome-wide proteomic and transcriptomic analyses confirmed that NMD is severely compromised in these SMG7-knockout HT1080 cells. We compared the oncogenic properties between the parental, the SMG7-knockout, and a rescue cell line in which we re-introduced both isoforms of SMG7. In parallel, we tested the effect of a drug inhibiting the NMD factor SMG1 on the HT1080 cells to distinguish NMD-dependent effects from putative NMD-independent functions of SMG7. Using cell-based assays as well as a mouse xenograft tumor model, we show that the oncogenic properties of the parental HT1080 cells are severely compromised when NMD is inhibited. Molecular pathway analysis revealed a strong reduction of the matrix metalloprotease 9 (MMP9) gene expression in NMD-suppressed cells. Since MMP9 expression promotes cancer cell migration and invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis, its downregulation in NMD-suppressed cells explains, at least partially, their reduced tumorigenicity. Collectively, our findings emphasize the therapeutic potential of NMD inhibition for the treatment of certain types of cancer. Significance Nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) is a eukaryotic RNA decay pathway with reported roles in regulating cellular stress responses, differentiation, and viral defense. NMD has also emerged as a modulator of cancer progression, however, the available evidence supports both, a tumor suppressor as well as a pro-tumorigenic role for NMD. We discovered that NMD inhibition results in impaired tumorigenicity in the HT1080 human fibrosarcoma cell line and uncovered a direct correlation between NMD activity and the expression levels the pro-tumorigenic gene MMP9. Restoring MMP9 expression in NMD-suppressed cells partially improved their oncogenic properties. These results show that the tumorigenicity of the HT1080 fibrosarcoma cells relies on NMD activity and highlights the potential use of NMD inhibition as a therapeutic approach.


Background:  Failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) has been reported to account for up to 40% of patients with chronic low back pain. Epidural fibrosis may be responsible for up to 30% of all cases of FBSS. Perineural fibrosis can interfere with cerebrospinal fluid‐mediated nutrition, rendering the nerve root hyperesthetic and hypersensitive to compression. Traditionally, steroid injection has been used to treat low back pain and radiculopathy. The addition of hyaluronidase to the injectate has been reported to reduce the degree of fibrosis.


Phenols containing a free ortho-position can be alkylated by ortho-t-butyl-phenols in the presence of catalytic amounts of aluminium phenoxide at temperatures between about 120° and 170°.

Using 2-t-butylphenol, 2,6-di-t-butyl-phenol or -p-cresol as the alkylating agent, trans-t-butylations were carried out with the following phenolic acceptors: phenol, o-, m-, p-cresol, p-Br-, p-Cl-, p-F-, p-CH3O-, p-t-Bu-, p-isoPr-, and p-Et-phenol. Higher rates were observed for the more acidic phenols.

The above mentioned reactions lead to equilibria of the type: 2,6-di-t-butyl-p-Z-C6H2OH + p-Z-C6H4OH ⇄ 2 2-t-butyl-p-Z-C6H3OH

The equilibrium constant for this reaction is about 24 and independent of the substituent in the phenolic nucleus.

For Z = CH3 the energy of activation has the value 36 (± 3) kcal/mole.

When the 3, 4 and 5 positions are unoccupied, a slow ortho-para isomerization takes place along with ortho-trans-t-butylation.

The equilibrium between 2-t-butylphenol and 4-t-butylphenol lies far towards the thermodynamically more stable para-isomer, the ortho-isomer however is kinetically more favourable. Meta-isomers are formed under these conditions to a small extent and only after long reaction times.

At temperatures above 140° some dealkylation occurs with formation of isobutene.

Both 3,5-dimethylphenol and 2-methoxyphenol failed to accept t-butyl-groups.


While versus natural state but not state,the conception of civil society in 17 th century means political society,or commonwealth but not the nonpolitical section of society which reminds us of treating rightly the state society relations in modernizaing societies.


 Background: Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is a common clinical problem encountered during neonatal period. Zinc can reduce phototherapy duration by precipitating unconjugated bilirubin in the intestine however, zinc toxicity is an issue that must be considered since theoretically bilirubin reduction by phototherapy may increase serum zinc levels  Purpose: To study the effect of phototherapy on serum zinc level of hyperbilirubenimicfull term newborn.  Patients and Methods: This prospective cohort study was conducted in Fayoum University Hospital in the period from December 2017 to February 2018 after obtaining ethical approvals and informed consents. This study recruited 50 full term neonates admitted to the noenatoal intensive care units (NICU) ofFayoum University Hospital with indirect hyperbilirubinemia and requiring phototherapy according to the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines 2004.  Results: There was a highly statistically significant increase in the level of zinc after phototherapy than before phototherapy with pvalue<0.001.  Conclusion: Serum zinc was increased significantly after phototherapy which potentially may cause zinc toxicity. 


Power quality is one of major concern in modern era and has become important with the introduction of very advanced devices, whose performance is very sensitive to the quality of power supply. Power quality problem such as non-standard voltage, current or frequency leads to equipment failures of end user. The major power quality problems are voltage sag, swell and harmonics. To solve this problem, custom power device called Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR), which is the most efficient and effective modern device used in the power distribution networks. The objective of the proposed DVR is to compensate the voltage sag, swell and harmonics by load side compensation. To compensate the voltage distortions for long duration, DVR without energy storage and load side connected shunt converter topology is proposed. Based on this topology, the DVR consists of uncontrolled rectifier for giving DC supply to ZSource converter through DC link. ZSource Converter based topology is used in order to enhance the voltage restoration property of the device. The control of shoot through capability of ZSource Inverter using IGBTs provides ride-through capability during voltage sag and swell, which increases its reliability. A control scheme called Hysteresis Voltage loop controller is proposed to synthesis the desired injecting voltage. Simulation and experimental results are provided to demonstrate the validity and the features of the proposed novel method.


In this study, we estimate sediment source strength and determine sediment transport/accumulation patterns on the Chukchi and Laptev shelves for lithogenic material from several key source regions. In the western Laptev Sea, sediments from the Siberian flood basalt province account for o20% of surface sediments, while detritus from the eastern Laptev's Lena and Yana Rivers constitutes as much as 40% of seafloor sediments. Eastern Laptev Sea sediments similarly reflect inputs from multiple sources; here, however, local inputs from the Lena and Yana Rivers are most prevalent. Chukchi Sea sediments are more homogeneous in composition, with sediments originating from the Okhotsk-Chukotsk volcanic belt and Bering Strait inflow comprising over 60% of surface sediments except near Wrangel Island and along sections of the Siberian coast. In the Chukchi portion of our study area, the dominant sediment dispersal pathways are from the Bering Strait region to the north and from Long Strait to the east, into the central Chukchi Sea. There appears to be comparatively minimal sediment transport parallel to the Siberian coast at our sample sites (>40m water depth). In contrast, at our Laptev Sea sites (typically >20m water depth) sediments supplied by the Lena and Yana Rivers move primarily eastward/northeastward parallel to the coast, with relatively minimal transport to the west/northwest or north to the central shelf. Good correspondence between sediment accumulation patterns and currents on the Chukchi shelf indicates water circulation is an important sediment transport mechanism in this marginal sea. In the Laptev Sea, a combination of river outflow, cyclonic water circulation and the Siberian Coastal Current controls sediment distribution. We speculate that sediment ice rafting may also affect shelf sedimentation patterns through a combination of factors. Our findings have implications for the fate of particle reactive contaminants released to the Siberian continental margin. r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.


This paper introduces a practical design of distributed and simple millimeter-wave phased arrays for 5G mobile handset. Three types of antenna arrays and four different arrangements are investigated in perspective of coverage efficiency and coverage map. According to the analysis, a distributed design, including four $1\times 2$ quasi-Yagi arrays along each edge of the chassis and one $2\times 2$ planar patch array along the longer edge of the chassis, is adopted, considering both the antenna performance and the complexity of the feeding networks. The gain of the handset antenna system is always above 2 dBi for all the incident angles. The coverage efficiency reaches 50% for a gain of above 7 dBi, with the relatively low-gain area mainly towards the backward direction. Feeding networks are designed to verify the beam shaping ability of the arrays. The prototype was fabricated and measured. All the arrays can cover the frequency band from 27.85 GHz to 28.62 GHz, with an isolation of above 35 dB. The maximum measured realized gain is 12.1 dBi and 12.6 dBi for the Yagi and the patch arrays, agreeing well with the simulated results. High gain, large coverage efficiency, robust performance and simple feeding networks make the proposed design a good candidate for 5G mobile handsets.


The genus Prosopis is an important member of arid and semiarid environments around the world. To study Prosopis diversification and evolution, a combined approach including molecular phylogeny, molecular dating, and character optimization analysis was applied. Phylogenetic relationships were inferred from five different molecular markers (matK-trnK, trnL-trnF, trnS-psbC, G3pdh, NIA). Taxon sampling involved a total of 30 Prosopis species that represented all Sections and Series and the complete geographical range of the genus. The results suggest that Prosopis is not a natural group. Molecular dating analysis indicates that the divergence between Section Strombocarpa and Section Algarobia plus Section Monilicarpa occurred in the Oligocene, contrasting with a much recent diversification (Late Miocene) within each of these groups. The diversification of the group formed by species of Series Chilenses, Pallidae, and Ruscifoliae is inferred to have started in the Pliocene, showing a high diversification rate. The moment of diversification within the major lineages of American species of Prosopis is coincident with the spreading of arid areas in the Americas, suggesting a climatic control for diversification of the group. Optimization of habitat parameters suggests an ancient occupation of arid environments by Prosopis species. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 93, 621–640.


From the Publisher:
If you're ready to take your Macintosh programming to the next level, Macworld Ultimate Mac Programming is for you. Here, bestselling Mac programming author Dave Mark reveals the secrets of Mac programming and shares his own proven, timesaving techniques.


The silver torques coming from Monasterio de Rodilla (Burgos) are an excepcional ensemble of the jewellery before Roman times in the northern Meseta . These pieces, wrought of rolled up braiding wires, belong to a fully-developed process in which the Iberian and Mediterranean influences become transformed by the local style and give rise to special and typical models of the Celtiberic jewellery.


Recently, much research has been devoted to the study of loopy belief propagation algorithm. However, little attention has been paid to the change of its behavior in relation with the problem graph topology. In this paper we empirically study the behavior of loopy belief propagation on different network topologies which include grids, small-world networks and random graphs. In our experiments, several descriptors of the algorithm are collected in order to analyze its behavior. We show that the performance of the algorithm is highly sensitive to changes in the topologies. Furthermore, evidence is given showing that the addition of shortcuts to grids can determine important changes in the dynamics of the algorithm.


Introduction Hospital admissions with decompensated chronic alcoholic liver disease (ALD) have been increasing, leading to increased pressure on intensive care unit (ICU) services. We aimed to determine the outcome and prognostic factors for patients with ALD requiring admission to ICU. Methods This was a retrospective study over a five year period (January 2006 – December 2010) of ICU admissions with ALD to St James' Hospital Leeds, either known or at first presentation. We reviewed in detail case notes and the laboratory database based on a pre-established proforma. ICU and hospital mortality were recorded along with outcome in diagnostic and organ support subgroups. Results 29 patients with ALD admitted to ICU were included, median age 46 yrs, 79% males. 82.7% (24/29) were Child Pugh Score C. Mean ITU stay was 5.2 days. Overall ICU and hospital mortality was 51.7% (15/29) and 65.5% (19/29) respectively. 20 (69%) were previously known ALD and 9 (31%) were at first presentation. ICU and in hospital mortality in first presentation ALD group was 67% (6/9) and 89% (8/9) compared with 45% (9/20) and 55% (11/20) respectively for previously known ALD. The reasons for admission to ICU were variceal bleeding (59%), sepsis (17%) and 37% other (encephalopathy, other causes of bleeding, seizures, renal support). ICU and in hospital mortality in the variceal bleeding subgroup was 47% and 58% respectively compared to 100% ICU and hospital mortality for sepsis. Patients with multiorgan failure had the worst prognosis. Organ failure was predefined based on level of support required on admission to ITU. Abstract PTU-086 Table 1 Mortality in organ failure subgroup Number of organ failure n ICU Mortality n (%) Hospital Mortality n (%) 1 5 1/5 (20) 3/5 (60) 2 4 1/4 (25) 2/4 (50) 3 13 8/13 (61) 12/13 (92) 4 7 5/7 (71) 7/7 (100) Conclusion Mortality remains high in ALD patients admitted to ICU. In this study, acute variceal bleeding and single or dual organ support were associated with better survival outcomes compared with other presentations and outcomes were not better in patients presenting for the first time with ALD compared to recurrent admissions. Escalation therapy to ICU for patients with sepsis or requiring multiple organ support may be futile. Disclosure of Interest None Declared References J. Mackle, D. G. Swann and B. Cook, One year outcome of intensive care patients with decompensated alcoholic liver disease, British Journal of Anaesthesia 97 (4): 496–8 (2006) P Jackson, D Gleeson, Alcohol Liver Disease, Contin Educ Anaesth Crit Care Pain (2010) 10 (3): 66–71 S. J. Thomson, C. Moran, M. L. Cowan, S. Musa, R. Beale, D. Treacher, M. Hamilton, R. M. Grounds, T. M. Rahman Outcomes of Critically Ill Patients with Cirrhosis Admitted to Intensive Care: An Important Perspective from the Non-transplant


Land problem in Japan has a long history. The sharp rise in land price in iecent years has spotlighted the aberrance of the problem. It is widely accepted that land problem is one of the most serious social and economic problems that Japan faces. In this paper. I discuss four points relating to the land problem in Japan. First, I review the movement of land price using government statistics. Second. I analyze the nature of land price, in particular the large difference between land price and the rental cost. Third, I will examine the causes underlying the land problem. In this connection I would like to point out that the cause of the land problem we face today is not the absolute shortage of land but the fact that land is treated marketable asset. Finally, I will discuss the government's land policies and various measures it has taken, with a particular emphasis on land taxes, the Land and Building Lease Laws, and the securitization of land. Land problem in Japan has a long history. The sharp rise in land price in recent years has spotlighted the aberrance of the problem. It is widely accepted that land problem is one of the most serious social and economic problems that Japan faces. In this paper, I discuss three points relating to the land problem in Japan. First, I will discuss the movement of land price and focus on the large difference between land price and the rental cost. Second, I will examine the causes underlying the land problem. In this connection, I would like to point out that the cause of the land problem we face today is not the absolute shortage of land but the way people treat land as a piece of marketable asset. Third, I will discuss the government's land policies and various measures it has taken, with a particular emphasis on land taxes, the Land and Building Lease Laws, and the securitization of land. I. Land Price in Japan (1) Recent Trends of Land Prices Table I shows the trend of land prices in the three major urban areas in Japan for the second half of the 1980. In Tokyo, Iand price almost trippled during the two years 1987 and 1988. The recent survey shows that while rises in land price in the Tokyo district have subsided, the upward pressure on land price has spilled into the Osaka district, boosting the