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OBJECTIVE To evaluate surfactant protein D (SP-D) concentrations in serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from young healthy horses on pasture or housed in a typical barn. ANIMALS 20 young healthy horses. PROCEDURES Horses were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups (pasture, n = 10; barn, 10), and serum and BALF samples were collected for SP-D determination at baseline (all horses on pasture) and 2 weeks and 4 weeks after the barn group of horses was relocated from the pasture to the barn. Other evaluations included physical and tracheoscopic examinations. Findings were compared within and between groups. RESULTS Physical and tracheoscopic examinations, CBC, and serum biochemical analysis did not reveal evidence of respiratory disease, and no significant differences were present within and between groups. Serum SP-D concentrations did not significantly differ within and between groups, but BALF SP-D concentrations were significantly lower for the barn group at 2 weeks but not at 4 weeks, compared with baseline. The BALF SP-D concentration-to-BALF total protein concentration ratio was < 1.5 and did not significantly differ within and between groups. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE A mild decrease was evident in the concentration of SP-D in the BALF collected from young healthy horses after 2 weeks of exposure to a barn environment. The clinical importance of this finding remains to be determined.

We present a nonlocal variational image completion technique which admits simultaneous inpainting of multiple structures and textures in a unified framework. The recovery of geometric structures is achieved by using general convolution operators as a measure of behavior within an image. These are combined with a nonlocal exemplar-based approach to exploit the self-similarity of an image in the selected feature domains and to ensure the inpainting of textures. We also introduce an anisotropic patch distance metric to allow for better control of the feature selection within an image and present a nonlocal energy functional based on this metric. Finally, we derive an optimization algorithm for the proposed variational model and examine its validity experimentally with various test images.

Profusa is developing a CGM System which tracks glucose concentrations in interstitial fluid for several months. It consists of a small hydrogel sensor (2.5 x 0.4 x 0.3 mm) that is permanently inserted by subcutaneous injection, and a wireless optical reader that is placed over the skin to measure the sensor’s fluorescent signal, which changes proportionally with glucose. We evaluated the sensor signal response compared to reference capillary blood glucose (BG) taken from a commercial glucose meter in seven subjects with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Each subject received two sensor injections in the upper arm during the first visit, followed by multiple 6-hour ambulatory monitoring visits over a three-month period. Of the 14 sensors injected, 13 tracked glucose excursions during every monitoring visit up to 88 days. Applying retrospective calibration analysis to 106 sensor traces showed that 84% of the sensor traces had strong correlation with BG reference values, defined by r2 > 0.5. Parkes Error Grid Analysis revealed that of the paired sensor-reference values, 88.9% fell in zone A, 10.9% in zone B, and 0.2% in zone C (Figure 1). The Lumee Glucose System demonstrates glucose tracking functionality for a minimum of 3 months in subjects with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Additional studies are ongoing to establish prospective calibration algorithms and to assess measurement timepoints beyond three months. Disclosure K. Q. Tran: None. C. Nguyen: Employee; Self; Profusa, Inc. H. T. Nguyen: Employee; Self; Profusa, Inc. S. J. Gamsey: Employee; Self; Profusa, Inc. C. G. Lepak: Employee; Self; Profusa, Inc. K. Rebrin: Employee; Self; Profusa, Inc.

Resource selection functions (RSFs) have been widely applied to animal tracking data to examine relative habitat selection and to help guide management and conservation strategies. While readily used in terrestrial ecology, RSFs have yet to be extensively used within marine systems. As acoustic telemetry continues to be a pervasive approach within marine environments, incorporation of RSFs can provide new insights to help prioritize habitat protection and restoration to meet conservation goals. To overcome statistical hurdles and achieve high prediction accuracy, machine learning algorithms could be paired with RSFs to predict relative habitat selection for a species within and even outside the monitoring range of acoustic receiver arrays, making this a valuable tool for marine ecologists and resource managers. Here, we apply RSFs using machine learning to an acoustic telemetry dataset of four shark species to explore and predict species-specific habitat selection within a marine protected area. In addition, we also apply this RSF-machine learning approach to investigate predator-prey relationships by comparing and averaging tiger shark relative selection values with the relative selection values derived for eight potential prey-species. We provide methodological considerations along with a framework and flexible approach to apply RSFs with machine learning algorithms to acoustic telemetry data and suggest marine ecologists and resource managers consider adopting such tools to help guide both conservation and management strategies.

Developing accurate, efficient, and robust closure models is essential in the construction of reduced order models (ROMs) for realistic nonlinear systems, which generally require drastic ROM mode truncations. We propose a deep residual neural network (ResNet) closure learning framework for ROMs of nonlinear systems. The novel ResNet-ROM framework consists of two steps: (i) In the first step, we use ROM projection to filter the given nonlinear PDE and construct a filtered ROM. This filtered ROM is low-dimensional, but is not closed (because of the PDE nonlinearity). (ii) In the second step, we use ResNet to close the filtered ROM, i.e., to model the interaction between the resolved and unresolved ROM modes. We emphasize that in the new ResNet-ROM framework, data is used only to complement classical physical modeling (i.e., only in the closure modeling component), not to completely replace it. We also note that the new ResNet-ROM is built on general ideas of spatial filtering and deep learning and is independent of (restrictive) phenomenological arguments, e.g., of eddy viscosity type. The numerical experiments for the 1D Burgers equation show that the ResNet-ROM is significantly more accurate than the standard projection ROM. The new ResNet-ROM is also more accurate and significantly more efficient than other modern ROM closure models.

We propose a data-driven learning framework for the analytic continuation problem in numerical quantum many-body physics. Designing an accurate and efficient framework for the analytic continuation of imaginary time using computational data is a grand challenge that has hindered meaningful links with experimental data. The standard Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt)-based method is limited by the quality of the computational data and the availability of prior information. Also, the MaxEnt is not able to solve the inversion problem under high level of noise in the data. Here we introduce a novel learning model for the analytic continuation problem using a Adams-Bashforth residual neural network (AB-ResNet). The advantage of this deep learning network is that it is model independent and, therefore, does not require prior information concerning the quantity of interest given by the spectral function. More importantly, the ResNet-based model achieves higher accuracy than MaxEnt for data with higher level of noise. Finally, numerical examples show that the developed AB-ResNet is able to recover the spectral function with accuracy comparable to MaxEnt where the noise level is relatively small.

The casket scenes in The Merchant of Venice are powerful arbiters of success and failure. The casket challenge is loaded with culturally-specific signifiers which favour local contenders. Bassanio rejects the gold casket because he is aware that European moral iconographies repudiate earthly wealth (though, ironically, Bassanio is a poor illustration of the principle). The Prince of Morocco, by contrast, understandably supposes gold to be an appropriate metaphor for love - gold was, after all, the prima materia of North Africa. Morocco is on every level more worthy than Bassanio but fails because he chooses through foreign eyes. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Objective To investigate blood pressure (BP) changes within the first 3 days after initiating antipsychotic medication in psychiatric inpatients. Methods Through retrospective chart review using a repeated measures design, vital signs data were collected on 60 adult psychiatric inpatients who were psychiatrically hospitalized May 26, 2011, through September 4, 2012, at 9 time points within 3 days of initiation of 1 of 6 different antipsychotic medications. The random sample included patients with the following DSM-IV-TR diagnoses: schizophrenia (n = 25), schizoaffective disorder (either type; n = 19), and bipolar I disorder (n = 16). Data were analyzed using mixed-effects repeated measures analysis of variance to evaluate associations between the antipsychotic initiated and subsequent changes in BP. The main outcome variable was change in BP from baseline, and independent variables included age, sex, psychiatric diagnosis, and type of antipsychotic medication. Logistic regression was used to assess the relationship between each type of antipsychotic and hypotension (BP < 90/60 mm Hg) and hypertension (BP ≥ 140/90 mm Hg). Results Olanzapine (P < .01) and risperidone (P = .01) raised systolic BP to a statistically significant degree during the first 3 days after initiation. Clozapine, on the other hand, significantly reduced systolic BP (P = .02) and was associated with hypotension on linear regression. No statistically significant associations were found between the other antipsychotics and acute systolic BP changes or between any of the 6 antipsychotics and diastolic BP changes. Conclusions Initiation of certain antipsychotic medications may be associated with statistically significant acute BP changes. These findings require further evaluation in well-designed prospective studies.

The exponential growth of computational power of the extreme scale machines over the past few decades has led to a corresponding decrease in reliability and a sharp increase of the frequency of hardware faults. Our research focuses on the mathematical challenges presented by the silent hardware faults; i.e., faults that can perturb the result of computations in an inconspicuous way. Using the approach of selective reliability, we present an analytic fault mode that can be used to study the resilience properties of a numerical algorithm. We apply our approach to the classical fixed point iteration and demonstrate that in the presence of hardware faults, the classical method fails to converge in expectation. We preset a modified resilient algorithm that detects and rejects faults resulting in error with large magnitude, while small faults are negated by the natural self-correcting properties of the algorithm. We show that our method is convergent (in first and second statistical moments) even in the presenc...

The Photo-G program conducted by Naval Air Systems Command at the Atlantic Test Range in Patuxent River, Maryland, uses photogrammetric analysis of large amounts of real-world imagery to characterize the motion of objects in a 3-D scene. Current approaches involve several independent processes including target acquisition, target identification, 2-D tracking of image features, and 3-D kinematic state estimation. Each process has its own inherent complications and corresponding degrees of both human intervention and computational complexity. One approach being explored for automated target acquisition relies on exploiting the pixel intensity distributions of photogrammetric targets, which tend to be patterns with bimodal intensity distributions. The bimodal distribution partitioning algorithm utilizes this distribution to automatically deconstruct a video frame into regions of interest (ROI) that are merged and expanded to target boundaries, from which ROI centroids are extracted to mark target acquisition points. This process has proved to be scale, position and orientation invariant, as well as fairly insensitive to global uniform intensity disparities.

As measured via static stability tests, the PCL is the dominant restraint to posterior tibial translation while the posterolateral corner is the dominant restraint to external tibial rotation. However, these uniplanar static tests may not predict multiplanar instability. The reverse pivot shift is a dynamic examination maneuver that may identify complex knee instability.In this cadaver study, we asked whether (1) isolated sectioning or (2) combined sectioning of the PCL and posterolateral corner increased the magnitude of the reverse pivot shift and (3) the magnitude of the reverse pivot shift correlated with static external rotation or posterior drawer testing.In Group I, we sectioned the PCL followed by structures of the posterolateral corner. In Group II, we sectioned the posterolateral corner structures before sectioning the PCL. We performed posterior drawer, external rotation tests, and mechanized reverse pivot shift for each specimen under each condition and measured translations via navigation.Isolated sectioning of the PCL or posterolateral corner had no effect on the reverse pivot shift. Conversely, combined sectioning of the PCL and posterolateral corner structures increased the magnitude of the reverse pivot shift. The magnitude of the reverse pivot shift correlated with the posterior drawer and external rotation tests.Combined sectioning of the PCL and posterolateral corner was required to cause an increase in the magnitude of the mechanized reverse pivot shift. The reverse pivot shift correlated with both static measures of stability.Combined injury to the PCL and posterolateral corner should be considered in the presence of a positive reverse pivot shift.

The Lachman and the pivot shift are the two clinical tests most commonly used to assess instability in the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-deficient knee. Because it is quantifiable, the Lachman test has become the benchmark for assessing the success of ACL reconstruction. As a result, surgical techniques have been developed that effectively eliminate anterior laxity of the knee. Recent studies have shown, however, that rotational stability is not always restored after ACL reconstruction. Furthermore, there is mounting evidence that the pivot shift examination correlates with functional instability and patient outcomes better than does any other physical examination test. This test attempts to reproduce the functional combined rotary and translational instability in the ACL-deficient knee. Although the pathologic kinematics of the pivot shift are difficult to measure, recent technological advances have allowed more accurate and objective descriptions of the pivot shift, which have furthered our understanding of the complex motions involved. These advances may lead to a method of quantifying the pivot shift for research purposes and, ultimately, to ACL reconstruction that is tailored specifically to each patient's objectively measured rotational instability.

ACL insufficiency can be documented clinically with the pivot shift maneuver, but the specific pathologic kinematics of the pivot shift is difficult to quantify. Navigation provides an opportunity to analyze in vivo the motions that comprise the pivot shift and the kinematic changes that are inherent after ACL reconstruction. We hypothesized that tibial rotation, anterior tibial translation (ATT), acceleration of posterior translation (APT) and the newly described angle of P, quantified during navigated pivot shift examination, correlate with clinical grading of the pivot shift phenomena. Navigation data from 12 patients who underwent navigated ACL surgery were retrospectively reviewed. A characteristic P-shaped track of motion is recorded by the navigation software during the pivot-shift examination. The “angle of P” was developed as a means characterizing this track of motion and was measured in all cases. The tibial rotation, maximum anterior tibial translation and acceleration of posterior translation during the pivot shift were also measured. The charts of these patients were reviewed to obtain information on the clinical grading of the pivot-shift before and after ACL reconstruction. Spearman correlation analysis was then used to identify significant correlations between clinical grade of the pivot shift and the angle of p measured with computer navigation. After reconstruction, the clinical grade of the pivot shift was zero in all patients. The tibial rotation, maximum ATT, APT and the angle of p also decreased. On analysis of 24 EUAs, 12 before reconstruction and 12 after, there was excellent and significant correlation between the clinical grade of pivot shift examination and the angle of P (R 2 = 0.97, p

In January 2005 a Hong Kong resident was arrested and charged with distributing three Hollywood movies over the internet using BitTorrent software. At his trial, the prosecution argued that the defendant’s actions amounted to the criminal offence of “distribution” under section 118 (1)(f) of the Copyright Ordinance. The defence countered that defendant’s actions in uploading the files to his computer did not constitute distribution and amounted to no more than “making available” copyright materials—which was covered under civil provisions in section 26 of the same Ordinance. The defendant was found guilty and became the world’s first BitTorrent user to be criminally convicted of piracy. The case has opened up strong debate in Hong Kong, with moves afoot to introduce a new raft of copyright legislation.

John Keats's sojourn in Teignmouth, Devon, during the early months of 1818 has been widely acknowledged by critics but little studied. Keats visited the town because his brother Tom had gone there on medical advice. Drawing on letters and short poems from the period, the article argues that Keats constructs an idyllic view of the Devon landscape and one that is at odds with his actual experiences in that county. There are various reasons why this may be – including the possibility that his personal and professional pressures may have encouraged him to conceptualize a rural idyll that at least offered the hypothetical possibility of an escape from the darker landscapes that were shadowing his life.

The thirteen essays collected in ‘This Earthly Stage’ explore intersections between the world as stage and the stage as world in late medieval and early modern England. The volume features studies of stages both familiar and unfamiliar, and worlds old and new - from the ritual performance of funerals for the fifteenth-century London elite to the electronic recreation of Shakespeare on the Internet. The essays engage with a variety of scholarly fields, including art and iconography, cultural and social history, digital humanities, literature, myth, philology, and philosophy. Most studies examine performative elements of Shakespeare’s works in relation to a representative selection of other plays from the dramatic genres in which he wrote, while they also analyse broader topics which traverse a number of plays, such as kingship and rites of civic performance in relation to stage drama. All of the essays consider the overarching issue of representation in late medieval and early modern English drama and culture through a range of theoretical approaches. This volume offers a valuable contribution to contemporary medieval and early modern scholarship, with a particular interest for those researching and teaching early modern English drama and culture.

Exascale computing systems are essential for the scientific fields that will transform the 21st century global economy, including energy, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and materials science. Progress in these fields is predicated on the ability to perform advanced scientific and engineering simulations, and analyze the deluge of data. On July 29, 2013, ASCAC was charged by Patricia Dehmer, the Acting Director of the Office of Science, to assemble a subcommittee to provide advice on exascale computing. This subcommittee was directed to return a list of no more than ten technical approaches (hardware and software) that will enable the development of a system that achieves the Department's goals for exascale computing. Numerous reports over the past few years have documented the technical challenges and the non¬-viability of simply scaling existing computer designs to reach exascale. The technical challenges revolve around energy consumption, memory performance, resilience, extreme concurrency, and big data. Drawing from these reports and more recent experience, this ASCAC subcommittee has identified the top ten computing technology advancements that are critical to making a capable, economically viable, exascale system.

Dr. Clayton Lawrence: Today’s case concerns a 69year-old diabetic woman who was brought to our Emergency Department (ED) by her daughter with recent onset of confusion. Apparently, the patient complained of a headache and generally “feeling sick.” When the daughter arrived at the patient’s home to check on her, she found her mother to be confused. The patient subsequently vomited twice. The daughter brought her to the hospital by car for further evaluation. Upon presentation to the ED, the patient was irritable and disoriented. She had no complaints, and denied chest pain, shortness of breath, abdominal pain, dysuria, or neck pain. There were no obvious signs of trauma. The patient lived alone and was compliant with her medications. There were no recent hospitalizations and no prior episodes of altered mentation. The past medical history was significant for hypertension and non-insulin-dependent diabetes. There was no history of cardiac disease or prior surgery. Her medications included atenolol and glyburide/metformin. The patient did not have a history of cigarette smoking or alcohol abuse. Dr. Eric Nadel: Are there any questions about the history? Dr. Laura Bontempo: What was the time course of the patient’s mental status changes, and what was the baseline mental status? Dr. Lawrence: According to the daughter, the patient was at baseline one day prior to the initial presentation. The patient usually acted appropriately, completed all of her activities of daily living independently, was an active participant in the family, and often cared for her grandchildren. A few days prior, the patient made a large banquet for a family gathering. There was no history of dementia. Dr. David Peak: Has the patient had any fever or other recent illness? Dr. Lawrence: The daughter was unaware of any fevers, shakes, chills, or any recent illness. The patient had not been exposed to anyone sick, and had no recent travel history. Dr. Andrew Reisner: Was the patient followed by a primary care physician (PCP), and if so, was there any additional information regarding the patient’s medical condition? Dr. Lawrence: The patient was regularly followed by a PCP, and had a normal physical examination within the last 12 months. The patient’s hypertension and diabetes were well controlled, and her medications and dosages had been constant for several years. The patient had taken no new medications, including over the counter preparations or herbal supplements. Dr. Nadel: If there are no further questions, we will proceed with the physical examination. Dr. Lawrence: Physical examination revealed an agitated elderly woman, moaning, and attempting to get out of bed. She was alert, but did not respond appropriately to questions or commands. Vitals signs were as follows: temperature 36.6°C (97.9°F), blood pressure 170/70 mm

In collaboration with a major automotive manufacturer, we are using computational simulations of in-cylinder combustion to understand the multi-scale nonlinear physics of the dilute stability limit. Because some key features of dilute combustion can take thousands of successive cycles to develop, the computation time involved in using complex models to simulate these effects has limited industrys ability to exploit simulations in optimizing advanced engines. We describe a novel approach for utilizing parallel computations to reveal long-timescale features of dilute combustion without the need to simulate many successive engine cycles in series. Our approach relies on carefully guided, concurrent, single-cycle simulations to create metamodels that preserve the long-timescale features of interest. We use a simplified combustion model to develop and demonstrate our strategy for adaptively guiding the concurrent simulations to generate metamodels. We next will implement this strategy with higher-fidelity, multi-scale combustion models on large computing facilities to generate more refined metamodels. The refined metamodels can then be used to accelerate engine development because of their efficiency. Similar approaches might also be used for rapidly exploring the dynamics of other complex multi-scale systems that evolve with serial dependency on time.

Given the close iconographic association between the sea and fortune, it is perhaps not surprising that The Merchant of Venice offers a series of intriguing interplays on this theme. These relate to the casket episodes, Antonio's sea-borne argosies, and the repayment of Shylock's loan. Through a consideration of the representation of ortuna, principally in sixteenth century emblem books, the paper suggests that although fortune is presented as a fickle force of destruction, its/her consequent may be effected in several ways: through avoidance, through prudence, through learning, or through sheer good luck. It is argued that Shakepeare's text explores all of these possibilities, drawing vigorously on the ideas that underpin the iconic topoi of his own and previous ages.

This article traces the history and development of management retention contracts in health care, outlines the principal provisions contained in a management retention contract, and provides answers to frequently asked questions. The key advantage of management retention agreements is that they allow executives to be more dispassionate in their business decisions and remove psychological barriers to accepting a new arrangement, because their career concerns are addressed. At a time when hospitals are exploring significant affiliation, merger, or sale possibilities, these arrangements establish a method of ensuring that senior executives do not seek other employment or leave the hospital during the critical phases of corporate negotiation and preclosing.

Two streams of research have considered the competition among alternative versions of a new product and the strategic significance of dominant designs. One highlights the design dimension of compatibility standards. The second focuses on the diversity of product concepts and technological approaches that often exists among competing alternatives. Each research stream stresses a different facet of a dominant design's potential significance. By integrating these two lines of inquiry, this article provides a more comprehensive view of design competition in young industries. It also suggests new insights on the dynamics that affect the emergence of dominant designs, and the competitive positions of industry participants.

The apparent paucity of significant mythological allusion in 1 Henry IV is puzzling. There is, as James Hoyle has shown, a profusion of emblematic imagery, but such imagery is dominantly proverbial in character) Danse macabre, Paradise and Fall, and Neptune themes, which are all powerfully evoked in the first play of the Lancastrian tetralogy, Richard II, are here absent or, at most, greatly diminished in prominence. 2 The differences between the two works in this regard may be instructive and it is possible to con= jecture that Shakespeare sought different mythological objectives in 1 Henry IV. While Richard II may reveal complex schemes of mythological imagery, it conspicuously lacks a myth hero largely because the historical source materials used by the dramatist made such a presentation untenable. Richard was styled as weak and ineffective, though righteous; Bolingbroke as strong and ambitious, but a usurper. It was not the stuff of heroism and Shakespeare's treatment of the material in Richard II does not strike heroic strains. With two young and active military protagonists, very different in character but attractive enough to stand as genuine competitors, 1 Henry IV would seem to harbour considerably greater potential

In July 1997, Hong Kong will be handed over to the control of the People's Republic of China (or "mainland China," as is the customary phrase) after more than a century of British rule. The Cantonese, who populate Hong Kong and a good deal of southern China, have tolerated the foreign presence fairly amicably and have benefited from the territory's low taxation and trade freedoms. Today, Hong Kong is one of the world's most dynamic financial centers. In most banks there are video monitors displaying the latest share prices on the Hang Seng Index; at underground stations large screens trail live foreign currency exchange rates. Pocket pagers bringing instant financial news are commonplace; portable telephones are ubiquitous. By and large, Hong Kong is a vibrant, financially-oriented, sophisticated, and informed society. Cantonese movies with English subtitles offer one of the many benefits of living in Hong Kong. They are an immensely popular formula-oriented art form. One story runs something along these lines: a mainland Chinese policeman arrives in Hong Kong to investigate a crime. He is gauche and unsophisticated - a sort of Chinese Inspector Clouseau. Someone's mobile phone rings next to him on a bus and he jumps with fright. He tells jokes that no one finds funny; he orders a beer and then swaps it for a glass of tap water because he considers the price extortionate; he is baffled by dishwashers, compact disk players, kettles that turn themselves off, urinals that flush automatically. Predictably he solves the crime; predictably, the smart, sophisticated Hong Kong heroine, who has spent so much of the film in scornful mood, falls in love with him. The intentions of Cantonese films are usually comic, and perhaps we should not take them too seriously as comments on the

Refereed/Peer-reviewed William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, was captured and murdered by English sailors on 2 May 1450. The event is dramatically re-enacted in Shakespeare’s early history play King Henry VI Part 2. Shakespeare’s version differs markedly from known sources. In particular, the dramatist frames the death of Suffolk as a danse macabre experience in which the victim is taunted, diminished and ultimately dragged off to the grave. The Protestant Reformation had liberated a swathe of Roman Catholic iconographies, the danse macabre amongst them, breaking them free from their traditional semantic moorings and allowing them to find novel significances on the Elizabethan stage. King Henry VI Part 2 represents a preliminary engagement with the danse macabre, a search for new possibilities and new meanings. The danse macabre form is used more coherently and cohesively in later Shakespeare plays but King Henry VI Part 2 appears to be an early, deliberate attempt to explore its potential.

(1994). Black Students in “White” Universities: the character and provision of liberal higher education institutions in post‐apartheid South Africa. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education: Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 67-78.

Efforts in grasspea (Lathyrus sativus) improvement have increased since the development of lines that are very low in the neurotoxin Beta-N-oxalyl-L-alpha-beta-diamino propionic acid (ODAP); also referred to as Beta-N oxalyl-amino-L-alanine (BOAA). Many programs now address several related aspects of improvement simultaneously. These include reduced ODAP concentrations, insect and disease resistance, nitrogen fixation, agronomic practices, fodder and forage production, and components for increased yielding ability. The coordinated, multidisciplinary approach now being applied to the genetic improvement of grasspea should allow the potential of this largely neglected grain legume to be fully realized.

Diverticulosis of the duodenum is seen frequently enough that the lesion can no longer be called uncommon. On the other hand, benign primary ulceration of the small bowel, except in a Meckel's diverticulum, is still a rarity. The combination of the two lesions, namely, a benign primary ulcer within a duodenal diverticulum, must be a rare condition indeed. Buckstein (1a) states that at times a diverticulum may give rise to symptoms as the result of ulceration but cites no specific case. The present writer, in a review of the literature on diverticulosis and primary ulceration of the small bowel, was unable to find a single instance of this character. Although the case being presented has not been proved from the pathologist's point of view, it exhibits the usual radiographic signs of benign ulceration as seen elsewhere in the gastrointestinal tract, both in the acute phase and in interval stages to complete healing. Aside from the fact that the lesion is a rarity, the case is of importance as emphasizing c...

Taban Lo Liyong sees the task of the African writer as one of “reconstructing Africa from the imperial wreck of the last two thousand seasons” (Liyong 1990, 171). The erosion of the African culture by modernization and colonialism has deprived indigenous peoples of their religions, their traditions, their mores, and in some cases their languages. It is not clear, though, what form Liyong’s “reconstruction” is to take. Other commentators, like the Nigerian poet Tanure Ojaide, seem more specific in demanding that the African artist should take a moral, political line in asserting that his/her active role is to “remedy a bad situation” (Ojaide 1994, 17). The object would be to purify an African way of life that has been tainted by invasive, self-gratifying, materialistic attitudes. But, again, what is that “remedy” to be? While recognition of Africa’s postcolonial malaise is widespread, and its cause axiomatically and correctly assigned to the experience of colonialism, African writers have been somewhat tentative in suggesting what exactly it is that should be done. It is one thing to identify a problem, and to express it in the most forthright or damning terms, but quite another to locate and postulate the possible means for its resolution. The two Ghanaian artists whose work this paper addresses, Ayi Kwei Armah and Ama Ata Aidoo, have been all too frequently accused of the pessimistic recitation of African ills. Molly Mahood has spoken of the “almost total disillusionment” (Fraser 1980, 15) of Armah’s The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born; and Liyong has described the work as one of those “tearing down exercises” (Liyong 1990, 176). Adeola James has identified a “certain somberness” (James 1990, 17) and Arlene Elder a “pessimism” (Elder 1987, 117) in Aidoo’s short stories; and Femi Ojo-Ade has styled the Ghana of No Sweetness Here as “hell” (Oje-Ade 1987, 174). The optimistic dimensions of their work have often gone unnoticed. Even contemporary readings that have attempted to soften the gloom of the two texts have sought in some way to qualify their observations. Tsegaye Wodajo’s excellent study of five Armah novels, Hope in the Midst of Despair: A Novelist’s Cures for Africa (2005), perceives The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born as a literature of protest that finds a hopeful riposte in the later novels. And while Nanna Jane Opoku-Agyemang’s fine 1999 essay brings a valuable comparative dimension to No Sweetness Here, her insights fail to lift the pall of despair that is customarily judged to hang over this collection of eleven stories. This paper will argue that Aidoo’s No Sweetness Here and Armah’s The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born offer greater scope for optimism than many critics have hitherto suggested; and that both articulate a process of purification that actively opposes the dystopian settings of their respective narratives.

This article develops a framework for analyzing substitution threats posed by young industries to firms competing in more established industries. The discussion delineates three generic types of technological substitution—functional, product, and asset—and explores how long-term substitution patterns may be shaped by (1) the dominant design that emerges for the new product and, (2) improvements that occur in the traditional product. Asset substitution threats are especially serious for an incumbent firm since they can erode the value of the company's existing R&D/ manufacturing capabilities for competition in its principal markets. Possible strategies for influencing the type of substitution that ultimately occurs are considered. The strategies entail entering the young industry and attempting to shape the dominant design that emerges for the new product, or attempting to improve the traditional product along specific price-performance dimensions. The propositions suggested by the framework and the implications discussed should help to provide direction for future research.

A study has been made of the occurrence of the macrophage reaction in the pulmonary lesions of dogs sacrificed during the course of experimentally induced pneumococcus lobar pneumonia or dying as a result of the infection. This characteristic transformation of the fixed tissue cells of the lung was found as a constant accompaniment of recovery. It was also present in varying degrees in the great majority of fatal instances provided the animal lived more than 40 hours. In general the longer the animal survived, the more pronounced the macrophage reaction observed in the lung lesions at autopsy. The numbers of pneumococci in the lesions diminished progressively with the evolution of the cellular change which terminated in resolution of the pneumonic exudate. Some dogs surviving for 4 days or more showed practically complete clearing of the pulmonary lesions but succumbed with an overwhelming bacteremia or empyema or both. On the other hand, several animals dying with a sterile blood, exhibited lesions characterized by little or no macrophage response and the presence of many pneumococci. These findings suggest that recovery from experimental lobar pneumonia in the dog depends on a dual mechanism consisting of a generalized process which prevents or controls invasion of the blood stream and a local one by which the lesion is finally freed from the invading microorganisms. The nature of these two processes is discussed.

The kinds of cells and the sequence in which they appeared in the inflammatory exudate were studied in a series of experimentally produced pneumonic lesions in dogs. There was a gradual and progressive change in the character of the exudate and the kinds of cells as the disease progressed. The microscopic findings could be more closely correlated with the age of the lesions than with their gross appearance or with the clinical condition of the animal at the time of death. The cells in the exudate came principally from the blood. The polymorphonuclear leucocytes were gradually replaced by larger phagocytic mononuclear cells. These were derived chiefly from the hypertrophy and transformation into larger phagocytic cells of the lymphocytes and monocytes of the blood after they entered the air spaces along with the polymorphonuclear leucocytes in the early stages of the disease. To follow the development of the hematogenous exudate cells into macrophages in the dog, the pneumonic process must be studied from its earliest inception and at close stages during the first 36 hours of the disease. The local septal cells contributed only in a minor way to the origin of the macrophages. Their principal reaction appeared to be one of enlargement without detachment from the alveolar walls. Consolidation of the lungs occurred as a result of the spread of the pneumococci through the air spaces by direct passage of the infected edema fluid from alveolus to alveolus through the pores of Kohn and from bronchiole to bronchiole from aspiration during breathing and coughing. The similarity of the histogenesis of the exudate cells in this series of experimentally induced pneumonic lesions in the dog and in those which occur spontaneously in man was discussed.

The research provides a computational approach for dynamic allocation of geometric coordinates within a 3DP2P network topology. Deployment of Internet and mobile applications within the network will be achieved with the utilization of a 3D-XML peer node descriptor (3DP2P-XML). The 3DP2P-XML file descriptor generates and deploys enterprise beans, web services, and mobile clients. Boundary conditions and statistical data determine the peer node distribution. The application will demonstrate the procedure for generating network coordinates. The coordinates correlate IP and URL addresses to a metric space. The technique uses a Riemann sum to estimate the number of nodes, volume, and surface boundaries of the 3D-P2P mesh network. The resulting algorithm creates a minimum 3D spanning tree with coordinate indexes. The multi-hop network is visualized as a 3D bouquet of computer nodes.

This research provides an automated methodology for dynamic geographical deployment of enterprise and mobile applications. The process of achieving deployment involves utilization of a three dimensional XML peer node descriptor (3DP2P-XML). The 3DP2P-XML file descriptor generates enterprise beans, Web services, and mobile clients. Geocoding and wireless device application programming interfaces (APIs) leverage the 3DP2P-XML structured paradigm. Geospatial boundary conditions and statistical data determine the topology of peer node distribution.

Summary: The effect of an open arm in the enrollment to a randomized clinical trial comparing zidovudine (ZDV) plus didanosine (ddI) versus ZDV plus zalcitabine (ddC) was assessed. HIV-infected individuals were eligible to participate in this protocol if they were ddI and ddC naive, had CD4 counts of 50-350/mm3, and were residents of the province of British Columbia. Participating individuals could choose between open-label ZDV/ddI, ZDV/ddC, or randomization to open-label ZDV/ddI or ZDV/ddC. Study drugs were made available free of charge for all participants through a centralized drug distribution system. There is no other source of these drugs in the province. Primary care physicians were required to renew the patient's prescription every 2 months. Enrollment was initiated in November 1992 and was closed in March 1994 when the randomized arm of the protocol met the predetermined target sample size of 120 evaluable participants. A total of 582 patients received combination therapy in the province through this protocol: 138 (28%) enrolled in the randomized arm and 444 (76%) in the open arm. In the latter group, 320 (72%) were initially prescribed ZDV/ddI and 124 (28%) were prescribed ZDV/ddC. The enrollment rate was strikingly higher in the open arm, with 168 patients enrolled in the first 2 months compared with 138 patients enrolled in the randomized arm over 17 months. Of the 78 study physicians, 69 enrolled patients in the open arm and 23 enrolled patients in the randomized arm of the study. Experienced physicians were more likely to refer patients for randomization (p = 0.025). No statistically significant differences were observed between patients enrolled in either study arm. Our results illustrate the challenge posed to recruitment into clinical trials by the coexistence of an open arm. This is despite the noncoercive, open-label and community-based nature of our randomized protocol and the high priority given to it by a variety of local and national organizations. It is clear that an increased commitment by all interested parties will be required if randomized clinical trials are to be carried out with coexistent open arms.

In recent decades the University of Malta has undergone a process of restructuring, aimed at bringing the institution more firmly in line with prevailing social and economic circumstances. The changes have elicited widespread commentary, with opinions divided as to the consequences of government involvement in the university′s affairs. The case of the University of Malta raises wider issues concerning the interrelation of politics and higher education, and questions the efficacy, some would argue, of seeking to make institutions of higher learning fully responsive to the immediate environment in which they operate.

Summary The plays of the First Tetralogy are experimental in so far as Shakespeare manipulates, with varying success, a wide range of mythically propertied material. These plays, from a mythological point of view, do not stand as remarkable achievements of coherence or vision, but they do reveal a double potential. Firstly, the meaning of some of Shakespeare's imagery and allusion hinges on a mechanism of “two-way” significance in which a single figure assumes competing connotations. Secondly, these differing interpretations appear to fall into two well-defined, though not unrelated, mythological schemes. The English myth conceives cf a paradisial England, free of civil war and committed to foreign conquest; the anti-myth describes an England torn asunder by internal strife and lacking in the heroic qualities of the English mythology.

As a pulmonary cell and as a member of a multisystemic family of mononuclear phagocytes, the alveolar macrophage contributes not only to the maintenance of pulmonary homeostasis but also constitutes a vital link in the general systemic defensive chain. In this review, the role of the macrophage as the ultimate scavenger of the respiratory tree is explored in the context of the variety of environmental and other agents that may disturb this function and thereby injure the host. Analysis of these factors suggests that under conditions of increased inhalant load the macrophagic response is, in most instances, completely adequate to keep the air sacs free from injurious particles and microorganisms. Disturbances of the clearance mechanism induced by toxic injury or overloading of the macrophage may, by permitting the accumulation of harmful chemicals and microorganisms in the lung, contribute to the development of several chronic pulmonary diseases that are associated with our urban-industrial society.

The gas–hydrate theory of anesthesia proposed by Pauling and Miller suggests that either synergism or antagonism can occur when anesthetics are combined. Using MAC as a standard for depth of anesthesia, the properties of MAC fractions in combinations of anesthetics were evaluated and found to be additive, with the following exception: the combination of cyclopropane with nitrous oxide or ethylene produced antagonism. This result may be explained by competition of these agents for the same cavities in the hydrate structure.

Summary1. An explosive outbreak of Asian influenza beginning the week ending June 15, occurred at San Diego Naval Training Center. The peak admission rate of 192.2 from the recruit population occurred the following week. After the first 3 weeks the rates subsided but continued to be 2 to 3 times the pre-epidemic levels through the first 2 weeks in November. Serological and virus isolation studies showed that approximately 75% of admissions from onset of epidemic through November were due to Asian A influenza infections. A few were due to influenza B infections. Admissions due to adenoviruses occurred also in increasing numbers during Sept., Oct. and Nov. On the basis of serological studies essentially all admissions to the Dispensary from onset of epidemic to Nov. 16 were due either to influenza or adenovirus infections. 2) The general lack of immunity to Asian influenza virus in the recruit population is reflected in the high attack rate during the first 3 weeks of the outbreak and high percentage of ind...