Cumulant

Biochar addition to agricultural soil has been suggested to mitigate climate change through increased biogenic carbon storage and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. We measured the fluxes of N2O, CO2, and CH4 after adding 9 t ha−1 biochar on an agricultural soil in Southern Finland in May 2009. We conducted these measurements twice a week for 1.5 months, between sowing and canopy closure, to capture the period of highest N2O emissions, where the potential for mitigation would also be highest. Biochar addition increased CH4 uptake (96% increase in the average cumulative CH4 uptake), but no statistically significant differences were observed in the CO2 and N2O emissions between the biochar amended and control plots. Added biochar increased soil water holding capacity by 11%. Further studies are needed to clarify whether this may help balance fluctuations in water availability to plants in the future climate with more frequent drought periods.▶ Biochar addition to boreal agricultural soil increases CH4 uptake. ▶ Biochar addition to boreal agricultural soil increases water holding capacity. ▶ Biochar addition to boreal agricultural soil had no effect on N2O or CO2 fluxes.

The absence of dunite (>90 vol% olivine) in the howardite, eucrite, and diogenite (HED) meteorite suite, when viewed with respect to spectroscopic and petrologic evidence for olivine on Vesta, is problematic. Herein, we present petrologic, geochemical, and isotopic evidence confirming that Miller Range (MIL) 03443, containing 91 vol% olivine, should be classified with the HED clan rather than with mesosiderites. Similarities in olivine and pyroxene FeO ⁄ MnO ratios, mineral compositions, and unusual mineral inclusions between MIL 03443 and the diogenites support their formation on a common parent body. This hypothesis is bolstered by oxygen isotopic and bulk geochemical data. Beyond evidence for its reclassification, we present observations and interpretations that MIL 03443 is probably a crustal cumulate rock like the diogenites, rather than a sample of the Vestan mantle.

This paper reports a 5-year design experiment on cumulative knowledge building as part of an international project. Through a longitudinal study and analysis of cumulative research data, we sought to answer the question, 'what happened and why in knowledge building?' Research data constitute messages which participants have written into a shared knowledge building database. A multi-method approach combing quantitative and qualitative data was adopted which integrated analysis of message generation, content analysis, network analysis, structure of message threads, discourse analysis and interviews. Conclusions are based on analysis of almost 2000 messages. Qualitative content analysis reveals 14 main categories of data. When the content of the messages are analysed, quantitatively cumulative trends emerge. When the frequencies of messages are plotted against time, peaks and troughs of message writing are revealed. The explanations for these patterns and variations are sought through interviews. Social network analysis shows that the network is centralised. The research literature suggests that decentralised networks are ideal, but in this particular case, the expert centralisation was beneficial for knowledge building in the collaborative and associated professional networks. The reasons for this are discussed.

We present a model that forecasts sales and product evolution, based on data on market and industry, which can be collected before the product is introduced. Product evolution can be incremental but can also take place by releasing new generations. In our model adoption of a new product is motivated by attribute improvements (enabled by technology evolution), and firms' attribute improvements strategies are motivated by market growth and directed by market preferences. The interdependency between attributes' improvements and cumulative adoption level makes the problem inherently dynamic. The dependency of attribute levels on adoption levels is assessed using industry and technology analysis. Market preferences and purchase intention response to attribute levels changes are assessed based on a conjoint study. The option of collecting and interpreting data about both demand and supply aspects, before the new product is introduced, enables us to estimate sales and technology progress endogenously rather than to require them as inputs. We demonstrate the method on the hybrid car market.

Background: Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) significantly reduces HIV transmission. We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of the impact of expanded ART in South Africa. Methods: We model a best case scenario of 90% annual HIV testing coverage in adults 15-49 years old and four ART eligibility scenarios: CD4 count ,200 cells/mm 3 (current practice), CD4 count ,350, CD4 count ,500, all CD4 levels. 2011-2050 outcomes include deaths, disability adjusted life years (DALYs), HIV infections, cost, and cost per DALY averted. Service and ART costs reflect South African data and international generic prices. ART reduces transmission by 92%. We conducted sensitivity analyses. Results: Expanding ART to CD4 count ,350 cells/mm 3 prevents an estimated 265,000 (17%) and 1.3 million (15%) new HIV infections over 5 and 40 years, respectively. Cumulative deaths decline 15%, from 12.5 to 10.6 million; DALYs by 14% from 109 to 93 million over 40 years. Costs drop $504 million over 5 years and $3.9 billion over 40 years with breakeven by 2013. Compared with the current scenario, expanding to ,500 prevents an additional 585,000 and 3 million new HIV infections over 5 and 40 years, respectively. Expanding to all CD4 levels decreases HIV infections by 3.3 million (45%) and costs by $10 billion over 40 years, with breakeven by 2023. By 2050, using higher ART and monitoring costs, all CD4 levels saves $0.6 billion versus current; other ART scenarios cost $9-194 per DALY averted. If ART reduces transmission by 99%, savings from all CD4 levels reach $17.5 billion. Sensitivity analyses suggest that poor retention and predominant acute phase transmission reduce DALYs averted by 26% and savings by 7%. Conclusion: Increasing the provision of ART to ,350 cells/mm3 may significantly reduce costs while reducing the HIV burden. Feasibility including HIV testing and ART uptake, retention, and adherence should be evaluated.

This paper presents a new intensity-to-time processing paradigm suitable for very large scale integration (VLSI) computational sensor implementation of global operations over sensed images. Global image quantities usually describe images with fewer data. When computed at the point of sensing, global quantities result in a low-latency performance due to the reduced data transfer requirements between an image sensor and a processor. The global quantities also help global top-down adaptation: the quantities are continuously computed on-chip, and are readily available to sensing for adaptation. As an example, we have developed a sorting image computational sensor-a VLSI chip which senses an image and sorts all pixel by their intensities. The first sorting sensor prototype is a 21 2 2 2 26 array of cells. It receives an image optically, senses it, and computes the image's cumulative histogram-a global quantity which can be quickly routed off chip via one pin. In addition, the global cumulative histogram is used internally on-chip in a top-down fashion to adapt the values in individual pixel so as to reflect the index of the incoming light, thus computing an "image of indices." The image of indices never saturates and has a uniform histogram.

The electrocardiogram has been shown in epidemiologic studies to be an independent predictor of survival. These studies have adjusted for selected covariates simultaneously. This article assesses the value of the electrocardiogram as a predictor of survival when introduced at progressive stages of the common clinical encounter. Data collected from 4,518 patients ages of 60 to 96 years with isolated systolic hypertension who were followed-up for up to 6 years as part of the Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Project were analyzed. Survival curves and 3-and 5-year survival rates (Cox regression methods) of groups with normal and abnormal resting electrocardiograms were compared. Blocks of covariates representing demographic information, risk factors for cardiovascular disease, clinical history, and physical examination findings were added to the survival models sequentially to mimic the sequence of the common clinical encounter, and the independent significance of the electrocardiogram as a predictor of survival was assessed at each step. An abnormal electrocardiogram was associated with reduced survival when no adjustment for covariates is made. Survival was also significantly (P Ͻ .05) different for groups with normal and abnormal electrocardiograms when demographic and risk factor variables were included in the statistical models, but not after findings from the clinical history and physical examination were added. The prognostic value of the electrocardiogram varies with the stage in the clinical encounter in which it is introduced.

Under the two initial 1-D one parameter velocity distribution forms (one is normal, the other is exponential), the z direction scale height evolution of normal neutron stars in the Galaxy is studied by numerical simulation. We do statistics for the cases at different time segments, also do statistics for the cumulative cases made of each time segment. The results show in the cumulative cases the evolution curves of the scale heights are smoother than in the each time segment, i.e., the cumulation improve the signal-to-noise ratio. Certainly the evolution cases are different at different Galactic disk locations, which also have very large difference from the average cases in the whole disk. In the initial stages of z evolution of normal neutron stars, after the beginning transient states, the cumulative scale heights increase linearly with time, and the cumulative scale height increasing rates have linear relationship with the initial velocity distribution parameters, which have larg...

Power law cumulative frequency (P) vs. event size (l) distributions P (≥ l) ∼ l −α are frequently cited as evidence for complexity and serve as a starting point for linking theoretical models and mechanisms with observed data. Systems exhibiting this behavior present fundamental mathematical challenges in probability and statistics. The broad span of length and time scales associated with heavy tailed processes often require special sensitivity to distinctions between discrete and continuous phenomena. A discrete Highly Optimized Tolerance (HOT) model, referred to as the Probability, Loss, Resource (PLR) model, gives the exponent α = 1/d as a function of the dimension d of the underlying substrate in the sparse resource regime. This agrees well with data for wildfires, web file sizes, and electric power outages. However, another HOT model, based on a continuous (dense) distribution of resources, predicts α = 1 + 1/d. In this paper we describe and analyze a third model, the cuts model, which exhibits both behaviors but in different regimes. We use the cuts model to show all three models agree in the dense resource limit. In the sparse resource regime, the continuum model breaks down, but in this case, the cuts and PLR models are described by the same exponent.

We examined the effects of wild ungulates (deer and elk) and domestic sheep browsing on the growth, structure, and reproductive effort of two common willow species, Salix boothii and S. geyeriana, in a montane northeast Oregon riparian zone. With the use of exclosures, large herbivore effects on willows were studied in an area browsed by native mammals only and an adjacent area in which domestic sheep also lightly grazed during summer months. Growth variables were repeatedly measured on individual plants over a 5-year period to understand physiognomic and flowering responses of native willows to different levels of browsing pressure. At the beginning of the study, all willows were intensely browsed but were significantly taller in the area browsed only by native mammals than in the area also grazed by sheep (69 versus 51 cm, respectively). Willows inside exclosures responded with pronounced increases in height, crown area, and basal stem diameters while the stature of browsed plants outside exclosures stayed constant or declined. In the area browsed by both sheep and wild herbivores, the size of browsed plants remained at pre-treatment levels (<60 cm in height) for the duration of the study. There was no significant difference in growth rates of enclosed willows, indicating that current herbivory was the primary cause of growth retardation in the study area. Foliar area was strongly correlated with basal stem numbers for enclosed plants but much less so for browsed plants. Willows inside exclosures had more than twice as much foliar area per stem. Stem diameters were a positive function of crown area: stemnumber ratios, suggesting lower photosynthetic potential was correlated with diminished radial growth among browsed plants. No flowering was observed until 2 years after exclusion when plants inside all exclosures and browsed willows in the wild ungulate area responded with a large pulse in flowering. Browsed plants in the sheep + wild ungulate area did not flower. The number of catkins produced per plant was significantly associated with willow height and plants <70 cm in height did not flower, thus suggesting a size threshold for reproduction in these species. Our results suggest that even relatively light levels of domestic livestock grazing, when coupled with intense wild ungulate browsing, can strongly affect plant structure and limit reproduction of riparian willows.

Low back pain (LBP) in children and adolescents was considered for many years to be rare and an indication of serious disease [1]. In the last two decades, epidemi-ological studies have shown that the prevalence of ... Ismail Bejia Nabiha Abid Kamel Ben Salem Mondher Letaief ...

An analytical model based on cumulative damage has been used for predicting the damage evolution in composite materials. The model is verified with experimental data from a carbon/epoxy composite fatigued under tension-tension load. Fatigue tests of specimens have been monitored with an infra-red thermography system. By analysing the temperature of the external surface during the application of cyclic loading, it is possible to evaluate the damage evolution. The model agrees well with the experimental data, and it can be used to predict the evolution of damage in composites.

Treatment of tumor-bearing mice with LD 12.5 values of iodoacetate; IAA (1.84 mg/100g b.w.) and/or dimethylsulphoxide; DMSO (350 mg/ 100g b.w.) significantly increased the cumulative mean survival time and percentage of survivors and reduced the mean tumor weight, compared to tumor-bearing controls, however, a more pronounced effect is recorded in the combined treatment. Also, an increase in the life span (ILS%) and tumor growth inhibition ratio (T/C%) are reported and amounted to 145.78 and 43.80%, 195.54 and 61.30% and 220.77 and 78.40% in IAA, DMSO and combined-treated groups, respectively. Results obtained from biochemical studies reveal that a single IAA treatment of tumor-bearing mice significantly increased the levels of plasma lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, while it also significantly decreased the levels of plasma glucose and liver total protein, RNA and DNA, compared to normal controls. On the other hand, a single DMSO treatment significantly elevated the activities of blood antioxidant enzymes, i.e. glutathione peroxidase (GP x ) and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) and decreased the liver RNA and DNA levels. Combined treatment increased significantly the levels of plasma LDH and erythrocytes G6PDH activities, as well as liver glycogen, and in contrast it decreased the levels of liver total protein, RNA and DNA, compared to normal controls.

To analyze the clinical efficacy of cidofovir combined with highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) in AIDS-related progressive multifocal leukoen-cepalopathy (PML), a multicenter observational study was performed. Consecutive HIV-positive patients with histologically or virologically proven PML and at least 4 weeks of treatment after diagnosis were examined: 27 patients were treated with HAART, whereas 16 patients were treated with HAART plus cidofovir 5 mg/kg intravenously per week for the first 2 weeks and every other week thereafter. JC virus DNA was quantified in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by PCR. Baseline virologic, immunologic, and clinical characteristics as well as HIV RNA and CD4 responses to HAART were homogeneous between the groups. The median follow-up was 132 weeks. In one case (6%), cidofovir was permanently discontinued because of severe proteinuria. One-year cumulative probability of survival was 0.61 with cidofovir and 0.29 without (log rank test P = 0.02). After adjusting for baseline CD4 counts, JC viral load in CSF, Karnofsky, and use of HAART prior to the onset of PML, the use of cidofovir was independently associated with a reduced risk of death (hazard ratio, 0.21, 95% confidence interval, 0.07–0.65; P = 0.005). A randomized study will definitively establish whether cidofovir confers significant advantage over HAART alone in AIDS-related PML.

To test this hypothesis, we used a retroviral vector to express IGFBP-rP1 cDNA in the IGFBP-rP1-deficient MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. Compared with control vector-transduced cells, cumulative cell numbers for IGFBP-rP1-transduced polyclonal or clonal cell cultures were reduced by 39 and 74%, respectively, after 1 week. Medium conditioned by IGFBP-rP1-producing cultures reduced cumulative cell numbers in parental MCF-7 cultures by 20% compared with medium from cultures of a control vector-transduced cell line. Nuclear fragmentation analysis and cell proliferation assays completed in the presence of the pan-caspase inhibitor benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp(OMe)fluoromethylketone excluded apoptosis as the responsible mechanism. The percentage of cells containing senescence-associated ␤-galactosidase activity was doubled compared with control cell cultures. Flow cytometry analysis indicated that twice as many noncycling cells were present in the IGFBP-rP1-transduced MCF-7 cell cultures compared with controls. These findings indicate that IGFBP-rP1 is an inhibitor of MCF-7 breast cancer cell proliferation and may act via a cellular senescence-like mechanism. . The abbreviations used are: IGFBP, insulin-like growth factor binding protein; IGFBP-rP1, IGFBP-related protein 1; HMEC, human mammary epithelial cell; ER, estrogen receptor; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; zVADfmk, benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp(OMe)-fluoromethylketone; SA-␤galactosidase, senescence-associated ␤-galactosidase; BrdUrd, 5bromodeoxyuridine; ␣MEM, ␣-minimal essential medium; FBS, fetal bovine serum.

Ever since Maurice Halbwachs's pioneering work, most scholars have been content to explore collective memory through texts and commemorative symbolism. Assuming that a study of collective memory has fuller meaning when it takes into account what ordinary people think about the past, we compare historians' and commemorative agents' representations of Abraham Lincoln to what four national samples of Americans believe about him. Five primary images-Savior of the Union, Great Emancipator, Man of the People, First (Frontier) American, and Self-Made Man-are prominent in the cumulative body of Lincoln representations, but recent surveys show that only one of these images, the Great Emancipator, is dominant within the public. Lincoln's one-dimensional Emancipator image, which differs from the multi-dimensional one evident in a 1945 sample, reflects new perceptions of the Civil War shaped by late twentieth-century minority rights movements. Thus, "bringing men [and women] back in" involves survey evidence being added to historiographic and commemoration analysis to clarify one of sociology's most ambiguous concepts, collective memory, and to explore its social and generational roots.

Socioeconomic status and health status are directly related across the world. Children with low-socioeconomic status not only experience greater health problems in childhood but also aspects of their socioeconomic status become biologically incorporated through both critical periods of development and cumulative effects, leading to poor health outcomes as adults. We explore 3 main influences related to child's socioeconomic status that impact long-term health: the material environment, the social environment, and the structural or community environment. These influences illustrate the importance of clinical innovations, health services research, and public policies that address the socioeconomic determinants of these distal health outcomes. (J Dev Behav Pediatr 31:154 -160, 2010) Index terms: socioeconomic status, poverty, life course.

Porcine handmade cloning (HMC), a simplified alternative of micromanipulation based traditional cloning (TC) has been developed in multiple phases during the past years, but the final evidence of its biological value, births of piglets was missing. Here we report the first births of ...

Repair of the VA has evolved in the last decade. It began as an uncommon operation used in a minute percentage of patients with cerebrovascular disease. At that time many neurologists and vascular surgeons viewed these reconstructions with skepticism, doubting that they could influence the neurologic outcome of these patients or even if they were needed at all.

This paper describes a simple complete search for cumulative scheduling based on the detection and resolution of minimal critical sets (MCS). The heuristic for selecting MCSs relies on an estimation of the related reduction of the search space. An extension of the search procedure using selfadapting shaving is proposed. The approach was implemented on top of classical constraint propagation algorithms and tested on resource constrained project scheduling problems (RCPSP). We were able to close more than 15% of the previously open problems of the PSPLIB [Kolisch and Sprecher, 1996] and improve more than 31% of the best known lower bounds on those heavily studied problems. Other new results on open-shop and cumulative job-shop scheduling are reported.

Adaptogens are medicinal plants that augment resistance to stress, and increase concentration, performance and endurance during fatigue. Experiments were curried out with BALB/c mice taking ADAPT-232 forte, a fixed combination of three genuine (native) extracts of Eleutherococcus senticocus, Schisandra chinensis and Rhodiola rosea, characterised for the content of active markers eleutherosides, schisandrins, salidroside, tyrosol and rosavin and in doses of about 30, 90 and 180 mg/kg for seven consecutive days followed by forced swimming test to exhaustion. ADAPT-232 forte strongly augments endurance of mice, increasing the time taken to exhaustion (TTE) in a dose-dependent manner from 3.0±0.5 to 21.1±1.7 min, approximately seven fold. Serum Hsp72 was measured by EIA both in normal and stressful conditions before and after swimming test. Repeated administration of adaptogen dose dependently increases basal level of Hsp72 in serum of mice from 0.8–1.5 to 5.5–6.3 pg/ml. This effect is ...

Global climate change may impact the cycling of C, N, and S in forest ecosystems because increased soil temperatures could alter rates of microbially mediated processes. We studied the effects of temperature on microbial respiration and net N and S mineralization in surface soils from four northern hardwood forests in the Great Lakes region. Soil samples were incubated in the laboratory at five temperatures (5, 10, 15, 20, and 25°C) for 32 wk. Headspace gas was analyzed for CO 2-C at 2-wk intervals, and soils were extracted to determine inorganic N and S. Cumulative respired C and mineralized N and S increased with temperature at all sites and were strongly related (r 2 = 0.67 to 0.90, significant at P = 0.001) to an interaction between temperature and soil organic C. Production of respired C and mineralized N was closely fit by first-order kinetic models (r 2 > 0.94, P = 0.001), whereas mineralized S was best described by zero-order kinetics. Contrary to common assumptions, rate constants estimated from the first-order models were not consistently related to temperature, but apparent pool sizes of C and N were highly temperature dependent. Temperature effects on microbial respiration could not be accurately predicted using temperature-adjusted rate constants combined with a constant pool size of labile C. Results suggest that rates of microbial respiration and the mineralization of N and S may be related to a temperature-dependent constraint on microbial access to substrate pools. Simulation models should rely on a thorough understanding of the biological basis underlying microbially mediated C, N, and S transformations in soil.

Traditional cardiovascular risk factors have been shown to cause microvascular dysfunction. Most studies that have evaluated microcirculation rely on invasive measurement tools. We used dobutamine stress echocardiography, a validated method to measure coronary flow velocity (CFV) and coronary flow reserve (CFR), in a previously unstudied population without known significant coronary artery disease to determine the impact of traditional risk factors on CFR. Consecutive patients who had no evidence of regional wall motion abnormalities at rest or during dobutamine stress echocardiography were studied. Left anterior descending artery CFV was measured at baseline and at peak dobutamine stress and CFR was calculated as the ratio of peak stress CFV to baseline CFV. Fifty-nine consecutive patients (28 men) with mean age of 66.8 ؎ 14.5 years were studied. CFR was lower in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) compared with those without (1.7 ؎ 0.74 vs 2.48 ؎ 0.98, p <0.007), in patients with hypertension compared with those without (2 ؎ 0.8 vs 2.6 ؎ 0.9, p <0.02), and in obese patients compared with nonobese patients (1.6 ؎ 0.5 vs 2 ؎ 0.6, p <0.02). CFR was further impaired in the presence of DM with hypertension, DM with obesity, DM with a wide pulse pressure (>50 mm Hg), and obesity with a wide pulse pressure. In a multivariate model, DM, obesity, and wide pulse pressure were significantly associated with variation in CFR (p <0.0008). In conclusion, CFR was abnormal in patients with DM, hypertension, and obesity. CFR impairment is exaggerated as the number of risk factors increases. Despite a negative dobutamine stress echocardiographic result, aggressive risk factor assessment and control should be implemented in patients with coronary risk factors due to an underlying abnormal CFR.

It is established for the first time that the spatial distribution of breaking waves on the ocean surface is a multifractal process. This result is based on an analysis of airborne visible and near-infrared imagery of the ocean surface under a limited range of wind speed and fetch. A detailed study of the optical spectra of the images and the cumulative probability structure of the prevalent background shows that the lower-intensity reflective areas follow a Rayleigh probability distribution. By contrast, the higher-intensity pixels associated with the scattered light from foam and breaking waves demonstrate scaling characteristics in both the optical spectra and the cumulative probability distributions. It is demonstrated that the degree to which the whitecaps are singularities on a dark background is described by a Lipschitz exponent c•, which uniquely tags each breaking wave. This identification process, called "fractal" or "singularity filtering", leads to a critical condition c• = 1 tentatively associated with the crossover from active entraining whitecaps to passively dissipating foam. The multifractal representation associated with the degree of singularity is simply a restatement that the imagery is composed of a continuum of sets, where each set consists of those breaking waves at a particular phase in their existence. The fractal spectrum of the image above a threshold is shown to be representable by a fractal generator. Physically, the fractal generator models the energy exchange in a breaking wave field as a flux of energy input from the atmosphere to the wave field cascaded over scales of the order of a kilometer to meters. If the energy flux is further parameterized in terms of the receiving area, an assumption similar to closure techniques used in classical turbulence models, the empirical results symmetrically span Phillips's basic arguments for the energy flux terms controlling a wind-driven sea. 16,179 16,180 KERMAN AND BERNIER: MULTIFRACTAL BREAKING WAVES ! . Ii . i Figure 1. (a), Field of breaking waves observed using a line scanner on board an aircraft flying at about 500 m over the Bay of Fundy. Field of view about 250m 2, resolution was about 0.5m, and optical wavelength was 0.95/•m. (b), Image thresholded to remove reflective Rayleigh component. (c), Image of asubsets (a) 1) identified with nonentraining (foam) areas. (d), Image of a subsets, a < 1, identified with entraining (breaking wave) areas. qualitative way what is observed about breaking waves, even at the risk of stating in some cases the obvious. When the field is imaged either by standard photography [Ross and Cardone, 1974; Smith, 1981; Kennedy and Snyder, 1983] or with side-scanning techniques from underneath the surface [Thorpe and Hall, 1983; Thorpe and Humphties, 1980] or from the air (Figure la) [Kerman and Szeto, 1994], several features of the spatial field of breaking waves are evident. The first feature of breaking waves is their distinct isolated nature: the fact that they are born, mature, and die almost always without affecting or being mod-16,182 K••AN AND BERNIER: MULTIFRACTAL BREAKING WAVES

In this paper, a hybrid resource management system for the uplink in Universal Mobile Telecommunications System wideband code-division multiple access (WCDMA) with components in the Node-B and user equipment (UE) has been proposed. A rate scheduler in the client focuses on average packet delays as a means of abstracting application-specific requirements from the rest of the resource management scheme. It controls uplink transmission through variable spreading gain to optimize resource usage while meeting target delays. Service change requests from the distributed rate schedulers are collectively processed through interservice and intraservice priority queuing in a manner that is shown to exhibit fairness in allocation of resources when cumulative load exceeds system capacity. The performance of the proposed algorithm is explored through discrete-event simulations for three classes of traffic, namely voice, video, and data, over the WCDMA uplink in the presence of short-term Rayleigh fading, automatic repeat request, forward error correction, target transmission delays to meet the respective quality of service, and frame error rate targets in a "multicell" environment. The authors analyze two alternatives for distributed resource management with the UE or Node-B in control of rate scheduling and observe the fairness in resource allocation of both systems. Priority of speech, video, and data traffic is respected and reflected in 95th percentile transmission delays for heavily loaded systems.

New models of thermally pulsing asymptotic giant branch (TP-AGB) stars of low mass and solar chemical composition are presented, namely, Z \ 0.02, and Y \ 0.28. The inÑuence of 1 ¹ M/M _ ¹ 3, various parameters (such as the initial core mass, the envelope mass, the mass-loss rate, the opacity, and the mixing length) on the properties of the models is discussed in detail. Our main Ðndings are the following :

As Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a complex disease, we decided to estimate how previously reported genetic polymorphisms interact to increase the risk for the disease. Five candidate genes were chosen: apolipoprotein E (APOE), a2-macroglobulin, cathepsin D, myeloperoxidase and nitric oxide synthase. Genotyping was performed in 100 cases of late-onset AD and 100 healthy controls. We found a highly significant difference in APOE 14 distribution between groups (P , 0:005). However, no evidence of association for other studied loci was found. Cumulative analysis of five genetic polymorphisms was performed, but it also failed to reveal any synergistic effect of candidate genes greater than that caused by APOE itself. Our results suggest that the APOE 14 allele is the only known genetic risk factor for late-onset, sporadic AD. q

Multitemporal satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images are a useful source of information for geophysicists to monitor changing regions. In this paper, a new approach is proposed to extract from multitemporal SAR images two kinds of information: temporal changes (flooded areas, coastline erosion, etc.) and stable spatial features (roads, rivers, etc.). The novelty of the proposed approach is to detect simultaneously these two kinds of discontinuities. In a first step, the contrast and the heterogeneity information is extracted by a "multitemporal" application of the ratio of local means and by new three-dimensional texture parameters based on the log-cumulants. In a second step, the resulting attributes that measure the time variability or the presence of spatial features are merged. An interactive fuzzy fusion approach is proposed to provide end-users with a simple and easily understandable tool for tuning the change-detection results. The performances of the proposed attributes and fusion technique are presented on a set of seven multitemporal SAR images acquired by the European Remote Sensing (ERS-1) satellite.

... K–Ar dating has placed a lower limit of 0.6 Ma on the age of Soufriere [35 ... Crustal contamination is also well documented from some of the central Lesser Antilles islands such as Martinique [30] and [40]where the lavas define a good positive array on diagrams of SiO 2 versus 87 ...

Introduction: Radioactive iodine ( 131 I) is widely prescribed for treatment of Graves' disease. A dose of 370 to 555 MBq (10 to 15 mCi) is usually enough, but reports of improved remission rates with single doses up to 20-30 mCi, and 38.5 mCi at most, exist.

La lombalgie commune constitue un problème de santé publique par sa fréquence et ses conséquences en milieu de travail. Les objectifs de notre étude sont la détermination de la prévalence de la lombalgie commune chez le personnel hospitalier, l'analyse des conséquences médicoprofessionnelles et la recherche de facteurs associés à la lombalgie commune. Méthodes.-Nous avons réalisé une enquête portant sur 350 employés de l'hôpital universitaire Fattouma-Bourguiba de Monastir. Ces employés ont répondu à un questionnaire pré-établi comportant 51 items. Résultats.-La prévalence cumulée de la lombalgie était de 57,1 % des cas, la prévalence annuelle était de 50,1 % des cas, la prévalence de la lombalgie chronique était de 12,8 % des cas. Les soins médicaux étaient nécessaires dans 61,9 % des cas. Les explorations radiologiques étaient effectuées dans 45 % des cas. L'arrêt de travail était observé dans 26,1 % des cas et un changement de poste de travail était nécessaire pour deux agents. Les facteurs associés à la lombalgie étaient l'âge (p < 0,01), le sexe féminin (p = 0,024), le BMI élevé (p = 0,01), le fait d'être marié ou divorcé (p < 0,01), le tabagisme (p = 0,016), les antécédents de lombalgie (p < 0,0001), l'activité extra-professionnelle (p < 0,01), la migraine (p < 0,001), l'ancienneté dans l'établissement (p = 0,007) ainsi que le port de charges lourdes (p = 0,008). Le sport constitue plutôt un facteur protecteur de la lombalgie (p = 0,019). Conclusion.-La prévalence de la lombalgie chez les personnels hospitaliers ainsi que ses répercussions socioprofessionnelles sont importantes. Plusieurs facteurs sont associés à cette lombalgie incitant à entreprendre des mesures préventives de cette affection.

The spectacular performance of Indian agriculture witnessed during the second half of the 20th century against the onslaught of rising demographic pressure is a vivid demonstration of the growing effectiveness of our agricultural research and development system. However, the issue of sustainability in agriculture still remains a question. Management of natural resources, especially soil and its fertility status and vegetation following suitable agronomic management practices for sustainable agricultural production, represents a most daunting task and is certainly going to receive much attention in the years to come. Many workers established functional relationships between nutrients and other agronomic factors at different locations in India but systematic compilation of those relationships is a rare effort. The present paper reviews the latest information on inter-relationships between nutrients and other agronomic factors (seed rate, planting density, age of the seedling, planting method, irrigation, weed control, tillage, bacterial inoculation and cultivar etc.) on field crops. Major findings of first and second order interactions are highlighted. None of the second order interaction was found signifi-P. K. Ghosh is Senior Scientist

Uno de los sistemas más frágiles de la superficie terrestre lo constituye el litoral, fundamentalmente en sus sectores acumulativos, como las playas. Las regeneraciones artificiales, como los vertimientos de arena, representan una de las vías para su enriquecimiento sedimentario y estabilidad temporal, propicias para su protección medioambiental y desarrollo sustentable. Este trabajo amplía los conocimientos esenciales sobre la estructura, morfología, morfometría, génesis y dinámica del relieve peninsular de Hicacos, en particular en su sector más septentrional, para su uso y manejo optimizado; propone un modelo evolutivo de su consolidación geomorfológica; presenta y trasmite las experiencias ambientales del vertimiento de arena de la playa de Varadero de 1998, como medida regenerativa cardinal de la recuperación de la playa; y dicta un conjunto de medidas preventivas y correctivas, que favorecen la estabilidad de las condiciones geomorfológicas, en armonía con las obras hoteleras ...

An open cross-over and randomized study was carried out in order to compare the e⁄cacy and safety of inhaled salbutamol delivered from a new 50 mg dose À1 metered-dose dry powder inhalerTaifun s , and a commercially available 50 mg dose À1 dry powder inhalerTurbuhaler s , and a conventional100 mg dose À1 pressurized metered-dose inhaler with a spacer (pMDI+S).Twenty-one patients, aged 21^70 years, with stable asthma and with demonstrated reversibility upon inhalation of salbutamol were included in the study.On three separate study days, the patients received a total dose of 400 mg of salbutamol from the dry powder inhalers and a dose of 800 mg from the pMDI+S in a cumulative fashion:1,1, 2 and 4 doses at 30 min intervals.The per cent change in forced expiratory volume in1sec (FEV 1), was used as the primary e⁄cacy variable. Salbutamol inhaled via theTaifun s produced greater bronchodilation than the other devices.The di¡erence in percent change in FEV 1 between theTaifun s and the other devices was statistically signi¢cant at the two ¢rst dose levels, but diminished towards the higher doses when the plateau of the dose^response curve was reached.The estimated relative dose potency oftheTaifun s was approximately1?9-and 2?8-fold compared to theTurbuhaler s and the pMDI+S, respectively.TheTaifun s caused a slight, butclinicallyinsigni¢cant, decreasein serum potassium concentration.There were no signi¢cantchangesinthe other safetyparameters (blood pressure, heartrate and electrocardiogram recordings) with any of the used devices. In conclusion, this study indicates that salbutamol inhaled via the Taifun s is more potentthan salbutamolinhaled from the other devices tested.In practise, a smaller total dose of salbutamol from theTaifun s is needed to produce a similar bronchodilatory response. All treatments were equally well tolerated.r 2001Harcourt Publishers Ltd

This study examines the effects of family structure and family environments on the initiation of illicit drug use among a sample of U.S.-and foreign-bom Hispanic/Latino, African American, and White non-Hispanic adolescent boys (N = 3413). Bivariate and multivariate analyses with longitudinal data, three years, were used to assess transitional/temporal influences of family variables on the initiation of illicit drug use. Findings revealed large differences in family structure among the three race/ethnic groups. African American adolescents report the lowest incidence of illicit drug use initiation, and the weakest effects of family structure and environment on substance use. Cumulative effects of family risk factors were strongly associated with increased probabilities of illicit drug use initiation, but there were temporal as well as race/ethnic variations on these effects. Deteriorating changes in family environments were stronger predictors of the initiation of drug use among Hispanic immigrants than nonimmigrants, and family socioeconomic status was a predictor for immigrant Hispanics only. The relationship between family structure and drug use initia

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is located in close proximity of the respiratory chains, which are the main cellular source of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS can induce oxidative base lesions in mtDNA and are believed to be an important cause of the mtDNA mutations, which accumulate with aging and in diseased states. However, recent studies indicate that cumulative levels of base substitutions in mtDNA can be very low even in old individuals. Considering the reduced complement of DNA repair pathways available in mitochondria and higher susceptibility of mtDNA to oxidative damage than nDNA, it is presently unclear how mitochondria manage to maintain the integrity of their genetic information in the face of the permanent exposure to ROS. Here we show that oxidative stress can lead to the degradation of mtDNA and that strand breaks and abasic sites prevail over mutagenic base lesions in ROS-damaged mtDNA. Furthermore, we found that inhibition of base excision repair enhanced mtDNA degradation in response to both oxidative and alkylating damage. These observations suggest a novel mechanism for the protection of mtDNA against oxidative insults whereby a higher incidence of lesions to the sugar-phosphate backbone induces degradation of damaged mtDNA and prevents the accumulation of mutagenic base lesions.

A vision sensing system for the measurement of auto-guidance pass-to-pass and long-term errors was implemented to test the steering performance of tractors equipped with auto-guidance systems. The developed test system consisted of an optical machine vision sensor rigidly mounted on the rear of the tested tractor. The center of the drawbar hitch pin point was used as the reference from which to measure the deviation of the tractor's actual travel path from its desired path. The system was built and calibrated to a measurement accuracy of better than 2 mm. To evaluate the sensor, two auto-guidance systems equipped with RTK-level GNSS receivers were tested and the results for different travel speeds compared. Pass-to-pass and long-term errors were calculated using the relative positions of a reference at a collocated point when the tractor was operated in opposite directions within 15 min and more than 1 h apart, respectively. In addition to variations in speed, two different auto-guidance steering stabilization distances allowed for comparison of two different definitions of steady-state operation of the system. For the analysis, non-parametric cumulative distributions were generated to determine error values that corresponded to 95% of the cumulative distribution. Both auto-guidance systems provided 95% cumulative error estimates comparable to 51 mm (2 in.) claims and even smaller during Test A. Higher travel speeds (especially 5.0 m/s) significantly increased measured auto-guidance error, but no significant difference was observed between pass-to-pass and long-term error estimates. The vision sensor testing system could be used as a means to implement the auto-guidance test standard under development by the International Standard Organization (ISO). Third-party evaluation of auto-guidance performance will increase consumer awareness of the potential performance of products provided by a variety of vendors.

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Degradation of polypropylene (PP) during melt processing was studied using a novel profluorescence technique. The profluorescent nitroxide probe, 1,1,3,3-tetramethyldibenzo[e,g]isoindolin-2-yloxyl (TMDBIO) was added to PP during melt processing to act as a sensor for carbon-centred radicals. Trapping of carboncentred radicals, formed during degradation of PP, led to an increase in fluorescence emission from TMDBIO adducts. Through analysis of viscosity changes during processing cumulative chain scission degradation was estimated. At processing temperatures of 210 C or below, fluorescence emission from TMDBIO adducts could be correlated with cumulative chain scissions when the number of chain scissions was small. At higher temperatures, a correlation was not observed most probably due to radical-trap instability rather than decomposition of the TMDBIO. Thus, TMDBIO may be used as a profluorescent sensor for degradation of PP during melt processing when the processing temperature is 210 C or below.

The use of the compensation heat-pulse velocity (CHPV) technique to estimate sap flow in olive trees as a means of irrigation scheduling can be a difficult task because of the naturally heterogeneity of hydraulic functioning of sapwood area in this species. As a result, the monitoring of an unreasonably large number of both trees and CHPV gauges per tree is needed for accurate estimation of orchard transpiration. The approach used in this paper restricts the monitoring of a large number of both trees and gauges to a very short time (a day) and allows the long term estimation of transpiration of several olive trees by the continuous monitoring of a sole CHPV gauge installed in a single tree. In an experimental olive orchard in southern Italy, we monitored six CHPV gauges in three well irrigated trees (treatment T100) and six CHPV gauges in three rain-fed trees (treatment T0) at half hour intervals for 60 days during summer 1999. For each i th gauge at each day, we linearly regressed the sap flow (Q i , l h (1 ) against the mean sap flow of the all other n(/1 gauges of the same treatment (Qm i ). The regression parameters were used to obtain an estimation of Qm i (EQm i ) throughout the trial using the data of any single i th gauge. In order to test the prediction power of the model of i th gauge, the estimated mean sap flow (EQm i ) values were regressed day by day against the actually measured Qm i . The same procedure was also applied at the time scale of a day, that is to the daily cumulative value of Q i and Qm i . In all cases, we obtained high statistical significance of the models applied to data as confirmed by the high adjusted R 2 estimates. Our analyses show the feasibility of estimating the transpiration rate of many trees by monitoring sap flow in a single tree by the use of a sole CHPV gauge. The results of this work indicate that CHPV can be a useful and powerful method for irrigation scheduling for olive and other tree species. #

Background: The objectives of the study were to characterize the expression of the αand β-subunits of granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) receptor in bovine cumulus cells and oocytes and to determine the effect of exogenous GM-CSF on cumulus cells expansion, oocyte maturation, IGF-2 transcript expression and subsequent competence for embryonic development.

Caffeine (3.3 mg/kg) was tested against a placebo in 20 male medical students during periods of low (no exams) versus high (final exams) work stress. On each of 8 test days, heart rate and blood pressure were measured at baseline and over a 40-min postdrug interval; immediately afterward, blood was drawn to test plasma Cortisol and serum lipid concentrations. Exams increased heart rate (p < .005) and systolic blood pressure (p < .02). Caffeine decreased heart rate (p < .0001) and increased systolic blood pressure (p < .005), diastolic blood pressure (p < .0001), plasma Cortisol levels (p < .01), and serum cholesterol levels (p < .02). Caffeine effects were additive with those of exams, and together they increased the number of men showing systolic blood pressures in the borderline hypertensive range. Thus, caffeine use during periods of increased occupational stress may enhance the cumulative stress response.