An Interactive Procedure for Multiobjective Analysis of Water Resources Allocation

This paper reports on part of IIASA's research concerning regional water management planning, focusing on the Western Skane region in Southern Sweden. The IIASA studies are concerned with four issues of particular importance to water resources management, namely, conflict resolution, criteria of choice, uncertainty, and institutional arrangements. This paper is related primarily to the first two of these issues. An interactive procedure seeking the satisfactory nondominated solution of the multiobjective water resources allocation problem is discussed. It is based on the Powell method with penalty function for the solution of scalar optimization problem and on a constraint and weighting method, or actually a reference objective method, for the solution of the multiobjective optimization problem. Application of the procedure is illustrated by an example referring to the situation in the Kavlinge River system in the Western Skane, Sweden

Multi-criteria Spatial Analysis for the Localization of Production Structures. Analytic Hierarchy Process and Geographical Information System in the Case of Expanding an Industrial Area

Among the numerous economic evaluation techniques currently available, multi-criteria spatial analysis lends itself to solving localization problems of property complexes and, in particular, production plants. The methodology involves the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and the mapping overlay technique, which overlaps the different information layers of a territory in order to obtain an overview of the parameters that characterize it. This first phase is used to detect possible settlement surfaces of a new agglomeration, subsequently selected through Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), so as to choose the best alternative. The result ensures the synthesis of a multidimensional profile that expresses both the quantitative and qualitative effects. Each criterion can be given a different weight

Ectopic expression of the HLXB9 gene is associated with an altered nuclear position in t(7;12) leukaemias

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ 2009 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.No abstract available (Letter to the editor).The Leukaemia Research Fun

Water Resources Planning and Management in Advanced Economies: The Case Study of Western Skane, Sweden - A Background Report

This is a Working Paper intended to give background information on the Western Skane case study of water resource planning and management which is being pursued jointly by IIASA and Lund University. The paper is primarily intended to be read by a non-Swedish public. We have, however, also included some discussion of the most important analytical and policy-oriented problems of the Skane area, which means that some of the information is also of interest to a Swedish public. The presentation in this paper is based on currently available published information on the economic and administrative structure and environmental conditions related to water planning in the region. A preliminary version of the paper was distributed for review to planning agencies at the central and regional level of decision making. Our interpretation of their comments have been included in this final version. We have abstained from including discussions about modeling and other methodological issues at this stage. Such methodological issues will be presented in separate papers. It is also the intention to present a research plan based on this paper and other methodological research currently pursued at IIASA. The research plan is intended to cover a working period of approximately two years at IIASA and to be fitted into a four to five year research plan for the group working with these issues in Sweden

Homotopy Theory of Strong and Weak Topological Insulators

We use homotopy theory to extend the notion of strong and weak topological insulators to the non-stable regime (low numbers of occupied/empty energy bands). We show that for strong topological insulators in d spatial dimensions to be "truly d-dimensional", i.e. not realizable by stacking lower-dimensional insulators, a more restrictive definition of "strong" is required. However, this does not exclude weak topological insulators from being "truly d-dimensional", which we demonstrate by an example. Additionally, we prove some useful technical results, including the homotopy theoretic derivation of the factorization of invariants over the torus into invariants over spheres in the stable regime, as well as the rigorous justification of replacing $T^d$ by $S^d$ and $T^{d_k}\times S^{d_x}$ by $S^{d_k+d_x}$ as is common in the current literature.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Robotic-Assisted Surgery Improves the Quality of Total Mesorectal Excision for Rectal Cancer Compared to Laparoscopy: Results of a Case-Controlled Analysis.

BACKGROUND: The use of a robotic surgical system is claimed to allow precise traction and counter-traction, especially in a narrow pelvis. Whether this translates to improvement of the quality of the resected specimen is not yet clear. The aim of the study was to compare the quality of the TME and the short-term oncological outcome between robotic and laparoscopic rectal cancer resections. METHODS: 20 consecutive robotic TME performed in a single institution for rectal cancer (Rob group) were matched 1:2 to 40 laparoscopic resections (Lap group) for gender, body mass index (BMI), and distance from anal verge on rigid proctoscopy. The quality of TME was assessed by 2 blinded and independent pathologists and reported according to international standardized guidelines. RESULTS: Both samples were well matched for gender, BMI (median 25.9 vs. 24.2 kg/m(2), p = 0.24), and level of the tumor (4.1 vs. 4.8 cm, p = 0.20). The quality of the TME was better in the Robotic group (complete TME: 95 vs. 55 %; p = 0.0003, nearly complete TME 5 vs. 37 %; p = 0.04, incomplete TME 0 vs. 8 %, p = 0.09). A trend for lower positive circumferential margin was observed in the Robotic group (10 vs. 25 %, p = 0.1). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that robotic-assisted surgery improves the quality of TME for rectal cancer. Whether this translates to better oncological outcome needs to be further investigated

Phosphorus management in Humid Tropical Oxisols.

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End-colostomy diverticulitis with parastomal phlegmon: A case report.

Acute colonic diverticulitis is a well-known surgical emergency, which occurs in about 10 percent of patients known for diverticulosis. The case of a 77-year-old woman is reported, with past history of abdominoperineal resection with end-colostomy for low rectal adenocarcinoma, and who developed an acute colonic diverticulitis in a subcutaneous portion of colostomy with parastomal phlegmon. Initial computed tomography imaging demonstrated a significant submucosal parietal edema with local fat tissues infiltration in regard of 3 diverticula. A two-step treatment was decided: first a nonoperative treatment was initiated with 2 weeks antibiotics administration, followed by, 6 weeks after, a segmental resection of the terminal portion of the colon with redo of a new colostomy by direct open approach. Patient was discharged on the second postoperative day without complications. Follow-up at 2 weeks revealed centimetric dehiscence of the stoma, which was managed conservatively until sixth postoperative week by stomatherapists. Treatment of acute diverticulitis with parastomal phlegmon in a patient with end-colostomy could primary be nonoperative. Delayed surgical treatment with segmental colonic resection was proposed to avoid recurrence and potential associated complications

Iron(III)-catalyzed chlorination of activated arenes

A general and regioselective method for the chlorination of activated arenes has been developed. The transformation uses iron(III) triflimide as a powerful Lewis acid for the activation of N-chlorosuccinimide and the subsequent chlorination of a wide range of anisole, aniline, acetanilide and phenol derivatives. The reaction was utilized for the late-stage mono- and di-chlorination of a range of target compounds such as the natural product nitrofungin, the antibacterial agent chloroxylenol and the herbicide chloroxynil. The facile nature of this transformation was demonstrated with the development of one-pot tandem iron-catalyzed dihalogenation processes allowing highly regioselective formation of different carbon-halogen bonds. The synthetic utility of the resulting dihalogenated aryl compounds as building blocks was established with the synthesis of natural products and pharmaceutically relevant targets