An evaluation of Ada for Al applications

Expert system technology seems to be the most promising type of Artificial Intelligence (AI) application for Ada. An expert system implemented with an expert system shell provides a highly structured approach that fits well with the structured approach found in Ada systems. The current commercial expert system shells use Lisp. In this highly structured situation a shell could be built that used Ada just as well. On the other hand, if it is necessary to deal with some AI problems that are not suited to expert systems, the use of Ada becomes more problematical. Ada was not designed as an AI development language, and is not suited to that. It is possible that an application developed in say, Common Lisp could be translated to Ada for actual use in a particular application, but this could be difficult. Some standard Ada packages could be developed to make such a translation easier. If the most general AI programs need to be dealt with, a Common Lisp system integrated with the Ada Environment is probably necessary. Aside from problems with language features, Ada, by itself, is not well suited to the prototyping and incremental development that is well supported by Lisp

Tax Collectibility and Tax Compliance in Georgia

This report discusses the tax gap in Georgia and options for increasing tax compliance. FRC Report 13

Impact of heavy metal/pesticide mixtures on colorectal cell function

Introduction: There may be a causal relationship between environmental factors and the development of colorectal cancer, but this needs further examination. Little data exists examining heavy metal or pesticide effects on colorectal cells. This study is the first to begin systematic examination of cadmium, glyphosate and cadmium-glyphosate mixtures on colorectal cell function.Hypothesis: Normal colorectal cells exposed to cadmium, glyphosate or mixture will be more severely affected compared to colorectal tumor cells.Design: An experimental study with controlled experiments using 2-way or a 3-way analysis of variance followed by appropriate posthoc analysis comparing treatment groups to control.Methods: Tumor (DLD-1) and control (CCD-18Co) colorectal cells were maintained according to ATCC guidelines. Cells were plated (96-well plate) at a density of 105 cells/well and allowed to adhere 24 hours prior to assay. Assays for viability and cytotoxicity were performed according to the manufacturer's instructions.Results: A significant interaction (cell line x treatment) was observed for viability (F5,36=33.37; p<0.0001) and cell number (F5,36=186.0; p<0.0001). Both cell lines were robustly affected by cadmium, but CCD-18Co cells were most sensitive to glyphosate. Exposure to subtoxic concentrations of cadmium or glyphosate mixtures resulted in significant reductions in CCD-18Co viability and number compared to control values.Conclusions: Cadmium exposure exerted similar affects in each cell line, but CCD-18Co cells were more sensitive to the toxic effects of glyphosate and mixtures. Increased sensitivity may increase the susceptibility of normal cells converting to cancerous cells under prolonged exposure

Environmental Pesticides and Heavy Metals — Role in Breast Cancer

The intent of this chapter is to provide an overview to the current thoughts and ideals regarding the involvement of pesticides and heavy metals in the progress of breast cancer. The history of pesticides encompasses a few millennia, but our understanding of the pesticide action and the health consequences has only begun to develop in the last 30-40 years. Interestingly, many of these pesticides have estrogen-like activity and may be involved in the development of breast cancer. A new category of estrogen-like compounds has been identified and studied in the last 30 years, the ‘metalloestrogens’. Heavy metals, such as cadmium, which have estrogen like activity will be discussed. Finally, we will attempt to pull together the actions of pesticides and metalloestrogens as a possible synergistic mechanism by which these toxins may work to promote breast cancer development

Distal occurrence of mid-Holocene Whakatane Tephra on the Chatham Islands, New Zealand, and potential for cryptotephra studies

The Whakatane Tephra, a rhyolitic tephra erupted ca. 5500 cal. BP from Okataina Volcanic Centre, central North Island, has been identified on the Chatham Islands which lie ˜900 km east of Christchurch, New Zealand. The visible tephra layer, ˜5 mm in thickness and preserved within peat on Pitt Island, was identified using both radiocarbon dating and analysis of glass shards by electron microprobe. Whakatane Tephra is the first Holocene tephra to be identified on the Chatham Islands, and it is the most distal Holocene tephra yet recorded in the New Zealand region, being ˜850 km from source. The Pitt Island occurrence extends the tephra's dispersal area markedly, by an order of magnitude, possibly to ˜300,000 km2. An estimated dispersal index (D) of approximately 105 km2 indicates that the eruption generated a very high plinian column, possibly exceeding ˜30 km in height, with strong winds blowing the ash plume southeastwards. This new discovery of distal Whakatane Tephra as a thin but visible layer strongly implies that cryptotephras are likely to be preserved on the Chatham Islands and within adjacent ocean floor sediments. Therefore the potential exists to develop enhanced cryptotephrostratigraphic records from these distal areas, which in turn would help facilitate precise correlation via tephrochronology of palaeoenvironmental records (such as NZ-INTIMATE) from mainland New Zealand, the southwest Pacific Ocean, and the Chatham Islands

Comparison of Post-injection Site Pain Between Technetium Sulfur Colloid and Technetium Tilmanocept in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy.

BackgroundNo prior studies have examined injection pain associated with Technetium-99m Tilmanocept (TcTM).MethodsThis was a randomized, double-blinded study comparing postinjection site pain between filtered Technetium Sulfur Colloid (fTcSC) and TcTM in breast cancer lymphoscintigraphy. Pain was evaluated with a visual analogue scale (VAS) (0-100 mm) and the short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ). The primary endpoint was mean difference in VAS scores at 1-min postinjection between fTcSC and TcTM. Secondary endpoints included a comparison of SF-MPQ scores between the groups at 5 min postinjection and construction of a linear mixed effects model to evaluate the changes in pain during the 5-min postinjection period.ResultsFifty-two patients underwent injection (27-fTcSC, 25-TcTM). At 1-min postinjection, patients who received fTcSC experienced a mean change in pain of 16.8 mm (standard deviation (SD) 19.5) compared with 0.2 mm (SD 7.3) in TcTM (p = 0.0002). At 5 min postinjection, the mean total score on the SF-MPQ was 2.8 (SD 3.0) for fTcSC versus 2.1 (SD 2.5) for TcTM (p = 0.36). In the mixed effects model, injection agent (p &lt; 0.001), time (p &lt; 0.001) and their interaction (p &lt; 0.001) were associated with change in pain during the 5-min postinjection period. The model found fTcSC resulted in significantly more pain of 15.2 mm (p &lt; 0.001), 11.3 mm (p = 0.001), and 7.5 mm (p = 0.013) at 1, 2, and 3 min postinjection, respectively.ConclusionsInjection with fTcSC causes significantly more pain during the first 3 min postinjection compared with TcTM in women undergoing lymphoscintigraphy for breast cancer

The Combatant Status of the “Little Green Men” and Other Participants in the Ukraine Conflict

As an occupation and a civil war are simultaneously taking place in Ukraine a particularly vexing international law question is presented: what is the legal status of those involved in the hostilities? This article is designed to answer that question and to identify the associated rights, duties and responsibilities of the participants in the conflict

Incorporating ASP.Net in an Information Systems Curriculum

The challenge of providing information systems graduates with the optimal balance between the old and new technology is a constantly evolving process. This teaching tip introduces Microsoft\u27s ASP.NET technology, which can be used as a bridge to integrate mainframe and client/server technologies. In order to maximize the benefits of using ASP.NET, students need to understand and apply the interrelated concepts of Windows XP professional security system, the Web Server structure, and the .Net Visual Studio setup routine for the development environment