BACKGROUND Primary aldosteronism (PA), the most common secondary cause of hypertension, can be screened for using the aldosterone/renin ratio. This ratio is raised in PA and its accuracy depends on the ability to measure plasma renin at extremely low concentrations. METHODS We compared two different procedures for assessing plasma renin. The conventional method, which measures plasma renin ac...

Although it is generally accepted that the medial temporal lobe (MTL) is critical for episodic memory, the contributions of cortical regions in the MTL, such as the perirhinal (PRc) and parahippocampal (PHc) cortices, remain unresolved. Recent studies have asserted that the PRc supports the processing of object and face information, whereas the PHc supports the processing of scene information. ...

The effects of the fungicide carbendazim (formulation Derosal) on enchytraeids were determined in Terrestrial Model Ecosystem (TME) tests. TMEs consisted of intact soil columns (diameter 17.5 cm; length 40 cm) taken from three grassland sites (Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Bangor (Wales, England) and Flörsheim (Germany)) or an arable site (Coimbra (Portugal)). Results for each TME site were eval...

The phase-resetting properties of the circadian system in mice with a functional deletion in mCry1, mCry2, mPer1, or mPer2 were studied in 2 experiments. In experiment 1, mCry1(-/-) and mCry2(-/-) mice as well as mPer1(Brdm1) and mPer2(Brdm1) mutant mice were exposed to 15-min light pulses during the 1st cycle following entrainment, either early (external time [ExT] 20) or late (ExT 4) in the s...

As a new alternative design, plate-reinforced composite (PRC) coupling beam achieves enhanced strength and ductility by embedding a vertical steel plate into a conventionally reinforced concrete (RC) coupling beam. Based on a nonlinear finite element model developed in the authors' previous study, a parametric study presented in this paper has been carried out to investigate the influence of se...

Despite the potential for free-riding, workers motivated by ‘making a difference’ to the mission or output of an establishment may donate labor to it. When the establishment uses performance related compensation (PRC), these labor donations closely resemble a standard private provision of public goods problem. When PRC is not used, the establishment will favor setting low wages. High wages can ...

This paper introduces an algorithm for determining data clusters called TILO/PRC (Topologically Intrinsic Lexicographic Ordering/Pinch Ratio Clustering). The theoretical foundation for this algorithm, developed in [14], uses ideas from topology (particularly knot theory) suggesting that it should be very flexible and robust with respect to noise. The TILO portion of the algorithm progressively ...

Sequential techniques can be adapted to the ABC algorithm to enhance its efficiency. For instance, when Sisson et al. (2007) introduced the ABC-PRC algorithm, the goal was to improve upon existing ABC-MCMC algorithms (Marjoram et al., 2003). While the ABC-PRC method is based upon the theoretical developments of Del Moral et al. (2006), the application to the setting of approximate Bayesian comp...

1 Author's Biographical Note: Randall Peerenboom obtained a B.A. in Philosophy, M.A. in Chinese Religion and Ph.D. in Philosophy before obtaining a J.D. from Columbia Law School. He has written more than 60 articles and several books on Chinese law and philosophy. From 1994 to 1998, he practiced law with a major international law firm in Beijing. He currently teaches Chinese law and internation...

The Dubins Traveling Salesman Problem (DTSP) has generated significant interest over the last decade due to its occurrence in several civil and military surveillance applications. Currently, there is no algorithm that can find an optimal solution to the problem. In addition, relaxing the motion constraints and solving the resulting Euclidean TSP (ETSP) provides the only lower bound available fo...