The possibility of preoperative prediction of pathologic complete response in rectal cancer has been studied in order to identify patients who would respond to neoadjuvant therapy and to individualize therapeutic strategies. Endoscopic ultrasound of the rectum is an accurate method for the evaluation of local tumor and lymph node invasion. Objective: To evaluate the potential of endoscopic ultrasound as a predictor of complete pathological response to neoadjuvant treatment in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. Material and methods: Retrospective study of patients with rectal cancer from January 2014 to December 2016. Results: We obtained a statistical association between T stage by endoscopic ultrasound and complete pathological response (p = 0.015). It is not so for N, sphincter involvement, circumferential involvement and maximum tumor thickness (p = 0.723, p = 0.510, p = 0.233 and p = 0.114, respectively). When multivariate logistic regression analysis was applied to assess the degree of influence of the predictor variables on pathologic response, none of these variables was associated with complete pathologic response. Conclusion: Prediction of pathologic complete response in rectal cancer has been considered as the crucial point upon which treatments for rectal cancer could be individualized. So far, no imaging method has been able to demonstrate efficacy in predicting complete pathologic response, and in turn there is no direct association between any endosonographic finding that can accurately predict it.

In order to strengthen the study of soil-landscape relationships in mountain areas, a digital soil mapping approach based on fuzzy set theory was applied. Initially, soil properties were estimated with the regression kriging (RK) method, combining soil data and auxiliary information derived from a digital elevation model (DEM) and satellite images. Subsequently, the grouping of soil properties in raster format was performed with the fuzzy c-means (FCM) algorithm, whose final product resulted in a fuzzy soil class variation model at a semi-detailed scale. The validation of the model showed an overall reliability of 88% and a Kappa index of 84%, which shows the usefulness of fuzzy clustering in the evaluation of soil-landscape relationships and in the correlation with soil taxonomic categories.

Due to its physicochemical properties, nanoparticles titanium dioxide (nTiO₂) is being put into mass production and widespread applications, which inevitably results in their increasing exposure to the water body. After it entering the water body, the chemical properties of nTiO₂ can be influenced by ion compositions, ion strength and pH, which affects their ecological risk. Excess of ammonium (NH₄⁺) fertilizer has contaminated soil and water environments. In this paper, the Zeta potentials and hydrodynamic radius of nTiO₂ were studied in NH₄⁺ solution compared to those in Na⁺ solution. In addition, the sedimentation rate of nTiO₂ was also investigated. The experiment results show that high pH inhibits the sedimentation of nTiO₂. Moreover, NH₄⁺ increases the stability of nTiO₂ more than Na⁺ at the same IS, which was attributed the more negative Zeta potentials and the smaller hydraulic radius. Our results provide a theoretical basis for evaluating the ecological risk of nTiO₂ in aqueous solution containing NH₄⁺.

It has become commonplace to describe publicly provided infrastructure as being in a sorry state and to advance public-private partnership as a possible remedy. This essay adopts a skeptical but not a cynical posture toward those claims. The paper starts by reviewing the comparative properties of markets and politics within a theory of budgeting where the options are construction and maintenance. This analytical point of departure explains how incongruities between political and market action can favor construction over maintenance. In short, political entities can engage in an implicit form of public debt by reducing maintenance spending to support other budgetary items. This implicit form of public debt does not manifest in higher interest rates but rather manifests in crumbling bridges and other infrastructure due to the transfer of maintenance into other budgetary activities.

This study examines conditions that impact PPP delivery success or failure in the roadways sector in India using Qualitative Comparative Analysis. QCA is well-suited for problems where multiple factors combine to create pathways leading to an outcome. Past investigations have compared PPP and non-PPP project delivery performance, but this study examines performance within PPPs by uncovering a set of conditions that combine to influence the success or failure road PPP project delivery in India. Based on data from 21 cases, pathways explaining project delivery success or failure were identified. Specifically, PPPs with high concessionaire equity investment and low regional industrial activity led to project delivery success. Projects with lower concessionaire equity investment and low reliance on toll revenue and with either: (a) high project technical complexity or (b) high regional industrial activity, led to project delivery failure. The pathways identified did not have coverage values that they were extremely strong. Coverage strength was hindered by lack of access to information on additional conditions that could be configurationally important. Further, certain characteristics of the Indian market limit generalization. Identification of combinations of conditions leading to PPP project delivery success or failure improves knowledge of the impacts of structure and characteristics of these complex arrangements. This study is one of the first to use fuzzy QCA to understand project delivery success/failure in road PPP projects. Moreover, this study takes into account factors specific to a sector and delivery mode to explain project delivery performance.