Using the data of empirical research of gender roles in family carried out in 2018, the authors of this paper point out the transformation of family value system in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Postsocialist transformation in Bosnia and Herzegovina has influenced changes of value family patterns and orientations, so traditional value orientations are dominant, marked by immense value gap, instead of modernist value orientations. The results indicate that the data subjects' answers are still traditional and patriarchal and that young men and women show tendency towards modern value orientations. The acceptance of modern attitudes is moderate and not resolute, and regarding various issues there is a large percent of irresolute answers. It can be concluded that there is certain division of values. On one side there are generations of young and women and on the other side there are generations of older and men who are very close to traditional values.


Because of the importance of reproduction in plant life history, the physiological costs of reproduction often influence vegetative structure and function. In dioecious species, these effects can be quite obvious, as different costs of male and female reproductive functions are entirely separated among different individuals in a population. In fire-prone ecosystems, in which recruitment is driven by fire frequency, many plants will maintain their seeds in the canopy, only to be released after a fire. The dioecious genus Leucadendron is a notable case of this, as females can maintain their seed cones for years, and, even more interestingly, species in the genus differ substantially in the degree to which males and females are sexually dimorphic. A recent study (Harris and Pannell 2010) argued that the hydraulic costs of maintaining seed cones for many years would effect the degree of sexual dimorphism among species. However, this assumed that shoot hydraulic architecture would be related to traits exhibiting sexual dimorphism. Here we explicitly test this hypothesis on two Leucadendron species. We found (1) that metrics of branch ramification used in the previous study to characterize dimorphism do not conform to known scaling relationships and (2) that sexual dimorphism in shoot architecture has no effect on hydraulic efficiency. Both of these results seriously question the pattern described by Harris and Pannell (2010) and suggest that the hydraulic costs of prolonged seed retention in Leucadendron do not significantly affect branch architecture.


The emerging scenario of interactive Digital TV (iDTV) is promoting the increase of interactivity in the communication process and also in audiovisual production, thus raising the number of channels and resources available to the user. This reality makes the task of finding the desired content becoming a costly and possibly ineffective action. The incorporation of recommender systems in the iDTV environment is emerging as a possible solution to this problem. This work aims to propose a hybrid approach to content recommendation in iDTV, based on data mining techniques, integrated to the Semantic web concepts, allowing structuring and standardization of data and consequently making possible sharing of information, providing semantics and automated reasoning. For the proposed service it is considered the Brazilian Digital TV System (SBTVD) and the middleware Ginga. A prototype has been developed and experiments carried out with NetFlix database. As results, it was obtained an average accuracy of 30% using only the data mining technique. On the other hand, the evaluation including semantic rules obtained an average accuracy of 35%.


In this study, the microbial degradation characteristics of butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) were studied by using Phanerochaete chrysosporium. Results showed Phanerochaete chrysosporium can effectively degrade BBP and the degradation efficiency can reach 90% in 2 days. This strain can use BBP as sole carbon source. The biodegradation of BBP by Phanerochaete chrysosporium fits for first-order kinetics (lnc=-Kbt+a), which are lnc = -0.0445x + 4.4235、lnc = -0.0404x + 5.1221、lnc =-0.0389x + 5.6363, respectively, for the concentration of 100mg/L, 300mg/L, 500mg/L. The biodegradation rate constants are 0.0445 d-1, 0.0404 d-1, 0.0389 d-1, respectively. The biodegradation rate constant reduces with the increase of the concentration of BBP, indicating BBP has inhibitory effect on Phanerochaete chrysosporium, especially under high concentration. The high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) profile of the metabolites indicated the accumulation of two major products except for phthalic acid (PA). These two products were characterized by high performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) as mono-n-butyl phthalate (MBuP) and monobenzyl phthalate (MBzP).


: Schistosoma intercalatum bilharziasis continues to raise numerous questions regarding pathogenicity and gravity. The parasite was identified recently and the last fully described outbreak occurred 10 years ago in the city of Bata, Equatorial Guinea. Geographically Schistosoma intercalatum biharziasis is limited to one part of the African continent but has shown a tendency to spread. Hybridization of Schistosoma intercalatum and Schistosoma haematobium has been observed. The main clinical manifestation of Schistosoma intercalatum is rectal bleeding. The endoscopic appearance of lesions is variable and non-specific ranging from granulomas or polyps to ulcerations. Complications include severe rectitis or genital involvement such as salpingitis with secondary sterility. Spontaneous abortion has also been reported. Association with salmonella and klebsiella infection has been confirmed and can lead to life-threatening situations. Few studies have been performed to assess the value of diagnostic tests. The sensitivity of stool smears and urinary sedimentation testing is 81.7% and 56.3% respectively using the two examinations as references for one another. The sensitivity of immunological tests is generally good but varies depending on the reference technique used. Specificity can be affected by cross-reaction with other schistosomas or trematodes and even with nematodes and hematozoons. Treatment with a single dose of Biltricide has proven to be effective. Prevention requires education of the population at risk and use of molluscacides. The control strategy must be adapted in function of the epidemiology of the disease, diagnostic data, cost and effectiveness of screening and treatment.


The Great White Pelican Pelecanus anocrotalus is the largest migrating bird in Israel and is an endangered species. The Palearctic populations of the Great White Pelican breed in eastern Europe and Asia and most of them pass through the 'bottleneck' of Israel to wintering grounds in Africa. Natural feeding sites for pelicans have diminished during recent decades due to human activities, and sites of extensive aquaculture have become the favourite feeding places for wintering and migrating Great White Pelicans. The fish industry has reported a significant impact on fish yield and the conflict between pelicans and fishermen has escalated so that hundreds of pelicans have died in recent years from shooting or accidental electrocution. We approached this management problem by studying the energy requirements of the Great White Pelican during migration and while wintering in Israel, under different feeding regimes (fish or chicks) and in different seasons, in captivity. The results show that a captive bird consumes 1.1 kg of fish per day. The basal metabolic rate and apparent metabolized energy of the Great White Pelican are both higher than predicted from allometric equations. Energetic demands were quite stable on both diets (fish and chicks) and during both seasons (winter and summer). The fat deposits of migrating pelicans averaged 313.5 g compared with 480 g in wintering birds (3.4% and 5.4% of body mass, respectively). Based on these fat contents and on the measured daily energy consumption, we calculated that birds that do not feed in Israel can fly only up to 1620 km from Israel southward and could not cover the distance to their likely wintering grounds in the Sudd area in southern Sudan. However, birds that replenish their fuel reserves could fly up to 2460 km and hence could reach this area. Therefore, we conclude that Great White Pelicans must feed in Israel during the autumn migration in order to complete their journey to Africa. One solution to the conflict between pelicans and fishermen could be to combine deterrents preventing pelicans from feeding in fish-ponds with the provision of attractive alternative reservoirs, to ensure regular food supplies during autumn.


Fresh water, its availability and quantity is an important part of the ecology which has become scarce due to frequent drought situations and increased human activity leading to water pollution. Bore well water is expected to be good in quality and less polluted. The use of fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides in rural areas and lime, bleaching powder, refuse dumps etc in urban areas are the main sources of soil and underground water pollution. The present study deals with the investigation of borewells drinking water quality of sample collected from different areas in Vidisha (M.P.). Ten sampling point were selected on the basis of their importance. The water analysis was carried out for the parameters namely pH, temperature, total alkalinity, total hardness, dissolved oxygen, BOD, turbidity, sulphate, nitrate and fluoride.


Fuzzy logic controllers have gained widespread use by engineers and practitioners due to their design simplicity, closeness to human reasoning and suitability for control applications. Fuzzy logic controlled studies are usually performed in MATLAB, or sometimes in PSCAD/EMTDC (Power Systems Computer Aided Design/Electromagnetic Transient including d.c.) with MATLAB interfacing. The PSCAD/EMTDC software does not include a component for a fuzzy logic controller. This paper is, to the best of our knowledge, the first work that designs and implements a fuzzy logic controller in PSCAD/EMTDC by using FORTRAN codes. In this way, several drawbacks which arise from the interfacing between MATLAB and PSCAD/EMTDC are eliminated. The simulation section of this paper consists of a case study based on a fuzzy logic-controlled PWM inverter in which the performance of the developed fuzzy logic controller is evaluated.


Before 1989 all braconid wasps were thought to be parasitoids, but in that year the first phytophagous species was reported. Subsequently, a few other examples of phytophagy have been discovered, most of which are species of Allorhogas in the subfamily Doryctinae. Until now, all demonstrated examples of phytophagy in this genus have been as gall inducers in the fruits of Fabaceae. Here we describe a new species from Costa Rica, Allorhogas conostegia Marsh and Shaw, and provide evidence that it forms galls in the fruits of Conostegia xalapensis (Melastomataceae). We also provide information on the phenology of the plant and of the galls and the effects of the galls on the host plant, and we discuss the potential species richness of Allorhogas in the Neotropics.


A pro-ostracum – the anterior dorsal plate subdivided into three longitudinal fields – isdeveloped in Triassic phragmoteuthids (Phragmoteuthis, Breviconoteuthis) and the belemnotheutid? (Lunzoteuthis) but is missing in aulacocerids which have a pro-ostracum-like structure – the dorsal apertural crest with arched growth lines. Two types of pro-ostraca: a Phragmoteuthis-type, characterized by arched growth lines in each field, and a Lunzoteuthis-type, in which the median field has arched growth lines and lateral fields bear converging longitudinal ridges, are distinguished. The pro-ostracum with the ridged lateral fields evidently obtained further rapid development; in the Sinemurian belemnite Nannobelus the ridged lateral fields are already formed by the longitudinally exposed narrow portions of succeeding, overlapping sublayers of the pro-ostracum. This structure apparently enabled efficient mantle/shell linkage that facilitated effective manoeuvring, an active mode of life and global radiation of Jurassic belemnites. Exceptional, large scale, preservation of pro-ostraca in lower Carnian of Schindelberg, Lower Austria, and Raibl, North Italy, was possibly due to the concurrency of (1) an environment of the northern Tethys that allowed for post-mortem carbon substitution of chitin and other non-biomineralized material, such as ink and mantle tissue, and (2) the inorganic-organic composition of pro-ostracum as indicated by micro-laminations typical of chitin-containing material and characterized by alteration of chitinous and carbonate laminas similar to those in cuttlebones of Recent Sepia.


Background Previous studies have shown marked differences in birth weight between babies born in the UK of South Asian origin and those of UK origin. Whether such differences persist across generations in contemporary populations, the mechanisms underlying them and the extent to which other dimensions of birth size vary between these two groups is unclear. Objective To describe differences in term birth weight, head, arm and abdominal circumference and skinfolds between Pakistani origin and white British origin infants and to investigate whether the magnitude of any differences reduces depending on whether the parents and grandparents of Pakistani infants are born in the UK or Pakistan. Design Birth cohort study (born in Bradford (BiB)). Setting Bradford, UK. Participants 1838 white British and 2222 Pakistani mothers recruited to BiB who completed a questionnaire at 26 weeks gestation and their babies born between September 2007 and November 2009. Main Outcome Measures Birth weight, head, arm and abdominal circumference and skinfolds. Results Pakistani babies were lighter (mean difference 227.6 g, 95% CI 198.3 to 256.8), had smaller head, arm and abdominal circumferences (mean differences 0.43 cm, 95% CI 0.30 to 0.56; 0.22 cm, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.34; 1.25 cm, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.39, respectively) and smaller subscapular and triceps skinfold thickness (mean differences 0.22 mm, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.32 and 0.21 mm, 95% CI 0.13 to 0.29) than white British infants. Differences remained significant following adjustment for deprivation. Mean birth weight was highest in Pakistani infants when both parents were born in Pakistan (3206 g) and was lowest when both parents were UK born (3165 g). Conclusions These results reaffirm that significant differences in birth size exist between white British and Pakistani origin infants in the UK. Despite the assumption that differences will reduce over successive generations, mean birth weight has not increased in infants of UK born Pakistani origin parents compared with infants of Pakistani born parents. This suggests that differences may be genetically determined or are affected by epigenetic or persisting behaviour characteristics. Further analysis will include adjustment for additional socioeconomic variables, other maternal and family characteristics and birthplace of maternal and paternal grandparents.


Objective Identify serum biomarkers modulated by golimumab treatment and associated with clinical response in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Methods Sera were collected at weeks 0, 4 and 14 from 100 patients with active AS in the GO–RAISE study. Patients were randomly assigned subcutaneous injections of placebo, golimumab 50 mg, or golimumab 100 mg every 4 weeks. Samples were tested for select inflammatory, bone and cartilage markers, and protein profiling was also performed. Results Golimumab treatment resulted in significant decreases in several serum proteins at weeks 4 and 14 compared with placebo. Patients who achieved clinical response at week 14, as assessed by a ≥20% improvement in the Assessment in SpondyloArthitis international Society response criteria (ASAS 20), demonstrated a distinct biomarker profile with lower levels of acute phase reactants and inflammatory biomarkers compared with patients who did not. Notably, combinations of two or three biomarkers assessed at baseline were predictive of various clinical outcomes (ASAS 20, Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index 50 or Bath ankylosing spondylitis functional index) using a logistic regression analysis, and the overall predictive values for these combined biomarkers were greater than observed for C-reactive protein (CRP) alone. Conclusion Golimumab modulated acute phase reactants and inflammatory markers in patients with active AS. Specific combinations of biomarkers at baseline demonstrated a stronger prediction for clinical efficacy than CRP alone. These data provide insights into the mechanism of golimumab on inflammatory processes driving AS pathology, and may have utility in managing the treatment of patients with AS.


CELF1 RNA-binding protein, otherwise called CUGBP1, associates and coordinates the degradation of GU-rich element (GRE) containing mRNA's encoding factors important for cell growth, migration and apoptosis. Although many substrates of CELF1 have been identified, the biological significance of CELF1-mediated mRNA decay remains unclear. As the processes modulated by CELF1 are frequently disrupted in cancer, we investigated the expression and role of CELF1 in oral squamous cancer cells (OSCCs). We determined that CELF1 is reproducibly overexpressed in OSCC tissues and cell lines. Moreover, depletion of CELF1 reduced proliferation and increased apoptosis in OSCCs, but had negligible effect in non-transformed cells. We found that CELF1 associates directly with the 3′UTR of mRNAs encoding the pro-apoptotic factors BAD, BAX and JunD and mediates their rapid decay. Specifically, 3′UTR fragment analysis of JunD revealed that the GRE region is critical for binding with CELF1 and expression of JunD in oral cancer cells. In addition, silencing of CELF1 rendered BAD, BAX and JunD mRNAs stable and increased their protein expression in oral cancer cells. Taken together, these results support a critical role for CELF1 in modulating apoptosis and implicate this RNA-binding protein as a cancer marker and potential therapeutic target.


This paper describes a development of ship`s refer-container remote monitoring system(RRMS). This system consists of Master, repeater with a switched mode power supply(SMPS) and slave terminal. Slave terminal is composed of wireless MODEM and microprocessor part, checks its conditions like temperature. humidity & etc through the interrogate port(IP) of refer-container. and transmits their data to master. Repeater`s role is that connect so that signal which is transmitted from Slave Terminal by Master may not receive electric wave interference by container boxes. We verify the effectiveness of proposed system through the experimental works in container yard and ship.


One of the fundamental assumptions of the standard ΛCDM cosmology is that, on large scales, all the matter-energy components of the Universe share a common rest frame. This seems natural for the visible sector, that has been in thermal contact and tightly coupled in the primeval Universe. The dark sector, on the other hand, does not have any non-gravitational interaction known to date and therefore, there is no a priori reason to impose that it is comoving with ordinary matter. In this work we explore the consequences of relaxing this assumption and study the cosmology of non-comoving fluids. We show that it is possible to construct a homogeneous and isotropic cosmology with a collection of fluids moving with non-relativistic velocities. Our model extends ΛCDM with the addition of a single free parameter β0, the initial velocity of the visible sector with respect to the frame that observes a homogeneous and isotropic universe. This modification gives rise to a rich phenomenology, while being consistent with current observations for β0<1.6× 10−3 (95% CL). This work establishes the general framework to describe a non-comoving cosmology and extracts its first observational consequences for large-scale structure. Among the observable effects, we find sizeable modifications in the density-velocity and density-lensing potential cross-correlation spectra. These corrections give rise to deviations from statistical isotropy with a dipolar structure. The relative motion between the different fluids also couples the vector and scalar modes, the latter acting as sources for metric vector modes and vorticity for all the species.


Internal air pressure and water pressure of the buckets foundation, acceleration and dragging force of the 4-bucket foundation platform were determined to analyze the influences of wave height on towing when 4-Bucket foundation platform is towing in conditions of a certain towing velocity, mooring point position and draught in different regular waves based on the model test. Comparing platform towing in following and head waves, the heave motion of the latter is more strenuous than that of the former; the stability and seakeeping of the former is better than those of the latter. Roll motion, pitch motion and heave motion appear aggravate phenomenon with the increase of wave height.


This paper presents a formal model of the features, named security capabilities, offered by the controls used for enforcing security policies in computer networks. It has been designed to support policy refinement and policy translation and address useful, practical tasks in a vendor-independent manner. The model adopts state-of-the-art design patterns and has been designed to be extensible. The model describes the actions that the controls can perform (e.g. deny packets or encrypt flows), the conditions to select on what to apply the actions, how to compose valid configuration rules from them, and how to build configurations from rules. It proved effective to model filtering controls and iptables.


A growing industrial sector in which plant degrading enzymes are used is the production of alternative fuels, such as bio-ethanol, and biochemicals. Plant polysaccharides can be converted to fermentable sugars by fungal enzymes. The sugars are then fermented to ethanol and other products mainly by yeast. Aspergillus species are among the organisms of choice for enzyme production for pre-treatment of plant material, because they have high levels of protein secretion and produce a wide range of enzymes for plant polysaccharide degradation. In nature, Aspergillus degrades the polysaccharides to obtain monomeric sugars that can serve as a carbon source. Therefore, Aspergillus uses a variety of catabolic pathways to efficiently convert all the monomeric components of plant biomass. In my thesis, I focused on several of the main carbon catabolic pathways of Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus nidulans involved in converting the main monomers (D-glucose, D-xylose, L-arabinose, L-rhamnose and D-galacturonic acid) present in plant polysaccharides and their regulation. We confirmed the function of the first three putative L-rhamnose utilization genes from A. niger through gene deletion. This work showed that the inducer of RhaR is beyond L-rhamnonate dehydratase (LraC) and is likely to be the 2-keto-3-L-deoxyrhamnonate. However, we were so far not able to identify the gene encoding LraD, and can therefore not confirm that this compound is the inducer of RhaR. The same strategy has been used for the D-galacturonic acid pathway. The results indicated that 2-keto-3-deoxy-L-galactonate is the inducer of genes required for D-galacturonic acid utilization. D-xylose and L-arabinose are the most abundant monosaccharides after D-glucose in nearly all plant-derived biomass materials. We evaluated the effect of the (hemi-)cellulolytic regulator (xlnR) and xylulokinase (xkiA1) A. niger mutant strains during growth on two pentose-rich substrates, corn stover (CS) and soybean hulls (SBH), by transcriptome analysis. At a later time point, significant differences were found in the expression profiles of both mutants on CS compared to SBH. In A. niger, XlnR and the arabinanolytic transcription factor (AraR) regulate production of enzymes involved in degradation of arabinoxylan and catabolism of the released L-arabinose and D-xylose. We investigated the colonization and degradation of wheat bran by the A. niger reference strain and araR/xlnR regulatory mutants using high-resolution microscopy and exo-proteomics. This enabled us to link the reduction in colonization and degradation efficiency of the mutants to the absence of subsets of enzymes. We evaluated if it would be possible to create an A. nidulans strain that releases but does not metabolize hexoses from plant biomass. The creAΔ4 mutation in combination with preventing initial phosphorylation in glycolysis resulted in an increased expression of pentose catabolic and pentose phosphate pathway genes.This indicates that the reduced ability to use hexoses as carbon sources created a shift towards the pentose fraction of wheat bran as a major carbon source to support growth. Expression analysis also showed that CreA influences fungal physiology already at low levels of free monosaccharides, suggesting an important role for this regulator in natural habitats of fungi.


With the advent of multiplex fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and in situ RNA sequencing technologies, spatial transcriptomics analysis is advancing rapidly. Spatial transcriptomics provides spatial location and pattern information about cells in tissue sections at single cell resolution. Cell type classification of spatially-resolved cells can also be inferred by matching the spatial transcriptomics data to reference single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) data with cell types determined by their gene expression profiles. However, robust cell type matching of the spatial cells is challenging due to the intrinsic differences in resolution between the spatial and scRNA-seq data. In this study, we systematically evaluated six computational algorithms for cell type matching across four spatial transcriptomics experimental protocols (MERFISH, smFISH, BaristaSeq, and ExSeq) conducted on the same mouse primary visual cortex (VISp) brain region. We find that while matching results of individual algorithms vary to some degree, they also show agreement to some extent. We present two ensembl meta-analysis strategies to combine the individual matching results and share the consensus matching results in the Cytosplore Viewer (https://viewer.cytosplore.org) for interactive visualization and data exploration. The consensus matching can also guide spot-based spatial data analysis using SSAM, allowing segmentation-free cell type assignment.


Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is a novel imaging modality to map the spatial distribution of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) with high sensitivity and without ionizing radiation. A magnetic particle spectrometer (MPS) is used to measure the response of SPIONs and acquire the system matrix of the imaging devices. A three-dimensional MPS has been presented lately including a temperature control unit in the sample chamber, which is able to acquire the samples' spectra at different temperatures. In this paper, the spectra of the SPIONs sample measured at different temperatures are presented and compared.

Int. J. Mag. Part. Imag. 6(2), Suppl. 1, 2020, Article ID: 2009034, DOI: 10.18416/IJMPI.2020.2009034


Background: The concept of "stress" has been growing for a long time and has attracted a lot of attention, behaviour, and philosophy of many people in the world. Nowadays, stress has become a popular topic among health care professionals. Nurses are assumed to have heavy and various workloads. The nursing workload is influenced by stressors that can cause stress. At some level, psychological, physiological and sociological symptoms might appear. Job stress related to work stress factors include role ambiguity, role conflict, quantitative work overload, career development, and responsibility toward others, which have an impact on psychological distress and social dysfunction. Objective: This study aims to determine the psychological distress and social dysfunction in nurses related to job stressors in Haji Hospital Medan. Method: This research was an analytic research with a cross-sectional method using total sampling of 186 nurses who are still working in Haji Medan Hospital. The instruments used were the Stress Diagnostic Survey to measure work stress and GHQ12 to measure psychological distress and social dysfunction. The statistical tests used were Pearson correlation test (for a normal distribution) and Spearman (for non-normal distribution). Results: There was a significant relationship between total work stressors and psychological distress (p = 0.0001), also, a weak positive correlation (r = 0.364) showed that total work stressors and psychological distress would increase together. The relation between total work stressors and social dysfunction was statistically significant (p = 0.018) and a very weak negative correlation (r = -0.173) was found, meaning that an increase in total job stress score would lower the social dysfunction score.


Dental Press J Orthod. 2017 Nov-Dec;22(6):14-24 14 How to cite: Polo M, Artese F, Seixas M, Rivera VLA, Mucha N. An interview with Mario Polo. Dental Press J Orthod. 2017 Nov-Dec;22(6):14-24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/2177-6709.22.6.014-024.int Submitted: September 09, 2017 Revised and accepted: September 22, 2017. I got acquainted to Dr. Mario Polo a couple of years ago through Dr. Mucha, who forwarded me an e-mail of Dr. Polo in which he demonstrated interest in sharing his knowledge on Botox treatment for gummy smiles in São Paulo, on a trip where he was accompanying his son. I thought that was an invaluable opportunity and arranged together with the Brazilian Association of Orthodontics in São Paulo an adequate lecture opportunity for him, which unfortunately I could not attend to, but was extremely appreciated by the attendees. We did finally meet personally in San Francisco during an AAO Meeting, where I could certify myself of Dr. Polo's enthusiasm for his profession and great contribution for the specialty of Orthodontics. Dr. Mario Polo was born in a small suburb of San Juan, Puerto Rico. After attending the University of Puerto Rico School of Dental Medicine in San Juan, he continued his studies at the University of Texas School of Dentistry, where he received a Master of Science degree and specialty certificates in Pediatric Dentistry and in Orthodontics. Now in practice for 40 years, 20 of which he has been providing orthodontic and cosmetic treatment to participants of several international beauty pageants, he also is an Assistant Professor at the Postgraduate Department of Orthodontics of the University of Puerto Rico. Esthetics has always been his passion, both surgical and non-surgical / orthodontic. He has presided several local and national dental and orthodontic associations, and in 2011 was awarded the prestigious Gerald A. Devlin Award by the Middle Atlantic constituency of the American Association of Orthodontists. Sometimes referred to as "The Father of Botox in Dentistry", his life made a big change in 2001 with his idea and eventual research about using Botox for smile improvement, something that gave rise to multiple international publications and presentations. Recently, he published a textbook chapter in Sergio Kahn's textbook "Sorriso Gengival" and is currently working in the editing on a textbook on Botox as related to smile esthetics. He is a reviewer in several international orthodontic and plastic surgery journals. Dr. Polo has been married for 45 years, is the father of two sons (a neurointerventional surgeon in Houston, TX and a digital-media producer with National Geographic in Washington, DC), grandfather of three boys, and anxiously waiting for a granddaughter. In his free time, Dr. Polo enjoys nautical navigation, deep-sea fishing, and traveling. I hope you enjoy reading this interview and can appreciate Botox as an alternative treatment for excessive gingival exposure in smiling.


Partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and iron availability in seawater show corresponding changes due to biological and anthropogenic activities. The simultaneous change in these factors precludes an understanding of their independent effects on the ecophysiology of phytoplankton. In addition, there is a lack of data regarding the interactive effects of these factors on phytoplankton cellular stoichiometry, which is a key driving factor for the biogeochemical cycling of oceanic nutrients. Here, we investigated the effects of pCO2 and iron availability on the elemental composition (C, N, P, and Si) of the diatom Pseudo‐nitzschia pseudodelicatissima (Hasle) Hasle by dilute batch cultures under 4 pCO2 (~200, ~380, ~600, and ~800 μatm) and five dissolved inorganic iron (Fe′; ~5, ~10, ~20, ~50, and ~100 pmol · L−1) conditions. Our experimental procedure successfully overcame the problems associated with simultaneous changes in pCO2 and Fe′ by independently manipulating carbonate chemistry and iron speciation, which allowed us to evaluate the individual effects of pCO2 and iron availability. We found that the C:N ratio decreased significantly only with an increase in Fe′, whereas the C:P ratio increased significantly only with an increase in pCO2. Both Si:C and Si:N ratios decreased with increasing pCO2 and Fe′. Our results indicate that changes in pCO2 and iron availability could influence the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients in future oceans with high‐ CO2 levels, and, similarly, during the time course of phytoplankton blooms. Moreover, pCO2 and iron availability may also have affected oceanic nutrient biogeochemistry in the past, as these conditions have changed markedly over the Earth's history.


This work identifies a major role for the cytosolic structural protein of plant-infecting bunyaviruses in the concentration of viral glycoprotein cargo at endoplasmic reticulum export sites before their traffic to the Golgi complex where they further mature. In contrast with animal-infecting viruses, few known plant viruses contain a lipid envelope, and the processes leading to their membrane envelopment remain largely unknown. Plant viruses with lipid envelopes include viruses of the Bunyaviridae, which obtain their envelope from the Golgi complex. The envelopment process is predominantly dictated by two viral glycoproteins (Gn and Gc) and the viral nucleoprotein (N). During maturation of the plant-infecting bunyavirus Tomato spotted wilt, Gc localizes at endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes and becomes ER export competent only upon coexpression with Gn. In the presence of cytosolic N, Gc remains arrested in the ER but changes its distribution from reticular into punctate spots. Here, we show that these areas correspond to ER export sites (ERESs), distinct ER domains where glycoprotein cargo concentrates prior to coat protein II vesicle–mediated transport to the Golgi. Gc concentration at ERES is mediated by an interaction between its cytoplasmic tail (CT) and N. Interestingly, an ER-resident calnexin provided with Gc-CT was similarly recruited to ERES when coexpressed with N. Furthermore, disruption of actin filaments caused the appearance of a larger amount of smaller ERES loaded with N-Gc complexes, suggesting that glycoprotein cargo concentration acts as a trigger for de novo synthesis of ERES.


Research has suggested that introverts and extraverts differ in their responses to performance feedback. The present study examined the effect on introverts and extraverts of a short-term memory task. Subjects (ns = 8) were randomly assigned to one of three feedback conditions: positive, negative, or control. On posttest, introverts performed better than extraverts regardless of feedback condition. These findings suggest that individual differences in introversion-extraversion mediate differences in performance through subjective arousal, namely, state-anxiety.


GaSb based III-V heterostuctures are attractive for optoelectronic devices such as midin- frared lasers, detectors, and thermophotovoltaics (TPVs). In this paper the growth and characterization of GaInAsSb and GaAlAsSb quaternary layers, lat-tice-matched to GaSb substrate, are reported, with a particular focus on these alloys for TPV devi-ces. High-quality with a mirror-like surface morphology epilayers Ga1-x InxAsy Sb1-y with In content x in the range 0.1-0.22 and Ga1-xAlxAsySb1-y layers with Al content up to 0.3 in the solid are grown by Liquid-Phase Epitaxy (LPE) from In- and Ga-rich melt, respectively. The compositions of the quaternary compounds are determined by X-ray microanalysis. The crystalline quality of GaInAsSb/ GaSb and GaAlAsSb/GaSb heterostuctures is studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements.


This paper shares the approach of social constructivism, and maintains that diversity should be examined not 'par excellence', as an entity in itself, but as reflected in people's minds and expressed in their attitudes and perceptions. On the basis of an empirical Bulgarian-Finnish intercultural research the paper states that diversity is not essential, given and unproblematic. Rather, it undergoes constant evolution. What is considered now 'different' can in future be seen as more or less 'similar'. The informants characterized people with a religious, ethnic or racial background, other than theirs, as 'distant' and 'different', while people belonging to groups with the same origin were designated as 'similar' and 'close'. This means that cultural diversity can also be translated into a social-psychological distance. Thus diversity is context-bound and cultural groups are always seen and appraised from the perspective of one's own particular cultural paradigm.


In this paper, we introduce a robust method for dynamic characterization of pressure measuring systems used in time-varying pressure applications. The dynamic response of the pressure measuring systems in terms of sensitivity and phase as a function of frequency at various amplitudes of the measurand can be provided. The shock tube which is the candidate primary standard for dynamic pressure calibration at the National Laboratory for pressure, Sweden, was used to realize the dynamic pressure. The shock tube setup used in this study can realize reference pressure with amplitudes up to 1.7 MPa in the frequency range from below a kilohertz up to a megahertz. The amplitude of the realized step pressure was calculated using the Rankine–Hugoniot step relations. In addition, the accurate time of arrival of the generated shock at the device under test (DUT) was measured using an optical probe based on shadowgraphy. The optical detector has a response time in nanosecond time scale which is several orders of magnitude faster than the response time of any pressure measuring system. Hereby, the latency between physical stimuli and response of the DUT can be measured. By the knowledge of the amplitude and the accurate time of arrival of the reference step pressure, the transfer function of the DUT can be calculated and presented in Bode diagrams of sensitivity and phase response versus frequency. The uncertainty in sensitivity and phase measurements was estimated. The information provided by this work is useful for developing reliable models of dynamic pressure measuring system and provide accurate information about their dynamic response. That in turn will contribute to establish a traceability chain for dynamic pressure calibration.


The purpose of this study was to provide an examination of differences in college women's self-reported heterosexual aggression between two samples. One sample of college women was drawn from three colleges in and around New York city (East; N = 212) and one was drawn from a midsized commuter university in Louisiana (South; N = 249). The respondents were questioned about their lifetime initiation of heterosexual activity. Approximately 28.5% of the women from the East reported engaging in sexually initiatory behaviors traditionally defined as sexual coercion, 21.1% in sexual abuse, and 7.1% in physically forced sex. The women in the sample from the South also reported engaging in sexual coercion (25.7%), sexual abuse (7.3%), and physically forced sex (1.6%), but at lower rates than the other sample. Chi-square tests demonstrated significant group differences for overall sexual aggression (the combination of coercion, abuse, and physical force), sexual abuse, and physically forced sex but not for sexual coercion. Theory building and differences between samples are discussed.


The surface cracks are easy to occur in the solid missile motor grain. The solid missile motor grain with cracks is very dangerous when it is lunched, because the surface cracks might be propagation unstable when the internal pressure enters the surface cracks cavity. In order to analyze the surface crack of solid motor grain, with accelerated aging test, the variation law of mechanics properties of propellant in the storage period is obtained. Under internal pressure and axial acceleration loading, the three-dimension finite element models of the motor grain are established, three-dimension singular crack elements at the tips of surface cracks are established to simulate the cracks propagation. Along with the surface crack propagation, the stress intensity factors of the crack tips in different storage period are calculated to prejudge its stability respectively. The method and conclusions are available for using solid missile motor grain with surface cracks.


It is seldom that it is only the patient who is affected when someone is admitted to compulsory psychiatric inpatient care, the next of kin is usually also impacted. The aim was to describe the lived experiences of being a next of kin to a woman in need of compulsory psychiatric inpatient care. Ten next of kin were interviewed and the material was analyzed with a Reflective Lifeworld Research approach. The results show loneliness and feelings that their existence has collapsed. An emotional duality is described in the realization that the care is needed but they are devastated that the woman is there. A trust exists, but it changes when the next of kin are no longer a part of the care process.


This paper presents a transmission line model for the simulation of electromagnetic transients in power systems. The model can be applied to both overhead lines and cables, even in the presence of a strongly frequency dependent transformation matrix and widely different modal time delays. This has been achieved through a phase domain formulation where the modal characteristics have been utilized in the approximation for the propagation matrix. High computational efficiency is achieved by grouping modes with nearly equal velocities and by columnwise realization of the matrices for propagation and characteristic admittance.


Native cool-season grasses are important for improvement of arid and semiarid rangelands in Iran. However, germination and seedling emergence of these species is a critical phase in these areas and are not well understood. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of low soil moisture on emergence of 36 populations of native cool-season grasses from 15 species of seven genera including Elymus, Agropyron, Secale, Hordeum, Bromus, Festuca, and Dactylis that were collected from different locations of Iran. A pot experiment was conducted in a greenhouse using a completely randomized design with three replicates. The populations were evaluated under field capacity (FC, -0.33 MPa), 75, 50, and 25% FC. Decreasing soil water content from FC to 25% FC reduced overall mean emergence from 69.3% to zero. Significant differences occurred among species and soil moisture levels for all characters except root/shoot dry weight ratio. Seedling emergence rate and root and shoot growth were decreased by limiting soil water content, while root-to-shoot length ratio (43%) was increased. Minimum water requirement for seedling emergence of all species except Dactylis glomerata L. was 50% FC (-0.6 MPa). Cluster analysis and canonical discriminant analysis separated the populations into five clusters. Populations in Clusters I and III had intermediate, Cluster II the greatest, and Clusters IV and V the least tolerance to low soil moisture. Cluster I and III had greater root and shoot biomass and rapid emergence, whereas decreasing soil moisture caused a severe reduction of root growth of 60% compared with the control. In response to low soil moisture, Cluster II showed high final emergence and the greatest stability (low sensitivity index) of root growth. Clusters IV and V had delayed emergence, low growth potential, and high sensitivity index for shoot and root growth under low soil moisture. In response to low soil moisture, there were differences among species and accessions of the same species collected from different ecological regions. These results suggest that the genetic diversity of Cluster II could be used for plant breeding programs and renovation of pastures in arid and semiarid regions of Iran.


Exploiting heterogeneous variations in labor cost increases due to Japan's 2003 social insurance premium reform as a natural experiment, we estimate the impacts of the increased social insurance premiums on employment, working hours, and payroll costs. Using the difference in differences (DID) method with establishment fixed effects, we find that firms reduce the number of employees and increase average annual earnings from longer working hours in response to an exogenous increase in labor costs without productivity gains. Firms manage to pay for this increase in the average wage paid to the remaining workers by reducing the number of employees to keep total payroll costs unchanged. In contrast, since social insurance premiums are shared equally between employees and employers, firms pay the remaining half of the premiums with which that they are imposed. Our results imply that an increase in labor costs without productivity gain may reduce employment.


A 40-year-old poor nutritional Japanese male was admitted to our hospital on June 5, 1989, with a 31-day history of fever. He had been working as a crew member of a ship in South East Asia. Salmonella typhi was isolated from his blood culture. In the course of the disease, intestinal hemorrhage, drug-induced fever and liver dysfunction, DIC, ARDS, and psychiatric disorder were identified. Intestinal hemorrhage occurred after the coagulation test became normal, so it was thought that the intestinal hemorrhage did not correlate with DIC. The patient was treated with CP, ABPC and supportive therapy. He became well, and ARDS and psychiatric disorder were disappeared. He was discharged on the 118th day of illness. Drug-induced fever was thought as one of the allergic reaction and the causative drug was not identified by LST. It was suspected that psychiatric disorder correlated with poor nutrition. Supportive therapy such as mandatory bed rest, intravenous hyperalimentation and low-volume blood transfusions, as well as an antimicrobial treatment were important for the inhibition of shock and/or intestinal perforation.


This paper argues that by requiring communication consultants to begin all consultations by asking about Lloyd Bitzer's components of situational rhetoric, consultants will have a better understanding of what topics to focus on in a consultation so that the speaker can receive the most beneficial advice possible.


Especially in idiopathic thoracolumbar scoliosis the approach and sort of instrumentation have controversially been discussed over the past years. Since 1986 32 patients with adolescent thoracolumbar scoliosis underwent operative treatment, 20 patients were treated with Cotrel-Dubousset Instrumentation (CDI), 10 patients underwent Ventral Derotation Spondylodesis (VDS). In 2 cases a combined two-stage VDS and CDI were performed. The follow-up was 38 months in the CDI-group and 19 months in the VDS-group. Length of the curve and the fusion were identical in the VDS-group. In the CDI-group, however, length of the fusion exceeded curve length by 4 segments on average. With CDI the fusion was carried down to L4 in most cases, in some cases to L5. Curve correction of the primary curve averaged 70% with VDS (preoperative mean 84 degrees) and 64% with CDI (preoperative mean 65 degrees). We observed a spontaneous correction of the secondary curve of 38% after VDS. With CDI the correction of the secondary curve averaged 42%, however, in secondary curves measuring more than 50 degrees primary and secondary curve were fused. A preoperatively physiological sagittal plane in the CDI-group remained unchanged after operative treatment. With VDS an average kyphosis of the thoracolumbar junction of +22 degrees was corrected to +7 degrees. We conclude that in the operative treatment of severe thoracolumbar scoliosis VDS offers significant advantages compared to CDI and should therefore be preferred. In moderate scoliotic deformities, where the number of caudally unfused segments is equal in both systems, CDI is justified.


From the Publisher:
This book is a practical guide for anyone designing or administering a corporate or e-business network that runs across a number of platforms via the Internet. It will arm systems administrators with a thorough understanding of the problems of network security and their solutions, and thus help realize the tremendous potential of e-business.
With the explosion growth of e-commerce and the opening up of corporate networks to external customers, security is now the number one issue for networking professionals. Concerns about hackers and the possible damage they can do to a business, and the potential vulnerabilities of a system can be overwhelming and can create an unhealthy business environment.

However, a great deal of this is based on lack of information as to exactly how hackers approach their task, and of the exact vulnerabilities that they prey on. In this book, Jeff Crume dispels this fear by putting these threats into perspective and allowing realistic defense mechanisms to be created, to the extent that security becomes a business enabler, rather than inhibitor.

Inside Internet Security describes the underlying principles that crop up again and again in hacker attacks, and then progresses focus on lessons that can be learned, and on how to protect against recurrence.

Features:
Practical hands-on advice on securing networked systems
Security checklists for common scenarios
Pointers to other detailed information sources
In-depth theoretical background information
Real-world Examples of actual attacks
A glimpse into the future of IT security


Pluviograph data at 6-min intervals for 41 sites in the tropics of Australia were used to compute the rainfall and runoff factor (R-factor) for the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), and a daily rainfall erosivity model was validated for these tropical sites. Mean annual rainfall varies from about 300 mm at Jervois (015602) to about 4000 at Tully (032042). The corresponding R-factor ranges from 1080 to 33500 MJ·mm/(ha ·h·year). For these tropical sites, both rainfall and rainfall erosivity are highly seasonal with a single peak in February mostly. Summer months (November–April) typically contribute about 80% of annual rainfall and about 90% of the R-factor. The daily erosivity model performed better for the tropical sites with a marked wet season in summer in comparison to model performance in temperate regions of Australia where peak rainfall and peak rainfall erosivity may occur in different seasons. A set of regional parameters depending on seasonal rainfall was developed so that the R-factor and its seasonal distribution can be estimated for sites without pluviograph data. The prediction error using the regional parameter values is about 20% for the R-factor and 1% for its monthly distribution for these tropical sites.


Central role of colonoscopy in screening for colorectal cancer:
Colonoscopy is – irrespective of first line screening test – the final common pathway of all screening for colorectal cancer (CRC), and is used for biopsy and polyp removal. For a screening-test in the (healthy) general population colonoscopy is invasive and prone to (unlikely) serious complications. Screening-yield and rates of complications are strongly dependent on the individual operator and on quality assurance. As a result, training and continued education of endoscopists as well as monitoring of both detection and complication rates are key to high screening-quality. Effectiveness of screening for CRC:
No data is currently available on the impact of CRC-screening on all-cause mortality. Four randomized controlled trials on screening for fecal occult blood as a first-line test (gFOBT) showed a relative risk reduction of 15% for disease-specific CRC-mortality. Absolute risk reduction was between 0.12-0.29%. Two large non-population based randomized controlled trial on once-only flexible sigmoidoscopy as a first-line screening-test showed a relative risk reduction of 31% and 22% (statistically not significant) for disease-specific CRC-mortality and a reduction of CRC incidence of 23% and 18%. Results from a large non-population based two round flexible sigmoidoscopy screening study showed a relative risk reduction of 26% of disease-specific CRC-mortality and a reduction of CRC incidence of 21%. Absolute risk reduction of CRC-mortality through flexible sigmoidoscopy was between 0.11-0.15%. Results from a population based randomized trials on flexible sigmoidoscopy are expected in 2013. To date there is no evidence from randomized controlled trials on CRC-screening using colonoscopy as a first-line screening test. Two randomized studies on screening with either colonoscopy or iFOBT as a first-line test will yield results starting ten years from now. There is only limited evidence on test characteristics (sensitivity, specificity, complication rates) in real life screening-settings. The ideal test strategy in CRC-screening is uncertain, the evidence base evolving. Choice of first-line screening-test:
When considering first-line screening-tests on which to base an organized program, program sensitivity per invitee through the test's impact on participation in screening (and re-screening) is more important than single test-sensitivity per screened participant. Complications rates are to be taken into account. Program-sensitivity largely depends on participation rates. Recent developments in first-line screening tests include quantitative iFOBTs. CT-colonoscopy, capsule endoscopy and new molecular tests are not yet viable alternatives for use in population-based mass-screening. Improving screening-effectiveness:
An upper age-limit for CRC-screening is recommended. An integrated screening-program combines screening with screening-relevant considerations in diagnosis, treatment and surveillance. Along with standardized documentation and regular evaluation an integrated program-design provides the quality necessary to consider screening average risk-populations. Giving thorough attention to the design of the surveillance regime is important, because its thresholds determine the numbers of surveillance-colonoscopies resulting from CRC-screening. Incremental implementation of a national population-based screening-program, with targeted research studies, pilot testing and incremental roll-out, like in the Netherlands, should be considered. Securing comprehensive program-financing:
Population-based screening-programs require significant initial investment in overhead and sustainable financing of ongoing documentation, quality assurance and evaluation. Also, ongoing financing of both program- and provider-independent information dissemination to potential screening-participants enabling informed consent if or if not to participate in screening, and funds for regular program evaluation through an external institution need to be secured.


Natural products provide a rich source of biological tools, but elucidating their molecular targets remains challenging. Here we report a cell morphological profiling of a natural product library, which permitted the identification of bisebromoamide and miuraenamide A as actin filament stabilizers. Automated high-content image analysis showed that these two structurally distinct marine natural products induce morphological changes in HeLa cells similar to those induced by known actin-stabilizing compounds. Bisebromoamide and miuraenamide A stabilized actin filaments in vitro, and fluorescein-conjugated bisebromoamide localized specifically to actin filaments in cells. Cell morphological profiling was also used to identify actin-stabilizing or -destabilizing natural products from marine sponge extracts, leading to the isolation of pectenotoxin-2 and lyngbyabellin C. Overall, the results demonstrate that high-content imaging of nuclei and cell shapes offers a sensitive and convenient method for detecting and isolating molecules that target actin.


The cholecystokinin (CCK) receptor on the rat pancreatic acinar cell is a guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G protein)-coupled receptor, which was recently demonstrated to be phosphorylated in response to agonist stimulation (Klueppelberg et al., J. Biol. Chem. 266: 17744-17746, 1991). In this work, we establish that this receptor is phosphorylated in response to a variety of homologous and heterologous secretagogues and that these phosphorylation events represent action by more than one protein kinase. One subgroup of kinases includes one or more isotype of protein kinase C (PKC), and is capable of playing a role in homologous and heterologous desensitization. A second subgroup of kinases that acts on the CCK receptor was defined by its resistance to 10 microM staurosporine, which was shown to inhibit all PKC in these cells. The activity of the second group of kinases was observed only in response to occupation of the CCK receptor by high concentrations of native hormone, raising the possibility of a "receptor-specific kinase." Similar to the prototypical kinase, beta-adrenergic receptor kinase (beta-ARK), this activity was inhibited in permeabilized cells by heparin. Furthermore, like this enzyme activity, beta-ARK was shown to be resistant to staurosporine. Based on its action on a G protein-coupled receptor, its activation at high concentrations of native agonist, and its pattern of inhibition, we believe that the staurosporine-insensitive CCK receptor kinase activity represents either beta-ARK or a closely related member of the receptor-specific kinase enzyme family.


OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of homocysteine (HCY) on activation of nuclear factor (NF-kappaB) and inhibitory factor IkappaB-alpha in human monocyte cell line THP-1, as well as its association with macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP-1alpha) upregulation. METHODS THP-1 monocytes were incubated with HCY, with and without NF-kappaB inhibitor pyrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) pretreatment. Northern blot analysis and flow cytometry were used to detect MIP-1alpha mRNA and protein respectively. The nuclear protein NF-kappaB P65 subunit and the inhibitory protein IkappaB-alpha were analyzed by Western blotting. RESULTS Compared with controls, HCY, at a concentration of 0.1 mmol/L, was able to enhance the expression of MIP-1alpha mRNA (up to 3.69-fold) and protein (1.16-fold) in THP-1 monocytes, as well as enhance NF-kappaB P65 transcription to nuclear proteins. These actions were significantly suppressed after pretreatment with 100 micromol/L PDTC for 30 minutes before HCY incubation; whereas incubation of THP-1 monocytes with PDTC only had no effect on both the expression of MIP-1alpha and nuclear transcription of NF-kappaB P65. Moreover, the level of IkappaB-alpha protein in THP-1 monocytes decreased after a 30-minute incubation with HCY, which gradually increased after 120 minutes. CONCLUSIONS Homocysteine at a pathologic concentration stimulates MIP-1alpha expression in THP-1 monocytes, probably via NF-kappaB activation. Such activation may be caused by enhanced phosphorylation and degradation of the inhibitor protein IkappaB-alpha.


Thermal infrared spectra of the martian surface indicate the presence of small concentrations (∼2 to 5 weight %) of carbonates, specifically dominated by magnesite (MgCO3). The carbonates are widely distributed in the martian dust, and there is no indication of a concentrated source. The presence of small concentrations of carbonate minerals in the surface dust and in martian meteorites can sequester several bars of atmospheric carbon dioxide and may have been an important sink for a thicker carbon dioxide atmosphere in the martian past.


The behavior of a Cl− channel associated with a glutamate transporter was studied using intracellular and patch recording techniques in Xenopus oocytes injected with human EAAT1 cRNA. Channels could be activated by application of glutamate to either face of excised membrane patches. The channel exhibited strong selectivity for amphipathic anions and had a minimum pore diameter of ∼5Å. Glutamate flux exhibited a much greater temperature dependence than Cl− flux. Stationary and nonstationary noise analysis was consistent with a sub-femtosiemen Cl− conductance and a maximum channelPo ≪ 1. The glutamate binding rate was similar to estimates for receptor binding. After glutamate binding, channels activated rapidly followed by a relaxation phase. Differences in the macroscopic kinetics of channels activated by concentration jumps of l-glutamate or d-aspartate were correlated with differences in uptake kinetics, indicating a close correspondence of channel gating to state transitions in the transporter cycle.


Background: Acinetobacters are aerobic gram-negative bacteria which are distributed widespread in soil and water. The bacteria are isolated from cultured skin, mucous membranes, secretions and hospital environment. Acinetobacter baumannii, is a strain that more frequently isolated. Acinetobacter strains are often resistant against antimicrobial agents. Materials and Methods: The method of this study was based on field, observation and test. On August and October 2015, samples were isolated from the soil and water of the Sadeghieh Square river in Tehran, respectively, and were transferred to the laboratory in the ice pack. 50 baumannii samples were isolated by biochemical methods (TSI, SIM, OF and gram test). November 1394, 100 clinical samples were isolated from Imam Khomeini hospital by biochemical method, and in the culture media Mueller Hinton agar plates were transferred to the laboratory. Antibiogram test for 150 baumannii samples was performed. Biofilms formation of Acinetobacter baumannii environmental and clinical samples was investigated by Congo red agar and culture plate methods. Results: In all samples (clinical and soil), most of antibiotic resistance was 92% for imipenem and the resistance of water samples to imipenem was 99.9%. Biofilm formation by Congo red agar in water, soil, and clinical samles was resprctively 44%, 40% and 1%. All isolates were negative biofilm culture plate. Conclusion: Considering Acinetobacter baumannii resistance to antibiotics and the lack of biofilm formation of in clinical and environmental isolates, it was concluded that there wasn't any relationship between antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation.


The real effective value of the Australian dollar declined sharply between early 1985 and September 1986. 'Market fundamentals' associated with the deterioration in Australia's terms of trade and current account, and rising foreign debt levels are the commonly cited explanation for the decline. However, several other shorter term influences may have also contributed. Theoretical and empirical analysis indicates that market fundamentals might explain, at most, 20 percentage points of the 37 per cent decline in the rate over this period. Thus, a significant real appreciation would be expected over the medium term prior to, and quite independently of, any recovery in Australia's terms of trade in general or in world farm commodity prices in particular.


Psychological distress has become a serious health risk after the Fukushima nuclear accident. Although, following the lifting of evacuation orders, the affected people have started returning home, their current status of psychological distress has not been reported yet. Here, we report the levels of psychological distress in both returnees and evacuees by using a K6 indicator. In January 2018, questionnaires were randomly distributed among 2,000 people, aged 20 to 79 years old, who were registered on the Basic Resident Register in the evacuation order areas of nine municipalities where residents have now started returning home. The total number of participants was 625. The returnees showed a significantly better psychological distress status than the evacuees. Multivariate-adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) among the returnees (reference = evacuees), estimated from a logistic analysis by using age, sex, and annual income as covariates, were 0.525 (0.325-0.846) for K6 ≥ 10 and 0.444 (0.216-0.911) for K6 ≥ 13. The prevalence of K6 ≥ 10 in the returnees when adjusted by the age and sex distribution of the whole of Japan was 16.2%, higher than the value (10.3%) at 20 to 79 years old in the whole of Japan. Psychological distress among the evacuees is an urgent problem to be resolved, and social support is still necessary for the returnees. Long term follow-up of returnees, investigations of causality between return and psychological distress and its governing factors in each of the evacuee and returnee groups are required for the implementation of effective countermeasures.


This paper is primarily aimed at highlighting the role and significance of asymmetric information in contributing to financial contagion. Furthermore, in emphasising the importance of greater disclosure requirements and the need for the disclosure of information relating to "close links", such disclosure being considered vital in assisting the regulator in identifying potential sources of material risks, it illustrates the fact that incentives (such as the reduction in the levels of capital to be retained by institutions), which have the potential to facilitate market based regulation (through non binding regulations), may not necessarily serve as suitable means in the realisation of some of Basel II's objectives – namely the achievement of "prudentially sound, incentive-compatible and risk sensitive capital requirements". The paper also attempts to raise the awareness that the operation of risk mitigants does not justify a reduction in the capital levels to be retained by banks – since banks operating with risk mitigants could still be considered inefficient operators of their management information systems (MIS), internal control systems, and risk management processes. The fact that banks possess risk mitigants does not necessarily imply that they are complying with Basel Core Principles for effective supervision (particularly Core Principles 7 and 17) – as the paper will seek to demonstrate. Core Principle 7 not only stipulates that "banks and banking groups satisfy supervisory requirements of a comprehensive management process, ensure that this identifies, evaluates, monitors and controls or mitigates all material risks and assesses their overall capital adequacy in relation to their risk profile, but that such processes correspond to the size and complexity of the institution." Certain incentives which assume the form of capital reductions are considered by the Basel Committee to "impose minimum operational standards in recognition that poor management of operational risks (including legal risks) could render such risk mitigants of effectively little or no value and that although partial mitigation is rewarded, banks will be required to hold capital against residual risks". Information disclosure should be encouraged for several reasons, amongst which include the fact that imperfect information is considered to be a cause of market failure – which "reduces the maximisation potential of regulatory competition", and also because disclosure requirements would contribute to the reduction of risks which could be generated when granting reduced capital level rewards to banks who may have poor management systems.


Abstract This article reviews the impact of space on paid employment opportunities for women in regional areas of New South Wales. Regional labour markets have been categorised according to the distinct industry of major employment (O 'Connor and Gordon, 1989: 212–214): agricultural regions; manufacturing regions undergoing structural change; natural resource regions; resort and retirement regions; isolated areas. The research compares six regional labour markets in New South Wales that fall into the categories of agricultural regions, natural resource regions and resort and retirement regions. It compares industry and occupation for men and women between these regions and with the metropolitan region. The article concludes that the labour market for women is more constrained in regional areas than in the metropolitan area. In addition, the article examines the differences in female and male labour markets between the three regional types and examines whether the variation in women's employment between regional types is as great as the variation for men. Differences between metropolitan and non-metropolitan labour market outcomes are pervasive regardless of industry differences between regions. A starting point for labour market policy (for example, equal employment opportunity) is an acknowledgement of this fundamental spatial difference.


The acoustic analog of graphene is presented in this work. The structure under study is a honeycomb lattice of cylindrical boreholes drilled in a plastic plate. It is demonstrated that the spectra of acoustic surface waves propagating on the plate presents Dirac cones at the corners of the hexagons forming the Brillouin zone. Thus, the wave equation describing the field near this point is similar to the wave equation for electrons moving in graphene. The parameters defining this wave equation are obtained as a function of the physical properties of the holes in the honeycomb lattice. Experiments are performed and an excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions is found.


Abstract. An analysis of measurements performed at L'Aquila (Italy) during a deep minimum of solar and magnetospheric activity (2008–2010) allowed for the evaluation of possible contamination of the ultralow-frequency (ULF) spectrum (f a 1–500 mHz) from artificial disturbances, practically in absence of natural signals. In addition, the city evacuation and the interruption of all industrial and social activities after the strong earthquake of 6 April 2009 allowed also for the examination of possible changes of the contamination level under remarkably changed environmental conditions. Our analysis reveals a persistent, season-independent, artificial signal, with the same characteristics in the H and Z components, that affects during daytime hours the entire spectrum; such contamination persists after the city evacuation. We speculate that the DC electrified railway (located a 33 km from the Geomagnetic Observatory of L'Aquila, it maintained the same train traffic after the earthquake) is responsible for the observed disturbances.


Comparing with univariate framelets, the main challenge involved in studying multivariate framelets is that we have to deal with the highly non-trivial problem of factorizing multivariate polynomial matrices. As a consequence, multivariate framelets are much less studied than univariate framelets in the literature. Among existing works on multivariate framelets, multivariate multiframelets are much less considered comparing with the exitensively studied scalar framelets. Hence multiframelets are far from being well understood. In this paper, we focus on multivariate dual multiframelets (or dual vector framelets) obtained through the popular oblique extension principle (OEP), which are called OEP-based dual multiframelets. We will show that from any given pair of compactly supported refinable vector functions, one can always construct an OEP-based dual mltiframelet, such that its generators have the highest possible order of vanishing moments. Moreover, the associated discrete framelet transform is compact and sparse.


Hemochromatosis and Wilson disease (WD), characterized by the excess hepatic deposition of iron and copper, respectively, produce oxidative stress and increase the risk of liver cancer. Because the frequency of p53 mutated alleles in nontumorous human tissue may be a biomarker of oxyradical damage and identify individuals at increased cancer risk, we have determined the frequency of p53 mutated alleles in nontumorous liver tissue from WD and hemochromatosis patients. When compared with the liver samples from normal controls, higher frequencies of G:C to T:A transversions at codon 249 (P < 0.001) and C:G to A:T transversions and C:G to T:A transitions at codon 250 (P < 0.001 and P < 0.005) were found in liver tissue from WD cases, and a higher frequency of G:C to T:A transversions at codon 249 (P < 0.05) also was found in liver tissue from hemochromatosis cases. Sixty percent of the WD and 28% of hemochromatosis cases also showed a higher expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase in the liver, which suggests nitric oxide as a source of increased oxidative stress. A high level of etheno-DNA adducts, formed from oxyradical-induced lipid peroxidation, in liver from WD and hemochromatosis patients has been reported previously. Therefore, we exposed a wild-type p53 TK-6 lymphoblastoid cell line to 4-hydroxynonenal, an unsaturated aldehyde involved in lipid peroxidation, and observed an increase in G to T transversions at p53 codon 249 (AGG to AGT). These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the generation of oxygen/nitrogen species and unsaturated aldehydes from iron and copper overload in hemochromatosis and WD causes mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene.


Words frequently acquire new senses, but the mental process that underlies the historical emergence of these senses is often opaque. Many have suggested that word meanings develop in non-arbitrary ways, but no attempt has been made to formalize these proposals and test them against historical data at scale. We propose that word meaning extension should reflect a drive towards cognitive economy. We test this proposal by exploring a family of computational models that predict the evolution of word senses, evaluated against a large digitized lexicon that dates back 1000 years in English language history. Our findings suggest that word meanings not only extend in predictable ways, but also that they do so following an historical path that tends to minimize cognitive cost through a process of nearestneighbor chaining. Our work contributes a formal approach to reverse-engineering mental algorithms of the human lexicon.


Invasive prenatal testing has become an important way to evaluate fetuses at increased risk for hereditary disorders. In utero sampling of fetal skin, liver, and muscle may be required to diagnose before-birth disorders that cannot be diagnosed by analysis using chorionic villi or amniotic fluid. In the next few years, many of these conditions will be detected by DNA analysis, and the need for these procedures may decrease dramatically. First performed by fetoscopy, fetal tissue sampling is now most frequently done by inserting a biopsy needle under continuous ultrasonographic guidance. We describe the indications, techniques, complications, and experience with obtaining fetal skin, liver, and muscle biopsy specimens.


This paper deals with the interactive design of generic classifiers for aerial images. In many real-life cases, object detectors that work are not available, due to a new geographical context or a need for a type of object unseen before. We propose an approach for on-line learning of such detectors using user interactions. Variants of gradient boosting and support-vector machine classification are proposed to cope with the problems raised by interactivity: unbalanced and partially mislabeled training data. We assess our framework for various visual classes (buildings, vegetation, cars, visual changes) on challenging data corresponding to several applications (SAR or optical sensors at various resolutions). We show that our model and algorithms outperform several state-of-the-art baselines for feature extraction and learning in remote sensing.


Since the implementation of the accurate poverty alleviation policy, the number of poor people in China has been shrinking, but the phenomenon of returning to poverty also occurs from time to time. To ensure that everyone is out of poverty, preventing and eliminating poverty-returning after out of poverty must be the key work in the current stage of poverty alleviation. To this end, this paper discusses the reason why there is the phenomenon of poverty-returning after out of poverty as well as the temporary poverty reduction. This paper innovatively proposes the theory of vulnerable poverty alleviation to explain it, verifies the theory by empirical analysis, and further demonstrates how to prevent the problem of poverty-returning after out of poverty. This is not only a necessary measure to consolidate the existing achievements in poverty alleviation, and achieve the goal of building a well-off society in an all-round way, but also a practical problem that needs to be highly valued in consolidating the achievements in poverty alleviation after 2020.After the poor have been lifted out of poverty, when they are affected by other external events, they are likely to return to poverty again if lacking the buffering and protection of assets, vice versa. Therefore, the situation that the family transfers from poverty to non-poverty but with no assets or few assets is called vulnerable poverty alleviation in this paper. Then the paper uses the three rounds of micro-survey data from 2010 to 2014 provided by China Family Panel Survey(CFPS)to verify it. Firstly, the propensity score matching method is used to verify the effect of asset endowment on reducing the probability of returning to poverty. Then the conditional Markov model" is constructed to explore the impact of different types of asset endowment on the state of poverty alleviation—poverty-returning" under the general scenario and risk shock scenarios. Finally, the path that out of poverty but not return to poverty is discussed.The results indicate that there is a significant difference in the probability of returning to poverty among families with different asset endowment. The fewer assets a family owns, the more likely it is to return to poverty, so asset endowment can prevent the phenomenon of returning to poverty. Specifically, production assets, financial assets, self-use assets and human assets endowments can inhibit the occurrence of returning to poverty. Among them, the role of production assets is most significant, and asset endowment plays the most significant role in preventing families from returning from mild poverty alleviation to shallow poverty, and asset endowment will play a more important role in risk shock scenarios than the general scenario. The role of asset endowment will be weakened if there exists a perfect public service system and high welfare for a region or borrowing behavior for an individual. This shows that the perfect public service system and the higher transfer payment in the high welfare area also play the role of safety net", replacing the role of assets in alleviating the phenomenon of returning to poverty.Therefore, this paper argues that the government should incorporate asset indicators into the dynamic adjustment system of poverty identification; meanwhile, it should further improve the public welfare system, fundamentally encourage poor families to engage in production and business activities, and implement skill training, which will help to consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation.


BACKGROUND
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of global mortality. Risk factor management in clinical practice often relies on relative risk modification rather than the more appropriate absolute risk assessment.

AIM
To determine whether patients receiving more-frequently designated GP visits had increased benefit in terms of their absolute CVD risk assessment, as compared with patients in receipt of their usual GP care.

DESIGN AND SETTING
Prospective, open, pragmatic block randomised study in a 1:1 group allocation ratio in three Western Australian general practices.

METHOD
A convenience sample (n = 1200) of patients aged 40-80 years were randomised to 3-monthly GP visits (five in total for the intensive) or usual GP care (two in total for the opportunistic), with 12 months' follow-up. The main outcome was absolute CVD risk scores based on the New Zealand Cardiovascular Risk Calculator. Others outcome measures were weight, height, waist circumference, blood pressure, and fasting blood lipids and glucose.

RESULTS
There were 600 patients per group at baseline. At 12 months' analysis there were 543 in the intensive group and 569 in the opportunistic group. Mean (standard deviation [SD]) absolute CVD risk reduced significantly between baseline and 12 months in the intensive group (6.28% [5.11] to 6.10% [4.94]) but not in the opportunistic group (6.27% [5.10] to 6.24% [5.38]). There was a significant reduction between baseline and 12 months in mean (SD) total cholesterol (5.28 mmol/l [0.94] to 5.08 mmol/l [0.96]); low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (3.08 mmol/l [0.87] to 2.95 mmol/l [0.89]); triglyceride (1.45 mmol/l [0.86] to 1.36 mmol/l [0.84]); and in mean (SD) waist circumference in men (98.74 cm [10.70] to 97.13 cm [10.20]) and females (90.64 cm [14.62] to 88.96 cm [14.00]) in the intensive group.

CONCLUSION
A targeted approach using absolute risk calculators can be used in primary care to modify global CVD risk assessment.


A cross-institution research methods course was developed to provide students conducting thesis projects with an introduction to research development and many different types of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The course draws on the experiences of a diverse group of young faculty to present students with a broad range of best practices and experiences in research methods. Unique to this distance-learning course is the incorporation of team-based active learning activities in every lecture. In this active learning course, students learn quantitative research methods by practicing the set of procedures in class. Students are expected to incorporate their research topics as examples throughout the class. Topics in research methods include: defining research problems, conducting a literature review, qualitative and quantitative data analysis, developing experimental designs, survey design, visual presentation of results, research ethics, and the process of writing a peer-reviewed journal article. The course culminates in students' research proposal. This paper discusses the lessons learned from a cross-institution course collaboration and presents the findings from student assessments and surveys. We discuss the effectiveness of the cross-university course on different types of students, from new to senior PhD students conducting thesis research to masters students conducting term projects on a wide range of civil, environmental, sustainability, and construction research topics. We also examine the effectiveness of distance active learning and peer-teaching during the course. Half of the students at the Pitt location are in their second or third year of graduate studies, and they take an active role in mentoring and teaching.


Background and Purpose— Since the 1999 identification of clopidogrel-associated thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) through independent active surveillance, subsequent cases have been identified by pharmaceutical suppliers of clopidogrel and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For cases of clopidogrel-associated TTP reported between 1998 to 2002, we evaluated the quality and timeliness of data from 3 reporting systems-independent active surveillance (n=13), pharmaceutical suppliers (n=24), and the FDA (n=13)—and identified prognostic factors associated with mortality. Methods— This study assessed the completeness of information on TTP diagnosis, treatment response, and causality from the 3 reporting systems. In addition, predictors of mortality were identified through classification tree analysis. Results— Completeness, timeliness, and certainty of diagnosis were best for cases obtained by active surveillance, intermediate for cases reported to the pharmaceutical supplier, and poorest for cases reported directly to the FDA. Clopidogrel had been used for ≤2 weeks by 65%. The survival rate for patients with clopidogrel-associated TTP was 71.2%. Receipt of therapeutic plasma exchange within 3 days of onset of TTP increased the likelihood of survival (100% versus 27.3%, P <0.001). Conclusions— Compared with reports submitted by suppliers or the FDA, reports obtained through active surveillance provided timelier and more complete information. Clopidogrel-associated TTP often occurs within 2 weeks of drug initiation, occasionally relapses, and has a high mortality if not treated promptly.


The concept of decentralisation has shaped development thinking in contemporary times in both developed and developing countries. Indeed, the demand for decentralisation is strong throughout the world because of its link to community development and improving the quality of life of mass of the people in the rural areas. Decentralisation is globally recognised as the way of ensuring community participation and local development. However, some authors argue that the purported benefits of decentralisation leading to community development are not as obvious as proponents of decentralisation suggest. In Africa, decentralisation is implemented in various forms by governments across the continent. Indeed, in West Africa, it is difficult to find a country that does not have decentralisation programme. In Ghana, decentralisation has been practiced since 1988 and the populace has come to embrace it as the best way of ensuring development and local participation in governance. Nevertheless, after nearly three decades of implementing decentralisation, which has generated rather elaborate structures and processes, Ghana still struggles to realise the expected developmental progress, or achieve the envisioned structural and procedural effectiveness. This paper explores the relationship between decentralisation and community development in Sekyere Central District. Again the paper seeks to find out the contributions decentralisation has brought to the communities in Sekyere Central District and finally investigate whether decentralisation is working as it should in the district. This paper was carried out using a mixed method approach. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select all the assembly members in Sekyere Central District. Both primary and secondary data were collected from the relevant sources in an effort to meet the objectives of the study. The regression analysis of all the assembly members indicated that, the calculated value F is 28.25 at 5% alpha level of significant (0.000). It shows that there is significant relationship between decentralisation and community development.


BACKGROUND Left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) are used to treat heart failure. Preoperative prediction of RV function after LVAD implantation is crucial. Correlations were found between preoperative echo and RV function after LVAD implantation. MATERIAL AND METHODS We retrospectively reviewed 23 male patients (8 ischemic, 15 nonischemic cardiomyopathy) with LVAD implantation (17 HeartWare, 6 HeartMate II) at the Silesian Center for Heart Diseases from 1 January 2013 to 28 October 2014. Preoperative TTE data of RV function included RVFAC (fractional area change), TAPSE (tricuspid annulus plane systolic excursion), RV diameter (RV4), and RV/LV (right/left ventricle) ratio. Postoperative hemodynamic mean pulmonary pressure (mPAP), central venous pressure (CVP), cardiac output (CO), and cardiac index (CI) were measured and recorded every 2 h up to 10 days (1, 2, …120) and correlated. Study endpoints were mortality, discharge from ICU, and RV dysfunction. RESULTS There were no RV dysfunctions. Correlations of CO and CI with RV4 and RV/LV ratio were significantly positive at many time points, with TAPSE and FAC positive or negative. Correlations mPAP with RV4 were significantly positive: 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 57, 58, 59. With RV/LV ratio positive: 44, 47, with TAPSE in 36. With FAC positive 11, 13-15, 22 and negative 57. Correlations CVP with RV4 were negative, with positive significance in 1, 52. With RV/LV ratio positively 52, 54, 56 and negative 71, 72, 73. With TAPSE were negative significantly: 30, 68. With FAC positive 11, 12, 13, 14 and negative: 68. CONCLUSIONS RV4 and RV/LV ratio before LVAD implantation are more predictive for postoperative RV function than RVFAC and TAPSE, probably because RVFAC and TAPSE are load-dependent.


Flat combining (FC) is a synchronization paradigm in which a single thread, holding a global lock, collects requests by multiple threads for accessing a concurrent data structure and applies their combined requests to it. Although FC is sequential, it significantly reduces synchronization overheads and cache invalidations and thus often provides better performance than that of lock-free implementations. The recent emergence of non-volatile memory (NVM) technologies increases the interest in the development of persistent (a.k.a. durable or recoverable) objects. These are objects that are able to recover from system failures and ensure consistency by retaining their state in NVM and fixing it, if required, upon recovery. Of particular interest are detectable objects that, in addition to ensuring consistency, allow recovery code to infer if a failed operation took effect before the crash and, if it did, obtain its response. In this work, we present the first FC-based persistent object. Specifically, we introduce a detectable FC-based implementation of a concurrent LIFO stack object. Our empirical evaluation establishes that thanks to the usage of flat combining, the novel stack algorithm requires a much smaller number of costly persistence instructions than competing algorithms and is therefore able to significantly outperform them.


The air-pressure-controlled hydraulic shock absorbers of axles' air suspension are capable of changing their damping forces in dependence on air pressure in air springs. Due to the possibility of improving dynamic properties of all vehicles that use the axles' air suspension, BRANO a.s., the Czech producer of shock absorbers, developed semi-active air-pressure-controlled hydraulic telescopic shock absorbers. The force-velocity characteristics of the controlled shock absorbers were designed on the basis of relative deflections of the air springs. As a criterion for the design of the optimum characteristics of the controlled shock absorbers the maximum similarity of dynamic responses of multibody models of the SOR C 12 bus for all the considered weights to the dynamic response of the reference multibody model was chosen. Time histories of relative deflections of the axles' air springs determined during the simulations are compared. Simulations of running over an obstacle with all the wheels were originally chosen (symmetric kinematic excitation of wheels). Verification of the suitability of the designed force-velocity characteristics of the APCSA described in this paper is performed on the basis of the simulations of general kinematic excitation of wheels. Driving on the artificially created test track according to the SKODA VÝZKUM methodology was chosen.


As the demand for industrial materials rises, mining companies have become increasingly interested in exploiting unconventional metal resources. Seafloor massive sulfide (SMS) deposits, one such example of an unconventional resource, will be mined for their high ore grade and abundance along oceanic plate margins. As these deposits are mined, fresh and highly reactive surfaces of sulfide minerals will be exposed to seawater, causing them to immediately oxidize. Pyrite (FeS2) is the most common sulfide mineral and readily oxidizes under atmospheric conditions. Sulfuric acid is a product of the sulfide mineral oxidation process and is often responsible for the devastating effects of acid mine drainage at terrestrial mining sites.Kinetics experiments have been conducted to determine a rate law for the abiotic rate of pyrite oxidation in synthetic seawater. Experiments run from pH 2-5, 0.995 or 0.10 atm O2, and temperatures of 285 – 303 K were used in rate law calculations. The experimentally derived molal specific rate law is:Rsp = -10-11.02±0.03[H+]0.39±0.03[PO2]0.44±0.05where [H+] and [PO2] represent the initial molal concentrations of protons and dissolved oxygen in the seawater, and the rate Rsp is in units of moles m-2 sec-1. The initial rate method was combined with the method of isolation to determine the effects that pH, dissolved oxygen concentration, and temperature have on the pyrite oxidation rate. Results show that the initial concentration of dissolved oxygen is more influential upon the initial pyrite oxidation rate than the initial pH of the seawater under acidic, low temperature conditions.The pyrite oxidation rate in acidic seawater is the slowest of the sulfides pyrite, pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite, with the reaction proceeding up to three orders of magnitude slower than that of pyrrhotite in synthetic seawater. The slow pyrite weathering rate (whether natural or anthropogenically induced) enhanced pyrite preservation in massive sulfide deposits. This may explain why VMS deposits are more enriched in pyrite than any other sulfide mineral.


For long-term applications, the life of fiber composites is a key concern for engineers. Over the last decade, we have been studying this subject by measuring the stress-rupture behavior of several composites under sustained tensile loads [1–19]. Stress rupture (also called lifetime, static fatigue, creep rupture, or time-dependent strength) is the failure time of a composite material or structure under a sustained load. Recently, we summarized our 10-y study in stress rupture on a simple S-Glass/epoxy composite [20]. In the case of aramid/epoxy composites, we gathered lifetime data from 1971 until early 1980, when a major earthquake interrupted part of our experiment. Our effort on this class of composite has been quite extensive with tests that use large numbers of composite strands and pressure vessels. For the strand testing, several temperatures also were involved. Different analytical methods were used for the treatment of data. Because of the large scope of this work, long experimental time span, and the number of people involved, some data inconsistency and different interpretations of results have been unavoidable. In this article, we review all of our stress-rupture data on aramid/epoxy composites from 1971 to early 1980, analyze them with an up-to-date statistical method, provide plots for life estimation and reliability assessment, and offer comments on some issues of particular interest.


Purpose Mobile phone markets in india is witnessing one of the most challenging phases in its evolution. The economic growth added with the rise in disposable income has seen consumers demand more smartphones than in the past. To keep up with this demand companies are expanding and developing their distributional channels across rural and urban india. Though there have been several studies on the consumer purchase side, there has been scant research on the role of the retailer. This study aims at understanding the factors that drive the demand of smartphones from the perspective of retailers and their ecosystem Design/methodology/approach – to evaluate the role of actors including the retailers in the ecosystem, a holistic approach is needed. Systems theory was found suitable to evaluate the interactions and the roles of players in this ecosystems. The interview method was adopted to develop the model and understand the nuances of the interactions between the actors. Findings – Evaluating factors based from literature as well as interview transcripts, it was seen that trade margins, functional value of smartphones, inventory turnover and brand awareness were major factors propelling demand among retailers. Originality/value – This study advances the body of knowledge by presenting drivers of demand for smartphones from the retailer perspective, which is under researched, especially in the emerging market context. The implications from this study could serve as a platform for future research in similar economies and further shed light on influencing factors that could aid in enhancing market development activities for practitioners. Further the emerging market context of the study provides insights to industry and academia to advance research in This study provides insights on the factors which have an effect on the increased demand of certain smartphone brands from the retailer side and can be a basis to understand the strategies which mobile brands follows to adopt for increased penetration in Indian market. This study concentrates on the retailer's perspective and only limited studies have been done on this.


This cross-sectional comparative study investigates the association between particulate matters (PM; PM10, PM2.5 and ultrafine particle (UFP) and concentration of biomarkers; Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and Tumor Necrosis Factor- Alpha (TNF-α) using 62 bus drivers as exposed group and 62 administrative staff as comparative group in Klang Valley, Malaysia. T-test results showed that the mean exposure level of PM10 (t = 8.14, p<0.01), PM2.5 (t = 9.95, p<0.01) and UFP (t = 19.61, p<0.01) were significantly higher among the bus drivers compared to comparative group. Mann-Whitney U test of IL-6 (z = -2.43, p<0.05) and TNF-α (z = -5.88, p<0.01) were also found to be significantly higher in the bus drivers. Positive correlations were found between the exposure level of PM and concentration of biomarkers. In conclusion, the bus drivers showed higher concentration of IL-6 and TNF-α and were at a higher risk of getting respiratory illnesses compared to comparative group. Thus, more attention should be given on the control of high level of exposure to PM in order to minimize the adverse health effects among the groups at risk.