Mr. Boyle: Thank you, Alan. First, I want to thank Jan Wenzel from our firm who is a 1999 Health Law Certificate graduate for pulling together some research material. With regard to Tom Hyatt's comments, let me raise a couple of questions or comments to respond to those comments before I move into some of the other areas. First off, when you look at the test that was designed by the IRS in 1969 we really did not have many hospitals in large parts of the country that were participating in Medicare and Medicaid. In other words, you had a lot of hospitals that were not Medicare/Medicaid providers. You also at that time did not have a very high population that was covered by Medicare and Medicaid. UPMC today, my guess is, 50 to 60 percent of their revenue or patient flow is from Medicare or Medicaid. So of course you have today very few hospitals that do not participate in Medicare or Medicaid because the percentage of the population that has gone into those programs has grown far beyond what was projected in the mid-60s and certainly by 1969. 1


Corona virus hit the world by January 2020, after which it slowly started to lurk into India by March 2020 This sudden catastrophe started to take a big toll of lives all over the world and had the same effect in India also The enormous number of patients getting admitted were massive and at the same time, the patients recovering was also inversely proportionate The patients were being diagnosed, and some of them were admitted in the hospitals and the others were advised to being quarantined at home, as there was no space in the hospitals The stress of being diagnosed positive for corona virus can bring lots of unresolved conflicts for any human These clients had a very poor mental state They had symptoms of loneliness, depression, fear and anxiety about the outcome of the disease A registry was maintained in a hospital for such clients and they were counselled through their mobiles The process was challenging and a mind-blowing experience for the counsellor


A C. perfringens type A genomic library was constructed in E. coli by banking overlapping 6-10 kbp Hind III fragments of chromosomal DNA from the enterotoxin (CPE) positive strain NCTC 8239 into the pUC derived vector pHG165. The library was screened by colony hybridization with a degenerate 26 bp oligonucleotide probe, derived from the amino acid sequence CPE9_17A. complex mixture of plasmid DNA was isolated from the only hybridization positive clone. A second round of screening picked out a single plasmid, with an apparently altered copy number, pLWl, that carried the CPE gene, cpe, on a 6.8 kbp insert.
A sequence deduced primer strategy for direct plasmid sequencing was initiated using a primer deduced in a similar manner to the 26 bp probe, obviating the need for prior mapping and subcloning of the insert. The amino acid sequence for the conceptual gene product of the single open reading frame differed only slightly from the known CPE sequence but lacked the C terminal residues. The biased cpe codon usage reflected the low %G+C content of the DNA. The %G+C content was even lower in the upstream region and possessed properties characteristic of bent DNA. The region 5' to the ATG translational start codon contained a Shine-Dalgarno sequence and several sequences with significant homology to the putative transcriptional control regions for the tetanus toxin gene. The N-terminal coding region contained a direct repeat of an upstream sequence that shared considerable homologies with the crossover point in site 1 of the Tn3 res region.
Southern blot analyses of chromosomal and plasmid DNAs from several isolates indicated that the majority of strains were cpe-. The chromosomal location and architecture of cpe appeared identical in all cpe+ strains.
A second copy, pLW2, of the 5' end of cpe, on a 4.5 kbp Pst I/Eco RI restriction fragment, was cloned during one of many unsuccessful attempts to clone the 3' end. A separate re-cloning experiment isolated several different clones that contained the 0.6 kbp Hind III located = 2.5 kbp 5' to the ATG codon of both cloned copies of cpe but none of them carried the CPE gene. The fragment was used as a DNA probe to show that it was present in high copy number in some strains of C. perfringens but completely absent from others.
An hypothesis describing the possible involvement of a mobile genetic element in C. perfringens enterotoxin production offers explanations for the cloning of a complex mixture of plasmids, the apparent alteration in plasmid copy number, the identification of putative DNA crossover points, the failure to clone the 3' end of cpe and the isolation of a novel DNA fragment.


Few images contribute as much to the picturing of American history as the representations of native peoples in the paintings of Benjamin West. To West, the Indian represented a timeless ideal of the natural man, a combination of innocence, intelligence, thoughtfulness and masculinity. He is thus depicted in The Death of General Wolfe, 1770, and the often reproduced Penn's Treaty with the Indians, 1772, with which most American schoolchildren are familiar. But there is another image of the native man, of thirty years, and a revolution later: John Vanderlyn's painting Death of Jane McCrea of 1804 (fig. 1 ). Clearly not the "innocent and noble savage, free from society's encumbering practices and living in harmony with nature," as Vivian Green Fryd has described West's images, the red men in Vanderlyn's painting are the epitome of unbridled violence (Fryd 80).1 Moreover, this violence is directed against a white woman, alone and undefended, in a wild and isolated forest. Despite the notoriety of West's elegant and sympathetic depictions of natives, known widely in the early Republic through etchings, it is this image, one of horror and unimaginable atrocity, that has dominated American visual and literary history since the early nineteenth century. Why was it Vanderlyn's representation of the native male that caught the imagination of white America rather than West's? What happened to the heroic red man between 1770 and 1800 to so greatly diminish the esteem in which he had been held, at least by some Americans? Further, why is it this image, as a threat to virtue and thus to civilization, that has proliferated over the last two centuries into a Hollywood stereotype that still persists today-in the character of Magua, for instance, in Michael Mann's 1992 film, The Last of the Mohicans? One answer can be found in the 1826 novel on which that film was based and on the relationship between the novel and the painting. It was James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) who, through the medium of storytelling, marketed the model on which later representations of native peoples would rest, both in literature and in art.2 This essay will examine the relationship of Cooper's novel and Vanderlyn's painting to history, captivity literature, and the tradition of patriarchy that influenced the development of the American identity. A Great Tory Death of Jane McCrea was commissioned in 1803 by Joel Barlow (1754-1812) as an illustration for his epic poem The Columbiad, then in progress.' The painting was shown at the Paris Salon in September of 1804 and at the American Academy in New York in November the same year.4 It was the first visual interpretation of a story popular since first reported in the Connecticut Courant on August 5, 1777 (Namias 319).5 A girl had been reported shot and scalped. According to the Courant, "The girl was a sweet heart to an officer in the enemy's service, and a great Tory." The true events surrounding the death of the historical Jane McCrea (1752-1777) will never be known, so much has her story become enmeshed in the fabric of American mythology. Murdered on her secret way to meet her lover in the British army, herself a rebel to the pro-Revolutionary cause, Jane was nonetheless to become a symbol of the colonies themselves. She is here portrayed as an innocent and trusting girl, betrayed and abandoned, only to be slaughtered on her wedding day by the servants of the very king who had promised to love and protect her. Thus runs the patriotic subscript to the story, but underlying even that text is the discourse of dominance inherited from Europe and naturalized through history into the melting pot of American folklore. Despite Republican sentiments in postRevolutionary America that independence should extend across gender lines, an underlying fear persisted that women, when given choices-who to marry, for instance-would not know how to make the right choices (Namias 121-28). Jane's independent nature was, after all, responsible for her own horrible death at the hands of men: the self-proclaimed protectors (and punishers) of women. …


This is the first of four papers in the special panel session focusing on issues driving reform of faculty reward systems to advance professional graduate engineering education for creative engineering practice and leadership of technological innovation to enhance U.S. competitiveness. This panel session is in direct response to the urgency of engineering education reform and improvement of faculty reward systems, voiced by Wm. A. Wulf, president of the National Academy of Engineering at the 2002-Main Plenary Address to the American Society of Engineering Education. Since the Grinter Report, scientific research has become a primary condition for tenure and promotion at many of the nation's schools of engineering across the country. In his seminal work, Scholarship Reconsidered, Ernest Boyer identified the need to broaden the range and the definition of scholarship beyond the limits of scholarship of research and discovery. As the panel overview paper, this paper introduces the need to implement a comprehensive faculty reward system for those professional-oriented adjunct faculty from industry and for those professional-oriented core faculty within schools of engineering and technology, who are at the leading edge of advancing the practice of engineering through their teaching, industrial engagement, and original professional scholarly work relevant to creative engineering practice and its leadership for technology development. The paper raises fundamental questions that must be answered to design a complementary faculty reward template of creative professional scholarly work, teaching, and engagement for high-caliber engineering professionals in parallel to the academic scientific research template, which predominantly exists at schools of engineering and technology across the nation.


This article describes an unusually well-behaved, unusually well-documented central and eastern United States (ceus) earthquake sequence. Detailed analysis of regional and local waveform data from the 6 June 2003 Bardwell, Kentucky, earthquake indicates that the mainshock has the seismic moment of M 0 1.3 (±0.5) × 10 15 N m ( M w 4.0) and occurred at a depth of about 2 (±1) km on a near-vertical fault plane. A temporary seismic network recorded 85 aftershocks that delineate an east-trending fault approximately 1 km in length. The hypocenters illuminate a vertical plane between 2.0 and 2.7 km depth. The centroid of the aftershock distribution is at 36.875° N, 89.010° W and a depth of 2.4 km. The aftershock cluster is interpreted as a circular fault area with a radius of 0.44 (±0.03) km. This source radius yields a static stress drop, Δ σ = 67 (±14) bars for the mainshock. The focal mechanism for the mainshock has strike = 90°, dip = 89°, and rake = −165° with a subhorizontal P axis trending 135°. A formal stress inversion based on the focal mechanisms of the mainshock and ten aftershocks indicates the maximum compressive stress trends 104° with a plunge of 5°. The local stress field near Bardwell is therefore rotated about 40° clockwise relative to 65° for eastern North America as a whole. The Bardwell earthquakes have the opposite sense of slip to earthquakes with east-trending nodal planes that occur near New Madrid, Missouri. This requires a significant local rotation of the stress field over a distance of 60 km.


Introduction To what degree can positive impressions made by presidential candidates be successfully counteracted by subsequent negative messaging? Can the impact of negative messaging be nullified by subsequent positive impressions? These are questions that matter to candidates and parties during the presidential nominating conventions, and they are questions that scholars have yet to examine fully. Conventions are unique events where the convening party has a few days of breathing room to campaign with the full attention of the electorate while the opposition takes a traditional step back. In effect, the parties take turns ceding a massive information advantage to one another. As a result, there is a strong incentive for the party that convenes first to anticipate and preempt the opposing party's messaging as much as possible, and it is in the best interests of the party that convenes second to try and counteract any messaging presented by the first party. While scholars have devoted attention to modeling the impact of single conventions, how the conventions jointly impact opinion at the individual level has not been studied. We think that considered together, the conventions within a given election cycle present an ideal opportunity to study how individuals deal with sequential competing messages and a compelling way to examine the extent to which information screening and biased processing are involved in the formation of individual opinion about candidates for the American presidency. With a few exceptions, most empirical investigation of campaign effects during conventions has been concerned with aggregate-level outcomes. Unfortunately, conclusions about the different ways that individuals are impacted by conventions cannot reliably be drawn from aggregate-level data. Recently, researchers have recognized that measuring variation in both individual characteristics and exposure to information during conventions is necessary before a complete picture of how conventions shape public opinion can be gained (Cera and Weinschenk 2012; Hillygus and Jackman 2003). Panel data collected around single conventions has made it possible to isolate a persuasive effect triggered by convention speech consumption from a general partisan bias-activating effect associated with exposure to the rest of the intensely political convention information atmosphere. In this article, we attempt to further advance individual-level investigation of convention effects by isolating and considering individual exposure to information from both conventions within a given election cycle. The Informational Role of Conventions The study of campaign effects came to occupy an important place in the political behavior literature as scholars began to focus on their informational role. However, because of their complexity and length, a comprehensive model of campaign effects has eluded us. Focusing on the specific events and activities that occur during election cycles, such as debates and conventions, has made the study of campaigns more tractable (Hillygus and Jackman 2003; Holbrook 1996; Shaw 1999). Sharer succinctly described the usefulness of conventions to the study of campaign effects: "The convention is unique in the degree to which it is spatially and temporally bounded, and hence intellectually manageable. The context for its actions, then, can be examined in an unusually comprehensive fashion" (1988, 1). During a convention, the convening party captures nearly all conventional media coverage and monopolizes it for several days. The result is a one-sided onslaught of campaign information; "the only time during the campaign when parties are able to exercise clear control over the flow of information" (Holbrook 1996, 80). This aspect of conventions is particularly important because the audience during conventions is generally vast and diverse, consisting of partisans of both stripes and independents alike. In this way, conventions have the potential to both energize partisan supporters and influence independents' and opposition partisans' perceptions of the candidates. …


Temporal abstraction is key to scaling up learning and planning in reinforcement learning. While planning with temporally extended actions is well understood, creating such abstractions autonomously from data has remained challenging.We tackle this problem in the framework of options [Sutton,Precup and Singh, 1999; Precup, 2000]. We derive policy gradient theorems for options and propose a new option-critic architecture capable of learning both the internal policies and the termination conditions of options, in tandem with the policy over options, and without the need to provide any additional rewards or subgoals. Experimental results in both discrete and continuous environments showcase the flexibility and efficiency of the framework.


The advent of deep learning algorithms for mobile devices and sensors has led to a dramatic expansion in the availability and number of systems trained on a wide range of machine learning tasks, creating a host of opportunities and challenges in the realm of transfer learning. Currently, most transfer learning methods require some kind of control over the systems learned, either by enforcing constraints during the source training, or through the use of a joint optimization objective between tasks that requires all data be co-located for training. However, for practical, privacy, or other reasons, in a variety of applications we may have no control over the individual source task training, nor access to source training samples. Instead we only have access to features pre-trained on such data as the output of "black-boxes.'' For such scenarios, we consider the multi-source learning problem of training a classifier using an ensemble of pre-trained neural networks for a set of classes that have not been observed by any of the source networks, and for which we have very few training samples. We show that by using these distributed networks as feature extractors, we can train an effective classifier in a computationally-efficient manner using tools from (nonlinear) maximal correlation analysis. In particular, we develop a method we refer to as maximal correlation weighting (MCW) to build the required target classifier from an appropriate weighting of the feature functions from the source networks. We illustrate the effectiveness of the resulting classifier on datasets derived from the CIFAR-100, Stanford Dogs, and Tiny ImageNet datasets, and, in addition, use the methodology to characterize the relative value of different source tasks in learning a target task.


This thesis considers infant social development from the viewpoint of the perceptual and memory capacities necessary for particular social abilities. Some social abilities, e.g. facial or voice discrimination, require visual or auditory integrity, thus the development of visual and auditory capacities are reviewed. Recognition of familiar faces and/or voices requires memory. Hence the development of memory abilities is considered. Subsequently the development of social behaviour is reviewed. After these literature reviews, three experimental studies are described. The first of these investigates the recognition of mother's voice and reports evidence of that such recognition develops during the first month of life. The second experiment considers visual recognition of the mother and differential responsivity to face-to-face and averted gaze and to different tones of voice. One month old infants did not reveal any conclusive evidence on these points. However, post-hoc analysis suggested the importance of the physical characteristics of faces in eliciting infant visual attention. Experience in these studies suggested the need for the study of more naturalistic encounters and hence a methodology for the study and analysis of naturalistic social interactions was developed. This methodology was then applied to a study of interactions between mothers and strangers with infants seen from one to eight months of age. This study revealed a surprising developmental pattern of differentiation between mother and stranger, with an unexpected period of positive responsiveness to strangers occurring at five months of age. The sequential analysis of interactions revealed evidence of a progressive development of infant receptivity to gaze, and also an exploratory analysis of receptivity to adult smiles and vocalizations suggested infants may respond to these adult behaviours. Subsequently the results of these studies are linked to other recent research.


D.M. Thomas is one of the most controversial writers of our time - considered by some a major voice in contemporary fiction, by others a dubious literary 'impostor' who repeatedly appropriates female sexuality, the holocaust and the work of other writers for personal gain. Though best known for his best-selling novel The White Hotel, he has written twelve other novels and is also an acclaimed poet and translator of Russian literature. This, the first book-length study of his work, suggests that what troubles people about Thomas' work is the way it presents literature as a complex process of collaboration, translation, and improvisation. Central to this is Thomas' distinctive practice of uncannily impersonating the voices of other writers, thus destabilising conventional categories like authorship, originality and the self. Ranging across his work, from his early poetry to his most recent fiction, the book considers the influence of Russian literature on Thomas' work, his interest in Freud and psychoanalysis, and his commitment to finding suitable literary form to reflect the ways in which the uniquely violent, often nightmarish events of our times intersect with the desires and fantasies within us all


System administrators are often asked to apply their professional expertise in unusual situations, or under tight resource constraints. What happens, though, when the "situation" is a foreign country with only basic technical infrastructure, and the task is to build systems which are able to survive and grow in these over-constrained environments?

In this paper we report on our experiences in two very different countries - Cuba and Ethiopia - where we ran a number of ICT projects. In those projects we assisted local universities to upgrade their ICT infrastructure and services. This included skills and process building for local system administrators.

Based on our experiences we formulate a model for sustainable ICT capacity building. We hope this model will be useful for other organizations doing similar projects.


Although very successful in explaining the observed conspiracy between the baryonic distribution and the gravitational field in spiral galaxies without resorting to dark matter (DM), the modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND) paradigm still requires DM in X-ray bright systems. Here, to get a handle on the distribution and importance of this DM, and thus on its possible form, we deconstruct the mass profiles of 26 X-ray emitting systems in MOND, with temperatures ranging from 0.5 to 9 keV. Initially, we compute the MOND dynamical mass as a function of radius, then subtract the known gas mass along with a component of galaxies which include the cD galaxy with M/L K = 1. Next, we test the compatibility of the required DM with ordinary massive neutrinos at the experimental limit of detection (m ν = 2 eV), with density given by the Tremaine-Gunn limit. Even by considering that the neutrino density stays constant and maximal within the central 100 or 150 kpc (which is the absolute upper limit of a possible neutrino contribution there), we show that these neutrinos can never account for the required DM within this region. The natural corollary of this finding is that, whereas clusters (T ≳ 3 keV) might have most of their mass accounted for if ordinary neutrinos have a 2 eV mass, groups (T ≲ 2 keV) cannot be explained by a 2 eV neutrino contribution. This means that, for instance, cluster baryonic dark matter (CBDM, Milgrom) or even sterile neutrinos would present a more satisfactory solution to the problem of missing mass in MOND X-ray emitting systems. © 2008 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2008 RAS.


Manometry measures pressure within the oesophageal lumen and sphincters, and provides an assessment of the neuromuscular activity that dictates function in health and disease. It is performed to investigate the cause of functional dysphagia, unexplained "non-cardiac" chest pain, and in the pre-operative work-up of patients referred for anti-reflux surgery. Manometric techniques have improved in a step-wise fashion from a single pressure channel to the development of high-resolution manometry (HRM) with up to 36 pressure sensors. At the same time, advances in computer processing allow pressure data to be presented in real time as a compact, visually intuitive "spatiotemporal plot" of oesophageal pressure activity. HRM recordings reveal the complex functional anatomy of the oesophagus and its sphincters. Spatiotemporal plots provide objective measurements of the forces that move food and fluid from the pharynx to the stomach and determine the risk of reflux events. The introduction of commercially available HRM has been followed by rapid uptake of the technique. This review examines the current evidence that supports the move of HRM from the research setting into clinical practice. It is assessed whether a detailed description of pressure activity identifies clinically relevant oesophageal dysfunction that is missed by conventional investigation, increasing diagnostic yield and accuracy. The need for a new classification system for oesophageal motor activity based on HRM recordings is discussed. Looking ahead the potential of this technology to guide more effective medical and surgical treatment of oesophageal disease is considered because, ultimately, it is this that will define the success of HRM in clinical practice.


2-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) is currently the method of choice for separation of complex protein mixtures such as in cell and tissue extracts or body fluids including urine or serum. Human urine plays a central role in clinical diagnostics of diseases such as cancer and inflammation. Researchers and scientists are working on the development of a map of the human proteome but in the literature there are only a few investigations about urinary proteomics and their behaviour in the case of bladder tumor. The first aim of this study was to view the whole proteins present in urine and to predict their functions. For this aim, fourtyfive urine samples from patients with bladder cancer of different stages, patients on follow-up and healthy volunteers were analysed by 2-DE. At the beginning of this study the 2-DE protein pattern of human urine was almost unknown because of lack of appropriate preparation of urine samples prior to the 2-DE. Thus, the study focused on methods for preparation of urine samples providing the best preservation of urinary proteins. After experimental optimization of 2-DE, usable 2-D protein patterns of urine were analysed to identify proteins related to bladder cancer using subsequent mass spectrometric analyses and/or conventional immunoblotting and immunohistochemical methods. In comparison to other cancer types, the bladder carcinoma is the seventh causing death in man and ninth in women among malignant tumors. The growth and metastasis as well as the transformation of superficial noninvasive tumors to an invasive tumor phenotype are closely associated with activation of angiogenesis resulting in neovascularisation of tumor tissue. This process is regulated by a net balance between angiogenic activators and inhibitors. In the present study, orosomucoid (ORM) and human zinc-alpha-2-glycoprotein (ZAG) have been identified to be increased in 2-DE of urine samples of patients with bladder cancer in comparison to the urine samples of healthy volunteers. Immunohistochemical results let assume that in addition to cancer cells also a part of the tissue resident inflammatory cells and endothelial cells of tumor associated blood vessels may serve as source for this increase of ORM in urine samples of patient with bladder cancer. ORM is an acute phase protein and increased in acute infection, inflammation, and cancer. Recent studies show that ORM forms a complex with the active form of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in thymosin β4 (Tβ4)- activated but not in quiescent endothelial cells. Therefore it was aimed to determine a potential role of ORM up-regulation in angiogenesis. The findings presented in this study and results reported by Sorensson showed, that, in addition to the cancer cells, human vascular endothelial cells (HDMECs) produce ORM endogenously. For functional characterization of ORM in vascular endothelial cells, ORM-gene overexpression and ORM-gene silencing were perfromed. Employing the supernatants of HDMECs-ORM and HDMECs-ORM-siRNA in in-vitro angiogenesis assays, it was found that ORM supports the VEGF-induced endothelial tube formation. This supportive effect of ORM was potentiated by co-treatment of HDMECs with VEGF, ORM and anti-PAI-1 antibody. This study demonstrates for the first time that ORM is increased in urine of patients with bladder cancer and acts pro-angiogenic supporting the tube forming effects of VEGF. This supportative effect was significantly increased by additive blockage of PAI-1. In summary, the interaction between ORM and PAI-1 and anti-PAI-1 system seems to be essentially involved in the VEGF-mediated angiogenesis and probably in the vascularisation of urinary bladder cancer.


The growing, though still nascent, plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) market currently operates primarily via level 1 and level 2 charging in the United States. Fast chargers are still a rarity, but offer a confidence boost to oppose 'range anxiety' in consumers making the transition from conventional vehicles to PEVs. Because relatively no real-world usage of fast chargers at scale exists yet, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed a simulation to help assess fast charging needs based on real-world travel data. This study documents the data, methods, and results of the simulation run for multiple scenarios, varying fleet sizes, and the number of charger ports. The grid impact of this usage is further quantified to assess the opportunity for integration of renewables; specifically, a high frequency of fast charging is found to be in demand during the late afternoons and evenings coinciding with grid peak periods. Proper integration of a solar array and stationary battery thus helps ease the load and reduces the need for new generator construction to meet the demand of a future PEV market.


This paper evaluates counselling programmes in an equilibrium matching model where workers are heterogeneous in skill levels. Job search effort, labour demand and wages are endogenous. When wages are bargained over, raising the effectiveness of or the access to counselling programmes pushes wages upwards and leads to lower search effort among nonparticipants. The effects of increasing the access of the low-skilled are evaluated numerically by enlarging successively the set of endogenous behaviours. Induced effects outweigh substantial positive micro effects on low-skilled employment when all `margins' are taken into account. The inter-temporal utility of the low-skilled nevertheless increases because search effort declines. On the contrary, when the net wage of the low-skilled is a fixed proportion of the one bargained by the high-skilled, raising the access to counselling programmes has small positive effects on all criteria.


Context. The study of pulsation in pre-main-sequence intermediate-mass stars represents an important tool for deriving information about fundamental stellar parameters and internal structure, as well as testing theoretical models. Interest in this class of variable stars has increased significantly during the last decade and about 30 members are presently known in the literature. Aims. After constructing the frequency spectrum of oscillations in V346 Ori, we apply asteroseismic tools to these data to estimate the intrinsic parameters (mass, luminosity, effective temperature) of V346 Ori and obtain information about its internal structure. Methods. CCD time-series photometry in the Johnson V filter was obtained for a total of 145.7 h of observations distributed over 36 nights. The resulting light curves were subjected to a detailed frequency analysis using updated numerical techniques. Photometric and spectroscopic data were also acquired to determine reliable estimates of the stellar properties. Results. We identified 13 oscillation frequencies, 6 of which with higher significance. These were compared with the predictions of non-radial adiabatic models. The resulting best-fit model corresponds to a mass of 2.1 ± 0.2 M� , luminosity logL/L� = 1.37 +0.11 −0.13 , and effective temperature 7300 ± 200 K. These values are marginally consistent with the association of V346 Ori to Orion OB1a. Alternatively, V346 Ori could be placed at a slightly larger distance than previously estimated.


In 1994, a technical working group under the auspices of the T-15 Technical Committee on Substructures and Walls of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Bridge Subcommittee, was formed to reevaluate the design specifications for mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls contained in the AASHTO Standard Specifications for Highway Bridges (1996). One of the areas of focus was the internal stability design of MSE walls. Several methods for calculating the backfill reinforcement loads were available at that time in the AASHTO Standard Specifications, and the intent was to unify the design methods to simplify and clarify the specifications. To accomplish this, full-scale MSE wall case history data were gathered and analyzed so that the unified method developed could be calibrated to the empirical data, since all of the methods available were empirical in nature. The effect of simplifications in the method, such as how vertical soil stresses are calculated and how reinforcement stiffness is considered in the design, could also be evaluated with these full-scale wall data to ensure that the unified method developed was adequately accurate. From this effort, the AASHTO Simplified Method was developed. This report summarizes the development of the Simplified Method. It uses a number of full-scale MSE wall case histories to compare the prediction accuracy of the Simplified Method to that of the other methods currently available and focuses primarily on steel reinforced MSE walls. The theoretical assumptions used by the Simplified Method, as well as the other methods, are also evaluated and compared in light of the empirical evidence. This evaluation showed that the prediction accuracy of the Simplified Method is at least as good as that of the other methods, while the Simplified Method still simplifies calculations. This evaluation also showed, however, that all of the methods have limitations that must be considered.


Background and Aim: People use various ways against the stresses. Choosing a suitable confront ways can reduce the influence of stresses on individuals is mental health and lead to more compatibility. Therefore, the purpose of the current survey was to investigate the methods of opposing against job stress in military staff. Materials and Methods: The procedure was of descriptive-analytical type, and it was implemented through questionnaires. Two types of questionnaires, job stress and coping with stressor situation, were handed in to number of 959 individuals as the sample of the research. Percentiles, frequencies, averages and standard deviations were obtained through descriptive statistics. Statistical method of T between the two samples and multi-variable regression model were used to analyze the data. All analyses were performed in SPSS package version 18. Results: Results showed that job stress within sample group had the best condition concerning sub-component of "role" with average of 3.79 and standard deviation of 0.86, whereas the worst condition was related to sub-component of "communication" with average of 2.77 and standard deviation of 0.84. Military staff use problem-base mode to cope with their stressors. Regression coefficients also suggested that only exciting-base mode can predict job stress. Conclusion: Problem-base mode is the most used method by military in coping with stressful situations. Abstract


BACKGROUND
In 1999, Basnyat et al. published preliminary data demonstrating an inverse correlation between hydration status and acute mountain sickness during an epidemiological study performed in the vicinity of Mount Everest. To expand on these findings, we have re turned to the Langtang area of the Nepal Himalaya to perform more specific studies of altitude illness related to dehydration and hypoxemia using urine studies, pulse oximetry, and physical examination.

HYPOTHESIS
Dehydration will incite physiological changes aimed at the preservation of vascular volume homeostasis characterized by the production of sodium and water sparing hormones. As sodium is reabsorbed in the kidney, bicarbonate anion is also reabsorbed resulting in insufficient bicarbonate anion excretion by the kidney leading to an incomplete compensation for altitude induced hypocapnic alkalosis and the development of clinical disease.

METHODS
Estimates of intravascular volume (urine specific gravity), oxygen saturation (pulse oximetry), urinary bi carbonate excretion (urine pH), and AMS (Lake Louise Score) were collected from Hindu pilgrims at 4243 m during an annual sacred festival at Lake Gosinkunda.

RESULTS
Worsening altitude illness approx imated by increasing Lake Louise Score was associated with increasing urine specific gravity (p = 0.043), decreasing oxygen saturation (p = 0.020), and decreasing urine pH (p = 0.040) after rapid ascent to 4243 m.

CONCLUSIONS
Worsening altitude illness, indicated by increasing Lake Louise score, was associated with increasing measures of dehydration, hypoxemia, and urine acidity.


This instalment in the acclaimed In Focus series examines the life and career of Dorothea Lange (1895-1965), who is most recognized for her social documentary work during the Great Depression of the 1930's The Getty Museum holds nearly one hundred of the artist's pictures, about fifty of which are discussed by Judith Keller, associate curator of photographs. These include the iconic images of homeless farm families as well as lesser-known Southwestern views, personal photographs Lange made at home in the 19505, and late compositions from an extensive trip to Asia and the Middle East In Focus: Dorothea Lange is published to coincide with an exhibition of her photographs at the Getty Museum from October 15, 2002 through February 9, 2003. The book includes an edited transcript of a colloquium on Lange, with participants Keller; Keith Davis, Fine Arts Programs Director, Hallmark Cards, Inc.; David Featherstone, independent curator, freelance writer, and editor; Therese Heyman, curator emeritus, Oakland Museum of Photography; Weston Naef, curator of photographs, Getty Museum; Sally Stein, associate professor of art history, University of California, Irvine; and Michael Williamson, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer and author, currently working for the Washington Post Their animated conversation adds greatly to the understanding of the artist's creations. A complete chronology of major events in Lange's life rounds out the book


Using survey data on traders and brokers in the Ethiopian foodgrain market, this paper reveals that the brokerage institution is critical to market performance in that it enables traders to circumvent the commitment problem of long-distance trade with unknown partners. In the absence of grain standardization, public information, and legal contract enforcement, brokers act as inspectors and guarantors of each transaction. The paper analyzes the sources of commitment failure, the role and functions of brokers and the extent of brokerage use by brokers, and argues that agency relations are not based on ethnicity, depend on effective reputation rather than trust, and are structured in an incentive-compatible manner.


Treated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is associated with high rates of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), metabolic syndrome and central obesity/body fat partitioning disorders. To our knowledge, there are no available data comparing diabetes care in people with both HIV+DM vs. DM alone (DM-controls) within the same service and evaluating if benchmarked standards of care are being met in people with HIV+DM. This study evaluated the frequency that people with HIV+DM met the benchmarked American Diabetes Association (ADA) standards of care in diabetes (targets for HbA1c, blood pressure, lipid levels, complication screening, and healthy weight), compared to age- and sex- matched controls with diabetes, in an urban teaching hospital. The frequency of diabetes complications and rates of obesity and metabolic syndrome were also examined. All participants were male; individuals with HIV+DM (n = 30) were similar to DM-controls (n = 30) for age, diabetes duration and smoking status, but were more frequently non-obese compared to DM controls (92 vs. 55%, respectively, p = 0.003). Only 41% of HIV+DM met HbA1c targets, compared with 70% of DM-controls (p = 0.037). Blood pressure targets were poorly met in both HIV+DM and DM-controls: 43 vs. 23%, respectively (p = 0.12); LDL cholesterol targets were met in 65 vs. 67% (p = 1.0). Benchmarked complication screening rates were similar between HIV+DM vs. DM-controls for annual foot examination (53 vs. 67%, respectively, p = 0.29); biennial retinal examination (83 vs. 77%, respectively, p = 0.52); and annual urinary albumin measurement (77 vs. 67%, respectively, p = 0.39). The prevalence of diabetes complications was similar between HIV+DM compared to DM-controls: macrovascular complications were present in 23% in both groups (p = 1.0); the prevalence of microvascular complications was 40 vs. 30%, respectively (p = 0.51). Achieving the standard of care benchmarks for diabetes in people with both HIV-infection and diabetes is of particular importance to mitigate against the accelerated cardiometabolic outcomes observed in those with treated HIV infection. HIV+DM were less likely to achieve HbA1c targets than people with diabetes, but without HIV. People with HIV+DM may require specific strategies to ensure care benchmarks are met.


'An excellent and much needed contribution to the management literature'
- Gareth Morgan

'Trough accurate examples and instructive accounts of what constitutes understanding at work, the Author leads us to the core link between understanding and managerial practicing. It is deeply informative, often witty and always elegant!'
- Silvia Gherardi Research Unit on Communication, Organizational Learning, and Aesthetics dipartimento di sociologia e ricerca sociale

'The book provides an interesting, accessible and important contribution to the interpretive understanding of management and leadership and clearly shows its relevance also for practitioners'
- Mats Alvesson

Bringing a fresh perspective to the evaluation of management problems, this book draws upon interpretative research and builds upon existing interpretative studies to scrutinise the influence managers have on employees' understanding.

It considers how managers use ideas and visions to frame their employees' internalised understanding of the external rules and instructions that govern their work. The book brings an interpretative perspective to the question of individual and group competence and look at how this is linked with understanding.

Throughout Managing Understanding in Organizations refers to international case studies and considers the cross-cultural impact on management and understanding at work.


We consider the problem of finding related tables in a large corpus of heterogenous tables. Detecting related tables provides users a powerful tool for enhancing their tables with additional data and enables effective reuse of available public data. Our first contribution is a framework that captures several types of relatedness, including tables that are candidates for joins and tables that are candidates for union. Our second contribution is a set of algorithms for detecting related tables that can be either unioned or joined. We describe a set of experiments that demonstrate that our algorithms produce highly related tables. We also show that we can often improve the results of table search by pulling up tables that are ranked much lower based on their relatedness to top-ranked tables. Finally, we describe how to scale up our algorithms and show the results of running it on a corpus of over a million tables extracted from Wikipedia.


Mobile phones or smartphones are rapidly becoming the central computer and communication device in people's lives. Application delivery channels such as the Apple AppStore are transforming mobile phones into App Phones, capable of downloading a myriad of applications in an instant. Importantly, today's smartphones are programmable and come with a growing set of cheap powerful embedded sensors, such as an accelerometer, digital compass, gyroscope, GPS, microphone, and camera, which are enabling the emergence of personal, group, and communityscale sensing applications. We believe that sensor-equipped mobile phones will revolutionize many sectors of our economy, including business, healthcare, social networks, environmental monitoring, and transportation. In this article we survey existing mobile phone sensing algorithms, applications, and systems. We discuss the emerging sensing paradigms, and formulate an architectural framework for discussing a number of the open issues and challenges emerging in the new area of mobile phone sensing research.


In this work an analysis of the influence of contrast modification on people's opinion is performed. Based on a previous study of the impact of image contrast modifications on human feelings, here we address the problem of determining the impact of the image contrast change on the opinion of a person. This analysis is based on subjective tests that have been performed exploiting crowdsourcing. The obtained results show a good correlation with the previous work and they witness the possibility to influence subjective opinion by means of contrast modification. This study can results in forensics tools for blind detection of opinion biasing by means of image processing.


This paper examines the relationship between globalization and innovation. To do so, it draws from data that match the full population of workers and private-sector firms in Finland tracking them from 1995 to 2009. To correct for endogeneity the paper considers variation in trade exposure from China during its entry to the world market using a fixed effects model. While the literature on trade and innovation has emphasized the role of firms in driving onshore innovation, the main conclusion of this research is that globalization increases the share of innovators within firms.


In 2007, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) endorsed the Bali Action Plan to pay for reductions in tropical deforestation. While many saw these initiatives as complementary, others considered the Bali Action Plan a threat to indigenous peoples' rights. This paper reviews the history of efforts to protect indigenous rights and to pay for conserving forests and analyzes how they might be competing or complementary strategies. It then presents country experiences that show indigenous peoples have achieved tangible political benefits in many countries and internationally by using their leverage over and participation in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation Plus (REDD+) negotiations. Nevertheless, these experiences also show that insisting on preconditions for REDD+ national performance payments may have inadvertently harmed indigenous peoples by contributing to delays in implementation. Today, the movements for indigenous rights and for slowing deforestation are inextricably entwined. Whereas critics fear implementation of REDD+ will harm indigenous peoples, it is the failure of REDD+ programs to influence national action to slow deforestation which represents the greater risk. In this way, the two movements face a common challenge to refocus attention on the national policies and actions that must change to protect both indigenous rights and tropical forests.


Online processing is essential for many sensor network applications. Sensor nodes can sample far more data than what can practically be transmitted using state of the art sensor network radios. Online processing, however, is complicated due to limited resources of individual nodes. The naive Bayes classifier is an algorithm proven to be suitable for online classification on Wireless Sensor Networks. In this paper, we investigate a new technique to improve the naive Bayes classifier while maintaining sensor network compatibility. We propose the application of unsupervised learning techniques to enhance the probability density estimation needed for naive Bayes, thereby achieving the benefits of binning histogram probability density estimation without the related memory requirements. Using an offline experimental dataset, we demonstrate the possibility of matching the performance of the binning histogram approach within the constraints provided by Wireless Sensor Network hardware. We validate the feasibility of our approach using an implementation based on Arduino Nano hardware combined with NRF24L01+ radios.


The first toroidal rotation measurements in TCV ohmic L-mode plasmas with no external momentum injection are presented. The toroidal velocity profile of the fully stripped carbon species is measured by active Charge eXchange Recombination Spectroscopy with a temporal resolution of typically 90 ms and a spatial resolution of 2.5 cm, about 1/10 of the plasma radius. The observed carbon velocity is of the order of the deuterium diamagnetic drift velocity and up to 1/5 of the deuterium thermal velocity. It is directed opposite to plasma current in the electron diamagnetic toroidal drift direction. The profile reverses when reversing the plasma current. The angular velocity profile is flat, or hollow, inside the sawtooth inversion radius and decreases quasi linearly towards the plasma edge. By vertically shifting the plasma magnetic axis within the TCV vessel the plasma edge velocity profile was measured with high resolution. Such experiments confirm that, close to the limiter, the stationary rotation velocity is close to zero or somewhat positive (co-current directed). This suggests that the angular momentum is not driven from the plasma edge. The maximum carbon velocity scales as vϕ,Max [km s−1] = −12.5Ti/Ip [eV/kA] for a significant range of densities and values of the edge safety factor. Comparison with neoclassical predictions show that the TCV plasma rotation is mainly driven by radial electric fields, with a negligible contribution from the toroidal electric fields. The neoclassical theory of small toroidal rotation quantitatively and qualitatively disagrees with the experimental observation. An alternative empirical equation for the angular momentum flux, able to reproduce the measured stationary profile outside the inversion radius, is proposed.


Bilateral Synchronous Tonsillar Carcinoma
Introduction: The tonsils are the most common site of occult primaries in the oropharynx with a reported incidence of 18%-44%. Bilateral synchronous tonsillar carcinoma has been reported 15 times in the literature however the incidence is likely to be much higher as bilateral tonsillectomy in the work-up of a patient with cervical metastases of unknown primary origin is not routine practice in all centres.
Methods: A case series of four patients presenting with metastatic squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in cervical lymph nodes with unknown primaries found on bilateral tonsillectomy to have bilateral synchronous tonsillar carcinoma.
Discussion: This cases series supports the case for bilateral tonsillectomy to become standard practice in the work-up of a patient with cervical metastases of unknown primary origin.


Acute heart failure (AHF) is the most common primary diagnosis for hospitalized heart diseases in Africa. As increased fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) during heart failure triggers detrimental effects on the myocardium, we hypothesized that trimetazidine (TMZ) (partial FAO inhibitor) offers cardioprotection under normal and obese-related diabetic conditions. Hearts were isolated from 12-14-week-old obese male and female diabetic (db/db) mice versus lean non-diabetic littermates (db/+) controls. The Langendorff retrograde isolated heart perfusion system was employed to establish an ex vivo AHF model: a) Stabilization phase—Krebs Henseleit buffer (10 mM glucose) at 100 mmHg (25 min); b) Critical Acute Heart Failure (CAHF) phase–(1.2 mM palmitic acid, 2.5 mM glucose) at 20 mmHg (25 min); and c) Recovery Acute Heart Failure phase (RAHF)–(1.2 mM palmitic acid, 10 mM glucose) at 100 mmHg (25 min). Treated groups received 5 μM TMZ in the perfusate during either the CAHF or RAHF stage for the full duration of each respective phase. Both lean and obese males benefited from TMZ treatment administered during the RAHF phase. Sex differences were observed only in lean groups where the phases of the estrous cycle influenced therapy; only the lean follicular female group responded to TMZ treatment during the CAHF phase. Lean luteal females rather displayed an inherent cardioprotection (without treatments) that was lost with obesity. However, TMZ treatment initiated during RAHF was beneficial for obese luteal females. TMZ treatment triggered significant recovery for male and obese female hearts when administered during RAHF. There were no differences between lean and obese male hearts, while lean females displayed a functional recovery advantage over lean males. Thus TMZ emerges as a worthy therapeutic target to consider for AHF treatment in normal and obese-diabetic individuals (for both sexes), but only when administered during the recovery phase and not during the very acute stages.


The Upper Oxfordian microbial-sponge agglutinated to open-frame reef complex of the Zegarowe Crags in the Krakow-Czestochowa Upland originated upon an elevation of the Late Jurassic stable northern shelf of the Tethys. This elevation was formed, owing to a local decrease in subsidence rate during Jurassic time, induced by the presence of a Palaeozoic granitoid intrusion in the shelf substratum, and Late Jurassic, synsedimentary tectonics, which controlled the topography of the sea bottom. The Zegarowe Crags (Skaly Zegarowe) complex at the top contains microbial laminites, composed of peloidal and agglutinated stromatolites, and intercalations of grainstones with indeterminable, favrenoid coprolites, occurring in large numbers. The development of stromatolites was associated with low nutrient availability. In contrast, the periodic activity of crabs, the main producers of the coprolites, forming the coprolitic grainstone intercalations, indicates periods, when nutrients were abundant in the sea water. The nutrinets most likely were associated with the occurrence of clouds of suspended matter, induced by gravity flows, generated by active, synsedimentary tectonics. The results of isotopic studies do not support the presence of warm, mineralizing solutions, connected with synsedimentary tectonics during development of the Zegarowe Crags complex in the Late Jurassic.


Abstract In this paper, we use the synthetic control method to analyze the Finnish economic performance after the onset of the Great Recession. Our main interest is to study the slow recovery from the global downturn that began in 2008. We identify the synthetic control with pre-crisis data (1996–2007). It provides the counterfactual response of the Finnish economy to the crisis in the absence of idiosyncratic shocks that affected Finland but not the synthetic control unit. We find that the Finnish GDP growth closely follows the synthetic control until 2013. After that there is a striking divergence in the economic growth of Finland and the expected economic behavior, as represented by the counterfactual. The divergence between the Finnish GDP and its synthetic control is mainly due to underperforming of the Finnish net exports. The consumption expenditures, on the other hand, outperform the synthetic control unit right after the financial crisis, but starting from 2013, they underperform as well. We find that our results are relatively robust to alternative methodological specifications.


The aim of this study was to explore autonomy in chronic patients in clinical settings of Iran. The present study was performed in 2014 through a qualitative approach and the Grounded Theory with the participation of 34 persons (23 patients, 9 nurses, 2 physicians) who were recruited through purposeful and theoretical sampling. The data were collected through comprehensive interviews and observation of the hospitals in Tabriz and Hamadan, Iran. The findings were analyzed with the MAXQDA10 sing the analysis method of Corbin and Strauss (2008). Data analysis resulted in 5 main categories and one central category. The five main categories were exposure to paternalism, attempts to express their opinions, attempts to prove their ability, attempts to shared decision-making and attempts to self-determination. The central category was accommodating autonomous, which demonstrates the perception of chronic patients of their autonomy during hospitalization. Generally, though changes in patients' health and lives can create serious threats to their autonomy, patients comply with condition. By considering this moral concept, medical teams can help patients enhance their autonomy during relationship.


Optimal Reactive Power Dispatch (ORPD) is needed for reduces the power system losses and improves voltage profile, power system security and overall power system operation. In this paper, the ORPD problem solved using Constrained Reactive Power Control (CRPC) based Multi-Objective Evolutionary Programming (MOEP) optimization technique considering multi-contingencies (N-m). The proposed technique determines the optimum reactive power to be dispatched by the generators in order to improve voltage stability condition of a system. A computer program was written in MATLAB and the proposed technique was tested on the IEEE 30-bus RTS. Hence, the result was compared with Multi-Objective Artificial Immune System (MOAIS) to highlight it merits.


A survey of consumers established willingness to pay for natural pork products. Probit estimation was used to define targetable market segments for ham and pork chops. High-income, frequent pork consumers, and those most concerned about the use of growth hormones and antibiotics, are most likely to purchase natural pork products.


The Native Fish Strategy (NFS) for the Murray-Darling Basin, south-eastern Aus- tralia, provides a whole-of-fish-community approach and coordinated direction for the rehabilita- tion of its severely degraded native fish populations. Together with actions outlined in recovery plans for threatened species, the NFS addresses priority threats identified for native fishes with the aim to rehabilitate native fish populations to 60% (current populations are estimated to be at about 10%) of the levels that existed prior to European settlement. The NFS has a 50 yr time frame and coordinates actions across 6 different management jurisdictions. A key component of the NFS is the engagement of communities and stakeholders, with this being undertaken, in particular, by the use of dedicated coordinators and the development of 'demonstration reaches' where rehabil- itation can be undertaken using multiple actions, with community involvement. The NFS is sup- ported by targeted research projects and monitoring within an adaptive management framework. The NFS provides an effective partnership model where central coordination, coupled with focused jurisdictional actions, can deliver benefits to all governments. It synthesises and dissemi- nates knowledge, integrates research and management and catalyses actions for priority prob- lems. The need, objectives, evolution and development, achievements, strengths and weaknesses of the NFS are presented. The NFS approach would be suitable for many large river basins throughout the world.


The Metal Matrix Composite (MMCs) Al/SiC and AlCu/SiC through steering hot method have been done. The SEM images show that there are microstructure differences between the Al/SiC and AlCu/SiC. Tensile test results show the value of the yield stress of AlCu /SiC higher than Al/SiC. Meanwhile, the testing of wear resistance during 50 minutes earned the mass lost on Al/SiC 4.7% while AlCu/SiC 7.32%. We believed that the addition SiC particle can improve the mechanical properties and reduces the frictional resistance.


The need to replant vineyards due to the impact of phylloxera and other root disease problems has led to practices of soil fumigation that generally eliminate beneficial microbes like vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi. Replanting is done with cultivars grafted on nematode-and phylloxera-resistant rootstocks or with own-rooted cultivars. The question of the relative responsiveness of a selection of these rootstocks or cultivars to several VAM fungal species prompted this study. The tests, conducted under low phosphate (14 mg kg -1 available) conditions, revealed that all rootstocks and cultivars exhibited significantly increased growth in response to inoculation with VAM fungi. The degree of responsiveness varied, depending on the plant genotype and fungal species used. Noninoculated plants were clearly stunted and showed foliar symptoms of undetermined nutrient deficiencies, thus confirming the high dependence of grapevines on VAM. Based on these results, it would be expected that vines planted in soils lacking VAM fungi, due to fumigation or terracing that exposes poor soils, would be highly responsive to VAM colonization.


We model the U.S. banking system as a thermodynamic system of interacting elements with individual banking firms representing those elements. Firms with similar asset and liability structures interact in the sense that they pursue similar objectives. These objectives include specialization in lending, processing, investing, etc. In this model of a thermodynamic system, each firm can pursue multiple objectives at the same time. The energy of a firm relative to a given objective determines to what extent the objective is achieved: the lower the energy, the closer the firm is to the objective. A firm's total energy is determined as a weighted sum of its energies relative to individual objectives it is pursuing. As with any thermodynamic system, each firm's overall objective is to reduce its total energy. The preliminary results of calibrating the model to the balance sheet structure of U.S. large banks using Uniform Bank Holding Company Performance Reports reveals that a slow buildup in herding (i.e., pursuing similar objectives) was occurring before the last crisis among some groups of banks. Significant change in the objectives is observed in the later stages of the crisis, however, especially in the direction of moving away from the objectives set before the crisis.


The article is devoted to the analysis of interactions between geneticists and patients through the perspectives of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. The focus of the research is on how geneticists deliver medical information to their patients and how patients are involved in this process. The primary data are audio recordings and ethnographic observations of genetic counseling sessions conducted in July–December 2018. The study also uses materials from interviews with geneticists and from genetics textbooks that deal with issues of patient-provider communication. The author criticizes some features characteristic of the research on "information delivery" in a medical context. First, such studies are often one-sided: although they analyze how the patient understands information and what it means to him/her, the patient is represented as a passive recipient of information. This article, conversely, argues that the patient is also an active participant in the process of formulating information through various kinds of promptings, clarifications, and responses. Thus, communication of information is a joint achievement of doctor and patient. Secondly, when analyzing information delivery, various expressions, for example, "yes," "aha," "ooh," and such, are considered signals of epistemic status change in conversation analysis. That is, it is assumed that these are signals that the recipient has received the information and understood the message. The question of which part of the message the recipient understood is hardly addressed. This article highlights a specific feature of the interaction between geneticist and patients: the difficulty of achieving mutual understanding. For the doctor, a description of the patient's condition and his/her diagnosis is "packed" into abstract medical concepts, the explanation of which is problematic during the consultation process. Hence the difficulty of reaching an understanding, which happens either when the doctor himself/ herself begins to use everyday language or when the patient begins to ask for clarification in everyday language (although this can lead to tension). Using medical terms, the doctor gives a report, but it does not explain everything to the patient, and because of the problematic nature of the demonstration of misunderstanding, the patient has almost no way to tell the doctor about it.
Article in Russian
DOI: 10.25285/2078-1938-2019-11-2-125-148


Bank Street College of Education is collaborating with the EDC/Center for Children and Technology to develop digital video resources for pre-service and in-service professional development to better prepare teachers for serving students with and without disabilities within a standards-based mathematics curriculum. We are pilot-testing the prototype case materials and learning activities in pre-service and in-service teacher education courses at Bank Street College of Education and elsewhere. As part of this work we are learning how to refine the design of the video case materials and learning activities so that they support teaching and learning about inclusion in a specific content area. The purpose of this presentation is to share our findings and discuss how they helped us to refine the format for the case materials, the production process, as well as the use of the case materials in teacher education courses and workshops.


This paper provides a brief summary of the final public consultation event conducted as part of the Democracy, Ethics, and Genomics: Consultation, Deliberation and Modelling [DEG] project at the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics [CAE] at the University of British Columbia [UBC]. (1) The all day event took place in Vancouver, British Columbia on Saturday, September 24, 2005. The DEG project, funded by both Genome Canada and Genome BC, compares two methods of "ethical analysis for the development of public policy in the area of genomics." (2) Primary Investiator Dr. Mike Burgess leads a team conducting focus groups with various publics in order to identify the "moral dimensions and perspectives of issues raised by participants." (3) Dr. Peter Danielson leads the Norms Evolving in Response to Dilemmas [NERD] team, which uses web-based surveys in their research. These surveys typically include twelve questions that support deliberative decision-making by providing participants with access to five advisors who offer scientific, policy, ethical, and pro and con advocate advice. (4) The dual objectives of this one-day event were: (1) to compare and contrast DEG project methods using salmon genomics as the common topic; and (2) have participants develop and rate a list of public consultation criteria. Individuals were randomly recruited from Vancouver and were paid a $100 honorarium for their participation. The final sample included people somewhat familiar with computers, who did not have prior or expert knowledge of genomics or salmon aquaculture. The sample also included individuals of all ages and filtered for an even gender split. The day began by separating participants (n = 41) into two similarly sized cohorts. Members of cohort A participated in one of three two-hour focus groups while those in cohort B completed a NERD survey (of approximately one hour) followed by an hour-long open discussion of the survey. The cohorts then came together for a two-hour group deliberation that began with a ten-minute overview from a participant from one of the three focus groups and from the NERD group. The overview presented some of the groups' conclusions regarding salmon genomics. Participants also had an opportunity to discuss their experiences thus far in the process and to speak to points on which the groups converged and diverged, and reasons for their conclusions. All participants were then encouraged to take part in developing criteria that identifies information or processes the participants believe are necessary to make good decisions in consultation processes, such as the one they had just completed (regarding salmon genomics). This discussion was led by a list of pre-determined consultation criteria compiled by DEG team members. These initial criteria addressed aspects of effective public consultation that could be used to evaluate the DEG project methods. A senior facilitator used these criteria to guide the group consultation process, only presenting the criteria if they were overlooked during the group discussion. The group conclusions and pre-determined criteria were then inserted randomly into a web-based survey. Participants used this "exit" survey to evaluate the conclusions and consultation standards during the last stage of the event. The exit survey took participants (n=37) approximately thirty minutes to complete and was divided into four sections (1) public representation, (2) engaging and reasonable process, (3) informed opinions, and (4) process outcome. The results discussed in the remainder of this paper fall under the fourth section of the survey. Preliminary findings indicate this consultation event was a success. Nearly three-quarters (74%) somewhat or strongly agreed that the conclusions reached by this type of consultation process should direct regulatory policy. Results also indicate that almost all (94%) participants would be willing to engage in this type of event again. …


SNG (solidified natural gas) technology is a promising and potential technology for long-term and large-scale storage of methane in hydrates due to the plethora of benefits it offers in comparison to conventional methods of storage. In this study, we aim to investigate the kinetics of mixed hydrate formation using a ternary C1(93%)-C2 (5%)-C3 (2%) gas mixture representing the natural gas. The main objective is to study the effect of presence of higher hydrocarbons (ethane and propane) in influencing the mixed hydrate formation kinetics with the additional presence of thermodynamic promoter, tetrahydrofuran. Experiments to study the effect of temperature and pressure on the mixed hydrate formation kinetics in an unstirred reactor configuration were performed. Results from this study will provide salient information in order to advance the SNG technology towards commercial implementation.


Sweeteners are being sourced to lower the energetic value of confectionery including chocolates. Some, especially non-digestible carbohydrates, may possess other benefits for human health upon their fermentation by the colonic microbiota. The present study assessed non-digestible carbohydrate sweeteners, selected for use in low-energy chocolates, for their ability to beneficially modulate faecal bacterial profiles in human volunteers. Forty volunteers consumed a test chocolate (low-energy or experimental chocolate) containing 22·8 g of maltitol (MTL), MTL and polydextrose (PDX), or MTL and resistant starch for fourteen consecutive days. The dose of the test chocolates was doubled every 2 weeks over a 6-week period. Numbers of faecal bifidobacteria significantly increased with all the three test treatments. Chocolate containing the PDX blend also significantly increased faecal lactobacilli (P = 0·00 001) after the 6 weeks. The PDX blend also showed significant increases in faecal propionate and butyrate (P = 0·002 and 0·006, respectively). All the test chocolates were well tolerated with no significant change in bowel habit or intestinal symptoms even at a daily dose of 45·6 g of non-digestible carbohydrate sweetener. This is of importance not only for giving manufacturers a sugar replacement that can reduce energetic content, but also for providing a well-tolerated means of delivering high levels of non-digestible carbohydrates into the colon, bringing about improvements in the biomarkers of gut health.


In his provocative, courageous, and original new book, "Against Obligation: The Multiple Sources of Authority in a Liberal Democracy," Abner Greene argues that there is "no successful general case for a presumptive (or 'prima facie') moral duty to obey the law." In my own book, "On Constitutional Disobedience," I argue that there is no moral duty to obey our foundational law – the Constitution of the United States. This brief article, prepared for a symposium on the two books to be published by the Boston University Law Review, I address three issues related to these claims. First, I discuss what seem to me to be important ambiguities in and problems with Professor Greene's argument. Second, I defend my own stance against criticisms advanced by Greene and others. Third, I explore the relationship between his claims and mine.


This contribution compares the European harmonisation of intellectual property law (in particular of patent law) with harmonisation in European private law in general. This critical comparison allows lessons to be drawn on what to encourage and what to avoid in developing the two areas. Next to a comparative discussion of the need for harmonisation and of the used methods, ample attention is paid to the 2011 EU Proposal for unitary patent protection, aiming to create a unified European patent and the parallel effort to create a Unified Patent Court. In contrast with the approach of the European Union towards centralised patent protection, we offer an alternative account towards convergence of patent law. In this competitive model of patent law, the decision to apply for a national, European or unified patent is left to the parties. In addition, parties can not only address the future unified court, but are also allowed to address the national court of their choice. This should stimulate a competition among patent offices and courts to provide a patent protection that is uniform, of high quality, speedy and cheap. This has the potential to lead to 'convergence through choice' towards the patent regime that fares best in view of the needs of market actors.


Our paper explores the implications of globalization for sustainable consump tion governance. It draws its central findings from a structured inquiry into the implications of globalization for the sustainability of household consumption. Our focus is on industrialized countries and the two consumption clusters food and mobility, which previous research has identified as priority areas for intervention. We find that for both food and mobility, globalization exerts a substantial influence on the sustainability of consumption through similar channels. Moreover, a significant part of this influence is exerted indirectly, i.e. affects prior determinants ofthe sustainability of household consumption rather than household consumption choices themselves. Based on our analysis, we suggest guidelines for the development of governance strategies in pursuit of sustain able consumption. In terms of general guidelines, we highlight the need for multilateral ifnot global strategies, as well as a comprehensive targeting of direct and indirect influences of globalization. Furthermore, we emphasize that governance strategies should pay particular attention to opportunities arising from the positive influences of globalization on the sustainability of consumption. In terms of specific guidelines, we argue that governance efforts should pay special attention to agricultural production conditions as well as transport options, as those pivotal determinants ofthe sustainability offood and mobility consumption are influenced by almost all ofthe elements of globalization. Likewise, we suggest that governance strategies need to address capital concentration, in particular, since the latter can be shown to influence almost all ofthe determinants of the sustainability of consumption.


Medical and health activities can greatly benefit from the effective use of health informatics. By capturing, processing, and disseminating information to the correct systems and processes, decision-making can be more successful and quality care and patient safety would see significant improvements.
The Handbook of Research on Patient Safety and Quality Care through Health Informatics highlights current research and trends from both professionals and researchers on health informatics as applied to the needs of patient safety and quality care. Bringing together theory and practical approaches for patient needs, this book is essential for educators and trainers at multiple experience levels in the fields of medicine and medical informatics.


Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is an effective extension of NDE to reduce down time and cost of Inspection of structural components. On – line monitoring is an essential part of SHM. Acoustic Emission Techniques have most of the desirable requirements of an effective SHM tool. With the kind of advancement seen in the last couple of decades in the field of electronics, computers and signal processing technologies it can only be more helpful in obtaining better and meaningful quantitative results which can further enhance the potential of AET for the purpose.
Advanced Composite materials owing to their specific high performance characteristics are finding a wide range of engineering applications. Testing and Evaluation of this category of materials and SHM of composite structures have been very challenging problems due to the very nature of these materials. Mechanical behaviour of fiber composite materials under different loading conditions is complex and involves different types of failure mechanisms. This is where the potential of AET can be exploited effectively. This paper presents an over view of some relevant studies where AET has been utilised to test, evaluate and monitor health of composite structures.


Gampong Cebrek is the largest salt producer in Pidie district with a total of 1859.53 tons in the year 2013 of the total district production 3397.66 tons, 1763.93 tons in 2014 from the total district production 4020.25, rising to 2762.23 tons in the year 2015 from the total district production 7543.77 tons. Behind the high salt production, farmers are in a state sandwiched cultivate its business due to unfavorable weather and marketing of salt that does not favor them. Therefore, farmers are looking for patrons who can guarantee their lives. This study used a qualitative approach with a total of 10 informants. A research technique used observation and interview. Results showed members of the farming community in Cebrek be divided into two categories: a. Farmers Capital and b. farmers do not have the capital. Generally, farmers who own capital patron-client relationship with: mugee (middlemen), retailers and consumers. Connection is established fairly balanced, so that it can be said patron-client collaborative interwoven. Meanwhile, farmers who do not have the capital, patron-client relationship with toke (middlemen). Patron-client relationships more profitable patron, and hurt farmers salt. It can be concluded that the relationship is exploitative.  Kata Kunci : Collaborative, Community, Exploitation, Patron-client, Salt farmers.


Understanding health disparities involves a critical analysis of historical, political, economic, social, cultural, and environmental conditions that have produced an inequitable health status for racial and ethnic minorities in the United States. While we also recognize that disparities exist along socio-economic status, gender, sexual orientation and other factors, this class will focus on disparities in racial and ethnic minority communities. Issues of gender, SES and other factors will be examined as they intersect race and ethnicity, and further influence disparities in health. Minority health and health disparities have gained considerable attention from the recent publication of Healthy People 2010 Report, which lists as its two goals: 1) improve the quality of life for all citizens, and 2) eliminate health disparities. The purpose of this class is to introduce basic issues that underlie health disparities. We will gain a better understanding of the relationships of social and environmental phenomena and the health of minority communities. This course will include current literature and foster discussions that will examine health disparities, explore social and environmental determinants of those disparities, critically review measurement issues, and determine public health's response to these disparities. Students should seek to critically reflect on their personal and professional roles in eliminating health disparities. By the end of the course, students will be able to:


In "Paradise", having plunged to the uttermost depths of Hell and climbed the Mount of Purgatory, Dante ascends to Heaven, continuing his soul's search for God, guided by his beloved Beatrice. As he progresses through the spheres of Paradise he grows in understanding, until he finally experiences divine love in the radiant presence of the deity. Examining eternal questions of faith, desire and enlightenment, Dante exercised all his learning and wit, wrath and tenderness in his creation of one of the greatest of all Christian allegories.


We present a combined experimental and theoretical study of fragmentation of small Cn clusters (n = 5,7,9) produced in charge transfer collisions of fast (nu = 2.6 a.u.) singly charged Cn+ clusters with He. Branching ratios for all possible fragmentation channels have been measured. Comparison with microcanonical Metropolis Monte Carlo simulations based on quantum chemistry calculations allows us to determine the energy distribution of the excited clusters just after the collision.


There is an immense amount of information to be considered when attempting to solve complex strategic problems. To recognise the complexity of this process, the creation of tools techniques are essential to aid decision makers in developing a rational model for strategy evaluation. Management Theories and Strategic Practices for Decision Making brings together a collection of research aiming to provide communication for the management of new methodologies to solve strategic problems and applying decision making approaches. This reference is useful for government agencies, practicing managers, academic and research institutions interested in bringing together strategic decision-making and decision sciences.


The paper analyses the issue of voting rights for non-citizens in the European legal space. Its purpose is to outline the inconsistencies that characterize the European multilevel system of fundamental rights protection and to assess whether the transformations that are taking place both in the law on the books and the law in action hold the potential for overcoming these problems. The paper will maintain that the overlap of three sets of norms and institutions for the protection of fundamental rights creates tensions and paradoxes in the field of voting rights and participation in political life for non-citizens. In addition, it will be argued that the legislative and judicial transformations that are taking place in the European human rights architecture show only limited capacity to address these problems. On the other hand, however, the paper claims that the European experience is by no way unique and rather finds similarities in the history of electoral rights and citizenship in the US constitutional system. Drawing on a comparison with the US experience, therefore, the paper will attempt to advance several legislative proposals to reform the European legal architecture by identifying measures which could be adopted de jure condendo to redress the current state of affairs.


The relative age effect (RAE) has become a well-studied consequence of organizations utilizing a cutoff date to establish age cohorts. Within this case study, students will explore and learn how to perform various statistical analyses (i.e., chi-square, effect sizes, standardized residuals) to determine whether the RAE exists among those who competed in the 2011 and 2012 Little League World Series (LLWS). Students will learn about the mission and history of Little League Baseball (LLB) and discuss potential changes and/or strategies that could be used by the organization to make the LLWS more inclusive. Furthermore, students can use the knowledge gained from this case study to critically analyze the current status of various other sport organizations to help develop potential strategies to ensure fairness and equality for all participating athletes.


CONTEXT
Abdominal aortic aneurysm is an asymptomatic but potentially fatal condition. Elective surgery can prevent death from rupture, and is indicated for aneurysms larger than 45 mm. Because aneurysms tend to grow with time, detection of small ones (> 29 mm) may lead to a closer follow-up of patients at risk.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysms in São Paulo, Brazil.

DESIGN
Prospective, descriptive.

SETTING
University Hospital.

PARTICIPANTS
Persons aged 50 years or more were offered, through the press, the opportunity to be screened for abdominal aortic aneurysm. The total number screened was 2,756.

PROCEDURE
All were submitted to abdominal palpation and ultrasound examination. PARAMETER STUDIED: A maximum diameter of 30 mm or more was considered to be an aneurysm.

RESULTS
Sixty-four aneurysms were detected, nine of which measuring more than 49 mm. Palpation detected 60 aneurysms, but only 20 of these were confirmed by the ultrasound. Conversely, 41 of the ultrasound-detected aneurysms were not palpable. The percentages of abdominal aortic aneurysms found in the subgroups via ultrasound examination (with 95% confidence interval) were as follows: total group, 2.3 (1.8-3); men, 4.6 (3.5-5.9); women, 0.6 (0.3-1.1); men aged 60 or more, 6 (4.3-8); women aged 60 or more, 0.9 (0.4-1.8).

CONCLUSION
In Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1.8 to 3 % of persons aged 50 years or more are expected to have abdominal aortic aneurysms. In the subgroup of men aged 60 or more, the expected prevalence is between 4.3 and 8%.


In dynamic nuclear polarisation (DNP), also called hyperpolarisation, a small amount of unpaired electron spins is added to the sample containing the nuclear spins, and the polarisation of these unpaired electron spins is transferred to the nuclear spins by means of a microwave field. Traditional DNP polarises the electron spin of stable paramagnetic centres by cooling down to low temperature and applying a strong magnetic field. Then weak continuous wave microwave fields are used to induce the polarisation transfer. Complicated cryogenic equipment and strong magnets can be avoided using short-lived photo-excited triplet states that are strongly aligned in the optical excitation process. However, a much faster transfer of the electron spin polarisation is needed and pulsed DNP methods like nuclear orientation via electron spin locking (NOVEL) and the integrated solid effect (ISE) are used. To describe the polarisation transfer with the strong microwave fields in NOVEL and ISE, the usual perturbation methods cannot be used anymore. In the previous paper, we presented a theoretical approach to calculate the polarisation transfer in ISE. In the present paper, the theory is applied to the system naphthalene-h8 doped with pentacene-d14 yielding the photo-excited triplet states and compared with experimental results.


Blue whales Balaenoptera musculus at South Georgia were heavily exploited during 20th century industrial whaling, to the point of local near-extirpation. Although legal whaling for blue whales ceased in the 1960s, and there were indications of blue whale recovery across the wider Southern Ocean area, blue whales were seldom seen in South Georgia waters in subsequent years. We collated 30 yr of data comprising opportunistic sightings, systematic visual and acoustic surveys and photo-identification to assess the current distribution of blue whales in the waters surrounding South Georgia. Over 34 000 km of systematic survey data between 1998 and 2018 resulted in only a single blue whale sighting, although opportunistic sightings were reported over that time period. However, since 2018 there have been increases in both sightings of blue whales and detections of their vocalisations. A survey in 2020 comprising visual line transect surveys and directional frequency analysis and recording (DIFAR) sonobuoy deployments resulted in 58 blue whale sightings from 2430 km of visual effort, including the photo-identification of 23 individual blue whales. Blue whale vocalisations were detected on all 31 sonobuoys deployed (114 h). In total, 41 blue whales were photo-identified from South Georgia between 2011 and 2020, none of which matched the 517 whales in the current Antarctic catalogue. These recent data suggest that blue whales have started to return to South Georgia waters, but continued visual and acoustic surveys are required to monitor any future changes in their distribution and abundance.


The New England Power Exchange (NEPEX) is responsible for the central dispatch of power throughout New England. To assure the maximum benefits of power pooling, the electric facilities of all member companies are operated as though they comprised a single electric system. Using state-of-the-art computer facilities, system operators monitor and direct operations of all major generators and transmission lines everyday, 24 hours a day. NEPEX personnel make minute-by-minute decision which are essential to meeting prescribed reliability standards and providing electricity to customers at the lowest possible cost. Hydroelectric power supplies approximately 10% of the electricity in New England. The major source of hydropower is the 11,250 square mile Connecticut River Basin with 16 stations and approximately 600 MW of capacity on the Deerfield and Connecticut Rivers. In fall 1985, the manual methods of hourly hydro scheduling, and the storage of engineering, operating, and hydrologic data were complemented by a user-friendly computer system, HydroMAX (the System).


This dissertation presents a novel approach to the problem of finding the characteristics of the data sources and query processing sites in a distributed database system. We model the network as a graph with nodes representing data sources and query processing sites, some of which might be replicated.
We introduce a heuristic technique inspired in Ant Colony Optimization Theory to dynamically discover, assess, and catalog each data source or query-processing site. Our goal is to find and update possible paths to access the computational resources or data provided by the highest quality sites. We define this concept of quality in terms of performance and freshness.
We define the possible mathematical models for each one of these measures. We study different techniques to launch the ants from each node to explore the system, based on the idea of rounds. We discuss the development of the "Lazy Ants" approach to send ants to explore the system, which reduce the number of ants in the system but keeps a high quality of the metadata.
We discuss our system prototype developed using CSIM and also present performance and freshness studies designed to analyze the quality of paths found by the Ant Colony based approach. These experiments show that our algorithm can quickly discover high quality sites from which data or query processing capabilities can be consumed.
Finally, we present a summary of results, contributions, and the future work for this research topic.


Three contemporary art projects suggest some useful reflections to introduce a discontinuity in the ways of thinking about the transformation of existing spaces going beyond the misunderstood oppositions as "old" and "new". In Trentino, the artworks by Collective OP, Anna Scalfi Eghenter and Michele De Lucchi show how art and culture are extraordinary means for social innovation but also for promoting new architectural practices based on reduce, reuse and recycle that may be kept in mind for the development of further initiatives.


For the first time, data on individual European higher education institutions (rather than data aggregated at the country level) is used in order to examine a wide range of issues that are both theoretically challenging and relevant from policy-making and societal perspectives. The contributors integrate statistics on universities and colleges with other sources of information such as patents, start-up firms and bibliometric data, and employ rigorous empirical methods to address a range of key questions, including: what is the role of non-university tertiary education, such as vocational training? How important is the private sector? Are European universities internationalized? Are they efficient from the point of view of costs and educational output? Are there pure research universities in Europe? How do universities contribute to economic growth?


Governments around the world are increasingly turning to information sharing and integration to help solve problems in a wide range of programs and policy areas. These complex interorganizational efforts face not only the technical challenges of many information technology initiatives, but also the difficulties derived from interacting among multiple and diverse organizations. Trust has been identified as one the most important organizational factors for cross-boundary information sharing and integration. However, more research is needed regarding the determinants of trust building in this multi-organizational contexts. This paper highlights the relevant role of trust in cross-boundary information sharing initiatives and provides evidence about three of its most important determinants.


CHRISTOVA, P., R. BATCHVAROVA and N. CHRISTOV, 2016. Expression of four transgenes in one tobacco line. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 22: 437–441 Pyramiding of four transgenes in one tobacco line led to a complex resistance against two viruses (TSWV, PVY) and one bacterial pathogen (Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci), as well as the herbicide Glean®. Expression analyses of the corresponding transgenes (Np, CP, ttr and ahas 3R) were performed with selected tobacco lines of the cross 2002. The RNA gel blot hybridization analyses of all tested tobacco plants showed an expression of the ahas 3R gene, but no signal was detected for the other three transgenes. Expression of the Np, CP and ttr genes was detected by RT-PCR analyses, suggesting low level of accumulation of the corresponding mRNAs in the transgenic tobacco lines. Involvement of RNA silencing as a mechanism of resistance to plant pathogens is discussed.


Background Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is characterized by a cluster of psychological and somatic symptoms during the late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle that disappear after the onset of menses. Behavioral differences in emotional and cognitive processing have been reported in women with PMS, and it is of particular interest whether PMS affects the parallel execution of emotional and cognitive processing. Related to this is the question of how the performance of women with PMS relates to stress levels compared to women without PMS. Cortisol has been shown to affect emotional processing in general and it has also been shown that women with severe PMS have a particular cortisol profile. Methods We measured performance in an emotional conflict task and stress levels in women with PMS (n = 15) and women without PMS (n = 15) throughout their menstrual cycle. Results We found a significant increase (p = 0.001) in the mean reaction time for resolving emotional conflict from the follicular to the luteal cycle phase in all subjects. Only women with PMS demonstrated an increase in physiological and subjective stress measures during the luteal menstrual cycle phase. Conclusions Our findings suggest that the menstrual cycle modulates the integration of emotional and cognitive processing in all women. Preliminary data are supportive of the secondary hypothesis that stress levels are mediated by the menstrual cycle phase only in women with PMS. The presented evidence for menstrual cycle-specific differences in integrating emotional and cognitive information highlights the importance of controlling for menstrual cycle phase in studies that aim to elucidate the interplay of emotion and cognition.


DNA polymerase eta (Pol η) is one of several Y family trans-lesion synthesis (TLS) polymerases in humans and plays an important role in maintaining genome stability after ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, as it carries out error-free TLS at sites of UV-induced lesions. We performed site-directed mutagenesis of human polymerase η gene (Y52E), confirmed by sequencing, then cloned wild-type mutant and POLH genes into the eukaryotic vector pEGFP-N1. After transfecting wild-type and mutant plasmids into HaCaT keratinocytes, we tested for UV induced cis-syn cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer (CPDs) DNA lesions, and analysed cellular viability by MTT cell proliferation assay. The results showed that CPD levels decreased both with empty vector control (EVC), wild-type POLH, and Y52E-POLH over 48 hours post UV irradiation with 0.1 mW/cm2 UVB for 15 minutes (p = 0.025). The rate in CPD reduction of mutant POLH was less than in wild-type POLH. Cell viabilities of all three groups increased over 48 hours after UV irradiation, with the increased rate in the wild-type being higher than for mutant protein (p = 0.046). We conclude that Y52E POLH has reduced capacity to bypass UV induced DNA lesions in HaCaT cells.