Outline of the thesis

The role of HIV-induced immune activation in relation to comorbidity in HIV-infected patients is the general theme of this thesis. More specifically, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its associated risk in a HIV-infected population. Furthermore, the improvement of endothelial function, by adjustment of cART and the related immunological changes. Finally, the role of immune activation on osteoporosis in HIV infection is explored.

Results

The general conclusions of this thesis are that CIMT (carotid intima media thickness) is still increased in HIV-infected patients, predominantly caused by classical CVD risk factors, which are more prevalent in this population. Second, using CVD risk prediction can aid in awareness of the CVD risk and the risk factors causing this. Third, Immune activation in well-treated patients does not seem to influence CVD or osteoporosis, however cART does increase CVD risk factors and modification shows an effect in decreasing lipids and a slight increase in FMD, the latter needs to be interpreted with caution. Finally, in osteoporosis however a positive effect of NNRTI's and a negative effect of PIs is seen.

Future perspective

I expect a decrease of CVD in HIV-infected patients in the coming years, due to a decrease in immune activation and adequate targeting of classical CVD risk factors. As more HIV-infected patients are started on cART upon diagnosis of HIV-infection, this will results in higher nadir CD4+ T cell counts and lower levels of immune activation. Furthermore, using modern technology, such as mobile applications and implementing these into the standard HIV-care can aid with the treatment of CVD through creating awareness and increasing self-management in the treatment of modifiable CVD risk factors. After acknowledgement of these risk factors and treatment as such, a similar decline in CVD as that seen in the general population will be seen in HIV-infected patients. The decline is already in motion, as reported by Klein et al.


Background Tailoring an online intervention to participant preferences (eg, by giving participants a choice which modules to follow) may increase engagement in the intervention, motivation for behavioral change, and possibly intervention effects. So far, little is known about what characteristics predict these module choices. Filling this knowledge gap is useful for optimizing program engagement. Objective We investigated participant choice for a dietary and/or physical activity (PA) promotion module in our web-based computer-tailored intervention based on self-determination theory (SDT) and motivational interviewing (MI). Furthermore, we investigated which demographic characteristics, current behavior, psychosocial constructs and constructs from SDT and MI, and program-related variables such as advice on which module to follow were associated with these choices. Methods Observational data were used from the randomized controlled trial MyLifestyleCoach of participants who were randomized into the intervention condition, completed the baseline questionnaire, and made a module choice in the opening session of the intervention. Here, they received advice on their own dietary and PA behavior. At the session's end, they chose which lifestyle modules they would like to follow (both, diet, PA, or no module). Measurements included demographic information; self-reported diet and PA; and several psychosocial, SDT, and MI constructs. In total, data from 619 Dutch adults (59.6% women; mean age was 51.9 [SD 13.5] years) were analyzed. A stepwise multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate which characteristics are related to module choice; the diet module served as reference category as almost everyone was advised to follow this module. Results Of this sample, 54.8% (339/619) chose to do both the diet and PA module, 25.4% (157/619) chose to follow the diet module, 17.8% (110/619) preferred to follow no module, and 2.1% (13/619) chose to do the PA module only. Furthermore, it was found that older people, those who consumed more fruit, and those who scored lower on importance to change their current diet were more likely to choose no module compared to the diet module. People who had more motivation to change their current PA and those who received strong advice compared with slight advice to follow the diet module were more likely to choose both modules compared with the diet module only. Conclusions The results show that more than half of the sample was interested in following both the diet and PA module in this online lifestyle intervention. Several characteristics were found to be related to module choice. A future challenge is to examine how this knowledge can be used to improve future interventions, such as tailoring (messages or content) on specific groups or examining where and how MI could be used to motivate people to make a certain module choice. Trial Registration Netherlands Trial Register NL7333; https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/7333


Research on photodegradation of rhodamine B dye using Zr oxide pillared bentonite clay has been investigated. The purpose of research is to identify physicl character of bentonite through pillarization using Zr and determine its activity as a photocatalyst for rhodamin B photodegradation. Pillarization was done by dispersing Zr4+ polioxocation solution into silica interlayer of montmorillonite structure. physical characterization of material was done by XRD analysis, surface area analysis and Zr content analysis by XRF. Photoactivity test of the catalyst was done in suspension system of rhodamin B-catalyst under expose of UV light 366 nm. Photodegradation kinetic determine spectrophotometry. Result of the research show that pillarization of bentonite increase the specific surface area of material from 48.68 m2/g to 59.52 m2/g, basal spacing increase of 9,6 ?. Photoactivity test showed that Zr oxide pillared bentonite has an activity in rhodamine B photodegradation with 80.67 % maximal activity in rhodamine B of 0.78 ppm by 2 hours. Photodegradation of rhodamine B is 1st kinetics order reaction. keyword : Rhodamin B, bentonite


A key challenge while employing non‐interpolatory basis functions in finite‐element methods is the robust imposition of Dirichlet boundary conditions. The current work studies the weak enforcement of such conditions for B‐spline basis functions, with application to both second‐ and fourth‐order problems. This is achieved using concepts borrowed from Nitsche's method, which is a stabilized method for imposing constraints on surfaces. Conditions for the stability of the system of equations are derived for each class of problem. Stability parameters in the Nitsche weak form are then evaluated by solving a local generalized eigenvalue problem at the Dirichlet boundary. The approach is designed to work equally well when the grid used to build the splines conforms to the physical boundary of interest as well as to the more general case when it does not. Through several numerical examples, the approach is shown to yield optimal rates of convergence. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract Balanced protein–energy supplementation can improve the nutritional status of pregnant women and birthweight. The cost of prenatal supplementation is often beyond the reach of mothers in low-income countries. In this study of undernourished pregnant women, the aim was to develop an affordable, locally produced, balanced protein–energy food-based supplement and test its acceptance. A small business enterprise was established. With a commitment to local-level applied research, a balanced protein–energy supplement was developed using locally available, affordable, and preferred foods. A 30-day acceptability study was conducted among 10 pregnant women between September and October 2012 in a rural district of northern Bangladesh. A questionnaire was administered at days 15 and 30 to assess women's perceptions and experience regarding compliance, organoleptic qualities, as well as personal and community attitudes toward the supplement and study. The primary outcome was compliance. All 10 women completed the 15- and 30-day questionnaires. The supplement was redeveloped at day 15 based on feedback from the follow-up survey and formal and informal feedback. By day 30, women consumed an average of 29.7 packets of the supplement of the 30 packets received. We concluded that the redeveloped locally produced food-based supplement was well accepted by pregnant women. Study findings have contributed toward the design of an efficacy trial currently underway.


A paper entitled 'Container Terminal Gate Efficiency Hinges on Flexibility' was presented at ASCE Ports '89 by Larry Nye of Cash & Associates Engineers. The paper summarized the findings of a gate study commissioned in 1987 by Sea-Land Service, Inc. In 1989, Cash and Associates Engineers was selected by the Port of Long Beach as the prime design consultant for the West Seventh Street Container Terminal. The design scope included terminal planning, gate design and building design. The project presented an opportunity to incorporate the study's recommendations into a new facility and test their validity and effectiveness. Another product of the original study was a computer program developed to size a gate facility and predict queuing. The program was used to arrange and size the West Seventh Street gate complex. This paper will attempt to show how the information and recommendations from the original study were used to design the W. Seventh Street Terminal and how the performance of the new terminal gate has either validated or modified those recommendations. The paper will also show how the resulting body of information has been applied to the design of the new Berths 266-270 Container Terminal Gate in Long Beach.


The FDA has issued a "black box" warning about the use of all antidepressants in the pediatric population due to a 1.8-fold increase in suicidality on drug compared to placebo. Yet these medications can be an effective tool in treating depression. How should parents and patients be educated, considering this information?


We take a critical look at the widespread assumption that organizational learning is associated with a mismatch between expectations and outcomes. While mismatch is central to studying organizational learning, we argue that continuity is equally important. Learning under continuity requires an investment of effort, mindfulness and preparedness for change, even if no perceptible change occurs. Although the organizational literature has to some extent dealt with learning under continuity, putting it more firmly on the organizational learning agenda is necessary. A central element of a more explicit focus on learning under continuity, we argue, is to take a temporal view of organizational learning that includes agency at organizational level. We discuss how, from a temporal view, learning under continuity entails the (1) assessment of present courses of action; (2) exploration of future courses of action; and (3) re-interpretation of past courses of action.


The aorta represents a complex organ system which begins in the aortic ring adjacent to the aortic root with the origin of the two major coronary arteries, and ends at the iliac bifurcation. The subdivision into seven segments seems to be clinically important—the aortic root, the ascending aorta, the ascending aortic arch, the vessel bearing arch, the aortic isthmus, and the thoracic descending and abdominal aorta. The aorta as an organ can be regarded as a biological "windkessel", storing kinetic energy during systole which is delivered during diastole in order to maintain a relative constant mean aortic pressure. In particular, a high diastolic blood pressure is important for the coronary perfusion.

The size of the aorta decreases with distance from the aortic valve in a tapering fashion. The normal diameter of the ascending aorta has been defined as <2.1 cm/m2 and of the descending aorta as <1.6 cm/m2.1 The normal diameter of the abdominal aorta is regarded to be less than 3.0 cm. The normal range has to be corrected for age and sex, as well as daily workload.

The aortic wall consists of three layers: intima, media, and adventitia. The intima is thin, the media contains the elastic fibres and smooth muscle cells forming a spiral layer of tissue providing the strength of the aortic wall, and the adventitia provides the nutrition with the arterial and venous vasa vasorum. An inner vasa vasorum from the aortic lumen also seems to be present.2 A wall thickness of < 4 mm is regarded as normal.

During life the size of the aorta increases. The normal expansion rate is about 1–2 mm/year. It involves all segments which, during childhood and in young adulthood, result in an increase of the luminal diameter of the entire aorta (figs 1 …


Bicycles are becoming an important mode of travel in terms of energy consumption and greening the transportation system of the 21 st century. Creating a bicycle network in the urban areas is the key point to encourage the use of the bicycle as the daily mode of personal transportation. In this paper, a multicriteria assessment model was developed to assess the suitability of designing bicycle routes by using a geographic information system (GIS). The criteria selected in this study consist of traffic volume, curb lane width, sidewalk width, speed limit, pavement quality, and curb activity disturbance. They are standardized and summed by weights. The weight values are determined using the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process. By comparing the shortest path with a path suitable for bicycles, the need to modify the street layout and make it more suitable for bicycle traffic is then determined in terms of the relationship between them. This model is a useful tool to analyze the suitability level of the existing street network and generate a street reconstruction program for making the existing street network suitable for bicycle use.


Shell decollation is a growth strategy that has been adopted by a number of invertebrate taxa to offset the metabolic and ecological disadvantages of shell growth. However, little is known about the origin and evolution of this process. We here describe well‐preserved specimens of the hyolith Cupitheca decollata sp. nov. preserving the decollation process, from the early Cambrian Yu'anshan Formation (c. 518 Ma) of South China. Based on a large number of specimens collectively representing different developmental stages, we use high‐resolution X‐ray microtomography and scanning electronic microscopy to reconstruct the process of decollation in this taxon. Cupitheca is among the earliest known small shelly fossils, and thus our discovery confirms that periodic decollation had evolved by the onset of the Cambrian explosion, reflecting the high intensity of the predator–prey arms race in early Cambrian ecosystems. A comparison between the decollation processes of Cupitheca and other shelly invertebrates suggests that periodic decollation and the associated molecular mechanisms of calcium dissolution, uptake, allocation and deposition may have had multiple independent origins.


We demonstrate here that induced expression of sarcotoxin IA, a bactericidal peptide from Sarcophaga peregrina, enhanced the resistance of transgenic tobacco plants to both bacterial and fungal pathogens. The peptide was produced with a modified PR1a promoter, which is further activated by salicylic acid treatment and necrotic lesion formation by pathogen infection. Host resistance to infection of bacteria Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora and Pseudomonas syringae pv. tabaci was shown to be dependent on the amounts of sarcotoxin IA expressed. Since we found antifungal activity of the peptide in vitro, transgenic seedlings were also inoculated with fungal pathogens Rhizoctonia solani and Pythium aphanidermatum. Transgenic plants expressing higher levels of sarcotoxin were able to withstand fungal infection and remained healthy even after 4 weeks, while control plants were dead by fungal infection after 2 weeks.


Pyrimidine uptake has previously been investigated in Trypanosoma brucei procyclics and partly investigated in promastigotes of Leishmania major; however, no such study has been performed using bloodstream forms of Trypanosoma or promastigotes of Leishmania. Here we report a comprehensive study of pyrimidine salvage and metabolism in bloodstream forms of Trypanosoma and promastigotes of Leishmania species.
In T. b. brucei bloodstream forms, the uptake of 3H-uracil and 3H-tymidine each appeared to be mediated by a single transporter, designated TbU3 and TbT1, respectively. The procyclic uracil transporter,TbU1, has a high affinity for uracil, with a Km value of 0.46 ± 0.09 μM and Vmax of 0.65 ± 0.008 pmol (107cell)-1 s-1. These values were similar for TbU3 (Km = 0.54 ± 0.11 µM; Vmax = 0.14 ± 0.03), but the main differences between TbU1 and TbU3 are their sensitivity to uridine and 4-thiouracil. Thymidine uptake is detectable at 10 μM over a period from 5 to 30 minutes. This uptake was not inhibited by uracil which indicates that TbT1 is a novel thymidine transporter. The uptake of other pyrimidines, including uridine and 2'-deoxyuridine, by BSF are investigated here but these substrates were also transported by TbU3, and no additional pyrimidine transport activities were found.
In L. mexicana and L. major, the uptake of 3H-uracil and 3H-uridine was mediated by separate transporters, designated as follows; for uracil uptake LmexU1, LmajU1; and for uridine uptake LmexNT1, LmajNT1 and LmajNT2, respectively. LmexU1 is a uracil transporter with high affinity to uridine and 2'deoxyuridine, and the LmexNT1 is a nucleoside transporter with broad specificity for purine and pyrimidine nucleosides. L. major uracil transporter (LmajU1) has already been reported by others; and here we report that there are also two distinct uridine transporters expressed in L. major. LmajNT1 is a high affinity uridine transporter which is also inhibited by uracil, inosine and adenine; LmajNT2 is low affinity uridine transporter, with very poor affinity for uracil, inosine and adenine. However, both transporters are inhibited by 2'-deoxyuridine, thymidine and adenosine.
Several fluorinated pyrimidine analogues were assessed against kinetoplastid cells, the most effective compounds, which displayed EC50 values at micromolar level, are 5-FU, 5F-2'dUrd, 5-FOA (only against T. brucei BSF) and 5F-Urd (only against L. major). We induced resistance to 5-FU, 5-F2'dUrd and 5-FOA by in vitro exposure of Tbb-BSF and promastigotes of L. mexicana and L. major. The resistance was performed by stepwise increase concentration of the drugs. For T. b. brucei BSF, the resistance factors of clonal lines were 131, 825, and 83-fold, respectively. For L. mexicana and L. major, the resistance factor for 5-FU were 147 and 17-fold, and for 5F-2'dUrd were >3500 and 381-fold, respectively. We also measured 3H–pyrimidine uptake in these cell lines; the resistant bloodstream form strains showed no changes in pyrimidine uptake, with one exception, which is a 76% reduction in 5-FU uptake. In contrast, each resistant strain of Leishmania spp had lost its natural pyrimidine transporter. For example, Leishmania cells resistant to 5-FU had lost uracil transport activity, and cells that were resistant to 5F-2'dUrd had lost uridine transport activity. In addition, we identified kinetoplastid genes that appeared to be associated with resistance to fluorinated pyrimidines.
Based on these findings, metabolomic analysis of fluorinated pyrimidines in T. b. brucei resistant cell lines was performed in comparison with parental wild-type; for Leishmania species we only investigated the metabolism of fluorinated pyrimidine in wild type cells, as the fluorinated analogues were simply not taken up in the resistant clones. The metabolomic analysis data showed that, in T. b. brucei, 5-fluorouracil and 5-fluoro orotate are incorporated into a large number of metabolites, but likely act through incorporation into RNA. 5F-2'dUrd and 5F-2'dCtd are not incorporated into nucleic acids but act as prodrugs by inhibiting thymidylate synthase after conversion to 5F-dUMP. Cells treated with 5-fluoro-2'deoxyuridine showed an increase of dUMP, which suggest a block in thymidylate synthase or possibly thymidylate kinase. We also present the most complete model of pyrimidine salvage in T. brucei to date, supported by genome-wide profiling of the predicted pyrimidine biosynthesis and conversion enzymes.
The effect of fluorinated pyrimidine analogues in the two Leishmania species was almost identical. Each of the tested drugs (5-FU, 5F-2'dUrd and 5F-Urd) produced a limited number of fluorinated metabolites, and their common mode of action was inhibition in thymidylate synthase by 5F-dUMP and thymidine kinase by 5F-2'dUrd. Interestingly, we found that the cause of L. mexicana resistance to 5F-Urd was due to the absence of the 5F-2'dUrd metabolite, as a result of the rapid conversion of 5F-2'dUrd to 5F-dUMP; also we suggest that, in L. mexicana, but not in L. major the high affinity salvage of thymidine is sufficient to provide the cells with thymidine deoxynucleotides.
It has been found that pyrimidine salvage is not an essential function for Leishmania cells in vitro conditions. However, it is not known whether either, pyrimidine salvage or biosynthesis, or both of these systems are essential to the trypanosomes in vitro and in vivo study. As T. b. brucei bloodstream forms grew unimpeded in vitro in the complete absence of pyrimidines, uptake is clearly not essential. Disruption of the pyrimidine biosynthesis pathway by deletion of the OMPDCase/OPRTase gene resulted in pyrimidine auxotrophic trypanosomes that were unable to grow in the absence of added pyrimidines. The phenotype was rescued by addition of uracil, and to a lesser extent by some pyrimidine nucleosides. Pyrimidine starvation led rapidly to DNA fragmentation. Adaptations to low pyrimidine availability included upregulation of uracil transport capacity and of uridine phosphorylase expression. However, pyrimidine auxotrophic T. brucei were able to establish a high parasitemia in mice. We therefore conclude that pyrimidine salvage was not an essential function for bloodstream T. b. brucei. However, trypanosomes lacking de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis are completely dependent on an extracellular pyrimidine source, strongly preferring uracil, and display reduced infectivity and strongly increased sensitivity to fluorinated pyrimidines. As T. brucei are able to salvage sufficient pyrimidines from the host environment, the pyrimidine biosynthesis pathway is not a viable drug target, although any interruption of pyrimidine supply was lethal.


Second Life, as a three-dimensional social medium, provides an unparalleled opportunity for people to interact with each other and their surroundings in unfamiliar and innovative ways. After a brief introduction to the discipline of Studies in Religion at the University of Queensland (UQ), this chapter will examine some of the key characteristics of MUVEs in general and of Second Life in particular, with a view to assessing its suitability as an environment for learning based on andragogical and constructivist methodologies. Further, it will explore the original conception and development of the UQ Religion Bazaar project within Second Life.

The UQ Religion Bazaar project was originally conceived in 2007 and developed through 2008. It consists of a Second Life island situated in the New Media Consortium educational precinct and boasts a number of religious builds including a church, a mosque, a synagogue, an ancient Greek temple, a Freemasons' lodge, a Zen Buddhist temple and a Hindu temple to Ganesha. The island was used in two large first-year classes and for supervising distance postgraduate research students.


Unsymmetrical loading on a car like mu-split braking, side wind forces, or unilateral loss of tire pressure results in unexpected yaw disturbances that require yaw stabilization either by the driver or by an automatic driver-assist system. The use of two-degrees-of-freedom control architecture known as the model regulator is investigated here as a robust steering controller for such yaw stabilization tasks in a driver-assist system. The yaw stability-enhancing steering controller is designed in the parameter space to satisfy a frequency-domain mixed sensitivity constraint. To evaluate the resulting controller design, a real-time hardware-in-the-loop simulator is developed. Steering tests with and without the controller in this hardware-in-the-loop setup allow the driver to see the effect of the proposed controller to improve vehicle-handling quality. The hardware-in-the-loop simulation setup can also be used for real-time driver-in-the-loop simulation of other vehicle control systems.


Active Learning (AL) is a methodology from machine learning in which the learner interacts with the data source. In this paper, we investigate application of AL techniques to a new domain: regression problems in performance analysis. For computational systems with many factors, each of which can take on many levels, fixed experiment designs can require many experiments, and can explore the problem space inefficiently. We address these problems with a dynamic, adaptive experiment design, using AL in conjunction with Gaussian Process Regression (GPR). The performance analysis process is "seeded" with a small number of initial experiments, then GPR provides estimates of regression confidence across the full input space. AL is used to suggest follow-up experiments to run, in general, it will suggest experiments in areas where the GRP model indicates low confidence, and through repeated experiments, the process eventually achieves high confidence throughout the input space. We apply this approach to the problem of estimating performance and energy usage of HPGMG-FE, and create good-quality predictive models for the quantities of interest, with low error and reduced cost, using only a modest number of experiments. Our analysis shows that the error reduction achieved from replacing the basic AL algorithm with a cost-aware algorithm can be significant, reaching up to 38% for the same computational cost of experiments.


Head and Neck squamous cell carcinoma is the 6th most common cancer in the first world and oral squamous cell carcinoma the 10th. It comprises 2-3% of all new malignancies diagnosed in the United Kingdom every year. Despite decades of research, the life expectancy of this disease remains the same as it was 30 years ago and its incidence has been rising over the last 10 years. 85% of lingual cancers are found on the tongue's lateral border. It is known that these cancers spread early to regional lymph nodes. A metastatic cervical lymph node is the single most important factor in the prognosis of lingual cancer, with its presence indicating a 50% reduction in survival rates. Therefore finding predictive factors within these cancers that could foresee whether it will spread early would improve diagnosis, treatment and potentially survival.


This article addresses the scope of the potential applications of an analogical argument in the domain of statutory
 law. The author thus shows how analogy leads to the liquidation of different sorts of legal gaps: extra legem, intra
 legem, contra legem, technical, logical and constructional. He also highlights the role which analogy can play as a
 universal method of applying particular statutory provisions in concrete cases, the way of coping with obsolete
 statutes with the help of an analogical inference, or the clarification of the wordings of statutory rules by recourse to
 reasoning from similarity. In the article, allowance has also been made for the linking of an analogical pattern of
 thinking with specific legislative techniques such as the 'ejusdem generis canon of construction' and 'pertinent
 application of statutory law.' In addition, the analogical basis of comparative arguments, the possibility of expanding
 the domain of statutory law with the use of analogy at the expense of the room reserved for customary and
 precedential law as well as special forms of analogical reasoning: argumentum a fortiori and analogia iuris have
 been discussed.


Expressions for the critical micelle concentration (cmc) and activity coefficients as functions of surfactant composition in mixtures of two identically charged monovalent ionic surfactants are derived from the nonlinear Poisson–Boltzmann (PB) theory. For the special case of no added salt, the simple expression cmcα = xcmcα1 + (1 − x)cmcα2 is deduced, where the exponential parameter α > 1 depends on the number of ionic species in a surfactant molecule as well as the curvature of the self-assembled interface. Theoretical predictions are compared with cmc values obtained with some different experimental techniques for mixtures of the two cationic surfactants didodecyldimethylammonium bromide (DDAB) and dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) in water and in the absence of added salt. It is demonstrated that the PB theory generates significantly better agreement with experimental data than predicted by ideal behaviour or the regular mixture theory. We find that maximum synergistic effects occur at a DDAB mole fraction in solution y = 0.005. According to the PB theory, this very low value of y corresponds to a mole fraction of DDAB in the self-assembled interfacial aggregates equal to x = 0.995. Moreover, our calculations of the surfactant composition in the self-assembled interfacial aggregates above cmc demonstrate that the transition from small micelles to large bilayer aggregates is found to consistently occur at a mole fraction of DDAB equal to about x = 0.41–0.42, irrespective of the surfactant molar ratio in solution. Experimental observations strongly support the fact that concentrations of free surfactant, as well as the surfactant composition in the self-assembled interfacial aggregates, may be accurately calculated from the non-linear Poison–Boltzmann theory. On the other hand, a micelle-to-bilayer transition induced by changes in surfactant mole fraction in the self-assembled interfacial aggregates is consistent with neither ideal surfactant behaviour nor synergistic behaviour according to the regular mixture theory.


Equally Weighted Market Return And Value Weighted Market Return As A Proxy Of The Market Index: An Empirical Study(*) Beta has been extensively used by both practitioners and academicians as a measure of the the systematic risk of a firm. Investors use beta to choose a portfolio with a specific level of risk. Performance of the portfolio can be more accurately measured using the risk adjusted returns. Researchers often use beta to control market-wide factors in estimating abnormal returns associated with a specific event. Beta is also important in understanding risk-return relations in capital market theory. The beta can be measured from the following market model: [R bar.sub.it] = [a.sub.i] + [b.sub.i].sup.*][R bar.sub.mt] + [U bar.sub.it], where [R.sub.it] = return on security i in period t, [R.sub.mt] = return on the market portfolio in period t, [U.sub.it] = a residual, where E([U.sub.it]) = 0 and E([U.sub.it], [U.sub.it] - 1) = 0 for t [is not equal to] 0, [a.sub.i] = the intercept, and [b.sub.i] = the measure of systematic risk of a security. The tilde "-" denotes a random variable. A key assumption of the model is that [U.sub.i] is independent of [U.sub.j], where i and j are different companies. This implies that stock prices move together systematically only because of common movement with the stock market. Adding the assumption that the expected value of the residual is zero, the model asserts that a linear relationship exists between the expected return on each security and the expected return of a market portfolio. Theoretically, the market portfolio should consist of all assets in the world, marketable and nonmarketable. Since the true market portfolio is not observable, a proxy must be used. There is both theoretical and empirical evidence that the choice of market index has impact on estimated betas. The reasons for the difference in betas estimated using different indices and the magnitude of the difference have yet to be investigated. In addition, there is more than one technique to estimate beta. The use of different methods may result in different betas. The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics of different market indices, to examine the differences in estimated beta using different techniques. The implications of using different market indices in empirical research will also be discussed. THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE Roll[14] provides a mathematical proof that beta is a function of the market proxy against which the stock is measured. Roll[13] also shows that a market index can be found to produce a beta of any desired magnitude and that, for every asset, judicious choice of the index can produce any desired performance in the market. There is empirical evidence that estimated betas are affected by the market index used. Saniga, McInish, and Gouldey[17] used three different market indices to investigate the effect of differing interval length on beta. They found that the relationship between estimated beta and the time intervals were dependent upon the choice of the market index. Roden[12] also demonstrated that the homogeneity of beta rankings varies according to the market index used. Ross[15, p.892], however, supports the use of any market index in empirical tests: The bulk of the tests...rely on explicit proxies of the market portfolio. The commonest such proxies are the value weighted, and the equal weighted portfolio, about which, unfortunately, the CAPM has absolutely nothing to say. The equal weighted portfolio may or may not be efficient, but even if it is, such a finding would have no implications whatsoever for acceptance or rejection of the CAPM theory.... This is an unfortunate state of affairs; the market portfolio itself is much harder to observe in practice than in principle. …


The inhibitory activity of hybrid liposomes (HLs), composed of 90 mol% L-α-dimyristoyl-phosphatidylcholine
 (DMPC) and 10 mol% polyoxyethylene (25) dodecyl ether (C12(EO)25), was investigated in human glioma NP2 cells.
 HLs with a hydrodynamic diameter below 100 nm persisted for 4 weeks. The inhibitory effect of HLs on the
 proliferation of NP2 cells was evaluated. Induction of apoptosis in NP2 cells treated with HL was measured through a
 PI assay and the TUNEL method. HLs caused apoptosis in NP2 cells through the mitochondrial pathway. An
 increase of AIF protein expression was observed in HL-treated cells. Cellular membrane fluidity of NP2 cells was also
 increased as revealed by the fluorescence depolarization method. Enhanced HL accumulation in the membrane of
 NP2 cells was observed.


as interviews, women are the taste-makers of American tourism because they dominate in the decision-making process. Culturally-specific motivations, generated within a narrowly-defined home community, prompt travel to &dquo;in&dquo; destinations and the travel later gains social approval at home for having been to a currentlypopular vacation center. The implications for market research suggest that to attract American tourism, the destination must be appealing to American women, and it must be marketed through channels that American


Wavefields obtained from the measurement of Lamb waves propagating through a solid media by a Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV) are very rich in qualitative and quantitative information about structural defects. In this research, Compressed Sens-ing (CS) is used to significantly reduce the number of point measurements necessary to the application of SHM techniques. The process extrapolates the information con-tained in M measurements to reconstruct a wavefield on a grid of P pixels with the condition M < P, using a basis of functions created from the dispersion relations of the media and the propagation laws of lamb waves. Reconstructions of experimental and analytical uni-dimensional wavefields are detailed to validate the concept. The development of this process is a first step towards fast large scale defect detection techniques by LDV in SHM. doi: 10.12783/SHM2015/232


We report on the growth of thin Co films on Pd(111) at three different temperatures 180 K, 300 K, and 550 K. The structure and morphology was determined by scanning tunneling microscopy and low energy electron diffraction. The growth mode was found to vary with temperature. For 180 K and 300 K, we observed a tendency to double layer growth for the initial layers while at elevated temperatures, the initial film grows in single layer. For most conditions, non-ideal three-dimensional growth was observed. Two-dimensional growth was only found for growth temperature of 550 K and coverages above 5 ML. Depending on temperature, the Co islands at low coverages exhibit three principally different shapes: dendritic at 180 K, hexagonal at 300 K and triangular at 550 K. For growth at 550 K and coverages above 5 ML, the islands changed to an irregular shape. This transition is most likely responsible for the transition to 2D growth. Further, the large strain is relaxed by the creation of a dislocation network with mixed fcc and hcp stacking. Depending on the temperature and coverage, a hexagonal or a triangular network was observed. Finally, we have investigated the effect of annealing Co films prepared at 180 K and 300 K. Heating to 490 K leads to coarsening and intermixing. 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of panoramic radiographs (PR) and their radiomorphometric indices as an auxiliary method for the diagnosis of osteoporosis. Material and Methods: Twenty five women were selected, who had been prescribed PR for different purposes. The PR were analysed according to the MCI, which evaluates the mandibular cortex below the mental foramen, and then divided into two groups: normal and bone mineral loss. Bone densitometry scans were obtained (DXA) from the lumbar spine and neck of the femur/whole femur, which were used as the gold standard for comparison against the MCI. Kappa test (p<0.05) was used to determine the association between the MCI and bone densitometry readings. Results: Regarding the DXA, 7 patients were normal at the lumbar spine or femur, 24 subjects showed osteopenia at the lumbar spine or femur and 9 subjects had osteoporosis at the lumbar spine or femur. Regarding the association between DXA and MCI, 18 subjects showed some degree of bone loss at the spine detected by both DXA and the Klemetti index. Conclusions: PR may be useful to assess the risk of such diseases being present.


Nowadays, several mega-trends capture the attention of governments, academia and the public in general given their implications for the quality of life and the development of nations. This work deals with two of them: entrepreneurship and environmental protection, as a result of research aimed at analyzing the processes, actors and results of the "Entrepreneurship for Life" Program led by the Valle de Aburrá Metropolitan Area, executed during the period from 2012 to 2015, in order to contribute to the improvement of public policies on eco-entrepreneurship. The methodology of the Synergy System1, applied by the Colombian Government, was used to appraise public policies. The required information was collected through in-depth interviews with the creator of the program, the entrepreneurs who benefited from it, officials of the entities involved and experts. Then, it was complemented by the analysis of documents such as minutes, reports and other sources. Among other results, it was evident that, although the public policy on environmental entrepreneurship is still incipient, the evaluated Program met the objectives for which it was created.


While most teenagers daydreamed of summer break while playing rock 'n' roll in their bedrooms, fourteen-year-old Paul Zone danced away his youth in underground clubs with those very same rock stars, exploring the concrete playground with actors, drag queens, and drug addicts. The mid-1970s was a time when the death of glam and the birth of punk rock collided in a celebration of glitter and grunge, and Zone had a front-row seat to it all. In this incredible photo memoir, Zone shares personal images that have never been released to the public alongside memories of the era, all through the eyes of a youngster whose reverential regard to his subjects made him a regular fixture in the lives of these greats. Zone captures the joys and the fantasy of the New York underground with a genuine intimacy, making this volume a worthy tribute to the legends of underground rock royalty.


The recently developed virtual-internal- bond (VIB) model has incorporated a cohesive-type law into the constitutive law of solids such that fracture and failure of solids become a coherent part of the consti- tutive law and no separate fracture or failure criteria are needed. A numerical algorithm is developed in this study for the VIB model under static loadings. The model is applied to study three examples, namely the crack nucle- ation and propagation from stress concentration, kinking and subsequent propagation of a mode II crack, and the buckling-driven delamination of a thin film from a sub- strate. The results have demonstrated that the VIB model provides an effective method to study crack nucleation and propagation in engineering materials and systems.


Despite the fact that bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most prevalent cause of symptomatic vaginal discharge in the United States1,2 and is a risk factor for preterm birth3 and acquisition of HIV,4 its cause remains unknown and its treatment suboptimal. Not only are initial cure rates of BV poor, but recurrence rates are high.5 Debate exists as to whether recurrences are due to relapse or reinfection. However, 1 hypothesis is that relapse may occur secondary to inadequate treatment of BV-associated organisms, either due to resistance of BV-associated organisms to metronidazole or to inadequate penetration of a biofilm community.6,7 Anecdotally it is more difficult to eradicate BV in some women compared with others. Recent data substantiates this by the finding that women with more complicated vaginal flora reflected by higher Nugent scores (predominantly because of morphotypes consistent with Mobiluncus), are more likely to fail therapy than those with lower scores.8 The presence of Mobiluncus spp. (M. curtisii and M. mulieris) in the vagina is highly specific although not sensitive for the diagnosis of BV.9,10 Of the two, M. curtisii appears to predominate and in vitro is resistant to metronidazole, the most commonly used therapy for BV.11 Therefore, recurrence of BV could be related to failure to clear this organism. Using specimens obtained from a prospective study of the treatment of BV, we determined if there was an association between persistence of M. curtisii and recurrence of BV at 65 to 70 days after completion of initial therapy.

Vaginal swabs were collected during a prospective treatment study of BV. Women attending the Jefferson County Health Department STD Clinic with symptomatic BV were enrolled and treated for BV as previously described.8 All women received metronidazole for 7 or 14 days plus or minus azithromycin. Subjects were reevaluated at 21, 35 to 40, and 65 to 70 days after beginning the study. Subjects were discontinued from the study upon recurrence of symptomatic BV but were followed if the BV was asymptomatic. Vaginal swabs for Gram stain and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were collected at baseline and each follow-up visit. For this substudy we included only those women who had M. curtisii present at baseline as detected by PCR and who completed 3 follow-up visits for the main study. Recurrence of BV at 65 to 70 days was defined as a Nugent score of 7 to 10 at that follow-up visit regardless of symptoms. Persistence of M. curtisii was defined as the organism being present at baseline and at least one of the follow-up visits.

Baseline characteristics of the subsample and larger cohort were compared by the chi-square test for categorical variables and the t test for continuous variables. The relationship between the persistence of M. curtisii the development of recurrence was examined by the chi-square test. A stratified analysis was used to examine the relationship between M. curtisii and recurrence controlling for treatment and the Breslow-Day statistic was used to test homogeneity of the strata. All analyses were conducted with SAS Ver. 9.1 and a P value of <0.05 was deemed statistically significant.

Swabs for PCR were eluted into sterile, deionized water. DNA was extracted from the eluate using Wizard Genomic DNA Purification Kit (Promega Corporation, Madison, WI) following the provided method for isolation of DNA from Gram-negative bacteria. Extracted DNA was rehydrated in 40 μL of the kit's DNA rehydration solution.

Two separate PCR amplifications were performed on the extracted DNA. The first was done with a genus-specific primer set for Mobiluncus, Mob-s and Mob-as12 The second was performed using a species-specific primer set for M. curtisii, Mob-V3 and Mob-V4.12 The reaction volume was 20 or 50 μL consisting of 1 or 2 μL of rehydrated, extracted DNA, 1X buffer (50 mmol/L KCl, 10 mmol/L Tris–HCl (pH 9.0 at the rate of 25°C), 1.5 mmol/L MgCl2, 0.1% Triton X-100), 200 μmol/L dNTPs, 1 μmol/L of each primer, and 0.025 U Taq Polymerase. Amplification conditions were 30 or 35 cycles of 94°C for 30 seconds, 60°C for 30 seconds, and 72°C for 1 minute with a final extension of 72°C for 10 minutes. Extracted M. curtisii ATCC 35,241 and M. mulieris ATCC 35,243 DNA was used for positive amplification controls, and water in place of DNA was used for a negative control. Amplification products were electrophoresed on 2% to 4% agarose gels, stained with ethidium bromide, visualized using UV light, and documented with a digital imager. The amplicons produced were 423 base pairs for the genus-specific and 130 base pairs for the species-specific primers. Samples that exhibited only the 423 bp product were considered positive for M. mulieris. Those that exhibited the 423 and 130 bp products were considered positive for M. curtisii without the ability to determine the presence or absence of M. mulieris.

Gram stains were interpreted according to the method of Nugent et al.13 Curved rod morphotypes were presumed to be Mobiluncus spp. No attempt was made to differentiate the 2 species of Mobiluncus based on Gram stain morphology.

Of the 594 women enrolled in the main study, 100 women met the inclusion criteria for this substudy (presence of M. curtisii by PCR at baseline visit and samples for 3 follow-up visits). The major reasons for exclusion were absence of M. curtisii at baseline, discontinuation from the study for failed therapy, and loss to follow-up. In total, 400 PCR results were available from these 100 subjects and their 4 visits. Of these visits, 29 were positive for M. mulieris and were not included in the comparison of Gram stain versus PCR detection of M. curtisii. Three Gram stain results were not available.

There were no significant differences in the majority of baseline characteristics of the women who met the inclusion criteria for this study compared with the other women in the main treatment study including race, age, education level, douching behavior, methods of birth control, and number of sexual partners. Interestingly, more women in the substudy reported a history of STDs (83.0%) compared with the entire sample (71.2%) (P = 0.01). The sensitivity and specificity of PCR for M. curtisii using the presence of curved rods on Gram stain as gold standard were 91.0% and 73.7%, respectively.

Persistence of M. curtisii, defined as present at baseline and at least one other visit was significantly associated with recurrence of BV (P <0.001). Nearly 67.9% (38/56) of women with persistence of M. curtisii had recurrence of BV (Nugent score 7–10) compared with 11.4% (5/44) of women with no evidence of M. curtisii by PCR after the baseline treatment visit (Table 1). The patterns of M. curtisii positivity by study visit are shown in Table 2. The 2 most common patterns of M. curtisii persistence were absence of the organism at visits 2 and 3 with detection at visit 4, and presence of the organism at each visit. The former suggests reinfection whereas the latter suggests that M. curtisii was never cleared by the initial therapy. There was no significant difference in the association of M. curtisii with recurrent BV when stratified by the addition of azithromycin to the treatment regimen (Table 3).

TABLE 1

Association of M. curtisii With Recurrence of BV

TABLE 2

Patterns of M. curtisii Prevalence as Detected by PCR at Study Visits

TABLE 3

Association of M. curtisii With Recurrence of BV Stratified by Treatment

Adequate treatment for BV remains a goal, not a reality. Initial cure rates range from 50% to 80% and recurrence is common, especially in some women.5 Until the etiology of BV is discovered, both in terms of microbiology and transmission, it is unlikely that better therapies will emerge. It has long been appreciated, based on Gram stains of vaginal flora from women with BV, that BV represents a spectrum of abnormalities in the vaginal ecosystem.13 Curved rods, felt to represent primarily Mobiluncus spp., may be seen in some but not all women with BV.13 Because Gram stain detection of Mobiluncus is solely dependent on morphotypical analysis, whereas PCR should be highly sensitive and specific, it is not surprising that we did not find complete agreement between Gram stain and PCR for the presence of Mobiluncus. We recently showed that higher Nugent scores, reflecting the presence of Mobiluncus morphotypes, were significantly associated with failure of initial therapy for BV.8 Results from this current study indicate that the presence of M. curtisii at baseline along with persistence of this organism as detected by PCR is highly associated with recurrence after initial cure. The reasons for persistence of this organism are unknown and could stem from relapse after therapy or reinfection from a sexual partner. Nevertheless, it appears that the more complex the ecosystem changes associated with BV are, as demonstrated by the presence of anaerobes such as Mobiluncus, the more difficult BV is to cure.

In summary, the presence and persistence of M. curtisii detected by PCR was found to be highly associated with recurrence of BV. Whether this organism is truly pathogenic or simply a marker for greater disturbances of vaginal flora remains unknown.


There are times when one would like to hang the whole human race, and finish the farce. (Mark Twain) In philosophy of religion, there is a long history of belief that divine reality is immutable, although this has changed recently. In this article, the author takes a closer look at what some texts in the Psalms assumed about what it feels like for a god to suffer mentally. By paying attention to what is presupposed in language about negative divine emotions, the nature of mental anguish in the life of a deity is elucidated from examples in the text in which Yhwh is said to have states of mind involving anger, hate, compassion, jealousy and grief.


Caroline Ponsonby, The Cherry on Top? Flies as Alternative Crop Pollinators Winner –Western Sydney University VYT local competition (2021) Transcript: Everyone loves the bumble bees and the honey bees. They're essential farm livestock – call them key workers if you like! They play a critical role in our farm to fork supply chain. Pollinator dependent crops make up more than 50% of global food products traded today, and without them there'd be far fewer fruit and veg available. But they are not our only key pollinators.
 Hoverflies are excellent pollinators too. They're ubiquitous and they
don't sting. We are researching how to produce them commercially.
Thereby ensuring we can keep on supplying good quality fruit for years
to come. We're taking steps towards understanding how to use them in
different pollination systems. And even how they fit in with the bigger
picture, conserving wildlife on farms. We're not trying to replace the
bees. But we must reduce our reliance on just one or two species of bee
to meet our ever-demanding pollination requirements. This is the future
of farming, using alternative technologies to increase yields and reduce
 crop loss.


The rickettsial pathogen Coxiella burnetii undergoes a variation in which virulent isolates (phase 1) become avirulent (phase 2) after repeated passage in a non-immunologically competent host. Biochemically, this variation is associated with a lipopolysaccharide modification and possibly other factors. Genetically, the regions of DNA responsible for phase variation have not been identified. We have sought to determine whether the plasmid identified in acute disease isolates, QpH1, which represents approximately 5% of the coding capacity of this organism is involved in phase variation. Plasmids from phase 1 and phase 2 variants (designated QpH1 and QpH2, respectively) were compared by restriction endonuclease digestion and Southern blot hybridization to determine whether sequence changes in the phase 2 plasmid might account for changes in the virulence of phase 2 organisms compared with that of phase 1 cells. Using over 20 different restriction enzymes, no changes in DNA restriction fragment patterns were detected regardless of whether the phase change occurred during egg or tissue culture passage. The plasmid-specific mRNAs produced from metabolically active, purified cells were identical for each phase type. Using QpH1 or QpH2 DNA as a template, the mRNA produced by an E. coli extract was also identical. Finally, the proteins encoded by either plasmid in an in vitro transcription/translation reaction were identical. These data indicate that within the limits of our analysis, the plasmid DNA from C. burnetii phase variants is structurally and functionally the same and is therefore unlikely to be involved in phase variation.


Nowadays, as smartphones are becoming more and more powerful, applications providing location based services have been increasingly popular. Many, if not all, smartphones are equipped with a powerful sensor set (GPS, WiFi, the acceleration sensor, the orientation sensor, etc.), which makes them capable of accomplishing complicated tasks. Unfortunately, as the core enabler of most location tracking applications on smartphones, GPS incurs an unacceptable energy cost that can cause the complete battery drain within a few hours. Although GPS is often preferred over its alternatives, the coverage areas of GPS are still limited (GPS typically cannot function indoors). To this end, our goal in this paper is to improve the energy-efficiency of traditional location tracking service as well as to expand its coverage areas. In this paper, we introduce SensTrack, a location tracking service that leverages the sensor hints on the smartphone to reduce the usage of GPS. SensTrack selectively executes a GPS sampling using the information from the acceleration and orientation sensors and switches to the alternate location sensing method based on WiFi when users move indoors. A machine learning technique, Gaussian process regression, is then employed to reconstruct the trajectory from the recorded location samples. We implemented a prototype on an Android smartphone that can sample the related sensors during the user's movement and collect the sensor data for further processing on PCs. Evaluation on traces from real users demonstrates that SensTrack can significantly reduce the usage of GPS and still achieve a high tracking accuracy.


The study is aimed at establishing the impact of access to capital, access to markets, access to information and access to technology on competitiveness of smallholder farmers on the market in Ethekwini Metropolitan in South Africa. A questionnaire is used as a research instrument. A total of 100 participants was sampled from a population of 485 smallholder farmers in Ethekwini Metropolitan. From the sample, 21% were male and 79% were female. All respondents were all from the African race. The study reveales that access to funding, access to markets, access to information and access to technology not only influenced viability of the smallholder farmers in Ethekwini Metropolitan, but also that the smallholder farmers were not getting enough access to all four stated variables. Of the 100 farmers, 66% of the smallholder farmers had plots with less than 0.5 acres under cultivation. Another finding was that even though the farmers had basic tools to work with, they required funding to acquire irrigation, water storage facilities, transport and tractors. As far as passing information to farmers is concerned, the farmers mostly preferred extension visits.The study recommends that well equipped agricultural resource centres be established in all the agricultural hubs. It is also recommended that the government employs an asset based community development approach when funding smallholder farmers and that the smallholder farmers and other stakeholders be conscientized on the concept of sustainable farming.


The Open Science Grid (OSG) relies upon the network as a critical part of the distributed infrastructures it enables. In 2012, OSG added a new focus area in networking with a goal of becoming the primary source of network information for its members and collaborators. This includes gathering, organizing, and providing network metrics to guarantee effective network usage and prompt detection and resolution of any network issues, including connection failures, congestion, and traffic routing. In September of 2015, this service was deployed into the OSG production environment. We will report on the creation, implementation, testing, and deployment of the OSG Networking Service. Starting from organizing the deployment of perfSONAR toolkits within OSG and its partners, to the challenges of orchestrating regular testing between sites, to reliably gathering the resulting network metrics and making them available for users, virtual organizations, and higher level services, all aspects of implementation will be reviewed. In particular, several higher-level services were developed to bring the OSG network service to its full potential. These include a web-based mesh configuration system, which allows central scheduling and management of all the network tests performed by the instances; a set of probes to continually gather metrics from the remote instances and publish it to different sources; a central network datastore (esmond), which provides interfaces to access the network monitoring information in close to real time and historically (up to a year) giving the state of the tests; and a perfSONAR infrastructure monitor system, ensuring the current perfSONAR instances are correctly configured and operating as intended. We will also describe the challenges we encountered in ongoing operations of the network service and how we have evolved our procedures to address those challenges. Finally we will describe our plans for future extensions and improvements to the service.


Water of Pacific origin, entering the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait, exits the Arctic Ocean through the Canadian Archipelago and the Fram Strait. The amount and timing of Pacific Water export through these gates depend on the upper circulation of the Arctic Ocean and react accordingly on changes. Nutrient and hydrographic data from four cruises to the area north of the Fram Strait in 1984, 1990, 1997, and 2004 show that substantial changes have occurred lately in the amount of Pacific Waters delivered to the Fram Strait and hence further to the Atlantic Ocean. While the data from 1984, 1990, and 1997 all showed considerable amounts of Pacific Water above the shelf and slope northeast of Greenland, this strong signal had completely vanished in 2004. The arrival of a previously not observed cold halocline layer at the area can be recognized in 1997.


The GK rat is a spontaneous model of NIDDM. The insulin response to 16.7 mmol/l glucose was markedly impaired in both isolated perfused pancreas and isolated islets from GK rats compared with control Wistar rats. Depolarization with 30 mmol/l KC1 in the presence of 3.3 mmol/l glucose and 250 μmol/l diazoxide induced similar insulin responses in perfused pancreases of GK and control rats. In contrast, the glucose-stimulated insulin release was also severely impaired in GK pancreases in the depolarized state. Forskolin (1 μmol/l) markedly enhanced insulin release at 3.3 mmol/l glucose in GK but not control pancreases (54 ± 15 vs. 3 ± 1 pmol/l0 min, P < 0.001). Dibutyryl cAMP (1 mmol/l) exerted effects similar to forskolin on insulin release in the perfused pancreas. In depolarized pancreases of GK but not control rats, forskolin also induced a marked insulin response at 3.3 mmol/l glucose (163 ± 48 vs. 16 ± 1 pmol/20 min,< P < 0.03). Similarly, in studies on isolated islets from GK rats cultured in 5.5 or 16.7 mmol/l glucose for 48 h, forskolin (5 μmol/l) restored insulin release in response to 16.7 mmol/l glucose but had no effect on islet glucose utilization at 3.3 or 16.7 mmol/l glucose. Forskolin markedly stimulated insulin release at 3.3 mmol/l glucose in GK but not control rat islets cultured for 48 h in 5.5 mmol/l glucose, whereas 20 mmol/l arginine had an almost identical effect in both islet varieties. However, in islets cultured in 16.7 mmol/l glucose, forskolin stimulated insulin release similarly both in control and GK islets at 3.3 mmol/l glucose. In conclusion, this study suggests that the insulinotropic effects of glucose are coupled to a direct regulation of the exocytotic machinery in the pancreatic 3-cell. This pathway is markedly impaired in GK rats, contributing to defective insulin response to glucose. In this model, cAMP generation restores the insulin response to 16.7 mmol/l glucose and exerts a marked insulin release even at 3.3 mmol/l glucose.


What do inherited financial assets signify to heirs and testators and how does this shape their conduct? Based on grounded theory methodology and twenty open, thematically structured interviews with US heirs, future heirs and testators, this article explicates a theoretical account that proposes a moral ambivalence as the core category to understand the social meaning of inherited financial assets. In particular, the analysis reveals that the social meaning of inherited assets is a contingent, individual compromise between seeing inherited assets as unachieved wealth and seeing them as family means of support. Being the lifetime achievement of another person, inheritances are, on the one hand, morally dubious and thus difficult to appropriate. Yet in terms of family solidarity, inheritances are "family money," which is used when need arises. Taken from this angle, inheriting is not the transfer of one individual's privately held property to another person, but rather the succession of the social status as support-giver along with the resources that belong to this status to the family's next generation. Heirs need to find a personal compromise between these poles, which always leaves room for interpretation. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs1401131


Nutrition monitoring has been used to analyze the nutrition problems of nations and communities for more than twenty years. But researchers have found that the data are rarely used effectively. A new approach to the process may provide better results. Nutrition-related problems cut across all classes, races, and socioeconomic groups. For the very poor, the issue frequently is simply getting enough to eat. The resulting undernourishment can lead to impaired physical growth, slowed intellectual development, and depleted energy levels. For the poor and the more affluent, the issue may be adopting the wrong diets, consuming foods high in fats and sugars and not eating enough fruits and vegetables. Such diets can result in obesity and related health risks such as hypertension, heart disease, and cancer. Some problems are specific to mothers and children. Inappropriate weight gain during pregnancy can pose health risks to both mother and child. A low breast-feeding rate means many children are denied the nutrition benefits and immunity to diseases provided by breast milk. "For years, planners, practitioners, and researchers have used nutrition monitoring to assess the problems of various populations in developed and developing countries with the goal of stimulating decision making at the national level," says David Pelletier, an associate professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences. Pelletier has been involved in nutrition surveillance, or "monitoring," since coming to Cornell in 1984. The strategy had first been developed ten years earlier following the world food crisis of 1974. "During the food crisis, international donors and bilaterals like AID wanted to have up-to-date information on the nutrition situation around the world and in individual countries," he says. "Cornell was identified as a center of excellence to develop the field and implement it in specific countries. We also have been active domestically with national nutrition monitoring, and New York has been one of the more active states at the community level." One New York State effort, the Community-Based Nutrition Monitoring (CBNM) Project, was begun in 1989 to document the extent of nutrition-related problems and services in several New York counties. A collaborative effort between the New York State Department of Health and the Division of Nutritional Sciences, the project operated as a pilot program in three counties from 1989 to 1992. Widespread interest allowed it to expand to thirteen counties in 1993. It didn't take long, however, for the community practitioners to suspect that the link between data and action was weak. "The ultimate purpose of the project was to support decisions and actions related to nutrition services, programs, and policies," says Pelletier. "But what we learned was that turning the data into action was difficult. It turns out that if your goal is to find uses for your data, it's very much like putting the cart before the horse. This has been the case both in developing countries as well as in the community programs here at home." For better or worse, this approach had been used for years in monitoring projects because, at least on the surface, it made sense. Pelletier says it arose out of an epidemiologic and public health paradigm that suggests that if problems are documented, finding solutions will logically follow. "It was a rational decision-making model, and it made sense to academics and people who follow the rational model," he says. "But the way decision making actually happens in communities and in countries is quite different. People simultaneously focus on problems, their potential solutions, and their connections to their own political agendas or organizational agendas." As an example of the type of problem people would run into using this model, Pelletier points to the practice of nutritionists collecting data on the heights and weights of schoolchildren. …


Going Faster The concentrations of most tropospheric pollutants and trace gases are kept in check by their reactions with hydroxyl radicals (OH). OH is a short-lived, highly reactive species that is produced in the atmosphere by photochemical processes, and regenerated in the chain of chemical reactions that follows the oxidative destruction of those molecules. These regeneration mechanisms were thought to be fairly well understood, but now Hofzumahaus et al. (p. 1702, published online 4 June) present evidence of a pathway not previously recognized. In a study of atmospheric composition in the Pearl River Delta, a highly polluted region of China, greatly elevated OH concentrations were observed without the correspondingly high levels of ozone expected from current models. Thus, OH concentrations may be augmented by a process that speeds the regeneration of OH without producing ozone. A yet undescribed pathway for hydroxyl radical production is needed to account for reaction rates of highly polluted air. The degradation of trace gases and pollutants in the troposphere is dominated by their reaction with hydroxyl radicals (OH). The importance of OH rests on its high reactivity, its ubiquitous photochemical production in the sunlit atmosphere, and most importantly on its regeneration in the oxidation chain of the trace gases. In the current understanding, the recycling of OH proceeds through HO2 reacting with NO, thereby forming ozone. A recent field campaign in the Pearl River Delta, China, quantified tropospheric OH and HO2 concentrations and turnover rates by direct measurements. We report that concentrations of OH were three to five times greater than expected, and we propose the existence of a pathway for the regeneration of OH independent of NO, which amplifies the degradation of pollutants without producing ozone.


The concept of capital structure and its related determinants has received significant attention in academic discussion due to a change in the financial environment allied to changes to the economic climate over the last several decades. To mitigate these changes and challenges, an understanding of capital structure variances from certain aspects of firm, industry and country-specific levels has been the focus of research in this area. This has resulted in an emphasis on the financial implications of such capital structure variance building an understanding of the influences of its determinants when economic environments change. However, results of the research to date is inconsistent due probably to the heterogeneity of sampled firm in a changing financial market. Therefore, these inconsistent results leave a gap in the literature that needs for further investigation. The main research aim of the study is to investigate and analyse the determinant of capital structure in listed small and medium sized firms in the UK and China. There are three specific objectives strategically generated to contribute to the existing literature on the subject matter. Firstly, to investigate the impact at firm, industry and country-specific levels on capital structure variance of firms using both market and book based values in specific sector between 2007 and 2017. Secondly, to analyse the relationship between capital structure and its determinants by using panel data fixed effect to analyse their direct and indirect influence. Thirdly, to examine using the same model, the dummy effects of time, industry and financial systems on capital structure. To achieve these research objectives, the study uses two samples, namely, 510 firms on the UK Alternative Investment Market (AIM) All Share Index and 759 listed firm on the China SMEs Board Market from the period 2007 and 2017. The secondary data used in the study is acquired from DataStream, The World Bank and National Statistical Bureaux of the UK and China. The analysis initially uses the Haussmann test in Stata to determine, within the context of a panel data analysis, whether fixed or random effects should be utilised. The evidence predicated the use of fixed effects. The need for a heightened awareness of environmental management has been highlighted as a results of climate change, global warming and other related environmental challenges that have occurred over the last three decades. To mitigate these challenges, efficient environmental processes, strategies, policies, initiat ives and practices have been adopted by a number of companies and countries. As a result, research scholars have highlighted the financial implication of engaging in such environmental management activities and research has focussed on advanced investigations to understanding the relationship between corporate environmental performance (CEP) and corporate financial performance (CFP). However, results to date are inconsistent and contradictory thus, leaving a gap in the literature that calls for further examination. An analysis of descriptive statistics indicate that the Basic Material, Industrial, Health and Consumer Services sectors are the most prominent representatives in the AIM sample. The Basic Material, Industrial and Consumer Goods sectors are the mo st significant sector in the sample of SMEs Board Market. Several studies indicate that firms in the Financial and the Utilities Sectors should not be included in the sample because their financing decisions are supervised and regulated by government. The capital structure of firms in these sectors have a different composition compared to firms in the non-regulated sectors. In order to provide accurate empirical evidence, this research investigates the determinants of capital structure excluding the Financial and Utilities sectors. On AIM, it is found that the capital structures of the Oil and Gas , Technology and Consumer Goods sectors are mainly explained by firm-specific determinates. The capital structures of the Industrial sector relies on factors with industry characteristics, but the capital structure of the Health Care, Consumer Services, Consumer Goods, Industrial and Basic Materials sectors are more influenced by macroeconomic change. In the SMEs board, the capital structures of the Health Care, Technology, Oil and Gas and Consumer Services sectors are mainly explained by determinants related to firm characteristic. The financing decisions of the Consumer Goods, Industrial and Basic Materials sectors are influenced more by factors arising from the economic environment. Furthermore, industry characteristic variables have a stronger explanatory powers in the Industrial, Consumer Services, Industrial and Health Care sectors. The regression estimators also indicate that the overall difference in capital structure variance between the AIM and SMEs board is not significant. Financing structure of firms in AIM are explained more by factors with firm characteristic than those in SMEs board with no effect being observed from industry characteristics? However, industry characteristics does also play an important role in firm's capital structure in SMEs Board. The short term leverage element of the capital structure of firms on AIM is mainly explained by factors firm characteristic with these factors having a lower explanatory power in the SMEs board. On the SMEs board, the factors with industry and country characteristics have the greatest influence on short term leverage of firms. Regarding long term leverage, there is not significant difference between AIM and the SMEs board with industry-specific factors affecting the long term rather than the short term leverage of firms in AIM. Furthermore, using panel data with fixed effects, it is found that the capital structure of firms in both the markets is significantly affected by the time, industrial and financial system dummy. The effect of the industrial variable plays a significant role in the financing decisions of firms on AIM. With no difference being observed between short term and long term leverage. However, in the SMEs board, the industrial variable only affects short term leverage with no empirical evidence showing any significant effect on long term leverage. However, the time variable on capital structure shows different results between AIM and the SMEs board. Overall, the effect of the time variable on AIM is twice that of its influence on the SME's board and in relation to short term leverage on AIM its effect is four times as significant. In relation to the influence of the financial system variable there is no difference in the absolute value of its impact between AIM and the SME's board. The study contributes to knowledge and the existing literatures in several ways. The primary contribution is the analysis of the hierarchical and dimensional construct of capital structure variance. The study analyses the different aspects of financing choice made by firms given the influence of time, firm characteristics, industry and country. Also, the proxies of capital structure are grouped as short-term and long term leverage with both measured in relation to market and book value. For example, there is evidence that firm size is positively related to short term leverage in the market value of firms on AIM whereas it has a significantly adverse impact on book value. Also, the distance from bankruptcy (default risk) is found to be negatively related to short term leverage of firms in the SME board, while it positively affects long term leverage. These contradictory results suggest that there is a motivation to measure the relationship between capital structure and its determinants to provide more explanatory power. Furthermore, the results provide statistical evidence to support existing literature on the non-linear relationship between capital structure and its determinants in relation to firm characteristics. The study's distinction of the non- linear relationship between capital and non-capital intensive firms assists managers in utilisation of the marginal effects of conditional variables on financing choice. Finally, the study contributes to the capital structure literature by identifying the capital structure choice of small and medium sized firms in the developed country of the UK and emerging country of China from 2007 to 2017 providing evidence of the distinction between UK and Chinese firms, which contributes to the understanding of financing preferences in different financial markets.


Automation is a necessity in advancement that the aviation industry has implemented and continues to strive to improve. The objective is to make pilot's and their crew's jobs easier while making the aviation industry more profitable.  The question is how does it impact both general and commercial aviation as the industry is expanding and exploring new autonomous routes for the future of the industry as a whole.

Full autonomous systems in the aircraft industry were implemented over decades and accidents caused by automation have raised concerns about its future role in the cockpit. As soon as automation was introduced, it did not go unscathed, there were accidents caused by the use of automation in the cockpit. All of these points were taken into consideration while compiling the paper. Taking into account the findings of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), NASA, and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), as well as pilot reporting

This presentation aims to discover the correlation between automation and how it affects pilots. The object of the study is to verify automation issues that have gone underrepresented within the industry to see if there is anything that can be implemented or improved to change the outcome. The paper discusses the effect of automation on human factors, safety reports, and what type of accidents happened due to automation. The effects of automation on the crew and personnel, how they prepare for it, and overall trends in automation found from these findings will be discussed to see if there is any real concern with the use automation within the aviation industry.


To examine the impact of globalization on managerial compensation, we consider a matching model where a number of firms compete both in the product market and in the managerial market. We show that globalization, that is, the simultaneous integration of product markets and managerial pools, leads to an increase in the heterogeneity of managerial salaries. Typically, while the most able managers obtain a wage increase, less able managers are faced with a reduction in wages. Hence our model can explain the increasing heterogeneity of CEO compensation that has been observed in the last few decades.


Abstract. This paper describes an observation-based approach that efficiently combines the main components of the global ocean observing system using statistical methods. Accurate but sparse in situ temperature and salinity profiles (mainly from Argo for the last 10 yr) are merged with the lower accuracy but high-resolution synthetic data derived from satellite altimeter and sea surface temperature observations to provide global 3-D temperature and salinity fields at high temporal and spatial resolution. The first step of the method consists in deriving synthetic temperature fields from altimeter and sea surface temperature observations, and salinity fields from altimeter observations, through multiple/simple linear regression methods. The second step of the method consists in combining the synthetic fields with in situ temperature and salinity profiles using an optimal interpolation method. Results show the revolutionary nature of the Argo observing system. Argo observations now allow a global description of the statistical relationships that exist between surface and subsurface fields needed for step 1 of the method, and can constrain the large-scale temperature and mainly salinity fields during step 2 of the method. Compared to the use of climatological estimates, results indicate that up to 50% of the variance of the temperature fields can be reconstructed from altimeter and sea surface temperature observations and a statistical method. For salinity, only about 20 to 30% of the signal can be reconstructed from altimeter observations, making the in situ observing system essential for salinity estimates. The in situ observations (step 2 of the method) further reduce the differences between the gridded products and the observations by up to 20% for the temperature field in the mixed layer, and the main contribution is for salinity and the near surface layer with an improvement up to 30%. Compared to estimates derived using in situ observations only, the merged fields provide a better reconstruction of the high resolution temperature and salinity fields. This also holds for the large-scale and low-frequency fields thanks to a better reduction of the aliasing due to the mesoscale variability. Contribution of the merged fields is then illustrated to describe qualitatively the temperature variability patterns for the period from 1993 to 2009.


In this paper we highlight the importance of structural dimensions of real-world laboratories (RwLs). Giddens' structuration theory provides a promising framework to better understand the interlinked abstract and physical (infra-)structural features of RwLs. We argue that research on and in RwLs needs to be sensitive to the spatial, temporal, and thematic scope of structuration processes. A systematic conceptualization of these dimensions remains an important task for future research. In order to arrive at such a more in-depth understanding and possibly an improvement in the transferability of knowledge created in RwLs, the idea proposed by the WBGU should be taken up: building RwLs for the long term and focusing more explicitly on their structural dimensions. First steps have been taken in the German city of Wuppertal where a RwL infrastructure has been built up over the course of various projects including a broad variety of resources, actors, and topics in the broader search and learning process for sustainable transitioning.


First, remove the skin. It's easiest to pull it off in strips, peeling off layers of hair and fat like peeling an orange. It will be simultaneously gruesome and tedious. Your hands will cramp and your mouth will taste like disinfectant, but show no weakness. Your cadaver is testing you, waiting for you to succumb to the fragility of being alive and having senses. Go home that night and have a shower, but know the smell will not leave you for four months. This cadaver is yours for the term: Male, aged 57.


Divergent adaptation to different environments can promote speciation, and it is thus important to consider spatial structure in models of speciation. Earlier theoretical work, however, has been limited to particularly simple types of spatial structure (linear environmental gradients and spatially discrete metapopulations), leaving unaddressed the effects of more realistic patterns of landscape heterogeneity, such as nonlinear gradients and spatially continuous patchiness. To elucidate the consequences of such complex landscapes, we adapt an established spatially explicit individual-based model of evolutionary branching. We show that branching is most probable at intermediate levels of various types of heterogeneity and that different types of heterogeneity have, to some extent, additive effects in promoting branching. In contrast to such additivity, we find a novel refugium effect in which refugia in hostile environments provide opportunities for colonization, thus increasing the probability of branching in patchy landscapes. Effects of patchiness depend on the scale of patches relative to dispersal. Providing a needed connection to empirical research on biodiversity and conservation policy, we introduce empirically accessible spatial environmental metrics that quantitatively predict a landscape's branching propensity.


In this study, we tested the effect of narratives versus informative persuasive messages regarding a digital elderly panel. Healthcare in the Netherlands is changing, so the Zorg Innovatie Forum believes it is important that older people are more involved in developments that affects them. An experiment was developed with three conditions: informative, narrative with a male narrator and a narrative with a female narrator. A total of 108 participants were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions. They participated in an online survey, consisting of questions regarding, attitude, intention, transportation and identification. The results showed that participants did not scored higher on attitude and intention in the narrative condition than in the informative condition. The gender of the narrator also appeared to have no influence on attitude and intention. How higher the transportation and identification, how higher the attitude. Identification is not a significant predictor for intention. A total of 57% wants to participate in the digital elderly panel. The results suggest that the literature about narratives does not apply to elder people. Elder people have other reasons and motives why they do or do not want to participate in the digital elderly panel. What these reasons are will have to be investigated in follow-up research.


This paper focuses on mechanisms of "peer interactions" among native and non-native students. We present a theoretical framework based on Lazear (2001) education production model and on the "sub-cultural" sociological theory and we test the theoretical predictions exploiting a dataset of Italian junior high school. Results show that non-native school share has small and negative impacts on Language test scores of natives' peers, while it does not significantly affect Math test scores. The negative effects to natives' attainment are concentrated in schools characterized by low levels of non-natives' isolation or where non-natives' school share is above 10%.


A triple interferometer arrangement for determining the relative motion of opposing areas on the front and back surfaces of any vibrating plate is described and illustrated. The manner in which this interferometer is used to distinguish between flexural and longitudinal modes in quartz plates is also discussed and illustrated. These illustrations are selected to demonstrate several very interesting characteristics of an oscillating quartz plate. In the case of a quartz cube operated as an X-cut the influence of lateral vibrations is seen to affect seriously the computed frequency of the fundamental longitudinal waves propagated along X. A simple interferometer employed in the study of quartz plates is described, together with a strip method of excitation used in conjunction with this interferometer.


To assess their utility for profitable wastewater bioremediation, banana prawns, Penaeus (Fenneropenaeus) merguiensis (de Man), were stocked at low densities (1 – 5 m-2) and grown without supplemental feeding in five commercial-prawn-farm settlement ponds (0.3 to 6.0 ha). The prawns free-ranged in the variously designed ponds for 160 to 212 days after stocking as PL15. Survival estimates ranged from 12% to 60% with production of 50 – 528 kg ha-1. Over 1150 kg of marketable product was produced in the study. Exceptional growth was monitored at one farm where prawns reached an average size of 17g in 80 days. Nutrients in water flowing into (8 - 40 ML d-1) and out of the settlement pond at that farm were assessed twice weekly along with routine water quality measurements. Only small differences in water qualities were detected between waters running into and out of this settlement pond. Total nitrogen levels gradually increased from 1 - 1.5 mg L-1 early in the season to over 3 mg L-1 towards the end of the season. Total phosphorus levels similarly rose from 0.1 - 0.2 mg L-1 to 0.3 - 0.4 mg L-1 in the middle of the season, but fell to 0.2 – 0.3 mg L-1 towards the end when approximately 12,000 prawns were harvested with a total weight of 175 kg. No significant differences (P > 0.05) were detected in the overall acceptability of prawns harvested from each of the 5 settlement ponds in small-scale consumer sensory analyses. The prawns from settlement ponds were rated similarly to banana prawns grown with commercial diets at two other establishments. Microbiological analyses of prawns from all farms showed bacterial levels to be well within food-grade standards and lower than prawns produced in a normal growout pond. These results demonstrate that high quality food grade banana prawns can be produced in these wastewater treatment systems.


Join more than 100 million players in the online world of Minecraft Are you a Minecraft fanatic looking to mod your games? Hours of fun await! Minecraft Modding For Kids For Dummies teaches you how to mod in easy-to-do parts. Offering loads of helpful explanations and cool projects along the way, this friendly guide will have you advancing levels, keeping score, respawning players, building portals, creating an archery range and much more faster than you can say redstone! There's no denying that modding is cool. After all, it allows you to alter your Minecraft gaming world to constantly keep things new and fun. While it isn't incredibly difficult to learn to mod, it does take some practice. Luckily, Minecraft Modding For Kids For Dummies is here to help you build basic coding skills to make modding your games as easy as 1-2-3! * The book is in full color and lies flat so you can look while you play * Includes a free trial of the LearnToMod software to use alongside the book * Features larger print to make the text feel less daunting * Offers next steps you can take if you want to learn even more about modding and coding If you're one of the millions of kids who play Minecraft every day, this hands-on guide gets you up and running fast with modding your favorite game!


This article is based on the assumption that Directive 75/129 EEC often creates problems for the Member countries' jurisdictions and for the European Court of Justice which are very similar to those caused by the Polish Act of December 28, 1989 on collective dismissals. I have come to this conclusion after consulting many publications concerning this topic, and also after researching the jurisdictions of the ECJ, particularly in cases such as: Commission of the EC v. Kingdom of Belgium (Case 215/83), Rockfon A/S v. Specialarbejderforbundet and Denmark (Case C-449/93), Commission of the EC v. UK of GB and Northern Ireland (Case C-383/92 and C-382/92), Commission of the EC v. Italian Republic (Case 91/81), Dansk Metalarbejderforbund and Specialarbejderforbundet and Denmark v. H. Nielsen & Son, Maskinfabrik A/S, in liquidation (Case C-248/83) as well as the relevant rulings of Polish Supreme Court.


Payments for watershed services (PWS) are schemes that use funds from water users (including governments) as an incentive for landholders to improve their land management practices. They are increasingly seen as a viable policy alternative to watershed management issues, and a means of addressing chronic problems such as declining water flows, deteriorating water quality and flooding. In some places, local governments, donor agencies and NGOs are actively trying to upscale and replicate PWS schemes across the area. While their apparent success and progress in launching new initiatives is encouraging, there is still much to be learned from formative experiences in this field, especially with regard to monitoring and evaluation. In this paper we discuss the monitoring and evaluation criteria behind compliance or transactional monitoring, which ensures that contracts are followed, and effectiveness conditionality, which looks at how schemes manage to achieve their environmental objectives regardless of the degree of compliance. Although the two are usually linked, a high degree of compliance does not necessarily ensure that a scheme is effective. This is because a poorly designed scheme may target the wrong land managers and land that is at least risk, meaning that payments do not generate the desired hydro-ecological or conservation benefits. As the levering capacity to demand payments for better watershed management increases, so does the need to understand the dynamics of such activities and demonstrate their impacts. While the growing interest in such schemes shows that participants believe in the principle of land management, evidence of their impact is needed to determine which initiatives genuinely add value and are worth pursuing.


The interaction between musicians has been one of the traditional strengths of music: it stretches to include an audience and ritual participants but has its origins in group activity, the interpersonal responses of one musician to another. This paper examines the way that electronic media have transformed the interactions between musicians, particularly in the context of live performance. A central theme is the way in which mediatisation creates new splits within previously integrated musical situations and also merges differences usually defined by physical boundaries.
The theories of Gregory Bateson on schizophrenia and Irving Goffman on Situationism are brought together to create a new understanding of the term 'schizophonia'. This rehabilitated concept is proposed as the key to a creative exploration of new situations and discontinuities which make up group performance in a mediatised environment.
The particular work of  the  improvising group 'Automatic Writing Circle' (automaticwritingcircle.co.uk)  is drawn on to illustrate some of the areas in which potentially schizophrenic states, involving splits and communication breakdown, have been recuperated to create a growing competence in hearing and responding to difference.


Magnetic nanoparticles have been extensively studied because of their potential applications as contrast agents in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of tumors, cell and DNA separation, magnetically guided drug delivery, tumor hyperthermia. Among the magnetic oxides, magnetite nanoparticles are most suitable due to their low toxicity and good magnetic properties which may be used in drug delivery. Magnetite nanoparticles were synthesized using FeCl3 and FeSO4 as precursors and characterized for size and shape using non-contact Atomic Force Microscopy (nc-AFM). The formation of magnetite was confirmed by XRD pattern. The elemental composition of the obtained phase was determined using Energy Dispersive Analysis of X Rays (EDAX). In this work, we are aiming to develop drug loaded biopolymer Magnetite nanoparticles for biomedical application. Our main objective is to synthesize and characterize Magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles.


Background Liver fibrosis is the most important prognostic factor in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients, and Egypt shows the highest worldwide HCV prevalence with genotype-4 pre-dominance. The aim of this study was to investigate the degree of liver stiffness measurement (LSM) improvement after successful HCV eradication. Patients and methods The study included 84 chronic HCV Egyptian patients, and was conducted at Qena University Hospital from November 1, 2015 till October 31, 2016. LSM was obtained by FibroScan® before starting direct acting antiviral (DAA) treatment and after achieving sustained virologic response-24 (SVR-24). Based on baseline LSM, patients were stratified into F0–F1, F2, F3 and F4 groups (METAVIR). LSM and laboratory data after achieving SVR-24 was compared with that before starting therapy in each fibrosis group (F0-F4), p-value <0.05 was statistically significant. Results Following DAA treatment, 80 patients achieved SVR-24; of these, 50 were males (62.5%), mean age: 54.2±7.6 years, and mean body mass index: 28.6±2.2 kg/m2. Mean baseline LSM dropped from 15.6±10.8 to 12.1±8.7 kPa post-SVR; the maximum change of −5.8 occurred in F4 versus −2.79, −1.28 and +0.08 in F3, F2 and F0–F1 respectively (p<0.0001). At baseline, 41 patients were in the F4 group; only 16 (39%) regressed to non-cirrhotic range (<12.5 kPa), while 25 (61%) were still cirrhotic despite achieving SVR-24 (p<0.0001). Patients who achieved LSM improvement (n=64) have had significantly higher baseline aspartate transferase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT). Also, those patients showed significant improvement in AST, AST/platelets ratio index (APRI) and fibrosis-4 index (Fib-4) after achieving SVR; 91% showed AST improvement (p=0.01) and APRI improvement (p=0.01) and 81% showed Fib-4 improvement (p=0.04). Females, diabetics, patients with S3 steatosis and patients older than 50 years showed less LSM improvements than their counterparts. Baseline LSM ≥9 kPa, bilirubin ≥1 mg/dl, ALT ≥36 U/L and AST ≥31 U/L were significant predictors for LSM improvement. Conclusion Successful HCV genotype-4 eradication results in significant LSM improvement; the best improvement occurs in F4 patients. But as the majority of cirrhotics are still at risk for liver decompensation and hepatocellular carcinoma development despite achieving SVR-24, early detection and treatment are highly recommended.