This study aimed at showing the prevalence of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) in patients who are candidates and/or are submitted to aesthetic procedures in the specialty of plastic surgery via a systematic review of the literature and a meta-analysis. To comply with the proposed objective, we analyzed the most relevant studies originally published in any language that were available in the National Library of Medicine (MEDLINE), Cochrane, and SciELO databases. Searches were performed using keywords associated with the theme and inclusion and exclusion criteria. Thus, the final sample of this study was composed of 15 publications, which were submitted to a meta-analysis. It can be confirmed that 12.5% of the patients who were candidates/submitted to aesthetic procedures in the specialty of plastic surgery had BDD. Of these, the majority were women (75.7%) with a mean age of 30 (± 10.5) years. Given the high number of patients with BDD attended to in the specialty, it is important that plastic surgeons focus on providing patients with adequate care to identify individuals who potentially have BDD and consequently conduct an interdisciplinary followup with the participation of psychologists and psychiatrists. ■ ABSTRACT


[1] An operational dust forecasting model is developed by including the Met Office Hadley Centre climate model dust parameterization scheme, within a Met Office regional numerical weather prediction (NWP) model. The model includes parameterizations for dust uplift, dust transport, and dust deposition in six discrete size bins and provides diagnostics such as the aerosol optical depth. The results are compared against surface and satellite remote sensing measurements and against in situ measurements from the Facility for Atmospheric Airborne Measurements for a case study when a strong dust event was forecast. Comparisons are also performed against satellite and surface instrumentation for the entire month of August. The case study shows that this Saharan dust NWP model can provide very good guidance of dust events, as much as 42 h ahead. The analysis of monthly data suggests that the mean and variability in the dust model is also well represented.


We demonstrate numerically and experimentally how spatial soliton arrays generated through modulation instability in a planar waveguide with relaxing Kerr nonlinearity can be spatially and temporally destabilized when using a partially spatiotemporally coherent light pulse. However, the amplitude of the shot-to-shot spatial jitter is limited. This jitter depends on the correlation degree of the spatial noise between pulses, and this correlation degree strongly depends on the spatiotemporal coherence of the propagating beam.


The objective of the study is to determine the level of the reasoning skills of the secondary school students. This research has been conducted during the academic year of 2015-2016 with the participation of 51 students in total, from a province in the Black Sea region of Turkey by using random sampling method. Case study method has been used in this study, since it explains an existing situation. In this study, content analysis from the qualitative research methods was carried out. In order to ensure the validity of the scope, agreement percentage formula was used and expert opinions were sought.The problem named Holiday from the Chapter 1 of the normal units in Problem Solving Questions from PISA (Program for International Student Assessments) [35] are used as the data collection tool for the study. The problem named Holiday consists of two questions. Applied problems were evaluated according to the mathematical reasoning stages of TIMSS (2003). The findings suggest that the students use proportional reasoning while solving the problems and use the geometric shapes to facilitate the solution of the problem. When they come across problems related to each other, it is observed that they create connections between the problems based on the results of the previous problem. In conclusion, the students perform crosscheck to ensure that their solutions to the problems are accurate.


The aim of the present study is to investigate emotional intelligence and Personal Competence at workplace. Thestudy was conducted in the Kingdom of Bahrain. For this purpose a structured questionnaire was developed to beused by the researchers based on emotional intelligence competencies as given by Daniel Goleman (1995, 98). Thedata has been collected through primary and secondary sources and has been analyzed by using percentage methodwith sample size of 50 employees from selected organizations in Bahrain. The results show a positive significancebetween emotional intelligence and Personal Competence. Further the employees opined more percentage scoreregarding self awareness, self motivation and emotional regulation on Personal Competence of total groupemployees.


Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular protozoan parasite that infects warm-blooded animals including an estimated thirty percent of humans world-wide. In immunocompetent host, primary infection is usually asymptomatic but fast-replicating tachyzoites partially undergo developmental switching into slow-replicating, dormant bradyzoites preferentially within muscular and neural tissues. Stage differentiation from tachyzoites to bradyzoites enables the parasite to establish chronic infection and facilitates transmission of the parasite to new hosts via predation or ingestion of raw or undercooked meat from infected livestock. Bradyzoite differentiation and tissue cyst development is spontaneously triggered in terminally differentiated skeletal muscle cells (SkMCs), i.e in myotubes but not in proliferating myoblasts or fibroblasts. The factors that trigger bradyzoite differentiation in myotubes are only partially known. Herein, host cell transcriptomes, metabolomes and cell cycle regulation were determined to identify host cell factors that might regulate bradyzoite differentiation in myotubes.
RNA sequencing-based transcriptome analysis of non-infected and T. gondii-infected myotubes and myoblasts revealed that these cell types differed significantly in the expression of ~6500 genes (DEGs) irrespective of T. gondii infection. Gene ontology analysis revealed that these DEGs predominantly regulated cellular component organization or biogenesis, cell cycle processes including mitotic cell cycle, muscle structure development and cellular metabolic processes. Surprisingly, infection with T. gondii had only a minor impact on gene expression in myoblasts and myotubes. Further analyses of the transcriptomes from infected and non-infected myoblasts and myotubes showed differential expression of various enzymes of the central carbohydrate metabolism. For example, genes encoding most glycolytic enzymes, some tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle enzymes, particularly the pyruvate carboxylase of TCA cycle anaplerosis, and multiple genes encoding glycogen metabolic enzymes were upregulated in myotubes as compared to myoblasts. In contrast, genes encoding enzymes of the pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) including glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH)2 or G6PDH(X-linked) and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGDH) were upregulated in myoblasts compared to myotubes. In addition, myotubes showed upregulation of various cell cycle inhibitors including p21Waf1/Cip1 as compared to myoblasts whereas many cyclin-dependent kinases and their cyclins were upregulated in myoblasts compared to myotubes irrespective of whether the cells were non-infected or infected with T. gondii. Differential expression of these molecules in myoblasts and myotubes irrespective of infection was further confirmed by RT-qPCR.
GC-MS analyses of non-infected and T. gondii-infected myotubes and myoblasts after labeling with 13C-glucose indeed indicated increased PPP activities in myoblasts, accelerated TCA cycle anaplerosis via the pyruvate carboxylase in myotubes, but no differences in glycolysis between the cell types. Remarkably, pharmacological inhibition of the PPP using the G6PDH inhibitor dehydroepiandrosterone and the 6PGDH inhibitor 6-aminonicotinamide upregulated T. gondii bradyzoite antigen (BAG) 1 mRNA expression and tissue cyst formation while it reduced parasite replication in both cell types but to a higher extent in myoblasts. This indicated that lower PPP activities as observed in myotubes compared to myoblasts favors T. gondii stage conversion. In contrast, addition of the TCA cycle intermediate analogue dimethyl-α-ketoglutarate accelerated BAG1 mRNA expression without increasing tissue cyst formation by T. gondii in myoblasts but not in myotubes. Modulation of anaerobic glycolysis using sodium-L-lactate showed a trend of increased T. gondii bradyzoite differentiation in myoblasts only. Lower PPP activity as observed in myotubes led to reduced levels of NADPH and higher NADP+/NADPH ratios in myotubes than in myoblasts. Despite lower NADPH levels in myotubes, reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were however nearly doubled in myoblasts than in myotubes. Modulation of endogenous ROS using the antioxidant N-acetyl cysteine inhibited T. gondii bradyzoite differentiation in both myotubes and myoblasts. Interestingly, inducing ROS in myotubes and myoblasts using the oxidants luperox or H2O2 accelerated T. gondii bradyzoite differentiation in both cell types. Thus, physiological concentration of endogenous ROS as observed in myotubes but not myoblasts might favor T. gondii stage conversion in myotubes.
Modulation of the host cell cycle of T. gondii-infected myotubes and myoblasts using pharmacological inhibitors aphidicolin and mimosine accelerated BAG1 mRNA expression in T. gondii within SkMCs but only partially induced tissue cyst formation. Furthermore, complete halting of parasite replication by higher concentrations of these inhibitors suggested a possibly direct effect on the parasites. To specifically modulate the host cell cycle and since myotubes showed upregulation of the cell cycle inhibitor p21Waf1/Cip1 as compared to myoblasts, p21 was inhibited in SkMCs using RNA interference. Knock-down of p21 in myoblasts sustained cell cycle progression and inhibited differentiation of myoblasts into myotubes. However, host cell p21 knock-down surprisingly even increased BAG1 mRNA expression by T. gondii but also strongly accelerated parasite replication in SkMCs. Thus, differentiation of SkMCs to myotubes promotes T. gondii bradyzoite formation independently of p21Waf1/Cip1.
Together these data unravel large differences in the transcriptomes, the central carbohydrate metabolism and the cell cycle regulation between myoblasts and myotubes before and after infection with T. gondii. Out of these differences, the lower PPP activities, the higher TCA cycle activities and the physiological concentrations of endogenous ROS as observed in mature myotubes can regulate T. gondii bradyzoite formation in SkMCs.


Objective: This study examined the relation between two risks for Alzheimer's disease (AD): the apolipoprotein (APOE) Ε4 allele and poor memory test performance. Methods: In the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA), a 5-year longitudinal population-based study that screened and followed over 10,000 participants, 2,914 had an initial clinical assessment and 1,624 had APOE genotype testing. All participants were categorized as having no cognitive impairment, cognitive impairment but no dementia, or dementia at both baseline and follow-up. We examined those (n = 209) with a complete neuropsychological assessment at baseline and no evidence of cognitive impairment who had either APOE Ε3/Ε3 or Ε3/Ε4 genotypes and who had a clinical consensus diagnosis of either no cognitive impairment or AD at follow-up. Delayed free recall memory was evaluated at CSHA-1 with the Buschke Cued Recall Test (BCRT). Results: The risk of AD at follow-up was increased for participants with an APOE Ε3/Ε4 genotype when memory test performance was not considered, but logistic regression demonstrated that a model which also considered baseline memory test performance was more predictive of AD. In the more complete model, reduced BCRT free recall scores were associated with an increased risk of AD, whereas the risk associated with the APOE Ε3/Ε4 genotype was no longer significant. Conclusions: For those with no evidence of cognitive impairment, drawn from a population-based sample of elderly persons, the APOE Ε3/Ε4 genotype was only associated with an increased risk of AD after 5 years if their memory test performance was relatively poor at baseline. Regardless of the APOE genotype, and in the absence of clinical evidence of cognitive impairment, reduced scores on a test of delayed free recall at baseline was associated with an increased risk of AD after 5 years.


The owner of a real option does not have the necessary expertise to manage the investment project and needs to contract with an expert in order to exercise the real option. The potential managers (the experts) have private information about their respective cost of investing in the project. The project owner organizes an auction in which the experts participate. The winner of the contract is the expert who can exercise the investment project at the lowest cost. The optimal contract is incentive compatible, i.e., it induces the winner to follow the investment strategy preferred by the project owner. It is shown that private information increases the project owner's cost of exercising the option, which may lead to under-investment. The inefficiency due to under-investment decreases in the number of experts participating in the auction.


ObjectivesMental disorders (MDs) are disabling complications of Parkinson disease (PD). We set out to demonstrate the short- and long-term efficacy of quetiapine, an antipsychotic drug, in controlling hallucinations and delusions in parkinsonian patients without worsening their motor function. Since current guidelines recommend that dopaminergic drugs be decreased or even withdrawn altogether upon the appearance of MDs, we also sought to establish whether quetiapine enables a modification of this common course of action, and hence improve the management of pre-existing motor complications in affected subjects. MethodThirty-five PD patients with disabling MDs were enrolled in this open-label study. Motor function, MDs and cognitive state were evaluated before starting quetiapine therapy and after 1, 3, and 12 months of treatment. ResultsMDs significantly improved after 1, 3, and 12 months of quetiapine treatment. At the end of the study the mean daily dose of quetiapine (185 mg) did not produce significant changes in motor or cognitive function. Isolated hallucinations responded to low doses of quetiapine (110 mg daily), while delusions needed 265 mg daily. After 12 months, global dopaminergic therapy was reduced in 3 patients, modified (purely in terms of its components) in 17 patients, and increased in 15 patients. ConclusionsQuetiapine was effective in the treatment of hallucinations and delusions in PD. It did not worsen motor functions and allowed the dopaminergic treatment in PD patients affected by MDs to be managed safely.


The purpose of this thesis is to increase understanding and contribute to knowledge about the attitudes and behaviour of men in contemporary France and Britain. The thesis has three main aims: firstly, to provide the first cross-national comparison of French and British writing and research on the place of men in contemporary society; secondly, to identify similarities and differences in the roles of men in France and Britain; and thirdly, to determine to what extent and in what way such similarities and differences are linked to the social structures and cultural background of each country. The thesis focuses on two main facets of the male experience: the relationship between men and women and the interaction between fathers and their children. Men's attitudes and behaviour are examined in relation to issues such as the division of household tasks and child care within the family, parental roles, female employment, role reversal, gender stereotyping and changes towards a new image of masculinity in society. Particular consideration is given to differences in governmental attitudes in France and Britain towards the introduction of family policy measures for men as fathers. The thesis ends with a discussion of legislative, social and educational measures which could be introduced in France and Britain in order to promote greater flexibility in men's roles and consequently improve gender equality in each country. The data analysed in the thesis are derived from a questionnaire-based empirical study involving 101 men in Britain and seventy-five men in France. The respondents' experience of and attitudes towards their roles in society are analysed and interpreted in the light of profile data relating to their family circumstances and with reference to knowledge about the broader socio-cultural context.


Montgomery County, Maryland, proposed to implement a vertical expansion or 'piggyback' design for the County's municipal solid waste landfill. The expansion would provide the County with an additional 20 years of disposal capacity. Initially the landfill will receive municipal solid waste, but after startup of the resource recovery facility it would receive nonprocessible and bypass waste and ash residue in separate cells. The landfill design accounted for several unique features. Due to the fast-track schedule (design and permitting in one year), it became clear that the project could not be implemented within the required time frame. A vertical ridge expansion plan, which required a permit modification, gave the landfill an additional 18 to 24 months of capacity. Since the County was actively seeking a new landfill site, the expansion design included provisions for early closure during any stage of the filling process. The vertical expansion was to be constructed upon solid waste which had been landfilled from June 1982 through approximately the end of 1990. The design addressed environmental and regulatory requirements for issues such as stability and integrity and provided a state-of-the-art landfill capable of meeting the needs of the County.


Palaeozoic rocks crop out across large areas in the Istanbul region. The Palaeozoic sequence starts with the Lower Ordovician fluviatile and lacustrine deposits (Kocatongel and Kurtkoy formations). The area was transgressed by the sea during the Late Ordovician-Early Silurian, represented by the feldspathic quartzwacke and quartz-arenites of the Kinaliada and Aydos formations. The basin became progressively deeper and more stable during the Silurian and Devonian. In this period, micaceous siltstones and sandstones of the Yayalar Formation (Upper Ordovician (?)-Lower Silurian), shelf-type carbonates of the Pelitli Formation (Lower Silurian-Lower Devonian), fossil-rich micaceous shales with rare limestone intercalations representing a low-energy open shelf environment (Pendik Formation, Lower-Middle Devonian) and nodular limestones, formed in an open shelf to slope setting (Denizli Koyu Formation, Upper Devonian-Lower Carboniferous), were deposited. Lower Carboniferous black lydites, which form horizons within the Denizli Koyu Formation, and also constitute a marker horizon at the top of the formation, imply a source with a high silica content. The basin, which was tectonically stable from the Ordovician to the beginning of the Carboniferous, became a site of turbiditic flysch deposition (Trakya Formation) and tectonically active during the Early Carboniferous. Tectonic movements in the Carboniferous-Permian period resulted in the deformation and intrusion of the Permian Sancaktepe granitoid. The Variscan deformation probably involved east-west contraction resulting in north-south-trending asymmetric folds and thrusts, which resulted in the uplift of the region, followed by the deposition of Permian (?)-Lower Triassic fluviatile red clastics over large areas.


Author(s): Streifer, Monica | Abstract: This essay provides an introduction to and interpretation of the play Norma '44 by the Italian feminist writer Dacia Maraini (1986), translated here for the first time into English. Maraini's play focuses on the story of two Jewish Italian women imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp during World War Two. Starting with the title itself, the play incorporates references to the famous bel canto opera Norma by composer Vincenzo Bellini and librettist Felice Romani (1831). The plot of Norma '44 clearly parallels the plot of the opera, but Maraini's play additionally engages with the predecessor text through a layering that is meta- and inter-textual, historical, and mythical. The characters of the play; Karl, Sara, and Lidia, directly mirror and echo the protagonists of the opera; Pollione, Norma, and Adalgisa. Not only do they interact in the present time of the play in ways that unconsciously imitate the plot of the opera, they also concurrently rehearse and stage the very same scenes from the opera. This produces an uncanny mirror-like and echo-like effect of which Maraini's protagonists become conscious of only once it is too late to change the course of the dramatic action. While the opera can be seen as the structuring device that informs the tragic action of the play, it serves as much more than just a plot device. Specifically, the opera functions in the play as a musical and cultural subtext that evokes the distinct power of the female voice and the strength of female solidarity and friendship. Although the principal events of Maraini's drama echo to some extent those of Bellini's tragic opera, Norma '44 is not merely a modern adaptation of the opera as much as a feminist take on some of its key themes. With its powerful female protagonist and matriarchal milieu, the opera by Bellini and Romani has an arguably proto-feminist orientation rare for its time, providing a compelling foundation for Maraini's contemporary work.


The distribution, stocks and fluxes of Mo were examined in a mountainous fir forest in Greece in two hydrological years. In both years, the fluxes of Mo in throughfall were lower than those in bulk deposition implying Mo retention and probably uptake by tree canopies. The Mo concentration was appreciable in soil solution but its fluxes were lower than those in throughfall. The Mo fluxes in both bulk and throughfall deposition were higher than those in litterfall, a finding that stresses the importance of the hydrological cycle for this metal. The Mo concentration in the older twigs in the standing trees were higher than the current year ones most probably due to the existence of dry deposition. The concentrations of total Mo in soils reflected the nature of the sedimentary rocks underlying the soil and increased with depth following the clay concentration gradient. The available (oxalate extractable) Mo in soils ranged from 3% to 14% of the total Mo. In terms of the stocks of Mo, the soil had by far the highest values in both total and available Mo. The needs of the fir plants for Mo uptake are covered by the available Mo in the mineral soil layers, whereas the Mo content in the organic horizon may not be adequate for this purpose.


GIS-based analyses of NOS T-sheet maps, aerial photographs, LIDAR, and RTK GPS shoreline data spanning the time period from 1857 to 2003 were conducted to quantify shoreline rate-of-change values for Figure Eight Island, North Carolina. Four zones (I, II, III, & IV) were delineated along the island to summarize variations of shoreline change trends in response inlets, storms, and anthropogenic activity. Long-term mean annual erosion rates prior to island development ranged between -4.4 to -0.8 ft/yr (±0.39 ft/yr) along zones I through III, which account for the approximately 90% of the island's shoreline, and +5.6 ft/yr (±0.96 ft/yr) along Zone IV. Subsequent to development in 1966, shoreline change rates ranged between -1.7 to +5.8 ft/yr (±0.84 ft/yr) along zones I through IV. The overall long-term mean annual erosion rate during the period from 1857 to 2003 ranged between -1.8 to -0.4 ft/yr (±0.24 ft/yr), along zones I through III, and +2.1 ft/yr (±0.36 ft/yr) along Zone IV between 1927 and 2003. Zones I and IV, adjacent to Mason Inlet and Rich Inlet respectively, are dominated by inlet processes associated with movements of the ebb channel and changes in ebb-tidal delta symmetry. Zone II is mainly impacted by a mixture of storms, tides, longshore transport, and some inlet processes. Longshore transport reversals, associated with wave refraction downdrift of Rich Inlet's ebb delta inflection point, influence Zone III. Thorough shoreline and inlet management plans are critical for mitigation against imminent beach erosion. Innovative alternatives such as ebb shoal mining might provide needed beach nourishment material, as sand resources in the offshore and backbarrier are limited. However, detailed studies are needed to establish both short- and long-term impacts of human activities on shoreline morphology.


This Article calls for the norm of free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) for indigenous peoples to be applied to deep sea mining (DSM) projects carried out in the international seabed, particularly in the Pacific region, where numerous indigenous communities stand to be directly and disproportionately impacted by this new extractive industry. Our argument, while novel, relies on core prescriptions of Part XI of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) requiring compliance with international law in general, including pertinent rules of international environmental and indigenous rights law. UNCLOS's clear parameters on the prevention of harm to the marine environment, expounded upon by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in a series of key decisions, have created a due diligence standard that is imposing ever higher duties on an increasingly wide range of actors, including in areas beyond national jurisdiction. This standard is evolving alongside a robust norm requiring the FPIC of indigenous peoples threatened by large-scale extractive activities, even if those activities are not directly carried out on indigenous land. When applied to DSM, whose exploratory stage has already resulted in an array of adverse impacts to Pacific indigenous peoples, these normative legal developments coalesce into a compelling argument for placing impacted indigenous peoples into


International human rights law recognizes the right to have one's rights and obligations adjudicated by an independent tribunal-one free from internal collusion and external manipulation. Under Canadian law, by contrast, the right to tribunal independence is watered down. Interference by the executive in administrative decision making is tolerated because the constitutionally entrenched protection of judicial independence is understood not to extend to the sphere of administrative tribunals, ordinarily viewed as instruments of governmental policy. The deference of Canadian courts to tribunals without constitutional protection for independence means that many tribunal decisions remain insulated from review by independent courts. Furthermore, even where a certain degree of protection exists, the overwhelming emphasis in Canadian administrative law on guarantees of security of tenure and financial remuneration of tribunal members leaves tribunals vulnerable to external manipulation through political influence over tribunal appointments and policy directions.In this article, the authors ask whether the Canadian norm of tribunal independence measures up to international human rights standards. The authors document and compare the content of this norm in conventional international law and Canadian law. They conclude that the protections for tribunal independence found in Canadian law likely fall short of the standards embodied in international human rights instruments and suggest ways in which Canadian law might draw inspiration from international sources.


Background . In this article the results are presented of a four part study on the effect of screening for scoliosis and (repeated) well-care visits and freely accessible consultation hours at secondary schools, on the incidence and prevalence of (para)suicide, mental health, adolescent health compromising behaviour and lastly obesity. Methods . An ecologic case-referent study design was used with data from the Netherlands Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Defence, the 1992 High-School Student Study, all of the youth health care departments in The Netherlands and relevant censuses. Results . Attention to mental and physical health and health compromising behaviour, either during screening, open consultation hours or during well-care visits seems to be ineffective and in some instances even detrimental to youth health. Of the 18 different outcome measurements, 5 were significantly negative and none were significantly positive. Conclusions . This four part study does not support the hypothesis that on a population level, the preventive activities of youth health care departments such as screening for scoliosis, (more) frequent well-care visits or offering open consultation hours at secondary schools, have a beneficial effect on prevention of (para)suicide, poor mental health, health compromising behaviour or obesity.


As the need to continuously monitor the health related parameters exist, with ease of technology through internet of things, their lies tremendous scope to use many low-power sensors on the human body to monitor things like electrocardiograph (ECG), temperature and all of the other required physiological parameters. Wearable systems are totally nonobtrusive devices that allow not only the physicians to overcome the limitations of ambulatory technology but also provide the fitness vitals to be tracked by sportsperson or a fitness freak. Wearable sensors and systems have evolved to the point that they can be considered ready for clinical application (Bonato, 2003).The large number of companies has recently started investing aggressively in the development of wearable products for clinical applications. Stable trends showing a growth in the use of this technology suggest that soon wearable systems will be part of routine clinical evaluations. This conceptual paper mainly focuses on the three important variables of consumer awareness and acceptance of Wearable Device with respect to various industry verticals and customer base. 1) number of cases where when physicians want to monitor individuals whose chronic condition includes risk of sudden acute events or individuals for whom interventions need to be assessed in the home and outdoor environment 2) Affordability status of such device 3) Consumer awareness and knowledge about its function.


In the past decade, we have witnessed enormous progress in the understanding of the genetics of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), resulting in the discovery and confirmation of 163 IBD susceptibility regions by the end of 20121–3 which is the highest number of susceptibility genes discovered for any complex disease so far. However, clinically highly relevant gene associations are still very limited, thereby also limiting the use of genetic information in the current treatment of IBD patients. The European IBDchip project4 represents a large detailed genotype-phenotype analysis of IBD patients and starts to fill the gap between IBD genetics and clinically relevant information.

This European multicentre study analysed more than 1500 patients with Crohn's disease (CD) for CD susceptibility variants, identified in the meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) by Barrett et al ,5 regarding predictors for CD outcomes such as disease localisation and disease behaviour.4 The main result of this study was the identification of NOD2 as the most important genetic predictor for ileal disease, ileal stenoses, fistula and CD-related surgery. This confirms previous reports showing particularly strong associations with ileal involvement, ileal stenosis and need for surgery in patients homozygous for the p.Leu1007fsX1008 NOD2 variant.6 ,7 An inadequate immune response to bacterial antigens in patients with mutated NOD2 gene resulting in chronic ileal inflammation seems to be the starting point for a sequel of events leading to ileal stenoses and thereby increasing the risk for fistula formation,8 finally requiring surgery.6

Janus kinase 2 ( JAK2 ) was the other gene significantly associated with ileocolonic disease involvement and stenosing disease behaviour, although the disease associations with JAK2 were weaker than that with NOD2 .4 JAK2 is a key component of the signal transduction pathway of several cytokines including interleukin (IL)-12 and IL-23 which …


A latent process involving signal transduction and gene expression is needed as a preparation step for cellular function. We previously found that nerve growth factor (NGF)-induced cell differentiation has a latent process, which is dependent on ERK activity and gene expression and required for subsequent neurite extension. A latent process can be considered as a preparation step that decodes extracellular stimulus information into cellular functions; however, molecular mechanisms of this process remain unknown. We identified Metrnl, Dclk1 and Serpinb1a as genes that are induced during the latent process (LP) with distinct temporal expression profiles and are required for subsequent neurite extension in PC12 cells. The LP genes showed distinct dependency on the duration of ERK activity, and they were also induced during the latent process of PACAP- and forskolin-induced cell differentiation. Regardless of neurotrophic factors, expression levels of the LP genes during the latent process (0–12 hours), but not phosphorylation levels of ERK, always correlated with subsequent neurite extension length (12–24 hours). Overexpression of all LP genes together, but not of each gene separately, enhanced NGF-induced neurite extension. The LP gene products showed distinct spatial localization. Thus, the LP genes appear to be the common decoders for neurite extension length regardless of neurotrophic factors, and they might function in distinct temporal and spatial manners during the latent process. Our findings provide molecular insight into the physiological meaning of the latent process as the preparation step for decoding information for future phenotypic change.


A theoretical framework has emerged recently to guide research in the teachers' use of ICT and it is the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK). Early research indicates that Blended learning is increasingly being adopted at all levels of educational system. It is considered as a way to foster engaging in interactive learning experiences. The purpose of this article was to determine the levels of ICT knowledge on e-course design through blended learning approach among science teachers of secondary schools in Yemen. The study was conducted on the sample of 60 science teacher trainees in Ibb city. The ICT knowledge scale was used based on TPACK. To analyze the data t-test was used. The findings in this study indicated that TPACK has provided a valuable tool for assessing teacher knowledge in the area of technology integration, the teachers' ICT knowledge was above average in two groups, and there is significant difference between experimental and control groups on ICT knowledge scale. Recommendations are made for future research on online collaboration activities to raise awareness of factors related to online group work and to determine the in-service training needs of teachers on ICT use to follow-up support and to ensure successful utilization of new technologies.


A significant sector of coding theory is that of comma-free coding; that is, codes which can be received without the need of a letter used for word separation. The major difficulty is in finding bounds on the maximum number of comma-free words which can inhabit a dictionary. We introduce a new class called a self-reflective comma-free dictionary and prove a series of bounds on the size of such a dictionary based upon word length and alphabet size. We also introduce other new classes such as self-swappable comma-free codes and comma-free codes in q dimensions and prove preliminary bounds for these classes. Finally, we discuss the implications and applications of combining these original concepts, including their implications for the NP-complete Post Correspondence Problem.


Desert ants of the genus Cataglyphis are skillful long-distance navigators employing a variety of visual navigational tools such as skylight compasses and landmark guidance mechanisms. However, the time during which this navigational toolkit comes into play is extremely short, as the average lifetime of a Cataglyphis forager lasts for only about 6 days. Here we show, by using immunohistochemistry, confocal microscopy, and three-dimensional reconstruction software, that even during this short period of adult life, Cataglyphis exhibits a remarkable increase in the size of its mushroom bodies, especially of the visual input region, the collar, if compared to age-matched dark-reared animals. This task-related increase rides on a much smaller age-dependent increase of the size of the mushroom bodies. Due to the variation in body size exhibited by Cataglyphis workers we use allometric analyses throughout and show that small animals exhibit considerably larger task-related increases in the sizes of their mushroom bodies than larger animals do. It is as if there were an upper limit of mushroom body size required for accomplishing the ant's navigational tasks.


The Internet of Things (IoT) is enabling ubiquitous computing with a novel design paradigm to integrate global physical objects, cyber and social spaces, and machines. It may be envisaged as a web of trillions of machines that will communicate with each other. The major enabling technologies that are giving a flying kickstart to IoT are ad hoc and wireless sensor networks, short-range wireless communications, real-time systems, low power and energy harvesting, radio frequency identification, machine type communication, resource-constrained networks, and embedded software.


I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the honor of receiving this prestigious award.
 The award has been presented to me for the "Special Issue on NIED Frontier Researches on Science and Technology for Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience 2017" of JDR Vol.12 No.5, for which I was the guest editor. I heard that this special issue has been the most downloaded over the past three years.
 NIED, to which I belong, is an institute that deals with natural disasters comprehensively. Since 2016, we have been working to become a "core organization for innovation in disaster resilience science and technology" as a new seven-year plan. Japan is a country prone to disasters, with many large-scale natural disasters occurring every year. Recent examples would be the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake, 2017 Nasu Avalanche, Northern-Kyushu Heavy Rain, 2018 Eruption of Mt. Kusatsu-Shirane, Western-Japan Heavy Rain, Hokkaido Eastern Iburi Earthquake, and 2019 Typhoon #19. We should collect "intelligence" related to natural disasters in multiple fields to reduce our disaster risk and improve our resilience.
 The Special Issue is a compilation of research results from individual fields. I am elated that the first special issue of NIED has gained such attention. NIED will continue to conduct research across multiple fields. We hope that NIED's activities will lead to collaboration with many people and that the integration of intelligence will improve disaster resilience in Japan and all over the world.


[reaction: see text] The title technique is a convenient and powerful method for directly monitoring or assaying any reaction mixture or reagent solution. Examples of some common processes (Fischer esterification, lithiation, butyllithium/THF compatibility, olefin metathesis, and a quantification assay), each interrogated in its native solvent, are presented. The spectral data are easy to acquire, and the information content makes a compelling case for routine use of No-D NMR spectroscopy.


ABSTRACT The development of non-Orthodox Jewish day schools in Los Angeles in the 1970s to 1990s can be attributed to a combination of factors, including the city's geography, the deterioration of public education, court-ordered busing that began in the 1970s, and strong rabbinic personalities. Yet, as elementary day schools proliferated throughout the city, educators struggled to keep secondary day schools afloat. Contributing factors to the challenges secondary schools faced included sprawling city geography, lack of communal support, and parental desire to send children to established high schools with proven track records for college preparation and admission.


Low back pain is the most common type of adult pain and is a leading cause of disability. While this complaint may be ubiquitous, there are many possible causes. Studies have shown that the sacroiliac joint is the cause in approximately 15% of patients with low back pain. The exact pattern is complex. Provocative physical examination maneuvers may help provide a presumptive sacroiliac joint pain diagnosis. Confirmatory diagnosis is achieved with diagnostic injection. For disabling pain that fails to respond to nonoperative treatment, surgical fusion may be necessary; different fusion approaches have been described and are presented.


This study determines the consumer's preference for different turfgrass varieties using two different stated choice methods discrete choice and best-worst methods. Results shows that the ranking of turfgrass attributes were more homogenous across states using best-worst method compared to discrete choice method. These two methods yielded similar rankings for drought tolerant and low maintenance turf, but different rankings for shade tolerant and low purchase price turf.


Kenya mainly depends on oil and hydro sources for electricity supply, however the rivers for hydropower and their tributaries are found in arid and semi-arid areas with erratic rainfall leading to frequent problems in stable delivery of electricity in the country. As for oil-based electricity generation, this is expensive and environmentally harmful. Kenya, however, has great potential for photo voltaics (PV)-based power generation since it is located near the equator and it receives plentiful insolation. PV technology is thus a viable option for electricity generation to mitigate the aforementioned electricity supply challenges, yet the exploitation of solar PV in Kenya is still limited. This working paper analyses both the potential for integration of PV into the Kenyan electricity generation mix and the sociotechnical, economic, political, and institutional and policy barriers, which limit PV integration. These barriers can be overcome with better and more robust policy regulations, additional investments in research and development, and coordination. Most noticeably, storage solutions and other elements of flexibility need to be incorporated to balance the intermittent nature of electricity generation based on solar PV.


Background. Abiraterone acetate is a potent inhibitor of cytochrome P450 17 α-hydrolase (CYP17A1) that causes a reduction in the synthesis of testosterone in the adrenal glands, testes and tumor microenvironment. Blocking androgen production, abiraterone has been shown to prolong progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) previously submitted to chemotherapy. The aim of our study was to verify the role of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in predicting clinical outcome in CRPC patients treated with abiraterone after chemotherapy.
Methods. We analyzed 48 CRPC consecutive patients treated with abiraterone after at least one chemotherapeutic regimen with docetaxel. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood and genotyped for four polymorphisms in the CYP17A1 gene (rs743572, rs10883783, rs17115100, rs284849). PFS and OS survival curves were used to identify statistical associations between haplotypes and clinical outcome.
Results. Forty-eight Caucasian patients with metastatic CRPC treated with abiraterone were genotyped for polymorphisms in the CYP17A1 gene. All samples were evaluable for both sequencing and TaqMan Genotyping assay. The CRPC patients treated with abiraterone had a median PFS and OS of 7.6 months (95% CI: 4.3-10.5) and 17.6 months (95% CI: 10.5-19.0), respectively Statistical analyses highlighted a difference approaching statistical significance (log-rank test p = 0.0534) between rs10883783 and PFS. Other polymorphisms were not associated with a benefit from treatment with abiraterone.
Conclusions. In our case series of 48 treated patients, rs10883783 only was identified as a possible predictive marker, results showing a trend toward statistical significance. Further analysis of this polymorphism is needed in larger series of patients to confirm our findings.


Abstract: This article is the product of the writer's deliberations about the impact of Poland's 1990 Bill on Schools of Higher Education using an information technology theoretical model consisting of three parts: participation, feedback and partnership. The main findings of the investigation revealed that: (1) there is wide participation in the management processes of institutions of higher education, (2) admissions to higher schools have greatly increased, and (3) private schools are not only allowed but exist in great numbers. Also, no national quality assurance mechanism exists to evaluate higher institutions even though there appears to be a need for one. Furthermore, there are advantages and disadvantages to foreign partnerships involving Polish higher schools. Introduction The aim of this paper is to weigh the impact of Poland's 1990 Bill on Schools of Higher Education making use of an information technology theoretical framework. Furthermore, it is advisable to do so because of the following changes in higher education legislation and related policies that are now being considered by the Polish government: (1) only the Ministry of National Education is to be involved in the supervision of higher schools, (2) the enlargement of "financial support for students," (3) the establishment of a government--controlled national accreditation body (the Central Accreditation Council) with powers to give recognition to higher education institutions based on quality assessments and 4) an extention of "the system of student loans" (Ministry of National Education, 2000, p. 39-40). Nevertheless, one should bear in mind that the likelihood of these changes being implemented in the near future are slim due to the fact that the Polish government has seriously reduced expenditures on higher education which in turn has forced higher institutions to take drastic measures. For example, the University of Mining and Metallurgy was closed for five consecutive days last May (May 2001) in order to save on operating costs. Poles have been interested in higher learning activities for many years--the Jagiellonian University (1364), where Copernicus studied, is their oldest university (Liwicka, 1959, p. 10). Moreover, institutions of higher education in Poland are regulated by the 1990 Bill (1 & 2) (Ustawa o Szkolnictwie Wyzszym) which is based on an 1989 report (Stachowski, 1989, chapter X), and the Minister of National Education is responsible for enforcing and establishing the particular framework for it (Article 31(1)). However, he or she must take into account the views of the Central Council of Higher Education (Rada Glowna Szkolnictwa Wyzszego) (Article 35 (2)) which is the freely elected organ consisting of representatives of the academic community (Article 36(3)). And higher education is carried out in various types of state (public) and non-state institutions such as universities, technical universities and higher pedagogical schools. Besides, a number of ministries (for example, education, agriculture and transport) are involved in its administration. Theoretical Framework (3) Since the 1980s (Byron & Glagiardi) massive changes have occurred in the area of information technology (for example, the development of the internet and CD-ROMS) which have resulted in more knowledge being available which in turn has brought about a novel style of human relationships in terms of participation, feedback and partnership. That being the case it is reasonable to judge the effectiveness of the Polish higher learning process in terms of the manner in which it adopts this different mode because "Education is not only a preparation for life; it is a development in life" (King, 1979, p. 12). (3) Higher Institutions The Bill gives full autonomy to some state institutions of higher learning and limited autonomy to others. (4,5 & 6) Also, in order for a school to have enlarged autonomy they have to engage 60 professors and half of their faculties must have the right to grant the degree of doctor habilitated (Article 12 (1). …


Impacts of the Olympic Games on the biosphere and on the communities that host them are significant. Increasing size, scope and costs, rising security concerns, cultural and environmental impacts are some of the key issues facing host cities and those cities bidding or considering bidding for the Olympic Games. One of the ideals of the Olympic Charter is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of mankind and the three pillars of the Olympic movement are sport, culture and environment. This paper examines the IOC's options for sustainability in its primary question: In what way could the International Olympic Committee (IOC) contribute to a global movement towards socio-ecological sustainability? The hypothesis that the IOC is an agent for social/cultural and environmental change is explored. The paper uses a principled definition of success for socio-ecological sustainability and presents a vision of a sustainable IOC and Olympic Movement within a sustainable society. From that vision specific IOC strategies along with past, present and short-term future actions are analysed to determine the obstacles and deficiencies in moving the IOC toward complying with scientifically relevant principles for socio-ecological sustainability. Systems thinking is used to identify obstacles and opportunities within the Olympic Movement. These obstacles and opportunities to strategically move the IOC toward sustainability are identified, analysed and discussed. The paper concludes with examples of possible actions the IOC could take to strategically move towards sustainability.


This paper presents the preliminary findings of a three-dimensional finite element (FE) model of a human knee joint which is validated with in-house experimental data. The model is a flexed knee joint consisting of tibia, femur and fibula, four major ligaments (PCL, ACL, MCL and LCL) and menisci -- all represented using hexahedral elements. Finite-sliding contact algorithm was used to allow interaction between femur and menisci. Material properties of bones, menisci and ligaments are assumed linear elastic and isotropic.

Experiment was performed using a human cadaveric knee specimen with intact soft tissues. The specimen was flexed at 70 degree to replicate jump-landing dynamics and its kinematics in response to anterior-posterior tibial load was measured. The computed knee kinematics agrees well with that of experiment. This preliminary study shows that the FE model has the potential to be a valuable tool for further analysis of knee function and the understanding of knee injury.


The application of the Human-Language Technologies (HLT) in the web arises new technological challenges. First, the web pages structure and textual content of the web sites is not comparable to the traditional domains in the textual treatment such as the news repositories. Second, the processing of big portions of the web arises a scalability problem and new challenges in the development of methodologies, techniques and algorithms of textual treatment. The project plans the application of HLT to an important problem such as the measurement of the academic visibility in the web, giving the basis of a quantitative evaluation of the universities departments' commitment in the public access to their information. Web indicators (Cybermetrics) must be developed and applied to the study of the academic websites visibility, with special focus on the presence of the Spanish language (of strategic importance) and the academic areas related to humanities (which need special help for their web positioning). First, we will determine the main web mediators of academic contents at web subdomains level. These subdomains should be crawled to unload, store and manage their web pages, so that the web pages are prepared for the automatic classication and extraction. Web subdomains should be classied under language, academic category (Humanities, Science, etc) and discipline(Philosophy, Philology, etc). Furthermore, the information necessary for creating the prole of each subdomain should be automatically extracted. All this information will be used to elaborate a prole and a description of each university department. A series of web indicators will be applied to the information of the subdomains in order to quantify their presence, visibility, impact and popularity. The resultant quantitative values will be used to make a ranking of subdomains/departments per each academic category. In the ranking the top positions will be for those departments whose commitment to the visibility of their information is the largest. The rankings, together with the criteria used in their construction, the recommendations and resources in order to improve the results, will be public available. Finally, we expect that the HLT application allow the development of new cybermetric


OBJECTIVE
To identify factors (sociodemographic, health, and social support) associated with the presence of accidental injuries in older adults living in deprived urban neighborhoods in four Mexican municipalities.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Cross-sectional survey carried out in 2004-2005, with a non-probabilistic, intentional sample of 799 male and female elderly living in deprived urban areas in four Mexican municipalities. For the statistical analysis, non-parametric tests and multivariate logistic regression models were used.

RESULTS
More than a third (37%) of the sample reported injuries; with falls being the main cause. Home was the venue where most accidents took place (52%). Risk factors for accidental injuries were: advanced age, working, greater number of illnesses, consumption of more medicines and remedies, self-perception of "poor" health , consumption of alcoholic beverages, inadequate family support and being a caretaker of others.

CONCLUSIONS
The multi-causality of accidental injuries in older adults demands the participation of all sectors of society, and particularly public health interventions.


The relation between the electronic structure of thin film nanosandwiches and bulk alloys has been investigated by means of first-principles electronic structure theory. The spin magnetization, layered projected spectral properties, and interface core-level shifts of Cu, Ni, Co, and Fe systems have been calculated. In order to compare thin films to bulk alloys, systems with equal average nearest-neighbor coordination have been compared. We find that the spin magnetization and interface core level shifts are closely related to bulk with the exception of the core level shifts in the Fe/Cu multilayers, which are more sensitive to the specific structure of the thin film geometry. The discrepancy is discussed in terms of interacting interface states in the Cu spacer. The experimental possibility of detecting embedded monolayers is also investigated. © 2005 The American Physical Society.


The "pre-collection" of tax on imputed consumption generated by owner-occupied housing plays a crucial role in both consumption tax theory and real-world tax regimes. However, even under current VAT systems with the widest tax bases, the taxation of imputed housing consumption is incomplete because pre-existing housing stock is typically not taxed when the VAT is introduced, and because housing value may appreciate after initial sale. In response, some have recommended taxing residential re-sale to capture previously untaxed consumption value. This paper argues that because the incidence of any properly-designed tax on resale will fall only on economic rent and existing assets, taxing housing resale in itself cannot produce efficiency gains. Moreover, to avoid causing distortions and be consistent with consumption tax theory, a tax on resale must be refined to ensure non-taxation of investment returns other than economic rent. The refinements are alien to normal VAT mechanisms and can no longer be viewed as embodying the "pre-collection" method. Finally, the paper highlights the difference between traditional efficiency concerns about the under-taxation of imputed income/consumption and the equity concerns that likely motivate the proponents of taxing resale. Indeed, in countries where the modern VAT is in place, the aggregate tax burden on housing consumption may be rather high, and under-taxation may not be an issue.


The mechanical properties of fluorescent microtubules (MTs) are probed with dual-optical tweezers system. The results indicate that the fluorescent MTs are much easier to be extended compared with those without fluorescence. Such MT can be extended by 30% and force for breaking up it is only several piconewtons. Furthermore, we find that the breakup of the protofilaments is not simultaneous but step-by-step. Finally, the mechanism of the breaking is discussed.


type="main"> U.S. post-war suburbanization has reshaped the spatial pattern of growth in many metropolitan areas, with population and employment shift toward the suburbs resulting in the urban decay of central cities. This being the case, the adoption of adequate anti-sprawl policies should lead to a reduction in city blight. Availability of detailed blight measures at the city level enables us to undertake a novel empirical analysis to test this hypothesis. The empirical specification presented here identifies the specific impact of more stringent anti-sprawl policies adopted at the metro level, proxied by the adoption of urban containment policies, on city blight. Results indicate that the adoption of such policies has effectively contributed to the reduction of downtown deterioration.


Among many mammals, maternal care strongly impacts infant survival; however, less is known about whether adult males also affect infant fitness. Paternal care is expected when providing care enhances offspring survival and reproduction, which likewise increases fathers' fitness. Males might also care for unrelated immature individuals to increase their mating probability with the immature individuals' mothers. Studies in multimale primate groups showed that sires enhance food access for offspring and provide protection in conflicts. Furthermore, fathers' presence during infancy has been suggested to accelerate offspring sexual maturation. However, no study has yet directly linked the degree of father-offspring bonds to offspring fitness in primates. We previously reported father-offspring affiliation in rhesus macaques, pronounced during early infancy and independent of mothers' presence. The present study aims at investigating whether affiliation with fathers or other males affects proxies of immature fitness (body mass gain, body fat and testis size). First, we combined behavioral, genetic and morphometric data from 55 subjects of one group. Second, using demographic and genetic data, we investigated for 92 individuals of the population whether mother- and father-offspring co-residence during immaturity influenced offspring lifetime reproductive success (LRS). Our results show that focal rank and higher amounts of affiliation with high-ranking males during infancy tend to positively impact body mass gain of female, but not male focal animals. In contrast, body mass gain of male focal individuals, but not females', appeared to be higher when affiliation of male immature individuals was evenly distributed across their adult male partners. Moreover, we found mothers', but not fathers', presence during immaturity to predict offspring LRS. Our results suggest that male-immature affiliation, but not father-offspring co-residence, potentially impacts proxies of immature fitness. However, future studies should investigate the underlying mechanisms of male-immature relationships and their impact on immature fitness in more detail.


Job creation is one of the most important aspects of entrepreneurship, but we know relatively little about the hiring patterns and decisions of startups. Longitudinal data from the Integrated Longitudinal Business Database (iLBD), Kauffman Firm Survey (KFS), and the Growing America through Entrepreneurship (GATE) experiment are used to provide some of the first evidence in the literature on the determinants of taking the leap from a non-employer to employer firm among startups. Several interesting patterns emerge regarding the dynamics of non-employer startups hiring their first employee. Hiring rates among the universe of non-employer startups are very low, but increase when the population of non-employers is focused on more growth-oriented businesses such as incorporated and EIN businesses. If non-employer startups hire, the bulk of hiring occurs in the first few years of existence. After this point in time relatively few non-employer startups hire an employee. Focusing on more growth- and employment-oriented startups in the KFS, we find that Asian-owned and Hispanic-owned startups have higher rates of hiring their first employee than white-owned startups. Female-owned startups are roughly 10 percentage points less likely to hire their first employee by the first, second and seventh years after startup. The education level of the owner, however, is not found to be associated with the probability of hiring an employee. Among business characteristics, we find evidence that business assets and intellectual property are associated with hiring the first employee. Using data from the largest random experiment providing entrepreneurship training in the United States ever conducted, we do not find evidence that entrepreneurship training increases the likelihood that non-employers hire their first employee.


According to the World Health Organization, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the top cause of death worldwide. In 2015, over 30% of global deaths was due to CVD, leading to over 17 million deaths, a global health burden. Of those deaths, over 7 million were caused by heart disease, and greater than 75% of deaths due to CVD were in developing countries. In the United States alone, 25% of deaths is attributed to heart disease, killing over 630,000 Americans annually. Among heart disease conditions, coronary heart disease is the most common, causing over 360,000 American deaths due to heart attacks in 2015. Thus, coronary heart disease is a public health issue. In this research paper, an enhanced deep neural network (DNN) learning was developed to aid patients and healthcare professionals and to increase the accuracy and reliability of heart disease diagnosis and prognosis in patients. The developed DNN learning model is based on a deeper multilayer perceptron architecture with regularization and dropout using deep learning. The developed DNN learning model includes a classification model based on training data and a prediction model for diagnosing new patient cases using a data set of 303 clinical instances from patients diagnosed with coronary heart disease at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. The testing results showed that the DNN classification and prediction model achieved the following results: diagnostic accuracy of 83.67%, sensitivity of 93.51%, specificity of 72.86%, precision of 79.12%, F-Score of 0.8571, area under the ROC curve of 0.8922, Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test of 66.62%, diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) of 38.65, and 95% confidence interval for the DOR test of [38.65, 110.28]. Therefore, clinical diagnoses of coronary heart disease were reliably and accurately derived from the developed DNN classification and prediction models. Thus, the models can be used to aid healthcare professionals and patients throughout the world to advance both public health and global health, especially in developing countries and resource-limited areas with fewer cardiac specialists available.


Paracaspase (MALT1), a member of an evolutionarily conserved superfamily of caspase-like proteins, has been shown to bind and colocalize with the protein Bcl10 in vitro and, because of this association, has been suggested to be involved in the CARMA1-Bcl10 pathway of antigen-induced nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) activation. We demonstrate that primary T and B lymphocytes from paracaspase-deficient mice are defective in antigen-receptor–induced NF-κB activation, cytokine production, and proliferation. Paracaspase acts downstream of Bcl10 to induce NF-κB activation and is required for the normal development of B cells, indicating that paracaspase provides the missing link between Bcl10 and activation of the IκB kinase complex.


Vulnerable populations in the United States experience disparities in access to advance care planning and may have significant unmet healthcare needs at the end of life, including unrelieved suffering. People who are homeless have increased morbidity and mortality risks, yet lack opportunities to discuss end-of-life preferences. A Doctor of Nursing Practice project consisted of designing, implementing, and evaluating an educational intervention in two settings for nurse practitioners and other clinicians on advance care planning with individuals experiencing homelessness. The intervention was associated with increased knowledge and confidence in advance care planning ability. Participants expressed positive intention to change individual practice based on learnings. Lack of time and patient discomfort with end-of-life topics were identified as barriers to changing practice regarding advance care planning. Educational interventions on advance care planning for clinicians were effective and may help to increase patient access to this important component of care. Advance care planning is a crucial antecedent to receiving patient-centered care at the end of life, particularly for vulnerable populations.


This paper presents an improved cascaded multilevel inverter (CMLI) based on a highly efficient and reliable configuration for the minimization of the leakage current. Apart from a reduced switch count, the proposed scheme has additional features of low switching and conduction losses. The proposed topology with the given pulse width modulation (PWM) technique reduces the high-frequency voltage transitions in the terminal and common-mode voltages. Avoiding high-frequency voltage transitions achieves the minimization of the leakage current and reduction in the size of electromagnetic interference filters. Furthermore, the extension of the proposed CMLI along with the PWM technique for 2m + 1 levels is also presented, where m represents the number of photovoltaic (PV) sources. The proposed PWM technique requires only a single carrier wave for all 2m + 1 levels of operation. The total harmonic distortion of the grid current for the proposed CMLI meets the requirements of IEEE 1547 standard. A comparison of the proposed CMLI with the existing PV multilevel inverter topologies is also presented in the paper. Complete details of the analysis of PV terminal and common-mode voltages of the proposed CMLI using switching function concept, simulations, and experimental results are presented in the paper.


Developing countries across the globe have always shared the misfortune of being unable to finance their proposed government expenditures using their public revenues. As a result, a budget deficit is a common feature of all underdeveloped nations, to which Bangladesh is no exception. Conventional economic notion asserts that rising gap between government's expenditure and revenue creates pressure to enhance money supply in the economy which in turn may trigger the domestic rate of inflation. In addition, monetary policy tools are also referred to be ineffective in controlling domestic inflation. Thus, the objective of the paper is to identify the causal relationships between Inflation, money supply and budget deficit in the context of Bangladesh incorporating relevant data from 1980 to 2014. Granger Causality test and Vector Error-Correction Model approach was used to identify the long-run and short-run causalities between the variables. The results coincide with the conventional economic conjecture as a unidirectional causality is found to be running from budget deficit to inflation in the short-run while no causality is found between money supply and inflation in both the short-run and the long-run.


To a large degree, the notoriously high levels of income inequality in South Africa have their roots in differential access to wage-earning opportunities in the labour market, which in turn are influenced by family background. This paper therefore investigates the role that parents' education plays in children's human capital accumulation. The study analyses patterns of educational attainment in South Africa during the period 1970-2001, asking whether intergenerational social mobility has improved. It tackles the issue in two ways, combining extensive descriptive analysis of progress in educational attainment with more a formal evaluation of intergenerational social mobility using indices constructed by Dahan and Gaviria (2001) and Behrman, Birdsall and Szekely (1998). Both types of analysis indicate that intergenerational social mobility within race groups improved over the period, with the indices suggesting that South African children are currently better able to take advantage of educational opportunities than the bulk of their peers in comparable countries. However, significant racial barriers remain in the quest to equalise educational opportunities across the board for South African children.


Dislocating Cultures takes aim at the related notions of nation, identity, and tradition to show how Western and Third World scholars have misrepresented Third World cultures and feminist agendas. Drawing attention to the political forces that have spawned, shaped, and perpetuated these misrepresentations since colonial times, Uma Narayan inspects the underlying problems which "culture" poses for the respect of difference and cross-cultural understanding. Questioning the problematic roles assigned to Third World subjects within multiculturalism, Narayan examines ways in which the flow of information across national contexts affects our understanding of issues. Dislocating Cultures contributes a philosophical perspective on areas of ongoing interest such as nationalism, post-colonial studies, and the cultural politics of debates over tradition and "westernization" in Third World contexts.


This paper examines the flow of international investment into the United States between 1998 and 2004. The impetus behind the paper was to examine the possible impact the terrorist act of September 11, 2001 (often alluded to as 9/11) may have had on foreign direct investment into the United States (defined as inward FDI). The data is reported both annually and quarterly. First, the annual data between 1998-2004 is reviewed. In looking at significant differences between the two periods, quarterly data is examined, as annual aggregation would lead to too few data points. Inward FDI is reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis by region and then by individual country. The quarter of 9/11/2001 is omitted as being the event defining quarter. In the dataset collected, there are 13 quarters pre- and post- the event quarter. At first glance, the world seems to have definitely lowered its FDI into the United States. However, further examination reveals that except for France, no other country shows a significant reduction in its investments into the United States post- 9/11, compared to their average investments pre- 9/11.


The 28th International Teletraffic Congress (ITC 28) was held on 12--16 September 2016 at the University of W\"urzburg, Germany. The conference was technically cosponsored by the IEEE Communications Society and the Information Technology Society within VDE, and in cooperation with ACM SIGCOMM. ITC 28 provided a forum for leading researchers from academia and industry to present and discuss the latest advances and developments in design, modelling, measurement, and performance evaluation of communication systems, networks, and services. The main theme of ITC 28, \emph{Digital Connected World}, reflects the evolution of communications and networking, which is continually changing the world we are living in. The technical program was composed of 37 contributed full papers, 6 short demo papers and three keynote addresses. Three workshops dedicated to timely topics were sponsored: Programmability for Cloud Networks and Applications, Quality of Experience Centric Management, Quality Engineering for a Reliable Internet of Services.
 See ITC 28 Homepage: \url{https://itc28.org/}


Most examples of cell death in animals are controlled by a genetic program that is activated within the dying cell. The apoptotic process is further regulated by a set of genes that act as repressors of cell death. Of these, bcl-2 is expressed in a variety of embryonic and postnatal tissues which suggests a critical role for bcl-2 in organogenesis and tissue homeostasis. Surprisingly, mutant mice with targeted disruption of bcl-2 appear normal at birth and complete maturation of lymphoid tissues before succumbing to fulminant lymphopenia and polycystic renal disease by 2-5 weeks of age. This suggests that there may be genes other than bcl-2 that can regulate apoptosis during development. To begin to investigate this possibility, we have cloned and characterized the murine bcl-x gene, whose human counterpart displays striking homology to bcl-2. The predicted murine bcl-xL gene product exhibits a high level of amino acid identity (97%) to its human counterpart. Just like Bcl-2, the murine bcl-xL gene product can act as a dominant inhibitor of cell death upon growth factor withdrawal. In addition, the bulk of the bcl-xL product localizes to the periphery of mitochondria as assessed by a bcl-xL-tag expression system, suggesting that both Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL proteins prevent cell death by a similar mechanism. bcl-xL is the most abundant bcl-x mRNA species expressed in embryonic and adult tissues. The levels of bcl-xL mRNA appear higher than those of bcl-2 during embryonal development and in several adult organs including bone marrow, brain, kidney and thymus. In addition to bcl-xL, we have identified another form of bcl-x mRNA, bcl-x beta, that results from an unspliced bcl-x transcript. bcl-x beta mRNA is expressed in various embryonic and postnatal tissues. Surprisingly, the expression of bcl-xS (a negative regulator of programmed cell death) was undetectable by a sensitive S1-nuclease assay and polymerase chain reaction analysis of mouse tissues. Based on its tissue and developmental patterns of expression, it appears that bcl-x may play an important role in the regulation of cell death during development and tissue homeostasis.


Within the work presented here, the demonstrator AMiCUS (Adaptive Head Motion Control for User-friendly Support) has been developed. AMiCUS senses the head motions of a tetraplegic user and uses these to control a robot arm in real-time. At first, a MEMS-based Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS) suitable for head control has been chosen (Chapter 1.2.6). Next, a solution has been proposed how to attach the AHRS to the head of a potential user to measure his head motion (Chapter 2). A control structure has been developed that enables intuitive real-time control of a robot arm in Cartesian space using the 3 input signals provided by head motion (Chapter 3–5). It has been taken into account that the Range of Motion (ROM) of a potential user can be restricted. Therefore, the control paradigm can be adapted to the individual user, using his full available ROM. Moreover, possibilities to generate control commands which can be integrated consistently into the existing control paradigm have been investigated in order to be able to turn the system on and off, and to perform switching operations using solely head motion (Chapter 6). On this basis, the first version of the demonstrator, AMiCUS α v.1, has been realized (Chapter 7). To allow safe and efficient operation, AMiCUS α v.1 provides acoustic and visual feedback to the user. Besides that, special attention has been paid to keeping the complexity of the implemented algorithms low to save resources, such as computing and battery power. The strengths and weaknesses of the system have been assessed during a user study with 25 subjects without motion limitations (Chapter 8) and 6 tetraplegics with severe motion limitations of the head (Chapter 9). Both subjective and objective target quantities have been used. It could be shown that AMiCUS α v.1 enables smooth, precise and efficient control of a robot arm to perform simple manipulation tasks. AMiCUS could reliably distinguish between direct control signals and switching commands. Furthermore, no situation has been observed which has put the operational safety to a risk. Overall, user satisfaction was high. However, there were also points of criticism. These have been taken into account during the development of the follow-up version of the demonstrator, AMiCUS α v2.0 (Chapter 10). A tetraplegic exemplarily evaluated AMiCUS α v2.0 and compared it to its previous version, AMiCUS α v1.0 (Chapter 11). The direct comparison showed that AMiCUS α v2.0 was a subjective improvement compared to AMiCUS α v1.0. Most remaining problems, such as difficulties during the imagination of gripper rotations, are likely to be solved by means of learning effects. In a semi-realistic scenario the tetraplegic had the final task to pour water from a bottle into a glass. Like the other tasks, she could also solve this task independently. Overall, the results which could be obtained using the demonstrator AMiCUS are promising. Further development into a stand-alone assistive system or into a complement of a semi-autonomous system is conceivable (Chapter 12).


Spacecraft formation flying is currently an important and thriving area of research, with plenty of unique challenges to overcome in the field of spacecraft dynamics. The guidance of the relative motion of a spacecraft formation is an area of particular interest. Many models for spacecraft formation flying exist, but all have their limitations, either in accuracy due to assumptions made in their derivation like using circular orbits or neglecting important orbit perturbations, or in computational efficiency by requiring numerical integration. This thesis presents a new set of analytical equations of motion describing the position of a follower spacecraft relative to a leader spacecraft in formation which is valid for eccentric orbits and which incorporates the so-called J2 perturbation. This set new equations is then validated for accuracy by comparison with a numerical simulator. Finally, the use of the equations for formation guidance is verified in a number of practical applications.


While vision-and-language models perform well on tasks such as visual question answering, they struggle when it comes to basic human commonsense reasoning skills. In this work, we introduce WinoGAViL: an online game of vision-and-language associations (e.g., between werewolves and a full moon), used as a dynamic evaluation benchmark. Inspired by the popular card game Codenames, a spymaster gives a textual cue related to several visual candidates, and another player tries to identify them. Human players are rewarded for creating associations that are challenging for a rival AI model but still solvable by other human players. We use the game to collect 3.5K instances, finding that they are intuitive for humans (>90% Jaccard index) but challenging for state-of-the-art AI models, where the best model (ViLT) achieves a score of 52%, succeeding mostly where the cue is visually salient. Our analysis as well as the feedback we collect from players indicate that the collected associations require diverse reasoning skills, including general knowledge, common sense, abstraction, and more. We release the dataset, the code and the interactive game, allowing future data collection that can be used to develop models with better association abilities.


The objective of this study was to examine job characteristics and home characteristics associated with negative and positive work-home interaction of employed South African females. A total of 500 females from six provinces in South Africa participated in the study. Multiple regression analyses were used to analyse the data. The results indicated that negative work-home interference (WHI) was best predicted by job demands (including pressure, overload and time demands) and a lack of job resources (including autonomy, supervisor support, instrumental support and role clarity). Three job resources predicted positive WHI, including autonomy, supervisor support and colleague support. Negative home-work interference (HWI) was best predicted by pressure and a lack of autonomy at home, while positive HWI was best predicted by the presence of home pressure, but with support at home.


Most population distribution studies have focused on a single spatial resolution scale, thus, leading to a limited representation of the "real-world". The present work, instead, proposes a "zoom lens" approach to detect and remove localized variation while retaining the general population distribution trends at multiple resolution scales. Different "focal length optics" are able to eliminate the unnecessary spatial details and filter out the underlined trend at the specified resolution. As spatial resolution scale decreases, the general trend and local variation of population distribution can be identified from the fine resolution to the national level. On the basis of smallscale analysis, it was shown that high-density population in China is roughly aligned with an oblique trend line along the Heihe–Tengchong Line, which provides a mathematical foundation for it. It was also found that the positive relationship between correlates and population distribution became more significant at the national scale. Topographic elevation has the largest negative impact on population distribution at the country level, whereas water accessibility has the largest effect on population distribution at any resolution. Furthermore, by combining the "zoom lens" approach with geographic weighted regression, the population distribution correlates (main roads, railways, live green vegetation, elevation, relief amplitude, rivers and lakes) were studied. A significant deterioration of accessibility to main roads and water in certain areas was identified at the national scale, which was not detected without "zoom lens" approach. Therefore, this study demonstrated that correlation or any other relationship may vary at different spatial scales of study.


The benefit of engaging volunteers in marine citizen science projects goes beyond generation of data and has intrinsic value with regards to community capacity-building and education. Yet, despite the documented benefits of citizen science, there can be barriers to the process of developing strategic citizen science projects and translating data into valued results with natural resource management applications. This paper presents four case-studies from fifteen years of Reef Check Australia (RCA) marine citizen science research and education projects. These case studies convey approaches and lessons-learned from the process of designing, implementing and sharing citizen science programs with the goal to create valuable social and environmental outcomes: 1) Demonstrating citizen science data quality through a precision study on data and analysis of 15 years of standardized Reef Check (RC) reef health data in Queensland, Australia. 2) Identifying and responding to data gaps through volunteer monitoring of sub-tropical rocky reefs in South East Queensland, Australia. 3) Adapting citizen science protocols to enhance capacity building, partnerships and strategic natural resource management applications through reef habitat mapping. 4) Tailoring new pathways for sharing citizen science findings and engaging volunteers with the community via a Reef Check Australia Ambassadors community outreach program. These case studies offer insights into considerations for developing targeted and flexible citizen science projects, showcasing the work of volunteers and project stakeholders, and collaborating with partners for applications beneficial to research, management and education.


This study assimilates satellite and meteorological data to monitor grain yields and CO2 fixation by developing a photosynthetic-sterility model that integrates the Asian scale of meteorological data such as solar radiation, air temperature effects on photosynthesis and the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) with a Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) VEGETATION sensor. Monitoring crop production using remotely sensed and daily meteorological data can provide an important early warning regarding poor crop production to Asian countries with their still-growing populations. Grain production monitoring would support orderly crisis management to maintain food security in Asia, which is facing climate fluctuations through this century of global warming. A decision-tree method classifies the distribution of crop fields in Asia using Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and SPOT VEGETATION data, which include the NDVI and Land Surface Water Index (LSWI). The air temperature data are available from the National Centres for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The solar radiation data are supplied by the Geostationary Meteorological Satellite (GMS) Centre and re-analysis data, by the NCEP and ECMWF. This study provides daily distributions of the photosynthesis rate, which is the CO2 fixation in Asian areas combined with the distribution of grain fields.


This study aimed at developing a new technique of vasectomy, loupe-assisted vasovasostomy and tissue sampling hoping to achieve better results for experimental studies using a rabbit model. The technique described is typically helpful for anatomists undergoing similar research on animal model. The total number of rabbits used in this study was twenty-nine male rabbits of white New Zealand breeds. The animals were anaesthetized and bilateral vasectomy was carried out by ligation of the vas deferens at two points. The ligatures were put 1 cm apart. The suture material used was 4-0 nylon nonabsorbable suture material. The segment between the two ligatures was excised and utmost care was observed to avoid damage to the blood vessels or sutures. Bilateral vasovasostomy was carried out after 16 weeks on 21 of the vasectomized animals (8 rabbits acted as control). One-layer method was adopted, using low power magnification spectacles (x 5) and non-absorbable suture material. Samples were obtained from vasovasostomized animals, under general anesthesia after, 24, 28, 32 and 36 weeks from the beginning of the experiment. The overall operation technique of loupe assisted modified one-layer technique was satisfactory and mean operation time was 70 100 minutes. The described technique is so clear that it could be adopted by other researchers intending to do similar work on vasectomy or vasovasostomy.


Objectives: To determine the cost of medicines for selected chronic illnesses and the proportion of discretionary income this would potentially displace for households with different pharmaceutical subsidy entitlements and incomes. Methods: We analysed household income and expenditure data for 9,774 households participating in two Australian surveys in 2009-10. The amount of 'discretionary' income available to households after basic living and health care expenditure was modelled for households with high pharmaceutical subsidies: pensioner and non-pensioner concessional (social security entitlements); and households with general pharmaceutical subsidies and low, middle or high incomes. We calculated the proportion of discretionary income that would be needed for medicines if one household member had diabetes or acute coronary syndrome, or if one member also had two co-existing illnesses (gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and depression, or asthma and osteoarthritis). Results: Pensioner and low income households had little discretionary income after basic living and health care expenditure (AUD$92 and $164/week, respectively). Medicines for the specified illnesses ranged from $11-$42/month for high subsidy households and $34-$186/month for low subsidy households. Costs reduced substantially once patients reached the annual pharmaceutical cap (safety net), prior to which medicine costs would displace the equivalent of 1%-10% of discretionary income for most household types. However, low income households would have to forego the equivalent of between 5%-26% of their discretionary income for between 7 and 9 months of the year before receiving additional subsidies. Conclusions: Prescription medicines for chronic conditions pose a substantial financial burden to many households, particularly those with low incomes and general pharmaceutical subsidies. Policies are needed to minimize the cost burden of prescription medicines, particularly for low-income working households.


eleed, Iss. 13 - Developments in the Smart Home sector are increasingly supporting users in their everyday lives and at home. The devices are intelligent, networked and integrated into the environment. With Intelligent Personal Assistants (IPAs), systems have recently made their way into the living room at home. However, the part of formal and informal learning with Intelligent Personal Assistants is not yet exhausted. Yet, IPAs offer an innovative approach to rethink for example classic learning methods with flashcards or partner learning. Are they feasible to support learning at home? IPAs can be used to provide knowledge and can be used for a variety of ways for assessment. This article presents an IPA using the wide-spread Amazon Echo as a realization of a virtual learning partner. Therefore, the prototype combines aspects from the domain of Intelligent Tutoring Systems and the domain of Learning Analytics with the help of a Learning Record Store (xA-PI). The presented prototype was evaluated according to the Technology Acceptance Model. The articles closes with conceivable scenarios how IPAs will be able to adapt the physical environment according to the learning goal.


The paper considers the objective of optimally specifying redundant actuators under constraints, a problem commonly referred to as control allocation. The problem is posed as a mixed /spl lscr//sub 2/-norm optimization objective and converted to a quadratic programming formulation. The implementation of an interior-point algorithm is presented. Alternative methods including fixed-point and active set methods are used to evaluate the reliability, accuracy and efficiency of the primal-dual interior-point method. While the computational load of the interior-point method is found to be greater for problems of small size, convergence to the optimal solution is also more uniform and predictable. In addition, the properties of the algorithm scale favorably with problem size.


Gene expressions measured using microarrays usually suffer from the missing value problem. However, in many data analysis methods, a complete data matrix is required. Although existing missing value imputation algorithms have shown good performance to deal with missing values, they also have their limitations. For example, some algorithms have good performance only when strong local correlation exists in data while some provide the best estimate when data is dominated by global structure. In addition, these algorithms do not take into account any biological constraint in their imputation. In this paper, we propose a set theoretic framework based on projection onto convex sets (POCS) for missing data imputation. POCS allows us to incorporate different types of a priori knowledge about missing values into the estimation process. The main idea of POCS is to formulate every piece of prior knowledge into a corresponding convex set and then use a convergence-guaranteed iterative procedure to obtain a solution in the intersection of all these sets. In this work, we design several convex sets, taking into consideration the biological characteristic of the data: the first set mainly exploit the local correlation structure among genes in microarray data, while the second set captures the global correlation structure among arrays. The third set (actually a series of sets) exploits the biological phenomenon of synchronization loss in microarray experiments. In cyclic systems, synchronization loss is a common phenomenon and we construct a series of sets based on this phenomenon for our POCS imputation algorithm. Experiments show that our algorithm can achieve a significant reduction of error compared to the KNNimpute, SVDimpute and LSimpute methods.


Stenting as a bridge to surgery (SBTS) is a relatively novel procedure, potentially useful to treat symptomatic left-sided malignant colonic obstruction. The clinical use of SBTS has been mainly suggested in advanced or non resectable tumors, in order to avoid the need for emergency surgery, thus obtaining a good palliation and, at the same time, delaying the elective major procedure. SBTS might also increase the rate of laparoscopic procedures, perhaps reducing the need of staged operations with stoma formation and possibly im-proving the quality life of patients. Aim of this review article is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the clinical use of self-expanding metallic stents (SEMS), specially in left-sided malignant colonic obstructions as a bridge to elective surgery.