CD4 CD25 (cid:1) regulatory T cells (Treg) play the critical role in maintenance of peripheral immune tolerance. However, the numbers of naturally occurring Treg (nTreg) that can be isolated from periphery are far too small to be clinically effective. The isolation and expansion of nTreg for treatment of autoimmune diseases encounter great difficulties. Whether autoantigen-specific Treg could be converted from CD4 (cid:1) CD25 (cid:2) T cells in patients with autoimmune diseases has not been reported. Here, we demonstrated that platelet glycoprotein (GP)–specific induced Treg (GP-iTreg) could be generated de novo from nonregulatoryCD4 (cid:1) CD25 (cid:2) CD45RA (cid:1) cellsin patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and induced both antigen-specific and linked suppression. GP-iTreg mediated regulatory effects via modulating the T cell– stimulatory capacity of dendritic cells. By investigating the gene expression profile of iTreg-modulated dendritic cells, we provided a genome-wide assessment of the changes induced by antigen-specific iTreg and identified that the Toll-like receptor, were related to the GP-specific tolerance, with the Toll-like receptor pathway being dominant. The findings inpatientswithidiopathicthrombocytope-nic purpura will facilitate our understanding of the mechanisms of induction and maintenance of autoantigen-specific tolerance and highlight the considerable potential of antigen-specific iTreg for targeted immunotherapy in human autoimmune diseases. (Blood. 2009;113: 2568-2577) that DCs were indispensable for facilitating iTreg in inducing GP-specific tolerance. Our results were consistent with the findings by Manavalan et al 36 that the prior interaction with CD8 (cid:1) CD28 (cid:2) suppressor T cells generated tolerogenic DCs that were competent for the induction of antigen-specific CD4 (cid:1) CD25 (cid:1) CD45RO (cid:1) iTreg.


Australia's health system is characterised by an ongoing tension between a commitment to utility and a commitment to individual rights. This tension is particularly problematic for the Australian Government when deciding which cancer medicines to add to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in order to make them cheaper for patients. This article investigates how the right to the highest attainable standard of health has influenced decisions about funding high-cost cancer medicines in Australia. It considers the value of the right to health for funders and concludes that resource allocation decisions should not be entirely informed by the right to health. It is maintained that, instead, regard should be had to the cost-effectiveness and affordability of cancer treatments before they are subsidised.


:  The depletion of ascorbic acid derivatives in fish feed during the feed processing (extrusion cooking and drying) was studied at five extrusion cooking temperatures and at 85°C for 2 h dryer processing temperature. Three ascorbic acid derivatives were used: L-ascorbyl-2-mono-phosphate Mg (APM), L-ascorbic acid sodium (AAS) and L-ascorbic acid palmitic acid ester (AAP). Samples were collected after drying and ascorbic acid derivatives losses evaluated. APM was found to be quiet stable with an average retention of 88%, but AAS and AAP were unstable and the depletion was very high.


Activity patterns and time budgets of Andean (or spectacled) bears Tremarctos ornatus were examined in a high-altitude (3000–4000 m) mixed grassland–cloud forest environment in the Apolobamba Range of northern Bolivia. Two males were captured, fitted with motion-sensitive radio-collars and monitored during 1998–1999. As with many cryptic species, Andean bears had been assumed to be nocturnal, but both bears in our study were diurnal. Activity generally began around 06:00 h (near sunrise) and lasted until 20:00–21:00 h (sunset), with reduced activity during 11:00–14:00 h. Bears rested for 1–2 h during daylight hours, generally in two or more brief periods, and slept 9–12 h at night. Few differences were observed between activity patterns or time budgets during the dry season (April–September) and rainy season (October–March). Averaged across all hours and both seasons, each bear was active 53% of the time. This level of activity was similar to that of other species of bears (generally 50–60%), suggesting either that Andean bears are well adapted to living in an environment where fibrous bromeliads constitute the bulk of their diet or that our two study bears could subsist there only because they were both small-sized individuals.


The introduction of advanced radio resource management features such as directional antennas, power control and variable data rates have been proposed to increase the performance of multihop wireless networks. In this paper we will study the combined effects of adaptive rate selection and power control in spatial time division multiple access (STDMA) networks where nodes are equipped with advanced (beamforming) antennas. In our evaluation, the rates are selected from a discrete set. To assess the optimum performance of the various techniques, joint scheduling, rate and power control is done by solving a non-linear optimization problem. The results show that variable rates schemes can significantly improve the end-to-end network throughput compared to fixed rate schemes, whereas power control adds only a limited additional gain. The latter effect becomes even more pronounced as more narrow-beam antennas are used.


The electron-boson spectral density (EBSD) function can be obtained from measured optical scattering rate by solving a generalized Allen formula, which relates the two quantities with an integral equation and is an inversion problem. Thus far, numerical approaches, such as the maximum entropy method (MEM) and the least squares fitting method, have been applied for solving the generalized Allen formula. Here, we developed a new method to obtain the EBSD functions from the optical scattering rate using a machine learning approach (MLA). We found that the MLA is more robust against random noise compared with the MEM. We applied the new developed MLA to experimentally measured optical scattering rates and obtained reliable EBSD functions in terms of their shapes including the amplitudes. We expect that the MLA can be a useful and rapid method for solving other inversion problems, which may contain random noise.


Clear-cell renal carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common type of renal cancer. The importance of oxidative stress in the context of this disease has been described, although there is only little information concerning the role of superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzymes. The importance of SOD in different pathological conditions promoted the development of SOD mimics (SODm). As such, manganese(III) porphyrins can mimic the natural SOD enzymes and scavenge different reactive oxygen species (ROS), thus modulating the cellular redox status. In this study, the exposure of 786-O human renal cancer cells to MnTnHex-2-PyP5+ (MnP), a very promising SODm, led to a concentration and time-dependent decrease in cell viability and in the cell proliferation indices, as well as to an increase in apoptosis. No relevant effects in terms of micronuclei formation were observed. Moreover, the exposure to MnP resulted in a concentration-dependent increase in intracellular ROS, presumably due to the generation of H2O2 by the inherent redox mechanisms of MnP, along with the limited ability of cancer cells to detoxify this species. Although the MnP treatment did not result in a reduction in the collective cell migration, a significant decrease in chemotactic migration was observed. Overall, these results suggest that MnP has a beneficial impact on reducing renal cancer cell viability and migration and warrant further studies regarding SODm-based therapeutic strategies against human renal cancer.


In gaming industry, Cloud Gaming is a new form of gaming service on trend trying to serve millions of players around the world with novel gaming experience. It aims to provide high-quality gaming service at any device, including thin clients which are incapable of handling high-definition gaming softwares. Players are only required to use any device that can connect to cloud servers for receiving streaming data through network and display game contents. Ideally Cloud Gaming is a promising service of providing novel gaming experience but in reality, various technological barriers make Cloud Gaming not comprehensively feasible for every type of game, such as first person shooting game which requires fast responsiveness. In addition, most existing cloud service, which streams encoded video sequence back to the client, is difficult to catch up with the rising demands for graphic quality. In this paper, the proposed hybrid game contents streaming method aims at improving graphic quality delivered from Cloud Gaming. Game contents streamed from cloud server are split into two parts, as one part is streamed as video sequence. Another part, which is streamed as graphic commands, is for rendering job to be performed at the client side. The locally rendered game contents are then displayed accordingly together with the contents streamed as video sequence. By taking the advantage of distributing rendering operation, the combined computing power is expected to produce better graphic quality.


Naturally, progesterone in ruminant is mainly produced by corpus luteum and it is reponsible for maintaining pregnancy, and affecting udder development and milk production. Exogenous progesterone treatment is expected to give similar positive effect on milk production as the endogenous progesterone does. Fourty mature Etawa grade (PE) does were synchronized for oestrus using Controlled Internal Drug Release (CIDR) followed by natural mating. Does then were treated with CIDR intravaginally, as a source of exogenous progesterone, at day 15-75 after mating (Group A), day 75-135 after mating (Group B), and without exogenous progesterone treatment (Control). Blood samples were taken before and after exogenous progesterone treatment for determination of progesterone concentrations. Soon after birth, kids were separated from their respective dams and they were milk fed through milk bottle. Feed consumption and milk production were measured daily, while bodyweight was measured forthnightly. Results showed that response of does following exogenous progesterone treatment was not expressed by an increase in progesterone concentration in the blood plasm. However, treatment group showed kid with birthweight of 10-13% higher compared to Control Group. In relation to milk yield, birthweight and pre-weaning growth of kids, the positive responses of exogenous progesterone treatment were not significant, though there was a substantial decrease (71.2%) in pre-weaning kid's mortality. Key Words : Oestrous Synchronization, Progesterone, Milk, Etawa Goat


Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is an important group of tropical root crops; it is produced and consumed as a staple food by about 400 million people. The average yields obtained from this crop are below the potentials of the crop – due to various constraints but majorly poor quality of plantable setts, and field diseases. In addition, existing taro breeding programmes are constrained by a narrow genetic base and lack of knowledge of the genetic diversity in the species. As a result, there is limited knowledge on additional sources of disease resistance and information on the potential agronomic value of genotypes. This study aimed to develop a simple and low cost medium for in vitro micro-propagation of taro. Furthermore, genetic diversity of Taro from Eastern Kenya was elucidated using microsatellite markers. Four simple sequence repeat primers were used which generated 19 markers out of which 7 were polymorphic. The number of polymorphic products ranged from 1 to 3 and sizes from 250 kb to 1550 kb. Percent polymorphism ranged from 33% to 42.85%. AMOVA results showed significant genetic difference within population (79 %, P< 0.001) but among population it was low (21 %, P< 0.001. For micro-propagation, three media low cost substitutes for Murashige and Skoog salts were tested. Omex foliar feed 24-24-18 + trace elements from Murphy Chemicals (E.A) Limited – a complete substitute for MS salts since it contains both macronutrients and micronutrients. The second treatment consisted of Stanes micronutrients from Osho Chemicals Limited while macronutrients came from low cost alternatives in the market that are used as fertilizers available in agrovet shops. The other treatment consisted of microfood® horticulture from Osho East Africa as source of micronutrients while macronutrients came from low cost alternatives in the market. The shoot generation was significant for low cost media 1 on Eddoe variety and low cost media 2 for Wild variety but control on all varieties of low cost media 3 there was no significance. The height was significant with control having 5.83±014 cm, low cost media1 2.7±0.10 cm, Low cost media2 3.31±0.09 cm and Low cost media3 4.6±012 cm. When the number of roots was considered then there was no significance between the treatments of Naphthalene Acetic Acid and those that Citishooter was used as rooting hormone. The plants regenerated were of the same morphology and vigour and therefore this protocol can be used to propagate taro plants similar those of conventional media. Data from the present work indicate that biotechnological interventions such as tissue culture and molecular marker assisted genetic characterisation in combination provide a unique and powerful tool to improve taro germplasm.


Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA

Background: Copanlisib is a novel pan-Class I phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor with potent preclinical inhibitory activity against both PI3K-δ and PI3K-α isoforms. A phase II study of copanlisib in patients with relapsed/refractory indolent or aggressive lymphoma reported a promising overall response rate of up to 53% for patients in the indolent NHL group (Dreyling et al., ENA 2014). The objective of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of copanlisib in patients with indolent B-cell NHL relapsed after or refractory to standard therapy.

Methods: In this study, patients meeting the following criteria will be eligible for enrollment: histologically confirmed diagnosis of indolent B-cell NHL, with follicular lymphoma (FL) grade 1-2-3a, marginal zone lymphoma (MZL; splenic, nodal, or extra-nodal), small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) with absolute lymphocyte count < 5 × 109/L at the time of diagnosis and at study entry, or lymphoplasmacytoid lymphoma/Waldenstrom macroglobulinemia (LPL/WM), and who have previously received ≥ 2 prior lines of therapy with rituximab and an alkylating agent and must be refractory to the last treatment with rituximab (refractory defined as not responding or progressing within 6 months of the last course of treatment). Patients will be randomized in 2:1 manner to receive 60 mg of copanlisib administered intravenously on days 1, 8 and 15 of a 28-day cycle or placebo administered on the same schedule. Patients will be treated until disease progression or intolerable toxicity. Patients in the placebo arm will be allowed to cross-over to receive follow-up treatment with copanlisib, after confirmed disease progression. Dose reductions due to toxicities to 45 mg and 30 mg will be allowed. Radiologic tumor assessment will be performed every 12, 16 or 24 weeks for years 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The primary endpoint will be progression-free survival (PFS). Secondary objectives include overall objective response rate (ORR), duration of response (DOR), time to progression (TTP), complete response rate (CRR), overall survival (OS), time to deterioration as well as time to improvement in disease-related symptoms. Exploratory objectives will include secondary PFS after first progression in placebo-treated patients who cross over to receive copanlisib and time to improvement and the time to deterioration in disease-related symptoms-physical (DRS-P) of at least 3 points as measured by the FLymSI-18 questionnaire. Approximately 189 patients who meet the eligibility criteria will be randomized 2:1, with approximately 126 patients in the copanlisib monotherapy arm and approximately 63 patients in placebo arm. The study is planned to detect a 132% increase in median PFS in copanlisib versus placebo (i.e. to detect a hazard ratio of 0.43), using a stratified log-rank test.

Citation Format: Grzegorz S. Nowakowski, Igor Gorbatchevsky, Florian Hiemeyer, Lisa Cupit, Barrett H. Childs. CHRONOS-2: A randomized, double-blind phase III study of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase alpha/delta inhibitor copanlisib versus placebo in patients with rituximab-refractory indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (iNHL). [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr CT212. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-CT212


Abstract The out-of-hospital setting is unique to health care and presents many challenges to providing safe, high-quality medical care in emergency situations. The challenges of the prehospital environment require thoughtful design of systems and processes of care. The unique challenges of ambulance safety may be met by analyzing systems and incorporating process improvements. The purposes of this paper are to 1) outline the nature of this problem, 2) introduce a framework for this discussion, 3) provide expert opinion from a two-day ambulance safety conference, and 4) propose a plan of action to address the safety issues identified in the literature and expert opinion at the conference. Utilizing the Haddon Matrix as a framework, we present the safety issues and proposed solutions for factors contributing to an injury event in the emergency medical services (EMS) transport environment: host, agent, physical environment, and social environment. Host refers to the person or persons at risk, in this case, the EMS personnel or the patient. The agent of injury refers to the energy exerted during the course of an injury, and may be modified to include unrestrained equipment that contributes to the injury. The physical environment refers to the characteristics of the setting in which the injury takes place, such as the roadway or the physical design of the ambulance. Finally, the social environment refers to the social, legal, and cultural norms and practices in the society, such as peer pressure and a culture that discourages the use of safety equipment.


Although surgical removal is generally regarded as the management strategy of choice for acoustic tumors, there remains a small group of patients usually with small or intracanalicular tumors in whom nonoperative management may be a desirable alternative to operation. The authors present a series of six such cases and discuss criteria that may aid in the selection of patients suitable for initial nonoperative management.


Recent times have seen the introduction of small spherical arrays whose usefulness as sound intensity probes is the focus of this paper. The presented probe consists of a spherical shell, 30 mm in diameter, housing four 14 in. microphones arranged in a regular tetrahedral configuration. Classical formulae may be used to estimate the sound intensity vector, as may methods based on spherical harmonics decomposition. Results are shown to be comparable to those obtained from classical sound intensity probes. The existence of an analytical model for a plane wave's diffraction about a sphere provides a means for adopting common optimization techniques for potentially improving the intensity vector estimate, however. This paper examines the validity of non-linear least squares optimization in conjunction with the proposed spherical sound intensity probe when placed in the following sound fields: (1) a simple plane wave; (2) a plane wave corrupted by noise; and (3) multiple incident plane waves. Under certain conditions, the probe is shown to greatly extend the operational frequency range of classical sound intensity probes. The optimization algorithm is found to lack robustness against deviations from plane wave conditions, however.


Abstract Norm research continually informs our understanding of the relationships between societies and natural resources. This research note presents an operationalization of descriptive beliefs within the return potential model (RPM) framework. We observed significant differences between a traditional RPM measure of approval and a descriptive measure of commonness in the context of boaters' aquatic invasive species mitigation behaviors. These results provide empirical evidence of two normative belief dimensions manifesting with different structure and characteristics within the same natural resources setting. The implications of these results are twofold: (1) they demonstrate the utility and added value of an RPM that conceptualizes and operationalizes multiple normative belief dimensions and (2) provide researchers and managers with a methodology that is complementary to established methods but improves the comprehensiveness of applied norm research within natural resource settings.


This study aimed to investigate the difference in the prevalence, severity, and risk factors of dysmenorrhea between Japanese female athletes and non-athletes in universities. The participants were 18 to 30 years old with no history of a previous pregnancy and/or childbirth. After application of the exclusion criteria, the cohort comprised 605 athletes and 295 non-athletes. An anonymous questionnaire, which included self-reported information on age, height, weight, age at menarche, menstrual cycle days, menstrual duration, dysmenorrhea severity, sleeping hours, dietary habits, exercise habits, training hours, and competition level was administered. Compared with athletes, non-athletes had a higher prevalence of dysmenorrhea (85.6% in athletes, 90.5% in non-athletes, p < 0.05); non-athletes also demonstrated increased severity (none/mild 27.8%, moderate 19.3%, and severe 52.9% in athletes; none/mild 21.2%, moderate 17.2%, and severe 61.6% in non-athletes; p < 0.05). Factors related to severe dysmenorrhea in athletes included long training hours, early menarche, and prolonged menstrual periods. In non-athletes, short menstrual cycle days and extended menstrual periods were related to severe dysmenorrhea. The prevalence and severity of dysmenorrhea were higher among non-athletes than among athletes; different factors were related to severe dysmenorrhea in these two groups. Thus, different strategies are necessary to manage dysmenorrhea for athletes and non-athletes in universities.


The Visual Fields: A Textbook and Atlas of Clinical Perimetry. By David 0. Harrington, A.B., M.D., F.A.C.S. (Pp. 327; illustrated. £6.) London: Henry Kimpton. 1957. Of recent years the science of clinical perimetry has been enriched by two good books in English literature-the new edition of Traquair's classical volume (the first to set the standard for all subsequent writing) by George Scott written primarily from the ophthalmological point of view, and that of Brodie Hughes written primarily from the neurological point of view. From America has appeared a companion volume by David Harrington, of California, an acknowledged authority on this subject, to which he has made several original contributions. Knowing the author, one would expect the book to be good; in view of his long and close association with neurology and neurosurgery and his ophthalmological pupillage under Traquair, one would expect it to be complete; and one is not disappointed, for the book is excellent. The first part-on the technique of the examination of the visual fields-is unusually interesting because of the lucid presentation of new methods. Simple and often indispensable methods are not forgotten, such as confrontation and the use of the standard perimeter and screen; in addition, a clear and balanced exposition is given of such special techniques as angioscotometry, the testing of the fields with ultra-violet light and fluorescent test-objects (extremely valuable, since by this method all extraneous stimuli can be eliminated), the method of simultaneous double stimulation for eliciting the extinction phenomenon, flicker fusion fields, the multiple-pattern method (a technique introduced by the author), and so on. The following sections on the anatomy and vascularization of the visual pathways are equally good, and are particularly characterized by the clarity and originality of the illustrations. The main part of the book details the abnormalities found in the visual fields in ocular and central nervous disease and psychogenic disturbances, each condition being clearly illustrated with descriptions of clinical cases. It is a manual which will certainly be of value to every ophthalmologist and neurologist, and is undoubtedly an asset to the literature. Every luxury-in typography and pictorial artistryhas been expended on the publication-a circumstance which no doubt accounts for its somewhat high cost.


ABSTRACT Uranium–lead age patterns of detrital zircons in Otago Schist meta-sandstones from eastern Otago, including areas of orogenic gold mineralisation, are mostly consistent with a Rakaia Terrane (Torlesse Composite Terrane) accretionary wedge protolith. Southwest of the Hyde-Macraes and Rise & Shine shear zones the depositional age is regarded as Middle–Late Triassic. At the south and west margins, there are two areas in the Late Triassic Waipapa Terrane protolith. Northeast of the Hyde-Macraes Shear Zone, the schist protolith has Middle to Late Triassic and middle to late Permian depositional ages of Rakaia Terrane affinity. At the northeastern margin of the Hyde-Macraes Shear Zone, there is a narrow strip with a mid-Carboniferous protolith, which may be a counterpart of the Carboniferous accretionary wedge in the New England Orogen, eastern Australia. Ordovician–Silurian zircons are a minor but distinctive feature in many of the protolith age patterns and form significant age components at hard-rock gold locations. These constrain the provenance of Rakaia Terrane protolith sediments to Late Triassic time and within the Permian–Triassic magmatic arcs at the northeastern Australian continental margin and partly within the Ordovician–Silurian granitoids of the Charters Towers Province hinterland and environs. The latter have extensive gold mineralisation and thus upon exhumation might be the origin of Otago gold.


Purpose Prostate cancer and its treatment may affect patients' sexual function and social wellbeing. This study investigated the relationship between social/family wellbeing and sexual health in patients with prostate cancer. Additionally, the moderating effect of clinical characteristics on this relationship was also explored. Patients and Methods This is a descriptive correlational study using baseline data of a longitudinal study enrolling 137 patients with prostate cancer. Sexual Function (SF) and Sexual Function Distress (SFD) data were collected using the Symptom Index questionnaire. Demographic data were obtained during study intake and clinical data were obtained from chart review. Bivariate correlation determined the correlations among continuous demographic/clinical data, social/family wellbeing, and sexual health. Moderated regression analysis determined the moderating effects of clinical characteristics on the relationship of social/family wellbeing and sexual health. Results Moderate positive correlation was found between social/family wellbeing and SF, whereas a weak negative correlation was noted between social/family wellbeing and SFD. Depression was significantly correlated with social/family wellbeing and SFD. Both sexual health domains were significantly correlated with Gleason score. A significant difference was noted in the social/family wellbeing and both SF and SFD in participants receiving androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) compared to those not receiving ADT. Concomitant ADT use was the only clinical characteristic found to be a significant moderator of the relationship between social/family wellbeing and SFD, but none of the clinical characteristics was found to have a moderating effect on the relationship of social/family wellbeing and SF. Among patients who were not receiving ADT, high social/family wellbeing was associated with low SFD. Patients who were receiving ADT reported slightly higher SFD despite having higher social/family wellbeing. Conclusion Ensuring sexual health in patients with prostate cancer requires a comprehensive approach to address factors contributing to sexual health such as side effects of treatment and family wellbeing.


SUMMARY A membrane-bound monoamine oxidase (EC 188.8.131.52) was demonstrated in homogenates of Hymenolepis diminuta. The enzyme oxidized a variety of biologically active amines (in decreasing order: dopamine, adrenaline, noradrenaline, tryptamine, tyramine, octopamine), there was, however, no activity with 5-hydroxytryptamine or benzylamine. No diamine oxidase (EC 18.104.22.168) could be detected in H. diminuta (using histamine, cadaverine or putrescine as substrates). The monoamine oxidase from H. diminuta was not inhibited by azide, hydroxylamine or semicarbazide, but was inhibited by cupferron, α-α dipyridyl and iodoacetamide, and by the specific monoamine oxidase inhibitors pargyline, nialamide and iproniazid. Several anthelmintics were also found to be inhibitors of monoamine oxidase. The possible roles of monoamine oxidase in H. diminuta are discussed.


Tungsten oxide (WO3) nanorods were grown on pure-graphene (P-graphene) nanosheets using a template-free and surfactant-less hydrothermal process at 200 °C. The synthesis and purity of the synthesized WO3 nanorods-graphene nanostructure was confirmed by UV-vis diffuse reflectance measurements, photoluminescence spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results showed that WO3 nanorods were well distributed over the graphene nanosheets. The photocatalytic activity of the WO3 nanorods–graphene nanostructure was tested for the photocatalytic degradation of the organic model pollutant dye under visible light irradiation. The photocapacitance performance of the as-prepared nanostructure was examined by cyclic voltammetry. The superior photocapacitive and photocatalytic performances of the WO3 nanorods–graphene nanostructure were observed which was mainly attributed to the combination of WO3 nanorods with graphene nanosheets. WO3 nanorods themselves have photocatalytic properties but the overall performance of the WO3 nanorods–graphene nanostructure was significantly improved when WO3 nanorods were combined with the graphene nanosheets because of the fascinating properties such as high mobility of charge carriers and unique transport performance of graphene nanosheets. The robust nanocomposite structure, better conductivity, large surface area, and good flexibility of the WO3 nanorods–graphene nanostructure appears to be responsible for the enhanced performances. This methodology and the highlighted results open up new ways of obtaining photoactive WO3 nanorods–graphene nanostructure for potential practical applications such as visible light-induced photocatalysis and photocapacitive studies.


The French Mandate authorities in Greater Lebanon formally recognized the Ja'fari madhhab in January 1926. As a result, state-led shari'a courts in Beirut, South Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, the Lebanese Ja'fari court, were authorized to adjudicate matters of personal status—marriage, divorce, nafaqa, inheritance and property. As the first Lebanese Shi'i institution to enjoy communal autonomy granted by the state, the records from the Ja'fari courts provide insight into the everyday life-worlds of ordinary Shi'i Muslims in Lebanon during a period of gradual social change. Through a close reading of some unique cases—dealing with inheritance, maslaha and zinā—this article invites a consideration of how both the bureaucratization and practice of Shi'i law in these courts were central to the institutionalization of a new kind of Shi'i sectarianism in Mandate-era Lebanon.


This paper introduces a new application: predicting the Internet providercustomer market. We cast the problem in the collaborative filtering framework, where we use current and past customer-provider relationships to compute for each Internet customer a ranking of potential future service providers. Furthermore, for each Internet service provider (ISP), we rank potential future customers. We develop a novel iterative ranking algorithm that draws inspiration from several sources, including collaborative filtering, webpage ranking, and kernel methods. Further analysis of our algorithm shows that it can be formulated in terms of an affine eigenvalue problem. Experiments on the actual Internet customer-provider data show promising results.


The decay and growth of an ultrasonic pulse and the associated trailing pulses as they pass down a solid cylindrical waveguide are calculated in terms of the dimensions of the cylinder and the elastic constants of its material. The results are compared with experiments in cylinders with diameters in the range 6-20 mm at a frequency of 2.5 MHz.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of response latency in discrimination of chemical stimuli by geniculate ganglion neurons in the rat. Accordingly, we recorded single-cell 5-s responses from geniculate ganglion neurons (n = 47) simultaneously with stimulus-evoked summated potentials (electrogustogram; EGG) from the anterior tongue to signal when the stimulus contacted the lingual epithelium. Artificial saliva served as the rinse solution and solvent for all stimuli [(0.5 M sucrose, 0.03-0.5 M NaCl, 0.01 M citric acid, and 0.02 M quinine hydrochloride (QHCl)], 0.1 M KCl as well as for 0.1 M NaCl +1 μM benzamil. Cluster analysis separated neurons into four groups (sucrose specialists, NaCl specialists, NaCl/QHCl generalists and acid generalists). Artificial saliva elevated spontaneous firing rate and response frequency of all neurons. As a rule, geniculate ganglion neurons responded with the highest frequency and shortest latency to their best stimulus with acid generalist the only exception. For specialist neurons and NaCl/QHCl generalists, the average response latency to the best stimulus was two to four times shorter than the latency to secondary stimuli. For NaCl-specialist neurons, response frequency increased and response latency decreased systematically with increasing NaCl concentration; benzamil significantly decreased NaCl response frequency and increased response latency. Acid-generalist neurons had the highest spontaneous firing rate and were the only group that responded consistently to citric acid and KCl. For many acid generalists, a citric-acid-evoked inhibition preceded robust excitation. We conclude that response latency may be an informative coding signal for peripheral chemosensory neurons.


Polemics over the management of State Owned Enterprises in various parts of the world, which are full of inefficiency and expropriation by politicians, have prompted major reforms, both in terms of ownership structure and the implementation of good corporate governance. It is hoped that with these reforms, the governance of State Owned Enterprises will become more efficient and transparent. However, the reform of State Owned Enterprises through changes in ownership structure without removing the burden of policy actually makes the privatized State Owned Enterprises perform worse due to being trapped in the soft budget syndrome. Thus, the reform of State Owned Enterprises actually invites a lot of skepticism in several countries. Therefore, this study examines the previous literature that presents empirical and theoretical facts regarding the management of State Owned Enterprises around the world. Based on the previous literature review, State Owned Enterprise reform will be nil if it is not followed by removing the burden of policy. The burden of the policy will be a hindrance for State Owned Enterprises in carrying out efficiency so that State Owned Enterprises will find it difficult to compete with private companies in the market and tend to rely on subsidies or capital assistance from the government to survive.
 Keywords :State Owned Enterprise, Policy, reformation


So far, the Left Hemisphere (LH) bias in color Categorical Perception
(CP) has been related to the linguistic nature of the LH and converging
evidence to support this hypothesis has been presented in several studies. As,
to date, no evidence of lateralized CP has been shown on right-to-left readers
in support of this theory. However, the influence of reading habits to
perception has been shown in various studies. This study aimed to investigate
the possible effect of habitual scanning on lateralization of color CP, by
comparing participants from two languages who vary in their reading direction:
right-to-left in Arabic and left-to-right in English. Lateralization of CP was
then tested in two groups of Arabic and English. The Arabic group consisted of
35 undergraduate students at King Saud University. The English group consisted
of 29 native English-speakers who were undergraduate students of Surrey University.
Their ages range from 18 to 30 years. Two tasks were used to test this
hypothesis: a visual search task with a reaction time measure; and a target
detection task with eye-movement measure. Both samples performed similarly and
the pattern of lateralization has been replicated, but this time, it has also
been shown that the effect is independent of habitual reading direction. It
appears that reading direction has no effect on how color CP is lateralized.


It was analyzed the results of treatment of 217 patients (139 men, 78 women) with chronic liver failure in case of liver cirrhosis of various etiology for study of degree of hepatic encephalopathyregression. All patients were divided into 3 groups. In the first group the drug therapy was used. In the second group additionallyplasma exchange was performed, in the third group - alsomolecular absorbent recirculating system was used (effectiveness of MARS-therapy).The results showed that the use of extracorporeal treatment techniques can effectively reduce the severity of hepatic encephalopathy in patients with liver cirrhosis. MARS-therapy improved the neurological status of patientsmore significantly in this case. It is considered that the inclusion of MARS-therapy in the combined treatment of patients leads to a significant reduction of hepatic encephalopathyseverity (1-2 points), in comparison with other methods of treatment.


Since the 1960s, Spanish law schools have educated lawyers who have assisted in the opening of the national economy and helped develop successful international law firms in Spain based on the Anglo-American model. Yet until recently, little of the dynamism reflected in the Spanish economy and, more directly, in the legal profession, was evident in law school methods or curriculum. This article presents a view of the Spanish legal profession and its relationship to the legal educational system. It begins with an overview of changes in the Spanish legal market over the past few decades. Then it explains the state of law schools in Spain, which for the most part have not kept pace with this changing market. A notable exception is described, as well as the recent adoption of the "Bologna process," which has the potential to encourage change in Spanish law schools. The article then presents short testimonials from Spanish law graduates from five different decades as to the role their legal education played in their respective professional successes.


: Carbon-based materials have shown huge potential in various adsorption based applications e.g. water and wastewater treatment. In addition, these are successfully utilized for various (methanol-, ethanol-, and ammonia-based) closed-cycle adsorption heat pump systems. Significance of polymers is also well-known in drug/medical industry, and therefore extensively studied for various aspects of adsorption. The study comprises two kinds of polymer and carbon-based materials for potential air-conditioning applications. Water vapor adsorption comparison has been made among polymer, carbon-based and conventional hydrophilic adsorbent i.e. silica-gel. The size of desiccant unit in desiccant air-conditioning (DAC) system has been determined and compared accordingly. Results showed that polymer sorbent (PS-II) can reduce the desiccant unit size (in the DAC system) by 2-3 times as compare to conventional silica-gel under particular conditions while utilizing it intelligently.


The larvae of Anisakis simplex had the largest influence upon decreasing the activity of porcine pepsin. The activity of that enzyme in tests, where the larvae were present during the entire period of incubation, was lower than in the controls. No similar trends were observed in case of the solutions with bovine and porcine trypsin. The activity of those enzymes in the solutions containing the larvae was higher than in the controls. Only the activity of porcine trypsin after 10 h of incubation was slightly lower in the experimental sample than in the control, however, during the later hours the dynamics of the activity decrease of that enzyme in the controls was higher than in the experimental samples. The recorded activity of papain in the samples containing the larvae was higher than that in the controls during the entire time of the experiment.


Large scale / mega projects are lengthy complex endeavors that require significant planning by management, engineers and construction personnel to ensure the success of the project. When we examine the state of mega projects today, we are faced with a real crisis. Companies, both client and contractor, are reporting significant cost and schedule overruns. Lack of project scope definition and planning are the primary characteristics of this problem. Computer simulation is a powerful tool for analyzing complex and dynamic scenarios. It provides an appealing approach for the analysis of repetitive processes. Simulation helps decision makers identify different possible options by analyzing enormous amounts of data. Hence, computer simulation can be used effectively to analyze the resource loading and manpower requirements needed to complete a task in a given time frame, based on current progress levels. This paper discusses a specialpurpose simulation (SPS) tool for optimization of manpower forecast loading and resource leveling. The simulation model is capable of optimizing resource requirements for a petrochemical project, based on standard discipline requirements and involvements. Tests of this simulation tool have produced exceptional results; currently, the system is being modified to incorporate historical data within the simulation.


This study tests the effects of psychological contract breach on several employee outcomes: workplace deviant behaviours directed at the organization (WD-O) and its organizational members (WD-I), in-role performance, and organizational citizenship behaviours directed at the organization (OCB-O) and its co-workers (OCB-I). It also examines the moderating effects of equity sensitivity in the relationship between breach and these outcomes. Data were collected from 162 sales executives and their direct supervisors. We found that breach was related to all behavioural outcomes. Equity sensitivity and breach also interacted in predicting OCB-I, OCB-O and WD-I. The negative relationships between breach and OCB-O and OCB-I were stronger for employees with an outcome-focused approach to organizational relationships than for those with an input-focused approach. In addition, breach had stronger positive effects on WD-I especially for those individuals who are output-oriented compared to those who are input-focused.


A development of the optical model for the description of hadron-nucleus scattering is proposed. When describing the behaviour of observables for elastic proton scattering from 40Ca nuclei at the energy of 200 MeV the second Born approximation is used. Analytical expressions for the scattering amplitudes as well as for the differential cross section and polarization observables were obtained. The observables calculated in this approach are in reasonable agreement with the available experimental data.


A battery comprising a fluid consuming cell comprising:
a cell housing including a first housing component and a second housing component,
a first fluid consuming electrode,
a second electrode, and
a separator disposed between the first and second electrodes;
and
a fluid regulating system comprising:
a valve including a first plate having a plurality of apertures and a moveable second plate having a plurality of apertures that correspond in size, shape, number and position to the apertures formed in the first plate,
a chassis having an annular body portion with an opening in which the second plate is disposed such that the apertures of the second plate may be moved into and out of alignment with the apertures of the first plate to open and close the valve, and
an actuator to actuate the valve.


In the online world, Machine Translation (MT) systems are extensively used to translate User-Generated Text (UGT) such as reviews, tweets, and social media posts, where the main message is often the author's positive or negative attitude towards the topic of the text. However, MT systems still lack accuracy in some low-resource languages and sometimes make critical translation errors that completely flip the sentiment polarity of the target word or phrase and hence delivers a wrong affect message. This is particularly noticeable in texts that do not follow common lexico-grammatical standards such as the dialectical Arabic (DA) used on online platforms. In this research, we aim to improve the translation of sentiment in UGT written in the dialectical versions of the Arabic language to English. Given the scarcity of gold-standard parallel data for DA-EN in the UGT domain, we introduce a semi-supervised approach that exploits both monolingual and parallel data for training an NMT system initialised by a cross-lingual language model trained with supervised and unsupervised modeling objectives. We assess the accuracy of sentiment translation by our proposed system through a numerical 'sentiment-closeness' measure as well as human evaluation. We will show that our semi-supervised MT system can significantly help with correcting sentiment errors detected in the online translation of dialectical Arabic UGT.


Context. Shocks produced by outflows from young stars are often observed as bow-shaped structures in which the H 2 line strength and morphology are characteristic of the physical and chemical environments and the velocity of the impact. Aims. We present a 3D model of interstellar bow shocks propagating in a homogeneous molecular medium with a uniform magnetic field. The model enables us to estimate the shock conditions in observed flows. As an example, we show how the model can reproduce rovibrational H 2 observations of a bow shock in OMC1. Methods. The 3D model is constructed by associating a planar shock with every point on a 3D bow skeleton. The planar shocks are modelled with a highly sophisticated chemical reaction network that is essential for predicting accurate shock widths and line emissions. The shock conditions vary along the bow surface and determine the shock type, the local thickness, and brightness of the bow shell. The motion of the cooling gas parallel to the bow surface is also considered. The bow shock can move at an arbitrary inclination to the magnetic field and to the observer, and we model the projected morphology and radial velocity distribution in the plane-of-sky. Results. The morphology of a bow shock is highly dependent on the orientation of the magnetic field and the inclination of the flow. Bow shocks can appear in many different guises and do not necessarily show a characteristic bow shape. The ratio of the H 2 v = 2―1 S(1) line to the v = 1-0 S(1) line is variable across the flow and the spatial offset between the peaks of the lines may be used to estimate the inclination of the flow. The radial velocity comes to a maximum behind the apparent apex of the bow shock when the flow is seen at an inclination different from face-on. Under certain circumstances the radial velocity of an expanding bow shock can show the same signatures as a rotating flow. In this case a velocity gradient perpendicular to the outflow direction is a projection effect of an expanding bow shock lighting up asymmetrically because of the orientation of the magnetic field. With the 3D model we reproduce the brightness levels in three H 2 lines as well as the shape and size of a chosen bow shock in OMC1. The inferred bow inclination and the orientation and strength of the magnetic field fit into the pattern suggested by independent observations.


Marigold flowers are used in many Asian countries for various occasions, rituals and offerings. A considerable amount of unused marigold flowers is wasted while the used ones also pose problems in disposing off. Central composite design of experiment was used to optimize the extraction and dyeing conditions of natural dye from marigold flowers. The effect of pH of the extraction medium, extraction time and material to liquor ratio was investigated. It was found that pH and liquor ratio had statistically significant effect on dye extraction, whereas the effect of time, within the range used in this study, was not found to be significant. Optimum dye extraction was obtained in acidic pH of the extraction medium at lower liquor ratio. Temperature and time dyeing are the most influential factors among many other parameters including amount of salt and material-to-liquor ratio. Cotton fabric dyed with the optimized dye extract, showed very good washing and light fastness properties but poor wet crocking fastness.


A number of investigation have been published in which attempts are made to correlate the chemical or physical properties of substances with the intensity of their toxic action. Among these may be instanced the work of Moore (1917) on the toxicity of fumigants towards insects, the extensive work of Tattersfield and his collaborators on contact insecticides and fumigants (Tattersfield and others 1920, 1925, 1926, 1927), the bacteriological investigations of Tilley ans Schaffer (1926, 1928) and others (Coulthard, Marshall and Pyman 1930; Dohme, Cox and Millar 1926; Klatman, Gatyas and Shternov 1931), work on fungicides (Morris and Stirk 1932; Stiles and Rees 1935). In each of the investigations just quoted a more or less wide range of chemical compounds was examined. The experiments consisted in the determination of the molar concentrations of the compounds which produced equi-toxic on a selected organism. The toxicities of the compounds studied were then usually assumed to be inversely proportional to the values of these equi-toxic concentrations.


Fluid inclusions hosted by sphalerite and dolomite cement from the Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) deposits of the Viburnum Trend of the Southeast Missouri district were analyzed by microthermometry and laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) to determine the composition of mineralizing fluids and to seek insights into ore-forming processes. On the whole, fluid inclusions from throughout the paragenesis have compositions resembling deep sedimentary brines. A population of anomalously Pb-rich fluid inclusions with concentrations reaching 1,500 ppm was identified in some of the paragenetically early and main-stage sphalerite, which is interpreted to represent the influx of a Pb- and possibly overall metal-rich fluid into Southeast Missouri during the time of sulfide mineralization. This influx of Pb-rich fluid appears to have been intermittent, as at least one stage of dolomite cement that hosts Pb-poor fluid inclusions occurs between intervals of sphalerite that host Pb-rich fluid inclusions. If fluid flow into the district was principally from one direction, for example, from the Arkoma basin to the south, then the intermittency in high Pb concentrations could be explained by compositional changes in the source region or along the flow path. Alternatively, if fluid flow into the district was from two or more directions and fluid arriving from each direction had a different composition, then the intermittency in high Pb concentrations could be explained by transient variations in the relative flow rates from each direction.

Lead concentrations on the order of thousands of parts per million make it unlikely that the Southeast Missouri ores were precipitated by any mechanism that involved simultaneous transport of metals and sulfide in the same fluid, as the concentrations of sulfide that could coexist with such high concentrations of Pb would be too low to allow the ores to be deposited within a geologically reasonable period of time, unless the pH was very low or groundwater flow rates were very high. Thus, some type of mixing scenario seems more likely involving either mixing of a metal- with a sulfide-rich fluid or mixing of a metal- and sulfate-rich fluid with a reductant present either in the host rock or in another fluid.

Fluid inclusions hosted by sphalerite have K/Na and Ca/Mg ratios that partly resemble the compositions of both main-stage cuboctahedral galena and less abundant late-stage cubic galena, suggesting that sphalerite was precipitated from a mixture of the fluids that precipitated these two types of galena. However, the fact that aqueous Pb concentration does not correlate with these ratios or other indicators of main-stage mineralization, such as matrix Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Ag, and Cd content in sphalerite, suggests that more than two fluids were involved in mixing.


Advancements in smartphone technology have resulted in the proliferation of Augmented Reality (AR) applications and games. Researchers have acknowledged the great potential of AR applications to enhance entertainment and improve learning experiences. In this study, we examined the potential effects of gamified AR in public places. We developed ARQuiz, an AR-based quiz game, for a public exhibition space and conducted a user study with respondents via survey (N = 176; 55.68% female, mean age 35.94 and SD = 11.89) and face-to-face interview (N = 28; 57.14% female, mean age 31.07 and SD = 7.42). We analyzed the relationship between perceived application usefulness, perceived application enjoyment, perceived exhibition enjoyment, and perceived quiz enjoyment. In addition, we examined perceived sociability before and after the quiz, quiz score, and user behavior in the exhibition space. The results indicate that visitors who enjoyed playing the ARQuiz game enjoyed the exhibition more, obtained better quiz results and felt more social after visiting the exhibition. Furthermore, the ARQuiz was regarded as a possible platform for improving visitors' learning and overall experiences in public exhibitions. Although some players expressed concerns about the privacy and intrusiveness of AR, our results indicate that a well-designed AR game may boost the overall satisfaction of an exhibition visit and increase players' sociabilitys.


Macrophages elicited by injection of agents that produce inflammation or obtained from animals infected with intracellular parasites are primed so that they respond to phagocytosis or exposure to phorbol myristate acetate with a marked increase in the respiratory burst. This capacity to respond to stimulation with increased release of reactive oxygen metabolites appears to play an essential role in the increased microbicidal capability of activated macrophages. Macrophages can be primed for this capacity by incubation in vitro with bacterial products, proteases, or gamma interferon. The molecular basis for this priming is presently under investigation. An increase in the number or affinity of plasma membrane receptors does not appear to explain priming. Changes in one or more of the transduction events responsible for stimulus-response coupling might lead to more efficient stimulation or function of the enzyme responsible for the respiratory burst; these events are just beginning to be studied in macrophages. Priming can be explained at least in part by a modification of the respiratory burst enzyme such that it binds its substrate NADPH, the source of electrons for reduction of oxygen to superoxide anion, more efficiently. Understanding the molecular basis for priming of the respiratory burst might permit its eventual therapeutic manipulation.


Fusion energy research began in the early 1950s as scientists worked to harness the awesome power of the atom for peaceful purposes. There was early optimism for a quick solution for fusion energy as there had been for fission. However, this was soon tempered by reality as the difficulty of producing and confining fusion fuel at temperatures of 100 million °C in the laboratory was appreciated. Fusion research has followed two main paths—inertial confinement fusion and magnetic confinement fusion. Over the past 50 years, there has been remarkable progress with both approaches, and now each has a solid technical foundation that has led to the construction of major facilities that are aimed at demonstrating fusion energy producing plasmas.


We report the case of a 52-year-old woman with partial left anomalous pulmonary venous return who was successfully treated surgically without the use of extracorporeal circulation by diverting the anomalous left vertical vein into the left atrium through a postero-lateral thoracotomy.


Atopic dermatitis, rhinitis and asthma are inflammatory diseases that frequently present together in the same patient. Interestingly, these diseases share common characteristics, such as a tendency to react with an inflammatory T-helper 2 cytokine profile and increased systemic immunoglobulin E levels. The allergic inflammatory response is driven by a cascade of signalling molecules and involves a great number of inflammatory cells. Recently, several reports have pointed out thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), an interleukin (IL)-7-like cytokine expressed in a diversity of cell types, as a potential cytokine implicated in the initiation and progression of allergic inflammatory skin response. Epithelial cells of the skin and airways are the first cells that encounter environmental allergens. These epithelial cells have the potential to highly upregulate their production of TSLP on different stimuli, e.g. products of microbial origin and allergens, and hence participate in the allergic response. However, TSLP is involved in several other disorders in addition to allergic diseases, such as cancer, infection and autoimmunity. Furthermore, the expression of TSLP is triggered by a blend of stimuli beyond the context of allergy. Numerous studies concerning TSLP are performed in mice and humans, but differences in TSLP regulation in skin between the species have been marginally studied. In this issue of the BJD Kumari et al. have focused on the potential role of physico-chemical irritation of the skin as triggering factors for TSLP induction, as well as differences in the role of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-a and IL-1 in the context of TSLP production in murine and human skin. The authors used human and murine keratinocytes (KCs) to study similarities and differences in TSLP production between the species. The results showed considerable differences in TSLP regulation, illustrated by the substantial effect of IL-1b on the ability to trigger a TSLP response in human KCs, in comparison with murine KCs. Moreover, TNF-a triggered TSLP production only in murine KCs, while stimulation with TLR3 ligand triggered TSLP production preferentially in human KCs. However, by using skin of TNF-knockout mice the authors demonstrated that the mechanisms of TSLP induction were regardless of endogenous TNF-a, even though it is known as a potent TSLP inducer in vitro. Furthermore, the authors showed that chemical and mild physical skin irritation elicited rapid systemic TSLP induction in vivo. A visible TSLP staining was observed in the skin of irritated animals, detected by immunohistochemistry, but not of control mice. Moreover, corresponding results appeared when murine skin explants were stimulated in an ex vivo model. Also discussed is the role of TSLP when disturbance of the epidermal homeostasis occurs. Their results highlight relevant differences concerning TSLP expression between human and mouse, the role of TSLP beyond an allergic context, and the importance of IL-1 for the induction of TSLP in human skin.


Building on work that we reported in [1] we revisit the claims made by Fox and Tversky in [3] concerning their comparative ignorance hypothesis for decision making under uncertainty.


Four types of polyacrylamide or polydimethyl-acrylamide gels for regioselective (by immobilization at the 3' end) of short oligonucleotides have been designed for use in manufacturing oligonucleotide microchips. Two of these supports contain amino or aldehyde groups in the gel, allowing coupling with oligonucleotides bearing aldehyde or amino groups, respectively, in the presence of a reducing agent. The aldehyde gel support showed a higher immobilization efficiency relative to the amino gel. Of all reducing agents tested, the best results were obtained with a pyridine-borane complex. The other supports are based on an acrylamide gel activated with glutaraldehyde or a hydroxyalkyl-functionalized gel treated with mesyl chloride. The use of dimethylacrylamide instead of acrylamide allows subsequent gel modifications in organic solvents. All the immobilization methods are easy and simple to perform, give high and reproducible yields, allow long durations of storage of the activated support, and provide high stability of attachment and low non-specific binding. Although these gel supports have been developed for preparing oligonucleotide microchips, they may be used for other purposes as well.


In Medicines of the Soul, the autobiographical writings of three leading women in today's Islamic revival movement reveal dramatic stories of religious transformation. As interpreted by Fedwa Malti-Douglas, the autobiographies provide a powerful, groundbreaking portrayal of gender, religion, and discourses of the body in Arabo-Islamic culture. At the center of each story is a lively female Islamic spirituality that questions secular hierarchies while reaffirming patriarchal ones.


This paper develops a theoretical model to study features of the evolving ownership structures of private enterprises in Zhejiang Province, China. The model predicts that in a developing economy where the market environment is immature or unstable, the ownership structure of a typical private enterprise involves a cooperative arrangement between a party with management skills and another party with Guanxi (connections). As the market environment becomes more stable, the ownership share of the party with management skills increases. This result is confirmed by empirical evidence of 296 surveyed firms in Ningbo city of China, showing that the perceived importance of both government and family Guanxi declined with perceived improvements in market stability.


Abstract In order to further promote the reform of the procuratorial system and mechanism, it is necessary to first clarify the nature and developmental laws of procuratorial power. By its nature, China's procuratorial power originates from the Marxist theory of state. Under the joint influence of historical logic, the political system and actual national conditions, it demonstrates both universality and Chinese characteristics. On the basis of constitutional norms, we can discover the general laws of the evolution of procuratorial power in China; that is, on the premise of maintaining its basic attribute as legal supervisory power, its extension and operational mode are constantly readjusted in line with the changing times to realize the synchronous development of procuratorial power and national governance. In recent years, the development of Chinese procuratorial power has shown new features in actively responding to the needs of the times. This is the joint outcome of changes in the main social contradictions, the adjustment of the state power structure, the reform of the judicial system and mechanisms, etc. In constructing a socialist procuratorial system with Chinese characteristics, we should adhere to the nature of procuratorial power as legal oversight, and respect the general laws of its development. In accordance with social demands and judicial practice, we should further expand the extension of procuratorial power, innovate and enrich its operational mechanisms and realize its dynamic adjustment in tune with the times.


myo-Inositol monophosphatase (myo-inositol-1-phosphate phosphohydrolase, EC 18.104.22.168) is an attractive target for mechanistic investigation due to its critical role in the phosphatidylinositol signaling pathway and the possible relevance of its inhibition by Li+ to manic depression therapy. The x-ray crystallographic structure of human inositol monophosphatase in the presence of the inhibitory metal Gd3+ showed only one metal bound per active site, whereas in the presence of Mn2+, three ions were present with one being displaced upon phosphate binding. We report here modeling, kinetic, and mutagenesis studies on the enzyme, which reveal the requirement for two metal ions in the catalytic mechanism. Activity titration curves with Zn2+ or Mn2+ in the presence or absence of Mg2+ are consistent with a two-metal mechanism. Modeling studies based on the various x-ray crystallographic structures (including those with Gd3+ and substrate bound) further support a two-metal mechanism and define the positions of the two metal ions relative to substrate. While the first metal ion may activate water for nucleophilic attack, a second metal ion, coordinated by three aspartate residues, appears to act as a Lewis acid, stabilizing the leaving inositol oxyanion. In this model, the 6-OH group of substrate acts as a ligand for this second metal ion, consistent with the reduced catalytic activity observed with substrate analogues lacking the 6-OH. Evidence from Tb3+ fluorescence quenching and the two-metal kinetic titration curves suggests that Li+ binds at the site of this second metal ion.


Expertise, i.e. a system of involving experts and expert organizations, is one of the most important functions of the state control and supervising activity. The purpose of the work is to identify the international trends in using different mechanisms to involve experts and expert organizations within realizing public control and supervising functions; to compare them with the trends in the same field of activity in Russia; to describe the interconnection between the peculiarities of the regulation system adopted in this country and the mechanisms of involving experts.An investigation was held to analyze the process of performing three functions with the presupposed participation of experts: the regulation of excess to the limited resources by the example of the radio frequency specter; safety food control; control in the field of building-expertise of the project documents. The way these functions are performed in the USA, Germany and Kazakhstan was the subject of the investigation.Comparison of the international and domestic experience in providing public expertise service within the control and supervision functions, allows to draw a conclusion that the administrative control in Russia is very intensive and the mechanisms of involving sub-agents are more spread as compared to the other mechanisms.


The presence of immunosuppressive molecules and cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) can lead to T cell dysfunction. CD8-positive cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) are ineffective in killing tumor cells primarily due to upregulated expression of inhibitory checkpoint molecules and decreased production of effective cytokines. In addition, immune suppressive cell types such as regulatory T cells (Tregs) and tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) are recruited to the TME, further establishing a suppressive immune environment. In this study, we evaluated expression profiles of key immunosuppressive molecules and cell types by applying RNAscope® assay, a highly specific and sensitive in situ hybridization (ISH) technology, and dual ISH-IHC staining. First, we evaluated CD8-positive cell infiltration in TME of archived human tissues from non-small cell lung cancer and ovarian cancer. Selected tissues with either high or low CD8-positive cell number (CD8-high or CD8-low) were evaluated for (1) the presence of Tregs (FOXP3+CD4+) and TAMs (CD163+, including IL10 and CCL22), (2) the expression of immune checkpoint molecules including PD1, PD-L1, TIM3, and LAG3, (3) the expression of immune suppressive molecules IDO1 and TGFβ, and (4) IFNγ expression in CD8-positive subsets. Examination of immune inhibitory molecules expressed in single cells in the tumor and stromal microenvironment revealed that in general, CD8-high tissues expressed higher level of immune checkpoint molecules, often co-expressed in the same individual cells in the same TME, while the expression of IDO1 and TGFβ was independent of CD8-positive cell inflammation. Tregs and TAMs often co-existed with IFNγ-positive CTLs in the same TME. Unexpectedly, all investigated inhibitory molecules were expressed in both tumor cells and stromal/immune cells in some tumors. Beyond PD-L1, immune checkpoint molecules PD1, TIM3, and LAG3 were frequently expressed in tumor cells but at lower level than in immune cells. Expression of IDO1 and TGFβ was observed in many cell types, including tumor cells, with various expression levels in each tumor cell. The single-cell tumor expression profiles suggest a potential tumor-intrinsic mechanism of expression for these inhibitory molecules. This exploratory study highlights the potential of RNAscope® ISH to better understand the cellular and molecular suppressive mechanisms associated with T cell dysfunction and exhaustion in the TME. The robust RNAscope® ISH platform is well suited for evaluating critical secreted factors and other key molecules in a highly sensitive and cell type-specific manner. As multiple therapeutic approaches to augment the CTL function are being developed, the presented method may facilitate the identification and development of key biomarkers to stratify patients based on their specific tumor and immune cell states. Citation Format: Annelies Laeremans, Na Li, Jeff Kim, Xiao-Jun Ma, Emily Park. Evaluation of potential factors contributing to the exhaustion of T lymphocytes in the tumor microenvironment [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1022.


ALTHOUGH some marsupials are insectivorous or carnivorous in diet many others are vegetarian in diet and frequently cause appreciable damage to pastures and crops and therefore are of considerable economic importance. Recently, during the course of searching the literature for references to helminth infections in marsupials it was observed that, in certain cases, hosts other than marsupials were involved and in some instances were of economic importance in that they were domesticated animals. Whether or not marsupials assist in the spread of parasitic infection is somewhat inadequately dealt with in the literature but one cannot lose sight of their acting as reservoir hosts.


Introduction: To coordinate care effectively for rare conditions, we need to understand what coordinated care means. This review aimed to define coordinated care and identify components of coordinated care within the context of rare diseases; by drawing on evidence from chronic conditions. Methods: A systematic scoping review. We included reviews that reported or defined and outlined components of coordinated care for chronic or rare conditions. Thematic analysis was used to develop a definition and identify components or care coordination. Stakeholder consultations (three focus groups with patients, carers and healthcare professionals with experience of rare conditions) were held to further explore the relevance of review findings for rare conditions. Results: We included 154 reviews (n = 139 specific to common chronic conditions, n = 3 specific to rare conditions, n = 12 both common/rare conditions). A definition of coordination was developed. Components were identified and categorised by those that: may need to be coordinated, inform how to coordinate care, have multiple roles, or that contextualise coordination. Conclusions: Coordinated care is multi-faceted and has both generic and context-specific components. Findings outline many ways in which care may be coordinated for both rare and common chronic conditions. Findings can help to develop and eventually test different ways of coordinating care for people with rare and common chronic conditions.


The proton exchange membrane fuel cell as a green power source is a suitable replacement of the engine mounted generators in the emergency power unit of a more-electric aircraft. Most existing energy management methods for operation of fuel cells in the more-electric aircraft refer to the hydrogen consumption minimization. But due to the increasing number of electrical components and hence electrical demand in the aircraft, demand-side management should be considered in these methods. In order to determine the effect of demand-side management on the fuel cell operation and size, an efficient load priority model is presented and integrated into an optimization framework. The proposed optimization framework is formulated as mixed-integer quadratic programming using Karush–Kuhn–Tucker optimality condition and is solved by CPLEX optimization tool. The Boeing 787 electrical distribution system is considered as a single-bus case study to evaluate the performance of the proposed optimization framework. Numerical results show that the size of fuel cell as an emergency power unit resource depends on the type and importance of the system's loads in different emergency conditions. Also, with an efficient priority model, both hydrogen consumption and load shedding can be decreased.


Background Adalimumab is a TNF-α blocking agent that it is effective in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Ultrasonography can be used to detect sacroiliitis and peripheral enthesitis. Objectives To investigate whether color Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS) can be used to detect the effect of adalimumab on sacroiliitis and peripheral enthesitis in patients with AS. Methods AS patients (n=41) received 40 mg adalimumab every other week for 24 weeks. BASDAI, BASFI, CRP, MRI examinations of the sacroiliac joints (SIJs) and CDUS examinations of both SIJs and 10 peripheral entheseal sites were taken at baseline, week 12, and week 24. We scored the MR images by SPARCC method. We recorded the resistive index (RI) value of SIJs and graded the blood signal on a semi quantitative 0-3 scale. We also scored lesions of peripheral entheses seen by CDUS. We analyzed the associations between the results of CDUS and clinical indices and MRI data. Results Significant reduction in mean CDUS score of SIJs and peripheral enthesitis and increase in mean RI value were observed in AS patients treated with adalimumab for 12 weeks and 24 weeks as compared with baseline (all p<0.05). The CDUS scores of SIJs and peripheral enthesitis positively related with clinical assessments (including BASDAI, BASFI, and CRP), while the RI value negatively related with them at all visits (all p<0.05). The results of CDUS also correlated well with the MRI data (all p<0.05) during the treatment of adalimumab in AS patients. Conclusions Our study found that CDUS could be used to detect the changes of sacroiliitis and peripheral enthesitis in AS patients under the therapy of adalimumab. References Schueller-Weidekamm C, Mascarenhas VV, Sudol-Szopinska I, et al. Imaging and interpretation of axial spondylarthritis: the radiologist's perspective–consensus of the Arthritis Subcommittee of the ESSR. Semin Musculoskelet Radiol. 2014;18:265-79. Mohammadi A, Ghasemi-rad M, Aghdashi M, et al. Evaluation of disease activity in ankylosing spondylitis; diagnostic value of color Doppler ultrasonography. Skeletal Radiol. 2013;42:219-24. Kelly S, Taylor P, Pitzalis C. Ultrasound imaging in spondyloathropathies: from imaging to diagnostic intervention. Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2008;20:408-15. Disclosure of Interest None declared


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate effects of arthroscopic debridement and visco supplement for the treatment of degenerative osteoarthropathy of ankle.

METHODS
From October 2008 to May 2012, 30 patients with degenerative osteoarthropathy of ankle were treated with arthroscopy after ineffective treatment with conservative methods. Two patients lost follow-up. Among the patients, 19 patients were male and 9 patients were female, ranging in age from 28 to 56 years old, with a mean of (40.0+ 5.9)years old. Patients who had inflammatory or postinfectious arthritis,rheumatoid,gout,tuberculosis were excluded. Other exclusion criteria included previous arthroscopic treatment for ankle osteoarthropathy, intraarticular corticosteroid injection within the previous 6 months, a major neurologic deficit, serious medical illness and pregnancy. Articular cartilage iijuries were classified according to Outerbridge by the same doctor. Follow procedures were involved in the surgery: synovectomy,debridement or excision of fragments of articular cartilage or chondral flaps and osteophytes that prevented full extension. Microfracture of chondral defects was not performed. Ogilvie-Harris criteria was used to evaluate therapeutic effects.

RESULTS
According to Ogilvie-Harris criteria, 10 patients got an excellent results, 14 good, 3 poor and 1 bad. The mean VAS score of pain decreased from preoperative 7.5+/-1.3 to postoperative 2.4+/-2.3. The score of dorsiflexion range (ROM-D) had no obvious change after operation [preoperative(27.0+/-7.3)degree and postoperative(29.0+/-5.6)degree]. The mean Tegner score increased from preoperative 2.7+/-1.3 to postoperative 5.6+/-2.2.

CONCLUSION
Synovectomy, debridement or excision of chondral flaps and osteophytes under arthroscopy, as well as scheduled intraarticular sodium hyaluronate injection should be recommened to treat ankle degenerative osteoarthropathy.


AIM
To explore the potential association between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and haplotypes of the CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 gene cluster and the non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) susceptibility in never-smoking Chinese.

METHODS
A case-control study was conducted with 200 NSCLC patients and 200 healthy controls, matched on age and sex. Five SNPs distributed in CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 gene cluster were selected for genotyping. The association between genotype and lung cancer risk was evaluated by computing the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) from multivariate unconditional logistic regression analyses with adjustment for gender and age.

RESULTS
For CHRNA3 rs578776 status, data were available in 199 NSCLC patients and 199 controls. The G/G homozygote in CHRNB4 rs7178270 had a reduced risk of developing NSCLC (OR = 0.553; 95% CI = 0.309-0.989; P = .0437), especially squamous cell carcinoma (SQC) (OR = 0.344; 95% CI = 0.161-0.732; P = .0043), compared with those who carry at least one C allele (C/C and C/G). The polymorphisms of rs578776, rs938682, rs17486278, and rs11637635 were not significantly different between controls and cases or between controls and histologic subgroups, adenocarcinoma and SQC, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
In our study, we found that the SNP of CHRNB4 rs7178270 is significantly associated with reduced risk of NSCLC, especially with reduced risk of SQC in never-smoking Chinese population.


A silicon nitride (SiN) etch process selective to silicon (Si) and silicon dioxide (SiO2) for fabrication of a gate sidewall spacer was investigated using a quasi-damage-free neutral beam. In CF3I neutral beam etching, SiN can be etched selectively to SiO2 by controlling the beam energy. Etch rates of Si and SiO2 were drastically decreased by addition of O2 and H2 flow rates due to oxidation of the Si surface and decreased F flux. Reasonably high SiN selectivities of 18.6 to SiO2 and 6.2 to Si were obtained using a CF3I/O2/H2 neutral beam. The result of the comparison between plasma etching and neutral beam etching indicated that the mechanism of this highly selective etching is unique to neutral beams without UV irradiation. By optimized neutral beam etching, SiN gate sidewall spacers were fabricated with little recess of the Si substrate.


This paper discusses the building, installation and integration of a data acquisition and analysis system in a semiconductor manufacturing line known as the real time process monitoring system (RTPM). It describes how it has been integrated with the site logistics system, the statistical process control system, and the characterization data base to provide improved process control, increased tool availability, and enhanced yield learning.


Mandarin Chinese is claimed to be a scope-rigid language, as its doubly-quantified simple transitive sentences are unambiguous with surface scope only and no inverse scope available. However, it has been debated whether Mandarin Chinese allows inverse scope in some syntactic environments other than simple transitives. This paper investigates whether scope rigidity as a property of the grammar of Mandarin prevents scope ambiguity in different syntactic environments and what factors influence scope interpretations. Using a Truth-Value Judgment task, we tested the judgments of 98 Mandarin Chinese native speakers on transitive sentences containing both a subject and object quantifier under adverbial clauses. The results show that inverse scope reading is considered available for doubly-quantified transitives under adverbial clauses, although there are intra-participant variances. The results challenge the well-established approaches to quantifier scope in Mandarin and call for rethinking the long-standing dichotomy view of quantifier scope in languages. We also found bimodal distribution on the acceptance of inverse scope readings, suggesting that there may be two different populations of native speakers with two different grammars. In addition, we also observed other factors that may affect scope behaviors, including clause type, presence of aspect marker, verb type, and numbers.


The superhydrophobicity of solid surfaces is primarily dependent on low surface energy and surface microstructure. In order to prepare a low-wetting surface, a micro-column array was constructed on the surface of aluminum by micro-milling and grinding, and the influence of the square-column structure on the surface wettability of the material was analyzed. Milling will cause burrs on the surface of the square column. Under the joint action of the square columns and the burrs on the surface, the contact angle of the material surface increased from 50.3° to 98.4°. After grinding, the burr on the surface of the square column disappears, but the irregular secondary groove structure is formed at the top of the groove, which further improves the contact angle of the surface of the test piece (127.8°). On the whole, the construction of the micro-column structure enhances the hydrophobic properties of the aluminum alloy surface. The micro-grinding square column structure can further realize the transition of the wettability of the aluminum alloy surface from hydrophilic to hydrophobic, and the contact state of the water droplet on the surface thereof is in the transition state of Wenzel and Cassie.


This is an account of the relationship between architecture and power in Romania during the Stalinist period. A cursory glance at Arhitectura – the only specialist magazine to resume publication after the change in regime – suggests compliance with political direction, and professional interest in translating the theoretical method of Socialist Realism into a specific, culturally localized architectural language. Architecture competitions are a medium of intersection between theory and practice, power and the profession, ideology and economy – a space where political contention based on professional knowledge becomes possible even in totalitarian regimes. Between 1950 and 1956, Arhitectura published several competitions which, far from reinforcing Socialist Realism as the dominant architectural discourse, exposed the method's internal contradictions and utopianism. In the ensuing confusion, there emerged a creative, practice-based counter-discourse centered on previously hegemonic dialects (the 'national'). Based in equal amounts on the pre-established dynamics of professional culture, and on the willingness and ability of the architecture field to speculate the rules of the political game, this counter-discourse gradually led to the dismantling of Socialist Realism into alternative readings of Socialist architecture.


OBJECTIVE: To evaluate tolerance of fludrocortisone in older patients with hypotensive disorders. DESIGN: Prospective case series. SETTING: Syncope clinic. PATIENTS: 64 Consecutive patients over 65 years (mean age 80 years) with one or more hypotensive disorders (orthostatic hypotension, vasodepressor carotid sinus syncope, and/or vasodepressor neurocardiogenic syncope. INTERVENTIONS: Fludrocortisone in daily doses of 100 micrograms [corrected] (72%), 50 micrograms [corrected] (27%), and 200 micrograms [corrected] (one patient). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Adverse events, treatment withdrawal. RESULTS: During follow up 13 patients died of unrelated causes. Of the remainder 33% discontinued fludrocortisone at a mean of five months. Reasons for discontinuing treatment were hypertension, five; cardiac failure, four; depression, three; oedema, three; and unspecified, two. In those who continued treatment supine systolic and diastolic blood pressure did not differ significantly from baseline (follow up two to 21 months). Hypokalaemia developed in 24% at a mean of eight months; in no case was treatment withdrawn because of hypokalaemia. CONCLUSION: Fludrocortisone, even in low doses, is poorly tolerated in the long term in older patients with hypotensive disorders.


The relationship between socioeconomic status and physical functioning is tested among older adults in Taiwan, Thailand, and the Philippines. Socioeconomic indicators are limited to education and income, and these are linked to several measures of functioning that are constructed using four specific items—having difficulties crouching, climbing stairs, lifting things, and walking. Depending on the outcome measure, samples are treated separately or pooled. Education is found to be associated with functional health in Taiwan but is a weaker predictor in Thailand and the Philippines. Income has strong associations in Taiwan and Thailand and only a moderate association in the Philippines. Interaction effects based on pooled data confirm that differences in associations exist across settings. These results lead to questions about the universality of the relationship. Explanations for differential effects are discussed, including the impact of national levels of development on health outcomes.


Background: Temporary ventricular-assisted device (VAD) provides timely organ perfusion in patients with cardiogenic shock and serves as a bridge to heart transplant. Intravenous levosimendan could provide pharmacologic inotropic support. Aim: We aimed to investigate the adjuvant efficacy of levosimendan in patients with temporary VAD, especially for VAD weaning. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients receiving temporary VAD for cardiogenic shock between January 2017 and May 2019 in a medical center in Taiwan. Patients were divided into the levosimendan (n = 9, administered levosimendan immediately after VAD), and control groups (n = 20, no levosimendan administered). The biochemistry of systemic perfusion was compared at 1 and 3 days after VAD. After 2 months, the cardiac function of the patients with successful VAD weaning was evaluated by echocardiography. At 6 months follow-up, survival outcome and Kaplan–Meier survival curves were presented. Results: In total, 29 patients receiving temporary VAD for cardiogenic shock were enrolled, including 9 patients treated with levosimendan infusion. In the levosimendan group, both mean arterial pressure and lactate level decreased significantly (P = 0.037 and 0.023, respectively), and the ratio of arterial oxygen partial pressure to fractional inspired oxygen improved significantly (P = 0.048). No difference in inotropes tapering, consciousness, systemic perfusion biochemistry, and cardiac enzymes. Echocardiography showed significantly improved systolic function and pulmonary artery pressure 2 months later (P = 0.043 and 0.046, respectively) in patients with successful weaning. The levosimendan group had a better weaning rate (P = 0.013) and lower mortality rate (P = 0.571) at 6-month follow-up. Conclusion: The levosimendan group showed a better weaning rate and lower mortality rate.


The recent genome-wide allele-specific copy number variation data enable us to explore two types of genomic information including chromosomal genotype variations as well as DNA copy number variations. For a cancer study, it is common to collect data for paired normal and tumor samples. Then, two types of paired data can be obtained to study a disease subject. However, there is a lack of methods for a simultaneous analysis of these four sequences of data. In this study, we propose a statistical framework based on the change-point analysis approach. The validity and usefulness of our proposed statistical framework are demonstrated through the simulation studies and applications based on an experimental data set.


Abstract Aims Remote ischaemic preconditioning (RIPC) by inducing brief ischaemia in distant tissues protects the heart against myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) in children undergoing open-heart surgery, although its effectiveness in adults with comorbidities is controversial. The effectiveness and mechanism of RIPC with respect to myocardial IRI in children with tetralogy of Fallot (ToF), a severe cyanotic congenital cardiac disease, undergoing open heart surgery are unclear. We hypothesized that RIPC can confer cardioprotection in children undergoing ToF repair surgery. Methods and results Overall, 112 ToF children undergoing radical open cardiac surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) were randomized to either a RIPC group (n = 55) or a control group (n = 57). The RIPC protocol consisted of three cycles of 5-min lower limb occlusion and 5-min reperfusion using a cuff-inflator. Serum inflammatory cytokines and cardiac injury markers were measured before surgery and after CPB. Right ventricle outflow tract (RVOT) tissues were collected during the surgery to assess hypoxia-inducible factor (Hif)-1α and other signalling proteins. Cardiac mitochondrial injury was assessed by electron microscopy. The primary results showed that the length of stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) was longer in the control group than in the RIPC group (52.30 ± 13.43 h vs. 47.55 ± 10.34 h, respectively, P = 0.039). Patients in the control group needed longer post-operative ventilation time compared to the RIPC group (35.02 ± 6.56 h vs. 31.96 ± 6.60 h, respectively, P = 0.016). The levels of post-operative serum troponin-T at 12 and 18 h, CK-MB at 24 h, as well as the serum h-FABP levels at 6 h, after CPB were significantly lower, which was coincident with significantly higher protein expression of cardiac Hif-1α, p-Akt, p-STAT3, p-STAT5, and p-eNOS and less vacuolization of mitochondria in the RIPC group compared to the control group. Conclusion In ToF children undergoing open heart surgery, RIPC attenuates myocardial IRI and improves the short-term prognosis.


Myrica nagi belongs to myricaceae family. It is commonly known as Bay berry (English) and Kathphal (Hindi). Myrica nagi has a long history of usage in traditional medicine against various ailments. In Ayurvedic and other traditional medicinal practices the plant has been used against diseases like, fever, Cardiac debility, typhoid, diarrhoea, dysentery. Phytochemicals like glycosides, saponins tannins, flavonoids, triterpenes and sterols have been isolated. Important pharmacological activities such as hepatoprotective, antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, antihelmintic, antiinflammatory and antiasthmatic properties were shown by researchers. This review presents a detailed survey of the literature on various traditional uses, phytochemical and pharmacological properties of Myrica nagi.


Unlike non-conversation scenes, emotion recognition in dialogues (ERD) poses more complicated challenges due to its interactive nature and intricate contextual information. All present methods model historical utterances without considering the content of the target utterance. However, different parts of a historical utterance may contribute differently to emotion inference of different target utterances. Therefore we propose Fine-grained Extraction and Reasoning Network (FERNet) to generate target-specific historical utterance representations. The reasoning module effectively handles both local and global sequential dependencies to reason over context, and updates target utterance representations to more informed vectors. Experiments on two benchmarks show that our method achieves competitive performance compared with previous methods.


The use of weathering steel in highway bridges has historically been a source of controversy, despite the potential for significant increases in cost-effectiveness. The first weathering steel bridges in America were constructed in the mid-1960s, with a significant percentage of the early weathering steel bridges constructed in Michigan. Numerous problems with weathering steel bridges in that state, along with problems reported in other states, led many states to question the performance of these structures. In the past two decades, research has attributed the majority of these past problems to: the use of weathering steel bridges in inappropriate environments, excessive salt contamination from deicing salts or marine environments, or problems with design details (such as leaky joints). Therefore, when these problems are controlled or eliminated, weathering steel bridges are an attractive alternative that can provide substantial cost savings to bridge owners. While the initial material cost of weathering steel is more expensive than that of traditional (non-weathering) steels, considering the cost of painting causes weathering steel to be a cost-effective alternative. In addition to the cost savings offered, implementation of weathering steel provides environmental benefits such as preventing the release of volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere during maintenance painting as well as eliminating concerns with containment and disposal of removed paint. This paper will provide an overview of a comprehensive assessment of the performance of the weathering steel bridge inventory in West Virginia. It will present findings from an evaluation that was used to categorize locations and site conditions that may lead to less than favourable performance of weathering steel bridges, if applicable. It will also present recommendations regarding detailing procedures to be incorporated with weathering steel bridges. 1. OVERVIEW OF WEATHERING STEEL A588 weathering steel is formed by alloying additional elements (2% or less of various combinations of copper, phosphorus, chromium, silicon, and/or nickel) with traditional steels (A36 or A572), which cause the corrosion resistance of the steel to be significantly increased. The behaviour of weathering steel exposed to appropriate environments is fundamentally different from that of traditional steel in that in contrast to the formation of iron oxide (rust) that occurs when traditional steels are exposed to atmospheric conditions, weathering steel forms a protective oxide coating that reduces the rate of corrosion of the steel. However, this protective oxide coating will form only if the weathering steel is not subjected to extended period of moisture. Additionally, proper detailing of the structure is critical to maintain the integrity of the protective coating. Additionally, environmental factors may adversely affect the ability of weathering steel to develop a protective oxide coating, particularly the presence of excessive levels of chlorides and sulfur dioxides. Of these, chlorides are typically more of concern in the United States because sulfur dioxide levels from pollution are generally not high


We report an unexpectedly strong amplification of the macromolecular helicity in dynamic helical copolymers of chiral/achiral and chiral/chiral ( R/ S) biphenylylacetylenes in which the chiral residues are remote from the biphenyl pendants and further from the main chains. The copolymers consisting of 20 mol % chiral monomers and chiral monomers of 20% enantiomeric excess (ee) showed a full induced circular dichroism as intense as that of the chiral homopolymer. In contrast, an analogous poly(phenylacetylene) bearing the identical chiral residue (100% ee) showed no circular dichroism in the polymer backbone, indicating the critical role of the biphenyl moieties in the observed high chiral amplification. As anticipated, the helix-sense excesses of the copolymer backbones composed of a small amount of chiral units (<20 mol %) and chiral units of low ee (<20%) were reduced. Interestingly, however, the macromolecular helicity of the copolymers was further drastically enhanced as a greater excess of a one-handed helix or inverted upon noncovalent interaction with nonracemic alcohols and subsequently retained (memorized) after complete removal of the chiral alcohol. Even in a polymer consisting of completely racemic repeating units, one-handed right- and left-handed helices could almost be induced and memorized. These unique hierarchical amplifications and memory of the macromolecular helicity in the copolymers by the covalent and further noncovalent chiral interactions are quantitatively explained on the basis of a linear Ising model.