Objective. To study the association between exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) during pregnancy and the adverse birth outcomes in Egypt. Materials and Methods. Target population were mothers admitted to the postnatal ward of the obstetrics department of an educational hospital, giving birth to viable single neonates with or without adverse birth outcomes. The total sample size was 345, and a pre-designed pre-coded structured interviewing questionnaire in Arabic language was used to collect data from the study population within 24 hours after delivery. Results. The study revealed that mothers who reported regular exposure to ETS had two times more risk of experiencing adverse birth outcomes than mothers who reported no exposure (OR 2.0, 95%CI 1.13-3.58). Mothers who were regularly exposed to ETS during pregnancy had 1.36 times more risk of having preterm babies, two times more risk of having small for gestational age (SGA) babies and 3 times more likely to have low birth weight (LBW) babies than mothers who were not exposed to ETS (OR 1.36, 95%CI 0.59-3.09), (OR1.97, 95%CI 0.73-5.3) and (OR 2.74, 95%CI 1.38-5.46) respectively. There was no significant association between exposure to ETS during pregnancy and the risk of congenital anomalies or Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) admission. Conclusions. Mothers regularly exposed to ETS had two times more risk for adverse birth outcomes compared to non-exposed. Birth weight was the only birth outcome significantly associated with gestational exposure to ETS and low birth weight was the adverse birth outcome most affected by ETS exposure.


This volume is a comprehensive companion to the use of the rich archival resources of dutch east India company as well as other related collections at the national archives in the Hague. It also includes concise historical introductions and regional maps pertaining to dutch involvement in the indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka.


Abstract Using Canada's relations with the Americas as a case study, this article seeks to better understand the link between identity and foreign policy. It argues that there is a gap between the Canadian government's recent efforts to construct a state identity increasingly turned toward the Americas and Canadians' national identity as it is expressed through public opinion. It concludes that the most plausible explanation for this gap probably has to do with Canada's European cultural heritage. The analysis shows that the projection of national identity into foreign policy is a much more complex process than the projection of state identity.


The notion that blockchains offer decentralized, "trustless" guarantees of security through technology is a fundamental misconception held by many advocates. This misconception hampers participants from understanding the security differences between public and private blockchains and adopting blockchain technology in suitable contexts. This paper introduces the notion of "people security" to argue that blockchains hold inherent limitations in offering accurate security guarantees to people as participants in blockchain-based infrastructure, due to the differing nature of the threats to participants reliant on blockchain as secure digital infrastructure, as well as the technical limitations between different types of blockchain architecture. This paper applies a sociotechnical security framework to assess the social, software, and infrastructural layers of blockchain applications to reconceptualize "blockchain security" as "people security." A sociotechnical security analysis of existing macrosocial level blockchain systems surfaces discrepancies between the social, technical, and infrastructural layers of a blockchain network, the technical and governance decisions that characterize the network, and the expectations of, and threats to, participants using the network. The results identify a number of security and trust assumptions against various blockchain architectures, participants, and applications. Findings indicate that private blockchains have serious limitations for securing the interests of users in macrosocial contexts, due to their centralized nature. In contrast, public blockchains reveal trust and security shortcomings at the micro and meso-organizational levels, yet there is a lack of suitable desktop case studies by which to analyze sociotechnical security at the macrosocial level. These assumptions need to be further investigated and addressed in order for blockchain security to more accurately provide "people security".


ABSTRACT Viral protein R (Vpr) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 is produced late in the virus life cycle and is assembled into the virion through binding to the Gag protein. It is known to play a significant role early in the viral life cycle by facilitating the nuclear import of the preintegration complex in nondividing cells. Vpr is also able to interact with nucleic acids, and we show here that it induces condensation of plasmid DNA. We have explored the possibility of using these properties in DNA transfection experiments. We report that the C-terminal half of the protein (Vpr52–96) mediates DNA transfection in a variety of human and nonhuman cell lines with efficiencies comparable to those of the best-known transfection agents. Compared with polylysine, a standard polycationic transfection reagent, Vpr52–96 was 10- to 1,000-fold more active. Vpr52–96-DNA complexes were able to reach the cell nucleus through a pH-independent mechanism. These observations possibly identify an alternate pathway for DNA transfection.


In this paper, we present a multiphysics approach for the simulation of high-power RF and microwave transistors, in which electromagnetic, thermal, and nonlinear transistor models are linked together within a harmonic-balance circuit simulator. This approach is used to analyze a laterally diffused metal-oxide-semiconductor (LDMOS) transistor that has a total gate width of 102 mm and operates at 2.14 GHz. The transistor die is placed in a metal-ceramic package, with bond-wire arrays connecting the die to the package leads. The effects of three different gate bond-pad layouts on the transistor efficiency are studied. Through plots of the spatial distributions of the drain efficiency and the time-domain currents and voltages across the die, we reveal for the first time unique interactions between the electromagnetic effects of the layout and the microwave behavior of the large-die LDMOS power field-effect transistor.


McCune-Albright Syndrome(MAS) is a rare disease characterized by triad of polyostotic fibrous dysplasia of bone(FD), precocious puberty, and café-au-lait skin pigmentation. This paper reported a case of McCune-Albright syndrome with hyperthyroidism, and discussed the pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment of MAS.


ABSTRACT Mice deficient in complement component C3 (C3−/−) and syngeneic C57BL/6 control mice were challenged with Borrelia burgdorferi to determine the role of complement in immune clearance and joint histopathology during experimental Lyme borreliosis. Tibiotarsal joint, ear, and heart tissues were monitored for spirochete numbers at 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks postinoculation with 105B. burgdorferi B31 clone 5A4 by using quantitative real-time PCR. The spirochete load in joint and ear tissue remained higher in the C3−/− mice than in the wild-type counterparts throughout the 12-week study, whereas the numbers in heart tissue of both groups of mice decreased substantially at 8 to 12 weeks postinfection. Histopathology scores for joint tissue were generally higher in the C3−/− mice compared to C57BL/6 controls at 2 and 4 weeks postinfection, which may reflect the presence of higher numbers of bacteria in the joints at these early time points. Levels of anti-B. burgdorferi immunoglobulin G tended to be reduced in the C3−/− mice compared to control mice. Furthermore, a 5.5-fold-lower number of the complement-sensitive Borrelia garinii was needed to infect C3−/− mice compared to C57BL/6 mice, indicating that its sensitivity to complement is one barrier to infection of the mouse model by B. garinii. These results indicate that the complement system may be important in controlling the early dissemination and progression of B. burgdorferi infection.


Background The Israel Defense Force is the only military organisation in the world that mandatorily conscripts women since its founding. Despite legislative changes, the percentage of women serving as combat soldiers is low, and the dropout rate is high. Women in these professions experience a complex and unique adaptation process. Aims To characterise the experiences of female combat soldiers adjusting to combat roles in comparison with male soldiers and non-warfighter female soldiers. Method A pilot study was undertaken in order to inform further research. Mental health officers in the women's units conducted group interviews. These were composed of four stages: projection, reflection, processing and formulating solutions. Results The themes apparent in the interviews conform to phenomena appearing in the literature such as tokenism, disruption of gender identity and internalisation of the superiority of male values. In addition, we identified distortion of body image and increased burnout. Discussion and conclusions The study points to the significance of gender aspects in the mental adaptation process of women in combat positions. Issues pertaining perceptions of inequality should not be deemed to be purely sociological, but rather as a gateway facilitating adjustment. This should be taken into account in future research and in the formulation of support strategies.


In this cumulative thesis contributions are presented that cover the computational aspects of optical measurement systems for flow investigations in aerodynamics and fluid mechanics. Flow measurements are useful in gaining an understanding of flow dynamics and validating numerical models for flow dynamics simulations. With the goal of accurately capturing and visualizing details of unsteady and moving flow structures based on recorded digital images of small tracer particles, the contributions cover a wide range from digital image processing, camera calibration, 2D and 3D reconstruction, estimation of position, velocity and acceleration, noise reduction and spatial interpolation of scattered 3D data using physically-motivated regularizations.


We extend our recent general discussion of electroabsorption and refraction in multiple-quantum-well modulators to determine the optimum modulator design for smart-pixel applications. In addition to the optimum operating wavelength shift, from that of the zero-voltage exciton, we determine the optimum number of quantum wells, and we calculate the reflectivity change and the contrast ratio obtainable. This analysis is undertaken for both simple detectors and modulators, meaning that they are antireflection coated, as well as for devices that include Fabry-Perot resonators. The optimization is performed on a figure of merit that is inversely proportional to the incident optical read energy required on a device to switch another, downstream device. We maximize the figure of merit to minimize the optical read energy. An interesting result is that there should be no significant improvement in our smart-pixel circuit figure of merit with the use of Fabry-Perot resonant modulators and detectors. Our results are, of course, material-system specific, but for the 850-nm AlGalAs/GaAs quantum-well system the optimum wavelength shift from the exciton location is approximately 6 nm. The general trends and approach are applicable to other material systems.


The social sciences have adopted the paradigm of mobility as unquestionable. This becomes in an ideological instrument to justify many practices and covering others. Nonetheless, the capitalist ethos is far away of promoting mobility, strengthens its forms of production on sedentary logic. Travels are only circular and always return to the same point of departure. In this essay-review, we trigger a hot debate in order for J. Urrys thesis to be revisited.


In this research work, a novel parallel manipulator with high positioning and orienting rate is introduced. This mechanism has two rotational and one translational degree of freedom. Kinematics and Jacobian analysis are investigated. Moreover, workspace analysis and optimization has been performed by using genetic algorithm toolbox in Matlab software. Because of decreasing moving elements, it is expected much more better dynamic performance with respect to other counterpart mechanisms with the same degrees of freedom. In addition, using couple of cylindrical and revolute joints increased mechanism ability to have more extended workspace.


In May 2015 the European Commission defined a "Strategy" for the Digital Single Market. This paper sketches an initial analysis of the "Strategy" 's main priorities for copyright, tackling the role and influence of the large distribution platforms. The paper highlights the territorial nature of intellectual property rights as a tool for market organisation (and a means of awarding royalties), something the supporters of its cultural field tend to forget when they stress the importance of cultural or social regulation. It also indicates what the Commission reasserts (there being no European copyright) making - or failing to make - choices about cross-border transferability, private copying, user-generated content (no via YouTube but yes to data mining, which had previously been regulated by the "Licences for Europe" initiative), etc. The final part addresses what is not treated in the "Strategy": the culturally prescriptive role of search engines or algorithms «that turn search engines into giants and content producers into dwarves».


This paper offers a critical analysis of the strategic framework for long-term economic development of Serbia, of the role of strategic development in the success of the transition process, and the consequences of the lack of a development strategy. The strategy of long-term economic development of Serbia, as a programme intended to designate the economic and development policy of the state, is analyzed with the aim of finding an acceptable formulation of development strategy. The authors consider various approaches and propose a strategy for Serbia in the period of transition towards market economy. They also point out that, in the period of transition from a government-planned towards a market economy, strategy should be given greater importance than in periods that do not represent turning points, because of the greater possibility of incorrect policy making, potential conflicts of interest groups, reaching sustainable development, and maximizing prosperity. The authors take into account the advantages and disadvantages of the radical and of the gradualist approach to transition and propose formulating a development strategy that would contain combined elements of plan and market mechanisms. They believe that the process of transition lacks a clear development strategy, and that the quality of the existing development strategy of Serbia until 2010 is such that it cannot be understood as a serious approach to the transition issue. The authors stress the consequences of undergoing transition without a development strategy, that include inappropriate dynamic and sequence of reforms; a lack of coordination between development policy, macroeconomic policy, market reforms, and spatial planning policy; higher costs of transition, insufficient rate of economic growth, etc. They offer proposals for a comprehensive development framework (CDF) and for strategic planning of territorial industrial development.


Whatever is performed using either an experimental or observational design, human component system studies involve several factors (seen as system inputs, with either quantitative or qualitative scales) and variables (outputs, with either quantitative or qualitative scales, objective or subjective aspects and time or nontime variables), where the study's main objectives are to infer both input/output and output/output relationships. Within this context, this paper explains the key role played by the membership function design (MFD) for an exploratory multifactor multivariate statistical analysis. First, several MFD options are compared using simulated examples, the method used to reach the study objectives being the correspondence analysis (CA). The CA benefits versus principal component analysis are shown. Then, three main taxonomic dimensions are considered for MFD: 1) mathematical/statistical/physical criteria; 2) monovariate/multivariate membership functions; and 3) unadapted/adapted approaches. Some MFD suggestions are then considered with actual studies such as eye movement in advertising, hand movement in tracking, hand position coordination in steering wheel turning, and subjective data in data entry task workplace assessment. The discussion section weighs the pros and the cons of using space windowing to perform a preliminary analysis of a large multifactor and multivariate database and provides some advice for MFD.


This article reports on two cases of lesbian non-gestational mothers whose breastfeeding intentions were disrupted by the postnatal ward visitor restrictions imposed by NHS trusts during the COVID-19 lockdowns in the UK. One case came to the attention of the author as part of a wider study using an online survey to examine experiences of birth during the first COVID-19 lockdown in April 2020. In the second case, the author was approached by the non-gestational mother for support in her capacity as a doula in April 2021. In both cases, the non-gestational mothers intended to breastfeed their babies and had taken steps to ensure they were lactating, but the heterosexist restrictions for partners in the early postnatal period created complications that impacted their breastfeeding intentions. In the second case, perinatal mental health care for previous birth trauma was also potentially indicated. Both non-gestational mothers also reported that they were not receiving antenatal support to overcome these difficulties, as they were mothers-to-be who were not pregnant.


Introduction Experimental ocular hypertension can be induced by production of a permanent condition of vascular stasis and congestion (ligating the vortex or ciliary veins), or by blockage of the circulation of the intraocular fluid after injecting nondiffusible oils, or by exciting inflammatory and proliferative reactions in the anterior chamber (Duke-Elder, 1940). 1 More recently the discovery of sanguinarine poisoning as the cause of epidemic dropsy and its accompanying raised intraocular tension gave rise to new possibilities for studying glaucoma in the laboratory. Hakim 2 (1954), and Leach and Lloyd 3,4 (1955 and 1956), produced a raised intraocular pressure by administering argemone oil, which consists of sanguinarine and other allied alkaloids. While Leach and Lloyd were working on sanguinarine poisoning, they found that the control monkeys, which were getting an orange twice a week along with a stock diet, showed histopathological changes in the trabecular meshwork similar to that of the


Background: There is a high dropout rate of oral contraceptive pills (OCP), mainly due to a lack of adherence to treatment. The aim of this study was to identify the psychological processes and attitudes toward medication involved in adherence to OCP, depending on the prescription, to avoid unintended pregnancies (AUP) or gynecological problems (GP). Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted by asking 689 young women in the fertile period, mean age 23.41 (SD = 5.90), to complete questionnaires related to attitudes, beliefs, psychological reactance, locus of control, and adherence to contraceptive medication. Descriptive analyses and a binary logistic regression were performed. Results: The results confirmed that different beliefs and psychological processes were involved in adherence to oral contraception, based on women's reasons for taking contraceptive medication. More psychological processes were involved in non-adherence in the AUP group than in the GP group. Psychological reactance contributed most to explaining non-adherence in women who used the OCP to prevent unintended pregnancies. Conversely, women with gynecological problems reported difficulties in adherence, mainly due to their beliefs about contraceptive pills. Conclusions: These findings indicate that attitudes toward medication and psychological processes can play an important role in adherence to OCP, including reasons for using the pill. Identifying the psychological factors and beliefs linked with contraception could guide health professionals to provide counseling to women, thus increasing their adherence to medication and maximizing their health and well-being.


A thorough understanding of pharmacy law by students is important in the molding of future pharmacy practitioners but a standardized template for the best way to educate students in this area has not been created. A mock Board of Pharmacy meeting was designed and incorporated into the Pharmacy Law course to meet the ACPE accreditation standards at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy. Students acted as Board of Pharmacy members and utilized technology to decide outcomes of cases and requests addressed in a typical 2 day Tennessee Board of Pharmacy meeting. The actual responses to those cases, as well as similar cases and requests addressed over a 5 year period, were revealed to students after they made motions on mock scenarios. Student participation in this interactive learning experience resulted in good understanding of the rules and regulations of pharmacy practice and the consequences associated with violating regulations. Such mock Board of Pharmacy meeting is recommended for future pharmacy law education.


Info 2014 Present emerging trend in space science applications is to explore and utilize the deep space. Image coding in deep space communications play vital role in deep space missions. Lossless image compression has been recommended for space science exploration missions to retain the quality of image. Onboard memory and bandwidth requirement is reduced by image compression. Programmable logic like field programmable gate array (FPGA) offers an attractive solution for performance and flexibility required by real time image compression algorithms. The powerful feature of FPGA is parallel processing which allows the data to process quicker than microprocessor implementation. This paper elaborates on implementing low complexity lossless image compression algorithm coder on FPGA with minimum utilization of onboard resources for deep space


What is the welfare state? How is the term conceptualised particularly in the British context where the NHS is often seen as a symbol of the welfare state? These are some of the questions Malgorzata Paprota addresses in her book by focusing on the construction of the concept in the British press 'at a time of austerity that followed the 2008 financial crisis in the UK'. She focuses on four newspapers – The Telegraph, The Daily Mail, The Daily Mirror and The Guardian – and their Sunday sister papers in the period 2008– 2015. The study combines the discourse-historical approach to discourse analysis with conceptual metaphor theory. The author explains that 'why (and how) we talk of some things, while the "thingness" of others never registers, is very much of interest to the former framework, especially when the "things" concern elements of the social reality' (p. 15). The book is split into Introduction, four substantive chapters and Conclusions. Chapter 1 discusses the contexts, the corpus and the assumptions made in the study. It explores the development of the welfare state in the British context. It also includes a contextualisation of the key analytical categories used in the study. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 then present the actual findings aimed at answering the main research question: 'How is the British welfare state constructed in the material analysed?' (p. 15). Chapter 2 focuses on the question: 'What is the welfare state?' by showing 'how the boundaries of the welfare state are established in the key themes of discourse in the corpus' (p. 15). Chapters 3 and 4 then explore the question about the figurative conceptualisation of the welfare state. Chapter 3 analyses the figurative models of the welfare state, whereas Chapter 4 looks into other metaphors used. The book is part of a series called Bloomsbury Advances in Critical Discourse Studies, and it would definitely be of interests to media and communication scholars employing Critical Discourse Analysis in their work.


Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and spinal-bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) are devastating diseases characterized by the degeneration of motor neurons. Although the molecular causes underlying these diseases differ, recent findings have highlighted the contribution of intrinsic skeletal muscle defects in motor neuron diseases. The use of cell culture and animal models has led to the important finding that muscle defects occur prior to and independently of motor neuron degeneration in motor neuron diseases. In SMA for instance, the muscle specific requirements of the SMA disease-causing gene have been demonstrated by a series of genetic rescue experiments in SMA models. Conditional ALS mouse models expressing a muscle specific mutant SOD1 gene develop atrophy and muscle degeneration in the absence of motor neuron pathology. Treating SBMA mice by over-expressing IGF-1 in a skeletal muscle-specific manner attenuates disease severity and improves motor neuron pathology. In the present review, we provide an in depth description of muscle intrinsic defects, and discuss how they impact muscle function in these diseases. Furthermore, we discuss muscle-specific therapeutic strategies used to treat animal models of SMA, ALS, and SBMA. The study of intrinsic skeletal muscle defects is crucial for the understanding of the pathophysiology of these diseases and will open new therapeutic options for the treatment of motor neuron diseases.


The increasing size and complexity of massively parallel systems (e.g. HPC systems) is making it increasingly likely that individual circuits will produce erroneous results. For this reason, novel fault tolerance approaches are increasingly needed. Prior fault tolerance approaches often rely on checkpoint-rollback based schemes. Unfortunately, such schemes are primarily limited to rare error event scenarios as the overheads of such schemes become prohibitive if faults are common. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for algorithmic correction of faulty application outputs. The key insight for this approach is that even under high error scenarios, even if the result of an algorithm is erroneous, most of it is correct. Instead of simply rolling back to the most recent checkpoint and repeating the entire segment of computation, our novel resilience approach uses algorithmic error localization and partial recomputation to efficiently correct the corrupted results. We evaluate our approach in the specific algorithmic scenario of linear algebra operations, focusing on matrix-vector multiplication (MVM) and iterative linear solvers. We develop a novel technique for localizing errors in MVM and show how to achieve partial recomputation within this algorithm, and demonstrate that this approach both improves the performance of the Conjugate Gradient solver in high error scenarios by 3x-4x and increases the probability that it completes successfully by up to 60% with parallel experiments up to 100 nodes.


Conventional wet chemical processes have not been successful in achieving a high aspect ratio channel on glass wafers because of isotropic etching of glass by hydrogen fluoride (HF). We fabricated a microchip of photosensitive glass in order to obtain a high aspect ratio channel (width:depth:aspect ratio = 150 µm:250 µm:1.67). The water glass bonding technique was applied to bond glass wafers at low temperature (40–80°C). The results of studying the characteristics of the water glass bonding technique for the micro total analysis system (µ-TAS) use show that dissolution of the material (sodium) from water glass layer was avoided by placing it in deionized water at 60°C for 4 h, and the bond strength was weakened by keeping it at high pH for a day. The microchip was available to analyze the amount of nitrite acid present by thermal lens microscopy as one method of optical chemical analysis. Although the etched glass surface had a roughness of about 1 µm, the calibration curve of thermal lens microscopy was similar to that of spectrophotometry.


CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) is a co-receptor for HIV-1 entry into target cells. Its natural ligand, the chemokine SDF-1, inhibits viral entry mediated by this receptor. However, the broad expression pattern of CXCR4 and its critical roles in various physiological and pathological processes indicate that the direct application of SDF-1 as an entry inhibitor might have severe consequences. Previously, we constructed an effective SDF-1 mutant, SDF-1/54, by deleting the α-helix of the C-terminal functional region of SDF-1. Of note, SDF-1/54 shows remarkable decreased chemotoxic ability, but maintains a similar binding affinity to CXCR4, suggesting SDF-1/54 might better serve as a CXCR4 inhibitor. Here, we found that SDF-1/54 exhibited potent antiviral activity against various X4 HIV-1 strains, including the infectious clone HIV-1 NL4-3, laboratory-adapted strain HIV-1 IIIB, clinical isolates and even drug-resistant strains. By using time-of-addition assay, non-infectious and infectious cell–cell fusion assay and CXCR4 internalization assay, we demonstrated SDF-1/54 is an HIV-1 entry inhibitor. A combination of SDF-1/54 with several antiretroviral drugs exhibited potent synergistic anti-HIV-1 activity. Moreover, SDF-1/54 was stable and its anti-HIV-1 activity was not significantly affected by the presence of seminal fluid, vaginal fluid simulant and human serum albumin. SDF-1/54 showed limited in vitro cytotoxicity to lymphocytes and vaginal epithelial cells. Based on these findings, SDF-1/54 could have a therapeutic potential as an HIV-1 entry inhibitor.


Parents of children and youth with disabilities (CYD) have expressed unique physical activity (PA) information needs. Community-based organizations (CBOs) require assistance to meet these needs. Guided by the Appraisal of Guidelines, Research and Evaluation II, this project established evidence-informed recommendations for developing PA information targeting families of CYD. This process involved a systematic scoping review to inform draft recommendations (k = 23), which were revised via a consensus meeting with researchers, knowledge users from CBOs, and families of CYD. Broader consultation with CBO knowledge users informed the final recommendations (k = 5) that fit within the following categories: (a) language and definitions, (b) program information, (c) benefits of PA, (d) barriers to PA, and (e) PA ideas and self-regulation tools. CBOs are encouraged to consider these recommendations when developing PA information for families of CYD. Future research will focus on the development of knowledge products to disseminate the recommendations to CBOs and support implementation.


It has been acknowledged that e-commerce based on the notional and hypothetical sense got much attentions of the research since last few decades. In further explanation, unfortunately, SMEs B2B e-commerce related to its ethics given less attentions and courtesies. Likewise, the core concerns of this research are to assess the framework that highlights intentions and loyalty of the purchasers and their purchasing consideration with connection to B2B SME's e-commerce ethics. Predominantly, the findings of this research promulgate the building ethics related to the suppliers, which are communication, value exchanged, security, reliability satisfying, service recovery, and non-disappointment. Moreover, highly prognostic intentions of the online purchasers that consuming the SEM for examining the sample of small business e-commerce firms and related material related to the country of Pakistan are the focusing of this research. In addition, our findings show that the most important element of relationship building is reliability/fulfillment and non-deception. Furthermore, the consistency of the partnership that has positive impact on the purchasers and their loyalty is aimed in this research too. The findings have important repercussions for B2B e-commerce and can inspire more study for enhancing relationship marketing and its future considerations.


Background and Aims Missed polyps are a pitfall of colonoscopy. In this study, we analyzed the efficacy of an additional 30 seconds observation using linked color imaging (LCI) for detecting adenoma and sessile serrated adenoma/polyp (SSA/P). Materials and Methods We enrolled patients undergoing colonoscopy from February to October 2017 in two institutions. In all patients, the cecum and ascending colon were observed with white light imaging (WLI) first. The colonoscope was inserted again, and the cecum and ascending colon were observed for an additional 30 seconds using either LCI or WLI. The method for the 30 sec observation was to insufflate the cecum and ascending colon sufficiently and observe them in a distant view, because the length of the second observation was determined to be precisely 30 sec. For the second observation, LCI was performed for the first 65 patients and WLI for the next 65. Adenoma and SSA/P detection rate (ASDR) in the second observation were examined in both groups. According to a pilot study, the sample size was estimated 65. Results In the first observation, ASDR were 30.7% in the LCI group and 32.2% in the WLI group (p = 0.85). For the second observation, 13 polyps were detected in the LCI group and 5 polyps in the WLI group (p = 0.04). Additionally, ASDR for the second observation were 18.5% and 6.1%, respectively (p = 0.03). There were no significant differences between the LCI and WLI groups with respect to morphology (ratio of polypoid) (38.5% versus 60.0%, p = 0.52) and histology (ratio of adenoma) (92.3% versus 100.0%, p = 0.91). Total adenoma and SSA/P number were 48 in the LCI group and 36 in the WLI group (p = 0.02). Conclusion The 30 seconds additional observation with LCI improved the detection of adenoma and SSA/P in the right-sided colon.


Background: Empathy is an essential element of physician professionalism. Thus, proper evaluation and education of empathy in medical students is important for medical education. Purpose: This study was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Korean Student-Version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE-S). Methods: The scale was completed cross-sectionally by 493 medical students at Seoul National University College of Medicine in Korea. Results: Item-total correlations were all positive and statistically significant. Cronbach's coefficient alpha was 0.84. A factor structure similar to that from American medical students was observed. The mean score of 5.2 ± 0.6 was obtained. Significant differences in the empathy scores were observed among years in medical school but not between genders. Conclusions: Our findings provide support for the reliability and validity of the Korean JSPE-S and indicate that it can serve as a useful instrument for assessing empathy among Korean medical students.


Recently, considerable interest has been expressed in the use of radar to detect underground targets both small (e.g., antipersonnel mines) and large (e.g., buried vehicles). Particular interest has been directed at airborne SAR for this purpose. Several important issues requiring study include the scattering signature of objects buried in soil media, the attenuation and scattering of radar energy in inhomogeneous soils, and the impact of clutter (and particularly the impact of surface clutter layover) on subsurface target detection and recognition. To address these issues, a radar ground penetration experiment was conducted in the desert near Yuma, AZ from June 4 to 15, 1993. In this experiment a number of large and small targets of various shapes were buried at depths up to 3 m, and data was collected using several air- and ground-based radars using both real and synthetic aperture data processing. The variety of radars available covered the range from 20 to 1500 MHz. The data collected was calibrated with sufficient accuracy to permit the measurement of in situ radar signatures, allowing the calculation of ground penetration losses. Data from this test have been analyzed to develop a phenomenological understanding of soil penetration losses and clutter backscattering, and to investigate the characteristic signatures of specific buried targets. These data are compared to laboratory soil measurements and modeling studies. This paper will describe the experiment, sensors, sample radar measurements and some of the results of the data analysis.


Focusing on a global hub of aviation, Frankfurt Airport, this essay examines encounters between animals and technology in airport operation. In order to understand how airport practices constantly negotiate the borders with local environments or even produce new ones, we draw on Gloria Anzaldúa ' s concept of " borderlands. " Extending this notion from human to nonhuman inhabitants and passengers of airports opens up for novel possibilities to appre-hend the affective dimension in the life-technology intersections at airports. In this sense, the airport is a site of multiple borderlands, producing intersections that include material and imaginative, sometimes violent, boundary drawing. We examine a broad set of multispecies borders and " borderlining " practices, their material cultures, and affective economies. What kind of local, historical legacies do airports struggle with and how do they cope with the underlying tensions of partially connected sites, sectors, and spaces? Throughout the essay, we historicize three encounters of the aviation infrastructure and its living environments and their affective economies: borderlining the air fi eld, borderlining the animal passenger, and borderlining the animal intruder. These examples highlight different modes of encounters, like clashes, coexistence, and care.


Background : In Korea, the prevalence of leprosy and the number of new indigenous cases has fallen. With this reason, the diagnosis of leprosy is not as easy as in the past and it became more dependent of the histopathologic features by skin biopsy. Object : The aim of this study was to document and analyze the clinical and histopathological features of leprosy in Korea. Methods : We carried out the clinical and histopathological studies on 90 leprosy patients who visited the Institute of Leprosy Control during the period from Jan. 1998 to Aug. 2002. Results : The results obtained were as follows. 1. Elongated granulomas which are frequently observed in the leprosy lesions, was not present in the 3 cases(18.7%) of T types, 2 cases(28.6%) of B types and 17 cases(27.9%) of L types of leprosy. 2. In the L type of leprosy, infiltration of foamy cells showed elongated(63.9%) or nodular(27.9%) patterns more than typical diffuse infiltrative pattern(8.2%). 3. Selective nerve involvement by lymphocytes was found in 2 cases of L types of leprosy. 4. In the B type and the L type leprosy, prominent nerve involvement and neural destruction was not found in 1 and 7 cases, respectively and sparse to mild infiltration of foamy cells was found in 71.4% and 34.4%, respectively. Conclusion : In the histopathological diagnosis of T type leprosy, elongated or even round granuloma, perineurial lymphocytic infiltration and nerve remnant in the granuloma was characteristic. As for L type of leprosy, we should know that in 1/3 cases, it can show only sparse to mild infiltration of foamy cells and there is no obvious nerve abnormalities. Therefore, these results suggest that many cases of leprosy can show atypical histopathological findings and we should take caution in the diagnosis of leprosy.


We present an in-depth analysis of natural forest management practices in Costa Rica based on a new historical forestry GIS database encompassing five conservation regions in the country where selective logging has been prevalent for the last 18 years. Natural forest management refers to the selective logging practices for the production of timber in natural forest ecosystems. The study considers natural forest management plans developed following a standardized format, based on Forestry Law 7575, established in 1996. Our results show a positive aspect of forest management where a large percentage of the managed forest is still standing, contrary to other tropical countries where selective logging promotes land use change. The negative finding is that managed forest areas occur in the last remaining forest fragments outside of protected areas, which challenges the continuity of selective logging in the near and mid future due to the potential impoverishment of the isolated forest stands. The most negative aspect is the recent establishment, by law, of a very short return logging cycle (10–15 years—minimum cutting cycle) as it contradicts ecological studies showing that tropical forests require over 60 years for the forest structure and composition to return to a state similar to pre-logging states. Our results should inform decision makers and managers in conservation areas to review current policies and establish new benchmarks for sustainable forest management in the country.


The structure of normal and pathological intestine epithelium and its endocrine function in young and old age were investigated. Melatonin expression of epitheliocytes decreased in elderly people as compared to young people at normal and pathological station. The results demonstrate the main role of melatonin in the mechanisms of aging and development of gastrointestinal pathology.


BackgroundMany reconstructive methods for facial nerve defects have been described previously, such as the greater auricular nerve graft, the sural nerve graft, or hypoglossal-facial nerve anastomosis. Herein, we want to instruct a new technique of repairing facial nerve defects of zygomatic or marginal mandibular branches using upper buccal or cervical branches when we have to face segment defects of facial nerve with wide gaps between facial nerve stumps. MethodsThe distal part of the upper buccal or cervical branches with peripheral tissue was removed to repair the defects of zygomatic or marginal mandibular branches. Clinical and electromyographic examinations were employed to investigate the clinical efficacy of this method. ResultsKilled branches of facial nerve included 11 marginal mandibular branches and 16 zygomatic branches in 26 patients. The length of facial nerve defects ranged from 0.9 cm to 2.3 cm with a mean gap of 1.87 cm (SD, 0.89). Seventeen patients finally showed a superb facial function (grade I), 6 patients an excellent outcome (grade II), and 3 patients a good result (grade III). A fair or poor result (grade IV or V) was not observed. ConclusionsThe essence of this method is equivalent to direct facial-facial nerve anastomosis which seems to be able to avoid synkinesis between the upper and lower face. We believe that this method is adaptable to the length of facial nerve defects less than 2 cm.


Abstract. Von Kármán crater is the landing area for CE-4 mission, which provides a chance to further study the evolution of South-Pole Aitken basin. In this paper, the topography, composition, temperature and deep structures of Von Kármán crater are systematically studied with LRO LOLA data, Clementine UV-VIS data, CE-2 CELMS data, and GRAIL data. Several potential geologic issues are postulated as follows: (1) There exists a difference for the southern and northern parts of the crater floor in topography. The surface topography is influenced by Leibnitz and Finsen events. (2) There exists an FTA-rich material in depth layer of the crater floor, and the later bombardments exposed the original material in the crater floor. And the material in depth is homogeneous. (3) The composition apparently changes with depth, and there exist a warm anomaly in the northern part of the crater floor and a cold anomaly in the southern part. (4) A large amount of magma has been uplifted after Von Kármán M impact event, and the crust has been melted several times and condensed into dense basalt layer. Generally, this is a good place to measure the material from the original SPA basin and the material from the depth layer of the Moon for the CE-4 landing site.


The paper addresses the complexities associated with meaning as the object of psychological studies. Meaning is treated as a multifaceted entity that cannot be reduced to a single measurable trait-like or state-like variable. The challenge of studying meaning is split into several more focused challenges, including linguistic challenge, ontological challenge, structural challenge, anthropological challenge, dynamic challenge, and methodological challenge. The paper gives a referential view on meaning and suggests some methodological guidelines for meaning research.


Rules credit is determined using rough set approach and consequence credit is determined using fuzzy degree function so as to enhance the reliability of inference because of reasonings consisting subjective influences and non-deterministion in supportability qualitative indexes evaluation using the weighted fuzzy Petri net. Finally, based on some supportability qualitative indexes of naval gun equipment, credit is validated using matrix operation and calculating of the weighted fuzzy Petri net, and the qualitative indexes are evaluated. The results show that the mothed is feasible and can not only evaluate the reasoning of integrated logistic support of equipment on duty, but also layout the supportability design of the system at initial argumentation.


The recent US Supreme Court decision in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc. clarified what is considered patentable subject matter. Patent claims limited to the composition of isolated nucleic acid sequences are now considered a product of nature and not patent eligible, while man-made variants of nucleic acid sequences may still be patentable. The decision is consistent with an earlier ruling in Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories., Inc. related to diagnostic methods. In Prometheus, the Court held that a method simply reciting known steps used to observe a natural event is not patentable subject matter. Taken together, the Court's decisions provide guidance as to what constitutes a natural phenomenon outside patent protection and what is considered a man-made creation worthy of protection. Despite misgivings, both decisions will provide impetus for increased genetic research and development of new therapeutics and diagnostics, especially in genomic and personalized medicine.


The prompt X-ray emission from gamma-ray burst (GRB) 980519, as measured with the Wide Field Cameras on board BeppoSAX, is characterized by a strong soft-to-hard-to-soft evolution. An analysis of the evolution of the X-ray spectrum in terms of a single power-law model shows that the photon index evolved from -2.0 to -1.1 to -2.4. The onset of the burst has such a soft spectrum that the 2-27 keV emission appears to precede the ≳107 keV emission of GRB 980519 (as measured with the Burst and Transient Source Experiment) by about 70 s. Nevertheless, we show that this early spectral variation is part of a smooth evolution over the whole burst and that there is no convincing evidence that the early X-rays originate from a physical process that is different from that giving rise to the remainder of the burst.


BACKGROUND
Trigeminal neuropathic pain (TNP) can present as a constant, unremitting unilateral facial pain. Current management is based on expert recommendation that includes pharmacologic agents and psychological therapy. However, treatment success with pharmacologic management is poor. We adopted a novel strategy that proved to be effective in providing durable relief.

OBJECTIVES
Prospectively audit a novel strategy in the management of refractory TNP.

STUDY DESIGN
The authors present a prospective audit of a novel structured management pathway in the treatment of refractory TNP.

SETTING
Multidisciplinary facial pain clinic at a University Teaching Hospital.

METHODS
Over a 4-year period, 70 patients with unilateral TNP were prospectively audited at a tertiary care university hospital. Initial treatment was based on pharmacologic therapy while the patient awaited psychological therapy. Patients who failed to respond were offered a novel set of interventions that included ultrasound-guided trigeminal nerve block with depot steroids.

RESULTS
Patient satisfaction with the novel pathway was high. Only 13 patients (13/70, 18%) responded to standard treatment. Of the 57 patients who were offered the novel intervention, 50 patients consented to undergo the intervention. Forty-two patients (42/50, 84%) reported clinically significant pain relief at 3 months, and 27 patients (27/50, 54%) reported on-going durable relief at 6 months. Treatment failure with the novel intervention was 16%. Out of 54 patients in the employable age, 45 patients (45/54, 83%) were able to maintain gainful employment.

LIMITATIONS
Open-label, nonrandomized observational design.

CONCLUSIONS
Standard treatment of TNP is ineffective. The novel set of interventions based on empirical evidence may have a role in managing patients with refractory TNP.


A fast response variable amplitude cold gas thruster is described. A laboratory prototype comprised of a piezoelectric stack and an associated microprocessor-based programmable dc power source, a low-loss mechanical displacement amplifier, a high-pressure spring-loaded axial valve, an integral high-pressure valve seat; an expansion nozzle, and a high-pressure gas supply were constructed and tested. The device is designed to operate as a stand-alone unit with a dedicated onboard microcontroller system and onboard energy storage system. Minimum pulse-width resolution (base-to-base) was shown to be 0.98 ms, with a lag time of 0.37 ms relative to the initiation of the drive pulse. Linear amplitude response was achieved beyond a threshold drive voltage of 80 vdc and was maintained through the limit of testing at 240 vdc.


Forty patients with symptoms of internal derangement of the knee were examined arthroscopically under local anesthesia using a continuous irrigation solution of 0.2% lidocaine. Serum levels were measured during and following the procedure to determine peak levels obtained and to assure that toxic levels were not exceeded. The procedure was well tolerated by all patients and found to be adequate by the surgeon. No procedure was terminated because of discomfort. Lidocaine levels ranged from undetectable to 2.5 micrograms/ml with an average of 0.6 microgram/ml. No complications of lidocaine toxicity were noted by the anesthesiologist or the operating surgeon. This technique provides a safe and efficient method of meeting the demands for diagnostic and therapeutic arthroscopy in ambulatory patients.


This study aimed at analysing errors in essays written by Malawian students who were learning English as a Second Language (ESL). Its specific focus was three-fold: to analyse errors using Corder's (1974) five-stage approach to Error Analysis, to assess sources of the errors and to identify measures that could be applied to help students attain proficiency in English. The study utilised qualitative and quantitative designs. The participants in this study were students and teachers. The former were required to write essays which were analysed using Corder's (1974) five-stage approach to Error Analysis while the latter were interviewed to establish sources of errors and ways to overcome them. The study has revealed that the following were the most frequent errors: tense, spelling, subject-verb agreement, articles, nouns, capitalisation and fragment. The study has further revealed that inter- lingual and intra-lingual interferences were the main sources of errors. The study has further demonstrated that other factors such as a lapse in reading culture, carelessness and social media's writing style influence students' errors. This study has shown that Error Analysis is helpful to teachers because it enables them to identify specific and common problems. Teachers can, therefore, focus more attention on the identified problems. The findings have pedagogical implications for ESL teachers because they would employ appropriate pedagogy to minimise students' errors in the area of grammar and sentence structures. The findings also have practical implications in the sense that some platforms could be organised in order to grill teachers on how to improve their content and pedagogical skills in ESL writing. Teachers could also use these platforms to share their experiences with fellow teachers and map the way forward to improve their instruction skills.


Using the methods of speech analysis there were examined alarm calls of three individuals of lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) belonging to three different populations. In the time domain the voice differences are manifested in prosodic features, such as the mean and variance of the basic tone, as well as the distribution of energy over time. In the spectral range the differences the peculiarities are related to the articulator apparatus, they appear in the different formant tracks movements relative to each other. Common features include. The similarity of the basic tone trajectory change, when up to 300 period, the trend of its increasing is saved, followed by a slight decline, and before the end of the signal rise again. Location of the first formant approximately on the same frequency. The similarity of movement of formant tracks. Stability of the first formant. However, to draw final conclusions on the individual, geographical and species-specific signal characteristics need a lot more statistics than there is for the moment.


This study builds on political mediation and movement infrastructure models to highlight contingent and synergistic ways in which social movements may impinge upon the U.S. national policy-making process. Analyses employ a variety of datasets to examine the role of environmental movement organizational capacity, protest and institutional activity in garnering Congressional attention to, and action on, salient issues from 1961 through 1990. We find all types of movement activity, but especially the development of national organizational infrastructures, to be positively associated with the convening of Congressional hearings on the environment. Only when there are high levels of both protest and institutional activity is there any evidence that the environmental movement directly influences the passage of environmental laws.


Interest and concern about late effects of concussion in contact sports has been growing, although research on long-term health outcome is limited. There has been particular concern with regard to neurodegenerative changes that might become evident very late after injury. In this presentation studies on late health outcome will be briefly reviewed and a recently published study on long term outcome in rugby union players will be presented. In this study, outcome in relation to exposure to repeated head injury was investigated in retired Scottish international rugby players and controls in relation to general and mental health, life stress, persisting complaints, cognitive function, disability and markers of chronic life stress (allostatic load). Although the estimated number of concussions was high in the retired rugby players (median=7; IQR 5–40), and subtle group differences were detected on two of the cognitive tests (verbal learning and fine co-ordination of the dominant hand), group differences in mental health, social or work functioning were not found late after injury, and there were not associations between the number of concussions and cognitive function. There is a need for prospective group comparison studies on representative cohorts.


Pakistan consists of four provinces: the Punjab and Sindh in the lndus Plain, and the more mountainous North West Frontier Province and Balochistan. Each of the provinces has a large degree of administrative autonomy. In addition to the four provinces, there are several special border regions that are administered directly by the federal government. These are the high-altitude Northern Areas of Pakistan, the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, and the territory of Azad Kashmir, disputed by India.


CD40 ligand (CD40L, also known as CD154 or gp39) is a member of the tumor necrosis superfamily of transmembrane proteins. The interaction of CD40L on activated T cells with its receptor, CD40 on B cells, is necessary for normal immune function, including B cell differentiation, germinal center formation, and antibody isotype switching. Abnormal expressionof CD40L in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) may contribute to autoantibody production and disease pathogenesis. Although murine models of monoclonal antibodies directed against CD40L initially showed promise, human trials either have failed to demonstrate efficacy or have been associated with adverse events. This review will summarize in vitro and murine model data and human clinical trials involving anti-CD40L monoclonal antibody.


The business world continues to grow and the retail companies are required to survive and fulfill the customer desires. One of the important factors in business is the service quality. To survive in the competition, the company must improve the quality of customer service. The Super Dazzle store in Kaliurang Yogyakarta branch is a retail business that sells various kinds of gadget accessories. Based on observations and interviews data from some customers in July 2021-January 2022, several complaints were found stating that the quality of service received was not good. Some of the complaints obtained are the number of cashiers was inadequate, employees paid less attention to product quality, some product arrangements were messy, the existing product stock was incomplete, service to customers was bad, and several other services were unsatisfactory. This study aims to determine the level of customer satisfaction with the quality of service provided. The steps are to determine the service quality attributes, to measure the level of satisfaction using the servqual method, then to recommend improvements using the six sigma - DMAIC method. The results showed that most of the customers were not satisfied, this was evidenced by the servqual results with a negative gap value. So, it is necessary to improve the attributes using six sigma - DMAIC. From the results of six sigma - DMAIC processing, the priority of store service improvements is obtained. The priority attributes are uncomfortable parking area (T5), employees are less willing to help customers (RE4), the shop environment is not clean (T2), slow cashier service speed (R5), poor arrangement of goods (T1), employees are lacking in paying attention to consumers (E4), lack of product completeness (T7), unskilled employees (RE5), products have not been fully maintained such as cleanliness and seal (R3). Then the suggestions for improvement can be given based on these attributes. The priorities of improvements recommendations are providing the regular monitoring, enlarge the parking facility, making posters of customer satisfaction, adding customer facilities, maintain the cleanliness of the store and products, selecting quality human resources for employee, providing the employee training, increasing the number of cashiers and adding the variety of products and availability.


The formation of massive stellar clusters in turbulent molecular clouds is investigated. We include artificial star formation and energy feedback of newly born stars. The obtained systems are not likely to survive. Case studies to determine conditions necessary for forming bound clusters will be done in the future.


We develop a unified model accounting simultaneously for the contrast invariance of the width of the orientation tuning curves (OT) and for the sigmoidal shape of the contrast response function (CRF) of neurons in the primary visual cortex (V1). We determine analytically the conditions for the structure of the afferent LGN and recurrent V1 inputs that lead to these properties for a hypercolumn composed of rate based neurons with a power-law transfer function. We investigate what are the relative contributions of single neuron and network properties in shaping the OT and the CRF. We test these results with numerical simulations of a network of conductance-based model (CBM) neurons and we demonstrate that they are valid and more robust here than in the rate model. The results indicate that because of the acceleration in the transfer function, described here by a power-law, the orientation tuning curves of V1 neurons are more tuned, and their CRF is steeper than those of their inputs. Last, we show that it is possible to account for the diversity in the measured CRFs by introducing heterogeneities either in single neuron properties or in the input to the neurons. We show how correlations among the parameters that characterize the CRF depend on these sources of heterogeneities. Comparison with experimental data suggests that both sources contribute nearly equally to the diversity of CRF shapes observed in V1 neurons.


[Objective/significance] The content of media communication is a reproduction and representation of users' cultural attitudes. The real emotions of netizens are expressed, gathered and spread through the media, forming a unique online emotion. The popularity of online emotions is often affected by cultural patterns in intercultural context, resulting differences in expression. Understanding the mechanism that causes differences and understanding the final results, we can effectively identify and guide the development of online emotions, and avoid cultural misunderstanding and cultural conflicts, which has important practical significance. [Methods/Procedure] Based on the Emotion Appraisal Theory, this paper analyzes the online emotions of China, Japan and South Korea in recent years, and makes an analogical and quantitative analysis of its valence effect.[Findings/Conclusion]It is found that netizens' emotions tend to be negative for the violent plots in online cartoons, but the netizens from different countries show subtle differences due to the influence of emotional concerns and cultural background. Around the influence of the cultural mode in the works, the online emotion shows the characteristics of high arousal. On this basis, the spread of emotion in the webtoons reveals the multi-level cultural factors in the emotional expression. Therefore, the society should pay attention to the guiding function of positive emotions, and improve the correct communication effect.


Digital games can be powerful learning environments because they encourage active learning and participation within "affinity groups" (Gee, 2004). However, the use of games in formal educational environments is not always successful (O'Neil et al., 2005). There is a need to update existing theories of motivation and engagement in order to take recent game-related developments into account. Understanding the links between why people play games, what keeps them engaged in this process, and what they learn as a result could have a significant impact on how people value and use games for learning. This paper examines key research that relates to motivation, engagement, and informal learning through digital games, in order to highlight the need for empirical studies which examine the activities that occur in and around everyday gaming practice. DOI: 10.4018/jvple.2011040101 2 International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments, 2(2), 1-16, April-June 2011 Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. on to look at traditional conceptualisations of motivation and engagement in the research literature, in the light of new kinds of games, interfaces, online interactions and new audiences of players. It is suggested that work by Calleja (2007a, 2007b) on involvement offers the potential for a fuller account of how contextual aspects relate to the gaming experience. Consideration is also given to the suggestion of Boyle and Connolly (2008) that reversal theory can be helpful in understanding certain emotional flips that people can experience whilst playing games. A number of methodological challenges are raised, and it is suggested that a multi-method case study research approach—including interviews, surveys, game-play recordings and physiological measures—could help address some methodological limitations of previous research. The paper concludes with an illustration of the kind of research that could be useful. gAmes: FormAl And InFormAl leArnIng Academic interest in gaming and learning seems to stem from the fact that digital games are considered to be effective motivational tools and learning environments (Kirriemuir & McFarlane, 2004; Mitchell & Savill-Smith, 2004; de Freitas, 2006). Games can promote "active" and "critical learning" both within the game and the "affinity groups" of players that surround specific titles and genres (Gee, 2004). However, the literature often fails to explore the potential links between what motivates players to play a game (motivation), what keeps them engaged in the game (engagement) and the learning that occurs as a result of game-play and participation in gaming practices (informal learning). This is important because when games are used within formal educational environments, the links can break down. For instance, de Castell and Jenson (2003) argue that educational games have "not been hugely successful at taking up and exploiting the resources digital technologies make available for learning" (p. 656) since there is often only a tenuous connection between the game-play and the learning tasks within the game. Furthermore, learners do not all agree that they find games intrinsically motivating within an educational context (Whitton, 2007) and it has also been found that when commercial games are used to support learning in educational environments, the games used do not always appeal to all students (Squire, 2005). In the area of games and learning, a distinction is often made between formal and informal learning. This distinction usually refers to the context in which the learning takes place, as opposed to whether the game in question has been explicitly designed for educational purposes. There are several different ways to classify informal learning but Vavoula (2005) presents a typology which focuses on defining formal and informal learning in terms of control over the processes and goals of learning, and also with respect to the intentionality of the learner. For instance, when using a commercial game in the classroom, the teacher would have explicitly prescribed both the process and goals, while the student is there for the purpose of learning; so this can be seen as an example of intentional, formal learning. However, when the focus of research is on the learning that occurs whilst someone plays a game in their spare time at home during game-play—usually a voluntary, leisure time activity—this could be classified as focusing on unintentional, informal learning. In relation to the use of games for formal learning purposes, O'Neil et al. (2005) reviewed the literature and found a total of 19 studies that met their criteria for review. The studies included had to be peer-reviewed published journal articles which used adult participants and also contained some quantitative or qualitative information about the effectiveness of the games used. O'Neil and colleagues concluded that "the evidence of potential is striking, but the empirical evidence for effectiveness of games as learning environments is scant" (O'Neil et al., 2005, p. 468). However, the authors note that learning outcomes seem to depend on how instructional strategies around the game are International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments, 2(2), 1-16, April-June 2011 3 Copyright © 2011, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. employed. Similarly, Pivec (2009) in a report commissioned by BECTA, agrees that the evidence for the effectiveness of game-based learning is mixed, suggesting that it is not just the game but how it is used within a specific environment (what he terms the "meta-game") which helps lead to effective learning. It seems likely, then, that at least some of the issues that affect formal game-based learning are due to the context in which the game-play occurs. Further, it is also possible the lack of empirical support in the area "may indicate that learning through immersive worlds involves a more complex understanding of learning, one that is not so easy to tie to specified learning outcomes" (de Frietas, 2006, p. 18). This suggests that there is a need to further our understanding of what occurs during everyday game-play practices in order to examine how and what players learn when playing games during leisure time. By taking the context and socio-cultural factors around the game into account, as researchers such as de Castell and Jenson (2003), Squire (2005), Pelletier and Oliver (2006) suggest, we can identify how successful commercial games support learning within and around game-play and start to think more about how to support learning in more formal contexts. An account of informal learning that attempts to consider the context around gameplay in more depth is provided by Gee (2004) in his book 'What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy.' Gee (2004) describes how people learn to play games from their individual efforts to master the progressive challenges provided by the game to their participation in "semiotic domains" and "affinity groups." This could be described as an account of how people learn informally, through games, since Gee (2004) is discussing game-play in terms of people playing commercial games outside of educational environments. EgenfeldtNielsen, Smith, and Tosca (2008) describe Gee's (2004) approach to the analysis of game-play activity as socio-cultural since digital games are viewed as "tools for constructing viable learning experiences" that "mediate discussion, reflection and analysis" (p. 216). Gee (2004) argues that "critical learning" occurs when people learn to play new video games as they are actually learning a new literacy. This literacy includes multi-modal texts and graphical representations. Through gaming, players learn to participate in "semiotic domains" made up of words, pictures, and/or anything that is used to communicate different types of meaning. These domains are associated with specific "affinity groups" of players whose knowledge, skills, tools and resources contribute to form complex systems of distributed parts. These essentially make up a community of practice (Lave & Wegner, 1991; Wegner, 1998) where players can gain resources from fellow members to help them to solve problems within, and sometimes outside of, the specific domain. Gee (2004) sees this as evidence of "critical learning" which occurs when a player thinks about "the domain at a meta-level as a complex system of interrelated parts" (p. 23). Further, Gee (2004) points out that his ideas fit in well with the view that "learning is a change not just in practice, but in identity" (p. 190), as researchers such as Lave and Wegner (1991) suggest. With respect to games, Gee (2004) talks about learning that occurs from the adoption of and experimentation with different identities, as well as being able to reflect upon the relationship between old and new identities. While Gee (2004) argues that all deep learning is tied in with the notion of identity, "critical learning" will only occur when the player is willing to see him or herself as someone who can learn, use and value the new semiotic domain. This can only happen in the space where the learner can "transcend the limitations both of the virtual identity and the learner's own real world identity" (p. 66) resulting in a more powerful learning experience. However, Gee's (2004) writing is based mostly on his own experiences and observations, so there is a need for further empirical research to substantiate his account. It is not clear whether everyone who plays games engages with them in the same sort of way and whether they would all get the same benefits from doing so. It can be argued that further studies are 4 International Journal of Virtual and Personal Learning Environments, 2(2), 1-16, April-June 2011 Copyrig


Unit level test has been widely recognized as an important approach to improving software quality, as it can expose bugs earlier during the development phase. However, manual unit level test development is often tedious and insufficient. Also, it is hard for developers to precisely identify the most error prone code block deserving the best test coverage by themselves. In this paper, we present the automatic Unit level test framework we used for intel media driver development. It can help us identify the most critical code block, provide the test coverage recommendation, and automatically generate >80% ULT code (~400K Lines of test code) as well as ~35% test cases (~7K test cases) for intel media driver. It helps us to greatly shrink the average ULT development effort from ~24 Man hours to ~3 Man hours per 1000 Lines of driver source code.


This work presents two compensation techniques for low-voltage three-stage amplifiers driving large capacitive loads: single Miller capacitor compensation (SMC) and single Miller capacitor feedforward compensation (SMFFC). They are implemented in amplifiers fabricated in standard 0.5 /spl mu/m CMOS technology. The use of a single Miller compensation capacitor in three stage amplifiers is explored. The small compensation capacitors used in the proposed topologies enhance the bandwidth and significantly reduce the silicon area. Feedforward paths are properly used to improve the stability of the amplifiers. Experimental results show that the SMC and SMFFC amplifiers achieve gain-bandwidth products of 4.6 MHz and 9 MHz, respectively, when driving a load of 250 /spl Omega//120 pF. Each amplifier operates from a /spl plusmn/1 V supply, dissipates less than 0.42mW of power and occupies less than 0.02 mm/sup 2/ of silicon area.


The canonical Gcn2/Cpc1 kinase in fungi coordinates the expression of target genes in response to amino acid starvation. To investigate its possible role in secondary metabolism, we characterized a gcn2 homolog in the taxol-producing fungus Pestalotiopsis microspora. Deletion of the gene led to severe physiological defects under amino acid starvation, suggesting a conserved function of gcn2 in amino acid sensing. The mutant strain Δgcn2 displayed retardation in vegetative growth. It generated dramatically fewer conidia, suggesting a connection between amino acid metabolism and conidiation in this fungus. Importantly, disruption of the gene altered the production of secondary metabolites by HPLC profiling. For instance, under amino acid starvation, the deletion strain Δgcn2 barely produced secondary metabolites including the known natural product pestalotiollide B. Even more, we showed that gcn2 played critical roles in the tolerance to several stress conditions. Δgcn2 exhibited a hypersensitivity to Calcofluor white and Congo red, implying a role of Gcn2 in maintaining the integrity of the cell wall. This study suggests that Gcn2 kinase is an important global regulator in the growth and development of filamentous fungi and will provide knowledge for the manipulation of secondary metabolism in P. microspora.


Globally, business organization units and government bodies are becoming much more aware of the need for environmental management, socially responsible behaviour, sustainable growth and development. In Bulgarian economy mentioned processes have been initiated within the several key sectors that are basically among the biggest polluters. To evaluate the issues concerning environmental standards the direction of the analysis is based on consumers' point of view. The main aim of the article is to analyse and evaluate attitudes of Bulgarian consumers toward environmental standards implementation in Bulgaria. The study is divided into 3 parts: 1) literature review concerning the need of implementation of environmental standards; 2) description of the used methodology and research toward implementation of ISO 14001 in Bulgaria by the opinion of the consumers; and 3) Analysis of the gathered information. On this basis, conclusions about the prospects for their development in the Bulgaria are drawn. The collected information and results are based on scientific project concerning the implementation of Standards for Social and Environmental Responsibility in Bulgaria (NI 1-4/2014).


To the Editor: Program directors or those with administrative roles in psychiatric residency programs know well how we do our very best to keep on top of all the requirements and mandates that are sent by the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). We work diligently on keeping the Program Information Form (PIF) updated, completing evaluations, surveys, and final resident reports. Then, of course, come the competencies. Change can always be a difficult thing to digest, but we do what we can. We conformed to the six competencies—and found new and innovative ways to monitor them in our residents and programs. One ACGME mandate consists of a "program evaluation and improvement plan." My initial reaction was "What does this mean?" Then I broke it down into two parts: first, we have to evaluate the program, and then if there are concerns, we put a plan in writing to improve upon those concerns. Program directors are constantly making changes, small and not so small, to programs to better the education, training, and learning environment for the residents. A change could be as small as adding a recent article to the reading assignments or as involved as changing a rotation schedule on the basis of concerns that come up during training. These changes are typically made from feedback from residents, staff, nurses, and teaching physicians. It would be very useful to be able to document these program improvement changes in a way that is easily demonstrable to the ACGME during site visits. Most programs look at issues around program improvement and evaluation annually or semiannually. Often committees are formed specially to look at what program changes should be made—another meeting added to already busy schedules. And in practice, do we really make changes to our programs only once or twice a year? Generally, small changes are made continuously. At Michigan State University, we developed a system to record programmatic changes as and when they occur, rather than trying to remember the changes at some distantly scheduled meeting. Noting these changes involves documentation of what was done and who was involved and also feedback from the concerned parties regarding whether the changes accomplished the desired goal. Thus, we put together "C-PIE," one-page Continuous Program Improvement and Evaluation forms on which we record programmatic changes as they occur (sample form available from the authors upon request). We review completed forms and fill out new forms at our monthly residency education committee meetings. We use these forms to document not only what changes we have made during the course of the year, but also what we did on the basis of the program evaluation forms, faculty evaluation forms, and even resident evaluation forms. Most of those evaluation forms tend to be anonymous, and in those circumstances, we specify on the C-PIE that the concern came from an anonymously completed evaluation. The C-PIE can also be discussed at faculty meetings, resident meetings, or any other meetings. The great advantage of these forms is that we have a continuous, current record of all programmatic changes since the last visit from the Residency Review Committee. The forms remind us of changes made and monitor the effect of the changes. Other advantages are that they are easy to complete, versatile, practical, and more representative of what we as program directors really do on an ongoing basis. Also, the forms document everyone involved in a particular change, can be easily sent to anyone, and can be provided easily to the Residency Review Committee site visitors as proof of actual program evaluation and improvement. In summary, programmatic changes made to improve educational value or address problems can be documented at the time of change. This not only reflects the truth of what occurs but simplifies tracking and recording and makes demonstrating program improvement and change very easy for Residency Review Committee visits.


In this Major Research Paper, representation of lesbian relationships was examined in Canadian newspaper articles using a critical discourse analysis. Lesbian representation in mass media has mostly conformed to heteronormative norms. This research aimed to illuminate themes present in newspaper articles from 2018 and 2019 about lesbians. Three discourses were present in these articles. They included a focus on sexual assault and sexual behaviour, the word lesbian paired with words that were sexualized or inappropriate, and the stories of coming out and facing isolation. Identifying and examining these discourses will show social workers what assumptions and prejudices lesbians may face in their lives and in representations they see. Understanding these discourses will aid in the knowledge needed to work with lesbians with intersecting identities.


This paper presents an augmentation of MSCOCO dataset where speech is added to image and text. Speech captions are generated using text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis resulting in 616,767 spoken captions (more than 600h) paired with images. Disfluencies and speed perturbation are added to the signal in order to sound more natural. Each speech signal (WAV) is paired with a JSON file containing exact timecode for each word/syllable/phoneme in the spoken caption. Such a corpus could be used for Language and Vision (LaVi) tasks including speech input or output instead of text. Investigating multimodal learning schemes for unsupervised speech pattern discovery is also possible with this corpus, as demonstrated by a preliminary study conducted on a subset of the corpus (10h, 10k spoken captions).


Imidacloprid and thiamethoxam insecticides have been important tools for controlling pests in black gram. The use of these pesticides on various crops has increased rapidly resulting the produce containing toxic residues from the application of these insecticides and in some cases the concentrations are above maximum residue limit. The prudent usage of synthetic insecticides resulted in secondary pest-outbreaks, resistance development, food, and ecosystem adulteration and so on which pose serious threat to human beings. However, food safety issues related to pesticide residues are important to consider with a food crop such as black gram which causes no harm to consumers and are permissible in domestic and international trade. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyse harvest time residues of imidacloprid and thiamethoxam in black gram. The study was conducted during the summer season 2021 at Research Farm, Tirhut College of Agriculture, Dholi (Muzaffarpur)–Bihar. The crop (cultivar SML 613) was sown on February, 27, 2021. Insecticides were applied at 30 days after sowing which was followed by two successive sprays at 15 days intervals following the recommended dose of 25 g a.i. ha-1 for both the insecticides. Sample aliquots were analysed using HPLC (High Pressure Liquid Chromatography) equipped with Photo Diode–Array Detector (PDA). The sample taken at harvest with a pre–harvest interval (PHI) of 28 days did not reveal the residues of imidacloprid and thiamethoxam in black gram seeds at Limit of Quantification (LOQ) of 0.05 mg kg-1.


Felicity and common ground, which are essential to utterance understanding, are often attributable to pragmatic presuppositions. Other properties, notably unidirectionality, subjectiveness and latency, are equally important. Proper exploitation of these features may help to construct the literary discourse. Through the analysis of Thunderstorm, the literary functions of pragmatic presuppositions are revealed.


Sumatriptan is a potent and selective agonist at the vascular 5HT1 receptor which mediates constriction of certain large cranial blood vessels and/or inhibits the release of vasoactive neuropeptides from perivascular trigeminal axons in the dura mater following activation of the trigeminovascular system. The mode of action of this drug in migraine and cluster headache is discussed. On the basis of a detailed review of all published trials and available data from post-marketing studies, the efficacy, safety, tolerability and the place of oral and subcutaneous sumatriptan in the treatment of both conditions are assessed. A number of double-blind clinical trials have demonstrated that sumatriptan 100 mg administered orally is clearly superior to placebo in the acute treatment of migraine headache and achieves significantly greater response rates than ergotamine or aspirin. In other studies, 70 to 80% of patients receiving sumatriptan 6 mg sc experienced relief of migraine headaches by 1 or 2 h after administration, and patients consistently required less rescue medication for unresolved symptoms. Sumatriptan was also effective in relieving associated migraine symptoms like nausea and vomiting. Sumatriptan was equally effective regardless of migraine type or duration of migraine symptoms. Overall, approximately 40% of patients who initially responded to oral or subcutaneous sumatriptan experienced recurrence of their headache usually within 24 h, effectively treated by a further dose of this drug. In 75% of patients with cluster headache treated with sumatriptan 6 mg sc, relief was achieved within 15 min. Based on pooled study data, sumatriptan is generally well tolerated and most adverse events are transient. Adverse events following oral administration include nausea, vomiting, malaise, fatigue and dizziness. With the subcutaneous injection, injection site reactions occur in approximately 30%. Chest symptoms are reported in 3 to 5% but have been associated with myocardial ischaemia only in rare isolated cases. The recommended dosage of sumatriptan at the onset of migraine symptoms is 100 mg orally or 6 mg subcutaneously. The recommended dosage for cluster headache is 6 mg sumatriptan sc. Sumatriptan must not be given together with vascoconstrictive substances, e.g. ergotamines, or with migraine prophylactics with similar properties, e.g. methysergide. Sumatriptan should not be given during the migraine aura. It is contraindicated in patients with ischaemic heart disease, previous myocardial infarction, Prinzmetal (variant) angina and uncontrolled hypertension.


Abstract In this paper a problem of specifying HIV-infection parameters and immune response using additional measurements of the concentrations of the T-lymphocytes, the free virus and the immune effectors at fixed times for a mathematical model of HIV dynamics is investigated numerically. The problem of the parameter specifying of the mathematical model (an inverse problem) is reduced to a problem of minimizing an objective function describing the deviation of the simulation results from the experimental data. A genetic algorithm for solving the least squares function minimization problem is implemented and investigated. The results of a numerical solution of the inverse problem are analyzed.


Abstract. In this paper, we evaluate the neXtSIM sea ice model with respect to the observed scaling invariance properties of sea ice deformation in the spatial and temporal domains. Using an Arctic setup with realistic initial conditions, state-of-the-art atmospheric reanalysis forcing and geostrophic currents retrieved from satellite data, we show that the model is able to reproduce the observed properties of this scaling in both the spatial and temporal domains over a wide range of scales, as well as their multi-fractality. The variability of these properties during the winter season is also captured by the model. We also show that the simulated scaling exhibits a space–time coupling, a suggested property of brittle deformation at geophysical scales. The ability to reproduce the multi-fractality of this scaling is crucial in the context of downscaling model simulation outputs to infer sea ice variables at the sub-grid scale and also has implications for modeling the statistical properties of deformation-related quantities, such as lead fractions and heat and salt fluxes.


Background: Guidelines for patients treated with conventional hemodialysis patients have been written for target serum levels for calcium (Ca), phosphate (PO4) and intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH). No guidelines exist for nocturnal home hemodialysis (NHHD) patients for target values or timing of the blood sample draw. We undertook a prospective cohort study to examine the variability in pre, post and clinic (post-post) serum values for Ca, PO4, and iPTH in NHHD patients to determine if timing of blood draw could affect clinical decisions. Methods: Twenty prevalent NHHD patients collected blood pre and post their usual NHHD session with an additional blood sample drawn in clinic (post-post). Median and interquartile range of pre, post and clinic (post-post) values of iPTH, PO4 and Ca were calculated and compared with Freidman/Wilcoxon test. Serum concentrations were also categorized according to Canadian Society of Nephrology (CSN) guidelines target values for pre and clinic (post-post) samples. The proportion of patients that would be categorized differently by clinic (post-post) samples was determined. Results: There was a significant difference between pre-serum values compared to post and clinic (post-post) values. Overall, iPTH, PO4 and Ca values would be misclassified in 25%, 70% and 50% respectively if blood was drawn at the clinic visit (post-post) compared to pre-HD as per CSN guidelines. Conclusions: Although no specific guideline has been written for NHHD patients, to ensure consistency of management compared to in-centre HD patients, lab values should be drawn pre-HD until clinical evidence suggests that the recommendations should be different for NHHD.


Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the acute and subchronic toxicity of gardenia yellow, a natural colorant widely used in China and other Asian countries. An acute toxicity test was performed in S-D rats of both genders and the lethal dose (LD50) of per oral gardenia yellow was estimated to be more than 15.0 g/kg·bw. In the subchronic study, gardenia yellow was orally administered to rats by gavage at doses of 0, 0.50, 1.50 and 4.50 g/kg·bw/day for 90 days followed by a recovery period of 28 days. No appreciable toxic-related changes were observed in the 0.50 g/kg·bw/day group. When the animals received gardenia yellow at 1.50 g/kg·bw/day or more, body weight loss was observed, and pigments began to deposit in several vital organs, resulting in significant changes of several hematological and biochemical indicators related to the nutritional status of the body, liver and kidney function, more severe in the high dose group. In the recovery period, the alterations of the clinical symptoms and parameters were relieved a lot. Based on the results of the current study, the no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) of gardenia yellow E500 in rats was set to be 0.50 g/kg·bw/day.


【This paper describes the acoustic analysis of mid duty truck. The focus of the analysis is on structure borne engine noise with major contributions of 2nd order. It has been previously recognized that the noise contribution of each transfer path of structure borne noise can be varied with the charateristics of each mounts and vibro acoustic sensitivity of car body. The structure of car body will be split up into three major sub components, which are modeled separately, the engine, the frame and the cab. The acoustic performance is evaluated on three levels: engine to frame transfer, frame to cab transfer, and panel contribution from cab to driver. In order to perform these analyses, analytical models are created for the engine, frame, cab and acoustic cavity. The models are linked through a coupled fluid structure calculation, and through FRF Based Substructuring for the structural couplings. Based on the structural coupling calculations, a transfer path analysis is performed to identify the most important transfer paths. These paths are then the focussing points for applying modifications to the structure or the mount system. Finally, a number of modification are proposed and their effect is quantified.】


The cytokinesis-block micronucleus cytome (CBMNcyt) assay is one of the best validated methods for measuring structural and numerical chromosome aberrations in human lymphocytes. This paper describes the methodology, biology and mechanisms underlying the application of this technique for biodosimetry following exposure to ionising radiation. Apart from the measurement of micronuclei (MN) it is also possible to score other biomarkers within the CBMNcyt assay that are relevant to radiation biodosimetry. These include nucleoplasmic bridges (NPB), which are an important additional measure of radiation-induced damage that originate from dicentric chromosomes, the proportion of dividing cells and cells undergoing cell death. A brief account is also given of the outcomes of recent inter-laboratory comparison studies and current developments in the automation of this technique. Furthermore, important knowledge gaps that need attention to further enhance the applicability of this important method for radiation biodosimetry are discussed.


The year 2020 marks a decade since the first gene-edited plants were generated using homing endonucleases and zinc finger nucleases. The advent of CRISPR/Cas9 for gene-editing in 2012 was a major science breakthrough that revolutionized both basic and applied research in various organisms including plants and consequently honored with "The Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2020." CRISPR technology is a rapidly evolving field and multiple CRISPR-Cas derived reagents collectively offer a wide range of applications for gene-editing and beyond. While most of these technological advances are successfully adopted in plants to advance functional genomics research and development of innovative crops, others await optimization. One of the biggest bottlenecks in plant gene-editing has been the delivery of gene-editing reagents, since genetic transformation methods are only established in a limited number of species. Recently, alternative methods of delivering CRISPR reagents to plants are being explored. This review mainly focuses on the most recent advances in plant gene-editing including (1) the current Cas effectors and Cas variants with a wide target range, reduced size and increased specificity along with tissue specific genome editing tool kit (2) cytosine, adenine, and glycosylase base editors that can precisely install all possible transition and transversion mutations in target sites (3) prime editing that can directly copy the desired edit into target DNA by search and replace method and (4) CRISPR delivery mechanisms for plant gene-editing that bypass tissue culture and regeneration procedures including de novo meristem induction, delivery using viral vectors and prospects of nanotechnology-based approaches.


In the era of Exascale computing, the interconnection network is a key component in the High-Performance Computing (HPC) Systems which are expected to interconnect million of processing nodes by the year 2018. It is a prominent challenge for current network technologies such as InfiniBand to achieve high network performance in order not to be the bottleneck of HPC systems. In that sense, Congestion menaces the network performance and, consequently, the overall HPC system operation. This book covers important gaps in congestion management for HPC interconnection networks using distributed routing. It analyzes the drawbacks of proposed solutions, where none of the existing techniques for this type of networks achieves a complete efficiency and scalability. In that sense, the new proposals adapt the RECN basic principles to distributed-routing networks, by means of efficient and scalable techniques which can be divided in two groups: simple techniques which achieve the optimal network performance with the available resources, and completely-efficient techniques which achieve almost the maximum network performance at an affordable cost in terms of network resources.


ABSTRACT Influenza A virus buds from cells as spherical (∼100-nm diameter) and filamentous (∼100 nm × 2 to 20 μm) virions. Previous work has determined that the matrix protein (M1) confers the ability of the virus to form filaments; however, additional work has suggested that the influenza virus M2 integral membrane protein also plays a role in viral filament formation. In examining the role of the M2 protein in filament formation, we observed that the cytoplasmic tail of M2 contains several sites that are essential for filament formation. Additionally, whereas M2 is a nonraft protein, expression of other viral proteins in the context of influenza virus infection leads to the colocalization of M2 with sites of virus budding and lipid raft domains. We found that an amphipathic helix located within the M2 cytoplasmic tail is able to bind cholesterol, and we speculate that M2 cholesterol binding is essential for both filament formation and the stability of existing viral filaments.