Single particles (11 and 13 μm diameter) of a silicon oxycarbide (Si-O-C) glass were electrochemically analyzed using a microelectrode technique. A micromanipulator-guided nickel-plated rhodium-platinum microfilament (25 μm diameter, 13 wt % rhodium) was used to maintain electrical contact to a single Si-O-C glass particle in an organic solution containing 1 mol dm(-3) LiClO(4). The cyclic voltammograms of a single Si-O-C glass particle (11 μm diameter) featured a characteristic sharp peak at ca. 0.1 V vs Li/Li(+), along with a broad peak and a shoulder, in the anodic reaction. This result indicates that there are several electrochemically active sites for lithium storage in the single Si-O-C glass particle. The first lithiation and delithiation capacities of a single Si-O-C glass particle (13 μm diameter) were 1.67 nA h and 1.12 nA h, respectively, at 5 nA (4C rate) in the potential range 0.01-2.5 V vs Li/Li(+), leading to a Coulombic efficiency of 67%. These results are in good agreement with those observed in typical porous composite electrodes. The 13 μm diameter particle gives 75% of the full-delithiation capacity even at 100 nA (80C rate), demonstrating that its intrinsic delithiation rate capability is suitable for practical purposes. Assuming that the Tafel equation is applicable to the delithiation of the single Si-O-C glass particle, the charge-transfer resistance tended to increase as lithium was released.


The paper proposes a combined control scheme for completely unknown nonlinear system with an adaptive neural network (ANN) inverse controller based on online least squares support vector machines (LS-SVM) identifier. The neural network controller parameters are adjusted by gradient information of online LS-SVM for the unknown nonlinear system. As well as, considering of the parameter regulating process of ANN, a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller is combined to improve the control performance in initial stage. The simulation experiments are made to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed control method is effective and can achieve better control performance for completely unknown nonlinear system.


Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease that requires long-term medical attention both to limit the development of its devastating complications and to manage them when they do occur. It is an expensive disease. It is a common disease in Sudan. It is a cause of major morbidity and mortality. The objectives of this study were to assess patient's glycaemic control and to assess the impact of patient's therapeutic education on the control of the diease, also to assess effect of body weight on the control. The study was conducted at one of the best well formed diabetic center in Sudan (Gabber Abu Elaaz) where all facilities for patient's therapeutic education, diabetologist, diabetic nurse, dietician, dermatologist, ophthalmologist, surgical care, investigations, were available for follow-up. Hundred adult diabetics, fifty were males, fifty were females were selected randomly and were assessed clinically and biochemically, their level of knowledge regarding diabetes, its management and complications, and their body mass index were assessed. The mean age was (57.9) years, (range 35–85 years), mean duration of diabetes, was (8.7) years. Most of these patients were either illiterate or just received primary education (77%).The symptomatology of these patients gives clear indication to their uncontrolled blood sugar levels, and complications. Polyuria, polydipsia, fatigue, numbness, impairment of vision, were the most prevalent symptoms. Presence of retinopathy & peripheral neuropathy have significant correlation to duration of DM. Fasting blood glucose & HBA1c for these patients showed that, 76% of these patients had FBS levels above the normal range, and only 14% had HBA1c less 6.5%. Level of knowledge was adequate, 81% were between good level and moderate level of knowledge regarding awareness about diabetes complications & diet, but the weakness appeared in the aspect of diabetes management and its complications. No correlation between level of knowledge and the glycemic control was found. 60% of the patients were overweight or obese. No significant correlation between BMI and glycemic control. Self-monitoring of blood glucose using glucometers was practiced by (11%). Few had regular exercise practice. Females were less active than males (22%). Although the degree of knowledge is acceptable, most patients were not well controlled. Specialized programs of diabetes education, simple educational tools and well trained educators were recommended to address older patients, illiterate groups and those with language difficulties to improve the glycaemic control.


This book aims to support and encourage teachers, educators and researchers to recognize and "hear" pupil perspectives. It is about taking these voices seriously, and using what they say to influence policy and practice at all levels.

The highly respected contributors to this book pose several major challenges. Firstly they challenge those who listen to pupils' voices with sympathy or amusement. Secondly they challenge those who, perhaps unconsciously, see childhood mainly in developmental terms. Thirdly, and perhaps the greatest challenge, is to those who have overlooked or ignored pupil perspectives, particularly those policy-makers and politicians responsible for introducing centralized curricula and educational reforms. Indeed, the central argument running through this book is that understanding some of the disparity between "curriculum as intended" and "curriculum as experienced" will help the quality of school life and improve learning.


The recently discovered pancreatic peptide amylin is postulated to be involved in the pathogenesis of feline diabetes mellitus. However, plasma amylin concentrations in normal and diabetic cats have not yet been published. The aim of the present study was to validate a commercial amylin radioimmunoassay kit for the measurement of feline amylin in unextracted plasma, and to measure plasma amylin concentrations in normal and diabetic cats. The kit had satisfactory specificity, sensitivity, accuracy, and precision, and can be recommended for measurement of feline amylin in unextracted EDTA plasma, when nonspecific binding of plasma samples is used in the calculation of measured amylin concentration. Fasting amylin concentration in cats with normal glucose tolerance was 97 +/- 4 pmol/L. Plasma amylin increased in parallel with insulin after glucose administration in cats with normal and impaired glucose tolerance. In contrast to cats with normal glucose tolerance, cats with impaired glucose tolerance had markedly delayed amylin and insulin secretion. Diabetic cats had basal hypoinsulinemia combined with hyperamylinemia. Hyperamylinemia may lead to reduced insulin secretion and insulin resistance, and contribute to the development of feline diabetes. In conclusion, feline amylin can be measured in unextracted EDTA plasma. Fasting amylin concentrations are approximately 100 pmol/L, and amylin and insulin are cosecreted in cats with normal and impaired glucose tolerance. Increased amylin concentrations may contribute to the development of feline diabetes mellitus.


Established by congress in early 1865, the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands-more commonly known as the Freedmen's Bureau-assumed the Herculean task of overseeing the transition from slavery to freedom in the post-Civil War South. Although it was called the Freedmen's Bureau, the agency profoundly affected African-American women. Until now remarkably little has been written about the relationship between black women and this federal government agency. As Mary Farmer-Kaiser clearly demonstrates in this revealing work, by failing to recognize freedwomen as active agents of change and overlooking the gendered assumptions at work in Bureau efforts, scholars have ultimately failed to understand fully the Bureau's relationships with freedwomen, freedmen, and black communities in this pivotal era of American history.


The purpose of this study is to determine and describe the strict liability of corporations in environmental law enforcement. The research method used is a normative juridical approach and is descriptive analytical in nature. The data used in this research is secondary data, which is obtained through literature study and analyzed to obtain qualitative data. The conclusion of this study is that strict liability is an accountability without an element of error, where the element of error does not need to be proven by the plaintiff as a basis for compensation payments. The perpetrator or polluter has sufficiently been declared responsible for pollution or environmental destruction, even though the perpetrator has not been found guilty. The concept of strict liability is indirectly an embodiment of legal protection for society, which is the part that has the potential to be harmed as a result of industrial activities carried out. Strict liability arrangements by corporations are stated in Article 88 of Act No. 32 Of 2009. The amount of compensation that can be imposed on environmental polluters or destroyers can be determined to a certain extent.


The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationship between personality big five factors and sales performance by studying 205 sales persons of Kalleh FMCG company. According to results of this research there is a negative correlation between sales performance and neuroticism. However, extraversion and conscientiousness have affected sales performance positively. But we found no meaning full relationship between openness, agreeableness and sales performance. Furthermore, examining the relationship between sales performance and other personal characteristics such as age, sex, educations, and job experience showed no significant correlation. In our research, we also tried to recognize the factors structure of sales performance in the market of Iran through deploying factor analyses method according to the result of this analysis "direct sales", "market recognition", "improving the relationships & accuracy in evaluating reliability of customers" and "unsuccessful sales efforts" can be considered as components of sales performance in Iran. Comparing with job description of sales persons which was provided by Armstrong, it can be deducted from the findings that "accuracy in evaluating customer reliability and unlaces full sales efforts " are specific characteristics of the market of Iran.


Mammary Analogue Secretory Carcinoma (MASC) is a newly recognized neoplasm of the salivary gland, first described in 2010. This tumor harbors a unique translocation, t(12;15)(p13;q25) that results in the fusion of ETV6 with NTRK3 which produces a transformative chimeric tyrosine kinase. To date, few cases of MASC sampled by fine needle aspiration have been reported. Cytologically, MASC can be confused with other oncocytic salivary gland tumors, including Warthin-tumor, acinic cell carcinoma (AciCC) and mucoepidermoid carcinoma. It is characterized by a monomorphic population of lesional cells with round nuclei, prominent nucleoli and abundant, eosinophilic foamy cytoplasm; forming papillary groups with transgressing vessels. Though, based on cytomorphology alone, the definite diagnosis can be challenging, in conjunction with available clinical clues (i.e. male patient, extra-parotid site) MASC should be included in the differential diagnosis of FNA specimens diagnosed as oncocytic salivary gland neoplasms or suspicious for AciCC. Here we present a case of MASC with FNA sampling at our institution.


Purpose: With stage migration induced by early diagnosis of prostate-specific antigen, the course of disease for prostate cancer (PCa) patients has changed. Increasingly, patients undergo long-term androgen ablation with consecutive risks including osteoporosis and pathologic fractures. A recent randomized trial found that the RANK ligand inhibitor denosumab was more effective preventing skeletal-related events in patients with metastatic PCa as compared to treatment with the bisphosphonate zoledronic acid. This improved efficacy was linked to an increase of side effects. Methods: The present analysis compares results reported for both substances using a number needed to treat analysis approach. Based upon these findings, risk-benefit calculations were performed. Results: The results demonstrate that for patients with bone metastatic castration-resistant PCa, decision for or against treatment with either denosumab or zoledronic acid must not only consider efficacy but needs to balance the desired effects versus potential side effects. This is of specific relevance since life expectancy is limited in this patient cohort with end-stage disease. Conclusions: Further scientific efforts are necessary to identify optimal dosing and application intervals for denosumab and zoledronic acid as well as to answer the question of optimal duration of treatment. These findings will directly impact the risk versus benefit relations for both therapeutic options.


The remarkable advance in our knowledge of the organs of internal secretion which has taken place in recent years has brought much light on the parathyroid glands, but still their function and relations to the other organs are very obscure. Their anatomy is by this time fairly well known, particularly to surgeons to whom they have become an object of especial care in operations on the thyroid. Lying, as the parathyroids do, along the posterior margin of the thyroid usually two in number on each side, they may be found as small, flat, soft, yellowish-brown bodies embedded in the loose connective tissue or in the fat or plastered against the thyroid. Generally there is one at the notch of entrance of the inferior thyroid artery and one somewhere else either above or below, sometimes even far down in the fat below the lower pole of the thyroid. They have their


The heat exchanger is a device in which heat transfer takes place between two fluids at different temperatures. Among various classifications of heat exchangers, parallel and counter flow types are used widely in many industrial applications. This paper presents two fuzzy logic expert systems (FLESs), one for parallel-flow and another for counter-flow double-pipe heat exchanger (DPHE). Such FLESs are capable of predicting the exit temperature of heat carrier fluids and its effectiveness in an accurate manner. In total, 96 sets of experiments have been conducted for parallel and counter flow types under different combinations of the mass flow rate. The performance accuracy of the fuzzy logic expert system is measured by comparing fuzzy predicted results with experimental data sets. Such a comparison indicates a good agreement between experimental data sets and fuzzy predicted results. The accuracy of the parallel-flow FLES in predicting the exit temperature and its effectiveness is 92.78% and 95%, respectively. The accuracy of the counter-flow FLES in predicting the exit temperature and its effectiveness is 94.28% and 95.5%, respectively.


Have you ever thought about how you would define your identity? How about delineating your nation's identity? Attempts at providing a fully-fledged definition of Canadian identity have been going on for several decades. Still, the debates about a unified description of Canadianness remain unresolved. Nowadays, the media provide one of the platforms offering an interesting insight into the process of identity negotiation and present an important means of facilitating identity construction. The present study inspects the discursive construction of national identity within Canadian context. Specifically, the study focuses on Coach's Corner, currently the longest running television program in Canada, and its main personality – Don Cherry. The data for the analysis has been collected throughout the National Hockey League 2015/2016 regular season when Coach's Corner airs weekly on Saturday night. Relying predominantly on Critical Discourse Analysis and its sub-disciplines, the study explores discursive strategies and linguistic devices employed in order to articulate Canadian national uniqueness on the one hand, and how to position Canadian collectivity towards other nations on the other hand. Also, the study explores the presentation of the in-group members and the out-group members on the show and how the discourse is appropriated in order to create an inclusive framework for the members of the former. By subjecting the collected data to qualitative research, the present study aims to demonstrate that there exists conceptual polarization between the inner and outer group members that is created by adopting contrasting discourses by Don Cherry. Furthermore, the study argues that Cherry negotiates Canadian identity by foregrounding the positive qualities of the in-group and the negative qualities of the out-group.


In this work, a novel model of a wave energy converter that utilizes a slider crank power take-off system (PTOS) is simulated in a hardware-in-the-loop framework. The simulated parts in this framework include a buoy, slider crank linkage, and a gearbox. The slider crank linkage acting as the linear to rotary converter is represented by a DC motor coupled with a physical generator. With a regular sinusoidal wave excitation force in simulation, the hydrodynamic forces are converted into a torque, emulated by a physical motor that is directly coupled with another identical physical DC machine as the generator. By utilizing the dSPACE Control Desk software and the associated dSPACE hardware, the control algorithm in the device uses a power electronics board to drive the machines. The results show that the control system applied to the hardware-in-the-loop framework can successfully extract energy for a scaled down version of the proposed WEC device.


Competing risks arise with time‐to‐event data when individuals are at risk of more than one type of event and the occurrence of one event precludes the occurrence of all other events. A useful measure with competing risks is the cause‐specific cumulative incidence function (CIF), which gives the probability of experiencing a particular event as a function of follow‐up time, accounting for the fact that some individuals may have a competing event. When modelling the cause‐specific CIF, the most common model is a semi‐parametric proportional subhazards model. In this paper, we propose the use of flexible parametric survival models to directly model the cause‐specific CIF where the effect of follow‐up time is modelled using restricted cubic splines. The models provide smooth estimates of the cause‐specific CIF with the important advantage that the approach is easily extended to model time‐dependent effects. The models can be fitted using standard survival analysis tools by a combination of data expansion and introducing time‐dependent weights. Various link functions are available that allow modelling on different scales and have proportional subhazards, proportional odds and relative absolute risks as particular cases. We conduct a simulation study to evaluate how well the spline functions approximate subhazard functions with complex shapes. The methods are illustrated using data from the European Blood and Marrow Transplantation Registry showing excellent agreement between parametric estimates of the cause‐specific CIF and those obtained from a semi‐parametric model. We also fit models relaxing the proportional subhazards assumption using alternative link functions and/or including time‐dependent effects. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The authors examine the effect of two partitioning parameters on the performance of block-based distributed sparse Cholesky factorization. They present result to show the trends in the effect of these parameters on the computation speeds, communication costs, extent of processor idling because of load imbalances, and bookkeeping overheads. These results provide a better understanding in selecting the partitioning parameters so as to reduce the computation and communication costs without increasing the overhead costs or the load imbalance among the processors. Experimental results from a 32-processor iPSC/860 are presented.<<ETX>>


A study was undertaken to determine the incidence of increased serum levels of human prolactin (hPRL) in women during oral contraceptive therapy, and to correlate this with both the dose of oral contraceptive medication and the duration of its use. The 123 patients in this study were divided into 3 groups according to the dosage of estrogenic component of the combined oral contraceptives. Thirty percent of these women had hyperprolactinemia of varying degree. Neither the dosage of steroids within our range nor the duration of therapy correlated with the presence or degree of hyperprolactinemia. The actions of estrogen-progestin compounds on hPRL are discussed.


In responding to Professor Lynn's criticism that the field of public administration has been insufficiently attentive to law, this article offers an alternative perspective on the source of administrative legitimacy. Leonard White understood that public administration is shaped by its broader context. It does not assert its own values but, in an effort to maintain legitimacy, reflects the political and cultural values of its environment. In White's time, the extraordinary challenges that the state faced, and its subsequent transformation, demanded a management capacity that previously had not existed. While the role of law as a formal means of control is generally accepted, it must take its place with management and other administrative values in the exercise of legal discretionary behavior. Asserting law, or any other single administrative value, as dominant undercuts other values that act as sources of legitimacy.


According to the jig's separation effect affected strongly by loose of Jig bed, soft sensing model of a loose Jig bed was put forward via fuzzy inference system (FIS). The corresponding fuzzy rules were originated from the operational experiences. Using the main evaluating index of the jig's separation effect-imperfection (I) and total misplaced material (Cz), status of the loose jig bed was estimated by fuzzy inference system. The experimental simulation result and practical application effect all indicate that this method is feasible.


Addiction has long been characterized by diminished executive function, control, and impulsivity management. In particular, these deficits often manifest themselves as impairments in reversal learning, delay discounting, and response inhibition. Understanding the neurobiological substrates of these behavioral deficits is of paramount importance to our understanding of addiction. Within the cycle of addiction, periods during and after withdrawal represent a particularly difficult point of intervention in that the negative physical symptoms associated with drug removal and drug craving increase the likelihood that the patient will relapse and return to drug use in order to abate these symptoms. Moreover, it is often during this time that drug induced deficits in executive function hinder the ability of the patient to refrain from drug use. Thus, it is necessary to understand the physiological and behavioral changes associated with withdrawal and drug craving—largely manifesting as deficits in executive control—to develop more effective treatment strategies. In this review, we address the long-term impact that drugs of abuse have on the behavioral and neural correlates that give rise to executive control as measured by reversal learning, delay discounting, and stop-signal tasks, focusing particularly on our work using rats as a model system.


. For any sphere of social and economic activity, the development and implementation of innovations is one of the tools for achieving new competitive ad-vantages, which are extremely important in conditions of high competition and crisis situations. The innovative development of the tourism and hotel industry is inextri-cably linked with the introduction of digital technologies. It should be noted that, starting with the introduction of global booking systems, this area has always been guided by the latest advances in information and communication technologies. The relevance and special significance of innovative development is important in the crisis period, which is observed at the moment in connection with the pandemic. The article analyzes the current state of the tourism and hospitality industry and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on it. The results of the study showed that the crisis in this area leads to very serious consequences, including a sharp reduction in per-sonnel employed in the tourism and hospitality industry, the closure of travel agency and tour operator companies, small accommodation facilities, especially hostels. One of the principles of management in such difficult crisis conditions is the search and implementation of innovative solutions in the tourism and hotel business. In the course of the study, the main innovative solutions in the tourism and hospitality industry were analyzed, which are advisable to take in a crisis to mitigate the critical situation, the most important and significant of them were identified. One of the most expedient innovation areas is the digitalization of the main business processes in the tourism and hospitality industry.


The behavioral effects of scrapie virus infection, a slow degenerative disease of the central nervous system, were examined in mice. Testing was conducted at 50, 100, and 150 days postinfection and included open-field behavior, Y-maze alternation and activity, and two-way shuttle-box avoidance. The behavioral pathology was found to be task-specific rather than of a global nature. Furthermore, the effects observed could be classified as either early or late components of the disease. The relevance of this animal model to human presenile dementias is discussed.


This study presents the weighted least squares method based on Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) images to retrieve spatial-temporal evolution of land subsidence in Mashhad Valley, northeast Iran. Using the analysis of a few interferograms covering the 2003-2005 period, Motagh et al (GJI 2006) presented a preliminary analysis of the subsidence in this area. Here we extend this study and use additional SAR data to retrieve time-dependent deformation in Mashhad Valley We utilize 17 SAR images acquired by the ENVISAT satellite in a descending orbit during Jun. 2004 - Nov. 2007, make 53 differential interferograms spanning different long- and short-term intervals, and do a time series analysis to extract deformation signals out of differential interferograms. Time series analysis suggests that the subsidence occurs within a northwest-southeast elongated elliptical shaped bowl along the axis of Mashhad valley. The maximum accumulated subsidence during 1260 days reaches about 86 cm, located northeast of Mashhad City. The comparison between InSAR time series results with continuous GPS station in the city of Tous, northeast of Mashhad, yields comparable results at the level of 1 cm.


In this paper, new Network Data Envelopment Analysis (NDEA) models are developed to evaluate the efficiency of regional electricity power networks. The primary objective of this paper is to consider perturbation in data and develop new NDEA models based on the adaptation of robust optimization methodology. Furthermore, in this paper, the efficiency of the entire networks of electricity power, involving generation, transmission and distribution stages is measured. While DEA has been widely used to evaluate the efficiency of the components of electricity power networks during the past two decades, there is no study to evaluate the efficiency of the electricity power networks as a whole. The proposed models are applied to evaluate the efficiency of 16 regional electricity power networks in Iran and the effect of data uncertainty is also investigated. The results are compared with the traditional network DEA and parametric SFA methods. Validity and verification of the proposed models are also investigated. The preliminary results indicate that the proposed models were more reliable than the traditional Network DEA model.


The toxic plant protein ricin has gained notoriety due to wide availability and potential use as a bioterrorism agent, with particular concern for food supply contamination. We have developed a sensitive and selective mass spectrometry-based method to detect ricin in tap water, 2% milk, apple juice, and orange juice. Ricin added to beverage matrices was extracted using antibody-bound magnetic beads and digested with trypsin. Absolute quantification was performed using isotope dilution mass spectrometry with a linear ion trap operating in product-ion-monitoring mode. The method allows for identification of ricin A chain and B chain and for distinction of ricin from ricin agglutinin within a single analytical run. Ricin-bound beads were also tested for deadenylase activity by incubation with a synthetic ssDNA oligomer. Depurination of the substrate by ricin was confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS). This method was used successfully to extract ricin from each beverage matrix. The activity of recovered ricin was assessed, and quantification was achieved, with a limit of detection of 10 fmol/mL (0.64 ng/mL).


Steel welded T-joints with 102 mm thick base plates were fatigue tested in three-point bending. A reversing direct current potential drop (DCPD) system was used to detect the initiation of multiple surface cracks along the transverse weld toes of these joints and to monitor the size and shape of fatigue cracks that developed from these cracks. Potential drop readings were obtained by fixed probes straddling the weld toes and normalized with respect to potential drop readings from a remote reference probe. The normalized potential drop readings from each probe were related to the local crack depth by two-dimensional (2-D) calibrations derived by boundary element analyses and the foil analogue method. The fixed-probe arrangement was able to detect 0.4 mm to 1.0 mm deep surface cracks along the transverse weld toes of the T-joints. The 2-D calibrations were able to predict the crack depth at the deepest points of these cracks to within ±10%.


Objective: The aim of this study was to examine occurrence of emotional lability (EL) in preschoolers with ADHD symptoms versus controls. Method: The study was part of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. In the present study, 495 preschoolers were clinically examined. Symptoms of ADHD, anxiety, and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) were measured with the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment Interview. An EL measure was obtained from the Emotional Control subscale of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function–Preschool Version (BRIEF-P), which parents and teachers completed. Results: EL was significantly more frequent in the ADHD group compared with controls (25% vs. 7%, p < .001). By parent report, EL correlated significantly with ADHD-, anxiety-, and ODD symptoms. By teacher report, EL was significantly correlated only with hyperactivity-impulsivity. Conclusion: EL appears identifiable in young preschoolers and was particularly associated with ODD in children with ADHD symptoms.


Abstract Following the Arab Spring, one might expect a paradigm shift in the EU's attitude towards the MENA — at least with respect to democracy promotion. However, the EU response has been neither consistent nor coherent. This paper seeks to answer the following questions: How did the EU react to the Arab Spring events in North Africa? Is there evidence of any change in the goals and instruments pursued by the EU after the Arab Spring? And, do these goals and instruments change coherently across countries? The paper argues, first, that EU goals remain security and stability driven. While the EU viewed the Arab Spring as a window of opportunity for democracy, as events developed the EU prioritized security concerns as a response to the threat of instability in the MENA. And second, the utilization of instruments varied across time and cases due to the domestic politics of the targeted countries.


Photographers of recent years document land, nature, and the environment to reveal to the public, politicians and lawmakers decay or spoiled lands, endangered cultures and wildlife, and other issues affecting the degradation of Earth's natural resources and all its inhabitants. Different from their predecessors, contemporary photographers use all media to expose and make the public aware of wide-ranging environmental concerns. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore how photographers visually document environmental issues. Interviews and analysis of environmental and nature photographers' websites are the primary sources for this exploratory study. Findings reveal photographers do not just document the environment, they engage in media as activism. More than words and pictures, media activism comprises a myriad of mediated content from still photos, to moving images, graphics, audio, web and mobile devices, as well as social media all in an effort to improve society.


POMAZALOVA, N., KORECKI, Z.: Evaluation of tendered prices of natural mineral water, juice and non-alcoholic beer (public procurement research). Acta univ. agric. et silvic. Mendel. Brun., 2011, LIX, No. 4, pp. 233–240 The purpose of this paper is to evaluate tender prices of chosen beverages according to public procurement based on secondary data analysis. The empirical results of analysis (t-test and F-test) show that average annual prices of these beverages are diff erent and collected data are not included in the same sample. Tender prices are diff erent in each year of observed years, although are based on public tender. Important evidence is that for the public tenders in the abroad is obligatory use of the Czech public procurement law. According to this act the base evaluation criterion is the lowest off ered price. Data were collected during the years 2005–2009. This study deals with empirical approach, variability of prices of chosen beverages based on public tenders between the Czech Republic (Ministry of Defence) and local suppliers in Kosovo. Results show low variability of prices, which are based on public tender and legal approach, regulated public procurement. The research conclusion is the fact, that tender prices for piece of non-alcoholic beverage are less than 10 % from annual mean (pcs./CZK) of tendered prices. price variability, tender price, public procurement, public tenders


The effects on innovation of the dual embeddedness of returnee young ventures (RYVs) in both domestic and international networks of relationships and knowledge contexts are important for value creation, growth, and success of these firms and embody a unique research opportunity. Drawing on a framework combining a business relationship perspective and the knowledge-based view, the authors propose that RYVs take advantage of business relationships and opportunity knowledge from both international and domestic markets to nurture their innovation. They test their model on a sample of 200 RYVs in China. The findings reveal that business relationships are essential for acquiring knowledge about technological and business opportunities, though only international opportunity knowledge and domestic business relationships positively influence new product development. In addition, the interaction between international and domestic business relationships constrains firms' capacity for obtaining international opportunity knowledge. This study offers insights into how the trade-offs between dual relationships and subsequently sourced knowledge contribute to new product development in emerging markets, and it extends the discussion on the paradox view of business relationships with geographically dispersed actors.


BACKGROUND
Around 5% of the world populations are the carriers of the hepatitis B virus. Prevalence of carriers in many different areas of the world is various. Iran, including the rate of 2 to 3%, is among countries, which has the average prevalence. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of antigen HBs positive and associated factors in pregnant women who had referred to urban health centers of Isfahan Province in 2009.

METHODS
A descriptive study conducted on 1078 pregnant women who had referred to the urban health centers of Isfahan, Barkhovar, Meymeh, Khomeini Shahr, Lenjan and Najaf Abad in 2009 in order to register their physical condition and conducting pregnancy care. Random sampling method by quota was systematic. First, a questionnaire completed including demographic characteristics and records of high-risk behaviors in mothers and wives. Then, 4 cc of their blood drawn and evaluated the antigen surface in serum. Finally, the data were analyzed using SPSS15 software, Chi-square, Fisher and Logistic Regression tests.

RESULTS
According to the findings, serum of 0.5% of pregnant women under the study was HBsAg-positive. The average age of subjects was 26.1 (4.9) years old and the average pregnancy number was 1.79 (1.0). Using Fisher's test as well as logistic regression test and based on the previous records of high-risk sexual behaviors and tattooing, a significant difference was observed in positive-HBsAg group in comparison with negative-HBsAg group (p ≤ 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
Instructing target groups and giving awareness in large-scale, close monitoring in high-risk centers such as beauty shops, tattooing centers and etc, and also staff training in how to use disposable and sterilized equipments have to be accomplished at the right time.


Abstract The volume titled O istorie filocalică a muzicii [A Philocalic History of Music] by the musicologist Petruța Măniuț-Coroiu offers an unusual approach to the relationship between music and religion. At the core of its demonstration lie the possible relations between the texts in the Ladder of the Divine Ascent from the Philokalia of Saint John Climacus and the masterpieces of Romanian and universal art music. In this volume, the author presents, step by step, the 30 "words of wisdom" without straying from the original text, using direct quotes from Saint John Climacus' work, putting forward topics such as the renunciation of the world, repentance, obedience, humility, etc. The steps, representing the ladder of spiritual fulfilment, should be climbed so as to leave a mark on the souls of those who ascend. It is worth remembering than once a step is reached the others should not be forgotten, but furthered for the rest of one's life. Each of the 30 chapters is preceded by quotes from the Old and the New Testament, or from the writings of great representatives of the Orthodox faith (Saint John Chrysostom, Maximus the Confessor, Dumitru Stăniloae). Besides the semantic dimension specific to this kind of approach, the book may also be linked to the field of art therapy. It is worth noting the author's easiness in identifying the most representative religious texts and their matching musical pieces, as this fusion produces numerous opportunities to acquire apophatic knowledge and intense spiritual experiences.


The debate about whether to implement screening for neuroblastoma in North America is ongoing. Those in favor of implementing mass screening are quoting results from programs in Japan where the government has mandated neuroblastoma screening for infants.1-7 In North America, the Quebec Neuroblastoma Screening Study (QNS) has been established as a result of the collaboration between the Quebec Network for Genetic Medicine and the University of Minnesota. This controlled research project is studying the impact of screening infants for the preclinical detection of neuroblastoma on changes in population-based mortality caused by this tumor as well as on various biologic parameters and their relation to prognosis.8


Nitrogen is a one of the important nutrient for aquatic plants and algae. Some of the nitrogen can get from the ammonium cation. However, if there are excessive of nutrients (contains nitrogen) it will stimulate the aquatic plant and algal growth. The uncontrolled release of nitrogen to the environment will cause to serious pollution problems. In order to prevent this problems become more serious, we should handled the nitrogen as a nutrient resource rather than a pollutant that only has to dispose off. Biological treatment is one of the potential treatment alternatives to reduce the nitrogen, where the nitrogen is used as nutrient to the microorganisms. In this study, the sequence batch reactor (SBR) system was used. Different organic loading rate (0.4, 1.3, 2.2, 3.1 and 4.0 mg/l/day) was studied in SBR system to compare the treatment efficiency in terms of water quality parameters (chemical oxygen demand, COD), suspended solid and the changes in NH
-N concentration. The treated wastewater was analyzed for COD, NH
4
4
-N concentration and suspended solid by using HACH equipment. From this experiment the result shows that the organic loading rate to get maximum percentage COD reduction is 0.4 mg/l/day with 47.05% COD reduction and 124.13 mg/l suspended solid. Meanwhile the value of organic loading rate to get the maximum percentage concentration reduction is also 0.4 mg/l/day with 36.71% concentration reduction and 124.13 mg/l suspended solid. For maximum percentage COD reduction and maximum percentage concentration reduction the optimum value organic loading rate that need is 3.59 mg/l/day with 38% COD reduction, 24.9% concentration reduction and 208.49 mg/l suspended solid. All this results are base on Design of Expert. As a conclusion, this study showed that microflora in drain was efficient in removing the wastewater that contains ammonium-nitrogen.


This paper describes a general and e ective method for backward dependence analysis in the presence of recursive data constructions. The goal is to identify partially dead recursive data and eliminate dead computations on them. The method uses projections based on general regular tree grammars extended with the notion of live and dead, and de nes the analysis as mutually recursive grammar transformers. To guarantee that the analysis terminates, we describe how to use nite grammar abstract domains or carefully designed approximation operations. For methods based on nite domains, we describe a new application in caching intermediate results for program improvement. For methods based on approximation operations, we describe algorithms for three such operations that together produce more precise analysis results than previous methods. Finally, the analysis results are used to identify and eliminate dead


Hofmann rearrangement of Nalpha-Boc-L-Gln-OH mediated by a polymer-supported hypervalent iodine reagent poly[(4-diacetoxyiodo)styrene] (PSDIB) in water afforded Nalpha-Boc-L-alpha,gamma-diaminobutyric acid (Boc-Dab-OH, 1) in 87% yield. Nalpha-Z-derivative (Z-Dab-OH, 2) was prepared with PSDIB in 83% yield. Since the reaction of Nalpha-Fmoc-Gln-OH by this procedure did not proceed because of the insolubility of Fmoc-Gln-OH in aqueous media, we synthesized Fmoc-Dab(Boc)-OH (5) from 2 in 54% yield. Polymyxin B heptapeptide (PMBH) which contains four Dab residues was successfully synthesized in a solution-phase synthesis.


Material selection is indubitably prominent in design creation. Technical and physical properties of a material are highly considered to determine function, utility, and manufacturing process. However, material selection is not only pivotal to design but also central to the users. Users have their own experiences with material that constructs their perception, association, and definition of materials. In fashion, the material experiences influence consumers' purchasing decisions. Fashion consumers begin their reasoning with material thinking and interaction (if possible). The hands-on interaction of the product, where the material is implemented, stimulates memories that help their consuming decisions. Prior researches also argued that integration of material experiences in design will optimize outcomes, specifically providing user satisfaction. Those arguments inspired this research to investigate material experience in the design process. Experiences of material polyvinylchloride were observed by adopting the Material Driven Design method and the material experience's pattern were illustrated by utilizing the Meaning of Material model. According to the research done in the Do-It-Yourself approach, material experiences were identified and seen transforming in every step of the process. Furthermore, the study of material experience was found beneficial for helping designers in understanding and measuring the intangible success of product, specifically user satisfaction.


This is an expost facto research designed to determine the influence of children"s attachment styles on academic achievement and social competence of pre-primary school pupils in Owerri metropolis of Imo State. The population consisted of all the 822 pupils in all the 25 Government approved nursery schools in Owerri. However, a sample of 280 pupils within the age bracket of 3 – 5 years in nursery classes 1 and 2 were drawn from 14 nursery schools through random and purposive sampling techniques. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the conduct of the study. The instruments used for data collection were "Attachment Styles Assessment Scale" (ASAS), "Social Competence Rating Scale" (SCRS) and "Pupils Academic Report Sheet" (PARS). The ASAS and SCRS were validated by experts in educational psychology and measurement and evaluation. Their reliability co-efficients of 0.79 (ASAS) and 0.83 (SCRS) were determined through test-retest method. The PARS was obtained from the records office of the schools under study. Data collected were analyzed with Mean (x), Standard Deviation (SD) and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results got after data analysis indicated that securely attached pupils achieved more academically than the insecurely attached ones; securely attached pupils were also found to be more socially competent than the insecurely attached ones; the difference that existed between the securely and insecurely attached pupils in academic achievement and social competence were found to be statistically significant. Based on the these results, recommendations were made including that school should organize seminars and workshops for parents on parenting styles during which the most effective ones are emphasized for adoption by parents.


A lymph node (LN), which can resist virus and germs, is part of the lymphatic system that exists in the human body and every apparatus inside it. There are many kinds of pathological changes in LN. Metastatic is one of the important indexes to estimate the stage of malignant tumors. One convenient tool to observe LN is the use olf ultrasonic images. Clinical physicians judge a nosology by biopsy and experience. Shortcoming of the method is that it requires lots of precious time of clinical physicians. In this paper, we propose a method that classifies lymph node with different pathological changes in ultrasonic images. Features are extracted and selected from ultrasonic images. A feature selection method, which integrates the particle swarm optimization neural network (PSONN) with Boltzmann probabilistic, is proposed. Then, a support vector machine (SVM) is adopted for Lymph node classification. Experimental results show that the proposed approach decreases the number of the selected features and achieves a high accuracy in classification.


ABSTRACT This article brings a quare perspective to Moonlight's reception. We argue that many straight viewers identified the film's representational innovations but resisted its call to interrogate their preconceived notions about Black queerness. Instead, many audiences focused on others' interpretations of the film. They perceived Black viewers as homophobic, demonstrating third-person effect, and used that stance to demonstrate their own progressive politics. In addition to documenting Moonlight's reception, this study demonstrates how reading a text through the imagined reception of other viewers can shift focus from connecting with the material conditions of marginalization to proving one's own progressive bona fides.


The leading role they have acquired some states in the International System has allowed rethink the ways in which countries are relating, thereby generating changes in the structures of power, while new players stand. It is the regional leading powers, whose position is given with regard to material and ideological resources they possess in relation to others, either with homologous powers or against secondary powers (countries with less capacity and partners in the integration). In this regard, the South American States have decided to bet on the integration of South America; in order to create a real identity without estimating the one hand the direct influence of the hegemon country - the United States, and secondly, to develop participating and accord establishing bases to consolidate South America in the field of culture, social political, economic, infrastructure and energy. Under the latter, sectorial integration has been a strategy of governance, because highlights important developments in each of them, which are the pillars of "suramericanization". Thus, as the South American regionalism attempts to explain the process that has been started to fulfill this purpose, further characterized Brazil as a regional power that takes the lead. Therefore, want to know what is the participation of Brazil as a regional leader power in the construction of energy integration in South America from the perspective of multilevel governance? Understanding this concept as the opening of new dynamic interrelation, regional networks, plurality of actors and other aspects in this context are; plus the fact that the South American countries have material resources, specifically in the energy field, which not only guarantee a domestic consumption also provide energy security to other States not only its neighbors. In other words ensure the supply of a public good.


Agriculture is the mainstay of Cameroon's economy, engaging an estimated 70 percent of the economically active population and accounting for an estimated 80 percent of the primary sector's contribution to the country's GDP. It also provides 1/3 of foreign exchange earnings and 15 percent of the country's budgetary resources. This study set out to investigate agricultural practices and environmental degradation in Santa Sub-division, North West Region of Cameroon. The major types of agricultural practices studied were food crop, market gardening and animal farming. The study made use of primary and secondary data sources. Primary data sources included field observation, interviews and questionnaires. A total of 170 questionnaires were administered using stratified random sampling technique and the data obtained was complemented by secondary sources from published and unpublished materials. Findings revealed that agricultural practices have precarious impacts on the environment in Santa. Climate change was seen to have a silver lining in the crop sector. Declining soil fertility and climate change were some of the major problems faced by farmers in Santa. Adaptation measures amongst others were mixed crop farming, crop rotation, soil management practices and mulching. The study recommended the need to determine the carrying capacity of various grazing, range lands and regulatory control of herd size. This study also proposes the adoption of climate-smart agriculture to minimize the effects of climate change on agriculture in Santa. Farmers in Santa should strengthen their economic security by adopting sustainable agricultural systems, and targeting their production to take advantage of new demands and consumption patterns.


Sugar-casein glycation products (GPs) were generated by Maillard reaction (MR) with different monosaccharide sources [e.g., glucose (Glc), fructose (Fru), and ribose (Rib)] and prolonged heating (e.g., 27 days at 55 degrees C) to produce Maillard reaction products (MRPs) that varied in opponent (L, a, b) color measurement and changes in pH, available lysine, and amino-sugar ratio. Theses results signified different rates of three sugar and casein glycation. Sugar-casein GPs from aldohexose, ketohexose, and aldopentose sugar sources were recovered on day 18 of heating and compared for bioactive properties using human embryonic intestinal cell (Int-407) and adenocarcinoma cell (Caco-2) lines. Glu- and Fru-casein GPs produced significant (p < 0.05) decreases in antioxidant superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione reductase enzyme activities in the Int-407 cell line, whereas no effect on antioxidant enzymes was obtained from Rib-casein GP. Moreover, the Caco-2 cell antioxidant enzyme status was not affected by the presence of sugar-casein GPs, regardless of sugar source. The reduction in antioxidant enzyme activity of Int-407 cells by Glu and Fru- casein GPs corresponded to a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in Int-407 cell viability. In contrast, no change in Caco-2 cell viability was observed with sugar-casein GP. This finding demonstrates that the noted variable cytotoxic, sugar specific effects of casein GP were related to reductions in critical antioxidant enzyme activities. Moreover, the source of intestinal cell line was an important factor to show the effect of sugar-casein GPs on redox-related cytotoxicity.


A thermographic phosphor's decay time distribution over its temperature-sensitive range was retrieved with the Maximum Entropy Method (MEM). A decay time distribution consists of a range of decay times, each with an associated weighting for the decay time component's prevalence in the analyzed decay curve. With the MEM, significant decay time contributions of a decay curve have high weighting and are therefore found as peaks in the decay time distribution, where the width and peak value are correlated with the relative weight of the decay time components. These peaks in the decay time distribution give increased insight into a phosphor's lifetime behavior, which often cannot accurately be represented by a single or even two decay time components. The changes in the location of peaks in the decay time distribution with temperature can be used for thermometry, and this method has the benefit of being less sensitive to the multi-exponentiality of phosphor decay than mono-exponential decay time fitting. The method also resolves the underlying decay components with no assumptions of the number of significant decay time components. Initially, when the decay time distribution of Mg4FGeO6:Mn was captured, the collected decay included decaying luminescence from the alumina oxide tube in the tube furnace. Therefore, a second calibration was performed where the luminescence from the alumina oxide tube was minimized. These two calibration datasets were used to demonstrate that the MEM could characterize decays from two separate sources simultaneously.


Dentin hypersensitivity (DH) is a very common dental problem that can have a negative impact on the quality of life and can lead to invasive dental procedures. Prevention of DH and control of symptoms are highly desirable. Hydroxyapatite (HAP) has been shown in vitro to block dentinal tubules and in vivo to be a safe and effective additive in oral care products that reduce DH clinically. This study's aim was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the current evidence that HAP-containing oral care products reduce DH. Databases were searched, and only clinical trials in humans were included; studies conducted in vitro or on animals were not included. Publications in a foreign language were translated and included. We found 44 published clinical trials appropriate for systematic analysis. More than half of the trials had high-quality GRADE scores. HAP significantly reduced dentin hypersensitivity compared to placebo (39.5%; CI 95% [48.93; 30.06]), compared to fluoride (23%; CI 95% [34.18; 11.82]), and with a non-significant tendency compared to other desensitizing agents (10.2%; CI 95% [21.76; −19.26]). In conclusion, the meta-analysis showed that HAP added to oral care products is a more effective agent than fluoride in controlling dentin hypersensitivity and may be superior to other desensitizers.


Theory predicts that the ability of selection and recombination to purge mutation load is enhanced if selection against deleterious genetic variants operates more strongly in males than females. However, direct empirical support for this tenet is limited, in part because traditional quantitative genetic approaches allow dominance and intermediate‐frequency polymorphisms to obscure the effects of the many rare and partially recessive deleterious alleles that make up the main part of a population's mutation load. Here, we exposed the partially recessive genetic load of a population of Callosobruchus maculatus seed beetles via successive generations of inbreeding, and quantified its effects by measuring heterosis—the increase in fitness experienced when masking the effects of deleterious alleles by heterozygosity—in a fully factorial sex‐specific diallel cross among 16 inbred strains. Competitive lifetime reproductive success (i.e., fitness) was measured in male and female outcrossed F1s as well as inbred parental "selfs," and we estimated the 4 × 4 male‐female inbred‐outbred genetic covariance matrix for fitness using Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations of a custom‐made general linear mixed effects model. We found that heterosis estimated independently in males and females was highly genetically correlated among strains, and that heterosis was strongly negatively genetically correlated to outbred male, but not female, fitness. This suggests that genetic variation for fitness in males, but not in females, reflects the amount of (partially) recessive deleterious alleles segregating at mutation‐selection balance in this population. The population's mutation load therefore has greater potential to be purged via selection in males. These findings contribute to our understanding of the prevalence of sexual reproduction in nature and the maintenance of genetic variation in fitness‐related traits.


The invention discloses high-safety bending equipment for parts for electrical equipment. The bending equipment is used for bending and processing the parts for electrical equipment. The bending equipment comprises two lifting pressing assemblies (8) fixedly mounted on an upper fixed object (9), wherein the two lifting pressing assemblies (8) are symmetrical about the longitudinal axis of a bending device; and each lifting pressing assembly comprises a threaded sleeve (82) fixed to the upper fixed object (9), a drive screw (81) which is in screw thread fit with a threaded hole (821) in the lower end wall of the threaded sleeve (82), and a screw drive gear (813) which is positioned below the threaded sleeve (82) and is connected with the drive screw (81) through a torque clutch (5).


The basic idea of service-oriented learning is that a learning environment should be conceived as a set of independent units of learning packaged as learning services. The design, development and deployment of a learning system based on integrating different learning services needs both a technological platform to support the system as well as a methodology that manages the development process. Such technological platform is provided by the Service-Oriented Learning Architecture (SOLA). SOLA proposes an architecture style, which defines how to deploy several units of packeged-learning services. The purpose of this paper is to review the SOLA concept and to present a specific method based on specifying instructional domains, to complement the SOLA approach. Our method suggests the definition of a feature model, which represents the characteristics of the instructional domain, in order to address the identification and clasiffication of candidate services. The approach here proposed facilitates the definition of candidate-learning services in order to enhance the integration of such services.


: On one hand Israel is a leader in the field of high-tech industry, but on the other it remains a country focused on traditions. In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) is one of the most common treatments among many possibilities which were created in the field of assisted reproductive technology (ART). Indeed, the number of Jewish women as intensive consumers of IVF has increased in the past few years. Due to the great importance of motherhood and raising families in Jewish tradition, Israel strongly supports health care procedures assisting Jewish adults in becoming parents. There is no doubt that for Jews life is the most precious value in its religious and political meaning, however, they are quite flexible in accommodat-ing modern technologies in order to serve life. The State has historically focused on increas-ing birthrates and nowadays a woman's biological clock is an important element not only in the context of matrylineal descent and for the answer to the question of Jews identity but it is also intervening as a part of the reproductive industry.


Semantic priming on a lexical decision task(LDT) was examined in 50 patients with mild to moderate dementia of the Alzheimer's Type(DAT), and 25 normal age-matched controls. DAT patients were slower in their responses, and showed significantly greater priming effects (mean 54 ms vs. 27 ms in controls). The size of the priming effect correlated with the speed of response on the LDT task for the individual DAT patients but not for controls. Twenty of the DAT patients (vs. one control) showed priming greater than 60 ms. This subgroup of DAT patients with "hyperpriming" was slower than the nonhyperpriming group on "yes" responses to targets preceded by unassociated prime words and more impaired on tests of clock drawing and verbal fluency. Slowing of responses alone, however, seems unable to account for the presence of increased priming in DAT patients. Its presence may reflect semantic memory deficits, as well as impaired attentional processing and supervisory control systems. The exact mechanism of this increased priming remains to be established.


1. Introduced rabbits are known to have catastrophic effects on oceanic islands, either by direct destruction of the vegetative cover, or by the resulting disturbance of indigenous vertebrates.

2. Another dramatic effect, less well known, but potentially of major importance, is the hyperpredation process. This process, related to apparent competition, predicts that an introduced prey species, well adapted to high predation pressure, could induce the extinction of an indigenous prey, through the sudden increased population size of an introduced predator. In many island ecosystems, the simultaneous presence of introduced feral cats and rabbits is thus potentially a further threat for small vertebrates endemic of these islands.

3. Through a mathematical model, we tested this hypothesis, using a tri-trophic system comprising an indigenous prey (birds), an introduced prey (rabbits) and an introduced predator (cats), and we demonstrated the theoretical existence of the hyperpredation process.

4. In addition, the numerical analysis of the model allowed a quantification of this process. It shows that the conditions required for an indigenous species to cope with the hyperpredation process imply very high intrinsic growth rates and/or carrying capacity, as well as behavioural anti-predator response to the introduced predator. Since these conditions are unlikely to be met, this process is a further potential threat to most indigenous vertebrate prey.

5. Finally, our model shows that, although it can be induced by both types of adaptation together or alone, behavioural adaptations alone are more powerful in generating the hyperpredation process, than are life history traits adaptations.


High-accuracy astrometry permits the determination of not only stellar tangential motion, but also the comp onent along the line-of-sight. Such non-spectroscopic (i.e . astrometric) radial velocities are independent of stellar atmos pheric dynamics, spectral complexity and variability, as well as o f gravitational redshift. Three methods are analysed: (1) ch anging annual parallax, (2) changing proper motion and (3) chan ging angular extent of a moving group of stars. All three have significant potential in planned astrometric projects. Cur rent accuracies are still inadequate for the first method, while t e second is marginally feasible and is here applied to 16 stars . The third method reaches high accuracy ( < 1 km s) already with present data, although for some clusters an accuracy li mit is set by uncertainties in the cluster expansion rate.


Dissociated hippocampal neurons exposed to a variety of degenerative stimuli form neuritic cofilin-actin rods. Here we report on stimulus driven regional rod formation in organotypic hippocampal slices. Ultrastructural analysis of rods formed in slices demonstrates mitochondria and vesicles become entrapped within some rods. We developed a template for combining and mapping data from multiple slices, enabling statistical analysis for the identification of vulnerable sub-regions. Amyloid-beta (Abeta) induces rods predominantly in the dentate gyrus region, and Abeta-induced rods are reversible following washout. Rods that persist 24 h following transient (30 min) ATP-depletion are broadly distributed, whereas rods formed in response to excitotoxic glutamate localize within and nearby the pyramidal neurons. Time-lapse imaging of cofilin-GFP-expressing neurons within slices shows neuronal rod formation begins rapidly and peaks by 10 min of anoxia. In approximately 50% of responding neurons, Abeta-induced rod formation acts via cdc42, an upstream regulator of cofilin. These new observations support a role for cofilin-actin rods in stress-induced disruption of cargo transport and synaptic function within hippocampal neurons and suggest both cdc42-dependent and independent pathways modulate cofilin activity downstream from Abeta.


the simplified regimen was that many patients were able to adjust the dose of glargine when glucose levels changed with other health issues during the no-contact period. Another important finding of the study is that the level of HbA1c did not correlate with duration of hypoglycemia before or after simplification of the regimen, suggesting that HbA1c level is a poor predictor of the risk of hypoglycemia. Our previous study has shown that the HbA1c levels may not correlate with estimated average glucose in older populations.7 The combination of these findings suggests that liberating the HbA1c goals in frail older patients is not adequate to protect against the risk of hypoglycemia. The type of glucose-lowering agents and the strategy for their use are important to lower the risk of hypoglycemia.


This study was conducted to find to change of component by different species, plant parts and growth stage of Paeonia lactiflora Pallas Among the species of peony, the contents of compounds was higher in cultivated peony (P. lactiflora P.) as compared with wild peony (P. japonica M., P. obobata M., P. anomala L.). Amount of methyl gallate was highest in 0.45% at Euisung jakyak. Amount of compounds in peony was the highest in 1.0% at paeoniflorin, followed by methyl gallate, astragalin and kaempferol in order. Contents of compounds with different growth stage were observed highest in April, and showed decreased trend in the later growth stage. Methyl gallate was present in 1.79% at petal, 0.56% at leaf and 0.01% at root, astragalin present at 0.27% at petal, 0.20% at leaf and 0.03% at root, and paeoniflorin present at 0.43% at petal, 1.09% at leaf and 2.52% at root.


We report three cases of iatrogenically induced vertebral osteomyelitis due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa. One case was a post-nucleotomy and post-operative complication of herniated disk treatment, one was related to infection of an epidural catheter in a patient suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and the third followed urinary investigation in a patient with prostate cancer. Infection was cured in all patients with antibiotic treatment. These case reports shed light on the possibility of infections with pseudomonas aeruginosa, in addition to the more common infections such as by staphylococci, especially following iatrogenic maneuvers.


The activation of ethane over zinc- and gallium-modified HZSM-5 dehydrogenation catalysts was studied by diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy. Hydrocarbon activation on HZSM-5 modified by bivalent Zn and univalent Ga cations proceeds via two distinctly different mechanisms. The stronger molecular adsorption of ethane by the acid-base pairs formed by distantly separated cationic Zn2+ and basic oxygen sites results already at room temperature in strong polarizability of adsorbed ethane and subsequent heterolytic dissociative adsorption at moderate temperatures. In contrast, molecular adsorption of ethane on Ga+ cations is weak. At high temperatures dissociative hydrocarbon adsorption takes place, resulting in the formation of ethyl and hydride fragments coordinating to the cationic gallium species. Whereas in the zinc case a Brønsted acid proton is formed upon ethane dissociation, decomposition of the ethyl fragment on gallium results in gallium dihydride species and does not lead to Brønsted acid protons. This difference in alkane activation has direct consequences for hydrocarbon conversions involving dehydrogenation.


Abstract The aim of this paper is to highlight experiences gained by psychotherapists in their work with young adults. Aspects looked at include: recurring themes, the process of diagnosing young adults, the therapeutic alliance, and the therapeutic techniques. Six experienced psychodynamic therapists were interviewed, and a semi-structured interview method was used. The results show a high level of agreement between the therapists as to their experiences and conclusions of psychotherapy with young adults. Results presented in this paper suggest that there is a difference between psychodynamic therapy used with young adults, and the more traditional psychodynamic therapy. The most important difference turned out to be the approach of the therapist toward the patient, where a more active and distinct approach by the therapist to the here-and-now situation was to be preferred. All six therapists came out strongly against the use of the DSM manual when diagnosing young adults. The importance of understanding young adults and their difficulties from a psychological development point of view was stressed, as well as the importance of taking the approach that the years of young adulthood bring their own issues and concerns. It is clear from these interviews that there is a strong need for the establishment of institutions or centres specifically tailored to meet the needs of young adults for psychotherapeutic treatment at an early stage and in an adequate way, in order to avoid unnecessary "pathologising" of their specific problems.


The aim of the study is to describe the cognition of breast cancer with respect to knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and behavior in a group of gestational age Turkish women. A questionnaire survey was therefore performed on 201 randomly selected women registered to the health database in Aydin. In age, marital status, and occupation were found to significantly impact on breast self-examination (BSE) performance, which should still be considered as an important tool for early diagnosis, although it does not substitute clinical examination and education. As delayed diagnosis is the leading problem in the management of disease, well-structured education should be supported to increase awareness of breast cancer. Given to the remarkable role of nurses in the community on women's health, a more focused approach on education of young female populations by nurses in Turkey should be considered.


This paper explores the ethical issues arising from the conversion to cash balance pension plans in medium and large U.S. corporations. The conventional critique of these controversial plans centers on fundamental questions of distributive justice and rests on arguments dating back to the formulation of U.S. pension law. Since that time, however, the conditions which gave rise to these arguments have changed. Absent a persuasive argument concerning the distributional patterns of cash balance plans, we address them as a question of organizational ethics. Integrating insights from stakeholder theory, integrative social contracts theory, and empirical research on these conversions, we advance a critique of cash balance plan conversions based on common procedural approaches to these conversions.


We present an efficient pixel-sampling technique for histogram-based search. Given a template image as a query, a typical histogram-based algorithm aims to find the location of the target in another large test image, by evaluating a similarity measure for comparing the feature histogram of the template with that of each possible subwindow in the test image. The computational cost would be high if each subwindow needs to compute its histogram and evaluate the similarity measure. In this paper, we adopt the probability-product kernels as the similarity measures, and show that the computation of histograms and the evaluation of the kernel-based similarities can be integrated through a sampling approach. Specifically, we present a square-root sampling method to avoid the computation of histograms, and meanwhile, reduce the number of pixels required for evaluating the similarity measure. The proposed approximation algorithm is time- and memory-efficient. The time complexity of computing the similarity for each subwindow is O(1). The memory requirement of our algorithm is not in proportion to the size of the template or the number of histogram bins, which allows the use of more distinctive image representations for better search accuracy.


Abstract The implementation of aberration correction for the scanning transmis-sion electron microscope (STEM) enables the use of larger probe-formingapertures, improving the transverse resolution significantly and alsobringing depth resolution at the nanometer scale. This opens up thepossibility of three-dimensional imaging by optical sectioning, andnanometer-scale depth resolution has been demonstrated for amorphousand off-axis samples. For crystalline materials it is usual to image in azone axis orientation to achieve atomic resolution. In this case, thetendency for the beam to channel along the columns complicates thesimple optical sectioning technique. Here we conduct a series ofsimulations which demonstrate that higher beam convergence anglesavailable in next generation aberration correctors can overcome thislimitation. Detailed simulations with realistic values for residual aberra-tions predict nanometer-scale depth resolution for Bi dopant atoms in Si(110) for an instrument corrected up to fifth order. Use of a monochro-mator appears to significantly improve the depth resolution.


It has been well documented that IQ scores calculated using Canadian norms are generally 2-5 points lower than those calculated using American norms on the Wechsler IQ scales. However, recent findings have demonstrated that the difference may be significantly larger for individuals with certain demographic characteristics, and this has prompted discussion about the appropriateness of using the Canadian normative system with a clinical population in Canada. This study compared the interpretive effects of applying the American and Canadian normative systems in a clinical sample. We used a multivariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) to calculate differences between IQ and Index scores in a clinical sample, and mixed model ANOVAs to assess the pattern of differences across age and ability level. As expected, Full Scale IQ scores calculated using Canadian norms were systematically lower than those calculated using American norms, but differences were significantly larger for individuals classified as having extremely low or borderline intellectual functioning when compared with those who scored in the average range. Implications of clinically different conclusions for up to 52.8% of patients based on these discrepancies highlight a unique dilemma facing Canadian clinicians, and underscore the need for caution when choosing a normative system with which to interpret WAIS-IV results in the context of a neuropsychological test battery in Canada. Based on these findings, we offer guidelines for best practice for Canadian clinicians when interpreting data from neuropsychological test batteries that include different normative systems, and suggestions to assist with future test development.


Charged-current antineutrino interactions on a hydrocarbon scintillator in the MINERvA detector are used to study activity from their final-state neutrons. To ensure that most of the neutrons are from the primary interaction, rather than hadronic reinteractions in the detector, the sample is limited to momentum transfers below 0.8 GeV/c. From 16 129 interactions, 15 246 neutral particle candidates are observed. The reference simulation predicts 64% of these candidates are due to neutrons from the antineutrino interaction directly but also overpredicts the number of candidates by 15% overall. This discrepancy is beyond the standard uncertainty estimates for models of neutrino interactions and neutron propagation in the detector. We explore these two aspects of the models using the measured distributions for energy deposition, time of flight, position, and speed. We also use multiplicity distributions to evaluate the presence of a two-nucleon knockout process. These results provide critical new information toward a complete description of the hadronic final state of neutrino interactions, which is vital to neutrino oscillation experiments.


Paternity fraud happens when women make representations to their male partner that he is the biological father of their child knowing that this may not be true because they have undisclosed sexual relationships with other men. Where the man acts on this information and the paternity of the child is subsequently discovered through DNA testing. With the shift from the parental rights regime to the parental responsibility system in most common law jurisdictions, more men are obliged by law to pay for the upkeep of their "child" or "children". This legal conception of fatherhood has led to an increasing number of voices demanding that a legal remedy be sought for men victimized by paternity fraud. While there are several cases at the heart of paternity fraud, the case of PvB (Paternity Damages for Deceit)[2001] is a very interesting one. This article revisits this case making some very compelling discussions and analysis. It also reviews some of the flaws of the reproductive rights argument. It is of the position that the reproductive rights argument may be flawed since reproductive health rights have not been normatively expressed in any multilateral treaty (or in customary international law for that matter). It highlights the implications of the tort of deceit in paternity fraud cases for both married and divorced spouses. It also highlights how tort of deceit can be applied to fairly represent the interest of fathers and their needed relationship with their biological child.


The addition of water and methanol to the carbonyl substituents in the dicationic bis(arene)ruthenium complexes [(p-cymene)Ru(C6H5CHO)][OTf]2 (1) and [(p-cymene)Ru(C6H5C(O)CH3)][OTf]2 (2) is remarkably favorable-the equilibrium constants for these reactions are 1 million times greater than those for uncomplexed benzaldehyde and acetophenone. The addition of methanol to the carbonyl group in the o-anisaldehyde complex, [(p-cymene)Ru(C6H4{OCH3}CHO)][OTf]2 (6), occurs with a high degree of kinetic selectivity (94% de).


Geostatistics has proven to be useful for characterizing and mapping spatial variability of soil properties, however, most of the previous geostatistical studies were focused on data at small scale. With the development of GIS and GPS, geostatistcs and GIS are becoming indispensable in characterizing and summarizing spatial information in large regions to provide quantitative support to decision and policy making for soil, agricultural and natural resources management. In this paper, we applied geostatistics combined with GIS to analyze the spatio temporal variabilities of the available potassium, available phosphorus and organic matter in soil surface (0~20 cm) in Zunhua county (municipality) of Hebei province over 20 years from 1980 to 1999. Results showed the average content of the available potassium, available phosphorus and organic matter in soil surface in 1980 was 77 78 mg/kg , 19 46 mg/kg , 1 14%, respectively; and that in 1999 was 90 12 mg/kg , 25 7 mg/kg , 1 54%, respectively. Paired samples t test of soil nutrients and the results estimated by block kriging indicated the content of the available potassium, available phosphorus and organic matter in 1999 was significantly higher than that in 1980. The ratio of nugget to sill of the three soil nutrients varied from 32 3% to 60%, indicating the spatial correlation of the three tested soil nutrients at this large scale was moderately dependent. The ratio of nugget to sill of available potassium was 56 5% in 1980 and 41 1% in 1999, that of the available phosphorus was 45 5% in 1980 and increased to 54 1% in 1999. The ratio of organic matter changed considerably from 60% in 1980 to 32 3% in 1999. The range of the available potassium and available phosphorus between the year of 1980 and 1999 was almost the same, however, the range of organic matter was from 4 8 km in 1980 to 2 7 km in 1999. The improvement of the available potassium and available phosphorus in soil was mainly contributed to the more application of fertilizers, and the content of organic matter was affected by the changes of tillage and land use, which also altered the spatial distribution of soil nutrients to different degrees over the past 20 years.


Objective: The use of equine movement as a therapy tool in a plan of care, or hippotherapy, has grown considerably over the past three decades. However, there is little evidence of safety rates and related practice patterns to guide key stakeholders such as clients, therapists, the health care team, and third-party payers. The purpose of this article is to describe the safety and practice patterns of contemporary use of hippotherapy. Design: A survey was distributed to occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), and speech-language pathology clinicians who incorporate hippotherapy into their practice. The survey included questions about clinicians' practice patterns, safety procedures, and rates of safety incidents. Results: Results indicate that hippotherapy is most often used by PT and OT clinicians for pediatric clients. Use of hippotherapy varies by geographic location, and frequency and duration vary widely. Clinicians most often contract their services to a program that provides a facility and horses. Recommended safety practices are widely adopted, and rates of safety incidents requiring basic first aid (0.05% of sessions) or off-site care (0.01% of sessions) are low. Emergency dismounts are frequently practiced and often effective in preventing an incident. Conclusions: Although there are inherent risks to incorporating horses into a therapeutic plan of care, these risks appear to be well managed by recommended safety practices. Results of this study can (1) help clinicians to make informed decisions regarding practice and safety procedures, (2) provide evidence of safety practices and incident rates to clients, members of the health care team, and third-party payers, and (3) maximize safety for clients who participate in hippotherapy.


This paper presents some experimental results about the robustness of a WiMAX system against interfering signals. In particular, this work presents a WiMAX performance comparison when two different types of interfering signals were generated: a continuous wave and a rectangular pulsed wave. Both of them were tuned at the same working frequency of the WiMAX system (i.e. 2.55 GHz). The former is typical of some attackers or dud devices, the latter, instead, is very similar to the signals generated by radars. In this work IP throughput performance and the VoIP (Voice over IP) perceived Quality of Service (QoS) were evaluated, when one of the two considered signals interfered the Base Station (BS) or the Costumer Premise Equipment (CPE). The experimental results point out that the continuous wave was more critical than the pulsed one for the WiMAX system; in some situation it caused the complete disconnection of the CPE from the BS or the BS outage.


This paper reports on a grasping forceps with a triaxial Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) tactile sensor on a tip. The laparoscopic surgery is minimally invasive because the incisions are smaller than the open surgery. This results in fast recovery. However, it is a problem in the laparoscopic surgery to damage an organ by localized stress generated by grasping with a thin forceps. To avoid excessive stress applying to the organ, real time evaluation of the stress is important. However, there is no acceptable tool to measure the stress. We propose a grasping forceps with a triaxial MEMS tactile sensor on a tip for a measurement tool. We attached a triaxial MEMS tactile sensor which we have developed on a tip of a grasping forceps. The MEMS sensor can measure not only the pressure but also two directional shear stresses applied to the sensor surface. The sensor size is 7 mm × 7 mm × 2 mm. It is enough small to attach the sensor to the tip of a forceps 12 mm in diameter. In this paper, the characteristics of the forceps with the MEMS sensor during grasping, pushing and pulling actions were evaluated. In these experiments, output of each sensor for pressure and shear stress was proportional to the applied stresses, respectively. Moreover, as an in vivo experiment, we measured the shear stress applied to a pig liver block when it is lifted after being grasped with the forceps. We obtained that the shear stress applied to the liver block increased with the increase of the weight of the liver block.


Most work on natural language question answering today focuses on answer selection: given a candidate list of sentences, determine which contains the answer. Although important, answer selection is only one stage in a standard end-to-end question answering pipeline. This paper explores the effectiveness of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for answer selection in an end-to-end context using the standard TrecQA dataset. We observe that a simple idf-weighted word overlap algorithm forms a very strong baseline, and that despite substantial efforts by the community in applying deep learning to tackle answer selection, the gains are modest at best on this dataset. Furthermore, it is unclear if a CNN is more effective than the baseline in an end-to-end context based on standard retrieval metrics. To further explore this finding, we conducted a manual user evaluation, which confirms that answers from the CNN are detectably better than those from idf-weighted word overlap. This result suggests that users are sensitive to relatively small differences in answer selection quality.


Electronic control devices (ECDs) deliver high‐voltage, low‐current energy pulses temporarily paralyzing a person. For the ECD–human interaction, we have developed a computer model using the SEMCAD program within which to simulate the electrical effects throughout the body resulting from the imposition of an ECD pulse at a particular point on the body surface. Our human body models were based on cross‐sectional MRIs and CT scans, with the dielectric properties of the various tissues assigned based on previously published values. We simulated the application of a single ECD pulse and calculated the resulting electric field strength and current and charge densities at different body locations. The results were compared with corresponding values obtained by other researchers in similar simulations. Furthermore, we simulated an application of a pulse of 20‐millisecond duration equal to the European household current of 50 Hz and to the ventricular fibrillation threshold. The resulting current level indicated at the heart muscle was 1/5 the level considered the threshold for triggering ventricular fibrillation.


This paper presents our contribution to the Social Media Mining for Health Applications Shared Task 2021. We addressed all the three subtasks of Task 1: Subtask A (classification of tweets containing adverse effects), Subtask B (extraction of text spans containing adverse effects) and Subtask C (adverse effects resolution). We explored various pre-trained transformer-based language models and we focused on a multi-task training architecture. For the first subtask, we also applied adversarial augmentation techniques and we formed model ensembles in order to improve the robustness of the prediction. Our system ranked first at Subtask B with 0.51 F1 score, 0.514 precision and 0.514 recall. For Subtask A we obtained 0.44 F1 score, 0.49 precision and 0.39 recall and for Subtask C we obtained 0.16 F1 score with 0.16 precision and 0.17 recall.


The Internet references cited in this publication were valid as of February 2010. Given that URLs and web sites are in constant flux, neither the author nor the COPS Office can vouch for their current validity. Department of Justice reserves a royalty-free, nonexclusive, and irrevocable license to reproduce, publish, or otherwise use, and authorize others to use, this publication for Federal Government purposes. This publication may be freely distributed and used for noncommercial and educational purposes. The Response Guides are one of three series of the Problem-Oriented Guides for Police. The other two are the Problem-Specific Guides and Problem-Solving Tools. The Problem-Oriented Guides for Police summarize knowledge about how police can reduce the harm caused by specific crime and disorder problems. They are guides to preventing problems and improving overall incident response, not to investigating offenses or handling specific incidents. Neither do they cover all of the technical details about how to implement specific responses. The guides are written for police—of whatever rank or assignment— who must address the specific problems the guides cover. The guides will be most useful to officers who: • Understand basic problem-oriented policing principles and methods • Can look at problems in depth • Are willing to consider new ways of doing police business • Understand the value and the limits of research knowledge • Are willing to work with other community agencies to find effective solutions to problems. The Response Guides summarize knowledge about whether police should use certain responses to address various crime and disorder problems, and about what effects they might expect. Each guide: • Describes the response • Discusses the various ways police might apply the response • Explains how the response is designed to reduce crime and disorder • Examines the research knowledge about the response • Addresses potential criticisms and negative consequences that might flow from use of the response • Describes how police have applied the response to specific crime and disorder problems, and with what effect. ii Assigning Police Officers to Schools The Response Guides are intended to be used differently from the Problem-Specific Guides. Ideally, police should begin all strategic decision-making by first analyzing the specific crime and disorder problems they are confronting, and then using the analysis results to devise particular responses. But certain responses are so commonly considered and have such potential to help address a range of specific crime and disorder problems that …


Abstract A detailed, long term portrait of the seasonality of precipitation over the United States is developed using a 90 year climate division record. Selected decadal maps of seasonality are also presented, and their variability over time considered. Relationships between significant changes in precipitation or temperature and seasonality were sought, but not found. Model output from four global climate models (GCMs) are analyzed with respect to precipitation seasonality over the same area, both for present conditions, and for a doubled CO2 climate. Comparison of model output to present patterns suggests that in most cases the models are doing reasonably well in matching regional details of seasonality. For the future climate, there is some agreement among models suggesting a trend toward a spring, rather than summer precipitation maximum in the midcontinental areas of the United States.


This study aims to analyze the available literature on the use of digital marketing in a business-to-business (B2B) context. It identifies gaps in the current research knowledge and proposes a research agenda for scholars and practitioners.,A systematic literature review has been conducted on B2B digital marketing. The various themes have been identified on the basis of the comprehensive analysis of extant literature. Also, semi-structured interviews with B2B marketing experts were also conducted to further refine the emerged digital marketing themes.,Although some B2B firms use digital marketing, most are unable to leverage its full benefits because of the dearth of comprehensive research on the subject. This review provides an insight into the emerging themes by developing a collaborative conceptual framework. The review highlights that few areas such as digital marketing communication and sales management have witnessed steady development while decision support systems, critical success factors, electronic marketing orientation (EMO), etc., were lesser explored. Furthermore, it identifies research gaps and highlights the emerging research themes for future researchers.,The collaborative framework will help organizations to align their digital marketing activities as per the changing market dynamics such as the focus on building social media capability, EMO and value co-creation.,Research on the use of digital marketing by B2B firms is still at the embryonic stage. This study is a pioneering effort to review the use of digital marketing in B2B organizations and identify research priorities for scholars and practitioners.


Background: Ecbalium elaterium is a plant endemic to the Mediterranean basin. Its roots and cucumber-shaped fruit have been used in folk medicine since antiquity. The alleged uses of the fruit juice are as a potent cathartic, analgesic, and antiinflammatory agent. Cucurbitacin B, a triterpene derivative is the active antiinflammatory principal. Patients: We present a series of 13 patients who were exposed to the juice of Ecbalium elaterium in its natural form. In 3 patients, exposure was intranasal for the treatment of sinusitis or liver cirrhosis. In 3 other cases, children ingested the fruit unwittingly. In 6 patients, exposure was ocular and, in one, dermal. Within minutes of exposure, the patients exhibited irritation of mucous membranes at various degrees of severity manifested as edema of pharynx, dyspnea, drooling, dysphagia, vomiting, conjunctivitis, corneal edema, and erosion, depending on the route of the exposure. Recovery began within several to 24 hours after administration of oxygen, steroids, antihistamines, and beta-2-agonists. Ocular exposures responded to topical steroid and antibiotic eyedrops within a few days. The toddler with the dermal exposure remained asymptomatic. Conclusion: Exposure to the juice of Ecbalium elaterium, mainly in its undiluted form, may cause irritation of mucous membranes, supposedly of inflammatory nature. Patients exposed orally or intranasally should be closely followed for upper airway obstruction. Patients exposed ocularly should have their eyes promptly irrigated to prevent corneal and conjunctival injury.


Mdm2 binds to p53 and promotes its degradation. A class of small molecule Mdm2 inhibitors (MI) was recently discovered that binds to Mdm2 and disrupts Mdm2-p53 binding. The efficacy of MI-43 was tested against two pairs of human lung cancer lines differing in p53 status: adenocarcinoma A549 (p53 wild-type, wt) and H522 (p53-null) and non-small cell lung carcinoma H460 (p53wt) and H1299 (p53-null). MI-43 induced the accumulation of p53 and its downstream target genes, Mdm2, p21, Noxa and Puma only in wt p53-containing cells, indicating that disruption of Mdm2-p53 binding increases p53, which is transcriptionally active. MI-43 preferentially inhibited the growth of wt p53-containing cells in a p53 dependent manner, but was much less effective in p53-null cells. Mechanistically, MI-43 induced G1 or G2 arrest at low concentration as result of p21 induction, and apoptosis at high concentration due to Puma/Noxa induction. Importantly, MI-43 is much less toxic to normal fetal lung fibroblast, MRC5 cells. Finally, when used in combination, MI-43 sensitized chemo-resistant A549 cells to etoposide-induced apoptosis. Thus, MI-43 or its analogues could be further developed as a novel class of anticancer drug for lung cancer cells harboring wt p53 as a single agent or in combination with chemo-drugs.


In the paper [Phys. Rev. E 76, 061122 (2007)], the authors presented a way of playing 2 × 2 games so that players were able to exploit nonfactorizable joint probabilities respecting the nonsignaling principle (i.e., relativistic causality). We are going to prove, however, that the scheme does not generalize the games studied in the commented paper. Moreover, it allows the players to obtain nonclassical results even if the factorizable joint probabilities are used.