Abstract The three-dimensional dynamical core of an atmospheric general circulation model employing Yin–Yang grid is developed and examined. Benchmark test cases based on the shallow-water model configuration are first performed to examine the validity of two-dimensional calculations. The experiments show that the model simulates reasonable flow fields with second-order accuracy. The model validation is then extended to three-dimensional features where the capability of the dynamical core on the Yin–Yang grid has not been tested before: the global mountain gravity wave, long-term integration, and life cycle experiments. The simulated flow fields are in good agreement with the results of original experiments in all three experiments. The sensitivity of the model flow field to the overset region is also tested. The experiments reveal that the presence of the overset region does not significantly affect the dynamics on both long and short time scales, if the number of overset grids is fixed to three and the ...


Data plane verification can be an important technique to reduce network disruptions, and researchers have recently made significant progress in achieving fast data plane verification. However, as we apply existing data plane verification techniques to large-scale networks, two problems appear due to extremes. First, existing techniques cannot handle too-fast arrivals, which we call update storms, when a large number of data plane updates must be processed in a short time. Second, existing techniques cannot handle well too-slow arrivals, which we call long-tail update arrivals, when the updates from a number of switches take a long time to arrive. This paper presents Flash, a novel system that achieves fast, consistent data plane verification when update arrivals can include update storms, long-tail update arrivals, or both. In particular, Flash introduces a novel technique called fast inverse model transformation to swiftly transform a large block of rule updates to a block of conflict-free updates to efficiently handle update storms. Flash also introduces consistent, efficient, early detection, a systematic mechanism and associated novel algorithms to detect data plane violations with incomplete information, to avoid being delayed by long-tail arrivals. We fully implement Flash and conduct extensive evaluations under various settings. Using the data plane of a large-scale network, we show that compared with state-of-the-art sequential per-update verification systems, Flash is 9,000x faster.


When a court determines the scope and content of the normative relationship between contracting parties, it draws on a range of sources: the communications of the parties to the agreement, rules and principles of mandatory law (eg 'public policy', 'illegality'), default rules, and a body of procedural rules and substantive standards that govern the 'construction' of the agreement. The process of 'construction' is not necessarily limited to a hermeneutical elucidation, ie the exegesis of the communications. Across European legal traditions, doctrinal means have developed that serve the purpose of adding provisions to agreements regarding situations the parties are deemed not to have addressed in their agreement, thus diagnosing 'gaps' or 'lacunae' in the contract. Art 6:102 of the PECL presents a compromise: regarding the substantive principles guiding the implication of terms, the PECL attempts to combine the common law concept of implying terms with substantive civilian standards.


Background Diabetes mellitus is associated with imbalance in body trace elements. The aim of the current investigation was to compare the levels of trace elements (Zn, Mg, Mn, Cu, Na, K, Fe, Ca, Cr, and Se) in insulin dependent (IDDM) and non-insulin dependent (NIDDM) diabetes. Methods A total of 100 patients with diabetes (40 IDDM and 60 NIDDM) and 50 healthy subjects were recruited in the study from both genders. Biochemical measures include glucose, lipids, and HbA1C. Results The results showed that Zn, Mg, Cu and Cr were significant lower in patients with diabetes compared to the control group (P<0.01). In addition, Zn and Cr were significantly lower in IDDM than NIDDM (P<0.05). Moreover, Zn and Mg levels were inversely correlated with HbA1c in IDDM and NIDDM (P<0.05). Zn was inversely correlated with fasting blood glucose in IDDM (P<0.05). Finally, no correlation between trace element levels with BMI was found (P>0.05). Conclusion Disturbance in trace element profile among IDDM and NIDDM is similar.


This work displays both longitudinal and transverse vibrations of magnetically affected inclined single-walled carbon nanotubes for conveying fluid flow. By employing an equivalent continuum structure on the basis of the nonlocal Timoshenko beam model as well as plug-like model for the nanofluidic flow inside the pore, the nonlocal governing equations are obtained accounting for nonlocality, frictionless nature of the inside wall, the Knudsen number, and full longitudinal and transverse interactions of the fluid flow with the single-walled carbon nanotubes. By implementing Galerkin-based assumed mode method, the equations of motion are discretized appropriately and then solved for the unknown dynamical deformation fields. The roles of nanofluidic flow velocity, small-scale parameter, inclination angle of single-walled carbon nanotube, and magnetic field strength on maximum values of longitudinal and transverse displacements are explained and discussed. The results show that the maximum dynamic deflection of the inclined nanotube would lessen by increase of the magnetic field strength. This fact is also more apparent for higher levels of fluid flow velocity. Additionally, variation of the longitudinal magnetic field has a trivial influence on the variation of longitudinal displacement. The predicted results reveal that application of the longitudinal magnetic field could be used as an efficient methodology to reduce the lateral vibrations of single-walled carbon nanotubes as nanofluidic conveyors.


This paper demonstrates a technique to premold and transfer lead-free solder balls for microelectrocmechanical systems (MEMS)/electronics packaging applications. A reusable bulk micromachined silicon wafer is used to mold a solder paste and remove excess flux prior to transfer to a host wafer that may contain released MEMS. This technique has been used to fabricate low temperature thin film MEMS vacuum packages. Long term (>5 months) reliability of these packages at room temperature and pressure is demonstrated through integrated Pirani gauges. These packages have survived over 600 hours in an autoclave (130degC, 85% RH, 2 atm) and more than 1300 temperature cycles (55degC to 125degC)


The aim of the study is to develop a scale named Classroom Life Perception Scale (CLPS) for determining the classroom life perceptions of the students toward lessons. The proposal scale, composed of 44 items, was applied to 2 study groups. The group of Exploratory Factor Analysis that aims to determine the psychometric properties especially the construct validity and reliability of CLPS consisted of 462 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade students. The group of Confirmatory Factor Analysis that aims to find out whether the factor structure demonstrated by CLPS was confirmed or not consisted of 282 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade students. As a result of the analyses, it has been determined that the scale consists of 28 items and it has a structure composed of three factors. The study showed that CLPS is a valid and reliable tool. Using CLPS with other data collection tools on classroom life perceptions of students will contrıbute to literature.


A Gram-stain-negative, cocci or short rod-shaped, yellow-pigmented bacterium, designated strain S2-4-2T, was isolated from coastal sediment of Spartina alterniflora in Quanzhou Bay, PR China. Growth was observed at 15-40 °C (optimum, 30 °C) and pH 6.0-8.0 (optimum, pH 7.0). Strain S2-4-2T tolerated 0-10 % NaCl (optimum, 1 %). The 16S rRNA gene of strain S2-4-2T showed highest sequence similarity to Croceicoccus pelagius Ery9T (98.2 %), followed by Croceicoccus naphthovorans PQ-2T, Croceicoccus marinus E4A9T and Croceicoccus mobilis Ery22T (97.6%, 96.3 and 96.3 %, respectively). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and phylogenomic analysis based on 92 up-to-date bacterial core gene sets indicated that strain S2-4-2T forms a distinct monophyletic branch affiliated to the genus Croceicoccus. The average nucleotide identity value between strain S2-4-2T and its close relatives were estimated to be 74.8-85.7 %. The respiratory quinone was found to be Q-10. The predominant fatty acids (>10 %) were identified as summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c) and summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω7c and C16 : 1ω6c). The polar lipids were identified as phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, sphingoglycolipid and an unidentified phospholipid. The draft genome size of strain S2-4-2T was 3.5 Mb with a genomic G+C content of 63.0 mol%. Based on these results, strain S2-4-2T is concluded to represent a novel species within the genus Croceicoccus, for which the name Croceicoccus sediminis sp. nov. is proposed with the type strain S2-4-2T (=MCCC 1K03706T=KCTC 72146T).


The generation of precise digital elevation model (DEM) is very important in coastal area where time series are especially required. Although a LIDAR system is useful in coastal regions, it is not yet popular in Korea mainly because of its high surveying cost and national security reasons. Recently, precise DEM has been made using radar interferometry and waterline methods. One of these methods, spaceborne imaging radar interferometry has been widely used to measure the topography and deformation of the Earth. We acquired ALOS PALSAR FBD mode (Fine Beam Dual) data for evaluating the quality of interferograms and their coherency. We attempted to construct DEM using ALOS PALSAR pairs - One pair is 2007/05/22 and 2007/08/22, another pair is 2007/08/22 and 2007/10/22 with respective perpendicular baseline of 820 m, 312m and respective height sensitivity of 75 m and 185m at southern of Ganghwa tidal flat, Siwha- and Hwaong-lake over west coastal of Korea peninsula. Ganghwa tidal flat has low coherence between 0.3 and 0.5 of 2007/05/22 and 2007/08/22 pair. However, Siwha-lake and Hwaong-lake areas have a higher coherence value (From 0.7 and 0.9) than Ganghwa tidal area. The reason of difference coherence value is tidal condition between tidal flat area (Ganghwa) and reclaimed zone (Siwha-lake and Hwaong-lake). Therefore, DEM was constructed by ALOS PALSAR pair over Siwha-lake and Hwaong-lake. If the temporal baseline is enough short to maintain the coherent phases and height sensitivity is enough small, we will be able to successfully construct a precise DEM over coastal area. From now on, more ALOS PALSAR data will be needed to construct precise DEM of West Coast of Korea peninsular.


The study applied behavior analytic principles to foreign language instruction in a college classroom. Two study methods, vocabulary banks and scripts, were compared by assessing the effects on Italian language acquisition, retention, and generalization. Results indicate that students without prior exposure to Italian engaged in more exchanges and emitted more words in script tests compared to vocabulary bank tests. Participants with at least two classes in Italian prior to the study engaged in more exchanges and emitted more words during vocabulary bank tests. Data suggest that different teaching strategies may work for different learners. More research is needed to determine efficient teaching methods and how to ascertain which approaches work best for learners with different histories.


The experiment was performed in 26 adult rabbits. The enzyme activity of bone tissue in the implementation of porous titanium implants with a diamond-like coatings (a-C) saturated with autologous adherent bone marrow cells, in the area of bone defects have been investigated. When using PTi (a-C) the features of osseointegration consisted in earlier and more pronounced osteogenesis activation, which was accompanied by activation of bone-specific alkaline phosphatase, as compared with PTi. One of the mechanisms that provided the increasing energy needs of the developing bone was the activation of aerobic processes.


Neuronal large conductance calcium-activated potassium (BKCa) channels act as coincidence detectors. A single (Slo) gene encodes all four heterogeneous a-subunits that shape the channel pore. Alternative exon splicing of Slo mRNA provides the variation in characteristics required for BKCa to show alternative activity in different cellular environments (Shipston, 2001). It has been suggested that BKCa channel activity could be regulated by changes in oxygen tension (Lewis et al. 2002). The aim of this research was to determine whether hypoxia (20 mmHg) regulates the activity of alternative splice variants (mbr5 and STREX) of BKCa channel a-subunits using the single channel excised inside-out patch clamp recording technique.


This paper demonstrates the convergence stability and the actual usefulness of the gradient-based motion optimizations for manipulator arms. An optimal motion-planning problem is converted into a finite-dimensional nonlinear programming problem that utilizes cubic or quintic B-splines as basis functions. This study shows that the numerically calculated gradient is a useful tool in finding minimum torque, minimum energy, minimum overload, and minimum time motions for manipulator arms in the presence of static or moving obstacles. A spatial 6-link manipulator is simulated without simplifying any of the kinematic, dynamic or geometric properties of the manipulator or obstacles.


As an in t roduc t ion to a s y m p o s i u m of n e m a t o d e chemorecept ion , the a n a t o m y o[ nema tode chemosensi l la , thei r d i s t r ibu t ion on p l a n t parasi t ic nematodes , and the i r possible func t iona l roles is briefly reviewed. Compar i son of ne ma tode chemosens i l la wi th those of o ther an imal s shows thei r grea ter resemblance to olfactory p r imary sense cells of vertebrates. A l t h o u g h the sensory process is obviously derived f rom a ci l ium, the absence of m a n y ciliary features is noted. Re ten t ion of the ciliary necklace may be i m p o r t a n t funct ional ly . A s imple model is proposed, where in b ind ing of s t i m u l a n t molecules to receptors in the m e m b r a n e of the c i l iumderived process resul ts in en t ry of Na + and Ca +~ (the lat ter via the ciliary necklace) to p roduce a receptor potent ia l tha t spreads a long the t lendri te to the cell body where action poten t ia l s con t i nue a long the short axon to synapses.


The developments taking place in information and communication technology are increasing competition in financial institutions worldwide. Thus, the deployment of advanced technologies is essential to achieve a competitive edge. Recently, the banking industry was highly affected by the technology evolution that transformed the way banks deliver their services, using technologies such as automated teller machines, phones, the Internet, credit cards, and electronic cash. In line with global trends, retail banking in Egypt has been undergoing many changes. In the past, banks faced significant uncertainty regarding investments in advanced technologies, but recently, banks have been investing heavily in technology to maintain a competitive edge. However, to better forecast the future, banks need to understand the different factors influencing customers' choice between traditional and unconventional banking instruments. This case covers the introduction and diffusion of retail banking in Egypt and the development in electronic delivery channels and payment systems in its marketplace. The case represents a model for the application of advanced information and communication technology in the context of a developing nation.


Background Wound healing is a complex process which remains a major problem for clinicians, especially for the plastic surgeon who is often a reference to a complex problem and prolonged wound. On chronic wound, there is failure to achieve expected healing within a certain time to produce a recovery of the integrity of the anatomy and function, healing process is slowed or stopped and the wound is not decline in size and depth. Problems usually happened are excessive exudate, infection, and necrotic tissue. Chitosan serves as the absorbent, have stimulatory effect on wound healing and hemostasis, proven to stimulate the production of growth factor and modulate the inflammatory response in wound healing process. Chitosan also induces hemostasis which will stimulate the blood clot in the wound naturally occurring so as to minimize bleeding and close the nerve endings to reduce pain. Over time this material will be broke down by body enzymes into oligomers and monomers of glucosamine that initiate proliferation of fibroblasts, collagen, and helps the disposition of natural hyaluronic acid, which in turn helps to reduce scars and improves wound healing.
Purpose Assess the healing process of exudative chronic wounds with a modified wound bed score on treatment with topical chitosan.
Method 32 patients with exudative chronic wound, excluding them which diagnosed sepsis or MODS, and systemic diseases that can alter the wound healing, are included in this design. Initial management for wounds is applied, followed by assessing the initial modified wound bed score. Topical chitosan is applied on the first day. Topical chitosan is being replaced every 3 days and if necessary due to excessive exudate, bleeding, or secondary infection, time can be less specified. Second assessment of modified wound bed score is held on the tenth day. Total value is classified into four quartiles, 4 to 9, 10 to 11, 12, and 13 to 16. Increase in value from one quartile to the next quartile has increased the clinical relevance of healing around 22.8%. This shows the higher value of the wound score means the better the process of wound healing that occurs. Parameters assessed according to the modified wound bed score are documented digitally. The data will then be analyzed statistically.


The interest in UWB communication systems using metamaterial concept has been significant increased. In this paper, an ultra wideband bandpass filter based on composite right/left transmission line is presented. The proposed UWB bandpass filter is obtained by cascading the interdigital lines and three units of DGS structure. For the designed BPF, a wide bandwidth is achieved ranging from 3.9 to 10.3GHz. Moreover, the insertion loss is less than 1.5dB and the return loss better than -10dB, confirmed by measurement.


Recent technological advances and remarkable successes have led to genome-wide association studies (GWAS) becoming a tool of choice for investigating the genetic basis of common complex human diseases. These studies typically involve samples from thousands of individuals, scanning their DNA at up to a million loci along the genome to discover genetic variants that affect disease risk. Hundreds of such variants are now known for common diseases, nearly all discovered by GWAS over the last three years. As a result, many new studies are planned for the future or are already underway. In this thesis, I present analysis results from actual studies and some developments in theory and methodology.

The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC) published one of the first large-scale GWAS in 2007. I describe my contribution to this study and present the results from some of my follow-up analyses. I also present results from a GWAS of a bipolar disorder sub-phenotype, and a recent and on-going fine mapping experiment.

Building on methods developed as part of the WTCCC, I describe a Bayesian approach to GWAS analysis and compare it to widely used frequentist approaches. I do so both theoretically, by interpreting each approach from the perspective of the other, and empirically, by comparing their performance in the context of replicated GWAS findings. I discuss the implications of these comparisons on the interpretation and analysis of GWAS generally, highlighting the advantages of the Bayesian approach.

Finally, I examine the effect of linkage disequilibrium on the detection and estimation of various types of genetic effects, particularly non-additive effects. I derive a theoretical result showing how the power to detect a departure from an additive model at a marker locus decays faster than the power to detect an association.


Background and Objective Non-iatrogenic esophageal trauma is a rare entity that has a high morbidity and mortality. The diagnosis can often be quite challenging, however is critical to perform in a timely manner. The workup and management of non-iatrogenic trauma continues to evolve, with new innovative approaches available for both diagnosis and treatment. The aim of this narrative review is to comprehensively describe the incidence, presentation, workup, treatment approaches and outcomes of non-iatrogenic esophageal trauma. Methods A thorough literature review was performed using full length articles available in English via PubMed between January 1, 1960 to September 30, 2021, focusing on the epidemiology, workup and treatment of non-iatrogenic esophageal trauma, including current surgical techniques. Key Content and Findings Injuries to the cervical esophagus are more common than injuries to the thoracic esophagus, occurring more in young males, with significant racial disparity. Penetrating trauma via gunshot wounds are the most common forms of injury, followed by stab wounds and blunt trauma. Workup is multimodal and involves a combination of plain radiographs, computed tomography (CT) scans, endoscopy and fluoroscopy depending of the stability of the patient and associated injuries. Conclusions Workup and management of non-iatrogenic esophageal trauma depends on the location and extent of esophageal injury, and can include observation, debridement and drainage, esophageal diversion, endoscopic approaches or esophagectomy, with indications, techniques and outcomes described in further detail in this review.


The current increment in energy consumption has renewed the interest in the development of alternatives to fossil fuels. In this regard, the interest in solving the different control problems existing in nuclear fusion reactors like Tokamaks has been intensified. The aim of this manuscript is to show how the ASTRA code, which is used to simulate the performance of Tokamaks, can be integrated into the Matlab-Simulink tool in order to make easier the development of suitable controllers for Tokamaks. As a demonstrative case study to show the feasibility and the goodness of the proposed integration, a modified anti-windup PID-based controller coupled with an optimization algorithm for the loop voltage has been implemented. This integration represents an original and innovative work in the Tokamak control area and it provides new possibilities for the development and application of advanced control schemes to the standardized ASTRA code.


A cohort cross-sectional study of the attitude of the population to vaccination against coronavirus infection COVID-19 was carried out using a specially designed questionnaire for mass filling, located on Internet resources 2 months after the start of mass vaccination in Russia. A total of 4172 people were examined at the age from 18 to 81 years. Among the respondents, there were different tendencies in relation to vaccination. Of the total sample, 35.7% of respondents consider vaccination useful, 32.2%—doubt its effectiveness, 8.7%—consider vaccination unnecessary, 12.2%—dangerous, indifference to vaccination was formed in 5.9% of respondents. They indicated that they do not plan to be vaccinated, 30.8%, postpones their decision until more remote data on the results and effectiveness of vaccination are obtained—34.7%, were vaccinated at the time of the study—12.2%. Young people are less focused on vaccination than middle-aged and older people. Among the factors that are associated with the attitude towards vaccination are age, gender, education, fear of possible complications, fear of contracting a coronavirus infection, concern for the health of their loved ones, anxiety about the current situation with coronavirus in general. The reports of scientists, doctors and experts in this field are essential for shaping attitudes towards vaccination. The study results should be considered as the targets for vaccination behavior improvement psychosocial interventions for different social and age population groups


Recent angular-resolved photoemission experiments on LaNiO$_3$ reported a renormalization of the Fermi velocity of $e_g$ quasiparticles, a kink in their dispersion at $ -0.2$ eV and a large broadening and weakened dispersion of the occupied $t_{2g}$ states. We show here that all these features result from electronic correlations and are quantitatively reproduced by calculations combining density-functional theory and dynamical mean-field theory. The importance and general relevance of correlation effects in filled bands coupled by inter-orbital interactions to a partially-filled band are pointed out.


Abstract Objective Amidst a hunger–obesity paradox, the purpose of the present study was to examine the grocery shopping behaviour and food stamp usage of low-income women with children to identify factors influencing their food choices on a limited budget. Design Focus groups, which included questions based on Social Cognitive Theory constructs, examined food choice in the context of personal, behavioural and environmental factors. A quantitative grocery shopping activity required participants to prioritize food purchases from a 177-item list on a budget of $US 50 for a one-week period, an amount chosen based on the average household food stamp allotment in 2005. Subjects Ninety-two low-income women, with at least one child aged 9–13 years in their household, residing in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, USA. Results Participants' mean age was 37 years, and 76% were overweight or obese (BMI≥25·0kg/m2). Key findings suggest that their food choices and grocery shopping behaviour were shaped by not only individual and family preferences, but also their economic and environmental situation. Transportation and store accessibility were major determinants of shopping frequency, and they used various strategies to make their food dollars stretch (e.g. shopping based on prices, in-store specials). Generally, meat was the most important food group for purchase and consumption, according to both the qualitative and quantitative data. Conclusions Efforts to improve food budgeting skills, increase nutrition knowledge, and develop meal preparation strategies involving less meat and more fruits and vegetables, could be valuable in helping low-income families nutritionally make the best use of their food dollars.


Dentoalveolar ankylosis in growing patients is associated with continuing replacement root resorption, tooth infrapositioning, and the local arrest of alveolar bone growth. While extraction of ankylosed teeth might be associated with bone loss, decoronation of the offending tooth (removal of crown portion and instrumentation of pulp canal to stimulate bleeding) has been suggested as a more conservative approach of bone preservation until definitive implant placement is planned. This is a case presentation of a 14-year-old patient who presented with root resorption in relation to the left maxillary central incisor such that decoronation with a prosthetic tooth replacement was decided as the treatment option.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the frequency of prenatal ultrasonography (PNU) in western Labrador in 1994, assess the appropriateness of the ultrasound examinations according to current guidelines and determine whether there was any relation between number of PNU examinations and patient management and obstetric outcomes.

DESIGN
Review of all obstetric charts and PNU requisition forms for all deliveries in one hospital in 1994.

SETTING
Labrador City and Wabush, Newfoundland.

RESULTS
During the study period, there were 103 singleton deliveries, and these mothers underwent a total of 225 PNU studies (mean 2.16 studies per delivery). More than half (53.3%) of the examinations were classified as inappropriate. There were no significant differences in the number of studies between low- and high-risk pregnancies or between uncomplicated deliveries and those in which induction or instrumental or operative delivery occurred, nor was there any relation between number of PNU examinations and maternal or neonatal outcome.

CONCLUSION
Compared with PNU use as recommended by the Canadian Task Force on the Periodic Health Examination, this type of examination was overused in Labrador City and Wabush, although the rate of use was comparable to that reported in other Canadian studies. This overuse was not associated with any identifiable effect on maternal or neonatal outcome or on the management of pregnancy and labour. More judicious use of PNU, in accordance with evidence-based guidelines, is recommended.


Many theoretical models show a direct connection between energy transport and particle transport. For a complete understanding of transport processes both energy and particle transport must be understood. A discussion is presented of how energy and particle transport should be related in terms of the relative importance of the diagonal and off-diagonal terms in the equation for the fluxes. A model for particle transport is discussed and it is shown that this model can describe measured density profiles in the DIII-D tokamak under a wide range of DIII-D parameters. This model is obtained from a Lagrangian formulation of the kinetic equation and utilizes the assumption that transport takes place while approximately conserving the first and second adiabatic invariants. The measured results utilize the improved diagnostic capability of DIII-D with an improved capability of measuring current density profiles and particle density profiles. This model is then extended to include energy transport. It is experimentally observed that the particle diffusivity and the thermal diffusivity do not differ greatly and have roughly the same radial dependence. This is discussed and compared with the model. A brief discussion of the effect of internal transport barriers is included.


The passive calibration of ENG according to the gain of OKN evoked in guinea pigs was studied in this paper. The method was also verified by animal experiment and the comparison between active calibration and passive one in normal subjects. OKN was elicited by optokinetic drum with black and white strips at 10 intervals at velocity of 5-60 degrees/s. The calculating formula of passive calibration in animals obtained by mathematical corollary is K = G . ST sigma . DV/SA sigma. The slow-phase velocity of spontaneous nystagmus in a group of animals with acute loss of unilateral vestibular function recorded with this method showed typically a logarithmic decline within 24 hours. No significant difference between the values of active and passive calibration was found in normal subjects. The results demonstrated that the method described in the paper was accurate and reliable. It can be used in perivestibular experiments.


Summary Genetic selection of cattle more resistant to bovine tuberculosis (bTB) may offer a complementary control strategy. Hypothesising underlying non‐additive genetic variation, we present an approach using genome‐wide high density markers to identify genomic loci with dominance effects on bTB resistance and to test previously published regions with heterozygote advantage in bTB. Our data comprised 1151 Holstein–Friesian cows from Northern Ireland, confirmed bTB cases and controls, genotyped with the 700K Illumina BeadChip. Genome‐wide markers were tested for associations between heterozygosity and bTB status using marker‐based relationships. Results were tested for robustness against genetic structure, and the genotypic frequencies of a significant locus were tested for departures from Hardy‐Weinberg equilibrium. Genomic regions identified in our study and in previous publications were tested for dominance effects. Genotypic effects were estimated through ASReml mixed models. A SNP (rs43032684) on chromosome 6 was significant at the chromosome‐wide level, explaining 1.7% of the phenotypic variance. In the controls, there were fewer heterozygotes for rs43032684 (P < 0.01) with the genotypic values suggesting that heterozygosity confers a heterozygote disadvantage. The region surrounding rs43032684 had a significant dominance effect (P < 0.01). SNP rs43032684 resides within a pseudogene with a parental gene involved in macrophage response to infection and within a copy‐number‐variation region previously associated with nematode resistance. No dominance effect was found for the region on chromosome 11, as indicated by a previous candidate region bTB study. These findings require further validation with large‐scale data.


An open question is how big Wiki pedia should become. How many ideas are worthy of an article? Per haps all of the notable subjects have already been covered, and the number of new contributors should be kept small. Wales has argued in recent years that the challenge to Wikipedia going forward is to shift the focus from volume to quality of content. Here we examine the size of Wiki pedia and how it has evolved over the years. A future column will explore the issue of quality.


The aim of this work is to assess the performance of 2D time-integrated (2D-TI), 2D time-resolved (2D-TR) and 3D time-integrated (3D-TI) portal dosimetry in detecting dose discrepancies between the planned and (simulated) delivered dose caused by simulated changes in the anatomy of lung cancer patients. For six lung cancer patients, tumor shift, tumor regression and pleural effusion are simulated by modifying their CT images. Based on the modified CT images, time-integrated (TI) and time-resolved (TR) portal dose images (PDIs) are simulated and 3D-TI doses are calculated. The modified and original PDIs and 3D doses are compared by a gamma analysis with various gamma criteria. Furthermore, the difference in the D95% (ΔD95%) of the GTV is calculated and used as a gold standard. The correlation between the gamma fail rate and the ΔD95% is investigated, as well the sensitivity and specificity of all combinations of portal dosimetry method, gamma criteria and gamma fail rate threshold. On the individual patient level, there is a correlation between the gamma fail rate and the ΔD95%, which cannot be found at the group level. The sensitivity and specificity analysis showed that there is not one combination of portal dosimetry method, gamma criteria and gamma fail rate threshold that can detect all simulated anatomical changes. This work shows that it will be more beneficial to relate portal dosimetry and DVH analysis on the patient level, rather than trying to quantify a relationship for a group of patients. With regards to optimizing sensitivity and specificity, different combinations of portal dosimetry method, gamma criteria and gamma fail rate should be used to optimally detect certain types of anatomical changes.


Background
Thus far, few studies have systematically analyzed the profiles of immune cells infiltrated in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Therefore, the purpose of our study was to comprehensively analyze the 22 tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) and the immune subtypes of HCC, as well as the factors associated with the prognosis of HCC patients.

Methods
In this study, we evaluated the abundance of 22 tumor-infiltrating immunocytes of 371 HCC patients from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database by using the CIBERSORT algorithm, and defined immune subtypes of HCC according to unsupervised cluster analysis. The immune score of HCC patients was calculated by the prognostic regression model, while the survival analysis was evaluated by the Kaplan-Meier method. In addition, the consistency index of TIICs and principal component analysis (PCA) of immunomodulator genes were estimated.

Results
The results of this study showed that three distinct immune subtypes of HCC were stratified, and the C1 subtype and C3 subtype were correlated with a good prognosis. The cellular composition of three immune subtypes was different. Moreover, immunomodulator gene and programmed cell death protein 1/programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-1/PD-L1) expression in the C1 subtype was significantly higher (P<0.05).

Conclusions
This suggested that the low immune score of HCC patients is associated with better clinical outcomes. In addition, the interaction network of cluster of differentiation CD8+ T cells was mainly concentrated in the C1 subtype. Taken together, this study showed that tumor-infiltrating immune cells can perhaps be an important determinant of clinical outcomes of patients with HCC and may provide biomarkers to reflect the immunotherapy response. Notably, the C1 subtype of HCC may be used as an important predictive factor for immunotherapy response.


【Plastic hardener and softener based ultrasound phantoms were made in various constitutions and their acoustic properties were measured. Speed of sound is approximately $1.4\;mm/{\mu}sec$ in all the phantoms, which is about 7% less than that of in soft tissue. Attenuation coefficient is strongly dependent on the ratio between hardener and softener. In order to achieve the tissue level attenuation (0.5 dB/cm/MHz), 60% of hardener or less is required. The synthesized phantoms can be preserved for more than 6 months without structural degradation.】


Aircraft conflict avoidances can be formulated as optimal control problems (the control are the accelerations of the aircraft). Some particular formulations yield convex optimal control problems under some concave inequality constraints including state variables (this is the main difficulty on the resolution of these types of problems). We propose here an original approach combining direct and indirect methods to solve this optimal control problem. This approach is based on the decomposition into zones where the concave inequality constraints could be active and moreover these constraints are proved to be inactive outside. Thus, the problem is then solved by using a direct shooting method inside the zone and, outiside the zone, a solution is analytically provided by directly applying the Pontyagin Maximum Principle. Numerical experiments validated the great efficiency of this approach.


Able to grasp objects of any shape and size, universal grippers using variable stiffness phenomenon such as granular jamming have been developed for disaster robotics application. However, as their contact interface is mainly composed of unrigid and burnable silicone rubber, conventional soft grippers are not applicable to objects with sharp sections such as broken valves and glass fragments, especially on fire. In this research, the authors proposed a new method of variable stiffness mechanism using a string of beads that can be composed of cut-resistant and incombustible metals, arrange the mechanism to form a torus gripper, and conducted experiments to show its effectiveness.


We introduce a novel active learning algorithm for classification of network data. In this setting, training instances are connected by a set of links to form a network, the labels of linked nodes are correlated, and the goal is to exploit these dependencies and accurately label the nodes. This problem arises in many domains, including social and biological network analysis and document classification, and there has been much recent interest in methods that collectively classify the nodes in the network. While in many cases labeled examples are expensive, often network information is available. We show how an active learning algorithm can take advantage of network structure. Our algorithm effectively exploits the links between instances and the interaction between the local and collective aspects of a classifier to improve the accuracy of learning from fewer labeled examples. We experiment with two real-world benchmark collective classification domains, and show that we are able to achieve extremely accurate results even when only a small fraction of the data is labeled.


Studies have shown the detection of emerging contaminants (ECs), of which pharmaceuticals are a subset, in surface waters across the United States. The objective of this study was to develop methods, and apply them, to evaluate the potential for food chain transfer when EC-containing waters are used for crop irrigation. Greenhouse experiments were performed in which select food crops were irrigated with water spiked with three antibiotics. Field experiments, at two different sites, were conducted. Select crops were irrigated with wastewater effluent known to contain ECs, EC-free well water, and Colorado River water containing trace-level ECs. The results of the greenhouse studies show the potential for uptake of one or more of the antibiotics evaluated, albeit at very low levels. In those food crops watered with wastewater effluent, only an industrial flavoring agent, N,N'-dimethylphenethylamine (DMPEA), was consistently found. None of the evaluated contaminants were found in crops irrigated with Colorado River water.


The paper focuses on the interplay between generational transitions, social amnesia and mature reconciliation processes. In particular it explores the way different narratives of collective memories convey social representations of in-group history and address psycho-social needs that are at the core of reconciliation processes. An exploratory study was conducted to address the problem of narrating war crimes to descendants of the group of the perpetrators. We hypothesised that, compared to evasive narratives, detailed narratives (based on reification arguments) clarify unwanted self-images of the perpetrator to the new generation and promote more restorative behaviours. One-hundred and three young Italian participants read detailed or evasive narratives of war crimes committed during the invasion of Ethiopia by the Italian army. Results indicate that detailed narratives have more impact on participants, in terms of emotions and restorative behaviours. Participants' identification with the in-group and their level of agreement with the shared myth of 'Italians as good fellows' also show significant effects. Our exploratory results suggest that, when the in-group is responsible for violence and crimes, the social sharing of an impartial truth – transmitted through detailed and reified arguments – is a necessary step towards mature reconciliation.


Background: Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a heterogeneous condition that is difficult to assess. The goal of this research was to evaluate the clinimetric properties of the Psoriatic Arthritis 5-Thermometer Scales (PsA-5Ts), a new patient-reported outcome (PRO) to measure the overall health status in PsA patients. Methods: The PsA-5Ts were compared to composite measures of disease activity (DAPSA, PASDAS, CPDAI) and PROs (PsAID-12 and SF-36). The convergent validity was assessed through the Spearman's correlation coefficient and the discriminant validity through the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, applying the Minimal Disease Activity (MDA) as an external criterion. Results: The cross-sectional assessment included 155 patients. Significant high correlations were observed when comparing PsA-5Ts to composite indices of disease activity and PROs (all at significance levels of p < 0.0001). The PsA-5Ts subscales were highly significantly different in terms of MDA status (all at p < 0.0001). The PsA-5Ts had good discriminant validity like that of the DAPSA, CPDAI, PASDAS, and PsAID-12, and better than that of the SF-36, with an area under the ROC curve of 0.944 (65% CI 0.895–0.974). Conclusions: The PsA-5Ts are an easy-to-use PRO that can be integrated with disease activity indices in the assessment of PsA in daily clinical practice.


The paper presents numerical simulations of laminar vortex-shedding flows past a circular cylinder for Re ≤ 500. The simulations are performed by solving the unsteady 2-D Navier-Stokes equations with a finite volume method using unstructured grid system. The resulting Reynolds number dependence of the Strouhal number and of the drag and lift coefficients is compared with experiments and with previous numerical results, showing good agreement. It is found that, for the truly laminar Reynolds number range the present calculation method described is capable of producing reasonably accurate results for the main practically relevant parameters such as Strouhal number, drag and lift coefficients.


The determination of a company's capital structure constitutes a difficult decision, one that involves several and antagonistic factors, such as risk and profitability. That decision becomes even more difficult, in times when the economic environment in which the company operates presents a high degree of instability. Therefore, the choice among the ideal proportion of debt and equity can affect the value of the company, as much as the return rates can. This study analyses how far the capital structure (cs) affects the Profitability (p) of corporate firms in India. The study tries to establish the hypothesized relationship as to how far the cs affect the business revenue of firms and what the interrelationship is between cs and Profitability. This study is carried out after categorizing the selected firms into three categories based on two attributes, viz. business revenue and asset size. First, firms are grouped into low, medium and high based on business revenue. Second, firms are classified into small, medium and large based on asset size to establish the hypothesized relationship that cs has significant impact on Profitability of Manufacturing firms in India. Regression Analysis in addition to descriptive statistics such as Mean, Standard Deviation, and Ratios has been used. The study proves that there has been a strong one-to-one relationship between Capital Structure variables and Profitability variables, Return on Assets (ROA) and Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) and the Capital Structure has significant influence on Profitability, and increase in use of debt fund in Capital Structure tends to minimize the net profit of the Manufacturing firms listed in Bombay Stock Exchange in India.


Two-spotted spider mite (tssm) (Tetranchus urticae koch), is the most devastating polyphagous sap-sucking pests of many vegetables, fruits, cereal crops, and ornamental plants. tssm is the major pest of potato in Eastern Hararghe, Ethiopia. The present study was conducted to evaluate the potential of Azadirachta indica seed and leaf oil, Tagetes minuta leaf oil and their leaf aqueous extracts against tssm in the plant protection laboratory of Haramaya University. Amitraz 20 EC was used as a standard check in the experiment. The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized design (crd) in four replications. Treatments were applied on adults of tssm both by spray and dipping methods, while only dipping method was used on the eggs of tssm. The number of tssm dead adults was recorded for three days (72 hrs) at 24 hrs intervals, while egg mortality was recorded 12 days after treatment application. The mortality percentage was corrected using Abbot's formula before data analyses. Significant differences (P<0.05) were observed among the treatments both in adult and egg mortality of tssm. The highest mortality was obtained with Amitraz 20 ec (95.5-100%), followed by A. indica seed (90.125-94.95%) and T. minuta leaf oil (78.5-84.5%) in spray and dip bioassay 72 hrs after treatment application. The least effective treatments were A. indica leaf aqueous leaf extracts (AqE) (56.125%) and A. indica leaf oil (55.45%) in spay and dip bioassay 72 hrs after treatments application. The highest mortality of tssm eggs was obtained from the application of Amitraz 20 EC and A. indica (92.28%), followed by T. minuta leaf oil (83.74%). The lowest mortality (21.34%) and highest hatching (78.66%) of tssm eggs were recorded from the application of leaf aqueous extracts. The study also revealed that mortality of tssm was clearly time-dependent i.e. mortality increased proportionally with increase in time after treatment application. The study revealed the promising efficacy of A. indica seed oil and T. minuta leaf oil that were comparable to Amitraz 20 EC in the management of tssm under laboratory condition.


In this investigation, we have studied the effect of negative bias voltage on the properties of a sputtered Ta layer deposited at high Ar pressure (13.3 Pa) which is used as a diffusion barrier in a Cu/Ta/Si structure focusing on its silicidation process. According to Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, the Cu(85 nm)/Ta(100 nm, unbiased)/Si(111) structure was found to be stable up to 300 °C in a N2 environment for 30 min. At a temperature of 450 °C, TaSi2 was formed at the Ta/Si(111) interface, and the Ta diffusion barrier completely failed. By applying various negative bias voltages ranging from 0 to -150 V, an optimum bias voltage of Vb = -50 V for the sputtered Ta layer was found from scanning electron microscopy and four-point-probe resistivity measurements. In addition, the normalized ion flux (ni), defined as the ratio of Ar+ ion flux to Ta flux, was determined to be 7.5 for optimum experimental conditions. As a result, the biased Ta layer was used as a diffusion barrier between Cu and Si; it showed a low resistivity of 99 µΩ cm, a density of about 14.1 g cm-3 with a good surface morphology and a contribution of bcc-Ta phase structure of about 65%. The Cu(50 nm)/Ta(50 nm, biased)/Si(111) structure was demonstrated to be thermally stable under perfect conditions up to 500 °C and TaSi2 formation in an N2 environment for 30 min was retarded up to 700 °C.


Hydrogen (H-) bonding between water and phosphatidylcholine was studied using a molecular dynamics simulation of a hydrated phosphatidylcholine bilayer membrane in the liquid crystalline phase. A membrane in the liquid-crystalline phase composed of 72 L-R-dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and 1622 water molecules was generated, starting from the crystal structure of DMPC. At the beginning of the equilibration process, the temperature of the system was raised to 550 K for 20 ps, which was effective in breaking the initial crystalline structure. The thermodynamic and structural parameters became stable after the equilibration period of 1100 ps, and the trajectory of the system obtained during the following 500 ps agreed well with most of the published experimental data. Each DMPC molecule forms 5.3 H-bonds with water, while only 4.5 water molecules are H-bonded to DMPC. The primary targets of water for the formation of H-bonds are the non-ester phosphate oxygens (4.0 H-bonds) and the carbonyl oxygens (1.0 H-bonds). Of DMPC's H-bonds, 1.7 are formed with water molecules that are simultaneously H-bonded to two different DMPC oxygens (bridging water). In effect, approximately 70% of the DMPC molecules are linked by water molecules and form clusters of two to seven DMPC molecules. Approximately 70% of the intermolecular water bridges are formed between non-ester phosphate oxygens. The rest are formed between non-ester phosphate and carbonyl oxygens. About half of the intermolecular water bridges are involved in formation of multiple bridges, where two DMPC molecules are linked by more than one parallel bridge. These results suggest a possibility that water bridges are involved in reducing head group mobility and in stabilizing the membrane structure. Non-ester phosphate oxygen of DMPC makes one, two, or three H-bonds with water, but two H-bonds are formed most often (60%). In the case where two H-bonds are formed on non-ester phosphate or carbonyl oxygens, the average geometry of H-bonding is planar trigonal (in the case of water oxygen with two H-bonds, geometry is steric tetragonal). When oxygen atoms form three H-bonds, the geometry of H-bonding is steric tetragonal both for non-ester phosphate and water oxygens. On average, H-bonds make nearly right angles with each other when two or three water molecules are bound to the same DMPC oxygen, but the distribution of the angle is broad.


We report a 7-year-old boy with serologic evidence of active Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection who developed transient unilateral hypoglossal nerve palsy, with complete recovery within 21 days. This is, to our knowledge, the youngest reported patient with isolated hypoglossal nerve palsy in the context of EBV infection. Acute EBV infection should be considered early in the evaluation of children with twelfth nerve palsy in order to avoid extensive ancillary testing.


There is strong evidence to suggest that happy hour drink specials are associated with undesirable outcomes such as increased amount of drinking, increased likelihood of being highly intoxicated, and increased likelihood of experiencing negative outcomes related to drinking (e.g., getting into fights). Public policy efforts have been made to ban or at least restrict alcohol drink specials. Research in behavioral economics—primarily demand curve analyses—has yielded valuable insights into the role of environmental effects on reinforcer consumption, especially within the context of alcohol reinforcement. The use of the Alcohol Purchase Task (APT), which asks respondents to report how many alcoholic drinks they would be willing to purchase at various prices, has contributed greatly to these efforts. The purpose of the current experiment was to determine whether self-reported consumption of alcohol on an APT changes when participants imagine a hypothetical "happy hour" scenario, akin to drink specials encountered in the real world. Results from the current experiment extend previous literature on APT vignette manipulations and provide implications for efforts to reduce problematic drinking.


A spectral approximation based intelligent modelling method is proposed for the snap curing process, which belongs to nonlinear parabolic distributed parameter systems (DPSs). Unlike generic modelling approaches for DPSs, the proposed modelling method combines model reduction techniques of the snap curing process and intelligence based identification methods of nonlinear ODE (ordinary differential equation) systems. The exact model equations of the snap curing process do not need and only finite measurements are used in the modelling process. The built neural network model is of state space form that fits the general model-based controller formulations, thus the control techniques used for ODE models can be applied in the reduced-order model that represents the distributed parameter system. Moreover, the modelling process can be implemented offline or online. Experimental results show that the proposed modelling method is feasible and effective for a class of nonlinear DPSs.


This paper aims to advance a comprehensive theory of binding, which can account for all binding patterns found in Polish, some of which are particularly puzzling for traditional and novel formulations of Binding Theory. Namely, Polish reflexive pronouns/possessives are typically (nominative) subject oriented but they can also have dative Object Experiencers, OEs, as antecedents. Yet, OEs are also appropriate local antecedents for pronominal possessives. Our analysis explains the complementarity of pronouns and reflexives and lack thereof by assuming that the Spell-out form of the reflexive/pronoun is determined by its covert movement, while a binding dependency is established via Agree for [var(iable):_] feature.


Background: Diaphragm is the most important part of the respiratory system. Diaphragmatic palsy following cardiac surgery is not uncommon and can cause deterioration of pulmonary functions and attendant pulmonary complications. Objectives: Aim of this study was to observe the incidence of diaphragmatic palsy after off pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) as compared to conventional CABG and to assess the efficacy of chest physiotherapy on diaphragmatic palsy in post cardiac surgical patients. Design and Setting: An observational prospective interventional study done at a tertiary care cardiac centre. Patients: 2280 consecutive adult patients who underwent cardiac surgery from February 2005 to august 2005. Results: 30 patients out of 2280 (1.31%) developed diaphragmatic palsy. Patients were divided based on the presence or absence of symptoms viz. breathlessness at rest or exertion or with the change of posture along with hypoxemia and / or hypercapnia. Group I included 14 patients who were symptomatic (CABG n=13, post valve surgery n=1), While Group II included 16 asymptomatic patients (CABG n=12, post valve surgery n=4), 9 patients (64%) from Group I (n=14) and 4 patients (25%) from group II showed complete recovery from diaphragmatic palsy as demonstrated ultrasonographically. Conclusion: The incidence of diaphragmatic palsy was remarkably less in our adult cardiac surgical patients because most of the cardiac surgeries were performed off pump and intensive chest physiotherapy beginning shortly after extubation helped in complete or near complete recovery of diaphragmatic palsy. Chest Physiotherapy led to marked improvement in functional outcome following post cardiac surgery diaphragmatic palsy. We also conclude that ultrasonography is a simple valuable bed-side tool for rapid diagnosis of diaphragmatic palsy


Hydrogen atom hydrogen atom scattering is a prototype for many of the fundamental principles of atomic collisions. In this work we present an approximation to the H+H system for scattering in the intermediate energy regime of 1 to 100 keV. The approximation ignores electron exchange and two-electron excitation by assuming that one of the atoms is frozen in the 1s state. We allow for the evolution of the active electron by numerically solving the 3D Schroedinger equation. The results capture many features of the problem and are in harmony with recent theoretical studies. Excitation and ionization cross sections are computed and compared to other theory and experiment. New insight into the mechanism of excitation and ionization is inferred from the solutions.


The paper considers the role of advocates in asylum appeals and their perspectives on the decision-making process. In particular it looks at relationships between advocates, Judges and Home Office representatives: issues of trust, the development of informal norms and the existence of common professional goals. The paper draws on organisational approaches to decision-making such as Eisenstein and Jacob's 'courtroom workgroup theory', in addition to previous work on court cultures, to examine differences between advocates' experiences at two different hearing centres. From interview and observational data, a picture emerges of asylum tribunals as sites of struggle; not only between asylum-seekers and the state, but between different professional identities, backgrounds and levels of expertise.


The ability of modern medicine to prolong life has raised a variety of difficult legal, ethical, and social issues on which reasonable minds can differ. Among these are the morality of euthanasia in cases of deep coma or irreversible injury, as well as the Dead Donor Rule with respect to organ harvesting and transplants. As science continues to refine and develop lifesaving technologies, questions remain as to how much medical effort and financial resources should be expended to prolong the lives of patients suspended between life and death. At what point should death be considered irreversible? What criteria should be used to determine when to withhold or withdraw life‐prolonging treatments in cases of severe brain damage and terminal illness? To explore these complex dilemmas, Steve Paulson, executive producer and host of To the Best of Our Knowledge, moderated a discussion panel. Pediatrician Sam Shemie, hospice medical director Christopher P. Comfort, bioethicist Mildred Z. Solomon, and attorney Barbara Coombs Lee examined the underlying assumptions and considerations that ultimately shape individual and societal decisions surrounding these issues. The following is an edited transcript of the discussion that occurred November 12, 2013, 7:00–8:30 PM, at the New York Academy of Sciences in New York City.


This paper proposes an improved expectation–maximization (EM) algorithm for phase-type (PH) distributions with grouped and truncated data. Olsson (1996) derived an EM algorithm for PH distributions under censored data, and the similar technique can be utilized to the PH fitting even under grouped and truncated data. However, it should be noted that Olsson's algorithm has a drawback in terms of computation speed. Because the time complexity of the algorithm is a cube of number of phases, it does not work well in the case where the number of phases is large. This paper proposes an improvement of the EM algorithm under grouped and truncated observations. By applying a uniformization-based technique for continuous-time Markov chains, it is shown that the time complexity of our algorithm can be reduced to the square of number of phases. In particular, when we consider the PH fitting using a canonical form of PH distributions, the time complexity is linear in the number of phases. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Most minimization algorithms produce an irredundant sum of products by first generating all prime implicants of a switching function. In this note we show that such an approach can be a wasteful one for an already complex problem. Specifically we show that there are functions for which the useful prime implicants form an extremely small fraction of all prime implicants, where we define a prime implicant to be useful if there is at least one irredundant sum of products which includes it.


ABSTRACT
 The German cockroach, Blattella germanica (L.) (Blattodea: Blattellidae), is a serious pest in rural and urban housing. The aim of this study was to ascertain the pest control practice used by home residents to control the German cockroach and to assess the level of residents' awareness and knowledge of integrated pest management. A face-to-face survey of 100 participants was carried out in 3 rural counties in NC. Only individuals who acknowledged that the German cockroach was a pest in their homes were selected for the survey. Of these participants only 23% indicated that the German cockroach was a major indoor pest, while 48% indicated that mosquitoes and 50% indicated that ants were major pests in their homes. The majority (71%) of survey respondents reported that to cope with domestic pest problems, they or a member of their household applied pesticides, and 16% worked with a contractor to do so. Pesticides were the main control measure used in homes and most (65%) respondents indicated these were applied routinely irrespective of need. The majority (93%) of residents surveyed were unfamiliar with the strategy of integrated pest management (IPM) and associated measures of control and prevention. Based on our findings, we believe that organizing an educational IPM program would increase awareness among residents of the economic, human health and environmental costs and benefits of each control measure and make sustainable IPM implementation more likely to succeed.


Trust and social emotions such as gratitude and anger have natural relations and they both play a key role in research of interaction systems in the context of ambient intelligence and affective computing nowadays. This paper presents a logical approach to formalize both the relations between trust and anger for one hand, and between distrust and gratitude for another hand. Our formal framework is a multimodal logic that combines a logic of belief and choice, a logic of linear time, and a logic of norms. We also provide the behavioral validation for these relations.


Technological sophistication provides a lot of ease of access information, including tourism information. Usually, before makes a travel itinerary, tourists often look for more information before making a decision. The objective of this research is to find out the effect of smart tourism technology application into the intention to visit in Talaud Island Regency through trustworthiness. This research has six hypotheses and is measured quantitatively by distributing questionnaires to 130 respondents. All the data collection is further analyzed with a structural equation modeling method. The results of this research found that information quality, source credibility ̧ and accessibility are positive influences. On the contrary, interactivity and personalization do not significantly affect trustworthiness. In addition, trustworthy people have a positive effect on their intention to visit. The finding of this research also indicates that information which was received by the tourist would increase their confidence and encourage them to stay.


ABSTRACT A major obstacle to development of an effective AIDS vaccine is that along with the intended beneficial responses, the immunization regimen may activate CD4+ T cells that can facilitate acquisition of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by serving as target cells for the virus. Lu et al. (W. Lu et al., Cell Rep 2:1736–1746, 2012, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2012.11.016) reported that intragastric administration of chemically inactivated simian immunodeficiency virus SIVmac239 and Lactobacillus plantarum (iSIV-L. plantarum) protected 15/16 Chinese-origin rhesus macaques (RMs) from high-dose intrarectal SIVmac239 challenge at 3 months postimmunization. They attributed the observed protection to induction of immune tolerance, mediated by "MHC-Ib/E-restricted CD8+ regulatory T cells that suppressed SIV-harboring CD4+ T cell activation and ex vivo SIV replication in 15/16 animals without inducing SIV-specific antibodies or cytotoxic T." J.-M. Andrieu et al. (Front Immunol 5:297, 2014, https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2014.00297) subsequently reported protection from infection in 23/24 RMs immunized intragastrically or intravaginally with iSIV and Mycobacterium bovis BCG, L. plantarum, or Lactobacillus rhamnosus, which they ascribed to the same tolerogenic mechanism. Using vaccine materials obtained from our coauthors, we conducted an immunization and challenge experiment with 54 Indian RMs and included control groups receiving iSIV only or L. plantarum only as well as unvaccinated animals. Intrarectal challenge with SIVmac239 resulted in rapid infection in all groups of vaccinated RMs as well as unvaccinated controls. iSIV-L. plantarum-vaccinated animals that became SIV infected showed viral loads similar to those observed in animals receiving iSIV only or L. plantarum only or in unvaccinated controls. The protection from SIV transmission conferred by intragastric iSIV-L. plantarum administration reported previously for Chinese-origin RMs was not observed when the same experiment was conducted in a larger cohort of Indian-origin animals. IMPORTANCE Despite an increased understanding of immune responses against HIV, a safe and effective AIDS vaccine is not yet available. One obstacle is that immunization may activate CD4+ T cells that may act as target cells for acquisition of HIV. An alternative strategy may involve induction of a tolerance-inducing response that limits the availability of activated CD4+ T cells, thus limiting the ability of virus to establish infection. In this regard, exciting results were obtained for Chinese-origin rhesus macaques by using a "tolerogenic" vaccine, consisting of intragastric administration of Lactobacillus plantarum and 2,2′-dithiodipyridine-inactivated SIV, which showed highly significant protection from virus transmission. In the present study, we administered iSIV-L. plantarum to Indian-origin rhesus macaques and failed to observe any protective effect on virus acquisition in this experimental setting. This work is important because it contributes to the overall assessment of the clinical potential of a new candidate AIDS vaccine platform based on iSIV-L. plantarum.


Studies of cryopreservarion and regeneration of Saposhnikoviadivaricatacallus were conducted for avoiding the variation by subculture and exploring the new way to preserve plant germplasm resources.Three-weeked callus were used as the materials to explore appropriate procedure of cryopreservation by vitrification in the method of single variable.The results showed that:(1)The procedure in which callus were precultured in solid medium MS+1.0mg/L 6-BA+1.0mg/L NAA+5% DMSO for 3dat 4℃,and loaded with 60% PVS2for 20min under room temperature,then dehydrated with 100% PVS2for 45min at 2℃,and putted into the liquid nitrogen are appropriate for preservation.(2)The highest survival rate of callus reaches 79.24%.Preculture and dehydration are the key points of cryopreservation.After defrosting,callus should be embathed by MS+1.0mol/L sources and cultured in dark for 14d,which are conductive to the recovery and plant regeneration.Cryopreservation by vitrification can be used as a method to preserve S.divaricatacallus.Cryopreserved callus were able to regenerate and differentiate to healthy plantlets.


The International Advisory Board (IAB) was created at the College in 2009 to coordinate and enhance the College's international activities. At the outset the question was posed as to whether we pursue an active overseas strategy? We believe the answer is a resounding 'yes'. Nearly 25 per cent of our membership is from overseas. We believe we owe all our members a commitment not only to advance standards of healthcare within the UK but also across the world.


Current study of interstellar gas dynamics leads to the conclusion that large scale motions are dominated by strong coupling between gas-dust flows and Galactic magnetic fields; the widths of molecular lines is a direct evidence for such motions. However the absence of reliable information regarding microscopic composition and electrodynamical properties of interstellar matter can cause serious difficulties for an unambiguous theoretical interpretation of observable motions. We accentuate this uncertainty by three alternative models of dissipative-free wave motions owing their origin to the presence of uniform magnetic field. To wit, (i) the hydromagnetic waves in a non-magnetic perfectly conducting medium, (ii) the magneto-elastic waves in a non-conducting highly paramagnetic medium and (iii) whistlers - spiral magneto-electron waves. Emphasis is laid on two last wave processes, fairly fresh to interstellar gas dynamics, which are discussed in juxtaposition with well-studied hydromagnetic Alfvénic waves.


The article deals with naturalistic dramas by August Strindberg from the 1880s, namely his famous The Father and Miss Julie. Special attention is given to their stage history in different countries throughout the past century. The authors examine The Father and Miss Julie through the lens of how various ostents of the sinister and the sublime manifest themselves through the fabric of the playwright's renowned plays from the pre-Inferno period. The two dramas are put in the wide context of Strindberg's oeuvre where the opposition of low and higher appetences within a human being are often rendered as the clash between the feminine and the masculine. In addition to the above, the article draws attention to the ways of how the two dramas by Strindberg were received in Russia at the turn of the 20th century, especially by the Russian symbolist Alexander Blok. In addition to that the article includes valuable material on a number of theatre productions of The Father and Miss Julie as well on the reviews of some productions. In order to draw their conclusions the authors examine thoroughly the main characters of the plays. Thus, it becomes obvious that throughout the decades the Captain and miss Julie could be interpreted quite differently both by the scholars and by the directors. In a essayistic manner the article touches upon the question of the nature of Strindberg's rampageous concern with the strife between the sexes as well as upon his so called misogyny.


Avian mite dermatitis is a skin affliction of mammals, including humans caused by bites of nidicoulous, haematophagous mites in the suborder Mesostigmata, which naturally parasitize birds. The red-mite, Dermanyssus gallinae is the most common species implicated in episodes of dermatitis in city-dwellers, worldwide. Symptoms manifest in the form of pruritic, erythematous papules on exposed/covered body areas. We report 20 urban outbreaks of red-mite dermatitis occurring in Southern Italy from 2001 to 2017 (June) and diagnosed through parasitological identification by veterinarian entomologists. The patients, a total of 54 subjects, were infested in their homes/ workplaces by both mites emigrating indoors from deserted nests of sinantropic birds close to the infested edifices and from pet canaries. Red-mites may be the explanation of cases of pruriginous dermatitis of obscure origin in citydwellers. The applying of the One Health approach is crucial for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of dermatitis by epizoonotic ectoparasites.


In this paper, a new feature extraction front-end for robust speech recognition using progressive histogram equalization and multi-eigenvector temporal filtering is proposed. The progressive histogram equalization (PHEQ) performs the histogram equalization (HEQ) progressively with respect to a reference interval which moves with the present frame to be processed. The multi-eigenvector temporal filtering (m-eigen) uses the linear combination of m eigenvectors corresponding to the largest eigenvalues in the PCA-based temporal filtering approach. The very useful handling of two-stage Wiener filtering (2WF) and SNR-dependent waveform processing (SWP) are first applied to remove the noise and enhance the overall SNR. MFCC parameters are then extracted, followed by the progressive histogram equalization. The multieigenvector temporal filtering is finally performed to produce robust feature extraction for speech recognition. Extensive experiments with respect to AURORA2 database and testing conditions verified the effectiveness of each component here and showed that the proposed front-end gives better overall performance when compared to the Advanced Front-End recently announced by ETSI, especially under channelmismatched conditions.


An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the combustion characteristics of blends of n-butanol to gasoline with volume ratios of 0%, 20%, 50%, and 85% in addition to neat n-butanol on an electronic fuel injection (EFI) gasoline engine. Without any modifications to the original engine, the tests were carried out using the above five test fuels, with the engine working at maximum torque speed (3000 rpm) and four loads (25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of the maximum torque). The combustion characteristics including cylinder pressure, instantaneous and cumulative heat release were analysed. The test results show that all the peak values of cylinder pressure (CP), pressure rise rate (PRR), instantaneous heat release rate (IHRR) as well as total heat release of n-butanol/gasoline blends are lower than those of gasoline, and the higher the percentage of n-butanol is, the larger the reduction becomes. The crank angles of the peak values of CP, PRR and IHRR are larger than those of gasoline, whereas the crank angle of the total heat release is smaller than that of gasoline. The cyclic irregularity of n-butanol/gasoline bends is higher than that of gasoline. Therefore, the combustion of n-butanol/gasoline blends becomes mild, which further gives the benefit of reducing NOX emissions. However, the spark timing of the prototype should be advanced more in order to avoid power decreasing of n-butanol /gasoline blends.


Combined with a collimated atomic beam source, diode laser without external cavity has been used as a spectroscopic light source to study atomic hyperfine structures and isotope shifts of Ba i. Spectroscopic measurements of the 6s21S0 – 6s6p3P1 transition of Ba i have been carried out. All hyperfine peaks of 135,137Ba have been clearly seen and resolution of 50 MHz has been attained. Hyperfine constants A and B of the 3P1 state of 135,137Ba have been determined. Isotope shifts of stable Ba isotopes have also been measured. From the measured isotope shifts, the 6s electron density at the nucleus has been deduced to be 76.4(53) a.u. and discussed in terms of the Hartree-Fock approximation.


GST reform in India has completely changed the perspective of indirect tax system bringing majority of the taxes on goods and services levied on traders, manufactures and sale and consumption of goods and services into single tax umbrella. Ultimate purpose of integrating various indirect taxes into single tax domain under the regime of GST is to provide transparency and ease to users and support to the growth of Indian economy. Majority of the suppliers or retailers still display their unwillingness to get registered for GST to avoid burden of new rules and additional expenses of accounting as per the GST rules. Small level traders, manufacturers and wholesalers do not seem to be happy with the GST as they feel tax rates are higher and thus don't willing to comply with GST. It has also been reported that small to medium level traders still remain confused about migration process from earlier tax system to GST and billing. There is uncertainty or low clarity on input tax credit among retailers or traders in the textile industry. The current overall impact of GST on Indian textile industry has displayed negative responses from traders however it creates a need for more involvement and association between the Indian government and the textile industry to find out actions or measures that could be taken to create positivity towards GST among traders. This study demonstrates impacts of GST on Indian textile industry adopting qualitative approach. Investigation has been made using in-depth interviews from traders and customers to find out impacts of GST implementation in the industry. Findings suggest that in earlier months, there were negative impacts of GST in the industry as it has affected productivity, sales and performance of several business in the industry.


ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to examine and construct a theoretical model of key elements that care workers perceive to have an impact on their autonomy, cohesion, and work motivation. Grounded theory was used for data collection and analysis. There were 20 participants from social welfare service, geriatric care, and women's aid settings (women = 18, men = 2, mean age = 37.6). The analysis resulted in the following categories: (a) Being-a-Cohesive-Team; (b) Agency-Making; (c) Living-Up-to-Expectations; and (d) Developing-Support-and-Feedback. The results identified potential interactions between these factors and suggested how they influenced each other, showing how cohesion, autonomy, and motivation are interdependent and amplified.


OBJECTIVE
To characterize the temporal trend of epidemiological indicators of leprosy in the State of Amapá.

METHOD
Time series study, carried out in the Notifiable Diseases Information System. The indicators analyzed were: annual detection rate of new cases, detection rate of new cases in the population from 0 to 14 years old, rate of new cases with grade 2 of disability, proportion of new cases with grade 2 and proportion of new multibacillary cases, between 2005 and 2018. The analysis of the temporal evolution was made by linear regression.

RESULTS
The detection rate of new cases and the rate of children under 15 years showed a decreasing trend. The rate of new cases with grade 2 of disability and the proportion of cases with grade 2 showed oscillation. The proportions of multibacillary remained constant.

CONCLUSION
The epidemiological indicators analyzed suggest active transmission and late diagnosis, signaling a possible hidden endemic disease.


Five to 7% of patients with cutaneous psoriasis suffer from inflammatory rheumatism that is sero-negative for rheumatoid factor, and is often erosive. The inflammation is predominant to the entheses and can affect the axial or peripheral skeleton, often in an associated manner. The most common peripheral signs are those of an asymmetrical oligo-arthritis type, and the most evocative are arthritis of the distal inter-phalangeal joints. A symmetrical polyarthritis can also be observed. The severe mutilating forms are fortunately very rare. Axial signs include sacro-iliitis that is more often bilateral and spinal involvement of an ankylosing spondyloarthitic type, predominating in the cervical and thoracic spine. The treatment usually calls for a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and local injection of cortisone. Steroids must be used with care and reserved for the severe forms. DMARDS include Salazopyrin, methotrexate, and in the severe and resistant forms, the inhibitors of TNFalpha.


As the basic elements of life space, urban communities and service facilities are the basic places in residents' daily life. And as the significant symbol of life quality, the accessibility of community service facilities is closely related to the social justice of urban public resource allocation, so it is an important content in urban social geography and urban planning. This paper firstly discusses the different methods of measuring accessibility, and then chooses the minimum distance method to measure the accessibility of community service facilities after comparing them. And then this paper adopts the residential land parcels of present land use map of Nanjing as the basic analytical unit to analyze accessibility, which is creative and different from previous studies. This paper chooses four typical community service facilities as the analytic targets, including education facilities, medical facilities, commercial facilities and parks and green lands. And then this paper analyzes the spatial pattern of accessibility to community service facilities in Nanjing with GIS in two aspects: on the one hand it analyzes the spatial differentiation pattern of various community service facilities accessibility, and on the other hand it researches the spatial differentiation pattern of community service facilities comprehensive accessibility. In order to analyze the influence of community service facilities accessibility on residents' daily life more deeply, this research investigates related low income communities in urban fringe of Nanjing, and investigates four communities in inner city and new towns as comparative references. The investigation contains residential satisfaction, daily activities, community attachment and residential mobility through the methods of questionnaires and depth interviews. Then this paper analyzes the spatial deprivation of low income groups of urban fringe, and summarizes conceptual model of spatial deprivation of low income community based on low community service facilities accessibility. The results show that: the accessibility to four kinds of community facilities all presents the characteristic of spatial variation, which is high in inner city and low in suburb, and the spatial variation of education and medical facilities is more remarkable; Low community service facilities accessibility not only results in low degree of satisfaction of community service facilities, and leads to their perception of spatial deprivation, but also impedes the formation of community attachment, leads to intense desire of residential mobility, and will intensify the perception of spatial deprivation under their low economic capability. When planning the public housing in the future, the government should pay more attention to the construction of related service facilities so as to achieve social and spatial justice.


Reliable and prompt information on river ice condition and extent is needed to make accurate hydrological forecasts to predict ice jams breakups and issue timely flood warnings. This study presents a technique to detect and monitor river ice using observations from the MODIS instrument onboard the Terra satellite. The technique incorporates a threshold‐based decision tree image classification algorithm to process MODIS data and to determine the extent of ice. To differentiate between ice‐covered and ice‐free pixels within the riverbed, the algorithm combines observations in the visible and near‐infrared spectral bands. The developed technique presents the core of the MODIS‐based river ice mapping system, which has been developed to support National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NWS's operations. The system has been tested over the Susquehanna River in northeastern USA, where ice jam events leading to spring floods are a frequent occurrence. The automated algorithm generates three products: daily ice maps, weekly composite ice maps and running cloud‐free composite ice maps. The performance of the system was evaluated over nine winter seasons. The analysis of the derived products has revealed their good agreement with the aerial photography and with in situ observations‐based ice charts. The probability of ice detection determined from the comparison of the product with the high‐resolution Landsat imagery was equal to 91%. A consistent inverse relationship was found between the river discharge and the ice extent. The correlation between the discharge and the ice extent as determined from the weekly composite product reached 0.75. The developed CREST River Ice Observation System has been implemented at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration–Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology Center as an operational Web tool allowing end users and forecasters to assess ice conditions on the river. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This qualitative research examined the background and synthesized the concepts and practices of the Sanam Chai Khet Organic Agricultural Group, Chachoengsao province which have led to self-management. Data were collected from the analysis of documents and evidence, a survey of farmers' plots, participatory and non-participatory observation, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussion. The informants were randomly selected using purposive and snowball sampling methods and consisted of 45 leaders and farmers in the organic farmer group, community scholars, representatives of farmers in sustainable agriculture systems, independent organizations and government of fi cials. Data were analyzed based on content analysis and veri fi cation of data used a triangulation technique. The results revealed that there were fi ve main aspects driving the Sanam Chai Khet Organic Agricultural Group in the development of farmer potential in a group system with learning and participation based on community capital strengthening, leading to self-management to create food security and exercising the principles of self-reliance, suf fi - ciency, and organic agriculture to manage community resources that are re fl ected from practices. These aspects were: 1) management of the group system to create power and development, 2) learning to establish organic agricultural sources and ways of distributing safe food from the family to society, 3) creating a balance among life, nature, and the ecosystem, 4) maintaining the resources base and plants and inheriting local wisdom and culture, and 5) self-adaptation, protection of rights, and network creation for sustainable development.


Congenital anomalies make an important contribution to infant mortality and they remain a leading cause of death in many countries of the world. Many babies also died in our country due to congenital anomalies. So this study was done to find out proportion, types of congenital anomalies at birth and immediate outcome of anomalous neonates. This cross sectional study was carried out in the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) Hospital Shahbagh, Dhaka during the period January 2007 to December 2007. All the women giving birth to babies with congenital anomalies during this period were included. Types of congenital anomalies in neonates were recorded. Diagnosis of congenital anomalies was based on ultrasonography and clinical evaluation of the newborn was done by experienced neonatologist. During the study period 1630 patients delivered, of which 60 had congenitally malformed babies making the occurance of 3.68%. Neural tube defect was found to be the commonest (33.33%) type of anomaly. Among the most frequent NTD was hydrocephalus. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bmj.v40i1.9955 BMJ 2011; 40(1): 7-12


Extant research on police use of force has established that force is not distributed evenly across communities. However, this body of research is limited compared to the attention afforded to the influence of individual and situational factors on police use of force. Further, findings on the influence of community characteristics have been inconsistent and the overwhelming majority of this research has been generated out of policing jurisdictions in the United States (U.S.), so the transferability of these findings to other jurisdictions, such as Australia, is unclear. There is also a dearth of rigorous translational research that can inform police agency responses that might reduce police use of force across communities. While community-oriented policing (COP) has been associated with reduced police use of force (theoretically and, recently, at the policy level), to date there is no empirical evidence to support the association. This thesis aims to address these critical evidence gaps: to explain variations in police use of force across communities by examining the influence of community characteristics and COP on police use of force in Australia.
The thesis comprises four empirical studies to address the research aim. Study 1 aimed to determine the influence of community characteristics on the distribution of police use of force across communities, examining the most commonly applied theories and community characteristics used to explain community-level distribution of police use of force from the extant literature – minority threat theory, ecological contamination theory, social disorganisation and socio-economic disadvantage. This study utilised data from police use of force reports from a three-and-a-half-year period (comprising 18,322 police use of force events) in combination with recorded crime data and census data. Findings from a negative binomial regression analysis indicated support for ecological contamination theory (violent crime rates), social disorganisation and partial support for socio-economic disadvantage in predicting the frequency of serious police use of force events across communities, while minority threat theory was not supported. In contrast, results from a multilevel ordered logistic regression analysis suggested that individual and situational factors are more influential than community characteristics in predicting force severity.
Study 2 examined the extent to which the distribution of citizen behaviours and risks across communities may be a driver for some of the variation in the frequency of police use of force across communities that were found in Study 1. This study drew on the same data sources as Study 1 and used Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to identify a typology of citizen behaviours in police use of force events, drawing on citizen behaviours and risks reported in police use of force reports. A five-class typology demonstrated best fit, comprising the following classes: 'violent, unstable and drug or alcohol affected'; 'apparent mental disorder and possessing a weapon'; 'alcohol-related violence'; 'suspicious and fleeing'; and 'violent behaviour and threatening a weapon'. Additionally, these citizen presentation classes were associated with distinct offence types, contexts for use of force, and citizen characteristics. Multilevel logistic regression determined that the five citizen presentation classes were differentially distributed across communities, with three of the most prevalent classes showing the most significant associations with community characteristics. This indicates that the distribution of citizen behaviours and risk factors in police use of force events are also influenced at least to some extent by community factors.
Study 3 examined whether a policing approach, specifically COP, may be able to impact on the frequency with which police and citizen encounters result in the use of force by police, focussing in particular on communities where the propensity for police use of force may be higher. This study drew on a sample of 64 socially challenged communities in an Australian policing jurisdiction. It examines the association between Officer-in-Charge (OIC) reports of formal and informal community consultation in a problem-solving context (elicited through an online survey), and the frequency of police use of force (drawn from police use of force reports). This study found that higher levels of COP were associated with lower rates of police use of force in high violent crime communities, but not low violent crime communities. The findings of this study support the contention that COP may reduce the use of coercive policing tactics.
Study 4 further examined the impact of COP on police use of force, this time focussing on how higher levels of community engagement by officers may influence their attitudes towards coercive policing responses. Additionally, this study tested one pathway through which community engagement may influence police use of force: through the reduction of officer perceptions of social distance from the community. Study 4 drew on the same sub-sample of socially challenged communities in Australia as used in Study 3. Survey responses from 300 officers from 55 Divisions were used in the study, along with a number of other publicly available data sources. Regression analyses supported the contention that COP is associated with a reduced propensity for coercive policing at the officer level, and an increased propensity for non-coercive policing, aligning to the findings of Study 3. The findings also indicate that social distance mediates the relationship between officers' community engagement and their endorsement of non-coercive policing responses but not coercive policing responses.
Overall, the collective findings of this thesis suggest that community matters when it comes to police use of force in Australia. A number of characteristics of communities, such as violent crime, social disorganisation and socio-economic disadvantage, increase the frequency with which police use force. The influence of these community characteristics is likely to be driven by both tangible and intangible factors. In terms of tangible factors, these community conditions can drive concentrations of particular types of social problems, offending and disorderly behaviour, which may elicit more assertive or coercive policing responses. However, officers' perception of social distance is an intangible factor that is also affected by community conditions and which is associated with the propensity to use non-coercive policing. COP approaches were found to be a policing approach that can reduce police use of force in high violent crime communities, at least in part by reducing officers' experience of social distance from the community.


Methods: On 3rd June 2016 Embase and PubMed databases were systematically searched for all relevant articles on prevalence of pathogenic submicroscopic CNVs in fetuses tested due to advanced maternal age or parental anxiety. Relevant full text articles were analysed and based on the extracted data the prevalence of submicroscopic CNVs was calculated. Results: Meta-analysis was conducted in a pooled cohort of 10,614 fetuses based on the 10 largest studies (N > 300) of a total of 19 relevant studies. In 0.84%, 95%CI [0.55%, 1.30%] of fetuses a submicroscopic pathogenic aberration was detected prenatally. The onset/penetrance of the submicroscopic findings was studied in 10,314 fetuses out of 8 papers that presented aberrant cases with all necessary details. The prevalence of early onset syndromic disorders due to a submicroscopic aberration was calculated to be 1:270, based on 0.37%, 95%CI [0.27%, 0.52%] cases where aberrations were specified. Conclusions: This systematic review shows that a significant proportion of fetuses in a general pregnant population carry a submicroscopic pathogenic CNV. Based on these figures all women should be informed on their individual risk for all pathogenic chromosome aberrations and not only for common trisomies.


Female parolees were recruited into a laboratory study to determine the relationship between their previous aggression history, questionnaire measures of aggression, and behavioral measures of aggressive responding using a laboratory methodology: the Point Subtraction Aggression Paradigm (PSAP). Subjects were assigned to a violent or nonviolent group based on their criminal history. Subjects participated in sessions in which they were given three response options: (1) nonaggressive responding that earned money, (2) aggressive responding that ostensibly subtracted money from another fictitious person and was defined as aggressive since it resulted in the ostensible delivery of an aversive stimulus (subtraction of money) to another person, and (3) escape responding that protected the subject's earnings from periodic subtractions initiated by the fictitious other person. Results indicated that the violent female parolees emitted significantly more aggressive responses than subjects in the nonviolent group. This study provides additional external validity as well as evidence for convergent and discriminant validity for PSAP laboratory measurement of human aggressive responding and extends these findings to female parolees. Comparisons to previously published data with male parolees showed that gender differences were found among violent but not nonviolent parolees. Aggr. Behav. 26:291–307, 2000. © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.