Abstract Background Conventional chemotherapy agents such as doxorubicinare not curative and new therapies for metastatic sarcomas are urgently needed. Apatinib (YN968D1) as a novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR-2) has been widely used as monotherapy or combined treatments. We performed a retrospective study with stage IV sarcoma cohort to investigate the efficacy of Apatinib with or without chemotherapy. Methods The information of 74 sarcoma patients in stage IV treated in Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital was collected and approved by the Institutional Review Board. Of these patients, 15 patients underwent Apatinib + traditional chemotherapy (combined group), and 59 received Apatinib as monotherapy (control group). Results We recruited 74 patients in this trial from Sep. 2015 to Apr. 2019. In the combined group, 6 of 15 patients (40.0%) recorded as partial response (PR), 7 of 15 patients (46.7%) recorded as stable disease (SD) and 2 patients (13.3%) was progressive disease (PD). The control group showed that 9 patients experienced PR (15.3%), 25 patients (42.4%) was SD and 25 patients (42.4%) was PD. The ORR (40.00% versus 15.25%, P = 0.034) and the DCR (86.67% versus 57.63%, P = 0.037) in the combined group showed significant higher than that of the control group. The median PFS of the combined group and control groups was 7.6 months and 7.9 months (P = 0.410). The median OS of the combined group and control group was 12.9 months and 17.3 months, respectively (P = 0.826). The mPFS and mOS shown no significant difference might due to the shorter follow-up time and small case number. Common AEs in combined group included hypertension (n = 7, 46.67%), hand-foot syndrome (n = 7, 46.67%), proteinuria (n = 8, 53.33%), anorexia (n = 4, 26.67%), fatigue (n = 4, 26.67%), transaminase increased (n = 4, 26.67%), diarrhea (n = 7, 46.67%), and anemia (n = 8, 53.33%), which all happened more frequently than in control group. No grade 4 AEs occurred, but 3 patients (20%) suffered from grade 3 AEs, which were mainly hypertension, hand-foot syndrome and proteinuria. Conclusions Chemotherapy combined with apatinib significantly increases the response rate and shows manageable adverse events. Legal entity responsible for the study The authors. Funding Has not received any funding. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


Within the qualitative research paradigm, the Participatory-Action-Research (PAR) integrates knowledge and action. It is not necessary to wait for knowledge to be produced to transfer it into practice. It is a method used for decades in disciplines such as education and sociology; however it is emerging in the health field. There are a variety of definitions, classifications and PAR models; this article aims to shed light upon this method of research, its history, philosophy and its use, given its potential and innovation in the field of health sciences.


Background Sleep disorders, such as insomnia, have been associated with extended periods of inactive, sedentary behaviour. Many factors contribute to insomnia, including stress, irregular sleep patterns, mental health issues, inadequate sleeping schedules, diseases, neurological disorders and prescription medications. Objectives Identification of the patterns of sedentary time and its duration in adults with acute insomnia and healthy controls to determine the statistically significant sedentary bouts; comparison of the sedentary behaviour patterns in acute insomnia adults with healthy controls. Methods We investigate the daytime actigraphy data and identify temporal patterns of inactivity among adults with acute insomnia and healthy adults. Seven days of actigraphy data were utilised to calculate sedentary time and bouts of variable duration based on a threshold of activity counts (<100 counts per minute). Statistical analysis was applied to investigate sedentary bouts and total sedentary time during weekdays and weekend. A logistic regression model has been used to determine the significance of sedentary bouts. Results We found that individuals with acute insomnia accumulate a significant amount of their sedentary time in medium (6—30 minutes and 31—60 minutes) and longer (more than 60 minutes) duration bouts in comparison to healthy adults. Furthermore, a low p value for total sedentary time (2.54 ⋅ 10−4) association with acute insomnia supports the finding that acute insomnia individuals are significantly more engaged in sedentary activities compared to healthy controls. Also, as shown by the weekend vs weekday analysis, the physical and sedentary activity patterns of acute insomnia adults demonstrate higher variability during the weekdays in comparison to the weekend. Conclusion The results of the present study demonstrate that adults with acute insomnia spend more time in low-intensity daily physical activities compared to healthy adults.


Market transparency, in its most succint form, refers to the level of current trade information revealed to the public by market makers. We analyze the effect of market transparency on the outcomes of postedoffer style B2B markets under both stationary and non-stationary demand conditions. We find that sellers on average can extract significantly higher surplus than buyers, yet the difference decreases with increasing market transparency. Also, poor price-tracking ability of the posted-offer market after an external demand shock hurts buyers only. Seller profits are much less sensitive to the shock compared to buyer surpluses.


Ant System (AS) is a novel simulated evolutionary algorithm which shows many good characters, but it has some typical shortcomings, such as high time complexity, stagnation behavior. An Ant Adaptive Dynamic Ant System (ADAS) based on Acceleration is proposed, which is improved from AS by modifying the pheromone updating rule and the transition rule with evenness of solution, interesting and acceleration. Simulation shows that the ADAS can solve the contradictory between convergence speed and stagnation behavior efficiently and has a better solution.


This conference on artificial neural networks (ANNs) provided an opportunity to explore current and future strategies for the prediction of outcomes for patients with prostate carcinoma. For example, it is necessary to improve the selection process for prostate biopsy for a patient with clinical factors that raise the suspicion of prostate carcinoma and provide greater precision about possible outcomes after treatment. This paper provides an overview of the role that ANNs may play in the larger picture of prostate carcinoma prognostication. It also presents personal insights garnered from over a decade of clinical experience with staging questions for patients with prostate carcinoma. 1


How has the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union helped promote peace, security and stability on the African continent? This article assesses the PSC's activities in light of insights generated by the literature on international security institutions. After providing an overview of the immediate origins of the PSC, it discusses five elements of the Council's institutional design. It then evaluates the PSC's activities during its first five years (2004-9), by examining the Council's political relevance, its efficiency and productivity, and whether it is the institution best placed to deal with the continent's security problems. It concludes that the PSC's future will hinge on whether more of the African Union's members can be persuaded to devote more serious levels of resources (human and financial) to it.


In our work the effect of different mould material was investigated on the properties of injection moulded parts. A mould was designed and manufactured by using conventional and additive technologies. Injection moulding tests were performed using these moulds. The temperature of the moulds was determined as well as its effect on the thermal properties of the parts.


We examined the effects of monensin on feed intake and milk production in Holstein-Friesian cows receiving a total mixed rations in two experiments. In experiment 1, 60 individually fed cows consumed, during wk 7 to 26 of lactation, 1 kg/d of supplement containing either 0, 150,300, or 450 mg of monensin. In experiment 2, 98 group-fed cows also received 1 kg/d of a supplement with either 0 or 300 mg/d of monensin for two consecutive lactations. In lactations 1 and 2, treatment started at wk 8 and 3 wk prior to calving, and continued for 32 wk. In experiment 1, 150, 300, and 450 mg of monensin/d produced a small decrease in feed intake and milk yield responses of 2.8, 2.5 and 1.5 kg/d, respectively. In experiment 2, milk yield responses of 0.8 and 1.1 kg/d were recorded in lactations 1 and 2. Milk fat and milk protein content declined in experiments 1 and 2, lactations 1 and 2 by 0.46, 0.38 and 0.27%, and 0.16, 0.16 and 0.11%, respectively. Yield of milk constituents was unaffected. Efficiency of milk production was increased by 5% in experiment 1. In experiment 2, lactation 2, monensin decreased beta-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate but increased blood glucose concentration.


an association between retention and measurable health benefits, we indicate that the literature supports the existence of such relationships. The literature suggests that, amongst other benefits, retention in methadone maintenance reduces the risk of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus of even those patients who continue to use drugs intravenously compared with addicts not in treatment.' On the contrary, it is White and Foy who are unable to provide evidence that their treatment strategy is associated with a measurable health benefit.' Rather than acknowledge the failure of maintenance-to-abstinence programmes to either promote abstinence or retain patients in treatment, White and Foy prefer to blame the local heroin users, other medical practitioners and the Directorate of the Drug Offensive. We would refer them to Dole and Nyswander's observation:'


(PLS) analyses of positron emission tomography data identified distributed neural systems related to (i) processing the significance of the auditory stimulus, (ii) mediating the acquisition of the behavioral response, and (iii) the spatial overlap between these two systems. The system that processed the significance of the tone engaged primarily right hemisphere regions and included dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex, putamen, and inferior parietal and temporal cortices. Activity changes in left occipital cortex were also identified, most likely reflecting the learned expectancy of the upcoming visual event. The system related to behavior was similar to that which coded the significance of the tone, including dorsal occipital cortex. The PLS analysis of the concordance between these two systems showed substantial regional overlap, and included occipital, dorsolateral prefrontal, and limbic cortices. However, activity in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex was strictly related to processing the auditory stimulus and not to behavior. Taken together, the PLS analyses identified a system that contained a sensory-motor component (comprised of occipital, temporal association and sensorimotor cortices) and a medial prefrontal-limbic component, that as a group simultaneously embodied the learning-related response to the stimuli and the subsequent change in behavior.


To determine the localization of Na+, K+-ATPase in the choroid plexus of the canine fourth ventricle, antisera against canine renal Na+, K+-ATPase holoenzyme and the alpha and beta subunits of the enzyme were employed and the distribution of reaction product examined at the light and electron microscopic level by means of the peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunohistochemical method. In the choroidal epithelial cells, antigenic sites were restricted to the outer surface of the apical plasmalemma, including the membranes of the microvilli. No reaction product was detected in the cytoplasm or along the lateral and basal plasmalemma. These findings strengthen the hypothesis that the apical border of the choroidal epithelial cell plays an important role in cerebrospinal fluid secretion as a result of active transport mediated by Na+, K+-ATPase.


Under the New Basel Accord bank capital adequacy rules (Pillar 1) are substantially revised but the introduction of two new "Pillars" is, perhaps, of even greater significance. This paper focuses on Pillar 2 which expands the range of instruments available to the regulator when intervening with banks that are capital inadequate and investigates the complementarity between Pillar 1 (risk-based capital requirements) and Pillar 2. In particular, the paper focuses on the role of closure rules when recapitalization is costly. In the model banks are able to manage their portfolios dynamically and their decisions on recapitalization and capital structure are determined endogenously. A feature of our approach is to consider the costs as well as the benefits of capital regulation and to accommodate the behavioral response of banks in terms of their portfolio strategy and capital structure. The paper argues that problems of capital adequacy are minor unless, in at least some states of the world, banks are able to violate the capital adequacy rules. The paper shows how the role of Pillar 2 depends on the effectiveness of capital regulation, i.e., the extent to which banks can "cheat".


The generation of hydrogen gas from the surface of solidified shell of carbon steel was confirmed by the experiments of both collecting gas from shell surface using the sintered chill plate made of stainless steel and measuring temperature in the copper chill plate at initial stage of solidification. The hydrogen gas existed in collected gas and the amount of hydrogen gas increased with increasing hydrogen content in molten steel. The temperature in chill plate became high because the ratio of hydrogen gas of which thermal conductivity was large existed in the gap between shell and chill plate and the heat transfer from shell to chill plate became large when the hydrogen content in molten steel was high. When the hydrogen gas generated from shell surface blocks flow of mold flux into the gap, the possibility of sticker breakout in continuous casting would increase.


OBJECTIVES
This mixed methods study assessed patients' oral health literacy, motivation level, and barriers regarding interdental plaque control.

METHODS
Participants (n=49) from a study comparing the use of Glide® Pro-Health Floss Original (F) or GUM® Curved Soft-Picks® Advance (SP) completed daily diaries and questionnaires regarding motivation, tiredness, confidence and satisfaction for their deplaquing method. The Mantel-Haenszel chi-square test was utilized. Data was also collected from 19 participants who attended focus group discussions regarding their oral health habits, knowledge, motivators and barriers with interdental plaque control. Discussions were digitally recorded, transcribed, and imported into ATLAS.ti 7.5.15 to identify themes.

RESULTS
There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in relation to age, sex or ethnicity. F users reported statistically significant higher agreement about ability to remove food/debris (p=.01), cleaning thoroughly (p=.02), and clean feeling of the mouth (p=.01). SP users reported higher ease/efficiency of use (p=.01), convenience (p=.003), easy to hold (p=.0001), and easy use away from home (p=.008). Daily diaries revealed higher motivation and compliance/ ease of use (SP). During the focus groups, some reported that they did not feel clean unless they deplaqued interdentally, however, most reported that they lacked motivation due to constraints on time, no desire due to lack of immediate or tangible rewards, and lack of knowledge on proper use of interdental devices or the benefits of using them.

CONCLUSION
This study showed that the lack of compliance may be due to poor literacy and lack of motivation in patients due to gaps in patient education. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Abstract It has been observed that humans can translate nearly four times as quickly with little loss in accuracy simply by dictating, as opposed to typing, their translations. In this paper, we consider the integration of speech recognition into a translator's workstation. In particular, we show how to combine statistical models of speech, language and translation into a single system that decodes a sequence of words in a target language from a sequence of words in a source language together with an utterance of the target language sequence. Results are provided which demonstrate that the difficulty of the speech recognition task can be reduced by making use of information contained in the source text being translated.


On the basis of investigation and analysis of Linpan in Chengdu Plain,in view of the ongoing reconstruction engineering of residential styles in Chengdu Plain,construction mode of Linpan in Chengdu Plain at new period had been proposed and plants had been selected in accordance with the function features of different modes. The initial study result was of certain instructive significance to the protection and development of Linpan in Chengdu Plain to some extent.


Epitaxial graphene grown on SiC (0001) showed significant changes in electrical resistance upon exposure to polar protic and polar aprotic vapors in the ambient atmosphere. The dipole moment of these chemicals was found to have a strong impact on the magnitude of the sensor response, which increases with increasing dipole moment. Using the combination of low-frequency noise and Hall measurements, we demonstrate that the chemical sensing mechanism in epitaxial graphene is based on fluctuations of the charge carrier density induced by vapor molecules adsorbed on the surface of the graphene.


Oral skills is taught and examined as part of Kenya's secondary school integrated English syllabus. However, difficulty in learning the skills has made it unpopular among students and teachers in secondary schools. Kenya certificate of secondary Educaton (KCSE) candidates continue to perform poorly in the Oral skills section of the English paper. This raises questions on their level of communicative competence in a language that is very important in their academic   pursuits. It is evident from research that this is  due  to  the  traditional  methods  of  teaching  commonly  used  by   teachers  of English. But this should not be the case considering the central role played by oral skills in the language curriculum. One responsive approach that has been lauded to enhance the development of oral skills is dramatization. Research on the use of dramatization in teaching English in various countries supports its usefulness in improving students' achievement in language learning. This study was therefore set to determine whether the use of dramatization is more efficient in developing oral skills of secondary school students than the traditional approaches of teaching. The study was carried out in Koibatek Sub-County where a persistent low performance in English has been registered. The study focused on selected oral skills in the Form Two English syllabus namely effective listening, pronunciation, stress and intonation, use of non-verbal cues, public delivery and etiquette. The study adopted the Solomon Four Quasi-experimental research design. Four co-educational secondary schools were purposively selected from from the 35 secondary schools in the subcounty to take part in the study. A total of 177 subjects took part in this study. Balloting was used to select subjects that were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups.. Data was collected from a sample of Form Two students. The traditional method, using teacher-centered methods, was implemented in the control group, whereas dramatisation was utilized in the experimental group. At the end of the 8 week period, all the four groups participated in the post-test. The Oral skills achievement test (OSAT) was pre-tested and post tested on the students to assess the effectiveness of the program on the students' achievement in oral skills. An analysis of the results showed that dramatisation resulted in significant learning gains in oral skills. As such the use dramatisation in language instruction improves development of oral skills when contrasted with traditional, teacher-centered methods. This suggests that dramatisation can be used to improve those areas of language teaching that are difficult to teach and learn using regular methods. Dramatisation therefore should be integrated into the language education curriculum because it can be used as a complement to regular teaching methods.  Keywords : Dramatization, Oral skills, communication, High school, Kenya


Squamish River has been impounded temporarily by debris avalanches from Mount Cayley on numerous occasions. Evidence of these impoundments comes from backwater deposits and also from a cluster of in situ stumps protruding from a bar along Squamish River. Backwater deposits consist of both lacustrine and fluvial deposits that have formed within the low-energy depositional environment created by a river impoundment. Three main backwater deposits occur in the study area. The fan toe deposit is ~14 m thick and represents a single impoundment of Squamish River that likely formed behind a large ~4800 BP debris avalanche. In situ ~3200 BP stumps along Squamish River probably were killed by a river impoundment due to a debris avalanche. The upper terrace backwater deposit is ~6 m thick and forms an aggradational terrace along Squamish River which probably accumulated behind an ~1100 BP debris avalanche. The lower terrace deposit also forms an aggradational terrace along Squamish River but represents four or possi...


A dust sediment layer was found on the outer tube wall when the ESCP (electrostatic centrifugal precipitator) trapped diesel particulates or ganister sand. The Compton back scatter method was used to measure the sediment thickness during the experiment. The effect of the inlet gas velocity on the dust sediment layer was investigated. PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) was used to measure the velocity field between the inner barb tube wall and the outer tube wall. Experiments showed that the thickness of the sediment increased with time, and the sediment layer at the lower end was much thicker than that at the upper end. The agglomeration on the outer tube wall could be removed when the inlet gas velocity was increased to a certain value.


The oxidation of ethylene has been studied on evaporated films of palladium in the temperature range 50 to 140 °C, and products were analyzed by means of a mass spectrometer. The main reaction was complete oxidation to carbon dioxide and water, but trace amounts of acetic anhydride and acetic acid were formed by a side reaction. Kinetic studies showed that the reaction was zero order with respect to the pressure of oxygen, first order in ethylene at low pressures but zero order at high pressures, and progressively poisoned by the two minor products. The activation energy associated with the initial rate of reaction was 14 kcal/mole. A number of subsidiary experiments were carried out including the oxidation of acetaldehyde at 77 °C which occurred rapidly producing acetic anhydride and some acetic acid. A reaction scheme was developed which accounted for the detailed kinetic behaviour of the oxidation of ethylene and possible mechanisms are discussed


Since the last century, peptides have gained wide acceptance as drugs, with almost 100 already in the market and a large number in the pipeline. In this context, peptide synthesis has grown massively as a stringent field for pharmaceuticals around the globe. Three methodologies, namely, classical solution peptide synthesis (CSPS), solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS), and liquid-phase peptide synthesis (LPPS), have made significant contributions to the field. This review provides a comprehensive and integrated vision of LPPS as the third wave for peptide synthesis. LPPS combines the advantages of CSPS and SPPS, where peptide elongation is carried out in solution and the growing peptide chain is supported on a soluble tag, which confers characteristic properties. LPPS protocols allow the large-scale production of peptides and reduce the use of excess reagents and solvents, thus meeting the principles of green chemistry. In this review, tags associated with LPPS are broadly discussed under the following headings: polydisperse polyethylene glycol (PEG), membrane-enhanced peptide synthesis (MEPS), fluorous technology, ionic liquids (ILs), PolyCarbon, hydrophobic polymers, and group-assisted purification (GAP). It also highlights the signature accomplishments of LPPS tags and the limitations of the same.


Mobility across the Taiwan Strait has intensified since the border was opened in 1987. The cross-border social, cultural and economic exchanges, however, have remained closely embedded in the nationalistic logic specific to cross-Strait relations. Employing a state-centered approach and building on a comparative analysis of the interaction between Beijing and two groups of cross-Strait migrants (mainland spouses in Taiwan, and Taiwanese investors in China), this paper examines the various ways in which a state may still exert influence over migrant communities in a context of increased mobility and exchanges. This paper argues that the nation-state may still shape migrants' experiences, particularly when sending and receiving governments have unresolved disputes. Under these conditions, state actors may use migrant communities to achieve their nationalistic goals.


Crit Care Med 2015 • Volume 43 • Number 12 (Suppl.) curriculum MENTOR (Making Every New Trainee Our Responsibility) (Piech JD, Fire Engineering, 2004). Methods: MENTOR is a structured, one year program for new APPs. The program begins with a pre-test to assess baseline ICU knowledge. The first quarter consists of weekly scheduled lectures and activities along with direct clinical supervision by a senior APP or MD. The second through fourth quarters evolve to biweekly educational activities with progressive clinical autonomy by the APP. At the conclusion of each quarter, the new APP will undergo a performance review to assure quarterly objectives are met and to identify any educational needs. At the completion of the program, a post-test is given and clinical and procedural competence will be determined. Results: Within the upcoming year, six new SICU APPs will formally enter the MENTOR program above. Expected outcomes with implementation of the program include: improvement in critical care knowledge evidenced by post-test scores and clinical evaluation, procedural competence and hospital credentialing complete at one year, competency in overall critical care management, improved APP retention/reduced turnover rates, and improved employee satisfaction. Conclusions: The MENTOR curriculum is a roadmap for skill acquisition as well as competency training of APPs. Other expected outcomes with specialty trained APPs include improved: hospital and ICU length of stay, performance measure compliance, communication, and decreased morbidity, mortality and readmission rates.


A new, previously unknown association of Pb–Bi–Sb–Ag sulphosalt minerals has been found in samples from mine dumps of the Staročeské pásmo Lode of the Kutná Hora Ag–Pb–Zn ore district, central Bohemia, Czech Republic. These minerals form polymineral aggregates up to 1–3 cm in quartz or base sulphides. Apart from numerous members of lillianite homologous series, new occurrences of aramayoite, bismuthinite, cosalite, ikunolite, izoklakeite, matildite, galenass, Bi-rich jamesonite, Bi-rich boulangerite, Bi-rich owyheeite and Bi-rich semseyite have been identified. An extraordinary extent of the Bi–Sb substitution is characteristic of the studied association. Bi-rich mineralization of this scope has not been previously known from the Kutná Hora ore district. The origin of this sulphosalt mineralization is related to the penetration of lower temperature fluids (c. 100–250 °C) into tectonically opened fractures in older ore veins filling. Virtually no mobilization of elements from the earlier vein filling took place; hydrothermal fluids must have been relatively rich in Ag and Pb and simultaneously poor in Cu. High Bi content was characteristic of the initial stage of the mineralization. Gradually, the Bi/Sb ratio decreased considerably with more Sb-rich minerals originating. At the final stage, Bi-rich Pb–Sb sulphosalts with lower Ag contents crystallized.


ABSTRACT: Opponents of mandatory rotation argue that a change of partner is bad for audit quality, as it results in a loss of client-specific knowledge. On the other hand, proponents argue that a change of partner is beneficial, as it results in a positive peer review effect and a fresh perspective on the audit. We test the impact of mandatory partner rotation on audit quality using a unique dataset of audit adjustments in China. Our results suggest that mandatory rotation of engagement partners results in higher quality audits in the years immediately surrounding rotation. Specifically, we find a significantly higher frequency of audit adjustments during the departing partner's final year of tenure prior to mandatory rotation and during the incoming partner's first year of tenure following mandatory rotation.


Background: Parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) is an endothelial-derived vasoactive peptide. This study investigated whether bioactive PTHrP is locally released in a pressure-dependent way. Methods: A PTHrP antibody directed against the midregional part of PTHrP was used to analyze PTHrP in plasma samples. The biological activity of this PTHrP-like peptide was investigated in vitro. Plasma values were determined in samples from the left pulmonary artery and the arteria femoralis, taken under basal conditions and after the application of oxygen or iloprost to lower the pulmonary pressure. Twenty young patients (mean age 6.5 years), who were catheterized for an analysis of the reactivity of the pulmonary bed, were investigated. Endothelial function was investigated by acetylcholine responsiveness. Results: The antibody recognized a 30-kDa protein with in vitro PTHrP-like activity. In 11 patients (responders) with intact endothelial function, the PTHrP values determined in the left pulmonary artery were higher than those in the arteria femoralis. The local increase in the PTHrP concentration was reduced when either oxygen or iloprost lowered the pressure. Nine patients with endothelial dysfunction did not show any concentration gradients at any time (nonresponders). Conclusions: The local concentration of bioactive PTHrP is increased in patients with pulmonary hypertension and normal endothelial function.


Objective: Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) based on steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP) require extensive and costly calibration to achieve high performance. Using transfer learning to re-use existing calibration data from old stimuli is a promising strategy, but finding commonalities in the SSVEP signals across different stimuli remains a challenge. Method: This study presents a new perspective, namely time-frequency-joint representation, in which SSVEP signals corresponding to different stimuli can be synchronized, and thus can emphasize common components. According to this time-frequency-joint representation, an adaptive decomposition technique based on the multi-channel adaptive Fourier decomposition (MAFD) is proposed to adaptively decompose SSVEP signals of different stimuli simultaneously. Then, common components can be identified and transferred across stimuli. Results: A simulation study on public SSVEP datasets demonstrates that the proposed stimulus-stimulus transfer method has the ability to extract and transfer these common components across stimuli. By using calibration data from eight source stimuli, the proposed stimulus-stimulus transfer method can generate SSVEP templates of other 32 target stimuli. It boosts the ITR of the stimulus-stimulus transfer based recognition method from 95.966 bits/min to 123.684 bits/min. Conclusion: By extracting and transfer common components across stimuli in the proposed time-frequency-joint representation, the proposed stimulus-stimulus transfer method produces good classification performance without requiring calibration data of target stimuli. Significance: This study provides a synchronization standpoint to analyze and model SSVEP signals. In addition, the proposed stimulus-stimulus method shortens the calibration time and thus improve comfort, which could facilitate real-world applications of SSVEP-based BCIs.


We present the results of a wide-field [O III] λ5007 survey for planetary nebulae (PN) in M87 and its surrounding halo. In all, we identify 338 PN candidates in a 16' × 16' field around the galaxy; 187 of these objects are in a statistical sample that extends to m5007 = 27.15. We show that the planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF) of M87's halo is unlike any PNLF observed to date, with a shape that differs from that of the empirical law at the 99.9% confidence level. In addition, we find that the PNLF of M87's outer halo differs from that of the galaxy's inner regions at a high degree of certainty (~92%). We show that both these effects are most likely due to the existence of intracluster PN, many of which are foreground to M87. These intracluster objects explain the "overluminous" [O III] λ5007 sources previously identified by Jacoby, Ciardullo, & Ford and present us with a new tool with which to probe the morphological and dynamical properties of the cluster. By modifying the maximum likelihood procedures of Ciardullo et al. to take into account the presence of "field objects" and using an assumed M31 distance of 770 Kpc (Freedman & Madore) with a Burstein & Heiles reddening law, we derive a distance modulus to M87 of 30.79 ± 0.16 (14.4 ± 1.1 Mpc). This value is in excellent agreement with the previous survey of Jacoby, Ciardullo, & Ford and contradicts the assertion of Bottinelli et al. and Tammann that the PNLF distance to Virgo has been underestimated as a result of inadequate survey depth.


The contribution to fracture resistance of fiber po st restored endodontically treated maxillary inciso rs of 2 mm high coronal dentin retained at different a spects of the preparation was evaluated. 60 extracted maxillary incisors were endodontically tr eated, divided to six equal groups, 5 groups received quartz fiber posts. A 2 mm high coronal den tin ring was prepared in one group; half a ring of dentin was left either palataly, labially or proxim ally in three groups; and removed from another grou p. The sixth group, neither had posts nor coronal dent in. All teeth were restored with metal crowns and their fracture resistance was measured in compressi on at 135 degrees to its long axis until failure. Data were analyzed by two-way-ANOVA, Tukey and Chi- square tests. Coronal structures had a significantly more influence on the fracture resist ance than the root posts ( p< 0.05) . Fiber post restored teeth showed predominantly reparable failure patter ns. Coronal dentin was more efficacious in restoring endodontically treated teeth than placing root posts, because fracture resistance of the tee th is made up mainly by the ferrule effect afforded by the bracing of full crown against the retained coronal structures.


An unusually cool weekend in Santa Fe punctuated by drought-breaking rains provided an appropriate backdrop for discussing abrupt changes in climate and in the geomagnetic field, and the resolution with which these changes are recorded in the magnetic properties of rocks and sediments. Modeled after the highly successful meetings in 1992 and 1994, the Third Santa Fe Conference on Rock Magnetism was held June 27–30, 1996, with 44 participants from eight countries. The conference format promoted extensive discussion that led to lively exchanges on the state of rock magnetism today and directions for the future.


Background: Until, 2016, there have been no consultation nor medical treatment services for children with pervasive developmental disorders and other childhood psychiatric disorders in Iraq. However, early during the year 2017, a pediatric psychiatry consultation clinic was established at the children Teaching Hospital of Baghdad Medical City with aim of providing evidence-based consultations and evidence-based medical therapies and also conduction a pediatric psychiatry training courses. Many of the scientific practices and disease patterns were documented earlier through scientific publishing. The aim of this paper is to describe new experiences with pervasive developmental disorders.

Materials and methods: During six months period (from June, 2019 to November, 2019) forty-six new patients (38 males and eight females) with pervasive developmental disorders were observed at the Children Teaching Hospitals of Baghdad Medical City. Their ages ranged from 2 years to 11 years. During this period, eight patients (4 boys and 4 girls) with pervasive developmental disorders whom were included in our previous publications, but their follow up was not complete, are also presented. All patients received individualized courses of intramuscular cerebrolysin as the main therapy for the main autistic features (Impaired social interaction and communication dominated by the lack of response to their name and poor eye contact).

Results: Twenty-four patients (52%) including 20 boys and 4 girls received a diagnosis of typical autism. Seventeen patients (37%) including 14 boys and 3 girls received a diagnosis of atypical autism. Four patients including three boys and one girl (8.7%) received the diagnosis of Asperger syndrome with acceptable language development by definition. One boy was considered to have pervasive developmental disorder otherwise not specified. All the patients experienced some improvement during follow-up. It was possible to document complete disappearance of the main autistic features (Impaired social interaction and communication dominated by the lack of response to their name and poor eye contact) in two patients. Eight patients (4 boys and 4 girls whom were included in our previous publications, but their follow up was not complete, were also observed. They were treated with individualized treatment courses including intramuscular cerebrolysin. After treatment, all patients experienced complete disappearance of the main autistic features and improvement in speech.

Conclusion: In this paper, a well-documented complete disappearance of autistic features with treatment with individualized courses of intramuscular is reported in nine children with autism and one child with Asperger syndrome. This paper demonstrated that a cure for autism and Asperger syndrome is possible


Grid computing provides environment that can executes job efficiently by sharing resources in heterogeneous environment. Grid computing environment is evolving into wireless grid and mobile grid environments that consider user mobility and integrate mobile devices into wired grid. Recently, mobile devices are increasing by much in performance, and users also increasing. So researches on utilizing mobile devices have being studied but most of them don't use mobile devices as resources and don't consider characteristics of mobile devices. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a group-based resource selection algorithm that supports fault-tolerance in mobile grid and considers various characteristics of mobile devices. Our proposed algorithm 1) considers remaining battery power, mobility, and performance of mobile devices, 2) calculates rank of mobile devices and classifies to K groups, and then, 3) assigns a job to top-N groups concurrently for fault-tolerance. Ranking and grouping of mobile devices are performed to consider dynamic characteristics of mobile devices whenever a job is submitted.


In contrast to that of the Pleistocene epoch, between approximately 2.6 million and 10 000 years before present, the extant community of large herbivores in Arctic tundra is species-poor predominantly due to human extinctions. We here discuss how this species-poor herbivore guild influences tundra ecosystems, especially in relation to the rapidly changing climate. We show that present herbivore assemblages have large effects on tundra ecosystem composition and function and suggest that the effect on thermophilic species expected to invade the tundra in a warmer climate is especially strong, and that herbivores slow ecosystem responses to climate change. We focus on the ability of herbivores to drive transitions between different vegetation states. One such transition is between tundra and forest. A second vegetation transition discussed is between grasslands and moss- and shrub-dominated tundra. Contemporary studies show that herbivores can drive such state shifts and that a more diverse herbivore assemblage would have even higher potential to do so. We conclude that even though many large herbivores, and especially the megaherbivores, are extinct, there is a potential to reintroduce large herbivores in many arctic locations, and that doing so would potentially reduce some of the unwanted effects of a warmer climate. This article is part of the theme issue 'Trophic rewilding: consequences for ecosystems under global change'.


We report the anaesthetic management of an abdominal pregnancy. The delivery was obtained by laparotomy, under general anaesthesia, by a multi-specialist team. Abdominal pregnancy carries a high foetal and maternal risk for morbidity and lethal outcome. The main complication is sudden haemorrhage which can occur at any time.


Background & Purpose:
Outcome research for youth admitted to psychiatric residential treatment facilities (PRTF) is limited and typically focuses primarily on PRTF youth as a single group or by diagnostic subgroup. This study seeks to understand who benefits most in PRTF with the broader goal of ensuring healthy development for this particularly vulnerable population. This study examines whether latent classes based on youth functioning responses at admission exist among PRTF youth, and determine whether class membership predicts outcome achievement at discharge.

Methods:
This study uses administrative data from an outcome-based reporting system on all youth admitted to PRTF statewide. Data was collected from youth at admission and discharge between January 2014 and April 2015 using The Ohio Youth Problem, Functioning, and Satisfaction Scales, Short Form. Analysis was conducted in three steps. First, Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was applied to define the latent class variable identifying subgroups of youth with particular patterns across baseline youth functioning characteristics (N = 877). Next, youth were classified into their most likely baseline class based on the posterior probabilities retained from the LCA model. Finally, the differential impact of class membership on total problem severity and problem severity change at discharge was estimated (N = 767). The 20-item baseline Ohio Scales Youth Functioning Subscale served as class indicators and the 20-item Ohio Scales Problem Severity subscale served as the outcome variables of interest.

Results:
Analyses revealed a statistically supported two-class solution (BIC = 47,697.86; Entropy = .91). Final class counts and proportions for the latent classes based on the estimated model were: Class 1: N = 314.05, .36; Class 2: N = 562.95, .64. The response patterns across the Functioning items were consistent across classes, with higher response levels in one class. Conceptually these classes were characterized as High Perceived Strength (Class 1) and Low Perceived Strength (Class 2). High average posterior probabilities for both latent classes suggest low classification error. Differential outcomes were also observed between groups. Problem Severity scores at discharge were significantly higher for Class 2 (b = 4.49, p < .001), but membership in Class 2 also predicted a larger problem severity change score (b = 7.85, p < .001).

Conclusion & Implications:
This analysis aims to parse the PRTF population to determine whether it is comprised of differential classes to better understand the unique needs of youth and to inform PRTF services to promote their healthy development. Findings suggest that these youth in PRTF are clustered in two classes that predict problem severity outcome achievement with one group having higher problems but making greater gains at discharge. This study identifies clinical, programmatic, and policy concerns to be addressed. Class-dependent identification of risks to youth at admission may guide individualized treatment planning and identification of unique groups of youth in PRTF can inform the development of treatment protocols to target these distinct classes to improve outcomes. Finally, these class characteristics help us to understand the population most suited to PRTF services on the mental health service continuum.


Twelve models of en-echelon faults with different geometries were designed to study the process of deformation.The spatial and temporal process of acoustic emission, fault displacement, orientation and magnitude of principal stress in the staggered area were observed during the fracturing of the specimen. It was found that AE sequence, AE distribution and precursory form for mode LL (Left lateral shearing, Left stepping offset) were quite different from mode LR (Left lateral shearing, Right stepping offset). The main differences are as follows:1) For mode LL, foreshocks swarm in the staggered area, where the main earthquake will take place, and migrate gradually towards the epicenter of the main shock. As opposed to this the foreshocks for mode LR occur around the staggered area without the migrating trend towards the epicenter of the main shock and an AE gap is delineated in the center.2) For mode LL, the foreshocks are frequent and their magnitude greater. The energy of the main shock is only about 10 times as large as the total energy of the foreshocks. For mode LR, the foreshocks are rare and the energy of the main shock is about 100 times as large as the total energy of the foreshocks. The energy of the main shock for the mode LR is one magnitude greater than that for mode LL.3) The fault displacement of mode LL accelarated gradually and the acceleration becomes much larger just before the main rupture. At the tip of the fault the acceleration is the largest. The displacement rate of mode LR keeps constant almost during the whole process.4) The staggered area of mode LL is in a strong tensile stress and weak shear stress state. As a result of microcraking, the axis of principal stress rotates about 45°90° in the staggered area just before the main shock. At the same time, the value of the tensile stress decreases. On the contrary, the staggered area of mode LR is in a strong compress and shear stress state. The axis of stress is steady before the main shock, but the compret.sive stress intensifies violently.


3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is a production technique that can create highly customized parts and is therefore ideal for product prototyping and customized orders. An important aspect of 3D printer systems is the ability to accurately and precisely move the extruder along a planned path, ensuring the production of parts with low dimensional error. In this paper, output maneuvering is considered for the purpose of steering the extruder of a Cartesian 3D printer along a desired path. As slicing software provides waypoints with minimal change in angle between the line segments, a novel speed profile adjustment is introduced which prioritizes maintaining the current along-path speed when the angle between line segments is sufficiently low. Through a design example, a nonlinear maneuvering controller consisting of a geometric and a dynamic task is deduced. Positive and negative aspects of applying output maneuvering to additive manufacturing are discussed.


The thermal dissociation of DNA by five distinct local processes as outlined by Azbel [(1980) Biopolymers 19, 61–80] is treated as a collection of two‐state substransitions. With the traditional expression for loop entropy and the assumption of a small, positive loop‐initiation enthalpy, explicit relationships between thermodynamic parameters are derived for all five processes. The effect of each process on subtransitional width, unit enthalpy, and melting temperature is estimated; the latter being in excellent agreement with that predicted by Azbel. Criteria proposed for the deconvolution of the oscillatory high‐resolution melting profiles exhibited by short, homogeneous DNAs [Yen & Blake (1980) Biopolymers 19, 681–700] have been applied to profiles of SV40 fragment [Gabbarro‐Arpa et al. (1979) Nature 280, 515–517] and ϕx174‐RF DNA at two ionic strengths [Vizard et al. (1978) 275, 250–251] and indicate that dissociation of the strands proceeds as a series of local two‐state subtransitions of domains 200–300 base pairs in length. Although the obvious overlap of some subtransitions raises questions about resolution, most sections are very well resolved with the minimum number of subtransitions and yield values for the apparent van't Hoff enthalpy in excellent agreement with those expected by calorimetric measurements. The flexibility of such an approach, where the enthalpy is recognized explicitly as an adjustable parameter, is especially suited for the analysis of profiles from unkown DNA sequences, and for the evaluation of extraordinary variations in free energy, such as that associated with loop formation or that resulting from variations in the linear charge density at low ionic strengths.


The September 11 terrorist strikes prompted renewed interest in a debate about just cause that has been increasingly open since the demise of the Cold War and the shift to a more multilateral and interventionist world order. This article contributes to that debate by looking first into the just war tradition to argue for a conceptual revision that equates just cause with jus ad bellum (just recourse to war). It then seeks to specify the component parts of just cause understood in this way, holding that demonstrable injustice should take the place formerly occupied by just cause in just war theory. Towards the end it uses three real-world cases to develop a mechanism for validating just cause claims. The argument is that a cause is just only when its proponents can convince an international forum of intractable injustice, responsible intervention, and an appropriate balance of contingent factors. The article closes by considering how the current war on terrorism might be assessed in such a forum.


Objective: Cigarette smoking is associated with chronic and acute endothelial dysfunction, and hence probably also elevated out-of-clinic blood pressure. In the present study, we investigated the association between cigarette smoking and masked hypertension defined as elevated out-of-clinic pressure but normal clinic pressure. Design and method: Our study included male participants of the China Ambulatory and Home Blood Pressure Registry, who underwent clinic, 24-hour ambulatory and 7-day home BP monitoring. We classified smoking status as non-smoking (never smoked), past-smoking (previously smoked but stopped for at least 1 year) and current light (1–14 cigarettes/day) and heavy smoking (more than15 cigarettes/day). We defined masked hypertension as a normal clinic blood pressure (less than 140/90 mmHg) and an elevated 24-hour ambulatory (at least 130/80 mmHg) or home blood pressure (at least 135/85 mmHg). Results: The 1782 male subjects had a mean age of 55.3 years and included 536 (30.1%) current smokers. The prevalence of masked hypertension on 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure measurement was 18.5%, 22.6%, 25.1% and 24.4% in non-smokers (n = 936), past smokers (n = 310), and current light (n = 473) and heavy smokers (n = 63), respectively (P = 0.03 for trend). After adjustment for confounders, current light and heavy smokers had a significantly (P < 0.03) higher risk of masked hypertension than non-smokers (odds ratio 1.47 [95% confidence interval, 1.02–2.11] and 1.67 [1.12–2.49], respectively). Similar trends were observed for masked hypertension on home BP measurement, although statistical significance was not achieved (P < 0.59 for light and heavy smokers versus non-smokers). Conclusions: Cigarette smokers had elevated out-of-clinic blood pressure, and might have to be screened for masked hypertension.


In this new account of New Zealand's history, Philippa Mein Smith considers the rugged and dynamic land from its break from Gondwana 80 million years ago to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Mein Smith highlights the effects of the country's small size and isolation, from late settlement by Polynesian voyagers, very late colonization and settlement by Europeans, and the interactions that made these people Maori and Pakeha, to struggles over land, and efforts through time to manage global forces. Placing New Zealand in its global and regional context, the book reveals its links to Britain, despite being immersed in the Pacific, and part of Australasia. Distinctively, it reveals key moments contributing to the founding of the country's national myths.


The article examines the importance of information and communication technologies (ICT) for training the staff for information-analytical and political spheres, which is due to the ever-increasing use of information and knowledge in these fields. The topicality of the research is connected with the fact that the intensive development of information and academic knowledge has become the tendency of the information society of the XXI century. The combination of systemic and structural methods as well as network and institutional approaches has laid the methodological basis of the study. The aim of the scientific research is to investigate the importance of information and communication technologies for training of specialists in information and analytical as well as political spheres. The certain tasks are set and solved according to the aim of the investigation, namely: information and knowledge as the most important resources and capital of the country's development in various spheres of society are considered; ICT as a factor of the state political and socio-economic development in the context of globalization process is defined; the interconnection between the growth of the Internet users and the need of preparing the society for the new conditions of learning and work is analyzed; the influence of the new ICT on the formation of new elites such as netocracy and infocracy is characterized; the influence of information and digital gap on the modern educational market and the need for training new staff for the analytical sector, journalism, political sphere, etc. is researched; the conditions of improving the level and quality of knowledge of the specialists training of these industries are determined and the contribution to the democratization of the country is proved. The threats and problems of the ICT development in the political, information and analytical spheres are also identified, namely: the problem of providing access to the Internet to certain categories of citizens (vulnerable groups of the population); the problem of computer illiteracy of the population; the threat of privately distributing information flows, seizing information and communication resources of the country; insufficient level of competences and skills resulting from information inequality (or information / digital divide), etc. It is emphasized that the share of industries that provide the creation, transmission, processing and use of information is growing rapidly; therefore, the topic of training for the information and political spheres is relevant and prospective.


A detailed analysis of the formation energies of transition metal hydrides is presented. The hydriding energies are computed for various crystal structures using Density Functional Theory. The process of hydride formation is broken down into three consecutive, hypothetical reactions in order to analyse the different energy contributions, and explain the observed trends. We find that the stability of the host metal is very significant in determining the formation energy, thereby providing a more fundamental justification for Miedema's "law of inverse stability" [1] (the more stable the metal, the less stable the hydride). The conversion of the host metal to the structure formed by the metal ions in the hydride (fcc in most cases) is only significant for metals with a strong bcc preference such as V and Cr - this lowers the driving force for hydride formation. The final contribution is the chemical bonding between the hydrogen and the metal. This is the only contribution that is negative, and hence favourable to hydride formation. We find that it is dominated by the position of the Fermi level in the host metal.


Background Intussusception represents one of the most common urgent surgical admissions during early infancy and childhood period. It's a form of intestinal obstruction which is manifested by colicky abdominal pain, red current jelly stool and abdominal mass. Abdominal Ultrasound is the method of choice for diagnosis. Treatment of intussusception ranged from simple non operative reduction either by pneumatic or hydrostatic enema to surgical exploration. There multiple variables that may affect the result of of non operative management. Aim We tried to study them to know whom patient would pass without surgery. Patients and methods Two hundred patients diagnosed with intussusceptions included in this study. All of them received ultra sound guided hydrostatic reduction using warm saline. The maximum number of attempts of reduction was three times. We used intrvenous sedation in irritable infants. Results 2 hundred cases with intussusception were treated in this study. One hundred forty were reduced (group A) and 60 cases (group B) required surgical exploration. The mean body weight in group A was 7.3 Kg while in group B 9.3Kg. seventy five cases from both groups were operated. Conclusion Several factors affect the result of hydrostatic reduction as total leukocytic count, CRP and duration of symptoms. In addition the size of the mass and the presence or absence of free peritoneal fluid affects the non operative management.


This study is to investigate heat transfer, thermal comfort of captain in the specified airplane cabin by field synergy principle using turbulence flow to simulate input wind temperature and position, input wind u, v, w, passenger temperature, his position and thermal load. In this research, we use COMSOL software to analyze velocity and temperature fields and comfort impact of input position of wind. The results show that field synergy angle can indicate low angle increase better comfort of captain in the specified airplane cabin.


In service, aero engine parts are subject to high temperatures and extreme cyclic loads. As a consequence, the initiation and propagation of surface fatigue cracks is life-limiting for many components. The application of surface treatments, such as shot peening, can cause a shift of the crack initiation site from surface to subsurface and concomitantly, a significant increase in the cyclic life. However, in practice, the actual improvement achieved by shot peening is sometimes found to be less than expected. One reason is that residual stresses produced by shot peening are not stable against high temperatures and non-elastic deformation induced by service loads. Another reason is that defects (intrinsic defects of the material, surface defects caused by handling as well as surface damage caused by peening itself) may also reduce the benefit of shot peening. The following paper discusses the possibilities to exploit the benefits of shot peening for life enhancement of aero engine components and the requirements that must be f~dfilled to take full advantage of shot peening.


Current pulsed laser radar systems for ranging purposes are based on time-of-flight techniques. Nowadays first pulse as well as last pulse exploitation is used for different application, e.g. urban planning, forestry surveying. Besides this technique of time measurement the complete signal form over the time might be of interest, because it includes the backscattering characteristic of the illuminated field. This characteristic can be used for estimating the aspect angle of a plane with special surface property or estimating the surface property of a plane with a special aspect angle. In this paper a monostatic bi-directional experimental system with a fast digitizing receiver is described. The spatio-temporal beam propagation, the spatial reflectance of the surface, and receiver properties are modeled. A time dependent description of the received signal power is derived and our special surface property is considered. The spatial distribution of the used laser beam was measured and displayed by the beam profile. For a plane surface under various aspect angles the transversal distributions of the beam were simulated and measured. For these angles the corresponding temporal beam distributions were measured and compared with their pulse widths. The pulse spread is used to estimate the aspect angle of the illuminated object. The statistics for different angles was calculated. Different approaches which detect a characteristic time value were compared and evaluated. The consideration of the signal form allows a more precise determination of the time-of-flight. A 3-d visualization of equi-irradiance surfaces allows to access the spatio-temporal shape of the pulses.


The article is devoted to the problem of researching the influence of operational factors on the residual resource of metal structures of wheeled vehicles. Corrosion of metal structures of wheeled vehicles significantly reduces the resource and reliability of vehicles. Failure due to the combined action of corrosion and operational loads is caused by complex factors that can be divided into internal and external. Internal - traditionally considered as dependent on the chemical composition. External factors include corrosive destruction due to the external environment, which includes: atmospheric exposure, methods of operation and storage. The influence of moisture, mineral fertilizers and their combinations significantly reduces the resource of the structural elements of agricultural machines, especially when the protective coating is damaged. Corrosion damage is formed on such surfaces of load-bearing nodes of metal structures, corrosion-fatigue surface cracks are born, which grow to critical sizes, and there is a danger of machine failure. Classical methods of calculation-experimental assessment of durability at the stage of initiation of fatigue cracks in structural systems are based on the assumption of integrity of materials and the inadmissibility of fatigue damage in the most dangerous intersections of structural elements. These approaches do not provide adequate forecasting of the machine's resource, so it is necessary to apply the provisions of the mechanics of destruction.


We tested the hypothesis that socially anxious or shy individuals use their anxiety symptoms as a strategy to control attributions made about their performances in social-evaluative settings (i.e., self-handicapping strategies). Specifically, we predicted that trait-socially anxious or shy persons would report more symptoms of social anxiety in an evaluative setting in which anxiety or shyness could serve as an excuse for poor performance than would individuals in (a) an evaluative setting in which shyness was precluded as an excuse or (b) a nonevaluative setting. Furthermore, we predicted that this self-protective pattern of symptom reporting would not occur for individuals who were not trait-socially anxious because these persons would not commonly use such symptoms as a self-handicapping strategy. Results supported these predictions for male subjects, but not for female subjects. Sex differences in the strategic use of shyness are discussed in relation to other research on sex differences in the etiology and correlates of social anxiety.


Many Carlin-type gold deposits in northern Nevada are found adjacent to steeply dipping faults that channeled hydrothermal fluids upward into mineralized regions. However, some Carlin deposits comprise gently dipping tabular ore zones lacking any obvious large, steeply dipping, feeder structure beneath them. The goal of this paper is to test whether fluid flow into such ore zones also involved largely vertical upwelling, or whether lateral fluid flow, particularly along low-angle fault structures, may have played a significant role in their formation. In this study we use carbon and oxygen isotopes in conjunction with trace element geochemistry to investigate pathways taken by hydrothermal ore-forming fluids into the tabular subhorizontal ore zones of the Pipeline deposit, a giant carbonate rock-hosted Carlin-type deposit in Nevada. We sampled deep drill holes within, below, and to the side of the main ore zone to assess the extent of lateral versus vertical fluid flow up to 600 m below mineralization. The main ore zone at the Pipeline deposit is dominated by carbonate host rocks having δ 18 O and δ 13 C values that are depleted in the heavier 18 O and 13 C isotopes compared to global background values for rocks of the same age. Depletion results from the progressive buffering of the rock by an infiltrating auriferous hydrothermal fluid. There is significant heterogeneity in the spatial pattern and relative degree of 18 O and 13 C depletion through the ore zone, most likely reflecting multiple flow paths with different total integrated fluid fluxes, path lengths, rates of fluid cooling, and possibly fluid mixing. A lack of a pervasive reduction in δ 18 O and δ 13 C values, and low concentrations of trace elements in the rocks immediately beneath the main ore zone indicate that the deposit was not a product of large-scale vertical upwelling of auriferous hydrothermal fluid directly into the mineralized region. Rather, flow was focused along preexisting low-angle thrusts, particularly the Abyss fault, with fluids flowing laterally underneath and then up into the area of the main ore zone. Enhanced permeability along these low-angle structures most likely derived from fault reactivation and the generation of fracture networks in damage zones peripheral to a relatively impermeable fault core. Such reactivation would have required suprahydrostatic fluid pressures, relatively shallow crustal depths, and a lack of more optimally oriented, high angle faults (>50°) that would otherwise have preferentially failed and focused fluid flow steeply upward.


Nakamoto consensus (NC) powers major proof-of-work (PoW) and proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchains such as Bitcoin or Cardano. Given a network of nodes with certain communication and computation capacities, against what fraction of adversarial power (the resilience) is Nakamoto consensus secure for a given block production rate? Prior security analyses of NC used a bounded delay model which does not capture network congestion resulting from high block production rates, bursty release of adversarial blocks, and in PoS, spamming due to equivocations. For PoW, we find a new attack, called teasing attack, that exploits congestion to increase the time taken to download and verify blocks, thereby succeeding at lower adversarial power than the private attack which was deemed to be the worst-case attack in prior analysis. By adopting a bounded bandwidth model to capture congestion, and through an improved analysis method, we identify the resilience of PoW NC for a given block production rate. In PoS, we augment our attack with equivocations to further increase congestion, making the vanilla PoS NC protocol insecure against any adversarial power except at very low block production rates. To counter equivocation spamming in PoS, we present a new NC-style protocol Sanitizing PoS (SaPoS) which achieves the same resilience as PoW NC.


The natural history of HIV-1 infection in children has not yet been determined precisely. Contrary to what is observed in adults, the disease seems to follow a bimodal course. One-quarter to one-third of infected children develop, before the end of their first year of life, a deep immunodeficiency which is responsible for severe infectious and neurological symptoms; survival does not exceed 4 to 5 years. In contrast, although the other children are symptomatic, their disease progresses much more slowly, perhaps as slowly as in adults, and their long-term outcome remains uncertain.


Resilience is the ability to maintain acceptable levels of operation in the presence of abnormal conditions. It is an essential property in industrial control systems, which are the backbone of several critical infrastructures. The trend towards using pervasive information technology systems, such as the Internet, results in control systems becoming increasingly vulnerable to cyber threats. Traditional cyber security does not consider the interdependencies between the physical components and the cyber systems. On the other hand, control-theoretic approaches typically deal with independent disturbances and faults, thus they are not tailored to handle cyber threats. Theory and tools to analyze and build control system resilience are, therefore, lacking and in need to be developed. This thesis contributes towards a framework for analyzing and building resilient control systems.First, a conceptual model for networked control systems with malicious adversaries is introduced. In this model, the adversary aims at disrupting the system behavior while remaining undetected by an anomaly detector The adversary is constrained in terms of the available model knowledge, disclosure resources, and disruption capabilities. These resources may correspond to the anomaly detector's algorithm, sniffers of private data, and spoofers of control commands, respectively.Second, we address security and resilience under the perspective of risk management, where the notion of risk is defined in terms of a threat's scenario, impact, and likelihood. Quantitative tools to analyze risk are proposed. They take into account both the likelihood and impact of threats. Attack scenarios with high impact are identified using the proposed tools, e.g., zero-dynamics attacks are analyzed in detail. The problem of revealing attacks is also addressed. Their stealthiness is characterized, and how to detect them by modifying the system's structure is also described.As our third contribution, we propose distributed fault detection and isolation schemes to detect physical and cyber threats on interconnected second-order linear systems. A distributed scheme based on unknown input observers is designed to jointly detect and isolate threats that may occur on the network edges or nodes. Additionally, we propose a distributed scheme based on local models and measurements that is resilient to changes outside the local subsystem. The complexity of the proposed methods is decreased by reducing the number of monitoring nodes and by characterizing the minimum amount of model information and measurements needed to achieve fault detection and isolation.Finally, we tackle the problem of distributed reconfiguration under sensor and actuator faults. In particular, we consider a control system with redundant sensors and actuators cooperating to recover from the removal of individual nodes. The proposed scheme minimizes a quadratic cost while satisfying a model-matching condition, which maintains the nominal closed-loop behavior after faults. Stability of the closed-loop system under the proposed scheme is analyzed.


Quality impacts the reputations of a company therefore Quality Management Systems (QMS) exist to forecast and manage quality. It is the responsibility of a company to manage its QMS and its suppliers. The International Organization of Standardization (ISO) and the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) has made it compulsory for accredited companies to comply with the standards. Over time companies tend to deviate from these standards which causes problems such as customer dissatisfaction and poor product quality. Many companies have experienced losses due to non-conformance to the standards; therefore it is necessary to constantly test the level of compliance with the standards. This article addresses the assessment of several features of a company's QMS and expresses how this ultimately affects it. The use of analysis techniques allows diagnoses of system problems and to focus efforts of the company in eliminating them. The results of the study reveal certain factors that are often dismissed as insignificant but contribute significantly to the Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ). It is important for companies to remain competitive and allow them to compete globally in their respective industrial sectors.


As the organizational environment becomes more dynamic and complex, leaders often assign conflicting work requirements on employees to achieve organizational goals effectively, thus leading to employees experiencing ambivalence towards leaders. Recently, scholars have examined ambivalence within the context of workplace relationships. Leader-Member Exchange(LMX)ambivalence refers to the subjective experience of coexisting positive and negative thoughts towards the leader-follower relationship; however, the influence of ambivalence on employees' work outcomes is inconsistent. Moreover, there is a lack of understanding on the relationship of ambivalence and changed-oriented behavior. Based on the tenets of social information processing theory, we investigate how LMX ambivalence affects employee proactive behavior by exploring the mediating role of organizational status and the moderating role of authoritarian leadership.We collected data with validated scales in 11 companies from Beijing, Shanghai, and Qingdao in China at two time points. At time 1, we distributed questionnaires to 462 employees to measure their demographic variables, LMX ambivalence, authoritarian leadership, organizational status and control variables. At time 2, we sent questionnaires to the corresponding supervisors to measure their demographic variables and employee proactive behavior. We obtained a dataset of 409 supervisor-subordinate dyads eventually. This study verifies the hypothesis with confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and hierarchy regression analysis.The results show that the relationship between LMX ambivalence and employee proactive behavior is significantly negative, and such relationship is mediated by employees' organizational status. Authoritarian leadership plays a moderating role in the relationship between LMX ambivalence and employees' organizational status. Specifically, for employees under a high level of authoritarian leadership, the negative effect of their LMX ambivalence on employees' organizational status is stronger. Our moderated mediation model also demonstrates that the indirect effect of LMX ambivalence on employee proactive behavior through organizational status is stronger for employees who are under a high level of authoritarian leadership. This study explores the influence of the factors of individual attitude and leadership on employee proactive behavior, providing new ideas for motivating employees to engage in proactive behavior.This study makes the following contributions: Firstly, it extends the outcome variables of LMX ambivalence from employees' task performance to proactive behavior, which advances our knowledge on the relationship of LMX ambivalence and change-oriented behaviors. Secondly, it reveals that organizational status is a path to explain the relationship between LMX ambivalence and employee proactive behavior from the cognitive perspective. Thirdly, it examines authoritarian leadership as a boundary condition aggravating the negative effect of LMX ambivalence on employees' organizational status and proactive behavior. In terms of managerial implications, leaders should empower employees rather than display authoritarian behaviors to avoid strengthening the negative effect of their experience of "love and hate together".


Abstract The current standard model of cosmology (SMoC) requires The Dual Dwarf Galaxy Theorem to be true according to which two types of dwarf galaxies must exist: primordial dark-matter (DM) dominated (type A) dwarf galaxies, and tidal-dwarf and ram-pressure-dwarf (type B) galaxies void of DM. Type A dwarfs surround the host approximately spherically, while type B dwarfs are typically correlated in phasespace. Type B dwarfs must exist in any cosmological theory in which galaxies interact. Only one type of dwarf galaxy is observed to exist on the baryonic Tully-Fisher plot and in the radius-mass plane. The Milky Way satellite system forms a vast phase-space-correlated structure that includes globular clusters and stellar and gaseous streams. Other galaxies also have phase-space correlated satellite systems. Therefore, The Dual Dwarf Galaxy Theorem is falsified by observation and dynamically relevant cold or warm DM cannot exist. It is shown that the SMoC is incompatible with a large set of other extragalactic observations. Other theoretical solutions to cosmological observations exist. In particular, alone the empirical mass-discrepancy—acceleration correlation constitutes convincing evidence that galactic-scale dynamics must be Milgromian. Major problems with inflationary big bang cosmologies remain unresolved.


Monitoring and understanding traffic congestion seems difficult due to its complex nature. This is because the occurrence of traffic congestion is dynamic and interrelated and it depends on many factors. Traffic congestion can also propagate from one road to neighbouring roads. Recent research shows that there is a spatial correlation between neighbouring roads with different traffic flow pattern on weekdays and on weekends. Previously, prediction of traffic flow propagation was based on day and time during weekdays and on weekends. Results obtained from past studies show that further investigation is needed to reduce errors using a more efficient method. We observed from previous research that similarity of traffic condition on weekdays and weekends was not taken into account in predicting traffic flow propagation. Hence, our study is to create and evaluate a new prediction model for traffic flow propagation at neighbouring roads using similarity of traffic flow pattern on weekdays and weekends to achieve more accurate results. We exploit similarity of traffic flow pattern on weekdays and weekends by adding time cluster in our proposed model. Thus, our neural network model proposed high correlation road, time and day clusters as input factors in neural network model prediction. Our initial phase of the methodology involves investigation on correlation between neighbouring roads. This paper discusses the results of experiments we have conducted to determine relationship between roads in a neighbouring area and to determine input factors for our neural network traffic flow prediction model. To choose a particular road as a predicting factor, we calculated the distance between roads in neighbouring area to identify the nearest road. Then, we calculated correlation based on traffic condition (congestion) between roads in neighbouring area. The results were then used as input factors for prediction of traffic flow. We compared the results of the experiment using neural network without cluster parameters and multiple regression methods. We observed that neural network with time cluster parameter produced better results compared to neural network without parameter and multiple regression method in predicting average speed of vehicles on neighbouring roads.


Objectives: The present study was conducted to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of fluticasone propionate/formoterol fumarate combination therapy (FP/FORM; Flutiform®) compared with fluticasone propionate/salmeterol xinafoate (FP/SAL; Seretide® Evohaler®) in children with asthma. Methods: This was an open-label, randomized, controlled, phase III trial and extension. Patients aged 4–12 years with reversible asthma [% predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) 60–100%; documented reversibility of ⩾15% in FEV1] were randomized to receive FP/FORM (100/10 µg b.i.d.) or FP/SAL (100/50 µg b.i.d.) for 12 weeks. Eligible patients completing the 12-week core phase entered a 24-week extension phase with FP/FORM (100/10 µg b.i.d.). The primary efficacy endpoint was the change in predose FEV1 from day 0 to day 84. Secondary efficacy endpoints included change in predose to 2-hours postdose FEV1 from day 0 to day 84, peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), patient-reported outcomes, rescue-medication use and asthma exacerbations. Results: In total, 211 patients were randomized and 210 completed the core phase; of these patients, 208 entered and 205 completed the extension phase of the study. Predose FEV1 increased from day 0 to day 84 [FP/FORM, 182 ml; 95% confidence interval (CI), 127, 236; FP/SAL, 212 ml, 95% CI, 160, 265] and FP/FORM was noninferior to FP/SAL: least squares (LS) mean treatment difference: –0.031 (95% CI, –0.093, 0.031; p = 0.026). Secondary efficacy analyses indicated similar efficacy with both therapies. There were no notable differences observed in the safety and tolerability profile between treatments. No safety concerns were identified with long-term FP/FORM therapy, and there was no evidence of an effect of FP/FORM on plasma cortisol. Conclusions: FP/FORM improved lung function and measures of asthma control with comparable efficacy to FP/SAL, and demonstrated a favourable safety and tolerability profile in children aged 4–12 years.


Bartonella henselae causes severe disease in immunocompromised individuals. B. henselae was isolated from 12 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals with bacillary angiomatosis and/or peliosis hepatis and from their 15 cat contacts. Specific associations between the 2 B. henselae genotypes, individual pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns, and different clinical syndromes and pathogenicity were investigated. The role of cat contacts as the source of human infection was also examined. Three of the 4 patients with B. henselae genotype I infection, but none of the 8 patients with genotype II infection, had hepatosplenic vascular proliferative lesions (P=.018). Four of 5 human-cat pairs had closely-related PFGE patterns and concordant results by 16S rDNA typing, which strongly suggests that human infection was caused by the cat contact. These results corroborate the major role of cats in the transmission of B. henselae to humans and suggest that B. henselae genotypes may induce different pathological features in HIV-infected patients.


In this study, new antibacterial materials were developed to manufacture a functional corrugated board. Sulfur solution, a new antibacterial solution made from inorganic sulfur in the laboratory, and other antibacterial mat erials were adopted to treat the surface of a linerboard. We measured the antibacteriocidal and bacteriostatic activities, as well as the fungal resistance of the surface-treated linerboards, to identify the antibacterial properties. The mechanical properties of the surface-treated linerboard were also determined in order to identify the effects of the antibacterial materials on linerboard properties. Linerboard treated with sulfur solution, PVOH, and sodium metasulfite showed the highest antibacterial activity, while linerboard treated with sulfur solution and nano sulfur showed the highest fungal resistance. It was identified that sulfur solution has effective antibacterial properties. The antibacterial materials did not affect the mechanical properties of the surface-treated linerboard, but the binder showed significant effects in terms of the burst strength, the compressive strength, and the stiffness of the linerboard.


Abstract Green barriers are one kind of non‐tariff barrier (NTB). This paper points out that green barriers evolved from sustainable development theory and environmental protection, but are compatible with true comparative advantage. The best way to surmount green barriers for Chinese enterprises is to implement circular production processes and clean production techniques.


We investigated the virulence of three 2009 west Alabama isolates of Aeromonas hydrophila (AL09-71, AL09-72 and AL09-73) to channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus fingerlings (4.6 +/- 1.3 g) in the presence and absence of extracellular products (ECPs) from overnight bacterial culture using both bath immersion and intraperitoneal injection routes. At a concentration of 1.65 x 10(8) colony-forming units (CFU) ml(-1), AL09-73 without its ECPs killed 100% of the catfish fingerlings within 2 h by bath immersion. However, at a similar concentration, AL09-73 in the presence of its ECPs killed only 23 +/- 6% catfish fingerlings. The absence of ECPs in the bath immersion experiment also significantly (p < 0.05) increased the virulence of AL09-71, AL09-72, and AL98-C1B, a 1998 Alabama strain of A. hydrophila, suggesting that the virulence of the 4 A. hydrophila isolates was mainly due to bacterial cells, not to their overnight ECPs. Filter-sterilized ECPs failed to kill any catfish by bath immersion or injection. The virulence order of the 4 A. hydrophila isolates, by both bath immersion and intraperitoneal injection, was: AL09-73 > or = AL09-71 > AL09-72 > or = AL98-C1B. At 2 h post bath immersion, all 4 isolates of A. hydrophila were found in all tissues studied (skin, intestine, liver, spleen, kidney, gill and brain), with the highest bacteria count being in the gill and kidney.


Despite the near ubiquity of intertemporal choice, there is little consensus on the rate at which individuals trade present and future costs and benefits. We contribute to this debate by estimating discount rates from extensive data on housing transactions and spatiotemporal variation in property taxes in England. Our findings imply long-term average net of growth nominal discount rates that are between 3 and 4 percent. The close correspondence to prevailing market interest rates gives little reason to suggest that households misoptimize by materially undervaluing very long-term financial flows in this high-stakes context. (JEL D15, H71, R31)


Objective: To determine trends in HIV seroprevalence and related risk factors among patients with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and to report the respective epidemiologic history characteristics. Methods: A cross‐sectional seroepidemiologic study conducted from 1990 to 1996 among 5,669 symptomatic STD cases was carried out. Results: The overall HIV test acceptance was 98.9%, and 1.2% patients (n = 66) were seropositive. Highest rates were detected among those who were born or resided in Sub‐Saharan Africa. Seropositivity fluctuates significantly by age, and is excessive in persons 45 years and older (2.6%). A significant decreasing trend in STD incidence and HIV seroprevalence among patients younger than 25 years was detected. Male homosexuals and bisexuals (MSM) exhibited the highest overall rate of infection (5.8%) followed by intravenous drug users (2%). Highly promiscuous STD patients (ie, those who had more than 10 partners during the past 6 months) presented a significantly increased HIV seroprevalence when compared with patients of the same sexual orientation. STD patients infected with HIV mostly belonged to notable risk categories of AIDS (men who have sex with men, 72.7%). Awareness of serostatus was low (13.6%). In male patients, the HIV seropositivity rate was significantly higher among early syphilis and proctitis cases, whereas in females this higher rate occurred with herpes genitalis. Conclusions: Promiscuity and sexual orientation significantly influence the seroprevalence rate. Exposure to HIV remained stable despite the above declining time trends, which implies the need for additional preventive interventions targeted to the real health and illness behavior of the partner.


Covering more than 200,000 rai, agricultural land around Bangkok has been put to various uses for more than 300 years. The types of plants grown there have changed over time, and some planting is close to communities. As a result, points worth studying are how this land still exists, what causes the planting of new plant species to replace existing ones, which species can thrive in a suburban area like this, and which species should be promoted in this area. The study is conducted by means of comparing the location of this area with the theory of locating ideal agricultural land, the theory of succession and the existence of communities. The findings will benefit planning to conserve urban green areas. The study reveals that the existence of this land results from economic conditions, types of plants, and the environment. The sequence of agricultural existence ranges from orchids, grass land, kaffir lime vegetables, aquatic plants, flowering plants, paddy fields, and oranges to livestock Traditional orchards cannot survive because of economic factors. The pattern of agricultural succession is moving out of the urban center. Paddy fields and livestock are at the outer edge of this land because of low turnover. How ever, the area for growing orchids can be expanded · in every direction. Elderly labor and labor from the outskirts of Bangkok support the existence of this area. In addition, there are fewer pests in this area so it is ideal for planting pesticide free vegetables. To maintain the existence of this land, it is recommended that bypasses be controlled or adapted so that they are not connected to this area. The disposal of sewage from residences should be strictly controlled. Rivers and other water resources should be revived.


Aim at the problem of poor retrieval quality in digital library, the advantage and correlative application of the ontology in digital librarypsilas semantics retrieval fields was introduced. Then basic structure of semantics retrieval system based on ontology was put forward, and the ontology of constructing scientific documents was presented. Further, the process of intelligent retrieval system based on the ontology was particularly presented. After a lot of practical argumentations, the paper concluded that semantics retrieval technology would improve retrieval quality extremely, and would be the preferred method to solving the lack of semantic relation in traditional retrieval technology.


Previous studies have shown that prolonged estrogen treatment of mice markedly reduces their natural killer (NK) cell activity. Our experiments demonstrate that splenocytes from (C57BL/6 X C3H/He) F1 mice treated with 17 beta-estradiol are suppressive for the NK activity of splenocytes from untreated mice when the two cell populations are mixed during cytotoxicity assays. The suppressor activity is resistant to treatment with anti-Thy-1.2 or anti-la reagent plus complement, can be generated in neonatally thymectomized mice, and is present in plastic-adherent as well as nonadherent cell populations. Treatment with a NK-reactive antiserum, either anti-asialo-GM-1 or anti-NK-1.2, has no effect on the suppressor activity. Administration of the interferon inducer polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid to mice treated with estrogen results in moderate restoration of NK activity but has no effect on the suppressor activity. These data suggest that generation of a Thy-1-negative/la-negative suppressor cell population is, at least in part, responsible for the reduced levels of NK activity in estrogen-treated mice.


BACKGROUND
The aim of the current study was to determine whether the serum prolidase levels are associated with the etiopathogenesis of depression.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
This study included 29 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), who were consecutively recruited from the psychiatric outpatient clinic, and 30 healthy individuals recruited from the general community. Each patient underwent a detailed diagnostic evaluation by two psychiatrists using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I). Serum prolidase activity and oxidative parameters were measured in the patient and control groups. The severity of depressive symptoms was assessed using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale.

RESULTS
Serum prolidase level was significantly higher in patients with MDD compared to healthy subjects (p<0.001). Total Oxidant Status (TOS) levels and Oxidative Stress Index (OSI) were also significantly higher in patients with MDD (p<0.001), whereas no significant difference was observed between the groups in the TAS levels (p=0.297). Serum prolidase level did not show any correlation with markers of oxidative stress in patients with MDD.

CONCLUSION
Increased serum prolidase levels in patients with MDD may be interpreted as the interaction of prolidase activity, glutamate transmission and oxidative stress. It is suggested that prolidase activity is involved in the etiopathogenesis of depressive disorder.


In a patient with a transtracheal oxygen catheter (ITO2C), a nearly fatal complication occurred due to the formation of a mucous plug on the tip, which almost totally obstructed the tracheal lumen. To our knowledge, this complication has not been reported before with the use of this type of transtracheal oxygen catheter.


Objectives: Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is a reversible cause of heart failure rarely described in African-American patients. This study aimed to compare and contrast the clinical characteristics of TTS in African-American (AA) and non-African-American (NAA) patients. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the charts of eight patients (four AA and four NAA) diagnosed with TTS, between June 2006 and August 2008, in four different teaching hospitals: St Michael's Medical Center, St Joseph's Medical Center, Trinitas hospital and St Louis' University Hospital. We compared the patients with regard to presenting symptoms, precipitating stressors, electrocardiographic findings, troponin levels, ejection fraction and in-hospital course. Results: All patients were females (mean age 64 for AA and 67 for NAA). All patients experienced chest pain and had elevated troponin levels. Two AA and three NAA patients had associated shortness of breath and one NAA had syncope. All AA and three NAA had T-wave inversions. Three NAA and one AA had ST segment elevation. Three patients in both groups developed prolongation of the QT interval. Coronary angiograms did not reveal any significant obstructive coronary artery disease. Three patients, all NAA, needed hemodynamic support during their hospital stay but none died. Conclusion: AA and NAA women with TTS have similar presenting symptoms but may differ in the electrocardiographic findings and in-hospital course of the disease.


Current theories of particle physics suggest that the fundamental particles are all massless. It is only when they move through space that they acquire an effective mass. This implies that all of space is filled with a new substance called a Higgs field - a sort of `cosmic treacle' - and, if so, experiments at CERN might soon be able to test this idea. Simple analogies are used to explain some of the deep mysteries of mass generation.


The fungal organism Colletotrichum gloeosporioides is the causative agent of anthracnose disease of Citrus fruits. It is recently introduced as a potential producer of anticancer metabolite paclitaxel. Here, we introduce the optimal conditions for growth and sporulation of C. gloeosporioides. We have considered four fungal culture media, that is potato dextrose agar (PDA), carnation leaf agar (CLA), potato carrot agar (PCA) and water agar (WA), based on which sporulation inducers like Watman or Fabriano filter papers could be added, and evaluated both for vegetative growth and sporulation. Three light regimens, i.e. continuous light, 16/8 hrs light/darkness, and continuous darkness were applied in combination with the culture media. All experiments were tracked on 7th, 15th, 21st, and 30th day after incubation. At 28°C, PDA and PCA culture media, under continuous light, provided the best condition for C. gloeosporioides maximal growth. Decreasing light periods decreased the fungal growth. Furthermore, fungal sporulation showed a high dependence on light, temperature and culture medium in use. Under 16/8 h light/darkness interval at the same temperature C. gloeosporioides sporulation was at its maximum on Fabriano paper placed on PDA medium. At a lower temperature, that is 22°C, C. gloeosporioides sporulation on the same culture media was highly defected. Furthermore, aging generally increased the fungal sporulation.

 Key words: Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, citrus, growth, conidiation, development.


The Housing Choice Voucher Program struggles to assist families in accessing low–poverty neighborhoods. This paper explores a newly introduced incentive in the voucher program in Milwaukee County that could expand its potential to improve locational outcomes by providing security deposit assistance to households who move to a suburban jurisdiction. Using in–depth interviews we examine the different ways voucher users responded to the program and how it interacted with their life experiences and search strategies. Our interviews highlight the role of housing instability and discrimination, as well as the role of informal search assistance and the appeals voucher users make to persuade landlords to rent to them. Our study speaks to the limits of "nudge"–like policy incentives and emphasizes how choices about moving are influenced not only by incentives but also by a stratified housing market. We conclude with policy suggestions based on our findings that could make suburban searches more promising for voucher holders.


Admiral Sir James Somerville's command of the Eastern Fleet in 1942 caused serious tensions in Anglo-American naval relations despite the admiral's personal efforts to cultivate closer ties with the US Navy. Specifically, US Navy admirals such as Ernest King felt that while the US Navy had helped the Royal Navy in its hour of need, the favour was not returned by the British. Diverging assessments of the value of the Indian Ocean and the Royal Navy's wartime experience were the critical factors that led to these tensions. This article highlights the limits of individual attitudes in shaping wartime Anglo-American naval relations. One admiral's personal views could not overcome differences in British and American naval thinking which led to frustration and resentment rather than greater harmony.