The influence of hyperthermia and environmental pH on proteolytic activity was studied in murine ascites tumor cells in vitro. PNJ ascites tumor cells were incubated with [125I]cytochrome c at 42.5 or 37 degrees C in a modified Krebs-Ringer buffer adjusted to pH 7.2 or 6.4. Incubation at normal temperature at pH 6.4 and 7.2 or at 42.5 degrees C and pH 7.2 resulted in identical protein digestion. However, hyperthermic incubation at pH 6.4 resulted in a significant increased activity. This was also observed after only 1 hour of hyperthermic incubation followed by subsequent incubation in an acidic environment at normal temperature. The increased proteolytic activity following hyperthermic treatment under acidic conditions may support the hypothesis that increased lysosomal activity is of primary importance in the hyperthermic tumor-cell destruction in vivo.


The task of covering the whole field of coastal geomorphology at an advanced undergraduate and graduate student level has become a daunting one. Colin Woodroffe's book deals with the geological setting and materials on coasts, coastal processes, rocky coasts, reef coasts, beach and barrier coasts, deltas and estuaries, muddy coasts, morphodynamics of coastal systems and human activities and future coasts in 623 pages, with 191 figures, 16 tables and over 1700 references. The book is well produced, the illustrations are clear and the treatment comprehensive. It will certainly be a useful reference work. Coastal geomorphology has several constituencies. Some focus on the shaping of landforms in relation to geology, processes, variations in climate and the relative levels of land and sea. Others concentrate on coastline changes measured over specified periods, with analyses of their causes. Others are interested in nearshore processes and responses, particularly on beaches, where morphodynamic models have been most successful. Others look to the coastal area for evidence of Quaternary history, notably changes in land and sea level and climatic sediment, or the array of weathering processes in the coastal zone. There is material for each of these groups in this book, but the emphasis is on morphodynamics rather than sea level histories. A glossary of technical terms would have been helpful, for the terms used are not always clearly defined. For example the term 'shoreline' is taken as the linear margin between the land and the sea (p. 2) and the 'coast' a much broader zone, but there is reference to muddy shorelines (p. 5) which are zones rather than lines. The term 'coastline' is used sporadically but not defined, the term 'shore' is largely avoided, and the terms 'shoreface' (sea floor) and 'beachface' (intertidal) add to the confusion. Use of the book as a reference work would be easier if the index were more comprehensive. Such topics as rias and shelly beaches do not appear in the contents list or the index, and yet are well treated in the text. Searches for information on the various kinds of slope-over-wall coast or on abrasion shore platforms, particularly strandflats, proved disappointing, and there is little on the various sources of beach material. Cuspate forelands are not 'also called cuspate barriers' (p. 302) and berms are not confined to sandy beaches (p. 273). The section on gravel barriers deals mainly with shingle beaches: the Hallsands beach in Devon (eroded following nearshore gravel extraction) was not a barrier, and the Nelson beach is New Zealand is no longer one. Even with more than 600 pages many topics receive only abbreviated treatment: the Bruun Rule, for example, is mentioned briefly without discussing its many limitations. Equilibrium concepts are mentioned in several sections ('simple in principle but often hard to define in practice', p. 32), but their relevance to geomorphological problems remains obscure. The discussion of beach morphodynamics does not explore variations over time: a student may wonder why the dissipative beach illustrated in figure 6.10 has a ciffed backshore. An example of cutting corners is the sentence on p. 302: 'Dungeness in southern England is a cuspate foreland comprising ridges that have silted up Romney Marsh'. Yet if these topics were discussed more carefully the text would have to be much longer. Coastal geomorphology has grown vigorously over the past few decades, and book-length treatments are available for several of the topics that form chapters or sections in this work. Nevertheless, it will be a useful addition to the coastal geomorphology bookshelf. Eric Bird University of Melbourne


Elia Suleiman, born in Nazareth in 1960, is the first Palestinian filmmaker to be selected for the "official competition" of the Cannes International Film Festival: his Divine Intervention: A Chronicle
 of Love and Pain was not only one of the twenty-one films out of 939 entries chosen for the fifty-fifth festival in May 2002, it also won the Jury Prize and the Interna tional Critics Prize. Suleiman
 had already come to the attention of the 2001 Cannes Festival, where his short Cyber Palestine was shown at the "Directors9 Fortnight." Though without formal training, Suleiman has been winning prizes
 since his first film, a short entitled Introduction to the End of an Argument , won the award for best experimental documentary-USA in 1991. This was followed by his 1992 short Homage by Assassination ,
 which won a Rockefeller Prize. By the time he made his first full-length movie, Chronicle of a Disappearance (which won the prize for the best first-feature at the 1996 Venice International Film
 Festival), his style was already well developed: a progression of sketches——witty, surreal, ironic, often devastating——and a virtual absence of narrative; in the case of Chronicle , a main
 character (a filmmaker called E.S., played by Suleiman himself) appears in a number of the episodes, most of which shed harsh light on life in Nazareth, but his presence seems more accidental than part
 of a storyline. Film critic Stanley Kaufman of the New Republic called Chronicle of a Disappearance "a film of the absurd. If Ionesco had been a Palestinian and a filmmaker, he might have
 made it." While his recent film, Divine Intervention , is still very much an assemblage of vignettes, it does nonetheless have a semblance of narrative: a "central character" (again, a filmmaker named
 E.S., again played by Suleiman) shuttles between his hometown of Nazareth, where his father, beset by business woes, has a heart attack and lies dying; his apartment in East Jerusalem, where he is working
 on a screenplay; and a checkpoint between East Jerusalem and Ramallah, where he holds tender but wordless meetings in a parked car with his lover, a Ramallah woman hemmed in by borders and closures. In
 one of the checkpoint scenes that combines the visual beauty, whimsy, humor, and satire characteristic of the film, the hero inflates a large red balloon bearing the smiling visage of Yasir Arafat and releases
 it, creating havoc among the soldiers. Taking advantage of the ensuing confusion, the hero and his lover manage to speed through the checkpoint, while the camera follows the balloon as it soars over the
 landscape toward Jerusalem, floating over the rooftops of the Old City and past the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to a light on the Dome of the Rock. When Divine Intervention won the Jury Prize at
 Cannes, the New York Times (27 May 2002) called it "a Keatonesque exploration of the large and small absurdities of Palestinian life under occupation." And indeed, despite the humor, moments of tenderness,
 and laugh-out-loud sight gags, the film presents an all-too-realistic picture, pitiless and meticulous, of the devastating impact of occupation on Palestinian society both in Israel and in the occupied
 territories. Suleiman is witty and light, but dead serious; allergic to preaching, propaganda , and clichee, but highly political. The underlying grimness of the film is relieved not only by the humor
 but by resort to fantasy: the hero, cruising a long a highway, casually tosses an apricot pit out of his car window and a tank blows up; a stunningly beautiful woman (the hero9s lover) strides through a
 checkpoint, mesmerizing the soldiers with her fierce beauty, and a military watchtower collapses. The most elaborate such sequence is the spectacular "Ninja scene," a violently beautiful and stylized choreography
 wherein the same woman is imagined as a guerrilla fighter who dispatches (seemingly bloodlessly) a whole phalanx of Israeli sharpshooters who have been firing at her effigy in a shooting range. The meaning
 of the images, whose connectedness one to the next is not always immediately apparent, can leave the spectator temporarily puzzled; the New York Times of 7 October 2002 called them "cinematic riddles
 and visual puns, delivered in elegant deadpan." The cumulative impact, however, is clear, and the images themselves linger long after the film ends. New York Times critic A. O. Scott, while noting the film9s
 "appearance of randomness," adds that there is "an oblique, elegant sense of structure here" and that "the interlocking series of setups, punch lines and non sequiturs add up to something touching, provocative,
 and wonderfully strange." Divine Intervention currently is being shown throughout Europe and will be opening in the Middle East and Israel in January 2003. Shown at the New York Film Festival in
 October 2002, it will open commercially in the United States in January. Suleiman, in Paris for the opening of his film, was interviewed by Linda Butler, associate editor of JPS , on 26 September
 2002.


In Ghana, public housing which is provided mainly for government employees plays an important role in socio-economic development. For instance, civil servants are more likely to accept transfers to areas where their services are most needed. Unfortunately, attention to public housing in Ghana has diminished over the years largely due to shift in policy focus towards the enablement approach. That is, private-sector-led housing production. The result is that, public housing conditions and quality continuous to deteriorate due largely to lack of maintenance. This is evident in many research and news publications, and the visible signs of deterioration such as leaking roofs, rotten ceilings, cracked walls, faded paint, and dysfunctional electrical and plumbing systems. Therefore, this thesis proposes an approach to management by local authorities that may bring about maintenance and lead to better conditions/quality of public housing. The approach proposes a defined structure with roles, responsibilities and relationships for the district assembly, the district coordinating director, the housing unit of the local authority, the works department, and tenants. It outlines a defined protocol for addressing repairs and maintenance including mechanisms to receive and respond to everyday repairs from tenants. Furthermore, it proposes that district assemblies should be fully responsible for determining and collecting rents so as to ensure reliable and secure finance for maintenance. It recommends the participation of tenants in management through mechanisms such as regular meetings or tenant representatives. Finally, it recommends mechanisms such as planning, budgeting, and submission of annual accounts to monitor and ensure that rents are spent on maintenance.


CONTEXT
Tumor-induced osteomalacia is curable if the tumors can be totally excised. However, when the tumors are present in locations that make surgery disproportionately risky, the need for less invasive strategies like radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is realized.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
We describe three patients with suspected tumor-induced osteomalacia who were treated in our department between 2006 and 2013 with tumors in surgically difficult locations and were subjected to single or multiple sessions of RFA. The response was documented in terms of symptomatic improvement, phosphorus normalization, and follow-up (99m)Technitium-labelled hydrazinonicotinyl-Tyr3-octreotide ((99m)Tc HYNIC TOC) scan.

RESULTS
Two of the three individuals, patient A (with a 1.5 × 1.2-cm lesion in the head of the right femur) and patient B (with a 1.3 × 1.2-cm lesion on the endosteal surface of the shaft of the left femur), achieved complete remission with single sessions of RFA. Three months after the procedure, (99m)Tc HYNIC TOC scans revealed the absence of uptake at the previous sites, corroborating with the clinical improvement and phosphorus normalization. Patient C had a large 5.6 × 6.5-cm complex lesion in the lower end of the left femur with irregular margins, loculations, and bone grafts placed in previous surgery. He failed to achieve remission after multiple sessions of RFA due to the complex nature of the lesion, although the tumor burden was reduced significantly as documented on serial (99m)Tc HYNIC TOC scans.

CONCLUSIONS
Although surgery remains the treatment of choice, RFA could be an effective, less invasive, and safe modality of treatment in judiciously selected patients.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of porous biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) scaffolds on the proliferation and osteoblastic differentiation of human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLCs) in the presence and absence of osteogenic inducer (L-ascorbic acid, dexamethasone and β-glycerophosphate). The cell growth within the scaffolds in the absence of osteogenic inducers was studied by cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and osteoblastic differentiation markers of hPDLCs in BCP scaffolds were examined in the presence and absence of osteogenic inducers. The cell number of hPDLCs in the BCP scaffolds was less than that of hPDLCs cultured in microplates (control). SEM images showed that cells successfully adhered to the BCP scaffolds and spread amongst the pores; they also produced abundant extracellular cell matrix. In the presence and absence of osteogenic inducers, the ALP activity of hPDLCs within BCP scaffolds was suppressed in varying degrees at all time-points. In the absence of osteogenic inducers, hPDLCs in BCP scaffolds express significant higher levels of osteopontin (OPN) mRNA than the control, and there were no significant differences for Runx2 and osteocalcin (OCN) mRNA levels compared with those cultured in microplates. In the presence of osteogenic inducers, Runx2 expression levels were significantly higher than those in control. OPN and OCN mRNA levels were downregulated slightly. Three-dimensional porous BCP scaffolds are able to stimulate the osteoblastic differentiation of hPDLCs in the presence and absence of osteogenic inducer and may be capable of supporting hPDLC-mediated bone formation.


Adjusting breeding phenology to climate fluctuations can be problematic for migratory birds as they have to account for local environmental conditions on the breeding grounds while migrating from remote wintering areas. Predicting general responses to climate change is not straightforward, because these responses vary between migrant species due to the species-specific ecological drivers of breeding behaviour. Therefore more information is needed on species with different ecological requirements, including data on heritability of migration, factors driving phenological changes and how climate affects selection pressures.

Here, we measure heritability in settlement dates and the effect of local climate at the breeding grounds on settlement dates, reproductive success and selection patterns in a French population of a trans-Saharan migratory insectivorous raptor, the lesser kestrel Falco naumanni, monitored and ringed since 1996.

Heritability of settlement dates was low (0.07 ± 0.03), indicating a weak evolutionary potential. Nevertheless, plasticity in settlement dates in response to temperatures allowed earlier settlement when early spring was warmer than average. Reproductive success and selection patterns were strongly affected by temperature during settlement and chick rearing respectively. Warmer spring decreased selection for earlier settling and warmer early summer increased reproductive success. Interestingly, selection for earlier settling was more intense in cooler springs, contrasting with patterns from passerines lagging behind food peaks.

Altogether, these results suggest a positive effect of warmer temperatures on breeding performances of lesser kestrels most likely because the French population is at the coolest boundary of the species European breeding range.


Using a novel approach we have reanalysed the question of whether the extreme star-forming galaxies known as H II galaxies are truly young or rejuvenated old systems. We first present a method of inversion that applies to any monotonic function of time describing the evolution of independent events. We show that, apart from a normalization constant, the 'true' time dependence can be recovered from the inversion of its probability density function. We applied the inversion method to the observed equivalent width of the H β [EW(H β )] distribution for objects in the Spectrophotometric Catalogue of H II Galaxies compiled by Terlevich and collaborators, and found that the global history of star formation behaves more like a continuous star-formation model than an instantaneous model. On the other hand, when the inversion method is applied to samples within a restricted metallicity range, we find that their history of star formation is much closer to what the instantaneous model predicts. Our main conclusion is that, globally, the evolution of H II galaxies seems consistent with a succession of short starbursts separated by quiescent periods and that, while the emission lines trace the properties of the present burst, the underlying stellar continuum traces the whole star-formation history of the galaxy. Thus, observables like the EW(H β ) that combine an emission line flux, i.e. a parameter pertaining to the present burst, with the continuum flux, i.e. a parameter that traces the whole history of star formation, should not be used alone to characterize the present burst.


Desmoid tumours are a group of rare soft tissue tumours of mesenchymal origin, which arise following the monoclonal proliferation of well-differentiated fibroblasts. They are highly infiltrative and can be locally recurrent, but do not metastasize and may stabilise with time. This article describes 3 cases of desmoid tumours in a junctional area, and a literature review in the clinical management of this entity is also presented. Three patients with junctional desmoid tumors were identified from the institutional soft tissue database comprising of 94 cases between 1994 and 2007. The case files were reviewed and the patient histories were summarized. All 3 were female, and all presented with arm symptoms. Resection margins were either microscopically positive or narrowly cleared at the primary surgery of all 3 patients. Two patients suffered from recurrence, but all were able to achieve long-term survival of at least 12 years. The management of desmoid tumours is evolving with increasing knowledge of the natural history of this disease. Watchful waiting is increasingly utilized for asymptomatic or stable cases. For symptomatic or progressive disease, treatment options include surgical resection, radiotherapy and systemic therapy. Both radiotherapy and systemic therapy have been used as primary treatment modalities, neoadjuvant therapy or adjuvant therapy with varying degrees of success. Due to the complexity of this disease, and the unpredictable natural history, it is recommended that all patients with desmoid tumors be managed in a multidisciplinary setting.


Lyman α radiation can be used as an astronomical and cosmological observable, being the strongest line among the hydrogen transitions. Using modern radiative transfer routines, it is possible to create simulations of accurate physical conditions and create predictions on observable properties of Lyman α radiation. Until recently has most information been obtained from the intensity and the spectrum, but a few observations (Hayes et al. 2011; Oesch et al. 2015) have been made which indicate that the polarisation also is an observable property. These observations yielded results that were in accordance with the simulated predictions by Dijkstra & Loeb (2008). However, the simulations by Dijkstra & Loeb (2008) are unique among the increasingly physically complex radiative transfer routines of recent times, as these largely ignore polarisation. Despite being rather unique, the treatment of Dijkstra & Loeb (2008) was not accurate. An approach that is accurate quantum mechanically, based on the density matrix formalism as a description of quantum systems, was devised and applied by Lee & Ahn (2002). In this thesis is this formalism incorporated into an existing radiative transfer routine developed by Gronke & Dijkstra (2014), called tlac. The method is applied to analytical scattering scenarios, single scattering events of polarised and unpolarised radiation and multiple scatterings in a plane-parallel, semi-infinite slab of line centre optical depths τ0 = 2 × 102, 2 × 103, 2 × 104, 2 × 106. We show that the density matrix formalism is coordinate dependent, and produce a polarisation signal specific to the scattering medium described by Lee & Ahn (2002). We reproduce some key results from Lee & Ahn (2002); Chandrasekhar (1960). We show that the intrinsic degree of polarisation associated with each photon increases as a function of number of wing scatterings, which again depends on the optical thickness of the scattering medium. This photon-intrinsic increase in polarisation does not necessarily correspond to a detectable polarisation signal, as the latter depends on (not exclusively) the scattering geometry, the viewing angle and the measurement method. We find that scattering of polarised light follows the same angular distribution as scattering of unpolarised light, as predicted by Dijkstra & Loeb (2008). However, the degree of polarisation obtained from scattering of polarised light differs from the degree obtained when unpolarised light scatters. Future applications of the modified tlac on physically realistic scattering media may provide observational predictions on the polarisation signal that future telescopes could detect.


The transcription factor NF-κB is a biological component that is central to the regulation of genes involved in the innate immune system. Dysregulation of the pathway is known to be involved in a large number of inflammatory diseases. Although considerable research has been performed since its discovery in 1986, we are still not in a position to control the signalling pathway, and thus limit the effects of NF-κB within promotion of inflammatory diseases. We believe that computational modelling and simulation of the NF-κB signalling pathway will complement wet-lab experimental approaches, and will facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of this example of a complex biological system. In this study, we have developed an agent-based model of the IL-1 stimulated NF-κB signalling pathway, which has been calibrated to wet- lab data at the single-cell level. Through rigorous software engineering, which followed a principled approach to design and development by adherence to the CoSMoS process, we believe our model provides an abstracted view of the underlying real-world system, and can be used in a predictive capacity through in silico experimentation. A novel approach to domain modelling has been presented, which uses linear and multivariate statistical techniques to complement the Unified Modelling Language. Furthermore, in silico experimentation with the newly developed agent-based model, has confirmed the robust yet fragile nature of the signalling pathway. We have discovered that the pathway is robust to perturbations of cell membrane receptor component number, intermediate component number, and the temporal lag between cell membrane receptor activation and subsequent activation of IKK. Conversely however, in silico experimentation predicts that the pathway is sensitive to changes in the ratio of free IκBα to NF-κB, and fragile to basal dissociation of NF-κB-IκBα outside of a narrow range of probabilities.


The ever-increasing demand for acquiring images at a faster rate and consequently of deeper layers of tissue in swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT), has motivated researchers to investigate techniques capable of performing fast acquisition without compromising sensitivity. Non-linear spectral sweeps, phase instability, and increased noise levels of swept lasers can cause the image quality to deteriorate, especially if a lower quality light source is used. This work leverages the unscented Kalman filter aiming to alleviate these shortcomings. Using this filter, both the non-idealities of the non-linear sweep and the increased noise levels are accounted for. Simulations show promising performance results in terms of extracting the non-linear spectral sweep as a function of time. The UKF also shows better metrics compared to other versions of the Kalman filter when it comes to tracking non-linearities and hardware implementation complexity giving the method significant advantages in real-time applications of hand-held, portable optical coherence tomography devices.


Future engineers are not only required to master technological competencies concerning solving problems, producing and innovating technology, they are also expected to have capabilities of cooperation, communication, and project management in diverse social context, which are referred to as process competencies. Consequently, engineering education is facing challenges regarding how to facilitate students with scientific-technological competencies as well as process competencies. Problem based learning (PBL) as an educational model is regarded as an effective example regarding preparing students with the expected professional competencies. Based on the educational practice of PBL Aalborg Model, which is characterized by problem-orientation, project-organization and team work, this paper examines the process of developing process competencies through studying engineering in a PBL environment from the learners' perspective. Empirical evidence of this paper is partly drawn on previous work on the development of process competencies and partly on the fieldwork of a Ph.D. study. The analysis of the empirical data lead to the discussion in the following aspects: 1) How do engineering students develop process competencies through doing problem and project based work in teams? 2) How do students perceive their achievement of these process competencies?


Virtual microscopy (VM) uses a computer to view digitized slides and is comparable to using a microscope to view glass slides. This technology has been assessed in human medical education for teaching histology and histopathology, but, to the authors' knowledge, no one has evaluated its use in teaching cytopathology in veterinary medical education. We hypothesize that students will respond positively to the use of VM for viewing cytopathology preparations and that the technology can be successfully used for student assessment. To test this hypothesis, we surveyed students regarding their level of satisfaction with features of the VM system, their preference for use of VM in the curriculum, and the potential influence virtual slides may have on student study habits; student performance on a traditional cytopathology practical examination and a similar exam using VM was evaluated. Our results show that student perception of the VM system is generally very positive, with some concerns about resolution and the need for continued exposure to traditional microscopy. Within the curriculum, students indicated a preference for the option of using virtual slides for studying and take-home exercises. Overwhelmingly, students wanted either hybrid laboratory sessions or sessions using glass slides with virtual slides available for study and review. Students identified many VM test-taking features as advantageous compared with traditional glass-slide practical exams as traditionally administered. However, students indicated a strong preference for continued use of traditional microscopy for graded practical exams. Students may be more likely to study slides in preparation for practical examinations if virtual slides are available. Results also indicate that VM can be used successfully for assessment purposes, but students should receive training in using virtual slides if the technology will be used for assessment.


Summary The Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) has established that directives cannot produce horizontal direct effect and thus may only be invoked against the State or its emanations. In the recent Farrell 2 judgement, the Court has clarified the concept of an 'emanation of the State' which is crucial for the purposes of applying vertical direct effect. The aim of this paper is to analyse the concept of an 'emanation of the State' presented in Farrell 2 ruling. Further, the article highlights that the judgement is a positive development as it brings consistency to the EU case law and corresponds to the present realities when new 'emanations' are emerging with the special powers attributed by the State.


The firms who decide to expand their business in an international environment must modify their management style through international management. Certainly, international management must adapt their on functions to the different framework of the business development. The culture is a cardinally factor, being an essential component in the success equation of multinational companies. The culture, the habits and the attitudes became points of major interests on the global market. Their importance is obvious through numerous "blunders" which find out in international trade and international. For the success of international business the economies must bees free, but the economic freedom is influenced by the national culture. All the undertake activities of managers are accessible to cultural environment. The global firm is due to negotiate with different international organisms, and where through the negotiations to fall flat, the managers must understand the cultural environment of the negotiator and must have cross-cultural competence.


The issue of trustworthy transactions in P2P system is often addressed by deploying schemes based on evidence and recommendation. Most implementations rely on a carefully designed formul a for expressing and recording the historical performance of peers and for determining the level of trust that should govern the nature of their interactions. In this paper, a more comprehensive approach to trust management is proposed, where trustworthy transactions are supported by first, th e historical behaviour of the peers, through formula computation for local trust and distributed trust, second, group management and third, system configuration and parameter tuning. These features are supported by a layered architecture and are designed to provide a more realistic trust evaluati on in P2P environments.


Abstract A recombinant fowlpox virus (rFPV) coexpressing the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) fusion and hemagglutinin-neuraminidase genes and infectious laryngothracheitis virus (ILTV) glycoprotein B gene was constructed. This virus was then evaluated for its ability to protect specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chickens against clinical symptoms and death after challenge by virulent NDV and ILTV. SPF chickens were grouped and vaccinated with the rFPV and commercial NDV (La Sota) and ILTV attenuated live vaccine (Nobilis ILT), respectively. After challenge with NDV 10 days postvaccination, 70% of chickens vaccinated with rFPV were protected from death, whereas 100% of the commercial NDV-vaccinated chickens were protected from death. In contrast, 100% of the unvaccinated chickens died after challenge. After challenge with ILTV, both the rFPV and commercial ILTV-vaccinated chickens were completely protected from death and 70% of chickens were protected from respiratory signs. In comparison, 100% of the unvaccinated chickens developed severe respiratory disease and 10% of chickens died. The protective efficacy was also measured by the antibody responses and isolation of challenge viruses. Results showed that this rFPV could be a potential vaccine for preventing NDV and ILTV by a single immunization. RESUMEN. Protección de aves contra la enfermedad de Newcastle y la laringotraqueítis infecciosa con un virus recombinante de viruela aviar coexpresando los genes F, HN del virus de la enfermedad de Newcastle y el gen gB del virus de laringotraqueítis infecciosa.


OBJECTIVE
To observe the effect of electroacupuncture(EA) on the learning-memory ability in Alzheimer's disease(AD) rats.

METHODS
Thirty SD rats were equally randomized into control, model and EA groups. AD model was established by injecting beta-amyloid (Abeta(25-35), 10 microg) into the bilateral dentate gyri of the hippocampal CA 1 area (AP--3.5 mm, ML +/- 2.0 mm, DV 2.7 mm). EA (4 Hz, 1-2 mA) was applied to "Baihui" (GV 20), "Dazhui" (GV 14), bilateral "Shenshu" (BL 23) and bilateral "Yongquan" (KI 1) for 30 min, once daily for 7 days. The learning-memory ability was detected by using step-down test. Long term potentiation (LTP) of hippocampal CA 1 area was recorded by using tungsten microelectrodes after high frequency stimulation (HFS) conditioning of the cortical anterior perforated substance.

RESULTS
In AD rats, the error number and total error time of step-down test were increased significantly (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), and the slope of the excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP), and the amplitude and area of population spikes (PS) at 30 min, 60 min, 90 min and 120 min after high-frequency stimulation of the cortical anterior perforated substance lowered markedly in comparison with sham operation (control) group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). After EA treatment, the error number and total error time decreased significantly, the slope of EPSP, and the amplitude and area of PS from 30 min to 120 min after high-frequency stimulation increased considerably in comparison with model group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), suggesting an improvement of the synaptic transmission after EA.

CONCLUSION
EA can improve AD rats' learning-memory ability and raise the slope of EPSP and the amplitude of PS, which may contribute to its effect in relieve symptoms of AD in clinic.


ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) barriers are well-understood in high-resource settings. However, they are under-studied in low-resource settings, where access is even poorer and the context is significantly different, including two-tiered healthcare systems and greater socioeconomic challenges. OBJECTIVE: To investigate differences in characteristics of patients attending publicly versus privately funded CR and their barriers to adherence. DESIGN AND SETTING: Observational, cross-sectional study in public and private CR programs offered in Brazil. METHODS: Patients who had been attending CR for ≥ 3 months were recruited from one publicly and one privately funded CR program. They completed assessments regarding sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and the CR Barriers Scale. RESULTS: From the public program, 74 patients were recruited, and from the private, 100. Participants in the public program had significantly lower educational attainment (P < 0.001) and lower socioeconomic status (P < 0.001). Participants in the private program had more cognitive impairment (P = 0.015), and in the public program more anxiety (P = 0.001) and depressive symptoms (P = 0.008) than their counterparts. Total barriers among public CR participants were significantly higher than those among private CR participants (1.34 ± 0.26 versus 1.23 ± 0.15/5]; P = 0.003), as were scores on 3 out of 5 subscales, namely: comorbidities/functional status (P = 0.027), perceived need (P < 0.001) and access (P = 0.012). CONCLUSION: Publicly funded programs need to be tailored to meet their patients' requirements, through consideration of educational and psychosocial matters, and be amenable to mitigation of patient barriers relating to presence of comorbidities and poorer health status.


In terms of geography, Hungary, or, in a wider sense, the Carpathian Basin, is held to lie in the heart of Europe, insofar as Europe is conceived in the traditional way as stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural mountains. Yet it is also commonly said that the territory of Hungary straddles the "highway of peoples", as the westernmost plain of the great Eastern Steppe, for it was through this area that the peoples passed on their way from East to West in the Middle Ages, some of them settling here only to disappear in the ruins of history (such as the Sarmatians, the Gepids, the Huns, the Avars and others). Magyars ( Hungarians) are likewise a people of eastern origins, which, according to the most recent scholarly view, was formed sometime during the fi rst half of the fi rst millennium B. C., and thus can look back on some three thousand years of history. This ethnic group changed its way of life at least twice thereafter, undergoing a transformation fi rst from a society of hunters and fi shers into nomadic horsemen and then gradually turning from nomads into settled farmers. Their settlement area also changed frequently. Beginning with an original homeland beyond the Ural mountains, they spent a long time in the steppe area of present day Russia and the Ukraine before crossing the Carpathian mountains to settle in their present homeland at the end of the ninth century.1 Their culture was accordingly exposed to multiple external infl uences, and as a result the people itself was profoundly transformed (in terms of material culture, music and religious beliefs) from Finno-Ugrian to Turkic nomad. (The memory of this change lives on in the most commonly used foreign name of the Magyars: Onogur being the root of term – more widespread in international usage than Magyar – Hungarian, Ungarn, vengerskij, Hongrois, etc.) As nomadic Turks they took hold of their ultimate homeland, where, as we shall shortly see, they were quickly converted into full-fl edged Europeans. Yet despite these shifts and changes, Hungarians, as we shall now call them, have demonstrated an almost unparalleled continuity in terms of the basic


The specific heat of has been measured over the wide temperature range from 3.5 K to 200 K. Only one anomaly, indicating the phase transition driven by the cooperative Jahn-Teller effect, has been found, at . The phonon specific heat has been estimated and subtracted from the heat capacity measured. The Schottky anomaly originating from the population of the lowest two doublets of the dysprosium ions, and the -anomaly connected with the Jahn-Teller phase transition have been described theoretically using the molecular-field approximation. Satisfactory agreement between experimental points and theoretical dependences calculated using the material parameters known from the literature was obtained.


The research was carried out between 2008 - 2011 in Trans Nzoia West District of Kenya, among form three students of English Language. The purpose was to investigate on interactive teaching methods in developing oral communicative competence in learners of English. The objectives sought to establish: the methods used by teachers of English to teach oral communication skills, and the effect interactive teaching methods of English have in developing oral communicative competence in learners. The study adopted a descriptive research design under the qualitative approach. The study was guided by Classroom Interaction theory and communicative Language theory. The target populations comprised teachers of English and form three students, drawn from thirty three schools (four girls, three boys and twenty six mixed). A representative sample of thirty percent per school category was used - stratified random sampling technique was preferred to arrive at a ratio 3:3:7 to give a total of thirteen schools. The schools were randomly selected from each stratum using the simple random sampling technique. In cases where schools had more than one form three streams, simple random sampling was used and the selected stream provided a teacher of English for the study. The study made use of Classroom observation, teacher interview, audio tape recording and document analysis as instruments for data collection. Data was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics. The data revealed that interactive teaching methods are crucial in the development of oral communication skills in learners. These methods provide opportunities for language use, accuracy, proficiency and immediate feedback. The study recommends that: curriculum planners in Kenya need to revise the English syllabus as a whole which has a direct influence on the methodology to be used by the teacher. Trainers of teachers of language at both colleges and university should strengthen the emphasis on teaching methodology by equipping the teachers with both interactive and noninteractive teaching methods of oral communication skills.


Author(s): O'Kelly, Brendan M. | Advisor(s): North, Michael A | Abstract: The twentieth century is often characterized as an age of images. The majority of theories about technologies of vision in the twentieth century – photography, film, digital imagery – seize on the proliferation of visual stimuli and their desensitizing or liberating possibilities. In the always incomplete theorization of images, what we see and what sees us often defines and delimits us, but at the same time, we define and delimit what we see. The inherent limitations of vision that result from the capabilities of the visual mechanism and its technological extensions shape both individual perception and the broader realm of cultural vision. In an age dominated by the visible, the limits of vision either provide respite from the mass of images we are forced to perceive or they constrain how we construe the world visually. The Unseen in the Modern Image World reconsiders the complex and mutually constitutive relationship between visual perception and literary production in the twentieth century. This study resituates both literary and critical discourses on the boundaries of the perceptible in order to foreground the dependence of vision on its limits. I recontextualize the most formative theories of novelistic production of the century alongside theories about the dominance of vision in modernity in order to suggest that the constraints rather than the proliferations of visual perception shape modern prose. I elaborate the predominance of the unseen through its clashes with the limits of visuality: Martin Heidegger's shadow through which modernity projects itself beyond the representational bounds of "the world picture," and Walter Benjamin's elaboration of the masses' distracted visual reception, brought about by film, which he argues profoundly alters perception. I ground subsequent chapters by demonstrating that the boundaries of perception not only elude the presumed dominating grasp of "the world picture" but also reduce our visual apprehensions of the world to mere extractions from the infinitely vaster realm of the unseen, a terrain that the modern novel—from Joseph Conrad and Henry James through Don DeLillo—grounds itself upon.


Links to website and database resources with statistical data. Includes links on topics such as transportation, labor, crime, education, social services, natural resources, and more.


Non-Euclidean constraints are inherent in many kinds of data in computer vision and machine learning, typically as a result of specific invariance requirements that need to be respected during high-level inference. Often, these geometric constraints can be expressed in the language of Riemannian geometry, where conventional vector space machine learning does not apply directly. The central question this paper deals with is: How does one train deep neural nets whose final outputs are elements on a Riemannian manifold? To answer this, we propose a general framework for manifold-aware training of deep neural networks - we utilize tangent spaces and exponential maps in order to convert the proposed problem into a form that allows us to bring current advances in deep learning to bear upon this problem. We describe two specific applications to demonstrate this approach: prediction of probability distributions for multi-class image classification, and prediction of illumination-invariant subspaces from a single face-image via regression on the Grassmannian. These applications show the generality of the proposed framework, and result in improved performance over baselines that ignore the geometry of the output space. In addition to solving this specific problem, we believe this paper opens new lines of enquiry centered on the implications of Riemannian geometry on deep architectures.


At Cominco's zinc refinery located at Trail, British Columbia, impurities are removed fi^om zinc sulphate electrolyte by a two stage purification process using zinc dust. Copper, cadmium and thallium are removed in the first stage whereas cobalt is removed in the second stage. Cobalt removal kinetics are affected by soluble antimony and copper additions to the electrolyte. This study was focused on the kinetics of cobalt removal by zinc powder cementation. Experimental variables included copper and antimony concentrations, pH and temperature. Common organic additives employed in zinc plants were studied to determine potential interactions with the cobalt removal process. Cementation products obtained from laboratory experiments and plant practice were studied using the SEM. A number of significant findings were observed. 1) Cobalt removal was extremely slow in the absence of any activators in solution. Batch testing have shown that antimony activation performed better than copper activation, but the addition of both copper and antimony together increased the rate of cobalt removal significantly. Copper and antimony ions were essentially removed from solution during the early stages of the cementation reaction (within the first 15 minutes), presumably, establishing the cathode surface for cobalt removal. 2) The cobalt removal rate constant increased with increasing temperature, and the highest rate was obtained at 90°C (the highest temperature tested). An apparent energy of activation of 86.6 kJ/mol was calculated for this system, and this value was consistent with activation controlled processes. 3) pH significantly affected the cobalt cementation rate constant. Too low a pH (<4.0) increases the rate of the competing hydrogen reduction reaction and too high a pH (>4.0) can result in passivation of the residue's surface. In both these extreme ranges, cobalt removal was detrimentally affected. 4) A drop in the cobalt removal rates can be correlated with a rise in the E^ of the slurry. Lignin sulphonate, Percol 351 and animal glue at levels of 2 mg/L significantly impede cobalt cementation. 5) SEM analyses of the cementation residues have shown that the activation agents and the cobalt impurity was collected onto an impurity shell surrounding the dissolving zinc particle. This shell consisted mainly of Zn and minor constituents of Co, Cu and Sb. pagei


Abstract Objective: To evaluate the correlation between depression, satisfaction with life, and primary healthcare services consumption. Methods: A random sample of primary healthcare clinic patients agreed to complete self-report questionnaires on demographics and physical activity, the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Visual Analog Scale for Happiness. Treating physicians completed the Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS) for each patient. The relationships among psychometric, medical, the number of visits to health maintenance organization (HMO)-physicians during the previous year was assessed. Results: Positive correlation was found between visits to HMO-physicians and depression severity, as assessed by GDS (p = .049), and between visits/year and illness severity, as measured by CIRS (p < .001). Correlation was also found between depression and number of chronic medications used (p = .005). Physical activity correlated inversely with depression severity (p = .014). Gender and income had no impact on frequency of visits to HMO-physicians, depression, or satisfaction with life. Conclusions: The results indicate that there is a correlation between depression and healthcare service consumption, as represented by number of HMO-physician visits and medication use. Thus, early detection of depression, using tools such as GDS, and early initiation of antidepressive treatment may help to lower the burden on the health system.


Since the appearance of public-key cryptography in the Diffie-Hellman seminal paper, many schemes have been proposed, but many have been broken. Indeed, for a long time, the simple fact that a cryptographic algorithm had withstood cryptanalytic attacks for several years was considered as a kind of validation. But some schemes took a long time before being widely studied, and maybe thereafter being broken. A much more convincing line of research has tried to provide "provable" security for cryptographic protocols, in a complexity theory sense: if one can break the cryptographic protocol, one can efficiently solve the underlying problem. Unfortunately, this initially was a purely theoretical work: very few practical schemes could be proven in this so-called "standard model" because such a security level rarely meets with efficiency. Ten years ago, Bellare and Rogaway proposed a trade-off to achieve some kind of validation of efficient schemes, by identifying some concrete cryptographic objects with ideal random ones. The most famous identification appeared in the so-called "randomoracle model". More recently, another direction has been taken to prove the security of efficient schemes in the standard model (without any ideal assumption) by using stronger computational assumptions. In these lectures, we focus on practical asymmetric protocols together with their "reductionist" security proofs. We cover the two main goals that public-key cryptography is devoted to solve: authentication with digital signatures, and confidentiality with public-key encryption schemes.


Purpose/Objective Under the reauthorized Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states and districts retain greater discretion over the measures included in school quality report cards. Moreover, ESSA now requires states to expand their measurement efforts to address factors like school climate. This shift toward more comprehensive measures of school quality provides an opportunity for states and districts to think intentionally about a basic question: What specific information should schools collect and report to their communities? Setting This study took place in the community surrounding a small, highly diverse urban school district. Population/Participants Forty-five local residents representing a range of demographic backgrounds participated in a modified deliberative poll with an experimental treatment. Intervention/Program/Practice We randomly assigned participants into two conditions. In the first, participants accessed the state web portal, which houses all publicly available educational data about districts in the state. In the second condition, participants accessed a customized portal that contained a wider array of school performance information collected by the research team. Research Design This mixed-methods study used a modified deliberative polling format, in conjunction with a randomized controlled field trial. Data Collection and Analysis Participants in both conditions completed a battery of survey items that were analyzed through multiple regressions. Findings/Results When users of a more holistic and comprehensive data system evaluated unfamiliar schools, they not only valued the information more highly but also expressed more confidence in the quality of the schools. Conclusions/Recommendations We doubt that more comprehensive information will inevitably lead to higher ratings of school quality. However, it appears—both from prior research, from theory, and from this project—that deeper familiarity with a school often fosters more positive perceptions. This may be because those unfamiliar with particular schools rely on a limited range of data, which fail to adequately capture the full range of performance variables, particularly in the case of urban schools. We encourage future exploration of this topic, which may have implications for school choice, parental engagement, and accountability policy.


Interaction between metal Fe and a variety of natural and synthetic smectite samples with contrasting crystal chemistry was studied by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction from experiments conducted at 80°C. These experiments demonstrate an important reactivity contrast as a function of smectite crystal chemistry. An XRD method involving the use of an internal standard allowed quantification of the relative proportion of smectite destabilized as a function of initial pH conditions as well as of smectite structural parameters. In mildly acidic to neutral pH conditions, a significant proportion of metal Fe is corroded to form magnetite without smectite destabilization. Under basic pH conditions, smectite and metal Fe are partly destabilized to form magnetite and newly-formed 1:1 phyllosilicate phases (odinite and crondstedtite). More specifically, systematic destabilization of both metal Fe and smectite is observed for dioctahedral smectites while trioctahedral smectites are essentially unaffected under similar experimental conditions. In addition, smectite reactivity is enhanced with increasing Fe3+ content and with the presence of Na+ cations in smectite interlayers. A conceptual model for smectite destabilization is proposed. This model involves first the release of protons from smectite structure, MeFe3+OH groups being deprotonated preferentially and metal Fe acting as proton acceptor. Corrosion of metal Fe results from its interaction with these protons. The Fe2+ cations resulting from this corrosion process sorb on the edges of smectite particles to induce the reduction of structural Fe3+ and migrate into smectite interlayers to compensate for the increased layer-charge deficit. Interlayer Fe2+ cations subsequently migrate to the octahedral sheet of smectite because of the extremely large layer-charge deficit. At low temperature, this migration is favored by the reaction time and by the absence of protons within the di-trigonal cavity. Smectite destabilization results from the inability of the tetrahedral sheets to accommodate the larger dimensions of the newly formed trioctahedral domains resulting from the migration of Fe2+ cations.


The Fast Multipole Method (FMM) allows O(N) evaluation to any arbitrary precision of N-body interactions that arises in many scientific contexts. These methods have been parallelized, with a recent set of papers attempting to parallelize them on heterogeneous CPU/GPU architectures [1]. While impressive performance was reported, the algorithms did not demonstrate complete weak or strong scalability. Further, the algorithms were not demonstrated on nonuniform distributions of particles that arise in practice. In this paper, we develop an efficient scalable version of the FMM that can be scaled well on many heterogeneous nodes for nonuniform data. Key contributions of our work are data structures that allow uniform work distribution over multiple computing nodes, and that minimize the communication cost. These new data structures are computed using a parallel algorithm, and only require a small additional computation overhead. Numerical simulations on a heterogeneous cluster empirically demonstrate the performance of our algorithm.


Itch was measured quantitatively as nocturnal scratch in 12 patients with psoriasis treated with 8-methoxypsoralen and UVA and in 7 treated with dithranol. Three of those treated with PUVA showed an increase in nocturnal limb movement which was mostly due to itch but partly due to restlessness. There was little change in nocturnal limb movement in patients treated with dithranol.


Both nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) have been shown to have positive effects on the maintenance of fruit quality during storage; however, the mechanisms by which NO regulates the endogenous H2S metabolism remain unknown. In this experiment, peaches were immersed in solutions of NO, potassium 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide (c-PTIO, as an NO scavenger), N-nitro-l-arginine methyl ester (l-NAME, as an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-like activity), and sodium tungstate (as an inhibitor of nitrate reductase), and the resulting changes in the H2S metabolism of peaches were studied. The results showed that exogenous NO reduced the contents of endogenous H2S, Cys, and sulfite; decreased the activities of l-/d-cysteine desulfhydrase (l-/d-CD), O-acetylserine (thiol)lyase (OAS-TL), and sulfite reductase (SiR); and increased the activity of β-cyanoalanine synthase (β-CAS). Both c-PTIO and sodium tungstate had similar roles in increasing the H2S content by sustaining the activities of l-/d-CDs, OAS-TL, and SiR. l-NAME increased the H2S content, mainly by maintaining the d-CD activity. The results suggest that NO, c-PTIO, l-NAME, and sodium tungstate differently regulate the H2S metabolism of peaches during storage.


Abstract Objective: To assess the prognostic impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on the outcome of cases with cutaneous melanoma. Methods: Novel SEER socioeconomic database has been accessed and patients with malignant melanoma of the skin (2000–2015) were reviewed. SES was evaluated through a specialized multi-dimension index and patients were classified into three groups (group 1/2/3) where group 1 has the lowest SES and group 3 has the highest SES. Kaplan–Meier survival estimates were used to evaluate the impact of SES on overall survival and multivariable Cox regression analysis was used to assess the impact of SES on melanoma-specific survival. Results: A total of 261,076 patients with malignant melanoma of the skin were included in the current study. Among which, 44,804 patients were within group 1 SES, 84,168 patients were within group 2 SES and 132,104 patients were within group 3 SES. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was performed, and it showed that patients with lower SES have worse overall survival (p < .001). Multivariable Cox regression analysis was subsequently performed, and it showed also that lower SES is associated with worse melanoma-specific survival (hazard ratio for group 1 versus group 3 SES: 1.361; 95% CI: 1.315–1.409; p < .001). Conclusion: Patients with cutaneous melanoma and lower SES have worse overall and melanoma-specific survival compared to patients with higher SES. This finding was consistent among different clinical subsets of patients according to stage, race/ethnicity, and year of diagnosis.


Regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (RR-P3HT) nanotubes (200 nm in diameter) with tunable aspect ratios from 25 to 300 were prepared using a polymer melt wetting technique. Aspect-ratio tunability was achieved by controlling the wetting behavior of RR-P3HT melts in a template. The crystallinity and chain orientation of RR-P3HT were studied by grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, wide-angle X-ray diffraction, and polarized photoluminescence spectroscopy. Results suggest that RR-P3HT chains in the lamellar structure prefer to be perpendicular to the axis of the RR-P3HT nanotubes, forming a face-on conformation in the RR-P3HT nanotubes that leads to increased carrier mobility of RR-P3HT. Field-effect transistors were fabricated based on a single RR-P3HT nanotube and showed a carrier mobility of 0.14 ± 0.02 cm(2)/V·s.


The Transneptunian Automated Occultation Survey (TAOS II) is a blind occultation survey with the aim of measuring the size distribution of Trans-Neptunian Objects with diameters in the range of 0.3 ≲ D ≲ 30 km. TAOS II will observe as many as 10,000 stars at a cadence of 20 Hz with all three telescopes simultaneously. This will produce up to ∼20 billion photometric measurements per night, and as many as ∼6 trillion measurements per year, corresponding to over 70 million individual light curves. A very fast analysis pipeline for event detection and characterization is needed to handle this massive data set. The pipeline should be capable of real-time detection of events (within 24 hours of observations) for follow-up observations of any occultations by larger TNOs. In addition, the pipeline should be fast and scalable for large simulations where simulated events are added to the observed light curves to measure detection efficiency and biases in event characterization. Finally, the pipeline should provide estimates of the size of and distance to any occulting objects, including those with non-spherical shapes. This paper describes a new data analysis pipeline for the detection and characterization of occultation events.


As mobile robots decrease in size so does their ability to traverse rough terrain. New forms of locomotion beyond the basic wheel are being explored to overcome this fault. This paper expands on the mechanical design of a previous robot with a high mobility-to-size ratio. To accomplish high mobility the robot uses tumbling as its form of locomotion. By actively involving the body of the robot in the locomotion it can scale larger obstacles and will not get stuck in compliant terrain like similar sized wheeled robots. To accommodate real-world environments the new design has been waterproofed and moreover can be completely submerged in water to operate on a lake or stream floor. Additionally, this robot is equipped with a buoyancy control unit which will allow the robot to either sink or float in water, offering many unique applications in environmental monitoring and surveillance. This paper describes a first generation, radio controlled prototype of the design.


The way of communicating messages about cancer is the essence of this paper. There is a challenge to promote health, and demystify misconceptions about cancer and its treatment. But how do you reach those who seldom read or who are illiterate? How do you convince people that early presentation of symptoms that may be caused by cancer can positively influence outcome? How can you present a practical and realistic message about life-style factors and cancer? This paper explains initiatives in the UK to address some of these issues. The role of research and evaluation is important, but so are the ethical issues when you may be trying to persuade and convince the public of the benefits of life-style change. Finally, the issue of training of health professionals is addressed.


There can be few more distressing situations than when a young man sustains a total and irreversible paralysis in his dominant arm. Not only is he left with a useless and anaesthetic limb, but in a high proportion of cases suffers intractable pain. This article will discuss the diagnosis and management of such injuries.


Estimation of height from the measurement of various body parts is of particular interest to many anthropologists, anatomist and forensic scientist for its importance in medico-legal cases.Various workers estimated height from the measurement of foot length, head length and hand length individually or in various combinations.So far no definite attempt has been done to estimate the height of an individual from the measurement of hand length, head length and foot length altogether and also no information is available regarding the correlation in between these parameters. Therefore, the present study is designed to measure the height, foot length, hand length and head length and to study the correlation of these parameters with height and with each other. The study has its importance in personal identification in medicolegal cases and war casualties.


The objective of this study was to examine the subgroup of patients with chronic pruritus with dysesthetic subqualities for the presence of psychiatric comorbidities and to evaluate whether anxiety and depression make a difference in perception of somatosensory stimuli in quantitative sensory testing (QST). Forty-nine patients underwent routine diagnostics, a standardised QST testing battery, a psychosomatic evaluation for psychic comorbidities and filled out 2 questionnaires: the Patient Health Questionnaire for the assessment of depressive mood and the State Trait Anxiety Inventory. Twenty-seven (55.1%) of the sample had at least one psychiatric comorbid diagnosis. QST parameters were not correlated to anxiety and depression levels. We conclude that psychosomatic evaluation should become part of routine diagnostics of these patients in order to detect and treat psychiatric comorbidity. However, research on somatosensory aspects in these patients seems not to be affected by the levels of anxiety and depression.


For the extraction-fluorimetric determination of nanogram amounts of codeine in human urine the use of the fluorescence of the toluene extract of the codeine ionic associate with eosin was proposed. The formed ionic associate was characterized by the intensive fluorescence with a maximum of 550 nm. It was shown that the fluorescence intensity of the codeine ion associate with eosin in toluene was 10 times higher than the intensity of its luminescence in carbon tetrachloride, and 3 times higher than its intensity in chloroform. The optimal conditions for the formation of the fluorescent ion associate of the positively charged codeine ion with a negatively charged form of eosin were determined. The maximum fluorescence intensity of the ion associate was observed during the toluene extraction from the aqueous solutions with pH of 6 - 8 and the eosin concentration in the range of 1·10 -5 -1·10 -3 mol·L -1 . The fluorescence intensity of the extract was maintained at the initial level for 24 hours. The extraction-fluorometric procedure for determining the nanogram amounts of codeine in human urine was developed. The limit of detection of codeine, calculated by 3s-criterion, was equal to 6 ng·ml -1 . The calibration curve linearity was maintained in the range of 30 – 320 ng·ml -1 . The procedure for the determination of codeine in real expert samples of urine was tested. The relative standard deviation did not exceed 0.08. The obtained results for the extraction-fluorimetric determination of codeine in human urine allowed recommending the developed procedure for its use in the solutions of certain tasks in the practice of the institutions of the corresponding profile.


Survey response rates were examined for differences based on the location of the respondent code, a numerical code placed on the survey versus a numerical code placed on the return envelope. A four-page survey on criteria and procedures used when hiring health education faculty members was mailed to program coordinators of university health education programs (N = 223). Half of the coordinators (n = 112) received coded surveys (surveys that had a written overt three-digit code at the top right corner of the first page of the survey). The other half of the coordinators (n = 111) received coded return envelopes (return envelopes with a six-digit code typed directly under the return mailing address). A total of 132 coordinators returned completed surveys (62%). Response rate did not differ significantly based on placement of respondent code. Survey researchers are thus recommended to devote their efforts to other inducement strategies to increase response rates.


We aimed to compare the characteristics and types of injuries affecting pediatric and elderly patients and to identify factors associated with treatment outcomes. We used data from the 2006–2017 Korea National Hospital Discharge Survey. The patients were divided into two groups, children (0–12 years) and elderly (≥65 years), based on their age at discharge. In total, 47,528 (11,842 children and 35,686 older adults) patients with injuries were identified. The number of deaths and the LOS were 36 (0.3%) and 7.6 days (±10.1), respectively, in the children group, and 861 (2.4%) and 18.5 days (±27.3), respectively, in the elderly group (p < 0.001). In the children group, there were increased odds for surgery among boys, Medicaid and health insurance subscribers, patients with multiple injuries, patients without a subdiagnosis, and an increasing number of hospital beds. In the elderly group, there were increased odds for surgery among women, Medicaid and health insurance subscribers, patients who died, patients with a single injury, patients with a subdiagnosis, and increasing numbers of hospital beds. Treatment outcomes could be improved by providing early diagnosis and prompt treatment in pediatric patients and by taking multilateral approaches for multiple injuries and comorbidities in elderly patients.


The desire to build common awareness in order to improve Arabic language skills and make Arabic a popular language in the world. This article presents an overview of the online language festival, Gebyar Appreciation Khazanah Araby (GAZA) organized by the student association of Arabic Language Education Department of UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang online (on the network), as well as the perceptions of the participants in participating in this event. This research is useful to provide an overview of the online language festival held by students majoring in Arabic Language Education at UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang which can be used as a reference in the implementation of language festivals in a similar environment or situation.


We give a general approach to show the closure under complement and decide the emptiness for many classes of multistack visibly pushdown automata (Mvpa). A central notion in our approach is the visibly path-tree, i.e., a stack tree with the encoding of a path that denotes a linear ordering of the nodes. We show that the set of all such trees with a bounded size labeling is regular, and path-trees allow us to design simple conversions between tree automata and Mvpa's. As corollaries of our results we get the closure under complement of ordered Mvpa that was an open problem, and a better upper bound on the algorithm to check the emptiness of bounded-phase Mvpa's, that also shows that this problem is fixed parameter tractable in the number of phases.


Parking spaces play a vital role in the transportation system. Parking policies ensure the efficient of the transportation system and the management of traffic demand. Illegal parking practice can hamper sustainability of transportation system. This paper attempts to analyze the illegal parking behavior in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia. Car parking in the city of Jeddah is largely uncontrolled and there is a lack of management of the public parking supply and controlled parking system. Parking survey at five main locations (roads) at Jeddah city was conducted. Legal and illegal parking were observed at the five roads. The observations were distributed over three time periods: 7:00-9:00 am period (morning peak), 12:00-15:00 pm period (afternoon peak) and 18:00-21:00 pm period (evening peak). The observations were collected, studied and compared for weekdays and weekend. Results indicate that illegal parking seems to be common in Jeddah city both on weekdays and weekend hampering the sustainability of transportation system. It is crucial for Jeddah city to deploy stringent parking policies in order to reduce the consequences of illegal parking behavior and to achieve sustainability in transportation.


Background: Wake-up stroke (WUS) accounts for up to 25% of all new ischemic strokes, but debate exists regarding whether WUS differs from non-WUS in previous studies. Our study aimed to investigate the proportion of WUS cases and to examine differences in clinical characteristics and outcomes in these two groups. Methods: Data from acute ischemic stroke patients who presented to the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University between April 2017 and September 2017 were prospectively collected. Admission demographic information, clinical and radiological characteristics, and 3-month functional outcomes were assessed and compared between patients with WUS and those with non-WUS. Poor functional outcome was defined as modified Rankin Scale ≥ 3 at the 90-day follow-up. Risks of poor outcomes for WUS were estimated with logistic regression analysis. Results: A total of 473 eligible patients were included, of which 132 had been diagnosed with WUS (27.9%). Forty WUS patients had poor functional outcomes and 92 WUS patients had good functional outcomes. WUS and non-WUS patients were similar in regard to stroke risk factors, severity, etiology, and prognosis at 90 days (p > 0.05), but WUS patients were more likely to have had previous stroke (p < 0.001) and a tendency of higher albumin levels (p = 0.051). WUS patients show significant differences in terms of age, gender, prior stroke, atrial fibrillation, impaired consciousness at admission, levels of albumin and triglycerides, stroke severity, and stroke etiology between the good outcome group and the poor outcome group (p < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age (odds ratio [OR] 1.079, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.021–1.141; p < 0.05), previous stroke (OR 4.017, 95% CI 1.197–13.484; p < 0.05), and admission National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score ≥5 (OR 5.453, 95% CI 1.510–19.696; p < 0.05) were independently associated with an unfavorable outcome of WUS. Conclusions: WUS accounts for 27.9% of 473 ischemic strokes in the Chinese population. WUS and non-WUS patients were similar in terms of stroke risk factors, severity, etiology, and early outcomes. Age, previous stroke, and a high admission NIHSS score were independent risk factors for unfavorable outcomes in patients with WUS.


nucleus of interest. For a majority of scientists, the chemical shift is used exlusivley to determine structure, especially in organic systems. Additional information may be gained by examining the anisotropy of the chemical shift. This section will be devoted to looking at chemical shift from a mathematical standpoint including a full treatment of the chemical shift tensor and the relation to the NMR lineshape.


This study aimed determining the chronic effects of nifedipine (N) on left ventricular filling in 25 patients (mean age 55) with mild to moderate arterial hypertension. M-mode, B-mode and pulsed Doppler measurements were performed at baseline, after 30 min from administration of sublingual N (10 mg) and after 6 months of therapy with slow release N (max dose: 60 mg die). Acute and chronic N reduced significantly both systolic (p less than 0.001) and diastolic pressure (p less than 0.001). At the end of the treatment with slow release N, and septal wall thicknesses had a slight but significant decrease (p less than 0.01). Diastolic and systolic dimension were not modified. Left ventricular mass index decreased significantly from 141 +/- 34 to 130 +/- 31 g/m2 (p less than 0.05). The Doppler-derived diastolic filling indexes (peak E, ratio peak E/A,E deceleration) were abnormal at baseline, and had a significant increase after sublingual and chronic therapy. Changes in left ventricular mass index and diastolic filling indexes were not correlated. A significant correlation was found between peak E changes after acute and chronic N administration (r = 0.732 and p less than 0.001). The results of this study demonstrate that both acute and chronic administration of N modify transmitral flow velocity pattern, suggesting that, in hypertensive patients, left ventricular filling abnormalities are partly dynamic and reversible. Our findings also demonstrate that acute N effects may predict the chronic results.


Optimal Power Flow (OPF) is a non-convex and highly constrained optimisation study which is used to find the most economical power export allocation from different generating resources. Policies to produce green electricity have led to the integration of non-conventional generating resources into the networks. However, non-conventional generators, like solar and wind, have intermittent power export due to their stochastic nature. This paper presents an OPF approach for modern grids integrated with conventional and non-conventional generating resources considering environmental impacts. Different loading and generation scenarios are considered for solving the probabilistic OPF using MATPOWER for an IEEE 30-bus transmission network. The results highlight the most economical mix of different generators thereby reducing the overall operational cost of the system.


The youth unemployment rate in Europe increased to very high levels after the great recession of 2008, reaching 23% in European Union and 45% in southern European countries. We examine the causes of the high youth unemployment rate which is consistently bigger than the overall unemployment rate. The empirical evidence shows that the youth unemployment rate depends crucially of the level of the overall unemployment rate and on the variation of the unemployment rate.


Virtualization is becoming widely deployed in commercial servers. In our previous study, we proposed Virtual Machine Aware journaling (VMA journaling), a file system journaling approach for virtual server environments. With reliable VMM and hardware subsystems, VMA journaling eliminates journal writes while ensuring file system consistency and data integrity in virtual server environments, allowing it to be an effective alternative to traditional journaling approaches in these environments. In recent years, solid-state disks (SSDs) have shown their potential as a replacement of traditional magnetic disks in commercial servers. In this paper, we demonstrate the benefits of VMA journaling on SSDs. We compare the performance of VMA journaling and three traditional journaling approaches (i.e., the three journaling modes of the ext3 journaling file system) in terms of lifetime and garbage collection overhead, which are two key performance metrics for SSDs. Since a Flash Translation Layer (FTL) is used in an SSD to emulate traditional disk interface and the SSD performance highly depends on the FTL being used, three state-of-the-art FTLs (i.e., FAST, Super Block FTL and DFTL) are implemented for performance evaluation. The performance results show that, traditional full data journaling could reduce the lifetime of the SSD significantly. VMA journaling extends the SSD lifetime under full data journaling by up to 86.5%. Moreover, GC overhead is reduced by up to 80.6% when compared to the full data journaling approach of ext3. Finally, VMA journaling is effective under all the FTLs. These results demonstrate that VMA journaling is effective in SSD-based virtual server environments.


Antibodies have the ability to influence the antibody response against the very antigen they are specific for, in a process called antibody feedback regulation. Depending on the nature of the antigen, the antibody response can be either enhanced or almost completely inhibited. This thesis focuses on the underlying mechanisms of antibody feedback regulation in vivo. Antigen-specific IgG can inhibit the antibody response to a particulate antigen. Based on its ability to inhibit B cell activation, the inhibitory FcγRIIB (low affinity receptor for IgG) has been suggested to be involved. Here we show that although FcγRIIB is required for efficient suppression in vitro, it is not required in vivo. Therefore, even though FcγRIIB can inhibit antibody responses, other mechanisms (such as epitope masking and enhanced antigen clearance) play a more dominant role in vivo.The antibody response to soluble antigen is greatly enhanced when it is introduced to the immune system in complex with antigen-specific IgG or IgE. We found that FcγRIIB attenuates the magnitude of IgG-mediated enhancement. In mice lacking FcγRIIB, IgG enhanced the antibody response much more efficiently than in normal mice.Since B cells require CD4+ T cell help in order to become antibody-producing cells, we examined the CD4+ T cell response to immune complexes in vivo. Using an adoptive transfer strategy with transgenic ovalbumin (OVA)-specific CD4+T cells, we could show that the enhanced OVA-specific IgG response to IgG2a/OVA and IgE/OVA complexes was preceded by a potent OVA-specific CD4+ T cell response. IgG2a-mediated enhancement was dependent on activating Fcγ receptors, whereas IgE-mediated enhancement was dependent on CD23, the low affinity receptor for IgE. We identified CD23+ B cells as the responsible effector cells for IgE-mediated enhancement in vivo. Taken together, these results show that Fc receptor-mediated antigen presentation is a major mechanism underlying antibody feedback enhancement.


Blood leukocytes from patients with solid tumors exhibit complex and distinct cancer-associated patterns of DNA methylation. However, the biological mechanisms underlying these patterns remain poorly understood. Since epigenetic biomarkers offer significant clinical potential for cancer detection, we sought to address a mechanistic gap in recently published works, hypothesizing that this variation is in large part due to shifts in leukocyte populations. To discern differentially methylated regions (DMRs) among leukocyte subtypes, we assessed epigenome-wide DNA methylation in sorted, purified, healthy human peripheral blood leukocyte subtypes. Performing a targeted analysis of leukocyte DMRs from epigenome-wide blood methylation data in three independent case-control studies of different cancers revealed that leukocyte DMRs predict case status with a high degree of accuracy (area under the curve = 0.82, 0.83, and 0.67, forhead and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), ovarian, and bladder cancer, respectively). These results demonstrate that blood-derived differences in DNA methylation patterns in patients with solid tumors are largely attributable to systematic differences in the DMRs that define specific, known leukocyte sub-populations, suggesting that the unique epigenetic signatures in blood from solid tumor patients arise as a result of immune responses represented by shifts in leukocyte populations. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5022. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-5022


ON 8 APRIL 2004, a week before completing its relief in place (RIP) with Task Force (TF) 1st Cavalry Division (1CD) and returning home after a year of combat in Baghdad, Iraq, TF 1st Armored Division (1AD) received orders to continue combat operations in Iraq for an additional 90 days. Dispersed and having nearly completed its materiel drawdown, TF 1AD had already begun to redeploy forces to Fort Riley, Kansas; Fort Polk, Louisiana; and garrisons in Germany. TF 1AD had 1,667 soldiers in Kuwait, and 5,587 had redeployed to Germany and the United States. Of the 2,806 pieces of equipment in Kuwait, 1,285 were redeployed. Army pre-positioned stocks (APS), stay-behind equipment (SBE), selected authorized stockage list (ASL), other equipment, and all expendable supplies had been transferred to TF 1CD or theater stocks. Within 3 weeks, TF 1AD was in a new area of operations (AO) with new equipment and stocks and was fighting a new enemy-as if it had never planned on leaving. This remarkable feat, accomplished by Iron Soldiers, leaders, and staff, would not have been possible without adaptive logistics. The division was to stay in Iraq because of increased enemy activity, initially, the 2d Brigade Combat Team deployed a task force to An Najaf on 4 April 2004 to reinforce Multi-National Division (Central South) (MND[CS]). The task force then repositioned to Al Kut on 7 April to restore control of the Coalition Provisional Authority Headquarters. On 8 April, the entire division received orders to remain in Iraq, reinforce MND(CS), relieve the Marine expeditionary force south of Baghdad, and become the Combined Joint Task Force 7 (CJTF-7) Operational Reserve. Task Force 1AD's new AO and associated lines of communication (LOC) spanned an area 50 times the size of Baghdad. Everyone and everything in Kuwait, with few exceptions, was ordered to return to Iraq. To appreciate the magnitude of the logistics issues the division confronted one must understand how the division had prepared to redeploy. On 20 February, each unit began to enter the window (40 days before transfer of authority [TOA]) for canceling all parts requisitions and filling requirements with on-hand theater stocks only. The division used the 40-day window to counter long requisition and customer-wait times and to prevent excess from arriving in theater after TF 1AD departed. Even after stopping requisitions, canceling due-ins, and shifting routing identifier codes (RICs) to TF 1CD, 75 to 100 containers of parts, especially back-ordered items, arrived for TF 1AD after the TOA date. The support operations shop was able, in some cases, to retrieve these parts from TF 1CD because of the change of mission. Task Force 1CD processed others parts, however, distributed them to their supply support activity (SSA), or retrograded them. After the TOA-40 date, the primary Class IX source for TF 1AD units became division support command's (DISCOM's) fleet and Class IX managers of the division materiel management center (DMMC), as well as the Class IX expediter cell in Arifjan, Kuwait, which walked through hundreds of high-priority requisitions from theater warehouses. Parts not transferred to TF 1CD quickly disappeared from ASLs and prescribed load lists already challenged with high zero-balance levels. Despite the limited Class IX flow, TF 1AD maintained its combat fleets at 90 percent operational readiness rates and most other fleets at 80 percent or better. In preparing for reconstitution at home station, TF 1AD planned for its 300 unit-level logistics systems (ULLS)-S4 and ground and air Standard Army Maintenance Systems (SAMS) to redeploy with unit-advanced parties. To prepare for this move, DISCOM's Combat Service Support Automation all the boxes early with homestation Department of Defense Activity Address Codes (DODAACs), and a CSSAMO team redeployed to Germany to work with a contracted reset team. At the time of change of mission, over two-thirds of the boxes left Iraq, and the division's RICs (except for one brigade) had been transferred. …


When a quadrilateral undergoes a certain infinite folding process, an intricate curve is traced out by its transformed vertices. The curve possesses attractive symmetry properties. We study the folding as a dynamical system in C 4, which is partially described by a billiard-like dynamical system on the bounded component of an elliptic curve associated with the squared diagonal lengths.


Emojis are frequently used by people worldwide as a tool to express one's emotional states, and have recently been applied to the research field to assess the same. However, the details of how they correspond to the human emotional states remain unidentified. Thus, this study aimed to understand how emojis are classified on the valence and arousal axes, and to examine the relationship between the former and the human emotional states. In an online survey of 1,082 participants, a nine-point scale was employed to evaluate the valence and arousal levels of 74 facial emojis. The cluster analysis revealed these emojis to be categorized into six different clusters on the two axes of valence and arousal. Further, the one-way analysis of variance indicated these clusters as having six valence and three arousal levels. From these results, each cluster was interpreted as (1) a strong negative sentiment, (2) a moderately negative sentiment, (3) a neutral sentiment with negative bias, (4) a neutral sentiment with positive bias, (5) a moderately positive sentiment, and (6) a strong positive sentiment. Therefore, facial emojis were found to comprehensively express the human emotional states.


Hemorrhagic transformation (HT) is one of the most serious complications after endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate deep‐learning (DL) models based on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to automatically predict HT in AIS patients. Multiparametric MRI and clinical data of AIS patients with EVT from two centers (data set 1 for training and testing: n = 338; data set 2 for validating: n = 54) were used in the DL models. The acute infarction area of diffusion‐weighted imaging (DWI) and hypoperfusion of perfusion‐weighted imaging (PWI) was labeled manually. Two forms of data sets (volume of interest [VOI] data sets and slice data sets) were analyzed, respectively. The models based on single parameter and multiparameter models were developed and validated to predict HT in AIS patients after EVT. Performance was evaluated by area under the receiver‐operating characteristic curve (AUC), accuracy (ACC), sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, and positive predictive value. The results showed that the performance of single parameter model based on MTT (VOI data set: AUC = 0.933, ACC = 0.843; slice data set: AUC = 0.945, ACC = 0.833) and TTP (VOI data set: AUC = 0.916, ACC = 0.873; slice data set: AUC = 0.889, ACC = 0.818) were better than the other single parameter model. The multiparameter model based on DWI & MTT & TTP & Clinical (DMTC) had the best performance for predicting HT (VOI data set: AUC = 0.948, ACC = 0.892; slice data set: AUC = 0.932, ACC = 0.873). The DMTC model in the external validation set achieved similar performance with the testing set (VOI data set: AUC = 0.939, ACC = 0.884; slice data set: AUC = 0.927, ACC = 0.871) (p > 0.05). The proposed clinical, DWI, and PWI multiparameter DL model has great potential for assisting the periprocedural management in the early prediction HT of the AIS patients with EVT.


A morally perfect God necessarily desires that all rational agents behave morally. An omnipotent and omniscient God has the power and knowledge to ensure that all rational agents have sufficient moral knowledge to do what morality requires. So, if God exists, there are no rational moral agents who lack sufficient moral knowledge to act morally. However, there has been a wide range of moral agents who, without blame, have lacked the moral knowledge to behave morally. Therefore, God does not exist. The preceding argument from non-blameable moral ignorance of our fundamental moral obligations is resistant to some of the standard theistic responses to the problem of evil and divine hiddenness. Moreover, some of the standard theistic responses to the traditional arguments for God's non-existence lend support to the argument from blameless moral ignorance.


A rhino operation in Botswana led to the capture and translocation of four southern white rhinoceros, Ceratotherium simum simum. At the time of capture, an approximately three to four year-old bull was found to have three recent bullet wounds. Internal injuries that may have resulted from the wounds could not be adequately assessed. All four animals, including the injured bull, were judged to be in good body condition at the time of capture and translocation to holding bomas. The subadult bull refused to eat any significant quantity of food offered, even after ten days in captivity. He appeared to be seeking social interaction - vocalising and rubbing against the fence between himself and the adult bull. The gate between the two bulls' bomas was opened 12 days after the young bull's capture. The young bull's overall attitude improved, he charged the fence much less, and he followed the old bull around constantly and started to eat. The two animals were frequently in bodily contact. The adult bull tolerated the young bull relatively well. Nevertheless, the young rhino died six days after the introduction of the adult bull, despite veterinary intervention for suspected wound-related sepsis. The animal's death from bullet wound-related injuries should not detract from the positive behavioural responses elicited by the companionship of the adult bull.


The MOGADOR algorithm is a specialized heuristic approach to the shortest path problem, which employs genetic operators to the search for near optimal corridors within the context of multiple independent objectives. This article expands upon the work contained in the MOGADOR algorithm's debut publication by introducing a set of refined techniques for initializing the algorithm, which are responsive to the characteristics of the problem specification, the desired runtime, and the global quality of the output solution set. A core component of these techniques is the introduction of a novel process for constructing so-called pseudo-random walks that is based on the repetitive sampling of a dynamically parameterized bivariate-normal distribution. Guidance is provided regarding the appropriate parameterization of the proposed initialization procedure for a variety of problem contexts. The article concludes with a prospective treatment of different approaches to the parallelization of the algorithm's various components and references an open source library containing the source code for the various new algorithms introduced.


Starting from the general objective of the practical instruction concerning the direction and independence of the student to participate actively in the teaching process, and specific objectives set in the various stages through which passes the realization of the same: getting directly participation, independent implementation of activities, taking in mind the kind and the tasks and responsibilities of the professor mentor, student, through various stages, crucial is the questions about the role, tasks and responsibilities of the mentor / teacher, as one of the most important partners in the education of students / future teachers.
In the paper we present the results of the survey whose main objective was to determine the attitudes and opinions of students / future teachers about what they want in a mentor teacher schools?
Subjects of the research were students of the fourth year of studies of the Faculty of Educational Sciences in Stip. We placed specific suggestions on the characteristics of a good mentor / teacher and proposals for improvement of professional practice for students as imperative for the improvement of teacher education.