1. Year 2000 Progress Update. Year 2000 Update. Studies Paint Disconcerting Picture. The Real Story. Where Is the Sense of Urgency? Coming to Grips with Reality: Look at the Details. Media Update. The Year 2000 Myth? Silver Bullets Abound. Extremists Hurt the Cause. Business Problem Requires Business Solution. Industry by Industry Status. Banking. Securities Firms. Manufacturing. Retail. Transportation. Telecommunications. Utilities and Energy. Health Care, Insurance, and Pharmaceutical. Service Industries. Small to Mid-Size Companies. Government Update. U.S. Federal Government. U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). U.S. State Governments. U.S. Local Governments. Schools and Universities. International Update. Canada. Europe. Pacific Rim/Japan. Other Regions of the World. Worldwide Economic Impacts. 2. Strategy Update: Shift to Risk Mitigation. It's Late in the Game, Now What? Achieving Full Scale Deployment. The Declining Options Picture. Running Out of Time: Alternative Strategies. Launching Parallel Activities. Year 2000 Business Risk Assessment. Begin Fixing Five Most Critical Systems Now! Solidify Systems Inventory. Identify Data Interchange Points. Identify and Document External Entities. Document Business Functions. Relate Systems to Business Functions. Relate External Data Interfaces to Business Functions. Relate External Entities to Business Functions. Identify Event Horizons. Identify Revenue- or Customer-Related Risks. Identify Legal and/or Regulatory Risk. Prioritize Remediation and Testing Projects. Prioritize Business End-User-Driven Projects. Evolving Application Package Options. Vendor Has Delivered Compliant System. Vendor Fixed the System, But It Is Still Not Compliant. Vendor Is Fixing System, But Delivery Times Misses the Compliance Deadline. Vendor Refuses to Provide Compliance Status. Vendor Is Not Going to Fix the System. Strategies for the Far Behind. Targeting to Reduce Risk. "Safe" Corner Cutting. Unacceptable Corner Cutting. Launch Top Five Priority Remediation Projects. Beating the Clock in 1998 and 1999. 3. Legal Issues and Protections. Why You Should Care About This Legal Stuff. Minimizing Costs and Exposure. Contract Issues. Disclosure Obligations. Company Statements. Tax Law Issues. Internal Risk Management. Vendor Considerations. Certification Letters. Supply Chain/Partner Issues. The Paper Trail. Insurance. Government Aspects. Regulatory Agencies. Congress. State Government. Other Legal Aspects. Staffing. Offshore Factories. Copyright. 4. Non-IT Issues and Answers. Defining Non-IT Year 2000 Requirements. Business Partner Impacts. Supply Chain Challenge. Embedded and Other Non-IT Technologies. Non-IT Problems: Consequences and Timing. Industry-Specific Non-IT Challenges. Telecommunications. Energy and Power. Health Care. Manufacturing. Wholesale, Retail, and Service Industries. Transportation Sector. Financial. Government and Defense. Supplier, Business Partner Challenges. Supplier Categories. Supply Chain and the Domino Principal. Supplier Strategies: Methodological Approach. Documenting Multitiered Supply Chains. Supplier Responses. Supplier Contingency Options: Hedging Against Failure. Year 2000 Embedded Technology Challenge. Embedded Systems Challenge. Year 2000 Embedded Systems Impacts. Embedded Systems: Types and Categories. Embedded Systems Project Strategies. Embedded Systems: The Bottom Line. 5. Getting Help: Factories, Outsourcing, and Services. Third-Party ServicesA A Lessons Learned to Date. The Roots of the Dilemma. Identifying the Most Common Mistakes. Ground Rules for Successful Vendor Relationships. Selecting the Right Strategy. Strategy Selection Parameters. Using the Parameters to Select a Strategy. Selecting the Right Partner. Enabling Success. Enabling Factories. The Basic Factory Process. Before Using a Factory. The Factory Package. The Factory QA Process. Internal Factories. Enabling Consultants. Offshore Resources. Market Update. 6. Standards, Tools, and Techniques Update. Standards Update. Date Format Standards. Certification Programs. External Data Interchange. Year 2000 Firewall Strategies. Upgrade Unit Packaging Strategies. Remediation Procedures Update. High-Volume Productivity Targets. Field Expansion Update. Windowing Update. Expansion Using Bridges. Useful Notions and Worst Practices. An Array of Implementation Choices. "Do It Yourself" (DIY) Update. Optimizing the DIY Approach. Optimizing the Manual Fix Approach. Optimizing the Tool-Assisted Approach. Optimizing the Internal Factory Approach. Rules Of Engagement-Start Now. Year 2000 Tool Utilization Update. Automated Remediation Tools. Date Routines-Revisited. Bridging Routines. Testing Update. PC and Distributed Systems Tools. Risk Simulation Tools. Tracking Risks and Progress: Repository Utilization. Establishing Year 2000 Tracking Repository. Information Requirements. Enterprisewide Metamodel. Physical Repository Requirements. Information Capture and Loading Requirements. Inquiry and Reporting Requirements. 7. Year 2000 Testing Basics. Year 2000 Testing Differences. Scope of Year 2000 Testing. Focus of Year 2000 Testing. Infrastructure for Year 2000 Testing. What Needs to Be Tested. Compliance Requirement for Business Software. End-User Systems. Compliance Requirement for Embedded Technology. Types and Levels of Testing. Types of Tests. Levels of Tests. How Much Testing is Enough? "Failsafe" Testing. Typical Application Testing. Risk-Based Targeting. Elements of Risk-Based Analysis. Components Affected by Risk-Based Testing Strategies. Applying Risk-Based Testing Strategies. Applying Testing. 8. Implementing a Year 2000 Test Program. Managing the Enterprise-Level Testing Effort. The Testing Function of the Project Office. Roles and Responsibilities. Enterprise-Level Test Infrastructures. Assessing Enterprise Test Infrastructures. Determining Enterprise Infrastructure Improvements. Implementing Enterprise Infrastructure Improvements. Enterprise-Level Master Test Plan. High-Level Summary. Testing Strategy. Application Consolidation. Infrastructure Requirements. Test Projects List. Master Project Time Line. Managing Application-Level Testing Efforts. Roles and Responsibilities. Application Test Assessment Activities. Determining Application Infrastructure Improvements. Create an Application Test Plan. Test Data Creation. Test Script Creation. Test Execution. Results Validation. Acceptance and Sign-Off. Creating Application Test Plans. High-Level Summary. Testing Strategy. Test Environment. Detailed Test Descriptions. Application Project Time Line. Creating an Application Test Plan for Packaged Software. Factors Affecting Software Package Testing. Approaches to Testing Packaged Software. Developing a Test Plan for Packaged Software. Creating an Application Test Plan for Factory Remediation. Factors Affecting Testing of Factory-Remediated Software. Approaches to Testing Factory-Remediated Software. Developing a Test Plan for Factory-Remediated Software. 9. Contingency Planning: When Time Runs Out. What Is Contingency Planning. Why Plan for Contingencies. Technical versus Business-Driven Contingency Plans. Internally versus Externally Driven Requirements. Contingency Planning Participants. Identifying Contingency Requirements. Hardware and Infrastructure-Driven Requirements. Software-Driven Requirements. Development/Replacement Projects. Business-Driven Contingency Requirements. Building a Contingency Plan. Planning Overview. Business Model Redesign Options. Business Unit Shutdown Options. Business Function Consolidation Options. Triage: The De Facto Contingency Plan. Contingency Planning by Industry. Financial Institutions. Insurance Companies. Health Care Providers. Manufacturing and Retail Industries. Service Industries. Utilities and Telecommunications. Government Strategies. Small Company Contingency Planning. Contingency Plan Invocation. Time Critically Defines Success. Replacement Project Invocation. Invocation Based on Package-Provider Problems. Internal Failure Identification and Invocation. External Problem Identification and Invocation. Pre-2000 and Post-2000 Contingency Invocation. Who Makes Contingency Decisions? Shift toward Contingency Management. Contingency Management Is Continuous. Contingency Options at an Industry Level. Contingency Options at a National Level. Personal Contingency Planning. 10. Managing the Transition: Surviving the Inevitable. Defining the "Transition Window." Problems to Date. Predictions: 1998. Predictions: 1999. January 1, 2000. Cleaning Up the Mess: 2001-2005. Insurance Claims and Legal Action. Looking Forward: Industry by Industry. Financial Industry. Health Care. Manufacturing. Utilities and Telecommunications. Transportation. International Implications. Investment and Economic Impacts. Investment Impacts. Economic Impacts. Building a Crisis Management Team. Year 2000 Crisis Management. Crisis Management Requirements. Internal Planning Considerations. External Impact Considerations. The Crisis Management Plan. Crisis Call-In Center. Contingency Planning and Triage Center. Shifting Business Strategies in Crisis Mode. Cleanup Management Window. Year 2000 Will Change IT Landscape. Institutionalize the Project Office. IT Must Move On. IT Outsourcing: Be Careful. Think Globally-Act Locally. Authors' Note. Vendor Lists. Index.


Abstract Changes in anisotropy of hydraulic conductivity with capillary pressure affect flow and transport in unsaturated heterogeneous soils. In this study, we examine how the anisotropy is related to the layered structure of soil formation consisting of both randomly arranged layers and repeated unit cells of binary structure subject to the same capillary pressure head at both ends. In addition, the performance of commonly adopted conceptualization of harmonic and arithmetic mean approach in characterizing unsaturated soil anisotropy is also investigated. The anisotropy is determined by the fluxes in directions perpendicular and parallel to the layering subject to the same hydraulic gradient condition. For the regularly structured layers of repeated units, the crossover capillary pressure head of the distinct soil layers is important to determine the capillary pressure distribution in the layered system and the associated anisotropy. The layered formation is generally less anisotropic when the more permeable layers are located on the top of the formation. The anisotropy factor is usually a nonmonotonic function against the capillary pressure head, which displays a minimum anisotropy at an intermediate capillary pressure head value. Minimum anisotropy is more pronounced when the formation consists of only a few contrasting soil layers. The minimum anisotropy is mainly due to the fact that, at some intermediate capillary pressure head, individual layers have similar hydraulic behavior around the crossover point as a result of nonlinearity of hydraulic conductivity in relation to the capillary pressure head.


. The video is a popular service among users which plays an important role in the networks traffic and has hugest volume of data compared to other types of communications. In recent years, the great willingness of users to watch live videos has attracted the researchers to the networks equipped with content saving devices in which the video content is saved in advance within the edge devices (small stations and smart devices) for fast delivery. In this paper, we have proposed a new method to send the video content based on the D2D connection and providing a multi-connection and multi-user opportunities. According to the random nature of the popularity of video content and the random demands of users in the network, the authors of the article use the random distribution of popularity among users to investigate the probability of sending the same content to some users simultaneously. In this method, the requests of some users are answered by one response. Extensive simulations results of the proposed method reveals the important effect of the random distribution of video content popularity and show that using multi-link D2D connections can cause significant improvements in the efficiency of the network in term of the network throughput.


The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the effects of hydrodynamic conditions on the permeate flux, cake resistance and sieving coefficient in a crossflow ultrafiltration process separating biomolecules of different molecular weights. A binary mixture of L-phenylalanine (L-phe) and lipase was ultrafiltered through a hydrophobic polyether sulphone (PES) membrane with 10 kDa molecular weight cut-off. The changes in permeate flux, cake layer resistance and observed sieving coefficient with different transmembrane pressures (TMP) and crossflow velocities were evaluated. The effect of TMP was examined at two different velocities (0.114 m s -1 and 0.176 m s -1 ) and the effect of velocity was examined at two different TMP (20 kPa and 115 kPa) for the experimental system designed. In the initial stage of the crossflow filtration, it was determined that the TMP was more effective than the velocity. The cake layer resistance increased with increasing TMP and it decreased with increasing velocity for the high TMP value of 115 kPa. A maximum of the observed sieving coefficient was achieved with increasing velocity. An increase in TMP at low inlet velocity (0.114 m s -1 ) affected the observed sieving coefficient positively.


This study was conducted to compare three commercially available egg testing devices for measuring egg quality. The devices used were a Laser-type (automatic), a Ultrasonic-type (automatic), and a Probe-type (manual). Fresh eggs weighing 60∼68 grams were obtained from a commercial hen farm. Three trials were conducted. In Trial 1, a total of 50 eggs were successively analyzed by the three egg testing devices. In Trial 2, fresh eggs were successively analyzed by a combination of two egg testing devices. In Trial 3, a total of 600 eggs (weighing 60∼68 grams) laid by same flock were selected, further divided into three sub-groups with a total of 200 eggs, and analyzed by an egg testing device. In Trials 1 and 2, no apparent difference was observed in egg weight between egg testing devices. However, albumin height was scored highest in the Ultrasonic-type egg tester followed by the Probe-type and Laser-type (Trials 1 and 2). Consequently, the Haugh unit was similarly altered. Yolk color was highest in the Laser-type egg tester followed by the Ultrasonic-type and Probe-type (Trials 1 and 2). When fresh eggs laid by a single flock were independently analyzed by three devices, egg weight did not differ, but albumin height and Haugh unit were higher (p<0.05) in the Ultrasonic-type egg tester than in the Probe-type or Laser-type testers. However, Laser-type testers produced higher (p<0.05) yolk color values than the Ultrasonic-type or Probe-type egg testers. In conclusion, the commercially available egg testing devices exhibited performance differences in measuring egg qualities, which warrants further consideration as to whether the magnitude of bias and precision between the devices could be acceptable in the egg grading system, especially when assessing eggs stored for certain durations.


The purpose of the present paper is to give a formulation of the simple theory of types which incorporates certain features of the calculus of λ-conversion. A complete incorporation of the calculus of λ-conversion into the theory of types is impossible if we require that λx and juxtaposition shall retain their respective meanings as an abstraction operator and as denoting the application of function to argument. But the present partial incorporation has certain advantages from the point of view of type theory and is offered as being of interest on this basis (whatever may be thought of the finally satisfactory character of the theory of types as a foundation for logic and mathematics). For features of the formulation which are not immediately connected with the incorporation of λ-conversion, we are heavily indebted to Whitehead and Russell, Hilbert and Ackermann, Hilbert and Bernays, and to forerunners of these, as the reader familiar with the works in question will recognize. The class of type symbols is described by the rules that ı and o are each type symbols and that if α and β are type symbols then (αβ) is a type symbol: it is the least class of symbols which contains the symbols ı and o and is closed under the operation of forming the symbol (αβ) from the symbols α and β.


In the age of information, information overload is projected to grow. The best techniques are sought to reach layperson audiences or readers with a unique message. Designers and information architects care about this. Thus publishing design and print communication must explore new ways to organise information for high reader impact and a more humanistic approach than before. This method requires writers to grasp readers' attention while reading. Hence, bullet points may highlight crucial themes when writing. Bullet points assist readers' reading and comprehension. Understanding ideas helps readers accept them and so bullet points improve information processing. Bullet points have been styled using points, lines, and various forms in publication design and commercial communication. However, there are not enough data to provide bullet point suggestions. Incorrect bullet point styles might impact information processing and document authority. Therefore, bullet points' effects on readers' emotions and information processing must be studied. This study examines the bullet point system and how it helps in the organisation and typesetting of texts. Bullet point categories' information-interpretation efficacy will be examined.


We present two options for implementing a pair of AC-dipoles in RHIC for spin flipping, measuring linear optical functions and nonlinear diagnostics. AC-dipoles are magnets that can be adiabatically excited and de-excited with a continuous sine-wave in order to coherently move circulating beam out to large betatron amplitudes without incurring emittance blow up. The AGS already uses a similar device for getting polarized proton beams through depolarizing resonances. By placing the magnets in the IP4 common beam region, two AC-dipoles are sufficient to excite both horizontal and vertical motion in both RHIC rings. While we initially investigated an iron-dominated magnet design, using available steel tape cores we now favor a new air coil plus ferrite design featuring mechanical frequency tuning, in order to best match available resources to demanding frequency sweeping requirements. Both magnet designs are presented along with model magnet test results. The challenge is to make AC-dipoles available for year 2000 RHIC running.


Sand filter is frequentlyused to treat contaminated water. Channel filter system is a modification of sand filter where the channel is shaped thus the land requirement could be minimized, water is flowed horizontallyfrom intial tank to finaltank through sand filter. Employing the channel filter to treat domestic wastewateris capable of reducing E. Coli up to 98.14%, increasing DO up to 27% and decreasing BOD5 up to 27%. Unfortunately, the final content of E.Coli after treatment process completed is still unacceptable for drinking water. Several options are available to improve the performance of the channel filter system. One of the promising alternativesis modifying the filter medium. Zeolite is natural material that has been utilized to improvewater quality based on several parameters such as Fe, Mn, organic materials, CO and others. Application of zeolite to diminish E. Coli is a challenge. This paper will investigate the effectiveness of zeolite to lower E. Coli contained in domestic wastewater . Zeolite was added to sand filter where thefraction of zeolite is about 5%. Two kind of zeolite-sand combination was implemented that is arranged and mixed zeolite-sand. Wastewater containing E.Coli was then put in the initial tank. Through the hole createdin the tank, wastewater then flowed passing through the combined zeolite-sand filter and accumulated in the final tank. Both E. Coli from initial and final tank was measured to compute treatment efficiency. The result showsE. Coli decreases up to99.99%, BOD5and DO decrease more than 71% and 66% respectively. It can be concluded that 5% addition ofzeolite is able to improve treatment efficiency ofsand filter.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the morphological pattern of parotid tumours.

STUDY DESIGN
Case series.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY
ENT Department of Karachi Medical and Dental College and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, Karachi, from 1990 to 2004.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
During this study, 204 patients with parotid tumours were registered. The patients of all ages and both gender were included in this study. All patients were evaluated by history, clinical examination, F.N.A.C. and ultrasound, C.T/MRI was done in selected cases. All patients were surgically managed and their tumour specimen was sent for histopathology. Classification of individual tumour was based on 1991 World Health Organization Classification. Discrete data was presented in percentage and proportions.

RESULTS
Out of 204 cases, 152 (74.5%) were benign and 52 (25.5%) were malignant. Of these, 117 (57.35%) patients were females and 87 (42.65%) males. Benign tumours were more common in females whereas malignant tumours were common in males. The mean age of patients was 34 years and 42 years for benign and malignant tumours respectively. Pleomorphic adenoma was most common benign tumor (83.5%), followed by Warthins tumour. The most common malignant tumour was mucoepidermoid carcinoma (60%), followed by adenoid cystic carcinoma. Superficial lobe of parotid gland was the commonest site, 120 benign and all 52 malignant tumours arising from it while 32 benign tumours originated from deep lobe. Parotid swelling for years was main feature of benign tumours, whereas malignant tumours presented with pain, fixation to skin or underlying structure, cervical lymphadenopathy and facial palsy.

CONCLUSION
Pleomorphic adenoma was the most common benign tumour and mucoepidermoid carcinoma was most common malignant tumour. The morphological patterns and distribution followed the known pattern.


The scientific practice, in the several social sciences, cannot be implemented without the researcher clearly defines in depth the theoretical and meta-theoretical foundations that underpinning the research. Similarly, the unambiguous understanding of the concepts, in view of the multi-conceptualizations core, allows providing the accuracy and strength of research methods and conclusions. This paper seeks to clarify some concepts whose relevance in research processes becomes critical in building added value to research results.


The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the regulations for delegations of authority to reflect redelegations to other officials within the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) pertaining to: Certifying true copies and using the Department seal, disclosing official records, issuing reports of minor violations, and medical device reporting procedures. This amendment is intended to reflect those redelegations.


Singapore has many limited resources. But at the same time can develop the country and preserve the environment of the city in a balanced and sustainable way. Therefore, the design of the city on this issue of Singapore is being taken to study the guidelines, as well as bringing the ideas to be presented to the urban communities that are experiencing environmental problems. Thailand has considered applying, and from the study found that Singapore's urban development is consistent with universal theory, sustainable development, Smart City, compact city and livable city. And when analyzing these theories together with Singapore's urban environment design, can summarize the guidelines into 4 main issues which are the Guidelines for balancing the city, the Guidelines for linking areas and activities within the city, the Guidelines for land using and urban planning, and the Guidelines for designing landscape elements that promote the good environment in the city. Moreover, building confidence by creating a sense of the country ownership together, as well as the state and the people participation in the development process is an important factor that makes Singapore a fast urban development among the "Good urban environment".


For a successful route request in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs), it is important to know that routing protocols work correctly. On the other hand, this phenomenon acts randomly and it is not often possible to predict their act from one moment to the next. One way for ensuring correct operation of the protocol is to develop a formal model and analyze it. Stochastic Petri Net (SPN) is a formal modeling language which causes the analytical model to be a formal model. Also, prediction of future system's behavior is done in a shorter time than simulation. In this paper, an analytical model based on SPN was presented for TAODV routing protocol. The results showed that the analytical model acted like simulation model in terms of reliability, availability, and mean time to security failure parameters.


ProjectX is a high-order, adaptive discontinuous Galerkin finite element solver. The DG discretization uses Roe's approximate Riemann solver for the inviscid numerical flux, Bassi and Rebay's second discretization (BR2) for the viscous numerical flux, and Oliver's asymptotically dual-consistent discretization for the RANS source term. Modifications have been made to the Spalart-Allmaras turbulence model as described by Oliver to improve robustness of the RANS model for higher-order discretizations. (The model incorporates few additional modifications by Modisette.) To regularize the shocks, artificial viscosity is added in a smooth manner using a jump-based discontinuity sensor and the shock PDE introduced by Barter and Darmofal with a few additional modifications. The solution to the discretized system is obtained using a Newton-based nonlinear solver with pseudo-time continuation and a line search on unsteady residual that explicitly controls the accuracy of time integration. The combination improves solver robustness, particularly through initial transients and on coarse meshes. The linear system arising in each pseudo-time step is solved using GMRES, preconditioned with an in-place block-ILU(0) factorization with minimum discarded fill reordering and p = 0 algebraic coarse correction. An output-based, anisotropic simplex adaptation algorithm is used to control the discretization error. The algorithm iterates toward a mesh that minimizes the output error for a given number of degrees of freedom. The anisotropic adaptation decisions are entirely driven by the behavior of an output-based a posteriori error estimate; thus, the method handles any discretization order, naturally incorporates both the primal and adjoint solution behaviors, and robustly treats irregular features. The output error estimate uses the dual-weighted residual (DWR) method of Becker and Rannacher. A new mesh that conforms to the metric request is generated using using BAMG (Bidimensional Anisotropic Mesh Generator), and higher-order, globally curved meshes are constructed through linear elasticity.


Livestock sector plays a crucial role in shaping the rural economy of India. It is a major continuous income generating activity for the rural households. Livestock rearing and crop husbandry are the two important components of mixed farming which influence agricultural economy leading to sustainable agriculture and are complementary to each other. On an average animal husbandry contributes about 27 per cent to agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) of the country, whereas, the contribution is much higher in hot semi-arid and arid region where conventional crop production is always a gamble due to uncertain and scanty rainfall. Livestock & fisheries sector contribute over 4.11 per cent of total GDP of India (Economic Survey 2017-18). A symbiotic relationship exists between men, land and livestock. India is International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 3 (2020) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com


If the digital scholarly edition (DSE) is ever to replace the print scholarly edition it must be made truly interoperable so it can be easily secured, moved, published, aggregated, distributed and sold. Current DSEs are customised for particular projects, and must be maintained by their creators. Their contents are also not easily reusable by others. However, digital editions can be made truly interoperable by writing them directly for the Web rather than first in XML, then converting them to HTML. For this to work, some changes to the organisation of the software and data of a DSE are needed. Instead of dividing the software into two parts that run on the server and the client, all software can be moved to the client. In this way, a DSE can become portable, durable and directly usable in any web-browser. Instead of XML, the textual data can use a simplified form of HTML consisting of only two elements: and , controlled and customised by a standard CSS stylesheet. The current practice of encoding alternatives such as variants can be replaced by versions and layers: versions are complete texts written by the author and layers are notional transcripts of local changes ordered chronologically. In this way textual data can express most of the information formerly specified by the complex TEI-XML Guidelines, and the rest via other technologies, and reorganise it in a form that allows easy comparison, editing, searching and textual analysis using standard software tools.


Measurements of the electron distribution and heat flow between the critical and ablation surfaces in a laser-produced plasma have been obtained using Thomson scattering. A frequency-quadrupled probe beam was used to obtain Thomson spectra at above-critical densities in a plasma produced by irradiation of solid targets with the fundamental laser light at irradiances of 3 × 1014 W cm−2. Comparison of Thomson spectra at the ion acoustic frequency (sensitive to the cold return current) with simulated spectra shows that the data are consistent with Fokker–Planck simulations of the electron distribution function, providing the first direct information on the electron distribution function.


SUMMARY: Plasma membranes from osmotically lysed protoplasts of Metschnikowia reukaufii were concentrated 21- to 26-fold (using the recovery of [3H]dansyl chloride and ATPase activity at pH 6.5, as criteria). The contamination by mitochondria was approximately 10%. The plasma membrane ATPase was stimulated by K+ by up to 350% at pH 6.5; Na+ had a lesser effect, whereas Li+ had none. The stimulation by K+ was independent of Cl−, NO3 − or CO2 3 − as accompanying anions. The pH optimum of the ATPase was narrowed in the presence of 80 mM-KC1 to a distinct peak at pH 6.5. Under these conditions nucleoside triphosphates other than ATP were hydrolysed at rates less than 5% of that with ATP, and the K m of the ATPase for ATP was lowered from 1.3 to 0.6 mM. Orthovanadate (40 μM) and oligomycin (5 μg ml−1) inhibited the plasma membrane ATPase by 65% and by 20%, respectively. In contrast, the ATPase activity of the mitochondrial fraction had a sharp optimum at pH 8.5 and was not stimulated by added K+.


posed by AIDS and HIV infection. It appears that all the participants at the meeting have submitted papers, covering the clinical, epidemiological, immunological, and therapeutic approaches to AIDS in Europe. This book is essentially a meeting report and, by necessity, publication has been delayed until one year after the meeting. The papers presented have either been published in scientific journals in the meanwhile or have sunk without trace in the interim. There was an International Meeting in Paris in 1986, which has largely bypassed much of the message of this book. On a positive note, the epidemiology from Europe presents some data from the more obscure corners: seropositivity to HIV in Athenian prostitutes; a 12year history of serology in Switzerland; epidemiology of AIDS in Milan, etc. However, these data are, in many cases, 18 months out of date, which for such a fast-moving field is unacceptable. I found tables to be misplaced (Fig 1, p75 belongs on p198, and vice versa), and I was surprised to see myself as second author on a paper I had never seen, and whose contents I found a poor reflection of my own work. If this is an indication of the other contributions, I worry about the general reliability of this book. I feel this book contains information which is obtainable elsewhere. Clinicians will need more detail, epidemiologists need to be in the present, and immunologists require more rigorous justification of results. It seems tragic that the EEC should be spending research money on publishing books of this sort when the same money would be better spent in more regular-unpublished-meetings. There are enough publications on AIDS already.


EXPOSE-E has been the first of three long-duration space
missions provided by the European Space Agency (ESA)
within the European Program of Life and Physical Science in
Space (ELIPS) for long-term astrobiology studies on board the
International Space Station. As part of the European Technology
Exposure Facility, EXPOSE-E was launched together
with ESA's Columbus laboratory and mounted in open space
onto the external balcony of the Columbus laboratory from 15
February 2008 until 2 September 2009. It accommodated a
variety of chemical and biological test systems from five different
experiments.


BACKGROUND
Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is a leading cause of acute kidney injury (AKI). The inflammatory response that drives IRI involves upregulation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which results in proteolytic degradation of renal microvascular matrix. Evidence suggests a potential protective role of active vitamin D on ischemic injury by downregulating MMPs. In the present study, we aimed to determine the expression and level of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in renal IRI model and the potential beneficial effect of paricalcitol on both level and expression of MMPs and tubular injury caused by IRI.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
20 Wistar albino rats were divided into three groups: sham-operated, ischemia-reperfusion, and paricalcitol-pretreated. IRI model was induced by bilateral clamping of renal arteries for 45 minutes followed by 24 hours of reperfusion. The analysis of serum creatinine and levels of MMPs were performed after 24 hours of IRI. The effects of paricalcitol on the quantity and expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in renal tubular epithelial cells were investigated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunohistochemistry, respectively. The pathological examinations were performed to score tubular damage by light microscopy.

RESULTS
Creatinine levels decreased in the paricalcitol group, although this was not proven to be significant. Rats in the paricalcitol group showed significant decrease in both level and expression of MMPs and in tubular injury scores as compared to the IRI group.

CONCLUSION
Paricalcitol may attenuate renal tubular injury caused by IRI by decreasing both level and expression of MMPs. Further studies are required to investigate the interplay between activated vitamin D and MMPs in AKI.
.


SAP AG bought Business Objects SA in 2008. The acquisition is designed to accelerate SAP's growth with the addition of thousands of new customers and a new product line to address the fast-growing market for business intelligence (BI) software. As SAP had its own BI product (NetWeaver BI), the move has been a clear reaction to Oracle buying Business Objects' competitor Hyperion in 2007 (Hyperion is specialised in adding financial and performance management tools for SAP systems). The two platforms will be run as independent standalone platforms with integration capabilities."SAP will continue to offer Business Objects' software as a standalone product line, and Business Objects will operate independently inside of SAP. This business intelligence solution will be available in a more integrated fashion for the SAP customer, and in a stand-alone manner for the non-SAP customer" John Schwarz, Business Objects CEO.


Regulation of protein synthesis is critical for coordinating cellular activity with environmental cues. The extensive discrepancy between messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein levels exemplifies the pervasiveness of translational control. Accordingly, dysregulation of translation is associated with diseases, ranging from cancer to developmental, neuropsychiatric and metabolic disorders. Understanding cellular adaptation and the molecular underpinnings of diverse diseases requires a detailed understanding of translational control mechanisms. This work discusses the contributions of an essential translation factor to genome-wide protein synthesis and the ability of an unusual RNA structure element from Hepatitis C virus to promote translation in fungi. Eukaryotic initiation factor 4G (eIF4G) is essential for protein synthesis. It simultaneously interacts with message- and ribosome-associated factors to help recruit and position the ribosome on the mRNA. The genomes of a wide variety of eukaryotes encode multiple eIF4G isoforms, some of which have unique translational functionality. To test the hypothesis that the two different individual eIF4G isoforms in yeast make distinct contributions to translation, I examined the effect of removing each eIF4G isoform on growth and translation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae . Strains expressing a single isoform at wild-type levels revealed that both isoforms have the capacity to support wild-type growth and translation rates. In fact, no messages expressed under standard laboratory conditions rely strongly on a particular eIF4G isoform for their translation. Environmental fluctuations affect the fitness of wild-type and isoform-specific strains equally, suggesting a large functional overlap exists between yeast eIF4G isoforms. Therefore, encoding eIF4G proteins from distinct genetic loci ensures maintenance of adequate eIF4G levels, which is critical for cellular fitness. Several stresses reduce eIF4G levels to regulate translation. To determine whether there are message-specific effects of eIF4G reduction I compared the translational efficiency of all yeast mRNAs under wild type and eIF4G-limiting conditions. The translation of genes that encode messages with longer poly-adenosine (poly(A)) tails are preferentially sensitive to eIF4G limitation. To test the hypothesis that translational enhancement by the poly(A) tail requires adequate eIF4G, I determined the effects of limiting eIF4G on the translation of mRNAs with varying poly(A) tail lengths. eIF4G limitation does not alter the relationship between poly(A) tail length and translation, in vitro . Therefore, mRNA-specific differences in the requirement for eIF4G are mediated by a poly(A)-independent mechanism. The Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a global public health threat and new therapeutics are needed. The development of new treatments requires a mechanistic understanding of critical stages in the viral life cycle. HCV utilizes an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) to initiate the synthesis of proteins required for viral replication. Extensive biochemical and structural studies have assigned functions to IRES components, however the influence of host factors on IRES activity remains obscure. To establish a genetic system for the study of host factor influence we determined the ability of the HCV IRES to initiate translation in Schizosaccharomyces pombe . The HCV IRES does not efficiently promote translation in S. pombe in vivo or in vitro . Initial steps have been taken to identify mammalian factors that are able to stimulate HCV IRES-mediated translation in S. pombe .


For competition in telecommunications markets, tests for price–cost squeezes have become increasingly important, as both price differentiation between end users and product bundling based on regulated and unregulated inputs are on the rise. This study first summarises the theory of predatory pricing and European and German case practice regarding price–cost squeezes. On this basis, it suggests ways to pragmatically adapt the existing test procedure in order to better identify price–cost squeezes in specific tariffs/rate bundles.


ABSTRACT Ensuring young children's competence to participate meaningfully in the informed consent process is a troublesome ethical issue. Evolving recognition of the influence of context and relationship, researcher perspective, and researcher responsibility to provide adequate support has advanced understanding of how this might be achieved. Here, we report the findings of the pilot trial of a new approach that used an 'interactive nonfiction narrative' to enhance young children's capacity to provide meaningful informed consent. This innovative approach employs (re)telling strategies and technology (interactive) to convey factual information about the research (nonfiction) via a story (narrative) to promote participant understanding. Case studies of two 3-year-old boys and their mothers captured participants' understanding of the informing and consent process. Data collection in the child's home took place over 11 weeks and included conversations with children and semi-structured interviews with parents on three occasions, together with videos of children interacting with the informing story. We found that children understood many of the key concepts, including the research problem and how they could 'help' (participate). Children also understood that they could cease their participation, with one boy exercising his right to opt out towards the end of the study.


Elevated plasma HCO(3)(-) can improve exercise endurance in humans. This effect has been related to attenuation of the work-induced reduction in muscle pH, which is suggested to improve performance via at least two mechanisms: 1) less inhibition of muscle enzymes and 2) reduced opening of muscle K(ATP) channels with less ensuing reduction in excitability. Aiming at determining whether the ergogenic effect of HCO(3)(-) is related to effects on muscles, we examined the effect of elevating extracellular HCO(3)(-) from 25 to 40 mM (pH from 7.4 to 7.6) on fatigue, intracellular pH (pH(i)), and K(+) efflux in isolated rat skeletal muscles contracting isometrically. Fatigue induced by 30-Hz stimulation at 30 and 37 degrees C was similar between soleus muscles incubated in high and normal HCO(3)(-) concentrations. In extensor digitorum longus muscles stimulated at 60 Hz, elevated HCO(3)(-) did not affect fatigue at 30 degrees C. In soleus muscles, 30-Hz stimulation induced a approximately 0.2 unit reduction in pH(i), as determined by using the pH-sensitive probe 2',7'-bis(2-carboxyethyl)-5(6)-carboxyfluorescein. This reduction in pH(i) was not affected by elevated HCO(3)(-). Estimation of K(+) efflux using (86)Rb(+) showed that elevated HCO(3)(-) did not affect K(+) efflux at rest or during contractions. Similarly, other modifications of the intra- and extracellular pH had little effect on K(+) efflux during contraction. In conclusion, elevated extracellular HCO(3)(-) had no significant effect on muscle fatigue, pH(i), and K(+) efflux. These findings indicate that alternative mechanisms must be considered for the ergogenic effect of HCO(3)(-) observed in integral exercise studies.


Silver nanomaterials are the major components of healthcare products largely because of their antimicrobial effects. However, their unintended toxicity to biological organisms and its mechanism are not well understood. Using medaka fish embryo model, the toxic effects and corresponding mechanisms of silver nanocolloids (SNC, particle size 3.8 ± 1.0-diameter nm) were investigated. SNC caused morphological changes in embryos including cardiovascular malformations, ischemia, underdeveloped central nervous system and eyes, and kyphosis at exposures of 0.5 mg/L. Interestingly, SNC were observed inside the eggs at a level of 786.1 ± 32.5 pg/mg egg weight, and TEM analysis showed that SNC adhered to the surface and inside of the chorion. Meanwhile, medaka oligo DNA microarray and qRT-PCR were used for gene expression analysis in the embryos exposed to 0.05 mg/L SNC for 48 h. As a result, expressions of six of the oxidative stress-, embryogenesis- and morphogenesis-related genes, ctsL, tpm1, rbp, mt, atp2a1, and hox6b6, were affected by the SNC exposure, and these genes' involvement in those malformations was implied. Thus, SNC could potentially cause malformations in the cardiovascular and central nervous systems in developing medaka embryo through SNC-induced differential expression of the genes related to oxidative stress, embryonic cellular proliferation, and morphological development.


Funded by the National Science Foundation, DRL- 0918425. All opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Foundation.


Supported by several recent investigations, the empirical pricing kernel (EPK) puzzle might be considered a stylized fact. Based on an economic model with state dependent preferences for the financial investors, we want to emphasize a microeconomic view that succeeds in explaining the puzzle. We retain the expected utility framework in a one period model and illustrate the case when the state is defined with respect to a reference point. We further investigate how the model relates the shape of the EPK to the economic conditions.


Postoperative sensitivity is characterized by short and sharp pain, and often experienced after cementation of indirect restorations. Factors associated with the occurrence of post-cementation sensitivity include type of cement, removal of smear layer by acid-etching, aggressive tooth preparation, inadequate provisional restorations, and patient's age. Its prevention is based on either interfering with mechanoreceptor activity or occluding the dentinal tubules. Regarding the latter, application of dentin desensitizers may be effective for blocking the tubules and significantly reducing dentin permeability and consequently postoperative sensitivity. This Critical Appraisal will present available clinical data where traditional materials such as zinc phosphate and glass ionomer cements (GIC) as well as self-adhesive resin-based cements were used.


Nitroxide-mediated polymerization of styrene-divinylbenzene has been modeled using generating functions of length distributions, pseudo-kinetic propagations, and numerical fractionation with the crosslinking rate depending on generation. Cyclization reactions are tackled by balances of sequences, yielding fair predictions of the measured pendant double bond concentration. With reduction in crosslinking, agreement for the experiments at 90 °C between predicted and measured weight-average, molecular weight, and weight fraction of gel is observed. A much higher relative crosslinking reactivity is observed at 130 °C as compared to 90 °C, likely an effect of the chain mobility.


Proceedings: AACR 102nd Annual Meeting 2011‐‐ Apr 2‐6, 2011; Orlando, FL

Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of death from cancer worldwide. Evidence support the protective role of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and statins. Experiments were designed to evaluate the efficacies atorvastatin and NSAIDs administered individually and in combination against colon adenocarcinoma (AdCa) formation. Also, we evaluated colonic AdCa inhibitory action of atorvastatin and NSAIDs in regulating the expression of key protein markers and cytokines. F344 rats were fed AIN-76A diet and colon AdCa were induced with azoxymethane (AOM). One week after AOM-treatment (adenoma-stage) groups of rats were fed AIN-76A diet containing atorvastatin (200 ppm), sulindac (100 ppm) or naproxen (150 ppm), or their combinations with atorvastatin (100 ppm) for 45 weeks. We found that rats fed experimental diets were comparable body weights and without any observable toxicity. Most of AOM-treated control-diet fed rats developed AdCa (74.2% incidence) at 45 weeks. Administration of sulindac and naproxen individually had modest inhibitory (∼25% incidence and ∼33% multiplicity) effect on colon AdCa. However, 200 ppm atorvastatin significantly suppressed both AdCa incidence (>52%, p<0.005) and multiplicity (59%, p<0.003). Importantly, colon AdCa incidence was significantly decreased when rats were given low-dose atorvastatin with either sulindac (p<0.001) or naproxen (p <0.0005). Also, colon AdCa multiplicities were profoundly reduced (80-85%, p<0.0001) when rats were given low-dose atorvastatin with either sulindac or naproxen. The staining of proliferation markers, PCNA, cyclin D1 and beta-catenin indicated that the tumors from the control group had the strong positive staining in the cells, whereas sulindac, naproxen, atorvastatin, and/or combinations had much weaker positive staining. Importantly, colon AdCa from atorvastatin and NSAIDs fed animals showed reduced expression of key inflammatory markers as well as nuclear staining for phospho-p65, a key molecule in the NF-kB pathway. In addition, atorvastatin and NSAIDs combination decreased mucosal and colonic tumor levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF- alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-4 and IL-10. Overall, this is the first report on the combination treatment using low-dose atorvastatin with either low dose sulindac or naproxen, which greatly suppress the colon AdCa incidence and multiplicity. Also, our results suggest that decreased inflammatory cytokines and signaling molecules, particularly inhibition of nuclear p65, beta-catenin and cyclin D1 are responsible for suppression of colonic AdCa. In summary, low-dose atorvastatin with sulindac or naproxen might potential useful combinations for colon cancer prevention in humans. (Supported by NCI-N01-CN-53300 and R01-CA94962)

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 833. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-833


Dosimetry of low energy X-rays is performed more and more often with the use of thin window parallel-plate ionization chambers because of their favourable performance characteristics compared with cylindrical chambers. The thin window is particularly attractive for measuring beam parameters at the skin (phantom) surface but it also introduces dosimetric problems by allowing the secondary photoelectrons produced in the beam collimating system to enter the chamber. This may result in erroneous dosimetric data. The authors deal with some of the problems caused by the secondary electrons and their effect on absorbed dose and depth dose measurements. To minimize these effects, it is suggested to increase the window thickness of the ionization chamber employed thus making the chamber only X-ray sensitive.


Thematic maps have a central and often unquestioned role in geographical information systems (GIS) (Woodcock and Gopal, 2000). They are one of the most common ways of representing spatial data and are unsurprisingly, therefore, a common input and output of analyses undertaken in GIS. They are, however, only a model or simplification and hence a flawed representation of reality. Consequently, it is important that the quality of thematic maps is evaluated and expressed in a meaningful way so that their suitability for use may be assessed. This is important not only in providing a guide to the quality of a map and its fitness for a particular purpose but also in understanding error and its likely implications, especially if allowed to propagate through analyses linking the thematic map to other data sets. Unfortunately, for many geospatial data sets there is commonly a lack of information on data quality and what exists is often poorly communicated (Johnston and Timlin, 2000). The quality of spatial data sets is a very broad issue that may relate to a variety of properties (Worboys, 1998) but with thematic maps the property of interest is typically map accuracy. The accuracy of spatial data sets has long been an important issue in GIS and has been the focus of considerable research, particularly since the influential book by Goodchild and Gopal (1989). As accuracy remains a major research topic and issue of concern to many researchers, it seems pertinent to revisit the topic of accuracy, especially that of thematic maps. For instance, it is apparent that considerable development is required in the methods of accuracy assessment (Scepan, 1999) particularly as the accuracy of thematic maps is one of the greatest limitations to many users (Guisan and Zimmermann, 2000).


Permeable House is the title of the present paper produced for the "Projeto III" course at the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (Campus Cachoeira do Sul) as part of the Architecture and Urbanism program in the first semester of 2017, related to single family housing projects. Facing the traditional single-family dwelling, we were guided by a unique work methodology that emphasizes certain requests and elicits a mindset concerned about unexpected vital issues. This paper aims to present the specific features of this design planning method towards a specific outcome: Permeable house – an experimental alternative to the usual organization of house designing – identifying the refreshed understanding of architecture from the point of view of this methodology that emphasizes the structure – and the opportunity of designing it along with the initial concerns over form –, the city – considering architecture as an entity that creates the urban space – and the environment – highlighting the role architecture has when it comes to dialoguing with its natural and built surroundings.


Abstract Background Antiretroviral therapy for pregnant women with HIV has dramatically decreased perinatal transmission of HIV, but concerns remain regarding adverse neurologic outcomes from possible mitochondrial dysfunction or other mechanisms in children exposed in utero to antiretroviral (ARV) medications. Method We evaluated HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) children enrolled in the Surveillance Monitoring for ART Toxicities (SMARTT) study, a longitudinal observational cohort study conducted by the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS) network. The primary outcome of interest was a "neurologic case" (microcephaly, febrile seizures, seizure disorders, ophthalmologic disorders, other neurologic conditions) as determined by clinical review blinded to ARV exposure. Log-binomial regression analysis was used to obtain adjusted relative risks (aRRs) for associations between in utero ARV exposure and neurologic case status, accounting for potential confounders including Hispanic ethnicity, tobacco use during pregnancy, and birth cohort (2011–2014 and 2015–2017 vs. <2011). To account for variable person-time follow-up within the cohort, Poisson regression models for adjusted incidence rate ratios (aIRRs) were also fitted. Result Among 3,747 eligible HEU children enrolled in SMARTT (52% male, 68% Black and 31% Hispanic), 237 were diagnosed with neurologic conditions, yielding an event rate of 6.3% (95% CI: 5.6%, 7.2%). Tobacco and alcohol use during pregnancy were common (17% and 8%, respectively). The majority of children had in utero ARV exposure (87%); 60% to PI-based regimens, 16% to NNRTI-based regimens and 7% to PI + NNRTI-based regimens. In adjusted models, there was a trend towards an association between efavirenz exposure (EFV) and neurologic case status (aRR: 1.60, 95% CI: 0.99, 2.58). This association was statistically significant in sensitivity analyses restricted to children enrolled prior to or shortly after birth (aRR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.06, 3.05), excluding children with confirmed congenital anomalies (aRR: 1.66, 95% CI: 1.02, 2.64), and accounting for person-time follow-up (aIRR: 1.55, 95% CI: 1.00, 2.76). Conclusion EFV exposure during pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of neurologic abnormalities in infancy and childhood. Disclosures R. Van Dyke, Giliad Sciences: Grant Investigator, Research grant. E. G. Chadwick, Abbott Labs: Shareholder, stock dividends. AbbVie: Shareholder, stock dividends.


In heat conductivity measurements between 2 and 4·5° K twenty-seven pure metals have been subjected to a magnetic field of 4 kOe. Of these, Cd, Sn, Pb, Zn, Ga, Ag, Tl and In show appreciable magneto-resistance effects. Single crystals of Cd, Sn and Pb were investigated and of Zn and Ga, single crystals of different orientations. Ag, Tl and In were polycrystalline specimens. Transverse and longitudinal fields were applied, the effect being always greater in the transverse case. Single crystals of Zn, Sn, Cd and a specimen of Tl were investigated in transverse fields up to 18·5 kOe. The thermal resistance of the cadmium crystal was increased by a factor of 1000 at 2·3° K, and the use of this effect in a thermal switch has been suggested. In transverse fields the thermal resistance of all metals was found to rise linearly except for very small fields. Indications of saturation effects were only obtained in longitudinal fields. The results have been discussed on the basis of existing theory.


This work investigates processes involved in the patterning and production of structured nanoparticles in polymer matrix nanocomposites using femtosecond laser irradiation. An in situ, chemical vapor deposition process was used to synthesize silver nanoparticles in the bulk of an optically transparent polytetrafluoroethylene-co-hexafluoropropylene polymer matrix. The strong optical absorption at the surface plasmon resonance frequency was used to selectively irradiate and photothermally heat the material near particles using femtosecond laser pulses. Having species for chemical vapor deposition in the near-particle environment allows for localized decomposition of the precursor species via unimolecular reactions. Decomposition products can subsequently participate in the production of a variety of core-shell nanostructures. The overall process is demonstrated using femtosecond, photothermal heating of silver nanoparticles to decompose tungsten hexacarbonyl in the polymer matrix leading to the formation of tungsten oxide shells surrounding the silver. For this system, a 40 nm red shift of the surface plasmon resonance was measured. Control of the spatial and temporal characteristics of the excitation source allows for synthesis of nanocomposites with a high degree of control over the location, composition and size of nanoparticles in a polymer matrix resulting in patterned materials with continuously variable properties.


The fast growth of Internet has created the need for high-speed switches. Recently, the crosspoint-queue switch has attracted attention because of its scalability and high performance. However, the Cross-point-Queue switch does not perform well under non-uniform traffic. To overcome this limitation, the Load-Balanced Cross-point-Queued switch architecture has been proposed. In this architecture, a load-balance stage is placed ahead of the Cross-point-Queued stage. The load-balance stage transforms the incoming non-uniform traffic into nearly uniform traffic at the input port of the second stage. To avoid out-of-order cells, this stage employs flow-based queues in each crosspoint buffer. Analysis and simulation results reveal that under non-uniform traffic, this new switch architecture achieves a delay performance similar to that of the Output-Queued switch without the need for internal acceleration. In addition, its throughput is much better than that of the pure cross-point-queued switch. Finally, it can achieve the same packet loss rate as the cross-point-queue switch, while using a buffer size that is only 65% of that used by the cross-point-queue switch.


Arachnoid granulations and villi, choroid plexuses, and ependymal epithelium from 18 male Holstein-Friesian calves fed 108 (control), 8,800 (midly toxic), or 17,600 (severely toxic) mug of vitamin A/kg of live weight per day for 12 weeks were examined by light and electron microscopy for structural changes which could be used to explain the decreased cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure seen in chronic hypervitaminotic A animals. In the toxic calf group, granulations were reduced to approximately two-thirds the size of those in the control calves, with the fibrous cap particularly being thinner and smaller. Second, height of epithelial cells of the lateral and 3rd ventricular choroid plexuses decreased significantly and that of the 4th ventricular choroid plexus, only slightly, as vitamin A intake increased. Structural differences of ependymal cells were not apparent between control and hypervitaminotic A calves. It is hypothesized that the thinner and less extensive fibrous cap of the arachnoid granulations in the toxic calves may result in increased permeability to CSF outflow.


Weakly supervised object localization (WSOL) aims to localize objects with only image-level labels. Previous methods often try to utilize feature maps and classification weights to localize objects using image level annotations indirectly. In this paper, we demonstrate that weakly supervised object localization should be divided into two parts: class-agnostic object localization and object classification. For class-agnostic object localization, we should use class-agnostic methods to generate noisy pseudo annotations and then perform bounding box regression on them without class labels. We propose the pseudo supervised object localization (PSOL) method as a new way to solve WSOL. Our PSOL models have good transferability across different datasets without fine-tuning. With generated pseudo bounding boxes, we achieve 58.00% localization accuracy on ImageNet and 74.74% localization accuracy on CUB-200, which have a large edge over previous models.


The Earth is bombarded by ultrarelativistic particles, known as cosmic rays (CRs). CRs with energies up to a few PeV (=1015 eV), the knee in the particle spectrum, are believed to have a Galactic origin. One or more factories of PeV CRs, or PeVatrons, must thus be active within our Galaxy. The direct detection of PeV protons from their sources is not possible since they are deflected in the Galactic magnetic fields. Hundred TeV γ-rays from decaying π0, produced when PeV CRs collide with the ambient gas, can provide the decisive evidence of proton acceleration up to the knee. Here we report the discovery by the High Altitude Water Cerenkov (HAWC) observatory of the γ-ray source, HAWC J1825-134, whose energy spectrum extends well beyond 200 TeV without a break or cutoff. The source is found to be coincident with a giant molecular cloud. The ambient gas density is as high as 700 protons cm−3. While the nature of this extreme accelerator remains unclear, CRs accelerated to energies of several PeV colliding with the ambient gas likely produce the observed radiation.


Although correctional staff job burnout is costly to all involved, it has not received the empirical attention it deserves. The job characteristics model holds that job characteristics are important in shaping employee outcomes. This study focused on the effects of the job characteristics of supervision consideration, supervision structure, job autonomy, and job variety on the three dimensions of job burnout (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and perceived ineffectiveness at work) among correctional staff. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis of data from 160 staff members at a private prison indicated that job autonomy and job variety had significant negative relationships with emotional exhaustion. Supervision consideration, job autonomy, and job variety all had negative effects on the depersonalization dimension of burnout. Job autonomy and job variety had significant negative effects on perceived ineffectiveness.


Gyula Prinz is responsible for the notion of "Magyar Mezopotamia" [Hungarian Mesopotamia]. The natural basis for this idea is that Hungarian culture developed on the surface of an alluvial plains area. This sort of natural environment was the precondition of great civilizations based on agriculture. In other words, the intrinsic Duna-Tisza [Danubius-Tibiscus] river structure, which is similar to that of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, would elevate Hungary to the status of a mesopotamic country. This is how the central Hungarian area could become the distributing core of culture and how this culture could be radiated towards the neighboring peoples who also lived together with us in the Carpathian Basin. Our "cultural power" therefore "elevated" the cultural level of other peoples who lived with us on the edges of the Carpathian Basin. Accordingly, the end, or the borderline, of the highbrow "core culture" is located where the territory populated by Hungarians ends, or where the plains area shifts into the Carpathian Mountains.


Under pro-atherosclerotic conditions, endothelial cells lose the ability to produce bioactive nitric oxide and demonstrate increased expression of vasoconstrictor, pro-inflammatory, and pro-thrombotic factors. The available evidence suggests that these alterations in endothelial phenotype contribute to the formation, progression, and rupture of atherosclerotic lesions. There currently is great interest in understanding the mechanisms and clinical relevance of these changes in endothelial cell biology, because they could lead to new approaches for the management of patients with atherosclerosis. While it is clear that the endothelium regulates many aspects of vascular homeostasis, current approaches to evaluate local "endothelial function" in humans have been limited to assessment of endothelium dependent vasodilation. In addition, investigators have the ability to measure blood concentrations of various endothelium derived thrombotic and inflammatory factors and, most recently, numbers of endothelial progenitor cells.

The clinical relevance of endothelial dysfunction for cardiovascular disease events is strongly supported by studies in the human coronary circulation showing that impaired endothelium dependent vasodilation in response to acetylcholine or shear stress predicts clinical outcome. For example, more severe impairment of the vasomotor response to intracoronary acetylcholine infusion identifies individuals with increased risk for acute coronary syndromes, cardiovascular death, and stroke.1–4 Impaired flow mediated dilation2 and a more severe constrictor response to the cold pressor test2,5 also predict future cardiovascular events. These findings apply to patients with advanced coronary artery disease2,3 and to individuals with angiographically normal or nearly normal coronary arteries.1,3,5

Although studies in the coronary circulation have the greatest clinical relevance, it is interesting that measures of endothelial function in peripheral arteries also have predictive value for coronary heart disease. For example, impaired endothelium dependent …


This study seeks to investigate concord errors made by 200 level English students of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto (UDUS) and Federal University Gusau (FUGUS) in their written production of English with a view to finding solutions to them. The data were obtained from fifty semester examination answer booklets written by students during first semester 2017 examination. The data collected were analysed using EA approach developed by Corder (1974). The findings of the study reveal that the errors can be grouped into ten categories out of which concord errors are the most committed by the students under study. Based on these findings, it is suggested that the teachers of English and the students should strive in handling such errors because English students are models of other students from other disciplines after graduation.


With its ability to emulate microarchitectures and functional characteristics of native organs in vitro, induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology has enabled the generation of a plethora of organotypic constructs, including that of the human midbrain. However, reproducibly engineering and differentiating such human midbrain organoids (hMOs) under a biomimetic environment favorable for brain development still remains challenging. This study sets out to address this problem by combining the potential of iPSC technology with the advantages of microfluidics, namely its precise control over fluid flow combined with sensor integration. Here, we present a novel sensor-integrated platform for the long-term cultivation and non-invasive monitoring of hMOs under an interstitial flow regime. Our results show that dynamic cultivation of iPSC-derived hMOs maintains high cellular viabilities and dopaminergic neuron differentiation over prolonged cultivation periods of up to 50 days.


The main goal of this paper is to propose automatic schemes for the translation paired comparison method. This method was proposed to precisely evaluate a speech translation system's capability. Furthermore, the method gives an objective evaluation result, i.e., a score of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC). The TOEIC score is used as a measure of one's speech translation capability. However, this method requires tremendous evaluation costs. Accordingly, automatization of this method is an important subject for study. In the proposed method, currently available automatic evaluation methods are applied to automate the translation paired comparison method. In the experiments, several automatic evaluation methods (BLEU, NIST, DPbased method) are applied. The experimental results of these automatic measures show a good correlation with evaluation results of the translation paired comparison method.


Background Thought and language disorders are main features of adults with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders however studies on such abnormalities are scant in young patients with very early onset psychosis (VEOS). The aim of the present study is to assess the relationship between language and thought disorders in patients with very early onset schizophrenia (SCZ), schizoaffective disorders (SCA) and bipolar disorders (BD). Method Forty-one patients (18 SCZ, 16 BD, and 7 SCA) with mean age less than 15 years old were assessed through a series of neurocognitive and psycholinguistic tests, including the Thought, Language and Communication Scale (TLC). Results SCZ group performed worse in all tests as well as the TLC, followed by SCA and BD groups respectively. Thought disorders were related to deficits in executive functioning and semantic processing, and the metaphors' test was the best predictor of TLC functioning. Discussion TD in SCZ, SCA and BD are one of the most important features in patients with VEOS and that the evaluation of metaphor comprehension can be an important instrument in the early detection of this disorder.


Abstract Weather radar, in combination with a distributed rainfall-runoff model, promises to significantly improve real-time flood forecasting. This paper investigates the value of radar-derived precipitation in forecasting streamflow in the Sieve River basin, near Florence, Italy. The basin is modeled with a distributed rainfall-runoff model that exploits topographic information available from digital elevation maps. The sensitivity of the flood forecast to various properties of the radar-derived rainfall is studied. It is found that use of the proper radar reflectivity-rainfall intensity (Z-R) relationship is the most crucial factor in obtaining correct food hydrographs. Errors resulting from spatially averaging radar rainfall are acceptable, but the use of discrete point information (i.e., raingage) can lead to serious problems. Reducing the resolution of the 5-min radar signal by temporally averaging over 15 and 30 min does not lead to major errors. Using 3-bit radar data (rather than the usual 8-bit ...


Botrytis cinerea is an economically important necrotrophic pathogen which causes
disease in hundreds of species of plants during pre- and post-harvest conditions. This
thesis investigates the transcriptional responses of B. cinerea and the host Arabidopsis
thaliana during the infection through the analysis of microarray and RNA-seq data
sets. This work develops techniques for clustering time series expression profiles and
identifying direct gene targets using microarray data; and techniques for identifying
differentially expressed and differentially spliced genes using RNA-seq data.
A clustering algorithm which uses Gaussian process regression to capture the time
series structure of microarray data was developed and analysed. Features which are
not considered by standard clustering algorithms were added, specifically the ability
to include replicate data by using replicate information to inform a prior distribution
for noise, and the ability to consider outlier values by using a mixture model likelihood.
This algorithm is shown to produce more coherent and biologically meaningful
clusters than standard algorithms when applied to publicly available time series data.
This algorithm was also used to cluster A. thaliana transcription factors with similar
expression profiles during B. cinerea infection.
The transcription factors CAMTA3 and MYB108 are known to play a role in the A.
thaliana defence response to B. cinerea. Mutant A. thaliana plants were generated
which constitutively express the CAMTA3 gene, and these are shown to be more
susceptible to B. cinerea infection than wild-type plants. Microarray data sets from
mutant CAMTA3 and MYB108 A. thaliana plants were generated and used together
with a time series data set of A. thaliana infected with B. cinerea to identify the most
likely direct targets for these two transcription factors. Possible regulatory motifs to
which these transcription factors bind were also identified.
RNA-seq data sets of A. thaliana infected and mock-infected with B. cinerea at
three key infection stages were generated. 2,081 novel splice junctions were identi
fied for A. thaliana from the data. Differentially expressed genes for A. thaliana
and B. cinerea were identified between the key infection stages using existing methods,
however these methods are limited to pairwise testing. An improved method
using generalised linear models was developed to enable the incorporation of both
time and infection stage factors, which identified 12,940 A. thaliana genes differentially
expressed due to B. cinerea infection. Different isoforms of A. thaliana genes
were identified at a transcript level, at an event level and at a splice junction level.
Generalised linear models were then used with the multinomial distribution, which
considered both time and infection stage factors, to identify 928 A. thaliana genes
which are likely to be differentially spliced due to B. cinerea infection.


The increasing use of complex grid-connected technological components in safety-critical applications like public transportation or distributed power systems requires a precise evaluation of the reliability and robustness of these pieces of equipment during their development. Direct on-field tests of high-power systems are generally not possible. A conventional method of getting around this problem consists in using software-based simulation to analyze the behavior of the electric equipment under test (EUT) under normal and transient operation conditions of the grid. However, signal-level simulation is not able to perfectly reproduce every detail of a physical phenomenon. This publication describes a cost-effective realization of a power-hardware-in-the-loop (PHiL) grid emulation system combining two inverters with different electrical characteristics (type of semiconductor, switching frequency, dc link, etc.). The proposed grid emulator is a controllable power source not only capable of emulating low-frequency (50 Hz) transient faults as voltage sags but also high-order harmonic components usually present in the voltage waveforms of the utility grid (e.g., noise). A downscaled 5-kVA laboratory prototype has been implemented and the experimental results shown in this paper demonstrate the emulator's ability to combine high power with high dynamics.


Moliszewska E.B. (2017): Differentiation of the disease caused by aphanomyces cochlioides and girth scab on sugar beet roots – a review. Plant Protect. Sci., 53: 71–77. Severe symptoms of root rot on sugar beet have been observed in Poland and Germany since 2001. The symptom classification suggested girth scab as it was mistakenly classified on the basis of current classification, e.g. in LIZ. However, the cause of the disease was aphanomyces cochlioides infection, not streptomyces spp. According to these findings we cannot call the symptoms caused by a. cochlioides as 'girth scab'. The typical scab (girth scab) symptoms can be promoted by a. cochlioides infections. In many cases, a. cochlioides developed at the beginning of the season, during the seedling stage. Its further development was due to rainfall and was not routinely recognised in disease-changed tissues if in the middle of the summer the rainfall level was reduced. According to the described findings, renewed description and differentiation of the girth scab symptoms caused by streptomyces spp. and root rot caused by a. cochlioides on sugar beet roots are suggested. Typical symptoms of the disease caused by a. cochlioides occur mainly on the upper part of the root but can also occur on its lower part, if weather conditions are favourable for the pathogen. The coexistence of a. cochlioides and Pythium spp. in the same niches is also possible. Currently the illustrations showing these symptoms are included in the 'girth scab' descriptions.


Recombinant plasmids responsible for production of heat stable and heat labile enterotoxins have been obtained. Genetic determinants controlling enterotoxin production have been localized.


Peers have rejected a motion that would have forced a change to the rules governing competition when GPs are commissioning health services.

In a vote in the House of Lords on 24 April 254 peers rejected the motion put forward by Labour's health spokesman, Philip Hunt, to annul the regulations, while 146 voted to support him.

During a two and a half hour debate peers put forward arguments about the extent to which the section 75 regulations in the Health and Social Care Act would open up all NHS services to market competition and result in possible legal challenges to clinical commissioning groups (CCG) from the private sector.

There has been significant opposition to the regulations from the BMA,1 the Royal College of General Practitioners, and other bodies, which claim that they will force almost every part of the NHS to be opened up to compulsory competition.

Last month the health minister Norman Lamb said that the regulations would be rewritten to make clear that "no CCG will be forced into competitive tendering," and new regulations were published on 11 March.2

However, critics have said that they showed no significant improvement on the previous version; and on the day of the debate the Daily Telegraph published …


This study investigates how computer games impact on student learning and technology acceptance. A curriculum was designed for college students majoring in Computer Science. Participants included college teachers and students. Two groups of students participated in the learning activities by using gaming and non-gaming methods separately in the course. The proposed computer game helps students engage with learning activities. During the study, learning activities, surveys, and interviews were conducted with students. The evaluation results concerning technology acceptance demonstrate that incorporating gaming methods into the learning process can get better technology acceptance.


Leptomeningeal disease (LMD) involves the spread of malignant cells from solid tumors to the cerebrospinal fluid or to the leptomeninges. LMD has a very poor prognosis and it is difficult to diagnose and follow with traditional diagnostic tools. The purposes of this study were to characterize cognitive functioning of LMD patients before treatment and to determine if measurement of cognitive functioning could be used to predict survival time.


In article substantive provisions of the theory of technological ways are considered, structural characteristics of the fifth and sixth technological ways are resulted. Interdependence of technological and institutional changes is shown. For a number of the Russian regions possessing in high scientific and technical potential, possibility both catching up, and advancing technological development by means of realisation institutional innovations is proved


The paper discusses options for the implementation of virtual reality training classes with the possibility of using the developed training software and hardware complex "Substation of 110/35/10 kV".


Effective road safety policies need good information about crash risk factors and appropriate countermeasures. SafetyCube which is a European co-funded research project, addresses this gap by generating new knowledge about crash risk factors and measures' effectiveness relevant to Europe. Findings will be integrated in a European Road Safety Decision Support System (DSS) that will present for each suggested road safety measure: details of the risk factors tackled, measure, best estimate of casualty reduction effectiveness, cost-benefit evaluation and analytic background. The DSS is implemented in a modern web-based tool with a highly ergonomic interface, allowing users to get a quick overview or go deeper into the results of single studies according to their own needs. The development of the DSS will support decision making at local, regional, national and international level. In order to provide policy-makers and industry with well-structured comprehensive information about measures, it is essential that the links between risk factors and all relevant safety measures are made fully visible.


This paper addresses a specific case within the range of migration processes of Bolivians in Argentina: the young men and women, originally recruited through transnational networks of trafficking in persons, which were reduced to servitude illegally in order to work in clandestine textile workshops of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (BAMA). Recognizing the complex dimensions of analysis that interact in this process, we particularly focus on social vulnerability contexts and health risks posed by their work and living conditions in workshops. We identify the diverse sufferings these conditions cause, among which tuberculosis infection and transmission.


Objectives. To determine the biological response of growing spine to rigid segmental fixation. Summary of background data. Pedicle screw is gaining popularity in pediatric deformities. Yet, biological response of actively growing spine to rigid pedicle screw fixation remains unclear. Methods. Twelve mini pigs in actively growing period were subjected to posterior segmental screw-rod instrumentation spanning 9 levels and creation of experimental scoliosis. There was no attempt of posterior arthrodesis. The pigs were subjected to periodic radiological examinations and were euthanized at 18 months for analysis. Results. There was no significant fixation failure despite conspicuous growth of the animals. Initial scoliosis of 31 ± 5° was reduced to 27 ± 8° at 18 months, but there was no statistical significance (p = 0.37). Though there was no change in length of the implant construct, the vertebrae within the instrumented section showed mean longitudinal growth of 6 ± 3 mm (p = 0.000). The growth occurred at expense of the disc spaces that progressively narrowed with time. On necropsy, the instrumented region was completely fused posteriorly with crossing of the osseous traberculae across the former facet joints. Intervertebral discs were severely atrophic in all the discs with occasional spontaneous fusion. Conclusions. Even in the actively growing spine, the force of growth does not overcome the fixation offered by segmental pedicle screws. Longitudinal growth occurs at the expense of the joint spaces and leads to spontaneous intervertebral fusion. Our results may explain the favorable outcomes in pedicle fixations in pediatric population, showing little implant failure or nonunion.


Abstract Brexit is intended to return autonomy for law-making to the UK Parliament, and this opportunity could be used to improve intellectual property laws. These were originally drafted to support innovation, but like other laws of property they were captured by interests. The result is that their original function has been far surpassed in economic importance by their use for moving corporate profits to and through tax havens for tax evasion and avoidance. Although an opportunity to improve information protection laws may indeed result, Britain has never been a leader in drafting these, compared with Germany and the United States. Also, to the extent that better laws could refocus investment on technological innovation, and away from financial innovation, it could be expected that they would be opposed by interests with a major stronghold in the City of London. Reference is made to specific proposals for change already advanced in Prometheus, to which is added a new suggestion about how more generous overhead payments from public funding of innovation could help to stimulate more firms to bid for this. Also, a proposal is made for a means of rectifying a series of legal decisions which have had the effect of denying firms the ability to benefit from new ideas offered by outsiders.


In spent fuel pool ( SFP ) under loss-of-cooling or loss-of-coolant severe accident condition, the spent fuels would be exposed to air and heated by their own residual decay heat. Integrity of fuel cladding tube is crucial for SFP safety therefore study on oxidation of fuel cladding tube in air at high temperature is thought important. Zircaloy-2 ( Zry2 ) and Zircaloy-4 ( Zry4 ) were used for thermogravimetric analyses ( TGA ) in different temperatures in air at different flow rates to evaluate oxidation behavior. Oxidation rate increased with testing temperature. In a range of flow rate of air which is predictable in spent fuel lack during a hypothetical SFP accident, influence of flow rate was not clearly observed below 950°C for the Zry2, or below 1050°C for the Zry4. In higher temperature, oxidation rate was higher in high flow rate condition, and this trend was seen clearer when temperature increased. Oxide layers were carefully examined after the TGA analyses and compared with mass gain data to investigate detail of oxidation process in air. It was revealed that the mass gain data in pre-breakaway regime reflects growth of dense oxide film on specimen surface, meanwhile in post-breakaway regime, it reflects growth of porous oxide layer beneath fracture of the dense oxide film.


Global initiatives against climate change have recommended that the world must make a change in its mobility technologies, as the transport sector is responsible for 21% of global emissions, this concern has accelerated in promoting the various options for more transport efficient and cleaner fuels. One of the approaches that the major international organizations have had is to promote electric mobility, which has evolved in recent years, in which the capacities and energy densities of the batteries have been improved, reducing their manufacturing costs. The objective of this work is to conduct a review of the state of the art about electric vehicles in Panama and identify the potential impact of high electric vehicle penetration in reducing CO2 emissions and electricity consumption, which must be adapted to produce the required energy in a sustainable and efficient way. Finally, country of energy policies is identified expected to encourage renewable generation such as solar and wind energy that are planned to be built in Panama, promoting the generation of clean energy to contribute to sustainable development.


Simulation of contact and friction dynamics is an important basis for control- and learning-based algorithms. However, the numerical difficulties of contact interactions pose a challenge for robust and efficient simulators. A maximal-coordinate representation of the dynamics enables efficient solving algorithms, but current methods in maximal coordinates require constraint stabilization schemes. Therefore, we propose an interior-point algorithm for the numerically robust treatment of rigid-body dynamics with contact interactions in maximal coordinates. Additionally, we discretize the dynamics with a variational integrator to prevent constraint drift. Our algorithm achieves linear-time complexity both in the number of contact points and the number of bodies, which is shown theoretically and demonstrated with an implementation. Furthermore, we simulate two robotic systems to highlight the applicability of the proposed algorithm.


Preliminary sizing of structural components in the conceptual design phase of new aerospace vehicles requires a large number of structural optimizations. Use of detailed finite element models for global optimization of stiffened shell structures is not affordable. Designers have to compromise between the complexity in the structural analysis model (e.g. small models or linear analysis) and that of the optimization method (local versus global optimization). When designing new concepts where good initial designs are not available, global design optimization needs to be performed, and this is not currently possible with complex models. In this paper, we discuss the use of simple analysis methods for performing global optimization of stiffened shell structures. We demonstrate the efficiency of using approximate analysis models by using PANDA2 for a practical design trade‐study. Often approximate models are based on assumptions that are not satisfied throughout the design space. Hence, such models require constraints that will keep the designs in regions where the analysis assumptions are valid. We illustrate with examples situations where such design constraints result in sub‐optimal designs. We conclude that performing global optimization using approximate methods can permit a greater exploration of the design space than the use of local optimization with complex models. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Intercultural researchers have amassed a wealth of best practices when it comes to improving communication in situations where interlocutors are globally dispersed, linguistically diverse, and operating from within radically different cultural systems. At the same time, little attention has been paid to the infrastructure that supports such communication, and how its attendant technologies, networks, and specific modes of communication are culturally embedded and thus both encourage and constrain possibilities for intercultural communication. As a critical intervention, I present below a method for researching and designing communication infrastructure so that culturally-situated practices and values of both designers and users are treated as assets for design. Drawing on best practices for intercultural research and participatory design, I argue that only through including users at every level of use and design can we hope to foster communication that is truly global, and that meets the needs of all stakeholders. Ultimately, I advocate using such a methodology to continually adapt communication infrastructure that designers and users share in order to better represent and promote user values and lifeways.


Ligands for ErbB1-4 receptor tyrosine kinases, such as epidermal growth factor (EGF) and neuregulins, regulate brain development and function. Thus, abnormalities in their signaling are implicated in the etiology or pathology of schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease. Among the ErbB receptors, ErbB1, and ErbB4 are expressed in dopamine and GABA neurons, while ErbB1, 2, and/or 3 are mainly present in oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, and their precursors. Thus, deficits in ErbB signaling might contribute to the neurological and psychiatric diseases stemming from these cell types. By incorporating the latest cancer molecular biology as well as our recent progress, we discuss signal cross talk between the ErbB1-4 subunits and their neurobiological functions in each cell type. The potential contribution of virus-derived cytokines (virokines) that mimic EGF and neuregulin-1 in brain diseases are also discussed.


Numbers of individuals infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) are increasing in Japan. The majority of them are Men who have sex with men and a part of them take drugs as 'Sex drug' at their sexual intercourse. Especially, Amyl nitrite, Methamphetamine, 5-methoxy-N, N-diisopropyltryptamine (5-MeO-DIPT; Foxy), and 3, 4-methylenedioxy- methamphetamine (MDMA; Ecstasy) are used, and they sometimes cause the physical and mental disorders. However, the actual drug inducing troubles among Japanese HIV-infected drug users had not yet been discussed enough. In this report, we describe three cases with HIV infection; a case developed severe neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) after taking 5-MeO-DIPT, a case with persistent convulsion due to multiple drug intake and a case with rhabdomyolysis due to the non-subjective methamphetamine intake. Through these cases, we raise and discuss several underlying problems associated with drug use among HIV-infected individuals.


This article works on the premise that critical posthumanism both exposes and calls into question the criteria by which Western modernity has defined the boundaries between nature, humanity, and technology. Yet the religious, cultural and epistemological developments of what is known as the 'postsecular' may signal a further blurring of another set of distinctions characteristic of modernity: between sacred and secular, belief and non-belief. Using Donna Haraway's famous assertion that she would 'rather be a cyborg than a goddess', I consider whether critical posthumanism's valorisation of cyborg identities is also capable of negotiating this 'final frontier' between immanence and transcendence, secular and sacred, humanity and divinity. In essence: is there space for a religious dimension to visions of the posthuman?


This paper highlights the comparison of information literacy skills among the master's students of social sciences departments of Mizoram University (MZU) and Tezpur University (TZU). The primary data collected by using survey method and a structured 595 questionnaires were distributed among the respondents in which 522 (87.73 %) of questionnaires were received. The majority of the respondents were female in both the universities in compared to male respondents. Mizoram Universty students have more awareness of using library services in comparison to Tezpur University respondents. It has been also found that there is no significant difference in the information literacy skills of the students of both the Universities. Mizoram University students preferred 'author-wise' i.e. (59.32 %) search while Tezpur University students preferred 'title-wise' i.e. (39.38 %) search technique for searching the information. It has been also found that a maximum respondents of both universities i.e. (MZU, 55.97 %) and (TZU, 54.75 %) preferred the simple keyword search technique to search the electronic information. The maximum students of both universities were preferred print media for fulfil their needed information. In both of the Universities' respondents were aware with fair use of information and plagiarism with 79.09 per cent of students at MZU and 84.5 per cent of students at TZU. The maximum 39.16 per cent of students were mostly given the references at MZU while in TZU, a large number 57.53 per cent of students were always giving references when they reproduce other work or ideas. Based on a two-sample t-test, as p<0.05, it was found that no significant difference in the information literacy skills of the students of both the Universities. After testing with Scheffe's test, it has been shown that the mean of the satisfaction level of respondents was significantly different (P <.05) as the absolute value of the calculated t is smaller than the critical value (0.0737<2.201), which shows that there is no significant difference in the satisfaction level of students of both the Universities towards their library orientation program on the use of library resources and services.


The Covid-19 crisis is a completely new situation that has had a heavy impact on the whole world, it is a health crisis that has quickly become a multidimensional crisis by also becoming an economic and social crisis. In this context, Morocco has not been an exception.
Consumers are very concerned about the repercussions of the Covid19 whether it is on the sanitary or economic level, their reactions to this virus diverge, their behaviors and buying habits tend to change during this crisis situation, as they strive to adapt to this new normality.
Purchasing concerns have focused on basic goods, with an increase in the consumption of hygiene, cleaning and basic necessities. On the other hand, the consumption of non-essential goods has fallen.
This article seeks to show the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the change in the purchasing habits of Moroccan consumers through a quantitative study.
On the theoretical level, this article aims to bring a richness to the analysis of consumer behavior in times of crisis. On the managerial side, the objective is to allow companies to better manage the crisis and to adapt their communication thanks to a better understanding of the change and the convergences of consumer behavior and the buying habits in front of the crisis.
The implications of this article are to reveal to companies, and more precisely, to marketers the changes in purchasing and consumption behavior observed following the COVID-19 pandemic
The Covid-19 crisis has amplified behaviors among Moroccan consumers, such as ethical behaviors and health concerns, the emergence of paradoxical consumer behaviors that favor both quality purchases but at the best price, the shift in purchasing habits toward necessity purchases, mass purchases, and the postponement of purchases.
Moroccan consumers have reconciled themselves with online shopping, which has increased considerably and has been a good purchasing alternative during this crisis period.

JEL Classification : M39
Paper type : Empirical research