CONTEXT
Scapular retraction exercises are often prescribed to enhance scapular stabilization.

OBJECTIVES
To investigate the upper trapezius (UT), middle trapezius (MT), lower trapezius (LT) activities, and UT/MT and UT/LT ratios during scapular retraction exercise with elastic resistance at different shoulder abduction angles.

DESIGN
Descriptive laboratory study.

SETTING
Biomechanical analysis laboratory.

PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS
Thirty-five asymptomatic individuals.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Surface electromyography was used to evaluate UT, MT, and LT activities during the scapular retraction exercise at 0º, 45º, 90º, and 120º shoulder abductions.

RESULTS
The mean muscle activity ranged from 15.8%-54.7% maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) for UT, 30.5%-51.6% MVIC for MT, 21.4%-25.5% MVIC for LT. A significant "muscle×angle" interaction was found (p<0.001). Post hoc analysis revealed that the MT was significantly more activated than UT and LT during both retraction at 0º (p<0.001; p=0.01, respectively) and 120º (p=0.03; p=0.002, respectively). During retraction at 45º and 90º, the LT generated significantly lower activity than the UT (p=0.02; p=0.03, respectively) and MT (p<0.001; p=0.002, respectively). Besides, UT/MT and UT/LT ratios during retraction at 0º were significantly lower than 45º (p=0.03; p=0.001, respectively) and 90º (p<0.001; p<0.001, respectively). Retraction at 90º resulted significantly higher UT/LT ratio than 45º (p=0.004) and 120º (p=0.004).

CONCLUSIONS
Due to lower UT activity relative to MT, retraction at 0º, 45º, and 120º can be preferred in early shoulder training or rehabilitation. Additionally, retraction at 90º was the most effective exercise in activating entire trapezius muscle parts.


A procedure for identifying surfactants was investigated by liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS) and liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC/ESI-MS/MS) from the forensic toxicological point of view. The analysis of anionic, cationic, and nonionic surfactants in both negative and positive mode revealed that anionic and cationic surfactants are detected as M- ions in the negative mode and M+ ions in the positive mode, respectively, while [M+H]+ ions or [M+NH4]+ ions appeared for nonionic surfactants in the positive mode. Anionic surfactants (linear alkylbenzene sulfonate and polyoxyethylene alkyl ether sulfate) were successfully extracted using a weak anion exchange cartridge, with recovery rates of 53.8-76.7%. Cationic surfactant (benzalkonium) was also easily extracted using a weak cation exchange cartridge with a recovery rate of 107%. When aqueous solutions of cationic, anionic, and nonionic surfactants were concentrated to dryness, the recovery rates ranged from 65.8% to 124%. By analyzing anionic surfactants (alpha-olefine sulfate, polyoxyethylene alkyl ether sulfate, and linear alkylbenzene sulfonate) in the product ion scan mode in LC/ESI-MS/MS, it was possible to identify the structure of the hydrophilic group of surfactants, and MS/MS was confirmed to be a powerful technique for classification.


In this series of articles, complete NH3 and NOx emission inventories have been calculated for the first time for Galicia (NW Spain), a region in serious danger due to the eutrophication produced by these emissions. In this first part, NH 3 emissions corresponding to main sources (from agricultural and non-agricultural activities) have been estimated and the associated uncertainties have been quantified. The results have shown that live stock emissions (particularly by broilers and cattle) are especially relevant in this region, representing almost 90% of the total, the use of fertilizers being the second source in importance, while all the non-agricultural sources as a whole contribute less than 4%. The study of uncertainties has shown that future research in the region has to focus on the development of more specific emission factors for agricultural sources (especially for cattle, broilers and urea) to reduce this uncertainty.


EXPERT SYSTEMS IN BUSINESS: REAL WORLD APPLICATIONS by Annabel Beerel Ellis Horwood, Chichester, 1993, xii + 267pp., hard cover, £30 (Ellis Horwood Series in Interactive Information Systems) This is a highly-practical, and correspondingly welcome, treatment of the applications of expert systems in business. The primary intention is to introduce expert systems to business users. However, bridges of this kind between disciplines are seldom one-way and the book will be useful to many people well-versed in the techniques of AI and expert systems who are unclear about the needs of business. The author herself has come from a business background, and recalls that she became involved with expert systems when she was Head of Corporate Finance for a large firm of chartered accountants. At that stage she had been introduced to computer use by the well-trodden path of learning to use BASIC on a Radio Shack machine. She has since worked with various banks including a major Swiss one, and has set up her own firm for the development of expert systems for business use. The treatment is illustrated by case studies, and bristles with useful hints derived from experience. For example, the knowledge engineer must watch for inconsistencies in the statements made by the domain expert, but must be careful not to challenge him in a way that causes resentment. The emphasis has to be on constructive collaborative effort to identify deep reasons for the apparent inconsistency. Another interesting point is that the knowledge engineer should not restrict his attention to the 'top level' domain expert, who may have forgotten some of the paths by which he acquired his expertise. Comments by less experienced operatives can give valuable extra insight. The book is mainly concerned with implementation aspects, but the underlying techniques of expert system design are usefully reviewed, especially in Chapter 7 and in a 12-page Glossary of terms. Such things as semantic nets, forward and backward chaining, frames and inheritance, are included. The book is well laid out, with a note at the beginning of each chapter of the main topics treated in it. Reference is made to two earlier Horwood books from the same author (one written jointly) in the same subject area. The present one certainly seems to be a valuable contribution to the literature.


The aim of the article is to describe the broader context and to verify the relationship of consumer preferences with the income situation of the population in selected regions of the world.This paper deals with the development of consumer preferences in case of pork meat commodity, through verification of relationship between consumption of pork meat and GDP per capita in selected regions (countries) of the world. Very strong relationship of dependency between the level of GDP / per capita and Consumption of animal protein / per capita has been proven through numerous scientific studies. There are also investigated the specifics, conditions and assumptions for the global market of the given commodity in the regional aspects. Consumer preferences (of investigated commodity) in the world are various due to many different factors. The current societal demand is characterized by a number of requirements for the organizations involved in the pork meat commodity chain. In the past has been considered as the most important measure to produce a cheap and safe food. Nowadays these requirements are extended on other important factors such as sustainable production, animal welfare, ethical procedures, etc. The largest extension of these requirements is typical mainly for the European markets. This creates a considerable upward pressure on costs of European businesses, which is one of the sources of their declining competitiveness in the global markets.


This study aimed to analyze the relationship between demographic factors (age, gender, income, and occupation) and behavioral biases (overconfidence bias, disposition effect, and herding bias) while making share trading decisions in the Nepalese capital market. The research was conducted by distributing questionnaires to active investors with trading accounts in the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE). The data was gathered from primary sources and used for statistical analysis through ANOVA and Chi-square.
The results of the analysis showed that there is a difference in overconfidence bias among different levels of income, age, and occupation, while a difference in herding bias among occupation and gender, whereas no difference is seen in the disposition effect among the demographic variables. This finding is consistent with other studies conducted on the behavioral biases of individual investors in the stock market.
Understanding the factors that influence investment decisions is crucial for investors, financial advisors, and policymakers. This study provides insights into the relationship between demographic factors and behavioral biases while making share trading decisions in the Nepalese capital market. The findings of this study can be used to develop effective investment strategies and improve investment decision-making.


Ni-based superalloys are extensively used in high-responsibility applications in components of aerospace engines and gas turbines with high temperature service lives. The wrought, γ'-strengthened superalloy Haynes 282 has been recently developed for applications similar to other common superalloys, such as Waspaloy or Inconel 718, with improved creep behavior, thermal stability, and fabrication ability. Despite the potential of Haynes 282, there are still important gaps in the knowledge of the mechanical behavior of this alloy. In fact, it was not possible to find information concerning the mechanical behavior of the alloy under impulsive loading. This paper focuses on the mechanical characterization of the Haynes 282 at strain rates ranging from 0.1 to 2800 s−1 and high temperatures ranging from 293 to 523 K using Hopkinson bar compression tests. The experimental results from the thermo-mechanical characterization allowed for calibration of the Johnson–Cook model widely used in modeling metallic alloy's responses under dynamic loading. Moreover, the behavior of Haynes 282 was compared to that reported for Inconel 718, and the results were used to successfully model the orthogonal cutting of Haynes 282, being a typical case of dynamic loading requiring previous characterization of the alloy.


Existing deep-learning approaches to semantic column type annotation (CTA) have important shortcomings: they rely on semantic types which are fixed at training time; require a large number of training samples per type and incur large run-time inference costs; and their performance can degrade when evaluated on novel datasets, even when types remain constant. Large language models have exhibited strong zero-shot classification performance on a wide range of tasks and in this paper we explore their use for CTA. We introduce ArcheType, a simple, practical method for context sampling, prompt serialization, model querying, and label remapping, which enables large language models to solve column type annotation problems in a fully zero-shot manner. We ablate each component of our method separately, and establish that improvements to context sampling and label remapping provide the most consistent gains. ArcheType establishes new state-of-the-art performance on both zero-shot and fine-tuned CTA, including three new domain-specific benchmarks, which we release, along with the code to reproduce our results at https://github.com/penfever/ArcheType.


Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) is a central tool of proteome research, since it allows separation of complex protein mixtures at highest resolution. Quantification of gene expression at the protein level requires sensitive visualization of protein spots over a wide linear range. Two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2D DIGE) is a new fluorescent technique for protein labeling in 2DE gels. Proteins are labeled prior to electrophoresis with fluorescent CyDyes™ and differently labeled samples are then co-separated on the same 2DE gel. We evaluated 2D DIGE for detection and quantification of proteins specific for glucose or N-acetylglucosamine metabolism in the marine bacterium Pirellula sp. strain 1. The experiment was based on 10 parallel 2DE gels. Detection and comparison of the protein spots were performed with the DeCyder™ software that uses an internal standard to quantify differences in protein abundance with high statistical confidence; 24 proteins differing in abundance by a factor of at least 1.5 (t test value <10–9) were identified. For comparison, another experiment was carried out with four SYPRO®-Ruby-stained 2DE gels for each of the two growth conditions; image analysis was done with the ImageMaster™ 2D Elite software. Sensitivity of the CyDye fluors was evaluated by comparing Cy2, Cy3, Cy5, SYPRO Ruby, silver, and colloidal Coomassie staining. Three replicate gels, each loaded with 50 µg of protein, were run for each stain and the gels were analyzed with the ImageMaster software. Labeling with CyDyes allowed detection of almost as many protein spots as staining with silver or SYPRO Ruby.


The identification by fundus examination of those females carrying an X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (RP) gene can reportedly be as high as 87%. In genetic counselling sessions with young females with a 50% risk of being a carrier who wished to know their status, it has not been possible to achieve such a level of success. A review and reanalysis of previous reports indicated that if a tapetal-like reflex was not present in those age 35 years or less, the likelihood of identifying a carrier by fundus examination was small. A family with 7 females with a 50% risk of being a carrier of X-linked RP was evaluated using haplotype analysis in an attempt to identify the X chromosome carrying the RP gene. In the family described, it was possible to establish that a mutation in the RP3 locus most likely causes the disease. This has permitted the determination of the carrier status in each of the females with a high degree of certainty.


The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, harbors the primary symbiont 'Candidatus Portiera aleyrodidarum' and a variety of secondary symbionts. Among these secondary symbionts, Rickettsia is the only one that can be detected both inside and outside the bacteriomes. Infection with Rickettsia has been reported to influence several aspects of the whitefly biology, such as fitness, sex ratio, virus transmission and resistance to pesticides. However, mechanisms underlying these differences remain unclear, largely due to the lack of genomic information of Rickettsia. In this study, we sequenced the genome of two Rickettsia strains isolated from the Middle East Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1) species of the B. tabaci complex in China and Israel. Both Rickettsia genomes were of high coding density and AT‐rich, containing more than 1000 coding sequences, much larger than that of the coexisted primary symbiont, Portiera. Moreover, the two Rickettsia strains isolated from China and Israel shared most of the genes with 100% identity and only nine genes showed sequence differences. The phylogenetic analysis using orthologs shared in the genus, inferred the proximity of Rickettsia in MEAM1 and Rickettsia bellii. Functional analysis revealed that Rickettsia was unable to synthesize amino acids required for complementing the whitefly nutrition. Besides, a type IV secretion system and a number of virulence‐related genes were detected in the Rickettsia genome. The presence of virulence‐related genes might benefit the symbiotic life of the bacteria, and hint on potential effects of Rickettsia on whiteflies. The genome sequences of Rickettsia provided a basis for further understanding the function of Rickettsia in whiteflies.


Past research has identified elements underlying modeling as a core science and engineering practice, as well as dimensions along which students' learn how to use models and how they perceive the nature of modeling. To extend these findings by a perspective on how modeling practice can be used in classrooms, we used design-based research to investigate how the modeling practice elements, i.e., construct, use, evaluate, and revise, were integrated in a middle school unit about water quality that included using an online modeling tool. We focus on N = 3 groups as cases to track and analyze 7th grade students' modeling practice and metamodeling knowledge across the unit. Students constructed, used, evaluated, and revised their models based on data they collected and concepts they learned. Results indicate most students succeeded in constructing complex models using the modeling tool by consecutively adding and specifying variables and relationships. This is a positive finding compared to prior research on students' metamodeling knowledge. Similar to these studies, we observed several basic metamodeling conceptions and generally less progress in this field than in students' models. We discuss implications for applying modeling practice in classrooms and explain how students make use of the different modeling practice elements by developing their models in the complexity and quality dimensions.


© Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 2015 R. Sutton (ed.), Green Roof Ecosystems, Ecological Studies 223, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-14983-7_1 R. K. Sutton () Department of Agronomy & Horticulture, UN-Lincoln, 279 Plant Sciences, Lincoln, NE 68583-0915, USA e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract Green roofs have been heralded as a "sustainable building practice" in cities throughout the world as one response to mounting environmental stresses. A range of stressors plus erosion of aesthetics and human well being in urban areas have initiated policies and practices often with incentives to develop green infrastructure such as green roofs. They provide a suite of public and private benefits most of which map onto services generally provided by the ecosystem. Green roof development imbeds in environmental design processes and is constrained by both human and environmental factors. As relatively small, simple, anthropogenic ecosystems, green roofs relate to several existing conceptual and applied ecological ideas. Understanding and applying from ecology and ecosystem studies, ecological engineering, managed ecosystems, construction ecology, urban ecology, landscape ecology, restoration ecology, reconciliation ecology, soil ecology and community ecology show green roof ecosystems can be created to cycle energy and nutrients. Furthermore, green roofs can be constructed to model an ecosystem and may provide a setting for testing ecological concepts. This book takes an ecosystems approach to describing a large number of interactions on green roofs placing them in the total human ecosystem.


After presenting the case of a male patient who was diagnosed as suffering from the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome at the age of 4 months, we review the main clinical (infections, bleeding and eczema), immunological (deficiency of IgM, normal IgG, elevated IgA and IgE, deficiency of total T lymphocytes, normal T4 levels, decreased levels of T8, diminished response to phytohemagglutinin and partial depletion of the lymphocyte population in biopsies of lymph nodes and spleen) and haematological (thrombocytopenia, dysmegakaryocytosis, decreased half-life and decreased granulation in the protoplasm of megakaryocytes) manifestations of this syndrome. In general, our aim is to carry out an up-to-date review of the syndrome, and to include comments on the diagnostic and therapeutic aspects.


OBJECTIVE
Metastasis of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) to the head and neck is a relatively uncommon phenomenon, but such lesions can be the initial presentation of disease. RCC should be considered a source for lesions in this region, especially in patients who have received a previous diagnosis of RCC.

METHODS
In this study, we review the presentation, management, and outcomes for 21 patients with documented metastasis of RCC to the head and neck outside the central nervous system. This study is a retrospective review of cases ascertained during a 17-year period from a large teaching hospital.

RESULTS
Of the 21 patients observed, 10 were found to have metastatic disease at the time of RCC diagnosis, involving the head and neck in 5 cases. The most common sites of head and neck metastasis were to bone (n = 6), skin and subcutaneous tissue (n = 6), and lymph nodes (n = 5).

CONCLUSIONS
This study is a reminder to consider a renal primary tumour for metastatic disease identified in the head and neck, particularly metastases with a "clear cell" histologic pattern. A head and neck metastasis may occasionally be the presenting sign in a patient with RCC, or it may follow the primary diagnosis by many years.


Anthocyanin pigments, which the peel of eggplant is rich in, contribute to food quality because of their function in color, appearance, and nutritional advantages. For the first time, this study aimed to optimize the composition of the extracting solvent as three factors: factor A (ratio of ethanol to methanol 0–100% v/v), factor B (ratio of water to alcohol 0–100% v/v), and factor C (citric acid in the final solvent 0–1% w/v) using response surface methodology (RSM), central composite design (CCD) with α 2, and two repeats in axial and factorial points and four central points, for maximum total phenolic content, total anthocyanin content, extraction yield, antioxidant activity in terms of DPPH radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay of the eggplant peel dry extract assisted by ultrasound (200 watts power, frequency of 28 kHz) in 60 °C for 45 min has been investigated. The best optimal formulas determined using RSM for the final solvent comprised optimal formula 1 (i.e., ethanol-to-methanol ratio 59% and water-to-alcohol ratio 0%, and citric acid in final solvent 0.47%), and optimal formula 2 (i.e., ethanol-to-methanol ratio 67% and water-to-alcohol ratio 0%, and citric acid in final solvent 0.56%). In general, an alcoholic–acidic extract of eggplant peel made with an ethanol–methanol solvent including citric acid can be used in the food industry as a natural source of antioxidants and pigment.


Producing acceptable models on the Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) machine involves adjusting machine parameters relative to powder age. Typically, a fraction of the powder is used and the remainder of the unused powder is recycled. After 5-7 recycles, this method leads to a powder inventory with inconsistent characteristics. The goal of this study was to apply a new recycling program to extend powder life, reduce powder inventory, and improve part quality. This study looks at various material properties of processed powder over its lifetime, including: surface quality, toughness, impact strength, elastic modulus, tensile strength, and shrinkage. A new approach to powder recycling and machine parameter adjustment will be recommended.


Low non-freezing temperature may cause chilling injury (CI), which is responsible for external quality deterioration in many chilling-sensitive horticultural crops. Exposure of chilling-sensitive citrus cultivars to non-lethal high-temperature conditioning may increase their chilling tolerance. Very little information is available about the molecular events involved in such tolerance. In this work, the molecular events associated with the low temperature tolerance induced by heating Fortune mandarin, which is very sensitive to chilling, for 3 days at 37°C prior to cold storage is presented. A transcriptomic analysis reveals that heat-conditioning has an important impact favoring the repression of genes in cold-stored fruit, and that long-term heat-induced chilling tolerance is an active process that requires activation of transcription factors involved in transcription initiation and of the WRKY family. The analysis also shows that chilling favors degradation processes, which affect lipids and proteins, and that the protective effect of the heat-conditioning treatment is more likely to be related to the repression of the genes involved in lipid degradation than to the modification of fatty acids unsaturation, which affects membrane permeability. Another major factor associated with the beneficial effect of the heat treatment on reducing CI is the regulation of stress-related proteins. Many of the genes that encoded such proteins are involved in secondary metabolism and in oxidative stress-related processes.


OBJECTIVE
To examine factors that may contribute to elevated rates of suicide among rural communities in Australia.

METHOD
A wide-ranging literature search reviewed possible factors that may contribute to the geographical variation in suicide. Literature was organized to enable examination of compositional and contextual explanations, as well as collective social functioning and social practices.

RESULTS
A variety of factors may contribute to elevated rates of suicide in rural compared with urban areas. Collective and contextual (place) factors seem to be of particular importance as possible contributors to the elevated rate of suicide among rural males. These include rural socioeconomic decline; facilitators and barriers to service utilization such as service availability and accessibility, rural culture, community attitudes to mental illness and help seeking; and exposure to firearms.

CONCLUSIONS
Compositional, contextual and collective factors are hypothesized to influence the elevated rate of suicide in rural compared with urban areas. These factors need to be tested in empirical studies that consider both individual and community-based risk factors, and are designed to enable exploration of likely within-rural differences.


CONTEXT
Pituitary adenomas are relatively rare occurrences in the pediatric population, and there are few studies documenting the profile of these tumors in this age group.

OBJECTIVE
To study the clinical and pathologic features of pediatric pituitary adenomas in conjunction with a review of the available literature.

DESIGN
A retrospective clinicopathologic review of 20 pediatric patients (younger than 20 years of age) with pituitary adenomas resected during a 24.5-year period (1981-2005).

RESULTS
A total of 20 patients, including 12 females and 8 males, comprise the study group. Mean age at onset of symptoms was 14.0 years (range, 5-18 years). Four patients had onset of symptoms before the age of 12 years. The majority of patients presented with headaches (n = 12), visual disturbances (n = 12) or, in females, menstrual dysfunction (n = 9/12). Tumor size based on radiographic data was known for 19 tumors; 12 adenomas were greater than 1 cm in greatest dimension, and 7 were less than 1 cm. On follow-up, 2 patients with total gross tumor resections had recurrent adenomas; time to recurrence was 5 months and 17 months, respectively. Nine adenomas stained solely for prolactin, 5 for adrenocorticotropic hormone, and 3 for growth hormone. Two stained for growth hormone and prolactin. One did not stain with hormone antibodies.

CONCLUSIONS
Most pediatric pituitary adenomas present after the onset of puberty and present with frequent headaches, changes in visual acuity and, in females, menstrual dysfunction. Most (19/20) were secretory, with prolactinomas being the most common type.


Under current educational policy in the United States, standardized assessment is (and has been) a required element of K-12 education in order for schools to receive federal funding, most often through Title I programs. However, in 2015, many families began opting their students out of these standardized tests in several states, including Maine. This study aims to identify any possible trends associated with opting out, such as socioeconomic status or student achievement levels, and also determine the potential impact of certain subgroups of students opting out of standardized tests, such as misrepresentation of a school's results because of skewed test scores. Through surveying superintendents of schools with less than 50% of their students participating in the test, this study found that there are several potential factors that could affect opting out, the most common of which is the influence of socioeconomic status.


This study examines and analyses migrant's remittances model based on secondary sources as well as primary survey conducts on 300 Bangladeshi remittances senders in Malaysia. The survey revealed that formal banks and money transfer operators are still prominent channels/access points for sending remittances. However, it is interesting to note that digital channels, such as electronic money institutions (EMIs), payment service providers and online remittance providers, are beginning to become active. In addition, there are certain channels for sending and receiving remittances that are generally recognized at the global level as being "informal" or "semi-informal". These include carrying cash either in person, through friends and relatives or through courier companies. Other examples may include businesses that are not licensed to carry out remittance transfers, but offer these as an unregulated side business. Informal fund transfer systems, such as the hawala system, where flows are netted off and transfers are based on established, trusted networks (which are unlicensed and unregistered), are also popular informal remittance systems. Finally, this paper has concluded with some policy recommendations.


Coagulation changes due to polytrauma are considered to be an important determinant for the outcome. In this context, physiological inhibitors of activated coagulation are highlighted with special reference to antithrombin-III (AT-III). Blood samples of 20 randomly selected adults with polytrauma (Injury Severity Score mean = 36.7 +/- 8.6) were investigated. To investigate the very early onset of coagulation changes, samples were taken as early as possible at the site of emergency (mean = 18.3 +/- 5.5 min. after trauma) as well as at hospital admission (mean = 78.0 +/- 10.4 min.). By means of a specially designed "mini-lab", basic processing of the samples harvested (centrifugation, pipetting, freezing) was done on the spot to obtain haemostaseological results that agree as closely as possible with the subsequent analyses. Due to the activation of intravascular coagulation as well as the consumption of physiological inhibitors, comprehensive coagulation disturbances become obvious at the time of hospital admission. These are intensified by haemodilution as a consequence of high-dose fluid replacement. However, significantly elevated levels of specific coagulation reaction products (thrombin-antithrombin-III-complex) give evidence of the consumption of inhibitory potential exceeding haemodilution.


Abstract : Tracking the variation in battery dynamics as a function of health is presently attracting attention in academia and industry due to the increased usage of expensive batteries in dynamic systems such as aircraft and electric cars. The online adaptation of battery models to account for age-dependent changes in dynamics is necessary to maintain accurate estimates of the remaining system operations that can be supported under battery power. A novel method for the adaptation of parameters in an electrochemical model of a lithiumion battery is presented here. An unscented Kalman filtering algorithm is shown to enable the production of internal battery state estimates and age-dependent electrochemical model parameter estimates using only battery current and voltage data collected over randomized discharge profiles. The use of only data collected over randomized discharge profiles distinguishes this work from other works that make use of reference discharge cycles to judge battery health. The experimental results presented here compare online model estimates produced by the proposed algorithm to offline model estimates obtained by periodically taking batteries offline to run reference discharge cycles.


The media and communication rights of Palestinians in Israel are designed to deny them of collective cultural rights, specifically the right to express their identity through the mass media and to participate equally in the process of national culture building. Through a critical analysis of the documents that shape the media industry in Israel and their historical evolution, this paper lays bare the assumptions underlying Israeli media policies. The policies are designed in a discourse branding 'Palestinian-Israelis' a linguistic minority, and portraying them as the 'enemy within', thus barring their participation in the development of Israeli culture by limiting their electronic media participation to separate channels targeting both them and Arabs in neighboring states. The paper argues that this policy stems from a narrow interpretation of 'democracy' that rejects identification with the Orient and embraces neo-liberalism.


"Garbage In, Garbage Out" – this especially holds true for the fields of Business Analytics and data-driven decision support. Against this background, in this article we propose a probabilitybased metric to assess the currency of data. We demonstrate the application of the metric as well as its practical benefit using the case of a major German car manufacturer.


An analysis of political cartoons of three well-known US political sex scandals is presented to examine how cartoons channel public perception in terms of the involvement of a prominent politician and the difference of opinion based on who the politician is, frame the organization of communal knowledge, and facilitate the grounds upon which some things can be said.

On one side of the spectrum, theories of political cartoons presume that political cartoons reflect public attitudes about current events and that by studying cartoons surrounding a sex scandal, public attitudes toward such a scandal can be effectively understood. On the other side of the spectrum, theory argues that cartoons actually persuade and shape public attitudes, intentions, and behaviors.

Three prominent former US politicians were selected for the analysis:

Eliot Spitzer and the Emperor's Club
Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky
John Edwards and Rielle Hunter

The criteria of narrative, location, binary struggle, and normative transfer were used as a framework to analyze 230 cartoons. The findings suggest that some politicians emerge relatively unscathed from scandals, others are seriously condemned, yet others are obscured or have their roles changed substantially. On the basis of the research criteria, it seems that public reactions and sentiments toward politicians' involvement in a scandal depend on what the scandal was about, where it occurred and what happened there, who the protagonists in the conflict were, and who the loser in the story was. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Gold-based anticancer compounds have been attracting increasing research interest due to their ability to kill cancer cells resistant to platinum-based compounds. Gold I- and gold III-based complexes have shown satisfactory anticancer activities. In this study, two new fluorine-incorporated gold (I) compounds such as Ph3PAu[SC(OMe)=NC6H4F-3] and DPPFeAu2[(SC(OMe)=NC6H4F-3)]2 were evaluated for their in vitro activities against human breast cancer cell lines, primary breast cancer cells, and breast cancer stem cells (parental breast cancer stem cells, BCSC-P, and breast cancer stem cells, BCSC). Assays for growth inhibition and cytotoxicity, including real-time cell analysis, were carried out to screen effective antibreast cancer compounds. In addition, further in vitro assays such as apoptosis, caspase 3/7 activity, and cell cycle analysis were performed to observe the action and mechanism of killing breast cancer cells by the selected gold I compound, Ph3PAu[SC(OMe)=NC6H4F-3]. The gold (I) compound, Ph3PAu[SC(OMe)=NC6H4F-3], showed low toxicity to H9c2 normal cells and significant growth inhibition in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells, primary breast cancer cells, and breast cancer stem cells (BCSC-P and BCSC). The IC50 doses of the gold (I) compound Ph3PAu[SC(OMe)=NC6H4F-3] against the breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 were approximately 6-fold lower than that of cisplatin (cis-diamineplatinum (II) dichloride, CDDP). Moreover, the compound Ph3PAu[SC(OMe)=NC6H4F-3] induced caspase 3/7-dependent apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at S and G2/M phases. Ph3PAu[SC(OMe)=NC6H4F-3], a gold (I) compound incorporated with fluorine, is a potential candidate for the treatment of breast cancer.


The aim. The discovery of a connection in the depiction of the heroines of Leskov's stories with a folklore tradition. Methods. Analytical, comparative, comparative-comparative. Results. Considered and revealed similar motives and techniques in depicting heroines. Conclusions. Heroines correspond to certain types of folklore girls, the author builds on folklore traditions when describing heroines, uses folk images, symbols of motives.


This article addresses a unique relationship evolving between the two major categories of higher learning institutions in Israel: the country's universities, and the colleges that were established in their shadow. The history of higher education is outlined, stressing the initial dominance of the research universities, and explaining the gradual transformation of its elitist orientation into a more populist one. The article further explains how that transformation led to the establishment of colleges as affiliates of their 'parent' universities, functioning under their full supervision, describing how that model eventually led the Council for Higher Education (CHE) to encourage (in 2000) the development of non-university higher education institutions to secure equal opportunities to broad groups of population. The article goes on to analyze the methods of curricula and teaching development in the colleges, touching upon the development of graduate programs in non-university institutions. It concludes that the initial intention of the CHE to establish a dual system of research universities and popular colleges is developing into a monistic system following the research university concept and model.


Poultry manure provides a rich organic nutrient source to fertilize crops and help neutralize soil acidity. However, the usual practice of broadcasting litter on the surface of pastures and other no-till systems can degrade water quality by allowing nutrients to be transported from fields in surface runoff, while much of the ammonium-N volatilizes and escapes into the atmosphere. In a previous study, we used a subsurface banding technique to move litter from the soil surface into the root zone with minimal disturbance of the grass, thatch, and soil structure; and found that nutrient losses decreased substantially. Because subsurface banding increased retention of nutrients and water in the soil, we conducted follow-up research to compare crop yield and quality from this litter application method to those from the conventional surface broadcasting method. The objectives were to determine effects of subsurface application on perennial forage yield, quality, and temporal yield distribution during the growing season. Field plots were located on silt loam soil (8-10% slopes) with well-established bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon L. Pers.). Poultry litter was applied (6.7 Mg ha-1, dry weight) by one of two methods: surface broadcast manually or subsurface banded using a tractor-drawn prototype implement. Each treatment was replicated three times. There were also three control plots that received no litter. Results showed that subsurface application generally increased forage quality and yield, especially in the latter part of the growing season when forage production from surface-applied litter began to decline. Under the growing conditions in this study, subsurface application increased mean forage yield by as much as 40%.


Abstract To increase transparency of healthcare quality, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) initiated the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS). However, the impact of PQRS on physicians is unclear, particularly as related to their online reputation. Is there an association between a physician's online reputation and her adherence to clinical guidelines stipulated in the PQRS? Is online reputation associated with use of electronic health records (EHR)? To investigate these questions, we combine data on online physician reviews with the PQRS data on clinical guideline adherence and EHR use. Unlike prior research, which primarily uses clinical outcomes as proxies for care quality, our study uses adherence to clinical guidelines, a process measure that reflects physician conformance with evidence-based clinical practices. In addition, we focus on EHR use at the physician level, in contrast to the usual approach of examining it at the aggregate institutional level. Consistent with the economic theory of credence goods, we observe no significant relationship between physicians' adherence to clinical guidelines and their online reviews. Although there is some evidence of association between EHR use and their overall rating, similar relationships are not consistently observed for individual dimensional ratings. Overall, the online reputation of a physician exhibits minimal association with her actual clinical activities — and is mostly driven by latent topics in the textual reviews — implying that the ability of online reviews to inform prospective patients of care quality might be quite limited. Therefore, patients should be cautious when using online physician reviews, and policymakers should increase the accessibility of PQRS and other similar data to help patients make informed physician choices.


A methodology for preparing and performing field operational tests (FOTs) of new-vehicle systems was developed by the European FESTA project. Currently several large FOTs are being performed in Europe and North America and Australia. With the growth of in-vehicle electronics and the advances in sensor technology, FOTs can collect huge amounts of data on driver and vehicle behaviour, as well as on driving context. Just collecting large quantities of data may not answer all the questions stakeholders have about the impacts of system use, and the data may also not lead to increased understanding. FESTA advocated a structured approach, starting with identifying the functions to be tested, followed by the definition of use cases and the formulation of research questions and hypotheses. All of this should precede definition of the experimental design of the study. However, in practice it turns out that it is not easy or straightforward to identify these questions and to formulate sensible hypotheses that can be tested statistically. To support the process of hypotheses generation, a systematic procedure was developed in FESTA: top-down, considering six areas of system influence, and bottom-up, developing scenarios. It is recommended that a multi-disciplinary team works jointly and iteratively with these two approaches. The practicality of investigating these hypotheses is subsequently checked by selecting appropriate performance indicators which can be used to confirm or refute them. The method has been successfully tried out in several workshops (including in the FOT-Net support action). The paper describes the FESTA methodology, the method for generating hypotheses and the experiences with the method. One issue discussed is the even more complex process of identifying hypotheses for a combination of driver support systems (A). For the covering abstract of the conference see ITRD E217872.


Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) called Y RNAs are abundant components of both animal cells and a variety of bacteria. In all species examined, these ~100 nt RNAs are bound to the Ro 60 kDa (Ro60) autoantigen, a ring-shaped protein that also binds misfolded ncRNAs in some vertebrate nuclei. Although the function of Ro60 RNPs has been mysterious, we recently reported that a bacterial Y RNA tethers Ro60 to the 3′ to 5′ exoribonuclease polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase) to form RYPER (Ro60/Y RNA/PNPase Exoribonuclease RNP), a new RNA degradation machine. PNPase is a homotrimeric ring that degrades single-stranded RNA, and Y RNA-mediated tethering of Ro60 increases the effectiveness of PNPase in degrading structured RNAs. Single particle electron microscopy of RYPER suggests that RNA threads through the Ro60 ring into the PNPase cavity. Further studies indicate that Y RNAs may also act as gates to regulate entry of RNA substrates into the Ro60 channel. These findings reveal novel functions for Y RNAs and raise questions about how the bacterial findings relate to the roles of these ncRNAs in animal cells. Here we review the literature on Y RNAs, highlighting their close relationship with Ro60 proteins and the hypothesis that these ncRNAs function generally to tether Ro60 rings to diverse RNA-binding proteins.


Constrained layer damping treatments utilize the energy dissipative properties of viscoelastic materials to increase the passive damping in structures. This paper investigates the performance of constrained layer damping treatments applied to a ring. An analytical model is developed to predict the behaviour of such a ring over a large number of modes. Relative motion between the ring and constraining layer in both the circumferential and radial directions are considered. Predictions of steady state dynamic behaviour obtained using the model are validated by comparison with results from experiments and finite element analysis. The model is then used to evaluate the effect of various parameters on the damping achieved. It is shown that for any particular configuration a plot of damping against mode number has two maxima. These peaks occur when optimum values for the deformation of the viscoelastic layer are achieved firstly for shear and secondly for radial extension and compression.


By the reaction of the appropriate organometallic precursors and tetrakishydroxymethyl phosphonium chloride (THPC) at the toluene-water interface, we have prepared nanocrystalline films of Au-Ag and Au-Cu alloys with a range of compositions. The films have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, optical spectroscopy, and other techniques, besides compositional analysis. The particle size of the nanocrystals in the films varies with the composition. The surface plasmon band of the alloy films as well as of the organosols obtained by the disintegration of the films by the addition of an alkanethiol show the expected composition dependence. It has been possible to prepare the nanocrystalline films of a ternary Au-Ag-Cu alloy.


Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) is an essential regulator of adipocyte differentiation, maintenance, and survival. Deregulations of its functions are associated with metabolic diseases. We show here that deletion of one PPARγ allele not only affected lipid storage but, more surprisingly, also the expression of genes involved in glucose uptake and utilization, the pentose phosphate pathway, fatty acid synthesis, lipolysis, and glycerol export as well as in IR/IGF-1 signaling. These deregulations led to reduced circulating adiponectin levels and an energy crisis in the WAT, reflected in a decrease to nearly half of its intracellular ATP content. In addition, there was a decrease in the metabolic rate and physical activity of the PPARγ+/- mice, which was abolished by thiazolidinedione treatment, thereby linking regulation of the metabolic rate and physical activity to PPARγ. It is likely that the PPARγ+/- phenotype was due to the observed WAT dysfunction, since the gene expression profiles associated with metabolic pathways were not affected either in the liver or the skeletal muscle. These findings highlight novel roles of PPARγ in the adipose tissue and underscore the multifaceted action of this receptor in the functional fine tuning of a tissue that is crucial for maintaining the organism in good health.


Due to some limitations associated with the atmospheric residual phase in Sentinel-1 data interferometry during the Jiashi earthquake, the detailed spatial distribution of the line-of-sight (LOS) surface deformation field is still not fully understood. This study, therefore, proposes an inversion method of coseismic deformation field and fault slip distribution, taking atmospheric effect into account to address this issue. First, an improved inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation tropospheric decomposition model is utilised to accurately estimate the turbulence component in tropospheric delay. Using the joint constraints of the corrected deformation fields, the geometric parameters of the seismogenic fault and the distribution of coseismic slip are then inverted. The findings show that the coseismic deformation field (long axis strike was nearly east–west) was distributed along the Kalpingtag fault and the Ozgertaou fault, and the earthquake was found to occur in the low dip thrust nappe structural belt at the subduction interface of the block. Correspondingly, the slip model further revealed that the slips were concentrated at depths between 10 and 20 km, with a maximum slip of 0.34 m. Accordingly, the seismic magnitude of the earthquake was estimated to be Ms 6.06. Considering the geological structure in the earthquake region and the fault source parameters, we infer that the Kepingtag reverse fault is responsible for the earthquake, and the improved IDW interpolation tropospheric decomposition model can perform atmospheric correction more effectively, which is also beneficial for the source parameter inversion of the Jiashi earthquake.


This paper reports on the GENEA Challenge 2023, in which participating teams built speech-driven gesture-generation systems using the same speech and motion dataset, followed by a joint evaluation. This year's challenge provided data on both sides of a dyadic interaction, allowing teams to generate full-body motion for an agent given its speech (text and audio) and the speech and motion of the interlocutor. We evaluated 12 submissions and 2 baselines together with held-out motion-capture data in several large-scale user studies. The studies focused on three aspects: 1) the human-likeness of the motion, 2) the appropriateness of the motion for the agent's own speech whilst controlling for the human-likeness of the motion, and 3) the appropriateness of the motion for the behaviour of the interlocutor in the interaction, using a setup that controls for both the human-likeness of the motion and the agent's own speech. We found a large span in human-likeness between challenge submissions, with a few systems rated close to human mocap. Appropriateness seems far from being solved, with most submissions performing in a narrow range slightly above chance, far behind natural motion. The effect of the interlocutor is even more subtle, with submitted systems at best performing barely above chance. Interestingly, a dyadic system being highly appropriate for agent speech does not necessarily imply high appropriateness for the interlocutor. Additional material is available via the project website at svito-zar.github.io/GENEAchallenge2023/.


Background: Kidney renal clear cell carcinoma is the malignant tumor with the highest incidence and poor prognosis in renal cell carcinoma. In view of its limited diagnostic strategies and poor prognosis, bioinformatics analysis has been used to explore the possible mechanisms of renal clear cell carcinoma and effective prognostic-related biomarkers.Method: The sequencing information of 3 types of RNA (mRNA, lncRNA and miRNA) in 539 cases of kidney renal clear cell carcinoma tumor tissues and 72 cases of normal tissues is obtained from the TCGA database. Heat map and volcano map of differentially expressed genes were drawn through R language; The CeRNA network was visualized by Cytoscape software (version 3.7.2). Methods such as univariate Cox regression analysis, lasso regression screening, and multivariate Cox regression analysis were used to construct a prognostic model based on the CeRNA network. The CIBERSORT algorithm was used to analyze the degree of infiltration of 22 kinds of immune cells from each sample of kidney renal clear cell carcinoma. Construction of a prognostic model based on tumor-infiltrating immune cells, The R "corrplot" software package was used for co-expression analysis based on the CeRNA network and tumor-infiltrating immune cells model.Results: There are 3074 differentially expressed mRNAs (1055 upregulated and 2019 downregulated), and 359 differentially expressed lncRNAs (71 upregulated and 280 downregulated) and 132 differentially expressed miRNAs (70 upregulated and 62 downregulated) that have been identified through differential analysis. A complete mRNA-miRNA-lncRNA (SIX1-hsa-miR-200b-3p-MALAT1) network was obtained based on the CeRNA network-based prognostic model construction. 2 immune cells (Mast cells resting, T cells follicular helper) were identified by constructing a prognostic model based on tumor-infiltrating immune cells. There was a negative correlation between lncRNA MALAT1 and Mast cells resting (R= -0.27, P<0.001); while there was a positive correlation between lncRNA MALAT1 and T cells follicular helper (R=0.23, P<0.001).Conclusion: Based on CeRNA network and tumor-infiltrating immune cells, we explored the possible mechanism of kidney renal clear cell carcinoma and obtained effective biomarkers for predicting prognosis by Bioinformatics analysis in this study.


The paper brings it survey of geomorphological conditions in the area under study (south-eastern Bohemia and south-western Moravia, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic). The autbor pays much attention to the considerable influence of neotectonic movements on the carving of the relief. Typicall periglacial phenomena are: cryopediments, cryoplanation terraces, frost cliffs and frost cracks, block fields and boulder streams. Weathering pits and pseudo-lapiès are of Holocene age.


The rapid development of vaccines to prevent infection by SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19 makes necessary to compare the capacity of the different vaccines in terms of development of a protective humoral response. Here, we have used a highly sensitive and reliable flow cytometry method to measure the titers of antibodies of the IgG1 isotype in blood of volunteers after receiving one or two doses of the vaccines being administered in Spain. We took advantage of the multiplexed capacity of the method to measure simultaneously the reactivity of antibodies with the S protein of the original strain Wuhan-1 and the variant B.1.1.7 (Alpha). We found significant differences in the titer of anti-S antibodies produced after a first dose of the vaccines ChAdOx1 nCov-19/AstraZeneca, mRNA-1273/Moderna, BNT162b2/Pfizer-BioNTech and Ad26.COV.S/Janssen. Most important, we found a relative reduction in the reactivity of the sera with the B.1.1.7 versus the Wuhan-1 variant after the second boosting immunization. These data allow to make a comparison of different vaccines in terms of anti-S antibody generation and cast doubts about the convenience of repeatedly immunizing with the same S protein sequence.


Introduction: It is forecasted that in the near future, the United States will not have enough long-term care (LTC) nurses qualified or interested in the LTC arena to sustain the healthcare delivery system. The overall effectiveness of any health care delivery system hinges on a sustainable nursing workforce, which is the largest health professional group. Globally, a significant segment of the nursing workforce is nearing retirement age.
Methods: Using pre- and post-intervention recruitment strategy surveys detailing the Realistic job preview (RJP), the Best-Foot-Forward, and a control brochure, this study investigated senior nursing students' image and perception of long-term care nursing compared to their image and perception of other areas in nursing. The effects of prior experience with or exposure to LTC on students' intention to apply for a position in LTC were examined in 221 senior year students earning the Bachelor of Science in nursing degree from three California universities.
Results: The first hypothesis stated that pre-intervention students' intent to apply for a position in LTC upon graduation would be significantly and positively associated with their pre-intervention image of LTC. A Pearson correlation coefficient between pre-intervention intent to apply and pre-intervention image was statistically significant, r = -.368, n = 221, p < .001, supporting the first hypothesis. Hypothesis 2: Post-intervention RJP students would have a significantly more positive perception of LTC nursing than BFF or control-group students. There would be no significant difference in the RJP, BFF and control group students' pre-intervention image of LTC nursing. Hypothesis 2 was not significant.
Hypothesis 3: Post-intervention RJP students would have a significantly stronger intent to apply for jobs in LTC nursing than BFF or control-group students. There would be no significant difference in RJP, BFF, and control group students' pre-intervention intent to apply for a position in LTC nursing. Hypothesis 3 was not significant.
Hypothesis 4: Senior nursing students' pre-intervention intent to apply for a position in LTC upon graduation would be significantly and positively associated with prior experience in or exposure to LTC. Hypothesis 4 was not significant.
Conclusions: To enhance LTC nursing image and to improve students' perceptions of this line of nursing may be accomplished, in part, through program curriculum, including internships in LTC, offering multiple dedicated courses in LTC, and increasing the emphasis on LTC during nursing programs. Realistic job preview technique shows significant positive result over the Best-Foot-Forward technique.
Keywords: Recruitment methods, realistic job preview, long-term care, nursing, LTC experience


A diffusion flame system was used to generate an aerosol of soot and iron oxide. The primary fuel was ethylene. Iron was introduced by passing ethylene over liquid iron pentacarbonyl. The aerosol emission from the flame was diluted by secondary air to a level that could be used in animal exposure studies. The system was designed to operate at a constant soot production rate while the iron loading was varied from 0 to 50 μg m -3 in the diluted postflame gases. The impact of the iron on soot production was counteracted by the addition of acetylene to the fuel. Particles were collected on carbon grids and were examined via transmission electron microscopy. Electron energy loss spectroscopy was employed to characterize the aerosol. A differential mobility analyzer was used to measure the size distribution of the aerosol. The iron particles were typically 40 nm in diameter and often appeared in isolation from the soot aerosol, suggesting that either they were not formed concurrently with the soot or they remained after oxidation of the surrounding soot. Samples collected from within the flame, and downstream of the flame, indicated that the iron may have been present as very small particles comingled with the soot. The iron particles apparently melted and coalesced as they passed through the high temperature flame tip. Crystallization of the iron proceeded as the postflame gases cooled by mixing with external air. The flame system was shown to be capable of consistently producing steady concentrations of soot and iron for delivery to animals, without the confounding presence of toxic gaseous compounds.


This paper evaluated in an integrated manner the traffic performance, pollutant emissions and road conflicts between bicycles and motor vehicles at a signalized intersection. Two alternative scenarios were examined: (1) bicycles increment and motor vehicles replacement within the cycle-fixed traffic signal; (2) replacing the existing traffic control by a conventional two-lane roundabout and evaluating the impacts of bicycles increment. For each scenario, bicycle demand was varied from 9 to 270 bicycles per hour (bph). Traffic flow and vehicle dynamic data were collected from a three-leg signalized intersection in Aveiro (Portugal). The microscopic traffic model (VISSIM) paired with an emission (Vehicle Specific Power – VSP) methodology and safety (Surrogate Safety Assessment Methodology – SSAM) model were used to assess intersection-specific operations. The fast Non-Dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (NSGA-II) was used to find the optimal bicycle demands. The results showed that two-lane roundabout outperformed the existing traffic control, namely in highest bicycle demand scenario (number of stops and travel time reduced in 78 and 14%, respectively; CO2, NOx, and HC decreased 9, 7, and 12%, respectively). It was also found that the number of conflicts was significantly reduced (–49%) with this latter layout even in maximum bicycle demand scenario (270 bph). However, roundabout layout lead to more severe conflicts and potential crashes. The analysis showed that bicycle demands of 75, 95 and 110 bph delivered good environmental and safety outcomes for the intersection.


Chronic infections of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the lungs of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients are problematic in Ireland where inherited CF is prevalent. The bacteria's capacity to form a biofilm in its pathogenesis is highly virulent and leads to decreased susceptibility to most antibiotic treatments. Herein, we present the activity profiles of the Cu(II), Mn(II) and Ag(I) tdda-phen chelate complexes {[Cu(3,6,9-tdda)(phen)2]·3H2O·EtOH}n (Cu-tdda-phen), {[Mn(3,6,9-tdda)(phen)2]·3H2O·EtOH}n (Mn-tdda-phen) and [Ag2(3,6,9-tdda)(phen)4]·EtOH (Ag-tdda-phen) (tddaH2 = 3,6,9-trioxaundecanedioic acid; phen = 1,10-phenanthroline) towards clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa derived from Irish CF patients in comparison to two reference laboratory strains (ATCC 27853 and PAO1). The effects of the metal-tdda-phen complexes and gentamicin on planktonic growth, biofilm formation (pre-treatment) and mature biofilm (post-treatment) alone and in combination were investigated. The effects of the metal-tdda-phen complexes on the individual biofilm components; exopolysaccharide, extracellular DNA (eDNA), pyocyanin and pyoverdine are also presented. All three metal-tdda-phen complexes showed comparable and often superior activity to gentamicin in the CF strains, compared to their activities in the laboratory strains, with respect to both biofilm formation and established biofilms. Combination studies presented synergistic activity between all three complexes and gentamicin, particularly for the post-treatment of established mature biofilms, and was supported by the reduction of the individual biofilm components examined.


David Harris was born in Puerto Rico, raised in Texas, and received his undergraduate degree in Film, Animation, and Video from the Rhode Island School of Design. He worked as the creative director for Love Advertising, producer for ADV Films, Inc. (one of America's leading animé companies), and lived in Paris for a year in between. In 2003, he relocated to Los Angeles to pursue his MFA from UCLA in Film, TV and Digital Media. His thesis project, HOWDOISAYTHIS.COM, was sponsored by mtvU and Cisco and won the 2007 SXSW Web Award for Best Student Site. Since launching HOWDOISAYTHIS.COM, Harris worked in the development think tank at Fox Television Studios before taking his current position at MTV New Media, where he is working on the Players project, Jackass World, and a number of interactive projects that are as exciting as they are secret. In the video interview, you will hear David's answers to the following questions:
 1. You call yourself the "MacGyver" at MTV New Media. Could you elaborate on your role at MTV?
 2. How does MTV New Media compete with MySpace and YouTube in reaching the MTV audience on the Internet?
 3. What is your experience in working with the AFI Digital Content Lab?
 4. What suggestions do you have that would make the Digital Content Lab more innovative, useful, and rewarding?
 5. What is the innovation of the "Players" project that you are working on at the Digital Content Lab?
 6. If you can do anything you want at MTV, what will you do?


ABSTRACT Across all species, individuals thrive in complex ecological systems, which they rarely have complete knowledge of. To cope with this uncertainty and still make good choices while avoiding costly errors, organisms have developed the ability to exploit key features associated with their environment. That through experience, humans and other animals are quick at learning to associate specific cues with particular places, events and circumstances has long been known; the idea that plants are also capable of learning by association had never been proven until now. Here I comment on the recent paper that experimentally demonstrated associative learning in plants, thus qualifying them as proper subjects of cognitive research. Additionally, I make the point that the current fundamental premise in cognitive science—that we must understanding the precise neural underpinning of a given cognitive feature in order to understand the evolution of cognition and behavior—needs to be reimagined.


The coincidence of a diverse vertebrate assemblage with a high-precision geochronology and lithostratigraphy in Petrified Forest National Park (Arizona, USA) allows Bayesian quantification of the dynamics of a Late Triassic vertebrate extinction and replacement, the Adamanian/Revueltian (A/R) faunal turnover. This approach uniquely identifies probabilities for the tempo of the replacement of the Adamanian assemblage by that of the Revueltian, precisely tracking the turnover. While the method does not designate the moment of extinction, there is a negligible probability that all Adamanian extinctions, as well as all Revueltian originations, are synchronous. A protracted A/R turnover is incompatible with the geologically instantaneous Manicouagan impact (215.4 ± 0.20 Ma; Québec, Canada) as a dominant causal mechanism. This analytical framework constitutes a flexible means of reconstructing biotic turnover in a variety of deep time contexts.


Purpose: To investigate the attitudes and beliefs of physical therapy (PT) and physical therapist assistant (PTA) program directors towards interprofessional education (IPE). We hypothesized that Communication and Ethics would be the most important competencies among program directors. Methods: A cross-sectional survey based on previously utilized instruments modified for the profession of PT was sent to PT and PTA program directors. One hundred sixteen responses were analyzed using frequency analysis for demographic data and non-parametric Mann-Whitney U t-test for group differences. Results: While the majority of program directors agree that IPE is important, with Communication as the most important IPE competency, most PTA program directors do not support the importance of accreditation in implementing IPE (pConclusion:Program directors agree that IPE is vital to student learning, with Communication as the most important IPE competency. However, specific differences between PT and PTA program directors emerged primarily on IPE implementation, the role of accreditation, resource support, and resource utilization.


The objective of this research article is to make an introduction to the regulation of securities in the U.S. to understand the operations and rules of this capital market. Its knowledge has remarkable importance in order to value the dynamics of a market that is an attractive alternative for financing Colombian companies. Currently, it is possible to obtain many alternatives for private funding. One of those alternatives is the securities market. As a result of globalization, the access to international securities markets allows local emitters the possibility to attain resources originated in outer saving and in the same way foreign emitters can obtain resources from a local investor. Colombia has not remained a stranger to this market integration process. At the current time there are several Colombian companies that have been emitting their titles in external capital markets. For the above mentioned, it is important to have a greater knowledge of the operation of external capital markets, in particular the North American securities market.


Reforms designed to enhance the delivery of flexible and holistic support to offenders were introduced in 2013, with a clear focus on addressing 'broader life management issues' to enable behaviour change. Data are drawn from total of 117 semi‐structured interviews undertaken with 57 offenders as part of the Welfare Conditionality: Sanctions support and behaviour change project. The article specifically highlights the significance of long‐term support in successfully helping offenders to change their behaviour. It emphasises the importance of long‐term engagement, together with strengths‐based approaches in helping offenders to progress personal development and create a new prosocial identity whereby they can become invested in society.


We analysed the phylogenetic relationships of ten of the 13 known species of the genus Apomys using DNA sequences from cytochrome b. Apomys, endemic to oceanic portions of the Philippine archipelago, diversified during the Pliocene as these oceanic islands arose de novo. Several of the speciation events probably took place on Luzon or Mindanao, the two largest, oldest, and most topographically complex islands. Only one speciation event is associated with vicar- iance due to Pleistocene sea-level fluctuation, and a Pleistocene diversification model in which isolation is driven by sea-level changes is inconsistent with the data. Tectonic vicariance is nearly absent from the Philippines, in which tectonic coalescence plays a significant role. Most speciation events (about two-thirds) are associated with dispersal to newly developed oceanic islands. The data imply that the species have persisted for long periods, measured in mil- lions of years after their origins; further implications therefore are that faunal turnover is very slow, and persistence over geological time spans is more prominent than repeated colonization and extinction. Neither the equilibrium nor the vicariance model of biogeography adequately encompasses these results; a model incorporating colonization, extinction, and speciation is necessary and must incorporate long-term persistence to accommodate our observations. © 2003 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2003, 80, 699-715. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: biogeographical models - cytochrome b - dispersal - island biogeography - Pleistocene - speciation - vicariance.


Background The squeeze test (a.k.a Gaenslen's Compression Maneuver) consists on the compression of the metacarpal-phalangeal (MCP) joints to elicit pain in a patient with active synovitis. The squeeze test has three main purposes: Screening of inflammatory arthritis, as a predictor of rheumatoid arthritis in arthralgia patients, and as a quick and practical evaluation of the presence/absence of synovitis in patients already diagnosed with RA. The force and the way to perform the squeeze test had been evaluated in rheumatologists on a biomechanical device, with conflicting results. We developed a biomechanical device to perform the squeeze test. Objectives Our aim is to determine the force whether the automated squeeze test discriminate patients with active RA from inactive ones. And the force that differentiates a healthy patient from a RA patient. Methods Observational study in RA (ACR/EULAR 2010) patients and healthy persons. We perform 3-squeeze test on the device in the MCP joints and record the force enough to elicit pain. And then compare them with the joint counts by the clinician Results Two hundred MCP joints from 50 hands were tested. From 25 RA patients with a mean age of 54.6 years (SD 11.22), with a mean disease latency of 1.2 years (SD 2.7). The total swollen joint count was 16 (7 right joints + 9 left joints) and 70 total tender joint count (30 right joints and 40 left joints). The median of force that caused pain in the RA patient's right hand was 3.07 kg (IQR 2.4) and the left hand was 2.78 kg (IQR 3.8). The cut-off for the force to detect a tender right hand joint was 1,020 grams with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 10%; for a swollen right hand joint was 1,400 with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 28.6%. For a tender left hand joint was 1620 grams with a sensitivity 70% and specificity of 6.7%; and for a swollen left joint was 1990 grams with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 27.3%. In the second phase, 560 MCP joints of 140 hands from 70 healthy volunteers were compressed. The median force to elicit pain in the right hand was 4.2 kg (IQR 9.5) vs. 3.07 kg (IQR 8.7) from RA patients (p=0.003). And for left hand 4.6 kg (IQR 9.7) vs. 2.78 kg (IQR 9.2) from RA (p=0.014). Conclusions It is necessary to continue the exploration of the maneuver in different clinical settings. Validate the strength in patients with different arthropathies, activity levels and different clinical stages (screening, activity, prediction) and also with imaging methods for evidence of inflammation (US, MRI) Disclosure of Interest None declared


In this paper, we propose a musical instrument sound synthesis (MISS) method based on a variational autoencoder (VAE) that has a hierarchy-inducing latent space for timbre. VAE-based MISS methods embed an input signal into a low-dimensional latent representation that captures the characteristics of the input. Adequately manipulating this representation leads to sound morphing and timbre replacement. Although most VAE-based MISS methods seek a disentangled representation of pitch and timbre, how to capture an underlying structure in timbre remains an open problem. To address this problem, we focus on the fact that musical instruments can be hierarchically classified on the basis of their physical mechanisms. Motivated by this hierarchy, we propose a VAE-based MISS method by introducing a hyperbolic space for timbre. The hyperbolic space can represent treelike data more efficiently than the Euclidean space owing to its exponential growth property. Results of experiments show that the proposed method provides an efficient latent representation of timbre compared with the method using the Euclidean space.


The objective of the paper is to draw attention to incorrectness of various statistical approaches to research data. We critically assess the situation when first the decision on the hypothesis to be proved is done and then data are made to fit the hypothesis. We demonstrate that data cannot be satisfactorily interpreted without close attention to the manner of their collection. Finally we criticize opportunistic data torturing when researcher explores the data until a significant result is found and then devises a biologically plausible hypothesis.


A new generation of inexpensive robotic pan-tilt cameras can maintain high-resolution panoramic displays of natural environments. However, the pan-tilt mechanisms are imprecise: small errors can produce large errors in the panoramic display. It is thus important to accurately estimate pan-tilt values. We present a new calibration algorithm that does not rely on calibration markers or fixed orthogonal edges which are rarely available in natural scenes. Our calibration algorithm uses image variance density to optimally estimate camera pan and tilt values by incrementally refining image registration using overlapping images from prior frames. Experiments suggest that the new calibration algorithm can reduce calibration error by 81%. In a companion paper, we present a new image registration algorithm based on spherical projection that optimally aligns the resulting frames


Wireless sensor networks are subject to attacks such as node capture and cloning, where an attacker physically captures sensor nodes, replicates the nodes, which are deployed into the network, and proceeds to take over the network. In this paper, we develop models for such an attack when there are multiple attackers in a network, and formulate multi-player games to model the noncooperative strategic behavior between the attackers and the network. We consider two cases: a static case where the attackers' node capture rates are time-invariant and the network's clone detection/revocation rate is a linear function of the state, and a dynamic case where the rates are general functions of time. We characterize Nash equilibrium solutions for both cases and derive equilibrium strategies for the players. In the static case, we study both the single-attacker and the multi-attacker games within an optimization framework, provide conditions for the existence of Nash equilibria and characterize them in closed forms. In the dynamic case, we study the underlying multi-person differential game under an open-loop information structure and provide a set of conditions to characterize the open-loop Nash equilibrium. We show the equivalence of the Nash equilibrium for the multi-person game to the saddle-point equilibrium between the network and the attackers as a team. We illustrate our results with numerical examples.


Currently, there is a need for new technological interventions to guarantee the microbiological safety of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods. Non-thermal atmospheric plasma (NTAP) has emerged as a promising strategy for inactivating microorganisms on thermo-sensitive foods, and the elucidation of its mechanisms of action will aid the rational optimization and industrial implementation of this technology for potential applications in the food industry. In this study, the effectiveness of NTAP for inactivating strains of Salmonella Enteritidis, Salmonella Typhimurium, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeria monocytogenes contaminating the surface of different sliced RTE foods ("chorizo", salami, bacon, smoked salmon, tofu and apple) was investigated. In addition, to further assess the bacterial inactivation mechanisms of NTAP, the morphological and physico-chemical damages in bacterial cells were analyzed. NTAP was effective for the surface decontamination of all products tested and, especially, of cut apple, where the microbial populations were reduced between 1.3 and 1.8 log units for the two Salmonella strains and E. coli O157: H7, respectively, after 15 min of exposure. In the rest of foods, no significant differences in the lethality obtained for the E. coli O157:H7 strain were observed, with inactivation rates of between 0.6 and 0.9 log cycles after a 15-min treatment. On the other hand, the strains from the rest of pathogenic microorganisms studied were extremely resistant on tofu, where barely 0.2–0.5 log units of inactivation were achieved after 15 min of plasma exposure. S. Enteritidis cells treated for 10 min exhibited noticeable morphological and structural changes, as observed by transmission electron microscopy, which were accompanied by a loss in membrane integrity, with an increased leakage of intracellular components and uptake of propidium iodide and marked changes in regions of their FTIR spectra indicating major alterations of the cell wall components. Overall, this indicates that loss of viability was likely caused for this microorganism by a significant damage in the cellular envelopes. However, the plasma-treated cells of L. monocytogenes did not show such obvious changes in morphology, and exhibited less marked effects on the integrity of their cytoplasmic membrane, what suggests that the death of this pathogenic microorganism upon NTAP exposure is more likely to occur as a consequence of damages in other cellular targets.


Equivalence Scale in Terms of Polish Households' Source of Income The paper presents a comparison of the costs of Polish households by their main source of income. In order to compare these costs the author estimated three kinds of equivalence scales using the Engel method, ELES (Extended Linear Expenditure System), the demand equation and the Bernoulli well-being function. Estimation for household groups determined on account of the main source of income produced by the scales confirmed differences in households' maintenance costs compared to the costs of the reference household. A comparison of the values of equivalence scales revealed a similarity of the results produced by the ELES and the Bernoulli methods which differed from the results obtained by means of the Engel method.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Acute pancreatitis is well defined as pancreatic inflammation due to the activation of pancreatic enzymes secondary to several etiological factors. In the majority of patients, the clinical symptoms are self-limited, but it can also cause tissue necrosis and severe organ failures. In experimental animal models, it has been shown that wide apoptotic cell death is related to a clinically mild presentation of acute pancreatitis. Cytokeratin 18, a cytoskeletal protein, is shown to be related with apoptosis. In this study, we aimed to show the relation between serum cytokeratin 18 and the clinical presentation of acute pancreatitis in humans.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 54 acute pancreatitis patients were enrolled into the study. Patients were classified as mild or severe pancreatitis according to Ranson's criteria. There were 36 (66.7%) patients in the mild pancreatitis group (score < 6), and 18 (33.3%) patients in the severe pancreatitis group (score ≥ 6). During the first admission, blood samples were obtained for serum cytokeratin 18 levels.

RESULTS
Cytokeratin 18 levels in the mild pancreatitis group were significantly higher than in the severe pancreatitis group (271.2 ± 45.5 vs. 152.6 ± 38.2 IU/L; p < 0.001). There was a negative correlation between the disease activity score (Ranson score) and the serum cytokeratin 18 levels (p < 0.001; r = -0.724).

CONCLUSIONS
This first human study suggests that cytokeratin 18 (marker of apoptosis) might be a serological predictive marker for acute pancreatitis for disease activity.


PURPOSE
The combination of protracted venous infusion (PVI) 5-FU with moderate dose cisplatin was evaluated in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Sixty-three patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease were treated with cisplatin (60 mg/m2 every 21 days) and PVI 5-FU (300 mg/m2/day) for a maximum of 24 weeks. All patients had histologically/cytologically confirmed tumour. Radiological response was assessed by CT scanning and toxicity, performance status and symptomatic response were assessed 3 weekly.

RESULTS
The objective response rate was 16% with two radiological complete responses. The median survival was 7.6 months with a 1-year survival of 33% and a median progression-free survival of 6.6 months. Patients who had local disease only had a median survival of 14.8 months with a 1-year survival of 52%. Thirty-four percent of patients had an improvement in performance status on treatment and specific symptom response rates were weight loss 71%, dysphagia 100%, nausea and vomiting 70%, pain 60%, anorexia 50%, and reflux 81%. Chemotherapy was well tolerated with grade 3 or 4 toxicity being nausea/vomiting 5%, diarrhoea 7%, infection 4%, stomatitis 2%, plantar palmar syndrome 2%, anaemia 14%, leucopenia 5, neutropenia 10% and thrombocytopenia 8%.

CONCLUSIONS
The CF regimen provides good symptomatic palliation with low toxicity in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.


Pyrazolato endogenous bridged binuclear CoII, NiII, CuII, and ZnII complexes were prepared and characterized by spectro-analytical methods. The hexadentate N4S2 donor was synthesized by condensation of 3,5-dichloroformyl-1H-pyrazole with thiosemicarbazide in dry ethanol. All the complexes were binuclear and octahedral in nature. The ligand and complexes are screened for antimicrobial and DNA-binding/cleavage activities. The binding/cleavage activities with Escherichia coli DNA are monitored with absorption, hydrodynamic, thermal denaturation, and electrophoresis studies. The ligand possesses significant activity against microbes which is further enhanced upon complexation. The DNA-binding study reveals classical intercalation. The NiII and CuII complexes exhibit higher binding ability.


We investigated by molecular hybridization whether T cells contain RNA sequences homologous to RNA which codes for immunoglobulin kappa-chain (k-chain). A radioactive probe of complementary DNA (cDNA) was prepared by transcription of purified k-chain mRNA from mouse myeloma MOPC-41 with reverse transcriptase (RNA-dependent-DNA nucleotidyltransferase) from avian myeloblastosis virus. The cDNA probably corresponded only to the constant region and 3'-terminus of k-chain mRNA. Kappa-chain cDNA was found to hybridize efficiently with RNA from both thymus cells and an established culture of thymoma cells. The thymus and thymoma cells contained 99.8% and 100% theta-positive cells, respectively. Quantitatively the average thymus T cell (thymus derived lymphocyte) contained about one half as much k-chain mRNA as the average spleen B cell ("bursa" dependent lymphocyte), whereas the thymoma cells contained only 1/33 as much. Control hybridizations of k-chain cDNA with myeloma and liver RNA support the conclusion that T cells in the thymus and in the thymoma cell line synthesize k-chain mRNA-like molecules. The thermal stability of hybrids of k-chain cDNA with RNA from spleen, thymus, thymoma, and another k-chain producing myeloma tumor was lower than that with MOPC-41 RNA. This finding may be due to the existence of several slightly different ck genes in the mouse as suggested by various control experiments.


STUDY OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the meta-analysis was to understand the antitussive effect of treatment with dextromethorphan hydrobromide, 30 mg, vs placebo over a 3-h treatment period in patients with cough due to uncomplicated upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), and to show that the computerized system for acquisition and analysis of cough sound was consistent and reproducible across the individual studies.

STUDY DESIGN
The six studies used for the meta-analysis were randomized, double-blind, parallel-group, single-dose, placebo-controlled studies with a 3-h postdose cough evaluation period.

SETTING
One study was conducted in Durban, South Africa, and five studies were conducted in Bombay, India. Four studies took place in clinics, and two studies were in-home studies.

PATIENTS
Seven hundred ten adult patients with cough due to uncomplicated URTI who were otherwise healthy and who satisfied the inclusion/exclusion criteria for the meta-analysis.

MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS
For each patient, a standard baseline was calculated pretreatment, then a 3-h continuous cough recording was made after treatment was initiated. Five efficacy variables were measured in 30-min intervals: cough bouts, cough components, cough effort, cough intensity, and cough latency. The meta-analysis showed consistent results across most of the studies for each of the efficacy variables. It demonstrated significantly greater overall reductions in cough bouts, cough components, and cough effort, and an increase in cough latency for patients treated with dextromethorphan hydrobromide, 30 mg, vs those treated with placebo.

CONCLUSION
The results of a meta-analysis of the six clinical studies show that the antitussive effect of a single dose of dextromethorphan hydrobromide, 30 mg, has been established. The consistent nature of the results shows that the computerized cough acquisition and analysis system is a valid and reproducible methodology for evaluating cough associated with URTI.


Acute, immune‐mediated thrombocytopenia may be caused by many different approved drugs as well as by other substances including vaccines, complementary and alternative medicines, herbal remedies, nutritional supplements, foods and beverages. All causes are described as drug‐induced thrombocytopenia (DITP). Often the cause is not recognized, resulting in recurrent thrombocytopenia and inappropriate treatments. Systematic analysis of children (age less than 18 years) with suspected DITP has not been previously reported.


Optical instruments can rapidly determine numbers and characteristics of water column particles with high sensitivity. Here we show the usefulness of optically assessed total particle volume below the main pycnocline to estimate carbon export in two systems: the open subarctic North Atlantic and the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Both regions exhibit seasonally high phytoplankton production and efficient export (i.e., a strong biological pump). Total particle volumes in the mesopelagic (200-300 m) were significantly correlated with those in the overlying surface mixed layer (50 - 60 m), indicating that most particles at depth reflect export from the surface. This connectivity, however, is modulated by the physical structure of the water column and by particle type (e.g., the presence of colonies of the haptophyte Phaeocystis antarctica versus diatoms). Evidence from both regions show that a strong pycnocline can delay or may even prevent particles from settling to deeper layers, which then succumb to disintegration, or microbial and/or zooplankton consumption. Strong katabatic winds in the Ross Sea may deepen the mixed layer, causing a rapid transfer of particles to mesopelagic depths through the mixed-layer pump. Independent estimates of seasonally integrated export production in the Ross Sea, based on upper water column carbon mass balance, were significantly correlated (in the order of shared variance) with 1) total particle volumes from images, 2) particulate organic carbon, and 3) chlorophyll fluorescence, all recorded at a depth range of 200 – 300 m. Carbon export was not significantly correlated with particle abundance measured by a Coulter Counter at the same depth range. Measuring total particle volume below the primary pycnocline is therefore a useful approach to estimate carbon export at least in regions characterized by seasonally high particle export.


This paper presents an 8-channel array of low-noise (30.3 fA/√Hz) current sensing front-ends with on-chip microelectrode electrochemical sensors. The analog front-end (AFE) consists of a 1st-order continuous-time delta-sigma (CT ΔΣ) modulator that achieves 123 fA sensitivity over a 10 Hz bandwidth and 139 dB cross-scale dynamic range with a 2-bit programmable current reference. A digital predictor and tri-level pulse width modulated (PWM) current-steering DAC realize the equivalent performance of a multi-bit ΔΣ in an area- and power-efficient manner. The AFE consumes 50.3 µW and 0.11 mm2 per readout channel. The proposed platform was used to observe protein-ligand interactions in real-time using transient induced molecular electronic spectroscopy (TIMES), a label- and immobilization-free biosensing technique.


Background Biologics offer effective ways to treat autoimmune arthritis avoiding radiological progression. Yet, it has its own risks and hazards, most common - infectious complications. Objectives To evaluate the incidence of infectious complications in patients with autoimmune arthritis (AA) treated with biological therapy (BT). Methods Patients with AA (rheumatoid arthritis (RA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)), treated with BT agents (Infliximab (INX), Adalimumab (ADA), Etanercept (ETA) or Rituximab (RTX)) were tested for any infectious events at the start of treatment, after 12, 24 and then every 24 weeks during treatment with BT. The data was collected from 01 Dec 2007 to 01 Jan 2013. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 17.0 and Microsoft Excel programs. The study was approved by Lithuanian Bioethics committee. Results 269 patients treated with BT were evaluated for adverse events (AE). From all (289) AE reported, half (n=145; 52.35%) of them were from infections (female – 89; 61.38%, male – 56; 38.62%). Infections mostly were reported in RA patients (n=82; 56.55%), less so in PsA patients (n=27; 18.62%), AS (n=24; 16.55%) and JIA (n=12; 8.28%). Most of infections were upper respiratory tract (n=44; 30.34%) and urogenital system infections (n=32; 22.07%) for INX, ADA, ETA, RTX users were 60.81, 98.78, 93.96, 30.55; and, 30.40, 89.80, 57.82, 76.37, respectively (per 1000 patient years). Less common were ear-nose-throat infections (n=24; 16.55%) (33.78, 35.92, 65.05 and 15.27), cutaneous infections (n=16; 11.03%) (30.40, 26.94, 28.91 and 0 respectively). There were 11 cases of tuberculosis (TB) (7.59%) (10.13, 53.88, 14.46 and 0 per 1000 patient years respectively for INX, ADA, ETA and RTX), and 3 cases of sepsis (2.07%) (6.76, 8.98, 0 and 0 per 1000 patient years). Two cases of active TB was diagnosed in INX patients, the remaining 9 cases were latent TB, all treated prophylactically before resuming BT. Nearly half of infections were mild (n=68; 46.9%), severe infections were seen in 9 patients (6.21%) and for one patient (0.69%) was the cause of death. The onset of infectious AE on average were seen after 19,6 [95% CI: 16,68-22,54] months after the start of BT and lasted approximately 22,47 days [95% CI: 13,64-31,3]. Infections were most common among patients treated with ADA - 332.26 per 1000 patient years; least common - with RTX - 152.74; INF - 202.69 and ETA - 274.67, respectively. No correlation between infection severity and patient's age, gender, diagnosis, BT drug, time of AE occurrence, duration and outcomes were found (p<0,05). Conclusions Half of AE in patients with AA treated with BT were infections (n=145; 50.23%). Highest rate of infectious complications were seen in patients with RA. Upper respiratory tract and urogenital system infections were most common. They were most often seen in patients treated with ADA and the least - in patients with RTX. Half of infections were mild. Average onset of infections were after 19,6 months after initiation of BT and lasted an average of 22,47 days. References E.D. Dommasch, K. Abuabara et al. J Am Acad Dermatol 2011;64(6):1035-50. J.B. Galloway, K.L. Hyrich et al. Rheumatology 2011;50:124-31. S.A.A. van Dartel, J. Fransen et al. Ann Rheum Dis 2013;72:895-900. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.1791


ABSTRACT During the pandemic, school and university students had to urgently move away from traditional classrooms to online learning in their homes. Student engagement that can be explained by self-determination theory (SDT) is important in online learning. Indeed, the founders of SDT recently stated that SDT-based future research should look closely at how to satisfy the basic needs in the theory in technology enhanced learning environments. We also know very little about K-12 student engagement in online learning. Therefore, this qualitative study used the SDT as a framework to understand K-12 school student engagement and disengagement in online learning. It used a thematic analysis to analyse interview data from 36 students and 18 teachers. The findings highlight that (i) online learning environments that supported more autonomy were more likely to engage students cognitively in developing two important lifelong skills of digital literacy and self-regulated learning; and (ii) those environments that lacked emotional attachment, equipment and resources, coupled with perceived digital incompetence and ineffective learning experience of the students suppressed cognitive and emotional engagement. Hence, this study suggests how to satisfy the need for competence and relatedness to prepare and implement online learning.


An improvement in prenatal care over several generations could enhance the birth weights of term infants. We reviewed data on live-born, singleton infants born at our university medical center between 1935 and 1985. Our review of 42,185 such pregnancies revealed that the mean birth weight (3,279 g) of a term infant has not changed significantly during the past 50 years. The frequency of term infants' weighing less than 2,500 g has not changed, but there has been a significant increase in the percentage of macrosomic infants (greater than 4,000 g), from 3 to 14, in the last 15 years. White infants have been consistently heavier than black infants, by an average of 179 g (6.3 oz). Differences in mean birth weights have been consistently greater for male than female infants (123 g, 4.6 oz) and for multiparous than primiparous deliveries (79 g, 2.8 oz), regardless of race. Impressions from these data, spanning three generations, should be helpful for prenatal counseling.


The purpose and objectives of this work were to study the nature of the heart, lungs and kidneys angiopathy in rats with a model of systemic autoimmune disease, carrying out comparisons of the results with extravasal morphological manifestations of the pathological process, the state of vascular endothelial function and activity of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the blood. The experiment was conducted on 40 non-linear rats. To simulate the disease animals were injected by complete Freund's adjuvant, a solution of splenic deoxyribonucleic acid cattle, mercaptopurine, methyluracilum and with food rats constantly received sulfate cadmium, lithium hydroxybutyrate and ammonium molybdate. Within two months from the start of the study animals were taken out of the experiment on the background of intraperitoneal nembutal anesthesia. Histological sections of the heart, lung and kidney tissue were stained with hematoxylin -eosin, alcian blue and by van-Gieson, becoming the PAS-reaction. In the animals with the proposed experimental model of systemic autoimmune disease observed morphological characteristics of lesions of the heart blood vessels, lungs and kidneys, the nature of the manifestations of which were interconnected with each other, which confirms the common pathogenetic angiopathy constructions at various diseases in clinical practice. In the genesis of cardiac, pulmonary and renal vessels lesions act the activation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and violation of vascular endothelial function, which has a certain practical significance. In clinical practice, not only purely systemic vasculitis, and other autoimmune diseases should be treated as angiopathy.