This study aimed to determine the effect of return on equity (ROE) and leverage of the bonus shares in companies listed on the Stock Exchange in 2000-2015. The total samples that used ware 33 observations based on saturated samples method. The analysis technique used multiple linear regression analysis. The results showed ROE does not had an effect on bonus shares that means the company's decision to publish bonus shares does not depend on the size of ROE, leverage had a positive effect on bonus shares that shows if the company's risk increased, so the possibility of the company to publish bonus shares will higher than cash dividends in the future.


The arrival of Islam in the Malay world has brought a great change in the life of the Malay community. These changes not only include the faith aspect, but also to the culture, arts, community, education, economy and others. The utilization of Arabic words in Malay vocabulary is one of the positive changes that contribute to the advancement of the Malay language. However, the utilization of Arabic words should be in line with the context of Malay sentences. In other words, the utilization should be compatible between the original meaning of words in Arabic with the meaning to be used in the Malay language according to the context of the sentence. Based on this understanding, this article analyzes some Arabic words used in the literary work of the National Laureate, Shahnon Ahmad entitled Mahabbah. Besides, several Arabic words used is the novel are also among the words found in the Qur'an. This is in line with the content of the novel that deals with Islamic values such as brotherhood, compassion, collaboration, forgiveness and others. The main purpose of this analysis is to identify the accuracy of Arabic words utilization based on the sentence contexts in Mahabbah. Based on the findings from the analysis, there are Arabic words used in the novel that do coincide with the context of the sentences. In addition, the use of Arabic words did not contribute to the understanding of the meaning of the sentence. The analysis also showed that the utilization of Arabic words in Mahabbah does not by significantly explain the storyline in Mahabbah, but in some circumstances it may complicate the reader to understand the message conveyed.


The emerging genre of 'Crunch Lit' uses fiction to respond to the 2007-8 credit crisis. Focusing on different layers of city life, Faulks' A Week in December (2009) and Lanchester's Capital (2012) offer socio economic cross sections of corporate architecture and town housing to generate new definitions of 'capital' cities. This article explores representations of a two world London in these novels, a capital jointly populated by those who run, and those who service city space. Offering insider views on the city - of ordinary houses now multi-million pound homes, and shifts in residence from frugal respectable citizens to decadent debauched traders – these fictions foreground the breakdown of communities and emotional connections which occur as a result of the financial crisis. Representing financial architecture and minority invisibility, the article examines how and why Faulks' A Week in December (2009) and Lanchester's Capital (2012) offer the city as a lens through which to read the wider world.


Appreciating how intelligent behavior can be perceived so differently across cultures can help Marines recognize the values of a culture and enhance their ability to understand and effectively engage, work with, or train local nationals. Assessments of human intellect or "smarts" cannot be separated from their cultural context and understanding what is regarded as intelligent behavior within a particular culture can be a challenge for warfighters. Wrong assumptions may impede relationship development and mission fulfillment. When I was deployed in Iraq as a contracted operations research analyst [1], I learned of one such incorrect assumption about intelligence regarding the now-infamous contraband/explosives detector, the ADE651. This device was a large black wand, whose vendor claimed could detect drugs and bombs, among other things, at a significant distance and was easily charged by creating an "electro-magnetic" relationship just by marching in place. What a boon for Iraqi police at checkpoints. The Americans I engaged were astounded that Iraqis could believe that this device worked as claimed, and some went to significant lengths to illustrate its ineffectiveness to their Iraqi counterparts. It made no difference – the police kept using it. So did this mean the Iraqis were not "smart"? Whether shocked, frustrated, or amused, the Americans tended to conclude that the Iraqi police who used the device were not too sharp. To me, however, this conclusion was a misleading assessment about the police because it failed to account for the cultural context of this behavior. Having witnessed "Soviet-style" leadership [2] in Iraq, it was much more likely to me that the organizational culture of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) was responsible for the loyalty to the apocryphal ADE651. Based on selfreports from Americans and then corroboration by a New York Times article [3], a key Iraqi leader evidently promoted the device as highly useful. He, in turn, pushed it on


ABSTRACT:Single-leaf pinyon pine (Pinus monophylla Torr. & Frém. [Pinaceae]) is a resilient native of the Great Basin and a source of wild-collected, edible pine nuts. It has potential for greater use in sustainable landscaping and as an agroforestry crop on marginal lands. We initiated steps toward identifying superior nut-producing accessions by selecting 6 trees, subjectively based on visible cones on and around the trees, from each of 4 pinyon stands historically used for pine nut collection. Cone production in selected trees was quantified by counting cone abscission scars on 6 branches collected from the top of each tree. Propagation of 3 trees from each stand was undertaken by grafting to seedling double-leaf pinyon pine (Pinus edulis Engelm. [Pinaceae]) rootstocks. Side-wedge and side-veneer grafting techniques were compared by completing 12 replications of each graft for each scion selection. Grafting success was high, and 11 mo after grafting, no significant difference between techniques was seen (91% of the side-wedge and 81% of the side-veneer grafts were successful). Grafted plants were successfully transplanted to an orchard environment as shown by 99% survival after the first field-growing season. Future long-term evaluation of this common garden will provide information toward selecting superior nut-producing trees for northern Utah.


In this paper, we report the study on the size regulation of Ga-droplets by in situ laser irradiation. Gallium (Ga) droplets are grown on GaAs (001) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and the in situ laser irradiation is carried out by using an ultraviolet pulsed laser. The results show that: The laser irradiation will cause the expansion of Ga-droplets and then the adjacent Ga-droplets can touch with each other and larger Ga-droplets can be formed by the fusion of two or more droplets. So the size of Ga-droplets can be re-modified by laser irradiation and such modification is positively correlated with the irradiation intensity. In other words, we can easily define the size of Ga-droplets by using different laser irradiation energy.


This study focuses on some structural features noticed in Alisma plantago-aquatica. With plant material collected from Bugeac Lake (Dobrudja), the morphological analysis of water-plantain's vegetative organs is reported herein. In our survey, cross-sections were performed throughout the stem and stalk. Also, we examined the literature knowledge on A. plantago-aquatica, in terms of importance and adaptative changes of this perennial plant to wetland ecosystems highlighted by characteristics of leaves and root system.


Ready-to-use therapeutic foods (RUTFs) are solid foods that were developed by changing the formulation of the existing liquid diet, F-100, recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the rapid catch-up phase of the treatment of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM). The resulting products proved highly effective in promoting weight gain in both severely and moderately wasted children and adults, including those infected with HIV. The formulation of the existing RUTFs, however, has never been optimized to maximize linear growth, vitamin and mineral status, and functional outcomes. The high milk content of RUTFs makes it an expensive product, and using lower quantities of milk seems desirable. However, the formulation of alternative, less expensive but more effective versions of RUTF faces difficult challenges, as there are uncertainties regarding the effect in terms of protein quality, antinutrient content, and flatulence factors that will result from the replacement of current dairy ingredients by less expensive protein-rich ingredients. The formulation of alternative RUTFs will require further research on these aspects, followed by efficacy studies comparing the future RUTFs to the existing formulations.


Summary.  Background: Platelets are hyperactive in Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and antiplatelet treatment with glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa inhibitors provides better thrombotic protection in DM than in non‐diabetic subjects. Objective: We hypothesized that diabetic platelets are hyperprocoagulant, and that this hyperactivity can be inhibited by GPIIb/IIIa blockade. Methods: Patients with T2DM and gender/age/body mass index‐matched non‐diabetic controls were recruited (n = 12 for both) to study the effect of GPIIb/IIIa blockade on platelet procoagulant activity. Platelet phosphotidylserine (PS), factor (F) Va expression, and platelet‐derived microparticle (PDMP) generation were measured by whole blood flow cytometry. Platelet‐dependent thrombin generation and plasma clotting time were monitored in recalcified platelet‐rich plasma. Results: Compared to controls, basal platelet activation was similar, while thrombin receptor activating peptide stimulated activation was enhanced in patients with T2DM. Diabetic platelets also displayed more profound elevations of platelet PS exposure, FVa binding, and PDMP generation upon stimulation. These alterations resulted in a hyperprocoagulant state, as evidenced by a marked increase in the platelet procoagulant index, enhanced thrombin generation, and a shortened plasma clotting time. GPIIb/IIIa blockade by c7E3 or SR121566 decreased platelet PS exposure and FVa binding, and diminished platelet procoagulant activity in patients with T2DM. Conclusions: Platelets have increased procoagulant activity in patients with T2DM. The hyperprocoagulant activity is counteracted by GPIIb/IIIa blockade.


Fluorescent multi-ring-fused 2-pyridones, with chemical resemblance to other biologically active 2-pyridone systems, were solubilized in spherical micelles formed by the ganglioside G(M1) and studied with respect to their spatial localization and rotational mobility. For this, electronic energy transfer between the multi-ring-fused 2-pyridone (donor) and BODIPY-FL-labeled G(M1) was determined, as well as their fluorescence depolarization. From the obtained efficiency of energy transfer to the acceptor group (BODIPY-FL), either localized in the polar or in the nonpolar part of the ganglioside, it has been possible to estimate the most likely localization of the multi-ring-fused 2-pyridones. The center of mass of the studied multi-ring-fused 2-pyridones are located at approximately 33 Å from the micellar center of mass, which corresponds to the internal hydrophobic-hydrophilic interfacial region. At this location, the reorienting rates of the multi-ring-fused 2-pyridones are surprisingly slow with typical correlation times of 35-55 ns. No evidence was found for the formation of ground and excited state dimers, even when two monomers were forced to be near each other via a short covalent linker.


Population-level studies using the major histocompatibility complex (Mhc) have linked specific alleles with specific diseases, but data requirements are high and the power to detect disease association is low. A novel use of Mhc population surveys involves mapping allelic substitutions onto the inferred structural molecular model to show functional differentiation related to local selective pressures. In the estuarine fish Fundulus heteroclitus, populations experiencing strong differences in antigenic challenges show significant differences in amino acid substitution patterns that are reflected as variation in the structural location of changes between populations. Fish from a population genetically adapted to severe chemical pollution also show novel patterns of DNA substitution at a highly variable Mhc class II B locus including strong signals of positive selection at inferred antigen-binding sites and population-specific signatures of amino acid substitution. Heavily parasitized fish from an extreme PCB-contaminated (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Superfund) site show enhanced population-specific substitutions in the a-helix portion of the inferred antigen-binding region. In contrast, fish from an unpolluted site show a significantly different pattern focused on the first strand of the B-pleated sheet. Whether Mhc population profile differences represent the direct effects of chemical toxicants or indirect parasite-mediated selection, the result is a composite habitat-specific signature of strong selection and evolution affecting the genetic repertoire of the major histocompatibility complex.


The Allan variance (AVAR) was introduced 50 years ago as a statistical tool for assessing the frequency standards deviations. For the past decades, AVAR has increasingly been used in geodesy and astrometry to assess the noise characteristics in geodetic and astrometric time series. A specific feature of astrometric and geodetic measurements, as compared with clock measurements, is that they are generally associated with uncertainties; thus, an appropriate weighting should be applied during data analysis. In addition, some physically connected scalar time series naturally form series of multidimensional vectors. For example, three station coordinates time series X, Y, and Z can be combined to analyze 3-D station position variations. The classical AVAR is not intended for processing unevenly weighted and/or multidimensional data. Therefore, AVAR modifications, namely weighted AVAR (WAVAR), multidimensional AVAR (MAVAR), and weighted multidimensional AVAR (WMAVAR), were introduced to overcome these deficiencies. In this paper, a brief review is given of the experience of using AVAR and its modifications in processing astrogeodetic time series.


Background: Placenta previa is a common cause of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) that contributes substantively to maternal morbidity and mortality rates. Tranexamic acid is an antifibrinolytic drug that is useful for the treatment of PPH. The recommendation from many guidelines is to start giving tranexamic acid as soon as PPH is diagnosed to reduce postpartum blood loss. Furthermore, some studies report the beneficial use of tranexamic acid given as a prophylactic before Cesarean section to decrease intraoperative blood loss and prevent PPH. To the authors' knowledge, in high-risk obstetrics case such as placenta previa, there was insufficient data to support recommendations of the use of tranexamic acid for prevent PPH.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of supplementary intravenous tranexamic acid before cesarean section versus prophylactic intravenous oxytocin after placenta delivery alone to decrease intraoperative blood loss and prevent PPH in placenta previa.

Material and Methods: The present study conducted a double blinded placebo control trial comparing adjunct 1 g tranexamic acid given intravenously before skin incision with prophylactic intravenous oxytocin after placenta delivery alone before cesarean section for placenta previa. The study recruited 60 women who were diagnosed with placenta previa at gestational age (GA) of more than 28 completed weeks undergoing emergency cesarean section due to active bleeding or scheduled for elective cesarean section at 37 completed weeks at Chonburi Hospital between July 2021 and July 2022. The primary outcome was intraoperative blood loss.

Results: Sixty diagnosed placenta previa women were recruited, with 30 patients per group. Group I patients were given 1 g tranexamic acid and Group II were given a placebo of 100 ml NSS before skin incision. Both groups received intravenous oxytocin 20 units after placenta delivery. The main outcome showed that preoperative tranexamic acid intravenous reduced intraoperative blood loss significantly compared with the placebo at 349.5 ml (range of 168 to 2,200) versus 619 ml (range of 288 to 3,243), p<0.001. The secondary outcome showed a significant decrease in the incidence of PPH at 4 (13.33%) versus 10 (33.33%), p=0.030 and decreased in the incidence of blood transfusion of more than one unit from 5 (16.67%) versus 13 (43.33%), p=0.047.

Conclusion: Prophylactic supplementary 1 g tranexamic acid intravenously before cesarean section to prophylactic intravenous oxytocin after placental delivery was found to effectively reduce intraoperative blood loss and PPH.

Keywords: Tranexamic acid; Preoperative; Placenta previa; Intraoperative blood loss; Cesarean section


An efficient protocol for in vitro flowering was successfully established for Impatiens balsamina cv Dwarf Bush, an important medicinal plant, through tissue culture techniques. Shoot, stem and petiole explants obtained from 4 week-old aseptic seedlings cultured on MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of plant growth regulator (PGR) were used for in vitro flower induction. Gibberellic acid (GA3), benzylaminopurine (BAP) and kinetin (Kin) treatment singly applied in MS media (pH 5.8), could all stimulate flowering at 23-26 oC with photoperiod of 16 hours light and 8 hours dark. It was observed that shoot explants were more responsive than stem explants in floral formation. Regeneration was achieved via direct organogenesis. For shoot explants, the treatment that induced the highest rate of in vitro flowering (7.30 ± 0.16 flowers per plantlet) was 1.0 mg L-1 GA3. Ultrastructural and histological analysis of in vivo and in vitro flowers were done to discover any somaclonal variation. This research described a simple protocol for rapid in vitro flowering that will be very beneficial for further breeding, cytological and molecular biology research.


Accumulating evidence indicates that the central melanocortin (MC) system plays a key role in the regulation of food intake and energy balance. This evidence includes findings that either spontaneous genetic mutations or targeted gene deletions that impair melanocortin signaling cause disrupted food intake and body-weight control. In addition, expression of the mRNA that encodes the endogenous agonists and antagonists for CNS melanocortin receptors is regulated by changes in energy balance and body-adiposity signals. Finally, administration of both natural and synthetic ligands to MC receptors produces changes in food intake. The data collectively suggest a critical role for melanocortin signaling in the control of energy balance.


This study investigates the effect of lattice design on aesthetic evaluation of the view from the lattice. In this paper, we focused on the opening ratio and shape of the lattice, and conducted a subjective experiment on the aesthetic evaluation. The participants observed digital images of 93 types of view from the lattice and answered the aesthetic evaluation with an 11-point numerical rating scale. They also evaluated the impression of the view with a semantic differential method using 15 pairs of adjectives. A vertically long machiya (it means a Japanese traditional house) view led to high evaluations in 70% of the opening ratio, whereas the evaluations of the mountain view photos and the pier view photos from all types of lattice were higher as the value of the opening ratio increased. It was made clear that the impression of a view from the lattice was explained by "activity" and "familiarity".


This article seeks to conceptualize political pacts as a transitional strategy that has been employed by a number of countries seeking to move toward democratic regimes or outcomes. Political pacts, which are formed in an effort to manage large-scale and often violent societal conflict, have certain common characteristics, among them the key role played by elites in negotiating and designing these agreements. After examining the concept of political pacts, the defining characteristics of pacts, and the relation they bear to societal conflict, we focus on the latter factor, differentiating between cases of domestic societal conflict that have an identity/personalistic dimension to them and those that do not. In particular, we seek to determine the types of factors that may facilitate or complicate the successful use of pacts as a transitional strategy for creating and maintaining democratic regimes.


The implicit power motive in children is an underresearched topic in motivational psychology. In an effort to help close that knowledge gap, we related the implicit power motive to social dominance behavior (controlling resources) as an important behavioral correlate. Preschool-aged children's implicit power motive was measured via the picture story exercise. In subsequent dyadic interactions, the children had to negotiate and compete for the more attractive option of 2 possible roles in an interactive game. Children with a high implicit power motive occupied the attractive resource more frequently—but less often when their partner's implicit power motive was strong as well. These results are important for advancing theory on the implicit power motive in children.


Nitrogen is the indispensable nutrient to rice production.The uptake of nitrogen are affected by varietal characteristics,fertilizer application,soil condition and environment factors.Rational application technique and nitrogen use efficiency for rice in the field have been studied by many scholars,which had a direct effect on high-yield and high-efficiency production of rice.However,all of them were studied under the same soil condition.There have been limited studies on the nitrogen use efficiency and yield under different soil conditions.In fact,the difference of soil condition consequentially results in the difference of nutrient uptake in rice under the same land tillage and management in the same region.Four rice cultivars were used to study the effects of nitrogen fertilizer on nitrogen use efficiency,yield and characters of nitrogen uptake under two soil conditions(sandy and clay soil) in soil culture pool.The results were as follows:(1) Yield of rice in sandy and clay soil was increased by nitrogen application,and that in clay soil was higher than that in sandy soil,but the effect of nitrogen on yield increment was greater in sandy soil than in clay soil.(2) Nitrogen utilization of rice was different under different soil conditions.NHI(N harvest index) and PNUE(physiological N use efficiency) were higher in sandy soil than in clay soil. ANRE(apparent N recovery efficiency),PFP(partial factor productivity for applied N) and SNDR(soil N dependent rate) were higher in clay soil than in sandy soil.ANUE was varied in different cultivars under different soil conditions.(3) NHI,ANUE(agronomic N use effciency),PNUE,PFP and SNDR were decreased significantly with the increment of amount of nitrogen applied under the two soil conditions.In sandy soil,ANRE increased with the increasing nitrogen application and reached the highest value at high nitrogen level.However,in clay soil,ANRE was increased with increasing of the nitrogen application at first,and reached the highest value at medium nitrogen level,then decreased dramatically at high nitrogen level.(4) N uptake rate for rice straw and for rice grain and total N uptake rate for rice were higher in sandy clay soil than in sandy soil,but the difference between them was relatively little.(5) Under different soil conditions,there were significant genotypic differences in effects of applying nitrogen fertilizer on nitrogen use efficiency,yield and characters of nitrogen uptake.


Pakistan is a multilingual country where seventy four languages are spoken (Siddiqui, 2019). English is the official language, while Urdu is used as a common Lingua Franca; while each province has its own provincial official language (Sindhi, Punjabi, Pashto & Balochi). The language policy of Pakistan promotes dominant languages only; as a result indigenous languages are becoming extinct and gradually are on the verge of language shift and death in urban areas. Hence, maintaining a linguistic identity in such a context pose serious challenges to the speakers of a language. This paper explores the linguistic identity of Dhatki language speakers across three generations in the different districts of Sindh. For this purpose, a qualitative case study was conducted and data was collected using open-ended questionnaire and the responses were analyzed thematically. Data was collected using purposive and snowball sampling from 33 participants. The results highlighted that Dhatki language was going through a gradual language loss, its speakers stigmatized the use of the language due to lack of documentation, and the constant use of dominant languages in different spheres of social and educational life. The speakers attributed this shift to governmental negligence and language activist's behavior towards Dhatki language


The Optical Transport Networks with dynamic transport routing capability enable rearrangement of the logical link capacities on demand in real time. In this paper an evolutionary algorithm based approach for multi-objective optimization of Bandwidth Broker (BB) is presented. BB is represented as evolutionary process in dynamically changed traffic demand environment. Multi-objective Evolutionary algorithm scheme for bandwidth allocation is described. The suitability of Evolutionary algorithm approach is investigated. The Pareto optimal solutions are ensured by the underlying genetic operators. There are carried out a few experiments and the test results illustrate the trade-off between objectives and ability of this approach to produce many good compromise solutions. Ill.3, bibl.8 (in English; summaries in Lithuanian, English and Russian).


WOMEN IN SCIENCEThe California Institute of Technology (Caltech) hopes to more than double the number of women faculty members over the next decade to help rectify a glaring gender disparity at the elite science- and technology-oriented school. Reaching the goal would mean adding a net of four women faculty members a year, as women currently make up a mere 31 of Caltech's 284 faculty members. The target is included in a new report that examined the status of women faculty members at the university.


Introduction Considering the importance of identifying the factors affecting women's decision making process about the management of menopausal symptoms, this study was conducted with the aim of investigating the relation between decision making styles and women's chosen options for management of menopausal symptoms. Material and methods This cross-sectional study was conducted from May 2016 to July 2018 in Gonabad, north east of Iran.Using the cluster sampling method 473 women between 45 and 60 years old were recruited to the study. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire, a menopause symptom treatment options questionnaire, the Menopause Rating Scale and the Decision Making Styles Questionnaire. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS software version 16 as well as descriptive and analytical statistics; a p-value of< 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results The mean age of participants was 51.6 ±4.6 years old and the majority of them (85.5%) were housewives. The most popular menopause symptom treatment option was hormone replacement therapy. The majority of participants (45.4%, 228 people) used an avoidant decision making style. There was no statistically significant difference between menopausal symptom treatment options and decision making styles type(p = 0.525). There was a statistically significant difference between severity of menopausal symptoms and type of decision making style (p = 0.003). Conclusions The findings showed that there was no significant relation between the selected method to manage menopausal symptoms and women's decision making styles. It is recommended that this study be conducted on a population that has greater access to all menopausal symptom treatment options.


&NA; Pathogenic microorganisms are commonly associated with external ocular infections in birds. Pathogen virulence factors as well as reduced host defenses resulting from poor living conditions, nutrition, genetics, physiology, hygiene, fever, and age may increase host susceptibility. Staphylococcus species are bacteria known to serve as opportunistic pathogens in eye infections. The changing profile of microorganisms involved in ocular infections and the emergence of acquired microbial resistance dictate the need for investigative studies regarding bacterial profiles and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns for external ocular infections. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus ocular infections in pigeons and to evaluate their biofilm production ability and antibiotic resistance patterns. Twenty pigeons with confirmed eye infections were included in this project. Conjunctival specimens were collected with swabs presoaked in sterile normal saline. Bacterial growth was identified by standard laboratory procedures and susceptibility testing of the isolates was performed by the Kirby‐Bauer method. The ability of the isolates to form a biofilm was also assessed using the microtiter plate method. Of the 20 specimens processed, 20% of the pigeons had staphylococcal eye infections. The resistance pattern of these isolates showed that Staphylococcus spp. from pigeon samples were resistant to tetracycline (100%), erythromycin (100%), azithromycin (100%), nalidixic acid (100%), and cefazolin (50%). All of the Staphylococcus spp. isolated from the pigeons were susceptible to gentamycin and furazolidone. The results of the biofilm detection test showed that 75% of the isolates were biofilm producers. In conclusion, biofilm forming S. aureus with multidrug resistance patterns were the most prevalent bacteria isolated from the pigeons examined in this research study.


The international literature provides little in-depth analysis of distance education and e-learning activities, achievements, and challenges in Turkish higher education other than the country's mega-university, Anadolu. This paper examines the development of, and lessons to be learned from, such undertakings by three pioneers – two regular state universities, Ankara University and Sakarya University, and the private, non-profit Turkish-Kazakhstan Ahmet Yesevi University. Drawing on the collective experience of the authors, the paper reaches some overall conclusions about embarking on distance education and e-learning, which may apply in other Turkish universities and similar economies.


Obesity is a complex disease associated with environmental and genetic factors. 3-Iodothyronamine (T1AM) has revealed great potential as an effective weight loss drug. We used metabolomics and associated transcriptional gene and protein expression analysis to investigate the tissue specific metabolic reprogramming effects of subchronic T1AM treatment at two pharmacological daily doses (10 and 25 mg/kg) on targeted metabolic pathways. Multi-analytical results indicated that T1AM at 25 mg/kg can act as a novel master regulator of both glucose and lipid metabolism in mice through sirtuin-mediated pathways. In liver, we observed an increased gene and protein expression of Sirt6 (a master gene regulator of glucose) and Gck (glucose kinase) and a decreased expression of Sirt4 (a negative regulator of fatty acids oxidation (FAO)), whereas in white adipose tissue only Sirt6 was increased. Metabolomics analysis supported physiological changes at both doses with most increases in FAO, glycolysis indicators and the mitochondrial substrate, at the highest dose of T1AM. Together our results suggest that T1AM acts through sirtuin-mediated pathways to metabolically reprogram fatty acid and glucose metabolism possibly through small molecules signaling. Our novel mechanistic findings indicate that T1AM has a great potential as a drug for the treatment of obesity and possibly diabetes.


Background and Aim: Brucellosis is a bacterial disease notorious for its ability to infect a wide range of domestic and wildlife animals, as well as humans. This study aimed to determine the seroprevalence of ovine and caprine brucellosis and the associated risk factors in the Province of Bam in Burkina Faso. Materials and Methods: The individual serological status of 300 unvaccinated sheep and 300 unvaccinated goats was determined by Rose Bengal and indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (iELISA) serological tests used in parallel. The frequency of behaviors conferring risk of developing this zoonotic disease was determined through two epidemiological questionnaires, which identified known risk factors for the transmission of brucellosis between animals and humans. Results: Individual seroprevalence was estimated at 6.0% (18/300) in sheep and 4.3% (13/300) in goats. The "herd" prevalence of brucellosis was estimated at 60% in sheep while 40% in goats. Positivity in the iELISA serological test was significantly associated with age, sex, and husbandry system in sheep and goats. Conclusion: These results indicate that Brucella melitensis circulates in sheep and goat farms in the Province of Bam in Burkina Faso. As B. melitensis is highly pathogenic to humans, adequate measures must be taken to protect the population against this zoonotic disease.


Molten sulfur is found in various subaerial volcanoes. However, limited records of the pools and flows of molten sulfur have been reported: therefore, questions remain regarding the physicochemical processes behind this phenomenon. A suite of new sulfur flows, some of which active, was identified at the Lastarria volcano (northern Chile) and studied using satellite imagery, in situ probing, and temperature and video recording. This finding provides a unique opportunity to better understand the emplacement mechanisms and mineral and chemical compositions of molten sulfur, in addition to gaining insight into its origin. Molten sulfur presented temperatures of 124–158°C, with the most prolonged sulfur flow reaching 12 m from the source. Photogrammetric tools permitted the identification of levees and channel structures, with an estimated average flow speed of 0.069 m/s. Field measurements yielded a total volume of 1.45 ± 0.29 m3 of sulfur (equivalent to ∼2.07 tons) mobilized during the January 2019 event for at least 408 min. Solidified sulfur was composed of native sulfur with minor galena and arsenic- and iodine-bearing minerals. Trace element analysis indicated substantial enrichment of Bi, Sb, Sn, Cd, as well as a very high concentration of As (>40.000 ppm). The January 2019 molten sulfur manifestations in Lastarria appear to be more enriched in As compared to the worldwide known volcanoes with molten sulfur records, such as the Shiretoko-Iozan and Poás volcanoes. Furthermore, their rheological properties suggest that the "time of activity" in events such as this could be underestimated as flows in Lastarria have moved significantly slower than previously thought. The origin of molten sulfur is ascribed to the favorable S-rich chemistry of fumarolic gases and changes in host rock permeability (fracture opening). Molten sulfur in Lastarria correlates with a peak in activity characterized by high emissions of SO2 and other acid species, such as HF and HCl, in addition to ground deformation. Consequently, molten sulfur was framed within a period of volcanic unrest in Lastarria, triggered by changes in the magmatic-hydrothermal system. The appearance of molten sulfur is related to physicochemical perturbations inside the volcanic system and is perhaps a precursor of eruptive activity, as observed in the Poás and Turrialba volcanoes.


The town was founded in a unique position, having the possibility during the centuries of taking advantage of a set of favourable circumstances. In the last century it developed in a particular way, being today difficult to be described following a twin city schema, or better that of a divided town, or of a multipolar pattern. Today the situation of the town may be considered stagnant, or even regressing, in any sense (politically and economically), giving the impression that the city as a whole is not capable of taking advantage of the geopolitics offered to it.


Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a highly pathogenic human virus associated with liver fibrosis, steatosis, and cancer. In infected cells HCV induces oxidative stress. Here, we show that HCV proteins core, E1, E2, NS4B, and NS5A activate antioxidant defense Nrf2/ARE pathway via several independent mechanisms. This was demonstrated by the analysis of transient co-expression in Huh7 cells of HCV proteins and luciferase reporters. Expression, controlled by the promoters of stress-response genes or their minimal Nrf2-responsive elements, was studied using luminescence assay, RT-qPCR and/or Western-blot analysis. All five proteins induced Nrf2 activation by protein kinase C in response to accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In addition, expression of core, E1, E2, NS4B, and NS5A proteins resulted in the activation of Nrf2 in a ROS-independent manner. The effect of core and NS5A was mediated through casein kinase 2 and phosphoinositide-3 kinase, whereas those of NS4B, E1, and E2, were not mediated by either PKC, CK2, PI3K, p38, or ERK. Altogether, on the earliest stage of expression HCV proteins induced a strong up-regulation of the antioxidant defense system. These events may underlie the harmful effects of HCV-induced oxidative stress during acute stage of hepatitis C.


Lobbying is an essential part of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) standard-setting process. There is still much to learn, however, about key aspects of the roles played and arguments employed by various constituents when lobbying practices do occur. This paper focuses on the regulation of share-based payments. As these transactions were under-regulated before International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 2, we expect that the strong debate that occurred during the 1990s resulted in conflicting opinions when this standard was under discussion. To analyse lobbying behaviour and assess its influence on the IASB's decision-making, we conducted a content analysis of 539 letters addressing the documents issued by the G4+1 and the IASB preceding IFRS 2. Consistent with the rational-choice model, our analysis of lobbying activity shows that preparers constituted the most active group, particularly when the IASB started the project, whereas participation of standard-setters increased at the end, which is more consistent with institutional theory. A common strategy was to provide arguments merely on points of disagreement. Preparers and consultants constituted the only groups using economic-consequences arguments to disagree, but later enlisted conceptual arguments as well. The IASB considered only conceptual arguments, and no interested party had a dominant influence.


The potential for gamma emission tomography (GET) to detect partial defects within a spent nuclearfuel assembly is being assessed through a collaboration of Support Programs to the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In the first phase of this study, two safeguards verification objectiveshave been identified. The first is the independent determination of the number of active pins that arepresent in the assembly, in the absence of a priori information. The second objective is to providequantitative measures of pin-by-pin properties, e.g. activity of key isotopes or pin attributes such ascooling time and relative burnup, for the detection of anomalies and/or verification of operator-declareddata. The efficacy of GET to meet these two verification objectives will be evaluated across a range offuel types, burnups, and cooling times, and with a target interrogation time of less than 60 minutes.The evaluation of GET viability for safeguards applications is founded on a modelling and analysisframework applied to existing and emerging GET instrument designs. Monte Carlo models of differentfuel types are used to produce simulated tomographer responses to large populations of "virtual" fuelassemblies. Instrument response data are processed by a variety of tomographic-reconstruction andimage-processing methods, and scoring metrics specific to each of the verification objectives aredefined and used to evaluate the performance of the methods. This paper will provide a description ofthe analysis framework and evaluation metrics, example performance-prediction results, and describethe design of a "universal" GET instrument intended to support the full range of verification scenariosenvisioned by the IAEA.


Peritonitis is a common and serious complication of peritoneal dialysis (PD) with significant morbidity. We report the first case of relapsing Dokdonella koreensis peritonitis in a patient on peritoneal dialysis. A 63-year-old Chinese man, with history of renal failure on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, presented with cloudy peritoneal effluent and abdominal pain. There was no sign or symptom suggestive of exit-site/tunnel tract infection. Peritoneal effluent cultures yielded Dokdonella koreensis which was initially misidentified as Weeksella virosa and Brevundimonas species by the API® 20 NE and VITEK® 2 GN ID card, respectively. He was treated with intraperitoneal amikacin, but the infection relapsed within a few days upon completing each antibiotic course. He eventually required removal of catheter and was transferred to hemodialysis. Infections due to unusual organisms may pose a diagnostic issue as currently available commercial tests will not be able to identify them. There is a role for using 16S rRNA sequencing to help identify these organisms and guide patient management.


This paper investigates Specific Absorption Rates (SAR) in the human head due to circular metallic earrings at 1800MHz. A Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) code was used to analyse different sizes and positions of circular earrings near a homogenous cubic phantom. Results showed good agreement with measurements using the flat section of the SAM twin phantom with the DASY4 measurement system. The excitation was a half wave dipole. Metallic loops with a circumference of approximately one wavelength and positioned 14mm away from the phantom increased the 10g SAR by 5 times. The FDTD code has also been used to analyse the effect of metallic earrings when 'pierced' through the ear of an anatomically realistic digital human head based on the Visible Human Project. The head is not symmetric and both ears were considered to allow comparison between different heads. The shape of the ear and the size of the earring were found to be very significant when earrings were hung from the human ear.


Despite the clinical utility of endocrine therapies to treat ER positive breast cancer, 40% of patients eventually develop resistance, leading to disease progression. Steroid receptor co-activators have been described as "the powerhouses of transcription" with a role in mediating hormone receptor responsiveness. There is now substantial evidence that steroid receptor coactivator-1 (SRC-1) is central to the ability of endocrine tumours to adapt and overcome targeted therapy thereby facilitating metastatic disease progression. Recent work highlighted the potential ability of SRC-1 to also act as transcriptional repressor that can bi-directionally regulate genes that help it promote the resistant phenotype. This study employed a genome-wide multi-omics sequencing approach to determine the SRC-1 repression signature in endocrine resistance and elucidate the mechanism by which SRC-1 mediates this repression. RNA-sequencing was used to investigate the transcriptional network affected by SRC-1 in an endocrine resistant cell line model. This approach identified 1,495 genes significantly downregulated by SRC-1, with common functional pathways such as differentiation, cell morphogenesis and extracellular matrix enriched in the gene set. Parallel global methylation sequencing analysis revealed methylation as a possible mechanism by which SRC-1 was repressing target genes, which was confirmed with mechanistic studies utilising 5-AZA-2'-deoxycitidine. Through combined analysis of our global sequencing data we identified a SRC-1 regulated transcriptional hub of differentiation genes, that have protective roles in normal and treatment- sensitive breast cancer cells and which associate with poor disease-free survival in breast cancer patients. Furthermore, our work demonstrated that SRC-1 can re-programme cells to become poorly differentiated by supressing this normally protective transcriptional hub, and thereby promote aggressive endocrine resistant phenotype. Here we report a novel mechanism by which SRC-1 can drive endocrine resistant tumorigenesis. Our genome-wide discovery approach revealed an epigenetic re-programming pathway, whereby concerted differential DNA methylation is potentiated by the activation of SRC-1 in the endocrine resistant setting. This study suggests that therapeutic strategies of combined targeted epigenetic therapy with estrogen deprivation could be successful strategy to prevent acquired resistance to endocrine therapy. Citation Format: Damir Vareslija, Elspeth Ward, Ailis Fagan, William Gallagher, Arnold DK Hill, Leonie S. Young. Global transcription factor repression by the coactivator SRC-1 mediates disease progression in endocrine-resistant breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 861.


Ischaemic stroke has been observed more rarely among young people in comparison to old adults. The causes of ischaemic stroke among young adults are numerous. One of them is occlusion of internal carotid artery (ICA). The aetiology of the occlusion is different from arteriosclerotic disorders. Within the last few years the authors have paid much attention to the fact that spontaneous dissection is not such a rare cause of ICA occlusion. In many cases (60-70%) of dissection recanalization and benign outcome occur. Angiography has been considered as a gold standard in establishing the diagnosis. We described a young, 16-year-old patient with ischaemic stroke. The cause occlusion of ICA, probably was dissection. The diagnosis was made by angiography MR. In our patient follow-up angiography MR demonstrated recanalisation. The outcome of the stroke was benign and hemiplegia reversed.


We show that in metal-dielectric core-shell nanoparticles, unusually thick dielectric coatings can produce extreme fluorescence enhancement with an enhancement factor F̅ ≳ 3000 for emitters located on the surface or in the interior of the shell of Au@dielectric spherical particles under realistic conditions, even for the emitters with 100% intrinsic quantum yield. Thick dielectric coatings facilitate high-quality transverse electric (TE) multipole (l = 7) resonances which are shown as the major cause for the reported extraordinary values of F̅.


Screening for deep venous thrombosis (DVT) following total joint replacement (TJR) has been recommended as an adjunct to DVT prophylaxis. This study evaluates a structured protocol utilizing impedance plethysmography (IPG) as the primary screening modality. Over a 12-month period all patients undergoing TJR of the lower extremities had an IPG 3 to 5 days after surgery. Patients received primary DVT prophylaxis with warfarin. Minimal follow up of 6 weeks was obtained on all patients. Three-hundred three TJRs were performed. The IPG appeared normal in 220 of 303 patients (73%), obviating further testing. During follow-up, two patients had thromboembolic disease (TED). Of the 83 seemingly abnormal IPGs, 81 were false positive compared to venous ultrasound, with significantly more after knee surgery (p < 0.001). There was one confirmed DVT in the abnormal IPG group and one patient died 2 weeks after discharge with an autopsy-proven pulmonary embolism. There was a low overall rate of TED (1.3%); three fourths of patients with TED presented 2-4 weeks after discharge. These results indicate that it is clinically safe to discharge patients who have had a normal-appearing postoperative IPG. However, the large number of false-positive results reduces the utility of the test, particularly after knee replacement. While IPG is safe and cheaper than venous ultrasound, prophylaxis extended beyond the of hospitalization may obviate the need for screening.


This article is the result of the research conducted on "Human Dignity: Philosophical conceptualization and the implementation of law" promoted by the POLITEIA Research Group from the School of Philosophy at the Universidad Industrial de Santander, classified as category B by COLCIENCIAS. This text formulates a three-strand conceptual reconstruction of the concept of human dignity: i) the tension between its natural and artificial character (either consensual or positive), ii) the tension between its abstract and concrete character, and iii) the tension between its universal and individual character. First, the main theoretical elements of these tensions are outlined. After that, the tensions are illustrated using four Instruments of International Human Rights Law and five trials by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Finally, conclusions regarding the tensions are presented.


In this paper we consider approximations to the popular Pitman-Yor process obtained by truncating the stick-breaking representation. The truncation is determined by a random stopping rule that achieves an almost sure control on the approximation error in total variation distance. We derive the asymptotic distribution of the random truncation point as the approximation error goes to zero in terms of a polynomially tilted positive stable random variable. The practical usefulness and effectiveness of this theoretical result is demonstrated by devising a sampling algorithm to approximate functionals of the-version of the Pitman-Yor process.


A nonisotopic in situ hybridization (NISH) assay was used to detect hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA. A synthetic oligonucleotide complementary to bases 252-301 of the highly conserved 5' noncoding region of the HCV genome was end-labeled by terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase using digoxigenin-conjugated dUTP. The hybridized oligomer was revealed by an immunohistochemical reaction after incubation with an alkaline phosphatase-conjugated anti-digoxigenin antibody and subsequent amplification with a complex of alkaline phosphatase and anti-alkaline phosphatase antibodies. The intracellular distribution of HCV RNA was monitored in the livers of two chimpanzees experimentally infected with the H strain of HCV and compared with the serum alanine aminotransferase activity, serum HCV RNA, and liver histopathology. Most cells were stained in the cytoplasm as early as 2 days after inoculation, 1 and 2 days, respectively, before the appearance of viral RNA in the serum. The time course of HCV RNA replication was correlated with increases in serum alanine aminotransferase. However, neither one paralleled the appearance of liver cell necrosis nor showed any correlation with the inflammatory response. The NISH signal was not found in liver biopsy specimens taken from these two animals before inoculation with HCV, from chimpanzees with acute hepatitis type A, B, or delta, or from two animals never experimentally infected with any hepatitis agent; moreover, it disappeared when the positive specimens were predigested with RNase and it was not observed after hybridization of positive controls with a labeled oligomer unrelated to HCV RNA. Thus, detection of liver HCV RNA by NISH is a sensitive and specific method for studying HCV replication at the cellular level. Intracellular replication of HCV did not appear to be associated with histopathologic changes in the liver, although the correlation with increases of liver enzyme activity in the serum suggested possible damage to the liver cell membrane.


The remarkable success in Europe of the multiple flexible Ender nails in treating intertrochanteric and pertrochanteric fractures of the femur in the elderly makes it essential for the American orthopedist to understand this procedure as well as those refinements of technique accomplished since 1969. ' Most pitfalls of the nailing have not been outlined, except to call them "complications." With proper understanding of the method, the operation will result in few of these "complications." At Landeskrankenhaus, Graz, 130 cases have been reviewed. There were no superficial or deep infections reported, and there were no delayed unions or nonunions. Ail patients who were ambulatory preinjury were allowed to bear full weight and were ambulated within two or three days postsurgery.


A group-theoretic method of obtaining more general class of generating function from a given class of improper partial bilateral generating functions involving Hermite, Laguerre and Gegenbauer polynomials are discussed.


Abstract The Berriasian-Aptian succession in the Neuquén Basin is mainly marine in the lower part and non-marine in the upper portion. A detailed ammonite zonation is presented for the Berriasian-?Early Barremian interval. While some ammonite taxa are endemic, others are widely distributed and there are several levels where correlation can be suggested with the 'standard' stages and zones of the Tethyan Mediterranean area. Several nannofossil bioevents are recognized, and these provide evidence for correlation with Tethyan areas. Correlations suggested by both groups are reasonably consistent. Berriasian-Aptian palynomorphs include both terrestrial and marine forms. Several terrestrial assemblages can be recognized, but the marine forms are mainly long-ranging taxa, especially in the Agrio Formation.


Use of plant extracts in the treatment of several ailments is a science known to the mankind since time immemorial. Yet, its popularity is limited owing to the lack of recorded experimental evidence to determine their potential health benefits. C. roseus is a traditional medicinal plant with over 100 identified alkaloids and several other phytochemicals known for various health promoting activities. The aim of the present study was to evaluate C. roseus aqueous extracts' wound healing potential using incision, excision, and dead space wound models on healthy male albino rats. To assess this, the tissue breaking strength for incision wound model, percent epithelialization and period to complete epithelialization for excision wound model and granuloma break strength, dry weight, and hydroxyproline content for dead space wound model were evaluated after the treatment of the extract in comparison with the standard drug sucralfate. The results obtained demonstrated that the treatment of extract on the wound significantly enhanced tissue breaking strength and reduced the time required for complete epithelialization and was on par with that of the standard drug sucralfate. In the incision wound model, an elevated breaking strength was observed compared to that of the control group. Further, in the dead space wound model, the granuloma dry weight and breaking strength were remarkably elevated along with a concomitant increase in the hydroxyproline content suggesting the enhanced rate of wound contraction rate, collagen synthesis and lowered healing period. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that C. roseus is effective in wound healing, as shown in the three wound models and thus, further studies to formulate this into a commercial product should be carried out.


The analysis of runs of homozygosity (ROH), using high throughput genomic data, has become a valuable and frequently used methodology to characterize the genomic and inbreeding variation of livestock and wildlife animal populations. However, this methodology has been scarcely used in highly inbred domestic animals. Here, we analyzed and characterized the occurrence of ROH fragments in highly inbred (HI; average pedigree-based inbreeding coefficient FPED = 0.164; 0.103 to 0.306) and outbred Retinta bulls (LI; average FPED = 0.008; 0 to 0.025). We studied the length of the fragments, their abundance, and genome distribution using high-density microarray data. The number of ROH was significantly higher in the HI group, especially for long fragments (>8Mb). In the LI group, the number of ROH continuously decreased with fragment length. Genome-wide distribution of ROH was highly variable between samples. Some chromosomes presented a larger number of fragments (BTA1, BTA19, BTA29), others had longer fragments (BTA4, BTA12, BTA17), while other ones showed an increased ROH accumulation over specific loci (BTA2, BTA7, BTA23, BTA29). Similar differences were observed in the analysis of 12 individuals produced by a similar inbred event (FPED3 = 0.125). The correlation between the fraction of the genome covered by ROH (FROH) and FPED was high (0.79), suggesting that ROH-based estimations are indicative of inbreeding levels. On the other hand, the correlation between FPED and the microsatellite-based inbreeding coefficient (FMIC) was only moderate (r = 0.44), suggesting that STR-based inbreeding estimations should be avoided. Similarly, we found a very low correlation (r = -0.0132) between recombination rate and ROH abundance across the genome. Finally, we performed functional annotation analyses of genome regions with significantly enriched ROH abundance. Results revealed gene clusters related to pregnancy-associated proteins and immune reaction. The same analysis performed for regions enriched with recently formed ROH (> 8 Mb) showed gene clusters related to flagellum assembly. In both cases, the processes were related to male and female reproductive functions, which may partially explain the reduced fertility associated with inbred populations.


The article investigates the destruction of heat-resistant chamotte concrete of various classes: low-cement and medium-cement with the addition of quartz sand (to increase alkaline resistance) and with the addition of metal fiber (to reduce cracking) after exposure to thermal shock. Two methods for determining the heat resistance of concrete were used, in which the destruction of the material was evaluated using ultrasound using the method of a water-cooled plate and the method of one-sided heating-cooling. Studies conducted using the method of unilateral heating-cooling, revealed the formation of macrocracks in samples of low cement concrete. This method turned out to be more sensitive when evaluating concrete destruction.


Analyzing the handwriting generation process is an important issue and has been tackled by various generation models, such as kinematics based models and stochastic models. In this study, we use a reinforcement learning (RL) framework to realize handwriting generation with the careful future planning ability. In fact, the handwriting process of human beings is also supported by their future planning ability; for example, the ability is necessary to generate a closed trajectory like '0' because any shortsighted model, such as a Markovian model, cannot generate it. For the algorithm, we employ generative adversarial imitation learning (GAIL). Typical RL algorithms require the manual definition of the reward function, which is very crucial to control the generation process. In contrast, GAIL trains the reward function along with the other modules of the framework. In other words, through GAIL, we can understand the reward of the handwriting generation process from handwriting examples. Our experimental results qualitatively and quantitatively show that the learned reward catches the trends in handwriting generation and thus GAIL is well suited for the acquisition of handwriting behavior.


Since the 17th century Anglo-Germanic language contact has been increasing, due to an array of historical events including the industrial revolution, the two World Wars, and globalisation. With more intense language contact comes increased linguistic borrowing, namely transference of lexicon, and grammatical properties. After the Second World War Germany was split into four occupational zones, with half the country being occupied by English speaking nations, the United Kingdom and the United States. Since then the number of Anglicisms adopted into the German language has risen dramatically. The purpose of this dissertation is to assess the degree of linguistic borrowing of Anglicisms in Germany, using this knowledge to evaluate whether borrowing is yet to increase. By analysing the Anglicism content in three forms of German print media, all with varying demographics, a better observation of each publication's writing style and Anglicism usage, depending on their target audience could be achieved. Using current newspaper articles and magazines granted a more precise evaluation of the state of the German language in terms of Anglicism usage. Research revealed that Anglicisms adopted in earlier centuries remain in use in current German print media, finding that publications with a younger demographic use a higher proportion of Anglicisms in their articles. Results show, if transfers from the late 20th and early 21st centuries in domains such as film, music and technology, areas dominated by English speaking nations – mainly the United States – continue to be used, then the sum of Anglicisms present in the German language will surpass 5,000, as Gorlach suggests.


Abstract Curcumin is a polyphenol derived from the herb Curcuma longa, which has been extensively studied in terms of its antitumour, antioxidant, and chemopreventive activity as well as various other effects. In the present work we compared curcumin with its synthetic analogue dimethoxycurcumin (dimc) in terms of its antioxidant enzyme-modulating effects in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). We found that these compounds modulate antioxidant enzymes differentially. Both curcumin and dimethoxycurcumin effected a decrease in lipid peroxidation status in PBMC, however, curcumin had better activity in this regard. An increase in the activity of catalase was seen in the case of curcumin-treated PBMC, whereas dimc increased catalase activity significantly to almost twofold level. Real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis revealed significant up-regulation of catalase at mRNA level post treatment with curcumin as well as dimc, however, dimc had better activity in this regard. Glutathione reductase (GR) activity and reduced glutathione levels increased in the case of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) treated with curcumin, however, the trend was reversed with dimethoxycurcumin where, both glutathione reductase activity and reduced glutathione levels were significantly reduced. RT-PCR analysis of glutathione reductase mRNA levels showed decrease in mRNA levels post treatment with dimethoxycurcumin (dimc) further corroborating GR enzyme assay results, however, we could not obtain significant result post curcumin treatment. NFkB reporter assay and western blot analysis of nuclear as well as cytosolic fractions of NFkB revealed that curcumin inhibits NFkB activation whereas inhibition was much less with dimc. It has been reported that curcumin and dimc exerts differential cytotoxicity in normal and tumour cells and the reason for this had been attributed to the differential uptake of these compounds by normal cells and tumour cells. Based on our results we propose that differential modulation of antioxidant enzymes via NFkB pathway could be the reason behind differential cytotoxicity of dimc as well as curcumin in normal cells and tumour cells in addition to differential uptake of these compounds as reported previously.


The spontaneous magnetic behaviour and the stability of the magnetic moment on the Mn atoms versus temperature, with concentration, and under applied magnetic held and pressure in the series TbxY1-xMn2 have been investigated by means of magnetostriction up to 14 T, AC susceptibility under pressure up to 7 kbar and linear thermal expansion measurements. Large volume anomalies were observed in all compounds of the series at TN, the temperature at which the Mn magnetic moments become local. TN remains almost constant for x>or=0.2. Below TN the magnetic structure of Tb-rich compounds is unstable under applied magnetic field and the Mn magnetic moments can be reverted to itineracy. The obtained results can be explained on the assumption that the transition is non-homogeneous and consequently a small part of the sample does not transform, remaining without Mn local magnetic moments below TN. This region grows either under applied field or under applied pressure and it can occupy the whole sample. From these results a magnetic phase diagram of this series is proposed.


Background Anemia and iron depletion continue to be common disorders in the world. This study was aimed at assessing the prevalence of anemia and iron depletion in apparently healthy Koreans aged 10 years or more. Methods We used the data of the 4th Korean National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), which assessed 7,607 individuals (3,337 males and 4,270 females). Iron depletion was defined as serum ferritin less than 15 ng/mL. Results In males, mean hemoglobin (Hb) concentration decreased after the age of 50. The prevalence of anemia was 7.1% in 60 to 69 year olds and 12.3% in men aged 70 or older. As for females, the prevalence of anemia was 8.8% in 15 to 17 year olds, 16.7% in 18 to 49 year olds, 10.9% in 60 to 69 year olds, and 18.2% women aged 70 or older. In males, the prevalence of iron depletion was 8.6% at ages 10 to 14 years, 3.9% at 15 to 17, and 2.6% at 70 years or older. In females, the prevalence of iron depletion was 17.2% at ages 10 to 14 years, 24.1% at 15 to 17, 33.0% at 18 to 49, and 5.7% at 70 years or older. Although normocytic anemia was most common in both males and females, the proportion of microcytosis and macrocytosis increased at age 70 or older. Conclusion The prevalence of anemia and iron depletion was high in women of reproductive age and in the elderly. Considering the rapid increase in the older population, an intervention to prevent anemia and iron depletion is imperative.


A public release of global vegetation height map, based on data from spaceborne lidar GLAS, was validated using forest management inventory (FI) data and airborne laser (ALS) data from two 15 × 15 km test sites in Estonia: the first one in Aegviidu and the second one in Laeva. For each global vegetation height (GVH) map pixel located in the test sites we calculated forest height based on the FI data and on ALS data. Linear regression analysis was then used to evaluate the relationships between GVH map values (HGVH), FI forest height (HFI) and ALS-based Lorey's forest height (HALS). In the second test HGVH and HALS were evaluated for estimating forest biomass using regression analysis. The biomass was calculated for each GVH pixel using FI data and allometric regression models. The correlation between HGVH and HFI or HALS in both test sites was weak – in Aegviidu r < 0.25 and in Laeva r < 0.15; and, the relationship was not statistically significant in Laeva. The airborne lidar based HALS had a strong positive correlation with forest biomass and the determination coefficient of linear regression was R2 > 0.6 (p < 0.01) in both test sites. The relationship between HGVH and biomass was scattered and determination coefficient for linear model was small (R2 < 0.15, p < 0.01). Although in this study only weak correlation between measured forest heights (HFI and HALS) and spaceborne lidar based HGVH was found, the GVH type estimates are essential for the areas, where forest inventory data or airborne lidar data is not available. The obtained results show that forest height estimates from ALS or spaceborne lidar could be used directly for estimating biomass in managed hemiboreal forests at coarse spatial resolution.


The ANTARES Collaboration is building a high-energy neutrino telescope at 2500 m depth in the Mediterranean Sea. The experiment aims to search for high-ener gy cosmic neutrinos through the detection of Cerenkov light induced by muons and showers resulting fro m neutrino interactions with the surrounding medium. The detector will consist of a three-dimensional a rray of 900 optical modules housing photomultipliers. It will be composed of 12 strings, 5 of them being alrea dy in operation since January 2007. The muon track is reconstructed from the arrival time and the cha rge of the signals obtained from the photomultipliers, whose positions are known by means of an acoustic po itioning system. The reconstruction strategies include several steps among which there are: optical background filtering, algorithms for first estimations of the track parameters, and a final fit aiming to reac h an angular resolution better than 0.3 degree above 10 TeV in the full detector. Different reconstru ction strategies will be presented and their application to the present real data analysis will be reviewed.


Agricultural land extensification on peat land is one solution to fulfill national needed on food. Peat soil contains organic matter therefore it becomes one source of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), i.e. Dioxide carbon (CO2), metahne (CH4), and NO2. Land use for agricultural activities will change the natural condition of peat soil. The changes could increase GHG emissions. One way to reduce GHG emissions and to increase rice production in peat soils is by adding of ameliorant. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of ameliorant on carbon balance at peat soil paddy rice. The experiment was conducted at research station of Agricultural Environmental Research Institute in 2008. Samples of peat soil as much as 8 tons was carried from South Kalimantan and placed into 12 microplots. The size of microplot was 1.5 x 1.5 x 0.8 m. Experimental design used randomized block design with four treatments: control, dolomite 2 t ha-1, rice straw 2 t ha-1 and animal manure 2 t ha-1 which was repeated three times. Rice variety was Batanghari and transplanted at age 21 days after seeding. Fluxes of CH4 were measured automatically using GC which equipped with FID (Flame Ionization Detector). Emissions of CO2 and N2O were measured manually using GC which equipped with ECD detector (electron capture detector) and TCD (thermal conductivity detector). The content of organic carbon in plants was determined by dichromate oxidation technique-titration. The lowest of net carbon/ carbon budget is animal manure treatment: 4,962.0 kg-C ha-1 followed by dolomite, without ameliorant, and rice straw: 5,270.2; 9,534.7; and 10,115.6 kg-C/ha respectively. The highest yield is rice straw, followed by dolomite, without ameliorant and manure: 4.98, 4.92, 4.69, and 4.54 t ha-1 respectively. Dolomite treatment has the highest ratio of yield GWP-1 : 933.58 kg of yield/ton of CO2-C followed by animal manure 913.30 kg of yield /ton of CO2-C, without ameliorant and rice straw: 492.13 and 491.59 kg of yield/ton of CO2-C respectively.


I argue that Wittgenstein's short-lived verificationism (c.1929–30) differed from that of his contacts in the Vienna Circle in not being a reductionist view. It lay the groundwork for his later views that the meaning of a word is determined by its use and that certain "propositions of the form of empirical propositions" (On Certainty, §§96, 401, 402) act as "norm[s] of description" (On Certainty, §§167, 321). He gave it up once he realized that it contradicted his rejection of logical atomism, and that he ever held such a view at all says something about his respect for the leader of the Vienna Circle, Moritz Schlick.


Individual differences in 30 Korean American and 30 European American preschoolers' play behavior were examined to understand how intracultural variations in children's skills and behavioral characteristics may be associated with social pretend play in early childhood. Observers recorded the children's social behaviors and play complexity. Teachers rated children's social behavior, parents completed a child rearing questionnaire, and children were given the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-Revised and the Multidimensional Stimulus Fluency Measure. The findings showed that there were similar patterns predictive of pretend play for both groups. Overall, children's interactive style, positive social interaction with peers, and creativity scores significantly predicted pretend play. The results suggest that individual factors related to pretend play transcend culture.


Web application vulnerability scanners cannot detect business logic vulnerabilities (vulnerabilities related to logic) because they are not able to understand the business logic of the web application. To identify the business logic of the web application, this paper presents BLProM, Business-Layer Process Miner, the black-box approach that identifies business processes of the web application. Detecting business processes of the web applications can be used in dynamic security testing to identify business logic vulnerabilities in web applications. BLProM first extracts the navigation graph of the web application then identifies business processes from the navigation graph. The evaluation conducted on three well-known open-source web applications shows that BLProM can detect business logic processes. Experimental results show that BLProM improves web application scanning because it clusters web application pages and prevents scanning similar pages. The proposed approach is compared to OWASP ZAP, an open-source web scanner. We show that BLProM improves web application scanning about %96.


Abstract Since the mid-1990s, there has been a steady decrease in the labor force participation of married women with children under the age of six. There is little empirical evidence that changes in demographics are responsible for the falling participation rates. Rather, it appears that this trend is concentrated amongst women with children under the age of two and that federal maternity leave mandates are most responsible. I estimate the effect of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) on participation by using the FMLA as a natural experiment and exploiting state-level differentiation in maternity leave statutes. Theoretically, maternity leave statutes intend to preserve job tenure for expecting mothers. However, if an employed mother on maternity leave learns that her value for staying at home exceeds her value from working, she will exit the labor force once the leave expires. Difference-in-differences estimates show that after the FMLA, employed and expecting married mothers who live in an area without state-mandated maternity leave are 2.7 percentage points more likely to leave the labor force after taking maternity leave than those who live in an area with state-mandated maternity leave. As a sensitivity test, I evaluate married women without infant children and single women as additional control groups to estimate difference-in-difference-in-differences effects of the FMLA. Altogether, the increase in the proportion of mothers leaving the labor force due to federally-mandated maternity leave accounts for almost two-thirds of the overall fall in labor force participation.


As a result of long-term (more than 10 years) expedition measurements in various climatic conditions and regions with a mountain and flat surface, we have accumulated an extensive experimental database of surface characteristics of atmospheric turbulence. Our measurements were carried out in: the Baikal astrophysical Observatory Sayan solar Observatory in the mountains of Kolyvanskiy Ridge, in the mountains of the North Caucasus, and others In the first place, we are interested in features of formation of coherent turbulence in the atmosphere.


A man, age 78 years, with a history of chronic lymphocytic leukemia presented to clinic for evaluation of a cough. On further evaluation, he was noted to have an elevated potassium level. This case report highlights the importance of distinguishing cases of true hyperkalemia from pseudohyperkalemia and reverse pseudohyperkalemia.


The Jacobian-Free Newton-Krylov (JFNK) method has been widely used in solving nonlinear equations arising in many applications. In this paper, the JFNK solver is examined as an alternative to the traditional power iteration method for calculation of the fundamental eigenmode in reactor analysis based on even-parity neutron transport theory. Since the Jacobian is not formed the only extra storage required is associated with the workspace of the Krylov solver used at every Newton step. A new nonlinear function is developed for the even-parity neutron transport equation utilized to solve the eigenvalue problem using the JFNK. This Newton-based method is compared with the standard iterative power method for a number of multi-groups, one and two dimensional neutron transport benchmarks. The results show that the proposed algorithm generally ends with fewer iterations and shorter run times than those of the traditional power method. K E Y W O R D S JFNK method Even-parity neutron transport equation Eigenvalue search Nonlinear systems


The study of ecosystem services requires the integration of different observational points. This is particularly true in Water, as this element continuously cycles, increasing chances of interaction among services originating in different ecosystems. However, aquatic scientists historically approached the study of inland/freshwater and open/marine waters in different ways and this cultural division potentially hampers integrative approaches. Herein, we explored the literature pertaining to ecosystem services across the last 23 years, analysing 4,590 aquatic papers. By aggregating and intersecting topics included in this papers' collection using text-mining and topical network approaches, we saw that the study of local environmental conditions (e.g., river estuary management) and synergies and trade-offs between services (e.g., carbon sequestration and water purification) can display several potential conceptual links between freshwater and marine sciences. Our analyses suggest that to intersect ecosystem services across the aquatic continuum, the conceptual integration between marine and freshwater science must be reinforced, especially at the interface between different "salinity realms." Such integration should adopt a "system thinking" perspective, in which the focus is on multiple socio-ecological processes giving rise to interactions that are (i) biologically mediated, (ii) potentially conflicting, and (iii) entangled within networks.


This paper investigates the enrollment behavior of the female students of private universities in Bangladesh. By collecting data from a sample of 900 female students of twelve private universities classified into two strata, researchers conducted reliability test, descriptive analysis, chi-square and ANOVA tests and identified a number of key findings as to the enrollment behavior of female students. The research shows that the female students mostly prefer BBA program followed by BA in English. In the Faculty of Science and Engineering, BS in Pharmacy gets the highest preference. In Post Graduate level MBA and MA in English programs are the preferred subjects. The most important factor for the female students of one strata (top ranked private universities) during admission is the quality of teaching of the university, followed by the image of that university. On the contrary, the female students of other private universities look for lower tuition fees of their preferred program. For the both strata, parents' decision has a significant influence. Finally, the female students of top ranked universities are highly satisfied with the image of their universities while the female students of other universities are dissatisfied with the overall performance of their universities.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this retrospective study was to evaluate the use of contrast-enhanced CT to show sites of active hemorrhage as a guide for surgical or angiographic treatment in patients sustaining blunt abdominal or pelvic trauma.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Twenty-six CT scans were reviewed to compare the location or locations of extravasated contrast material (representing hemorrhage) detected on CT scans with the site or sites of active hemorrhage determined by surgery (eight patients), angiography (14 patients), or autopsy (one patient). (The three remaining patients had no additional studies done.) The attenuation of extravasated contrast material on CT scans was measured and compared with the CT attenuation of an adjacent artery. The attenuation of clotted blood within the abdomen or pelvis was also measured in 20 other patients with blunt trauma.

RESULTS
The locations of active bleeding as determined by extravasation of contrast material shown on CT scans included the pelvis (nine), spleen (five), retroperitoneum (four), kidney (three), liver (three), adrenal glands (one), and abdominal wall (one). Two patients had venous extravasation. The origin of bleeding was confirmed in all cases to correspond to the anatomic region in which extravasated contrast material was shown by CT. Three patients had only CT evidence of vascular extravasation of contrast material. The CT attenuation of active hemorrhage ranged from 85 to 370 H (mean, 132 H). A review of 20 additional CT scans that showed clotted blood in the abdomen or pelvis resulting from blunt abdominal trauma revealed a CT attenuation range of 40-70 H (mean, 51 H). These values were significantly different (p < .001) from the values for active hemorrhage.

CONCLUSION
Active extravasation of contrast material (representing bleeding) can be detected in trauma patients who are physiologically stable enough to undergo CT of the abdomen or pelvis. Extravasated contrast material can be distinguished from clotted blood by measuring CT attenuation. CT accurately shows the anatomic location of bleeding and indicates the probable vascular origin. CT, therefore, can be used as a guide for angiographic or surgical intervention.


The purpose of this paper is to introduce a multimedia computer software package that has been developed for the Federal Armed Forces of Germany to train military physicians in trauma management. The program presents different groups of casualties with characteristic wounds and multiple injuries on a CD-ROM and provides many clinical options at each decision point. Automatically evaluating the decisions for accuracy, the objective of the program is to train for triage, resuscitation, and evacuation of wounded in combat under pressure of time. The computer-assisted instruction program is inexpensive and allows easily accessible self-instruction as a supplement to formal classroom training. Using this teaching software, it may be possible to teach a standardized emergency case-management algorithm for battlefield trauma. There was a high level of acceptance for this type of instruction. This is encouraging for medical educators involved in producing multimedia packages for teaching emergency medicine.


The title compound, a new terphenoquinone derivative, shows a dynamic redox behavior upon cyclic voltammetry and a reversible, photochemical-thermal isomerization between the quinone and diradical forms, both phenomena involving restricted conformational change.


This paper presents a modified multi-stage economic nonlinear model predictive controller (M-ENMPC) for reference optimisation of isolated, uncertain offshore hybrid power systems (OHPSs). These systems require control strategies that can handle significant stochastic disturbances in exogenous power demand and wind, given uncertain forecasts of the disturbances. An M-ENMPC modified with a certainty horizon is formulated to hande uncertain forecasts of these disturbances for reference optimisation of OHPSs. The certainty horizon models the increase in uncertainty of forecasts with time to decrease the cost in the M-ENMPC. Monte Carlo simulations with different realisations of the considered disturbances show that explicitly considering scenarios of the disturbances with the M-ENMPC can decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by operating the gas turbines in the hybrid power system more efficiently while achieving an acceptable satisfaction of the exogenous power demand. Furthermore, the Monte Carlo simulations show that using the modified M-ENMPC decreases the average computational time by 17% compared with the conventional M-ENMPC from the literature.


ANGELIDOU (V. P.-) Al npoacononoiijaeig rig xtjv dpxalav 'EXkr]viK-fjv i&xlAthens: the Author. i960. Pp. 149. Price not stated. The great value of this book is that it has an up-to-date list with well-documented commentary of personifications in Greek art. A brief introduction on the general history of personification and a brief conclusion on the history of personification in Greek art surround the main chapters which catalogue and comment on personifications under the headings: topographical, political, agonistic, intellectual work, ethical ideas, mental states, social relations, material goods, chronological, the circle of Aphrodite, and the circle of Dionysos. The last two start from the names of the women attached to Aphrodite and the maenads attached to Dionysos who appear on late fifth-century vases: a strange phenomenon, which the author slightly underrates because she does not quite realise how common the personification of abstracts is in the latter half of the fifth century and that Euripidean choruses sometimes provide collections of personified abstracts extremely like those on the vases. It was perhaps also a pity to leave out many of the stage personifications such as the Nomoi of Kratinos, Menander's Agnoia, Philemon's Elenchos, because they belong to the same way of thinking and seeing. She adopts the rather difficult classification of Matz into 'naive' and 'reflektierte' personifications and only lists the second class, which means the exclusion of all personification of natural elements, of rivers and mountains, and of all personifications with a mythology of their own. No one will ever agree with anyone else's list of personifications, and the author may have had good reason for omitting the following which I should have included: Agathodaimon and Agathe tyche, Alka (Payne, NC no. 861), Eudia (ARV 801/1, etc.), Himeros and Pothos, Choreia (ARV 789/2), Horai, Psyche. In a few cases additions can be suggested: Dolos, add Payne, NC no. 1436; Eutychia, add Reading 52.3.2; on Kraipale the name of the other figure, probably Thymedia, should have been discussed; Nyx, only the Pan painter's lekythos with Theseus and Ariadne is mentioned and Erika Simon's identification of the figure as Parthenia (0. Jhb. 41 (1954), 81 f.) should have been quoted as well as Semni Karouzou's discussion of Nyx in JHS 65 (1945)= 43 fBut these are small points and detract little from the value of this extremely useful reference book.


The effects of oestriol sulphate on myometrial activity in a group of young primigravidae, who were at 41 or more weeks' gestation, are compared with those of a placebo in a double-blind trial. Both compounds were administered over a period of six hours directly into the uterine cavity following artificial rupture of membranes. Intra-amniotic pressure recordings demonstrated a peak in the mean intensity in uterine contractions in the oestriol-treated and placebo-treated groups at six and four hours, respectively. The length of labour tended to be shorter in those patients having greater uterine activity.


Dr E E Young, Consultant Endocrinologist, Department of Medicine, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria; and Dr C N Unachukwu, Consultant Endocrinologist, Department of Medicine, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Correspondence to: Dr E E Young. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com Introduction An individual's health behaviour is influenced by his or her social, economic, cultural, and physical environment. Medical experts have reported on the psychological components of almost all diseases, particularly chronic illnesses such as diabetes mellitus. Psychological well-being is itself an important goal of medical care, and psychosocial factors are relevant to nearly all aspects of diabetes management. Lifestyle disorders, such as diabetes, are chronic and require a different yardstick for management. Acute medical conditions usually have defined points of onset, course, cure, or death. Lifestyle disorders are neither so well defined, nor do they depend solely on medical treatment. Lifestyle changes are equally important in addition to medical interventions in the management of chronic medical disorders. Patient participation is crucial in the management of diabetes. In addition to lifestyle changes, patients are also expected to practice self-monitoring of treatment and to be involved in other aspects of prevention of complications, such as proper foot care. All these may appear very burdensome to the patient and this can impact negatively on the overall feeling of well being.


The Papillon project is a collaborative project to establish a multilingual dictionary on the Web. This project started 4 years ago with French and Japanese. The partners are now also working on English, Chinese, Lao, Malay, Thai and Vietnamese. It aims to apply the LINUX cooperative construction paradigm to establish a broadcoverage multilingual dictionary. Users can contribute directly on the server by adding new data or correcting existing errors. Their contributions are stored in the user space until checked by a specialist before being fully integrated into the database. The resulting data is then publicly available and freely distributable. An essential condition for the success of the project is to find a handy solution for all the participants to be able to contribute online by editing dictionary entries.In this paper, we describe our solution for an online generic editor of dictionary entries based on the description of their structure.


BACKGROUND
Azrin & Foxx pioneered an intensive toilet training protocol for individuals with intellectual disability living in a residential setting. Since the development of the Rapid Toilet Training (RTT) protocol, many have replicated the efficacy, most notably in educational and outpatient treatment settings, but often training over longer periods of time. This study presents data from a parent training model that replicates Azrin and Foxx's results and training time.

METHOD
This multiple baseline across subjects design study employs an ABA design where two boys diagnosed with autism were toilet trained using a modified Azrin & Foxx intensive teaching protocol. The first subject, a 4-year-old boy, did not have a history of attempted toilet training. The second subject, a 6-year-old boy, demonstrated a history of failed toilet training attempts in both the home and school settings. The trainings were conducted in the home setting where a novel parent-training approach was implemented.

RESULTS
Participant 1 was continent at the end of the second day of training, and completely toilet trained (including initiation and communication) by day 10 of the intervention. Participant 2 was continent after day 1 and completely toilet trained by day 5 of the intervention.

CONCLUSIONS
Long-term follow-up demonstrates maintenance of skills 3 years post training. Social validity via parent satisfaction was assessed. Limitations to the current study and recommendations for future research were discussed.


In this paper, we present a novel approach for object recognition in real-time by employing multilevel feature analysis and demonstrate the practicality of adapting feature extraction into a Naive Bayesian classification framework that enables simple, efficient, and robust performance. We also show the proposed method scales well as the number of level-classes grows. To effectively understand the patches surrounding a keypoint, the trained classifier uses hundreds of simple binary features and models class posterior probabilities. In addition, the classification process is computationally cheap under the assumed independence between arbitrary sets of features. Even though for some particular scenarios, this assumption can be invalid. We demonstrate that the efficient classifier nevertheless performs remarkably well on image datasets with a large variation in the illumination environment and image capture perspectives. The experiment results show consistent accuracy can be achieved on many challenging dataset while offer interactive speed for large resolution images. The method demonstrates promising results that outperform the state-of-the-art methods on pattern recognition.


Stereum is a globally widespread genus of basidiomycete fungi with conspicuous shelf-like fruiting bodies. Several species have been extensively studied as pathogens and for medically relevant secondary metabolites, but prior to this publication the molecular phylogeny of Stereum had not been analyzed, despite pervasive morphological crypsis in the genus. Here, we provide a preliminary investigation into species boundaries among some North American Stereum. The nominal species Stereum ostrea has been referenced in field guides, textbooks, and scientific papers as a common fungus with a wide geographic range and even wider morphological variability. We use nuc rDNA ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 (ITS barcode) sequence data of specimens from midwestern and eastern North America, alongside morphological and ecological characters, to show that Stereum ostrea is a complex of at least three reproductively isolated species. Preliminary morphological analyses show that these three species correspond to three historical taxa that were previously synonymized with or confused for S. ostrea: Stereum fasciatum, Stereum lobatum, and Stereum subtomentosum. Stereum hirsutum ITS sequences taken from GenBank suggest that other Stereum species may also be species complexes. Future work should apply a multilocus approach and global sampling strategy to better resolve the taxonomy and evolutionary history of this important fungal genus.


The use of media means for an educational purpose has become over the last few years an ordinary approach. There are a lot of areas within the medical field that should be made available to the public. The purpose was to create a practical multimedia pattern for educational materials for wide public. We tackled the efficient family planning as an area of general concern. We have produced an animated guide called ″Contraceptive Methods″. The guide were created with Microsoft PowerPoint XP a powerful tool for creating presentations. The pattern we were made is using a friendly interface easy to handle, is interactive, it is use in different situations: in the waiting room of the Family Planning Centre, as a didactic material at the sex education classes, during the time of a consultation.


Smallholder farming, characteristic of banana (Musa spp.) production systems in Uganda presents significant challenges with regard to market access. Small-scale farmers are scattered in villages and not organized. Often, they are unable to meet requirements of larger players in the value chain due to the incompatibility of used production and marketing methods. Small-scale and scattered farmers are unable to engage in formal trade which often requires the use of invoices and receipts, assured variety, quantity and quality of products. As a result, smallholder farmers have been locked out of organized lucrative markets, while conditioning them to selling their produce through an exploitative chain of agents. This has further led to very low farm-gate prices, yet, consumer prices are very high. However, it is hypothesized that opportunities exist to transform Ugandan small-scale banana production into a profitable business if farmers were facilitated to organize themselves into networked groups/associations through which they could link to other organizations and institutions for a variety of services and collectively market their produce. In this study, working through networked groups and a consortium of other private and public organizations/institutions, the farmers were able to: develop and maintain a market-information system; access wholesale markets which offer better prices than middlemen; inputs via bulk purchase; access extension services; improve crop management including pest disease management; and in-field fruit-quality control to obtain market-quality bananas. Similar agronomic practices within groups and selling directly to bulk buyers resulted in better products and facilitated collective marketing which has resulted in farmers margins rising from 20 to 50%.


A chopper system for time resolved pump-probe experiments with x-ray beams from a synchrotron is described. The system has three parts: a water-cooled heatload chopper, a high-speed chopper, and a millisecond shutter. The chopper system, which is installed in beamline ID09B at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, provides short x-ray pulses for pump-probe experiments with ultrafast lasers. The chopper system can produce x-ray pulses as short as 200 ns in a continuous beam and repeat at frequencies from 0 to 3 kHz. For bunch filling patterns of the synchrotron with pulse separations greater than 100 ns, the high-speed chopper can isolate single 100 ps x-ray pulses that are used for the highest time resolution. A new rotor in the high-speed chopper is presented with a single pulse (100 ps) and long pulse (10 micros) option. In white beam experiments, the heatload of the (noncooled) high-speed chopper is lowered by a heatload chopper, which absorbs 95% of the incoming power without affecting the pulses selected by the high speed chopper.