Surface modification of flat sheet ultrafiltration membranes, polyethersulfone (PES), was investigated to improve the hydrophilicity of the membrane surface thereby reducing adsorption of the proteins onto the membrane. Grafting of hydrophilic polymers onto UV/ozone-treated PES was used to improve the hydrophilicity of the commercial PES membranes. Hydrophilic polymers, that is, poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), polyethylene glycol (PEG), and chitosan, were employed to graft onto PES membrane surfaces because of their excellent hydrophilic property. The surfaces of modified PES membranes were characterized by contact angle measurement, FTIR, and AFM. The FTIR spectra indicated that PES membranes were successfully modified by grafting of the hydrophilic polymers. The modified PES membranes showed 20% to 50% reduction in contact angle measurements in comparison with those of the virgin PES membrane. The tapping mode AFM technique was employed to investigate the changes of surface topography, cross-section, and root mean square roughness of the modified PES membrane surfaces. The modified PES membranes showed elevated roughness (ranging from 7.0 to 25.7 nm) compared with that of the virgin PES membrane (2.1 nm). It is concluded that grafting of PVA, PEG, or chitosan onto UV/ozone-treated PES membranes increases hydrophilicity and lowers protein adsorption by 20% to 60% compared to the virgin PES membrane. Among the 3 hydrophilic polymers studied, PEG showed the most favorable result in terms of contact angle and protein adsorption.


This study aimed to analyze the moderating effect of sleep quality and the moderated moderation effect of education level on the relationship between depression and suicidal ideations among middle-aged parents of adolescent children. This is a secondary analysis of a survey collected from a cross-sectional study. The inclusion criteria were middle-aged parents of adolescent children in D city, South Korea, who answered the survey questionnaires. A total of 178 completed questionnaires were used for the analysis. The moderating effect of sleep quality (B = −0.03, p = 0.736) and education level (B = −1.80, p = 0.029) on the relationship between depression and suicidal ideations was shown. It was confirmed that the moderating effect of sleep quality on the effect of depression on suicidal ideations differed according to the subject's education level. The findings have implications for mental healthcare providers who can be educated on sleep hygiene based on the subject's education level.


The NR2 subunit is an essential component of the NMDA receptor. Recent biochemical research has identified a number of molecules that can bind directly or indirectly to its cytoplasmic tail. These postsynaptic density (PSD) proteins play a role in intracellular signal transduction, and are implicated in synaptic plasticity and memory mechanisms. We performed systematic electron microscopic immunogold analysis in rat neocortex to determine the spatial organization of NR2, in relation to six other proteins thought to be involved in the NMDA receptor complex. Peak concentrations of each protein were within the PSD but in different "layers" of the density. In the axodendritic axis, gold particles coding for PSD-95 lay an average of 12 nm cytoplasmic to the extracellular face of the plasma membrane, very close to the C terminal of NR2. Nitric oxide synthase lay 18 nm inside the membrane; the scaffolding proteins guanylate kinase-associated protein and Shank lay 24–26 nm inside the membrane; and CRIPT and dynein light chain, proteins that may link the complex to cytoskeletal elements, lay on the cytoplasmic side of the PSD, 29–32 nm inside the plasma membrane and extending into the spine cytoplasm. The supramolecular organization of these molecules may modulate intracellular transduction of NMDA-mediated signals.


Visible Light Communication (VLC) technology using light emitting diodes (LEDs) has been gaining increasing attention in recent years as it is appealing for a wide range of applications such as indoor positioning. Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) has been applied to indoor wireless optical communications in order to mitigate the effect of multipath distortion of the optical channel as well as increasing data rate. In this paper, we investigate the indoor positioning accuracy of optical based OFDM techniques used in VLC systems. A positioning algorithm based on power attenuation is used to estimate the receiver coordinates. We further calculate the positioning errors in all the locations of a room and compare them with those of single carrier modulation scheme, i.e., on-off keying (OOK) modulation. We demonstrate that OFDM positioning system outperforms its conventional counterpart.


Modified Norwood's operations were performed on 46 children aged from 1 to 180 days. The operations were performed on patients with the single heart ventricle in combination with hypoplasia or atresia of the aorta. Atrioseptostomy was fulfilled in 29 children. Two variants of reconstruction of the aorta arch were used: plasty of the aorta arch with a patch or direct anastomosis between the aorta and pulmonary artery. A modified subclavian-pulmonary shunt was made in 24 children, venous-pulmonary conduit by the S.Sano method--in 22 children. No difference was found in the postoperative treatment and survival in groups of patients with the Blalock shunt and Norwood's conduit. The results of Norwood's operation depend on the experience of the surgical team rather than on the type of the operation.


The evolution of mobile apps has greatly changed the way that we live. It becomes increasingly important to understand and model the users on mobile apps. Instead of focusing on some specific app alone, it has become a popular paradigm to study the user behavior on various mobile apps in a symbiotic environment. In this paper, we study the task of user representation learning with both macro and micro interaction data on mobile apps. Specifically, macro and micro interaction refer to user-app interaction or user-item interaction on some specific app, respectively. By combining the two kinds of user data, it is expected to derive a more comprehensive, robust user representation model on mobile apps. In order to effectively fuse the information across the macro and micro views, we propose a novel macro-micro fusion network for user representation learning on mobile apps. With a Transformer architecture as the base model, we design a representation fusion component that is able to capture the category-based semantic alignment at the user level. After such semantic alignment, the information across the two views can be adaptively fused in our approach. Furthermore, we adopt mutual information maximization to derive a self-supervised loss to enhance the learning of our fusion network. Extensive experiments with three downstream tasks on two real-world datasets have demonstrated the effectiveness of our approach.


Because of their flexibility and reprogrammability, FPGAs have been proposed for many uses in avionics. Existing commercial FPGAs, being finegrained, are programmable at the bit level, allowing them to be used across a wide range of applications. Compared to an ASIC developed for a specific application, however, such a fine-grained FPGA consumes more power and exhibits higher latency and/or lower throughput. In this paper, we describe RADAR - a coarse-grained, programmable, radiation-hardened array that exhibits power and throughput similar to ASICs, yet contains a high degree of programmability. Containing multipliers, adders, SRAMs and a programmable interconnect, RADAR is customized to the DSP domain and targets applications that require low power and high throughput. The degree of radiation hardening in RADAR is a programmable feature, allowing a tradeoff between radiation hardness, throughput, and power.


This paper contends that the NH Hotel Group's decision to convert Flakturm Tower IV, a former Nazi military installation in Hamburg, Germany, into a luxury hotel performatively establishes an Alt-Right fetishism. Though NH Hotel Group plans to include a rooftop garden to serve as a "memorial center for victims of the Nazi regime," this paper argues that even this gesture magnifies the terror. Drawing primarily from Julia Kristeva's theory of abjection, Dick Hebdige's theory of style, the project's surface discourse proclaiming the benefits of restoration and repurposing, is really a gesture of repossession. This repossession emerges as residual cultural modes of Nazi strategies of excess and exclusion become performatively ingrained in the architecture of the building. Rather than having abjection the Nazi regime's terror, Flak Tower IV restyles it, offering a popular and consumable form of oppression, an Alt-Right entertainment. By doing so, the NH Hotel Group further perpetuates the commodification of Nazism and profiting off such atrocities, not just on the scale of hotel ventures.


The Arabidopsis FLC gene encodes a MADS domain protein that acts as a repressor of flowering. Late-flowering vernalization-responsive ecotypes and mutants have high steady-state levels of FLC transcript, which decrease during the promotion of flowering by vernalization. Therefore, FLC has a central role in regulating the response to vernalization. We have isolated an Arabidopsis gene, MAF1, which encodes a protein that is closely related to FLC. Overexpression studies demonstrate that MAF1 produces comparable effects to FLC, and likely has a similar function in the regulation of flowering. In contrast to FLC, however, MAF1 expression shows a less clear correlation with the vernalization response. In addition, MAF1 overexpression does not influence FLC transcript levels. Thus, MAF1 likely acts downstream or independently of FLC transcription. We further report identification of a cluster of four additional FLC-like genes in the Arabidopsis genome.


Background: Electronic health record (EHR)–based clinical decision support tools can improve the use of evidence-based clinical guidelines for preeclampsia management that can reduce maternal mortality and morbidity. No study has investigated the organizational capabilities that enable hospitals to use EHR-based decision support tools to manage preeclampsia. Objective: To examine the association of organizational capabilities and hospital adoption of EHR-based decision support tools for preeclampsia management. Methods: Cross-sectional analyses of hospitals providing obstetric care in 2017. In total, 739 hospitals responded to the 2017-2018 National Survey of Healthcare Organizations and Systems (NSHOS) and were linked to the 2017 American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey Database and the Area Health Resources File (AHRF). A total of 425 hospitals providing obstetric care across 49 states were included in the analysis. The main outcome was whether a hospital adopted EHR-based clinical decision support tools for preeclampsia management. Hospital organizational capabilities assessed as predictors include EHR functions, adoption of evidence-based clinical treatments, use of quality improvement methods, and dissemination processes to share best patient care practices. Logistic regression estimated the association of hospital organizational capabilities and hospital adoption of EHR-based decision support tools to manage preeclampsia, controlling for hospital structural and patient sociodemographic characteristics. Results: Two-thirds of the hospitals (68%) adopted EHR-based decision support tools for preeclampsia, and slightly more than half (56%) of hospitals had a single EHR system. Multivariable regression results indicate that hospitals with a single EHR system were more likely to adopt EHR-based decision support tools for preeclampsia (17.4 percentage points; 95% CI, 1.9 to 33.0; P < .05) than hospitals with a mixture of EHR and paper-based systems. Compared with hospitals having multiple EHRs, on average, hospitals having a single EHR were also more likely to adopt the tools by 9.3 percentage points, but the difference was not statistically significant (95% CI, −1.3 to 19.9). Hospitals with more processes to aid dissemination of best patient care practices were also more likely to adopt EHR-based decision-support tools for preeclampsia (0.4 percentage points; 95% CI, 0.1 to 0.6, for every 1-unit increase in dissemination processes; P < .01). Conclusion: Standardized EHRs and policies to disseminate evidence are foundational hospital capabilities that can help advance the use of EHR-based decision support tools for preeclampsia management in the approximately one-third of US hospitals that still do not use them.


There is a concerted effort to build domain-general artificial intelligence in the form of universal neural network models with sufficient computational flexibility to solve a wide variety of cognitive tasks but without requiring fine-tuning on individual problem spaces and domains. To do this, models need appropriate priors and inductive biases, such that trained models can generalise to out-of-distribution examples and new problem sets. Here we provide an overview of the hallmarks endowing biological neural networks with the functionality needed for flexible cognition, in order to establish which features might also be important to achieve similar functionality in artificial systems. We specifically discuss the role of system-level distribution of network communication and recurrence, in addition to the role of short-term topological changes for efficient local computation. As machine learning models become more complex, these principles may provide valuable directions in an otherwise vast space of possible architectures. In addition, testing these inductive biases within artificial systems may help us to understand the biological principles underlying domain-general cognition.


Hunting and related bushmeat trade are activities which negatively impact wildlife worldwide, with serious implications for biodiversity conservation. Angola's fauna was severely decimated during the long-lasting civil war following the country's independence. During a round trip from Lubango (Huíla province), passing through the provinces of Benguela, Cuanza sul, Luanda, Bengo and finally to Uíge, we documented a variety of bushmeat trade, mainly along the roadside. This included snakes, rodents, duikers, antelopes, bush pigs, small carnivores and bird species. Despite being considered a subsistence activity for inhabitants in rural areas, it is concerning due to the increasing number of people becoming dependent on bushmeat trade for income generation and demand for bushmeat in the main cities. There is an urgent need to assess the impact of this activity on wildlife populations, in order to create alternative sources of income in rural areas and more effective policies focused on effective conservation of the rich biodiversity of Angola.


Simple Summary While guidelines endorse locoregional intra-arterial therapies for intermediate-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and systemic chemotherapies for advanced-stage HCC, there is emerging literature on transarterial radioembolization (TARE) with 90Y radioembolization. Our present study included a large number of patients from two major hospitals in Korea that may represent real-life efficacy data of unresectable HCCs. This study comprised 24% of Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) A, 42% of BCLC B and 34% of BCLC C staged HCCs, which may represent real-life efficacy data across BCLC stages. The best overall tumor response, median overall survival and progression-free survival were comparable or even better than previous studies, especially for the intermediate-stage. Furthermore, the toxicities were durable, patients recovered without complication and none experienced adverse effects from the irradiation of non-target tissues. Abstract Transarterial radioembolization (TARE) has become widely used in the treatment of HCC, one of the most common causes of cancer mortality worldwide. Here we investigated the long-term clinical outcomes of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treated with TARE in a multi-medical center in Korea. A total of 149 patients treated with TARE from 2008–2014 were recruited. The pre-treatment HCC stage was classified according to the BCLC stage, of which C and D were defined as advanced HCC. Advanced HCC stage and Child–Turcotte–Pugh (CTP) score A were identified in 62 (42%) and 134 (90%) patients, respectively. Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) was identified in 58 patients (38.9%). The median time to progression (TTP) was 14 months, and the median overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were 18.6 and 8.9 months, respectively. The overall tumor response was 47%, and the disease control rate was 78%. OS and PFS differed significantly according to the presence of liver cirrhosis, extrahepatic metastasis, tumor response and curative treatment after TARE (all, p < 0.05). Multiple tumors and major PVT were other independent factors related to OS, while the des-gamma carboxy protein level predicted PFS (all, p < 0.05). Tumor size was an independent predictor of tumor response. TTP, OS and PFS all differed among BCLC stages. The serious adverse effect after TARE was clinically not significant. Therefore, TARE is safe and effective in treating early to advanced HCCs.


The reliable coordination of communication channels between two organizations is becoming an increasingly important problem as we move toward cognitive radio systems that support dynamic spectrum access. The benefit of such coordination is clear in scenarios when both participants are completely benign, but such benefits can be easily negated if one of the participants operates in a manner contrary to their channel assignment. In this paper, we develop and explore a maxmin transmission protocol for a primary user (PU) in a multiband wireless network, where the secondary user (SU) may be malicious and have an intent to cause interference. In this case, the threat that a SU may be an adversary changes the problem and places the PU in a dilemma: 1) if the SU is an adversary then to decrease the probability of interference it is better for the PU to select which channels it uses from a larger set of bands (i.e., possibly even including the bands reserved for the SU) and 2) if the SU turns out to be law obedient, then using a larger set of bands leads to an increased chance of being interfered with. Similarly, the SU also faces a dilemma if he is malicious: if the PU thinks that the SU is law obedient, then to increase the probability of jamming, the SU should target only the bands reserved for the PU; while, if the PU thinks that the SU is malicious, then by switching to the bands reserved for the SU, the probability of interference can be significantly or even totally reduced. Using game-theoretical tools, we formally explore these dilemmas and use the resulting analysis to explore the tradeoffs between different strategies in terms of payoffs to each user and knowledge of the SU's characteristics.


The concepts of innovative development and investment development of the country closely interact and mutually determine each other. The problem of innovation and investment potential is especially relevant in developing and actively transforming countries, among which Ukraine is an influential figure in the international economic arena. The purpose of the research provided was to analyze and highlight the central emphasis of positioning for the innovation and investment attractiveness of the country's economy with a focus on scientific and reference sources, reflecting the outline of these issues in the foreign or foreign-targeted information and research space. In recent years (2014-2021), within government efforts there have been made important steps towards intensifying the innovative capabilities of Ukraine. Among the investment opportunities "Ukraine-2020" the areas of IT, agribusiness, industry (heavy industry, fashion industry, aerospace industry, auto parts, pharmaceuticals, etc.), energy, oil and gas niche are highlighted. The innovation and investment potential of Ukraine is a matter of prime necessity when planning the development of external vectors of the economy. The current government policy is aimed at establishing an attractive investment climate for the state, which is noticeable in economic planning and strategic directions of legislative and regulatory activities. Attracting foreign investment is a tool to overcome the capital deficit to ensure sustainable economic development.


To date, there is no consensus on optimal stocking rates in the semi-arid Sahel. We develop a model for livestock management based on a detailed analysis of ecosystem dynamics, and we apply it to calculate optimal and sustainable livestock stocking rates in a Sahelian rangeland. The general model accounts for stochastic rainfall and the long-term impact of grazing on rangeland productivity. For the case study area, the model shows that the optimal stocking rate is higher than the sustainable stocking rate. Hence, with current prices, it is optimal for the pastoralist society to deplete their resource base. In our case study, we also find that the current stocking rate exceeds the optimal stocking rate, which adds to soil depletion


This is a thesis about feasibility constraints for normative political theories. Political theorists talk about theories being 'utopian', 'ideal', 'abstracted', and more obviously pejoratively, 'impractical' and 'unrealistic'. They also talk about theories being 'nonideal', 'practical' and 'realistic'. What exactly is at the heart of these charges? In the frst chapter of this thesis, I discuss the emerging debate over ideal and non-ideal theory. I argue that the criticism of ideal theory is largely unjustifed, but that it is important that theories intended to be action-guiding take feasibility constraints seriously. The main question I try to answer in the thesis is what exactly feasibility constraints for normative political theories consist in. I argue that there is a binary sense of feasibility (feasible, or not) that follows traditional discussions over the principle that 'ought implies can'. That is a useful sense, but it does not do all the work that feasibility constraints needs to do. Thus I defend a second, comparative sense of feasibility (more or less feasible). Most of the work of the thesis goes into elaborating these two senses of feasibility, establishing the kinds of facts that count against the feasibility of a proposal, and discussing the way feasibility assessments should be made in practice. In later chapters I consider whether those two senses of feasibility apply as well to collective agents as they do to individual agents. I also ask whether our cognitive and epistemic limitations affect our ability to make reliable feasibility assessments.


The Suvet Research, on behalf of Univer Product PLC, examined what kind of images and attitudes are linked to the concept of "healthy eating" in Hungarian consumers' consciousness and how this is manifested in their decisions and actions. The research, backing product development, lasted from November 2009 to January 2010 in two steps. Focus group research irst explored consumers' spontaneous opinions and then had them ill out an extensive questionnaire. This survey was given to a representative sample from Hungarian households.
This paper contains the major results of that research about consumers' beliefs and habits regarding healthy nutrition, the
importance of health in eating, different ways of healthy eating, preferred and avoided foods and food ingredients. Additionally, it explored respondents' opinions about the relationship between traditional Hungarian cuisine and healthy eating. A second part of this publication will describe the methodology (cluster analysis) and the results of a market segmentation in order to support the development process of a speciied vegetable product.
A basic nutritional awareness, unchanged for decades, is dominant in Hungarian consumers' minds, but some new information and beliefs has penetrated it. Certain new scientiic discoveries about nutrition scarcely register in consumers' consciousness. Attitudes like love of traditional foods and the ambition to be healthy exist side by side, and, for most of the respondents, these two attitudes are not mutually exclusive.


The chemical properties of carbide-cluster metallofullerenes (CCMFs) remain largely unexplored, although several new members of CCMFs have been discovered recently. Herein, we report the reaction between Sc2 C2 @C3v (8)-C82 , which is viewed as a prototypical CCMF because of its high abundance, and 3-triphenylmethyl-5-oxazolidinone (1) to afford the corresponding pyrrolidino derivative Sc2 C2 @C3v (8)-C82 (CH2 )2 NTrt (2; Trt=triphenylmethyl). Single-crystal X-ray crystallography studies of 2 revealed that the reaction takes place at a [6,6]-bond junction, which is directly over the encapsulated C2 unit and is far from either of the two scandium atoms. On the basis of theoretical calculations and by considering previously reports, we have found that a hexagonal carbon ring on the cage of Sc2 C2 @C3v (8)-C82 is highly reactive toward different reagents due to the overlap of high p-orbital axis vector (POAV) angles and large LUMO coefficients. We propose that this highly concentrated area of reactivity is generated by the encapsulation of the Sc2 C2 cluster because this region is absent from the empty fullerene C3v (8)-C82 . Moreover, the absorption and electrochemical results confirm that derivative 2 is more stable than pristine Sc2 C2 @C3v (8)-C82 , thus illuminating its potential applications.


Low-molecular-weight glutenin subunits (LMW-GS) play a crucial role in the processing quality of wheat flour. They are encoded multi gene family located at the Glu-A3, Glu-B3 and Glu-D3 on the short arm of chromosome 1A, 1B and 1D respectively. Typical LMW-GSs are composed of three parts including a short N-terminal domain, a relatively short repetitive domain and a C-terminal domain. Further, typical LMW-GS sequences are divided into LMW-s, LMW-m and LMW-i types, on the basis of the first amino acid of the mature proteins (serine, methionine and isoleucine, respectively). Although it is known that the allelic variation of LMW-GSs affect the properties of dough, it is still not clear which LMW-GSs confer better bread-making quality because of the larger number of expressed subunits and their overlapping mobility with abundant gliadin proteins. Therefore, it is important to characterize LMW-GS genes and develop functional markers to identify different LMW-GS alleles for application in wheat breeding. In this review, we discuss the various aspects of LMW-GS, including their structural characteristics, the development of marker, relationship between LMW-GSs and bread wheat quality, and genetic engineering of the LMW-GSs.


The determination of the enantiomeric excess and absolute configuration of chiral compounds is indispensable in synthetic, pharmaceutical, and biological chemistry. In this article, we describe an efficient 19F nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based analytical protocol for determining the enantiomeric excess and absolute configuration of in situ fluorine-labeled amines and alcohols. 2-Fluorobenzoylation was used to convert analytes to fluorinated amides or esters. The resulting F-labeled analytes were mixed with a cationic cobalt(III) complex, [Co]BArF, resulting in clean baseline peak separations of analyte enantiomers in 19F{1H} NMR spectra. The measured ΔδRS signs were unambiguously used to correlate the absolute configurations of amines, amino alcohols, and alcohols. Moreover, the structure-dependent 19F{1H} NMR signals enabled absolute configuration determination by analyzing the relative chemical shifts of enantiopure analyte samples with [Co]BArF and ent-[Co]BArF.


Abstract Screen-printed textiles from Aboriginal art centers are more than just commercial products. Closely connected with Aboriginal "ways of being," they carry profound and often ancient stories from the world's oldest continuous culture and offer consumers a glimpse into a different world. Their creation supports remote livelihoods and culturally affirming practises which contribute to social and emotional wellbeing. But as this paper shows, the recent enthusiasm for Aboriginal textiles in the fashion industry pits the enduring cultural narratives embodied in the textiles against the transient and unpredictable forces of the fashion market. There have been many positive translations to fashion; however, the accessible and reproducible aspects of cloth render a vulnerability to exploitation in the mass fashion world. It is now time for all parties to establish transparent business principles and a clear code of ethics to guide commercial partnerships and guarantee artist control over their ancestral heritage. Fashion displays and promotes Indigenous cultural heritage in a unique way, but for these textiles, there are a range of alternative iterations that portray a timelessness beyond fashion.


The paper aims to identify the scientific challenges and point out future research directions on Cost Engineering. The research areas covered in this paper include: Design Cost; Manufacturing Cost; Operating Cost; Life Cycle Cost; Risk & Uncertainty management; Affordability Engineering. Collected information at the academic forum on Cost Engineering held at Cranfield University in 2008 and further literature review findings are presented. The forum set the scope of the Cost Engineering research, a brainstorming was held on the forum and literatures were further reviewed to understand the current and future practices in cost engineering. The main benefits of the paper include coverage of the current research on cost engineering from different perspectives and the future research areas on Cost Engineering.


Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a primary concern in India affecting approximately five million women each year. Existing literature indicate that prediabetes and diabetes affect approximately six million births in India alone, of which 90% are due to GDM. Studies reveal that there is no consensus among physicians and health-care providers in India regarding management of GDM prepartum and postpartum despite available guidelines. Also, there is no consensus among physicians as to when a woman should undergo oral glucose tolerance test after delivery. This clearly shows that management of GDM is challenging and controversial in India due to conflicting guidelines and treatment protocols, despite availability of straightforward protocols for screening and management. Also, a collaborative approach remains a key for GDM management, as patient compliance and proper educational interventions promote better pregnancy outcomes. Management of GDM plays a pivotal role, as women with GDM have an increased chance of developing diabetes mellitus 5–10 years after pregnancy. Also, children born in GDM pregnancies face an increased risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes. The cornerstone for the management of GDM is glycemic control and quality nutritional intake. GDM management is complex in India, and existing challenges are multifactorial. However, there are little published data outlining these challenges. This review gives an account of some of the key challenges from self-management and health-care provider perspective. The recommendations in this review provide insights for building a more structured model for GDM care in India. This research has several practical applications. First, it points out to reaching a consensus on approaches for screening, diagnosis, and treatment of care across clinical practices in the nation that can aid in overcoming certain challenges observed. Second, it highlights the importance to build capacities and capabilities, especially in resource-limited settings. Health education among pregnant women remains a priority to resolve issues related to self-management. More broadly, further research, specifically qualitative is vital to determine forthcoming challenges with respect to patients, caregivers, providers, and policy makers and to provide solutions fitted to practice setting and demographic background.


Abstract Chikungunya virus is an Alphavirus that possesses characteristics similar to that of an arthropod-borne virus. Chikungunya virus has been one of the major concerns for the last few decades due to its nature of explosive spreading throughout the world. This article is intended to give detailed information about Chikungunya virus, and includes its pathogenesis, origins, diagnosis, treatment and prevention. Although, recent researches suggests various approaches to treating Chikungunya virus, extensive literature search on Chikungunya virus has revealed that, currently, there is no effective treatment available and the virus is greatly dependent on its vectors. Patients affected by Chikungunya virus mainly show symptoms of fever, arthralgia, joint pain and skin rash. Since there is no effective treatment available, public awareness is the most significant factor for potential prevention against Chikungunya virus.


Background: Damaged cardiac tissues could potentially be regenerated by transplanting bioengineered cardiac patches to the heart surface. To be fully paradigm-shifting, such patches may need to be transplanted using minimally invasive robotic cardiac surgery (not only traditional open surgery). Here, we present novel robotic designs, initial prototyping and a new surgical operation for instruments to transplant patches via robotic minimally invasive heart surgery. Methods: Robotic surgical instruments and automated control systems were designed, tested with simulation software and prototyped. Surgical proof-of-concept testing was performed on a pig cadaver. Results: Three robotic instrument designs were developed. The first (called "Claw" for the claw-like patch holder at the tip) operates on a rack and pinion mechanism. The second design ("Shell-Beak") uses adjustable folding plates and rods with a bevel gear mechanism. The third ("HeartStamp") utilizes a stamp platform protruding through an adjustable ring. For the HeartStamp, rods run through a cylindrical structure designed to fit a uniportal Video-Assisted Thorascopic Surgery (VATS) surgical port. Designed to work with or without a sterile sheath, the patch is pushed out by the stamp platform as it protrudes. Two instrument robotic control systems were designed, simulated in silico and one of these underwent early 'sizing and learning' prototyping as a proof-of-concept. To reflect real surgical conditions, surgery was run "live" and reported exactly (as-it-happened). We successfully picked up, transferred and released a patch onto the heart using the HeartStamp in a pig cadaver model. Conclusion: These world-first designs, early prototypes and a novel surgical operation pave the way for robotic instruments for automated keyhole patch transplantation to the heart. Our novel approach is presented for others to build upon free from restrictions or cost—potentially a significant moment in myocardial regeneration surgery which may open a therapeutic avenue for patients unfit for traditional open surgery.


A growing global energy demand resulting from an ever increasing world population and scale of economic activity poses one of the world's main challenges for the future. The con-sequences of this rise in population and economic development include, among others, 'excessive' fossil fuel energy consumption and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. The use of renewable energy sources (RES) can help to mitigate this pressure on energy demand. In connection with this, the European Union`s climate policy strategy, in tandem with a reduction in greenhouse gases (GHGs), presses for the development of renewable energy. The generation of renewable energy, in particular biomass, contributes to economic development through the creation of employment opportunities. In particular, rural regions with limited development opportunities can benefit from renewable energy production and dissemination. European rural border regions are disadvantaged primarily because of their location, poor infrastructure and smaller populations. Border regions with a significant division of agricultural land and forest, however, can benefit from the increase of biomass and bioenergy generation. There are, nevertheless, many barriers associated with bioenergy development in general, and in cross-border regions in particular. Despite the fact that they are a unique category and require special consideration there is almost an academic void in respect of research focusing on renewable energy linked to border regions.

This research addresses the following key aspects: the crucial factors required for bioenergy dissemination and the special characteristics of European border regions, and analyzes stakeholders´ perceptions along the bioenergy supply chain. Using the two-phase design inspired by Barton and Lazarsfeld (1984) in a mixed research design, semi-structured expert interviews and online/offline surveys were conducted with stakeholders based in the border regions between Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, with their opinions measured using a Likert scale questionnaire. Both strands of data collection delivered similar perceptions, especially in the case of the stakeholders' motivation for biomass use and bioenergy generation, in addition to differing assessments regarding the barriers for the growing of bio-mass, and bioenergy generation – mainly prompted by the diverse economic and legal environments in each country. Among other findings, the study identified the fact that current market barriers resulting mostly from different financial incentives could be reduced if, at a European level, the various financial incentives were harmonized. In addition, common sus-tainable standards for bioenergy generation are required, in order to support the sustainable use of biomass and bioenergy generation. Moreover, the intensification of the transfer of knowledge and communication between cross-border parties, with the support of regional energy agencies, seems to be necessary, in order to improve knowledge of market opportu-nities across border regions, and hence reduce the transaction costs in relation to bioenergy cooperation.


This study utilizes the fluctuations in the mean silicon-silicon near neighbour distances and local atomic-level stresses to study the chemically-induced disorder-to-order transition in hydrogenated amor- phous silicon as a function of hydrogen concentration CH . The correlation between a suitable stress and structure parameter shows a three-stage structure transition that culminates in the formation of a crystalline phase at high CH .I n the lowCH limit, the structural changes are characterized by a linear re- sponse to stress giving a rigidity modulus of 73.43±15 GPa. In the intermediate and high CH limits, the stress-structure correlation shows a volume-dependence. At very high hydrogen concentrations, a high rigidity modulus is obtained in good agreement with the rigidity of crystalline silicon. An interpretation of the results in terms of the constraint counting model of the continuous random network suggests that the observed high modulus of rigidity characterizing the crystalline phase is a direct consequence of the reduction in volume fraction due to increased hydrogen bonding.


The British Mandate in Palestine was a time of significant change for the social character and demographic feel of Jerusalem. As it grew into a colonial capital and expanding cosmopolitan city, the city became home to a large number of non-elite Arab Palestinians, specifically the fellahin from the villages of the western corridor, who became central to Jerusalem9s social, political, and economic life. A great deal has been written about Jerusalem9s traditional families and their role in the development of the city as a national Palestinian capital, but not much is known about the contributions of Jerusalem9s Arab residents beyond those families. In seeking to rectify that lacuna, this article focuses on the important historical moment of the Buraq Revolt, demonstrating how the city9s evolution as a hub of mass resistance was driven by unprecedented demographic and social changes, resulting in the emergence of what may be called a "new Jerusalem."


ABSTRACT Microarray-based analysis of the transcriptional profiles of the genetically distinct Staphylococcus aureus strains COL, GP268, and Newman indicate that a total of 251 open reading frames (ORFs) are influenced by σB activity. While σB was found to positively control 198 genes by a factor of ≥2 in at least two of the three genetic lineages analyzed, 53 ORFs were repressed in the presence of σB. Gene products that were found to be influenced by σB are putatively involved in all manner of cellular processes, including cell envelope biosynthesis and turnover, intermediary metabolism, and signaling pathways. Most of the genes and/or operons identified as upregulated by σB were preceded by a nucleotide sequence that resembled the σB consensus promoter sequence of Bacillus subtilis. A conspicuous number of virulence-associated genes were identified as regulated by σB activity, with many adhesins upregulated and prominently represented in this group, while transcription of various exoproteins and toxins were repressed. The data presented here suggest that the σB of S. aureus controls a large regulon and is an important modulator of virulence gene expression that is likely to act conversely to RNAIII, the effector molecule of the agr locus. We propose that this alternative transcription factor may be of importance for the invading pathogen to fine-tune its virulence factor production in response to changing host environments.


Atherosclerosis develops at arterial sites where endothelial cells (ECs) are exposed to low time-averaged shear stress, in particular in regions of recirculating disturbed flow. To understand how hemodynamics contributes to EC dysfunction in atheroma development, an in vitro parallel plate flow chamber gasket was modified with protruding baffles to produce large recirculating flow regions. Computational fluid dynamics predicted that more than 60% of the flow surface area was below the 12 dynes/cm2 atheroprotective threshold. Bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) were then seeded in the parallel plate flow chamber with either the standard laminar or the new disturbed flow gasket and exposed to flow for 36 hours. Cell morphology, nitric oxide, proliferation, permeability, and monocyte adhesion were assessed by phase contrast and confocal microscopy. BAEC exposed to 20 dynes/cm2 shear stress in the laminar flow device aligned and elongated in the flow direction while increasing nitric oxide, decreasing permeability, and maintaining low proliferation and monocyte adhesion. As expected, BAEC in the recirculating flow and low shear stress disturbed flow device regions did not elongate or align, produced less nitric oxide, and showed higher proliferation, permeability, and monocyte adhesion than cells in the laminar flow device. Surprisingly, cells in disturbed flow device regions exposed to atheroprotective shear stress did not consistently align or decrease permeability, and these cells demonstrated low nitric oxide levels. These results suggest that atheroprotective signaling may be inhibited by neighboring cells exposed to recirculating flow, highlighting the complex relationship between hemodynamics and atheroma.


Study Design Retrospective case series. Purpose To examine the efficacy of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) for bone fusion in transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) using local bone grafting. Overview of Literature Several authors have reported the efficacy of PRP for bone union in animal models. However, the use of PRP for bone fusion in TLIF surgery has not been fully explored. Methods Twenty patients underwent single-level TLIF surgery because of L4 spondylolisthesis. An interbody fusion cage and local bone were used in nine patients (control group) and an interbody fusion cage, local bone, and PRP were used in 11 patients (PRP group). PRP was prepared from the patients' blood samples (400 mL) immediately before surgery. The duration of bone union and postoperative bone fusion rate were assessed using plain radiography at every 3 months postoperatively and computed tomography at 12 or 24 months postoperatively, respectively. Lower back pain, leg pain, and leg numbness were evaluated using the visual analog scale preoperatively and at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months postoperatively. Results The platelet count was 8.7 times higher in PRP than in blood. The bone union rate was significantly superior in the PRP group than in the control group (91% and 77%, respectively; p=0.035), whereas the average duration of bone union was not significantly different between the groups (7.7±0.74 and 10.0±2.00 months, respectively; p=0.131). There was no significant difference in lower back pain, leg pain, and leg numbness in both groups during follow-up (p>0.05). Conclusions Our study suggests that the use of PRP in TLIF surgery increases bone fusion rate.


Dexamethasone increased alkaline phosphatase levels up to 7-fold in the osteoblast-like rat osteosarcoma cell line ROS 17/2.8. This effect was associated with reduced cell growth and took place over several days in culture. The increase in enzyme activity was dose dependent, (half-maximum near 1 nM, with a hormone specificity suggesting glucocorticoid receptor mediation). Dexamethasone also increased enzyme activity in ROS 2/3 cells, but not in two nonosteoblastic osteosarcoma cell lines, indicating that among these cell lines, the effect is specific for osteoblast-like cells. Moreover, enzyme activity in both control and dexamethasone-treated cells correlated directly with levels of radioimmunoassayable bone-type isoenzyme. Increases in alkaline phosphatase activity in response to dexamethasone were detectable after about 5 h and were inhibited by both actinomycin D and cycloheximide. Thus glucocorticoids appear to increase de novo enzyme synthesis in ROS 17/2.8 cells. Finally, the cAMP-elevating agents PTH, isoproterenol, and 8-bromo-cAMP, which were previously shown to reduce alkaline phosphatase activity in osteoblast-like cells, antagonized the effects of dexamethasone. Moreover, in the presence of dexamethasone, lower concentrations of these agents were required for inhibitory effects on alkaline phosphatase.


Education plays vital role in sustainable development. Education is permanent modification ofcreativity and behaviour as the result of new experiences through education (Kaushik, 1997). It is not onlya catalyst with potentialities to transform all the aspects of development but contributes in the currentchallenges of sustainability. The aim of education is to ensure and secure the basic purpose of education,to achieve the tasks of life and to attain basic life skills in an integrated and sustainable manner (Azam,2003). According to Singh (2008) "Education is essentially a process of growth and development, whichgoes on throughout the whole life" (p.7). Education for sustainability is less understood and less practicedby teacher educators in Government Colleges of Education offering Associate Degree in education andfour years B.Ed program. It is difficult to assume that whether teacher educators have proper acquaintancewith education for sustainability, skills and willing to incorporate education for sustainability in teachereducation policies and practices. In addition, it cannot be presupposed that through experience teachereducators will attain such skills. Therefore, education for sustainability should be carefully planned andmade as integral part of teacher education programs instead of ad hoc based approach for education forsustainability.This study will investigate how Associate Degree for education teacher training program for prospectiveteachers has been designed or shaped and find out how teacher educators are affianced with educationfor sustainability in their teaching. The purpose of study is (i) to determine the elements of Educationfor sustainability before and after Associate Degree program, (ii) to investigate teacher educatorsknowledge, skills and attitude related to education for sustainability and, (iii) to examine the perceptionand engagement of teacher educators regarding education for sustainability. The focus of this study willbe on five indicators of sustainability which include the social impact of education, education as strategyfor development, financial viability, adaptability and capability to bring socio-economic change. A casestudy approach will be used for this study. Data will be collected through surveys, in-depth interviews andanalysis of over five years documents.


BACKGROUND
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a disorder of joints involving degeneration and destruction of cartilages. Inflammation has been found to play an important role in the development of OA. Hidrosmin (HDS) is a flavone useful in venous insufficiency disorders and cancer. However, its role in OA remains unexplored. Here we reported the anti-inflammatory effect of Hidrosmin in OA utilizing both in vivo and in vitro studies.

METHODS
The primary chondrocytes were used for in vitro studies. Chondrocytes were submitted to immunofluorescence and toluidine blue staining. C57BL/6 male mice were used for In vivo experiment for creating an osteoarthritis model by surgical destabilization of the medial meniscus. CCK-8 assay was done for cell viability studies, Levels of nitric oxide were studied by Griess reaction, western blot analysis and qRT-PCR analysis was done for analyzing the levels of PGE-2, TNF-α, IL-6, collagen II, COX-2, iNOS, MMP-13, ADAMTS, Nrf2, HO-1, p65 and IκBα. Immunohistochemical assay and histopathological analysis were done for tissue studies. In silico analysis was done by performing molecular docking studies with MGL tools.

RESULTS
The in vitro results suggested HDS inhibited the levels of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), nitric oxide (NO) and IL-1β mediated levels of iNOS. Hidrosmin also suppressed the levels of ADAMTS-5 and IL-1β-induced MMP-13, whereas the levels of aggrecan and collagen II were up-regulated. Mechanistic study suggested HDS suppressed the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) via targeting the nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) in chondrocytes. The outcomes of molecular docking studies confirmed that Nrf2 had a potential binding affinity with Hidrosmin as seen by lower binding energies.

CONCLUSION
The findings of the study suggested HDS could be a potential molecule for halting the progression and development of osteoarthritis.


Unsealed inside-out and right-side out vesicles were prepared from human red cells. The vesicles were incubated with D-glucose (/sup 14/C(U)) and sodium cyanoborohydride in phosphate buffer, pH 7.4. After incubation, lipids were extracted with 1-butanol and non-lipid contaminants removed by Sephadex G-25 chromatography. Phosphatidylethanolamine-sorbitol was purified by chromatography on columns of silicic acid and phenylboronate agarose gel. Phospholipase C (B. cereus) liberated phosphoethanolamine-sorbitol (I) which comigrated on TLC with synthetic I prepared by reductive condensation of phosphoethanolamine and D-glucose and also with the product of phospholipase C (B. cereus) hydrolysis of reference phosphatidylethanolamine-sorbitol. Exposure of I to alkaline phosphatase (E. coli) gave P/sub i/ and ethanolamine-sorbitol (II) which comigrated on TLC with synthetic II prepared by reductive condensation of ethanolamine and D-glucose or by phospholipase D hydrolysis of reference phosphatidylethanolamine-sorbitol. These studies demonstrate that vesicular phosphatidylethanolamine can be reductively glycated and illustrate the applicability of both phospholipase C and phospholipase D in characterizing glycated phosphoglycerides.


Introduction. The basic theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of the social well-being of the population of megacities as an integral indicator, as well as current trends in the development of new diagnostic methods are considered. The experience of empirical sociological research is presented, showing methodological algorithms for system fixation and processing of the main indicators-indicators. Methodology and sources . The analysis of the theoretical and methodological foundations for diagnosing the social well-being of residents of a metropolis as an integral indicator is carried out on the basis of a set of scientific approaches. They combine the characteristics of objective and subjective indicators in a single research procedure that ensure the integrity of the external and internal characteristics of the object of study. Results and discussion . From the methodological point of view, the diagnosis of social well-being is built as a system analysis of three groups of data. Firstly, the protection of residents of St. Petersburg from social dangers and threats can be measured on the basis of indicators such as environmental threats; harassment due to gender and age; arbitrariness of officials; infringement due to nationality and religious beliefs; arbitrariness of officials; political persecution; poverty; loneliness; crime. Secondly, satisfaction with life is diagnosed by referring to such parameters as attitude to the region of residence; satisfaction with life in general. Thirdly, the degree of social optimism is revealed on the basis of appeal to such parameters as confidence in the future; comparison of the present and past lifestyle; future life forecast. Conclusion. This paper captures an important point in methodological and methodological unity in approaches. In the research methodology, the integral nature of social well-being involves an appeal to theoretical and conceptual principles that are aimed at exploring such unity. Further, the same trend is continued in integrated methods for the integrated diagnosis of social well-being.


Discovering maximum frequent item sets is a key problem in data mining. In order to overcome the deficiencies of apriori-like algorithms which adopt candidate itemsets generation-and-test approach, we propose a new algorithm ML_DMFIA which based on DMFIA to mine maximum frequent itemsets in multiple-level association rules. ML_DMFIA utilizes FP-tree structure and up-down progressive deepening searching idea which can avoid making multiple passes over database and does not generate candidate itemsets, consequently, it reduces CPU time and I/O time remarkably. Our performance study shows that ML_DMFIA is more efficient than ML_T2 algorithm for mining both long and short frequent itemsets in mining multiple-level association rules.


The electrodes of two-dimensional (2D) titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanosheet arrays were successfully fabricated for microRNA-155 detection. The (001) highly active crystal face was exposed to catalyze signaling molecules ascorbic acid (AA). Zero-dimensional (0D) titanium carbide quantum dots (Ti3C2Tx QDs) were modified to the electrode as co-catalysts and reduced the recombination rate of the charge carriers. Spectroscopic methods were used to determine the band structure of TiO2 and Ti3C2Tx QDs, showing that a type Ⅱ heterojunction was built between TiO2 and Ti3C2Tx QDs. Benefiting the advantages of materials, the sensing platform achieved excellent detection performance with a wide liner range, from 0.1 pM to 10 nM, and a low limit of detection of 25 fM (S/N = 3).


Embryos of eggs from Single Comb White Leghorn hens were analyzed to determine whether nest holding time and method of storage had a significant effect on postoviposition embryonic growth prior to incubation. Eggs were collected from 38- to 42-wk-old hens naturally inseminated and housed in floor pens. The experiment had a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments with two nest holding times and two storage methods. Eggs were collected within 1 h of oviposition, placed on cardboard egg flats, and stored unpacked (Treatment 1), or put on flats, and packed in 30-dozen egg cases (Treatment 2). Eggs in Treatments 3 and 4 were marked within 1 h of oviposition, but remained in the nest for 6 to 7 h. These eggs were separated into unpacked (Treatment 3), and packed (Treatment 4) groups. All eggs were stored at 13.8 C for 4 days. A total of 250 embryos were staged after storage for development using the Eyal-Giladi and Kochav classification. Least square means (LSM) for stage of development were: Treatment 1, 10.76; Treatment 2, 11.52; Treatment 3, 12.41; and Treatment 4, 12.36. For the main effects, nest holding time significantly affected stage of development (P = .0001), but storage method (P = .1140) and nest holding time by storage method interaction (P = .0730) did not. Comparison of LSM of Treatment 1 versus 3 (P = .0001), 2 versus 4 (P = .0152), and 1 versus 2 (P = .0214) were significant, but Treatment 3 versus 4 (P = .8595) was not.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


In a brief review of the second edition of Walras's Elements, published in 1889, Edgeworth criticizes Walras's theory of tâtonnement, viewed as a misplaced and misleading attempt at explaining the equilibration process in a multi-market economy. Edgeworth's attack sets off a controversy, raging over the 1889-1891 period, and then smouldering over the entire lives of both economists. The chief aim of this paper is to analyze the joint evolution of Edgeworth's and Walras's ideas on equilibrium and equilibration from the 1889-1891 controversy onwards. Even if Edgeworth's original critique concerns Walras's tâtonnement only, it will be proved that the fundamental divide between the two authors involves not only the dynamic, but also the static part of their respective theoretical systems. The Edgeworth-Walras controversy will be shown to produce major effects on both Walras and Edgeworth: both of them will partially revise their ideas on statics and dynamics; further, either one will take in some hints originating from the other. Yet, in spite of their reciprocal influences, their mutual communication will turn out to be quite limited. For Edgeworth will prove unable to understand the central, and unsolvable, problem of tâtonnement from Walras's own standpoint: how to preserve a "realistic" and comprehensive picture of an observable disequilibrium process in "real" time, without disrupting the assumption of data invariance during the equilibration process. At the same time Walras will prove unable to grasp the essence of Edgeworth's critique: that bargaining is more "fundamental" than price-taking behavior, so that the core is a broader solution concept than competitive equilibrium and recontracting a more general equilibration process than tâtonnement.


Clean water is one of the most vital human needs. Indonesia, which the largest part of its territory is water, in fact is still experiencing difficulties to meet the clean water needs  of its population. Based on the data from the Central Statistics Agency in 2018, the percentage of households with clean drinking water sources is 72.99%. Sajira Subdistrict in Lebak, Banten is one that is affected by severe drought. They always experience drought for 6-9 months annually. The people independently built water reservoirs from mountain water sources. Water is pumped using a water pumping machine and accommodated in reservoirs, then distributed to local residents through pipes with minimum distribution distance is 1 km from the reservoir. Due to long distance of the water distribution,many houses can't be reached by the water. It can be solved by adding a water pump in the reservoir. So the clean water distribution, which is initially only relies on pipes and gravity, can be maximized by the thrust of the water pump. Beside the water pump, the solar panel is also added to the system as a power supply. Thus, the residents don't need to pay for electricity bill to run the pumping system.


Abstract: Why would you place valuing, culture, and cultural values at the centre of an evaluation competencies framework? What would it look like if you did? This new set of evaluator competencies from the Aotearoa New Zealand Evaluation Association (ANZEA) is distinct from other competency and credentialing frameworks developed around the world. Why do we believe this approach is key to promoting high quality, culturally sound, responsive, and ethical evaluation practice in Aotearoa New Zealand? This article outlines the process for developing the competencies as well as the reasoning and powerful exchange of ideas underpinning their development and subsequently infused in the competencies.


Background: Fruits and vegetables are very good sources of micronutrients and phytochemicals; most fruits are however underutilized because information on their chemical composition are either too scanty or are lacking. Objective: The study was designed to determine the nutrient and phytochemical composition of two varieties of tropical almond seeds. Methods: Ripe fruits of tropical almond ( Terminalia catappa ) of red and yellow varieties were collected from National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) Umudike in Abia state, Nigeria. The pulp was scraped off manually to obtain the nuts. The nuts were then sun dried (29-32 o C) for 3days and cracked open manually to obtain the seeds. The seeds were oven dried and milled and sieved into flour with 5mm sieve size. The nutrient compositions were determined using AOAC techniques. Gravimetric and spectrophotometric methods were used for phytochemical determinations. Results: Protein (23.37%) and fat (33.52%) of the yellow variety were higher than those of the red variety (21.47% and 32.60%, respectively). Most abundant minerals and vitamins were magnesium (192.77- 194.62mg/100g), phosphorus (372.82- 375.70mg/100g), potassium (438.63-452.72mg/100g) and β-carotene (2770-2147μg/100g). All phytochemicals analysed were quite low in the 2 varieties of tropical almond seeds. Conclusion: Moisture, fat and fibre values were similar in the samples. Phosphorus, iron, zinc, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and vitamin C contents were not significantly (p>0.05)different in the two varieties, however the red variety contained more carbohydrate and significantly higher calcium, magnesium and phosphorus while the yellow variety had more protein and significantly higher β -carotene. Keywords: Tropical almond, seed, nutrient, phytochemical, varieties


A novel series of N-arylpiperazine-1-carboxamide derivatives was synthesized and their androgen receptor (AR) antagonist activities and in vivo antiandrogenic properties were evaluated. Reporter assays indicated that trans-2,5-dimethylpiperazine derivatives are potent AR antagonists, and in this series trans-N-4-[4-cyano-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-N-(2,4-difluorophenyl)-2,5-dimethylpiperazine-1-carboxamide (18 g, YM-175735) exhibited the most potent antiandrogenic activity. Compared to bicalutamide, YM-175735 is an approximately 4-fold stronger AR antagonist and has slightly increased antiandrogenic activity, suggesting that YM-175735 may be useful in the treatment of prostate cancer.


An antigen specifically expressed on the surface of plasma membrane of B-lymphocytes and Reed-Sternberg cells was identified using a newly developed monoclonal antibody produced by immunization by BALB/c mouse with a Hodgkin's cell line (HDLM-3). The antibody was termed anti-BLA.36 (B lymphocyte antigen.36) to indicate its predominant reactivity and the molecular weight of the corresponding antigen. By using immunoperoxidase techniques, expression of BLA.36 was detected on Hodgkin's, B-, and pre-B-cell lines, but not on other hematopoietic, melanoma, or carcinoma cell lines. In normal tissues, BLA.36 was detectable predominantly on cells in the germinal center and mantle zone of reactive follicles in lymph nodes and spleen. In hematopoietic malignancy, BLA.36 was detectable on the surface of Reed-Sternberg cells, mononuclear Hodgkin's cells, and also on malignant cells of B-cell lineage. Under these conditions, T-lymphocytes, histiocytes, granulocytes, macrophages, stromal cells in lymphoid tissue, and both normal and neoplastic epithelial cells were consistently negative for the expression of the antigen, with the single exception of a variable proportion of Kupffer cells in normal liver. Biochemical and immunological analyses indicate that BLA.36 is distinct from previously identified antigens of hematopoietic cell lineage, including CD20 and CD75 (LN2) which have similar molecular weights. When BLA.36-positive cell lines were cultured in the presence of the antibody, cell growth was adversely affected. Such an effect was eliminated by removal of the antibody from the culture, suggesting a possible growth-related function of the antigen. Anti-BLA.36 may serve as a probe to study growth-related functions of the corresponding antigen during normal growth of the B-lymphocyte, as well as in the neoplastic proliferations occurring in Hodgkin's disease and antigen-positive B-cell lymphomas. Finally, the antibody has already demonstrated its usefulness for the identification of Reed-Sternberg and Hodgkin's cells, and also normal and malignant B-lymphocytes in frozen as well as formalin- or B5-fixed/paraffin-embedded tissue sections.


As part of Basel II's incremental risk charge (IRC) methodology, this paper summarizes our extensive investigations of constructing transition probability matrices (TPMs) for unsecuritized credit products in the trading book. The objective is to create monthly or quarterly TPMs with predefined sectors and ratings that are consistent with the bank's Basel PDs. Constructing a TPM is not a unique process. We highlight various aspects of three types of uncertainties embedded in different construction methods: 1) the available historical data and the bank's rating philosophy; 2) the merger of one-year Basel PD and the chosen Moody's TPMs; and 3) deriving a monthly or quarterly TPM when the generator matrix does not exist. Given the fact that TPMs and specifically their PDs are the most important parameters in IRC, it is our view that banks may need to make discretionary choices regarding their methodology, with uncertainties well understood and managed.


Thirty-eight ill and premature babies with a diagnosis of persistent ductus arteriosus (PDA) are described. All were patients in the Neonatal Unit of Hammersmith Hospital. 16 of them, who were born during a year in which all babies in the Unit were examined repeatedly and specifically for clinical evidence of PDA, have been compared to a control group in respect of sex, gestational age, weight for dates, birth asphyxia, and respiratory distress. It is concluded that PDA in this selected group of babies was significantly associated with female sex and respiratory distress but not with gestational age, weight for dates, or birth asphyxia. Though in these babies clinical evidence of PDA often persisted for several weeks, closure was spontaneous in the great majority. Five babies developed heart failure and 4 of these responded well to medical treatment. It is suggested that in view of the frequency of spontaneous closure there is no indication to administer oxygen-enriched air to premature babies solely for the purpose of encouraging their ductuses to close.


The work deals with the design of functional observers for systems described by Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy models with time delay constant time delay and varying time delay. Two design methods are proposed. The design conditions for a fuzzy functional observer are presented in terms of LMI constraints. The proposed approach has been evaluated using the Yalmip/MATLAB toolbox and Simulink/MATLAB software. Finally, two numerical examples are given to show the feasibility of the proposed approaches.


Endometriosis is a common disorder affecting women of all ages. Although urinary tract involvement is not uncommon, ureteral obstruction is an infrequent complication of endometriosis. A case is reported of acute renal failure caused by bilateral ureteral obstruction resulting from extensive pelvic endometriosis. All reported cases of ureteral endometriosis are reviewed with special emphasis on bilateral ureteral involvement. Physicians need to be aware of this reversible complication of endometriosis.


The solution structure and backbone dynamics of the recombinant potato carboxypeptidase inhibitor (PCI) have been characterized by NMR spectroscopy. The structure, determined on the basis of 497 NOE‐derived distance constraints, is much better defined than the one reported in a previous NMR study, with an average pairwise backbone root‐mean‐square deviation of 0.5 Å for the well‐defined region of the protein, residues 7–37. Many of the side‐chains show now well‐defined conformations, both in the hydrophobic core and on the surface of the protein. Overall, the solution structure of free PCI is similar to the one that it shows in the crystal of the complex with carboxypeptidase A. However, some local differences are observed in regions 15–21 and 27–29. In solution, the six N‐terminal and the two C‐terminal residues are rather flexible, as shown by 15N backbone relaxation measurements. The flexibility of the latter segment may have implications in the binding of the inhibitor by the enzyme. All the remaining residues in the protein are essentially rigid (S2 > 0.8) with the exception of two of them at the end of a short 3/10 helix. Despite the small size of the protein, a number of amide protons are protected from exchange with solvent deuterons. The slowest exchanging protons are those in a small two‐strand β‐sheet. The unfolding free energies, as calculated from the exchange rates of these protons, are around 5 kcal/mol. Other protected amide protons are located in the segment 7–12, adjacent to the β‐sheet. Although these residues are not in an extended conformation in PCI, the equivalent residues in structurally homologous proteins form a third strand of the central β‐sheet. The amide protons in the 3/10 helix are only marginally protected, indicating that they exchange by a local unfolding mechanism, which is consistent with the increase in flexibility shown by some of its residues. Backbone alignment‐based programs for folding recognition, as opposite to disulfide‐bond alignments, reveal new proteins of unrelated sequence and function with a similar structure. Proteins 2003;50:410–422. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Building demolition imposes substantial environmental impacts. In particular, large amount of demolition wastes are disposed to landfills. A solution to ease the situation is to maximally reuse and recycle waste building material. Management philosophies such as Just-in-time are applied into demolition project management in order to promote reuse and recycling of demolition wastes. Transportation logistics, widely applied in the manufacturing industry, is ideal to be adopted into demolition projects to optimise waste material production, inventorying, and transportation. In particular, it enables right types and amounts of dismantled building materials to be transferred to right location, and at right time, as required by material demanders. Consequently, waste reuse and recycling can be facilitated. Furthermore, logistics management helps the demolition project team to reduce cost, shorten project duration, and satisfy material demanders. Transportation planning concerns thorough preparation technically and managerially on the demolition site for transportation activities. Information exchange is playing a significant role in delivering and sharing information among project participants, including building owner, demolition project team, potential material demanders, and transporters. This research paper aims to identify the role of transportation logistics in a building demolition project and to analyse inventory control, transportation, and various technical aspects of logistic management for demolition wastes.


Background : The identification of early stage breast cancers that are at high risk of relapse after apparently curative treatment of the primary tumor would allow tailored adjuvant therapy approaches to prevent relapse. We sought to define whether high-depth targeted sequencing of circulating cell-free plasma DNA could be used to interrogate the genetics of residual micro-metastatic disease (RMD) persisting after neoadjuvant treatment in patients with early stage breast cancer. Methods : In a cohort of 31 patients with early breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy, with no evidence of metastasis at presentation, we collected tumor tissue at baseline with the metastatic relapse if it occurred, and serial plasma samples at baseline, post-surgery, and every 6 months in follow-up. Serial plasma samples were subject to digital PCR mutation tracking to examine for circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). Four patients had ctDNA detectable prior to clinical relapse. Primary tumor-derived DNA (from 4 cases), serial plasma DNA samples (from 4 cases), and metastases derived DNA (from 2 cases) were subjected to massively parallel sequencing (Illumina HiSeq2000) targeting all exons of 273 genes frequently mutated in breast cancers and/ or a custom AmpliSeq cancer panel (IonTorrent). Results : Targeted sequencing revealed the presence of 1 to 20 somatic mutations in the early breast cancers at baseline, including 3 PIK3CA H1047L/R and 2 TP53 pathogenic mutations, all of which were detected in the subsequent plasma DNA samples taken prior to relapse. However, in one case an ESR1 E380Q mutation found in the baseline primary breast cancer was undetectable by targeted sequencing in all 3 subsequent plasma samples and in the metastasis; this mutation could not be identified in the metastasis by digital PCR. In two cases plasma DNA sequencing revealed no additional mutations to those identified in the primary tumor, whereas in the other two cases, plasma DNA targeted capture sequencing revealed divergence in the genetics of RMD. In these cases, 1 and 5 somatic mutations were found in the plasma DNA but were not detected in the respective baseline tumors. In particular, an activating FGFR1 K656E mutation, which was not detected by targeted capture sequencing in the primary breast cancer at 355x sequencing depth, was found at a mutant allele fraction (MAF) of 2.6% in the plasma 12 months post-surgery, and was subsequently detected in the distant metastasis at a MAF of 43.4% by targeted sequencing and digital PCR. Conclusions : Our results provide evidence of clonal shifts in response to neoadjuvant systemic therapy of early breast cancers. In addition, we demonstrate that high-depth targeted capture massively parallel sequencing analysis of plasma ctDNA may help predict the genotype of recurrence prior to the onset of clinically overt metastasis. Citation Format: Charlotte KY Ng, Britta Weigelt, Isaac Garcia-Murillas, Gaia Schiavon, Sarah Hrebien, Rosalind J Cutts, Peter Osin, Ashutosh Nerurkar, Iwanka Kozarewa, Javier Armisen Garrido, Mitch Dowsett, Ian E Smith, Jorge S Reis-Filho, Nicholas C Turner. High-depth sequencing of circulating tumor DNA to interrogate the genetics of residual micro-metastatic disease prior to relapse in early breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-02-01.


Abstract. A singular value decomposition (SVD) program on MATLAB platform was effectively used to handle gravity signals for the Tongshi gold field. Firstly, the gravity signals were decomposed into different eigenimages with the help of singular value decomposition method (SVD). Secondly, the thresholds between the eigenvalues reflecting different layers of ore-controlling factors were established by multi-fractal method. Finally images reflecting different layers of ore-controlling factors were rebuilt. This yielded two layers of two-dimensional singular value images that depict regional and local ore-controlling factors, respectively. 1. The regional ore-controlling factor is a saddle valley with the gravity anomaly values varying from −55 to 51 μm s−2 on the NW trending swell with the gravity anomaly values varying from −55 to 567 μm s−2 on the SW side of the Mesozoic volcanic sedimentary basin with the gravity anomaly values varying from −56 to −974 μm s−2. The saddle valley might be tectonically an extensional area where the Tongshi complex pluton and all gold deposits are located and thus this area is favorable for gold deposits. 2. The local ore-controlling factor is the Tongshi complex pluton with a negative circular gravity anomaly varying from −339 to −11 μm s−2 and the ring contact metasomatic mineralization zone around the Tongshi complex with the positive gravity anomaly varying from 37 to 345 μm s−2. The skarn and porphyry types of gold deposits are located within the complex pluton and the Carlin and cryptobreccia types of gold deposits are located within the contact metasomatic mineralization zone. Thus both of them are potential areas for gold deposits. 3. The Tongshi gold field exhibits a typical complexity with multi-layers of ore-controlling factors.


Background Relapsing polychondritis (RP) is a rare autoimmune disease affected various cartilage, Patients with tracheal cartilage involvement are different from other patients. The objectives of this study were to allocated RP patients into two subgroups by chest computed tomography (CT) and compare the clinical features and disease patterns of each group.Methods A retrospective cohort study collected RP patients hospitalized at the Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital between January 2012 - August 2021. Patients were divided into two groups: respiratory involvement group and non-respiratory involvement group according to chest CT.Results In our study, respiratory involvement found in 59.7% (n=43) patients, which had higher rate of costochondritis, fewer rate of Inflammatory eye disease and auricular chondritis than those in non-respiratory involvement. Compared with non-respiratory involvement subgroup, The incidence of pulmonary infection marginally increased and those inflammatory indexes except for CAR were significantly higher in respiratory involvement subgroup, further subgroup analysis found that there was no significant relationship between inflammatory indexes and pulmonary infection. Finally, 5 patients died during the follow-up in this cohort with a median follow-up time of 6 years (range 3-8 years).Conclusion 59.7% of patients had respiratory involvement according to chest CT findings in our cohort, which had a strong inverse relationship between respiratory and auricular, ocular involvement. Increase inflammatory indexes were not correlated with pulmonary infection, suggesting that patients with respiratory involvement had a higher disease activity index of RP. The probability of survival was not found significant in two subgroups.


In 713 patients 749 catheter-arteriographies of aortic-arch and cerebral vessels were performed using non-ionic contrast media. The patients were examined either with DSA or conventional film techniques. In 80 examinations of 76 patients complications or side-effects were noted, which resolved completely within one hour in 69 cases, showed a duration up to 7 days in 6 cases, and persisted longer than 7 days in 5 patients. Neurological complications were seen in 6.4% of the studies. There was no death. Patients, who received anti-hypertensive drugs before or during angiography and patients with a pathological angiogram had a significantly higher complication-rate. The rising number of patients with atherosclerotic cerebrovascular disease showed an unfavorable effect upon the overall complication-rate. The use of a non-ionic contrast medium did not drastically lower the rate of neurological complications.


Self-assessment is an approach of self-directed learning that gives an autonomy for teachers to prepared their respective professionalism. It comes from the concept of muhasabah by Al-Ghazali aimed to form self-discipline in determining the pattern of life with self-reflect. Bandura through Social Cognitive Theory presents that teacher change arises through the teacher's own self-assessment experience. Teachers' cognitive about their practice is their perception of effectiveness in student learning. Thus, as reflective practitioners, teacher need to perform self-assessment as a process of self-reflection to identify deficiencies and weaknesses in their teaching in terms of knowledge, skill and personality. As mudarris that able to organize his teaching in an instructional manner, practicing self-assessment is the best approach to achieve a teaching objective in the classroom especially in creating the instructional quality of Islamic Education teachers.


Longitudinal data are critical for examining associations of religiosity with sexual behaviors and motivations during college. We use hierarchical linear modeling on five semesters of data from a diverse sample of college students (N = 735) to examine within- and between-person associations between religious service attendance and importance of religion and sexual behaviors and motivations for and against sex and consider gender as a moderator. Between-person religiosity was associated with sexual behaviors and motivations whereas within-person religiosity was not. Students' sexual motivations co-varied across semesters with their religious service attendance and importance of religion. Our results indicated more restrictive associations between religiosity and sexual motivations for women than for men.


The purposes of this research were to verify the personality traits consisting of conscientiousness and agreeableness as personal factors along with job satisfaction and organizational climate as the environmental factors affect organizational commitment, and to compare the organizational commitment of lecturers at one public university in Jambi. A questionnaire was used as a research instrument to collect the data from 140 lecturers. Data were analysed by using descriptive statistics and path analysis to analyse the effects of conscientiousness, agreeableness, job satisfaction and organizational climate on organizational commitment. The results of the study indicated that conscientiousness, agreeableness, job satisfaction had direct effects on organizational commitment, while organizational climate had indirect effects. Additionally, the organizational climate had direct effects on job satisfaction. These findings indicated that personal and environmental factors affected organizational commitment in an organization.


There has been no nationwide investigation into anesthesia quality and patient safety in China. The authors surveyed Chinese anesthesiologists about anesthesia quality by sending a survey to all anesthesiologist members of the New Youth Anesthesia Forum via WeChat. The respondents could choose to use a mobile device or desktop to complete the survey. The overall response rate was 43%. Intraoperative monitoring: 77.9% of respondents reported that electrocardiogram monitoring was routinely applied for all patients; only 55% of the respondents reported that they routinely used end-tidal carbon dioxide monitoring for their patients under general anesthesia. Outcome measurements: 10.3% of respondents admitted that they had at least one wrong medicine administration in the past 3 months; 12.4% reported that they had at least one case of cardiac arrest in the past year. This is the first anesthesia quality survey in China. The findings revealed potential anesthesia safety issues in China.


Ardhāvabheda is a disease that mentioned under the Shiroroga in Ayurveda texts and it can be correlate with migraine in modern medicine. Ardhāvabheda is defined as severe pain in half of the head such as pulsating pain, throbbing pain and appearing in bouts of either fifteen or ten days and without any known cause. Shirsha abhyanga (Head massage) is one of a treatment technique include manipulating soft tissues in the scalp using circular movements to increases circulation and release the tension in head. Therefore, this case study was conduct to evaluate the efficacy of Shirsha abhyanga using Nirgundi oil on Ardhāvabheda for one month. This study was an observational case study carried out in a one patient. The Ardhāvabheda patient was selected from Ayurveda Teaching Hospital, Borella, Sri Lanka, after clinically examined well. Clinical features are recorded using a standard proforma before and after the treatment. The therapeutic effect was evaluated through symptomatic relief and it was mentioned about four symptoms with severity grade and Migraine Disability Assessment Test. After one month of treatment, overall assessment showed improvement of the healthiness of 37.50%. Therefore, this case study showed that, Shirsha Abhayanga using with Nirgundi oil is moderate effective in the management of Ardhāvabheda.


As evolving populations accumulate mutations, the benefits and costs of subsequent mutations change. As fitness increases, the relative benefit of new mutations typically decreases. However, the question remains whether deleterious mutations tend to have larger or smaller costs as a population adapts; theory and experiments provide support for both conflicting hypotheses. To address this question, we compared the effects of insertion mutations in every gene in Escherichia coli between ancestral and 12 independently derived strains after 50,000 generations in a uniform environment. We found both increases and decreases in the fitness costs of mutations, leaving the overall distribution of effects largely unchanged. However, at the extreme, more genes became essential over evolution than vice versa. Both changes in fitness effects and essentiality evolved in parallel across the independent populations, and most changes were not explained by structural variation or altered gene expression. Thus, the macroscopic features of the local fitness landscape remained largely unchanged, even as access to particular evolutionary trajectories changed consistently during adaptation to the experimental environment. One Sentence Summary Limdi et al. report parallel changes in the cost of mutations in replicate lineages of a decades-long E. coli evolution experiment.


Overexpression of metallothioneins (MTs) protects some cells against heavy metals, mutagens, anticancer agents, and reactive oxygen species. We have examined the effect of the loss of MT expression on the cytotoxicity of anticancer agents and mutagens using embryonic fibroblast cells from transgenic mice with targeted disruptions of MT I and II genes (MT -/-). MT -/- cells expressed no detectable MT. Compared to wild type cells, MT -/- cells showed enhanced sensitivity to a 2-h exposure to cisplatin, melphalan, bleomycin, cytarabine, or N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine but were equally sensitive to doxorubicin and neocarzinostatin. Basal expression of the DNA damage-response genes, gadd 45 and gadd 153, were elevated in MT -/- cells compared to MT +/+ cells. Anticancer drug treatment, however, did not produce a greater increase in gadd 45 or gadd 153 expression in MT null cells compared to MT +/+ cells. These results support the hypothesis that endogenous MT levels affect the sensitivity of mammalian cells to mutagens and clinically important anticancer drugs.


: Regular cycling is well-known for its numerous benefits on physiological and mental health. However, cyclists are confronted with numerous other road users with different modes of transport which are more harmful to nature and may be even more dangerous. As yet, there has been no study which focuses jointly on the potential influence of trust and distrust in cars, anxiety, age, and gender in the context of regular outdoor cycling. Consequently, we carried out a questionnaire study and queried 114 participants (60 female (34 cyclists); 54 male (32 cyclists)). We assessed trust and distrust in cars, trait anxiety in a non-clinical context, age, and gender. Our results reveal that cyclists rate distrust in cars with significantly greater values when compared to non-cyclists. Moreover, we found that women assign substantially lower ratings to trust and higher ratings to distrust in cars than men, regardless whether they are cyclists or not. Additionally, women report significantly higher values on anxiety in a non-clinical context. Finally, our results indicate that older people are less likely to engage with regular outdoor cycling. We conclude that female and male cyclists are more critical on distrust in cars than non-cyclists, though they are not more anxious.


Technologies concerning complex transfers of heat, mass and movement quantity are developed in many areas such as the environment and the security. In these technologies, we use a large approach of fluid mechanics. Our approach targets the flows around an obstacle, and in a reactive porous medium. Many industrial processes use the fluid mechanics, the mass and heat transfers or the diffusion of particles and chemical species. The couplings of these transfers phenomena are often badly controlled and require to be analyzed in an analytical, experimental and/ or digital way. The physical model of kinetics adsorption of a gas by a microporous solid, proposed by Mhiri et al, constitutes a base for the comprehension of the mechanism of this phenomenon. This work proposes a physical sense of all terms appearing in this model. In this paper, we underscore the importance of the physical kinetic of gas adsorption by a microporous solid. Using a good choice of pairs, we have determined: the minimal distance from which the interaction forces adsorbate-adsorbent orients the adsorbate molecule to the adsorbent, the existence of a critical temperature and its effect on the relaxation time relative to the adsorbed matter quantity, the underscoring of the adsorbed matter fluctuation in which interval it is active, the determination of the physical meaning of one among the studied values enables to propose a method to determine the interaction force work and to compute it in future works. This paper shows the importance of the model and all the possibilities that allow a deeper study of the mechanism of a gas adsorption by a microporous solid.


Several high temperature superconductor (HTS) tapes have been developed since the late eighties. Due to the new techniques applied for their production, HTS tapes are becoming feasible and practical for many applications. In this work, we present the test results of five commercial HTS tapes from the BSCCO and YBCO families (short samples of 200 mm). We have measured and analyzed their intrinsic and extrinsic properties and compared their behaviors for fault current limiter (FCL) applications. Electrical measurements were performed to determine the critical current and the n value through the V-I relationship under DC and AC magnetic fields. The resistance per unit length was determined as a function of temperature. The magnetic characteristics were analyzed through susceptibility curves as a function of temperature. As transport current generates a magnetic field surrounding the HTS material, the magnetic measurements indicate the magnetic field supported by the tapes under a peak current 1.5 times higher than the critical current, Ic. By pulsed current tests the recovery time and the energy/volume during a current fault were also analyzed. These results are in agreement with the data found in the literature giving the most appropriate performance conductor for a FCL device (Ipeak = 4 kA) to be used in a 220 V-60 Hz grid.


The research Explore one of the important topics that emerged from the contemporary urban development policies, by adding new urban entities within the city fabric, which represented by the urban addition, which appeared at different levels, evolved gradually with different contemporary urban orientations, which began to call in at the beginning of the twentieth century to go back to the inner-city and their historic city centers and addition to it in order to develop. the concept of urban addition crystallized in many literatures that dealt with the relationship between the addition and origin, and the process of creating a new integrated, interactive, and communicative with the existing urban fabric, where the contemporary urban trends varied in its dealings with the Transition joint between the addition and the original by finding the transitions boundaries or dissolves within the fabric according to the value of that existing fabric (the origin), Whether it was historical, ecological, functional, natural, cultural or other values, Accordingly the Research problem defined as;" The Limits of the previous studies which is dealing with the mechanisms of the urban addition and the forces governing the relationship between the addition and origin". To deal with the research problem a theoretical framework has been built for the concept of urban Addition, in general, and the relationship between additive and origin, in particular. The research clarify the variation of additive types to the urban fabric, whether [conservative addition] within the historic fabric that contains a high historical value, or developmental Addition within.modern fabric characterized by the disintegrate and chaos, that you need to be organize through new urban extensions. Development. the relationship between Urban Contemporary : Urban Addition. Key Word


Brillouin spectroscopy was used to study the elastic properties of LiNH4SO4 in the vicinity of the ferroelastic first-order transition occurring at approximately 285 K. Eleven acoustic modes were observed in the temperature range from 273 to 293 K. Their sound velocities and the temperature dependences of the corresponding elastic constants were calculated from the measured frequency shifts. The measured elastic constants exhibited step-like discontinuities at the transition temperature and were interpreted using a symmetry-adapted Landau free-energy expansion. The order parameter for the ferroelectric phase transition at 460 K was chosen to be an infrared-active soft mode; while for the ferroelastic phase transition at 285 K, a two-component soft mode from the X point of the Brillouin zone was chosen. Both of these order parameters are coupled to polarisation and strains.


The study of the distribution of income summarizes a nation's social organization and the outcome of the forces of social change. The measurement of income distribution itself is a type of social score-card which enumerates the resolution of claims by competing groups for the economy's output. As an indication of social justice, the income distribution measures as well the extent to which different groups share in a nation's economic progress.


The delayed effects of acute intoxication by organophosphates (OPs) are poorly understood, and the various experimental animal models often do not take into account species characteristics. The principal biochemical feature of rodents is the presence of carboxylesterase in blood plasma, which is a target for OPs and can greatly distort their specific effects. The present study was designed to investigate the nephrotoxic effects of paraoxon (O,O-diethyl O-(4-nitrophenyl) phosphate, POX) using three models of acute poisoning in outbred Wistar rats. In the first model (M1, POX2x group), POX was administered twice at doses 110 µg/kg and 130 µg/kg subcutaneously, with an interval of 1 h. In the second model (M2, CBPOX group), 1 h prior to POX poisoning at a dose of 130 µg/kg subcutaneously, carboxylesterase activity was pre-inhibited by administration of specific inhibitor cresylbenzodioxaphosphorin oxide (CBDP, 3.3 mg/kg intraperitoneally). In the third model (M3), POX was administered subcutaneously just once at doses of LD16 (241 µg/kg), LD50 (250 µg/kg), and LD84 (259 µg/kg). Animal observation and sampling were performed 1, 3, and 7 days after the exposure. Endogenous creatinine clearance (ECC) decreased in 24 h in the POX2x group (p = 0.011). Glucosuria was observed in rats 24 h after exposure to POX in both M1 and M2 models. After 3 days, an increase in urinary excretion of chondroitin sulfate (CS, p = 0.024) and calbindin (p = 0.006) was observed in rats of the CBPOX group. Morphometric analysis revealed a number of differences most significant for rats in the CBPOX group. Furthermore, there was an increase in the area of the renal corpuscles (p = 0.0006), an increase in the diameter of the lumen of the proximal convoluted tubules (PCT, p = 0.0006), and narrowing of the diameter of the distal tubules (p = 0.001). After 7 days, the diameter of the PCT lumen was still increased in the nephrons of the CBPOX group (p = 0.0009). In the M3 model, histopathological and ultrastructural changes in the kidneys were revealed after the exposure to POX at doses of LD50 and LD84. Over a period from 24 h to 3 days, a significant (p = 0.018) expansion of Bowman's capsule was observed in the kidneys of rats of both the LD50 and LD84 groups. In the epithelium of the proximal tubules, stretching of the basal labyrinth, pycnotic nuclei, and desquamation of microvilli on the apical surface were revealed. In the epithelium of the distal tubules, partial swelling and destruction of mitochondria and pycnotic nuclei was observed, and nuclei were displaced towards the apical surface of cells. After 7 days of the exposure to POX, an increase in the thickness of the glomerular basement membrane (GBM) was observed in the LD50 and LD84 groups (p = 0.019 and 0.026, respectively). Moreover, signs of damage to tubular epithelial cells persisted with blockage of the tubule lumen by cellular detritus and local destruction of the surface of apical cells. Comparison of results from the three models demonstrates that the nephrotoxic effects of POX, evaluated at 1 and 3 days, appear regardless of prior inhibition of carboxylesterase activity.


Data warehousing is the biggest trend in information management today. It is the technology which may finally deliver on a dream pursued by management theorists since the 1960s. In this paper we present the general definition of data warehouse, differences between data warehouse and database management system and some essential principles of data warehouse.