Leukocyte inhibitory factor (LIF) obtained from normal human lymphocytes stimulated by Concanavalin A was characterized by Sephadex gel filtration, disc electrophoresis, isopycnic centrifugation, enzymatic treatment and by immunoabsorbent studies. LIF activity was found after Sephadex G-100 gel filtration in a fraction containing molecules having the size of albumin (68,000 daltons). This is the same region were LIF activity derived from antigen-stimulated lymphocytes has previously been found to elute. On disc gel electrophoresis at pH 9.1, peak LIF activity was eluted from the acrylamide gel fraction containing molecules that migrate with albumin. In isopycnic centrifugation studies, human LIF was shown to have a buoyant density similar to that of pure protein. Human LIF was inactivated by treatment with chymotrypsin but not by neuraminidase treatment. LIF activity could not be removed by incubating the material on columns containing Sepharose 6b coupled with anti-human serum albumin or anti-Fab. The characteristics of human LIF and migration inhibitory factor were compared.


The paper considers the problem of detecting point-like targets in SAR imagery. We review the theory of constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detection, but note that on real SAR images CFAR performance is limited in two respects: Inhomogeneities in the background cause a marked increasing in the false alarm rate. As the target may only subtend a few pixels, we can only reduce the uncertainty introduced by speckle by increasing the size of the background region. We suggest that these problems can be overcome by using segmentation as a method for obtaining optimal background regions and verify this with experiment.


ABSTRACT A growing body of research on calcifying marine invertebrates suggests that ocean acidification will have deleterious effects on development and various physiological processes in these organisms. In laboratory experiments designed to mimic seawater chemistry in future oceans, we examined the effect of pH reduction, driven by the carbon dioxide (CO2) acidification of seawater, on larvae of the red abalone, Haliotis rufescens. Following development under CO2-acidified conditions, we measured 2 indicators of physiological response to low pH in 4 stages of larval development: (1) tolerance of acute thermal challenges and (2) quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction-determined expression of 2 genes involved in shell formation (engrailed and ap24). The results showed that low pH (pH 7.87 vs. pH 8.05 for control treatments) had a significant effect and decreased larval thermal tolerance for some developmental stages (pretorsion and late veliger), but not for others (posttorsion and premetamorphic veligers). In contrast to the thermal tolerance data, decreased pH did not affect the expression pattern of the 2 shell formation genes in any of the abalone larval stages. The results indicate larval stages were differentially sensitive to low pH conditions and this variability may play into the resilience of individual species to withstand environmental change in the longer term.


Documents in rich text corpora such as digital libraries and social media often contain complex information. These data resources are huge in amount, dynamic in nature and contain multifaceted information. This poster presents ChronAtlas, a visual analytic technique for visually exploring topics in multifaceted dynamic data. ChronAtlas simultaneously visualizes the topic distribution of the underlying entities from one facet together with keyword distributions that convey the semantic definition of each cluster along a secondary facet. ChronAtlas combines several visual techniques including 1) topic contour clusters and interactive multifaceted keyword topic rings, 2) a global layout optimization algorithm that aligns each topic cluster with its corresponding keywords, and 3) an optimal temporal network summarization and clustering algorithm that renders evolution trends of clusters.


A number of hypotheses have been presented regarding the origins of the metazoans and, more specifically, the Bilateria. Using various phylogenetic analyses, characteristics have been mapped on phylogenetic trees to infer ancestral body plans and life history strategies of those ancestors. Many arguments on the evolution of the Bilateria are based on the presumed homology of certain characteristics of extant larva and adults, including various ciliated bands involved in feeding and locomotion. This article considers a recent study indicating that the second, downstream-collecting, ciliated band in the veliger larva of the gastropod mollusc, Crepidula fornicata, is actually derived from secondary trochoblasts (derived from second quartet micromeres), that normally form part of the prototrochal band found in other spiralian phyla (Hejnol et al. 2007). Despite previous arguments, these new findings suggest that the second ciliated band in the veliger larva is not homologous to the metatroch found in the trochophore larva of some other spiralians, such as the annelid, Polygordius lacteus. In the latter case, the metatroch was reported to be formed by a different set of lineage precursors (derived from third quartet micromeres) (Woltereck 1904). These findings have important implications for the interpretation of various hypotheses related to the evolution of metazoan phyla.


This note analyzes the asymptotic distribution for instrumental variables regression for panel data when the available instruments are weak. We show that consistency can be established in panel data. JEL classification: C33 Key Words: Weak Instrument; Two Stage Least Squares; Panel Data; Concentration Parameter. Consistent Estimation with Weak Instruments in Panel Data Chihwa Kao , Long Liuy Syracuse University April 20, 2007 Abstract This note analyzes the asymptotic distribution for instrumental variables regression for panel data when the available instruments are weak. We show that consistency can be established in panel data. Key Words: Weak Instrument; Two Stage Least Squares; Panel Data; Concentration Parameter.This note analyzes the asymptotic distribution for instrumental variables regression for panel data when the available instruments are weak. We show that consistency can be established in panel data. Key Words: Weak Instrument; Two Stage Least Squares; Panel Data; Concentration Parameter. 1 Motivation and Results In recent year, economists have been concerned with the problem of weak instruments or partial identi…cation, see Stock, Wright and Yogo (2002) for an excellent survey. Economists found that the …rst stage F statistic in the two stage least squares (2SLS) regression is often low, say, less than 10. In this case, the usual asymptotic normal approximations can be quite poor, even if the number of observations is large. To provide better asymptotic approximations in this case, Staiger and Stock (1997) derive the weak-instrument asymptotics for instrumental variables estimators. Staiger and Stock show that the 2SLS is inconsistent (i.e., converges to a random variable) and has a nonstandard limiting distribution. In this note we study the asymptotics of 2SLS with weak instruments in panel models. We show that the consistency of 2SLS can be established in panel data. We use (n; T ) seq ! 1 to denote the sequential limit, i.e., n!1 followed by T !1. Consider the following panel linear IV regression model with a single endogenous regressor


Vitamin D has been known to have anticarcinogenic properties include effects on cell proliferation and differentiation. Several studies have found a link between vitamin D deficiency and cancer mortality. This analysis was aimed at studying the association between vitamin D intake and the prevention of breast cancer. Articles were located through PubMed and Cinhal using the key terms vitamin D and breast cancer. A total of six original articles were selected with results associating vitamin D and breast cancer. Overall there was association between vitamin D intake in high amounts and decreased risk of breast cancer. However, most studies had low vitamin D intake and inconsistent findings. In conclusion, there is a slight trend towards decreased breast cancer risk and vitamin D intake. However more research needs to be conducted in the form of randomized controlled trials to develop better vitamin D dosage guidelines. Running Head: Vitamin D And Risk Reduction of Breast Cancer 4


We study the "suicide" phenomena as well as metabolic pathways of mixed acids (methyl red test, MR) and butylene glycol (Voges-Proskauer, VP), in 107 strains belonging to mesophilic Aeromonas group, isolated from stools. The strains have been identified as A. hydrophila, 28 cases (26.1%), A. sobria 26 cases (24.3%) and A. caviae 53 cases (49.6%). All A. caviae strains behave homogeneously as F+, RM+ and VP-, independently of temperature (30 or 37 degrees C). A. hydrophila strains only showed their trend to "suicide" at 37 degrees C, being this behavior linked to RM test positivity. At 30 degrees C all strains were NS and RM-, keeping always positive the VP test (both temperatures). In A. sobria we have recorded changes in their behavior related to the temperature of incubation. At 37 degrees C, 57.7% were NS, whereas at 30 degrees C, 69.2% showed the same phenotype. The metabolic activity had remained stable, therefore F+ strains were VP and RM+, and NS strains were VP+ and RM-. It seems that FS is a phenotypic behavior of this bacterial group species and temperature-dependent, and also is related to a fermentative metabolic activity modulation of each of them.


In present review article are considered methods of preparation of microdispersed colloid silver nanoparticles and scopes of its practical application in nanoindustry, bionanotechnology, medicine and allied industries, including water processing and water purification. The mechanisms of bactericidal influence of colloid silver on a microbic cell are considered from the point of view of absorptive, electrostatic, enzyme and mutagen theories. Silver exerts both bactericidal and bacteriostatic effect against more than 500 species of microorganisms. Effect of bacterial destruction by silver drugs is 1,500 times more than the same concentration of phenol and 3,5 times more than the action of mercuric chloride. It is shown that effects of colloid silver are defined by concentration, the sizes of microdispersed nanoparticles and their stabolity in warer solutions, which are being prepared by means of various physico-chemical, biochemical and biotechnological methods.


With the aim of designing more aesthetic prosthetic replacements, a series of experiments was conducted to obtain the points of reference for determining the postures (sitting and standing postures) and horizontal reference plane when patients assume the natural head position. The results thus obtained are as follows: 1. Measuring points in the sitting and standing postures were located about 15.0mm below the orbital point respectively. 2. The natural head position tended to shift upward significantly more frequently in the standing posture than in the sitting posture. 3. The natural head position in the standing posture varied less and was more restorable than in the sitting posture. 4. Between the three reference points in both postures, there was no significant difference in the degree of variation, but measurements based on the inner canthus of the eye showed the least variance. 5. In the standing posture, the measurements based on the inner canthus of the eye showed a little, but significant, variance from the measurements based on the three reference points in the sitting posture. From the above, it can be said that the point 25.6mm below the inner canthus of the eye, which was the average of the measurements taken in the standing posture, may be appropriate for use the anterior point of reference for transferring the natural head position onto the articulator.


In this paper, we identify when and why migrant gig workers experience liminality in the socio-spatial context of food delivery in the Swedish gig economy. We analyse qualitative interviews and informal conversations with food delivery workers in Stockholm through the lens of the territory-place-scale-network (TPSN) framework as developed by Bob Jessop, Neil Brenner and Martin Jones. We find that workers are challenged to deal with triple liminality regarding their work identities, workplaces and work organisation through platforms. Focusing on liminality as a central aspect of gig work, we further find that despite having little worker agency, some of the study participants engage in what we call liminal agency, that is actively pursuing possibilities for progress in uncertain states of in-betweenness. By unpacking the liminal dynamics that especially migrant food delivery riders are confronted with in their daily working lives, this study contributes to the debate on the migrant gig economy, the spatial turn in organisation studies and efforts from human geography to understand agency in precarious gig work.


Abstract The assembly system under consideration is composed with several machines, and some of these machines may be identical or able to perform the same operations. The manufacturing system is fully automated, and semi-finished products or components are not stored during the process. A limited flexibility exists since the manufacturing times can be extended within certain limits at the expense of the unavailability of the resource. There are no conflicts between the resources; in other words, the same machine is not used to perform different operations for a same product. Due to the intensity of the flow of products to be manufactured, it is not allowed to reschedule products that have been previously scheduled. Thus, when a new product requirement arrives in the system, we have to take advantage of the idle time windows. The goal is to complete the product as soon as possible. We give a real-time scheduling algorithm which guarantees an optimal makespan to any product which arrives in the assembly system. A numerical example is provided to illustrate this approach.


In this work, selected properties of metallic and oxide thin films based on titanium and cobalt were described. Thin-film coatings were prepared using the magnetron sputtering method. The deposition was carried out from sintered targets with different Co-content (2 at.%, 12 at.% and 50 at.%). The relation between the Ti–Co target composition and the Co-content in the metallic and oxide films was examined. There was 15–20% more cobalt in the films than in the target. Moreover, the deposition rate under neutral conditions (in Ar plasma) was even 10-times higher compared to oxidizing Ar:O2 (70:30) plasma. A comprehensive analysis of the structural properties (performed with GIXRD and SEM) revealed the amorphous nature of (Ti,Co)Ox coatings, regardless of the cobalt content in the coating. The fine-grained, homogenous microstructure was observed, where cracks and voids were identified only for films with high Co-content. Optical studies have shown that these films were well transparent (60% ÷ 80%), and the amount of cobalt in the target from which they were sputtered had a significant impact on the decrease in the transparency level, the slight shift of the absorption edge position (from 279 nm to 289 nm) as well as the decrease in their optical band gap energy (from 3.13 eV to 1.71 eV). Electrical studies have shown that in (Ti,Co)Ox thin films, a unipolar memristive-like effect can be observed. The occurrence of such effects has not been reported so far in the case of TiO2 coatings with the addition of Co.


INTRODUCTION
Many studies have shown that smoking is lower in patients with Parkinson s disease. However, in other investigations this was not observed. The various studies involved showed wide variation with regard to methodology, criteria for diagnosis and periods of observation and hence it is difficult to compare them.

DEVELOPMENT
The first studies published were designed to examine the effects of smoking in general and information was obtained regarding the possible disorders related to tobacco smoking according to the records of mortality, which may contain errors due to selective mortality and mistaken diagnosis. Most of the studies of cases and controls included prevalent cases which accepted the study, mainly hospital cases. Also it is probable that the prevalent cases of Parkinson s disease do not smoke because of their disorders of movement.

CONCLUSIONS
Many researchers have found important information about the pathophysiology of Parkinson s disease and its association with smoking. However, the hypothesis regarding the association between smoking and low risk of Parkinson s disease are various and independent, apart from the hypothesis of a truly biological mechanisms. Since the subject is still controversial, systematic reviews together with epidemiological and experimental studies are necessary.


To determine the visual results of conservative (non- surgical) therapy, we reviewed all our patients with genetic ectopia lentis, with and without Marfan's Syndrome. Of these patients, 50% had significant permanent (or potentially so) ametropic functional amblyopia (visual acuity 20/50 to 20/200) in spite of good conservative management. This was especially true (100%) if the amount of lens dislocation was such that the lens edge was approaching the center of the pupil (vision still primarily phakic). The worst amblyopia was noted when the lens was still covering the visual axis and the lens edge was 1.3 mm from the center of the pupil (range of 0.3 to 2.3 mm). With regard to the most serious complication of ectopia lentis and its treatment, retinal detachment, when it occurred in our patients it was more strongly related to axial high myopia than surgery, per se. Since the axial high myopia which characteristically develops in ectopia lentis is probably the result of the amblyopia or the amblyopiagenic optics of ectopia lentis, lentectomy may be indicated early in this condition, before the axial high myopia develops, to prevent both axial high myopia and the attendant risks of retinal detachment as well as functional amblyopia. If the refractive error cannot be corrected well and the resultant ametropic amblyopia does not respond to conservative management, early surgery should be considered. If the lens is subluxated so that the edge of the lens approaches to within 0.3 to 2.3 mm of the center of the pupil (with best correctable vision still phakic), this is highly probable.


The impact on the global economy of the financial services meltdown in 2008 and the resulting "Great Recession" can only be described as far reaching. All industries, including the legal services industry, were affected, with the pressures for cost containment causing profound disruption and changes in virtually every segment of the legal services market.In the wake of the Great Recession, corporate legal departments saw intensified pressure not only to do more with less, but also to experiment with new approaches for acquiring and delivering legal services. This dynamic, in turn, affected large law firms dramatically, with clients now sending less work to them and placing greater constraints on how that work gets done and billed for. In turn, law firms have undergone significant consolidation and have tightened their hiring practices dramatically.Law schools, who train the lawyers of the future, likewise felt the impact. With reduced law firm hiring, law school graduates saw reduced demand for their services, all while tuitions and debt levels continued to rise. Law school applications, not surprisingly, plummeted.In the face of (and because of) these changes, certain segments of the legal services industry continue to grow. Alternative legal service providers, such as eDiscovery vendors and Legal Process Outsourcers ("LPOs"), have prospered during this period, as have Legal Operations groups within corporate legal departments.


Libraries serve as cornerstones to healthy and engaged communities, which in turn feeds to a healthy and engaged society, but housed within the walls of these institutions of information are invisible barriers that further perpetuate the schisms that divide and suppress society, specifically when it comes to the LGBTQI+ community. Nowhere is this more evident than in the children's department of US public libraries. Picture books make up a large portion of the book market, yet queer books and characters are near non-existent. The few that do make it to the shelves are almost always challenged or banned and are near impossible to find as irrelevant and misleading subject headings are used for cataloguing. Enraged citizens have taken it upon themselves to write, illustrate and publish their own queer books for children, however due to lack of professional know-how, sub-par books are released which mimic the second-class status of the queer community.

Information professionals can champion for inclusive and positive subject headings, host events such as Drag Queen Story Hour and help parents and care givers read queerness into the text. A look at current programs and libraries that are engaged along with best practices are offered to empower and encourage information professionals, specifically those that work with children and youth. A staff that feels confident in providing spaces, collections and events that encompass the LGBTQ community will increase their social capital and strengthen their relationship with the community as a whole.


Hexavalent chromium (Cr [VI]) genotoxicity was studied using fish micronucleus analysis in peripheral blood erythrocytes from Pimephales promelas, the fathead minnow. Forty‐five‐ to 60‐d‐old fish were used to assess the spontaneous level of genotoxic damage. The genotoxic effect of Cr (VI) obtained from potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) in tests performed for 7‐, 14‐, and 21‐d exposure periods was estimated. Significant micronucleated erythrocyte (MNE) induction was detected in fish exposed for 7 d to 2.5 mg/L of Cr (VI), and induction decreased after 21 d of exposure. The results suggest a handling effect in fish manipulated compared to those not manipulated, thus demonstrating the importance of including parallel negative controls in experimental design. Basal levels of MNE are reported, providing laboratory values for future assay quality control. The importance of determining the period with the highest expression of the genotoxic effects in this assay system was also confirmed.


Enosseous oral implants have been suggested as anchorage for orthodontic appliances in cases where the existing dentition cannot provide sufficient stability. Long-term studies of oral implants have suggested that excessive loading may contribute as an etiologic factor in the pathogenesis of failing implants. The purpose of the present study was to perform a histomorphometric analysis of tissue reactions around implants subjected to a well-defined force system. The analysis was performed on undecalcified sections cut perpendicularly to the long axis of the implant. The degree of osseointegration, bone density at varying distances from the implant as well as the relative extent of resorption and formation of alveolar bone adjacent to the implant-bone interface were evaluated. The results were correlated with the local strain of the tissue estimated by the means of a finite element analysis. It was found that loading significantly influenced both the turnover and the density of the alveolar bone in the proximity of the implants. However, even unloaded implants tended to maintain the bone characteristics of the alveolar process. On the other hand, the degree of osseointegration appeared to be independent of the loading of the implant.


The potential of DNA barcoding was tested as a system for studying genetic diversity and genetic traceability in bean germplasm. This technique was applied to several pure lines of Phaseolus vulgaris L. belonging to wild, domesticated, and cultivated common beans, along with some accessions of Phaseolus coccineus L., Phaseolus lunatus L., and Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. A multilocus approach was exploited using three chloroplast genic regions (rbcL, trnL, and matK), four intergenic spacers (rpoB-trnC, atpBrbcL, trnT-trnL, and psbA-trnH), and nuclear ITS1 and ITS2 rDNA sequences. Our main goals were to identify the markers and SNPs that show the best discriminant power at the variety level in common bean germplasm, to examine two methods (tree based versus character based) for biodiversity analysis and traceability assays, and to evaluate the overall utility of chloroplast DNA barcodes for reconstructing the origins of modern Italian varieties. Our results indicate that the neighbor-joining method is a powerful approach for comparing genetic diversity within plant species, but it is relatively uninformative for the genetic traceability of plant varieties. In contrast, the character-based method was able to identify several distinct haplotypes over all target regions corresponding to Mesoamerican or Andean accessions; Italian accessions originated from both gene pools. On the whole, our findings raise some concerns about the use of DNA barcoding for intraspecific genetic diversity studies in common beans and highlights its limitations for resolving genetic relationships between landraces and varieties.


Individuals living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) today are living longer, thanks to expanded access to antiretroviral therapy (ART); however, this population is therefore increasingly at risk for many age-associated comorbidities. The future health of people living with HIV will therefore depend on the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), with consideration for integrated approaches to screening and treatment becoming increasingly important. This analysis applies a hybrid simulation of HIV and NCDs to examine the impact of providing screening and treatment for hypertension and diabetes at HIV facilities in Nairobi, Kenya. We combine a compartmental model of the HIV epidemic at a population level with a microsimulation of cardiovascular disease (CVD), and explore the impact of various strategies for targeting eligible individuals on ART, by age and gender, to receive NCD screening and treatment.


Economic incentives encourage malware authors to constantly develop new, increasingly complex malware to steal sensitive data or blackmail individuals and companies into paying large ransoms. In 2017, the worldwide economic impact of cyberattacks is estimated to be between 445 and 600 billion USD, or 0.8% of global GDP. Traditionally, one of the approaches used to defend against malware is network traffic analysis, which relies on network data to detect the presence of potentially malicious software. However, to keep up with increasing network speeds and amount of traffic, network analysis is generally limited to work on aggregated network data, which is traditionally challenging and yields mixed results. In this paper we present MalPhase, a system that was designed to cope with the limitations of aggregated flows. MalPhase features a multi-phase pipeline for malware detection, type and family classification. The use of an extended set of network flow features and a simultaneous multi-tier architecture facilitates a performance improvement for deep learning models, making them able to detect malicious flows (>98% F1) and categorize them to a respective malware type (>93% F1) and family (>91% F1). Furthermore, the use of robust features and denoising autoencoders allows MalPhase to perform well on samples with varying amounts of benign traffic mixed in. Finally, MalPhase detects unseen malware samples with performance comparable to that of known samples, even when interlaced with benign flows to reflect realistic network environments.


The Arctic region appears to be affected more intensely by Earth's changing climate than other regions in the Northern hemisphere. Iceland is located on the boundary between subArctic and Arctic zones and is affected by the atmospheric systems and ocean currents from both of these zones. Iceland is an area which is likely to be affected by the climate changedriven impact characteristic of both the Arctic and temperate zones. Arctic charr (Salvelinus Alpinus) in lake Thingvallavatn, Iceland features four pronounced morphs. One of these, the Large Benthic charr (LB charr) spawns between July and September (peaking in early August) which is unusually early for Arctic charr and the maintenance of a healthy population may depend heavily on conditions at a single spawning ground. Pressures driven by climate change and human presence are likely to affect spawning sites, hence it is necessary to establish a baseline for collecting data on the activity of the fish at the spawning-site in order to track potential effects of environmental changes over extended periods of time. Clear water and the fact that spawning takes place during daylight hours made filming of mating behaviour relatively easy. Stationing modern lightweight cameras close to redds (fish nests) allowed us to gather continuous data on mating behaviour and spawning at several redds. The data gathered from video footages was directed at the following questions; i) does male density at redds change with time and if so, how? ii) is the density of males different between redds? iii) Do female and male aggression levels differ among redds? and iv) is the aggression rate at redds dependent on male density? The results suggest that density of fish at redds is dynamic and tend to fluctuate over time. Over the studied redds, the number of fish (including females) at any moment (30 second interval snapshots) ranged from 0 to 7. Female and male aggression frequencies differed significantly (p<0.05) among redds. Data for high densities was too limited to allow any firm conclusion about the effect of density on aggression but there is some indication that aggression rates peak at densities between two and three individuals per redd. Documentary films and videos are excellent media for communicating scientific findings both to the scientific community and the broader public. A comprehensive documentary on the reproductive behaviour of the LB charr was made 30 years ago by divers at the same location. Here a new documentary film was made using footages from stationary and handheld cameras. The narrative forms the last part of this thesis.


ABSTRACT All morphogens of the Hedgehog (Hh) family are synthesized as dual-lipidated proteins, which results in their firm attachment to the surface of the cell in which they were produced. Thus, Hh release into the extracellular space requires accessory protein activities. We suggested previously that the proteolytic removal of N- and C-terminal lipidated peptides (shedding) could be one such activity. More recently, the secreted glycoprotein Scube2 (signal peptide, cubulin domain, epidermal-growth-factor-like protein 2) was also implicated in the release of Shh from the cell membrane. This activity strictly depended on the CUB domains of Scube2, which derive their name from the complement serine proteases and from bone morphogenetic protein-1/tolloid metalloproteinases (C1r/C1s, Uegf and Bmp1). CUB domains function as regulators of proteolytic activity in these proteins. This suggested that sheddases and Scube2 might cooperate in Shh release. Here, we confirm that sheddases and Scube2 act cooperatively to increase the pool of soluble bioactive Shh, and that Scube2-dependent morphogen release is unequivocally linked to the proteolytic processing of lipidated Shh termini, resulting in truncated soluble Shh. Thus, Scube2 proteins act as protease enhancers in this setting, revealing newly identified Scube2 functions in Hh signaling regulation.


The right not to be prosecuted and the (non)existence of a remedy. The aim of the contribution is to point out the relevance of the constitutional right not to be prosecuted without the existence of a legal reason, from which the principle of criminal prosecution for legal reasons (and in a legal manner) derives, and which also deserves preference over other principles of criminal procedure. The principle in question contains the redundant term "accused" for decades, until the Czech legislator removed this term from the principle in the past, thereby achieving compliance with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the Czech Republic. In addition to the fact that the contested term is misleading with reference to the doctrine of positive state obligation arising implicitly from the Constitution of the Slovak Republic and international treaties to which the Slovak Republic is bound. At the same time, the legislator overlooks the normative meaning (de lege ferenda) of the basic principle of criminal procedure. It follows from the decision-making activity of the ECHR that it chose the material concept of the term "accusation", since its applicability is connected with the moment of official notification to a specific person that he is suspected of a crime. A legal definition of this time-nonexistent term "suspect" in the criminal code would contribute, among other things, to legal certainty. A fortiori is the significant fact that the Slovak legislator refused the possibility of filing an appeal against the resolution to initiate criminal prosecution, which undoubtedly represents a serious interference with basic human rights.


The International HapMap Project provides a key resource of genotypic data on human lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from four major world populations of European, African, Chinese and Japanese ancestry for researchers to associate with various phenotypic data to find genes affecting health, disease and response to drugs. Recently, the HapMap resource has significantly benefited research areas such as gene expression variation studies. Besides some intrinsic limitations, there are a few challenges that should be considered in the next wave of research using this tremendous resource. We suggest that overcoming these challenges or considering the confounding variables in the interpretation of results can provide more insights into the current views of the human genome as well as complex traits such as drug response variation and susceptibility to common diseases.


Herbal medicines play an increasingly important role in the perception of physicians and patients looking for equally effective, albeit safer approaches to conventional management of certain diseases. The controversy surrounding effective management regimes for respiratory tract infections (RTI) has made many healthcare providers reconsider current therapeutic strategies.
This review presenting the available evidence from clinical trials and non-interventional studies on the safety and tolerability profile of EPs 7630 is based on publications and study reports of 29 clinical trials and post-marketing surveillance studies completed by February 2010. It includes study data from 10,026 adults and children suffering from acute or chronic RTI such as acute tonsillopharyngitis, rhinopharyngitis, sinusitis, bronchitis, or COPD and from 31 healthy subjects.
In 19 double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, the type and incidence rate of adverse events under EPs 7630 were similar to those in patients treated with placebo. For gastrointestinal complaints and epistaxis, event rate differences of 2.9% and of 0.6% against EPs 7630 were determined; hypersensitivity reactions and all other system groups showed rate differences <0.5%. For liver associated events, rate differences of 0.0% for all events and of 0.1% for potentially related events were observed. Patients treated with EPs 7630 did not exhibit increased liver enzyme or bilirubin values – neither in terms of a shift in the mean, nor according to individual deviations from the reference ranges. These findings were fully supported by the data from the post-marketing surveillance studies reviewed.
EPs 7630 appears to be a well-tolerated herbal medicine in the management of RTI in adults and children alike. Evidence for hepatotoxic effects in humans during routine administration was neither provided in the literature, nor by our own analyses.


From Marie Bienkowski's review : "Upon first encountering Etienne Wenger's book, "Artificial Intelligence and Tutoring Systems: Computational and Cognitive Approaches to the Communication of Knowledge," I assumed that it was the sort of book that would serve only as a reference. To find out about the EXCHECK tutoring system, I would just look it up in the exhaustive subject index. To see what tutoring work Beverly Woolf had done, I would look up her name in the author index. But, upon further examination, Wenger's book was revealed to be a good introductory text, first laying out basic issues in Chapters 1 and 2, then covering systems from SCHOLAR and SOPHIE to GUIDON and ACTP in Chapters 3 through 13. Each review chapter ends with a summary and an excellent set of bibliographic notes, further reinforcing the utility of the book as a reference and introduction to the field. In addition, it became clear that the book had another facet. As John Seely Brown and James Greeno point out in the introduction, "... this book is no mere catalog of programs and techniques... he has also laid out a provocative framework for analyzing and comparing intelligent tutoring systems." This framework is presented in Chapters 14 through 20. Thus, Wenger's book serves three purposes: it acts as a reference, it provides a comprehensive introduction to intelligent tutoring systems, and it develops a coherent framework for thinking about issues in any intelligent system that must communicate its knowledge." (http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1059726)


PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of spiral CT and MRI in patients with bladder tumor.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
In this study, patients with suspected urinary bladder tumor were evaluated by abdominal CT and MRI. This study included 32 patients. In 23 cases, transurethral resection (TUR), and in 9 cases radical cystectomy was performed. Additionally, pelvic lymph node dissection was performed in 9 patients.

RESULTS
According to the pathological results of TUR-performed patients; the accuracy of spiral CT and MRI in preoperative staging of bladder tumors was 41.6% and 83.3%, respectively. The accuracy of spiral CT and MRI in preoperative staging of bladder tumors were 66.6% and 77.7% in patients who underwent radical cystectomy. Pelvic lymph node involvement was evaluated properly with MRI and CT.

CONCLUSION
In the preoperative staging of bladder tumors, MRI is superior to CT. The superiority is more definite especially in early stage tumors.


The process of European economic integration creates conditions of "regulatory competition" that are undermining the problem solving capacity of the nation state in critical areas of social policy. At the same time, effective European solutions are prevented by the high consensus requirements of European decision processes, and by the institutional heterogeneity of European welfare states. There is a danger, therefore, that in the face of acute crises the manifest helplessness of governments at the national and at the European level will undermine the legitimacy of democratic government as it had done in some countries in the Great Depression of the 1930s. The article argues that problems arising from economic integration must mainly be solved at the national level, but that national solutions may be facilitated and strengthened by supportive policy choices at the European level. One way in which this could be achieved is by moderating the excessive zeal of European competition policy in those areas where regulatory competition would severely damage national welfare states. Some moves in that direction can be observed not only in agreements reached at the Amsterdam summit but also in recent decisions by the European Court of Justice and by the Commission. Unfortunately, however, the Amsterdam summit has done nothing to facilitate another promising strategy, coordinated reforms among groups of member states that share similar welfare state institutions. But despite institutional differences, EU member states also seem to share a quantitative commitment to welfare-state policies that finds expression in the very high correlation between a country's wealth and the share of GDP that is spent on social transfers and services. An explicit agreement on minimum levels of social spending should thus be politically feasible, and it would do much to protect member states against the temptations of competitive welfare-state dismantling.


There are two competing models for lower crustal accretion at fast spreading ridges. In the gabbro glacier model, all the lower crust solidifies in a magma lens at the dike/gabbro boundary and then flows to its final level. In the sheeted sill model, the lower crust is formed by sills emplaced at a variety of depths. We present a steady state numerical representation of the sill model that explicitly includes hydrothermal circulation. The crust is accreted uniformly at the ridge axis at all depths and hydrothermal circulation occurs in crustal rocks that have cooled below a threshold temperature. The results show that when the permeability exceeds a threshold value (∼4 × 10−14 m2 for a cracking temperature of 800°C and a uniform permeability), hydrothermal circulation can cool the entire crust near the ridge axis, producing vertical isotherms in the lower crust. At lower permeabilities, the properties of seawater lead to bimodal cooling with the lowermost crust cooling more slowly than shallower depths. These results are reasonably consistent with studies of the seismic structure of the East Pacific Rise and of plagioclase crystal size distributions in gabbros from Oman. We infer that the sheeted sill model cannot be discarded on thermal grounds.


Today, augmented reality is evolving towards sophisticated approaches exploiting the opportunities offered by immersive environments and high quality 3D graphics. Such systems can prove to be very useful in the context of education, especially when learning involves reading and writing activities. However, the majority of existing systems relies on touch-based interaction, or on interaction with proprietary technological artifacts. This paper presents an approach to enhancing reading and writing on physical books through smart augmentation. It is based on the intuitive and unobtrusive monitoring of students gestures during reading and writing activities through cameras, facilitating context - aware content sensitive assistance without requiring any special interaction device.


Background: Scientific and technical progress are unstoppable. Nowadays, information technology affects every sphere of social and economic life. The automation of business processes is a common part of business and accounting practice. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the automation in companies. Regularly occurring transactions, which were performed manually before, are gradually being replaced by information technology and automatic robotic systems. The companies fully use cloud storages, artificial intelligence, or blockchain technologies. Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to identify areas and possibilities for improvement of business and accounting processes with use of information technologies, digitalization, and automation. Methodology: For the purpose of the paper, a standard methodology review of literature sources was performed. Then we conducted a brief questionnaire survey in order to find out the level of automation and digitization of business processes in companies in the Slovak Republic. Findings and conclusions: It is expected that, as a result of robotization and automation of business processes, some professions will gradually disappear within a few decades. Even the crisis related to COVID19 pandemic had an impact on the acceleration of using information technologies in business processes related to their digitalization and automation. The paper describes possibilities of automation with focus on e-shop, which make the processes safer, faster, more effective, eco-friendly, with fewer errors. On the other hand, there are some challenges and threats the accounting entities have to consider when implementing artificial intelligence, information technology in their business processes, such as cyber security, the Internet and electricity outages. We have observed that companies in Slovakia have their business processes more or less automated. However, the automation is the domain of bigger and multinational companies. The higher initial costs related to automation are limitation for smaller companies that need to consider benefits and costs the automation requires. Limitations and future research: Our paper is based on the theoretical background with a brief research in the area of implementing information technologies in companies in the Slovak Republic. The number of returned questionnaire surveys that were the base for our brief and initial research was very low. More detailed analysis of level of automation in the Slovak companies in comparison with companies abroad, their readiness for changes related to automation, as well as threats, challenges, pros and cons of automation may be the topic for the future research.


OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to assess risk for developed active tuberculosis in HIV infected IDU oblation and relate with immunodeficiency degree. METHODS Longitudinal follow-up was realized, the period of study was 9 years, in HIV seropositive IDU patients. Control group was HIV seronegative IDU. CD4+ lymphocytes count and cutaneous test (PPd and DHT) were performed at baseline and each three months, them screening from active tuberculosis. RESULTS Study's population was 165 patients and control group was 69. The average age was 26 and 23.8 respectively. The medium follow-up was 25 months. Active tuberculosis was developed in 9.26 cases per one hundred persons and year from follow-up. It was between 4.92 in cases with more than 500 CD4+ lymphocytes and 3.08 for them with lymphocytes between 50 and 200 per mm3. The incidence tests was 3.99 in PPD negative normoergic patients and 15.87 in PPD negative anergic patients. CONCLUSIONS Risk from active tuberculosis was relactioned with latent infection and immunodeficiency degree. We constated high risk in low CD4+ lymphocytes counts; and degrees from DHT let an approach to tuberculosis production mechanism.


The effect of different shrimp chitosan molecular weights as well as shrimp chitosan complexes (chitosan-glucose and chitosan-citric) on the quality characteristics of the stored (at 7°C±2°C and 90% RH) tomato fruits (Lycopersicum esculentum) was investigated. Coating tomatoes with high molecular weight chitosan (H.M.C.G) significantly improved firmness and weight loss. The lowest weight loss was found in high molecular weight chitosan-glucose (H.M.C.G) treatment followed by the fruits coated with high molecular weight chitosan (HMC) and then uncoated tomato fruits. Both molecular weights was clear on retarding the total acidity loss especially for stored tomato fruit coated with low molecular weight chitosan, while control tomatoes exhibited a larger reduction (p ≤ 0.05) in total acidity over storage. Meanwhile, the increasing of cold storage time significantly (p ≥ 0.05) increased the pH in all uncoated and coated tomatoes. Generally, no significant (P > 0.05) difference was observed in pH, titratable acidity and total soluble solids (T.S.S.) as well as sensory attributes among the tomato fruits coated with chitosan, chitosan citric and chitosan glucose. Meanwhile, the fruits coated with low molecular weight chitosan had a higher (p ≥ 0.05) T.S.S. compared with that coated by the high molecular weight chitosan.


Spontaneous emission and gain measurements in GaAlAs single quantum well lasers are presented. The gain is derived from the spontaneous emission detected through an opening in the top metallic contact of the lasers. Excitonic effects are seen in the gain (absorption) spectra for low carrier densities, and the step‐like nature of the two‐dimensional density of states is evident. From the gain spectra, refractive index changes are derived via a Kramers–Kronig transformation, and this is used to evaluate the linewidth enhancement factor as a function of photon energy.


The relationship between nutrition and economic development is discussed, it illustrates that nutrition is not only the consequence of economic development, but also as one of the motive power, playing important role in economic development. The authors reviewed the scientific insight of the impact of malnutrition on disease prevalence, mental development, adult physical capability and productivity. Data on nutrition status of population in the poor areas and the analysis on the risk of chronic disease poverty population facing to are presented. In order to protect the health of the poor, and to guarantee the physical efficiency and productivity of the current labor force in poor areas, and to provide a mentally and physically well developed manpower for the future economy, the authors appeal to the policy-makers to integrate nutrition component into poverty alleviation program. Several low cost and effective approaches for nutrition improvement are listed.


Planning has historically been used as a tool to regulate queer people in urban space and parades have long been a vibrant, yet overlooked, practice for resisting such municipal regulation—although parades themselves require spatial planning practices. We analyze the 50-year history of the Los Angeles Pride parade through archival materials, asking to what extent and how the historical planning of LA Pride demonstrates a radical planning praxis, especially in relation to policing. We find that LA Pride was initially (a) a ritual of remembrance and (b) a political organizing device. In contrast to heteronormative readings of Pride as an opportunity to "come out" and transform the "straight state," we argue that the early years of Pride demonstrated intersectional and insurgent planning wherein heterogeneous queer people claimed agency through collectively expressing joy as an act of resistance to municipal governance. Based on theories of Black joy and the feminist killjoy, we conceptualize this experience as a "spatialized queer joy." This concept is particularly germane given ongoing debates regarding the relationship between queer and BIPOC urban life and policing. We suggest that spatialized queer joy complicates conventional readings of Pride and queer urban space, offering instead powerful tools for radical queer planning praxis.


It is established that the feeding of cattle with the mineral-ammonium preparation MP-15 during fattening improves digestibility of main nutrients and assimilability of food nitrogen, which results in a 25.6% rise in the animals performance with the fooder consumption decreased down to 20%.


This paper studies some neoplatonic aspects which are detectable in the love poetry of the Spanish Golden Age, particularly in two sonnets of Juan de Tasis y Peralta, Conde de Villamediana (c. 1582-1622).


Robert Frost stood at the intersection of nineteenth-century romanticism and twentieth-century modernism and made both his own. Frost adapted the genteel values and techniques of nineteenth-century poetry, but Barron argues that it was his commitment to realism that gave him popular as well as scholarly appeal and created his enduring legacy. This highly researched consideration of Frost investigates early innovative poetry that was published in popular magazines from 1894 to 1915 and reveals a voice of dissent that anticipated "The New Poetry" - a voice that would come to dominate American poetry as few others have.


ABSTRACT Purpose: To investigate long-term ocular deviation in patients who had undergone implantation of a monofocal intraocular lens (IOL) in both eyes. Methods: Eighty-eight patients with exophoria (average age, 68 ± 8 years; average axial length, 23.9 ± 0.9 mm) scheduled for bilateral phacoemulsification and monofocal IOL implantation were recruited. Before surgery and at 1, 3, and 6 months and 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years after surgery, we assessed ocular deviation near stereopsis in patients wearing their normal spectacles. Results: At 5 years after surgery, near stereopsis had a median value of 50 arcsec and the mean stereopsis was 85.8 ± 101.8 arcsec; 85 patients (85%) had good stereopsis (ie, ≥100 arcsec). Of the total patients, 12.5% shifted from exophoria to intermittent strabismus or exotropia at near vision, and near stereopsis decreased. Most of them had a preoperative near exophoria angle of more than 12 prism diopters. Conclusion: In bilaterally pseudophakic patients with a near exophoria angle of more than 12 prism diopters, we should be concerned about the possibility of variations in ocular deviation and stereopsis after cataract surgery.


The aim of this study was to investigate the antiadiposity effect of bitter melon seed oil (BMSO), which is rich in the cis-9, trans-11, trans-13 isomer of conjugated linolenic acid. In Expt. 1, C57BL/6J mice were fed a butter-based, high-fat diet [HB; 29% butter + 1% soybean oil (SBO)] for 10 wk to induce obesity. They then continued to receive that diet or were switched to an SBO-based, high-fat diet alone (HS; 30% SBO) or containing bitter melon seed oil (BMSO) (HBM; 15% SBO + 15% BMSO) for 5 wk. The body fat percentage was significantly lower in mice fed the HBM diet (21%), but not the HS diet, compared with mice fed the HB diet. In Expt. 2, mice were fed an SBO-based, high-fat diet containing 0 (HS), 5 (LBM), 10 (MBM), or 15% (HBM) BMSO for 10 wk. In the LBM, MBM, and HBM groups, the body fat percentage was significantly lower by 32, 35, and 65%, respectively, compared with the HS control. The reduction in the HBM group was significantly greater than that in the LBM or MBM group. BMSO administration increased phosphorylation of acetyl-CoA carboxylase, cAMP-activated protein kinase (PKA), and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 in the white adipose tissue (WAT), suggesting that PKA and leptin signaling might be involved in the BMSO-mediated reduction in lipogenesis and increase in thermogenesis and lipolysis. However, compared with the HS control, the HBM group had a significantly higher TNFα concentration in the WAT accompanied by TUNEL-positive nuclei. We conclude that BMSO is effective in attenuating body fat accumulation through mechanisms associated with PKA activation and programmed cell death in the WAT, but safety concerns need to be carefully addressed.


Bananas (Matooke) are a common food crop in Uganda, generating vast agricultural waste during preparation. In this study, banana peels, which had adequate starch remaining in them, were used to process the vinegar. A sharp stainless steel knife was used to cut the banana peels into smaller pieces and these were boiled to gelatinize the starch. The extract was separated from the boiled mass via a muslin-cheese cloth, and fermented by adding wine yeast (VIN13) in a 10 liter jerry-can, fitted with an air lock. A muslin-cheese cloth was then used to separate the extract from the boiled mass. A laboratoryscale 20 liter fermenter was used to produce the wine vinegar by surface culture acetification. This resulted in banana wine vinegar whose properties comply with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements for vinegar.


Transmission electron microscopy of thin sectioned cells of the honeybee spiroplasma BC3 revealed evidence of a helically twisted ribbon closely associated with the cytoplasmic surface of the plasma membrane. The cellular distribution of p55-ftbril protein as demonstrated by immunogold staining with anti-p55 antibody was consistent with the presence of p55 in this ribbon. We conclude that spiroplasma fibrils are arranged in a single helically twisted ribbon rather than forming a contractile sheath or branched axial fibre. Immunogold staining with anti-p25-spiralin antibody confirmed that this protein is localized in the plasma membrane and also showed that it occurs in ixtracellular strands. These strands may be antigenically distinct from the integral form of the protein.


Abstract Goals of international social work internships include greater cross-cultural sensitivity, professional growth, increased awareness of the impact of culture on the helping process, and a greater degree of intercultural adaptability, however, purposeful preparation is required to these desired goals. Therefore, a US BSW program developed a semester-long pre-departure class for students preparing to complete international internships. Theories of intercultural development and cross-cultural competence shaped the curriculum to help students increase self-awareness and critical reflection on their home culture; develop an understanding of cultural values about helping and social work as a profession in the destination country; and learn practical aspects of international travel and living abroad. Utilizing a non-randomized comparison group, significant differences were found on the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory.


In my researches in the field of media religion and culture, I have made extensive comparative analyses of the Catholic and Pentecostal churches in Nigeria and their different communication strategies. This paper highlights the appropriation of the new information and communication technologies by these two Christian denominations in Nigeria. Special attention is paid to the Catholic Church, because, unlike the Pentecostal denominations which see media technologies as an extension of the church pulpit, the Catholic Church has generally exhibited a somewhat cold attitude towards these instruments of mass communication. This attitude goes back to the advent of cinema which the Church's hierarchy then saw as having the potential of corrupting faith and moral. The Catholic Church has remained largely a print-based Church, investing most of her communication energy in the print media and in oral catechism. But in recent years, this negative attitude of the Church has started to change. Of all the technologies of mass communication, none has been so instantly accepted and embraced by the Catholic Church as the new information and communication technologies. Using the Mater Cyberworld, (a cyber-cafe founded by the Ahiara Mbaise Catholic Diocese in Eastern Nigeria), as a case, this paper highlights some distinctive characteristics of the Catholic Church's involvement in the new information and communication technologies. The analysis shows that this media appropriation is one of the means through which the Catholic Church establishes a strong presence in the Nigerian socio-political sphere.


Background Nasal obstruction is considered a risk factor for sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), although the relationship has not been established clearly. This study explores the repercussion of total nasal packing on arterial oxygen saturation during the nocturnal resting hours and its implication in SDB. Methods Forty patients were subjected to total nasal packing after nasal surgery or epistaxis. In all cases the oxygen desaturation index (ODI) was monitored with and without nasal packs, and the results were compared. Results Thirty-seven patients (92.5%) showed poorer oxygen saturation after nasal occlusion. Of these, 19 patients (47.5%) reached pathological desaturation (ODI ≥ 12). Desaturation was greater among obese subjects. Conclusion Total nasal packing causes significant nocturnal oxygen desaturation. This must be taken into account in the postoperative nasal packing of patients with respiratory failure, obesity, or SDB.


Diseases caused by bacterial contamination are common causes of human illness. Different bacterial strains are responsible for different types of diseases. There are more than 4,900 different strains so far have been discovered. That is why it is impractical to start the treatment of diseases caused by bacterial attacks without diagnosing the particular strain that caused the diseases. The traditional method of bacterial strain classification from the specimens is still widely used in microbiological practice for clinical application. However, it s a time-consuming process and requires well-trained, experienced microbiologists. This paper proposes a computer-aided artificial intelligent-based automatic bacterial strain classification method that is faster than traditional methods and a potentially better alternative. We designed, optimized, and experimented with a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to automatically classify bacterial strains from the digital images of the bacterial strains captured using an SC30 camera from an Olympus CX31 Upright Biological Microscope. The proposed network classifies the bacterial strains with 95.12% accuracy, 96.01% precision, 96.70% recall, and 4.88% error rate. This paper uses an innovative image augmentation method to overcome the limitation of the number of training images. The proposed network performs better than similar approaches regarding classification accuracy and network simplicity.


Abstract Wild-type proteasomes of human erythrocytes and the archaeon Thermoplasma acidophilum compete with each other for transport into nuclei of digitonin-permeabilized HeLa cells in the presence of an energy-regenerating system and rabbit reticulocyte lysate. 'NLS'-mutated Thermoplasma proteasomes were also able to compete with human proteasomes in the same assay, although with lower efficiency. Furthermore, in contrast to the other archaeal and bacterial cell lysates tested, the Thermoplasma cytosol efficiently supported nuclear import of human and Thermoplasma proteasomes. However, the same lysate could barely direct the nuclear transport of BSA-NLSSV40 peptide conjugates or the classical NLS-bearing protein, nucleoplasmin. Finally, additional importin α/β significantly decreased the import efficiency of both human and Thermoplasma proteasomes. Taken together, these results suggest that nuclear import of proteasomes may use a novel pathway that is different from that of classical NLS-bearing proteins.


Neuroinflammation, an intrinsic immune response of the nervous system, is important in an early phase of Alzheimer Disease (AD) pathogenesis. However, it is largely unclear how neuroinflammation promotes the clinical progression of AD. Extracellular water edema (ECW) from Neuro‐inflammation imaging (NII), a diffusion‐based MRI approach for neuroinflammation, has been utilized to asses white matter (WM) neuroinflammation in AD. This study aims to investigate the relationship between WM neuroinflammation and longitudinal cognitive changes in AD.


The human exposure to diverse endocrine‐disrupting chemicals (EDCs) has increased dramatically over several decades with very adverse health effects. Plasticizers and flame retardants constitute important classes of EDCs interfering in endocrine physiology including the thyroid function. Thyroxine (T4) is an important hormone regulating metabolism and playing key roles in developmental processes. In this study, six phthalate and nonphthalate plasticizers and one flame retardant (BDE‐153) were subjected to structural binding against thyroxine‐binding globulin (TBG). The aim was to understand their potential role in thyroid dysfunction using structural binding approach. The structural study was performed using Schrodinger's induced fit docking, followed by binding energy estimations of ligands and the molecular interaction analysis between the ligands and the amino acid residues in the TBG ligand‐binding pocket. The results indicated that all the compounds packed tightly into the TBG ligand‐binding pocket with similar binding pattern to that of TBG native ligand, T4. A high majority of TBG interacting amino acid residues for ligands showed commonality with native ligand, T4. The estimated binding energy values were highest for BDE‐153 followed by nonphthalate plasticizer, DINCH, with values comparable with native ligand, T4. The estimated binding energy values of other plasticizers DEHP, DEHT, DEHA, ATBC, and TOTM were less than DINCH. In conclusion, the tight docking conformations, amino acid interactions, and binding energy values of the most of the indicated ligands were comparable with TBG native ligand, T4, suggesting their potential for thyroid dysfunction. The results revealed highest potential thyroid disruptive action for BDE‐153 and DINCH.


One of the key problems in planning and control of redundant robots is the fast generation of controls when multiple tasks and constraints need to be satisfied. In the literature, this problem is classically solved by multi-task prioritized approaches, where the priority of each task is determined by a weight function, describing the task strict/soft priority. In this paper, we propose to leverage machine learning techniques to learn the temporal profiles of the task priorities, represented as parametrized weight functions: we automatically determine their parameters through a stochastic optimization procedure. We show the effectiveness of the proposed method on a simulated 7 DOF Kuka LWR and both a simulated and a real Kinova Jaco arm. We compare the performance of our approach to a state-of-the-art method based on soft task prioritization, where the task weights are typically hand-tuned.


We address the problem of learning Proportionally Fair (PF) allocations in parallel server systems with unknown service rates. We provide the first algorithms, to our knowledge, for learning such allocations with sub-linear regret.


With the rapid development of mobile Internet information technology, automated search text has occupied a leading position in many industries. This article not only makes a detailed case study on the basic working principles of text feature extraction and classification methods but also makes in-depth case analysis on the extraction algorithm and its basic concepts as well as some problems that may be encountered in text feature classification and explained their advantages and disadvantages in detail. Aiming at the shortcomings of various algorithms, a sparse Bayesian probability model is proposed, so that it can better meet the requirements of database and text classification and further improve related technologies. Nowadays, the evaluation of China's goodwill value, whether in theory or in practice, usually simply adopts traditional fixed asset evaluation methods. However, traditional methods have the disadvantages of ignoring comparisons with the same industry and failing to take into account different factors that affect corporate goodwill. This article adopts a new method that combines traditional methods to evaluate goodwill and tries to improve the results obtained by this traditional method to make the evaluation results more accurate. Then, by studying the adaptability of traditional Chinese risk assessment and forecasting models, a comprehensive comparison is made. Aiming at the embarrassing situation that the current methods of corporate excess asset return risk assessment difficult to predict in practice, the new gray factors evaluation models are creatively studied.


In recent years, the U.S. Marine Corps has begun developing an infrastructure for applying agent-based models and simulation, computing power, and data analysis and visualization technologies to help answer complex questions in military operations. Factor screening approaches are of particular interest, since even relatively simple agent-based models may have hundreds (or even thousands) of inputs that can be varied. We describe a new experimental design, called a frequency-based design, which can be used for exploring the behavior of terminating simulations. We apply this to a model of a peace-enforcement operation. We examine the behavior of four performance measures (including two attrition ratios) and discuss how the results confirm and complement earlier findings. We conclude with a brief discussion of issues that merit further investigation.


Several studies describe very high prevalence rates of infection and disease of hepatitis B and D within Native American population. This is a review of what has been described among Amerindians of Brazilian Amazon. Some groups show low prevalence rates of HBsAg, whereas, others of the same region reveal high endemic pattern, even among individuals less then 10 years of age. HDV is only found in groups of Amazonas province. Transmission may occur by interfamilial dissemination or sexual contact among young adults. Socio-cultural, genetic, and ecological factors are described as determinants of this unique pattern. Nevertheless, the origin of these two viruses is yet to be disclosed. Amerindians population and their genetic memory are a live experiment, which demands a broad investigation, weighting with modern tools, as molecular biology, the influence of historical, genetic, medical and anthropological factors.


Cancer immunotherapy attempts to exploit the capability of the immune system to attack malignant cells. Recent results suggest that clinical responses in patients point to this new mechanism as potentially beneficial in harnessing the immune system for combating established malignancies. These checkpoint-related immunotherapies rely on engaging a subset of T cells in anti-tumor immune responses. BiTE® (Bi-specific T cell engager) represents a distinct modality that directly engages any T cell and a specific antigen expressing tumor cell. The approach offers the advantage of engaging T cells and patient tumor cells that differentially express a specific cell surface antigen. The specificity confers redirected tumor cell killing and recent clinical data with the BiTE blinatumomab show evidence of clinical remissions. The characteristics of a suitable BiTE with the benefit of CD3 mediated T cell recognition and articulation of tumor specific antigens combined in this therapeutic modality is described here.


IP address lookup is a multifaceted problem because of increasing routing table sizes, increased traffic, higher speed links, and the migration to 128 bit IPv6 addresses. Routers bring into play the packet's destination address to determine for each packet the next hop. IP address lookup is complicated because it requires a longest matching prefix search. We propose a CREW based multiprocessor organization lookup (CMOL) that uses contemporaneous sorting and searching. This technique further uses N+1-ary search to speedup the address lookup operations. Since multiple processors are used, the prefixes to be compared are reduced for each processor. The number of comparisons for each processor is reduced by a factor of n/N. The time complexity of searching and sorting has been reduced to O(logN+1(N+1)). The use of controlled prefix expansion further reduces the storage space


Supervisory control lines used in the remote or automatic control of electric plants are subject to overvoltages dangerous to insulation and to operators. These overvoltages may be caused by lightning, crosses with the power lines, or induction from them. Open wire control lines are influenced by all of these, cables with grounded sheaths are immune to disturbances caused by lightning or other electrostatic induction, and are more or less safe from crosses. However, the ordinary cable is still subject to high voltages by electromagnetic induction when a fault occurs on the power line. These voltages may be dangerous not only to apparatus, but also to the cable insulation. Protection by means of lightning arresters is therefore necessary. Calculations show that even if the apparatus locations are protected, high voltages may occur along the line if the transmission line fault is between stations. This may cause a cable failure. It may, therefore, be advisable to protect the cable at certain intervals. Supervisory control protectors may be called upon to discharge heavy currents of appreciable duration. This requires extremely sturdy arresters. The requirements are met by a spark-gap of special design in argon at a reduced pressure. Specially made cables will shield the line against extraneous disturbances. In large installations, the use of such cables may be worthy of consideration.


A servo-voltmeter can provide a useful alternative to the d.c. amplifier or vibrating reed electrometer for the accurate measurement of mass spectrometer ion currents, and has some advantages which recommend its use in certain applications. A generalized analysis based on servomechanism theory is presented as an aid for understanding the design criteria for this type of device. Two existing systems are described and their operation and performance are examined.


Despite decades of investigation and millions of dollars spent, the cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) eludes researchers. It is timely therefore to reconsider the reasons for this failure and to explore how research might go forward with better prospects. This review assesses SIDS research in the context of clinicopathological and epidemiological features and determines that only infection attains congruence.


We hereby report a rapid, simple, and one pot synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) using conductive, electroactive and biodegradable poly(amic)acid (PAA) polymer as both the reductant and the stabilizer. The synthesized AgNPs and AuNPs were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy. UV-vis spectra exhibit major peaks at 440 and 535 nm for AgNPs and AuNPs, respectively. The XRD patterns revealed four diffraction peaks at 38.12°, 44.07°, 64.27°, and 77.22° that can be indexed to the (111), (200), (220), and (311) planes of face-centered cubic (fcc) silver crystallites, respectively. The size of the crystallites along the [111] direction was estimated to be 4.2 ± 0.5 nm, which is in agreement with the TEM result. The effect of temperature on the formation of AgNPs in the presence of PAA was investigated and found to be significant at 100 °C, resulting in a silver–polyamic acid nanocomposite without altering the fcc crystal pattern. The prepared AuNPs and AgNPs were found to exhibit catalytic activity towards 4-nitrophenol and methylene blue with a rate constant of 5.2 × 10−3 s−1 and 1.09 × 10−2 s−1, respectively. Finally, the synthesized AgNPs exhibit excellent antibacterial activity against Gram negative (E. coli DH5 Alpha, E. coli 25922, Aeromonas hydrophila and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and Gram positive (Listeria monocytogenes strains F2365 and HCC7 and S. epidermidis) bacteria in addition to modest cytotoxicity against non-cancerous immortalized IEC-6 and cancerous Caco-2 cell lines.


Definitions, history, resources, origin, and use of mineral and thermal waters in Poland are discussed. Mineral and some thermal waters have been used on the present territory of Poland for therapeutic purposes probably since the Roman times and accord- ing to documents since medieval ages. Nowadays, different types of mineral and thermal waters are exploited in a number of Spas for therapeutic purposes, whereas in some other areas thermal waters are exploited for recreation and heating purposes. Their occur- rences, origin, chemical types, legal aspects of exploitation, potential vulnerability and bottling are presented.


Service Registries form a core component of Services Computing. They have been successful in enabling loose coupling among services by storing, managing and exposing interface descriptions of available services in a standard description language. However, existing service registries fall short of fulfilling the promise of enabling automatic service discovery and invocation and usually are tied to a particular web service technology. We present RegSOP that uses a novel approach of utilizing behavioral descriptions of available services as the basis for registering and discovering services. Behavioral descriptions can be classified and made available to the programmer at development time without committing to any particular service instance or underlying web service technology. Further, RegSOP computes different relationships among service behavior and automatically builds an ontology of service behavior. RegSOP, therefore, reduces the discovery process at runtime to a quick lookup of service classname. We present the design and implementation of RegSOP and report our evaluation of its capabilities.


Background Depression may be associated with cognitive decline in elderly people with impaired cognition. Aims To investigate whether depressed elderly people with normal cognition are at increased risk of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. Methods Two independent samples of older people with normal cognition were selected from the community-based Amsterdam Study of the Elderly (AMSTEL) and the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA). In AMSTEL, depression was assessed by means of the Geriatric Mental State Schedule. Clinical diagnoses of incident Alzheimer's disease were made using a two-step procedure. In LASA, depression was assessed with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Cognitive decline was defined as a drop of ⩾ 3 on the Mini-Mental State Examination at follow-up. Results Both in the AMSTEL and the LASA sample, depression was associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decline, respectively, but only in subjects with higher levels of education. Conclusions In a subgroup of more highly educated elderly people, depression may be an early manifestation of Alzheimer's disease before cognitive symptoms become apparent.


We introduce Dynamic Constrained Grid (DCGrid), a hierarchical and adaptive grid structure for fluid simulation combined with a scheme for effectively managing the grid adaptations. DCGrid is designed to be implemented on the GPU and used in high-performance simulations. Specifically, it allows us to efficiently vary and adjust the grid resolution across the spatial domain and to rapidly evaluate local stencils and individual cells in a GPU implementation. A special feature of DCGrid is that the control of the grid adaption is modeled as an optimization under a constraint on the maximum available memory, which addresses the memory limitations in GPU-based simulation. To further advance the use of DCGrid in high-performance simulations, we complement DCGrid with an efficient scheme for approximating collisions between fluids and static solids on cells with different resolutions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of DCGrid for smoke flows and complex cloud simulations in which terrain-atmosphere interaction requires working with cells of varying resolution and rapidly changing conditions. Finally, we compare the performance of DCGrid to that of alternative adaptive grid structures.


Cichos and colleagues (1) describe applying the process of lean to surgical trays at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. Through a consensus process, three surgeons in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery identified the least number of instruments required for mediastinoscopy, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, robotic thoracic surgery and thoracotomy, achieving reductions of 75%, 62%, 61% and 44%, respectively.


Hospitals and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) face increasing pressure to improve care coordination and reduce unnecessary readmissions. One strategy to accomplish this is to share physicians and advanced practice clinicians, so that the same providers see patients in both settings. Using 2008-16 Medicare claims, we found that as SNFs moved increasingly toward using SNF specialists, there was a steady decline in the number of facilities sharing medical providers and in the proportion of SNF primary care delivered by provider practices with both hospital and SNF clinicians (hospital-SNF practices). In SNF fixed effects analyses, we found that SNFs that increased primary care visits by hospital-SNF practices had slightly fewer readmissions, shorter lengths-of-stay, and increased successful community discharges. These findings suggest that SNFs that share medical providers with hospitals may see some benefit from that linkage, although the magnitude of the benefit may be small.


© 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: The aim of this paper is to move away from the focus upon the drivers of diversity to consider the drivers of inclusion in the workplace. The research outlined addresses this by considering the views of all employees, not just those who would be considered members of minority groups. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on an extensive set of case study data from a range of methodological sources. The case study is of a major high street retailer. Findings: Findings focus upon what leads to employees feeling included in the workplace. In addressing this we explore both the drivers of, and barriers to, inclusion. We argue that inclusion is complex and that individuals may feel included by some aspects of organisational culture whilst simultaneously feeling excluded by others. Practical implications: The implications of our results for HR practitioners are that organisations need to pay attention to general HR policies as ways of enhancing inclusion, for example development practices, but also pay attention to the different needs of diverse groups. Originality/value: The paper is original in that in recognising that equality, diversity and inclusion are all closely related, we demonstrate that an understanding of the effectiveness of diversity strategies needs to be fundamentally informed by a consideration of inclusion which can only occur through an engagement with employee's understandings of organisational culture and their place or otherwise within it. Without this employee engagement, many well-intentioned diversity initiatives may go awry. Moreover, the value of the research is that it demonstrates that in order to be successful an inclusion strategy needs to embrace both minority and majority perspectives.


Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. Objective: To understand the relationships between traumatic brain injury (TBI), blood biomarkers, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and postconcussive syndrome symptoms. Design: Cross-sectional cohort study using multivariate analyses. Participants: One hundred nine military personnel and veterans, both with and without a history of TBI. Main Measures: PTSD Checklist–Civilian Version (PCL-C); Neurobehavioral Symptom Inventory (NSI); Ohio State University TBI Identification Method; Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9); Simoa-measured concentrations of tau, amyloid-beta (Aβ) 40, Aβ42, and neurofilament light (NFL). Results: Controlling for age, sex, time since last injury (TSLI), and antianxiety/depression medication use, NFL was trending toward being significantly elevated in participants who had sustained 3 or more TBIs compared with those who had sustained 1 or 2 TBIs. Within the TBI group, partial correlations that controlled for age, sex, TSLI, and antianxiety/depression medication use showed that tau concentrations were significantly correlated with greater symptom severity, as measured with the NSI, PCL, and PHQ-9. Conclusions: Elevations in tau are associated with symptom severity after TBI, while NFL levels are elevated in those with a history of repetitive TBIs and in military personnel and veterans. This study shows the utility of measuring biomarkers chronically postinjury. Furthermore, there is a critical need for studies of biomarkers longitudinally following TBI.


The fluctuation-dissipative theorem and frequency moments for quadratic functions of the reaction of a dense plasma in a constant magnetic field to an electromagnetic field are considered. The frequency moments of the corresponding correlation functions are studied. A model approach is proposed to calculate quadratic reaction functions that determine nonlinear phenomena caused by the quadratic interaction of electromagnetic waves in a dense charged medium (Coulomb systems, plasma) in a constant magnetic field. Keywords: dense plasma, nonlinear fluctuation-dissipative theorem, quadratic reaction functions, nonlinear phenomena.


The aim of this study was to assess knowledge, attitudes and practices of undergraduate students with respect to STIs and preventive behaviours. An interview schedule was used to gather information from a cross section of 279 undergraduates from Mumbai. Study results indicate that the majority of undergraduates had a low to moderate level of STI knowledge while HIV related knowledge was found to be much better. Boys showed relatively more acceptance for people with STI while girls expressed more negative feelings. Students majoring in science performed better than other students on all aspects except of knowledge but showed negative attitudes and poor practices. Majority of the students confessed to have had multiple sexual partners and experienced their first sexual activity below 15 years of age. Most students were unaware of ICT centres. Students also expressed their need for communication with their parents and the educational institute. To conclude, students' knowledge about STIs was found to be incomplete. There are major concerns regarding students' preventive sexual practices. Due to focus on HIV-AIDS campaign, other STIs seem to have been neglected, which clearly reflects in the study results. Introduction The age group of 19 to 24 years is often called as the 'generation of hope'. It plays a vital role for the present as well as future health status of a nation. This is because the behaviours, attitudes and beliefs of these youth are shaping the societies of the future and their health is an important determinant of the nation's productivity. India is on the fast-track to become the HIV capital of Asia. Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in general, and among young population in particular, are of paramount concern as they are the 'silent killers'. According to the World Health Organization (WHO); Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Development (CAH), "the highest reported rates of STIs are found among people between 15 and 24 years; up to 60% of the new infections and half of all sero-positive people globally are in this age group". This particular statistics becomes even more alarming considering the fact that diseases like Gonorrhoea, Chlamydia and Herpes show an ice-berg phenomenon and therefore go virtually undetected. Reproductive health of young adults has to be recognised as a vital prerequisite for fulfilling our commitment towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Thus, it is essential to evaluate the level of awareness regarding STIs in the population. Recognizing this growing need for reproductive health, the Government of India initiated Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) program in 1997-98. This program has a long history and has its roots in the population policy of India. Inevitably, it is highly targeted towards pregnant women and contraception for adults. This program is widely criticised for not giving much attention to the needs of the adolescent population. Young adulthood is an age at which decisions are taken on whims and unless provided with appropriate knowledge, their chances of engaging in risky sexual behaviour become high. Many studies have shown that this behaviour is influenced by determinants like age, gender, level and stream of education, socio-economic status, etc. In India, a study was done by Jaya and Michelle Hindin in Delhi (583 males and 475 females). They observed that in spite of restrictive social norms, youth in India engage in multiple premarital romantic and sexual partnerships. Moreover, gender disparity exists since males are more likely to form such partnerships while women are seen to be forced into sexual activities. It is interesting to note that poor knowledge and risky practices related to STIs are a universal phenomenon in the young adulthood. A closer look at the literature reveals that differences exist in the kinds of misconceptions depending on the cultural norms and beliefs. Sexual behaviour also differs in various regions. Deviations in the number of partners or in sexual mixing patterns have been noted most commonly. Others have claimed that STI prevalence directly affects the rate of transmission of HIV. But WebmedCentral > Research articles Page 2 of 18 WMC004166 Downloaded from http://www.webmedcentral.com on 27-Mar-2013, 06:49:21 AM overall, the poor state of affairs regarding the knowledge, attitudes and practices about STIs and related matters have been similar. This is exemplified by two studies, one in China and the other in Albania. The Chinese study reported that boys express more acceptance and positive attitudes towards people with HIV and AIDS than girls. The Albanian study on 729 undergraduates showed that the knowledge about STIs was less in females and the parental background was found to be an important determinant of students' knowledge. In Indian society, it is seen that STIs are widely associated with social stigma, embarrassment and denial. Sexuality, and associated health risks are still a major taboo. This is especially true for young adults. While their rights and needs may be acknowledged in theory, in practice they are still confronted with many barriers when it comes to obtaining practical support. An expression of their unmet needs is the low level of knowledge and many appalling misconceptions about STIs and their treatment. A study done by Pramik et al in New Delhi on 186 middle-class students from high-schools reported that adolescents with greater exposure to HIV/AIDS information demonstrated significantly greater knowledge. But this also led to the expression of stigmatizing attitude towards the infected individuals. Another study by Ganguli et al was performed in colleges of Nasik, Maharashtra. They observed that though students were aware of the risks of sexual promiscuity but the other routes of transmission were not known, particularly among the students of Arts. Some misconceptions regarding modes of transmission were observed among few students (kissing, sharing utensils/personal items, using common swimming pools and insect bite spread infection). Attitude towards HIV-AIDS patients were not sympathetic. Apart from this, overall knowledge of Science students was better compared to that of the Commerce and Arts students. Thus in India, the educational background seems to play a role with regards to knowledge and attitude towards STIs. Gender disparity is another critical issue in STI prevention and care. Gender-based inequalities put girls and young women at increased risk of acquiring STIs. A study in this context by Dhar and McManus found that knowledge among women about preventive practices is much worse than expected. The study performed on 251 female students from two senior secondary schools of New Delhi, concluded that misconceptions are widespread about the role of OC pills in preventing HIV-AIDS. In addressing these inequalities, it is important to consider the differences in needs and constraints of young women and young men, and to design interventions accordingly. If these individuals lack adequate information regarding STI knowledge and behaviour, they are at the risk of being hit hard by the HIV pandemic. Mumbai has seen rapid changes in socio-economic characteristics in the last 20 years. Along with these, the population dynamics have changed, which has created a new set of public health problems. The youth of Mumbai are now at a greater health risk than ever before. According to National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), most young people in Mumbai become sexually active during adolescence. In the past few years, there has been a debate over how best to sensitize our youth before they engage in sexual union. But unfortunately, all the decisions taken and policies made have been heavily reliant on the decision-makers' point-of-view. The needs and beliefs of the target beneficiaries (i.e., the youth) has not been given due consideration. This means that there is potential hazard of failure of STIs preventive measures. The data from CMIS of NACO shows that utilization of ICTCs by young people is low in Mumbai. Thus, in order to reach out to the youth in a way which is acceptable to them, it is important to understand their perspectives, attitudes, knowledge and behaviours. This study aims to do exactly the same. Methodology This research is a cross-sectional study analysed by quantitative methods.


A case of a patient with large cell pulmonary carcinoma is presented. Being inoperable, the patient was treated at first with multiple drug chemotherapy and the result was the disappearance of the pulmonary lesions. The unusual favourable therapeutic response and the protocols of polychemotherapy used are discussed.


Duck was one of animal protein resources which still has a low hatchability rate. There were Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella sp .bacteria on hatch egg that can influence mortality of embryos. The objective of the research was to investigate the potential of Mun tingia calabura leaf extract as natural antibacteria on the hatchability and embryos mortality of duck's egg. The research method was field experiment by completely randomized design with five treatments and four replications: P0 (without treatment), A0 (chemical antibacteria), P1(10% of Mun tingia calabura leaf extract), P2 (20% of Mun tingia calabura leaf extract) and P3 (30% of Mun tingia calabura leaf extract). These research used four hundred eggs and semi automatical machine for 28 days. Data were analyzed using one–way Anova. The results showed that Mun tingia calabura leaf extract has a very significant effect (P<0,01) on hatchability and embryos mortality. The best treatment was found on 20% of Mun tingiacalabura leaf extract which increased 12,01% ofhatchability and decreased 43,42% of mortality rate. Keywords: Mun tingia calabura , antibacteria, hatchability, embryos mortality


This study investigates the difference in the effect of magnetized water on accelerating the transport of nutrients in sandy soils and on their absorption by citrus fruits [1]. The response of the fruits to irrigation with magnetized water was estimated for three successive seasons. The results showed the effect of magnetized water on the mobility of nutrients in the root zone, which differed significantly from the element to another according to the element's ability to be magnetized . The increase in the extraction of elements from the soil as a result of magnetization was the highest possible for iron, iron extraction reached 9 times the amount of extraction in the normal case from one piece of land . Zinc increased 5 times [2], phosphorous increased 3 times and the increase in manganese was only 80%.In any case, the leaves content of manganese showed the maximum increase of this element and zinc came after it in the second place, while the content of iron in the leaves was the lowest . The leaf content of phosphorous was tripled, and for potassium the increase was significant, while for nitrogen it was not affected by magnetized water . The amount of fruits reached its maximum when the water moved to a distance of 600 meters after the magnetization device on the other hand, the magnetization device stopped causing significant changes on the water that travels for a distance of more than 700 meters [3].


Herein, we report the direct selective C-H lactonization of fatty acids (C5-C16), catalyzed by manganese(II) complexes bearing bis-amino-bis-pyridine ligands. The catalyst system uses the environmentally benign hydrogen peroxide as oxidant and exhibits high efficiency (100-200 TON), providing under optimized conditions γ-lactones in 60-90% yields. Remarkably, by changing the reaction conditions, the oxidation of hexanoic acid can be diverted toward formation of δ-caprolactone in up to 67% yield. Furthermore, the possibility of obtaining (ω-1)-hydroxy derivatives from linear C7-C10 acids in up to 48% yields has been demonstrated.


We describe some persistant problems in software infrastructure encountered by scientists and engineers working in application domains requiring extensive computer simulation and modeling. These problems may be mitigated by use of a Problem Solving Environment. We argue that such a Problem Solving Environment can best be implemented using a component-based approach.


The mitochondrial ADP/ATP translocator, also called adenine nucleotide translocase (ANT), is synthesized in plants with an N-terminal extension which is cleaved upon import into mitochondria. In contrast, the homologous proteins of mammals or fungi do not contain such a transient amino terminal presequence. To investigate whether the N-terminal extension is needed for correct intracellular sorting in vivo, translational fusions were constructed of the translocator cDNA--with and without presequence--with the beta-glucuronidase (gus) reporter gene. The distribution of reporter enzymatic activity in the subcellular compartments of transgenic plants and transformed yeast cells was subsequently analysed. The results show that: (i) the plant translocator presequence is not necessary for the correct localization of the ANT to the mitochondria; (ii) the mitochondrial targeting information contained in the mature part of the protein is sufficient to overcome, to some extent, the presence of plastid transit peptides; and (iii) the presequence alone is not able to target a passenger protein to mitochondria in vivo.