This paper analyses employment trends and addresses the problem of creating decent and productive employment in the non-agricultural sector during the first decade of the new millennium. Its primary interest is to examine the transition in employment from informal employment in unorganized sector towards formal employment in non-agricultural organized sector. There has been a slight structural shift in employment away from agriculture towards non-manufacturing sector. An interesting dimension about this transformation is the rising employment in enterprises employing 20 or more workers and a decline in employment in enterprises employing less than 6 workers. The second half of the decade (characterised by high growth rate) witnessed a decline in employment in the manufacturing sector, despite the economy achieving an unprecedently high growth rate, while there was stagnation in service sector employment. With the rise in participation in education (in particular female education), it is most likely that larger number of educated youth, especially women, will be joining the labour force in future years, and given the fact that the highest open unemployment rate is among educated youth, this calls for more pro-active policies (going beyond "National Manufacturing Policy") towards employment creation in organized manufacturing and service sectors.


The appropriate dose and the ability of exogenous ACTH to mimic the physiological effects of a real stressor need to be determined. In Exp. 1, 25 pregnant Brahman heifers were injected i.v. with either 0 (saline), .125, .25, .5, or 1 i.u. of ACTH/kg BW. Plasma cortisol was determined in blood samples collected during a 5-h period, and an integrated cortisol response was calculated for each cow. The greater the dose of ACTH, the greater was the integrated cortisol response (P < .001). However, peak plasma cortisol in response to the four doses of ACTH did not differ (P > .6). The plasma cortisol concentrations returned to baseline more slowly in those cows receiving the greater doses of ACTH, making their integrated areas of response greater. In Exp. 2, pregnant Brahman cows were either transported 48 km (n = 28), injected with 1 i.u. of ACTH/kg BW (n = 21), or served as shams (n = 28). Each treatment was repeated at 60, 80, 100, 120, and 140 d of gestation. Shrink was greater for the transported cows than for either the ACTH-treated or sham cows, 14.3, 6.0, and 5.2 kg (P < .001). Shrink also decreased in response to each subsequent application of treatment for all three treatment groups (P < .001). Transported cows had lower plasma cortisol concentrations after the first two applications of treatments (P < .006). The range of doses of ACTH caused a similar peak cortisol release; however, it took cortisol longer to return to baseline as ACTH dose increased. Repeated administration of exogenous ACTH did not cause the same amount of shrinkage as transportation, and the resultant cortisol concentrations remained consistent for each administration. There was no apparent carryover effect of repeated administration of ACTH at 20-d intervals. Maximal plasma cortisol concentrations in Brahman cattle can be obtained with doses of ACTH much smaller than those traditionally injected. However, larger doses of ACTH maintained plasma cortisol concentrations for a longer duration. Repeated transportation caused a decrease in cortisol release and shrinkage indicative of psychological habituation. Injections of ACTH did not cause the same physiological response as transportation.


In the 1960s and 1970s, geology witnessed an intellectual revolution. Recognition that seafloors spread and continents drift led to plate tectonics. NNight Comes to the Cretaceous addresses a second, still developing revolution—the view that impact cratering and other catastrophes may be the dominant phenomena driving evolution of the biosphere. The specific case analyzed is the hypothesis of the late Nobel laureate physicist Luis Alvarez and his colleagues that the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K-T) mass extinctions resulted from the impact of a 10-km-wide asteroid or comet. Once Alan Hildebrand focused geologists' attentions on the immense Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan, K-T deposits bearing impact signatures were found to be arrayed radially to the crater, itself dated precisely at the K-T age of 65 million years. By the early 1990s, the Alvarez hypothesis was thereby proved, despite protests of a few holdouts, whose scientific sloppiness is repeatedly scorned by this book's author, James Powell, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History.


Objective: To assess the mean platelet volume (MPV) as a short-term follow-up biomarker in celiac disease (CD) and to compare it with anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody (TTGA) assay in Indian children. Material and Methods: Newly diagnosed 35 children aged <12 years who were positive for TTGA and further confirmed by intestinal biopsy with histological Grade 2 and 3 based on modified Marsh Classification were enrolled. TTGA, MPV, and clinical parameters were assessed at enrollment and after 3 months of gluten free diet (GFD). Results: Short stature (94.3%) and diarrhea (80%) were the most common presenting features. 33 (94.3%) children were found to have anemia. MPV reduced significantly from 9.28±1.88 fl to 8.55±1.10 fl after 3 months of GFD, (p<0.001). The mean TTG level reduced from 166.80±59.23 U/ml to 86.45±39.67 U/ml (p<0.001) after 3 months of GFD. Conclusion: MPV is one of the biomarkers that can be used to monitor dietary transgressions in CD in short term.


This chapter describes an initial region-based formalisation of some concepts about neuroanatomy into ontological and epistemic terms, as part of a major effort into the formalisation of the knowledge contained in neuroimages of patients with schizophrenia. The long-term goal is to build an ontology that is a formal basis for the expectations generated from statistical data analysis. To this end, the chapter presents an example of applying this ontology to interpret the results of image-based analysis of neuroimages from schizophrenic patients.


Antibiotics are one of the most important commercially exploited secondary metabolites produced by the bacte- ria and employed in a wide range. Most of the antibiotic producers used today are the soil microbes. Fungal strains and streptomyces members are extensively used in industrial antibiotic production. Bacteria are easy to isolate, culture, main- tain and to improve their strains. Microbes are omni present and exist in a competitive environment. Bacillus species be- ing the predominant soil bacteria because of their resistant endospore formation and production of vital antibiotics like ba- citracin etc. are always found inhibiting the growth of the other organisms. In the present paper a soil bacterium with the antibiotic activity was screened and studied for morphological characters probably providing valuable information about the strain. The inhibitory activity of the organism was checked against some of the important opportunistic microbial flora and inoculated into an appropriate designed media depending on the bacterial requirements, and incubated for 48 hrs at 37 0 C. The produced compound was extracted by solvent extraction and assayed for its activity. Enhancement in the anti- biotic production was studied under various parameters like temperature, pH, carbon source concentration, and sodium ni- trate concentration, probably helping in the industrial production. The extracted substance was found effective against the gram positive endospore forming bacilli and gram positive cocci. Though a large list of antibiotics are known to be com- mercially available, the search for the most potential one is still on, and this work may provide some potential information on the antibiotic production and the control of microbial strains.


There are many situations in which there is a need to monitor the location and behavior of people and/or vehicles in order to detect possible irregularities and control where they are located and how they move, such as in companies, public transportation and public security. In this paper, we present MobCons-AT (Mobility Constraints Authoring Tool), an authoring tool that allows the specification of mobility restrictions rules that must be followed by mobile nodes. Rules are specified through a Domain-Specific Modeling Language (DSML) called MobCons-SL (Mobility Constraints Specification Language). Once specified in MobCons-SL, these rules are automatically transformed into software artifacts that performs the detection of the mobility restrictions violations performed by mobile nodes. This approach allows faster delivery time and lower the cost for the development of software systems aiming the detection of mobility restrictions. This paper also describes the use of MobCons-AT in two case studies, showing its applicability for diverse mobility scenarios.


The purpose of this meta-analysis was to summarize randomized controlled trial (RCT) evidence and evaluate the efficacy and safety of vitamin D (VD) supplementation as an adjunct to antibiotics for the treatment of pneumonia. Data sources published from the inception dates up to January 2020 were searched. RCTs of VD supplementation of any duration, age, and dosing regimen type were eligible for inclusion if data on pneumonia were collected. Thirteen studies (4786 randomized participants) fulfilled eligibility criteria. VD supplementation significantly increased levels of serum 25(OH)D (mean difference = 15.97; 95% CI, 7.49-24.44; P = .002) and reduced incidence of repeat episodes of pneumonia (risk ratio [RR] = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.50-0.93; P = .02). Subgroup analysis revealed VD supplementation had more reducing effects on repeat episodes of pneumonia among participants in trials in which the population were children (RR = 0.66; 95% CI, 0.48-0.90), duration <3 months (RR = 0.55; 95% CI, 0.33-0.91), or dose of VD <300,000 IU (RR = 0.51; 95% CI, 0.29-0.89). Although our results suggested that VD supplementation had a positive effect on recovery rate of pneumonia (RR = 1.28; 95% CI, 0.94-1.74; I2 = 13%), there was no statistical difference (P = .12). High-dose VD intervention may have an effect on reducing the incidence rate of repeat episodes of pneumonia by enhancing immune efficacy, although more population studies are needed to support that VD supplementation has therapeutic effects on pneumonia itself.


This work aimed to determine the best temperature, substrate and pre-treatment to subject to germinate Muntingia calabura L seed. The seeds were sowed in different substrates: on paper, among paper, on sand, among sand, on mixture soil + send + manure, among mixture soil + send + manure, on mixture soil + send + vermiculite and on vermiculite, incubated under constant temperature of 20, 25, 30oC and alternate of 20-30oC. The pre-treatment effect studied were the CaO and KNO3 on the mucilaginous seed germination. Experiments were undertaken following the completely randomized design with four replication of 25 seeds and the statistical analysis was performed by the factorial scheme. Primary root protrusion and even primary leaf emission was adopted as criteria to consider a germinated seed. Daily the germination was evaluated by determining percentages and germination velocity. It was found significative interaction between substrate and temperature. The best substrates were on sand and among sand under alternate temperature of 20-30oC, with 99 and 100% of germination, respectively. The pre-treatments CaO and KNO3, had better germination of mucilaginous seeds.


Abstract Purpose With more and more digital collections of various information resources becoming available, also increasing is the challenge of assigning subject index terms and classes from quality knowledge organization systems. While the ultimate purpose is to understand the value of automatically produced Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) classes for Swedish digital collections, the paper aims to evaluate the performance of six machine learning algorithms as well as a string-matching algorithm based on characteristics of DDC. Design/methodology/approach State-of-the-art machine learning algorithms require at least 1,000 training examples per class. The complete data set at the time of research involved 143,838 records which had to be reduced to top three hierarchical levels of DDC in order to provide sufficient training data (totaling 802 classes in the training and testing sample, out of 14,413 classes at all levels). Findings Evaluation shows that Support Vector Machine with linear kernel outperforms other machine learning algorithms as well as the string-matching algorithm on average; the string-matching algorithm outperforms machine learning for specific classes when characteristics of DDC are most suitable for the task. Word embeddings combined with different types of neural networks (simple linear network, standard neural network, 1D convolutional neural network, and recurrent neural network) produced worse results than Support Vector Machine, but reach close results, with the benefit of a smaller representation size. Impact of features in machine learning shows that using keywords or combining titles and keywords gives better results than using only titles as input. Stemming only marginally improves the results. Removed stop-words reduced accuracy in most cases, while removing less frequent words increased it marginally. The greatest impact is produced by the number of training examples: 81.90% accuracy on the training set is achieved when at least 1,000 records per class are available in the training set, and 66.13% when too few records (often less than 100 per class) on which to train are available—and these hold only for top 3 hierarchical levels (803 instead of 14,413 classes). Research limitations Having to reduce the number of hierarchical levels to top three levels of DDC because of the lack of training data for all classes, skews the results so that they work in experimental conditions but barely for end users in operational retrieval systems. Practical implications In conclusion, for operative information retrieval systems applying purely automatic DDC does not work, either using machine learning (because of the lack of training data for the large number of DDC classes) or using string-matching algorithm (because DDC characteristics perform well for automatic classification only in a small number of classes). Over time, more training examples may become available, and DDC may be enriched with synonyms in order to enhance accuracy of automatic classification which may also benefit information retrieval performance based on DDC. In order for quality information services to reach the objective of highest possible precision and recall, automatic classification should never be implemented on its own; instead, machine-aided indexing that combines the efficiency of automatic suggestions with quality of human decisions at the final stage should be the way for the future. Originality/value The study explored machine learning on a large classification system of over 14,000 classes which is used in operational information retrieval systems. Due to lack of sufficient training data across the entire set of classes, an approach complementing machine learning, that of string matching, was applied. This combination should be explored further since it provides the potential for real-life applications with large target classification systems.


In 1492 Queen Isabella of Spain was formally presented with a copy of Antonio de Nebreja's Gramatica, the first grammar written about any modern European language. The Queen asked, "What is the book for?" and the Bishop of Avila replied, "Your Majesty, language is the perfect instrument of empire." The Bishop of Avila was merely stating a well known political fact: language is a necessary and useful instrument of politics. The Greeks and Romans spread their language as far as their armies maintained their outposts, and since then every colonial power has attempted to do the same thing. Colonists impose their language on the subject people and demand or require that they express their loyalty to or acknowledge the unity of the empire by using the single approved or official language. In Hong Kong the only official language was English until three years ago, when Chinese was given equal status with English as an official language. As so often happens in a new nation, the need for national identity expresses itself in an attempt to adopt or revert to a national language. A problem arises, however, where there is a multiplicity of languages found within the nation. A government confronted with the problem is likely to discourage the use of regional dialects since these appeal to local loyalties rather than to a single national loyalty.


We consider two-loop anomalous dimensions for fermionic operators in the ABJM model and the ABJ model. We find the appropriate Hamiltonian and show that it is consistent with a previously predicted Bethe ansatz for the ABJM model. The difference between the ABJ and ABJM models is invisible at the two-loop level due to cancelation of parity violating diagrams. We then construct a Hamiltonian for the full two-loop OSp(6|4) spin chain by first constructing the Hamiltonian for an SL(2|1) subgroup, and then lifting to OSp(6|4). We show that this Hamiltonian is consistent with the Hamiltonian found for the fermionic operators.


In 1993, Conoco discovered the first commercial hydrocarbon reservoir in Lodgepole Waulsortian mounds in North Dakota. Delineation, based on 2D seismic and proximity to successful wells, and then unitization of the Dickinson Lodgepole Unit (DLU), quickly followed. Conoco and other operators acquired several 3D seismic surveys in and around the Dickinson area following the discovery. However, the play did not expand until almost two years later, when Duncan Oil completed a second Lodgepole discovery just three miles from the DLU. The Dickinson area now has nine productive Lodgepole fields. This has been a highly competitive play, because the IP of a Lodgepole well can exceed 1000 BOPD, usually water-free, and individual wells can produce more than 1 million barrels of oil. Production is from low porosity (5%) Waulsortian mounds, which range between 250 to 320 ft. thick and have oil columns up to 180 ft. These reservoirs have a heterogeneous internal architecture, related both to original depositional geometry and facies, as well as diagenetic alteration. The mounds in the Dickinson subsurface have been through multi-stage diagenesis and fracturing, which has created an excellent dual porosity system. The mounds' internal architecture is therefore difficult to predict. However, the location and gross morphology of the mounds can be determined fairly well from 3D seismic, which is a very good tool for both exploration and development These reservoirs are excellent candidates for secondary recovery. All of the Dickinson area Lodgepole reservoirs are either currently under waterflood, or are in the process of being unitized so that water injection can begin in the near future. Primary recovery has been estimated at approximately 28%, and secondary recovery is likely to be 13% or higher. With total original oil-in-place estimates of 70 to 100 million barrels for the Dickinson area mounds, the Lodgepole presents a very attractive exploration target.


We present a novel, purely affinity-based natural image matting algorithm. Our method relies on carefully defined pixel-to-pixel connections that enable effective use of information available in the image. We control the information flow from the known-opacity regions into the unknown region, as well as within the unknown region itself, by utilizing multiple definitions of pixel affinities. Among other forms of information flow, we introduce color-mixture flow, which builds upon local linear embedding and effectively encapsulates the relation between different pixel opacities. Our resulting novel linear system formulation can be solved in closed-form and is robust against several fundamental challenges of natural matting such as holes and remote intricate structures. While our method is primarily designed as a standalone matting tool, we show that it can also be used for regularizing mattes obtained by sampling-based methods. The formulation is also extended to layer color estimation and we show that the use of multiple channels of flow increases the layer color quality. We also demonstrate our performance in green-screen keying and analyze the characteristics of the utilized affinities.


Speech recognition systems are usually speaker-independent, but they are not as good as speaker-dependent systems for specific speakers. An initial speaker-independent system can be adapted to improve recognition accuracy by transforming it into a speaker-dependent system. In this work, a new general acoustic model adaptation technology is presented, using the MLLR algorithm iteratively in a supervised manner. Experiments have been performed on the TT2 Spanish speech corpus. The initial acoustic models were trained from the Albayzin speech database. Their results, which were obtained for 10 speakers, show an improvement in speech recognition accuracy.


A formulation of the problem of asynchronous point-to-point communication is developed. In the system model of interest, the message codeword is transmitted over a channel starting at a randomly chosen time within a prescribed window. The length of the window scales exponentially with the codeword length, where the scaling parameter is referred to as the asynchronism exponent. The receiver knows the transmission window, but not the transmission time. Communication rate is defined as the ratio between the message size and the elapsed time between when transmission commences and when the decoder makes a decision. Under this model, several aspects of the achievable tradeoff between the rate of reliable communication and the asynchronism exponent are quantified. First, the use of generalized constant-composition codebooks and sequential decoding is shown to be sufficient for achieving reliable communication under strictly positive asynchronism exponents at all rates less than the capacity of the synchronized channel. Second, the largest asynchronism exponent under which reliable communication is possible, regardless of rate, is characterized. In contrast to traditional communication architectures, there is no separate synchronization phase in the coding scheme. Rather, synchronization and communication are implemented jointly. The results are relevant to a variety of sensor network and other applications in which intermittent communication is involved.


Duchenne and mdx muscle tissues lack dystrophin where it normally interacts with glycoproteins in the sarcolemma. Intracellular free calcium ([Ca2+]i) is elevated in Duchenne and mdx myotubes and is correlated with abnormally active calcium-specific leak channels in dystrophic myotubes. We fused Duchenne human and normal mouse myoblasts and identified heterokaryon myotubes by Hoechst 33342 staining to measure the degree to which dystrophin introduced by normal nuclei could incorporate throughout the myotube at the sarcolemma and restore normal calcium homeostasis. Dystrophin expression in myotubes was determined by immunofluorescence and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Dystrophin was expressed at the sarcolemma in normal mouse and heterokaryon myotubes, but not in Duchenne myotubes. In heterokaryons, extensive dystrophin localization occurred at the sarcolemma even where only Duchenne nuclei were present, indicating that dystrophin does not exhibit nuclear domains. Heterokaryon, normal mouse and Duchenne myotube [Ca2+]i was measured using fura-2 and fluorescence ratio imaging. Heterokaryon and normal mouse myotubes were found to maintain similar levels of [Ca2+]i. In contrast, Duchenne myotubes had significantly higher [Ca2+]i (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the ability of heterokaryons to maintain normal [Ca2+]i did not depend on greater numbers of normal nuclei than Duchenne being present in the myotube. These results support the view that dystrophin expression in heterokaryons allows for efficient control of [Ca2+]i.


Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity and free fatty acid levels were studied in freshly milked, uncooled milk from individual Danish Holstein or Jersey cows, or after storage for up to 24h at either a cooling temperature (4°C) or at the milking temperature (31°C). Upon cooling for up to 24h, LPL activity increased in the cream phase, whereas the activity in the skim milk was steady, as observed for Jersey cows, or increased, as seen for the Holsteins. Storage at 31°C decreased the LPL activity in both the cream phase and the skim milk phase. The increase in free fatty acid levels was found to depend on LPL activity, incubation temperature, substrate availability, and incubation time. Furthermore, the migration of milk proteins between the skim milk phase and the cream phase upon cooling of milk from Jersey cows or from Danish Holstein cows was studied using proteomic methods involving 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. Proteins associated with the milk fat globules were isolated from all milk fractions and analyzed. Major changes in the distributions of proteins between the skim milk phase and the cream phase were observed after cooling at 4°C for 4h, where a total of 29 proteins between the 2 breeds was found to change their association with the milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) significantly. Among these, the MFGM proteins adipophilin, fatty acid-binding protein, and lactadherin, as well as the non-MFGM proteins β-casein, lactoferrin, and heat shock protein-71, were identified. Adipophilin, lactadherin, and lactoferrin were quantitatively more associated with the MFGM upon cold storage at 4°C, whereas β-casein, fatty acid-binding protein, and heat shock protein-71 were found to be less associated with the MFGM upon cold storage.


Crowdfunding is one of the best financial technology segments and has emerged as one of the leading platforms for startups to acquire funding. This paper identifies numerous benefits of Crowdfunding and investigates the influence of various factors, i.e., economic benefit, convenience and transaction process, social media, and social support, with the mediating effects of Motivation with gender moderation on an entrepreneur's perceived benefit of having the Intention to use the crowdfunding platform. The adapted questionnaire with a sample size of 240 is used in this study to survey the entrepreneurs of Pakistan by using a convenience sampling technique. Linear regression analysis tests the hypotheses with Smart Pls 3.0 software. The findings of this study confirmed that all direct relationships have a significant relationship with the Intention to use Crowdfunding. In contrast, the moderation of effects of gender was found to have an insignificant relationship with the Intention to use a crowdfunding platform. However, the contribution and significance of the study have also been discussed.


The speed of communications is not uniform in multilevel high-performance computers and multicore clusters. Therefore the communication performance depends on the location of parallel processes within the system. The communication pattern of a parallel algorithm may also be nonuniform – different processes may need to exchange different amounts of data. Therefore it is preferable to locate the processes that communicate most to the cores where interconnection is the fastest. The best placement of processes can be found by a combinatorial optimization trying to match the communication pattern to multicore hardware. Topology of multicore clusters often has symmetries, for example the cores on the same chip may have the same communication speed. Therefore in this paper a way is proposed to take such symmetries into account reducing the search space and fasten optimization. A branch and bound algorithm for the process placement is proposed and the impact of the avoidance of exploration of equivalent solutions is demonstrated. An experimental investigation has been carried out to evaluate the performance of the developed algorithm. Keywords-high-performance communications; placement of parallel processes; combinatorial optimization; branch and bound


Main objective of this study is to maximize expected return and in the same time lowering investment risk. The methodology implemented in this study is modern portfolio theory through diversification assets that has low or negative correlation factor. This study tried to discover the portfolio expected risk and portfolios risk for 3 stocks namely Top Glove Corporation Berhad, AirAsia X Berhad and Axiata Group Berhad. Data for the analysis is selected from June 2015 until September 2018 involving 40 monthly observations. Result indicates the correlation factor between Top Glove and Airasia X is negative; meanwhile other correlation is not significant. Therefore, the selection of these three stocks is complying with the requirement of modern portfolio theory. Result indicates there are nine optimal combinations that calculated in this study which are suitable to develop non-linear line of efficient frontier. Data shows with the increment weightage in Top Glove stock, the expected average return will be increase. This is because the mean average return for share price of Top Glove 3.65%. This is the highest return comparing to other two stocks. However the risk of share price of Top Glove is 8.6 %, which is on the risky side. In addition, this study concludes the portfolio can attained lower risk by combining three stocks. The important implication of this study is it will help investors to develop optimal investment to attain maximum expected return based on a given level of market risk.


Two German shepherd dog aging six and eight years were presented to Department of Veterinary Surgery, Tirupati with the history of scrotal swelling. Physical examination revealed enlarged and pendulous scrotum. Ultrasonography and percutaneous drainage of fluids were performed. It revealed the presence of serous fluid in the intrascrotal structures, suggestive of hydrocele. Under general anaesthesia, scrotal ablation was performed. The animals were premedicated with atropine sulphate and xylazine hydrochloride. The animal was induced and maintained using propofol intravenously. Curvilinear incision was made on both sides at the base of scrotum and both the testes were separated and ligated using Chromic Catgut no.1. Both the testicles were removed along with the scrotal skin and scrotal septum. Subcuticular and skin sutures were placed. Regular post operative care was given and both the animals had an uneventful recovery.


In the highly dynamic and information rich environment of military submarine operations, the Commanding Officer must make split second decisions that could ultimately result in the destruction or survival of Ownship or the accomplishment of its designated mission. Despite extensive training and expertise, the fog of war often shadows real world encounters. Pieces of the tactical puzzle may be scattered, broken, and/or even missing. It is the Commanding Officer's job to meld the fog into a clear tactical picture and intuitively decide upon the optimal course of action to obtain his mission goals and objectives. A mathematically derived optimal solution could be used as a decision making aid for the Commanding Officer to enhance Ownship's performance. A highly innovative hybrid Bayesian/differential game modeling approach is being developed to tackle this problem. The resulting theory and technology will facilitate tactical operations by addressing such practical problems as tradeoff evaluation for course of action and maintaining tactical advantage while avoiding counter detection.


Ten men and 10 women exercised on a bicycle ergometer for 20 min at 40, 60, and 80% maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) to determine the relationship between plasma beta-endorphin, catecholamines, and exercise intensity. Compared to rest, plasma beta-endorphins were not significantly elevated during the 40 and 60% workloads (4.8 +/- 1.0 pmol.l-1 vs 3.8 +/- 0.7 and 6.3 +/- 0.9, respectively). In contrast, the 80% exercise significantly elevated endorphins to 16.1 +/- 4.0 pmol.l-1. Plasma norepinephrine concentrations were 0.30 +/- 0.04 ng.ml-1 at rest and increased with exercise intensity (40% = 0.60 +/- 0.05, 60% = 0.93 +/- 0.07, 80% = 2.00 +/- 0.14, VO2max = 2.55 +/- 0.14 ng.ml-1). Plasma epinephrine followed the same trend (rest = 0.07 +/- 0.01, 40% = 0.33 +/- 0.03, 60% = 0.49 +/- 0.02, 80% = 0.88 +/- 0.07, VO2max = 0.95 +/- 0.06 ng.ml-1). Norepinephrine was found to significantly correlate to endorphins (r = 0.499; P less than 0.02). Conversely, epinephrine was not correlated with beta-endorphin (r = 0.309; P greater than 0.05). The low correlation suggests a weak relationship between beta-endorphin and catecholamine responses during exercise. The results of this investigation suggest that the relationship between beta-endorphin and exercise intensity is curvilinear, with anaerobic activity producing the most significant endorphin response. It was also noted that the beta-endorphin response was not related to gender, but the amine response to exercise was gender-related, being greater for the men.


This paper describes the prevalence of formal risk adjustment of payments made to health plans by Medicare, Medicaid, state governments, and private payers. In this paper, "formal risk adjustment" is defined as the adjustment of premiums paid to health plans based on individual-level diagnostic or demographic information. We find that formal risk adjustment is used for about one-fifth of all enrollees in capitated health plans. While the Medicare and Medicaid programs rely on formal risk adjustment for virtually all their health plan enrollees, the practice is used for only about 1% of privately insured health plan enrollees. Our findings raise the question of why regulators have adopted formal risk adjustment, but private purchasers for the most part have not.


The electrophysiological data of 23 adult patients with Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) have been reviewed. Lung carcinoma was disclosed in 17. In six cases with an EMG follow-up ranging between one and 17 years no carcinoma was detected. The results of repetitive nerve stimulation test (RNS) were not statistically different between the 2 groups. Low CMAP ulnar amplitude was present in all patients (mean: 1.7 mV). Decremental response at low rate of stimulation (3 Hz) was present in 17/20 (means: 30%). An abnormal incremental response at high rate of stimulation was present in all cases (mean: 826%). The authors emphasize the interest of a 50 Hz stimulation for 4 s. Increase of the 'F-wave' amplitude was noticed in some cases. Electrophysiological changes suggestive of an associated mild neuropathy were noticed in eight patients but H-reflex was present in 3/3 cases. SFEMG abnormalities were found in 6/6 cases. In one case, stimulated SFEMG showed more blockings and an increased jitter with low rate of stimulation. In one case the electrical pattern of RNS could be misinterpreted as myasthenia gravis in one tested muscle only. The author's results suggest that CMAP amplitude and RNS test could be used to appreciate the short-term improvement of LEMS with treatment and in some cases for the long-term follow-up.


The effect of transpiration rate on internal assimilation of CO2 released from respiring cells has not previously been quantified. In this study, detached branches of Populus deltoides were allowed to take up (13)CO2-labelled solution at either high (high label, HL) or low (low label, LL) (13)CO2 concentrations. The uptake of the (13)CO2 label served as a proxy for the internal transport of respired CO2, whilst the transpiration rate was manipulated at the leaf level by altering the vapour pressure deficit (VPD) of the air. Simultaneously, leaf gas exchange was measured, allowing comparison of internal CO2 assimilation with that assimilated from the atmosphere. Subsequent (13)C analysis of branch and leaf tissues revealed that woody tissues assimilated more label under high VPD, corresponding to higher transpiration, than under low VPD. More (13)C was assimilated in leaf tissue than in woody tissue under the HL treatment, whereas more (13)C was assimilated in woody tissue than in leaf tissue under the LL treatment. The ratio of (13)CO2 assimilated from the internal source to CO2 assimilated from the atmosphere was highest for the branches under the HL and high VPD treatment, but was relatively small regardless of VPD×label treatment combination (up to 1.9%). These results showed that assimilation of internal CO2 is highly dependent on the rate of transpiration and xylem sap [CO2]. Therefore, it can be expected that the relative contribution of internal CO2 recycling to tree carbon gain is strongly dependent on factors controlling transpiration, respiration, and photosynthesis.


In summary, teaching nursing homes can be expected to have an impact on public policy development, patient care, and physician training. It is anticipated that research into the important public policy issues regarding relationships between costs and proprietary status and quality of care will be enhanced by developing teaching nursing homes. It will be important to coordinate efforts and evaluations between pilot projects with different funding bases in order to provide research projects with adequate controls. Many results regarding cost-quality comparisons may be of limited applicability to community institutions because of the higher costs inherent to teaching facilities. Nursing home patients living in teaching facilities can expect to be directly benefitted in terms of receiving increased medical attention. They will reside in model facilities providing what is hoped to be the optimal services in all aspects of nursing home care. Possible detrimental aspects for such patients include increased exposure to heroic interventions and possibly poorer care as a result of medical interference with established nursing home team approaches to patient care. As a result of living in a research environment, patients also may be pressured to participate in protocols to which they are not normally exposed. In addition, because many of the geriatric fellowships are based in Veterans Administration facilities (with their predominantly male patient population), it will be important to ensure that current research adequately studies the common problems of elderly women, who represent 70 per cent of those who are in nursing homes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The article deals with the theme of reflexivity in learning processes, considering  reflexivity as a thinking activity about our own actions and about ourselves in relation with our own actions. In particular, it focuses on the training of trainers and educators, analyzing the specificity and the importance of "learning by experience" not only in initial training, but also during the in-Service training and during working practices. In this sense the article also tackles the theme of "situated learning" (specifying the meaning of "context" in an ecological and systemic perspective) and the concept of "community of practices". Consequently, the working group and its relevant function in the educational institutions are also deepened.


OBJECTIVE
To report bronchoscopic placement of nitinol stents (Vet Stent-Trachea®) for improvement of end-stage clinical signs in dogs with tracheal collapse.

STUDY DESIGN
Case series.

SAMPLE POPULATION
Dogs (n = 18).

METHODS
Medical records (January 1, 2004-October 31, 2008) were searched for dogs with a diagnosis of tracheal collapse; 18 dogs met inclusion criteria. Tracheal diameter was compared before and after stent deployment. Stent dimensions were compared after stent deployment and at radiographic follow-up.

RESULTS
There was a significant difference in the minimum tracheal diameter when initial and post deployment tracheal diameters were compared (P = .003). Stent length was significantly shorter at follow-up when compared to post deployment measurements (P = .004). Owner assessment of outcome was available for all dogs with 11.1% mortality within 60 days. Complications were documented in 9 dogs.

CONCLUSIONS
Use of a nitinol stent (Vet Stent-Trachea®) in dogs with end-stage tracheal collapse is associated with a fair to good outcome despite significant temporal stent fore shortening after bronchoscopic placement.


ICRF HEATING AND CURRENT DRIVE EXPERIMENTS ON TFl"R Recent experiments in the Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) at TFTR have focused on the RF physics relevant to advanced tokamak D-T reactors. Experiments performed either tested confinement in reactor relevant plasmas or tested specific ICRF heating scenarios under consideration for reactors. H-minority heating was used to supply identical heating sources for matched D-T and D only L-mode plasmas to determine the species scaling for energy confinement. Second harmonic tritium heating was performed with only thermal tritium ions in an L-mode target plasma, verifying a possible start-up scenario for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Direct electron heating in Enhanced Reverse Shear (ERS) plasmas has been found to delay the back transition out of the ERS state. D-T mode conversion of the fast magnetosonic wave to an Ion Berstein Wave (IBW) for off-axis heating and current drive has been successfully demonstrated for the first time. Parasitic Li7 cyclotron damping limited the fraction of the power going to the electrons to less than 30%. Similar parasitic damping by Be9 could be problematic in ITER. Doppler shifted fundamental resonance heating of beam ions and alpha particles has also been observed.


Abstract This study tested a theoretical model of continuity in anxious emotion and its links to academic achievement in disaster-exposed youth. An urban school based sample of youths (n = 191; Grades 4–8) exposed to Hurricane Katrina were assessed at 24 months (Time 1) and then again at 30 months (Time 2) postdisaster. Academic achievement was assessed through end of the school year standardized test scores (~31 months after Katrina). The results suggest that the association of traumatic stress to academic achievement was indirect via linkages from earlier (Time 1) posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms that predicted later (Time 2) test anxiety. Time 2 test anxiety was then negatively associated with academic achievement. Age and gender invariance testing suggested strong consistency across gender and minor developmental variation in the age range examined. The model presented advances the developmental understanding of the expression of anxious emotion and its links to student achievement among disaster-exposed urban school children. The findings highlight the importance of identifying heterotypic continuity in anxiety and suggest potential applied and policy directions for disaster-exposed youth. Avenues for future theoretical refinement are also discussed.


Anemia is one of the commonest blood disorders with a signicant degree of morbidity and mortality. It has multi factorial etiology with iron deciency being the most common cause contributing around 50% of the World's total anemia burden. Prevalence is signicantly high in people of low socio economic groups with preponderance in female gender. Irrespective of the causes, iron deciency anemia results into low hemoglobin in the blood which ultimately decreases oxygen delivery to the body tissues. This adversely affects the cardiovascular hemodynamics putting extra workload on heart. If anemia persists for longer duration, various structural and functional changes take place in the heart. These changes are thereby depicted in Electrocardiographic (ECG) recordings. Studies have shown that including many changes in ECG recordings of patients with iron deciency anemia, ST segment changes in the form of ST segment depression are important ndings. As the people belonging to south region of Bihar state come from low socioeconomic group and are at nutritionally deprived condition, they are very much vulnerable to suffer from iron deciency anemia. The present study was aimed to observe ST segment changes in patients of severe iron deciency anemia from this region. 160 subjects were included in our study satisfying the inclusion criteria, out of which 150 subjects nally completed the study (65 males and 85 females). A total of 70 patients (46.67%) were having Hb concentration levels less than 8.0 g/dl and they fell in the severe or very severe grade of anemia. We found in our study that 38 subjects i.e. 25.33% (n = 150) had ST segment depression as one of the various ECG changes. We also observed that these changes were directly correlated with the severity of iron deciency anemia. We concluded from our study that cardiac ischemia was resulted in the patients of iron deciency anemia which was ascribed in the form of ST segment depression in ECG recordings. Specic and emergent measures must be taken to deal with iron deciency anemia in order to mitigate its deleterious effects on cardiovascular health.


A one-dimensional advective-dispersive equation is analytically solved to predict patterns of contaminant concentration distribution in a homogeneous and finite aquifer. The dispersion of solute along and against transient groundwater flow is considered. Initially the aquifer is assumed to be not clean, which means that some initial background concentration exists and it is represented by uniform concentration. A pulse-type exponentially decreasing temporally dependent source concentration is considered in the intermediate portion of the aquifer and at other end, the concentration gradient is supposed to be zero. The Laplace Transform Technique (LTT) is used to obtain the solution of the problem of contaminant distribution in two different domains. In fact, in one domain the distribution pattern is depicted along groundwater flow and in other domain, it is depicted against groundwater flow. This represents a realistic situation of the contaminant concentration distribution pattern in an aquifer in the presence or absence of temporally dependent source concentration. The time-varying velocity expressions are considered. The dispersion is directly proportional to the seepage velocity used in which the effect of molecular diffusion is not taken into account because the value of molecular diffusion does not vary significantly for different soil and contaminant behaviors. Results of the obtained analytical solution may form useful complements to benchmark numerical models or for their verification. The long-term vertical transport of solute during transient saturated groundwater flow can be described correctly with appropriate analytical models. It may also be used as a preliminary predictive tool for groundwater resource management to estimate transport parameters.


Background: In Nigeria, conventional medical practice is the main form of health care but Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) still enjoys widespread popularity and usage among the population. Pharmacy students, as future health professionals, have a great role to play regarding the increasing CAM use.Objective: To assess CAM awareness, use, attitude and the perceived need for its education among undergraduate pharmacy students.Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted amongst pharmacy students (n= 370) of Kaduna State University (KASU). Data were collected using both online and paper-based questionnaires by total sampling. Data were analysed using SPSS Version 22 and presented as frequencies and percentages. Student t- test and one-way ANOVA were used to compare mean scores of attitudes towards CAM across socio-demographic groups.Result: Three hundred and fifty (350) students responded to the survey of which majority (n= 280, 80.0%) had used a form of CAM in the past year. The most commonly used CAM modalities were Herbal/Botanical/Dietary Supplements (n= 240, 68.6%) and Spirituality/prayers (217, 62.0%). The least known of the CAM modalities were Homeopathy (n= 133, 38.0%) and Ayurveda (n= 181, 51.7%). Three hundred and forty-six (346) students agreed that knowledge about CAM will be useful to them as future pharmacists and 347 (99.1%) agreed that CAM should be included in the undergraduate curriculum. No statistically significant differences were obtained in mean attitudes scores.Conclusion: CAM use was common and there was a general perceived need among the students for its inclusion in the undergraduate pharmacy curriculum at KASU.


Background: The style of learning in an individual is the preferable choice of processing and transforming knowledge. The modalities of learning styles are unimodal, bimodal, and multimodal learning style. Trial making test (TMT) is a neurocognitive test which measures the domain of cognition, its speed of processing, its sequencing order, mental flexibility, and visuomotor skills.

Aim and Objective: To compare visual-motor skills and mental flexibility in different learning modalities in professional students.

Materials and Methods: Institutional ethical clearance and written informed consent was obtained. Cross-sectional observational data were collected. VARK questionnaire was administered to professional students between the age group of 18 and 25 years. 55 unimodal, 56 bimodal, and 36 multimodal students who volunteered for the study performed the TMT consisting of Trial A an index of mental skills and Trial B an index of mental flexibility was measured in time (seconds). TMT composite score (B-A) was used to remove the speed content from the test evaluated, resulting in a more refined index of mental flexibility.

Results: Significant differences in visual-motor skills (TRIAL A) and flexibility (TRIAL B) were seen between groups by one-way ANOVA (F [2.144] = 53.8 l, P < 0.001) and (F [2.144] = 69.26 P < 0.001), respectively. Tukey's post hoc test showed that the visual motor skills was significantly prolonged (P = 0.001) in multimodal students compared to bimodal and unimodal groups and between uni and bimodal groups, while mental flexibility was decreased significantly in multimodals when compared to unimodals. The composite score was statistically significantly different between groups by one-way ANOVA (F [2.144)] = 27.28 P < 0.001) and Tukey's post hoc test showed that multimodal participants composite score were prolonged compared to unimodal participants (P = 0.001).

Conclusion: Visual-motor skills and mental flexibility was significantly prolonged in multimodal compared to unimodal and bimodal learning style.


Background and the purpose of the study: There are extensive evidences indicating that the noradrenergic system of the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA) is involved in memory processes. The present study investigated the role of the BLA adrenergic receptors (ARs) in hippocampus dependent spatial memory in place avoidance task in male rat. Material and Methods: Long Evans rats (n=150) were trained to avoid footshock in a 60° segment while foraging for scattered food on a circular (80-cm diameter) arena. The rats were injected bilaterally in the BLA specific ARS (Adrenergic receptors) agonist norepinephrine (NE, 0.5 and 1 µg/µl) and specific β-ARs antagonist propranolol (PRO, 0.5 and 1 µg/µl) before acquisition, after training or before retrieval of the place avoidance task. Control rats received vehicle at the same volume. The learning in a single 30-min session was assessed 24h later by a 30-min extinction trial in which the time to first entrance and the number of entrances to the shocked area measured the avoidance memory. Results: Acquisition and consolidation were enhanced and impaired significantly by NE and PRO when the drugs were injected 10 min before or immediately after training, respectively. In contrast, neither NE nor PRO influenced animal performances when injected before retention testing. Conclusion: Findings of this study indicates that adrenergic system of the BLA plays an important role in regulation of memory storage and show further evidences for the opinion that the BLA plays an important role in integrating hormonal and neurotransmitter influences on memory storage.


BACKGROUND
The statistical analysis of survey responses based on a categorical Likert scale, as those used in the Delphi technique, has been questioned because the methodology used is based on numerical data analysis.

AIM
To develop criteria for defining the consensus achievement in Delphi studies conducted for the assessment of potentially inappropriate medications (PIM) in the elderly.

METHODS
It was constructed an index (Yq) which takes into account the agreement by pairs of evaluators, whose calculus equation is based on combinatorial analysis. Yq was applied in a pilot study with Delphi methodology for assessing the safety of 12 drugs through a Likert scale with five response categories.

RESULTS
On the basis of analyzing the distance (d) in between each pair of categories from the scale, it was determined the associated weighting, w=1-d, to be applied in the calculus of Yq: proportion of agreements weighted. There were defined three criteria that need to be satisfied to obtained the consensus in each item (drug) of Delphi questionnaire : a) Number of evaluators ≥60% of the panel members, b)Yq≥0,800; c) frequency of the statistical mode ≥60%. On regards to the analysis, 8/12 drugs were evaluated as potentially inappropriate for elderly adults while the remaining 4 should be revalued in successive rounds due to not obtaining consensus.

CONCLUSION
The index takes into account the real distances between the Likert scale categories and the developed criteria constitute a simple tool for the analysis of the Delphi questionnaires made for the valuation of PIM on older adults.


Ontology has been emerged as a powerful way to share common un- derstanding, due to its ability to chain limitless amount of knowledge. In most cases, groups of domain expert design and standardize ontology model. Unfor- tunately, in some cases, domain experts are not yet available to develop an on- tology. In this paper, we extend the possibilities of creating a shareable knowledge conceptualization terminology in uncommon domain knowledge where a standardized ontology developed by groups of experts is not yet available. Our aim is to capture knowledge and behaviour which is represented by data. We propose a model of automatic data-driven dynamic ontology creation. The created ontology model can be used as a standard to create the whole populated ontology in different remote locations in order to perform data exchange more seamlessly. The dynamic ontology has a feature of a real-time propagation from the change in the data source structure. A novel delta script is developed as the base of propagation. In order to complete the model, we also present an information of application support in the form of Jena API mapping for propagation implementation.


Our current knowledge on bacterial cadmium (Cd) resistance is mainly based on the functional exploration of specific Cd-resistance genes. In this study, we carried out a genomic study on Cd resistance of a newly isolated Cellulomonas strain with a MIC of 5 mM Cd. Full genome of the strain, with a genome size of 4.47 M bp and GC-content of 75.35%, was obtained through high-quality sequencing. Genome-wide annotations identified 54 heavy metal-related genes. Four potential Cd-resistance genes, namely zntAY8, copAY8, HMTY8, and czcDY8, were subjected to functional exploration. Quantitative PCR determination of in vivo expression showed that zntAY8, copAY8, and HMTY8 were strongly Cd-inducible. Expression of the three inducible genes against time and Cd concentrations were further quantified. It is found that zntAY8 responded more strongly to higher Cd concentrations, while expression of copAY8 and HMTY8 increased over time at lower Cd concentrations. Heterologous expression of the four genes in Cd-sensitive Escherichia coli led to different impacts on hosts' Cd sorption, with an 87% reduction by zntAY8 and a 3.7-fold increase by HMTY8. In conclusion, a Cd-resistant Cellulomonas sp. strain was isolated, whose genome harbors a diverse panel of metal-resistance genes. Cd resistance in the strain is not controlled by a dedicated gene alone, but by several gene systems collectively whose roles are probably time- and dose-dependent. The plasmid-free, high-GC strain Y8 may provide a platform for exploring heavy metal genomics of the Cellulomonas genus.


This paper addresses the key requirements for fusion materials, as these have emerged from studies of commercial fusion power plants. The objective of the international fusion programme is the creation of power stations that will have very attractive safety and environmental features and viable economics. Fusion power plant studies have shown that these objectives may be achieved without requiring extreme advances in materials. But it is required that existing candidate materials perform at least as well as envisaged in the environment of fusion neutrons, heat fluxes and particle fluxes. The development of advanced materials would bring further benefits. The work required entails the investigation of many intellectually exciting physics issues of great scientific interest, and of wider application than fusion. In addition to giving an overview, selected aspects of the science, of particular physics interest, are illustrated.


Given a task T, a pool of individuals X with different skills, and a social network G that captures the compatibility among these individuals, we study the problem of finding X, a subset of X, to perform the task. We call this the TEAM FORMATION problem. We require that members of X' not only meet the skill requirements of the task, but can also work effectively together as a team. We measure effectiveness using the communication cost incurred by the subgraph in G that only involves X'. We study two variants of the problem for two different communication-cost functions, and show that both variants are NP-hard. We explore their connections with existing combinatorial problems and give novel algorithms for their solution. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to consider the TEAM FORMATION problem in the presence of a social network of individuals. Experiments on the DBLP dataset show that our framework works well in practice and gives useful and intuitive results.


We present a detailed analysis of the interaction between intrinsic localized modes and plasmons in a doped polar semiconductor. The investigation has been performed for an anharmonic one-dimensional diatomic lattice with alternating interactions coupling successive neighbours. The system simulates a row of atoms in the direction of a III–V semiconductor. Specific calculations have been performed for GaN, because it has a large gap between the acoustic and optical phonon branches. The calculations of the intrinsic localized modes have been performed by using two-body potentials to describe the interactions. We have used the rotating wave approximation and we have found the intrinsic localized modes in the phonon gap. The interaction with the plasmon has been studied by adding to the equations of motion the alternating electric field which is related to the electron density of the plasmons. We obtain an expression for the electric dynamical polarization associated with the intrinsic localized modes and with the plasmons. We derive an expression for the dielectric function of the coupled system. The zeros of the dielectric function give the frequency of the combined modes. We have found two regimes in which combined modes are possible. One is related to small anharmonicity of the potential. The combined mode has a frequency above the top of the optical branch and can be explained in terms of the theory of the harmonic dielectric response of polar lattice vibrations. The second regime is related to high anharmonicity. The combined modes exist only for a finite slab. We show that on increasing the anharmonicity, i.e. the amplitude of the intrinsic localized mode, the width of the slab increases. The frequency of the combined mode is inside the phonon gap. We have also studied the dynamical stability of these modes.


Abstract In 1921, 16 Texas pathologists gathered in Dallas, Texas, to found the Texas Society of Pathologists (TSP). The TSP is now the oldest state pathology society in the USA with continuity traced back to its founding 100 years ago. This article aims to both commemorate the TSP centennial and to provide context for the remarkable success of the society. The article takes a look back and a look forward from 1921. The look back focuses on the development of the field of pathology and the maturation of medicine and pathology in the USA and Texas. The look forward encompasses developments in science, technology, American health care policy, and medicine that have impacted Texas pathologists and influenced proactive initiatives of the TSP. The review of the life and times of the TSP highlights the importance of leaders and leadership in shaping outcomes. Complexities and uncertainties of the contemporary health care scene point to the need for continued strong leadership. The successful past century and hopeful future of the TSP are inextricably linked to the guiding principle of the TSP, which is a focus on continual striving for excellence in medicine.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the histopathologic basis of altered brain neurometabolites in neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE).

METHODS
Brain neurometabolite concentrations in a 20-voxel area of the brain were determined premortem by magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in 7 individuals with NPSLE. Absolute concentrations of neurometabolite for N-acetylaspartate (NAA), choline, creatine, and lactate were measured. After the death of the patients, histopathologic changes were determined at autopsy of the brain and were matched voxel-by-voxel with the neurometabolites.

RESULTS
The mean +/- SD absolute concentrations of NAA (9.15 +/- 1.78 mM in patients versus 12.2 +/- 0.8 mM in controls; P < 0.01) and creatine (6.43 +/- 0.16 mM in patients versus 6.90 +/- 0.60 mM in controls; P < 0.003) were significantly reduced and the concentration of choline (2.51 +/- 0.42 mM in patients versus 1.92 +/- 0.32 mM in controls; P < 0.04) was significantly elevated in NPSLE patients as compared with controls. Widespread heterogeneous changes in the histologic features of the brain were present, including microinfarcts, microhemorrhages, bland angiopathy, thrombotic angiopathy with platelet and fibrin thrombi, neuronal necrosis in various states of resolution, reduced numbers of axons and neurons, vacuole and space formation among the fibers, reduced numbers of oligodendrocytes, reactive microglia and astrocytes, lipid-laden macrophages, and cyst formation. Neurometabolite abnormalities were closely associated with underlying histopathologic changes in the brain: 1) elevated choline levels were independently associated with gliosis, vasculopathy, and edema (r = 0.75, P < 0.004 in the multivariate model); 2) reduced creatine levels with reduced neuronal-axonal density and gliosis (r = 0.72, P < 0.002 in the multivariate model); 3) reduced NAA levels with reduced neuronal-axonal density (r = 0.66, P < 0.001 in the multivariate model); and 4) the presence of lactate with necrosis, microhemorrhages, and edema (r = 0.996, P < 0.0001 in the multivariate model).

CONCLUSION
Altered neurometabolites in NPSLE patients, as determined by MRS, are a grave prognostic sign, indicating serious underlying histologic brain injury.


ABSTRACT
 The potato psyllid, Bactericera cockerelli (Šulc), vectors the pathogen "Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum" (Lso), causal agent of zebra chip disease of potato. Several cultivated and wild plants are reported to serve as alternate hosts for B. cockerelli and Lso, including silverleaf nightshade (SLN), a wild solanaceous woody perennial weed that occurs throughout Texas. Experiments were conducted in the laboratory to compare performance of Lso-infected and Lso-free B. cockerelli on SLN and potato. Results showed that host plants and Lso-infection significantly influenced the performance of B. cockerelli. Egg incubation and nymphal development of Lso-infected and Lso-free immatures were prolonged on SLN compared with potato indicating a host effect. Generally, Lso-infected B. cockerelli immatures developed faster on both SLN and potato, although significantly more Lso-free nymphs survived than nymphs that harbored the pathogen. Lso-free adults also lived longer and laid more eggs on potato than SLN. According to life table estimates, intrinsic and finite rates of increase of Lso-infected B. cockerelli were not significantly different from Lso-free individuals on potato and SLN. Analysis of the two factors revealed significant interaction effects between host and Lso and that development and reproduction of B. cockerelli is a function of both Lso-infection and host on which it fed. Results of this study suggests that Lso does not have a negative effect in the overall performance of B. cockerelli on both hosts and also demonstrated SLN to be an important alternative host that supports survival of Lsoinfected and Lso-free B. cockerelli populations.


Adult male subjects were studied on a normal protein diet and on a low protein diet (basic rice diet with salt and fat supplements). Simultaneous inulin and urea clearances and total solute excretion were determined at high and low rates of urine flow on both diets. The glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was not altered by the low protein intake with salt added to the diet. After 5 weeks of low protein intake there was a marked decrease in the fraction of filtered urea excreted at low urine flows. This difference was not apparent during maximal water diuresis (inulin U/P 15) the fraction of filtered urea excreted at any given rate of urine flow was less than that found during normal protein intake. This difference increased at progressively lower rates of urine flow. The decrease in the fraction of filtered urea excreted during low protein intake was apparently not caused by changes in the rate of urine flow, GFR, plasma urea concentration, or total solute excretion. These findings indicate renal tubular regulation of urea excretion in man of a nature similar to that found in other mammals. Submitted on April 14, 1958


: Sea ice and snow are essential to Arctic ecosystems, playing key roles in the lives of Arctic marine mammals and the Indigenous Peoples who rely on them. Ringed seals Pusa hispida ('natchiq' in Iñupiaq) use snow-covered dens on sea ice for pupping, but quantitative information on denning habitat requirements is limited, and it is unknown how changes in snow depth and sea-ice extent will impact ringed seals. Here, an Indigenous Elder Advisory Council and a multidisciplinary group of scientists used knowledge co-production to quantify fine-scale ringed seal habitat selection patterns in Kotzebue Sound, Alaska (USA), during a year of unprecedent-edly limited snow and sea-ice availability. Together, we conducted unoccupied aerial vehicle-based surveys during spring 2019 and related seal counts to survey date, bathymetry, and novel proxies for snow depth and surface roughness that we derived from Landsat 8 surface reflectance and validated with on-ice measurements. Generalized additive models showed that counts of seal groups (all age classes) and pups were associated with later survey dates, deeper water, and habitat with bright Landsat 8 pixel values and intermediate pixel variability, which in turn were correlated with deep snow and surface roughness. We observed shallow snow depths, early sea-ice breakup, and high seal densities consistent with the extreme lack of ice available in 2019. Indigenous Knowledge, intentionally woven with scientific data, provided novel and more nuanced understandings of snow and sea-ice conditions for seals. Our results may give a glimpse at future ringed seal habitat and selection in a warming Arctic.


This study investigates the long-run stock market and operating performance of Chinese firms cross-listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange over the period of 19932012. First, this study finds abnormal returns of cross-listing stocks have generally been negative and decreased in three years after cross-listing for the full sampleperiod. However, in the most recent sub-period samples, abnormal returns have been positive. The result indicates post-cross-listing abnormal returns could be timedependent. Second, profitability of cross-listed firms also decreases and does not outperform their purely domestic-listed peers in three years after cross-listing in the full sample-period. Nevertheless, in the most recent sub-period samples, the dynamic changes in operating performance show that cross-listed firms have also performed better than their purely domestic-listed peers. The results seem to suggest that postcross-listing performance of Chinese firms could be subject to the structural improvement of the Chinese financial market.


Bile acids up-regulate death receptor 5 (DR5)/TRAIL-receptor 2 (TRAIL-R2) expression thereby sensitizing hepatocytes to TRAIL-mediated apoptosis. However, the precise mechanism by which bile acids enhance DR5/TRAIL-R2 expression is unknown. Although several bile acids enhanced DR5/TRAIL-R2 expression, deoxycholic acid (DCA) was the most potent. DCA stimulated JNK activation and the JNK inhibitor SP600125 blocked DCA-induced DR5/TRAIL-R2 mRNA and protein expression. Reporter gene analysis identified a 5′-flanking region containing two Sp1 binding sites within the DR5/TRAIL-R2 promoter as bile acid responsive. Sp1 binding to one of the two sites was enhanced by DCA treatment as evaluated by electrophoretic mobility shift assays and chromatin immunoprecipitation studies. JNK inhibition with SP600125 also blocked binding of Sp1 to the DR5/TRAIL-R2 promoter. Finally, point mutations of the Sp1 binding site attenuated promoter activity. In conclusion, Sp1 is a bile acid-responsive transcription factor that mediates DR5/TRAIL-R2 gene expression downstream of JNK.


Cloud computing is an attractive proposition to organizations because of its expected benefits. However, its perceived risks and challenges may discourage adoption. This trade-off between benefits and risks creates a dilemma on whether or how to approach cloud adoption. This study aims to advance the understanding of cloud computing adoption in organizations and proposes a unifying model of cloud adoption. A systematic literature review was employed to investigate the adoption factors studied in previous empirical settings. The review identified 41 primary studies and yielded a hierarchical cloud adoption model. The identified factors are in line with the technology-organization-environment framework and with the diffusion of innovation model, but new insights into the dimensions relevant to cloud adoption emerged from literature. For example, system availability and reliability, cost effectiveness, privacy and security, top management support, and market pressure are among the factors influencing adoption. Implications and future research are discussed.


This paper studies the role of an increase in foreign exchange reserves in reducing currency volatility for emerging market countries. The study employs a panel of 28 countries over the period 1986-2002. Several control variables are introduced in the regressions to account for other factors affecting exchange rate volatility (monetary and external indicators as well as conventional macroeconomic fundamentals). The paper controls for the endogeneity induced by the role of the exchange rate regime, since the regime can affect both the level of reserves and exchange rate volatility. The results provide ample support for the proposition that holding adequate reserves reduces exchange rate volatility. The effect is strong and robust; moreover, it is nonlinear and appears to operate through a signaling effect.


Thomas Hardy's use of the Wessex county dialect plays a key role in much of his narrative fictional dialogue, as shown in Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1891). By analysing the two existing Spanish translations of this novel (one by M. Ortega y Gasset, first published in 1924 and recently reedited and revised by Carmen Criado; the other by Javier Franco Aixela in 1994), this paper is intended to illustrate how the grammatical structures, vocabulary, and phonological characteristics of such dialect are rendered into Spanish. Attempts will be made to show the mechanisms that the translators resort to in order to convey those dialectal features and the extent to which they have managed to portray both Tess's rural quality and social evolution as reflected in her idiom.


A velocity-field study of several Si0.8Ge0.2/Si p-channel MOSFETs with self-aligned poly-Si gates, thick gate oxides and effective channel lengths ranging from 1.5 to 8.5 µm, was carried out at room temperature. Comprehensive two-dimensional simulations of devices using drift-diffusion (DD), and bulk Monte Carlo calibrated hydrodynamic (HD) and energy transport (ET) models have revealed enhanced high-field hole transport in strained-channel MOSFETs. A close agreement is obtained between higher-level (HD/ET) models and DD model with calibrated high-field mobility parameters. It is found that the relatively low value of extracted saturation velocity in long-channel Si0.8Ge0.2 p-MOSFETs increases considerably as the gate length is decreased. The increase in short-channel samples is attributed to non-equilibrium transport effects in the region near the source, resulting from higher mobility and longer relaxation times of holes in the strained SiGe layer. Our results not only confirm the expected advantage of strained SiGe p-MOSFETs in low-field transport, but also indicate that this is accompanied by an early onset of velocity overshoot, which may be beneficial in aggressively scaled devices.


Imaging systems have historically been associated with visual applications. Example applications include conventional photography, satellite imaging, and scientific visualization. Performance metrics relevant to these applications have traditionally been focused on visual quality and for such applications many conventional optical design metrics (e.g., worstcase spot size) can provide acceptable performance.[1] Recent imaging applications however, have broken with this tradition and are concerned with information-sensitive performance metrics (e.g., bit-error-rate). Examples of such imaging systems include those used in page-oriented optical storage, optical interconnects, and various forms of task-specific imaging (e.g., target recognition).[2][3] The ubiquitous nature ofdigital imaging modalities has made the need for fidelity-sensitive imaging system design even more apparent, with sensors and signal processing hardware k outpacing the perfonnance of low cost optical components. An information-optimized imaging system is one that takes as its primary goal the information throughput of the system. Notice that this goal can be very different from that of forming a "pretty picture." In this paper we limit our attention to binary-valued objects and within this framework we consider two cases. The first case will focus on diffraction-limited imaging systems whose performance is quantified via the average pixelwise mutual information. In section 2 we define the information-theoretic space-bandwidth-product (SBP) of such a system and demonstrate the existence of an optimal object configuration. The second case we consider is more realistic and includes the optical aberrations that characterize real world lenses. In this case we use the average bit-error-rate (BER) of the output image to quantify the overall imaging system performance. In section 3 we present the results of this case along with a comparison between some information-optimized designs and those based on more conventional design metrics.


Objective: It is well known that obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome(OSAHS) is associated with impaired glucose intolerance. We investigated that pattern of impaired glucose intolerance differs among patient with non-positional OSAHS and positional OSAHS. Design and method: We diagnosed OSAHS by overnight polysomnography study. And we assessed severity apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and positonal apnea-hypopnea index difference. We defined positional OSAHS when supine-lateral index [(supine AHI- lateral AHI)/supine AHI] is more than 0.5. Insulin resistance was assessed with fasting plasma blood glucose, plasma insulin and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), leptin. Results: The respiratory disturbance index and lowest oxygen desaturation were higher in non-positional OSAHS group than positional OSAHS group. There were noted that impaired glucose tolerance and HOMA-IR were more increased in patient with severe OSAHS than control group and mild OSAHS. Compared with postional and non-positional OSAHS patients, impaired glucose tolerance and HOMA-IR were significantly increased in non-positional OSAHS group. Conclusions: Our result suggest that severe OSAHS is associated with glucose intolerance and non-positional OSAHS has a poor control of glucose than positional OSAHS group.


The EU REACH directive was enacted at the end of 2006. It contains perhaps the most rigorous testing requirements of any regulatory regime in the world. It also requires registration of all existing and new chemicals produced or imported in volumes of a ton or more per year per manufacturer or importer. This Directive promises to transform the legal context of the chemical industry. This article begins by discussing the difficulty of risk assessment and the very mixed record of the United States in regulating toxics. It then discusses the directive in more detail. Finally, the article suggests that five lessons can be drawn from REACH: (1) the potential for international learning, which allowed the EU to benefit from its own experiences as well as the American struggles with toxic regulation; (2) the power of "next generation" environmental policies to mold industry behavior; (3) the need to attack the "tyranny of the status quo" rather than granting permanent regulatory exemptions to existing products and facilities, (4) the need for open governance in crafting far-reaching regulatory changes; and (5) the advantages of using supply-chain leverage to broaden the impact and effectiveness of regulation.


Introduction Most cases of sporadic colorectal cancer develop via the adenoma carcinoma sequence and APC mutation is a key early molecular event. APC regulates B-catenin function and the WNT signalling pathway to control intestinal homeostasis. However, mutation or loss of APC gene results in translocation of B-catenin into the nucleus, where it forms a heterodimeric transcriptional factor complex with TCF and results in altered cell fate. We have previously performed a proteomic analysis of changes which occur in murine intestinal epithelium following acute b-napthoflavone-induced deletion of Apc expression (Apcfl/fl mice). Several proteins showed increased abundance following intestinal Apc deletion and we hypothesised that some of these may represent potential biomarkers for the serological detection of the early stages of human colorectal cancer. Aims To investigate whether two proteins which were demonstrated to be upregulated in Apcfl/fl intestinal epithelium by proteomic analysis, namely serine/arginine-rich splicing factor 2 (SRSF2) and ribosomal protein L6 (RPL6) show altered expression in murine and human intestinal tumours. Methods The expression patterns of SRSF2 and RPL6 were assessed by immunohistochemistry and RTqPCR in intestinal and colonic tumour samples obtained from ApcMin/+ mice aged 1, 3 and 6 months and 15 human subjects with colorectal cancer. Results RTqPCR demonstrated a 3.0-fold increase in SFRS2 expression and a 2.8-fold increase in RPL6 expression in colonic polyp tissue from 6-month old ApcMin/+ mice relative to colonic tissue from Apc+/+wild-type mice of the same age. Immunohistochemistry showed nuclear rather than cytoplasmic localisation of both SFRS2 and RPL6 in intestinal and colonic polyps from ApcMin/+ mice aged 3 months and 6 months. The alteration in subcellular localisation of SFRS2 and RPL6 appeared to occur in adenomatous cells which also displayed nuclear translocation of B-catenin. Statistically significant increases in the relative expressions of SFRS2 (1.2-fold) and RPL6 (1.9-fold) mRNAs were also observed in human colorectal cancer tissue samples relative to adjacent unaffected colonic tissue from the same patients. Conclusion RPL6 and SFRS2 both showed altered expression in murine and human intestinal/colonic tumours. Both these proteins are involved in regulating cell cycle progression—RPL6 regulates the G1-S transition via cyclin E and SFRS2 affects the G2/M transition via CDC5, possibly through alternative splicing. The altered expressions of PRL6 and SFRS2 may therefore deregulate cell cycle control and promote cellular proliferation, a characteristic phenotype of the intestinal epithelium of Apcfl/fl mice as well as intestinal tumours. Competing interests None declared.


Mutually exclusive behaviors in animals are often driven by independent motor subcircuits that directly or indirectly inhibit each other. For example, in the nematode C. elegans , motor circuits for forward and backward locomotion are gated by premotor interneurons AVB and AVA respectively, which are thought to be connected via reciprocal inhibition. In this study, we dissect the interactions between forward and motor subcircuits in C. elegans by genetic manipulation of AVA's activity via cell-specific characterization of a two-pore potassium channel (TWK-40). AVA has an unusually depolarized resting membrane potential (RMP). Perturbations to its RMP through AVA-specific TWK-40 loss-of-function and AVA-specific TWK-40 gain-of-function, led to dramatic changes in both forward and backward motor activity. AVA, thus regulated both backward and forward locomotion in C. elegans , functioning as a master neuron for overall locomotion. These effects required chemical transmission from AVA and were dependent on AVB neurons. We were able to reconcile results of genetic perturbation with optogenetic manipulation by carefully designed stimulation protocols. Finding that phasic optogenetic activation of AVA leads to backward locomotion, while tonic optogenetic activation potentiates forward locomotion. These results propose that a single neuron can regulate the activity of motor circuits generating two mutually exclusive behaviors. at


The article investigates the influence of the growing public expenditures on health caused by the demographic aging of the population, on the stability of public finances in the context of the establishment of the "longevity economy". The author conducts a scenario based assessment of the sustainability of public finances in Ukraine in the medium and long term, based on the calculation of the fiscal gap indicator.
In particular, investigated the "stress effect" of the changes in the indicators of macroeconomic development and the fiscal position on the sustainability of public finances under the condition of realization of the historical scenario. The author proves a significant influence of demographic aging of Ukraine's population on the sustainability of public finance. It is determined that in the long term there will be a fundamental transformation of the "spending profile" in the health care by sex-age groups, which, for example, is due to a shift in consumption of these expenditures by the population of older age groups and their increased share.
The author substantiates the necessity to expand the fiscal space for fulfilling the normative requirements of the Ukrainian legislation on health financing based on the calculation of the necessary structural primary balance to overcome the fiscal gap, which is proposed to be used as one of the benchmarks for the implementation of fiscal policy in order to attain medium and long-term sustainability of public finances for a given period of .fiscal adjustment. It is proposed: to monitor and control the pace and the growth factors of health care expenditures in the medium and long-term; to develop indicators for assessing the fiscal space for healthcare with due regard to potential change in the demographic structure of the population; to assess the transformation of the fiscal space to finance the health care in the context of the establishment of the longevity economy while respecting the sustainability of the system of public finances.


Experiments are described which indicate the effect upon pulse breakdown voltage of high current arcing between copper electrodes in vacuum. Our results indicate a moderate degradation of breakdown voltage occurs when the electrode surfaces have been arced at currents exceeding 5000 A peak. This change is probably associated with the melting and erosion of the contacts by the arc. The degradation at the arc anode and the arc cathode appear to be about equal for all currents up to 45 kA peak.


Historians of Britain and Ireland have long been interested in universities and students. They have acknowledged the importance of these institutions and individuals within the history of elites, the history of the state, intellectual history, the history of science, of social movements and of politics and political thought. Yet, for many years much of this research has centred around higher education institutions themselves rather than the student body that they cater for. Following the expansion of the higher education sector and the growth of the student movement in the 1960s the quantity and quality of literature on British and Irish students, rather than the institutions that they studied at, has grown substantially and has become a burgeoning historical field. This article surveys the development of this historiography and the key research perspectives on students in Britain and Ireland from 1800-1945, focusing on five thematic areas: student culture, student representation and politics, student life during war, students race and empire, and student women - to track the progress, development and connections between the different strands of this historiography over the past fifty years and to offer insights into potential avenues for further research.


Excessive radicals and UV irradiation can trigger oxidative and physiological stresses, which cause tissue aging, human disease, food spoilage, and material degradation. In this study, a multifunctional cellulose ester containing hindered phenol groups, cellulose 3,5-di- tert-butyl-4-hydroxybenzoate (CBH), with free-radical-scavenging and UV-resistant activities was synthesized and used as a functional material. The obtained CBHs can effectively scavenge reactive nitrogen free radicals and hydroxyl free radicals in both solid and solution states. Moreover, CBHs have no cytotoxicity, and, on the contrary, they promote the proliferation of human epidermal keratinocytes. Benefiting from excellent solubility, processability, and formability, CBHs have been readily processed into flexible films, transparent coatings, and nanoribbons membranes. The highly transparent and flexible CBH film completely absorbs the light of 200-300 nm range and partially absorbs the light of 300-400 nm range, indicating a UV-shielding capability. After the CBHs were loaded on an ordinary facial mask by electrospinning or added into a hand cream, the resultant facial mask and hand cream exhibited outstanding free-radical-scavenging properties. In addition, CBHs can also be used to fabricate functional sprays with antioxidative and UV-shielding activities. Accordingly, the obtained CBHs have a huge potential in cosmetics, personal care products, biopharmaceuticals, papermaking, and art protection because of their excellent antioxidation, nontoxicity, UV resistance, formability, and odorless properties.


Consumer choice behavior models have been extensively used to analyze individuals' choice behavior in a variety of fields such as marketing, economics, and transportation. Previous consumer behavior studies have been based on the assumption that consumer choice decisions depend on objective alternative attributes. However, it is not accurate to limit description of consumer subjective behavior to discrimination between good and bad objective alternative attributes. There are two other important factors, subjective taste preference and psychometric constructs, which should be considered as well.


This study analyzes the levels of heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Mn and Zn) present in five soil profiles from the state of Hidalgo and which, for over 40 years, have been irrigated with wastewater coming out of the basin of Mexico. These soil profiles are compared to others from a nearby area which are free from effluent irrigation. It was observed that in sites which have been irrigated with sewage effluents the averages of metal concentrations in Ap horizons were consistently higher in comparison with the lower horizons. The average content of Cu in Ap horizons was highly significant which indicates high accumulation in the superficial soil layers. With respect to Cd and Zn, it was noted that highly significant accumulations embrace the two most superficial soil horizons. No significant accumulations of Mn were present in the superficial soil horizons. It was possible to observe the influence of irrigation when comparisons were made between total contents of the above mentioned elements in areas irrigated with wastewater and those not receiving these effluents. In this last case heavy metal contents were lower and the difference between both areas was highly significant. Contents of organic matter and silt seem to be the soil properties most associated to the presence of Cu, Mn and Zn in soils irrigated with sewage effluents, while CaCO 3 contents in soils is the characteristic most associated to Cd.


A recombinant plasmid carrying an 11 kb restriction-endonuclease-ClaI fragment of genomic DNA from Escherichia coli ML308 was constructed. This plasmid complements an aceA mutation. The plasmid encodes the structural genes of the glyoxylate bypass operon, namely malate synthase A (aceB), isocitrate lyase (aceA) and isocitrate dehydrogenase kinase/phosphatase (aceK), as judged by overexpression of enzyme activities and transcription/translation experiments in vitro. Subcloning confirmed that expression of the aceK gene is essential for growth on acetate.


The food safety compliance and challenges of micro–Food Business Operators (FBOs) that could impact COVID-19 are assessed in this study using the descriptive-comparative research design. The findings reveal that the sanitary conditions of utensils and equipment, the sanitary operations and facilities, the monitoring of time and temperatures, and the maintenance of the sanitary conditions in the facility need major improvement to increase food safety compliance and to contribute in mitigating the transmission of COVID-19. Minor improvements are needed in the handwashing facility, the implementation of the water potability program, Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures, personnel disease control, and hygienic practices. Moreover, the lack of technical knowledge and time to manage and continuously improve food safety system are the challenges experienced by the FBOs. These findings are instrumental to the improvement of the food safety practices, formulation of relevant policies, and conceptualization of research in mitigating COVID-19 relevant to food safety.


Abstract. The AT motif-binding factor (ATBF1), also known as zinc finger homeobox 3
(ZFXH3), is necessary for activating the POU1F1 gene; thus,
the ATBF1 gene greatly affects the grow traits in animals. The
objective of this work was to explore novel indel (insertion/deletion)
variations and their associations with growth traits in three native Chinese
goat breeds. Two indels within the ATBF1 gene were found in the
Shaanbei white cashmere goat (SWCG; n=581), the Guanzhong dairy goat
(GZDG; n=334) and the Hainan black goat (HNBG; n=270) for the first time
using 12 pairs of primers. Association analysis revealed that the P1-12-bp
indel was consistently correlated with the body height of the three breeds,
and individuals with ID (insertion/deletion) and
DD (deletion/deletion) genotypes had a higher body weight than the
II (insertion/insertion) genotype (P=0.036); the P11-6-bp indel
was consistently correlated with chest circumference and hip width of the
three breeds. Moreover, these two loci were associated with other several
growth-related traits in different breeds. Hence, these findings indicated
that the goat ATBF1 gene had marked effects on growth traits and the
growth-trait-related loci, which would contribute to improving the
growth-related traits of local breeds in the goat industry by implementing
marker-assisted selection (MAS).


With consumers as the drivers of continuous changers in the industry, decision-making has become extremely complex than ever. Every day, retailers are facing variety of difficult queries regarding the best course of action for their day to day businesses. Uncertainty became an important aspect of the retail business industry. Digitalization denotes continuous transformation need and importance for the retail sector. Based on previous research, the study simplifies how digitalization transforms these factors and identifies implications and proposals for the future study. Digitalization changes the following: the nature of retail offerings - blurred distinctions between products and services, what constitutes the actual offering and how it is priced; retail settings - where and when retailing takes place ; and the factors who participate in retailing -retailers and consumers. The current transformation created challenges in research, where it demands sensitivity to development over time. This paper insists on significant and continuous transformation of retail sector and develops a framework that guides future research and aid retailers in analyzing retail sector's current transformation due to digitalization.


Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptors control endothelial cell proliferation, migration, and survival. Evidence of the ability of S1P receptor modulators to influence multiple endothelial cell functions suggests their potential use for antiangiogenic effect. The main purpose of our study was to investigate the potential of siponimod for the inhibition of ocular angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo. We investigated the effects of siponimod on the metabolic activity (thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide assay), cell toxicity (lactate dehydrogenase release), basal proliferation and growth factor–induced proliferation (bromodeoxyuridine assay), and migration (transwell migration assay) of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and retinal microvascular endothelial cells (HRMEC). The effects of siponimod on HRMEC monolayer integrity, barrier function under basal conditions, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α)-induced disruption were assessed using the transendothelial electrical resistance and fluorescein isothiocyanate–dextran permeability assays. Siponimod's effect on TNF-α–induced distribution of barrier proteins in HRMEC was investigated using immunofluorescence. Finally, the effect of siponimod on ocular neovascularization in vivo was assessed using suture-induced corneal neovascularization in albino rabbits. Our results show that siponimod did not affect endothelial cell proliferation or metabolic activity but significantly inhibited endothelial cell migration, increased HRMEC barrier integrity, and reduced TNF-α–induced barrier disruption. Siponimod also protected against TNF-α–induced disruption of claudin-5, zonula occludens-1, and vascular endothelial–cadherin in HRMEC. These actions are mainly mediated by sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor 1 modulation. Finally, siponimod prevented the progression of suture-induced corneal neovascularization in albino rabbits. In conclusion, the effects of siponimod on various processes known to be involved in angiogenesis support its therapeutic potential in disorders associated with ocular neovascularization. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Siponimod is an extensively characterized sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor modulator already approved for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. It inhibited retinal endothelial cell migration, potentiated endothelial barrier function, protected against tumor necrosis factor alpha–induced barrier disruption, and also inhibited suture-induced corneal neovascularization in rabbits. These results support its use for a novel therapeutic indication in the management of ocular neovascular diseases.


We consider the problem of estimating the locations of multiple interfering transmitters based on measurements of received signal strength. Specifically, we explore the challenge of performing this estimation task in a distributed fashion. We propose a gossip-based distributed algorithm for multiple transmitter localization and determine the gossip configuration that minimizes bounds on convergence time. A performance comparison between the proposed distributed algorithm and competing centralized algorithms is presented. Results enable the study of trade-offs between localization accuracy and system parameters such as fault tolerance, energy consumption, and computational complexity.


A number of numerical methods have been developed to predict the performance and aerodynamic loads of the Darrieus turbine. Prior work by Reference [1] using blade element methods (BEM) and free vortex methods (FVM) [2] has produced reasonable models that predict the hydrodynamic performance of the Darrieus turbine. The validated models reasonably estimate the performance at low solidities (Nc/R≪1), but lose accuracy at higher solidity ratios. Dynamic stall and flow curvature has been recognized by [2] [3] and [4] to be significant modeling parameters which have limited the accuracy of prior models. The current numerical model extends the predictions of the FVM model to a higher solidity ratio range. An improved model is presented for the condition of high angles of attack and for dynamic stall,. Experimental data on a series of two (Nc/R≈.9) and four (Nc/R≈1.8) blade configurations are presented as validation of the modified analytical vortex model.