Using three orthotropic elastic finite element models with elastic and elastic-plastic PEEK resin-rich layers included, three-dimensional elastic-plastic analyses of interlaminar stresses in AS4/PEEK thermoplastic composites under tensile loading for [0/90] s , [0/±45/90] 2s , and [±25] s4 laminates are presented, in order to ascertain the influence of matrix plasticity upon the free-edge effect in AS4/PEEK laminate. The nonlinear tension behaviors of the whole laminate are predicted by means of the above numerical models and compared with experimental results in detail. The applicability of these FE models with elastic-plastic resin layers models is discussed.


Microfinancing has been targeted as a tool to address Poverty through the provision of credit to the poor and marginalised economic functions. However, the main objective upon which these institutions are founded is yet to manifest primarily in developing economies. This study examined the role of microfinancing in poverty alleviation by employing a Vector Error Correction Model on quarterly time-series data. The results reveal a significant long-run relationship among the variables poverty, microfinancing, SMEs, and agricultural growth. Contrary to expectations, Microfinancing was found to increase poverty in the long run. SMEs and agricultural development were found to reduce the level of poverty in the long run. In the short run, regression results reveal that SMEs' growth alleviates poverty, and poverty increases the growth of microfinance loans in the country. The increase in SMEs is a tool for alleviating poverty, and the growth in microfinance institutions is also being driven by poverty. This suggests that continued improper microfinancing can escalate the poverty levels to undesired heights. The findings imply that the growth of microfinance loans is not being put to its intended and efficient use. These findings bring to the fore that it is not only the provision of funds that matters.


Background: Controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) is a kind of widespread popular parameter to evaluate various types of hepatic steatosis by liver ultrasound transient elastography. We investigated the relationship between serum uric acid (SUA) and CAP without hepatitis B and C virus-infected in the United States adults, data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).Methods: The present study was cross-sectional research. 4319 American men and women participants ≥18 years old, without B and C hepatitis, were included in our analysis. There are some measures to evaluate the association between SUA and CAP by multivariate logistic regression analyses, fit smoothing curves, generalized additive models, two-piecewise linear regression model and subgroup analyses.Results: There was a positive association between the value of SUA and CAP by multivariate logistic regression analyses after adjusting for various confounders. Besides, the inflection point of non-linear curve relationship was identified as 4.3 mg/dL, for SUA <4.3 mg/dL, the effect size is 10.6 (P< 0.01); Correspondingly, SUA≥ 4.3 mg/dL, the effect size is 4.3 (P< 0.01).Finally, SUA was positively associated with glycohemoglobin less than 6.5% individuals (β =7.3, P< 0.01) and Fasting glucose less than 7.0 mmol/L individuals (β = 6.8, P< 0.01) in the subgroup analysis. Conclusions: Our research found the relationship between SUA and CAP is non-linear. Subgroup analysis indicated that the positive association between SUA and CAP were showed in non-diabetic patients but not in diabetic.


This paper re-addresses the study of the rainfall variability in Peninsular Malaysia. An earlier investigation has been conducted forty years ago. Due to
the fact that: (1) a larger and more sophisticated number of meteorological stations is nowadays in place, and (2) the effect that global warming has on
precipitation, we feel that a new study of rainfall variability is both timely and pertinent. This is, therefore, the aim of this particular study. Our results show that larger variability does not (always) occur whenever lowest rainfall is
recorded.


Objective: To analyze differences in demographic pattern and hospitalization outcomes in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with opioid use disorder (OUD) patients managed with versus without behavioral therapy (BT). Methods: We conducted case-control study using Nationwide Inpatient Sample and identified PTSD and OUD using ICD–9–CM codes. Linear regression model was used to evaluate impact of BT on inpatient stay and cost. Results: We analyzed 1531 inpatient admissions and 786 patients received BT. Females had higher odds of receiving BT during inpatient management for PTSD with OUD (OR 1.210; 95% CI 1.020–1.436). About 63.1% patients receiving BT were benefited by Medicaid. Patients receiving BT had an increase in hospital stay by 1.27 days (P = 0.085) and hospitalization cost by $4734 (P = 0.018). There were no transfers to short term hospitals and lower transfers to skilled nursing facility (3.8% vs. 10.1%) in patients receiving BT. Conclusion: This study aims to reinforce combination management with psychotropic medications and BT in PTSD patients with comorbid OUD during hospitalization as it significantly decreases adverse disposition of the patient and thereby improves the quality of life post-treatment.


Support vector machine (SVM) is a particularly powerful and flexible supervised learning model that analyzes data for both classification and regression, whose usual algorithm complexity scales polynomially with the dimension of data space and the number of data points. To tackle the big data challenge, a quantum SVM algorithm was proposed, which is claimed to achieve exponential speedup for least squares SVM (LS-SVM). Here, inspired by the quantum SVM algorithm, we present a quantum-inspired classical algorithm for LS-SVM. In our approach, an improved fast sampling technique, namely indirect sampling, is proposed for sampling the kernel matrix and classifying. We first consider the LS-SVM with a linear kernel, and then discuss the generalization of our method to nonlinear kernels. Theoretical analysis shows our algorithm can make classification with arbitrary success probability in logarithmic runtime of both the dimension of data space and the number of data points for low rank, low condition number, and high dimensional data matrix, matching the runtime of the quantum SVM.


We propose a set of compositional design patterns to describe a large variety of systems that combine statistical techniques from machine learning with symbolic techniques from knowledge representation. As in other areas of computer science (knowledge engineering, software engineering, ontology engineering, process mining and others), such design patterns help to systematize the literature, clarify which combinations of techniques serve which purposes, and encourage re-use of software components. We have validated our set of compositional design patterns against a large body of recent literature.


and as a continuing site of struggle: debated, contested, concealed, and exposed in contexts where the agenda is always blisteringly political. Smith's approach is ingeniously engaging the writings of Garcia Lorca's friend, the eminent doctor Gregorio Maranon, for example, are used in a reading of Yerma to offer a view of the protagonist as an 'intersexual being'. Although the second and fourth chapters here have been published previously, newly rewritten they remain fascinating examinations of the conflicts played out within and around the texts at particular social and cultural moments in specific geographical locations. With an intelligent and extensive recourse to Freud's clinical and metaphysical writings, Smith's book situates Lorca's dramaturgical output within an expansive conceptual field which brilliantly investigates the multiple resonances of these works. Refusing to read the plays as veiled autobiography, Smith disentangles the paradoxes surrounding the works and the 'cult' of Garcia Lorca as promoted in different media during the supposedly enlightened cultural policy of the Socialist government of Felipe Gonzalez. Audacious, imaginative, and scholarly, this impressive study prises open some widely held critical assumptions in interrogating the associations surrounding Spain's most resonant twentiethcentury playwright.


2635 prenatal cardiotocographic recordings were correlated with perinatal mortality in 1000 patients. In some cases, there were extenuating circumstances which, when combined with obstetrical intervention, resulted in an increase in mortality. These included congenital malformations, poor maternal conditions for surgery, a hypertensive crisis, and a delay in surgery. The correlated perinatal mortality was 9x1000. (author's modified)


Inductive transfer learning has taken the entire NLP field by storm, with models such as BERT and BART setting new state of the art on countless NLU tasks. However, most of the available models and research have been conducted for English. In this work, we introduce BARThez, the first large-scale pretrained seq2seq model for French. Being based on BART, BARThez is particularly well-suited for generative tasks. We evaluate BARThez on five discriminative tasks from the FLUE benchmark and two generative tasks from a novel summarization dataset, OrangeSum, that we created for this research. We show BARThez to be very competitive with state-of-the-art BERT-based French language models such as CamemBERT and FlauBERT. We also continue the pretraining of a multilingual BART on BARThez' corpus, and show our resulting model, mBARThez, to significantly boost BARThez' generative performance.


The use of achievement tests for high-stakes decision making is discussed, and some comments are made about Ralph Tyler's contributions to educational assessment and what has resulted from them. The assessment war was raging more than 100 years ago, as historical records of testing student achievement demonstrate. Ralph Tyler, in the 1960s, did his best to bring about a truce in the assessment war by inventing the term "assessment" and suggesting that the focus be on the educational attainments of large numbers of people. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) advocated by Tyler called for the assessment of a sample of students, each of whom took only a fraction of the exercises, and none of whom received an individual score. Over the past 30 years these objectives have just barely survived. Among other changes, scores are imputed for each child, and these are averaged for any specific subgroup. Many changes in the NAEP have been supported by psychometric considerations, but some have compromised Tyler's vision by supporting pressures for reported scores for school districts, schools, classrooms, and individual students. Many of the problems evident as testing stakes become higher are identified. It is shortsighted to accept test scores as the ultimate criterion of the benefits of education, and more appropriate criteria must be developed. Some attachments illustrate historical controversy over assessment. (Contains four references.) (SLD) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ********************************************************************************


A frequency-invariant beamformer (FIB) that uses a reduced number of adaptive coefficients is described. A beam space extension of a previously proposed uniform linear array FIB is used in the design procedure that is analogous to the frequency-sampling method in filter design. Simulations show similar synthesis performance between the conventional and proposed FIB, with the latter offering reduced complexity in adaptive applications.


The maximization for the independence systems defined on graphs is a generalization of combinatorial optimization problems such as the maximum $b$-matching, the unweighted MAX-SAT, the matchoid, and the maximum timed matching problems. In this paper, we consider the problem under the local oracle model to investigate the global approximability of the problem by using the local approximability. We first analyze two simple algorithms FixedOrder and Greedy for the maximization under the model, which shows that they have no constant approximation ratio. Here algorithms FixedOrder and Greedy apply local oracles with fixed and greedy orders of vertices, respectively. We then propose two approximation algorithms for the $k$-degenerate graphs, whose approximation ratios are $\alpha +2k -2$ and $\alpha k$, where $\alpha$ is the approximation ratio of local oracles. The second one can be generalized to the hypergraph setting. We also propose an $(\alpha + k)$-approximation algorithm for bipartite graphs, in which the local independence systems in the one-side of vertices are $k$-systems with independence oracles.


Visual aesthetic perception ("aesthetics") or the capacity to visually perceive a particular attribute added to other features of objects, such as form, color, and movement, was fixed during human evolutionary lineage as a trait not shared with any great ape. Although prefrontal brain expansion is mentioned as responsible for the appearance of such human trait, no current knowledge exists on the role of prefrontal areas in the aesthetic perception. The visual brain consists of "several parallel multistage processing systems, each specialized in a given task such as, color or motion" [Bartels, A. & Zeki, S. (1999) Proc. R. Soc. London Ser. B 265, 2327-2332]. Here we report the results of an experiment carried out with magnetoencephalography which shows that the prefrontal area is selectively activated in humans during the perception of objects qualified as "beautiful" by the participants. Therefore, aesthetics can be hypothetically considered as an attribute perceived by means of a particular brain processing system, in which the prefrontal cortex seems to play a key role.


OBJECTIVE
To generate and characterize the anti-anti-idiotypic monoclonal antibody (MAb) of epithelial ovarian carcinoma (EOC)ìwith the aim of further investigating the mechanism of active immunotherapy of tumor vaccine.

METHODS
Using anti-idiotypic MAb (6B11)of EOC as immunogen, the anti-anti-idiotypic MAb 3D12 was generated by hybridoma technology. To characterize the 3D12, ELISA, immunohistochemistry, flow cytometry and western blot were used to define its specific reactivity with both 6B11 and the original EOC antigen OC166-9.

RESULTS
One hybridoma cell secreting 3D12 was obtained. The 3D12 showed the ability of specific binding to 6B11 and OC166-9, and of inhibiting the binding of COC166-9 (the MAb against OC166-9) to OC166-9. A positive staining of serous papillary EOC and the specific binding of SKOV3 cell line with 3D12 supernatant were also demonstrated. Western blot showed 3D12 and COC166-9 could immunoprecipitate the same protein. The 3D12 was IgM, with the affinity Kaff approximately 8.34x10(7) L/mol.

CONCLUSION
The anti-anti-idiotypic MAb 3D12 is confirmed as Ab1-like Ab3, which indirectly proves that 6B11 bears the internal image of OC166-9.


The new path planning method for AUV group moved in the " leader-followers" mode in a desired formation in an unknown environment with obstacles is proposed in paper. In this case one AUV plays role of AUV-leader, which has information about the mission and plans a safe trajectory of its movement, depending on its purpose and detected obstacles. AUV-followers must move behind the leader, in accordance with their assigned place in formation, using information about the current position of the leader, received via acoustic communication channels, and information about their distances to obstacles, detected by their onboard rangefinders. Due to the low bandwidth of acoustic communication channels, there is a problem of matching the position of the AUV-followers during obstacles avoidance. It is necessary to avoid collisions between AUV of group. This problem is solved by means of the preliminary forming for each follower of the only possible trajectory of movement inside formation which will provide it safe movement relatively other followers when this AUVfollower moves around detected obstacle. This approach allows do not coordinate the current position of the AUV-followers relative to other AUV of group if a high-precision control system is used, and as a result it does not require additional data exchange between the AUV group. In this paper, an approach to the forming of AUV-follower trajectories inside AUV formation and the method of forming the desired position of the AUV-followers on these trajectories are proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed method is confirmed by the results of mathematical modeling.


CONTEXT
More than 5000 ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) in the United States participate in the Medicare program. Little is known about infection control practices in ASCs. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) piloted an infection control audit tool in a sample of ASC inspections to assess facility adherence to recommended practices.

OBJECTIVE
To describe infection control practices in a sample of ASCs.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
All State Survey Agencies were invited to participate. Seven states volunteered; 3 were selected based on geographic dispersion, number of ASCs each state committed to inspect, and relative cost per inspection. A stratified random sample of ASCs was selected from each state. Sample size was based on the number of inspections each state estimated it could complete between June and October 2008. Sixty-eight ASCs were assessed; 32 in Maryland, 16 in North Carolina, and 20 in Oklahoma. Surveyors from CMS, trained in use of the audit tool, assessed compliance with specific infection control practices. Assessments focused on 5 areas of infection control: hand hygiene, injection safety and medication handling, equipment reprocessing, environmental cleaning, and handling of blood glucose monitoring equipment.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Proportion of facilities with lapses in each infection control category.

RESULTS
Overall, 46 of 68 ASCs (67.6%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 55.9%-77.9%) had at least 1 lapse in infection control; 12 of 68 ASCs (17.6%; 95% CI, 9.9%-28.1%) had lapses identified in 3 or more of the 5 infection control categories. Common lapses included using single-dose medication vials for more than 1 patient (18/64; 28.1%; 95% CI, 18.2%-40.0%), failing to adhere to recommended practices regarding reprocessing of equipment (19/67; 28.4%; 95% CI, 18.6%-40.0%), and lapses in handling of blood glucose monitoring equipment (25/54; 46.3%; 95% CI, 33.4%-59.6%).

CONCLUSION
Among a sample of US ASCs in 3 states, lapses in infection control were common.


Spontaneous volunteer participation has developed rapidly over the past decade, though compulsory volunteer participation through top-to-bottom, government-based organizations is still prevalent among Chinese citizens. Drawing on a case study of Jinan, a city in China, this study explores the types of and motives for volunteer participation including how volunteers differ in their voluntary service experiences and what their attitudes are toward volunteering and the future development of civil society in China. The findings illustrate: first, spontaneous participants with rewarding experiences who volunteer through grassroots, issue-based VSOs are most likely to have a positive attitude toward volunteering and believe that volunteering can make contributions to the development of civil society. Second, participants in grassroots and community-based VSOs are most likely to have an enthusiastic attitude toward volunteering, but they tend to be indifferent about the idea of civil society. However, they tend to contribute to the development of volunteering and civil society when given the opportunity, because participation in voluntary services enhances their participatory abilities and their sense of self-organization and mutual collaboration. Last but not least, volunteers who participate in a poorly managed volunteering organization and have a dissatisfactory, non-rewarding volunteering experience are most likely to have a pessimistic attitude toward volunteering and civil society. The implications of volunteering for the development of civil society are also discussed.


Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is one of the most important food crops worldwide, with leaves of different varieties showing purple, green and yellow, and these leaves provide a dietary source of nutrients and various bioactive compounds. The objective of this study was to identify the active constituents of chlorogenic acids (CGAs) in different methanolic extract of leaves of three varieties of sweet potato (purple CYY 98-59, green Taoyuan 2, and yellow CN 1927-16) using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Genotype-specific metabolite variations were observed; CGAs and three isomeric peaks were detected in sweet potato leaf extracts (SPLEs). Among them, the yellow SPLE contained the highest contents of 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid (3,5-di-CQA) and 3,4-dicaffeoylquinic acid (3,4-di-CQA), followed by the green SPLE, whereas the purple SPLE retained lower 3,5-di-CQA content compared to yellow and green SPLEs. All three SPLEs contained lower 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid (4,5-di-CQA) and CGA contents compared to 3,5-di-CQA and 3,4-di-CQA, although CGA constituents were not significantly different in genotypes, whereas purple SPLE contained higher 4,5-di-CQA content compared to yellow and green SPLEs. This study indicates that SPLs marketed in Taiwan vary widely in their biological potentials and may impart different health benefits to consumers.


Immunization with Freund's adjuvant and pneumolysin and stimulation with Freund's adjuvant alone both reduced the severity of the pneumonia caused by injections of bacteria into the apical lobe bronchi of rats. Neither protocol influenced the incidence of pneumococcal bacteremia. Illness sufficiently severe to require sacrifice was delayed from 2.8 days in nonimmunized animals to 5.7 days in those immunized with Freund's adjuvant and pneumolysin (P < 0.05) and 4.5 days in those stimulated with Freund's adjuvant alone (P, not significant).


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE
Almost all of Coelogyne species from Indonesia are epiphytic. Some of these are facing the extincion and need to be conserved through plant breeding programs. Unfortunately, there are not many research reports on the genetic diversity of orchids which are substantial for genetic conservation and plant breeding program. The study aimed to identify the genetic diversity of some important species of genus Coelogyne spp., performed using inter simple sequence repeats (ISSR) molecular marker.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The DNA of six orchid species from the genus of Coleogyne spp. was separated and served as samples in the PCR amplification reaction using 10 ISSR primers.

RESULTS
This study found that using six orchid species from the genus of Coelogyne spp. (C. pandurata, C. massangeana, C. mayeriana, C. asperata, C. celebensis and C. rumphii ), the ISSR primers yielded as many as 106 amplified fragments which varied in size from 250-3000 bp.

CONCLUSION
Moreover, this study showed that the polymorphic amplification bands reached as high as 98.9% and the similarity coefficient of the six orchid species studied revolved between 0.32-0.70, meaning that the genetic diversity of the orchid species studied was spread out between 0.30-0.68.


: Hypoxic and convulsive resistances have daily rhythms, the pattern of which depends on the year season. Latent period of occurrence of epileptic seizures and time of life at the "height" of 11,000 m above the sea level undergo similar changes in autumn and spring. In winter minimal similarity between daily dynamics of each of these resistances and analogous ones in other seasons is observed, but rhythms of tolerance to hypoxia are maximally synchronized with the rhythms of convulsive resistance. In autumn hypoxic and convulsive resistances are minimal. Maximums of these indices are observed in different seasons: for tolerance to hypoxia it is summer, for convulsive resistance--spring.


Resume : Many physical phenomena are modeled by parametrized PDEs. The poor knowledge on the involved parameters is often one of the numerous sources of uncertainties on these models. Some of these parameters can be estimated, with the use of real world data. The aim of this mini-symposium is to introduce some of the various tools from both statistical and numerical communities to deal with this issue. Parametric and non-parametric approaches are developed in this paper. Some of the estimation procedures require many evaluations of the initial model. Some interpolation tools and some greedy algorithms for model reduction are therefore also presented, in order to reduce time needed for running the model.


Abstract : The dynamics associated with the dipolar orientation of a nonlinear optical chromophore, nitroaminostilbene (NAS), doped in three different polymer hosts, polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polycarbonate (PC) and poly(vinyl)chloride is investigated by an electrochromic technique. The relaxation of the electric field induced dipolar order is investigated as a function of temperature and dopant concentration. The time dependence of the electronic absorption spectrum perturbed by the electric field is measured. The relaxation time measured below the glass transition temperature (Tg) shows an Arrhenius dependence, with the activation energy increasing with increasing chromophore concentration. Measurements with three different polymer hosts below each system's Tg are carried out. At a given chromophore concentration, the relaxation time varies significantly from one polymer host to another. A pronounced memory effect in the relaxation time associated with increasing number of poling cycles has been observed in the NAS/PC system.


We report our results of partial lumbosacral laminectomy for treatment of canine Cauda equina Compression Syndrome due to a lumbosacral stenosis. Opposite to conventional techniques of dorsal laminectomy, only widening of the Spatium interarcuale is performed. This is achieved by exstirpation of the Lig. flavum and partial dorsal laminectomy of the first sacral segment. The Proc. spinosi and integrity of facet joints are fully maintained by this technique. In 96.5% of 86 dogs treated with this method relief of dorsal pressure and permanent rapid regression of clinical symptoms was achieved. In two cases recurrence of clinical symptoms was observed during follow up and one case showed no improvement at all. In conclusion partial dorsal laminectomy is a minimal invasive technique for treatment of Cauda equina compression syndrome expressed by pain reaction accompanied by minor neurological deficits caused by lumbosacral stenosis. Maintained spinal stability allows short reconvalescence and the unrestricted use of dogs immediately post operation.


AIM
This is a report on generation-specific incentives and disincentives selected by acute care nurses that promote and discourage them to remain employed in hospitals.

BACKGROUND
Recent literature indicates that nurse preferences for strategies to promote their retention may differ across generational cohorts. However, current literature is primarily anecdotal with few studies focused on evidence-based generation-specific nurse retention-promoting strategies.

METHODS
Data were gathered from a cross-sectional survey administered to a random sample of 9904 registered nurses working in Alberta and Ontario, Canada. Two survey items asking nurses to identify preferences for incentives to remain employed and disincentives that encourage them to leave employment were included. Survey items were based on information gathered from previous focus groups exploring determinants of nurse retention.

RESULTS
There were statistically significant differences in the rates of selection across generations of nurses for eight of 10 incentives to remain employed and for eight of 15 disincentives. All generational cohorts selected the same two incentives most frequently: reasonable workloads and manageable nurse-patient ratios. Two of the three most frequently selected disincentives were the same across generations: inadequate staffing and unmanageable workloads.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT
Leaders should implement and evaluate strategies that ensure workloads are reasonable and nurse-patient ratios are manageable to promote retention among all generations of nurses in the acute care hospital workforce.


Mme Calment died in 1997 at the reputed age of 122, the longest validated lifespan of all time. Recently it has been suggested that in fact Mme Calment was not Jeanne Calment born in 1875 as believed, but rather her daughter Yvonne born in 1898. She could have swapped identity on her mother's death in 1934. In this study, the most reliable evidence is evaluated and competing versions of hypothetical scenarios are compared. No information is completely certain so only probabilities are considered. Methods of Bayesian inference are used to assess the probability of correctness for each scenario. It is not possible to form a definitive conclusion with the evidence currently available, but we believe that the outcome reinforces earlier suggestions that Mme Calment's age validation is unsafe in the light of recent evidence and should be reviewed. Indicators from DNA analysis that could reliably resolve the question of whether or not an identity switch took place are provided. The methods of Bayesian inference used here could be applied to other longevity validations in order to improve the validation process for longevity.


Objectives Our aim was to study the relationship between spontaneous abortions among nurses working three different types of shift schedules; permanent day shift, three shift rotation, and permanent night shift. Methods From a cohort of nurses in Norway established in 2008, we identified 1083 female workers who worked the same type of shift schedule in 2008 and one year later. Information on age, years worked as a nurse, weekly work hours, job demands, job control, smoking, consumption of alcohol, caffeine, spontaneous abortions the past year and throughout life was obtained by questionnaires. The relationship between spontaneous abortion and type of shift schedule was analysed by logistic regression analyses, adjusting for job strain and life-style factors. The analyses were performed in two strata, above and below 30 years of age. Results An increased risk for experiencing spontaneous abortions the past year was found among nurses who worked only night shifts compared to those who worked only day shifts, restricted to nurses below 30 years of age, odds ratio (OR) 3.4 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.0–12.4). A similar increase in risk for experiencing spontaneous abortions throughout life was found among permanent night-shift workers, OR 4.4 (95% CI 1.2–16.3), also in this case for nurses below 30 years of age. No increased risk of spontaneous abortions was found among nurses above 30 years of age. Conclusions The findings suggest that night work may cause spontaneous abortion by disrupting the circadian rhythms, but other unknown mechanisms may also play a role. More studies of night-shift workers considering different age groups are needed to supplement the findings.


In a context of increasing globalization and neoliberal restructuring and with labor's power diminishing vis-a-vis employers, American workers have turned in recent years to community-based campaigns targeting local government. These mobilizations have received considerable attention from scholars who see this emerging community orientation as a significant strategic innovation. This study, alternatively, focuses on the subjective and ideological consequences of such mobilizations for those engaged in protest. In particular, it seeks to extend social movement theory regarding the transformative impact of collective action by asking: how do distinct forms of collective action bring about particular kinds of consciousness and identity among participants?

Scholars rooted in a variety of traditions – from theorists of "post-industrial" society and "new" social movements to state theorists and geographers – have suggested that identities fostered at the local level are characterized by a "defensive," "introverted," or "retrospective" quality. This study examines a local mobilization, the case of a living wage campaign in Chicago, which deviates from these expectations. Through an analysis of interviews with participants, I find that instead of spurring defensiveness the campaign engendered a citizenship identity that was both active and inclusive. In explaining why my findings diverge from existing theories of identity formation, my analysis highlights three conceptual deficiencies in the literature with respect to (1) the distinction between local versus transnational collective action, (2) the relationship between social movement goals/tactics and outcomes, and (3) the prioritization of "new" social movements over the labor movement. Examining the citizenship identities that developed during Chicago's living wage campaign is instructive, finally, for understanding the sources of counter-hegemonic subjectivity within a broader context of eroding citizenship rights and a dominant market fundamentalist ideology. More generally, this analysis paves the way for a more productive engagement among theories of social movements, citizenship, labor, and globalization.


Superhydrophobic surfaces are widely found in nature, inspiring the development of excellent antiwater surfaces with barrier coatings isolating the underlying materials from the external environment. Here, the naturally occurring superhydrophobicity of lotus seedpod surfaces is reported. Protective coatings that mimic the lotus seedpod are fabricated on AZ91D Mg alloy surfaces with the synergistic effect of robust superhydrophobicity and durable corrosion resistance. The predesigned titanium dioxide films are coated on AZ91D by an in situ hydrothermal synthesis technique. Through sonication assisted electroless plating combined with a self‐assembling method, the densely packed Cu‐thiolate layers are uniformly plated with robust adhesion on the Mg alloy substrate, which function as a superhydrophobic barrier that can hold back the transport of water and corrosive ions contained such as Cl−. Notably, the two extreme wetting behaviors (superhydrophilicity and superhydrophobicity) as well as corrosion resistance and improved corrosion resistance can be easily controlled by removal of the hydrophobic materials (n‐dodecanethiol) at elevated temperature (350 °C) and modifying them at room temperature for 18 cycles, indicative of exceptional adhesion between the superhydrophobic coating and the underlying AZ91D Mg alloy.


With smartphone technologies enhanced way of interacting with the world around us, it has also been paving the way for easier access to our private and personal information. This has been amplified by the existence of numerous embedded sensors utilized by millions of apps to users. While mobile apps have positively transformed many aspects of our lives with new functionalities, many of these applications are taking advantage of vast amounts of data, privacy apps, a form of Privacy Enhancing Technology can be an effective privacy management tool for smartphones. To protect against vulnerabilities related to the collection, storage, and sharing of sensitive data, developers are building numerous privacy apps. However, there has been a lack of discretion in this particular area which calls for a proper assessment to understand the far-reaching utilization of these apps among users. During this process we have conducted an evaluation of the most popular privacy apps from our total collection of five hundred and twelve to demonstrate their functionality specific data protections they are claiming to offer, both technologically and conventionally, measuring up to standards. Taking their offered security functionalities as a scale, we conducted forensic experiments to indicate where they are failing to be consistent in maintaining protection. For legitimate validation of security gaps in assessed privacy apps, we have also utilized NIST and OWASP guidelines. We believe this study will be efficacious for continuous improvement and can be considered as a foundation towards a common standard for privacy and security measures for an app's development stage.


Objective: We surveyed patients who visited multiple outpatient specialty practices to understand what summary content was most helpful with the goal of optimizing meaningful outpatient clinical visit summary content. Materials and Methods: We constructed a survey instrument to measure delivery, use, and contents of clinical visit summaries. We surveyed patients who visited with at least 2 different outpatient medical specialties to understand preferences. Results: Most patients in our sample valued the summary information they received, and retained it as healthcare documentation (84%) and/or quick reference in supporting self-care (70%). Patients most commonly reported that information on results of completed tests (91%) and treatment plan instructions (89%) were very helpful. Additionally, patients expressed the importance of online access to clinical visit summary information. Discussion: Most patients used the clinical visit summary as healthcare documentation, and valued online availability of their summary information. Patients most often reported that information on results of recently completed tests and specific instructions on treatment plan were very helpful. Patients who sought further information after their visit most often looked to a provider and/or online. Conclusions: Patients valued clinical visit summary accessibility and as a reference tool to summarize care and provide next steps. Optimal clinical visit summaries might collate and integrate assessments and recommendations from multiple specialties into coherent care plans for patients.


Abstract The present study in sheep model was to find out the interaction of apoptotic transcripts, that is, Bcl2, Bax, Casp3, PCNA and p53 and pluripotency related transcripts, that is, Sox2, Nanog and Oct4 in ovine embryos produced in vitro at different O2 concentrations (20% and 5% O2) to compare their developmental potential. Oxygen concentrations did not influence the maturation and cleavage rate but the percentage of morula and blastocysts was significantly more at 5% as compared to 20% O2. A significant upregulated expression of Bcl2 and PCNA genes and significantly downregulated expression of Casp3 and p53 were observed in the blastocysts at 5% than those at 20% O2. The expression of Bax was not influenced by the O2 concentration. Among the pluripotency related transcripts, the expression of Oct4 was significantly upregulated and the expression of Sox2 and Nanog was significantly downregulated in embryos at 5% than at 20% O2. The study concluded that the embryos produced in vitro at low O2 (5%) concentration regulate the expression of developmental genes related to apoptosis and pluripotency to improve the developmental potential of embryos as compared to high O2 (20%) concentration.


Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) and archaea are widespread in nature and have been found in virtually every anaerobic environment that has been investigated. They play an important role in the global sulfur cycle, and in marine sediments they can account for up to 50% of the total carbon mineralization process. The cellular morphology of SRB is highly diverse, and it is still used as an important taxonomic feature. Genus Thermodesulfobacterium is one of the deepest-branching bacterial phyla and encompasses only SRB. In the process of anaerobic respiration, SRB reduce sulfate to sulfide in a complicated reaction involving the transfer of eight electrons. A wide range of organic acids (e.g., acetate, propionate, butyrate, pentanoate, and hexanoate) at concentrations up to 20mM have been found in oil reservoirs. Results from cultivation-dependent experiments for estimation of the total number of SRB in produced water show a considerable variation. The use of highly specific fluorescent antibodies and oligonucleotide probes directed against specific microbial groups, as well as the use of PCR technology and other molecular methods, has greatly increased one's understanding of the diversity and dynamics of in situ natural microbial communities. The existence of a highly diverse community of sulfate-reducing prokaryotes in oil-bearing subsurface environments is supported both by isolation and cultivation of a large diversity of SRB from waters produced from oil reservoirs and by direct detection of SRB by cultivation-independent techniques.


Purpose of review Although gout's cardinal feature is inflammatory arthritis, it is closely associated with insulin resistance and considered a manifestation of the metabolic syndrome. As such, both gout and hyperuricemia are often associated with major cardiometabolic and renal comorbidities that drive the persistently elevated premature mortality rates among gout patients. To that end, conventional low-purine (i.e., low-protein) dietary advice given to many patients with gout warrant reconsideration. Recent findings Recent research suggests that several healthy diets, such as the Mediterranean or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diets, in combination with weight loss for those who are overweight or obese, can drastically improve cardiometabolic risk factors and outcomes. By treating gout as a part of the metabolic syndrome and shifting our dietary recommendations to these healthy dietary patterns, the beneficial effects on gout endpoints should naturally follow for the majority of typical gout cases, mediated through changes in insulin resistance. Summary Dietary recommendations for the management of hyperuricemia and gout should be approached holistically, taking into consideration its associated cardiometabolic comorbidities. Several healthy dietary patterns, many with similar themes, can be tailored to suit comorbidity profiles and personal preferences.


To evaluate cardiac pacing thresholds and the safety of a 2.5 V amplitude setting, we prospectively studied 29 pediatric patients during a mean follow-up of 16.4 months. Exit block (EB) at 2.5 V was confirmed during threshold analysis in 26% of 58 leads. No new cases were detected by threshold analysis after 20 weeks postimplantation. Exit block at 2.5 V occurred 4 times more frequently with ventricular than with atrial leads (39% vs 8%) and 11 times more frequently with epicardial than with endocardial leads (47% vs 4%). There was no relationship between intraoperative thresholds and EB during follow-up pacemaker checkups. The mean pulse width threshold (PWT) for endocardial ventricular leads was lower for steroid-tip than for non-steroid-tip leads (0.08 + 0.01 msec vs 0.28 + 0.04 msec). Exit block did not occur with steroid-tip leads. We conclude that during the first 20 weeks after implantation, a 2.5 V amplitude is not safe in children paced by means of nonsteroid epicardial ventricular leads. Our approach to pacing in children includes (1) 5.0 V amplitude for epicardial leads during the first 20 weeks after implantation and (2) use of endocardial steroid-tip leads whenever possible.


Proteins necessary for maintenance and function of eukaryotic flagella are synthesized in the cell body. Transport of the inner dynein arm subunit p28(IDA4) in Chlamydomonas flagella requires the activity of the kinesin KHP1(FLA10), a protein inactive at restrictive temperature in fla10, a temperature-dependent mutant of flagellar assembly. To identify other molecules involved in active transport of inner dynein arms within flagella we searched for polypeptides of the cytoplasmic matrix of flagella that fulfill two conditions: they bind to p28 and require the activity of KHP1 to be present in flagella. We found that the cytoplasmic matrix of flagella contains a previously unidentified "17S" complex of at least 13 polypeptides that in part is associated with p28. The 17S complex is present at permissive but not at restrictive temperature in fla10 flagella. It also turns over in the cytoplasmic matrix more frequently than dynein arms within the axoneme. This evidence suggests that the 17S complex transports precursors of inner dynein arms within flagella.


In early spring 2009 an outbreak of H1N1 influenza A virus infection was detected in Mexico spreaded quickly and on June 11 2009 World Health Organization raised its pandemic level to phase 6 This novel H1N1 pandemic influenza A virus represented a quadruple reassortment of swine human and avian influenza virus strains This pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza A viruses in different regions of the world were found to be antigenically homogenous Transmission features incubation period and clinical findings wee similar with the seasonal influenza viruses although the gastrointestinal manifestations were more common Young children lt;5years and some special risk groups are at increased risk for infection complications and mortality The recommended test for diagnosis is real time PCR Pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza A strains are sensitive to neuraminidase inhibitors oseltamivir zanamivir and resistant to amantadine and rimantadine Oseltamivir and zanamivir are used for prophlaxis and therapy of infection However vaccination against pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza A should be the main target for individual and population based prevention Monovalent pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza A vaccines are available in this recent influenza season According to CDC the next 2010 2011 influenza season trivalent vaccines will coverage the pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza A vaccine Turk Arch Ped 2010; 45: 80th Year: 31 6 Key words: Pandemic influenza 2009 H1N1 influenza A therapy prevention


Pubic osteomyelitis is a rare disease usually results from various gynecologic and urologic surgeries. We present a-78 year old-woman admitted to the Infectious Department of Imam Khomeini Hospital in June 2014 with pubic osteomyelitis caused by pseudomonas aeruginosa followed by hysterectomy.


Abstract Background: Sleep disturbances have been associated with poor glycemic control in differential clinical settings. Both short and long sleep duration, influence insulin resistance and blood glucose in diabetic patients. Pregnancy is an additional risk for reduced sleep quality and quantity, and the presence of hyperglycemia, as a complicating factor, has being increasingly frequent. Different measures of sleep evaluation, both objectively and subjectively, can provide additional information about the influence of sleep in metabolic control in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM). Objective: To investigate the influence of sleep quality and objective sleep measures on glycated hemoglobin (HBA1C) in patients with GDM. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study examining patients with GDM from 2nd to 3rd trimester of pregnancy. Clinical data and behavior questionnaires were collected by a face-to-face interview. Self-Rated Sleep Quality was evaluated by Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index- (PSQI). In order to improve the accuracy of the information, a 14-day sleep log was obtained, and objective sleep measurements were registered by actigraphic record (5 to 7 days). Results: Overall, GDM patients (N=311), aged from 20 to 46 y (33.1±5.6) were evaluated. Sleep duration ≤6 hours/night was found in 43.4%, and 63.9% reported poor sleep quality (PSQI>5). Sleep duration measured by actigraphy was correlated with sleep duration registered by sleep log (r=.45, p=.04), and with PSQI (r=-.33, p=.002). Sleep quality and sleep duration registered by either actigraphy or sleep log were not correlated with Hba1c. Amongst all, Hba1c varied from 4.3 to 7.0 mg/dL (5.9 ±.53). Sleep fragmentation, measured by the length of time patient spends awake after sleep onset (WASO) was correlated withHba1c level in patients with GDM (r=.41, p=0.04). Conclusion: Sleep duration obtained from the sleep log was a reliable measure correlating with objective sleep parameters registered by actigraphy and with sleep quality. In GDM patients, increased wake time after sleep onset was correlated with higher Hba1c.


As a kind of intelligent component, text classification plays an important role in Business Intelligence (BI) application such as client opinion classification, market feedback analysis and so on. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model, which is a kind of excellent text representation model, has been widely used in various document processing applications. However, its performance is affected by the data sparseness problem. Existing smoothing techniques usually make use of statistic theory to assign a uniform distribution to absent words. They don't concern the real word distribution or distinguish between words. In this paper, a method based on Tolerance Rough Set Theory (TRST) is proposed, which makes use of upper approximation and lower approximation theory in Rough Set to assign different values for absent words in different approximation regions. Theoretically, our algorithms can estimate smoothing value for absent words according to their relation with respect to existing words. Text classification experiments on public corpora have shown that our algorithms greatly improve the performance of LDA model, especially for unbalanced corpus.


Based on the evidence from probate inventories, by-employments have generally been presumed ubiquitous amongst early modern Englishmen. This would appear to present a significant problem for estimates of the contemporary male occupational structure, since the sources on which these estimates are based describe men almost always by their principal employment only. This paper argues that this problem is vanishingly small, for three reasons. Firstly, the probate inventory evidence is shown to exaggerate the incidence of by-employments by a factor of two, as a consequence of its inherent wealth bias. Secondly, it is demonstrated that even after wealth-bias correction, the probate record greatly overstates by-employment incidence as most of the traces of subsidiary activities in the inventories actually point to the employments of other members of the household, not to by-employments of the inventoried male household head. Thirdly, even if one ignored this and assumed that they did, in fact, point to his by-employments, they are shown to have been relatively small in economic importance compared to the principal employment, and to necessitate only a very minor adjustment of the principal-employment-only male occupational structure.


Suicide is an important mental health problem in our society, as it is in most of the world's developed nations It's an affliction that robs us of some of our community's most active leaders It is a most troubling type of mental disease to imagine, a mental disorder in which the victim's pain and fear causes him to prefer death to his misery Suicide is widespread Most communities have earlier treated suicide as a felony and have instituted laws to restrict the act and prosecute those who attempt it whereas the notion have changed and now individuals who try or commit suicide are frequently viewed as depressed or mentally unstable This Covid(Corona virus) pandemic had made the situation worse because many people are taking help from professionals for the first time due to severe increase of anxiety and stress During this lockdown period many have developed suicidal tendencies and seeking physicians' help After the suicide of famous bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput many are talking about the mental health awareness In this present paper we will analyze the problem of suicide, mental health care laws and suicide regulation and some strategies for suicide prevention


By integrating the Theory of the Entrepreneurial Event (TEE) and Theory of
Planned Behavior (TPB), this study aims to examine the moderating role of gender on the
entrepreneurial intention model. The data were obtained by involving 154 active
undergraduate students as respondents. The results from Structural Equation Modeling
(SEM) analysis approach showed that gender moderate the direct effect of entrepreneurial
knowledge on entrepreneurial intention significantly. The positive effect of entrepreneurial
subjective norm on entrepreneurial intention is stronger and significant in female respondents
than males. Furthermore, the effect of the perceived feasibility on entrepreneurial intention is
not moderated by gender


A critique is not a matter of saying that things are not right as they are. It is a matter of pointing out on what kinds of assumptions, what kinds of familiar, unchallenged, unconsidered modes of thought the practices that we accept rest. . . . Criticism is a matter of flushing out that thought and trying to change it: to show that things are not as self-evident as one believed, to see what is accepted as self-evident will no longer be accepted as such. Practicing criticism is a matter of making facile gestures difficult. (Foucault 1988: 154–155)


The segments of Alhagi pseudalhagi seedlings were regenerated easily in vitro .The regenerated shoots were excised,then infected and cultured with Agrobacterium rhizogenes A 4 strain.The transformants (hairy roots and transformed calluses) were obtained by selection on hormone free medium.Paper electrophoresis revealed that over 95% of hairy roots and 75% of transformed calluses could synthesis agropine and mannopine.The effects of several factors on transformation frequency and growth of the hairy roots were studied.The transformation frequency was enhanced remarkably by preculturing the recipent explants for 3 days and pretreating with 0.3 mol/L mannitol for 12 h prior to infect on with A 4 strain.The transformants being cultured or MS basal selection medium also affected the transformation frequency apparently.Fast growth of the hairy roots was observed in the presence of 2%~3% sucrose and addition of 3 mg/L of GA 3 to the medium.The optimum concentration of Cu 2+ (10 μmol/L) and Ag + (10 mg/L) promoted greatly the growth of the hairy roots.


Mycobacterial infections of the upper extremities are rare with musculoskeletal system involvement in 1-3% of tuberculosis patients and accounts for 10% of all extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. Elbow joint is most frequently involved in upper extremity accounting for 2 to 5% of all skeletal localizations. We report a case of extraspinal musculoskeletal Tuberculosis involving right elbow joint. Early diagnosis and treatment is important to prevent serious joint and bone destruction. Although biopsy is required to make definitive diagnosis, it is imperative that radiologists understand the typical distribution patterns and imaging manifestations. Reviews of literature with emphasis on imaging features are studied. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/njr.v3i2.9618 Nepalese Journal of Radiology Vol.3(2)July-Dec, 2013: 88-91


Background and Objectives: Urinary tract infection is the most common bacterial infections in humans if treatment is not done properly it will have been dangerous consequences. Today, increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotics used in the treatment of diseases of the problems facing medical science. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the urinary tract infections in hospitalized patients learning to be in Hamadan University of Medical Sciences.               Method: This cross-sectional study-described in the first six months of the year from 1391 to 92 were based on data collected from hospital laboratory data in Hamadan University of Medical Sciences databases. Midstream urine samples obtained from all patients and the McConkey agar and blood cultures after 48 h of cultivation on 10 5 urine CFU/ml was considered as positive. Antimicrobial susceptibility was done by the standard disk diffusion method (using disks PadtanTeb) and the results were analyzed using the software SPSS. Results: The most common bacteria isolated including Escherichia coli (72%) and coagulate-negative Staphylococci (10%), Staphylococcus aureus (3%) and the presence of bacteria of the proteus mirabilis (4%) and klebsiella species (6%). The results showed that E.coli isolates resistant to most antibiotics, Cotrimoxazole (74%) and the least resistance to Nitrofurantion (4%) and all isolates were susceptible to Amikacin (100%). Staphylococcus aureusisolates were susceptible to Vancomycin (100%) and the rate of resistant to oxacillin, erythromycin and Clindamycin were over (90%) and also, Proteus spp. was resistant (50%) to Nitrofurantion and ciprofloxacin. Conclusions: In this study, most causing agents of UTIs belonged to the family ofenterobacteriaceae and determination of antibiotic susceptibility pattern should be considered.


While the focus in Germany was initially on disabled children only, the promotion of gifted and talented children has become increasingly important. Different organisations and institutions, ranging from parents' associations to foundations, offer a large variety of measures catering for the special demands of gifted and talented children, enabling the exchange of information on giftedness and the cooperation of different institutions. Talented children are also provided with access to scholarships as well as to special academies and competitions on different topics. Furthermore, educators and researches involved in the promotion  of giftedness can attend conferences as well as gaining qualifications as specialists in gifted education and talent support. In addition to these nationwide, extracurricular measures, the individual federal states offer  various acceleration and enrichment activities for children with high abilities at school. Overall, this leads to a diverse system of gifted education and talent support in Germany. It does, however, mean that Germany lacks a common national strategy of gifted education and talent support due to the lack of networking of the individual federal states. By exchanging ideas and information on their applied concepts of ability promotion, the federal states could benefit from each other's expertise and experiences. Further improvement could be achieved if concepts of gifted education and talent support were to become an integral part of various discussions, such as those on inclusive education or on the results of international comparative studies (e.g., PISA, PIRLS or TIMSS).


Applicability of an ensemble of Elman networks with boosting to drug dissolution profile predictions is investigated. Modifications of AdaBoost that enables its use in regression tasks are explained. Two real data sets comprising in vitro dissolution profiles of matrix-controlled-release theophylline pellets are employed to assess the effectiveness of the proposed system. Statistical evaluation and comparison of the results are performed. This work positively demonstrates the potentials of the proposed system for predicting desired drug dissolution characteristics in pharmaceutical product formulation tasks.


The aim of this study was to determine the rate of healing of bone tissue correlated with the type of treatment applied at 34 birds, both domestic and wild, presented in the Surgery Clinic between 2005 and 2013, suspected of traumatic orthopedic conditions. In order to remedy these orthopedic disorders it was used either singular fixation methods (bandage / splint, intramedulary nail, external fixator, cerclage) or mixed systems (intramedulary nail + splint / bandage; intramedulary nail + cerclage, external fixator + intramedulary nail). In most cases, we combined methods to counteract the destabilizing forces acting on the fracture. Recent tibiotars, radius and ulna fractures which allowed the application of the biological fixation, involving a closed reduction of bone fragments and a minimally invasive surgical approach, have led to bone healing in a greater proportion. Death of convalescent wild birds was the most common cause for fracture healing failure.


Special properties of the first ordinary (observable) matter, produced in the universe -the oscillating neutrinos are discussed in a context of their use for healing and stimulation of the brain.


The approach taken in Ames to advance high-level electronic structure theory has been a combination of the development and implementation of new and novel methods with the continuing development of strategies to optimize scalable computing. This work summarizes advances on both fronts. Several new methods have been implemented under the Distributed Data Interface (DDI), most recently including analytic Hessians for both Hatree- Fock and CASSCF (complete active space self-consistent field) wavefunctions, gradients for restricted open shell second order perturbation theory, and the fragment molecular orbital method (FMO). Exciting new method developments include the FMO method and the CEEIS (Correlation Energy Extrapolation by Intrinsic Scaling) method for efficiently approaching the exact energy for atomic and molecular systems.


This study was conducted to identify the domestic mite fauna of Puerto Rico. A total of 57 dust samples were collected from mattresses in homes of 11 cities on the Island. The analysis of the samples revealed that 73.70% of the mattress samples had at least one mite species. The identified species include: Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (45.6%), Blomia tropicalis (31.6%), Cheyletus sp. (19.3%), Dermatophagoides farinae (17.5%), Euroglyphus maynei (5.3%), Dermatophagoides sibonei (1.8%), Dermatophagoides sp. (1.8%), Suidasia melanensis (1.8%) and mite species that were not identified (5.3%). Differences in the geographical distribution of mites showed that only Blomia tropicalis is more frequently in the northern (43%) than in the southern region (19%) of Puerto Rico (OR 3.36, p, 0.046). This finding can be explained by the fact that in the northern region the relative humidity is significantly higher that in the southern region (p < 0.001). No significant differences were observed for other species or in the total mite counts between the northern and southern regions. The small sample size of this study may explain the lack significance for some of the differences found. Nevertheless, our results indicate that the domestic mite fauna is composed of several clinically important species, their numbers are high enough to be considered in the sensitizing levels, and the diversity of these species is comparable to other observations in the Caribbean areas, and in the southern states in the continental US. Based upon our results, we recommend that when performing the skin test in Puerto Rico, extracts from the identified local domestic mite species be included in the allergen panel. This may prove useful in the aid for the diagnosis and management of atopic conditions.


The views and interpretations in this document are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Inter-American Development Bank, or to any individual acting on its behalf. The Research Department (RES) publishes the Latin American Economic Policies Newsletter, as well as working papers and books, on diverse economic issues. To obtain a complete list of RES publications, and read or download them please visit our web site at:


Problematic: Competitiveness in the market follows a growing trend due to global phenomena that have implications for the organizational scenario. In this context, organizational communication comes into play as a tool for adapting to these changes. Although there are important studies on the subject, the favorable impact of organizational communication is still not fully recognized in many countries. In that way, it's necessary to continue to deepen and delimit the field of study. Objectives: Analyse the importance of both internal and external communication to identify strategies that can be used as a competitive differentiator for the company. Materials and methods: This is exploratory research with a qualitative approach through a structured and rigorous review of high-impact articles, academic repositories, among others. Results: The results show that there is little research on the subject carried out in our region, mainly from European and Asian countries; furthermore, most of the scientific articles taken as primary sources are of the Q1 and Q2 category. On the other hand, the number of articles on the subject has increased after COVID-19 confinement. Discussion: It became evident that communication is indeed a strategic management tool that influences brand positioning through competitive differentiation, thus contributing to the co-creation of values in all contexts and with the different stakeholders. Conclusions: Communication in its various dimensions is a priority for optimal organizational development and, due to the pandemic, is taking on the challenge and responsibility to redefine itself. Contribution/originality: It is hoped to continue contributing to the field of study and to generate proposals aimed at improving organizational communication in any type and size of the company.


A thermophilic up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor was used to treat high-sulfate refractory wastewater from a sulfite pulp mill. The microorganisms were inhibited significantly as the result of sulfate reduction. Based on the consideration that the limited aeration may strip hydrogen sulfide out and oxidize part of the sulfide into nontoxic elemental sulfur, limited aeration was introduced into the reactor later to reduce the inhibition. The reactor showed much better running stability and higher treatment capacity thereafter. COD removal increased from 40%-50% to 60%-70% when the organic loading rate (OLR) was doubled. This study verified that some methanogens could be aerotolerant while some of the fermentation bacteria might be sensitive to the incomplete anaerobic surroundings.


Returning state financial losses is the focus of the corruption law, especially in the case of money laundering crimes committed by state officials to deceive law enforcement officials in examining the assets of public officials. One way to return state assets is to seize or confiscate assets suspected of being the result of corruption or money laundering. Money laundering is an attempt to hide or disguise the origin of money/funds or wealth resulting from a criminal act through various financial transactions so that the money or assets appear as if they came from legal/legal activities. The research method used in this study is a normative juridical approach with the sources of legal materials used are primary sources of legal materials and secondary sources of legal materials. The technique of collecting legal materials uses a literature study of listening techniques and the technique of analyzing legal materials using qualitative analysis techniques. The results of the study indicate that the implementation of the return of state financial losses on corruption is related to Article 81 of Law Number 8 of 2010 concerning the Prevention and Eradication of the Crime of Money Laundering. can be done by tracking, freezing, confiscation, confiscation and repatriation.


Hydrogen ionization in soft collisions with relativistic charged projectiles is considered for the ranges of parameters: (a) v Z<<v2, v0<<v<c; (b) Z<<v, v0<<v<c (here Z is the projectile charge, v the collision velocity, v0 the Bohr velocity in the hydrogen ground state, the Lorentz factor and c = 137 is the speed of light). Analytical expressions have been obtained for differential cross sections of hydrogen ionization accompanied by the emission of soft electrons. It is found that the electric-dipole interaction contributes most to the soft emission. An asymmetry in the angular distribution of soft electrons is found which can be interpreted as a result of two effects: (i) an absorption of virtual photon momenta by the atomic system, (ii) so-called `post-collision interaction'. These results are generalized to describe analytically soft-electron emission from helium colliding with relativistic projectiles. This generalization gives a simple fit to experimental data on both differential and total cross sections for helium single ionization in a wide range of projectile charges and velocities.


Consumers are pushing for higher data rates to support more services that are introduced in mobile applications. As an example, a few years ago video-on-demand was only accessed through landlines, but today wireless devices are frequently used to stream video. To support this, more flexible network solutions have merged in 4G, introducing new technical problems to the mobile terminal. New techniques are thus needed, and this dissertation explores five different ideas for receiver front-ends, that are cost-efficient and flexible both in performance and operating frequency. All ideas have been implemented in chips fabricated in 65 nm CMOS technology and verified by measurements. Paper I explores a voltage-mode receiver front-end where sub-threshold positive feedback transistors are introduced to increase the linearity in combination with a bootstrapped passive mixer. Paper II builds on the idea of 8-phase harmonic rejection, but simplifies it to a 6-phase solution that can reject noise and interferers at the 3rd order harmonic of the local oscillator frequency. This provides a good trade-off between the traditional quadrature mixer and the 8- phase harmonic rejection mixer. Furthermore, a very compact inductor-less low noise amplifier is introduced. Paper III investigates the use of global negative feedback in a receiver front-end, and also introduces an auxiliary path that can cancel noise from the main path. In paper IV, another global feedback based receiver front-end is designed, but with positive feedback instead of negative. By introducing global positive feedback, the resistance of the transistors in a passive mixer-first receiver front-end can be reduced to achieve a lower noise figure, while still maintaining input matching. Finally, paper V introduces a full receiver chain with a single-ended to differential LNA, current-mode downconversion mixers, and a baseband circuity that merges the functionalities of the transimpedance amplifier, channel-select filter, and analog-to-digital converter into one single power-efficient block. (Less)


The overarching challenge for UK energy policy is to
ensure the delivery of secure, affordable energy in a
way that meets the emission reductions targets laid
out in the Climate Change Act (2008). The EPSRCfunded
Transition Pathways (TP) and, more recently,
Realising Transition Pathways (RTP) projects have both argued that multiple logics of governance, ownership, and control of the electricity system can be followed to address the energy trilemma. This work has developed three transition pathways for the UK energy system, each driven by different governance patterns. Each pathway has a specific technological mix, institutional architecture, and societal drivers. These pathways are:
Central Co-ordination: Central to this pathway
is the role of the nation state in actively delivering the transition.
Market Rules: After the creation of a broad
policy framework, the state allows competition
and private companies to deliver sustainable,
affordable energy.
Thousand Flowers: This pathway is characterised by a greatly expanded role for civil society in delivering distributed low-carbon generation.
The following report focuses on the Thousand
Flowers pathway. There is growing interest, from a range of stakeholders, in the potential of distributed low-carbon electricity generation in delivering a low-carbon energy system. Yet there are still significant gaps in understanding, particularly regarding the feasibility of scaling up
distributed generation from technological, governance, regulation, policy, and financial perspectives. The aim of this report is to address these gaps within the context of the Thousand Flowers pathway. This research was carried out by the 'Engine Room' of the EPSRC-funded Realising Transition Pathways (RTP) consortium. The 'Engine Room' was established to facilitate interdisciplinary work across the consortium
and consists of research fellows and doctoral
researchers from different fields in the nine partner
institutions. Engine Room workshops and meetings
give researchers the space to present their work
and develop and exchange ideas with their peers.
This report is an output of a series of interdisciplinary Engine Room workshops held throughout 2013/14 which also drew on contributions from energy industry stakeholders. These workshops brought together the current research and cumulative findings of the Realising Transition Pathways consortium, to examine the consequences of a transition from a centralised energy system to one where distributed generation plays a much greater role (50% of final electricity demand), and is delivered by a civic energy sector. In this report we do not present any panaceas, attempt to preference a civil response to energy transition,
or claim technological infallibility. We do, however,
explore the potential of a distributed energy future and investigate the technological trajectory it could follow, along with an institutional architecture compatible with its development. We acknowledge throughout that this is a challenging but realistic system transition.


We present a novel strategy to automatically reconstruct 3D faces from monocular images with explicitly disentangled facial geometry (pose, identity and expression), reflectance (diffuse and specular albedo), and self-shadows. The scene lights are modeled as a virtual light stage with pre-oriented area lights used in conjunction with differentiable Monte-Carlo ray tracing to optimize the scene and face parameters. With correctly disentangled self-shadows and specular reflection parameters, we can not only obtain robust facial geometry reconstruction, but also gain explicit control over these parameters, with several practical applications. We can change facial expressions with accurate resultant self-shadows or relight the scene and obtain accurate specular reflection and several other parameter combinations.


Chloride ingress in cracked concrete leads to rapid corrosion of embedded steel reinforcement and a decrease of the expected service life. Corrosion monitoring experiments showed that a 300 μm wide crack caused initiation of corrosion of a rebar (O 10 mm) with a concrete cover of 26 mm within three weeks of cyclic exposure to a 33 g/l NaCl solution. After a period of unstable corrosion activity during the first 20 weeks of exposure, corrosion propagated further at a relatively high rate (0.345 to 0.718 mm³/week). Application of a theoretical pitting model revealed that a reduction of about 50% of the rebar cross-section would occur after a period of 9 to 20 years of continuous cyclic exposure to chlorides. To avoid such rapid degradation, the use of self-healing concrete can be proposed. Introduction of macro-encapsulated polyurethane into the concrete matrix, will lead to the formation of a (partial) barrier against ingress of chlorides at the moment cracks appear. Corrosion monitoring experiments showed that the autonomous crack healing could not always prevent corrosion initiation, but caused an important reduction of the corrosion rate during the 44 weeks exposure period. The mean rate of volumetric loss of steel amounted to 0.042 mm³/week, about 15 times lower than for the untreated cracked samples. The rebars also showed no or very limited signs of corrosion after visual inspection. The simplified pitting model indicated that a 50% reduction in steel cross-section would take more than 5 times longer for samples with self-healing properties versus ordinary cracked samples.


Solution of the ITER divertor problem will require techniques which redistribute the SOL power onto a much larger surface than conventional target plate design permits, while maintaining good control of impurities. Progress made in developing such techniques is reviewed. These include gas target divertors, impurity-seeded radiating divertors, and glancing incidence targets.


The stories told in this collection, though tragic for many, illustrate the steadfast determination and courage of people in the face of misfortune and extreme distress. From the lesser-known weed outbreaks and tornadoes to the world-wide influenza outbreak in 1918 that devastated many Calgary families, these stories focus on the human side of these disasters. It may be a heroic individual or the collective response of a community, but what is truly remarkable in these stories is the human response to the world being turned upside down by famine and disease, by flood, fire, or rock slide, by wind and cold, by dynamite or gas explosions, or even by the seemingly mundane threat of weeds upon crops. It is the resolution to continue to fight and the persistence of the human spirit and its adaptability to challenges that is the true story of a century of development in western Canada. With Contributions By: David Breen Patrick H. Brennan J.M Bumsted Joe Cherwinski Hugh A. Dempsey Janice Dickin Clint Evans Lorry W. Felske Max Foran David C. Jones Anthony Rasporich


The Small Scale Gap Test is a relatively simple experimental tool to obtain a measure of the shock sensitivity of explosives. An evaluation of this test is carried out with use of a computer simulation. The simulated pressures in the water gap compare to experimental data and justify the obtained energy fluence in the shock wave versus distance in the water gap. The initiating shock pulse can be represented by an equivalent planar shock with an effective diameter of only 15 mm and a pulse duration of ≈1 μs. For the type of explosives that show some non-ideal behavior and that have a relatively large critical diameter, the initiation pressure might provide an inadequate value for the shock sensitivity. It is recommended that besides using a critical shock pressure criterion also a critical energy fluence criterion is applied to rank the shock sensitivity of explosives. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.


The focal article on subtle discrimination provided by Jones, Arena, Nittrouer, Alonso, and Lindsey (2017) examines questions about the difference between overt and subtle discrimination and the conditions under which discrimination might vary by subtlety, formality, and intentionality. The authors suggest that a dynamic perspective of subtle discrimination would provide a more comprehensive understanding of its correlates. This article addresses two concerns regarding the authors' proposition to move toward a dynamic model of subtle discrimination. The first concerns definitional issues and overlapping continuums that need to be more clearly distinguished in the model. The second addresses the lack of a theoretically derived process model.


Propagation of hair cracks, existing fissures into a rock mass is most common process associated in mining and tunneling operation. The propagation of these features cracks or widening joints into a rock mass can be simulated into common approach known as matrix formation into rock mass. This research study is an attempt to overcome this deficiency by postulating both longitudinal and transverse cracks with wide range of degree of orientation, fissures into cylindrical rock specimen through various specified geometrical rock matrix patterns. Limestone and Dolomite which comes under a category of soft to medium hard strength where used for this study using microfine cement as a binder material to obtain strength characteristics and failure mechanisms. Also it is intended to determine modulus of elasticity (secant modulus) for various rock matrix and its comparison with intact rocks specimens. Series of triaxial test and compression test were carried out for both type of rock specimen using automated triaxial conventional testing machine. The results indicate that there is a considerable effect of rock matrix and its orientation both on shear parameters and failure mechanisms as compared to intact rock specimen.


Background We present a general modelling scheme particularly adapted for the epidemiology of sexually transmitted infections. Emphasis is placed on the complex interaction structure of the population and on the probabilistic nature of the dynamics. Methods We represent the interaction structure of the population with complex network models. Markov Stochastic Processes are used to consider the probabilistic time evolution of both the network structure and the epidemiological state of the population. Idealised epidemiological problems are considered: they are qualitatively inspired by real-world systems but no actual real-world data is fed to the models. All analytical results are systematically validated through Monte Carlo numerical simulations. Results By dedicating compartments to individuals with both similar epidemiological states and similar contact patterns, we observe great agreement between analytical results and Monte Carlo simulations see Abstract P1-S4.19 Figure 1. This is a special case of the general observation that compartmental models perform better when individuals within each compartment are very similar among themselves. Explicit examples are given for contact patterns changing through time as well as for the interactions of different infections in the same population. Abstract P1-S4.19 Figure 1 Epidemiology on networks. Conclusions By specifying the structure of the population through its local features, we successfully model the probabilistic evolution of complex epidemiological systems. Infection stages and/or behavioural groups are considered the same way they are in "classical" compartmental models. The generality of the approach facilitates its application to a vast array of epidemiological phenomena.


he place of information in addressing market access and participation limitation, which hinders farmer's welfare and poverty reduction efforts in many developing countries, cannot be over-emphasized. This study therefore examined the use of mobile phone in the marketing of food crops among farming households in rural south east, Nigeria. A multi stage sampling procedures was used in the selection of location and 180 farming households sampled for this study, from which data were collected. The data were analyzed using probit regression model and Z – statistic procedure. Result of the analysis showed that knowledge of the GSM technology, quantity of crops produced, farm size, perceived need for information, distance to markets and income were major determinants of mobile phone use among the respondents. The result of the Z-test statistics also showed that among the selected socio-economic characteristics, educational attainment and age of the respondents had significant differences between users and non-users of mobile phones. The study calls for enlightenment campaign in order to sensitize the rural people on the importance of GSM technology in the transaction of their businesses, improvement in the services provided by the mobile phone service centers/ providers among other things.


Background Fatigue is reported to be a common complaint among patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). Previous studies have shown that fatigue is associated with inflammatory pain, stiffness and global wellbeing. Objectives Assess the symptom of fatigue in patients with AS regard to its prevalence and its relationship with demographic variables, inflammatory pain, disease activity and other variables covering anxiety depression and sleep disturbance in patients with AS. Methods A self-administered questionnaire, including visual analog scales to assess fatigue and the FACIT-F (functional assessment of chronic illness therapy of fatigue) score were completed by 70 patients with AS felling the criteria of AMOR. FACIT-F is a questionnaire with13 items; higher scores of FACIT-F indicated more important fatigue. The demographic and clinical characteristics of patients were also collected : The BASDAI (Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease activity index), the BASFI (Bath ankylosing spondylitis functional index), the BASMI (Bath ankylosing spondylitis metrological index), the BAS G (Bath ankylosing spondylitis Global index), the BASRI (bath ankylosing spondylitis radiology index). Depression and anxiety was evaluated by the HAD (hospital anxiety and depression scale), quality of life was assessed by the SF36 and sleep quality was evaluated by sleep scale from the medical outcomes Study. Results Seventy patients were included. 65% were men, sex ratio was 1,85. Age ranged from 16 to 74 years with an average of 40,6 years. Mean disease duration was 10,75±9 years. Mean Pain-VAS was 65 mm and mean Tiredness-VAS was 56 mm. Mean BASDAI score was 45%, mean BASFI score was 44,7% and mean BASG- score was 55%. The mean BASMI score was 4,76 and the mean BASRI score was 4,43. Mean HAD score was 15,9. Mean fatigue-VAS was 56,21 and mean FACIT-F score was 25,67 (8-52) Fatigue is significantly correlated with the VAS pain (p = 0.028), the BASFI (p=0,004) the BASDAI (p = 0.004), the BASG (p= 0.001), the BASMI (p=0,021) the HAD (p <0.001), the Lesquene index (p=0,002) and the SF36(p=0,023). Otherwise, sleep disturbance influence significantly the VAS fatigue (p=0,02) Conclusions Our findings suggests that Fatigue is a major symptom in the majority of patients with AS, in particular those with active disease. The physician needs to take into account this parameter in the global care of patients with AS. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


In any wastewater recycling scheme, the protection of public health is of primary importance. In Australia, the public health requirements applying to the treatment of recycled water are stringent. They use the Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) metric to set a level of negligible public health risk. The target maximum risk of 10–6 DALY per person per year has been adopted in Australian water recycling guidelines since 2006. A key benefit of the DALY approach is its ability to standardise the understanding of risk across disparate areas of public health. To address the key challenge of translating the results of monitoring of microorganisms in the recycled water into this quantitative public health metric, we have developed a novel method. This paper summarises an approach where microbial surrogate organisms indigenous to wastewater are used to measure the efficiency of water recycling treatment processes and estimate public health risk. An example of recent implementation in the Greater Sydney region of Australia is provided.


Carlin-type gold deposits are difficult to date and a wide range of ages has been reported for individual deposits. Therefore, several methods were employed to constrain the age of the gold deposits in the Jerritt Canyon district. Dated igneous rocks with well-documented crosscutting relationships to ore provided the most reliable constraints. K/Ar and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dates on igneous rocks are as follows: andesite dikes 324 Ma, sericitic alteration in andesite dikes 118 Ma, basalt dikes 40.8 Ma, quartz monzonite dikes 39.2 Ma, and calc-alkaline ignimbrites 43.1 to 40.1 Ma. Of these, only the andesite and basalt dikes are clearly altered and mineralized. The gold deposits are, therefore, younger than the 40.8 Ma basalt dikes. The sericitic alteration in the andesite dikes is unrelated to the gold deposits. A number of dating techniques did not work. K/Ar and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dates on mica from mineralized Ordovician to Devonian sedimentary rocks gave misleading results. The youngest date of 149 Ma from the smallest 187 Os/ 188 Os initial = 0.9-3.6) but did not yield a meaningful isochron due to very low Re and Os concentrations and large analytical uncertainties. Paleomagnetic dating techniques failed because the hydrothermal fluids sulfidized nearly all of the iron in the host rocks leaving no remnant magnetism.When published isotopic dates from other Carlin-type deposits in Nevada and Utah are subject to the rigorous evaluation developed for the Jerritt Canyon study, most deposits can be shown to have formed between 42 and 30 Ma. K/Ar and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dates on the youngest preore igneous rocks range from 41 to 32 Ma, whereas the oldest postore igneous rocks range from 35 to 33 Ma. Hydrothermal adularia from the Twin Creeks deposit yields similar 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dates of 42 Ma. K/Ar dates on supergene alunite range from 4 to 30 Ma. K/Ar and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar dates on micas separated from sedimentary (395-43 Ma) and igneous (145-38 Ma) rocks are usually much older than the gold deposits and most are suspect because they are from incompletely reset preore micas or from mixtures of preore and ore-stage mica. Fission track dates on zircons are also generally older than the deposits (169-35 Ma) and are not completely reset by mineralization. Apatites are likley to be reset by the hydrothermal systems (and by younger thermal events) and yield dates (83-22 Ma) that are younger than those from zircon. Independent support of a mid-Tertiary age is provided by the low delta D (sub H 2 O) values of hydrothermal fluids from 10 widely separated Carlin-type deposits (-134 + or - 23ppm). The low delta D (sub H 2 O) values are consistent with a mid-Tertiary age when the climate was cool but are inconsistent with the Cretaceous and Jurassic ages favored by some workers when the climate was warm. The age and distribution of Carlin-type deposits coincides with areas that underwent extension and calc-alkaline magmatism over the same time period. Despite this relationship, the deposits lack clear spatial or genetic relationships to mid-Tertiary epizonal plutons. Rather, many deposits are localized along preexisting crustal fault zones. In the Getchell trend, structures tapped deep-sourced metamorphic (or magmatic) fluids and subsequently variably exchanged meteoric water. In the other trends and districts only variably exchanged meteoric water has been detected. These relationships suggest either that all of the deposits formed from deep-sourced fluids and were subsequently flooded by meteoric water, or, that fluids from different sources evolved to produce deposits with similar charateristics.


But primarily this project recognizes that, given a supportive permitting and fiscal environment, there can be no better way of encouraging exploration in an area than providing prospectors and companies with sound exploration targets which have not yet been tested. Government geological databases and modern software techniques can be combined to cost-effectively generate such new, easily validated, exploration targets for free distribution on the Internet to parties interested in exploring in BC.


Introduction Bleeding is a well recognised complication of endoscopic resection (ER), particularly in endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD). Electrocautery can be used to control bleeding but does increase the risk of perforation. A novel extracellular scaffold matrix (Purastat) has recently been approved for gastrointestinal haemostasis. This self-assembling peptide forms a transparent gel that can be applied via a catheter through the scope over the bleeding area. We conducted a feasibility study in a high bleeding risk cohort to assess its applicability, safety and efficacy. We also aimed to ascertain the mean volume of Purastat required to cover the resection base prophylactically. Method This was a prospective observational cohort study of patients undergoing complex ER in a tertiary referral centre from December 2015–2016. Purastat was used for prophylaxis over the resection base in high bleeding risk procedures or for primary haemostasis in active bleeding. Data was collected on patient and lesion characteristics including surface area, technical feasibility of gel application, haemostasis and delayed bleeding rate. Results Purastat was used in 74 patients (average age 69 years, male to female ratio of 2:1). All lesions were >2 cm and 33.8% (25/74) had cardiac co-morbidities with anticoagulant or antiplatelet usage reflecting a high bleeding risk. 60 (81.1%) had ESD and 14 (18.9%) had endoscopic mucosal resection. Table 1 shows the distribution of lesions according to location and size. Abstract PTH-019 Table 1 Location Number of lesions (%) Mean lesion size (cm) Oesophagus 39 (52.7%) 3.22 Rectum 11 (14.9%) 6.36 Gastric 9 (12.2%) 4.50 Colon (excluding rectum) 8 (10.8%) 2.76 Duodenum 7 (9.4%) 2.64 Abstract PTH-019 Table 2 Purastat® use Haemostasis achieved with Purastat® only Haemostasis achieved with Purastat® + heat/clips Delayed Bleeding Prophylaxis alone(n=26) N/A N/A 2 (gastric) Primary haemostasis(n=48) 35 13 1 (oesophageal) Purastat on its own was effective in stopping bleeding in 35/48 (72.9%) cases (see Table 2). It was successfully applied in all patients with no interference in visibility or catheter blockage The mean surface area of the resection base was 16.2cm2 requiring a mean Purastat® volume of 2.7mls, or 0.2mls/cm2. On follow up in 1 month, delayed bleeding was noted in 3/74 (4%) patients. All were managed with endoscopic intervention and no transfusion was required. Conclusion Purastat was effective in controlling bleeding in almost ¾ of the cases where it was used for primary haemostasis. It is safe, easy to use and does not hamper ongoing ER. Only a small amount is needed to effectively cover the resection base for prophylaxis. Our data has demonstrated its potential as a novel haemostatic agent that can minimise bleeding during ER. Disclosure of Interest S. Subramaniam: None Declared, K Kandiah: None Declared, S Thayalasekaran: None Declared, G Longcroft-Wheaton: None Declared, P Bhandari Conflict with: Receives educational grants from Fujifilm, Olympus and Pentax


The synthesis of muscle protein is restrained during dietary protein restriction. This is widely understood to vary quantitatively with the degree of nutritional deprivation, but there has been little discussion of qualitative changes in muscle protein deriving from dietary protein restriction. We studied 14 healthy subjects in a 2-sample study. Subjects were randomly assigned to a diet providing an ample, American-style protein intake (1.67 g. kg fat-free mass(-1). d(-1)) or a diet approximating the mean minimum adult protein requirement (0.71 g. kg fat-free mass(-1). d(-1)). We found that consumption of an isoenergetic diet at the mean adult minimum protein requirement for 4 wk produced an 81% lower fractional synthesis rate of myosin heavy chain (MHC) proteins in vastus lateralis muscle than did consumption of an ample protein diet (P = 0.05). Protein deprivation altered the skeletal muscle myosin composition such that the proportion of the total myosin content represented by fast-twitch MHC IIx was 51% lower than with ample intake (P = 0.013). The steady state content of MHC IIx messenger RNA (mRNA) did not differ in subjects consuming the minimum requirement of protein, suggesting that the reduced proportion of MHC IIx arises from posttranscriptional events. A 68% lower rate of 3-methylhistidine excretion with protein restriction (P < 0.01) suggests that myofibrillar protein degradation was lower. We conclude that dietary amino acid scarcity produces a change in myosin isoform distribution via posttranscriptional mechanisms. The relative contribution of inhibited myosin synthesis and inhibited degradation to the altered myosin isoform composition remains unknown. This has implications for the mechanisms by which amino acids govern muscle protein composition in vivo, and further exploration is required.


Full self-consistent stationary Vlasov-Maxwell solutions of magnetically confined plasmas are built for systems with cylindrical symmetries. The stationary solutions are thermodynamic equilibrium solutions. These are obtained by computing the equilibrium distribution function resulting from maximizing the entropy and closing the equations with source terms that are then computed by using the obtained distribution. This leads to a self-consistent problem corresponding to solving a set of two coupled second order nonlinear differential equations. Relevant plasma parameters are introduced and a bifurcation leading to an improvement of plasma confinement is shown. Conversely, in the improved confinement setting, we exhibit the emergence of a separatrix in the integrable motion of a charged particle .


Pesticide use related to agriculture and non-agricultural uses has increased six-fold during the last three decades. California has been collecting pesticide use since 1990, and that is recognized as the most comprehensive pesticide reporting program in the world. The program includes the information for 1003 active ingredients and 309 end use commodities. This study aims to develop a relationship between end uses and chemicals to determine the possible impact of end-uses for pesticide demand. In this study, we develop a comprehensive relationship between the pesticide end-uses and active ingredients and analyze pesticide demand using the historical data available from the PUR dataset and agricultural production data using stochastic simulation methods.


One of the most critical practical actions to reduce volcanic risk is the evacuation of people from threatened areas during volcanic unrest. Despite its importance, this decision is usually arrived at subjectively by a few individuals, with little quantitative decision support. Here, we propose a possible strategy to integrate a probabilistic scheme for eruption forecasting and cost‐benefit analysis, with an application to the call for an evacuation of one of the highest risk volcanoes: Vesuvius. This approach has the following merits. First, it incorporates a decision‐analysis framework, expressed in terms of event probability, accounting for all modes of available hazard knowledge. Secondly, it is a scientific tool, based on quantitative and transparent rules that can be tested. Finally, since the quantitative rules are defined during a period of quiescence, it allows prior scrutiny of any scientific input into the model, so minimizing the external stress on scientists during an actual emergency phase. Whilst we specifically report the case of Vesuvius during the MESIMEX exercise, the approach can be generalized to other types of natural catastrophe.