An experiment was conducted to evaluate the behavior, performance and physiological parameters of pigs in different production systems. Twenty four animals in the growth phase were distributed in a randomized block design in three treatments: T1 concrete floor, T2 deep bedding with wood shaving, and T3 deep bedding with coffee husks. The behavioral study was carried out by observing the animal behavior for an uninterrupted period of eight hours throughout seven weeks. The proportions of time spent in each behavior were characterized using the frequency histogram composition. Environmental (IBGTH), physiological (rectal and skin temperature and respiratory rate) and performance (weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion) parameters were measured in animals during the period. The production systems of deep bedding showed higher values of IBGTH. There was no effect of production systems evaluated on the performance parameters. Rectal temperature was higher in animals reared on deep bedding with coffee husks in relation to the concrete floor. The use of deep bedding benefited the behavior of piglets in the growth phase and it reduced the agonistic behavior among individuals.


Nationally, both science and agricultural education professional organizations have identified agriculture as a fundamental technology to be studied by students, with the goal of achieving an understanding of the agri-food system necessary for democratic participation. Benchmarks representing the content that K–12 children need to understand about the scientific and technological underpinnings of the agri-food system have been developed by agricultural and science educators. However, the benchmarks were developed without empirically based evidence on what existing agri-food system knowledge students held. This study examines students' understandings about science and technology concepts underpinning benchmarks for agricultural literacy. Urban upper elementary student concepts of the origins of food, the selection of plants and animals used for production, how people living in harsh environments obtain crops, and the prevention of food spoilage were probed. Using Piaget's theory of schema development, students' understanding of agricultural technology were compared to grade-specific benchmarks for agricultural literacy and examined for relationship to students' backgrounds and experiences. In comparison to the benchmark goals for the age group, informants' schema for the role that science and technology plays in the agri-food industry was nearly nonexistent. This study suggests that existing agricultural literacy benchmarks, as designed, may not be age and/or developmentally appropriate. Additional suggestions indicate that underlying sub-concepts needed for learner understanding may only be loosely connected to any meaningful experience of urban elementary students.


Geometry and Topology. Reaping Number and pi-Character of Boolean Algebras (B. Balcar, P. Simon). On w alpha-Compactness (A. Fedeli et al.). Embedding of a Separable Locally Pseudoconvex Algebra into a Locally Pseudoconvex Algebra with Two Generators (A. Fernandez, V. Muller). On the Cardinality of Certain Hausdorff Spaces (J. Gerlits et al.). Geometric Medians (J. Gil et al.). The Logarithmic Distribution of Leading Digits and Finitely Additive Measures (T. Jech). All Trapezoids are Ramsey (U. Kriz). Products in the Category of Locales: Which Properties are Preserved? (J. Paseka). On Coverings of Infinite-Dimensional Metric Spaces (J. Pelant, V. Rodl). From wqo to bqo, via Ellentuck's Theorem (H.J. Promel, B. Voigt). Notes on an Extension of the Structure of Frame (A. Pultr). Sets in R d with No Large Empty Convex Subsets (P. Valtr). Cardinalities of Noncentred Systems of Subsets of omega (P. Vojtas). Structures and Algebra. On Orthogonal Subcategories of Locally Presentable Categories (J. Adamek, J. Rosicky). Invertibility of the Base Radon Transform of a Matroid (A. Bjorner, J. Karlander). An Extremal Problem for the Spectral Radius of a Graph (M. Fiedler). Simple Tournaments and Sharply Transitive Groups (W. Imrich, J. Nesetril). Extending a Flexible Unit-Bar Framework to a Rigid One (H. Maehara). Thickness of Families of Sets and a Minimax Lemma (V. Ptak). Applications of Combinatorics to Statics - A Second Survey (A. Recksi). Groups with Sign Structure and their Antiautomorphisms (J. Siran, M. Skoviera). Endomorphisms of Undirected Modifications of Directed Graphs (V. Trnkova). Simultaneous Representations of Groups (J. Vinarek). Combinatorics. Generalized Davenport-Schinzel Sequences with Linear Upper Bound (R. Adamec et al.). The Strong Chromatic Index of a Cubic Graph is at most 10 (L.D. Andersen). Trahtenbrot-Zykov Problem and NP-Completeness (P. Bugata). Cycle-Connected Graphs (R.A. Duke et al.). Covering the Cliques of a Graph with Vertices (P. Erdos et al.). On Cross-Intersecting Families (P. Frankl). Achromatic Numbers and Graph Operations (P. Hell, D.J. Miller). Thresholds for Classes of Intersection Graphs (S. Janson, J. Kratochvil). Some Remarks on Adam's Conjecture for Simple Directed Graphs (J. Jirasek). Unprovable Combinatorial Statements (M. Loebl). On the Complexity of Finding Iso- and other Morphisms for Partial k -Trees (J. Matousek, R. Thomas). The Max Clique Problem in Classes of String-Graphs (M. Middendorf, F. Pfeiffer). Finite Undirected Graphs which are Not Reconstructible from their Large Cardinality Subgraphs (V. Nydl). Max-Cut in Circulant Graphs (S. Poljak, D. Turzik). The Gap between the Chromatic Number of a Graph and the Rank of its Adjacency Matrix is Superlinear (A.A. Razborov). Asymptotic Growth of Sparse Saturated Structures is Locally Determined (Zs. Tuza). Obituary. Bibliographical Sketch. List of Frolik's Publications.


The performance of an on-chip interconnection architecture used for communication between IP cores depends on the efficiency of its bus architecture. Any bus architecture having advantages of faster bus clock speed, extra data transfer cycle, improved bus width and throughput is highly desirable for a low cost, reduced time-to-market and efficient System-on-Chip (SoC). This paper presents a survey of WISHBONE bus architecture and its comparison with three other on-chip bus architectures viz. Advanced Microcontroller Bus Architecture (AMBA) by ARM, CoreConnect by IBM and Avalon by Altera. The WISHBONE Bus Architecture by Silicore Corporation appears to be gaining an upper edge over the other three bus architecture types because of its special performance parameters like the use of flexible arbitration scheme and additional data transfer cycle (Read-Modify-Write cycle). Moreover, its IP Cores are available free for use requiring neither any registration nor any agreement or license.


Company Profile is a supporting tool for Public Relations that contains general informations regarding a business entity. It can be categorized into four different types which are website, print, interactive application and video. The Creators chose video as their project base to make a company profile for PT Avoir Industry. It can be used to introduce the company's identity in order to build quality partnership with external parties and can also be functioned as a promotion channel. PT Avoir Industry has stood since 2008 and in the past 11 years PT Avoir Industry has not yet had the company profile video. The creator feels that a new method is needed for the company to keep up with the development of digital age. In the production of this company profile video, the creators uses three stages, those are:Pre Production, Production and post production. The concept is one that uses a cast ensemble to display the utilization of drinking cup in daily life, which will then lead to production, packaging and distribution process. This video is three to six minutes long. The purpose of the work is to provide information on PT Avoir Industry and to promote the promotion of the company to be better known to the public, especially the market's targets in the form of a company profile video. The work will be uploaded on four social media platforms those are Instagram, youtube, facebook and the company's official website. The four platforms have the high potentioal to provide information to the public, especially the target of the market of avoir industries.


Pulmonary rehabilitation in COPD patients aims at increasing exercise tolerance, partly through improving muscle function. The influence of chronic hypoxia on the training-induced muscle adaptations has not been specifically investigated.

We studied muscle adaptations and exercise capacity following 2 months of endurance and resistance exercises in 8 COPD patients with long term oxygen therapy (hypoxic group) and 15 without arterial oxygen desaturation (normoxic group). Biopsies of the vastus lateralis were analyzed before and after training for fiber size, citrate synthase activity, and markers of protein synthesis/degradation.

At baseline both groups did not differ in pulmonary function, fat free mass, or exercise capacity. Maximal workload and walking distance improved in both groups but to a greater extent in the hypoxic group (27.5 versus 10.5%, p= 0.06; 23.7% versus 6.9%, p= 0.01, respectively). Fiber cross sectional area and citrate synthase activity increased significantly in the normoxic group only (both p<0.05). Levels of phosphorylated AKT, p70S6K and GSK3b tended to increase with training in the normoxic group in favour of an upregulation of anabolism while decreased significantly in the hypoxic group (p=0.01). mRNA levels of anabolic genes (IGF1, MGF) and catabolic genes (MurF-1, Atrogin, Foxo-1 and -3, Myostatin) did not change with training in both groups.

We conclude that in COPD patients with chronic hypoxemia, pulmonary rehabilitation improved exercise capacity while the markers of muscle remodelling remained unchanged. It deserves to be studied whether changes in genes expression occurred earlier during rehabilitation in these patients.


To support future clinical studies, in vitro susceptibility tests were examined to determine whether Neisseria gonorrhoeae could be tested reliably against two beta-lactam-clavulanate combinations. All isolates that were tested appeared to be susceptible to amoxicillin and ticarcillin in combination with clavulanic acid. In the absence of resistant isolates, only a breakpoint for a susceptible category could be defined for agar dilution tests with amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (MIC of less than or equal to 2.0/1.0 micrograms/ml is tentatively proposed). For disk diffusion tests, a corresponding breakpoint zone diameter of greater than or equal to 28 mm is suggested. The validity of the breakpoints for penicillinase-negative penicillin-resistant strains awaits clinical data. Proposed quality control limits for testing amoxicillin-clavulanic acid by agar dilution and disk diffusion methods are a MIC of 0.25/0.125 to 1.0/0.5 micrograms/ml and zones of 30 to 40 mm in diameter for N. gonorrhoeae ATCC 49226, a MIC of 0.125/0.06 to 0.5/0.25 micrograms/ml for Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, and zones of 30 to 38 mm for S. aureus ATCC 25923. Ticarcillin-clavulanate is currently tested against other species by preparing doubling dilutions of ticarcillin with a constant 2 micrograms of clavulanate per ml. By that method, all gonococci were susceptible to low concentrations. However, the amount of clavulanic acid that is included (2 micrograms/ml) will, by itself, inhibit many strains of N. gonorrhoeae. Consequently, the role of ticarcillin in the combination cannot be determined, and such tests are not recommended.


Creating a flourishing city and delivering the Sustainable Development Goals in urban development is a complex challenge because of the interconnectedness between the different goals as well as the diverse perspectives and prioritisation of values among stakeholders. To navigate through this complexity and effectively orchestrate changes at the scales needed, innovation programmes have to be co-produced by and with stakeholders. Effective co-production requires mindful leadership and skilful facilitation. We introduce a learning framework which helps innovators and change programme leaders to facilitate an integrated approach to stakeholder engagement, so they can lead their project effectively and stimulate desired, community-led transformation. We examine the conceptual underpinnings of the framework, drawing from evidence in the literature about motivation and decision theories, co-production, learning, and resilient agency. We then describe how this framework has been developed in a case study of a citizen- led housing project in Knowle West, Bristol, UK and how the solution developed responds to the urban challenge themes of the Urban ID project: mobility & accessibility, health & happiness, equality & inclusion, carbon-neutral city, and environment & ecology. We highlight the importance of framing co- production as a learning journey and the need for the effective facilitation of both the behavioural processes of getting things done and the learning facilitation processes which enable people to change their minds and behaviours. These lead to the argument that mindful leadership in both thought and action and the development of a collaborative learning infrastructure are important success factors for coproduction in Living Labs.


Background The cost-effectiveness of childhood obesity prevention interventions is critical for their sustained implementation. This study evaluated the cost-effectiveness of the Educació en Alimentació (EdAl) program, a school-based intervention for reducing obesity. Methods Total EdAl program implementation costs and per-child costs were estimated. Cost-effectiveness, defined using the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), was estimated as the difference between the intervention and control group costs divided by the obesity-related outcome effects for boys (avoided cases of obesity, obesity prevalence, body mass index [BMI], and BMI z-score units) for each group. As a significant difference (4.39%) in the reduction of obesity prevalence between the intervention and control groups was observed for boys in the EdAl program, the data were calculated only for boys. Results The intervention cost was 24,246.53 € for 1,550 children (15.64 €/child/3 years) or 5.21 €/child/year. The ICERs/boy were 968.66 € to avoid one case of obesity, 3.6 € to reduce the obesity prevalence by 1%, 44.68 € to decrease BMI by one unit, and 65.16 € to reduce the BMI z-score by one unit. Conclusions The cost of reducing the obesity prevalence in boys by 4.39% was 5.21 €/child/year, half the cost proposed by the Spanish Health Ministry, indicating that the EdAl program is cost-effective.


In this paper, we propose a novel autonomous decentralized control (ADC) for indirectly controlling a system performance variable, while not measuring the variable. In a large-scale and wide-area network, each node cannot gather information from the whole network, and has to control all over the network by collaborating with other nodes according to information in its local area. Some important problems (e.g., resource allocation) in a network are often formulated by a system performance variable as a function of system information including all node states. To tackle such a problem by an ADC, we design a node action to indirectly control the probability distribution of a system performance variable by only using local information on the basis of Markov Chain Monte Carlo. We then investigate the effectiveness of the node action through the analysis based on statistical mechanics. Moreover, we apply our ADC to design a traffic-aware virtual machine placement control with load balancing in a data center network. Simulations confirm that our control yields the performance desired.


This paper provides a review and critique of research on Israeli older people's drinking. On the basis of a review of all published Israeli alcohol research, in Hebrew and English, it summarizes the findings concerned with alcohol and ageing in Israel. Research findings on this population are as inadequate in Israeli literature as is the case in other developing countries: this is a reflection of the common lack of interest in the problems of the elderly. In Israel and other developing countries, gerontologists are not interested in alcohol problems, alcohol researchers are not interested in the elderly, and alcohol abuse is not perceived as a problem of ageing. It is suggested that, with the increasing proportion of the population living past 65 years of age, the connections between ageing and alcohol abuse should be explored. Various directions for future research in Israel and other developing countries are suggested.


Political attempts to reform existing policies often fail to bring about substantial change. When they succeed, the new policy is heavily influenced by the pre-existing policy path. This is confirmed by the story of Danish welfare reforms in the 1980s and 1990s, which can be explained in terms of their path dependency. In order to understand better the mechanisms of path dependency I draw on the fundamental insights of the new institutionalisms: rational choice institutionalism, historical institutionalism, and social constructivist institutionalism. The article begins with a brief presentation and comparison of the three new institutionalisms. It then discusses the dialectics of path shaping and path dependency before seeking to explicate the mechanisms of path dependency. Finally, the various accounts of path dependency are applied in an empirical study of the failure of welfare retrenchment in the 1980s and the relatively successful restructuring of the welfare state in the 1990s.


In order to avoid the inherent defect of the traditional position trigger and time trigger, reduce launch error accumulation and improve the launch efficiency of the electromagnetic coil launcher, a new trigger control method based on real-time velocity measurement is provided in this paper. By the simulation of the launcher whose structural parameters are given, the optimal trigger time corresponding to the different initial velocity could be achieved and preseted to the host computer. Firstly, the initial velocity of each stage is measured in real time and a new time reference is set. Secondly, the measured data are matched with the preset data then the final control time of trigger could be fixed by interpolation method. Finally, the validity of the method is verified by the experiment.


This document contains the theoretical and practical study performed in order to design and define the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Software Selection Protocol. This protocol allows, from an input given throughout a simple form, to answer the question of which Robotic Process Automation software is more adapted to the needs of my company for those cases where an RPA implementation for process automation is performed, all of it applied to small, medium and large companies. For this purpose, three RPA softwares have been pre-selected from among the most trending ones in the market: UiPath, BluePrism and Automation Anywhere. There has been performed an exhaustive study both at theoretical and technical level, testing all of them for its rating and conclusions. Following a Hybrid Agyle methodology for the planning and project management, the content of the protocol is designed and defined. A theoretical analysis of each vendor is performed followed by a technical analysis throughout the creation of simple automations. A defined score matrix is obtained as a result of these studies. The protocol creation comes to an end as a result of the data crossing from the user-filled form, the score matrix generated in the theoretical-practical study of the softwares, and an internal weighting system defined for the final calculation. Finally, with the protocol already finished, some tests with users form external companies are performed in order to verify the correct functioning of the protocol, comparing the expected results with the obtained ones and getting conclusions with the results of the tests.


The search for sustainable resources remains a subject of global interest and the conversion of the abundantly available bivalve shell wastes to advanced materials is an intriguing method. By grinding, calcium carbonate (CaCO3) powder was obtained from each shell of bivalves (cockle, mussel, and oyster) as revealed by FTIR and XRD results. Each individual shell powder was reacted with H3PO4 and H2O to prepare Ca(H2PO4)2·H2O giving an anorthic crystal structure. The calcination of the mixture of each shell powder and its produced Ca(H2PO4)2·H2O, at 900 °C for 3 h, resulted in rhombohedral crystal β-Ca3(PO4)2 powder. The FTIR and XRD data of the CaCO3, Ca(H2PO4)2·H2O, and Ca3(PO4)2 prepared from each shell powder are quite similar, showing no impurities. The thermal behaviors of CaCO3 and Ca(H2PO4)2·H2O produced from each shell were slightly different. However, particle sizes and morphologies of the same products obtained from different shells were slightly different—but those are significantly different for the kind of the obtained products. Overall, the products (CaCO3, Ca(H2PO4)2·H2O, and Ca3(PO4)2) were obtained from the bivalve shell wastes by a rapidly simple, environmentally benign, and low-cost approach, which shows huge potential in many industries providing both economic and ecological benefits.


Purpose of review The need to treat increasing numbers of patients with symptomatic benign prostatic obstruction has led to the continuous development of various novel or modified instrumental procedures with minimal invasiveness. The aim of the following review is to provide an overview of the current research focused on the complications and morbidity of instrumental treatment options for symptomatic benign prostatic obstruction. Recent findings A systematic Medline database search, over the past 12 months of the literature with a focus on articles about surgical treatment for benign prostatic obstruction or benign prostatic hyperplasia, provided some interesting new data concerning laser prostatectomy (holmium laser enucleation of the prostate and photoselective vaporization of the prostate) and transurethral resection of the prostate using bipolar electrocautery systems available for the review. Summary The data of this review period confirmed a favorable safety profile of holmium laser enucleation of the prostate for treating patients with comorbidities. Photoselective vaporization of the prostate seems to be an efficient technique with a favorable safety profile. Its long-term potential, however, has to be confirmed by randomized controlled studies. Transurethral resection of the prostate using bipolar electrocautery systems appears to offer the advantages of improved hemostasis and the ability to avoid transurethral resection syndrome. More randomized comparisons, however, need to be undertaken before an accurate general picture is available.


OBJECTIVE
To clone Streptococcus salivarius (Ss) 57. I urease gene, which can express ureolytic activity in Escherichia coli (Ec) without adding extra nickel ions.

METHODS
Urease gene was cloned by polymerase chain reaction in three separate parts. The three separate plasmids were digested by specific restriction enzymes and ligated together. The expression of the complete urease gene in Ec was detected by phenol red assay and pH analysis.

RESULTS
Urease gene of Ss 57.I was eventually cloned and proved correct. Urease activity of the obtained clone was positive in Ec. Without adding extra NiCl(2), the recombinant Ec could hydrolyze urea to produce ammonia, resulting in the increase of pH value.

CONCLUSIONS
The clone of Ss urease gene obtained in this study could express ureolytic activity in Ec without adding extra nickel ions. The current clone can be used to construct ureolytic effector strain used in replacement therapy in caries prevention.


PURPOSE
Oxygen extraction fraction (OEF), defined by the ratio of oxygen metabolism (MO2) to delivery (DO2), determines the level of compensation of MO2 by DO2. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that inner retinal OEF remains unchanged during light flicker under systemic normoxia and hypoxia in rats due to the matching of MO2 and DO2.

METHODS
Retinal vascular oxygen tension (PO2) measurements were obtained in 10 rats by phosphorescence lifetime imaging. Inner retinal OEF was derived from vascular PO2 based on Fick's principle. Measurements were obtained before and during light flicker under systemic normoxia and hypoxia. The effects of light flicker and systemic oxygenation on retinal vascular PO2 and OEF were determined by ANOVA.

RESULTS
During light flicker, retinal venous PO2 decreased (P < 0.01, N = 10), while inner retinal OEF increased (P = 0.02). Under hypoxia, retinal arterial and venous PO2 decreased (P < 0.01), while OEF increased (P < 0.01). The interaction effect was not significant on OEF (P = 0.52), indicating the responses of OEF to light flicker were similar under normoxia and hypoxia. During light flicker, OEF increased from 0.46 ± 0.13 to 0.50 ± 0.11 under normoxia, while under hypoxia, OEF increased from 0.67 ± 0.16 to 0.74 ± 0.14.

CONCLUSIONS
Inner retinal OEF increased during light flicker, indicating the relative change in DO2 is less than that in MO2 in rats under systemic normoxia and hypoxia. Inner retinal OEF is a potentially useful parameter for assessment of the relative changes of MO2 and DO2 under physiologic and pathologic conditions.


The advantage of long-acting preparations of theophylline in clinical practice is that they can be used to maintain a stable concentration of the drug in blood for long periods of time. These preparations are also particularly useful in non-compliant patients. In addition, by reducing the circadian variation in the concentration of theophylline in blood they reduce the risk of early morning asthma attacks. In a survey of physicians in private practice, 63% said that theophylline preparations are appropriate as drugs of first choice in treating asthma, and the average of the reported daily doses was 369.5 mg.


How do you judge a good surgeon? Certainly not by appearance. The only person at Westminster Hospital when I was there who looked like a surgeon—tall, distinguished, beautifully dressed, hair just greying at the sides, long tapering fingers—was the hospital barber. What you must take into account is diagnostic skill, ability to communicate, empathy with patients, research ability, and, of course, technical skill in the operating theatre. Don't judge a surgeon by mortality figures: the better the surgeon, the stickier the patients referred to him or her. Overly cautious surgeons may never lose a patient, but a lot of "bad" patients might be denied the chance of relief through surgery.

Also important, but difficult to quantify, is how good surgeons are at avoiding complications and, if and when they occur, how good they are at spotting them and dealing with them quickly and effectively. As surgery becomes ever more sophisticated and its scope expands, so the chance of complications increases. Patients who would have been denied surgery when I retired from surgical practice in 1989—with their bad hearts or terrible chests or seemingly hopeless pathology—may now be submitted to life saving surgery. Audits now show up complications that would not have arisen then, simply because the patient would have been deemed inoperable and would have died.

Today we know far more about the incidence of postoperative complications; and their management has become more standardised and more efficient. For example, audits such as the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcomes and Deaths in England and Wales and the Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality have provided essential information on the incidence of severe complications. Guidelines laid down by bodies such as the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) give important pointers to safer practice. For example, NICE advises the use of two dimensional ultrasonography as an aid to placement of central venous catheters, which reduces the likelihood of pneumothorax and other complications of this common procedure.

Any number of modern textbooks of surgery, from both sides of the Atlantic, cover diagnosis and management in splendid detail and, of course, deal with the complications of surgery. However, you can search library shelves in vain for a modern text that is devoted to the diagnosis and management of this important topic. The two editors—surgeons on the transplantation unit at Hammersmith Hospital, London—have assembled a large and international team of contributors, covering the surgical specialties as well as anaesthetics, gastrointestinal medicine, and imaging, and also including a medical historian and a medicolegal ethicist. Its chapters cover pretty well every aspect of this broad subject.

Despite today's sophisticated surgery and the array of modern antibiotics, hospital infection remains a serious and indeed an apparently increasing problem. We are warned in the long chapter on this topic that hospital acquired infections account for 5000 deaths a year in the United Kingdom and cost the NHS £1bn (€1.5bn; $2bn) a year. They more than double the length of the average stay in hospital and add £3000 to the cost of the average case. The book has a good account of necrotising fasciitis (although some colour photographs would have been useful). However, the two hospital acquired infections that appear so often in our newspapers—methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile induced pseudomembranous enterocolitis—deserve fuller treatment in future editions.

Apart from these drawbacks the book provides surgeons with a splendid account of today's diagnostic and therapeutic arsenal in managing surgical complications, including such wonders as imaging controlled percutaneous drainage of deeply placed fluid collections and catheter embolisation of spurting blood vessels.

As is often the case with today's medical texts a chapter on medicolegal issues concludes this nicely produced and illustrated and easy to read book.

As surgery becomes ever more sophisticated and its scope expands, so the chance of complications increases


This study addresses the use of non-motorized transportation. The global benefits of the bike paths, bike lanes, and other types of bicycle-specific infrastructure consist of a reduction in traffic congestion and a decrease in emissions of greenhouse gasses and other pollutants that commuters face today. Additional indirect benefits, of no less value, demonstrate the benefits and viability of bicycles and non-motorized transport. These findings suggest that lack of pollutions and low cost of this form of transport for commuting will encourage the adoption and development of similar facilities elsewhere around the world.


The response turns from linear to nonlinear when high intensity waves propagate in
optical fibers, causing the emergence of nonlinear phenomena such as stimulated
Brillouin scattering (SBS) and four wave mixing (FWM). While that phenomena
cause optical communication systems to deteriorate, they are nevertheless usehl for
certain applications such as in multiple wavelengths generation. This dissertation
presents experimental work that involves the manipulation of FWM in the
developments of lasers and cascades. Four main research studies are successhlly
demonstrated in efforts to improve the performance of FWM-based lasers and
cascades. The first study is related to multiwavelength BEFLs. Despite the advantage
of wide tunability, they unfortunately suffer from the laser output flatness due to the
nature of cascaded SBS processes. In this work, FWM in an optical fiber is applied to
the laser lines of a multiwavelength BEFL through the incorporation of residual
waves in order to make the output flat. Comparisons between the BEFL with and
without the assistance of FWM suggest the effectiveness of the proposed technique.
With the assistance of FWM, the uniformity or flatness records a 3.73 dB
improvement as compared to the case without the assistance of FWM when the
Brillouin pump is set to 1550 nrn. The second research work is related to an
experimental study on the residual waves of multiwavelength BEFLs. Experimental
results suggest that the properties of residual waves are influenced by FWM.
Multiple FWM processes in fibers are believed to cause the output power of the
residual waves to grow gradually and the value of optical-signal-to-noise ratio to be
lower due to the power sharing basis of FWMprocesses. The third research work, on
the other hand, is aimed to improve continuous tunability of erbium-doped fiber
lasers (EDFLs) in which the stability is obtained from multiple FWM processes in
optical fibers. With the incorporation of tunable bandpass filters in the laser cavity, a
proposed dual wavelength EDFL can achieve continuous wavelength spacing from
0.52 nm to 22.78 nm, limited only by the gain bandwidth of the erbium-doped fiber
amplifier and the linewidth of filters. In the fourth research work, FWM cascades
without external laser sources and modulators is proposed in a bid to reduce the
complexity of the system. The need for laser sources is catered by a dual wavelength
EDFL which acts as an intracavity pump, while the requirement for pump
modulators for SBS suppression is tackled by the broad linewidth of the EDFL. In
summary, four research studies that are related to FWM in generating multiple
wavelengths are experimentally demonstrated in this thesis. The first two studies
focus on improvements in BEFLs, while the third and fourth study is for
enhancements in EDFLs and FWM cascades respectively. All the four studies are
found to be effective in elevating the performances and understanding of FWMbased
lasers and cascades to fwther heights.


This study examines the associations among attachment styles, hardiness, and mental health in intensive real-life stress. Four hundred and thirty-four young Israeli men, candidates for service in an elite combat unit, were assessed towards the end of a highly demanding screening process. Secure attachment style was positively associated with overall hardiness, commitment, and control, whereas avoidant and ambivalent attachment styles were negatively associated with these variables. In addition, a secure attachment style, and overall hardiness, commitment, and control were positively associated with mental health and well-being, and negatively associated with distress and general psychiatric symptomatology, whereas avoidant and ambivalent styles were inversely related to mental health and well-being and positively related to distress and general psychiatric symptomatology. Regression models testing the relationship between attachment, hardiness, and mental health suggest that both attachment and hardiness are predictors of mental health in real-life stress. Findings are discussed with respect to theories of both attachment and hardiness.


The emission characteristics of fluoride pollutants from montmorillonite, kaolinite, vermiculite, geothite and allophane were studied to elucidate the mechanism of fluoride-releasing from soils during brick and tile making at high temperatures from 300 degrees C to 1000 degrees C. The rate of fluoride emission varied with temperature, mineral type, heating time, specific surface area and cations added to minerals. The escape of crystalline water resulting from crystal lattice collapse at a certain high temperature was found to affect the rate of fluoride emission. Calcium compounds could decrease fluoride emission rate from montmorillonite. At 800 degrees C, the rate of fluoride emission from Ca-treated montmorillonite decreased by 59.6% compared to untreated montmorillonite. The order for fluoride-fixing capacity of the 5 calcium compounds at 800 degrees C was as follows: CaCO3 > CaO > Ca3(PO4)2 > Ca(OH)2 > CaSO4.


Stereochemistry control is very important in organic synthesis and it is a basic challenge in asymmetric synthesis. An approach widely used is making use of chiral auxiliary compounds. In this work it is showed the synthesis of highly optically pure rigid polycyclic compounds from the Diels-Alder adduct 1 . Compounds 1 - 3 were prepared as described by Ito et. al. [1]. The alcohol (-)- 3 was obtained by biotransformation of diketone 2 with Mucor ramosissimus, e.e.>99% (60%). The polycyclic halides 4 - 6 were synthesized (60-97%) after treatment of alcohol (-)- 3 with NBS, NIS and, NCS in dichloromethane, respectively. Compound 7 was prepared by reaction with p-toluenesulfonic acid, whilst 8 was prepared by treatment of (-)- 3 with m-chloroperbenzoic acid. The strained polycylic alcohols 9 - 13 will be achieved by reduction of ketones 4 - 8 with NaBH 4 . All compounds were identified by 1 H and 13 C NMR spectroscopy. Due to intrinsic rigidity of the synthesized polycyclic, they could be of use as chiral auxiliary agents. Prochiral substrates can be readily attached by many ways to C-3 or through hydroxyl group found in compounds 8 - 13 . The stereo-dirigent potential of these polycyclic can also be increased by directly or indirectly introduction of many groups at position C-3, or at adjacent positions to carbonyl or hydroxyl at C-3 and C-10.


Acute subdural hematoma (ASDH) is a potentially devastating, yet curable, extra axial fluid collection within the subdural space situated between the skull and the cortex. It is often due to rupture of bridging veins crossing this subdural space, caused by the brain-skull relative motion. To be able to predict ASDH, a numerical model reflecting the mechanical properties of vascular walls is attractive. With this in mind, a suitable approach consists in modeling the material microstructure at different scales. In a former work [1, 2], R. Abdel Rahman studied the mechanical properties of the bridging veins – superior sagittal sinus junction when a human head is submitted to shock. This work showed the apparition of ASDH over a given value of head rotational acceleration. But lacks in the knowledge of microstructure and of the constituents mechanical properties were put forward in understanding the relations between material mechanical behavior and the apparition of ASDH. Therefore we chose to adopt a multiscale approach to model ASDH apparition. In the current work, several experimental observations have been set up to obtain a sufficient knowledge of the vein wall microstructure which was imprecisely documented to date. Stained thin slices of human brain were observed by optical microscopy. In addition, microtomography was used to assess the collagen fibers orientations. These observations allowed the identification of the different scales needed for modeling the microstructure. Many authors [3–6] deal with the mechanical behavior of vascular walls and of their various constituents but none of them consider multiple scales for modeling [7]. The next step of this work consists in improving the predictive capabilities of the existing model by going down the scales and taking microstructure into account. This methodology enabled the introduction of only physical parameters into the model, which is essential for future predictive capabilities. Finally, a failure criterion for the bridging veins taking into account the different scales has been created and is still being improved. It allows the evaluation of specific disease influence like collagen damage due to physiology. Besides it provides a prediction tool for ASDH useable for optimization of various shock absorbers.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


Strategies play an important role in learning a second or foreign language (L2). The aim of the current study was to develop and evaluate a co-sharing-based strategy learning system for L2 vocabulary learning known as "Mywordtools." Mywordtools is designed specifically for lexical learning, enabling learners to use the currently available vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) as well as e-tools provided within this system to learn L2 vocabulary for both indoor and outdoor settings during learners' free time. The effects of Mywordtools on L2 learners' word learning were evaluated over a 5-week period. Sixty-one sixth-grade learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) participated in this study. The results of this study demonstrate that students using Mywordtools to practice and share VLSs outperformed both those who did not use Mywordtools and those who used the platform but without sharing. It was also found that strategy sharing helped L2 learners to construct more VLSs, and they consequently performed significantly better than those who did not implement strategy sharing. The overall results indicate that the use of co-sharing with Mywordtools not only benefits the development of VLSs by EFL students but also helps them to gain more in L2 vocabulary learning.


This paper analyzes employment and earnings differentials between Spanish speakers and English speakers in the United States, using data from the 1970, 1980, and 1990 U.S. censuses. The results show that Spanish speakers, both men and women, do not perform as well in the labor market as English speakers. The results also reveal that Spanish-English earnings and unemployment differentials increased slightly in the 1970s, most likely because of rapid growth in the number of Spanish speakers. By contrast, these differentials increased sharply in the 1980s, also a period of rapidly increasing supply. However, there is no evidence that the widening of differentials in the 1980s reflects an increase in the labor market rewards to English language proficiency. Rather, they appear to be the result of Spanish speakers having relatively little of those labor market characteristics, most notably education, whose market value increased dramatically during the 1980s.


1586 MUC1 is a membrane tethered mucin glycoprotein overexpressed and aberrantly glycosylated in >60% of human ductal pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Overexpression of MUC1 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) has long been known, but its function has been difficult to elucidate, partly due to the lack of appropriate models. We have recently generated a triple transgenic mouse model of PDA that expresses human MUC1 as a self molecule. Mice were generated by crossing the P48Cre to LSL-KRASG12D mice, which spontaneously develop a full-spectrum of intraepithelial neoplastic lesions (PanINs) and advances to ductal adenocarcinomas. Bitransgenic mice were further crossed to the human MUC1 transgenic mice (MUC1.Tg) to generate the triple transgenic model. This unique model allows us to evaluate the role of MUC1 during pancreatic cancer progression and test MUC1-targeted therapies for treatment of the disease. Results: Histologically, in PDA mice that express human MUC1, PanIN lesions appear sooner and advance more rapidly to higher-grade PanINs and adenocarcinomas as compared to PDA mice that do not express MUC1. PanINs are filled with mucous and express high levels of MUC1, and as tumors progress, neutral mucins are replaced by acidic mucins making the microenvironment non-conducive to immune cells. Compared to PDA mice, higher T regulatory (CD4+CD25+FoxP3+) cells are detected in the tumor draining lymph nodes of PDA mice expressing MUC1. Consequently, we observe lower MUC1-specific cytotoxic T cell activity with a skewed T effector : memory cell ratio is observed in these mice. Further analysis of the tumor microenvironment showed high levels of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and indoleamine 2,3, dioxygenase (IDO) along with their metabolites, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and kynurenine. IDO is an enzyme that catabolizes tryptophan to kynurenine and T cells in particular, are extremely sensitive to this essential amino acid. Tumor-associated IDO is one of the major players in T cell suppression and in the induction of immune tolerance to tumors. When triple transgenic mice were immunized with a MUC1-targeted vaccine in combination with a COX-2 inhibitor, a significant decrease in tumor burden with increased survival was observed. A robust and sustained anti-tumor CTL activity was elicited associated with downregulation of PGE2 and kynurenine. Thus, by targeting MUC1 and inhibiting COX-2 activity, IDO expression and function was decreased allowing CTL activity to be sustained within the tumor microenvironment. These data suggest a significant role of MUC1 in regulating immune responses during pancreatic cancer progression.


Background: Popliteus tendinitis is an unusual factor to cause pain of the knee joint in its posterolateral compartment. There are few reports that the arthroscopy used for the treatment of refractory and symptomatic popliteus tendinitis. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of arthroscopic treatment of popliteus tendinitis via an auxiliary extreme lateral approach and to investigate the pathogenesis and treatment of popliteus tendinitis.Methods: From 2014 to 2018, arthroscopic popliteus tendon ablation was performed in 15 patients (15 knees) with popliteus tendinitis via an auxiliary extreme lateral approach. Clinical outcomes were assessed using the Lysholm knee scoring scale, the Tegner score, the International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) score and the visual analogue scale (VAS) pain score at the 24-month follow-up after surgery.Results: A total of 15 patients (mean age, 51.1 ± 7.1 years) were included; they had a mean body mass index of 23.8 ± 2.1. The minimum follow-up period was 24 months. Comparing the postoperative state to the preoperative state, the mean postoperative Lysholm score, Tegner score, and IKDC score improved significantly from 70.0 ± 5.0, 3.0 ± 0.9, and 62.3 ± 5.5 to 89.3 ± 4.2, 4.6 ± 0.61, and 80.5 ± 4.4, respectively (p < 0.01). The preoperative VAS score for pain improved from 4.3 ± 0.7 to 0.9 ± 0.6 (p < 0.01). No patients were lost to follow-up.Conclusion: Following arthroscopic-assisted treatment, all the patients with popliteus tendinitis achieved satisfactory clinical outcomes in terms of pain relief and improved function.


Human activities involve the emission of a multitude of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC) in ambient air, pollutants recognized as endocrine disruptors (ED). In order to improve knowledge of ED transfer in air, a multi-residue method of sampling and analysis of micropollutants was developed. The study of gaseous and particulate phase contamination of ambient air focused upon 58 organic molecules originating from industrial synthesis: plasticizers, flame retardants, surfactants, bactericides, organochlorinated compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Their identification and quantification were performed using the following devices: dynamic air sampling, analysis of gaseous and particulate phases separately by gas or liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometer. The instrumental detection limits were less than 1 pg for all compounds and therefore a limit of quantification around 1 pg.m-3 for gaseous and particulate phases when a indoor air volume of 150 m3 is collected, except for phthalates, phenol compounds and BDE-209. Satisfactory recoveries were found except for phenol compounds. That method was successfully applied to several outdoor samples (urban, suburban, forest) and indoor air samples (office, apartment and day nursery). Most of the targeted compounds were quantified and occurred mainly in the gaseous phase. The most abundant compounds were phthalates (> 918 ng.m-3 in total air), followed by alkylphenols > PCBs > parabens > BPA > PAHs > PBDEs. ED compounds are ubiquitous in the air of all habitats, with concentrations in indoor air almost always higher than in outdoor air, due to confinement, human activities and potential sources that will be specified


Abstract : As the wave of future Information Technology makes its way into the construction and design of new ships and submarines, it is imperative to examine methods to thoroughly economically backfit older platforms with similar technology. Affordable, Commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) industrial products have provided us with a means to reduce miscommunication and exponentially increase the availability of information via small pen based computers operating on a wireless LAN. To take full advantage of the communications capabilities of these units and to fill the unique needs of the afloat Navy, the development of software applications is required. These software applications must be effective, tailored, and inexpensive if they are to be made available to older platforms. A JAVA based Internet is one solution. The simplicity and economy of web-based software coupled with the power and functionality of pen-based computers, creates a dynamic and effectual architecture.


"This chapter examines how a new paradigm has emerged in the form of public policies that aim to restore quality or "renature" rivers. The shift from a utilitarian approach to the river to a more ecological one has taken more than 50 years and includes different aspects, from flood and pollution control to river barrier removal, and riverbed and habitat restoration. Our aim is to observe how these public policies are implemented worldwide by means of local restoration projects, in order to assess the real impact of the paradigm shift. To what extent can certain levers be decisive in making river restoration possible? With this in mind, we examine the factors (regulatory frameworks, funding mechanisms, and governance systems) that form the framework of the project, from its inception to its realization or rejection. These factors vary depending on the country and condition the implementation of an operation. Although these factors are fundamental, they do not explain why some projects are carried out and others not. Our last step is to analyze, by means of case studies, the underlying reasons for accepting or rejecting restoration projects. Acceptance and consensus lie at the very center of the success of the new paradigm." (source editeur)


We study
the leading order processes for photon production using a phenomenological
model of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) in relativistic heavy-ion collisions
incorporating the parametrization factors in thermal dependent quark mass. The
measurement of photon emission provides valuable insights into the early
conditions of QGP. The production rate is observed in the low and intermediate
range of energy and transverse momentum. The photon yield is found to increase
marginally with the effect of thermal dependent quark mass. The results are
little enhanced and in good agreement with other work.


BACKGROUND & AIM: To study the significance of C-met mRNA in axillary drainage after operations for breast cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS: RT-PCR assay was used to examine the expression of C-met mRNA and human glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (hGAPDH) in axillary drainage after operations in 32 cases of breast cancer, The relationship between the expression of C-met and the tumor size and the numbers of lymph nodes metastasis and the Estrogen receptor (ER) and Progesterone receptor (PR) status was analyzed. RESULTS: ① The overall positive expression rate of C-met in axillary lymphatic drainage was 84.38%, which was higher than that in routine pathological method of the axillary lymph nodes to detect micrometastasis (P<0.05), and the positive cases of C-met expression were correlated with the numbers of metastatic lymph nodes. ② Positive cases for C-met expression were correlated with the tumor size (P<0.01). ③ C-met negative cases showed the tendency of negative correlations with ER and PR negative cases. CONCLUSION: Detection of C-met mRNA in axillary drainage after operation for breast cancer using RT-PCR, the positive cases suggest existence of micrometastasis of cancer cells in the lymphatic of chest wall of breast cancer patients arid there was a potential of recurrence and metastasis. The study suggests that it could be earlier and more accurate to detect micrometastasis using RT-PCR of the axillary lymphatic drainage for C-met expression in the axillary fluids than routine pathological method on the axillary lymph nodes.


This paper is concerned with aspects of responsibility in Norwegian public health nursing. Public health nursing is an expansive profession with diffuse boundaries. The Norwegian public health nurse does not perform 'hands on' nursing, but focuses on the prevention of illness, injury, or disability, and the promotion of health. What is the essence of ethical responsibility in public health nursing? The aim of this article is to explore the phenomenon based on the ethics of responsibility as reflected upon by the philosopher Emanuel Levinas (1906-1995). From an ethical point of view, responsibility is about our duty towards the Other, a duty we have not always chosen, are prepared for, or can fully explain; but it is nevertheless a demand we have to live with. Interviews with five experienced Norwegian nurses provide the empirical base for reflection and interpretation. The nurses share stories from their practice. In interpreting the nurses' stories, the following themes emerge: personal responsibility; boundaries; temporality; worry, fear, and uncertainty; and a sense of satisfaction. As the themes are developed further, it becomes apparent that, despite their diversity, they are all interrelated aspects of ethical responsibility. Responsibility for the Other cannot be avoided, ignored, or transferred. The nurses' responsibility is personal and infinite. Levinasian ethics can help nurses understand the importance of accepting that being a responsive carer can involve not only contentment in the predictable, but also the fear, worry, and uncertainty of the unpredictable.


Abstract A putative nonsubstrate like binding mode of (R)-3- amidinophenylalanine derivatives to factor Xa, as derived from modeling experiments based on Xray analysis of their complexes with trypsin, was used to design a new generation of inhibitors. However, the resulting inhibitory potencies were not at all consistent with the working assumption, although with an adamantylureido derivative of (R)-3-amidinophenylalanine phenetyl amide a highly selective nanomolar inhibition of factor Xa was achieved. The Xray analysis of the complex of this ligand with factor Xa revealed an unexpected new binding mode, of which the most important feature is the interaction of the Cterminal aryl moiety with a hydrophobic subregion of the S1 subsite, while the adamantyl group occupies the hydrophobic S3/S4 subsites of the enzyme.


In recent years, many deep learning models have been adopted in autonomous driving. At the same time, these models introduce new vulnerabilities that may compromise the safety of autonomous vehicles. Specifically, recent studies have demonstrated that adversarial attacks can cause a significant decline in detection precision of deep learning-based 3-D object detection models. Although driving safety is the ultimate concern for autonomous driving, there is no comprehensive study on the linkage between the performance of deep learning models and the driving safety of autonomous vehicles under adversarial attacks. In this article, we investigate the impact of two primary types of adversarial attacks, perturbation attacks, and patch attacks, on the driving safety of vision-based autonomous vehicles rather than the detection precision of deep learning models. In particular, we consider two state-of-the-art models in vision-based 3-D object detection: 1) Stereo R-CNN and 2) DSGN. To evaluate driving safety, we propose an end-to-end evaluation framework with a set of driving safety performance metrics. By analyzing the results of our extensive evaluation experiments, we find that: 1) the attack's impact on the driving safety of autonomous vehicles and the attack's impact on the precision of 3-D object detectors are decoupled and 2) the DSGN model demonstrates stronger robustness to adversarial attacks than the Stereo R-CNN model. In addition, we further investigate the causes behind the two findings with an ablation study. The findings of this article provide a new perspective to evaluate adversarial attacks and guide the selection of deep learning models in autonomous driving.


Author(s): Torkildson, Christy | Advisor(s): Chapman, Susan A; Harrington, Charlene | Abstract: Medically fragile children, defined as children with life-threatening or life-limiting conditions who require consistent care and medical technology to support or enhance quality of life, have been found to have extensive needs for home and community based services. There is little information on Medicaid home and community-based (HCBS) waivers for medically fragile children in the literature. This study provides a needed foundation to understand the trends and difficulties in developing Medicaid Home and Community-Based 1915c Waivers for medically fragile children. Methods: Utilizing an adaptation of Anderson's Behavioral Theory, a secondary descriptive analysis was conducted of secondary data from states for the period of 1999 to 2009 and policy survey data of state officials for 2010 to 2011. Additionally, an in-depth case study of the Medi-Cal HCBS 1915c Waiver Partners for Children in the state of California was completed. Results: Trends of all Medicaid HCBS 1915c waivers for children across 27 states were analyzed to determine services provided, participant demographics, eligibility criteria, and expenditures. The descriptive analysis and case study illustrated the challenges (barriers), predisposing, enabling, need, and contextual characteristics of the HCBS 1915c waivers for children in the United States. Findings found it that the number of waivers and the funding grew over the 10 year under review; however, wait lists also grew and in some states more restrictive financial eligibility criteria were also employed limiting access. Parent and provider satisfaction were much higher with the provision of services but the frustration with the required paperwork, the delay in reimbursement, and the low reimbursement were all barriers to providers participating in a waiver. Conclusion: Medicaid HCBS play an important role to support medically fragile children in their home and community, but services appear to lag behind the demand and need for services.


herrmann Jd. 2012. The germination of Leea guineensis (Leeaceae) and its role in arthropod communities. Despite the evolutionary affinity of Leea spp. with grapes and their potential use as medicinal herb, the ecology of Leea guineensis is poorly known. Information on its ecology is important if L. guineensis is to be included in high diversity forest farming systems. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the general germination requirements of L. guineensis and its importance to arthropod communities. Leea guineensis had low germination rate under laboratory conditions. The best germination rate was 27 °C with exposure to light, a characteristic of pioneer plants. The study highlighted the role of L. guineensis as food source for a variety of arthropod species. It is classified as myrmecophyte, showing mutualistic relationship with ants from the genus Crematogaster. The study suggests the use of this plant as a pioneer species in high diversity forest farming systems.


Some risk factors associated with coronary heart disease (CHD) were evaluated in patients with different types of anorexia nervosa (AN). Anthropometric parameters, serum cholesterol, triglycerides and apoprotein (apo) B values, blood pressure and pulse rate were tested in 29 young female patients and 16 controls. Cholesterol, triglycerides and apo B were higher at the acute period of the illness (AN1), whereas at the chronic period the values of these parameters tended to normalize. Triglycerides were higher in patients who binge ate (bulimarexia). Systolic blood pressure decreased in all types of AN, while diastolic blood pressure decreased only in AN1; pulse rate was not altered. According to cholesterol and apo B values, AN patients may be at risk of CHD if they remain at low body weight.


Laboratory and field studies were conducted to determine the effect of the drift control adjuvants HM 2005B and HM 9752 on the droplet spectra and efficacy of spray mixtures of a potassium salt formulation of glyphosate. Droplet spectra were examined using a laser spray droplet analyzer. The addition of each adjuvant decreased the percentage of the spray volume in small diam spray droplets (<141 μm) and either had no effect or increased glyphosate efficacy. These adjuvants could prove useful for providing management in potential drift situations. Nomenclature: Glyphosate


To the Editor.— Dr Ouslander's 1 review of medical care in the nursing home is the finest of its kind I have seen. I would just like to underscore some of the points made in his section on the need for more mental health professionals to work with patients in nursing homes. As the author notes, unless a greater degree of attention is paid in residency and fellowship programs to the training of geriatric psychiatrists, it is unlikely that any substantial changes will occur in the underdiagnosing and treatment of depression or the overprescription of antipsychotic, sedative, and hypnotic medications to patients in nursing homes described by the author. To attract a greater number of applicants to such programs, however, one must pay attention to the various resistances younger therapists have to embarking on such training. These include ambivalent feelings about one's own parents or grandparents, unwarranted assumptions about the


In view of the crucial role of protein-protein intercommunication both in biological and pathological processes, the search of modulators of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) is currently a challenging issue. The development of rational strategies to imitate key secondary structure elements of protein interfaces is complementary to other approaches based on the screening of synthetic or virtual libraries. In this sense, the present review provides representative examples of compounds that are able to disturb PPIs of therapeutic relevance, through the stabilization or the imitation of peptide hot-spots detected in contact areas of the interacting proteins. The review is divided into three sections, covering mimetics of the three main secondary structural elements found in proteins, in general, and in protein-protein interfaces, in particular (alpha-helices, beta-sheets, and reverse turns). Once the secondary element has been identified, the first approach typically involves the translation of the primary peptide structure into different cyclic analogues. This is normally followed by gradual decrease of the peptide nature through combination of peptide and non-peptide fragments in the same molecule. The final step usually consists in the development of pertinent organic scaffolds for appending key functional groups in the right spatial disposition, as a means towards totally non-peptide small molecule PPI modulators.


Gene expression profiling data provide useful information for the investigation of biological function and process. However, identifying a specific expression pattern from extensive time series gene expression data is not an easy task. Clustering, a popular method, is often used to classify similar expression genes, however, genes with a 'desirable' or 'user-defined' pattern cannot be efficiently detected by clustering methods. To address these limitations, we developed an online tool called GEsture. Users can draw, or graph a curve using a mouse instead of inputting abstract parameters of clustering methods. GEsture explores genes showing similar, opposite and time-delay expression patterns with a gene expression curve as input from time series datasets. We presented three examples that illustrate the capacity of GEsture in gene hunting while following users' requirements. GEsture also provides visualization tools (such as expression pattern figure, heat map and correlation network) to display the searching results. The result outputs may provide useful information for researchers to understand the targets, function and biological processes of the involved genes.


Theoretical results relating to Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser (KAM) theory, particularly those dealing with the stability of degenerate one-degree-of-freedom Hamiltonian systems under a time-quasiperiodic perturbation, have led to the expectation that, independent of the background Potential Vorticity (PV) distribution, associated with zonal jets should be barriers which inhibit meridional transport. In a recently submitted paper (Beron-Vera et al., 2011) the aforementioned expectation is confirmed based on the analysis of isentropic winds in the lower stratosphere as produced by a comprehensive general circulation model. Concretely, barriers for meridional transport are found to be associated with the (eastward) austral polar night jet, for which the meridional gradient of background PV is very steep, and also for the (westward) boreal summer subtropical jet, for which the background PV is rather uniform. The identification of the meridional transport barriers is based on the computation of Finite-Time Lyapunov Exponents (FTLE), which measures the amount of stretching about fluid particle trajectories. The meridional transport barriers, which are formed by fluid particle trajectories lying on invariant tori, are identified with topologically circular locally minimizing curves or trenches of the backward-plus-forward FTLE field. Results from explicit passive tracer advection experiments and flux computations are also presented, which confirm those inferred using the FTLE diagnostic. In this paper I present results based on the analysis of analytically prescribed stratospheric model winds, which complement the results presented in Beron-Vera et al. (2011) and further allow one to better assess the scope of the FTLE diagnostic.


The paper gives the results of studying the effectiveness of a new method of phase separation using materials with capillary properties. It was found that processing of bentonite suspension by its conventional passing through a paper filter is accompanied by a low average filtering velocity and short operation time caused by intensive calmatation of pores by highly disperse particles. As a result, despite the relatively high efficiency of phase separation (residual content of bentonite particles in the filtrate - about 0.3 mg/dm3), the overall efficiency of separation is quite low because of the need for periodic restoration of filtering capacity of porous medium. A new method of phase separation, using materials with capillary properties, allows creating simple, cheap and effective devices for separating liquid and solid phases. Determining factors of separation process and their influence on the intensity of fluid motion in the porous medium were defined, comparative assessment of effectiveness of the proposed method with conventional filtration was conducted, basic parameters of separation with bentonite suspension processing were determined. It was also found that using the new method, the average velocity of fluid motion is twice higher than that of similar methods for conventional filtration.


At low concentrations, Cu is considered as an essential micronutrient for plants and as a constituent and activator of several enzymes. However, when in excess, Cu can negatively affect plant growth and metabolism. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate physiological responses of sweet potato plants at different Cu concentrations by measuring morphological parameters, antioxidant metabolism, stomatal characteristics, and mineral profile. For this purpose, sweet potato plants were grown hydroponically in complete nutrient solution for six days. Then, the plants were transferred to solutions containing different Cu concentrations, 0.041 (control), 0.082, and 0.164 mM, and maintained for nine days. The main effect of increased Cu concentration was observed in the roots. The sweet potato plants grown in 0.082 mM Cu solution showed increased activity of antioxidant enzymes and no changes in growth parameters. However, at a concentration of 0.164 mM, Cu was transported from the roots to the shoots. This concentration altered morpho-anatomical characteristics and activated the antioxidant system because of the stress generated by excess Cu. On the basis of the results, it can be concluded that the sweet potato plants were able to tolerate Cu toxicity until 0.082 mM.


Abstract We study a gravity-driven viscous flow coating a vertical cylindrical fibre. The destabilisation of a draining liquid column into a downward moving train of beads has been linked to the conjunction of the Rayleigh–Plateau and Kapitza instabilities in the limit of small Bond numbers $Bo$. Here, we focus on quasi-inertialess flows (large Ohnesorge number $Oh$) and conduct a linear stability analysis on a unidirectional flow along a rigid eccentric fibre for intermediate to large $Bo$. We show the existence of two unstable modes, namely pearl and whirl modes. The pearl mode depicts asymmetric beads, similar to that of the Rayleigh–Plateau instability, whereas a single helix forms along the axis in the whirl mode instability. The geometric and hydrodynamic thresholds of the whirl mode instability are investigated, and phase diagrams showing the transition thresholds between different regimes are presented. Additionally, an energy analysis is carried out to elucidate the whirl formation mechanism. This analysis reveals that despite the unfavourable capillary energy cost, the asymmetric interface shear distribution, caused by the fibre eccentricity, has the potential to sustain a whirling interface. In general, small fibre radius and large eccentricity tend to foster the whirl mode instability, while reducing $Bo$ tends to favour the dominance of the pearl mode instability. Finally, we compare the predictions of our model with the results of some illustrative experiments, using highly viscous silicone oils flowing down fibres. Whirling structures are observed for the first time, and the measured wavenumbers match our stability analysis prediction.


This study investigated the phonemic status of the nasal vowels in Bangla (aka Bengali). It has been claimed for decades that all the seven monophthongal oral vowels in Bangla have phonemically contrastive nasal counterparts; however, an in-depth investigation of the status of nasality for all the vowels is lacking in the current literature. With a phoneme dictionary build from a text corpus of 8 (eight) million word-tokens and about 275 thousand word-types, this study investigated whether all the oral vowels have phonemically contrastive nasal vowels. Findings revealed that only five of the seven monophthongal vowels form phonemically contrastive relationships with their nasal counterparts; nasality in /æ/ and /ɔ/ are not contrastive phonemically.


We construct solutions within Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity in the presence of nontrivial couplings between the dilaton and the Abelian $1$-form where we analyse the asymptotic structure as well as the phase stability corresponding to charged black hole solutions in $1+1$ D. We consider the Almheiri-Polchinski (AP) model as a specific example within $1+1$ D JT gravity which plays a pivotal role in the study of Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK)/anti-de Sitter (AdS) duality. The corresponding vacuum solutions exhibit a rather different asymptotic structure than their uncharged counterpart. We find interpolating vacuum solutions with AdS$_2$ in the IR and Lifshitz$_2$ in the UV with dynamical exponent $z_{\text{dyn}}=3/2$. Interestingly, the presence of charge also modifies the black hole geometry from asymptotically AdS to asymptotically Lifshitz with same value of the dynamical exponent. We consider specific examples, where we compute the corresponding free-energy and explore the thermodynamic phase stability associated with charged black hole solutions in $1+1$ D. Our analysis reveals the existence of a universal thermodynamic feature that is expected to reveal its immediate consequences on the dual SYK physics at finite density and strong coupling.


Promoting export is a central issue to boost country's competitiveness. To attain this purpose, many countries including Indonesia implement commercial diplomacy (CDC). Nevertheless, scholars have been debating about the role and efficacy of CDC instruments. Some empirical evidences are being presented to support pro's and contra's. This paper attempts to investigate the impact of one of Indonesian CDC instruments, Indonesian Trade Promotion Center (ITPC) on export performance, in essence of whether it presence generates higher trade value. In order to reach the impact analysis, I use the gravity model of international trade and employ panel data for 19 years observations over 62 countries of Indonesian export destinations. The empirical estimation yields a positive correlation between the existences of ITPC to Indonesian export performance.
ITPC indeed gives a growing effect on exports, even though the magnitude of its impact is less sound. A further discussion is conducted to explore the challenges of CDC instruments of Indonesia in performing export promotion using qualitative interviews. In the finding, the interferences comes from internal as well as external factors. The internal issue such as limited budget, lack of staff, and coordination problem are hampering their activities. Whereas, in the external aspects, the preparedness of Indonesian industry and the channel of export distribution bring tremendous deterrents in boosting Indonesian exports. Hence, this research serves as a policy recommendation for the government in supporting export strategy by strengthening the commercial diplomacy instruments.


Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a powerful diagnostic tool. So far, it has mainly been associated with the use of short-lived positron emitters with half-lives shorter than 2 h, like 11C and 18F. However, many biochemical processes in vivo have to be monitored for several hours or longer and thus positron emitters with longer half-lives are of interest. Sometimes, the replacement of single-photon emitting nuclides by positron emitting counterparts in established radiopharmaceuticals enable to use PET, which has better resolution and enables easier quantification.A new production method for the halogen 76Br (T1/2 = 16 h) is presented in paper I. An efficient dry distillation method is used for separation of this isotope from an isotopically enriched copper selenide target. This production method provides a nuclide with high chemial quality, which enabled simple labeling of monoclonal antibodies using Chloramine-T in mild neutral conditions. This nuclide was successfully used in a PET pharmacokinetic study on the effect of dextranation of peptides.A new method (etching technique) was developed to produce a positron-emitting isotope of indium, 110In (T1/2 = 69 min) and gallium, 68Ga (T1/2 = 68 min) and 66Ga (T1/2 = 9.4 h). A somatostatin analog, DTPA-octreotide, was labelled with 110In and used in a PET study. The use of PET enabled at efficient visualization of tumor metastases as well as dosimetric calculations.Dry distillation technique was used to produce zinc isotopes, which are of interest for investigation of trace element metabolism in vivo. At the same time, dyy distillation of group IIB elements from target material belonging to group IB of Periodic Table was examined. It has been shown that diffusion in solid state is the rate-determining process in such separations.


Medium and heavy-duty battery electric trucks (BETs) may play a key role in mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from road freight transport. However, technological challenges such as limited range and cargo carrying capacity as well as the required charging time need to be efficiently addressed before the large-scale adoption of BETs. In this study, we apply a geospatial data analysis approach by using a battery electric vehicle potential (BEVPO) model with the datasets of road freight transport surveys for analyzing the potential of large-scale BET adoption in Finland and Switzerland for trucks with gross vehicle weight (GVW) of over 3.5 t. Our results show that trucks with payload capacities up to 30 t have the most potential for electrification by relying on the currently available battery and plug-in charging technology, with 93% (55% tkm) and 89% (84% tkm) trip coverage in Finland and Switzerland, respectively. Electric road systems (ERSs) would be essential for covering 51% trips (41% tkm) of heavy-duty trucks heavier than 30 t in Finland. Furthermore, range-extender technology could improve the trip electrification potential by 3–10 percentage points (4–12 percentage points of tkm).


BACKGROUND
Healthcare systems are faced with a changing and increasing demand for care. Against the background of the need to increase service capacity and to improve access to primary care, a project was initiated to introduce the nurse practitioner (NP) role into Dutch general practices.

OBJECTIVE
To explore the value of the NP by describing NP roles and their concordance with the initial concepts of the NP training programme.

METHODS
An observational longitudinal design, using mixed methods, was conducted between March 2004 and June 2008. A convenience sample of seven NPs and seven teaching general practitioners (GPs), together constituting seven experimental groups, was used. Project documentation and data from consultations between NPs and GPs were collected. Twenty-nine interviews were performed, focusing on NP roles, competencies of NPs and collaboration between professionals.

RESULTS
As was anticipated, all NPs have patients with common complaints as their main focus, as well as managing the quality of care projects. Differences between NPs are reported in the percentages of time spent in performing home visits, caring for older people, patient related activities and non-patient related activities.

CONCLUSION
NPs contribute to the accessibility and availability of primary care as well as to collaboration in and quality of primary care. The roles they adopt are influenced by practice needs and financial incentives. It is not clear to what degree NPs have to perform activities to improve quality of care and further research is necessary to define NP core competencies.


The study was conducted in the three Local Government Areas of Mbaise; namely Aboh, Ahiazu and Ezinihitte to assess the socio-economic importance of Bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris) in Mbaise. Respondents for the study were selected from the three Local Government Areas, and each of Local Government produced three Communities to give a total of Nine Communities to give a total of one hundred and eighty (180) respondents. The entire selection was by random and purposive sampling technique. The objectives of the study were to; determine the various uses of bamboo and to ascertain the contribution of bamboo in the present dispensation to the socio-economic well being of the people in the study area. The data were collected using questionnaire, oral interview schedule and field visits. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as percentages, frequency distribution table and return on investment (ROI). The result showed that majority (78%) of the respondents were male, 58% were between the age of 41-50 years, 76% were married, 38% had FSLC education. The result further revealed that 130 of the respondents use bamboo for staking of yams, 164 for erosion control, 168 for watershed while 68 indicated using it for building construction. Equally, 68 stated using it to confer aesthetic beauty on structures, 148 uses it for thatching/fencing and barn construction while an insignificant number (26) use it to construct platform, for goats. The result further revealed that 73% of the respondents are owners as well as dealers, 29% are middlemen dealers (Major) while 7% are middlemen dealers (Minor). Analysis done on return on investment indicated that dealers on bamboo made 92k, 82k and 76k profit for every naira invested in the business of supply for building, staking of yams and fencing barn construction and thatching respectively. From the foregoing, bamboo contributes in no small measure to employment and income generation in the study area.


Potentiometric biosensors based on Candida rugosa lipase was described for the detection of organophosphorus pesticide; methyl-parathion and tributyrin. Lipase was immobilized on the glass electrode by means of a gelatin membrane, which is then cross-linked with glutaraldehyde. The principle of the biosensor is based on the measurement of pH variation which was recorded in millivolts due to the enzymatic hydrolysis of tributyrin to butyric acid. For the inhibitor detection, biosensor responses were measured after pesticide treatment, which caused a drop in enzyme activity because of the irreversible inhibition. Reactivation conditions of the reused enzyme electrodes were also investigated by pyridine-2-aldoxime methiodide (2-PAM). The limit of detection for tributyrin was estimated as 93 µM for lipase sensor within the linear range of 65–455 µM.


To investigate the mechanisms whereby secretory ameloblasts absorb and digest exogenous proteins, rat incisors were examined by means of the tracer, cytochemical, and freeze-fracture methods. In the tracer experiment, intravenously injected horseradish peroxidase (HRP) rapidly penetrated into the intercellular spaces of the ameloblast layer through the proximal junctional complexes and further diffused beyond the distal junctional complexes. Freeze-fracture replicas indicated various spaces among the strands of the distal tight junctional complex, which nonetheless completely sealed the cell. The HRP was taken into the cytoplasm from Tomes' process by large coated vesicles and tubulovesicular structures. In replica images, many small pits on the P face and corresponding bumps on the E face of the cell membranes were observed in Tomes' process. These pits and bumps are thought to correspond to coated pits representing initial images of micropinocytosis in thin sections. Following absorption, the HRP migrated into endocytic vacuoles or large phagosomes in the supranuclear cytoplasm. Both structures were positive for acid phosphatase reaction and are, therefore, taken to represent phagolysosomes. These results suggest that the secretory ameloblast is able to absorb and digest enamel protein actively from the developing matrix.


In recent decades parable understanding has been widely researched in the field of pedagogy of religion, mainly conducted in a Piagetian framework. This article presents an intervention study taking a socio-cultural perspective on learning to understand parables. The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of curriculum interventions by way of both comprehensive and partial strategic learning tasks on the understanding of parables in the primary school classroom, as well as which aspects help to explain these effects.The study involved 484 primary school students in the fifth and sixth grades. It consists of an intervention study involving a quasi-experimental design with two experimental groups and a control group.Results reveal that the effect on the group which dealt with the partial strategic intervention is greater than that on the control group. The difference in effect between this experimental group and the control group is jointly attributable to the factors of age, gender and initial achievement level.The study shows that innovation of learning practices is only effective if it proceeds in successive steps. The partial strategic intervention may well be an appropriate first step in the innovation of parable understanding learning practices. Students should first master a limited number of strategies, which gradually increases. This need not wait until the child reaches the age of twelve; the first steps can be taken as early as the age of nine.


A review of recent research suggests that academic and popular distinctions between "religion" and "spirituality" are unfounded. Working from a meaning systems perspective, it is argued that recognizing that "religious" and "spiritual" are part of the same broad category does not go far enough. It is argued that a wider perspective that considers the interplay of many different cultural and social factors on both beliefs and practices is more useful. This broadening of the multi-level, interdisciplinary paradigm to examine all existential cultures, including the secular and non-religious, offers the potential to better understand the complexity and diversity of lived religion. Increased use of idiographic methodologies and a more reflective approach to the constructs used in nomothetic methodologies are advocated as a way to advance the field and better explore beliefs and practices in a more ecologically valid way.


The efficient hydrogenation of biomass-derived levulinic acid (LA) to value-added γ-valerolactone (GVL) based on nonprecious metal catalysts under mild conditions is crucial challenge because of the intrinsic inactivity and instability of these catalysts. Herein, a series of highly active and stable carbon-encapsulated Co/ZnO@C-X (where X = 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, the molar ratios of Zn/(Co+Zn)) heterojunction catalysts were obtained by in situ pyrolysis of bimetal CoZn MOF-74. The optimal email@example.com catalyst could achieve 100% conversion of LA and 98.35% selectivity to GVL under mild conditions (100 °C, 5 bar, 3 h), which outperformed most of the state-of-the-art catalysts reported so far. Detailed characterizations, experimental investigations, and theoretical calculations revealed that the interfacial interaction between Co and ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) could promote the dispersibility and air stability of the active Co0 for the activation of H2. Moreover, the strong Co-ZnO interaction also enhanced the Lewis acidity of the Co/ZnO interface, contributing to the adsorption of LA and the esterification of intermediates. The synergy between the hydrogenation sites and the Lewis acid sites at the Co/ZnO interface enabled the conversion of LA to GVL with high efficiency. In addition, benefiting from the Co-ZnO interfacial interaction as well as the unique carbon-encapsulated structure of the heterojunction catalyst, the recyclability was also greatly improved and the yield of GVL was nearly unchanged even after six cycles.


This paper provides a formulation for the initiation or onset mechanism of commutation failures in line-commutated thyristor power converters, assuming infinite (zero impedance) AC systems. A theoretical development and a parametric analysis is given. Theory validation by simulation and comparison to actual field experience data is also given.


Complement component 3 (C3), a critical regulator of innate immunity, may also play a role in the regulation of cognate immunity, such as contact sensitivity responses. Because ultraviolet (UV) radiation also activates C3 in the skin, we determined whether the immunosuppressed state that results when a contact sensitizer is applied through UVB-exposed skin requires the presence and activation of C3. This question was addressed through the use of C3-deficient mice, blockade of C3 cleavage to C3b, and accelerated degradation of iC3b by soluble complement receptor 1 (sCR1). Both C3-modulated systems totally reversed the failure to induce a contact sensitivity response to dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB) upon primary sensitization at the UV-exposed site, as well as immunologic tolerance to a second DNFB immunization through normal skin. Treatment with sCR1 reduced the infiltration of CD11b+ leukocytes into the epidermis and dermis of UV-irradiated skin but did not reverse the UV-induced depletion of epidermal class II MHC+CD11blo Langerhans cells. These data, taken together with previous results showing abrogation of locally induced UV immunosuppression by in vivo anti-CD11b treatment, suggest a novel mechanism by which ligation of the leukocyte β2 integrin, CD11b, by iC3b molecules formed from C3 activation in UV-exposed skin, modifies cutaneous CD11b+ cells such that skin antigen-presenting cells are unable to sensitize in a primary immune response, but actively induce antigenic tolerance.


The verification of simulations against data and the comparison of model simulation of pollutant fields rely on the critical choice of statistical indicators. Most of the scores are based on point-wise, that is, local, value comparison. Such indicators are impacted by the so-called double penalty effect. Typically, a misplaced blob of pollutants will doubly penalise such a score because it is predicted where it should not be and is not predicted where it should be. The effect is acute in plume simulations where the concentrations gradient can be sharp. A non-local metric that would match concentration fields by displacement would avoid such double penalty. Here, we experiment on such a metric known as the Wasserstein distance, which tells how penalising moving the pollutants is. We give a mathematical introduction to this distance and discuss how it should be adapted to handle fields of pollutants. We develop and optimise an open Python code to compute this distance. The metric is applied to the dispersion of cesium-137 of the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. We discuss of its application in model-to-model comparison but also in the verification of model simulation against a map of observed deposited cesium-137 over Japan. As hoped for, the Wasserstein distance is less penalising, and yet retains some of the key discriminating properties of the root mean square error indicator.


The main objective of the study was to determine the influence of service quality on customer satisfaction in Alsaedy High class bus services which operates between Dar es salaam and Morogoro. The service quality gap was established using SERVQUAL model by comparing expectations with actual perception of services. Correlation analysis was used to establish the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction while Regression analysis was used to determine the most important service quality dimensions in public transport service. A sample size of 196 regular passengers was used in the study. The findings revealed a high figure of service quality gap in "Reliability" followed by "Empathy" and "Tangible" while low figure of service quality gap was revealed in "Responsiveness" and "Assurance". Correlation analysis revealed that customer satisfaction is positively related to all quality dimension (Tangible, Responsiveness, Reliability, Empathy and Assurance); and the results are significant. Regression analysis indicated that "Responsiveness" and "Assurance" proved to have significant effect on Customer Satisfaction while Reliability, Tangibility and Empathy did not have significant effect on Customer Satisfaction.

Key words – SERVQUAL, Service quality and customer satisfaction.


Abstract The project Cultrural+ (an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership project in the field of Adult Education) is funding research and education to deal with major demographic challenges in some regions of the participant countries (Extremadura in Spain, Tràsos-Montes in Portugal, Central Massif in France, Thessaly in Greece and province of Latina in Italy). The paper will discuss the particular problems that European depopulated areas are facing and how cultural heritage and cultural tourism could act as resilience factors. Research is showing that though the different countries' regions face similar demographic challenges, strategies and planned actions are different. The levels and indicators to measure and understand depopulation processes are also diverse, as are the levels of actualization of the data in each country. International comparative interdisciplinary research allows transfer of best practices cases and models as the "learning territories" and to deepen in the analysis and prospection of the socio-cultural major changes that are affecting the European countryside. This paper analyses the criteria that can help evaluate and acknowledge best practices.


The dengue-3 virus genome encodes an uninterrupted open reading frame (ORF) flanked by 5' and 3' non-coding regions. The order of proteins encoded in dengue-3 virus ORF, as with other flaviviruses, is: Cap 5'-C-prM-E-NS1-NS2A-NS2B-NS3-NS4A-NS4B-NS5-3'. The nucleotide sequence of the 5'-noncoding region and the capsid protein of dengue-3virus (a Bangkok isolate: CH53489 isolated by USAMC-AFRIMS in 1973) has been analyzed in both forward and reverse directions. The PCR-based cycle sequencing technique by the enzymatic method of Sanger et al (1977) using a sequencing primer 5'-end labeled with gamma32P-ATP is the method of our choice for sequencing analysis. One cDNA template was prepared by RT-PCR technique starting from the 5'-end nucleotide 1-465 of the dengue-3 genome. In our cycle sequencing experiments, the substitution of 7-deaza-dG was used for dG in DNA eliminated much of the secondary structures that produced gel artifacts. The final sequence result of this cDNA template was established from its sequence data determined on both strands in opposite directions. Alignment between the newly established nucleotide sequence as well as its deduced amino acid sequence of the Bangkok dengue-3 virus and the published sequence data of the dengue-3 prototype (H87) was manipulated by the PC-DOS-GIBIO-DNASIS TM 06-00 (Hitachi Software). According to the deduced amino acid sequence of the Bangkok dengue-3 virus, its C protein was found to be highly positively charged because of large numbers of lysine and arginine. The homology of the nucleotide sequence between the two dengue-3 virus revealed 97%. The deduced amino acid sequences from the nucleotides 95-465 of the two viruses showed the same indicating highly conserved capsid proteins. Multiple alignment of the nucleotide sequences as well as the deduced amino acid sequences among the Bangkok dengue-3 virus and other dengue 3 viruses also confirmed the highly conserved 5'-noncoding regions and the capsid proteins.


Inoculation of the mouse pneumonitis biovar of Chlamydia trachomatis into the ovarian bursa of mice resulted in salpingitis. An acute inflammatory response in the bursa and contiguous oviduct peaked at six to nine days postinoculation. At day 14, most animals showed an acute and chronic infiltrate that occluded the oviductal lumen in some sections. Inflammatory exudate and debris accumulated in the periovarial space near the ostium of the oviduct. Inclusions were demonstrated in the lumenal epithelial cells of the oviduct and uterus. The mouse pneumonitis agent could be recovered from genital tissues for up to 21 days postinoculation but not from other organs. IgG antibodies to the mouse pneumonitis agent were detected at seven days postinoculation and reached peak titers by 21-30 days. By 25-30 days postinoculation, the inflammatory reaction declined and hydrosalpinx was observed. This model for salpingitis may be useful in understanding some aspects of the pathogenesis of C trachomatis genital infections.


Let the n roots be a, / 3 , . . . v, and let the assigned function be Set"/?... \'t where each term involves p different roots, and the highest index of any one root is q. If j = l, then 2 is equal to a coefficient ; if p = n, then 2 is the product of the last coefficient and a symmetric function with a lower q. So the theorem will be proved if we can express any symmetric function in terms of others with either a lower q, or the same q and a higher p ; for with each of the latter we can continue until p — n, and so obtain a lower q in every sum ; and then we can repeat the process until q = l. Now consider the product 2a/3 ... A.. 2a"~/8 '~. . . A/, of which the first factor has q = l, and the second has a lower q than the assigned function. This product is equal to the sum of a set of symmetric functions, of which none has a higher q than the assigned function, and each has a higher p except one, and tha t one is the assigned function itself, which can therefore be expressed in the way described above. This proves the theorem, and Newton's as a particular case. H. P. HUDSON.


Abstract Organisms colonizing new habitats can undergo adaptive change due to novel selective landscapes encountered in the new environment. Examples in nature where the development of the same traits has repeatedly occurred on multiple independent occasions upon colonizing a novel habitat represent instances of parallel evolution. Here we test whether the colonization of spring habitat by the principally lacustrine amphipod crustacean Pallaseopsis quadrispinosa has resulted in parallel evolution in armature traits using empirical data on morphology and mitochondrial DNA and through a breeding experiment. Analysis of mtDNA CO1 sequences shows that the spring populations share no common history and have evolved in isolation from each other and from their neighbouring lake populations since deglaciation approximately 12,000 years ago and are now fixed for different haplogroups. Dorsal spines and lateral projections were absent or less developed in all spring populations than in lake populations. Variation in armature development also could be explained by predator presence as populations with fish predators exhibited more developed spines than those without fish. In a laboratory breeding experiment, hybrid Spring × Lake F1 offspring had intermediate development of armature compared to offspring of Lake × Lake and Spring × Spring matings. The results support the hypothesis that armature reduction has independently evolved on multiple occasions in P. quadrispinosa. Recent research has questioned the degree to which parallel evolution actually explains variance in traits. Taking into account the predation regime, sexual dimorphism and mineral composition of the trait, a more precise understanding of the factors influencing parallel evolution emerges.