ABSTRACT Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the agent causing the global pandemic of COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 genome encodes a main protease (nsp5, also called Mpro) and a papain-like protease (nsp3, also called PLpro), which are responsible for processing viral polyproteins to assemble a functional replicase complex. In this study, we found that Mpro of SARS-CoV-2 can cleave human MAGED2 and other mammalian orthologs at Gln-263. Moreover, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV Mpro can also cleave human MAGED2, suggesting MAGED2 cleavage by Mpro is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism of coronavirus infection in mammals. Intriguingly, Mpro from Beta variant cleaves MAGED2 more efficiently than wild type, but Omicron Mpro is opposite. Further studies show that MAGED2 inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection at viral replication step. Mechanistically, MAGED2 is associated with SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein through its N-terminal region in an RNA-dependent manner, and this disrupts the interaction between SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein and viral genome, thus inhibiting viral replication. When MAGED2 is cleaved by Mpro, the N-terminal of MAGED2 will translocate into the nucleus, and the truncated MAGED2 is unable to suppress SARS-CoV-2 replication. This work not only discovers the antiviral function of MAGED2 but also provides new insights into how SARS-CoV-2 Mpro antagonizes host antiviral response. IMPORTANCE Host factors that restrict severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection remain elusive. Here, we found that MAGED2 can be cleaved by SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) at Gln-263. SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV Mpro can also cleave MAGED2, and MAGED2 from multiple species can be cleaved by SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. Mpro from Beta variant cleaves MAGED2 more efficiently efficiently than wild type, but Omicron is the opposite. MAGED2 depletion enhances SARS-CoV-2 infection, suggesting its inhibitory role in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Mechanistically, MAGED2 restricts SARS-CoV-2 replication by disrupting the interaction between nucleocapsid and viral genomes. When MAGED2 is cleaved, its N-terminal will translocate into the nucleus. In this way, Mpro relieves MAGED2' inhibition on viral replication. This study improves our understanding of complex viral-host interaction and provides novel targets to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection. Host factors that restrict severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection remain elusive. Here, we found that MAGED2 can be cleaved by SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) at Gln-263. SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV Mpro can also cleave MAGED2, and MAGED2 from multiple species can be cleaved by SARS-CoV-2 Mpro. Mpro from Beta variant cleaves MAGED2 more efficiently efficiently than wild type, but Omicron is the opposite. MAGED2 depletion enhances SARS-CoV-2 infection, suggesting its inhibitory role in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Mechanistically, MAGED2 restricts SARS-CoV-2 replication by disrupting the interaction between nucleocapsid and viral genomes. When MAGED2 is cleaved, its N-terminal will translocate into the nucleus. In this way, Mpro relieves MAGED2' inhibition on viral replication. This study improves our understanding of complex viral-host interaction and provides novel targets to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection.


This work evaluates the capabilities of the RANS and LES techniques for the simulation of high speed reacting flows. These methods are used to gain further insight into the physics encountered and regimes present in supersonic combustion. The target application of this research is the scramjet engine, a propulsion system of great promise for efficient hypersonic flight. In order to conduct this work a new highly parallelised code, PULSAR, is developed. PULSAR is capable of simulating complex chemistry combustion in highly compressible flows, based on a second order upwind method to provide a monotonic solution in the presence of high gradient physics. Through the simulation of a non-reacting supersonic coaxial helium jet the RANS method is shown to be sensitive to constants involved in the modelling process. The LES technique is more computationally demanding but is shown to be much less sensitive to these model parameters. Nevertheless, LES results are shown to be sensitive to the nature of turbulence at the inflow; however this information can be experimentally obtained. The SCHOLAR test case is used to validate the reacting aspects of PULSAR. Comparing RANS results from laminar chemistry and assumed PDF combustion model simulations, the influence of turbulence-chemistry interactions in supersonic combustion is shown to be small. In the presence of reactions, the RANS results are sensitive to inflow turbulence, due to its influence on mixing. From complex chemistry simulations the combustion behaviour is evaluated to sit between the flamelet and distributed reaction regimes. LES results allow an evaluation of the physics involved, with a pair of coherent vortices identified as the dominant influence on mixing for the oblique wall fuel injection method. It is shown that inflow turbulence has a significant impact on the behaviour of these vortices and hence it is vital for turbulence intensities and length scales to be measured by experimentalists, in order for accurate simulations to be possible.


Advanced molecular electronic components remain vital for the next generation of miniaturized integrated circuits. Thus, much research effort has been devoted to the discovery of lossless molecular wires, for which the charge transport rate or conductivity is not attenuated with length in the tunneling regime. Herein, we report the synthesis and electrochemical interrogation of DNA-like molecular wires. We determine that the rate of electron transfer through these constructs is independent of their length and propose a plausible mechanism to explain our findings. The reported approach holds relevance for the development of high-performance molecular electronic components and the fundamental study of charge transport phenomena in organic semiconductors.


The ion flotation of rare-earth and another fifteen metal ions was investigated using octadecyliminobismethylenebisphosphonic acid (OIMBP) as an anionic surfactant having the ability to form complexes with metal ions. The efficiency of flotation was greater than that with dodecyliminobismethylenebisphosphonic acid (DIMBP) due to its low pKa, value, as well as the hydrophobic property of the alkyl chain of OIMBP. The rare-earth ions were classified into three groups according to their flotation behavior. A successive flotation procedure used to separate rare-earth ions was then proposed.


The weather data has important role for performative building design. If the data location is close to building site, the result of performative design can be accurate. The data which have used nowadays in Korea are from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Korea Solar Energy Society (KSES) but they cover only several locations in Korea which are 4 in DOE and 11 in KSES and there are opinions which it could be served building design efficiently even if the data are not enough. However the weather data for micro-climate are exist which are Green Building Studio Virtual Weather Station (GBS VWS) and Meteonorm weather data. Each weather data has different generation methods which are TMY2, TRY, MM5, and extrapolation. In this research, the weather date for climate are compared with DOE and KSES to check correlation. The result shows the value of correlation in Dry Bulb Temp. and Dew Point Temp. is around 0.9 so they have high correlation in both but in Wind Speed case the correlation(around 0.2) is not exist. In overall result, the data has correlation with DOE and KSES as the value of correlation 0.648 of GBS VW and 0.656 of Meteonorm. Even if the correlation value is not high enough, the patterns of difference in each weather element are similar in scatter plot.


This paper focuses on an approach for characterizing the internal structure which is one of important clues for differentiating between malignant and benign nodules in 3D thoracic images. In this approach, each voxel was described in terms of shape index derived from curvatures on the voxel. The voxels inside the nodule were aggregated via shape histogram to quantify how much shape category was present in the nodule. Topological features were introduced to characterize the morphology of the cluster constructed from a set of voxels with the same shape category. In the classification step, a hybrid unsupervised/supervised structure was performed to improve the classifier performance. It combined the k-means clustering procedure and the linear discriminate classifier. The receiver operating characteristics analysis was used to evaluate the accuracy of the classifiers. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of the hybrid classifier based on the topological and histogram features to assist physicians in making diagnostic decisions.


Saving energy is a high priority in developing countries and several energy-efficient initiatives are being introduced for that purpose. The residential sector is responsible for a big part of the world's energy usage; most of this energy is used in heating, cooling, and artificial ventilation systems. The residential sector in Amman consumes more than 21% of the annual energy consumption, meanwhile multi-family residential apartments occupy more than 60% of that sector. With a view on developing energy-efficient structures, this study provides an overview of building design criteria that can reduce the energy demand for heating and cooling of multi-family apartment residential buildings. These criteria are based on the adoption of suitable parameters for the orientation of the building, shape, envelope system, use of insulation materials, passive heating and cooling mechanisms, setting of cooling and heating thermostat, lighting, and window's ratio and glazing. This experiment measures the effect of these criteria on overall energy demand that reviewed and recommended the best design choices. This is beneficial for professionals in the design phase of energy-efficient multifamily residential buildings and decisions makers. The methodology that is used in the study was represented in field observation and surveys, besides, to use design-builder as a simulation tool to test the assumptions and the design strategies, the results indicate that a 6cm polystyrene insulated walls and roof for a north/west middle floor apartment and WWR ranges from 25 to 30% of double bronze glass will affect greatly in the energy demand.


This critical study explores late twentieth century novels by women writers - including Doris Lessing, May Sarton and Barbara Pym - that feature female protagonists over the age of sixty. These novels create alternate discourses on aging to those largely pejorative ones that dominate Western society. They break the silence that normally surrounds the lives of the aged by creating narratives that refuse to deal purely in discourses of stagnation and decline. One strategy they share is placing an older female protagonist at the heart of the narrative, and this book investigates how she is represented in relation to areas such as sexuality, dependence and everyday life. The book begins with an investigation of popular opinions about the aging process and surveys a variety of hypotheses from disciplines including gerontology, psychology and feminism. It also reviews literary critical attitudes toward fictions of aging. Chapter Two analyzes representations of physically dependent characters. Anger is often seen as a response to the difficulties caused by their failing bodies, which is exacerbated by society's neglect but eased by relationships with their female friends. Chapter Three discusses how paradigms of female sexuality are constructed in such a way as to exclude the possibility of older women being sexually desirable. Chapter Four covers characters that live a contented life. Treating the novels from both an age and genderaware perspective reveals a more polemical side to them than is noted in more conventional literary critiques. Chapter Five analyzes the aged sleuth in classical detective fiction.


A series of bis-bipyridyl complexes, cis-[CrIII(bpy)2(L)(L′)] (L = OH, L′ = OH2 monomer; L = L = OH dimer; L = L = Cl; and L, L′ = polyacrylic acid) were studied at silver and glassy carbon electrodes by cyclic voltammetry. On reduction, slow electron transfer reactions giving adsorbed species are evident from the cyclic voltammograms. In situ surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) of the aquahydroxo and dimer complexes shows a broad, intense Cr–O vibration at around 550 cm–1. This arises as the exciting line (514.5 nm) is close to resonance with the lowest energy absorption band assigned to a ligand field transition (4A2g → 4T2g). At –0.4 V SERS spectra show features of both the normal Raman spectrum of [Cr(bpy)3]3+ and the colloidal SERS of [Cr(bpy)3]2+ and can be explained by the presence of partially-reduced adsorbed species. The electron is localized first on to the metal and then on to one of the bpy ligands as follows: [CrIII(bpy0)2X2]n+ + e →[CrII(bpy0)2X2](n–1)+ and [CrII(bpy0)2X2](n–1)+ + e →[CrII(bpy–)(bpy0)2X2](n–2)+. Although the SERS evidence suggested that the integrity of the complexes is maintained during the reaction, prolonged electrolysis leads to hydrolysis and/or substitution of the complexes. Thus [(PVP)2-Cr(bpy)2]3+ can be electrosynthesized by reduction of cis-[Cr(bpy)Cl2]+ at a PVP modified glassy carbon electrode and shows a characteristic peak at –0.32 V.


We theoretically investigate the influence of two-photon absorption (TPA) on the performance of self-phase-modulation-based signal regenerators using a split-step Fourier method. Simulations with 40-Gb/s return-to-zero data bit streams show that a device with TPA can improve the signal (higher output Q-factor) significantly more than a device with no TPA, and that the figure of merit of chalcogenide is close to optimal. This contrasts with the effects of TPA on nonlinear switching, which are always detrimental


The low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) system FIRST J102347.6+003841 hosts a newly born millisecond pulsar (MSP) PSR J1023+0038 that was revealed as the first and only known rotation-powered MSP in a quiescent LMXB. While the system is shown to have an accretion disk before 2002, it remains unclear how the accretion disk has been removed in order to reveal the radio pulsation in 2007. In this Letter, we report the discovery of γ-rays spatially consistent with FIRST J102347.6+003841, at a significance of seven standard deviations, using data obtained by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The γ-ray spectrum can be described by a power law (PL) with a photon index of 2.9 ± 0.2, resulting in an energy flux above 200 MeV of (5.5 ± 0.9) × 10−12 erg cm−2 s−1. The γ-rays likely originate from the MSP PSR J1023+0038, but also possibly from an intrabinary shock between the pulsar and its companion star. To complement the γ-ray study, we also re-investigate the XMM-Newton data taken in 2004 and 2008. Our X-ray spectral analysis suggests that a broken PL with two distinct photon indices describes the X-ray data significantly better than a single PL. This indicates that there exists two components and that both components appear to vary with the orbital phase. The evidence for γ-ray emission conforms with a recent suggestion that γ-rays from PSR J1023+0038 may be responsible for ejecting the disk material out of the system.


The on-farm evaluation of three feeding strategies for smallholder campesino dairy herds was undertaken in the highlands of Central Mexico with cooperating farmers: traditional, alternative and intermediate feeding strategies. All three incorporated grazing of cultivated pastures, but concentrate use was 4.0 and 7.0 kg per cow per day in the rainy and dry seasons respectively for the traditional feeding strategy, 3.3 for the alternative feeding strategy in both rainy and dry seasons and 5.0 and 9.0 kg per cow per day in the rainy and dry seasons respectively for the intermediate feeding strategy. Feeding during the dry season was based on maize straw in the traditional strategy, on pasture complemented with maize silage in the alternative feeding strategy, and with some maize silage but mostly maize straw in the intermediate feeding strategy. The trial ran between 25 September 1996 and 24 September 1997, divided by season into four, thirteen-week periods. Milk yields were recorded once per week, and live weight and body-condition score, every 28 days. Three cows per strategy that completed each period were blocked according to stage of lactation and used for the statistical analysis of a split-plot design with feeding strategies as main plots and weeks as split-plots. Overall mean milk yields were 15.5±2.05, 13.4±2.43 and 12.4±2.37 kg milk per cow per day for alternative, intermediate and traditional feeding strategies respectively, with significant interactions (P<0.05) for autumn, winter and summer. The alternative feeding strategy (with over 50% less concentrate) produced milk yields 0.24 and 0.38 higher than the intermediate and traditional feeding strategies in the dry season. In the rainy season, milk yields with the alternative feeding strategy (30% less concentrates) were 0.09 and 0.16 higher than the other two strategies. Margins per day of family labour were: alternative feeding strategy US$36.48 per day, intermediate feeding strategy US$9.22 per day and the traditional feeding strategy US$9.11 per day, although in the case of the last two there were two family members in charge of the dairy herds. Results demonstrate the successful integration of grazed pasture and maize silage for the efficient production of milk, and provide evidence on the productive use of limited campesino land resources in the face of unviable economic conditions for maize grain production.


Developing countries need fiscal revenue to build their infrastructure, achieve energy security and environmental sustainability, and provide social services necessary for human development. While trade and investment treaties have typically been assumed to be tax revenue-neutral, economic studies demonstrate that such is not, in fact, the case. The legal literature has not given much consideration to this issue, assuming instead that the tax effects of economic globalization have been addressed by bilateral tax treaties. However, constraints on developing countries' fiscal resources resulting from trade and investment treaties are complex and nuanced, and they go much beyond the jurisdictional overlaps addressed by tax treaties. Trade and investment treaties constrain how countries design their tax policy, how they enforce it, and how they may change it. This study offers several findings on the impact of trade treaties on the ability to raise revenue and maps issues for policymakers to consider. It analyzes direct fiscal revenue decreases, such as those resulting from lower tariff rates, and indirect constraints on fiscal policy arising from non-discrimination obligations in trade and investment treaties, as well as other investor protection clauses. It then considers whether and to what extent exceptions and carve-out clauses preserve tax policy autonomy. Lastly, it assesses how some developing countries can carve out more policy autonomy for themselves against international regulatory encroachment in current negotiations.


The compatibility between superplasticizer and cement was influenced by the adsorption capacity of cement particles. This study investigated the relevance between the adsorption capability and surface free energy. Adsorption capacity and surface free energy of both sulphoaluminate cement and portland cement were measured. The adsorption capacity of cement particles was measured by ultraviolet spectrophotometry. The test showed that particles of sulphoaluminate cement adsorbed more molecules of superplasticizer than portland cement particles. The weight of superplasticizer adsorbed by 2g of sulphoaluminate cement and portland cement were 0.28mg and 0.159mg respectively. Surface free energy of cement particles was calculated by contact angle and the contact angles were determined by the thin-layer wicking technique and washburn equation which is theoretical basis of thin-layer wiching technique presented by Chibowski E. The sulphoaluminate cement, portland cement's surface free energy were 51.46 mJ·m-2 and 49.36 mJ·m-2 respectively. The results showed that the higher adsorption capacity of particles was usual accompanied by higher surface free energy. The fluidity of cement paste was influenced by the adsorption capacity of cement particles because the more molecules of superplasticizer was adsorbed by cement particles there were lacking superplasticizer in the paste. The macro-behaviour of higher adsorption capacity is that the cement paste need more superplasticizer to reach the needed fluidity.


A novel anaerobic, chemo-organotrophic bacterium, designated VNs36(T), was isolated from a well that collected water from a deep saline aquifer used for underground gas storage at a depth of 830 m in the Paris Basin, France. Cells were curved motile rods or vibrios (3.0-5.0x0.5 microm). Strain VNs36(T) grew at temperatures between 20 and 50 degrees C (optimum 37 degrees C) and at pH values between 5.0 and 9.0 (optimum 6.9). It did not require salt for growth, but tolerated up to 20 g NaCl l(-1) (optimum 2 g l(-1)). In the presence of sulfate, strain VNs36(T) used lactate, formate and pyruvate as carbon and energy sources. The main fermentation products from lactate were acetate, H(2) and CO(2). Sulfate, thiosulfate and sulfite were used as electron acceptors, but not sulfur. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain VNs36(T) was 67.2 mol%. Phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequence indicated that strain VNs36(T) was affiliated with the family Desulfovibrionaceae within the class Deltaproteobacteria. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence comparisons, DNA G+C content and the absence of desulfoviridin in cell extracts, it is proposed that strain VNs36(T) be assigned to a new genus, Desulfocurvus gen. nov., as a representative of a novel species, Desulfocurvus vexinensis sp. nov. The type species of this genus is Desulfocurvus vexinensis with the type strain VNs36(T) (=DSM 17965(T)=JCM 14038(T)).


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship of 625, 525, and 425 nm wavelengths, providing average power output and effects on three common pathogenic bacteria.

BACKGROUND DATA
Ultraviolet (UV) light kills bacteria, but the bactericidal effects of UV may not be unique, as 425 nm produces a similar effect. The bactericidal effects of light-emitting diode (LED) wavelengths such as 625 and 525 nm have not been described. Before conducting clinical trials, the appropriate wavelength with reasonable dose and exposure time should be established.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The bactericidal effects of 625, 525, and 425 nm wavelength LED irradiation were investigated in vitro for the anaerobic bacterium Porphyromonas gingivalis and two aerobes (Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli DH5α). Average power output was 6 mW/cm(2) for 1 h. The bacteria were exposed to LED irradiation for 1, 2, 4, and 8 h (21.6, 43.2, 86.4, and 172.8 J/cm(2), respectively). LED irradiation was performed during growth on agar and in broth. Control bacteria were incubated without LED irradiation. Bacterial growth was expressed in colony-forming units (CFU) and at an optical density at 600 nm in agar and broth.

RESULTS
The bactericidal effect of LED phototherapy depended upon wavelength, power density, bacterial viable number, and bacteria species. The bactericidal effect of 425 and 525 nm irradiation varied depending upon the bacterial inoculation, compared with unirradiated samples and samples irradiated with red light. Especially, P. gingivalis and E. coli DH5α were killed by 425 nm, and S. aureus growth was inhibited by 525 nm. However, the wavelength of 625 nm was not bactericidal for P. gingivalis, E. coli DH5α, or S. aureus.

CONCLUSIONS
Irradiation at 625 nm light was not bactericidal to S. aureus, E. coli, and P. gingivalis, whereas wavelengths of 425 and 525 nm had bactericidal effects. S. aureus was also killed at 525 nm.


We present low temperature charge sensing measurements of nanoscale phosphorus-implanted double dots in silicon. The implanted phosphorus forms two 50 nm diameter islands with source and drain leads, which are separated from each other by undoped silicon tunnel barriers. Occupancy of the dots is controlled by surface gates and monitored using an aluminium single-electron transistor which is capacitively coupled to the dots. We observe a charge stability diagram consistent with the designed many-electron double-dot system and this agrees well with capacitance modelling of the structure. We discuss the significance of these results to the realization of smaller devices which may be used as charge or spin qubits.


Downhole well integrity starts by removing the drilling fluids from the well and cleaning the annulus using a spacer to prepare for the cement to be placed. The Kamose field in the Egyptian Mediterranean Sea is drilled with a diesel oil-based drilling fluid system that is very difficult to remove with conventional spacer technologies. To improve the mud removal, an innovative spacer based on fiber scrubbing technology was used successfully.
 The Kamose wells are drilled with high deviation that varies from 60˚to75˚ resulting in poor mud removal due to insufficient casing standoff. The narrow windows between pore pressure and fracture gradients limits the pump rate and thus results in the unsuccessful use of conventional spacers. This results in a mud layer that is always left in the narrow side of the well, which impacts the log response and the downhole well integrity. To address the issue, an innovative mud removal solution was developed. The spacer design includes an engineered scrubbing material which, through mechanical action, cleans the surfaces of the casing and the formation. This allows for better contact of the cement with the casing, formation surfaces, and bonding.
 Extensive laboratory qualification tests with the current drilling fluids were performed not only to check the cleaning efficiency of the new spacer but also on the compatibility with all the other fluids. The results show a very high cleaning efficiency of 90% compared to 68% when using a conventional spacer. The solution was combined with the local cementing best practices which produced an excellent log response using sonic and ultrasonic tools therefore ensuing the downhole well integrity.
 The case history of the spacer fiber-based technology solution provides an alternative to improve the cement bond evaluation and ensuring downhole well integrity.


The aim of the present study was to test a mathematical model of the biochemical processes in the parathyroid glands responsible for the secretion of parathyroid hormone resulting from extracellular calcium reduction. A double exponential curve described the parathyroid hormone secretion induced by rapid lowering of blood-ionized calcium in humans with normal as well as abnormal parathyroid tissue. Our data show that it was possible to establish a simple mathematical model of the parathyroid hormone response to blood-ionized calcium lowering, sufficient to fit experimental data obtained from patients with abnormal and normal parathyroid tissue. The fitted parameters showed no significant differences between patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and controls. In primary hyperparathyroidism, the parathyroid hormone production and steady-state transport across the cell membrane were increased, probably due to the larger amount of parathyroid tissue in these patients. These observations reveal a striking functional similarity between abnormal and normal parathyroid tissue. Furthermore, an apparently linear relationship between the rate of parathyroid hormone elimination from the blood plasma and the rate of cellular production/secretion was observed. This could be interpreted as an adaptation of the parathyroid gland's ability to produce parathyroid hormone depending on the average demand from the body.


Magnetic fields play a significant role in the evolution of massive stars. About 7% of massive stars are found to be magnetic at a level detectable with current instrumentation (Wade et al. 2013) and only a few magnetic O stars are known. Detecting magnetic field in O stars is particularly challenging because they only have few, often broad, lines to measure the field, which leads to a deficit in the knowledge of the basic magnetic properties of O stars. We present new spectropolarimetric Narval observations ofOriA. We also provide a new analysis of both the new and older data taking binarity into account. The aim of this study was to confirm the presence of a magnetic field inOriA. We identify that it belongs toOri Aa and characterize it.


The data generated by pervasive infrastructures, and specially cell-phone networks, has been used in the past to improve responses to emergency events such as natural disasters or disease outbreaks. However, very little work has focused on analyzing the social response to an urban earthquake as it takes place. In this paper we present a preliminary study of the social response using the information collected from a cell-phone network during the 2012 Oaxaca earthquake in Mexico. We focus our analysis on four urban environments located between 100-200km away from the epicenter of the earthquake. The social response is analyzed using four different variables: call volume, call duration, social activity and mobility. Initial results indicate a social response characterized by an increase in the number of calls, a decrease in call durations, a moderate increase in the number of people contacted by highly connected citizens and a moderate increase in the mobility.


Breast cancer is the second leading cause of mortality among female cancer patients worldwide. Early detection of breast cancer is considerd as one of the most effective ways to prevent the disease from spreading and enable human can make correct decision on the next process. Automatic diagnostic methods were frequently used to conduct breast cancer diagnoses in order to increase the accuracy and speed of detection. The fuzzy-ID3 algorithm with association function implementation (FID3-AF) is proposed as a classification technique for breast cancer detection. The FID3-AF algorithm is a hybridisation of the fuzzy system, the iterative dichotomizer 3 (ID3) algorithm, and the association function. The fuzzy-neural dynamicbottleneck-detection (FUZZYDBD) is considered as an automatic fuzzy database definition method, would aid in the development of the fuzzy database for the data fuzzification process in FID3-AF. The FID3-AF overcame ID3's issue of being unable to handle continuous data. The association function is implemented to minimise overfitting and enhance generalisation ability. The results indicated that FID3-AF is robust in breast cancer classification. A thorough comparison of FID3-AF to numerous existing methods was conducted to validate the proposed method's competency. This study established that the FID3-AF performed well and outperform other methods in breast cancer classification.


During an investigation of freshwater fungi in Jiangxi province, China, a new hyphomycetous species, Aquapteridospora jiangxiensis, was collected and isolated. A. jiangxiensis is characterized by its unbranched and guttulate conidiophores with multi-septa and swollen at the base, polyblastic conidiogenous cells with sympodial proliferations and denticles, guttulate conidia with a sheath. The new species was illustrated and a muti-loci (ITS, LSU, SSU, TEF1 and RPB2) phylogenetic tree was constructed. Pleurophragmium bambusinum was is transferred to Aquapteridospora based on molecular and morphological data. A key to the species of Aquapteridospora is presented in this paper.


Abstract. The importance of lake water surface temperature has long been highlighted for ecological and hydrological studies as well as for water quality management. In the absence of regular field observations, satellite remote sensing has been recognized as a cost-effective way to monitor water surface temperature on large spatial and temporal scales. The thermal infrared sensors (TIRS) onboard of Landsat satellites (since 1984) are adequate tools for monitoring surface temperature of small to medium sized lakes with a biweekly frequency, as well as for performing retrospective analysis. Nonetheless, the satellite data have to deal with effects due to the atmosphere so that several approaches to correct for atmospheric contributions have been proposed. Among these are: (i) the radiative transfer equation (RTE); (ii) a single-channel algorithm that depends on water vapor content and emissivity (SC1); (iii) its improved version including air temperature (SC2); and (iv) a monowindow (MW) algorithm that requires emissivity, atmospheric transmissivity, and effective mean atmospheric temperature. We aim to evaluate these four approaches in a river dammed reservoir with a size of 12  km2 using data gathered from the band 10 of the TIRS onboard of Landsat 8. Satellite-derived temperatures were then compared to in situ data acquired from thermistors at the time of Landsat 8 overpasses. All approaches showed a good performance, with the SC1 algorithm yielding the lowest root mean square error (0.73 K), followed by the SC2 method (0.89 K), the RTE (0.94 K), and then the MW algorithm (1.23 K). Based on the validation results, we then applied the SC1 algorithm to Landsat 4, 5, and 8 thermal data (1984 to 2018) to extend data series to past years. These data do not reveal any warming trend of the reservoir surface temperature. The results of this study also confirm how the 100-m spatial resolution of TIRS is valuable as an additional source of data to field-based monitoring.


The application of magnetic technology to agricultural productions is considered new breakthroughs to the enhancement of food production. However, studies about its application on the hydroponic system of production on high valued crops are limited. Hence, the present study assessed the effect of magnetically-treated water on the growth and yield parameters of lettuce in hydroponic system. Magnetic device with different number of permanent magnets was used to magnetize irrigation water in the hydroponic system. Uniform and healthy seedlings are transplanted and arranged completely randomized design. Magnetically treated water enhanced the growth and yield parameters of lettuce such as weekly height, leaf area, fresh weight, and root length. The height, leaf area, fresh weight, and root length increased up to 44.30%, 199.93%, 50.72%, and 37.00%, respectively vs. the control. Results revealed that magnetic treatment for water in hydroponic system has potentials to increase the growth of lettuce and consequently its yield.


ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Evaluation of sodium and potassium intake can be carried out using different methods. Biological markers are able to capture intra and inter-individual variability and are used as separate measurements of consumption. The aim of this study was to test the validity of a single measurement of urinary sodium and potassium excretion as representative of habitual intake. DESIGN AND SETTING: Longitudinal study, federal university. METHODS: Food consumption data from a sample of adult university students and public servants (25 to 74 years old) were collected through 24-hour records and 12-hour urinary sodium and potassium excretion at five different times over a one-year period. The dietary data were entered into a nutritional research data software system and the sodium and potassium intakes were estimated. The variables were tested for normal distribution using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. One-way analysis of variance or the Kruskal-Wallis test was used to evaluate means. Correlations between measurements using Pearson or Spearman coefficients were calculated. The degree of agreement between the five measurements was given by the intraclass correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Satisfactory agreement was found between the five measurements of urinary sodium and potassium excretion over a year, with little variability in consumption. CONCLUSION: A single measurement of urinary sodium and potassium accurately estimated the usual average consumption of these electrolytes. This can be used in population-based studies.


Various metal-in-gap (MIG) heads have been developed for use in high-density recording systems. We report on a MIG head composed of a Mn-Zn ferrite core and sputtered FeGaSiRuO metal film, and in which the metal film is shown to run parallel to the gap-forming layer. In this type of head, the boundary between the metal and the ferrite usually acts as a pseudo-gap, resulting in a ripple in the playback output spectrum. It was found experimentally that some metal elements and oxygen, contained in both the magnetic metal alloy and the ferrite, diffuse around the boundary during the heating process. Due to the diffusion of these elements, nonmagnetic and weakly magnetic layers grow at the boundary and form a pseudo-gap. We suppressed the formation of these undesired layers by using FeGaSiRuO alloy with a high Bs, thus remarkably reducing the ripple in the playback output spectrum.


Confined migration of hot electrons is presented in nanorods of layered Ag/graphene/TiO2 structure for highly efficient plasmonic photocatalytic water treatment. The light-illuminating titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanorods provide a large amount of high-energy hot electrons for the generation of highly-active superoxide radical (*O2 -) that leads to the degradation of organics in water. Comparison between photocatalytic processing efficiency by photocatalysts with various composite materials were presented based on the preferred propagation path of induced hot electrons that leads to generation of *O2 -. The best results done by Ag/graphene/TiO2 nanorods showed that the sandwiched layer of graphene on TiO2 nanorods collects the induced hot electrons and results in high efficiency photocatalytic reaction.


Facebook's effort to regulate the use of drag names on its site and the activism of drag queens to contest this regulation is discussed as part of a broader project to describe the look of sexuality and gender in San Francisco.


X-ray diffraction or scattering analysis provides a powerful non-destructive technique capable of providing important information about the state of archaeological samples in the nanometer length scale, Small-angle diffraction facilities are usually found at synchrotron sources, although the potential of a laboratory source is also described. Specific examples of analysis using X-ray diffraction of historic parchment, archaeological bone, a Central Mexico style pictograph and microdiffraction of calcified tissues are used to show the scope and versatility of the technique, Diffraction data is capable of giving fundamental structural information as well as quantifying the remodelling of structures influenced by environmental factors.


The so-called Beautiful Madonnas belong among the most interesting and the most complex groups in gothic sculpture, being still subject to vivid discussions – despite the apparent depletion of the discourse. Time and again new attempts of defining those sculptures emerge, both in terms of their message and their visual structure; new attempts to approach their systematics and attribution. Having a crucial significance for the artistic evolution of Central Europe at the dawn of 15th century, they became an axis of one of more important discussions in Mediaeval studies of that region: the dispute on the genesis of International Style, which keeps reappearing and arising controversies. In Prussia the circle of Beautiful Madonnas has been represented by three figures – the missing Beautiful Madonna on the Moses-console from St. John's church in Torun, the Gdansk Beautiful Madonna in the Rosary Retable in Holy Virgin Church in Gdansk and located in the same church Virgin with The Child in the Priestly Brotherhood Retable. Despite the previously proposed systematics, none of them seems to be of local creation in the land of former Teutonic State. It also seems that there is no direct relation between them. In this paper a question is being asked about artistic significance of those sculpture for the art of the region (the creativity of local environment) and about their functional sense. After the period of numerous polemics – especially in context of Clasen's work – presently it is accepted that Beautiful Madonnas are the efflorescence of the experience of Bohemian art. The figure from Torun not only originated from the Bohemian tradition (which had been repeatedly underlined), but most probably it had been made in one of Prague workshops and found its way to Prussia by import. It has been confirmed by its typological isolation (the lack of similar images of Virgin Mary, that would suggest assimilation of the formula) and artistic alienation in the art of the region. One can not find any justification for most of the so far attributions, relating other eminent works to the Torun master: Christ in Gethsemane made of marly limestone ( Planer Kalkstein ) is an import from Prague, as well as a different in form, missing Mary of Good Hope. Also the attribution of a relief Assumption of Mary Magdalene does not seem convincing. The circle of the supposed followers of the master is also disputable. One can not find justification especially for the proposal to relate much younger (ca. 1430) figure of the so-called Gdansk Beautiful Madonna with the one from Torun. The Gdansk sculpture originates from different, French tradition and reveals North-Netherland workshop affiliations (the Ankeveen Madonna). Due to its large dimensions one can assume, that is was made on site. Perhaps the same workshop produced also the so far omitted, partly damaged Madonna in the Frombork Cathedral, that underwent conservation treatment in 2008-2009. It is hard to determine, whether the Netherland master brought to Gdansk an already formed topos of western art, or whether he worked it out in Gdansk (in relation with the model of Beautiful Madonna from Torun). The further development of his art took place most probably not in Pomerania, but in the North Netherlands. And finally the sculpture in the Holy Virgin Brotherhood Retable – another example of an import from Prague, in terms of form reaching for the patterns of late 14th century, in terms of type belonging to the times after 1400. Only this one became a subject of local reception, most probably due to its cult (indulgence) function and the miraculous air. Thus Prussian Beautiful Madonnas were imports from abroad, and not the efflorescence of local artistic tendencies. As a typological and stylistic group they remained an isolated phenomenon in Orderly State. They emerged in a specific religious climate, on the verge of traditional cult of Virgin Mary and devotio moderna, giving witness to the transformations of religious life in Prussia. However, since their artistic impact – as a type, a model, a stylistic source – was not very big, the question of their real significance as a testimony of religious devotion remains open.


How do we narrate horror? How do we construct a memory of horror? The first question unfolds into the second when we go from dictatorship to postdictatorship, as we may see in the narratives of Argentine writer Rodolfo Enrique Fogwill. Through the analysis of two of the author's short stories, "Muchacha punk" (1979) and "La larga risa de todos estos anos" (1983), this article examines the way in which his narratives operate a shift in relation to the notion of testimony, in order to narrate the horrors of dictatorship, as well as in relation to the construction of memory, as they point out its inevitably faulty character. With these shifts Fogwill displays the nation's fissures and deconstructs its myths.


On 16 October 1983, at 19:40 (UTC), a magnitude 3.8 earthquake occurred near Lake Charles in southwestern Louisiana. The earthquake was felt over an area of 2600 km2 and had a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of V. This was the first significant Louisiana Gulf Coast earthquake to be recorded and located by nearby microseismic networks. One possible foreshock and three aftershocks also were recorded and located using a velocity model developed for this study.

The focal mechanism of the earthquake was determined based on P -wave first motions from 22 local and regional stations. The solution indicates a predominantly east-west trending, southeast-dipping normal fault with a small strike-slip component. The depth of this event (14+ km) provides the first significant evidence that normal faulting within the crystalline basement may control shallower growth faults along the Gulf Coast.


To examine early metabolic abnormalities in obesity prior to the development of carbohydrate intolerance, we studied 14 lean and 37 obese subjects with normal glucose tolerance. All subjects underwent a standard 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) with the addition of lactate measurement. As expected, there was a positive relationship between basal insulin and body mass index (BMI kg/m2;r=0.64, P less than 0.0001). In addition, even though the subjects had normal glucose tolerance, both basal glucose and sum of glucose during OGTT showed significant positive associations with obesity. Basal lactate correlated significantly and positively with obesity (r = 0.29, P = 0.04). When incremental areas during OGTT were examined, glucose area during OGTT was positively associated with BMI and insulin area was positively associated with both BMI and sum of glucose. Conversely, the incremental area of lactate decreased as BMI increased (r = -0.41, P = 0.003), despite the increasing glucose area. The results indicate that even prior to frank carbohydrate intolerance, progressive changes in basal levels of glucose, insulin, and lactate, as well as sum of glucose, accompany the expansion of adipose mass in obesity. Two different aspects of lactate metabolism have been examined in obesity. First, the association of increased basal lactate levels with increased obesity may reflect increased lactate production from enlarged adipocytes and an increased fat mass. Secondly, the inverse association between acute lactate generation following glucose ingestion and obesity, despite the increased sum of glucose in obese subjects, may reflect a decreased ability of adipose and/or extra-adipose tissues to convert glucose to lactate due to insulin resistance.


This study tries to shed light on the way in which family characteristics affected the survival of children in nineteenth-century European societies. Insights from recent epidemiological studies were used to construct a framework via which the absence or loss of one of the parents could affect the health and survival of children. The review not only showed how important family structure was for survival of children, it also provided insight in the differences in the roles played by fathers and mothers and indicated that the wider kinship network is a factor that is of great relevance in studying the effects of family structure on living conditions of children. Current research focuses on the relationship between religion, health, and mortality in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries; social-class and gender differences in mortality; and the current social and demographic situation of the Jews in the Netherlands.


Objective: Blood pressure (BP) load, defined as the percentage of abnormally elevated BP readings, is provided on the report of ambulatory BP monitoring. The relationship between BP load, independently from BP level, and target organ damage (TOD) in hypertension disease is under investigation. We aimed to explore the relationship between BP load and TOD in patients with newly diagnosed essential hypertension as well as the role of dipping status. Design and method: We studied 300 patients with newly diagnosed and never treated essential hypertension (mean age 50+11 years, 187 males, 202 dippers). We performed: a. 24 h ambulatory BP measurement (ABPM) in order to measure BP load and estimate dipping status and b. we evaluated carotid-femoral artery pulse wave velocity (PWV), carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), microalbuminouria (MAU), LV remodeling (LVMI), and coronary flow reserve (CFR). Results: Dipper hypertensive patients (n = 202) were younger, mostly males with reduced 24 h SBP, 24 h PP, cIMT and LVMI compared to non-dippers (n = 98). In the whole hypertensive population, BP load parameters were, independently of 24 h mean BP, related with PWV (daytime and night-time SBP load) and IMT (daytime SBP load). In dipper hypertensive population, only daytime SBP load was independently of 24 h mean BP, related with PWV. Conclusions: Daytime and night-time SBP load are independently related with PWV and IMT, respectively, in middle-aged untreated hypertensives. Our results add new data regarding the role of daytime SBP load since its independent association with PWV was evident only in dipper hypertensives.


In this article, we explore the roles of student researchers as they have emerged over 5 years of studies on the teaching and learning of science in urban high schools. These studies incorporate sociocultural theory in an approach to research that explores the capital that urban students bring to school and situates student researchers as active participants who exercise agency by accessing and appropriating a variety of resources. We provide examples of students engaged as productive, central members of a research team and describe the roles in which they have participated, from teacher educators and science learners to curriculum developers and ethnographers. We show how the involvement of students as researchers, within these roles, allows them to produce and select artifacts and data resources for interpretation that offer unique insider perspectives on how to improve the teaching and learning of science for urban high school students. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 807–828, 2005


Distinguishing between natural images (NIs) and computer-generated (CG) images by naked human eyes is difficult. In this paper, we propose an effective method based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) for this fundamental image forensic problem. Having observed the rather limited performance of training existing CCNs from scratch or fine-tuning pre-trained network, we design and implement a new and appropriate network with two cascaded convolutional layers at the bottom of a CNN. Our network can be easily adjusted to accommodate different sizes of input image patches while maintaining a fixed depth, a stable structure of CNN, and a good forensic performance. Considering the complexity of training CNNs and the specific requirement of image forensics, we introduce the so-called local-to-global strategy in our proposed network. Our CNN derives a forensic decision on local patches, and a global decision on a full-sized image can be easily obtained via simple majority voting. This strategy can also be used to improve the performance of existing methods that are based on hand-crafted features. Experimental results show that our method outperforms existing methods, especially in a challenging forensic scenario with NIs and CG images of heterogeneous origins. Our method also has good robustness against typical post-processing operations, such as resizing and JPEG compression. Unlike previous attempts to use CNNs for image forensics, we try to understand what our CNN has learned about the differences between NIs and CG images with the aid of adequate and advanced visualization tools.


Introduction: Asthma chronic inflammatory disease, highly prevalent all ages, characterizes by cough, dyspnea, chest tightness, wheezing & impairment in physical activities. Inflammatory cells degranulation, release of numbers of mediators and toxic substances, leukotriene's are consider important. Bambuterol, reducing the frequency of recurrent episodes of bronchospasm and Borage & Echium seed oil, inhibits the leukotriene's generation & competing with the arachidonic acid, thus decreasing the inflammatory process. Objective: To evaluate the clinical efficacy of Bambuterol alone and in combination with Borage & Echium seed oil in chronic persistent asthma. Method & Materials: An interventional study, approved by BASR University of Karachi. Group-A, Bambuterol oral once daily & Group B, Bambuterol once daily & Borage seed oil 1.3 gram daily plus Echium seed oil 500mg twice daily for 90 days. Diagnosed 120-registered patients, 60 patients in each group completed study period, results compared by Spirometry, PEFR, daily symptoms diary card and clinical questionnaires evaluated statistically. Results: Group-A at day-90, percentage change of FEV1 4.7%, FVC 5.9%, PEFR 7.1%. Group-B, FEV1 13.3%, FVC 9.2%, PEFR 15.2%, results are statistically highly significant. Symptoms improvement and reduction in night sleep awakening, decreased need of recue medicine. Drug safety was determined by observing reported adverse effects on serum level of Alkaline Phosphatase, SGPT, Cholesterol, HDL, LDL and compliance of drug was checked by follow up at day-30, 60 & 90 and in between daily symptom dairy card. Conclusion: Improvement reported by mean of, reduced severity, improved clinical symptoms & quality of life and no serious adverse effects, results are highly significant. Combination therapy provided synergistic effect.


Malaria is a deadly disease killing millions of people every year. Different countries of the world, governmental and non-governmental organizations including World Health Organization have taken it as a challenge to address the issue of deaths associated with malaria. Prompt and accurate diagnosis is a major key in medical field. This prompts for the need to develop a diagnosis and therapy system that could be accessed anywhere, anytime taking the advantage of the fast growing internet technology. A machine learning technique rough set was used on labelled sets of malaria fever symptoms collected to generate explainable rules for each level of severity and appropriate therapy is provided. The labelled database was divided into five cases of malaria and the classification accuracy on training dataset is 100% while that of testing data set is 94%. The web based system for malaria diagnosis and therapy was developed using HTML and PHP as front end and MYSQL as backend.


This discography includes all the gramophone records I have been able to trace which contain music by Roger Sessions and were issued before September 1978 for sale or for broadcast. If there are errors or omissions, I will be grateful to those who will notify me of them via the editor of TEMPO. The compositions are numbered in alphabetical order. The dates of compositions are approximate: it is often difficult to determine when works by Sessions were begun. Some of the dates include a certain amount of 'gestation' and sketching while others may not.


Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis/nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is considered to be a hepatic manifestation of various metabolic disorders. However, its precise pathogenic mechanism is obscure. Oxidative stress and consequent lipid peroxidation seem to play a pivotal role in disease progression. In this study, we analyzed the localization of oxidized phosphatidylcholine (oxPC), a lipid peroxide that serves as a ligand for scavenger receptors, in livers of patients with this steatotic disorder. Specimens of non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (15 autopsy livers with simple steatosis and 32 biopsy livers with steatohepatitis) were examined via immunohistochemistry and immunoelectron microscopy using a specific antibody against oxPC. In addition, scavenger receptor expression, hepatocyte apoptosis, iron deposition, and inflammatory cell infiltration in the diseased livers were also assessed. Oxidized phosphatidylcholine was mainly localized to steatotic hepatocytes and some macrophages/Kupffer cells. A few degenerative or apoptotic hepatocytes were also positive for oxPC. Immunoelectron microscopy showed oxPC localized to cytoplasmic/intracytoplasmic membranes including lipid droplets. Steatotic livers showed enhanced expression of scavenger receptors. The number of oxPC cells was correlated with disease severity and the number of myeloperoxidase‐positive neutrophils, but not with the degree of iron deposition. In conclusion, distinct localization of oxPC in liver tissues suggest that neutrophil myeloperoxidase‐derived oxidative stress may be crucial in the formation of oxPC and the progression of steatotic liver disease. (HEPATOLOGY 2006;43:506–514.)


In Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, effective thermal management is required because energy and operation costs of buildings are directly influenced by how well an air-conditioning system performs. HVAC systems are typically nonlinear time varying with disturbances, where conventional PID controllers may trade-off between stability and rise time. To overcome this limitation, a Genetic Algorithm based Adaptive Fuzzy Logic Controller (AFLC) design has been proposed for the control of temperature and relative humidity of an experimental setup by manipulating valve positions to adjust the water and steam flow rates for Air Handling Unit (AHU). Modulating equal percentage Globe valves for chilled water and steam have been modeled according to exact flow rates of water and steam. A novel method for the adaptation of Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) by modifying Fuzzy Rule Matrix (FRM) based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) has been proposed. The proposed adaptive controller outperforms the existing fuzzy controller in terms of steady state error, rise time and settling time.


Looks at the effect of moral values on science and the effect of science on moral values. It begins by describing five types of moral assessment. It then applies those five types of assessment to five areas of science. Specifically, it applies utilitarianism to behavior modification, expected utility to recombinant DNA research, rights and duties to experiments on human subjects, justice to eugenic programs, and standards of virtue to the developers of the atomic bomb. The book examines the effect of science on moral values by considering whether scientific explanations of our behavior (primarily in biology and psychology) should reduce our confidence in traditional moral beliefs about our behavior. Also, it considers whether scientific patterns of thinking should be standards for moral patterns of thinking. Suitable for courses in ethics or the philosophy of science.


Summary Prognostic estimators for a clinical event may use repeated measurements of markers in addition to fixed covariates. These measurements can be linked to the clinical event by joint models that involve latent features. When the objective is to choose between different prognosis estimators based on joint models, the conventional Akaike information criterion is not well adapted and decision should be based on predictive accuracy. We define an adapted risk function called expected prognostic cross‐entropy. We define another risk function for the case of right‐censored observations, the expected prognostic observed cross‐entropy (EPOCE). These risks can be estimated by leave‐one‐out cross‐validation, for which we give approximate formulas and asymptotic distributions. The approximated cross‐validated estimator CVPOL a of EPOCE is studied in simulation and applied to the comparison of several joint latent class models for prognosis of recurrence of prostate cancer using prostate‐specific antigen measurements.


The instrument consists of a pneumatic accelerometer which is worn on the top of the head, secured by a strap under the chin. It is connected by a tube to a sensitive capacitance manometer, the signals from which are amplified and displayed on a meter. Connection can also be made to an ECG recorder to display waveform. The apparatus is battery-operated and fully portable, so that it is possible to record Bcg on patients in their own beds.


This paper provides a summary of current knowledge on inflation persistence and price stickiness in the euro area, based on research findings that have been produced in the context of the Inflation Persistence Network. The main findings are: i) Under the current monetary policy regime, the estimated degree of inflation persistence in the euro area is moderate; ii) Retail prices in the euro area are more sticky than in the US; iii) There is significant sectoral heterogeneity in the degree of price stickiness; iv) Price decreases are not uncommon. The paper also investigates some of the policy implications of these findings.


The effectiveness of a pedometer intervention was affected by manipulating the goals given to participants and by providing social comparison feedback about how participants' performance compared with others. In study 1 (n = 148), university staff members received a low, medium, or high walking goal (10%, 50%, or 100% increase over baseline walking). Participants walked 1358 more steps per day (95% confidence interval [CI], 729, 1985), when receiving a high goal than when receiving a medium goal, but a medium goal did not increase walking relative to a low goal (554 more steps; 95% CI, –71,1179). In study 2 (n = 64), participants received individual feedback only or individual plus social comparison feedback. Participants walked 1120 more steps per day (95% CI, 538, 1703) when receiving social comparison feedback than when receiving only individual feedback. Goals and the performance of others act as reference points and influence the effect that pedometer feedback has on walking behavior, illustrating the applicability of the principles of behavioral economics and social psychology to the design of health behavior interventions.


Background Equal access to healthcare is a core principle in Norway's public healthcare system. The COVID-19 pandemic challenged healthcare systems in the early phase – in particular, related to testing and hospital capacity. There is little knowledge on how older people experienced being infected with an unfamiliar and severe disease, and how they experienced the need for healthcare early in the pandemic Aim To explore the experiences of older people infected by COVID-19 and their need for testing and hospitalisation. Research design An explorative and descriptive approach, with qualitative interviews conducted in October 2020. Participants and research context Seventeen participants above 60 years of age hospitalised due to COVID-19 during spring 2020 were recruited 6 months after discharge. Ethical considerations Ethical approval was granted by the Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics in South-Eastern Norway (155425). Findings The main finding was that the informants experienced vulnerability and arbitrariness. This finding was supported by three sub-themes: experiences with a severe and unfamiliar disease, the strict criteria and the importance of someone advocating needs. Discussion Participants described varying access to healthcare. Those who did not meet the national criteria to be tested or hospitalised struggled against the system. Findings reveal arbitrary access to healthcare, in contrast to Norway's ethical principle of fair and just access to health services. Moreover, to access and receive necessary healthcare, informants were dependent on their next-of-kin's advocacy. Conclusion Even when dealing with an unfamiliar disease, health professionals' assessments of symptoms must be performed with an ethical obligation to applicate competent appraisal and the exercise of discernment; this is in line with care ethics and ethical standards for nurses. These perspectives are a significant part of caring and the intension of doing good.


A series of studies indicated that iron distribution that partly derives from transferrin-bound iron in the peripheral nervous system in the brain may act in processes such as myelination and brain development. However, the relationship between schizophrenia, its psychotic symptoms, and the transferrin (TF) gene has not been systematically explored. Our study aimed to investigate how a particular polymorphism of the transferrin gene, rs3811655, affects the superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), psychotic symptoms, cognition, or the mediation model between antioxidant enzymes and cognition via symptoms. A total of 564 patients with chronic schizophrenia and 468 healthy control subjects were recruited. The psychotic symptoms and cognition were assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS), respectively. Furthermore, the serum SOD, MDA activity, and transferrin gene polymorphism were measured in patients. Our results demonstrated that patients with the G allele possessed more severe negative symptoms, worse cognitive performance with respect to attention, and higher serum Mn-SOD activity. Additionally, the rs3811655 polymorphism may act as a moderator in the association between Cu/Zn-SOD activity and cognition, as well as psychotic symptoms in patients suffering from schizophrenia. According to this study, the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs3811655 polymorphism may fail to contribute to the susceptibility of schizophrenia in an individual but is involved in the iron-induced oxidative stress disturbance and cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. This deepens our understanding of the critical role of iron-induced oxidative stress that might underlie the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.


The author studies a class of nonlinear equations that reduce to the Schrodinger equation when a logarithmic term is omitted. They have three interesting features: (a) in their multiparticle form, one can separate the centre-of-mass motion as in the linear case; (b) for a large part of the class, there exist exponentially confined solutions which propagate without deformation; (c) if phi is a solution, and C a constant, then C phi is a solution. Other mechanical properties are briefly surveyed.


This study aims to analyze the performance, job satisfaction, and employee engagement in theretail distributor. The main theory and previous researchers used in this study are Performance by Na-Nanet al., (2017), Employee engagement by Schaufeli, Salanova, González-Romá, and Bakker (2002) and Jobsatisfaction by Spector (1997). The method used in this research is Structural Equation Modeling withPartial Least Square. The program used is SmartPLS 3.3.3. This research was conducted in a snack foodretail distributor company located in Surabaya, Sidoarjo and Gresik with a sample of one hundred and tenrespondents. The results of this study are job satisfaction has a significant but not significant effect onemployee performance, employee involvement has a significant effect on employee performance, jobsatisfaction has a significant effect on employee engagement and employee involvement is the variable thatmediates job satisfaction on employee performance.


The geochemical composition of the soils and underlying sediments in the Kremna Basin was investigated. The aim was to assess whether the observed heavy metal concentrations in the soil samples represent geogenic or anthropogenic contamination.  The second objective was to show that geochemical data of underlying sediments should be used as a tool in the determination of  the potential hazard for soil contamination.  For this purpose,  the contents of As, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb and Zn of soil samples were compared with standard values, a reference soil sample and local background values of the underlying sediments. The s oil samples were unpolluted regarding the contents of  As, Hg, Pb and Zn . All samples  had higher contents of Cr and Ni, whereas three samples had higher contents of Cu than the limit standard values. Geochemical parameters  showed that the higher concentrations of  Cr, Cu and Ni  in the soils could be attributed to geogenic impact. This conclusion was supported by  the Chemical Proxy of Alteration  and  Chemical Index of Weathering values , which indicated intense weathering of the sediments.  The obtained results show ed that  the Kremna area is under slight to moderate hazard if a land use change would occur, and proved the importance of the geochemical composition of underlying sediments in the interpretation of heavy metal pollution.


The extreme risks of software faults in the telecommunications environment justify the costs of data collection and modeling of software quality. Software quality models based on data drawn from past projects can identify key risk or problem areas in current similar development efforts. Once these problem areas are identified, the project management team can take actions to reduce the risks. Studies of several telecommunications systems have found that only 4-6% of the system modules were complex /spl lsqb/LeGall et al. 1990/spl rsqb/. Since complex modules are likely to contain a large proportion of a system's faults, the approach of focusing resources on high-risk modules seems especially relevant to telecommunications software development efforts. A number of researchers have recognized this, and have applied modeling techniques to isolate fault-prone or high-risk program modules. A classification model based upon discriminant analytic techniques has shown promise in performing this task. The authors introduce a neural network classification model for identifying high-risk program modules, and compare the quality of this model with that of a discriminant classification model fitted with the same data. They find that the neural network techniques provide a better management tool in software engineering environments. These techniques are simpler, produce more accurate models, and are easier to use. >


Snake venom has been the cause of innumerable deaths worldwide. Many people die every year in India alone. For the last century, antiserum is the only available specific treatment. However, antiserum does not provide enough protection against venom induced haemorrhage, necrosis, nephrotoxicity and often develops hypersensitivity reactions. India has a rich tradition of the usage of medicinal plants. Many Indian medicinal plants are mentioned in literature, which are used to treat snakebite victims especially in the rural areas. However, only a few species have been scientifically investigated and still less had their active components isolated and characterized both structurally and functionally. This article presents a review of plants showing neutralizing properties against snake venoms which were assayed in research laboratories, correlating them with ethnopharmacological studies. So plant remedies may be beneficial for the treatment of snakebite and may find alternative to antivenom serum.


The horizontal and vertical components of gravity change when tectonic stresses deform the earth because mass is redistributed relative to the gravity meter. We analyze the change in gravity resulting from deformation in a homogeneous elastic half-space. We derive expressions in closed form which give the change in horizontal and vertical components of gravity measured at the surface for any specified distribution of dislocations at depth. For example, the change in the vertical component of gravity observed by a gravity meter fixed in space above an infinitely long thrust fault is found to be proportional to the local change in height, whereas the change due to a spherically symmetric source of dilatation is zero. Analysis of the change in the horizontal component shows that error in measurements of uplift resulting from changes in level is negligible for these sources.


A high variety of experimental model organisms have been used in developmental biology practical lectures. The work with developing embryos is crucial to make students aware of the multiple biological phenomena underlying normal animal embryogenesis and morphogenesis and represent a unique experimental platform to analyze the impact of molecular signaling in the regulation of all these processes. In particular, Biochemistry undergraduate students enjoy both practical and theoretical lectures on the molecular mechanisms of embryonic development, as that allows them for the integration of crucial molecular concepts (e.g. signaling and signal transduction mechanisms; molecular patterning of development) into the dynamic and progressive context of animal embryonic ontogenesis. Accordingly, it is important to carefully design practical laboratory lectures in developmental biology, as these are a unique pedagogical tools fostering the interests of the students in this subject. This study describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of a two‐session laboratory practical activity performed by Biochemistry undergraduate students at University of Málaga (Spain). In this practical activity, which takes advantage of the unique characteristics of the chick embryo, students learn how the vertebrate heart forms from the fusion of two bilateral‐symmetric cardiac progenitor pools under the guidance of the underlying endoderm. This cheap and easy practical laboratory activity provides relevant visual information on how experimental manipulations can severely influence anatomical form during organ development, as well as an excellent experimental setting to test molecular regulation of morphogenesis in an ex vivo (ex ovo) context.


Alternative schools of thought exist about the relation between quality and profitability. The "quality is free" school argues that outlays on improving quality consistently yield positive returns. An alternative (economics) perspective is that firms can make outlays on quality that do not yield positive returns. Beyond a certain point the returns from increasing quality do not exceed the costs. This paper presents evidence consistent with the economic school. We analyze customer satisfaction and customer profitability data for a beverage distribution company. Time-series, cross-sectional and lead-lag tests are presented. We find that customers who are more satisfied with the distributor have higher unit volume purchases but not higher profits (net of customer service costs) to the distributor. The findings have importance for the selection and evaluation of programs designed to improve customer satisfaction, and for the design of performance measures in general and balanced scorecards in particular.


This article focuses on the application of Ubuntu, an African philosophical thought, to innovate human resources practices at the Sunyani Technical  University in Ghana. The human resources practices in this institution follow the Western approach which ignores African values as important factor in human resources development. In the competition for qualified academic staff, among institutions of higher learning, this University should innovate its human resource practices to retain its best academics. The objective of the study was to advocate for innovative human resources  practice based on Ubuntu (humanness) to retain Academic staff at the Sunyani Technical University. The qualitative research method of interview was used in data collection from twenty-two (22) purposively selected participants comprising fifteen (15) academics, five (5) heads of departments  and two (2) human resources practitioners. The study revealed that the use of Ubuntu in human resource practices and development of academic staff might improve teaching and research skills of academics, increase their commitment and job safety at the University. The study recommended that in this era of Africa's rebirth, higher educational institutions should integrate African values into their human resources activities as a strategy  to transform their practices to become more African and to retain Academic staff.
Keywords: Innovating, Human Resource Development, retention, Africanisation, Ubuntu.


Pneumatic double acting cylinders are able to provide inherent stiffness and force control for compliant motion control applications. Impedance control methods allow for a broad spectrum of mechanical properties of actuators to be achieved. The range of this spectrum can be increased by simultaneously controlling the actuator's inherent stiffness and impedance, a concept explored in this paper. Presented here is a sliding mode impedance and stiffness controller for a servo-pneumatic double acting cylinder. Two proportional servo-valves are employed for simultaneous control of the virtual impedance and inherent stiffness of the pneumatic cylinder. Experimental results of tracking trajectories and contact are reported and discussed with respect to different approaches in the literature.


We extend our previous work of a classical over-barrier ionization (COBI) model to calculate the single ionization cross sections of noble gases ranging from He to Xe at strong perturbative energies. The calculation results are in good agreement with extensive experimental data. The scaling law of single ion-atom impact ionization cross sections of noble gases on projectile charge q and energy E, also on target ionization energy I is drawn from the model.


Phenolic resin modified by Mannich reaction with an amine was investigated as an alternative to chromate on galvanized steel surface. The corrosion resistance of the resin coating was improved with increasing of the curing temperature, furthermore also improved by addition of phosphoric acid into the resin solution. Surface free energy measurement, infrared absorption analysis, GDS analysis, XPS analysis, etc. were carried out in order to clarify the effect of curing temperature and the addition of phosphoric acid; as the result some findings were obtained. The coating film became more hydrophobic, because cross-linking reaction proceeded with the elimination of the diethanolamine, which is the amine for modification, in curing over 160°C. It was revealed that the phosphoric acid included in the resin coating has been eliminated together with diethanolamine during the cross-linking reaction and it has diffused through the resin coating to form an insoluble phosphate layer at the interface between resin coating and galvanized steel. The electrochemical measurement clarified that the insoluble phosphate layer suppressed cathode reaction (reduction reaction of dissolved oxygen).


A novel viscous fingering instability, involving a less viscous fluid intruding underneath a current of more viscous fluid, was recently observed in the experiments of Kowal & Worster (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 766, 2015, pp. 626–655). We examine the origin of the instability by asking whether the instability is an internal instability, arising from internal dynamics, or a frontal instability, arising from viscous intrusion. We find it is the latter and characterise the instability criterion in terms of viscosity difference or, equivalently, the jump in hydrostatic pressure gradient at the intrusion front. The mechanism of this instability is similar to, but contrasts with, the Saffman–Taylor instability, which occurs as a result of a jump in dynamic pressure gradient across the intrusion front. We focus on the limit in which the two viscous fluids are of equal density, in which a frontal singularity, arising at the intrusion, or lubrication, front, becomes a jump discontinuity, and perform a local analysis in an inner region near the lubrication front, which we match asymptotically to the far field. We also investigate the large-wavenumber stabilisation by transverse shear stresses in two dynamical regimes: a regime in which the wavelength of the perturbations is much smaller than the thickness of both layers of fluid, in which case the flow of the perturbations is resisted dominantly by horizontal shear stresses; and an intermediate regime, in which both vertical and horizontal shear stresses are important.


A brief tutorial is given on what aliasing means. Plots of some relevant functions are shown. Some of the conventional wisdom about aliasing is described, and why that wisdom may not be so wise is explained. Aliasing is actually an image processing phenomenon involving the Fourier transform, convolution and the convolution theorem.<<ETX>>


This paper studies the complexity for finding approximate stationary points of nonconvex-strongly-concave (NC-SC) smooth minimax problems, in both general and averaged smooth finite-sum settings. We establish nontrivial lower complexity bounds of $\Omega(\sqrt{\kappa}\Delta L\epsilon^{-2})$ and $\Omega(n+\sqrt{n\kappa}\Delta L\epsilon^{-2})$ for the two settings, respectively, where $\kappa$ is the condition number, $L$ is the smoothness constant, and $\Delta$ is the initial gap. Our result reveals substantial gaps between these limits and best-known upper bounds in the literature. To close these gaps, we introduce a generic acceleration scheme that deploys existing gradient-based methods to solve a sequence of crafted strongly-convex-strongly-concave subproblems. In the general setting, the complexity of our proposed algorithm nearly matches the lower bound; in particular, it removes an additional poly-logarithmic dependence on accuracy present in previous works. In the averaged smooth finite-sum setting, our proposed algorithm improves over previous algorithms by providing a nearly-tight dependence on the condition number.


This report presents a diagnostic of WASH conditions in Tajikistan and documents the characteristics, realities, and priorities of the country's WASH-deprived population, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data sources. Tajikistan, a landlocked country located on the western tip of the Himalayas, is among the poorest nations in Central Asia. While monetary poverty has fallen fairly rapidly in the past 15 years, with the poverty headcount declining from 72 to 49 percent (2003−09) and then from 37 to 31 percent of the population (2012−15), poverty remains high by global standards. Some 2.6 million of the country's 8.6 million residents live under the national poverty line. Poverty is also unequally distributed, with poverty most severe in remote and mountainous settlements, and with 76 percent of the poor living in rural areas. Multidimensional poverty (which accounts for demographics, labor, education, and access to services), at 64 percent, is much higher than monetary poverty. The country is heavily dependent on remittances and two-thirds of the working population is employed in low-productivity agriculture. Poverty varies greatly across and within regions, with deep pockets of poverty in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), Khatlon, and the Districts of Republican Subordination (DRS). Access to improved drinking water sources, and to sanitation connected to a functioning sewerage system, are among the most severely limited and unequally distributed services in the country. Tajikistan has abundant fresh water resources, with lakes containing 20 km of water resources, and glaciers holding an additional 845 km3. However, outside the capital of Dushanbe, the availability and quality of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services remain poor. Much of the existing drinking water and sewerage infrastructure was built before the 1980s and has not been updated since the fall of the Soviet Union. It is either in poor condition or absent, especially in rural areas and small towns. The report also draws on preexisting data sources that include information on WASH conditions in Tajikistan (the 2015 Household Budget Survey, the 2010 Population and Housing Census, and the 2009 Tajikistan Living Standards Survey, as well as the 2000 and 2005 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey and the 2012 Demographic and Health Survey), and a monthly phone survey, Listening to Tajikistan. The primary qualitative data were collected through focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and mini case studies in 15 research sites covering regional (oblast) centers, district (raion) centers, and rural villages. The qualitative data illustrate consumer experiences across contrasting research sites; capture hard-to-measure impacts; and provide information on institutional constraints for service delivery. The report also draws on information from case studies of eight water and sanitation schemes that experimented with various WASH service delivery models across Tajikistan. The case studies were supplemented with a desk review of broader institutional issues in WASH service delivery.


The creation of a cross-platform multimedia CD-ROM requires a detailed project plan, cooperation from data providers and vendors, and spans a wide variety of skills. The common perception that making a CD is as easy as copying files from one disk to another is not true. There are a number of technical and administrative issues that confront a CD producer. Problems result from the integration of multiple datatypes and the lack of maturity in the data preparation and CD-formatting tools. One CD producer chronicles his experiences so others can learn from his successes and mistakes.<<ETX>>


Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is a rare multisystem disorder characterised by progressive calcification and fragmentation of elastic fibres. Recent genetic advances have identified the underlying defect to the ABCC6 gene on chromosome 16p13.1. Patients typically develop cutaneous, ocular, and cardiovascular manifestations but there is considerable phenotypic variability. The skin changes are usually apparent in adulthood, and rarely observed in childhood. Since the prognosis of PXE largely depends on the extent of extracutaneous organ involvement early recognition, intervention and lifestyle adjustments are important to reduce morbidity. First-degree family members should be carefully examined for any cutaneous or ophthalmologic features of PXE.


1. Mohamed Hashem, MD*
2. Marilyn A. Menegus, PhD*

1. *Departments of Pediatrics and Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Rochester, NY

Molecular diagnostic tools and detection methods such as nucleic acid amplification are being used increasingly in the clinical microbiology laboratory to enhance the identification of microbial pathogens and to assist physicians in the diagnosis and management of a variety of infectious diseases. The principle of this technique is to detect and amplify a unique gene of the microorganism. This speeds the identification and reporting of microbial pathogens without reliance on their phenotypic characteristics.

Effective clinical management of infectious diseases depends primarily on accurate identification of the causative pathogen. The early recognition of an infectious agent allows clinicians to make sound therapeutic decisions and avoid the indiscriminate use of antibiotics, which ultimately favors the development of antimicrobial resistance.

To attempt to make nucleic acid amplification techniques (NAATs) understandable, we discuss the limitations of conventional diagnostic methods and how NAATs and polymerase chain reaction (PCR), in particular, can overcome these limitations.

Microbiology laboratories have developed many dependable approaches for detecting and characterizing pathogens within a reasonable time frame. These methods include microscopy, culture, antigen detection, immunoserology, and more recently, nucleic acid probes. Conventional identification of microbial pathogens relies on discerning the phenotypic characteristics of the organisms. Bacterial metabolic characteristics, fungal conidiogenesis, parasitic morphology, and viral cytopathic effect are some of the phenotypic characteristics used commonly. Unfortunately, phenotypic characteristics often are not sufficiently discriminatory for strain differentiation. DNA probes, which identify nucleic acid sequences by hybridization, have replaced biochemical reactions and morphology for definitive identification of some infectious agents. Probes are used to identify slowly growing mycobacteria and to detect fastidious organisms such as Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae. DNA probes offer somewhat greater specificity than do immunoassays, although like immunoassays, they are not sufficiently sensitive to replace conventional culture in most cases.

Although conventional diagnostic methods are dependable, most approaches have limitations. …


Modelling and control of gas turbines (GTs) have always been a controversial issue because of the complex dynamics of these kinds of equipment. Considerable research activities have been carried out so far in this field in order to disclose the secrets behind the nonlinear behaviour of these systems. Although the results of the research in this area have been satisfactory so far, it seems that there is no end to the efforts for performance optimization of gas turbines. A variety of analytical and experimental models as well as control systems has been built so far for gas turbines. However, the need for optimized models for different objectives and applications has been a strong motivation for researchers to continue to work in this field. This paper is aimed at presenting a general overview of essential basic criteria that need to be considered for making a satisfactory model and control system of a gas turbine. GT type, GT configuration, modelling methods, modelling objectives as well as control system type and configuration are the main preliminary factors for modelling a gas turbine which will be briefly discussed in the paper. Some of the research in this field will be also stated shortly.


Beginning on New Year's Day in 1994, the Chinese government formally inaugurated the implementation of a system of tax sharing between the central government and local governments. This was taken to be one of the most important and wide-ranging institutional innovations in our nation since the founding of the People's Republic, as well as a major adjustment in the configuration of the relationship between the Center and the localities in terms of their relative and mutual interests. This innovation has brought forth widespread interest and concern on the part of all social circles both in China and abroad, over such issues as what sorts of influences [the implementation of] the tax-sharing system over the past two years has had on China's economic growth, on the fiscal revenues and expenditures of the central government, and on the conditions of the fiscal revenues and expenditures of the localities, and how we might objectively and fairly evaluate the effects of this institutional innovation, and so on. The following paper will attempt to provide a preliminary analysis of these problems.


Intraceilular sodium, potassium, and free calcium concentrations were investigated in lymphocytes of 30 patients with essential hypertension and 30 normotensive controls. All subjects were placed on a diet containing 8 to 10 g of sodium chloride per day. Lymphocyte sodium concentration was higher in hypertensive patients than in normotensive controls (19.8 ± 1.8 vs 18.4 ± 1.8 mmol/kg wet weight; p < 0.01), whereas lymphocyte potassium concentration was similar in both groups. Lymphocyte free calcium concentration was also higher in hypertensive patients than in normotensive controls (134.6 ± 13.2 vs 120.2 ± 16.4 nmol/L; p < 0.01). There was a positive correlation between lymphocyte sodium and free calcium concentrations in normotensive controls, in hypertensive patients, and in the subjects combined (r = 0.59, p < 0.01; r = 0.71, p < 0.001; and r = 0.70, p < 0.001, respectively). Lymphocyte potassium concentration was not related to lymphocyte sodium or free calcium concentration in each group. In patients with essential hypertension, intraceilular sodium and free calcium concentrations were negatively correlated with plasma renin activity (r = −0.66, p < 0.001; r = −0.60, p < 0.001, respectively), but they were not related to age, mean blood pressure, serum electrolyte concentration, or plasma norepinephrine concentration. These results suggest that a considerable relationship exists between intraceilular sodium and free calcium in lymphocytes and that, in essential hypertension, the alteration in cellular metabolism of sodium and calcium may be linked to the renin system but not to blood pressure, age, or adrenergic activity.


INTRODUCTION
Epidermoid cysts (EC) are lesions developing from neuroectodermal epithelial cells. They represent 1-2% of all intracranial tumors and are usually found in cerebellopontine angle and parasellar regions. To the best of our knowledge, only 27 cases have been reported of EC in sellar and suprasellar region. In 12 cases out of the 27, surgery was done by craniotomy means. The 7 most recent manuscripts (with 15 patients described) share in common the use of endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) to perform surgical removal.

RESULTS
In this paper, we report the safe removal of epidermoid cysts arising from the pituitary using an EEA in two patients, which should be the sixth such description in literature. In both cases, resection and evolution was favourable.

DISCUSSION
Surgical resection is the treatment standard for epidermoid cysts, with total resection including the cyst wall to prevent recurrence when possible. The degree of resection obtained is limited by adherence to nearby neural and vascular structures. The advent of EEA approaches has allowed safe maximal resection especially in midline lesions nearby sellar and suprasellar compartiments.


Pooled health blood donors' sera were fractionated by gel filtration and/or ion exchange chromatography on strong anion-exchanger. Measurement of anticardiolipin antibodies levels by ELISA method shows that gel filtration at pH 4.05 and 9.2 (complex-degradation conditions) leads to increase in summary levels while after elution at neutral pH such an effect did not appear. Light increasing of anticardiolipin levels was also noted after fractionation on QAE-Sephadex. Data obtained state that anticardiolipin autoantibodies amount in sera is greater than it can be detected by direct measurement in untreated serum samples. Existence of "hidden" anticardiolipin autoantibodies supposes the hypothesis about alternative way of humoral immunity regulation by blocking anti-self antigens activities with serum biopolymers.


The mechanistic–empirical pavement design guide (MEPDG), developed under the recently completed NCHRP Project 1–37A, is a complex tool. Sensitivity analyses typically vary a single input parameter while holding other parameters constant. A pilot project is outlined to identify the feasibility of a global sensitivity analysis of the design process by using random sampling techniques over the entire input parameter space. This study sampled the following flexible pavement input variables: hot-mix asphalt (HMA) base nominal aggregate size, climate location, HMA thickness, annual average daily truck traffic (AADTT), subgrade strength, truck traffic category, construction season, and binder grade "bump." A total of 100 design sections were randomly sampled from these input parameters. The resulting predicted performance of longitudinal and alligator cracking, HMA and total rutting, and international roughness index were analyzed by using the Pearson's and Spearman's correlation coefficients. These coefficients indicate that AADTT, HMA thickness, and subgrade strength have a significant impact on performance, whereas the remaining parameters have lesser impacts. The performance predicted with trial designs with default values of the least significant variables was compared with the original performance predictions using the original input factors. This comparison indicated that the default parameters produced similar performance to designs using all the input parameters. These results demonstrated that this type of sensitivity analysis may be used to identify important input parameters across the entire parameter space. The utilization of a "bumped" binder grade did not appear to have a significant influence on the performance predicted by the MEPDG models. These results indicate that further research to refine the MEPDG performance models may be necessary.


Homomeric P2X3 receptors expressed in primary nociceptive neurons are crucial elements in the pain signal generation. In turn, opioid system regulates the intensity of this signal in both CNS and PNS. Here we describe the effects of opioids on P2X3 receptors in DRG neurons studied by using patch clamp technique. Activation of G-protein coupled opioid receptors by endogenous opioid Leu-enkephalin (Leu), resulted in the two opposite effects on P2X3 receptor-mediated currents (P2X3 currents). In particular, application of 1 µM Leu lead to the complete inhibition of P2X3 currents. However, after pretreatment of the neurons with a Gi/o-protein inhibitor pertussis toxin (PT), the same concentration of Leu caused facilitation of P2X3 currents. PLC inhibitor U-73122 at concentration of 1 µM completely eliminated both facilitating and inhibitory effects of Leu on P2X3 currents. Thus, opioid receptor agonists cause two oppositely directed effects on P2X3 receptors in DRG neurons of rats and both of them are mediated through PLC signaling pathway. Our results point to a possible molecular basis of the mechanism for the well-known transition inhibitory action of opioids (analgesia) to facilitating (hyperalgesia).


The static and dynamic behavior of a single-mode 4-level solid-state laser has been studied both theoretically and experimentally. In the theoretical section, the usual rate equations are modified in order to take into account the spatial variation of the inverted population due to the cavity field. These theoretical results have been verified with the help of a CW Nd-YAG laser. The experimental results on the output power and on the transient behavior are in good agreement with the theory within the accuracy of the experimental results (∼ 15 percent).