This global conference, organized by Professor Arvind Sharma and a team of international scholars, began on the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in 2001. Conference themes stressed the commonalities among religions seeking peace, the unity all religions share in our common humanity, the necessity for religions to formulate cogent views of human rights, and the importance of nonviolent socially engaged religion. Those themes were carried through the congress in individual paper presentations, panel discussions, and plenary sessions. The participants represented many nations and religions with Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Muslim, Jewish, and Christian scholars, religious leaders and lay persons participating at every level of the conference. A central feature of many of the presentations was the connection between the political realm and religion. How religions could formulate their sources for human rights and press for human rights implementation, what forms of just war theory could be developed for the current age of terrorist warfare, and how religious groups could be protected from indiscriminate or dishonest proselytizing were among the topics addressed. The Religion after September 11th World Congress brought together people of different religions, political persuasions, and cultures around issues crucial to us all.


Malaysia has developed its own standard of practice in wind loading known as MS
1553:2002 Code of Practice on Wind Loading for Building Structure. During the
development of this Malaysian Standard, reference was made to Australian Standard
due to the similarity of wind climate between Malaysia and Australia. In the same
time, researches have been carried out in order to update all parameters in MS
1553:2002 based on Malaysia wind climate. Seberang Jaya Telecommunication
Tower was selected as the study area representing terrain Category 3: Suburban area
for Seberang Perai region. An eight years period of data are recorded at three
different levels by using the Ultrasonic Wind Sensor (UWS). Power Law profile is
the best equation fit with the vertical wind speed profile at the study area as proven
by Ramli (2005). In this study, Terrain Height Multiplier, Mz,cat, and Roughness
Length, z0 for all terrain categories in Seberang Perai region are defined by using
statistical and mathematical method. From the results obtained, the proposed M4cat
for all terrain categories are much lower than the current values in MS 1553:2002.
The difference up to 19% obtained due to the fact that Australia and Malaysia have
different wind climate. A reasonable good agreement and a consistent result for Mz,cat
can be noted from the comparison of the proposed value to the other international
codes and standards. The proposed z0 for all terrain categories are in range from 0.03
m to 1.13 m which is still in the overall range for all codes and standards.


Soft X-ray spectroscopy can be carried out in commercially available spectrometers if the following simple changes are made:(1) an open window gas-discharge X-ray tube (e.g. CGR Elent-10) is used for the excitation of characteristic X-rays,(2) large 2d spacing crystals or multilayers are used to disperse the X-rays and(3) a one micron (or thinner) window is used in the proportional counter.Examples are given of Al, Si, P and S L X-ray and Be, B, C and N K X-ray spectra, measured on a Philips PW 1410 spectrometer. Results using multilayers and organic ester crystals (octadecyl maleate-OHM, 2d 6.25 nm and octadecyl adipate-OAO, 2d 9.12 nm) are compared; the former shows much greater intensity, the latter much better resolution.


Introduction: The modified completion test (MCT) based on the stories by H. Ebbinghaus enables to assess cognitive functions in situation close to a real-life task with an affective load (Burlakova,2016,2020). MCT includes the following stages: 1) fill-ing the gaps in the story; 2) reading and retelling; 3) making up a continuation and a title; 4) retelling the story and its continuation after 30 – 40 minutes. Objectives: The objective was to research diagnostical potential of the second stage of MCT for patients suffering from paranoid schizophrenia with hallucinatory syndrome. Methods: The study included 42 patients (28 female, 14 male) with schizophrenia (disease onset at least 5 – 7 years ago), aged from 19 to 51 (average age 35 (cid:1) 8), receiving treatment. Control group con-sisted of 44 people (average age 37 (cid:1) 6), never sought psychiatric help, never diagnosed with any mental disorders. Groups were organized to be equal in gender proportions, age, and educational level. Results: In comparison to the control group, the psychiatric patients demonstrated: 1) lower connectedness in narration, lower ability to reproduce main elements of the plot; 2) unusual logic in introduction of new details, extensiveness of such details; 3) lower integrity of mnestic functions, lower ability to maintain concentra-tion. The clinical group: 1) imposed on the text principally different logic, subjectively significant, yet far from the original context; 2) suddenly introduced of new ideas; 3) had confabulations; 4) were altiloquent. Conclusions: The stage of retelling enables to assess semantic memory, regulatory functions, connectedness of the narration, cogitation and to examine cognitive functions in the context of patient ' s personality. Disclosure


TiO2 photocatalyst in the form of coatings are of many advantages over those in powder form in practical applications. Various processes have been used to form TiO2 coatings including sputtering, Sol-Gel, vapor deposition, thermal spraying, etc. In all those processes, the coatings are deposited under temperatures from 300 to more than 2000 °C. High temperature during those processing may change the microstructure of the as-received TiO2 to a less effective one for photocataltyic performance. In the present study, TiO2 coating was deposited through cold spraying process using two types of powders, which were agglomerated with anatase ultra-fine particles in micro-size and nano-size. Microstructures of both powders and deposited coatings were characterized using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The photocatalytic performance was examined through acetaldehyde degradation under ultraviolet illumination. The results showed that the nanostructured TiO2 coatings were evenly deposited on stainless steel substrate through cold spraying. The thickness of the deposits reached up to 15 µm. The coating presented a rough surface and porous structure. Owing to the low temperature of spray powders, no change occurred to the phase and grain size of TiO2 during deposition process. It was also found that the cold sprayed TiO2 deposits were photocatalytically active for photodegradation of acetaldehyde.


Similar to the univariate CUSUM chart, a multivariate CUSUM (MCUSUM) chart can be designed to detect a particular size of the mean shift optimally based on the scheme of a sequential likelihood ratio test for the noncentrality parameter. However, in multivariate case, the probability ratio of a sequential test is intractable mathematically and the test statistic based on the ratio does not have a closed form expression which makes it impractical for real application. We drive an approximate log-likelihood ratio and propose a multivariate statistical process control chart based on a sequential χ2 test to detect a change in the noncentrality parameter. The statistical properties of the proposed test statistic are explored. The average runs length (ARL) performance of the proposed charts is compared with other MCUSUM charts for process mean monitoring. The experimental results reveal that the proposed charts achieve superior, both zero-state and steady-state, ARL performance over a wide range of mean shifts, especially when the dimension of measurements is large.


This study discusses the fate of pyrophosphate in the metabolism of two thermophilic anaerobes that lack a soluble irreversible pyrophosphatase as present in Escherichia coli but instead use a reversible membrane-bound proton-pumping enzyme. In such organisms, the charging of tRNA with amino acids may become more reversible. This may contribute to the observed excretion of amino acids during sugar fermentation by Clostridium thermocellum and Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum. Calculation of the energetic advantage of reversible pyrophosphate-dependent glycolysis, as occurs in Clostridium thermocellum, could not be properly evaluated, as currently available genome-scale models neglect the anabolic generation of pyrophosphate in, for example, polymerization of amino acids to protein. This anabolic pyrophosphate replaces ATP and thus saves energy. Its amount is, however, too small to cover the pyrophosphate requirement of sugar catabolism in glycolysis. Consequently, pyrophosphate for catabolism is generated according to ATP + Pi → ADP + PPi. ABSTRACT Clostridium thermocellum and Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum were grown in cellobiose-limited chemostat cultures at a fixed dilution rate. C. thermocellum produced acetate, ethanol, formate, and lactate. Surprisingly, and in contrast to batch cultures, in cellobiose-limited chemostat cultures of T. saccharolyticum, ethanol was the main fermentation product. Enzyme assays confirmed that in C. thermocellum, glycolysis proceeds via pyrophosphate (PPi)-dependent phosphofructokinase (PFK), pyruvate-phosphate dikinase (PPDK), as well as a malate shunt for the conversion of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) to pyruvate. Pyruvate kinase activity was not detectable. In T. saccharolyticum, ATP but not PPi served as cofactor for the PFK reaction. High activities of both pyruvate kinase and PPDK were present, whereas the activities of a malate shunt enzymes were low in T. saccharolyticum. In C. thermocellum, glycolysis via PPi-PFK and PPDK obeys the equation glucose + 5 NDP + 3 PPi → 2 pyruvate + 5 NTP + Pi (where NDP is nucleoside diphosphate and NTP is nucleoside triphosphate). Metabolic flux analysis of chemostat data with the wild type and a deletion mutant of the proton-pumping pyrophosphatase showed that a PPi-generating mechanism must be present that operates according to ATP + Pi → ADP + PPi. Both organisms also produced significant amounts of amino acids in cellobiose-limited cultures. It was anticipated that this phenomenon would be suppressed by growth under nitrogen limitation. Surprisingly, nitrogen-limited chemostat cultivation of wild-type C. thermocellum revealed a bottleneck in pyruvate oxidation, as large amounts of pyruvate and amino acids, mainly valine, were excreted; up to 50% of the nitrogen consumed was excreted again as amino acids. IMPORTANCE This study discusses the fate of pyrophosphate in the metabolism of two thermophilic anaerobes that lack a soluble irreversible pyrophosphatase as present in Escherichia coli but instead use a reversible membrane-bound proton-pumping enzyme. In such organisms, the charging of tRNA with amino acids may become more reversible. This may contribute to the observed excretion of amino acids during sugar fermentation by Clostridium thermocellum and Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum. Calculation of the energetic advantage of reversible pyrophosphate-dependent glycolysis, as occurs in Clostridium thermocellum, could not be properly evaluated, as currently available genome-scale models neglect the anabolic generation of pyrophosphate in, for example, polymerization of amino acids to protein. This anabolic pyrophosphate replaces ATP and thus saves energy. Its amount is, however, too small to cover the pyrophosphate requirement of sugar catabolism in glycolysis. Consequently, pyrophosphate for catabolism is generated according to ATP + Pi → ADP + PPi.


[1] An aerodynamic gradient micrometeorological approach to the measurement of total gaseous mercury (TGM) flux has been developed. This method has been applied in many field studies for the characterization of TGM flux from various mercuriferous substrates. The resolution of the gradient method depends on the sampling systems characteristics and has been demonstrated to be on the order of 0.01 ± 0.01 ng Hg m−3 or better. The method is best suited to measuring high-emitting sites such as studied here. The TGM flux resolution is based on the gradient resolution and depends on the site characteristics and the atmospheric condition. For a typical friction velocity u* of 0.1 m s−1 and gradient intake heights of 0.15 and 0.4 m the method can resolve a TGM flux on the order of 1.5 ng m−2 h−1. The system can be configured for two-level or multilevel sampling, as needed. The method compares well with other micrometeorological methods as demonstrated during the Nevada storms intercomparison study. The micrometeorological method is shown to compare well with chamber techniques under comparable conditions.


The paper deals with the expediency of using the terms classical verse and non-classical verse in Ukrainian versification studies. They are borrowed from Russian scientific discourse. The article shows the semantics of these terms in Russian versification studies. The phrase classical verse in works on poetry has wide semantics and means different types of poetry for different literatures: syllabic, quantitative, etc. In the first half of the 20th century Borys Tomashevsky began to use the phrase "Russian classical verse" to refer to the syllabic-tonic verse along with the accent verse. In 1959, he narrowed the semantics of this phrase and used it for syllabic-tonic verse only. Such a decision was motivated by the fact that in the "golden time of Russian literature" (19th century) syllabic-tonic verse was the prevailing system of versification, unlike the syllabic verse that could be rarely found in the Russian literature, and the tonic verse that was starting to develop during Tomashevsky's time. Thus, in the studies of Russian poetry, the phrase classical verse became the term (acquired termhood) with the meaning of "syllabic-tonic verse". In 1974, Mikhail Gasparov created the antonymic term "non-classical verse", which marked other types of Russian verse: syllabic, tonic. Both terms became widespread in Russian poetry.
Ideological as well as political and cultural conditions for the development of the Ukrainian science in the 20th century promoted uncritical replication of evaluative judgments expressed by Russian scholars in the Ukrainian poetry. The terms classical verse (as syllabic-tonic) and non-classical verse (as non-syllabic-tonic) having the component of estimating semantics faced the abovementioned situation. They were borrowed and applied in the Ukrainian poetry with the same meaning as in the Russian ones. Halyna Sydorenko, Natalia Kostenko, Olena Kytsan and others used these terms in their works. However, the history of the Ukrainian verse differed from the history of the Russian verse. The syllabic verse occupies a significant place therein, whereas the tradition of using it extends to the first half of the 20th century. The greatest Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko and many of his followers wrote syllabic-verse poems. Pavlo Tychyna used the syllabic verse in the 20th century. Therefore, the exclusion of syllabic verse from the notion of "classical verse" in relation to the Ukrainian literature is unjustified. These terms in Ukrainian verification studies have false motivation. They are used incorrectly in Ukrainian versification sources. This terminological situation needs adjustment.


Ischemic colitis primarily affects the elderly with underlying disease, but it rarely occurs in young adults with risk factors, such as coagulopathy or vascular disorder. Moreover, it is extremely rare in the very young without risk factors. This paper presents a patient with ischemic colitis associated with heat stroke and rhabdomyolysis after intense exercise under high-temperature conditions. A 20-year-old man presented with mental deterioration after a vigorous soccer game for more than 30 minutes in sweltering weather. He also presented with hematochezia with abdominal pain. The laboratory tests revealed the following: AST 515 U/L, ALT 269 U/L, creatine kinase 23,181 U/L, BUN 29.1 mg/dL, creatinine 1.55 mg/dL, and red blood cell >50/high-power field in urine analysis. Sigmoidoscopy showed ischemic changes at the rectum and rectosigmoid junction. A diagnosis of ischemic colitis and rhabdomyolysis was made, and the patient recovered after conservative and fluid therapy. This case showed that a diagnosis of ischemic colitis should be considered in patients who present with abdominal pain and bloody diarrhea after intense exercise, and appropriate treatment should be initiated immediately.


This article presents the case study on how communities in the two districts of Tanzania (i.e. Kilwa and Bagamoyo) perceive investments in biofuel to their livelihoods in the respective areas. Based on the results from this study, the potentials of biofuel production in the wealth creation for poverty alleviation is very low. The case study noted that biofuel production in Tanzania is established in areas where the residents are poor, and the approach used by investors is likely to solidify the state of dependency where people will stay waiting for the investors to come and provide everything to them. In order to have any meaningful gains from biofuel investments to the communities, lessons from similar initiatives in Tanzania and elsewhere in the world should be learned and their strengthens and shortcomings  be assessed to establish a more useful schemes. There is a need for the government to have good knowledge of benefits and costs emerging from investing in Biofuel production and also have the communities well prepared to participate and use such investments as an opportunity to get out of poverty. Key words: Biofuel production;Tanzania; Local communities' perceptions


A novel human tyrosine hydroxylase (HTH) messenger RNA subgroup generated by alternative splicing and characterized by the absence of the third exon was recently identified. The corresponding putative protein lacks 74 amino acids including Ser31 and Ser40, two major phosphorylation sites implicated in the regulation of HTH activity. These mRNA species are detected in adrenal medulla and are overexpressed in patients suffering from progressive supranuclear palsy, a neurodegenerative disease mostly affecting catecholaminergic neurons of the basal ganglia. In the present work, an HTH protein isoform lacking exon 3 was identified in human adrenal medulla. For this purpose, an antibody was raised against the HTH exon 3. The effect of the removal of exon 3 on the enzymatic activity of HTH was studied in vitro by comparing a purified recombinant fusion protein without exon 3 (glutathione S-transferase (GST)-HTHΔ3) to the equivalent protein containing exon 3 (GST-HTH3). In initial velocity conditions, GST-HTHΔ3 has 30% of the maximal velocity of GST-HTH3. Moreover, the skipping of exon 3 results in the absence of activation of GST-HTH by heparin and increases by 10-fold the retroinhibition constant for dopamine, demonstrating the involvement of exon 3 in the regulation of HTH enzymatic activity. The identification of a variably expressed HTH isoform that lacks an exon implicated in activity regulation supports the view that HTH alternative splicing contributes to the functional diversity within the catecholaminergic system and may be implicated in some neurological diseases.


CCR4 is recognized as a key receptor in Th2-associated immune processes, although very little is known about its role in innate immunity. Previous studies reported increased resistance to LPS-induced lethality in CCR4 (cid:1) / (cid:1) mice compared with wild-type mice. This study demonstrates that CCR4 (cid:1) / (cid:1) mice are similarly resistant to challenge with other TLR agonists, as well as bacterial peritonitis. Resistance was associated with enhanced early leukocyte recruitment, increased TLR expression, a skewed type 2 cytokine/chemokine profile, and improved bacterial clearance. Macrophages from CCR4 (cid:1) / (cid:1) mice exhibited many features con-sistent with alternative activation, including elevated secretion of type 2 cytokines/chemokines and the found in inflammatory zone 1 (FIZZ1) protein. MyD88-dependent NF- (cid:2) B signaling was significantly down-regulated in CCR4 (cid:1) / (cid:1) macrophages, whereas p38 MAPK and JNK activation were conversely increased. These data stress the importance of CCR4 in macrophage differentiation and innate immune responses to pathogens, as well as the involvement of chemokine receptor expression in TLR signaling regulation. The Journal of Immunology, 2006, 177: 7531–7539.


It is well known that given a differential module E with a differential d we can measure the non-exactness of this differential module by its homologies which are based on the key relation d2=0. This relation is a basis for several important structures in modern mathematics and theoretical physics to point out only two of them which are the theory of de Rham cohomologies on smooth manifolds and the apparatus of BRST-quantization in gauge field theories.


The Affordable Care Act (ACA) led to the largest expansion of health insurance in the US in fifty years, bringing the uninsurance rate to its lowest recorded level in 2016. But even at that point, nearly thirty million people lacked health insurance, and millions more still struggled to afford needed medical care. Recent studies also indicate a partial erosion of the ACA's coverage gains since 2017. This article identifies the underlying causes of these problems and evaluates potential policy remedies. Topics include the slow but steady growth of state expansions of eligibility for Medicaid; new waiver approaches in Medicaid, including work requirements; high cost sharing and premium growth in both the Marketplaces and employer coverage; and proposed systemic overhauls such as Medicare for All.


Bridge bearings are the structural members which are installed at the connection between superstructure and substructure in a bridge. They are expected to transfer load between superstructure and substructure, and to accommodate expansion and rotation of superstructure due to live load and temperature change. Bridges are designed based on whole structure models in which bearings show perfect performance. If bearings are deteriorated, the structure system of the whole bridge should be changed, and some damage may occur in superstructure and substructure. Therefore, it is of great importance to maintain bearings in good conditions. In this study, we try to establish quantitative evaluation method for required basic functions (load supporting, horizontal moving and rotating function) of bridge bearings as the structural member, through measuring displacement and stress in several highway bridges in the north area of Japan.


Date Presented 04/04/19
 Autistic adults struggle to achieve successful employment. This qualitative study explored autistic adults' perspectives of barriers to work through an online survey of open-ended questions. Data was analyzed via grounded theory until saturation was reached. Multiple researchers and data sources insured rigor and trustworthiness of the data and triangulation. This study provides a framework from which to develop interventions to improve autistic adults' participation in the occupation of work.
 Primary Author and Speaker: Barbara Kornblau
 Additional Authors and Speakers: Scott Robertson, Sarah Mbiza


There is now a large measure of consensus amongst economists that there is relatively little that governments can do to affect the underlying growth rate of the economy through macroeconomic policy changes. The emphasis has changed to supply-side measures, and one of the most favoured, both in the United States and the UK, is improvement in education and training. In the US, the emphasis has been on securing improvements in basic schooling which is seen as the major deficiency (Chubb and Moe, 1990). In the UK, the main focus has been on our low staying-on rates (Whitfield and Wilson, 1991; Micklewright et al., 1989), limited training opportunities (Prats and Wagner, 1983), and poor access to higher education (DES, 1991).


Guaranteeing high levels of availability in the network in a cost effective manner is of primary importance to network operators and managers. We address the network design problem for path pair availability guarantees, assuming links can be upgraded to have an increased availability. Since the path pair availability constraints are nonlinear and not linearizable in an exact manner, this mathematical problem has been avoided by considering only the working path availability or availability guarantees for the working and backup paths separately in a disaggregated way. In this paper, we present an aggregated model, where only the path pair availabilities must be fulfilled. In this model, we consider a convex relaxation for an approximation of the path pair availability to obtain linear constraints, and describe an iterative approach to tighten the bounds of the solution space, in order to obtain near-optimal solutions. The results show that considering an aggregated model is more cost effective than considering a disaggregated model with explicit values for the availabilities of the working and the backup paths.


The educational gap between blacks and whites in the United States is wide and widening at the college graduate level. A less known fact is that the size of this gap differs across the various regions of the country. The difference is especially great for the Northeast, an area known for high average educational achievement. ; This paper explores the reasons for the differential college completion gaps by race across regions, focusing chiefly on adults between the ages of 25 and 34. Two hypotheses are explored. One is that differential incidence by region of factors determining access to a college education is the principal determinant of the variation in the magnitude of the gaps. The other is that regional college completion gaps reflect ongoing differences among the regions in location preferences between blacks and whites. ; The study concludes that variation across regions in college completion gaps between blacks and whites is a product both of differences in past factors affecting access to college and of ongoing differences in location preferences of black and white adults.


This paper studies the dynamics of key characteristics of the academic profession in Russia based on the analysis of university faculty in the two largest cities in Russia – Moscow and St Petersburg. We use data on Russian university faculty from two large-scale comparative studies of the academic profession ('The Carnegie Study' carried out in 1992 in 14 countries, including Russia, and 'The Changing Academic Profession Study', 2007–2012, with 19 participating countries and which Russia joined in 2012) to look at how faculty's characteristics and attitudes toward different aspects of their academic life changed over 20 years (1992–2011) such as faculty's views on reasons to leave or to stay at a university, on university's management and the role of faculty in decision making. Using the example of universities in the two largest Russian cities, we demonstrate that the high degree of overall centralization of governance in Russian universities barely changed in 20 years. Our paper provides comparisons of teaching/research preferences and views on statements concerning personal strain associated with work, academic career perspectives, etc., not only in Russian universities between the years 1992 and 2012, but also in Russia and other 'Changing Academic Profession' countries.


Results of a five-month campaign of optical monitoring the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4593 are presented. High resolution Halpha and Hbeta spectra and direct images in the Johnson U, B, V, R and I bands were obtained between January and June 1990. The emission lines and the continuum showed strong variations on time scales of weeks to days. The Halpha line varied by more than 30% within only 5 days. Cross-correlating the light curves of the Balmer lines with that of the optical continuum gives a lag of around 4 days. Therefore, this low luminosity Seyfert galaxy may have one of the smallest broad line regions known so far


Purpose To evaluate demographic, clinical, and laboratory variables, and their associations with in-hospital mortality, among elderly internal medicine patients with nasogastric tube (NGT) feeding. Patients and Methods Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were collected retrospectively for 129 patients aged ≥80 years who initiated NGT feeding during their hospitalization in internal medicine wards. The data were compared between survivors and non-survivors. Multivariate logistic regressions were performed to identify the variables most significantly associated with in-hospital mortality. Results The in-hospital mortality rate was 60.5%. Compared to survivors, non-survivors more often presented with pressure sores (P=0.005) and lymphopenia (P<0.001), were more often treated with invasive mechanical ventilation (P<0.001), and less often underwent geriatric assessment (P<0.001). Non-survivors demonstrated higher mean levels of C-reactive protein, and lower mean values of serum cholesterol, triglycerides, total protein, and albumin (P<0.001 for all comparisons). On multivariate analysis, the following variables were most significantly associated with in-hospital mortality in the entire cohort: the presence of pressure sores (odds ratio [OR], 4.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.68–11.48; P=0.003) and lymphopenia (OR, 4.09; 95% CI, 1.51–11.08; P=0.006), and serum cholesterol (OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.96–0.99; P=0.003). Conclusion Among elderly acutely ill patients who initiated NGT feeding during hospitalization, in-hospital mortality was extremely high. The factors most strongly associated with in-hospital mortality were the presence of pressure sores and lymphopenia, and lower serum cholesterol levels. These findings may provide useful prognostic information for decision-making regarding initiation of NGT feeding in elderly hospitalized patients.


A field experiment was conducted during the post-monsoon season for two consecutive years 2005-06 and 2006-07 to study the effect of date of sowing and irrigation regime on yield and water use in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). The results revealed that 1st date of sowing (20 November) recorded the maximum seed yield (1474.24 and 1442.58 kg ha-1 during 1st and 2nd year, respectively) as well as plant height and dry matter accumulation. The daily moisture use rate of chickpea during early vegetative stage was slightly higher with earlier sowing as compared to that of late sowing in both the experimental years. But during reproductive stage i. e. after flowering, late sown crop recorded higher moisture use. But the overall consumptive use was higher under late sown condition. Application of two irrigations at branching and pod formation resulted in higher seed yield, whereas the consumptive use was higher when the irrigation was applied at branching and flower initiation. Total moisture use was lowest under rainfed condition that led to lower seed as well as biomass yield. However, the chance of rainfall (Kal Baisakhi) during March in the new alluvial zone of West Bengal must be taken into consideration while scheduling irrigation during pod formation.


Sintered xerogel films (porous SiO2) show a higher elastic modulus than other amorphous low dielectric constant (K) materials available for the same value of K. By comparing xerogels that were sintered, templated or made with ethylene glycol or ethanol as solvents, we show that process history is at least as important as the chemistry of the solid matrix or the porosity. The modulus extrapolated to zero porosity for the porous sintered and templated films is the same as those of the dense films made by chemical vapor deposition of SiO2. This suggests that the solid matrix for sintered xerogel films is close to ideal and their modulus is better because of the ordered arrangement of pores and fusion of particles making up the matrix. The modulus measured by nanoindentation on thick xerogel films (>0.8 μm) is well explained by the open cell foam model.


Competitive games are zero-sum games; would be sports zero-sum practices? Aurel Kolnai said that game players exhibit an odd volitional posture that turns games into paradoxes. Bernard Suits disagreed. In zero-sum games, says Suits, conflict is intentional. It cannot be paradoxical, because each player aims one identical goal, but rather two different personal goals. Nevertheless, Kolnai has a point, since players fall into a predicament if they seriously adopt the attitude of playing games with their internal aims of winning them. In the extent that games continue to be non-seriously played, they do not represent predicaments for agents. But if an agent decides to take some game seriously, her attitude becomes behaviorally paradoxical. The reason is that competitive games are zero-sum activities. But with sports it is different. Being institutionalized social practices, sports offer persistent possibilities of winning. Differently from what happens in the case of mere ludic enterprises, organized competitions allow a better distribution of wins; and in a long-standing involvement in the practice, sportsmen can accumulate good results in the long run. Sports seem to be an evolved solution for a basic human predicament: the impossibility of attaining happiness and personal fulfillment by means of mere ludic enterprises.


Transhumance is the seasonal movement of pastoralists and their livestock in search of water and feed and there had been a regular occurrence of conflicts between farmers and pastoralists in the country. This research investigates the effect of transhumance pastoralists on farming activities among crop farmers in Oke–Ogun area of Oyo State. Two Local government Areas were purposively selected from the study area due to prevalence and consistent report of pastoralists' invasion in the area. A total of 50 crop farmers were purposively selected from each local government area to give a total of 100 respondents. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive (frequency counts and percentages) and inferential statistics (Chi-Square). The findings showed that over 90% of the respondents were male and their age ranges between 40-49 years. Majority (94%) had no formal education with very few (4%) having tertiary education. The most cultivated crops in the area included cassava, maize and yam. The average farm size of respondents is 2.5 acres and the farmland was mostly acquired through lease (48%). The most utilised source of labor is family labour (44%). Causes of conflict in the study area included insufficient graze land, use of minor to tender cattle and shortage of water while some of its effects on farming activities included: destruction of farmland, reduction of income and agricultural produce, displacement of farmers and physical attack that leads to accidents and sometimes death. The study therefore recommended that community heads should ensure proper security of community dwellers and grazing reserves should be provided for pastoralists by the government for peaceful coexistence among rural dwellers.


Objective: To explore impact of Candida on the acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) outcome. Methods: A retrospective, multi-center, case-control study was performed. Patients hospitalized for AECOPD in 25 centers during Jan 2011–Dec 2016 were enrolled. Data were collected, including demographic information, conditions during the stable phase of COPD, clinical characteristics of AECOPD, and follow-up information within 1 year after discharge. Univariate analysis and binary logistic regression were applied, and p < 0.05 was regarded as significant. Results: Totally 1,103 patients were analyzed, with 644 lower respiratory airway (LTR) Candida positive cases and 459 Candida negative controls. Long-term prognosis was significantly different between Candida positive and negative group, including the recurrent AECOPD within 180 days (75.5 vs. 6.6%, p < 0.001) and mortality within 1 year (6.9 vs. 0.4%, p < 0.001). Univariate logistic analysis showed that LTR Candida isolation was related to higher recurrence rate of AECOPD within 180 days and mortality within 1 year. Binary logistic regression analysis demonstrated that LTR Candida isolation was independently associated with recurrence of AECOPD within 180 days. Conclusions: LTR Candida isolation was associated with worse long-term prognosis of AECOPD and independently related to higher risks of recurrent AECOPD within 180 days.


Spiroplasma melliferum cells utilize arginine via the arginine dihydrolase pathway. L-Arginine uptake by intact cells was a saturable process both as a function of time and arginine concentration (Km
= 40 μM). Uptake was not affected by pH in the range pH 5.0-8.0, or by L-citrulline, D-arginine, L-histidine or L-canavanine at concentrations tenfold higher than that of L-arginine. In contrast, L-arginine uptake was markedly inhibited by L-ornithine and partially inhibited by L-lysine. Uptake was neither affected by protonophores nor by cation ionophores, but was inhibited by protease treatment or by the sulfhydryl reagents p-chloromercuribenzoate or N-ethylmaleimide. Sealed membrane vesicles prepared by fusing isolated S. melliferum membranes with asolectin-cholesterol vesicles catalysed a rapid exchange (t1/2 = 1 min) between arginine and ornithine. Exchange did not require ATP and could be demonstrated in both directions, i.e. with either arginine or ornithine trapped within vesicles. These observations suggest that the driving forces for arginine uptake by whole cells are the concentration gradients of arginine and ornithine formed by arginine metabolism.


People have carried on the extensive researches on the superluminal velocity in experiment and theory, but it is difficult to reach consensus. The biggest problem here is the theory of relativity, which shows that when a object (a matter with mass) reaches or exceeds the speed of light, whose relativistic factor will become infinite or imaginary numbers, so it is impossible to superluminal motion. In fact, although relativity is quite correct quantitative theory, but it has certain limitations. Relativistic effects are the vacuum effects, not the substantive effects. Relativistic physical quantities are only apparent physical quantities expressed through ether(physical vacuum). The substantive physical quantities of an objects are proper physical quantities, which will not vary with the velocity. Moreover the ether in superluminal velocity would lose superfluidity, and thus the superluminal velocity is beyond its scope of application of relativity. Therefore studying superluminal velocity need not scruple the restriction of relativity. Human superluminal activities will involve gravitational shielding, superluminal communication and other supertechnologies.


The Islamization of Knowledge movement seems to be at a point in its history where a conscious effort is needed to clarify the concepts and the different ways in which it is being used. This paper is meant to generate some discussion that may hopefully help to bring about some measure of conceptual clarity. The first part of the paper is an attempt to identify the different approaches to understanding the basic nature of the Islamization process itself. Here, we differentiate between two approaches: the "engagement" of modern social sciences scholarship and the "disengagement" therefrom. It is pointed out that the truth seems to lie somewhere in between the two approaches. The second part of the paper asserts that the term "Islamization" is being used in many confusing ways. A case is made for limiting the use of this term to Islamization of "Knowledge," rather than expanding it to Islamization of societies, or reducing it to the level of talking about the Islamization of "curricula."


Provocation of wounds by malingering is one of the most typical artefacts in surgery. In this paper the succesful maintaining of a wound in a girl for over 7 years is demonstrated. In this time the girl underwent 25 surgical operations and was invalidated at the age of 18 years. In patients with non-healing wounds, which cannot be explained by the rules of general pathology, doctors are well advised to think of the possibilities of malingering at an early time.


The support of the OGC standard in ArcGIS Server 9.3 makes ArcGIS Server receive more attention and promotion. As a result of the universality of OGC standard, the distributed platforms based on ArcGIS Server can realize the further sharing of geographic information data on the Internet. This paper discussed emphatically the design of a distributed geographic information service platform based on ArcGIS Server 9.3 and OGC standard, the construction of the platform and the role of each part, as well as the service application in different forms.


Recently we introduced an inflationary setup in which the inflaton fields are matrix valued scalar fields with a generic quartic potential, M-flation. In this work we study the landscape of various inflationary models arising from M-flation. The landscape of the inflationary potential arises from the dynamics of concentric multiple branes in appropriate flux compactifications of string theory. After discussing the classical landscape of the theory we study the possibility of transition among various inflationary models appearing at different points on the landscape, mapping the quantum landscape of M-flation. As specific examples, we study some two-field inflationary models arising from this theory in the landscape.


In this thesis, we have demonstrated a new generation of 'all-polymer' three-dimensional photovoltaic cells made of a large array of high-aspect ratio charge-collecting carbon electrodes surrounded by a matrix of polymer photoactive material. This application essentially takes the technology of Organic-MEMS one step further where the unique advantages of carbon coupled with patterneability through micro and nanofabrication technologies offer a unique opportunity for meshing it with organic PV cell technology. The ensuing most fundamental significance enabled by this marriage of two technologies is the 3-D architecture involving high aspect-ratio carbon posts where the diffusion length for charge carriers is minimized while offering large enough optical depth for absorbing incident light. This numerical model for this device investigates a number of physical phenomena and mass equilibrium reactions that govern the transportation and accumulation of charge carriers and also provides an insight to the losses occurred. This comprehensive numerical model is expected to offer a useful tool in understanding the complex electrostatic and mass equilibrium reactions that occur in the 3D configuration of the organic solar cell.


This paper proposes the use of generalized finite automata (GFA) as a method for retrieving the image self-similarity to be used as a measure for benchmarking semi-fragile image authentication techniques. A comparison between PSNR as a conventional-method and the proposed self-similarity measure for several types of images was conducted. These comparisons show that the self-similarity measure has a better correlation with the image perceptual quality than the conventional PSNR. Furthermore, the self-similarity can be used to determine the maximum level of JPEG compression that should be used to benchmark a group of image authentication techniques


Mode division multiplexing (MDM) has been widely investigated in optical transmission systems and networks to improve network capacity. However, the MDM receiver is always expensive and complex because coherent detection and multiplex-input-and-multiplex-output (MIMO) digital signal processing (DSP) are required to demultiplex each spatial mode. In this paper, we investigate the application of MDM in short-reach scenarios such as datacenter networking. Two-dimensional MDM and wavelength division multiplexing node structure based on low modal-crosstalk few-mode fiber (FMF) and components is proposed, in which signal in each mode or wavelength can be independently switched. We experimentally demonstrate independent adding, dropping and switching functionalities with two linearly polarized modes and four wavelength channels over a total 11.8-km 2-mode low modal-crosstalk FMFs. The structure is simple without coherent detection or MIMO DSP. Only slight penalties of receiver sensitivity are observed for all switching operations. The influence of modal-crosstalk accumulation for cascaded switching nodes is also investigated.


We describe our experience from the implementation of the T-MAC protocol for wireless sensor networks in the open-source Castalia simulator. Notwithstanding the popularity of the protocol in the research literature in recent years, we find several practical issues that are not addressed in the original protocol description, which lead to a degree of freedom in the protocol design and implementation and have an impact on its resulting performance. These issues include the ability of the underlying physical layer and hardware to efficiently detect the activation events in the protocol, and necessary changes to the collision resolution and clock synchronization procedures in the presence of varying sleep patterns. Our results highlight the need for rigorous detail in protocol descriptions in the research literature and provide important insights into some of the common pitfalls.


The patent is the longest-standing, best-known, and, arguably, most economically valuable form of protection of rights provided by the law of intellectual property. A patent is, in essence, the grant of a monopoly to an inventor who has used his or her skill to invent something new. Patents may cover entirely new products, enhancements to pre-existing products, or a new or improved process for performing an activity. This chapter begins with a discussion of the history and purpose of patents. It then turns to the international dimension of patents, covering the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property 1883, the Washington Patent Cooperation Treaty 1970, the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, the European Patent Convention, and the Patent Law Treaty. It also outlines the steps to be taken in obtaining a domestic patent.


Twenty-six couples participated in a 2-year longitudinal study of sexual functioning before and after treatment for carcinoma of the cervix. Sexual functioning was measured on admission prior to their treatment and at 6, 12 and 24 months follow-up and made operational in terms of current sexual behavior, sexual motivation, sexual (dis)satisfaction, and the perception of genital sensations of sexual arousal. An age-matched nonpatient control group was added to the study. In addition, the results of a 1-year longitudinal assessment of sexual functioning of women diagnosed and treated by means of simple hysterectomy for benign gynecologic disease were used for comparison. The impact of physical variables and participation in the research project was also evaluated. At 1-year follow-up, sexual functioning of the women who had been treated for carcinoma of the cervix was very similar to sexual functioning of the women who underwent simple hysterectomy for benign disease: in both populations the sexual response was significantly disturbed, whereas current sexual behavior and motivation for sexual interaction were within the normal range. The women clearly expressed general satisfaction with their sexual functioning and little relational sexual dissatisfaction. These data demonstrate that woman's motivation for and satisfaction with sexual interaction with the partner is not limited to the experience of sexual arousal and that sexual rehabilitation aimed specifically at the diagnosis of cancer and the associated physical variables is not really justified.


Genetic sensitivity to the bitter taste of phenylthiocarbamide and 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) is a well-studied human trait. It has been hypothesized that this phenotype is a marker for individual differences in taste perception that influence food preferences and dietary behavior with subsequent links to body weight and chronic disease risk. Steady progress has been made over the past several decades in defining the involvement of this phenotype and its underlying gene, TAS2R38, in this complex behavioral pathway. However, more work needs to be done to fully determine its overall nutritional and health significance. The primary goal of this review is to assess our current understanding of the role of the PROP bitter taste phenotype in food selection and body weight in both children and adults. A brief history of the field is included and controversies surrounding the use of different PROP screening methods are addressed. The contribution of other receptors (both bitter and nonbitter) to human taste variation is also discussed.


A protocol for obtaining a ready source of protocorm-like bodies (PLBs) was developed in Vanilla planifolia. MS containing BA 1 mg/l, IBA 0.5 mg/l, tryptone/peptone 2 g/l and 2% sucrose was used to induce PLBs from axillary bud explants. PLB formation from the shoot/root tips involved the direct conversion of the apices without an intermediate callus stage. PLBs either directly developed into plantlet or produced secondary protocorm like bodies. Thin cell layer culture of protocorm like bodies can be used as a commercial application of tissue culture technology for mass micro-propagation. The details of production of PLBs and their transformations in culture are also discussed. The plantlets derived from PLB were rooted in culture and established in the field after hardening.


In recent years, a new urban environment in the large metropolitan areas, the so-called "megacities", has emerged. It is estimated that more than five billion people will be located in urban areas by 2030. Many projects have been initiated in the megacities to support the new ecosystem services in providing the most sustainable and efficient food supply solutions, as well as for transporting fresh and clean vegetables. One of the most important focus areas is research on energy sustainability, including how to optimize energy efficiency to meet the needs of citizens and companies. Indoor urban vertical farming (IUVF) is one of the greatest achievements of our time in agriculture, as it is entirely focused on meeting the food needs of people living in urban areas with the lowest environmental and energy costs. IUVF creates a new foundation in the urban food production system, providing opportunities for many other sustainable activities, such as energy and grey water recycling, but beyond all, it helps citizens to have access in fresh and nutritious fruits and vegetables and to become more creative building up their skills regarding sustainable food production. In this study, the internal rate of return (IRR) and the net present value (NPV) indexes were used to compare IUVF and greenhouse (GH) facilities under various financing schemes. Consistent with similar studies, this research also confirms that IUVF is much more profitable for investors, saving significant resources compared to GHs.


Introduction: Patients with Fabry disease have progressive accumulation of globotriaosylceramide and related glycosphingolipid s as a consequence of a-galactosidase A deŽ ciency. They present with kidney, heart and brain complications. Preliminary results of enzyme replacement therapy with agalsidase alfa (Replagal2) have demonstrated a positive response, with reduction of vascular deposits in the microcirculation of the kidney. The present study set out to assess the structural modiŽ cations of the conduit arteries and the interventricular septum in patients prior to enzyme replacement. Methods: We present the results from 11 consecutive patients (six males and 5 females) investigated for structural cardiovascular alterations with a high-resolution echotracking device (NIUS) and cardiac nuclear magnetic resonance before enrollment in the agalsidase alfa (Replagal2) treatment protocol. The patients were 17–63 years of age; mean systolic blood pressure was 115.9 § 10.8 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure 71.4 § 2.4 mmHg. Results: We observed a positive and very signiŽ cant correlation between interventricular septal thickness and age (r = 0.84; p < 0.004) and between common carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and age (r = 0.71; p < 0.023). The mean septal and common carotid IMT were increased when compared with data obtained in an age-matched control population: 16.3 § 1.2 mm (normal value <11 mm) and 786 § 89 mm (normal <600 mm), respectively. The wall to lumen ratio of the radial artery, expressed as the IMT/radius, was increased to 0.32 § 0.03 from a normal expected value of 0.20 for age-matched control subjects. Conclusions: One of the phenotypic manifestations of Fabry disease, in both hemizygous males and heterozygous females, consists of signiŽ cant deposits within the vascular wall of large blood vessels as well as in the interventricular septum. Follow-up of this population during the course of enzyme treatment will allow assessment of the clearance potential of this therapy.


Emerging evidence suggests that Fgf8, a recently identified member of the fibroblast growth factor family, plays an important role in outgrowth and patterning of the face, limbs, and central nervous system of the vertebrate embryo. We report the mapping of FGF8 to human chromosome 10q25-q26, using Southern blot analyses of genomic DNAs from rodent/human somatic cell hybrid lines. Apert, Crouzon, Jackson-Weiss, and Pfeiffer syndromes are craniosynostoses genetically linked in part to 10q25-q26 and are associated with point mutations in the extracellular domain of FGFR2. Given the assignment to the same chromosomeal band(s) as FGFR2 and the probable ligand-receptor relationship of the gene products of FGF8 and FGFR2, we hypothesize that some cases of these craniosynostoses linked to 10q25-q26 that do not have mutations in FGFR2 may involve mutations in FGF8.


The influence of prey size on the predatory behavior and behavioral sequence of Ectatomma brunneum under laboratory conditions was evaluated. Two behaviors were characterized: rejection and attack, the latter divided into individual and group attack. In the group attack, prey transport (Tenebrio molitor larvae )into the nest prevailed,whether immobilized as a consequence of the ant venom or not. On the other hand, in the individual attacks such behavior was not observed. There was no significant relation between the predatory behavior and the size of the larvae offered, indicating that prey dimensions do not interfere with predation. The high rejection rates registered in the experimental trials may have been a consequence of the absence of immatures in the nests used in the research and/or the decrease in the activities observed, considering that the experiments were carried out in the coldest time of the year.


Abstract Introduction Nutrition is an important part of treatment in critically ill children. Clinical guidelines for nutrition adaptations during continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) are lacking. We collected and evaluated current knowledge on this topic and provide recommendations. Methods Questions were produced to guide the literature search in the PubMed database. Results Evidence is scarce and extrapolation from adult data was often required. CRRT has a direct and substantial impact on metabolism. Indirect calorimetry is the preferred method to assess resting energy expenditure (REE). Moderate underestimation of REE is common but not clinically relevant. Formula‐based calculation of REE is inaccurate and not validated in critically ill children on CRRT. The nutrition impact of nonintentional calories delivered as citrate, lactate, and glucose during CRRT must be considered. Quantifying nitrogen balance is not feasible during CRRT. Protein delivery should be increased by 25% to compensate for losses in the effluent. Fats are not removed by CRRT and should not be adapted during CRRT. Electrolyte disturbances are frequently present and should be treated accordingly. Vitamins B1, B6, B9, and C are lost in the effluent and should be adapted to the effluent dose. Trace elements, with the exception of selenium, are not cleared in relevant quantities. Manganese accumulation is of concern because of potential neurotoxicity. Conclusion Current recommendations regarding nutrition support in pediatric CRRT must be extrapolated from adult studies. Recommendations are provided, based on the weak level of evidence. Additional research on this topic is warranted.


SARS-CoV-2 is the novel coronavirus that is the causative agent of COVID-19, a sometimes-lethal respiratory infection responsible for a world-wide pandemic. The envelope (E) protein, one of four structural proteins encoded in the viral genome, is a 75-residue integral membrane protein whose transmembrane domain exhibits ion channel activity and whose cytoplasmic domain participates in protein-protein interactions. These activities contribute to several aspects of the viral replication-cycle, including virion assembly, budding, release, and pathogenesis. Here, we describe the structure and dynamics of full-length SARS-CoV-2 E protein in hexadecylphosphocholine micelles by NMR spectroscopy. We also characterized its interactions with four putative ion channel inhibitors. The chemical shift index and dipolar wave plots establish that E protein consists of a long transmembrane helix (residues 8-43) and a short cytoplasmic helix (residues 53-60) connected by a complex linker that exhibits some internal mobility. The conformations of the N-terminal transmembrane domain and the C-terminal cytoplasmic domain are unaffected by truncation from the intact protein. The chemical shift perturbations of E protein spectra induced by the addition of the inhibitors demonstrate that the N-terminal region (residues 6-18) is the principal binding site. The binding affinity of the inhibitors to E protein in micelles correlates with their antiviral potency in Vero E6 cells: HMA ≈ EIPA > DMA >> Amiloride, suggesting that bulky hydrophobic groups in the 5' position of the amiloride pyrazine ring play essential roles in binding to E protein and in antiviral activity. An N15A mutation increased the production of virus-like particles, induced significant chemical shift changes from residues in the inhibitor binding site, and abolished HMA binding, suggesting that Asn15 plays a key role in maintaining the protein conformation near the binding site. These studies provide the foundation for complete structure determination of E protein and for structure-based drug discovery targeting this protein. Author Summary The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of the world-wide pandemic of COVID-19, has become one of the greatest threats to human health. While rapid progress has been made in the development of vaccines, drug discovery has lagged, partly due to the lack of atomic-resolution structures of the free and drug-bound forms of the viral proteins. The SARS-CoV-2 envelope (E) protein, with its multiple activities that contribute to viral replication, is widely regarded as a potential target for COVID-19 treatment. As structural information is essential for drug discovery, we established an efficient sample preparation system for biochemical and structural studies of intact full-length SARS-CoV-2 E protein and characterized its structure and dynamics. We also characterized the interactions of amilorides with specific E protein residues and correlated this with their antiviral activity during viral replication. The binding affinity of the amilorides to E protein correlated with their antiviral potency, suggesting that E protein is indeed the likely target of their antiviral activity. We found that residue asparagine15 plays an important role in maintaining the conformation of the amiloride binding site, providing molecular guidance for the design of inhibitors targeting E protein.


Objective. The purpose of this review of the literature was to summarise studies regarding the psychosocial impact of growing up with a sibling with autism and to identify gaps in the related literature. Methods. Electronic databases were reviewed in order to critically appraise the 14 articles relevant to the topic. The search included a combination of the following key words: autism∗, quality of life, well-being, sibling∗, ASD, ASD sibling∗, family, adjust∗, psychological functioning. Results. The majority of studies involved mixed children and adolescent samples, leading to confounding results and an inability to draw accurate conclusions about these distinct life stages. Autism appears to contribute to unique environmental stressors for the typically developing sibling. When experienced in the context of additional demographic risk factors, these stressors can result in difficulties adjusting to the demands of a special-needs child. Despite some vulnerability to behavioural and emotional dysfunction in at-risk children, siblings have the potential to not only adjust but to thrive in the face of disability adversity. Conclusion. Growing up with a sibling with autism appears to manifest in both positive and negative outcomes for siblings, depending upon important demographical, family, and individual variables.


Unsupervised learning visible-infrared person re-identification (USL-VI-ReID) aims at learning modality-invariant features from unlabeled cross-modality dataset, which is crucial for practical applications in video surveillance systems. The key to essentially address the USL-VI-ReID task is to solve the cross-modality data association problem for further heterogeneous joint learning. To address this issue, we propose a Dual Optimal Transport Label Assignment (DOTLA) framework to simultaneously assign the generated labels from one modality to its counterpart modality. The proposed DOTLA mechanism formulates a mutual reinforcement and efficient solution to cross-modality data association, which could effectively reduce the side-effects of some insufficient and noisy label associations. Besides, we further propose a cross-modality neighbor consistency guided label refinement and regularization module, to eliminate the negative effects brought by the inaccurate supervised signals, under the assumption that the prediction or label distribution of each example should be similar to its nearest neighbors'. Extensive experimental results on the public SYSU-MM01 and RegDB datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, surpassing existing state-of-the-art approach by a large margin of 7.76% mAP on average, which even surpasses some supervised VI-ReID methods.


This report presents a case of a 7.5-year-old boy who was given a complete check-up with normal results for paroxysmal elevation of the eye with onset during seizures. The clinical aspect showed a tonic upgaze that has never been described in such an old patient. We describe this rare anomaly and review the literature. The main differential diagnosis was the presence of a tic.


Deletion at 9p2! is frequent in many tumor types. A candidate tumor suppressor gene, pJ6INK4m, was mapped to this region and Is frequently Inactivated by several different mechanisms in many tumor types, includ lag non-small cell lung cancer, but not In small ccli lung cancer (SCLC). p!6 functions as a cydlinlCDK inhibitor to prevent phosphorylation of pith.It hasbeendemonstrated hatmost SCLCS havelostpRBbut retained p!6, and the inactivation of pRB excludes the inactivation of p!6 and vice versa. To determine the potential existence of other tumor suppressor genes on the short arm of chromosome 9 in SCLC, we tested 46 primary SCLCs by microsatellite analysis. We found that more than 89% ofthe tumors exhibitedlossofheterozygosity(LOH)at 9p with three distinct minimal deleted areas. Among those areas, LOH at 9p2! was most frequent (86%), with a peak at a marker !50 kb telomeric to @j6IN@@@• LOH was also observed in more than 50% of the tumors at two other regions, 9p22 and 9p13. Our data strongly suggest the presence of at least three novel tumor suppressor loci on 9p m SCLC, and fUrther investiga lions to clone candidate tumor suppressor genes are warranted.


【The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of celebrity endorsers used in fast food industry among highschool and undergraduate students. By taking the sample's age and income into consideration, the advertisement examples of fast food industries were chosen for this study. Data was collected by questionnaires from 400 students. For statistical analysis, the SPSS V19.0 was used for reliability and factor analysis, chi-square test and regression analysis. The results are as follows: First, there was a significant difference (p】


As humans spread throughout the world, they adapted to variation in many environmental factors, including climate, diet, and pathogens. Because many of these adaptations were likely mediated by multiple non-coding variants with small effects on gene regulation, it has been difficult to link genomic signals of selection to specific genes, and to describe the regulatory response to selection. To overcome this challenge, we adapted PrediXcan, a machine learning method for imputing gene regulation from genotype data, to analyze low-coverage ancient human DNA (aDNA). First, we used simulated genomes to benchmark strategies for adapting gene regulatory prediction to increase robustness to incomplete aDNA data. Applying the resulting models to 490 ancient Eurasians, we found that genes with the strongest divergent regulation among ancient populations with hunter-gatherer, pastoralist, and agricultural lifestyles are enriched for metabolic and immune functions. Next, we explored the contribution of divergent gene regulation to two traits with strong evidence of recent adaptation: dietary metabolism and skin pigmentation. We found enrichment for divergent regulation among genes previously proposed to be involved in diet-related local adaptation, and in many cases, the predicted effects on regulation provide explanations for previously observed signals of selection, e.g., at FADS1, GPX1, and LEPR. For skin pigmentation, we applied new models trained in melanocytes to a time series of 2999 ancient Europeans spanning ~38,000 years BP. In contrast to diet, skin pigmentation genes show little regulatory change over time, suggesting that adaptation mainly involved large-effect coding variants. This work demonstrates how aDNA can be combined with present-day genomes to shed light on the biological differences among ancient populations, the role of gene regulation in adaptation, and the relationship between ancient genetic diversity and the present-day distribution of complex traits.


The human virome is an area of increasing interest with relation to human health and disease. It has been demonstrated to alter in concert with the bacterial microbiome in early life and was also found to be different in patients with certain diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease. However, all virome analyses are hampered by a lack of annotated representative database sequences, often referred to as the 'viral dark matter'. Here we provide the first description of the gut DNA virome in elderly individuals (>65 years old) as well as the description of novel bacteriophages not present in current reference databases. Diversity analysis comparing elderly persons from different residence locations (community living vs long term care facilities) did not reveal any difference in their virome diversity profiles despite the reported differences at the bacteriome level. An abundance of Microviridae of the subfamily Gokushovirinae were present in the faeces of elderly individuals. Several novel members of the order Caudovirales were also characterized and annotated. Assignment of host bacteria to detected viral genomes was attempted using a combination of CRISPR spacers, tRNA genes and a probabilistic approach. Further characterization of the viral dark matter is necessary for developing tools and expanding databases to study the human virome. This study focused on the virome of an aging human cohort with the goal of illuminating part of the viral dark matter.


The nosocomial spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from a healthcare worker with infectious pulmonary tuberculosis disease to patients remains a risk in the healthcare environment, including neonatal intensive care units. In this paper, we outlined a protocol for neonates exposed to tuberculosis in a neonatal intensive care unit that includes skin testing, chest X-ray imaging, and prophylactic isoniazid. Neonatal patients were followed up with tuberculosis skin testing at both three months corrected age and two months postexposure. To our knowledge, this is the first Canadian study to illustrate a protocol following tuberculosis exposure in a neonatal intensive care unit for exposed neonates.


The lack of diversity among faculty at universities and medical schools in the United States is a matter of growing concern. However, the factors that influence the career choices of underrepresented minority and female postdoctoral researchers have received relatively little attention. Here we report the results of a survey of 1284 postdocs working in the biomedical sciences in the US. Our findings highlight possible reasons why some underrepresented minority and female postdocs choose not to pursue careers in academic research, and suggest interventions that could be taken in the early stages of postdoctoral training to prevent this attrition of underrepresented groups.


IN EARLIER papers1,2attention was drawn to the occurrence of cutaneous manifestations of hepatic porphyria after administration of estrogens or estrogen like substances such as chlorotrianisene (Tace); also to the increase of urinary porphobilinogen (PBG) and uroporphyrin in latent hepatic porphyria when diethylstilbestrol was given.3The latter has also been noted in more extensive studies by Welland and co-workers4and Redeker.5Of the six cases of cutaneous porphyria in the first report1two had been observed by Becker and these have been described by him in more detail. A number of additional reports have suggested that there are important hormonal influences in hepatic porphyria. These will be discussed in the following. The present objective was to determine the frequency of onset of neurologic or cutaneous manifestations in relation to induced or spontaneous influence of female sex hormones and to consider their effect on porphyrin metabolism and clinical manifestations in


A quasi-dimensional modelling study is conducted for the first time for a heavy duty, diesel-fuelled, multicylinder engine operating in HCCI mode. This quasidimensional approach involves a zero-dimensional single-zone homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion model along with a one-dimensional treatment of the intake and exhaust systems. A skeletal chemical kinetic scheme for n-heptane was used in the simulations. Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and compression ratio (CR) were the two parameters that were altered in order to deal with the challenges of combustion phasing control and operating load range extension. Results from the HCCI mode simulations show good potential when compared to conventional diesel performance with respect to important performance parameters such as peak firing pressure, specific fuel consumption, peak pressure rise, and combustion noise. This study shows that HCCI combustion mode can be employed at part load of 25% varying the EGR rates between 0 and 60%.


Isometric contraction to direct supramaximal tetanic stimulation of the anterior tibialis (AT) muscle was measured in 50 New Zealand White rabbits after ischemia and reperfusion. Ischemia was produced unilaterally by collateral ligation and temporary inflow control until AT muscle function decreased to < 5% of contralateral (control) AT muscle and the ischemic interval was recorded. Reperfusion was carried out in one of the following ways: group I (n = 20), release of vascular clamps (blood reperfusion [BR]); group II (n = 10), release of vascular clamps and simultaneous intraarterial administration of 50,000 units of urokinase (urokinase reperfusion [UR]); group III (n = 10), release of vascular clamps and simultaneous administration of 50,000 units of urokinase and 28 mg (5 units) of purified rabbit plasminogen (urokinase plasminogen reperfusion [UPR]); and group IV (n = 10), animals defibrinated to < 50 mg/dl with ancrod prior to ischemia and received BR (ancrod blood reperfusion [ABR]). During reperfusion, function was recorded every 60 min for 2 hr. Recovery of experimental muscle function is expressed as the percentage of contralateral control limb function. The mean ischemic interval (mean +/- SEM), to achieve < 5% of contralateral control limb function, was 206.7 +/- 9.9, 209.5 +/- 16.6, 221.7 +/- 12.5, and 272.0 +/- 14.2 min for animals in groups I-IV, respectively. The mean experimental muscle function (mean +/- SEM) following the ischemic interval was 3.2 +/- 0.8, 4.5 +/- 1.4, 4.4 +/- 1.2, and 3.3 +/- 1.0 for groups I-IV, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Corrosion rate (Progressive) of mild-steel (MS), zinc and aluminum have been determined under outdoor conditions of exposure at Tithal (South Gujarat) representing a marine environment. Mild steel (MS), zinc and aluminium plates exposed during November-2005 indicates corrosion rate of 122, 55 and 2.1 mg/sq.dm for one month exposure period and 3305, 1227 and 25.9 mg/sq.dm for twelve months exposure period. Mild steel panels exposed vertically suffer less corrosion than those exposed at an angle of 45°. The resistivity towards the environment was in the increasing order of mild steel < zinc < aluminium. Corrosion rate of these three metals was found more in rainy seasons than the rate of winter and summer season.


OBJECTIVES
To compare, using surface-to-surface (StS) matching, any shape differences between the crossbite and noncrossbite side of the glenoid fossa and articular eminence in adult patients affected by posterior unilateral crossbite (PUXB) and compare them with unaffected controls.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
32 cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans of patients (mean age: 23.72 ± 3.74 years) undergoing surgical maxillary expansion were analyzed to obtain three-dimensional models of the left and right glenoid fossae that were superimposed using stable anatomical reference points and then compared using StS matching to evaluate the presence of any shape differences. These findings were compared with those obtained from 16 CBCT scans of unaffected controls (mean age: 23.72 ± 3.73 years).

RESULTS
A mean difference of >11% was found between the study group and controls when comparing the matching percentages of the two sides of the glenoid fossa and articular eminence at all three levels of tolerance selected for this study. These differences were found to be highly statistically significant (P ≤ .0001).

CONCLUSIONS
According to the shape analysis findings, adult PUXB patients exhibit a higher degree of glenoid fossa and articular eminence shape differences compared to unaffected controls.


Cervical carcinoma in a 49-year-old woman was resected and found to spread into parametrium. It consisted of a unique combination of adenoid cystic, squamous and small cell neuroendocrine structures. Small celled part revealed positivity with chromogranin A and neuron-specific enolase, neuroendocrine granules were argyrophilic and about 130 nm in diameter. Adenoid cystic and squamous parts were lacking of unambiguous neuroendocrine or myoepithelial differentiation. The patient died in 27 months due to generalization but only a small cell carcinoma without any heterogeneity was found in autopsy. Small cell and adenoid cystic carcinomas are rare and more malignant than usual cervical carcinomas.


Background: The literature contains numerous values of nucleon charge radii with greater interest in proton. The mean square negative radii are reported for the neutron, the scientific relevance notwithstanding. Only in very few instances was the mass radius of the nucleon investigated. Methods: Theoretical and computational methods. Objectives: The objectives of this research are to derive, based mainly on classical model, the equation of the radii of nucleons and other subatomic particles heavier than the nucleons and determine by calculation based on the equation the radii of such particles, and elucidate why results may be different from literature values. Results and Discussion: The results showed expectedly that the mass radii of nucleons and heavier subatomic particles are longer than what seemed to be the preferred proton charge radius. The lengths of the calculated radii increase with increase in rest mass of the subatomic particles whose mass must be  the mass of any nucleon Conclusion: The equation of the mass radius of any nucleon and heavier subatomic particles was derived. Expectedly, the radii differ on the basis of differences in masses of the particles. The difference in mass radii as calculated in this research and reported charge radii in the literature may be due to electron capture leading to greater number of elastic collision with resulting neutrons. Short Research Article Udema; AJR2P, 3(4): 1-10, 2020; Article no.AJR2P.60974 2 Two particles of widely different mass possessing different charge must interact attractively or repulsively if they possess similar charges. Otherwise the deflection of beta–rays and similar particles in an electromagnetic field would be impossible.


The ultrastructure of the metachromatic cells is described. The secretory globules arising from the polarized Golgi apparatus do not show taxonomic variation as do those of the orthochromatic mucous cells.

The globular material is not uniform, three main variations being described and interpreted as a reflection of differing hydration states. Gradations and coexistence of more than one form within a cell or single globule occur but, in general, the majority of globules within a cell present the same ultrastructural pattern and size.

A relationship exists between the globule size and the three main ultrastructural expressions of the mucus, a fourth variation occurring in cells with very large globules, and a correlation is described between the globule size and the state of the granular endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus. As a cell ages it gives rise to larger globules containing material of a different hydration level. Young replacement cells are described and their microanatomical differences detailed.

The fibrous nature of the mucus is the same as that forming the supracuticular mucoid coat and similar to the acid mucus described in other annelids and other animal groups. Such similarities support the idea of a generalised function and it is suggested that the metachromatic mucus provides the medium through which the respiratory exchanges occur. The necessity for constant secretion leads to speculation concerning the life-span of the metachromatic mucous cell.

Summary

The metachromatic mucous cells of 11 British lumbricids, from six genera, are characterized by the fibrous substructure of the secretory globules lying within the secretory area. Ultrastructurally the globule material does not show species variation as does the orthochromatic mucus but, nevertheless, is not consistently uniform in appearance. Variations are recorded between cells within a section, between globules within a cell and even within areas of an individual globule.

Three main types of variation are described: finely fibrous, the fibrils exhibiting a random arrangement; stranded, where strands of greater electron density are frequently disposed parallel to one another; densely whorled, where the material assumes an exaggerated pattern. Since gradations between these categories exist and more than one form can be present within a cell or even a single globule, it is presumed that the variations are reflecting differing hydration states of the secretory product. In general, the majority of globules within a cell present the same ultrastructural form and size.

The globules arise from the mature face of the basally situated, polarized Golgi apparatus and are extruded from the cell through the apical pore which has no occlusor organelles, though mucous pore microvilli are present.

A correlation exists between the size of the globules and the fine structural appearance of the secretory material. The densely whorled form occurs only in globules smaller than 0.9 μm; the stranded type in medium sized globules 0.9 μm-1.3 μm; the finely fibrous variation is only found in cells where the globule size exceeds 1.5 μm but is less than 2 μm. Occasionally cells occur containing very large globules, in excess of 2 μm; and here the secretory material is eccentrically condensed within the globule limit in species other than D. hibernica. This species presented a substructure, within the very large globules, consisting of a finely fibrous matrix in which there were several electron dense areas and for which no taxonomic or eco-physiological explanation can be advanced at present.

A further correlation is apparent between the globule size and the state of the basally situated secretory apparatus. Cells with small or medium sized globules possess an active granular endoplasmic reticulum, the cisternae of which are filled with medium electron dense material. In those cells with large globules the rough endoplasmic reticulum is frequently bloated, distorted and invariably empty. In cells with very large globules the Golgi system also appears disorganised and the nucleus lacks contrast and shows a distended perinuclear space. Such cells are regarded as being senescent and it is suggested that as a secretory cell ages its ultrastructure alters and the secretory apparatus gives rise to large globules of material of a differing hydration level.

Young replacement cells are described and these differ from the normal metachromatic cell in having a nucleus at mid-epithelial level and granular endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus not restricted to the basal area of the cell.

The fibrous ultrastructural nature of the metachromatic mucus is similar to that forming the supracuticular mucoid coat trapped by the epicuticular projections. It also accords well with descriptions of acid mucus in other annelids and other animal groups. A very striking similarity exists between the present results and those for a histochemically comparable mucus in a turbellarian platyhelminth where globule size and ultrastructural variation has been described.

Such comparisons support the idea that the metachromatic mucus has a generalized function and its presence covering the cuticle, combined with blood capillary loops extending to within 1 μm of the cuticle, leads to the suggestion that it is the metachromatic mucus in lumbricids which provides the medium through which the primary gaseous exchanges take place. In providing such a constant respiratory surface, the metachromatic mucous cells are presumably permanently active during their life-span which might therefore be expected to be shorter than that of a less permanently secretory cell type. The presence or both young and ageing metachromatic cells within the tissue pieces, such stages not being observed for the other secretory cell types, would appear to support such a hypothesis.


Early blight (Alternaria solani) is a potential disease of potato that reduces its production globally both in conventional and tunnel cultivations. Due to variability in pathogenic isolates, prolonged active disease cycle phase and broad host range early blight is very difficult to manage. 8 microorganisms as a bioagent exhibiting inhibitory affects against Alternaria solani, were screened for their activity towards A. solani by a dual culture in vitro assay and in vivo (whole plant) test.in vitro studies indicated that the microorganism's strains strongly inhibited the mycelial growth of the pathogen. The effect of microorganism's strains on the mycelial growth (mm) of the pathogen proved to be highest with Trichoderma sp. (0.55) followed by Pseudomonas brassica cearum (0.74) and Pseudomonas jessenii (0.81) on the high concentration (106 cells ml-1) compared to the control (2.30). On the other hand, Bacillus mycoides (2.14) in vivo studies 9 microorganism's strains were applied in two different application (foliar – soil) and two different varieties (Labella – Romano). The results showed significant reductions in the disease severity (%) with the treatment by Trichoderma sp (2%) followed by Bacillus thuringiensis (3%) and Bacillus mycoides (5%) compared with the control (46%) of Romano variety, while there were a less significant reductions in the disease severity (%)with the treatments compared with the control (16%) of Labella variety . The efficacy of antagonists to suppress the early blight disease varied in respect to the time and type of application.


The study of parameterized streaming complexity on graph problems was initiated by Fafianie et al. (MFCS'14) and Chitnis et al. (SODA'15 and SODA'16). Simply put, the main goal is to design streaming algorithms for parameterized problems such that $O\left(f(k)\log^{O(1)}n\right)$ space is enough, where $f$ is an arbitrary computable function depending only on the parameter $k$. However, in the past few years, very few positive results have been established. Most of the graph problems that do have streaming algorithms of the above nature are ones where localized checking is required, like Vertex Cover or Maximum Matching parameterized by the size $k$ of the solution we are seeking. Many important parameterized problems that form the backbone of traditional parameterized complexity are known to require $\Omega(n)$ bits for any streaming algorithm; e.g., Feedback Vertex Set, Even/Odd Cycle Transversal, Triangle Deletion or the more general ${\cal F}$-Subgraph Deletion when parameterized by solution size $k$. Our main conceptual contribution is to overcome the obstacles to efficient parameterized streaming algorithms by utilizing the power of parameterization. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work in parameterized streaming complexity that considers structural parameters instead of the solution size as a parameter. We focus on the vertex cover size $K$ as the parameter for the parameterized graph deletion problems we consider. At the same time, most of the previous work in parameterized streaming complexity was restricted to the EA (edge arrival) or DEA (dynamic edge arrival) models. In this work, we consider the above mentioned graph deletion problems in the four most well-studied streaming models, i.e., the EA, DEA, VA (vertex arrival) and AL (adjacency list) models.


Nowadays, increasing in the Indonesia coffee industry, especially in Bandung city, is more interesting to be researched more deeply. This research was conducted to determine store atmosphere and customer loyalty at coffee shops in Bandung city, how much impact it has, also there is a difference in customer loyalty at coffee shops in Bandung city. In this research, researchers use a quantitative method, with the type of research is descriptive-causality. Sampling was used non-probability method, with purposive sampling type, by 20 respondents in each of the five coffee shops. By using descriptive analysis, simple regression analysis, and one-way ANOVA methods, the results show that store atmospheres significantly affect customer loyalty at coffee shops. Besides that, this research found that store atmospheres have an effect of 38,8% on customer loyalty and other factors that do not in this research effect of 61,2%. This research also shows that there is no difference in customer loyalty at coffee shops. Researchers concluded that store atmosphere and customer loyalty at these five coffee shops in Bandung, already included in the excellent category. However, these five coffee shops need to lead a different uniqueness from the side of store atmospheres. This matter is necessary, so customers feel a different store atmosphere from others, thus becomes the uniqueness of coffee shops. This research expects to provide input for five coffee shops that researched and coffee shop entrepreneurs, as well as being information for further study.


In the series of synthetic study on peptide antibiotic nisin, a bicyclic sulfide part ring D-E in this molecule was successfully synthesized. Conjunctive sulfide rings were constructed either by one step or stepwise desulfurization reaction from corresponding disulfides by use of hexaethylphosphorus triamide. Thus, all of the ring moieties in nisin were prepared for total synthesis of this antibiotic


Background: Fetomaternal hemorrhage (FMH) signifies failure of the placental barrier with whole blood transfer. Fetal anemia following FMH is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. If FMH is identified early, fetal anemia can be treated to minimize adverse outcomes. Risk factors for FMH are not known, limiting efforts to provide targeted screening for FMH. Objective: To identify maternal and/or pregnancy characteristics associated with FMH that are recognizable prior to fetal morbidity. Methods: This is the first published case-control study of FMH. Cases were identified from a prospectively maintained database of all hospital births between 1988 and 2010. Each case was matched to 4 controls by date and time of birth, allowing for assessment of a wide range of clinical and demographic data. Logistic regression modeling was used to assess the association between demographic and clinical characteristics and the diagnosis of FMH. Results: A total of 23 mother-baby pairs impacted by FMH and 92 matched controls were evaluated. Compared to controls, case mothers were more likely to have private insurance and to work outside the home and at night during pregnancy. Cases were more likely to be delivered preterm, but preterm labor was not more common among cases. There was no difference in race/ethnicity of cases compared to controls. Conclusions: Severe FMH is associated with significant morbidity and mortality of the affected neonate. Women with FMH were more likely to work outside the home during pregnancy than women with normal pregnancies. This finding has implications for third-trimester screening of pregnant women who work in strenuous fields.


A pressure driven electroosmotic flow (EOF) is numerically studied in a slit micro-channel with alternating hydrodynamic slip patches. The coupled Poisson-Boltzman-Navier Stokes equations dealt with external electric potential are solved for the flow enhancement of non-Newtonian fluids in microfluidic domain, which is a big challenge in the transportation and mixing of fluids in BioMEMS devices as the drag effect is very strong along the walls. This effect can be minimized with the use of slip boundary conditions by the coupling effects of liquid-liquid or gas-liquid interface positioning. In the present article, the fluid is considered to be a power-law fluids which is driven due to the coupling effects of two superimposed electric fields: the externally imposed electric field and the induced potential. An additional pressure gradient is created by the electrokinetic pumping to generate a higher velocity gradient in the presence of viscous dissipation and Joule heating effects. The analytical quantification of the electroosmotic flow velocity and temperature distribution is made and compared with the numerical results due to the staggered grid based finite volume method. The results are presented in terms of flow enhancement factor (Ef) (provides maximum species transport) and the average entropy generation due to fluid friction, viscous dissipation and Joule heating effect. The advantages and disadvantages of utilizing slip conditions are discussed which has large scale applications on drug delivery, DNA analysis and sequencing and especially biomedical applications, since cell damage due to pumping will be minimized compared to the micro pumps with moving valves, blades and pistons.


This study is intended to analyze the effect of thin ink-film thickness around rotating printing roll on the printing quality in the gravure printing process which is used for making electronics circuit like a RFID tag with a conductive ink. The present work numerically estimates the film thickness around rotating roller partially immersed in ink for which the volume of fluid (VOF) method was adopted to figure out the film formation process around rotating roller. Parameter studies were performed to compare the effect of ink properties (viscosity, surface tension), operating condition (roller rotating speed, initial immersed angle) on the film thickness. The result indicates that the film thickness has a strong dependency on the rotating speed, while the surface tension has negligible effect.


: Highly purified aspartyl- and valyl-tRNA synthetases were obtained by 6-stage purification from normal and long-fasting rabbit's muscles. The molecular masses of the enzymes are (120 +/- 10) X 10(3). These proteins consist of two subunits (alpha 2-type) with (60 +/- 10) X X 10(3) molecular mass as determined by electrophoresis in SDS polyacrylamide gel. The values of Km for ATP are similar for all the studied enzymes (4.25 divided by 6.48) M X 10(-3) but Km for amino acids differ: (1.22 divided by 3.3) M X 10(-4) for normal and (13.8 divided by 18.9) X M-4 for enzymes from long-fasting rabbits. The molecular activity of the latter increases 2.5-3 fold.


Pig oocytes cultured in vitro for 0, 25, 33 and 44 h were inseminated by frozen-thawed ejaculated sperm. At specified times after insemination, sperm penetration, cell cycle progression and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphorylation were evaluated. It was shown that: (1) oocytes at various maturational stages could be penetrated by sperm; (2) sperm penetration did not affect meiotic cell cycle progression; (3) sperm penetration of germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes and maturing oocytes did not alter MAPK phosphorylation; and (4) when premetaphase I (pre-MI) and metaphase I (MI) oocytes, in which MAPK was activated, were fertilised, no evident MAPK dephosphorylation was detected as in metaphase II oocytes. The data suggest that sperm penetration before oocyte maturation does not affect MAPK phosphorylation and that the machinery inactivating MAPK upon fertilisation is not developed in maturing (pre-MI to MI) oocytes.


The high consumption of plant-based foods on a global scale has increased the number of adulterations in the food industry. Along with this, analytical approaches to fraud detection need to be further developed. A nontargeted effect-directed profiling by high-performance thin-layer chromatography hyphenated with five effect-directed assays (free radical scavenging assay, Aliivibrio fischeri bioassay, and acetylcholinesterase, butyrylcholinesterase, and tyrosinase inhibition assays) and multi-imaging provided additional information on the antioxidative, antimicrobial, and enzyme inhibition activities for 18 apple and 18 grape juices from markets in Serbia and Germany. Bioactive zones of interest were eluted using an elution head-based interface and further characterized by electrospray ionization high-resolution mass spectrometry. The different profiles were evaluated chemometrically, and several compounds, which were characteristic of samples from different markets located in Serbia and Germany, were identified in apple juice (such as chlorogenic acid, phloridzin, epicatechin, and caffeic acid) and grape juice (such as chlorogenic acid, epicatechin, and quercetin). The developed rapid and simple method for the quality assessment of fruit juices coming from different (geographic) markets showed clear quality differences. Thus, it could be used to learn more about quality differences, to detect fraud in fruit juice production, and to verify the authenticity of the origin.


Abstract This paper examines the causal relationship between nutrition intake, health status, education and economic growth within a six-variate VEC framework, forecast error variance decomposition and impulse response function techniques, covering the period from 1990 to 2013, using quarterly data in Nigeria. This paper includes control variables in order to eliminate variable omission bias, unlike most existing studies. The results suggest the presence of long-run, bicausal relationships between the candidate variables of the study. In addition, the short-run unidirectional causal relationships are found between main variables, including a causal relationship running from nutrition and fiscal policy to education, as well as a causal link running from education and economic growth to health status. These findings support the existing theories. The results based on the model and empirical data suggest that the government should allocate more resources to human development in order to enhance productivity and boost economic growth. Similarly, there is a need to design adequate mechanisms to ensure proper allocation of the limited resources and avoid their embezzlement by corrupt government officials.


The outlined investigations represent a new systematic approach for the characterization of the copper annealing behavior in TSVs. In the center of interest are the changes in material behavior caused by bath chemistry compositions and deposition parameters during the ECD copper fill. In addition the effects on annealing behavior with or without Cu overburden are evaluated. Therefore, two bath chemistries were used for the Cu fill of one TSV test die layout. Moreover, half of the die samples underwent overburden CMP. The resulting four test die groups underwent annealing at identical conditions. The subsequent characterization featured protrusion, warpage and EBSD measurements. Results show a direct link of crystallographic defect reductions towards the tendency of developing Cu protrusion. Also deviations in warpage and crystal structure development for annealing with or without Cu overburden are presented. In conclusion the outlined investigation gains information how the Cu crystal structure develops in TSVs during annealing and links this behavior to thermo-mechanical effects like protrusion and warpage. This paper demonstrates that this behavior is dependent on the applied bath chemistry and that the presence of an overburden layer also has an influence. Deductions for an improved TSV manufacturing process can be derived from the achieved results.