Background Rabies is a uniformly fatal disease, but preventable by timely and correct use of post exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Unfortunately, many health care facilities in Pakistan do not carry modern life-saving vaccines and rabies immunoglobulin (RIG), assuming them to be prohibitively expensive and unsafe. Consequently, Emergency Department (ED) health care professionals remain untrained in its application and refer patients out to other hospitals. The conventional Essen regimen requires five vials of cell culture vaccine (CCV) per patient, whereas Thai Red Cross intradermal (TRC-id) regimen requires only one vial per patient, and gives equal seroconversion as compared with Essen regimen. Methodology/Principal Findings This study documents the cost savings in using the Thai Red Cross intradermal regimen with cell culture vaccine instead of the customary 5-dose Essen intramuscular regimen for eligible bite victims. All patients presenting to the Indus Hospital ED between July 2013 to June 2014 with animal bites received WHO recommended PEP. WHO Category 2 bites received intradermal vaccine alone, while Category 3 victims received vaccine plus wound infiltration with Equine RIG. Patients were counseled, and subsequent doses of the vaccine administered on days 3, 7 and 28. Throughput of cases, consumption utilization of vaccine and ERIG and the cost per patient were recorded. Conclusions/Significance Government hospitals in Pakistan are generally underfinanced and cannot afford treatment of the enormous burden of dog bite victims. Hence, patients are either not treated at all, or asked to purchase their own vaccine, which most cannot afford, resulting in neglect and high incidence of rabies deaths. TRC-id regimen reduced the cost of vaccine to 1/5th of Essen regimen and is strongly recommended for institutions with large throughput. Training ED staff would save lives through a safe, effective and affordable technique.


PURPOSE
To compare refractive outcomes and higher order aberrations of eyes that underwent LASIK for myopia with astigmatism with or without active cyclotorsion error correction.

METHODS
This was a contralateral eye study of 48 eyes of 24 patients who underwent LASIK using the NIDEK Advanced Vision Excimer laser platform (NAVEX), treating one eye with active cyclotorsion error correction (TEC eyes) and the fellow eye without active cyclotorsion error correction (without TEC eyes). Postoperatively, the refractive outcomes, including postoperative astigmatism and higher order aberrations were compared between groups using the t test. A P value <.05 was considered statistically significant. Three-month postoperative outcomes are presented.

RESULTS
Preoperative manifest refraction spherical equivalent was -3.59+/-1.60 diopters (D) (range: -1.25 to -6.75 D) for the TEC group and -3.82+/-1.89 D (range: -1.38 to -8.63 D) for the without TEC group. No statistically significant differences were noted in postoperative visual acuity between groups (P>.05). The TEC eyes had statistically significant lower postoperative cylinder (0.28+/-0.27 D [range: 0 to -0.75 D] for the TEC group vs 0.49+/-0.30 D [range: 0 to -1.00 D] for the without TEC group; P=.02). A mean decrease in root-mean-square (RMS) of higher order aberration was noted in the TEC eyes, and a mean increase was noted in RMS of higher order aberration for the without TEC eyes at both 5- and 6-mm pupil diameters. The TEC eyes had statistically significantly lower RMS of higher order aberration (P<.01).

CONCLUSIONS
Active torsion error correction with the NIDEK NAVEX platform statistically significantly increases the predictability of astigmatism correction and reduces the induction of higher order aberrations of eyes undergoing LASIK.


Rehabilitation robots (e.g. FRIEND as intelligent wheelchair mounted manipulator) are being developed to gain their user's autonomy within daily life environment. To prevent a high cognitive load onto the user, task input on a high level of abstraction is mandatory. State-of-the-art rehabilitation robots are still not capable to integrate fragments of intelligent behavior into an overall context and to solve complex tasks. A basic problem is how to cope with system complexity as well as computational complexity that evolve during task planning. A compromise towards feasibility is to equip the system's environment with smart components that provide own intelligence and thus reduce the complexity of the robotic system. However, a structured approach is necessary to fuse the distributed intelligence. This paper is about the concept and realization of a software-framework being able to execute autonomous system operations together with information retrieving capabilities and user interactions within a distributed system. Key aspects of development have been to provide robust run-time behavior of the system along with the inclusion and resolving of redundant sensor information as well as to reduce the effort of system programming to a minimum. The application of the developed framework is demonstrated on base of sample steps of its integration with the FRIEND II rehabilitation robotic system within an intelligent home environment.


The detection of the HB'S Antigen by a reversed passive haemagglutination test (Hépanosticon) in sera previously heated at 56 degrees C for 30 mn, is simple and rapid but gives a relatively high number of false positive results. A simple technique is suggested by heating sera betwen 68 degrees C and 80 degrees C and then by centrifugation at 1.500 g for 15 mn, to eliminate these false positive results. The supernatants are tested in the Hepanosticon technique and only the true positive samples, cheked for specificity by other techniques namely radioimmuno assay (R.I.A.) remain positive. Further research is pursued to confirm these first data and to define the exact degree of sensibility of this technique.


This book presents the proceedings of the Symposium on Fluid-Structure-Sound Interactions and Control (FSSIC), (held in Tokyo on Aug. 21-24, 2017), which largely focused on advances in the theory, experiments on, and numerical simulation of turbulence in the contexts of flow-induced vibration, noise and their control. This includes several practical areas of application, such as the aerodynamics of road and space vehicles, marine and civil engineering, nuclear reactors and biomedical science, etc. Uniquely, these proceedings integrate acoustics with the study of flow-induced vibration, which is not a common practice but can be extremely beneficial to understanding, simulating and controlling vibration. The symposium provides a vital forum where academics, scientists and engineers working in all related branches can exchange and share their latest findings, ideas and innovations – bringing together researchers from both east and west to chart the frontiers of FSSIC.


Inflammation is a hallmark of several vascular diseases. The nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) transcription factors are dimeric proteins involved in the activation of a large number of genes in response to inflammatory stimuli. We report the involvement of a novel member of the ETS transcription factor, ESE-1, in mediating vascular inflammation. ESE-1 is induced in response to inflammatory cytokines and lipopolysaccharide in vascular smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, and cells of the monocyte-macrophage lineage. This induction occurs within hours of stimulation and is mediated by NF-κB transactivation of the ESE-1 promoter. We have identified the inducible form of nitric-oxide synthase (NOS2) as a putative target for ESE-1. ESE-1 can bind to the p50 subunit of NF-κB, and cotransfection of ESE-1 with the p50 and p65 subunits of NF-κB synergistically enhances transactivation of theNOS2 promoter by ESE-1. An ESE-1-binding site within theNOS2 promoter has been identified, the site-directed mutagenesis of which completely abolishes the ability of ESE-1 to transactivate the NOS2 promoter. Finally, in a mouse model of endotoxemia, associated with acute vascular inflammation, ESE-1 is strongly expressed in vascular endothelium and smooth muscle cells. In summary, ESE-1 represents a novel mediator of vascular inflammation.


Telephone call centers and their generalizations customer contact centers usually handle several types of customer service requests (calls). Since customer service representatives (agents) have different call-handling abilities, contact centers exploit skill-based routing to assign calls to appropriate agents, aiming to respond properly as well as promptly. Nevertheless, despite a high level of sophistication, contact-center performance often falls far short of expectations. Too frequently, both customers and agents are dissatisfied with their contact-center experience. Agent dissatisfaction is demonstrated by high turnover and absenteeism. This problem might be addressed by empowering the agents, as others have observed, but that is difficult to accomplish in today's contact centers. As a new strategy to empower contact-center agents, we propose dynamically soliciting agents' working and call-handling preferences and responding to them. It is natural to be concerned that traditional performance requirements will not be met by such a strategy. However, we develop dynamic call-routing algorithms that take account of agent preferences, allowing for adjustments in real time or near real time, while ensuring that traditional performance requirements are met. Thus we present evidence that the strategy is workable.


Questionnaire designers are encouraged to write questions as complete sentences. In self-administered surveys, incomplete question stems may reduce visual clutter but may also increase burden when respondents need to scan the response options to fully complete the question. We experimentally examine the effects of three categories of incomplete question stems (incomplete conversational, incomplete ordinal, and incomplete nominal questions) versus complete question stems on 53 items in a probability web-mail survey. We examine item nonresponse, response time, selection of the first and last response options, and response distributions. We find that incomplete question stems take slightly longer to answer and slightly reduce the selection of the last response option but have no effect on item nonresponse rates or selection of the first response option. We conclude that questionnaire designers should follow current best practices to write complete questions, but deviations from complete questions will likely have limited effects.


his parents can get him, but when an accident in his posh summer camp forces a relocation to his grandmother's house in Brooklyn, he's set for an education in Fugeddaboudit 101. His uncle Frankie teaches him the lingo, introduces him around the neighborhood, and rechristens him with a proper goomba name. He starts to hang with Tommy, a young goodfella in training, and they fi nd themselves on the wrong side of some wiseguys, causing Nicky's father to come out of his New Jersey no-goomba zone to the rescue. Schirripa, whom some readers will know as Bobby Baccalieri from The Sopranos, captures the fl avor (or at least the stereotypes) of an intimate Italian community; he and his co-author Fleming write with relish about the colorful nicknames, the shady goings-on, and the amazing food that constitute everyday life in this particular Brooklyn neighborhood. We don't get to know enough about pre-goomba Nicholas to really appreciate his transformation into Nicky Deuce, but since the characterization is based largely on stereotypes, maybe the fact that his mother is a vegetarian is all the backstory we need. Nicky's initiation culminates in a life-threatening showdown between the goombas and the wiseguys, and the resolution features Italian-American heaven on earth: Grandma Tutti, making lunch for her loudly arguing sons, in a kitchen presided over by dual images of the Pope and Frank Sinatra. KC


Coronary artery disease is a complex disease, characterized by a myriad of interactions between environmental and genetic factors. There is a growing interest about the genetic components. This research field is rapidly growing, and could offer new diagnostic and therapeutic tools in a near future. This paper will focus on common variations in several candidate genes. They have been categorized into three groups, according to different pathophysiological mechanisms: 1) lipid metabolism; 2) hemostatic balance; 3) non-lipid metabolism.


to conventional base fluids. The promise of these fluids stems from the fact that relatively low particle loadings (typically <1% volume fractions) can significantly change the properties of the base fluid. This research explores how low volume fraction nanofluids, composed of common base-fluids, interact with light energy. Comparative experimentation and modeling reveals that absorbing light volumetrically (i.e. in the depth of the fluid) is fundamentally different from surface-based absorption. Depending on the particle material, size, shape, and volume fraction, a fluid can be changed from being mostly transparent to sunlight (in the case of water, alcohols, oils, and glycols) to being a very efficient volumetric absorber of sunlight. This research also visualizes, under high levels of irradiation, how nanofluids undergo interesting, localized phase change phenomena. For this, images were taken of bubble formation and boiling in aqueous nanofluids heated by a hot wire and by a laser. Infrared thermography was also used to quantify this phenomenon. Overall, though, this research reveals the possibility for novel solar collectors in which the working fluid directly absorbs light energy and undergoes phase change in a single step. Modeling results indicate that these improvements can increase a solar thermal receiver's efficiency by up to 10%. Mechanical Engineering Doctoral Defense Thermal Energy Conversion in Nanofluids


Summary Subject and purpose of work: The aim of this paper was to identify how students of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn perceived food security at household level. It was verified whether selected students were able to define properly the terms connected with the topic and how food safety was assessed. Materials and methods: The survey was performed using a questionnaire as the research tool. The survey was conducted at three faculties in the following courses of studies: economics, law, and bioengineering of food production. Statistical data were included. Results: Most of the respondents considered food security at household level in Poland to be at a satisfying level. In most respondent's households, expenditure on food in relation to income was at a higher level than the national average. Conclusions: Food security in the households of the surveyed students was ensured. The economic availability of food in the analysed households was good, as most respondents were able to purchase high quality food products.


This dissertation examines Kazimir Malevich's art and writing with a view to establishing that
they combine a strain of strict methodological reductionism with an equally well-marked
esotericism. It strives to prove that although this feature of Malevich's work was common among
vanguard artists and thinkers, there are also highly idiosyncratic qualities in the way Malevich
reconciled these two threads. An ensuing goal of this work is to propose how to complete an
unfinished 1927 film script by Kazimir Malevich titled "Artistic and Scientific Film—Painting
and Architectural Concerns—Approaching the New Plastic Architectural System." The question regarding the confluence of science and mysticism in Malevich's work—
the primary concern of this dissertation—requires tracing in the artist's art and writings the
presence of ideas belonging to these worldviews traditionally considered to be antithetical to
each other. This dissertation establishes Malevich's relationship with mysticism and strains of
thought that resemble scientific content and approach. Among the latter, this work investigates
Malevich's interest in the geometry of the fourth dimension, draws parallels between the artist's
concern for visualizing infinity and the problems of set theory, and examines the role of
imaginary numbers in Malevich's worldview. To complete the analysis of Malevich's
exploration of the concept of space prominent in the aforementioned mathematical themes, this
dissertation examines the artist's interest in investigating the space of the cosmos. It also
establishes that Malevich's ideas were not only influenced by the scientific advancements in
electromagnetism but also by the theories of thermodynamics, which together with the former relay a view of the world where all processes, organic and inorganic, are understood as the
product of the transformation of energy. In Cubism and Futurism: Spiritual Machines and the
Cinematic Effect, R. Bruce Elder draws attention to the early twentieth-century thinkers' view of
cinema as an electromagnetic machine. This dissertation examines Malevich's relationship with
the cinematic art and its reception in Russia during Malevich's most productive years. This work
concludes with having satisfied its larger objective: to envision a possible scenario of how
Malevich's unfinished script could unfold. It contains the copy of the original script, its proposed
finale, and an essay that outlines how my investigation of Malevich's intellectual landscape
informed the decisions involved in inferring the concluding shot sequences of the artist's only
cinematic work.


We compared three different methods for radioiodination of human spleen ferritin. Tracers prepared by direct oxidative iodination with use of Chloramine T or 1,3,4,6-tetrachloro-3 alpha, 6 alpha-diphenylglycoluril (Iodogen) were structurally altered by the labeling procedure, as was made apparent by gel filtration and electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gel. Tracers prepared by conjugation to radioiodinated N-succinimidyl-6-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propionate retained their structural integrity, as assessed by physicochemical methods. Such tracers bound more than 90% in antibody excess, yielded self-displacement curves parallel to unlabeled ferritin standards, and retained their immunoreactivity for nine weeks. By contrast, immunological activity and stability of tracers prepared by the oxidative methods were less satisfactory. Tracers prepared by using lodogen were unsuitable for use in the ferritin radioimmunoassay because of shallow standard-inhibition curves and poor binding in the absence of added standard. Thus, we found the conjugation procedure to be the most suitable of the three methods for preparation of spleen-ferritin tracers.


Introduction Pregnancy is a time of high motivation to initiate positive changes in health behaviours which have the potential to continue post pregnancy. Pregnancy outcomes vary between Pakistani and white British pregnant women, but differences in health behaviours during pregnancy between these two groups are under researched. Methods 4807 (1831 white British, 2222 Pakistani and 754 of Other origin) pregnant women were interviewed at 26–28 weeks of gestation using a questionnaire which collected information on alcohol, cigarette, caffeine, pregnancy vitamin and fruit and vegetable consumption and exercise levels. Latent class analyses were conducted to identify subgroups (classes) of the cohort defined according to clustering of health behaviours. The association between ethnicity, and other characteristics, with class membership was then examined. Results Five independent classes of health behaviours were identified: three generally healthy classes that differed on alcohol and cigarette consumption, two unhealthy classes; one that smoked but didn't drink and one that was generally unhealthy. Although pregnant Pakistani and Other ethnicity women rarely reported smoking or alcohol consumption compared to white British women, other unhealthy behaviours such as lower rates of exercise and fruit and vegetable consumption were evident. Membership of the comprehensively unhealthy class was more likely in younger, white British pregnant women, of lower educational attainment. Conclusions These techniques provide better understanding of negative behavioural clusters and characteristics associated with cluster membership. This could aid clinicians' ability to identify pregnant women who would benefit from interventions to modify these behaviours.


The efficacy and tolerability of both Terlipressin and Octreotide in the treatment of upper digestive haemorrhage (oesophagus, stomach and duodenum) have been compared, at random, on 30 adult patients. Terlipressin dosage was 2 mg/4 hours i.v. during the first 24 hours, 2 mg/6 hours during the following 24 hours. Octreotide dosage was 50 micrograms i.v. and infusional therapy, 25 micrograms/hours, followed. Haemostasis was obtained in 100% of patients treated with Terlipressin and in 73% of patients treated with Octreotide. Rebleeding occurred in 3 patients treated with Terlipressin and 4 patients treated with Octreotide. Side effects occurred in 4 patients treated with Terlipressin and 8 patients treated with Octreotide. Terlipressin proved to have a better efficacy in comparison with Octreotide, and had less side effects.


The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and correlates of social phobia in the rural population of Udmurtia. A sample of 855 adult inhabitants in rural Udmurtia was interviewed, using a structured diagnostic interview (CIDI). Social phobia affected 45.6% of the population on the basis of ICD-10 and 52.7% on the basis of DSM-III-R during their lifetime. Social phobia was more prevalent in women (51.8%) than in men (37.5%) and in ethnic Udmurts (52.0%) than in Russians (33.3%). No associations with age, marital status, or educational level were found. Social phobia had a high comorbidity with depression in Udmurt men and women and with alcohol dependence in Udmurt men. The results show significant association between social phobia and suicide attempts in men, with a lifetime rate of attempted suicide of 9.4%.


Nonparametric, or kernel, estimation of item response curve (IRC) is a concern theoretically and operationally. Accuracy of this estimation, often used in item analysis in testing programs, is biased when the observed scores are used as the regressor because the observed scores are contaminated by measurement error. In this study, we investigate the deconvolution kernel estimation of IRC, correcting for the measurement error in the regressor variable. Using item response theory (IRT) simulated data and some real data, we compared the traditional kernel estimation and the deconvolution estimation of IRC. Results show that in capturing important features of the IRC, the traditional kernel estimation is comparable to the deconvolution kernel estimation in item analysis.


— Maintaining data mining accuracy on distorted datasets is an important issue in privacy preserving data mining. Using matrix approximation, we propose several efficient and flexible techniques to address this issue, and utilize some statistical metrics to analyse change of data pattern. We use the K-nearest neighbour classification to compare accuracy maintenance after data distortion by different methods. With better performance than some classical data perturbation approaches, nonnegative matrix factorization and singular value decomposition are considered to be promising techniques for privacy preserving data mining. Experimental results demonstrate that mining accuracy on the distorted data used these methods is almost as good as that on the original data, with added property of privacy preservation. It indicates that our matrix factorization-based data distortion schemes perturb only confidential attributes to meet privacy requirements while preserving general data pattern for knowledge extraction.


Background Platelet-derived growth factor receptor β (PDGFRβ) is a tyrosine kinase receptor known to affect vascular development. The zebrafish is an excellent model to study specific regulators of vascular development, yet the role of PDGF signaling has not been determined in early zebrafish embryos. Furthermore, vascular mural cells, in which PDGFRβ functions cell autonomously in other systems, have not been identified in zebrafish embryos younger than 72 hours post fertilization. Methodology/Principal Findings In order to investigate the role of PDGFRβ in zebrafish vascular development, we cloned the highly conserved zebrafish homolog of PDGFRβ. We found that pdgfrβ is expressed in the hypochord, a developmental structure that is immediately dorsal to the dorsal aorta and potentially regulates blood vessel development in the zebrafish. Using a PDGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, a morpholino oligonucleotide specific to PDGFRβ, and a dominant negative PDGFRβ transgenic line, we found that PDGFRβ is necessary for angiogenesis of the intersegmental vessels. Significance/Conclusion Our data provide the first evidence that PDGFRβ signaling is required for zebrafish angiogenesis. We propose a novel mechanism for zebrafish PDGFRβ signaling that regulates vascular angiogenesis in the absence of mural cells.


Two genera of fusulinids, Pseudoschwagerina and Paraschwagerina, long recognized as stratigraphic guides to Lower Permian beds, contain more than 100 species which can be grouped according to their morphological similarities and differences into twelve phylogenetic lineages. The primitive species complexes that initiated these lineages began near the beginning of the Permian in the Western Hemisphere. Their widespread migration and subsequent restriction led to the evolution of more advanced lineages of which several had times of widespread, but commonly brief, distribution. The most primitive pseudo-schwagerinid complex, the Pseudoschwagerina beedei complex, arose from inflated Triticites ancestors probably in the Andean geosyncline. This complex gave rise to the P. uddeni complex, which attained both Eurasian and Western Hemisphere distribution, and the P. d'orbignyi complex which is known from South America and southern Europe. The P. heritschi, P. carniolica, and P. miharanoensis complexes are largely restricted to Eurasia or to small areas of the Eurasian fusulinid province. The ancestors of each of these three complexes are poorly known but they apparently arose from advanced species in the P. uddeni lineage. Both the P. yabei and P. stanislavi lineages appeared very late in the evolution of the genus. The P. yabei complex ranges into strata of Leon rdian age in southern Europe and Asia and the P. stanislavi complex occurs in strata of Leonardian age in Eurasia and North America. The most primitive paraschwagerinid species complex, the Paraschwagerina gigantea complex, is apparently related to the genus Schwagerina but its ancestry is not well known and species of Schwagerina that would form typical ancestors for Paraschwagerina did not evolve until Paraschwagerina itself was nearly extinct. Of the younger and more advanced complexes, the P. plena End_Page 367------------------------------ complex is restricted to western North America and the P. roveloi and P. endoi complexes are known from both North America and Asia. End_of_Article - Last_Page 368------------


Preterm neonates have an increased susceptibility to feeding intolerance which is one of the most significant contributors to their growth failure. Establishing and tolerating adequate enteral nutrition is difficult due to the immaturity of the gastrointestinal system; therefore it is crucial for neonatology nurses to detected this condition as early as possible and use intervention for tackling this problem to improve newborn outcome. Massage is one therapeutic nursing method that can stimulate the parasympathetic activity and induce a more effective response of the digestive system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of abdominal massage on feeding intolerance of preterm neonates. A quasi- experimental research design was utilized to meet the aim of this study. Setting This study was conducted in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Assiut University Children Hospital. Sampling: The study sample comprised all preterm neonates (60 preterm neonates) hospitalized during six months period in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Assiut University Children Hospital. Three tools were used to collect the required data for this study: - Tool1- An interviewing questionnaire sheet, Tool II - Follow -up sheet and Tool III - Feeding intolerance assessment tool. Results: Highly statistically significant differences were found between the first day and 5th day related to feeding intolerance measurements parameters of the massage group (P=0.001) and the means of the abdominal circumference, the frequency of vomiting episodes, and the gastric residual volume in the massage group had decreased significantly in the 5th day of the intervention of abdominal massage, as compared with those in the first day and the frequency of defecation and daily weight gain had increased significantly. Concluded that abdominal massage has the potential effect to decrease the gastric residual volume, frequency of vomiting episodes, abdominal distension, and increase the weight and frequency of defecation in enterally fed preterm neonates. The study recommended changing the nursing practice in NICU nurses by emphasizing the importance of applying abdominal massage twice a day as a safe non-invasive intervention as standard of care in enterally fed preterm neonates'.


Leaf sheath explants of an indigenous variety Isd-16 of sugarcane ( Saccharum officinarum L.) produced light yellow friable callus after culturing on to MS with 2,4-D (2 - 4 mg/l) and NAA (3 - 5 mg/l) singly. Callus formation was the maximum on MS + 3 mg/l 2,4-D. Callus underwent embryogenesis producing huge number of somatic embryos when subcultured on MS with 15 - 30 mg/l             L-proline, 3 mg/l 2,4-D + 5 - 10% coconut water (v/v) and 3 mg/l 2,4-D + 10% CW  (v/v) + 300 - 500 mg/l CH. L-proline significantly enhanced somatic embryo-genesis and 25 mg/l L-proline in MS was the best culture medium formulation. Most of the somatic embryos germinated and developed plantlets after 1 - 2 weeks of incubation in proline-supplimented medium. On the other hand, maturation and germination of embryos were achieved on half-strength MS with or without 0.25 - 1.0 mg/l L-proline, and 5% coconut water (v/v). Somatic embryos derived plantlets were then successfully transferred to natural condition through successive phages of acclimation. Key words : Plant regeneration, Leaf sheath, Somatic embryogenesis, Sugarcane D. O. I. 10.3329/ptcb.v21i2.10237 Plant Tissue Cult. & Biotech. 21 (2): 143-149, 2011 (December)


The agri-food sector has undergone both rapid public regulation and private standards setting in the past two decades engendering new forms of governance of food supply chains. Food safety has been at the forefront of these reforms, but increasingly food standards reflect a range of ethical concerns about food production and supply. The communication of standards with ethical implications to consumers relies upon labelling and marketing but is underpinned by schemes of certification and audit, which in turn entail effective systems of traceability of food products. Traceability reaches from food production and movement through the supply chain to the form of the food's consumption. A feature of contemporary governing has been the development of the regulatory state, where the state seeks to widen and lengthen its governing reach through steering and utilising private forms of governance. The regulatory state directs the private sector to effectively self-regulate food supply chains within legally required standards; but this process of governance can be a contest of differing values. At the European level, the revision of European Union (EU) food law (EC 178/2002) has put traceability at the centre of its reform of the governance of supply chains. The promotion of ethical concerns around food standards has emerged from private governance sources – notably civil society based organisations who have sought to promote both particularistic and broader concerns around food production from animal welfare to fair trade. In the corporate sector both manufacturers and retailers, have taken up a wide range of standards and certification schemes which cover ethical as well as other concerns: from integrated farming processes to food assurance schemes to local food provenance schemes. The unfolding scope and nature of ethical concerns around food are explained below. The role of civil society organisations in promoting new standards for food incorporating ethical criteria points to the inter- relationships of the state (including the EU) with the corporate sector and civil society organisations in the unfolding regulation and governance of food supply chains. These regulatory and governance trajectories are examined in more detail to illustrate the different roles that food traceability is being asked to underpin. Amongst these roles, the EU's sustainability goals for the agri-food sector inter-relate with ethically informed regulations. Yet such is the dynamic and unfolding nature of these trajectories that public regulation can lag behind the private governance initiatives. The different roles that traceability as a policy and governance instrument is being called upon to deliver are dynamic and unfolding. There is an increasing traceability burden and so challenges for both public regulators and private managers of food supply chains.


PURPOSE
Adjuvant chemotherapy improves patient survival rates after resection for pancreatic adenocarcinoma, but the optimal duration and time to initiate chemotherapy is unknown.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma treated within the international, phase III, European Study Group for Pancreatic Cancer-3 (version 2) study were included if they had been randomly assigned to chemotherapy. Overall survival analysis was performed on an intention-to-treat basis, retaining patients in their randomized groups, and adjusting the overall treatment effect by known prognostic variables as well as the start time of chemotherapy.

RESULTS
There were 985 patients, of whom 486 (49%) received gemcitabine and 499 (51%) received fluorouracil; 675 patients (68%) completed all six cycles of chemotherapy (full course) and 293 patients (30%) completed one to five cycles. Lymph node involvement, resection margins status, tumor differentiation, and completion of therapy were all shown by multivariable Cox regression to be independent survival factors. Overall survival favored patients who completed the full six courses of treatment versus those who did not (hazard ratio [HR], 0.516; 95% CI, 0.443 to 0.601; P < .001). Time to starting chemotherapy did not influence overall survival rates for the full study population (HR, 0.985; 95% CI, 0.956 to 1.015). Chemotherapy start time was an important survival factor only for the subgroup of patients who did not complete therapy, in favor of later treatment (P < .001).

CONCLUSION
Completion of all six cycles of planned adjuvant chemotherapy rather than early initiation was an independent prognostic factor after resection for pancreatic adenocarcinoma. There seems to be no difference in outcome if chemotherapy is delayed up to 12 weeks, thus allowing adequate time for postoperative recovery.


Spectrally efficient digital modulation schemes for land mobile voice transmission applications highlighting advantages of a 7Pi/4-DQPSK modem are briefly reviewed, A procedure to generate 7Pi/4-DQPSK signal by directly mapping pairs of input bits through dibit transformation function and analog multiplexer is described. Details of modulator hardware for a standard data rate of 48 kbps are also incorporated, A promising all-digital receiver structure which lends itself for miniaturisation, is described.


The glycoprotein H (gH) genes of two avian herpesviruses, Marek's disease virus and the herpesvirus of turkeys, have been cloned and sequenced and the coding regions found to be of 2439 and 2424 nucleotides respectively. The predicted primary polypeptide products of these open reading frames are 813 and 808 amino acids and correspond to Mrs of 90,800 and 91,100. Both amino acid sequences exhibit characteristic glycoprotein features such as hydrophobic signal and anchor sequences and potential sites for N-linked glycosylation. Polypeptide sequence comparison to the other eight available gH sequences revealed more similarity to the alphaherpesvirus subgroup than to either beta- or gammaherpesviruses.


We have achieved a 9 ¿m-thick AlGaN/GaN high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT) epilayer on silicon using thick buffer layers with reduced dislocation density (DD). The crack-free 9 ¿m-thick epilayer included 2 ¿m i-GaN and 7 ¿m buffer. The HEMTs fabricated on these devices showed a maximum drain-current density of 625 mA/mm, transconductance of 190 mS/mm, and a high three-terminal OFF breakdown of 403 V for device dimensions of LgWgLgd=1.5/15/3 ¿m . Without using a gate field plate, this is the highest BV reported on an AlGaN/GaN HEMT on silicon for a short Lgd of 3 ¿m. A very high BV of 1813 V across 10 ¿m ohmic gap was achieved for i-GaN grown on thick buffers. As the thickness of buffer layers increased, the decreased DD of GaN and increased resistance between surface electrode and substrate yielded a high breakdown.


Many cracks generated by the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake appeared in the Aso Valley. It can be classified into two types from the origin. One is a crack group of backfill traces such as old river channel and mining areas. Example of Yakuinbaru area is a typical one. It showed displacement along the old riparian line due to subsidence and slip. Another collapse crack appeared in Uchinomaki, Kario and Matoishi. The S wave structure up to hundreds of meters underground was determined by the representative line, confirming the geologic structure leaning loosely to the north. At the time of the earthquake the ground up to the depth of about 60 m underground moved to the north. It ranged from 1 to 2 km per square. The cause of the crack group is Lateral-spread graben generated in the tension part of the moving region. Joined the subsidence of mining ruins in Matoishi area, it was expanded further displacement.


This study investigates the factors that affect Moody's credit ratings of commercial banks using an ordered probit model. We propose an empirical model designed to forecast bank credit ratings using quantitative publicly available information from their financial statements. The sample consists of 13 Jordanian commercial banks over the period (2000-2013). The study estimates a forecasted credit rating of the banks investigated based on the proposed model. The results show that profitability ratios, asset quality ratios, liquidity ratios, capital adequacy ratios and the size of the bank have statistically significant effects on the banks credit ratings.These results have important implications to banks' customers, investors, management and the regulatory authority.


About 80 percent of Japan is located in the mountain or coast sides, and so most cities should be concerned to be isolated when a ultra large disaster happens such as Japan Earthquake and Tsunami on March 11th, 2011. In fact, in the earthquake, there were many areas in the coast side of northern Japan where is isolated because of the damages, blackouts, and congestions of network information systems. In case of such a large-scale disaster, it is important to keep connectivity to avoid the isolation from other areas, and to reactivate network connections quickly within disaster areas such as between evacuation shelters and disaster headquarter. In this paper, Never Die Network consisted of cognitive wireless networks and satellite system that we have proposed is introduced, and the evaluations are held in assumptions of rural areas such as the coast cities of Iwate Prefecture where heavily disaster by Japan Earthquake and Tsunami on March 11th, 2011. The results shows that the proposed system is quickly recovered than other traditional network systems such as wired, wireless, and cognitive wireless network systems, and it is considered to be useful for the isolation by a ultra large scale disaster.


Many outdoor autonomous mobile platforms require more human identity anonymized data to power their data-driven algorithms. The human identity anonymization should be robust so that less manual intervention is needed, which remains a challenge for current face detection and anonymization systems. In this paper, we propose to use the skeleton generated from the state-of-the-art human pose estimation model to help localize human heads. We develop criteria to evaluate the performance and compare it with the face detection approach. We demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can reduce missed faces and thus better protect the identity information for the pedestrians. We also develop a confidence-based fusion method to further improve the performance.


Introduction
The minimally invasive posterior cervical foraminotomy, a motion-preserving procedure, is an excellent treatment for patients with unilateral radiculopathy secondary to a laterally located herniated disc or foraminal stenosis.

Indications & Contraindications

Step 1 Position the Patient Video 1
Place the patient in a prone position on a Jackson table with 6 posts and with the head resting comfortably on a soft facial pillow, and tape the shoulders down to provide traction to the skin and help with fluoroscopic visualization of the lower cervical levels.

Step 2 Perform the Skin Incision
Make the skin incision adjacent to the spinous process on the side of the abnormality over the operative level.

Step 3 Use Tubular Dilators to Make a Working Portal
Use sequential dilators to create a working portal and secure the working tube overlying the lamina-facet junction of the operative level.

Step 4 Perform the Laminoforaminotomy Video 2
Perform the laminoforaminotomy with the use of a high-speed drill and a Kerrison rongeur to create a working window into the foramen.

Step 5 Perform the Foraminal Decompression Video 3
Use a nerve hook to superiorly retract the nerve root, and perform a discectomy and decompression.

Step 6 Wound Closure and Postoperative Care
Obtain hemostasis with electrocautery or hemostatic foam and close the wound with a standard layered closure.

Results
A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on open or minimally invasive surgical (MIS) techniques for posterior cervical foraminotomy showed a pooled clinical success rate of 92.7% for the 509 patients managed with the open technique and 94.9% for the 208 patients who had the MIS technique; the difference was not significant (p = 0.418)2.

Pitfalls & Challenges


The levels of soluble interleukin-2 receptors (sIL-2R) were measured in the serum of 52 patients with advanced colorectal carcinoma and compared to CEA and CA 19-9 levels. Twenty-five normal, age and sex-matched individuals served as controls. Seventy-five per cent of the patients had increased mean serum levels of sIL-2R (1539 ± 155 U/ml), while normal controls had mean levels of 555 ± 31 U/ml (p < 0.001). The relationship with hepatic or lymph nodal metastases showed no statistically significant difference (p=0.34 and p=0.47, respectively). Serum sIL-2R levels showed a linear correlation with CEA (p < 0.05). Patients with lower pretreatment sIL-2R levels (less than 1.200 U/ml) had a longer survival than patients with higher initial levels (more than 1.200 U/ml) (p=0.0049). In conclusion, the present work shows that the serum levels of sIL-2R: a) are elevated in patients with advanced colorectal cancer, b) have no relationship with the type of metastases, c) correlate with serum CEA and d) have a prognostic value for survival.


Aiming at creating viability to the production of alcohol from starch raw material, this study was an attempt to optimize the sweet potato hydrolysis employing commercial biocatalysts. The hydrolytic procedure was developed from 1 g to access Unicentro/Guarapuava/Agronomy 5 (UGA 5) at pH 5.6, 60 oC for 120 minutes. The enzymatic process evolution was evaluated as a function of different concentration combinations between the commercial enzymes α-amylase from Bacillus sp. and amyloglucosidase from Aspergillus niger. In each test, the concentration of reducing sugars and glycose were determined. Aiming at the optimal operational, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed with a completely randomized design in a 2x5x5 full factorial. According to the interaction result presented by the ANOVA, it was seen that there is significant synergy between the enzymes in the generation of reducing sugars. The combination A3 revealed high conversion rate (0.96 ± 0.02 g) which was selected for the other accesses. The best conversion rates corresponded to the access UGA 56, in which 0.97 ± 0.03 g reducing sugars and 0.89 ± 0.02 g glycose were obtained. Despite this lowest productivity (t ha-1), this access indicating that this parameter is not enough to discriminate yield aiming at alcohol production.


In this paper, we propose a novel framework for decentralized, online learning by many learners. At each moment of time, an instance characterized by a certain context may arrive to each learner; based on the context, the learner can select one of its own actions (which gives a reward and provides information) or request assistance from another learner. In the latter case, the requester pays a cost and receives the reward but the provider learns the information. In our framework, learners are modeled as cooperative contextual bandits. Each learner seeks to maximize the expected reward from its arrivals, which involves trading off the reward received from its own actions, the information learned from its own actions, the reward received from the actions requested of others and the cost paid for these actions-taking into account what it has learned about the value of assistance from each other learner. We develop distributed online learning algorithms and provide analytic bounds to compare the efficiency of these with algorithms with the complete knowledge (oracle) benchmark (in which the expected reward of every action in every context is known by every learner). Our estimates show that regret-the loss incurred by the algorithm-is sublinear in time. Our theoretical framework can be used in many practical applications including Big Data mining, event detection in surveillance sensor networks and distributed online recommendation systems.


This study was designed to assess the relationship between gastric acid output (GAO) and both pattern of gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and severity of esophageal lesions. Gastric acid secretory testing and 24-h intraesophageal pH-monitoring were performed in 31 patients with esophagitis and concomitant duodenal ulcer (E+DU) and compared with those of 72 patients with esophagitis (E). The second aim of this study was to evaluate the role of GAO and other potential pathogenetic factors in the development of esophagitis. The results of the study showed that GAO in patients with E+DU was significantly higher than in patients with E (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the two groups of patients with regard to endoscopic findings or GER variables (p < 0.05). Multiple regression analysis with stepwise deletion showed that the presence of hiatal hernia, GER in the upright position and age appear to correlate significantly with the presence of esophagitis. We conclude that no parallel relationship exists between GAO and severity of GER or esophageal lesions in patients with E+DU and that GAO is not a major pathogenetic factor in GER disease.


True bugs were surveyed at the forest, bank of rice fields, and sweet persimmon orchard near Jinju city, Korea in 2006 and 2007. Number of species (individuals) collected at the forest, bank of rice fields and persimmon orchard are 24 (817), 21 (425) and 15 (193) species, respectively. A dominant species was Nysius plebeius at the forest, and Cletus punctiger at the bank of rice fields and persimmon orchard. In all the three sites N. plebeius, C. punctiger, and Pachygrontha antennata were more abundant than other species, consisting 77.8% of the total collections. N. plebeius was mainly collected on July at the bank of paddy field, and on August and after October at the forest. Most number of C. punctiger was collected from early July to early September at three sites. P. antennata was mainly collected after October at the forest. Body sizes of the stink bugs were measured.


The evaluation of the child with isosexual precocious puberty involves family history, clinical findings including bone age, specific medical imaging, and hormonal data. Assessments of all these data, as well as follow-up of pubertal development, are required to decide which patients should be proposed for therapy. Central isosexual precocity, a condition much more common in girls than in boys, is currently viewed as a spectrum of disorders from isolated premature thelarche to borderline early puberty. In some countries, there may be a trend toward earlier onset of puberty. Peripheral isosexual precocity has many different causes, some specific to either boys or girls and others involving both sexes. Treatment of central isosexual precocity is usually based on long-acting forms of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, which may not be indicated in slowly progressive variants or borderline early puberty because they do not affect final height. In peripheral isosexual precocity, it is often possible to treat the underlying cause. In activating mutations of luteinizing hormone (LH) receptors or Gs&agr;-protein, the aim of treatment is to block hormonal synthesis or action. However, the addition of GnRH agonists is required to treat disorders that are evolving toward central isosexual precocity. In isosexual precocity, preservation of height potential is particularly important in precocious puberty started at young ages.


One of the titles in a recueil in the Marienbibliothek at Halle/Saale is an edition of the Tractatus logicalis de demonstrationibus sive de syllogismis demonstrativis cuiusdam excellentissimi philosophi Parisiensis, without date or place of printing and with no printer's name. Polain lists this edition in his catalogue of incunabula in Belgian libraries as probably from the Netherlands and pre-1501. M. E. Kronenberg and B. Kruitwagen follow Polain without investigating further, probably because the copy - at Ghent - described by Polain was no longer available. Other incunabula bibliographies do not mention this edition. On the basis of the types the author demonstrates that the edition must have been printed by Jacob van Breda, which does not necessarily mean that it belongs to the incunabula, since Jacob van Breda also printed after 1501. The same recueil in the Marienbibliothek also contains an edition by the same printer dating from 1506 (to be discussed in a future article). Closer examination shows that the types used in the Tractatus logicalis only appear in editions printed after 10 April 1497. The possibility that the work is an incunablc remains open, therefore, although it cannot be proved that the book was not published after 1501.


Research designed to understand the underachievement of minorities in general, and Latino immigrants in particular, is summarized as it relates to mathematics. Two paradigms have dominated this research: the Deficit paradigm and the Cultural Difference paradigm. A third paradigm, the Holistic paradigm, seems to account for most of the deficiencies of the other two models. The first section of the paper presents the advantages and disadvantages of the Deficit and Cultural Difference paradigms, and the second section presents the Holistic paradigm, which considers various relevant aspects, including societal influences, teacher attitudes, school mathematics curricula, student attitudes and behavior, and classroom processes. The final section reviews recent studies that have addressed the problem of minority underachievement in mathematics. The Contextual Systems Model proposed by R. Pianta and D. Walsh (1996) provides a framework for this exploration. (Contains 2 figures and 45 references.) (SLD) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** A REVIEW OF LITERATURE ON UNDER ACHIEVEMENT OF MINORITIES IN MATHEMATICS PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY


We present Gaptron, a randomized first-order algorithm for online multiclass classification. In the full information setting we show expected mistake bounds with respect to the logistic loss, hinge loss, and the smooth hinge loss with constant regret, where the expectation is with respect to the learner's randomness. In the bandit classification setting we show that Gaptron is the first linear time algorithm with $O(K\sqrt{T})$ expected regret, where $K$ is the number of classes. Additionally, the expected mistake bound of Gaptron does not depend on the dimension of the feature vector, contrary to previous algorithms with $O(K\sqrt{T})$ regret in the bandit classification setting. We present a new proof technique that exploits the gap between the zero-one loss and surrogate losses rather than exploiting properties such as exp-concavity or mixability, which are traditionally used to prove logarithmic or constant regret bounds.


Background: Limitless replicative potential is one of the hallmarks of cancer which occur due to dysregulated cell cycle. Cyclin dependent kinases (CDKs) are major regulators of mammalian cell cycle, which are often hyperactivated in cancer. Therefore, inhibition of cyclin dependent kinases represents an attractive therapeutic approach in cancer therapy. Dinaciclib is a CDK1, CDK2, CDK5 and CDK9 inhibitor, currently being tested in clinical trials in patients with advanced malignancies. The goal of this project was to determine the efficacy and the mechanisms of action of Dinaciclib in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) by using patient derived xenografts (PDXs).The study results will provide more insights in identification of predictive biomarkers that are important for its clinical development. Methods: The efficacy of Dinaciclib was determined in 3 TNBC PDXs and 3 established TNBC cell lines by in vitro cytotoxic assays and calculating the IC50. Colony formation assay was also performed in 3 dimensional matrigel matrixes to confirm in vitro cytotoxic assay results. Cell cycle analysis was done using PI staining to determine the percentage of cells in G2/M phase after Dinaciclib treatment. Apoptosis analysis was done by Annexin V and PI double staining using FACS. Effect of CDK1, CDK2, and CDK9 on cell proliferation and Dinaciclib efficacy was determined by knocking down these proteins using CRISPER-CAS plasmid. Efficacy of Dinaciclib on tumor growth inhibition was also determined in vivo by implanting PDX cell lines in nude mice. Results: All the PDXs and established breast cancer cell lines tested were sensitive to Dinaciclib as demonstrated by IC50 value ranging from 1 to 20nM. Dinaciclib effectively inhibited the colony formation in 3D culture in all the PDXs and established breast cancer cell lines at 10nM dose. Dinaciclib significantly caused cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase after 24 hours of treatment. It also caused apoptosis induction after 24 hours of treatment. Dinaciclib reduced the CyclinB1, phospho-CDK1, Survivin and MYC protein levels after 24 hour of treatment as analyzed by western blotting. Knockdown of CDK1 and CDK2 inhibited cell proliferation by 30% and 50% in MDA-MB-231 cells in vitro. Dinaciclib significantly inhibited PDX tumor growth in vivo. Conclusions: These data suggest that Dinaciclib is effective in inhibiting triple negative breast cancer growth in vitro and in vivo. Dinaciclib induced both cell cycle arrests at G2/M phase and apoptosis in breast cancer cells. Dinaciclib targets multiple proteins like CDK1, CDK2, CyclinB1 and cMYC, which can be further validated as predictive biomarkers. Dinaciclib can be used as a potential monotherapy for TNBC patients in clinics. Citation Format: Sandeep Rajput, Zhanfang Guo, Cynthia Ma. CDKs inhibitor: potential monotherapy for treatment of triple-negative breast cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3097. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3097


Design in nature is an iterative and interdependent process. Previous research shows that in some projects, 50% of this process contains waste. The Last Planner System (LPS) proved its efficiency in planning and controlling the execution phase. However, due to the nature of the design process, implementing LPS at this stage contains many constraints. Results show that the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) and LPS together can significantly improve design workflow, still some issues remain that do not let the IPD project achieve the full potential of LPS in managing a design process. In this research the main constraints are studied and divided into five categories. Recently, many researchers studied the benefits of implementing LPS and how to optimize this method, especially in the execution phase, but there is no integrated framework that contains the available tools and techniques for overcoming constraints in using LPS at the design process. This study indicates that multiple strategies need to be adopted for increasing the applicability of LPS at the design process of a construction project. This paper proposes an integrated framework for addressing design constraints and optimizing the applicability of LPS in the design process on IPD projects.


Rentability of a company reflects the level of the company's efficiency in consuming their capital. Rentability is calculated by dividing the income without interest and tax with total active. The amount of the economical rentability is often proposed by the company's ability to work with all their capital to earn profit. To know further whether the use of foreign capital have a beneficial influence the rentability of their- own capital added by the foreign capital as well as if the use of the fund is influenced by their own capital. Key Words: Economical Rentability, Company Profits


A first generation of VLTI (Very Large Telescopes Interferometer) focal instruments, AMBER in the near-infrared and MIDI in the mid-infrared, has been already integrated and tested. New and important science results have been obtained. These instruments combine two (for MIDI) or three (for AMBER) beams coming from the eight telescopes installed at Cerro Paranal (four 8-meters and four 1.8-meters telescopes). In order to improve the capabilities of the interferometer and to engage a new scientific prospective, the second generation of VLTI instruments is currently under study. MATISSE belongs to this second generation. MATISSE objective is the image reconstruction. It will extend the astrophysical potential of the VLTI by overcoming the ambiguities existing in the interpretation of simple visibility measurements. It is a spectro-interferometer combining up to four beams with a large spectral coverage ranging from 3 to 25 μm (L, M, N and Q bands). Different spectral resolutions (between 30 and 1500) are foreseen. MATISSE will measure closure phase relations thus offering an efficient capability for image reconstruction. The concept of MATISSE is presented in this paper. The recombination mode of MATISSE is similar to the AMBER beam combination, but has been adapted to the constraints specific to the mid-infrared domain.


Abstract. The transfer of atenolol and metoprolol to human breast milk was studied in 7 lactating women with hypertension. Concentrations of atenolol and metoprolol in maternal plasma and milk and in plasma of the nursed infants were determined. Blood samples were obtained from the women and from the infants during a dose interval. Milk was collected repeatedly from the left breast but only twice from the right breast. The ratio between the area under the milk concentration versus time curve (AUCm) and the area under the plasma concentration versus time curve (AUCp) in the mother varied between 2.0 and 3.1 for metoprolol and 1.1 and 3.1 for atenolol. The milk concentrations of metoprolol in the right breast were similar to those in the left breast, although the latter had been emptied more frequently. For atenolol the milk concentrations in the right breast were lower than in the left breast. The plasma concentrations of metoprolol and atenolol in the infants were negligible or below the limit of detection. Our results show that exposure of the infant to metoprolol can be minimized if nursing is not undertaken earlier than 3‐4 hours after dose intake.


The concept of text-oriented vocabulary exercises is based on Kuhn's (2000) three-step model of vocabulary teaching—receptive, reflective and productive vocabulary exercises—which focuses on working with texts. Since the production is in principle more exhausting than the reception—as can be seen from the Levels of Processing Effect—one can assume that it comes to a deeper processing in the text production and consequently exerts a positive influence on the retention performance of the learners. The main purpose of this paper is to conduct an empirical study on Iranian GFL-learners (Note 1) to demonstrate whether text production has a positive impact on the short-term, medium-term and long-term retention of the GFL-learners who have learned the new words in foreign language based on the concept of text-oriented vocabulary exercises or not. In addition, this study also has the secondary object of demonstrating the possibility of GFL-Learner's sex as well as the age having any effect on the retention performance. The results have shown that the text production has a positive effect on the short-term and medium-term retention. It could also be shown that gender exerts an influence on the medium-term retention performance of female GFL-learners. In terms of age, the result was that text production has a positive impact on the retention performance of the 30 to 40-year-old GFL-learners, enabling them to better remember the textually learned words in the short, medium and long term.


Genome‐wide association studies have identified susceptibility loci, conferring only small effects to obesity. We selected 12 from the most accepted susceptibility genes to overweight, which have been corroborated in different populations and series of thousands of adult individuals. Single‐nucleotide polymorphisms variants can have a cumulative effect on common forms of obesity, to create a genetic risk score.


Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) is currently one of the most popular Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms to sample smooth distributions over continuous state space. This paper discusses the irreducibility and geometric ergodicity of the HMC algorithm. We consider cases where the number of steps of the StörmerVerlet integrator is either fixed or random. Under mild conditions on the potential U associated with target distribution π, we first show that the Markov kernel associated to the HMC algorithm is irreducible and positive recurrent. Under more stringent conditions, we then establish that the Markov kernel is Harris recurrent. We provide verifiable conditions on U under which the HMC sampler is geometrically ergodic. Finally, we illustrate our results on several examples.


A108 MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent an exciting new class of small, regulatory biomolecules. Data to date suggests that as many as half of all genes may be regulated by miRNAs. Over the past few years, scientists have demonstrated that miRNAs play important roles in processes as diverse as early development, cell proliferation and differentiation, apoptosis and fat metabolism, and oncogenesis. Indeed, tumor-associated, differentially expressed miRNAs, termed "oncomirs," have been found in more than a half dozen different cancers and the number of known oncomirs is growing rapidly.Blood is a readily accessible tissue that carries biological material from all reaches of the body, and is the preferred clinical sample for many diagnostic tests. Blood-borne cells such as lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils contain molecular clues of infection, inflammation, and other hallmarks of disease. We hypothesize that miRNA biomarkers exist in blood, and further that these biomarkers will drive the development of future molecular diagnostics assays. However, technologies for isolating and analyzing the global miRNA profile in human whole blood are largely lacking. For example, the most widely used protocol for whole blood RNA stabilization and isolation, the PAXgene™ Blood RNA System, does not provide for the recovery of small RNA. As a result, we developed a novel methodology using PAXgene stabilized blood that enables the isolation of mature, ~21-mer miRNAs. Using microarrays, we then compared the expression levels of >380 miRNAs in blood with the miRNA profile from nearly two dozen other healthy human tissues. Outlier analysis enabled the identification of miRNAs that were relatively differentially expressed in whole blood with respect to the expression profiles from a large set of reference tissues. The implications of these findings are discussed.


Machine learning models have the potential to transform healthcare by enabling the construction of decision support systems. However, a major challenge is the lack of transparency and accountability, as many models do not provide understandable explanations for their recommendations. Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) methods aim to address this challenge by constructing and communicating explanations of how a model works and why it produces a particular output. This can help users evaluate the system and build trust in it, where appropriate. In this paper, we propose a method for explaining the relative rankings of predictions made by an XGBoost model, which involves understanding and comparing multiple predictions together. Our method uses counterfactual examples to show how changing the feature values of an entity can affect its position within the ranking defined by the model. Unlike traditional counterfactual explanations, which aim to find feature value changes that would result in a different predicted class label by meeting a fixed threshold, the proposed approach is unique in that it aims to identify changes that would bring the predictions in line with a dynamic threshold determined by other data items. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in a healthcare triage problem. Our framework for counterfactual explanation provides a powerful tool for understanding the relationships between feature values and model rankings and can help promote trans-parency and accountability in healthcare decision-making and decision support.


We simulated the dynamics of the Pi-Puppid meteoroid stream. The evolution of such a short period stream is dominated by close encounters with Jupiter. The effect is so great that it can cause the stream to split into several parts and form gaps. The difference in period of each part leads to the possibility of a meteor outburst on Earth while the parent body is at aphelion. Past observations are linked to streams ejected in the 19th and 20th century. Sometimes there are overlaps between several streams ejected at different perihelion passages of the parent body, affecting the time of maximum meteor activity. Generally speaking, observations suffer from a lack of coverage. In the 1972 and 2003 cases, only radio observations are available, and they are not in accordance with our predictions. This can be due to the radio detectors' lack of sensivity or to the poor knowledge of the efficiency of this physical process.


The development of using insecticide of organotin(IV) compound against Aedes aegypti mosquitoes have been explored and test the effectiveness of compound to prevent resistance insecticide. The aim of this research was to examine the insecticidal effect which is larvisidal and adulticidal effect two series of diphenyltin(IV) and triphenyltin(IV) alkylphenyldithiocarbamate compounds against Ae. aegypti in laboratory. Four compounds which diphenyltin(IV) ethylphenylditiocarbamate (DFEF), triphenyltin(IV) ethylphenylditiocarbamate (TFEF), diphenyltin(IV) butylphenylditiocarbamate (DFBF) and triphenyltin(IV) butylphenylditiocarbamate(DFBF) were carried out larvicidal bioassay testing against third instar larvae of Aedes aegypti. Based on activity of larvicidal testing, further study was continued to compound WHO showed the best activity larvicidal to test adulticide effect against female mosquito adults of Aedes aegypti. The results showed that TFEF compound showed the best larvicidal effect with LC50 and LC90 values of 0.082 ppm and 0.184 ppm, respectively. Therefore, TFBF compound showed a good larvicide effect with LC50 and LC90 values of 0.108 ppm and 0.273 ppm respectively. However, both of two compounds DFEF and DFBF were not a good of larvicide effect. Based on adultisial testing, TFEF compound not showed good activity of adulticidal effect with high LC50 and LC90 values which is 31,556.03 ppm and 98,427.05 ppm respectively. TFEF compound not show the good adulticide effect but it has potential to develop as larvicide. In conclusion, further study was needed to elucidate and ensure this compound will be used safely as larvicide. DOI :  http://dx.doi.org/10.17576/jskm-1201-2014-05


In a model where agents differ in wages and preferences over labor time–consumption bundles, we study labor income tax schemes that alleviate poverty. To avoid conflict with individual well-being, we require redistribution to take place between agents on both sides of the poverty line provided they have the same labor time. This requirement is combined with efficiency and robustness properties. Maximizing the resulting social preferences under incentive compatibility constraints yields the following evaluation criterion: tax schemes should minimize the labor time required to reach the poverty line. We apply this criterion to European countries and the United States. (JEL H23, H24, I31, I32, J22)


Patients with acromegaly are reported to have a 1.6 to 3.3 fold increase in the mortality rate and a 10-year reduction in their lifespan. Sleep apnea is considered the most common respiratory complication in acromegaly. The aim of our study was to evaluate the severity of sleep apnea, and its particularities, in patients with acromegaly in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. We investigated 35 patients with acromegaly, referred to our Hospital for nocturnal sleep study investigations. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome has a higher frequency in acromegalic patients. Sleep apnea symptoms were more frequent in women; severity was correlated with age, Epworth Scale, heart rate and with mean nocturnal oxigen saturation, diabetes mellitus. Comorbidities are common both in sleep apnea syndome and in acromegaly, contributing to a higher mortality rate. Therefore, sleep studies are mandatory for all patients with acromegaly and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.


The most important problem of the Russian tourism industry is the lack of consumer interest in domestic tourism services due to the existing negative customer experience and the lack of a value proposition that meets the real needs of consumers. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the importance of customer experience and the formation of a value proposition in the digital environment, to strengthen domestic tourism in Russia based on the results of a field study. To achieve this goal, the article presents the results of a selective marketing research by the survey method, which revealed causal relationships between the planned travel expenses of the population and the number of family members, the duration of the trip and the purpose of the trip, and also determined the influence of the independent variables "purchase condition" and "rest condition" on the planning of expenses of families with children. Calculations were made based on the methods of the theories of marketing research, strategic marketing and consumer behavior. Based on the results of the study of the customer experience of consumers, three target segments were identified, a portrait of consumers of each segment was described based on demographic, social and psychographic criteria, and a concept of strategic positioning was proposed. Based on the positioning of the service, a value proposition has been formed in each segment.


INTRODUCTION
This study was aimed to assess the ratio of total cholesterol (TC) to high-density density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) and plasma nitrate levels in patients with ischemic nephropathy receiving statins and niacin extended release (NER).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Kidney disease patients with a history of at least 5 year of diabetes mellitus or 10 year of hypertension were screened by renal artery Doppler ultrasonography. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups to receive atorvastatin, 20 mg/d, with and without NER, 500 mg/d, for 16 weeks. Serum levels of lipid profile, creatinine, and nitrate were compared before and after the study.

RESULTS
Fifty-four patients received the statin and 51 received statin-NER combination. Both statin and statin-NER groups demonstrated significant decreases in plasma levels of TC and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Triglyceride and very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were significantly lowered only with statin-NER combination. The increase in HDLC level was found in both groups, but significant only with statin-NER combination therapy (P < .001). Atorvastatin combined with NER reduced TC/HDLC ratio almost double as compared with that of atorvastatin alone (102% and 36.6% reduction, respectively). A similar pattern was observed for nitrate levels (33% and 65%, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
These findings indicated that a reduction in TC/HDLC ratio improves endothelial function in renovascular disease and use of NER in combination with atorvastatin may provide better outcomes. This could be helpful in attenuating further vascular damage and associated systemic complications.


A fractional-order controller will be proposed to regulate the inlet oxygen into the heart-lung machine. An analytical approach will be explained to satisfy some requirements together with practical implementation of some restrictions for the first time. Primarily a nonlinear single-input single-output (SISO) time-delay model which was obtained previously in the literature is introduced for the oxygen generation process in the heart-lung machine system and we will complete it by adding some new states to control it. Thereafter, the system is linearized using the state feedback linearization approach to find a third-order time-delay dynamics. Consequently classical PID and fractional order PIλDµ controllers are gained to assess the quality of the proposed technique. A set of optimal parameters of those controllers are achieved through the genetic algorithm optimization procedure throughminimizing a cost function. Our design method focuses onminimizing some famous performance criterions such as IAE, ISE, and ITSE. In the genetic algorithm, the controller parameters are chosen as a random population. The best relevant values are achieved by reducing the cost function. A time-domain simulation signifies the performance of PIλDµ controller with respect to a traditional optimized PID controller.


We have been developed a video camera system using an electrically-controllable liquid crystal polarizing filter for television program production, which can quickly reduce undesirable reflected light from a window pane or watery surface, by automatically judging the polarization state of incident light from the change in video signal intensity. More than 80% of linearly-polarized incident light is removable by this method for all incident polarization angles. The time required for detecting and reducing reflected light is approximately 0.3s in our system. The drastic reduction of polarized light reflected from glass and watery surfaces was demonstrated, and object images obscured by bright reflected light were clearly captured in an instant.


Although trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMZ) has become a standard agent for the treatment of a broad range of infections, it may often be overlooked as a choice for treatment of serious hospital-acquired infections. A review of the literature shows that a number of common and uncommon gram-negative and gram-positive organisms susceptible to TMP-SMZ are frequently resistant to cephalosporins. TMP-SMZ has, in addition to its exceptional microbiologic activity, pharmacokinetic characteristics that make it a potentially cost-effective alternative to third-generation cephalosporins in the treatment of serious hospital-acquired infections caused by susceptible organisms.


Exploratory study with qualitative approach that had as its main objective to identify the conception of the health professionals about Psychosocial Rehabilitation from a reference Center for the treatment of alcohol and other drugs related problems. The sample consisted of eleven health professionals with an academic degree, submitted to semi-structured interviews. The data analysis was made according to the hermeneutic dialectic method which originated the Psychosocial Rehabilitation category. The data demonstrated that in the professional's conception, the Psychosocial Rehabilitation is given in the realization of therapeutic workshops, outdoor activities, and the estabilishment of a partnership with other foundations. It is concluded that the concept of Psychosocial Rehabilitation that was made clear in the conception of these subjects is still associated to the traditional psychiatric model, which is attached to the logic of social normality, the main challenge to the psychosocial model of assistance to the alcohol and other drugs users.


Fifty-five cases of post-traumatic intracerebral haematomas are analyzed, discussing the diagnostic value of such preliminary methods as plain skull films, EEG, echoencephalography. These methods, together with clinical findings make the diagnosis of intracerebral haematoma likely. The final diagnosis was based on carotid arteriography and computerized tomography of the brain, which provided additional information on traumatic brain damage. The diagnostic sensitivity of CT was higher. The considerable prognostic importance of the degree of consciousness disturbances and their duration is stressed. In the group of patients with lucidum intervallum the mortality was higher. Four patients were treated conservatively since CT demonstrated in them only small haematomas without displacement of the ventricles. The remaining patients were treated surgically removing the haematomas through craniotomy or craniectomy. In 54% of these cases improvement was obtained. The 33% mortality was moderate as compared with previous reports.


In this article,the author makes a study of the ancient Chinese P.E.influenced by the Confucianism in terms of the social value emphasized by the ancient P.E.,the developing limitations of its morals and regulations as well as its developing trend.And such valuable elements as the integration of its sociality and its class nature,the strengthening of its supervision system,the perfection of its legal system and the improvement of individual's cultural quality etc.provide the available materials for solving the problems exist in modern P.E.education and its sustainable development.


PURPOSE
Precise radiation therapy for abdominal lesions is complicated by respiratory motion and poor soft tissue contrast from 4DCT whereas 4DMRI provides superior tissue discrimination. We evaluated a novel 4D-MRI algorithm for MR-SIM motion management.

METHODS
Respiratory-triggered, T2-weighted single-shot Turbo Spin Echo 4D-MRI was evaluated for open high-field 1.0T MR-SIM. A programmable platform pulled objects on a trolley ∼2 cm superior-inferior (S-I) for "regular" (sinusoidal, (1-cos2 ), 3-5 second periods) and "irregular" breathing patterns (exaggerated (1-cos2 ) and patient curves), while a respiratory waveform was generated via a pressure sensor device. Coronal 4D-MRIs (2-12;10 phases, TE/TR/α = 35-61/6100 ms/90°, voxel=1×1×4 mm3 ) were acquired for 54 unique phantom cases. Abdominal 4D-MRIs were evaluated for 5 healthy volunteers and 1 liver cancer patient (6-10 phases, TE/TR/α = 30-96/4500-6100 ms/90°, voxel=1×1×5-10 mm3 ) on an IRB-approved protocol. Duty cycle, scan time, and excursion were evaluated between phase acquisitions and compared to coronal cine-MRI (∼1 frame/sec). Maximum intensity projections (MIPs) were analyzed.

RESULTS
In phantom, average duty cycle was 42.6 ± 11.4% (range: 23.6-69.1%). Regular, periodic breathing (sinusoidal, (1-cos2 )) yielded higher duty cycles than irregular (48.5% and 35.9%, respectively, p<0.001) and fast periods had higher duty cycles than slow (50.4% for 3s and 39.4% for 5s, p<0.001). ∼4-fold acquisition time increase was measured for 10-phase versus 2-phase. MIP renderings revealed that SI object extent was underestimated a maximum of 4% (3mm) and 8% (6mm) for cine and 2-phase 4D-MRI, respectively, with respect to 10-phases. However, this was waveform dependent. A highly irregular breathing volunteer yielded lowest duty cycle (23%) and longest 10-phase scan time (∼14 minutes), although 6-phase acquisition for a liver cancer patient was reasonable (50% and 7.4 minutes, respectively).

CONCLUSION
4D-MRI offers potential for excursion characterization, although results suggest the use of adequate phases is important. Further application and clinical validation are warranted. Research supported in part by a grant from Philips HealthCare (Best, Netherlands) and an Internal Mentored Grant from Henry Ford Health System.


In this paper we describe I-Subdue, an extension to the Subdue graph-based data mining system. I-Subdue operates over sequentially received relational data to incrementally discover the most representative substructures. The ability to incrementally refine discoveries from serially acquire d data is important for many applications, particularly as computer systems become more integrated into human lives as interactive assistants. This paper describes initial wo rk to overcome the challenge of locally optimal substructures overshadowing those that are globally optimal. We conclude by providing an overview of additional challenges for sequential structure discovery.


OBJECTIVE
To ascertain determinants of an interest in a career in ENT surgery through a survey of medical students and junior doctors.

METHODS
A survey was administered, comprising Likert scales, forced response and single option questions, and free text responses, at five different courses or events for those interested in a career in ENT.

RESULTS
The survey had an 87 per cent response rate; respondents consisted of 43 applicants for national selection, 15 foundation doctors and 23 medical students. The most important factors that encourage ENT as a career included: the variety of operative procedures, work-life balance, inherent interest in this clinical area and inspirational senior role models. Exposure to ENT in undergraduate or post-graduate training is critical in deciding to pursue this specialty.

CONCLUSION
It is important to promote those aspects of ENT surgery that attract people to it, and to argue for greater exposure to ENT during undergraduate and post-graduate training.


This paper introduces the potential-function based method for secondary (as well as tertiary) control of a microgrid, in both islanded and grid-connected modes. A potential function is defined for each controllable unit of the microgrid such that the minimum of the potential function corresponds to the control goal. The dynamic set points are updated, using communication within the microgrid. The proposed potential function method is applied for the secondary voltage control of two microgrids with single and multiple feeders. Both islanded and grid-connected modes are investigated. The studies are conducted in the time-domain, using the PSCAD/EMTDC software environment. The study results demonstrate feasibility of the proposed potential function method and viability of the secondary voltage control method for a microgrid.


Insurance refers as a contract in which the insured transfers risk of potential loss to the insurer who promises to compensate the former upon suffering loss. The promise is called the insurer and the promise is called the insured. Insurance premium is the monetary consideration paid by the insured to the insurer for the cover granted by the insurance policy. The objective of the present study is to investigate the factors affecting efficiency of insurance companies operating in India. The target population of the study was 24 public and private life insurance companies and four important financial ratios. For which 10 years audited financial statements of the companies from 2009 to 2019 was studied for analysis. The secondary data were collected by reviewing of financial statements and related published and unpublished materials to achieve the objective of this study.


This study was conducted at a hospital in Kigali, Rwanda. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the quality of nursing care documentation of hospitalised patients and its effectiveness in one hospital in Rwanda. The sample included 45 patient document files. Twenty files were sampled from medical departments and twenty-five were selected from surgical departments. A quality measurement checklist was used to assess the data. The data showed that nurses focus on the medical prescription charts more than they did on the nursing care plans. According to the research findings, just under half (48.7%) of the records were kept in permanent form. It was found that large percentages (68%) of patients' vital signs were not taken on admission. The study found that the patients' pupil reaction, skin colour and mental states were not recorded on admission.
It was found in this study that all (100%) of the documents contained patients' assessments of their basic needs within 24 hours of their admission to the hospital. This was despite the large number of the emergency cases admitted to the hospital.
The patients' parameters were not taken regularly nor were they recorded on the observation charts. The data further showed that there was no effectiveness of the patients' documents since they were neither properly completed nor utilised.


This paper presents a computer simulation of the genesis of Mauritian Creole. The input consists of detailed demographic data and typological information on Mauritian as well as the languages which contributed to its birth. The simulation is deliberately a simplistic one – the idea is to have as few potentially controversial assumptions as possible built into the model, and add additional parameters only to the extent that its output differs from the real-world result. As it turns out, the model generates a language which is highly similar to Mauritian as it is spoken today, and thus, very little "tweaking" seems necessary. Most notably, the model produces the desired result without the postulation of targeted language acquisition, and while one cannot conclude that this was not a part of the creolisation process, our simulation suggests that it is not a necessary assumption.


The adoption of improved potato technologies is vital for increasing potato productivity and farmers' income. Thus, this study attemptedto analyse the farm level adoption of improved potato technologies and also to identify
 the adoption constraints faced by farmers. The survey was conducted in Bulandshahar and Meerut districts of Uttar Pradesh by interviewing 85 randomly selected potato growers. The results revealed that there was very low adoption of some technologies
 and majority of farmers have medium level of adoption, which could be improved by organizing various extension activities like trainings, demonstrations, etc. There was very high incidence and intensity of adoption of improved varieties in the study
 locales; however, larger area was under old varieties, which should be replaced by new varieties that give higher yields and market demands.Government should take measures to ensure regular supply of quality seeds at prices affordable by all farmers'
 categories, since majority of farmers obtained seeds from non-reliable sources. Finally, the study recommended that emphasis should be put more on serious constraints like lack of credit, subsidy and trainings, high cost/unavailability of labor,
 production inputs and quality seeds, heavy incidence of diseases and insects, low market price and price fluctuation, for speedy dissemination and adoption of improved potato production technologies.


This paper lays out a semi-automatic approach to identifying regional variation in the grammar of Standard German. Our approach takes as input manually defined templates of grammatical constructions that are automatically instantiated over a corpus collected from regional newspapers. These instantiations are automatically ranked by a metric that quantifies how specific an instantiation is for a region. Ranked lists of instantiations are compiled that contain instantiations specific to a region and are scanned manually by linguists to identify those that denote grammatical variants of Standard German. This approach enabled us to discover variants that so far have not been documented. With respect to research on variation within standard languages as seen from a more general perspective, we aim to contribute towards research strategies that clearly rely on empiricism rather than on intuition or bias.


The physical properties of the various phases of iron have been the subject of numerous of numerous theoretical and experimental investigations. Of particular interest is the appearance of the fcc {gamma}-phase between approximately 1,200 K and 1,670 K. The authors were able to growth in situ single crystals of fcc iron of sufficient size to perform an inelastic neutron scattering study of the lattice dynamics of this phase of iron. The phonon dispersion curves along the [00{xi}],[{xi}{xi}0] and [{xi}{xi}{xi}] symmetry directions were measured at 1,428 K. A limited number of phonons were also measured at 1,227 K and 1,640 K to assess the temperature dependence of the phonon frequencies. The data collected at 1,428 K were used to evaluate the elastic constants, the phonon density of states and the lattice contribution to the specific heat. The measured dispersion curves of {gamma}-Fe are qualitatively similar to those of Ni (measured at 296 K) and Ni{sub 0.3}Fe{sub 0.7} (measured at 296 and 573 K).


ABSTRACT For three decades, studies have demonstrated the therapeutic efficacy of perfluorocarbon (PFC) in reducing the onset of decompression trauma. However, none of these emulsion-based preparations are accepted for therapeutic use in the western world, mainly because of severe side effects and a long organ retention time. A new development to guarantee a stable dispersion without these disadvantages is the encapsulation of PFC in nanocapsules with an albumin shell. Purpose Newly designed albumin-derived perfluorocarbon-based artificial oxygen carriers (A-AOC) are used in a rodent in vivo model as a preventive therapy for decompression sickness (DCS). Methods Thirty-seven rats were treated with A-AOC (n = 12), albumin nanocapsules filled with neutral oil (A-O-N, n = 12), or 5% human serum albumin solution (A-0-0, n = 13) before a simulated dive. Eleven rats, injected with A-AOC, stayed at normal pressure (A-AOC surface). Clinical, laboratory, and histological evaluations were performed. Results The occurrence of DCS depended on the treatment group. A-AOC significantly reduced DCS appearance and mortality. Furthermore, a significant improvement of survival time was found (A-AOC compared with A-0-0). Histological assessment of A-AOC-dive compared with A-0-0-dive animals revealed significantly higher accumulation of macrophages, but less blood congestion in the spleen and significantly less hepatic circulatory disturbance, vacuolization, and cell damage. Compared with nondiving controls, lactate and myoglobin showed a significant increase in the A-0-0- but not in the A-AOC-dive group. Conclusion Intravenous application of A-AOC was well tolerated and effective in reducing the occurrence of DCS, and animals showed significantly higher survival rates and less symptoms compared with the albumin group (A-0-0). Analysis of histological results and fast reacting plasma parameters confirmed the preventive properties of A-AOC.


The rapid increase in the number of higher education institutions (HEI), students, accessibility to information and communication technology (ICT) and internet penetration after 1989 and a low level of copyright and intellectual property rights awareness contributed to the growth of plagiarism at HEIs in Slovakia. In 2008, the Ministry of Education decided to establish a common national repository for bachelor, master, dissertation, rigorous and habilitation theses. The amendment to the HEI Act dated 2009 stipulates that every thesis or dissertation of a HEI operating under the Slovak legal order shall be sent to the central repository and undergo the originality check before it is defended. The originality check of every new thesis is made against the national repository, as well as against other resources, primarily the internet ones. From 2010 to the end of March 2013, more than 235 thousand theses and dissertations have gone through this process. The quality of the solution (organisational and technical) meets the expectations and has a positive impact on the academic community. This paper describes the implementation of the Central Repository of Theses and Dissertations and of the Plagiarism Detection System into practice and the experience from their operation. It also analyses the impacts of the implementation on HEIs, feedback and reactions of the academia and the public, and provides recommendations regarding the prevention and detection of plagiarism. It also addresses the growth in the number of internet texts and texts in media containing the term plagiatorstvo (plagiarism) and the growth of search hits (search frequency) for this term in the period 2002-2012.


A full-scale instrumented test embankment (40 m diameter, 6.7 m height, applied load 104 kPa) was constructed at the site of Treporti, typical of the highly stratified, predominantly silty deposits of the Venice lagoon. DMT results at Treporti and comparisons of DMT-predicted vs measured settlements, indicating good agreement, have been presented by Marchetti et al. (2004). This paper concentrates mainly on the comparison of moduli obtained by DMT and from back-analysis of the test embankment performance. The moduli comparisons were carried out not only when the load was fully applied, but also at various stages during loading. In this way it was possible to reconstruct the in situ curves of decay of soil stiffness with strain level. Such curves were backfigured from vertical strains measured at 1 m depth intervals under the increasing loads throughout the embankment construction. The comparison of these curves with datapoints corresponding to DMT constrained moduli (MDMT) indicates that MDMT can be possibly associated to a strain range εv ≈ 0.1 to 1 %, 0.5 % on average. This finding may help for the development of methods for deriving in situ decay curves of soil stiffness with strain level from seismic dilatometer (SDMT).


PURPOSE
To simplify the fitting of bitoric rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses.

METHODS
We prescribed bitoric RGP lenses using two kinds of diagnostic lenses at random. One type of lens was a diagnostic polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) spherical lens and the other was a diagnostic RGP bitoric lens.

RESULTS
The bitoric RGP lenses that were prescribed using a diagnostic bitoric lens required fewer parameter changes compared with the bitoric RGP lens prescribed using a diagnostic PMMA spherical lens.

CONCLUSIONS
The diagnostic RGP bitoric lens simplifies the prescription of bitoric RGP lenses and is very useful in fitting astigmatic corneas.


The Port of Rotterdam is expanding to meet the growing demand to accommodate large cargo vessels. The construction of Maasvlakte 2 (MV2) started in September 2008. One of the licensing conditions is the monitoring of the underwater sound produced during its construction, with an emphasis on the establishment of acoustic source levels of the trailing suction hopper dredgers (TSHDs) during their various activities: dredging, transport and discharge of sediment. TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research) Sonar and Acoustics carried out measurement and analysis activities for this monitoring. During an initial measurement campaign in September 2008, background measurements were performed in the absence of dredging. Source level and background sound measurements were made in the dredging area while MV2 dredging activities were underway in September 2009. In a final phase of the study, possible effects of underwater sound on marine fauna were considered for scenarios with and without dredgers. In this article, the principal results of the research are described and discussed in the context of the effects predicted in the Environmental Impact Assessment.