ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to report the results of an investigation of the impact of online quizzing on accounting majors' examination performance in the second intermediate accounting course. Specifically, course sections with no quizzes, post-lecture quizzes, and a combination of pre- and post-lecture quizzes are compared. The data are based on 666 students completing Intermediate Accounting II at a large public university in the United States. Results suggest that using both pre- and post-lecture quizzes can lead to improved student preparation, increased student participation during class discussions, more effective use of lecture time, and significant improvement in students' performance on subsequent examinations. Significant interactions between GPA and the presence of pre- and post-lecture quizzes indicate that the effectiveness of specific quiz formats is contingent upon student aptitude level. Students with low GPAs benefit more from the addition of post-lecture quizzes, while stude...


Disassembly is one of the crucial issues for the green remanufacturing of obsolete CNC machine tools. Meanwhile, modular design method is the guarantee of disassembly rationality, which can maximize economic and environmental benefits. However, modular disassembly processes of CNC machine tools are more uncertainty in system structures and component conditions. On the basis of summarizing the existing research, disassembly module modeling of CNC machine tools is implemented. For one advantage, the rough set theory is utilized to cluster the parts into different disassembly modules. For another, disassembly information model is constructed by the disassembly multi-constrained graph. Secondly, multi-objective mathematical model which contains disassembly time, disassembly benefit and disassembly complexity is built. A novel particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSOA) improved by niche technology is applied to the disassembly sequence planning. Last but not least, this work also evaluates the disassembly scheme of CNC machine tools based on the technology for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS). Evaluation indicator system is established and the comprehensive weight of evaluation indicators is determined by the respective advantages of entropy weight method (EWM) and analytic hierarchy process (AHP). A case study is conducted to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed models and methods. The results of this work can contribute to the selection of the optimal modular disassembly scheme of CNC machine tools.


A logical zonotope, which is a new set representation for binary vectors, is introduced in this paper. A logical zonotope is constructed by XOR-ing a binary vector with a combination of other binary vectors called generators. Such a zonotope can represent up to 2^n binary vectors using only n generators. It is shown that logical operations over sets of binary vectors can be performed on the zonotopes' generators and, thus, significantly reduce the computational complexity of various logical operations (e.g., XOR, NAND, AND, OR, and semi-tensor products). Similar to traditional zonotopes' role in the formal verification of dynamical systems over real vector spaces, logical zonotopes can efficiently analyze discrete dynamical systems defined over binary vector spaces. We illustrate the approach and its ability to reduce the computational complexity in two use cases: (1) encryption key discovery of a linear feedback shift register and (2) safety verification of a road traffic intersection protocol.


A CMOS three-stage ring oscillator is examined in UMC 0.18μm technology. The influence of resistor and PMOS transistor, as inverter feedbacks, on the ring oscillator frequency and the peak-to-peak amplitude is investigated. Simulation results showed that by varying the feedback transistor control voltage from 0 to Vdd, the ring oscillating frequency can be controlled in the range of 1.46 GHz for the three PMOS transistor feedbacks topology, 0.86 GHz in the two feedbacks architecture, and 0.36 GHz (the best case) in the one feedback ring oscillator design. In the case of ring oscillator design with three resistive feedbacks, the working frequency is decreased from 5.6 GHz to 3.92 GHz, for the resistance changes from 0.5 kΩ to 4 kΩ. Moreover, the maximum frequency obtained in the latter case is significantly higher than 3.77 GHz achieved without any feedback.


Evaluation of: Aarntzen EH, De Vries IJ, Lesterhuis WJ et al. Targeting CD4(+) T-helper cells improves the induction of antitumor responses in dendritic cell-based vaccination. Cancer Res. 73(1), 19-29 (2012). The induction of antitumor immune responses in patients is one of the most sought-after goals in cancer treatment. The proposed clinical approach is to use autologous mature dendritic cells (DCs) loaded with class I peptides from tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), as DCs are the most efficient immune cells to generate strong and specific cytotoxic CD8(+) T-lymphocyte (CTL) responses. To optimize DC-based cancer vaccines, Aarntzen et al. evaluated the necessity to stimulate TAA-specific CD4(+) T-helper cells to reinforce antitumor CTL responses. They demonstrated that intranodal injection of DCs pulsed with class I- and II-restricted TAA epitopes increases TAA-specific CTL responses and induces better clinical responses in stage III/IV melanoma patients than the use of DCs pulsed with class I-restricted TAA epitopes alone. This study highlights the interest of concomitant stimulation of TAA-specific CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells for DC-based antitumor immunotherapy.


Adhesion of ice, or ice-bonding phenomenon, at temperatures below 0° C was studied from the viewpoint of sintering. The growth rate of necks between ice spheres having radii R < 100 ? was measured in both saturated air and kerosene environments. The results showed that ice-bonding, or adhesion, takes place as a result of solid diffusion. Many photomicrographs of ice-bonds were taken by making use of thin-section technique. DOI: 10.1111/j.2153-3490.1961.tb00082.x


This MRP addresses the rhetoric used in regard to veganism by analyzing comments made within forums on the social media platform Reddit. It focuses on analyzing the rhetoric used by individuals who follow a vegan diet, as well as the response rhetoric from those who are anti-vegan and/or do not follow a vegan diet. This MRP also addresses the stigma present towards vegans and veganism as a whole. In addition, this MRP discusses why social media is being used to investigate vegan rhetoric and what strategies both sides of the veganism debate use to advocate their viewpoint. The objective of this MRP is to examine the normalization and stigmatization of veganism online as well as the role that the rhetoric surrounding veganism plays for both vegans and non-vegans on social media. The literature review addresses the overarching themes of vegan rhetoric, with a focus on the differing rhetoric used by vegans and non-vegans. Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) was used as a theoretical framework for addressing the research questions. The study explores the normalization and stigmatization of veganism online and examines the potential for rhetorical consistencies and patterns that can be found within the rhetoric surrounding veganism on an online forum. The findings reveal that veganism is both stigmatized and normalized online. The analyses demonstrate that veganism is stigmatized more than it is normalized. Rhetorical consistencies and patterns were found to be commonly used by both parties to support their position in the veganism debate including strategies involving environmental, health, and ethical rhetoric. In future studies, it would be of interest to expand the data collection in order to find evolving keywords and patterns surrounding online vegan rhetoric.


The purpose of the study is to reveal the influence of European bison (Bison bonasus) on flora and vegetation change in Krasnikovsky forestry of "Orlovskoe Polesie" national park. In August-September of 2019, floristic and geobotanical studies of flora and vegetation were carried out at self-feeding stations, in the locations of salt licks, as well as in the bisons' passage points in Krasnikovsky forestry of "Orlovskoe Polesie" national park. There were identified 142 species of vascular plants of 9 phytocenotic formations according to G. Zozulin's classification: nemoral, birch forest, helobious grass, alder, boreal-willow, boreal forest, pine forest, meadow and anthropogenic. The number of phytocenotic groups and the percentage of species in each of them varied. A direct relationship was established between the time of self-feeding stations formation and the participation of non-forest species in the corresponding phytocenoses: the earlier self-feeding station was formed, the higher the participation percentage in the coen of non-forest species. When assessing geobotanical descriptions according to the Ramensky's pasture digression ecological scale it was revealed that the greatest digression degree is observed in the locations of self-feeding stations: from a moderate influence of grazing (semi-pasture stage, 5 points) to a weak influence of grazing (hay stage, 4.5 points). In places adjacent to feeding self-feeding stations, or bisons' passages, a weak influence of grazing was noted, a haying stage (3.7-4.0 points). In the places solonetzic soil locations, the influence of grazing does not affect (2 points) or there is a weak influence of grazing, haying stage (3-4 points).


Quantitative data on the carbonate constituents of the early Viruan ('Middle Ordovician') Segerstad Limestone of Sweden are given, based on modal ana lyses of thin sections. The grain size of the sediment transgressed the boundary between carbonate mud mixed with skeletal sand (micritic calcarenite), and skeletal sand mixed with carbonate mud (calcarenitic calcilutite). Increase in grain size is largely due to the increase in the abundance of echinoderm particles.

The term ostraconzass is introduced for the total mass of the skeletal material produced by the organisms in a given area at a given time. The composition of the skeletal sand is completely different from that of the macrofossils in the same beds. The originally aragonitic grains constitute only one to ten per cent of the skeletal sand. This supports suggestions that during the early Palaeozoic the aragonite-calcite ratio of the ostracomass was low. Attention is drawn to some observations which indicate that the aragonite-calcite ratio of skeletal sand in the modern temperate marine shallow-water environment may be considerably lower than in tropical and subtropical seas.


The efficacy of prehysterectomy curettage in ruling out an endometrial cancer was evaluated in three ways. First, by an evaluation of the extent of routine prehysterectomy curettage; second, by the assessment of the clinicians' ability to recognize endometrial cancer on the basis of curettings; and third, by evaluating the presence of a gross endometrial lesion in those uteri removed without a preoperative diagnosis of an endometrial maligancy. It was concluded that the examination of the opened excised uterus was more valuable than prehysterectomy curettage for the operative diagnosis of an endometrial malignancy.


Phenomenology is not without its problems when trying to explore, describe and invoke issues of embodiment. Philosophical discourses of phenomenology, in particular those instigated by the Franco-German philosophical tradition in the 20 th century, have been critiqued by feminist scholars for their failures to fully acknowledge the situatedness of the bodies from which phenomenology begins to speak: this is particularly apparent in the writing of Iris Marion Young, or of Judith Butler. Those feminist critiques of phenomenology might extend so far as to a critique of the situated bodily sensorium that the figure of the phenomenologist takes on when writing about phenomenology. Film phenomenology, with its particular calls to the faculties of sight, sound, movement and touch, seems to take this bodily problem one step further. This paper sets out to explore the relationships and contacts between a film phenomenology that rethinks the sensorium beyond the audiovisual, and the persistent issue of situated bodiliness, in particular with regard to differently abled bodies. More specifically again, it aims to explore embodied representations of deafness in Jacques Audiard's 2003 film, Sur mes levres (read my lips). Drawing on recent work in disability studies and performance studies (Kuppers, 2003; Siebers, 2010), and phenomenological theories of embodiment (Sobchack 2004), this paper engages with the ethics of the presentation of a body that experiences sound differently. Beyond the ethics of representation, it also returns to Michel Chion's claim that film is primarily an art of sound, to challenge the bodily-normative implications of such a claim, and to examine the possibilities that a film-phenomenology of deafness might have for rethinking cinema's connections to the embodied sensorium.


Application of limit state approach for the reliability analysis of building performance in the context of building physics characteristics is presented. Analysis of the probability of surface condensation on windows carried out on the basis of statistical description of the climatic parameters and the moisture production is shown as an example of application of this technique for reliability analysis of moisture performance of a building component. The first-order reliability method (FORM) is employed to estimate the probability of performance failure. The results of probabilistic approximations are verified with the help of statistical analysis of the results obtained from deterministic simulations.


Motion detection in the video is one of the development of pattern recognition science. The motion detection processing to detect moving objects in video. Motion detection of one object on the video avi video is focused to detecting the operation area of  moving objects in video avi with the concept  separate moving objects with background. Operations used in the motion detection process is operations in image processing. Stages of motion detection process begins with reading avi video, convert  video to grayscale image in every frame, from grayscale image each frame is convert to binary image, then look for black and white areas that differentiate  between object with the background in each frame, the data area take is the pixel coordinate data for the initial and final pixels of each row and column pixel matrix, the data obtained is used to determine the height and width of the object in each frame. Restricted area in each frame is made by placing the rectangle on the area based on the coordinate matrix and the height and width of the object.


Atypical odontalgia is a commonly misdiagnosed condition that frequently leads to unnecessary dental treatments such as extraction and endodontic therapy. These treatments often worsen the pain. Despite greater recognition and understanding of this condition, proper diagnosis and treatment remains a challenge. It is believed that atypical odontalgia is a neuropathic condition. This article updates the current understanding of the etiology and pathophysiology of atypical odontalgia, and provides appropriate diagnostic and management approaches for this condition.


Risk-aversion has generally been found to decrease in income. This may lead one to expect that poor countries will be more risk-averse than rich countries. Recent comparative findings with students, however, suggest the opposite, giving rise to a risk-income paradox. This paper tests this paradox by measuring the risk preferences of more than 500 household heads spread over the highlands of Ethiopia and finds high degrees of risk tolerance. The paper also finds risk tolerance to increase in income proxies, thus completing the paradox. Using exogenous proxies, the paper concludes that part of the causality must run from income to risk tolerance. The findings suggest that risk preferences cannot be blamed for the failure to adopt new technologies. Alternative explanations are discussed.


Chemical composition and porosity characteristics of calcium silicate-based endodontic cements are important determinants of their clinical performance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the chemical composition and porosity characteristics of various calcium silicate-based endodontic cements: MTA-angelus, Bioaggregate, Biodentine, Micromega MTA, Ortho MTA, and ProRoot MTA. The specific surface area, pore volume, and pore diameter were measured by the porosimetry analysis of N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms. Chemical composition and powder analysis by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were also carried out on these endodontic cements. Biodentine and MTA-angelus showed the smallest pore volume and pore diameter, respectively. Specific surface area was the largest in MTA-angelus. SEM and EDS analysis showed that Bioaggregate and Biodentine contained homogenous, round and small particles, which did not contain bismuth oxide.


For quantitation of the apparent interaction between human anti-blood group A (anti-A) antibodies and radioiodinated purified carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a radio-immunoassay utilizing molecular sieve chromatography was devised. By the use of this procedure the following observations were made: ( a ) the majority of human sera that contain anti-A antibodies are capable of binding to radioiodinated purified CEA; ( b ) this binding is due predominantly to immunoglobulin M moieties in the sera and thus confirms observations made by radioimmunoelectrophoresis; ( c ) inhibition studies demonstrated that immunoglobulin M anti-A antibodies are capable of binding to a site, or sites, present on purified CEA.

On the basis of these findings it is concluded that there exists a blood group A-like site on the CEA molecule capable of being recognized by anti-A antibodies.


Unmet needs in prostate cancer drug development and patient management are the ability to monitor treatment effects and to identify therapeutic targets in a tumor at the time treatment is being considered. This review focuses on establishing analytically valid biomarkers for specific contexts of use in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), emphasizing a biomarker currently in clinical use, circulating tumor cells (CTC). The FDA Critical Path provides a road map for these investigations, which, if followed, will facilitate the incorporation of these types of assays into clinical decision-making. CTC enumeration at baseline and post-treatment is prognostic of survival, with no threshold effect, and the shedding of cells into the circulation represents an intrinsic property of the tumor, distinct from extent of disease. The clinical utility of monitoring CTC changes with treatment, as an efficacy-response surrogate biomarker of survival, is currently being tested in large phase III trials, with the novel antiandrogen therapies abiraterone acetate and MDV3100. Molecular determinants can be identified and characterized in CTCs as potential predictive biomarkers of tumor sensitivity to a therapeutic modality. Additionally, we discuss novel technologies to enrich and characterize CTCs from more patients, the potential clinical uses of CTCs in determining prognosis and monitoring treatment effects, and CTCs as a source of tissue to identify predictive markers of drug sensitivity to guide treatment selection. Prospective studies, designed around the biomarker itself and the specific clinical context for which it is applied, are needed to further assess the role of these and novel markers in clinical practice. Clin Cancer Res; 17(12); 3903–12. ©2011 AACR.


This paper presents a finite element physics‐based power diode model with parameters established through an extraction procedure validated experimentally. The model core is a numerical module that solves the ambipolar diffusion equation through a variational formulation followed by an approximate solution with the finite element method. Other zones of the device are modeled with classical methods in an analytical module. This hybrid approach enables accurate modeling and simulation of power bipolar semiconductor devices, using standard SPICE circuit simulators, with low execution times. As physics‐based models need a significant number of parameters, an automatic parameter extraction method has been developed. The procedure, based on an optimization algorithm (simulated annealing), enables an efficient extraction of parameters using some simple device waveform measurements. Implementation details of power diode model, in IsSpice simulator, are presented. Experimental validation is performed. Results prove the usefulness of the proposed methodology for efficient design of power circuits through simulation. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The future directions of navicular disease research are unclear. Often researchers investigate only one of the multitude of factors likely to be important in understanding the disease. Two exceptions to this is work done by Wright in this issue of EVJ and by MacGregor (1988) who compared a number of the treatment regimens (e.g. rest, warfarin, isoxsuprine, shoeing with egg bars) and found that approximately 75% of the horses improved in their performance. Perhaps this percentage of 'recovered' horses from this disease is what can be realistically expected, as often horses with navicular disease remain undiagnosed until the disease has advanced to the stage where problems exist in the foot or to where the conformation-balance of the hoof is irrecoverable. Perhaps the key to controlling the disease is prevention by maintaining good overall hoof husbandry in a conservative and consistent manner. I would advocate that efforts be made to evaluate hoof 'balance' and the validity of the hoof wall-pastern axis being parallel, as these are clearly of importance in this debilitating disease.


Abstract– Henderson's model of the structure of bacteriorhodopsin has been completed by adding the missing loop regions and by subsequent energy minimization and equilibration (for about 100 ps) at 300 K. Analysis of the structure during a later 20 ps molecular dynamics run showed no significant deviations from the Henderson model. In situ isomerization reactions of the retinal chromophore in bacteriorhodopsin have then been simulated to investigate the chromophore protein interaction for the three isomerization reactions: (i) all‐trans→ 13‐cis; (ii)all‐trans→ 13,14‐dicis; and (iii) all‐trans→ 13,15‐dicis. We find that reaction (iii) which accompanies dark‐adaptation of bacteriorhodopsin can proceed in the binding site without any sterical hinderance and involves negligible motions of the covalently bound Lys‐216 and other side groups. Reaction (ii) exhibits a somewhat larger but still small energy barrier and involves little rearrangement of Lys‐216 and the protein backbone. Reaction (i) experiences a sterical impediment amounting to more than 10 kT at physiological temperatures and also induces significant structural changes at the binding site. Our simulations also reveal that reaction (ii) as a photo‐isomerization process can be completed within about 400 fs, whereas reaction (i) requires longer times for completion. Reaction (i) is also accompanied by a co‐rotation of the 14–15 bond by 150° (even when a torsional barrier of 20 kcal/mol is imposed to impede rotation of the 14–15 bond) such that photoreactions (i) and (ii), in effect, lead to very similar final geometries. Isomerization (ii) can readily explain the pump mechanism of bacteriorhodopsin: the sequential, thermal back‐reaction 13,14‐dicis→ 13‐cisall‐trans can be acid‐base catalyzed, i.e., coupled to deprotonation and reprotonation of retinal's Schiff base nitrogen. The orientation of retinal is such that Asp‐85 can act as the acceptor and Asp‐96 as the (indirect) donor. The thermal back‐reaction 13,14‐dicis→ all‐trans can be coupled to vectorial Cl− ion transport as well.


[reaction--see text] A seven-step parallel solution-phase synthesis has been developed for access to ketone-containing mechanism-based cysteine protease inhibitors. The use of liquid-liquid extractions, volatile or solid-supported reagents, and resin-bound scavengers eliminates the need for intermediate column chromatographic purification during this synthesis sequence.


RUNX 1 and RUNX3 drive Nf1 neurofibromagenesis by mediating the promoter usage and inducing levels of protein expression of PMP22. Patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) are predisposed to develop neurofibromas, but the underlying molecular mechanisms of neurofibromagenesis are not fully understood. We showed dual genetic deletion of Runx1 and Runx3 in Schwann cells (SCs) and SC precursors delayed neurofibromagenesis and prolonged mouse survival. We identified peripheral myelin protein 22 (Pmp22/Gas3) related to neurofibroma initiation. Knockdown of Pmp22 with short hairpin RNAs increased Runx1fl/fl;Runx3fl/fl;Nf1fl/fl;DhhCre tumor-derived sphere numbers and enabled significantly more neurofibroma-like microlesions on transplantation. Conversely, overexpression of Pmp22 in mouse neurofibroma SCs decreased cell proliferation. Mechanistically, RUNX1/3 regulated alternative promoter usage and induced levels of protein expression of Pmp22 to control SC growth. Last, pharmacological inhibition of RUNX/core-binding factor β (CBFB) activity significantly reduced neurofibroma volume in vivo. Thus, we identified a signaling pathway involving RUNX1/3 suppression of Pmp22 in neurofibroma initiation and/or maintenance. Targeting disruption of RUNX/CBFB interaction might provide a novel therapy for patients with neurofibroma.


Subtitling, like all other types of audiovisual translation, has always been influenced by cultural factors, and in turn, subtitles have influenced their target readers. The relation between culture and language in interlingual subtitling might cause some problems in translating Culture References (CRs). The aim of the present study was to classify the samples of CRs in the "Harry Potter" movie series based on Klingberg's (1986) model. It was also intended to investigate the strategies applied by Iranian translators in subtitling the (CRs) in "Harry Potter" movies from English into Persian based on Diaz Cintas's (2007) proposed strategies. To do so, instances of CRs were drawn from the two series of Harry Potter entitled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire (2005). The data analysis was carried out by descriptive statistics to indicate the frequency and percentages. The findings revealed that "Personal Names" and "Magical Objects", were the most frequently used CRs in the two selected series of Harry Potter movies based on Klingberg's (1986) model. Additionally, the results showed that "Loan" and "Calque" were the most frequently used strategies in subtitling the CRs. The findings of the present study may be useful for English translation students, subtitlers, and fansubbers who do subtitle English movies in the Iranian context.


This study aims to assess the forming behaviour of thermoplastic fibre metal laminates based on a self-reinforced polypropylene composite and an aluminium alloy. The development of a method for the rapid manufacturing of parts made from fibre metal laminates would facilitate the widespread adoption of these materials in the automotive and renewable energy industries. Metallic parts are most commonly manufactured using the method of stamp forming and research into the application of this method to materials such as fibre metal laminates is gathering interest. In this investigation, specimens of varying geometry were stretched over a hemispherical punch and a noncontact optical measurement system was used to detail the stretch forming and analyse the effect of deformation mode on the formability of the laminate. The results from the experimentation were used to determine a forming limit diagram for the fibre metal laminate and to identify the safe forming limits of the material. In addition, the evolution of strain at two points of interest was observed to determine the deformation mode in each specimen and to determine the state of strain in the region of failure. These results were then compared with the forming of monolithic aluminium specimens. A significant finding of this work was that the FML showed superior formability than aluminium. This was shown primarily through the increased forming window elucidated by the forming limit curve for the FML and the more uniform meridian major strain distribution in the FML compared to the aluminium.


Ontogenetic and seasonal variations in the diet were studied for a benthopelagic fish, the red cod Salilota australis (Pisces: Moridae) from the Falkland Islands shelf. The study revealed that small fish (<39 cm total length, TL) fed mainly on benthic gammarid amphipods, with squid Loligo gahi, Illex argentinus and the fish Patagonotothen spp. being of secondary importance. In medium sized fish (40–60 cm TL) the importance of fish in their diet increased, but benthic gammarid amphipods remained important, although their role decreased in the percentage by weight. Large fish (>61 cm TL) fed mainly upon Patagonotothen spp. which consisted of 90% by weight. Seasonal variations were analysed only for medium-sized fish. In February–June, S. australis fed mainly on benthic amphipods and Patagonotothen spp. In July–October, the squid Loligo gahi became the most common prey. In November–January benthic crustaceans reappeared in the diet, and Patagonotothen spp. became the most important prey item followed by benthic gammarid amphipods and the isopod Seriolis sp. The niche breadth was found to be similar in the different size groups (2·03–2·66), indicating that the fish fed on one to two abundant prey items in each group. The niche breadth of medium-sized fish varied seasonally reflecting the diversity of prey items utilized throughout the year.


The link between economic growth and income inequality has received much attention in recent decades. The purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze the relationship between economic development and poverty and income inequality for developing countries. By taking data for 36 countries for the last decades – 1990 to 2010 –, this research aims to find evidence for the Kuznets hypothesis. Unfortunately, the results show no evidence of the existence of a Kuznets curve, even when including control variables and re-estimating the relationship for subsamples. The variable real GDP per capita, as a measure of economic development, has no explanatory power for the degree of poverty or inequality.


The Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil has been considered to have the highest number of tree species per hectare in the world. Assessing the influence of climate on tropical tree species is a priority in the face of ongoing climate change, and for which dendrochronological studies have been important. We address the dendrochronological potential of Licaria bahiana Kurz (Lauraceae), an endemic species of the Atlantic forests. We studied growth ring anatomy of L. bahiana and applied dendrochronological methods to investigate how short-term variation in climate affect its radial growth. Distinct growth rings were observed in all individuals and demarcated by darker tangential fiber zones in latewood. Trees showed high climatic sensitivity (0.48) and growth synchrony (intercorrelation r = 0.69; rbar = 0.38). Radial growth was negatively influenced by high temperatures at the beginning of the current growing season (r = -0.46) and by excessive rainfall at the end of the current growing season (r = -0.29), which are periods that correspond to the phenological reproductive phases of the species. Climate anomalies during this period may alter the tradeoff between growth and reproduction, in favor of the latter.


Target tracking is one of the hottest topics of research in wireless sensor networks. It consists in detecting and retrieving the successive locations of single or multiple objects during their movements in the monitored area. Minimizing the energy consumption while providing high accuracy in target tracking is a challenging problem as sensor nodes are constrained in terms of energy. In this paper, we present an energy efficient approach for object tracking based on data mining techniques to predict the future location of the target. Nodes within this location are activated while the others remain in sleep mode which reduce the energy consumption and prolong the network lifetime. Moreover, we introduce a recovery mechanism to recapture the object in case it was missed. Extensive simulations via NS-2 simulator revealed the effectiveness of our proposed approach.


This study aimed to perform a literature review on the effect of pharmacological methods in accelerated orthodontics and the evidence of published studies.

 A search of the reported literature till December, 2020, was conducted using "PubMed," "Google Scholar," and "manual search." The MesH terms and keywords in the search criteria were "tooth movement," "orthodontics," "pharmacological," and "drugs" in various combinations. The search was confined to the English language. Data extraction was done under the heading authors, country and year, study design (level of evidence), study type, and pharmacological agents. The level of evidence of included studies was in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council.

 Five hundred forty-seven studies were retrieved from different databases, and 12 were included in this review. Out of 12 included studies, 10 were animal studies, and two were human trials. Pharmacological agents utilized for intervention were prostaglandin, followed by relaxin, vitamin D, and parathyroid hormone. The level of evidence in the human study was reported as level II, and for animal studies, level III; all the included studies recorded accelerated tooth movement. The risk of bias in the included animal studies was unclear, and the risk was low and moderate for human studies.

 Prostaglandin, interleukins, parathyroid hormone, and vitamin D are commonly used in published literature for accelerating tooth movement. Nonetheless, all these experimented drugs have few or other unsolicited adverse effects. Further studies with long-term follow-ups are recommended to support the utilization of pharmacological methods in accelerated orthodontic movements.


The Cervical Vertebral Maturation (CVM) method aims to determine the craniofacial skeletal maturational stage, which is crucial for orthodontic and orthopedic treatment. In this paper, we explore the potential of deep learning for automatic CVM assessment. In particular, we propose a convolutional neural network named iCVM. Based on the residual network, it is specialized for the challenges unique to the task of CVM assessment. 1) To combat overfitting due to limited data size, multiple dropout layers are utilized. 2) To address the inevitable label ambiguity between adjacent maturational stages, we introduce the concept of label distribution learning in the loss function. Besides, we attempt to analyze the regions important for the prediction of the model by using the Grad-CAM technique. The learned strategy shows surprisingly high consistency with the clinical criteria. This indicates that the decisions made by our model are well interpretable, which is critical in evaluation of growth and development in orthodontics. Moreover, to drive future research in the field, we release a new dataset named CVM-900 along with the paper. It contains the cervical part of 900 lateral cephalograms collected from orthodontic patients of different ages and genders. Experimental results show that the proposed approach achieves superior performance on CVM-900 in terms of various evaluation metrics.


Abstract. Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) models are important tools in determining global SOC distributions and how carbon stocks are affected by climate change. Their performances are, however, affected by data and methods used to calibrate them. Here we study how the Yasso SOC model performs if calibrated individually or with multiple datasets and how the chosen calibration method affected the parameter estimation. We found that when calibrated with multiple datasets, the model showed a better global performance compared to a single dataset calibration. Furthermore, our results show that more advanced calibration algorithms should be used for SOC models due to the multiple local maximas in the likelihood space.


When a multivariate normal sample is chosen from a truncated space of one of its components one can no longer make use of the normality assumption for the sample observations or for the estimates derived from them. In this paper, skewness and kurtosis for each component are derived analytically under a broad class of nonrandom sampling. It is shown that the distortions in skewness and kurtosis produced by nonrandomness are negligible, except those for the component with respect to which the selection of sampling regions is based. The ususal tests of normality from sample values of skewness and kurtosis measures remain valid under nonrandom sampling, except for the selection variable. The implications of these analytical results in the context of commingling analysis in genetic epidemiology are discussed. It is recommended that when samples of families are obtained through nonrandomly ascertained probands, a commingling analysis should treat each relative class separately, since such analyses based on the pooled sample of individuals may involve unspecified bias in the levels of the test procedure.


Wastewater treatment is increasingly controlled by the Swedish environmental quality objectives, adopted by the Swedish parliament. There is a need for a sewage system that can fulfill stringent requirements concerning the environment, recycling and resource use and hygiene. Additional environmental aspects in recent years are the impact of climate change, new knowledge about the effects of pharmaceuticals in water, the need for improved wastewater treatment and increased recycling of nutrients to agriculture. This report has, from a future scenario of the year 2050, analyzed seven different systems for wastewater treatment and treatment of compostable biowaste from households in Eskilstuna. A future scenario was chosen based on that within a forty year period new challenges may arise which can result in higher demands on sewage treatment than those we see today. Another reason why the future scenario was established is that changes in wastewater treatment systems are slow to establish. The analysis is mainly focused on the economical aspects but environmental aspects such as emissions to receiving waters and potential recycling of plant nutrients has also been evaluated briefly. The economical analysis was made from a new construction perspective. The economy model is constructed in Microsoft Office Excel and named URWARE Eko. The report also includes a section based on results from previous system studies. A target image of Eskilstuna 2050 was initially created. Seven systems were then analyzed based on this target image. The seven different systems could be divided in to three main categories: conventional sewage system that were modified, source separated blackwater systems and a sewage plant with improved treatment technology in the form of membrane technology and reverse osmosis. The results showed that it differed a factor of 1.9 between the cheapest system (sludge recovery to productive land) and the most expensive (separated blackwater treated in a central treatment facility). All systems have a big recycling potential of phosphorus. Blackwater systems and wastewater plants with membrane technology and reverse osmosis are the best systems for recycling of other nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium and sulfur.


Historically and contextually, the designer's role has changed and it continues to evolve and adapt to today's demands in industry and higher education. Historical conservatism, social sciences
theoreticians and linguists have continued to develop our understanding and definition of design. The authors assert that design has rapidly become associated with style and populism, rather than design. There is a need to re claim the concept and definition from the glitz and glamour and return to sound products, the articulation of aesthetics and a positive correlation between the arts and the sciences, based upon methodologies with substance, methods of working that are innovative, valid and contribute to best practise. It is of importance to professional designers that the 'designer' label, assuming it exists, possesses gravitas. It is asserted by the authors that the styling of products will equalize design to the extent that design itself will become standardised, inconsequential and will mean little to the designer or discerning consumer. Design will become bland, rather than challenging, innovative and reflective. The professional designer has to have a sound knowledge base of skills and intellect; who also has the ability to apply these attributes appropriately in the process of designing to redress the balance and the practise and profession of design and reassert real values and imbue them into the systems, processes and artefacts produced by Designers.


Bound-state spectra of isospinor fermions and bosons in the field of a nonAbelian magnetic monopole are studied by taking into account the monopole core. Bound states are obtained in both cases and their number is found to depend sensitively on the Higgs coupling strength. In the case of massive fermions the number of bound states depends on the size of the monopole core.


Objective Most patients with Crohn's disease (CD) are diagnosed with the uncomplicated inflammatory form of the disease (Montreal stage B1). However, the majority of them will progress to complicated stricturing (B2) and penetrating (B3) CD during their lifetimes. The aim of our study was to identify the genetic factors associated with time to progression from uncomplicated to complicated CD. Patients and methods Patients with an inflammatory phenotype at diagnosis were followed up for 10 years. Genotyping was carried out using Illumina ImmunoChip. After quality control, association analyses, Bonferroni's adjustments, linear and Cox's regression, and Kaplan–Meier analysis were carried out for 111 patients and Manhattan plots were constructed. Results Ten years after diagnosis, 39.1% of the patients still had the inflammatory form and 60.9% progressed to complicated disease, with an average time to progression of 5.91 years. Ileal and ileocolonic locations were associated with the complicated CD (P=1.08E−03). We found that patients with the AA genotype at single-nucleotide polymorphism rs16857259 near the gene CACNA1E progressed to the complicated form later (8.80 years) compared with patients with the AC (5.11 years) or CC (2.00 years) genotypes (P=3.82E−07). In addition, nine single-nucleotide polymorphisms (near the genes RASGRP1, SULF2, XPO1, ZBTB44, HLA DOA/BRD2, HLA DRB1/HLA DQA1, PPARA, PUDP, and KIAA1614) showed a suggestive association with disease progression (P<10−5). Multivariate Cox's regression analysis on the basis of clinical and genetic data confirmed the association of the selected model with disease progression (P=5.73E−16). Conclusion Our study confirmed the association between the locus on chromosome 1 near the gene CACNA1E with time to progression from inflammatory to stricturing or penetrating CD. Predicting the time to progression is useful to the clinician in terms of individualizing patients' management.


In view of the observed strong hierarchy of the quark and lepton masses and of the flavor mixing angles it is argued that the description of flavor mixing must take this into account. One particular interesting way to describe the flavor mixing, which, however, is not the one used today, emerges, which is particularly suited for models of quark mass matrices based on flavor symmetries. We conclude that the unitarity triangle important for B physics should be close to or identical to a rectangular triangle. CP violation is maximal in this sense.


The pathogenic T cell responsible for myocarditis following CVB3 infection differs between BALB/c and DBA/2 mice. Since these two strains are identical at the major histocompatibility (MHC) loci (both H-2d), our aim was to investigate the genetic basis for this difference in T cell immunity, as well as the tissue origin responsible. As previously described, DBA/2 mice are protected from developing myocarditis by CD4+ T cell depletion; BALB/c CUM mice could be protected by CD8+ depletion. TxBM DBA/2 mice were irradiated and reconstituted with thymus and bone marrow cells of either DBA/2 or BALB/c CUM origin. These mice were then tested for susceptibility to CVB3 myocarditis following specific T cell depletion. These studies demonstrated that the pathogenic mechanism is inherent in the bone marrow of the animal and does not reflect thymic selection during T cell ontogeny. Further studies involving C.D2 mice, which are BALB/c AnPt mice congenic with DBA/2, were performed to analyse the susceptibility pattern following specific T cell depletion and virus infection. Analysis of BALB/c AnPt and congenics revealed a pattern consistent with the DBA/2 strain, and not the BALB/c CUM strain. This indicates that the differences in immune pathogenicity lie within subfamilies of BALB/c mice, making information on strain origin important when comparing experimental results in this system.


The subunit organization and regulatory features of extracellular sialic acid specific lectin produced by saprophytic strains Bacillus subtilis IMV B-7014 have been investigated. Autofocusing method was used to identify three lectin isoforms that were distinguished by physicochemical and biological properties. Using the transcription system in vitro it was established that one of the targets of bacterial lectin action was DNA-dependent RNA-synthesis. Lectin isoforms affect differently the synthesis: from its full inhibition to the absence of the effect on the yield of RNA-transcription product.


The purpose of this text is to think about how the handmade presents itself in the language of a tridimensional storytelling tapestry created and sewn into books--a technique and enterprise for the promotion of reading that originated on France and has developed in Brazil as of 1997--thinking over its survival in technological and accelerated times. For a better study of such the question, an experiment was made in the specific context of the "Solar Meninos de Luz" (a philanthropic educational institution) with children between 9 and 11 years old. The objective was to observe how the children would appropriate the given materials and the language of the story through elaborating on the given, original narrative. Our research led to the formulation of the methodological concept of research-atelier, and the hand-crafted practice of creating and sewing tapestry as a vehicle for the identity-development of the self-storyteller. It also led to reflection on how children relate to dimensions of the handmade through the experience of storytelling with tapestry. The research suggests specific practical applications, and helps us in thinking about the exercise of expression, the elaboration of speech/narrative, and the process of communication in the educational medium.


This case study examines the unique situation of the Pink Store in Palomas, Chihuahua, Mexico, a small town and crossing point on the US-Mexico frontier. This case is unique and interesting because of how managers have recognised the value of the international border and capitalised on it as a positive experience for day-trippers from the United States. Consequently, they developed certain practices that have positioned the store as a well-recognised icon in the larger region, allowing them to take advantage of the border and the commercial opportunities it creates. The management actions are both product- and service-led, and marketing-oriented. As a result, the Pink Store represents a distinctive border attraction that is characterised as an all-inclusive attraction, exotic and foreign, yet secure and oriented to its major market: residents of the USA.


BACKGROUND : Mental health is an essential ingredient in the quality of life. Recent studies carried out in countries like Germany, USA, France, England and Belgium have provided evidence for the involvement of L1 (CAM) mutations in various X-linked mental retardation syndromes. L1 CAM is a neural cell adhesion molecule belonging to the superfamily of the immunoglobulins and is critical for proper CNS development in humans. AIM: This study was aimed to screen idiopathic mental retardation cases for L1 CAM mutations. MATERIALS AND METHODS : In this study, we screened 15 cases with mental retardation. Genomic DNA from the patients and control subjects was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction using specific primers. RESULTS : In 2 out of 15 patients, mutation was detected between exon 26 and 27. CONCLUSION : It is worthwhile to screen idiopathic mental retardation cases for L1 CAM mutations to reduce genetic morbidity in the population by offering genetic counseling and prenatal diagnosis.


Cotyledon micrografting represents a very useful tool for studying the central role of cotyledons during early plant development, especially their interplay with other plant organs with regard to long distance transport. While hypocotyl grafting methods are established, cotyledon grafting is still inefficient. By optimizing cotyledon micrografting, we aim for higher success rates and increased throughput in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana. We established a cut and paste cotyledon surgery procedure on a flat solid but moist surface which improved handling of small plant seedlings. Applying a specific cutting and joining pattern throughput was increased up to 40 seedlings per hour. The combination of short day conditions and low light intensities for germination and long day plus high light intensities and vertical plate positioning after grafting significantly increased 'ligation' efficiency. Together, we achieved up to 46 % grafting success in A. thaliana. Reconnection of vasculature was shown by successful transport of a vasculature-specific dye across the grafting site. On a whole plant level, plants with grafted cotyledons match plants with intact cotyledons in biomass production and rosette development. This cut and paste cotyledon-to-petiole grafting protocol simplifies the handling of plant seedlings in surgery, increases the number of grafted plants per hour and produces higher success rates for A. thaliana seedlings. The developed cotyledon micrografting method is also suitable for other plant species of comparable size.


Background: Paravalvular leak occurs in 5–17% of patients following surgical valve replacement, more often in mitral position. The prognosis without treatment is poor. Percutaneous device closure represents an alternative to repeat surgery. The objective of this work is to evaluate the medium and long-term results in the percutaneous closure of PVL in mitral prosthesis. Methods: This observational study is based on a retrospective registry including consecutive mitral PVL cases undergoing percutaneous closure at a single tertiary-care center from April 2010 to December 2020. The safety and efficacy results of the procedure, at 90 days and in the long term, were analyzed. Also, predictors of procedure failure and long-term events were identified. Results: A total of 128 consecutive mitral paravalvular leak closure procedures were included. Technical success was achieved in 115 (89.8%) procedures. The presence of multiple PVLs was the sole factor that independently predicted procedural failure. Median follow-up of our sample was 41.8 months (mean 47.7 ± 35.7 months). Underlying hemolytic anemia as the indication for PVL closure, a recent admission for decompensated HF, and lack of improvement in functional class emerged as consistent predictors of MACE and death during long-term follow-up, while lack of procedural success during the first PVL procedure and chronic kidney disease were also associated with MACE during follow-up. Conclusions: Percutaneous mitral PVL closure displayed high technical and procedural success rates, with an acceptable safety profile, in a high-risk population. Percutaneous mitral PVL closure achieved an improvement in short- and long-term functional class and a reduction of hemolysis in the vast majority of patients. In addition, long-term survival in our study was good, in particular for patients undergoing successful PVL closure procedures.


This letter addresses echo cancellation for digital subscriber line (DSL) communications with discrete multitone (DMT) modulation. The described adaptive echo canceller operates entirely in the frequency domain. The method allows estimation and subtraction of an echo signal impaired by intercarrier and intersymbol interference present when the impulse response of the echo channel is longer than the cyclic prefix. Implementation aspects for symmetric and asymmetric DMT-based systems are described together with ways to lower the computational complexity. Finally, computer simulation results are presented that validates the proposed method.


In 21 patients haemodynamic parameters and pulmonary gas exchange were investigated after open heart surgery with cardio-pulmonary bypass (aortic valve replacement, AVR (n = 8); mitral valve replacement, MVR (n = 6); aorto coronary bypass; ACB (n = 7). For describing gas exchange function of the lung the O2-CO2 diagram was used. Stepwise increase of left atrial pressure (LAP) was followed by increasing cardiac output (CO) only in the AVR and ACB groups, whereas in the MVR group CO did not increase. Rising venous admixture (Qs/Qt) under these circumstances was related to CO only in the AVR and ACB groups. In the MVR group Qs/Qt did not change. Qs/Qt is related to low VA/Q areas in the lung. Increased CO leads to rising Qs/Qt from these low VA/Q-areas.


This study was conducted to determine the effect of adding chamomile powder to the diet of broilers (Ross308) raised under heat stress conditions on production performance and economic indicators. Unsexed chicks were raised from one day until 42 days. Chicks were randomly distributed at the beginning of second week on experimental treatments with three replications / treatment as follows: T1: Feeding birds with out adding (Control), T2: adding 9 gm chamomile / kg feed , T3: adding: 15 gm chamomile /kg feed. The statistical analysis of data showed: a significant superiority in the final live body weight rate and the total weight gain rate, an improvement in the weekly and total feed conversion, and the superiority of the production index and the productive factor, while we did no find a significant effect showed in feed consumption rate and the percentage of mortality% and in the production yield per m 2 in Production of one kilogram of live meat. The result indicated that addition of chamomile lead to improve growth performance and reducing the cost per unit of production in conditions of heat stress.


In contrast to positive earnings forecasts, the negative earnings forecasts of security analysts are grossly optimistic. We adjusted negative earnings forecasts downward by varying amounts and evaluated forecast performance according to (1) forecast accuracy relative to the consensus, (2) the frequency of being closer to actual earnings than the consensus, and (3) the frequency with which adjusted forecasts underestimate actual earnings, thereby jeopardizing the analyst's relations with corporate managers. Relative forecast accuracy and the probability of beating the consensus are improved, without an inordinate increase in the probability of underestimating earnings, by adjusting negative forecasts downward by a small amount.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Advance care planning, including code/resuscitation status discussion, is an essential part of the medical care of patients with CKD. There is little information on the outcomes of cardiopulmonary resuscitation in these patients. We aimed to measure cardiopulmonary resuscitation outcomes in these patients.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS
Our study is observational in nature. We compared the following cardiopulmonary resuscitation-related outcomes in patients with CKD with those in the general population by using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (2005-2011): (1) survival to hospital discharge, (2) discharge destination, and (3) length of hospital stay. All of the patients were 18 years old or older.

RESULTS
During the study period, 71,961 patients with CKD underwent in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation compared with 323,620 patients from the general population. Unadjusted in-hospital mortality rates were higher in patients with CKD (75% versus 72%; P<0.001) on univariate analysis. After adjusting for age, sex, and potential confounders, patients with CKD had higher odds of mortality (odds ratio, 1.24; 95% confidence interval, 1.11 to 1.34; P≤0.001) and length of stay (odds ratio, 1.11; 95% confidence interval, 1.07 to 1.15; P=0.001). Hospitalization charges were also greater in patients with CKD. There was no overall difference in postcardiopulmonary resuscitation nursing home placement between the two groups. In a separate subanalysis of patients ≥75 years old with CKD, higher odds of in-hospital mortality were also seen in the patients with CKD (odds ratio, 1.10; 95% confidence interval, 1.02 to 1.17; P=0.01).

CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, we observed slightly higher in-hospital mortality in patients with CKD undergoing in-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation.


Over the past decades, Islamic banking has gained a worldwide recognition. Started among Muslim countries in order to cater for the Shariah compliance banking needs of Muslims, it has now become widespread throughout the world. In Malaysia, the players in the Islamic banking industries are the local Islamic banks and recently a few foreign Islamic banks have shown interests and started their operation in this country. Internet has become a very powerful tool to disseminate information and this phenomenon has been fully utilized by Islamic banks in order to send their message to their current and potential customers. This exploratory study aims to evaluate the design and content of Islamic banks websites in Malaysia and also to compare the cumulative strengths and weaknesses in terms of website design and content between local and foreign Islamic banks in Malaysia. Suggestions for future research directions conclude the report.


The dynamic behavior of AlInGaAs ridge waveguide distributed feedback lasers is reported in this work covering five detuned wavelengths between 1291 nm and 1326 nm for a laser active layer optical peak gain design centered at 1310 nm at room temperature. The detuning is achieved by modifying the laser grating pitch that performs the mode selection within the laser cavity simultaneously across a single processed wafer. The dynamic behavior is evaluated using the resonance frequencies of the detuned lasers measured at a range of injection currents for heatsink temperatures of 25°C and 85°C. The results confirm that a speed improvement can be achieved at 25°C by detuning the laser to shorter wavelengths. However, the results also show that a lower direct modulation bandwidth at 85°C makes the shorter wavelength design less attractive. For communications applications such as 10 Gbps uncooled operation, this trade‐off between detuning and modulation bandwidth imply an optimum around −2 nm to +8 nm detuning (measured at 25°C). © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 59:1468–1470, 2017


A case of idiopathic right pulmonary artery aneurysm with pulmonary valve insufficiency simulating a mediastinal teratoma occurred in an asymptomatic 13-year-old boy. The key to correct diagnosis was pulmonary angiography. The patient was successfully treated with surgery.


In the early 1990s, brownfield concessions served briefly as the flagship of the global public–private partnership (PPP) movement. They were highly recommended by donors and multilateral development banks (MDBs) as ideal solutions to many of the problems facing infrastructure utilities in poor countries. In 1996 and 1997, brownfield concessions were the fastest growing form of PPP. But the Asian financial crisis in 1997 brought a sudden halt to this growth in popularity, and the contract form has never really recovered its early momentum. Why were brownfield concessions so popular in the early 1990s and why did that popularity diminish so quickly? Why did greenfield projects go on to dominate the PPP markets in all developing countries? This article attempts to answer these questions by clarifying the role of bilateral development agencies and MDBs in the rise of brownfield concessions, and explaining why the risk–reward perceptions of private investors subsequently changed so rapidly in the late 1990s.


There are two pathways for replication of plasmids derived from bacteriophage lambda (so-called lambda plasmids) in Escherichia coli. One pathway is based on the assembly of the new replication complex at ori lambda, and the second requires activity of the replication complex inherited by one of two daughter plasmid copies after each replication round. Although these two replication pathways proceed at the same time in the host cell, we previously found conditions for specific elimination of the pathway based on the assembly of the new replication complex; thus, replication is restricted to that carried out by the heritable replication complex. These conditions are (i) the relaxed response to amino acid starvation and (ii) temperature upshift of the culture of cells harboring the lambda crotsPts1 plasmid. Here we asked whether the replication complex is inherited randomly by one of two daughter plasmid copies or whether the inheritance is preferred by one particular copy, that containing the parental DNA r strand or that bearing the l strand. We performed density shift experiments which allowed us to separate plasmid DNA molecules replicated by the heritable replication complex from those devoid of the replication complex and therefore not able to replicate. Then, [3H]thymidine-labelled plasmid DNA strands were separated and hybridized to membrane-bound ssDNA containing a fragment of either the r or l strand of lambda DNA. We found roughly equal efficiency of hybridization to both r and l strands in all experimental systems used. Therefore, we conclude that the lambda replication complex is randomly inherited by one of two daughter plasmid copies rather than preferentially inherited by either the copy carrying the parental r strand or that containing the l strand.


OBJECTIVE
To observe the predictive value of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3), C-reactive protein (CRP), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels for osteoporosis in elderly men.

METHODS
A retrospective analysis was conducted in 122 elderly male patients that were tested in The Affiliated Hospital of Xinyang Vocational and Technical College between January 2020 and May 2022. The patients were divided into an osteoporosis group (OG, n = 77) and a control group (CG, n = 45) according to the results of bone mineral density. The formula N = Z^2*(P*(1-P))/E^2 was used to calculate the required sample size (N) for a given confidence interval (Z), total error (E), and proportion (P) of the target population. The proportion (P) is often assumed to be 0.5 and not randomly distributed across the population. The levels of cross-linked C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX-I), procollagen type I N-terminal propeptide (PINP), intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH), osteocalcin (OC), and serum levels of 25(OH)D3, CRP, and TNF-α were measured and compared between the two groups. Pearson correlation was used to analyze the relationship between the parameters. The predictive value of 25(OH)D3, CRP and TNF-α for osteoporosis was also analyzed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Logistic multivariate analysis was performed to analyze the risk factors for osteoporosis in elderly men.

RESULTS
Compared with the CG, the OG exhibited evidently lower serum 25(OH)D3, but significantly higher CRP and TNF-α (P < 0.05). Pearson correlation demonstrated that the bone mineral density was negatively correlated with CTX-I, PINP, serum CRP and TNF-α, whereas it was positively correlated with OC and 25(OH)D3 in elderly men. The areas under the ROC curve (AUCs) of serum 25(OH)D3, CRP and TNF-α were identified as 0.931, 0.878 and 0.846, respectively, and the AUC of the combined detection of the three was 0.991. Furthermore, age, CTX-I, PINP, OC, 25(OH)D3, as well as serum CRP and TNF-α were identified as risk factors for osteoporosis among elderly men.

CONCLUSION
Serum 25(OH)D3, CRP, and TNF-α are associated with osteoporosis in elderly men, and can serve as predictors for osteoporosis.


Two-dimensional (2D) materials, referring to materials being just one atom thick, prove to be attractive not only in fundamental research but also in applications. Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in hexagonal rings, is just the first among other materials (including hexagonal boron nitride and molybdenum disulfide) that could be isolated into mono-atomic layers. The presented thesis investigates proton transport through atomically thin two-dimensional materials. While the electronic, optical and mechanical properties of graphene and other 2D materials have been intensely researched over the past decade, much less is known on the interaction of these crystals with protons. It has been reported that most of the defect free two dimensional materials are impermeable to nearly all gases, molecules and ions. Whether proton, the smallest positively charged ion, could transport through two dimensional materials at a low energy level remains unknown. This work investigates proton transport through 2D materials, including graphene, hexagonal boron nitride and molybdenum disulfide, in two different systems: Nafion/Pd solid system and liquid/liquid interface system, both of which provided consistent results. Our results suggest that proton can transport through the interatomic spacings in the lattice of single layer BN and graphene, while single layer MoS2 is impermeable to protons. Single layer BN is the most conductive to protons among the 2D materials investigated in this thesis. Lower proton conductance of graphene is due to its delocalized ? electrons while proton impermeability of MoS2 is due to the three atomic layers structure.Moreover, proton transfer is greatly facilitated by the deposition of platinum nanoparticles on the proton conductive 2D membranes to such a degree that platinum decorated BN seems to present negligible resistance to the transfer of protons through its lattice.


Abstract A new multi-disciplinary study of the central Sierras Pampeanas encompasses fieldwork, petrography, metamorphic and micro-structural analysis, geochemistry and geochronology. Remnants of a low-to-medium grade metasedimentary sequence, which also occurs in the Sierras de Córdoba to the east, are considered regionally equivalent to the Puncoviscana Formation; a ?mid-Cambrian Rb-Sr whole-rock isochron of 513 ± 31 Ma probably dates their main metamorphism. The predominant granitoids of the Los Llanos-Ulapes batholith constitute a calc-alkaline suite representative of the Famatinian subduction-related magmatic arc. The main granodiorite phase of the batholith is associated with an S2 fabric and shear zone formation, and was emplaced late during the deformational history of the metasediments. Conventional and SHRIMP U-Pb zircon dating yielded a combined age of 490 ± 5 Ma. Younger monzogranites gave Rb-Sr whole-rock ages of 470–450 Ma, typical of granites in the Sierra de Famatina, but geochemical continuity with the main granodiorite suite raises the possibility that these are partially reset ages. A minor cordierite granite phase is ascribed to local anatexis caused by heat from the granodiorites. All the calc-alkaline rocks of the Los Llanos-Ulapes batholith have high initial 87Sr/86Sr (0.7075–0.7105) and low ɛNdt (−4.6 to −6.3), inherited from lower crust. Sm-Nd model ages of 1600–1700 Ma indicate that the underlying crust is identical to that beneath the foreland to the east. This part of the Famatinian arc was thus a continental magmatic arc and was established significantly before the arrival of the allochthonous Precordillera terrane in mid-Ordovician times.


As part of an investigation to determine the diversity and disparity of early terrestrial vegetation, hundreds of charcoalified mesofossils have been isolated from Lower Devonian strata, and two new, relatively rare groups of permanent dyad-producers have been identified. The first group comprises fig-shaped sporangia, with distinctive apical dehiscence. These contain palynomorphs, interpreted as permanent dyads, which are not known from coeval spore assemblages. Sporangia are attached to branching stomatiferous axes. They are assigned to Ficoiditheca aenigma. The second group consists of a few poorly preserved elongate sporangia that contain palynomorphs belonging to the dispersed spore genus Chelinohilates, with a prominent murornate sculpture. Semi-thin sections through the in situ examples indicate that they are permanent dyads with a common, sculptured outer wall. The valvate construction of the sporangial wall and the fundamental structure of the palynomorphs suggest a possible affinity with recently described Partitatheca. Both groups exhibit a combination of tracheophytic and bryophytic characteristics and hence represent early embryophytes quite distinct from tracheophytes. In particular they are united as permanent dyad-producers, a group that includes in situ laevigate examples known from the dispersed spore record as far back as the Ordovician, where their ultrastructure suggests hepatic affinity.


Experimental infections of the malagasy Lemur fulvus have been carried out with two yellow fever virus attenuated strains (17D and FNV vaccine strains). A viremia is detected, with FNV virus only, between the 1rst and 11th day after inoculation. Haemagglutination inhibiting, complement fixing and neutralizing antibodies appear around the 10th day; the study of their dynamics shows their persistence through less than 6 months. These preliminary experiments are the first of a series of infections of malagasy lemurs by several Flaviviruses. The results might allow to evaluate the epidemiological role played by these prosimian primates in the arbovirus cycles in Madagascar.


Abstract We investigate natural dualities for classes of simple graphs. For example, we give a natural duality for the class consisting of all n-colourable graphs and show that, for all n≥3, there is no natural duality for the class consisting of all freely n-colourable graphs. We also prove that there exist arbitrarily long finite chains of 3-colourable graphs that alternate between being dualizable and nondualizable.


Six months after the explosion of TEPCO's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, radioactive silver (110mAg), was detected in concentrations of 3754 Bq/kg in Nephila clavata (the orb-web spider; Joro-gumo in Japanese) collected at Nimaibashi, Iitate village in Fukushima Prefecture, whereas 110mAg in the soil was 43.1 Bq/kg. A survey of 35 faunal species in the terrestrial environment during the 3.5 years after the accident showed that most of Anthropoda had two orders higher 110mAg in their tissues than soils, although silver is not an essential element for their life. However, tracing of the activity of 110mAg detected in spider Atypus karschi collected regularly at a fixed location showed that it declined much faster than the physical half-life. These results suggest that 110mAg was at once biologically concentrated by faunal species, especially Arthropoda, through food chain. The factors affecting the subsequent rapid decline of 110mAg concentration in faunal species are discussed.


Background: Ceftolozane/tazobactam (C/T) is a combination of an antipseudomonal oxyiminoaminothiazolyl cephalosporin with potent in vitro activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and tazobactam, a known β-lactamase inhibitor. The aim of this study was to evaluate the activity of C/T against clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa and Enterobacterales collected from five Latin American countries between 2016 and 2017, before its clinical use in Latin America, and to compare it with the activity of other available broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents. Methods: a total of 2760 clinical isolates (508 P. aeruginosa and 2252 Enterobacterales) were consecutively collected from 20 hospitals and susceptibility to C/T and comparator agents was tested and interpreted following the current guidelines. Results: according to the CLSI breakpoints, 68.1% (346/508) of P. aeruginosa and 83.9% (1889/2252) of Enterobacterales isolates were susceptible to C/T. Overall, C/T demonstrated higher in vitro activity than currently available cephalosporins, piperacillin/tazobactam and carbapenems when tested against P. aeruginosa, and its performance in vitro was comparable to fosfomycin. When tested against Enterobacterales, it showed higher activity than cephalosporins and piperacillin/tazobactam, and similar activity to ertapenem. Conclusions: these results show that C/T is an active β-lactam agent against clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa and Enterobacterales.


Background: Synthetic hydroxyapatite,(Ca10(PO4)6(OH2) can directly bond to bones without infection and fibrous encapsulation, thus is regarded as bioactive and biocompatible. The aim of the study was the estimation of microarchitecture bone parameters include bone mass (gm/cm2) cortical bone width (mm), thread width (mm), marrow space star volume analysis (V*m) and osteoblast, osteocyte cell number.
Materials and methods: Ninety-six (96) commercially pure titanium CpTi) used in this study, (48) implants were coated with HA by dipping coating and (48) implants were used as control. They were inserted in (32) Newzland white rabbits and followed for 2 & 6 weeks. Mechanical torque removal test and histomorphometric analysis of bone microarchiteture were performed for evaluation of osseointegration.
Results: Results revealed, Torque values were increased with advancing time for coated and uncoated groups. And specifically dip coated implant showed high value in comparison to control. Histomorphometric analysis for bone parameters showed highly significant difference in overall contrasted groups of implant in 2nd and 6th week interval. Conclusion: Dip coating method is an alternative coating technique for dental implant to enhance better bone implant contact and improve osseointegration.


A newly developed protocol to semi-automate egg counting in Southern Ocean shelled (thecosome) pteropods using image analysis software and machine learning algorithms was developed and tested for accuracy. Preserved thecosome pteropod (Limacina helicina antarctica) egg masses collected from two austral summer research voyages in East Antarctica were digitally photographed to develop a streamlined approach to enumerate eggs within egg masses using Fiji/ImageJ and the associated machine learning plugin known as Trainable Weka Segmentation. Results from this semi-automated approach were then used to compare with manual egg counts from eggs dissected from egg masses under stereomicroscope. A statistically significant correlation was observed between manual and semi-automated approaches (R 2 = 0.92, p < 0.05). There was no significant difference between manual and automated protocols when egg counts were divided by the egg mass areas (mm2) (t(29.6) = 1.98, p = 0.06). However, the average time to conduct semi-automated counts (M = 7.4, SD = 1.2) was significantly less than that for the manual enumeration technique (M = 35.9, SD = 5.7; t(30) = 2.042, p < 0.05). This new approach is promising and, unlike manual enumeration, could allow specimens to remain intact for use in live culturing experiments. Despite some limitations that are discussed, this user-friendly and simplistic protocol can provide the basis for further future development, including the addition of macro scripts to improve reproducibility and through the association with other imaging platforms to enhance interoperability. Furthermore, egg counting using this technique may lead to a relatively unexplored monitoring tool to better understand the responses of a species highly sensitive to multiple stressors connected to climate change.


PurposeBuilding information modeling (BIM) is a process of creating an intelligent virtual model integrating project data from design to construction and operation. BIM models enhance the process of communicating the progress of construction to stakeholders and facilitate integrated project delivery, coordination and clash detection. However, barriers within the construction industry in Ethiopia has led to slow BIM adoption in the country. The aim of this paper is to identify perceived BIM barriers, provide a platform to quantify their importance and develop a regression model to link individual's personal/professional attributes to their perception of BIM barrier.Design/methodology/approachTo address the objectives of this research, an online survey was developed to collect feedback from construction professionals in Ethiopia on 20 major adoption barriers extracted from a thorough review of literature. Relative importance index and strength of consensus metric were employed to identify the significance of barriers. This was then succeeded by performing exploratory factor analysis to determine the major constructs of BIM barriers which was then used to develop a multivariate regression model linking respondents' personal attributes to their perception of BIM barrier.FindingsResults revealed the importance of project complexity and BIM maturity level in prioritizing barriers that are more relevant under various contexts. More specifically, results indicated the following study highlights: Project complexity led to higher perceived weights for lack of appropriate physical/cloud infrastructures, and a BIM standard. Higher levels of BIM maturity signified the importance of BIM internal issues such as liability, licensing and maintenance issues among other adoption barriers. Female participants tended not to consider intangibility of BIM benefits as a major barrier towards BIM adoption compared to male participants. Age of the participants turned out to be the least important factor in their prioritization of BIM perceived adoption barriers.Originality/valueWhile many research studies have explored BIM adoption barriers in various countries around the world, none to the best of the authors' knowledge have attempted to develop a model to highlight the impact of individuals' personal/professional attributes on their perception of adoption barriers within their community which can help with prioritizing the barriers that are deemed to be more important given the characteristics of the community under study. Our result indicated the importance of BIM maturity level and project complexity in prioritizing barriers associated with BIM adoption within Ethiopia's construction industry.


LoRaWAN networks can involve large numbers of wireless devices relying on batteries to sense the environment and send data to gateways. A critical trade-off for transmission performance (packet delivery ratio) versus energy conservation (and hence, the device lifespan) appears when deciding the transmission parameters, in particular, the Spreading Factor (SF) to be used by each node. In this paper, we use lightweight reinforcement learning techniques, namely multi-armed bandits, for each node to select an appropriate SF, based on preferences regarding that trade-off. Unlike previous works on that topic, we relax some assumptions to aim at a realistic implementation: our solution does not assume immediate rewards, or that each device communicates with only one gateway. Additionally, we build explicit MAC commands for the method to work in practice and implement it in the ns-3 simulator using a state-of-the-art LoRaWAN module. We share the source code of our implementation and our simulation results. Those simulations show that when energy conservation is critical for IoT nodes, such lightweight learning algorithms outperform LoRaWAN's legacy Adaptive Data Rate algorithm, both in single- and multi-gateway scenarios.


Abstract Fish skin is mainly composed of the epidermis, dermis, and its derivative scales. There is a wide diversity in scale number in fishes, but the diversity of skin structure lacks systematic histological comparison. This research aimed to improve our understanding of the functional relationship between the scale number and the skin structure in freshwater fishes and to determine which ecological factors affect the scale number and skin structure. First, we presented a method to quantify skin structure in fish and histologically quantified the skin structure of 54 freshwater fishes. Second, we collected the scale number and habitat information of 509 Cyprinidae fishes in China and explored which ecological factors were related to their scale number. Third, common carp and scaleless carp were used as models to study the effects of scale loss on swimming. We found a strong negative correlation between scale thickness and scale number. The main factor affecting the skin structure of fishes was the species' water column position, and the skin of benthic fishes was the most well-developed (thicker skin layers (dermis, epidermis) or more/larger goblet cells and club cells). The scale number was related to two factors, namely, temperature and water column position, and cold, benthic and pelagic adaptation may have contributed to increased scale numbers. Only in benthic fishes, the more well-developed their skin, the more scales. In common carp, scale loss did not affect its swimming performance. In summary, we suggest that there is a rich diversity of skin structure in freshwater fishes, and the scales of fish with well-developed skin tend to degenerate (greater number/smaller size/thinner, or even disappear), but the skin of fish with degenerated scales is not necessarily well developed.


ABSTRACT Objectives: Vascular dementia (VD) is one of the more common types of dementia. Much is known about VD in older adults in terms of survival and associated risk factors, but comparatively less is known about VD in a younger population. This study aimed to investigate survival in people with young-onset VD (YO-VD) compared to those with late-onset VD (LO-VD) and to investigate predictors of mortality. Design: Retrospective file review from 1992 to 2014. Setting: The inpatient unit of a tertiary neuropsychiatry service in Victoria, Australia. Participants: Inpatients with a diagnosis of VD. Measurements and methods: Mortality information was obtained from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Clinical variables included age of onset, sex, vascular risk factors, structural neuroimaging, and Hachinksi scores. Statistical analyses used were Kaplan–Meier curves for median survival and Cox regression for predictors of mortality. Results: Eighty-four participants were included with few clinical differences between the LO-VD and YO-VD groups. Sixty-eight (81%) had died. Median survival was 9.9 years (95% confidence interval 7.9, 11.7), with those with LO-VD having significantly shorter survival compared to those with YO-VD (6.1 years and 12.8 years, respectively) and proportionally more with LO-VD had died (94.6%) compared to those with YO-VD (67.5%), χ2(1) = 9.16, p = 0.002. The only significant predictor of mortality was increasing age (p = 0.001). Conclusion: While there were few clinical differences, and older age was the only factor associated with survival, further research into the effects of managing cardiovascular risk factors and their impact on survival are recommended.


Classical canonical perturbation theory is applied in the vicinity of the saddle point for a chemical reaction. This is done by applying successive canonical transformations in the scope of the Gustavson–Birkhoff approach. It is shown that the calculated approximate classical integrals of motion can be used to describe classically forbidden tunnelling processes. They are also organically embedded into a hopping method to incorporate tunnelling effects into classical trajectory simulations of chemical reactions. The applicability of the proposed scheme is demonstrated for the collinear H+H2 exchange reaction using the double many-body expansion potential energy surface.


Abstract The 26 December 1997 explosive activity of Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat, provided an opportunity to study the evolution of a volcanic cloud by merging data from various satellites with wind-trajectory data. The activity involved a debris avalanche that descended SSW from the lava dome, to the coast, and a pyroclastic density current that traversed the coast and entered the sea. The slope failure and subsequent dome collapse occurred at c. 07:01 universal time (UT; 03:01 local time), lasted 15.2 minutes, and produced an upwardly convecting volcanic ash cloud that cloud temperatures suggest rose to c. 15 km. The volcanic ash cloud was unusual because the pyroclastic density current transported hot fine ash to the sea, where it rapidly transferred its heat to the sea water. The evaporation of large volumes of water produced a volcanogenic meteorological (VM) cloud that convected along with the volcanic ash cloud. The evolution of the volcanic and VM clouds was studied using an isentropic wind trajectory model and data from three satellite sensors: Geostationary Observational Environmental Satellite 8 (GOES 8), Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), and Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS). The high temporal resolution of the GOES 8 images filled many of the time gaps the other satellites left, and allowed quantitative retrievals to be performed using a two-band infrared retrieval method. The three-dimensional morphology of the volcanic cloud was reconstructed using GOES 8 data and by determining the heights of air parcels from wind-trajectory data. The volcanic cloud was estimated to contain up to 4.5 x 107 kg of silicate ash. Between c. 07:39 UT and 13:39 UT the ash signal of the volcanic cloud was masked by the VM cloud, which had a mass of up to 1.5 x 108 kg of ice. Ice forms when moist air is convected upwards to temperatures of less than -40°C and becomes saturated. Ice formation in volcanic clouds is especially likely when hot volcanic material is cooled by seawater rather than the atmosphere. The efficiency of evaporation of the seawater was calculated to be c. 5%, based on physical and GOES 8 data. TOMS data showed the SO2 in the volcanic cloud rose higher than the ash in the volcanic cloud, as has occurred in several other eruptions. A comparison between GOES 8 and AVHRR data showed that AVHRR data retrieved higher fine-ash silicate masses and higher cloud areas than GOES 8 due to the finer spatial resolution of AVHRR images. The effect on retrieval data of the high water vapour content in the lower troposphere of the tropical atmosphere was quantified; the high humidity in the Montserrat region caused the characteristic ash signal to the infrared sensors to be depressed by up to 80%. This signal depression caused a corresponding underestimation of the mass and area of the volcanic cloud when the infrared brightness temperature difference retrieval technique was used.


Circulating immune complexes were found in sera from patients with acute sarcoidosis during the initial phase of the disease. The symptoms of acute sarcoidosis may be explained by the presence of such complexes. The total number of peripheral T cells was lower in most patients with sarcoidosis than in healthy controls. The difference was most marked in cases with long duration of the disease. The composition of peripheral T cells was altered irrespective of the total number of such cells, and a lack of cells responding to PPD and con A was shown. Tis may be related to the impairment of delayed hypersensitivity reactions which may be present in all stages of the disease. The atypical mononuclear cells which have been found in blood from patients with sarcoidosis are lymphocytic cells. Some have B cell properties whereas some seem to have T cell origin. The presence of such cells may indicate a persistent activation of the immune system. Immunological reactivity determined by genes closely linked to the major histocompatibility complex does not seem to be responsible for susceptibility to sarcoidosis.


Summary We analyze the relationship between early-career unemployment and prime-age earnings with German administrative linked employer-employee data. The careers of more than 720,000 male apprenticeship graduates from the cohorts of 1978 to 1980 are followed over 24 years. On average, early-career unemployment has substantial negative effects on earnings accumulated later in life. An identification strategy based on plant closure of the training firm at the time of graduation suggests that the revealed correlation is not the result of unobserved heterogeneity. Scarring effects also vary considerably across the earnings distribution. Workers with a high earning potential are able to offset adverse consequences of early-career unemployment to a large extent. Workers who are located at the bottom of the prime-age earnings distribution, in contrast, suffer substantial and persistent losses. Our findings imply that a policy with the aim of preventing early-career unemployment would have long-lasting beneficial effects on future earnings.


Diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2) catalyzes the final step in triglyceride synthesis and plays an important role in the synthesis of fat, but the effects of its expression on intramuscular fat (IMF) content and muscle development are still unknown. In this study, we investigated the expression of the DGAT2 gene and its associations with IMF content and breast muscle fiber characteristics in pigeons. The spatiotemporal expression profile of the pigeon DGAT2 gene in breast muscle showed that the mRNA expression level of DGAT2 gene in subcutaneous fat was the highest (p < 0.01) among eight tissues from 0 to 4 weeks of age, and showed an upward trend week by week, followed by liver (p < 0.05). Moreover, both mRNA and protein levels of the DGAT2 gene in breast muscle showed an upward trend from 0 to 4 weeks (p < 0.05), accompanied by the upregulation of MYOD1 and MSTN. In addition, the paraffin section analysis results revealed that the diameter and cross-sectional area of pectoralis muscle fiber significantly increased with age (p < 0.05), and a significant positive correlation was shown between the DGAT2 gene expression level and muscle fiber diameter (p < 0.05). Furthermore, correlation analysis suggested that the mRNA expression level of the pigeon DGAT2 gene was significantly (p < 0.01) correlated with IMF content in breast muscle. These results imply that the DGAT2 gene has a close relationship with IMF content and breast muscle fiber characteristics in pigeons, indicating that the DGAT2 gene might be used as a candidate gene marker-assisted breeding in pigeons.


Nowadays entrepreneurs want to compete in the market looking for opportunities to reduce costs, improve quality and increase efficiency. To achieve this, it is necessary to implement management methods. Subject literature provides us with many useful tools that we can use at this stage. The 5S method is one of the basic methods used to implement the Lean Management concept into an enterprise.The main aim of this article is to present the essence of the 5S method. Five successive stages of the process have been identified, which are simple steps that provide organizations with real benefits. In addition, its advantages and disadvantages are evident from the perspective of use in the enterprise. In the following, the author will present different 5S methods.


The aim of this paper is the analysis of vulnerability within families in nine regions of Italy and represents the second part of a research on regional inequalities in income distribution. Poverty tends to be a multi-dimensional concept and the use of monetary income as a single measure of welfare can be misleading. The concept of equality of living standards is a more correct definition, but it is far more elusive. Starting from the concepts of lacks of purchasing power, of financial and patrimonial protections and of opportunities to achieve economic resources, we can measure different dimensions of vulnerabilities between regional living standards. Then, we try to identify specific families' types in which the previous lacks seem more frequent and spread: young couples with little children, families with children and only one parent and single old women are the most vulnerable families in most of the regions and on average for the whole country. Finally, we try some normative conclusions about the direction of welfare measures to reduce such factors of economic vulnerability within families and regional inequalities in Italy.


ABSTRACT Early diagnosis of tuberculosis and screening of other mycobacteria is required for the appropriate management of patients. We have therefore developed a 5′-exonuclease fluorogenic PCR assay in a single-tube balanced heminested format that simultaneously detects Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) and members of the Mycobacterium genus (MYC) using the 16S ribosomal DNA target directly on clinical samples. One hundred twenty-seven clinical samples (65 smear negative and 62 smear positive) with a positive culture result from 127 patients were tested, including 40 negative control specimens. The finding of both a positive MTC and probe value and a positive MYC probe value confirmed the presence of MTC or mycobacteria with a 100% positive predictive value. However, a negative value for MTC or MYC did not discount the presence of mycobacteria in the specimen. Interestingly, the addition of the MYC probe allowed the diagnosis of an additional 7% of patients with tuberculosis and rapid screening of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). Thus, over 75% of the patients were diagnosed with mycobacterial disease by PCR. The sensitivity was much higher on smear-positive samples (90.3%) than smear-negative samples (49.2%) and was slightly higher for MTC than NTM samples. With regard to the origin of the sample, MTC pulmonary samples gave better results than others. In conclusion, we believe this test may be useful for the rapid detection of mycobacteria in clinical samples and may be a valuable tool when used together with conventional methods and the clinical data available.


We analysed morphological and genotypic diversity of snails Succinea putris (L., 1758) collected in the north-west of Russia and in the Republic of Belarus. No significant morphological differences between snails from different populations were found. The studied snails were identical by the nucleotide sequence of ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region of rDNA. This means that the secondary structure of the ITS2 transcript of rDNA can be used for species identification of S. putris. Genetic variability based on mitochondrial markers was insignificant. Genetic distances between samples made up 0.002–0.021 for COI gene loci and 0.003–0.01 for CytB gene loci. We found ten haplotypes of the mitochondrial gene CytB and nine haplotypes of the mitochondrial gene COI. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on the obtained nucleotide sequences elucidated interrelationships between geographically distant populations of S. putris and confirmed the taxonomic position of this species. The genetic homogeneity of snails S. putris found in our study probably explains a low variability of morphological characters in this species. How to cite this article: Prokhorova E.E., Usmanova R.R., Ataev G.L. 2020. An analysis of morphological and molecular genetic characters for species identification of amber snails Succinea putris (Succineidae) // Invert. Zool. Vol.17. No.1. P.1–17, appendices 1–3. doi: 10.15298/invertzool.17.1.01


Cross-cultural research involves the systematic study of psychological processes across di ff erent cultures to understand similarities and di ff erences in human behavior as they are in fl uenced by cultural context (Matsumoto & Juang, 2017). Cross-cultural research o ff ers key advantages for informing theories on individual and cultural sources of variation in human behavior because of