The Surface Management System (SMS), being developed at NASA Ames Research Center in conjunction with the FAA, is a decision support tool that helps air traffic controllers and air carriers manage aircraft movements on the surfaces of busy airports. By presenting information and advisories to the Air Traffic Control Tower, Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON), En-route Center, and air carriers, SMS creates shared departure situational awareness, thereby increasing the efficiency, capacity, and safety on the airport surface. This paper discusses the human factors lessons that were learned during the real-time simulation of SMS that was conducted in January, 2002 at the Future Flight Central facility at NASA Ames Research Center. Five active Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Tower controllers participated in the simulation. This paper discusses one of the main objectives of the threeday simulation; to conduct human factors studies to better understand the challenges involved with introducing automation tools into the Tower environment. To this end, studies observing controller coordination were conducted, usability, suitability, and acceptability questionnaires were administered, and informal debriefs were held after each of the nine runs. BACKGROUND Tower controllers are responsible for the safe, orderly, and expeditious flow of air traffic on the airport surfaces. Specifically, Tower controllers currently are responsible for taxiing aircraft, sequencing aircraft for departure, and clearing flights for takeoff and landing. In order to get information about the current state of the aircraft and airport resources, Tower controllers use several different information sources: flight strips, a map display known as the Airport Surface Detection Equipment (ASDE), and a repeater of the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) radar, known as a Digital Brite Radar Indicator (D-BRITE). Flight strips provide detailed flight information for each departure aircraft including the aircraft type, first departure fix, flight plan, and flight ID of the aircraft. *Aerospace Engineer. Human Factors Engineer. Aerospace Engineer, Member AIAA. The D-BRITE provides controllers with the flight identification (ID) of aircraft in the terminal airspace. The ASDE, which presently operates at many large airports, provides a map display of the airport surface that shows the locations of aircraft and other vehicles. The map display provides aircraft location information in an intuitive display that is similar to the controllers' out-the-window view. ASDE does not identify the aircraft flight number or provide any other flight-specific information because it is a primary (i.e., skin paint) surface surveillance radar. New surface surveillance systems, such as ASDE-X and a prototype that is being developed under the FAA's SafeFlight 21 program, will provide real-time information about the location and identity of aircraft. The ASDE map display, flight strips, and D-BRITE provide a good picture of the current state of the airport. However, data regarding future departure demand on airport resources is not currently available. NASA Ames Research Center, in cooperation with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is developing a decision support tool known as the Surface Management System (SMS). The project is supported by NASA's Advanced Air Transportation Technologies (AATT) Project. SMS uses information provided by the new surface surveillance systems and departure plans provided by the air carriers in order to provide the Tower, TRACON, Center and air carriers with better information about current and future demand, thereby creating shared awareness of the departure situation and improving the capacity, efficiency, and flexibility of the airport. SMS aids controllers with a variety of tasks including runway balancing and departure scenario optimization. Runway balancing is the task of ensuring that all active departure runways are equally busy in terms of imposed delay and usage. A departure scenario is defined as the mapping of departure fixes or gates to a departure runway. The purpose of these runway assignment rules is to ensure that the airborne trajectories of aircraft that § An aircraft's departure fix is the first fix listed in its flight plan. At DFW the 16 departure fixes are grouped into four "gates," one per side: North, South, East, and West. AIAA's Aircraft Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) 2002 Technical 1-3 October 2002, Los Angeles, California AIAA 2002-5810 Copyright © 2002 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. No copyright is asserted in the United States under Title 17, U.S. Code. The U.S. Government has a royalty-free license to exercise all rights under the copyright claimed herein for Governmental purposes. All other rights are reserved by the copyright owner. 2 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics takeoff from different runways do not cross. Departure scenario optimization is the task of ensuring that the current departure scenario provides the most efficient runway usage and leads to the least possible number of delays on the airport surface. Occasionally, it is possible to further enhance the efficiency of the airport surface by identifying aircraft that should be exceptions to the departure scenario. In this case, SMS provides runway advisories via map displays and timelines, advising the controller to taxi the aircraft to an alternate departure runway. SMS also provides additional advisories to help manage surface movements and departure operations. For example, SMS aids controllers with the task of sequencing departure aircraft by taking into account inter-departure gaps required by wake-vortex considerations and downstream departure flow constraints. SMS currently employs three types of user interfaces: map displays, timelines, and load graphs. Map displays of the airport surface provide a two-dimensional representation of the airport and include flight-specific information on data tags. Timelines provide flightspecific information and predictive time information, and load graphs provide aggregate data. Two simulations were conducted in order to solicit user feedback about the SMS concept, the preliminary user interfaces, and the algorithm performance. These realtime controller-in-the-loop simulations of SMS were conducted in the Future Flight Central (FFC) air traffic control Tower simulation facility at NASA Ames Research Center in September, 2001 and January, 2002. FFC is a 360-degree, high fidelity control Tower simulator designed to provide the look and feel of a Level V airport Tower cab. Developed as a joint effort between NASA and the FAA, FFC uses twelve large rear projection screens and computer-generated imagery to provide a 360-degree out-the-window view. Controllers use standard headsets to talk to the pseudopilots who control the individual aircraft movements. The initial simulation, held in September, 2001, consisted of three 45-minute runs. During each run, a different set of displays was presented to each Tower controller. Data were recorded during each run and the controllers completed questionnaires and participated in group debrief interviews after each run. Four active Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) Tower controllers staffed the Local and Ground positions, while controllers from other airports observed and provided feedback. Observers were also present from Delta Air Lines and United Airlines. A large amount of expert user feedback was acquired through multiple discussions and informal debriefs with the controllers as well as through questionnaires and recordings of the simulation proceedings. The results of Simulation 1 indicated that map displays were well-liked by the Local and Ground controllers and that timelines had potential uses for them as well, but that both timelines and load graphs might be better suited for a Traffic Management Coordinator (TMC) or Supervisor position. The experimental design and results of Simulation 1 are described in detail in Reference 2. The feedback and human factors observations recorded during this simulation were incorporated into a refined version of SMS that was evaluated in a second simulation in January, 2002. The second simulation consisted of nine hour-long runs based on actual DFW traffic. Data were recorded during each run and the controllers completed questionnaires after specific runs. Additionally, group debrief interviews were held after each run. More than 30 participants were involved in the simulation, including five active DFW Tower controllers, a controller from the Memphis, TN airport (MEM) Tower, a supervisor from the Norfolk, VA Tower, and airline observers from FedEx, Northwest Airlines, UPS, American Airlines, and United Airlines. The five active DFW controllers staffed the Tower positions, while the other controllers observed and provided feedback. A large amount of expert user feedback was acquired through the informal debrief sessions as well as through questionnaires and data collected during the simulation. This paper summarizes the methodologies employed, the SMS displays tested, and the human factors lessons learned from the simulation. SMS will be further refined based on the feedback from the simulation and will be evaluated next in the FedEx ramp tower at MEM in the summer of 2002. An evaluation in the ATC Tower will follow in 2003. SIMULATION DESCRIPTION Simulation Environment In nominal operating conditions, DFW operates two air traffic control Towers, one controlling the west half of the airport, the other controlling the east half. Since the FFC facility can simulate only one Tower, only one side of the airport could be modeled. Therefore, since the majority of the gates and runways are located on the east half of the airport, a modified version of the East Tower of DFW was modeled. Operations were only conducted in South Flow under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) conditions. Figure 1


To the Editor. —In retinal detachment surgery, we use an O black silk suture as a stay suture under each of the four rectus muscles. Normally, the surgeon ties a knot at the end of the suture. This makes the suture into somewhat of a loose ring when it is not held tautly. This can cause difficulty when the surgeon handles the suture, especially if he grasps only one arm of it. In this case, the suture will slip or slide and act as a loose ring under the muscle (Fig 1). Because of the slippage, it will be temporarily ineffective for holding the muscle. This situation can be avoided by tying an additional knot in the middle of the suture. This will prevent all slippage when the suture is grasped anywhere distal to the middle knot and will assure that neither of the arms of the suture will slip


Recent research has greatly increased our knowledge regarding the molecular mechanisms of collagen synthesis and processing. Heat specific shock protein (HSP47) is a collagen-specific molecular chaperone, and helps in post-translational modifications of procollagens, during biosynthesis of collagen. Both in vivo and in vitro studies have convincingly demonstrated that HSP47 is localized in the endoplasmic reticulum of collagen-producing cells, and that its synthesis is closely associated with the rate of procollagen assembly. Recent studies are directed towards the pathological relevance of HSP47 in tissue scarring, a process that is characterized by excessive accumulation of collagens. It appears likely that increased levels of HSP47 in fibrotic diseases assist in increased assembly of procollagen, and thereby help in excessive accumulation of collagens in the fibrotic mass. Such profibrotic effects of HSP47 suggest that modulation of HSP47 expression in scarring diseases might alter the course of fibrotic diseases. In this brief article, we review the role of HSP47 in renal fibrotic diseases and its relevance to other scarring diseases.


A biofertilizer, BIOACTIVE, was manufactured by N-acetyl-thioproline (ATCA) and mineral phosphate solubilizing bacteria. The growth promoting effect of the biofertilizer on lettuce was evaluated under three different pot conditions, and its stability was assessed in the field. According to the results of the pot experiments, plant growth was improved compared with that of control: 128%, 122%, and 153% for the leaf number, leaf length, and leaf mass, respectively. Applying the manufactured biofertilizer increased the concentration of phosphate: 118% and 132% in the cultivation soil and plant cells, respectively. These show that BIOACTIVE may have potential as an effective biofertilizer in agriculture.


This study compared the effects of a real-world multidisciplinary intervention with additional exercise or nutritional elements and investigated the effectiveness of a booster intervention after weight regain. A total of 242 children and adolescents (age- and sex-specific body mass index [BMI] ≥ 85th percentile, mean age: 10.82 years, 60% male) were allocated to three groups: usual care, exercise, or nutrition. Six-month active treatment with 1:1 session and a maintenance stage with group activities were repeated twice to comprise a 24-month intervention. The primary outcome was change % of the BMI z-score (zBMI). A total of 110 (45.4%) participants completed the 24-month intervention. A mixed-effects model analysis indicated no significant interaction effect of the intervention group and treatment phase on the zBMI change % (p = 0.976). However, there was a significant main effect of the treatment phase on zBMI change % at 6 months (β = −2.98, [95% CI, −5.69–0.27]), 18 months (β = −3.99, [95% CI, −6.76–1.22]), and 24 months (β = −3.23, [95% CI, −5.94–0.52]; p = 0.042). The improvements in zBMI, body fat %, and cardiometabolic markers were observed only among males. Whereas the additive effect of intensive exercise or nutritional feedback was not detected in the long term, a booster intervention with 1:1 counseling was effective even after weight regain during the maintenance period. It may be useful to combine individualized counseling with a less intensive form of group care for long-term maintenance in a real-world setting.


Calibrated hot boxes are used to measure heat flow through building envelope components such as walls. To determine the specimen heat flow, the energy input to the metering chamber must be corrected for extraneous losses. Originally, these extraneous losses were assumed to occur only through the chamber walls. Recent events in the technical community have demonstrated that significant heat flow also occurs between the metering chamber and the climatic chamber through the specimen frame. This heat flow is called flanking loss. Hot box calibrations must account for flanking loss in addition to chamber wall loss in order to achieve highly accurate results. This paper describes the flanking loss calibration for an existing calibrated hot box. A flanking loss model was developed, then tests were run on specimens of known thermal conductivity. For these tests, the specimen heat flow was determined based on the known conductivity and measured temperatures. The flanking loss was then found from an energy balance on the metering chamber. Finally, these data were used to upgrade the flanking loss model. The result was an empirical equation relating flanking loss to the temperature difference between the two chambers, the associated mean temperature, and the specimen thickness.


We performed a first-principles calculation of the electronic band structure of MgB2, a superconductor discovered recently, by employing a full-potential linear muffin-tin orbital method. In advance, the influences of the lattice parameter on the electronic structure are investigated with different volumes and c/a ratios. The effects of substitution on the electronic structure are discussed in relation to the variation of the lattice parameters and electron filling which is investigated via a Mg pseudo-atom. The variations of the two-dimensional covalent σ-band and three-dimensional metal π-band are investigated in detail at several high-symmetry points of the Brillouin zone (BZ). These results show that the variations of the electronic structure of MgB2 are mainly determined by the effect of the c/a ratio. Considering the variation of the Fermi surface at the M and Γ points of the BZ, the corresponding electronic topological transition (ETT) induced by the lattice and doping are discussed. The ETT at the M point should be related to the structural phase transition in AlxMg1-xB.


The global seafood scenario is witnessing changes in consumer's preference particularly in urban consumers. Conventional products are slowly disappearing from the markets, their place being taken up by products emerging in new styles or forms of value added products in Ready-To-Eat and Ready-To-Cook form. Keeping in view a new Ready-To-Eat product, Fish ball in curry was prepared from Catla fish. In this book methodology of product preparation and shelf life study of product at chilled and frozen is discussed.


The effect of chemical substitutions on the photophysical properties of the salicylidene methylamine molecule (SMA) (J. Jankowska, M. F. Rode, J. Sadlej, A. L. Sobolewski, ChemPhysChem, 2012, 13, 4287-4294) is studied with the aid of ab initio electronic structure methods. It is shown that combining π-electron-donating and π-electron-withdrawing substituents results in an electron-density push-and-pull effect on the energetic landscape of the ground and the lowest excited ππ* and nπ* singlet states of the system. The presented search for the most appropriate SMA derivatives with respect to their photoswitching functionality offers an efficient prescreening tool for finding chemical structures before real synthetic realization.


The tendency for genetic architectures to exhibit epistasis among mutations plays a central role in the modern synthesis of evolutionary biology and in theoretical descriptions of many evolutionary processes. Nevertheless, few studies unquestionably show whether, and how, mutations typically interact. Beneficial mutations are especially difficult to identify because of their scarcity. Consequently, epistasis among pairs of this important class of mutations has, to our knowledge, never before been explored. Interactions among genome components should be of special relevance in compacted genomes such as those of RNA viruses. To tackle these issues, we first generated 47 genotypes of vesicular stomatitis virus carrying pairs of nucleotide substitution mutations whose separated and combined deleterious effects on fitness were determined. Several pairs exhibited significant interactions for fitness, including antagonistic and synergistic epistasis. Synthetic lethals represented 50% of the latter. In a second set of experiments, 15 genotypes carrying pairs of beneficial mutations were also created. In this case, all significant interactions were antagonistic. Our results show that the architecture of the fitness depends on complex interactions among genome components.


The purpose of this study was to determine the endogenous concentrations of estrogens, particularly estradiol‐17β (E2β), in edible tissues of beef cattle (females and intact and neutered males) and the concentrations of E2β, and trenbolone beta and alpha (βTb, αTb) after an E2β and/or trenbolone acetate (TA) ear implant. Radioimmunoassays were validated for quantitation of E2β (active isomer), E2α, estrone (E1), βTb and αTb for bovine muscle, liver, kidney and fat tissues. The criteria of accuracy, precision, specificity and sensitivity were applied according to the standards of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. In steer tissues, endogenous E2β was <15 ppt, as was heifer muscle; but heifer liver and kidney were 3‐fold greater. An E2β implant in steers had no effect on muscle E2β concentration, but increased E2β in liver and fat 4‐ and 3‐fold, respectively, but by 24 h post‐implant removal, E2β had fallen by half. Tissue E1 concentrations in cyclic females were similar to E2β, but rose many fold greater than did E2β during gestation; E2β rose 3‐fold during gestation. After E2β/TA implant, steer tissues had E2β concentrations equal to (for muscle and fat) and one‐half (for liver) the E2β measured in E2β implant only steers; βTb was in a low range (250–380 ppt) in muscle, liver and fat and αTb was even lower, except in liver (800–1500 ppt). An implant of TA only (no E2β) resulted in βTb and αTb concentrations 2–3‐fold greater in liver, kidney and fat, but no greater in muscle than βTb in tissues of E2β/TA implant steers. In conclusion, anabolic implants in steers resulted in tissue E2β concentrations less than the FDA allowable increment and βTb in the lowest quartile (0.25) of a part per billion 30 days after implant.


In this paper, we give necessary conditions for achieving global consensus in homogeneous networks of discrete-time linear time-invariant agents with input saturation constraints under fixed undirected topologies. For two special cases, where the agent model is either neutrally stable or a double integrator, these necessary conditions together with a gain condition are also sufficient. We show this by designing a linear protocol based on the combination of state differences between the agent and its neighbors. In particular, for the neutrally stable case, we show that any linear protocol of a particular form which solves the consensus problem for the case without input saturation constraints also solves the global consensus problem for the case with input saturation constraints. For the double integrator case, we show that a subset of linear protocols which solve the consensus problem for the case without saturation constraints also solve the global consensus problem in the presence of input saturation. The results are illustrated by numerical simulations.


The Z-source inverter (ZSI) employs an LC impedance network between the main inverter bridge and the power source. The unique feature of the ZSI is that it can operate either in buck or boost mode with a wide range of obtainable output voltages from a given input voltage. This topology also exhibits better electromagnetic-interference noise immunity when compared to a traditional voltage-source inverter (VSI). However, the LC impedance network of ZSI significantly increases the size and cost of the power converter and can make it unsuitable for low-power applications. This paper proposes a novel topology called switched boost inverter (SBI) which exhibits similar advantages of ZSI with lower number of passive components and more active components compared to ZSI. The steady-state and small-signal analyses of SBI, along with its pulsewidth modulation (PWM) control strategies, have been discussed in this paper. This paper also presents a comparison of SBI and ZSI with the same input and output parameters. The theoretical analysis given in this paper has been validated using a laboratory prototype of SBI, and the experimental results are presented for verification. The experimental harmonic spectrum of the inverter's output voltage with the proposed PWM technique is also plotted and compared with that of a traditional VSI. All the experimental results show good correlation between theory and experiments.


Doctor-patient communication skills are important in family medicine and can be taught and learned. This paper summarises the salient contents and main methods of the teaching and learning of doctor-patient communication, especially those applicable to the discipline.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify preferences of persons with mental illnesses for mental health services. Methods: Q-methodology, an approach designed to discover patterns in various subjective experiences, was used. Twenty-six participants classified 36 selected Q-statements on a nine-point scale to create a normal distribution. The collected data were analyzed using the PC Quanl program. Results: Four types of preference in mental health services for persons with mental illnesses were identified by the participants: Type I Interaction preference type, Type II Patient right seeking type, Type III Clinical environment preference type, Type IV Treatment outcome seeking type. Conclusion: The results of this study provide an understanding that different types of preference for mental health services exist and each type has certain characteristics, which suggest a need to develop practical mental health practice nursing standards designed for each type of preference for mental health services.


We propose and analyze a novel dynamic reservation protocol for integrating constant bit rate (CBR), variable bit rate (VBR) and available bit rate (ABR) traffic over hybrid fibre/cable (HFC) networks. This protocol allows a VBR station to capture isochronous channels on a bandwidth on demand basis. To enhance channel utilization, both the capturing probability and the bandwidth available for reservation requests are adjusted dynamically. We also propose an effective method to provide ABR service such that non-time sensitive data traffic can only be transmitted over the residual bandwidth of the time-sensitive CBR and VBR traffic. Simulation results indicate that the proposed protocol gives performance close to the ideal results, is efficient in terms of bandwidth utilization, and provides the desired ABR service characteristics.


This article combines numerical simulation and field monitoring methods to study the stability of the overlying Liuyang River embankment in the tunnel crossing between Huaqiao Station and Rice Museum Station of Changsha Metro's Line 6. Using AutoCAD, 3Dmine, and COMSOL Multiphysics, a calculation model of the entire subway tunnel section crossing the flood control embankment under the coupling of fluids and solids was established. The process of tunnel-crossing the embankment and the variation in spatial displacement and plastic strain in different geological layers were analyzed from the perspective of time evolution and spatial distribution. The research results show that during the process of crossing the embankment, the deformation of the east bank is greater than that of the west bank, and crossing the west bank is the relatively riskier stage of the entire project. Moreover, during the process of crossing the embankment, the overlying soil layer will produce a plastic strain zone, and only a small amount of plastic strain is generated in the surrounding sandstone layer of the tunnel walls. In terms of the magnitude of plastic strain, the plastic strain area produced by the leading tunnel's surrounding rocks is larger than that of the following tunnel. As the excavation progresses, a funnel-shaped settlement displacement gradually forms during the passage of the leading tunnel, and this settlement funnel gradually expands during the passage of the following tunnel, with the maximum settlement point transitioning from directly above the leading tunnel to the middle position between the two tunnels. Using the jitter filter algorithm and the adjacent average method to process the field monitoring data, the results show that the monitored deformation results well match the simulated settlement results.


Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is the vector of choice for several approved gene therapy treatments and is the basis for many ongoing clinical trials. Various strains of AAV exist (referred to as serotypes), each with their own transfection characteristics. Here, we present a high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure (2.2 Å) for AAV serotype 4 (AAV4). The receptor responsible for transduction of the AAV4 clade of AAV viruses (including AAV11, 12 and rh32.33) is unknown. Other AAVs interact with the same cell receptor, Adeno-associated virus receptor (AAVR), in one of two different ways. AAV5-like viruses interact exclusively with the polycystic kidney disease-like [PKD]-1 domain of AAVR while most other AAVs interact primarily with the PKD2 domain. A comparison of the present AAV4 structure with prior corresponding structures of AAV5, AAV2 and AAV1 in complex with AAVR, provides a foundation for understanding why the AAV4-like clade is unable to interact with either PKD1 or PKD2. The conformation of the AAV4 capsid in variable regions I, III, IV and V on the viral surface appears to be sufficiently different from AAV2 to ablate binding with PKD2. Differences between AAV4 and AAV5 in variable region VII appear sufficient to exclude binding with PKD1.


IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common form of primary glomerulonephritis.^1 The histopathology of IgAN is characterized by abundance of mesangial matrix and proliferation of mesangial cells. IgA^1 deposition in the mesangium plays an important role in the inflammatory process in this disease.


The influence of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) on the activity of the respiratory and vasomotor centers was studied by injecting 5-HT into the lateral and fourth ventricles of lightly anaesthetized cats. 50 and 500 mu g of 5-HT injected into the lateral ventricle induced a shortlasting increase in frequency and/or tidal volume followed by a prolonged and dose-dependent reduction of frequency, tidal volume and minute volume, concurrent with an increase in end expiratory CO2. The CO2 responsiveness of the respiratory center was depressed and the blood pressure levels were also lowered. All these effects were markedly enhanced by monoamine oxidase inhibition with i.v. tranylcypromine injected 75 min prior to 5-HT. 50 mu g of 5-HT injected into the fourth ventricle induced a depression of respiration similar to that observed in the lateral ventricle studies, with the exception that the early stimulation was abolished.


Abstract : This project is about the design, analysis and application of high order accurate and nonlinearly stable finite difference (including finite volume) WENO schemes, finite element discontinuous Galerkin methods, and spectral algorithms for computing solutions of partial differential equations which are either discontinuous or with sharp gradients. Algorithm development, theoretical study about stability and convergence of the algorithms, investigation about efficient implementation including parallel implementations, and applications in compressible and incompressible gas dynamics and in semiconductor device simulations. are performed. The achievement strengthens our objective to obtain powerful and reliable high order numerical algorithms and use them to solve problems containing discontinuous solutions, especially those of Army interest.


Abstract Purpose This paper describes an alternative way of assessing journals considering a broader perspective of its impact. The Area-based connectedness (ABC) to society of journals applied here contributes to the assessment of the dissemination task of journals but with more data it may also contribute to the assessment of other missions. Design/methodology/approach The ABC approach assesses the performance of research actors, in this case journals, considering the characteristics of the research areas in which they are active. Each paper in a journal inherits the characteristics of its area. These areas are defined by a publication-based classification. The characteristics of areas relate to 5 dimensions of connectedness to society (news, policy, industrial R&D, technology and local interest) and are calculated by bibliometric indicators and social media metrics. Findings In the paper, I illustrate the approach by showing the results for a few journals. They illustrate the diverse profiles that journals may have. We are able to provide a profile for each journal in the Web of Science database. The profiles we present show an appropriate view on the journals' societal connectedness. Research limitations The classification I apply to perform the analyses is a CWTS in house classification based on Web of Science data. As such the application depends on the (updates of) that system. The classification is available at www.leidenranking.com Practical implications The dimensions of connectedness discussed in this paper relate to the dissemination task of journals but further development of this method may provide more options to monitor the tasks/mission of journals. Originality/value The ABC approach is a unique way to assess performance or impact of research actors considering the characteristics of the areas in which output is published and as such less prone to manipulation or gaming.


Studies have been done on the annual dynamics of starch, low molecular carbohydrates, triacylglycerol content, amylase and lipase activities in the needles and the inner bark of 35-year-old trees of the Pinus sylvestris L. and Larix sibirica Ledeb. species from plantations near Krasnoyarsk, in the South Taiga region of Central Siberia. It was shown that triacylglycerols were the main reserve substances in the tissues of both species during most of the year. The predominance of triacylglycerols as reserve substances for the deciduous larch is less expressed than for the evergreen pine. A high concentration of triacylglycerols in storage tissues was found during the winter months. The lowest amount of triacylglycerols in the needles and the inner bark of both species was found during the periods when the temperature was near O°C. A peak in starch levels in spring in the needles and the inner bark of the pine trees and an autumn peak in the starch levels of the inner bark of the larch trees were noted. It is concluded that starch storage in the needles and the inner bark of the pine in spring carries out the function of depositing carbohydrates originating from triacylglycerols, but in autumn the source of the starch deposits in the inner bark of the larch is a result of the carbohydrates being transported from the yellowing needles. An increase of amylase activity and a decrease of starch content in the needles and the inner bark of the studied species during the second part of the vegetation period coincided with the period of heightened intensity of cellulose being deposited into the annual wood ring. The maximum lipase activity in spring preceded the highest starch levels. It was thought that before visible growth began the energy supply function of the reserve compounds was most important, but, when the growth started it was the substrate function.


We examine the question of whether a π junction can spontaneously form in a Josephson junction between two topological superconductors. We study a junction between two time-reversal-invariant topological superconductors and show this system goes through a series of multiple transitions between a 0-junction phase, where the free energy has its minimum for a superconducting phase difference of zero, and a π -junction phase, where the free energy has its minimum for a superconducting phase difference of π . These transitions occur in the absence of a Coulomb blockade or magnetic impurities. Rather, they are driven by the spin-orbit coupling in the junction, and can be probed, for example, by measuring the tunneling density of states or the critical current as a function of the junction's length or its Fermi velocity.


Methods of preparation, optical properties, and X-ray diffraction data are reported for six barium aluminate hydrates. Three of these were obtained successively by precipitation from supersaturated barium aluminate solutions at 30° C. The first, designated by the empirical formula l.lBaO.Al2O3.6H2O, is metastable with respect to the second, BaO.Al2O3.7H2O, which in turn is metastable with respect to BaO.Al2O3.4H2O. Two lower hydrates, BaO.Al2O3.2H2O and BaO.Al2O3.H2O, were prepared hydrothermally. 2BaO.Al2O3.5H2O was obtained from boiling barium aluminate solutions.


Moran (2013) rightly links performance of speech acts to instituting second-personal normative relations. He also maintains that an audience's recognition of the speaker's intention in speaking is sufficient for the speaker's success in doing the speech act intended. The claim is true on some ways of understanding speech act verbs, but false on others. This complexity of speech act verbs can be explained by seeing how speech acts need to be understood in the context of shared life and cooperative action.


The purpose of this study is to improve Indonesian language skills in determining the elements of the story by applying the concept mapping method assisted by graphic media. The research conducted was a Classroom Action Research (CAR) in two cycles, with each cycle consisting of one meeting. In cycle I, the results of student activities through evaluation were obtained from all students as many as 35 students, there were 20 students completed and 15 students had not completed, with a persetanse of 57% and 43%. In the second cycle, it was decided that the students experienced an increase in completeness as expected. In cycle II, there were 29 students who had completed and 6 students who had not yet completed, with a percentage of 83% and 17%. The application of the Concept Mapping learning model can improve the learning outcomes of Class 4 students in Indonesian muples in determining the elements of the story. Students will always remember as provisions for the future in everyday life, students are able to determine the elements of the story correctly.


Cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant (CINC) is a member of the chemokine a subfamily. It is induced in rats by tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-α), interleukin-1, and lipopolysaccharide and is implicated in neutrophil infiltration in response to inflammatory stimuli. We tested the hypothesis that pretreatment with anti-CINC antibody or by cobra venom factor attenuates hepatic neutrophil accumulation induced by a 90 min infusion of Escherichia coli endotoxin. Changes in the expression of CD11b/c and CD18 and in plasma TNF-α levels were also investigated. Cultured hepatocytes and Kupffer cells of endotoxic rats produced significantly more CINC than those of saline-infused controls. CINC generation by Kupffer cells was much lower than generation by hepatocytes. Pretreatment with anti-CINC antibody or cobra venom factor significantly reduced hepatic neutrophil sequestration, but did not affect the up- regulation of CD11b/c and CD18 expression on liver-sequestered neutrophils or plasma TNF-α levels. We conclude that CINC-mediated hepatic neutrophil accumulation may not be necessarily associated with up-regulation of neutrophil adhesion molecules or elevated circulating TNF-α levels. Attenuation of hepatic neutrophil sequestration by anti-CINC antibody is likely based on blocking of the chemotactic activity of CINC and thus diminishing the chemotactic gradient established in the liver.


Detection methods for human cytomegalovirus were evaluated with 431 urine samples from 30 bone marrow and 88 kidney transplant recipients. Low-speed centrifugal inoculation was followed by early antigen (EA) detection by means of indirect immunofluorescence with a monoclonal antibody after 1 (EA-1) and 6 (EA-6) days of cultivation. The results were compared with those of conventional virus isolation (CVI). Of 68 positive samples, 49 (72%) were detected with EA-1, 58 (85%) were detected with EA-6, and 43 (63%) were detected with CVI. The combination of EA-1 and EA-6 showed positive results with 66 samples (97%), which is significantly better than with CVI (P less than 0.001). With the exception of one patient, all CVI-negative but EA-positive samples had either significant rises in immunoglobulin G (IgG) or IgA antibody titer or IgM antibodies present in the sera. These data indicate that the method with EA detection can replace CVI, provided that each sample is inoculated in duplicate. Sample 1 is examined after 1 day, and if it is negative, sample 2 is incubated for a further 5 days, followed by detection of cytomegalovirus.


Kim, H.; An, H.-Y., Jeong, J.-H., Kang, Y.-H., Song, S.-K., and Kim, Y.-K., 2019. The causes of sudden windstorm inducing a deadly threat to coastal safety: A case study for the fishing boat overturning on February 28, 2018. In: Lee, J.L.; Yoon, J.-S.; Cho, W.C.; Muin, M., and Lee, J. (eds.), The 3rd International Water Safety Symposium. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 91, pp. 61-65. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.The incidence of overturning fishing vessels was approximately 2.7% of the total number of incidents involving fishing vessels in 2017, which is much smaller than that of engine failures or collisions, but it cannot be overlooked easily considering the damage scale (property and human life). In particular, after the sinking of the MV Sewol, also referred to as the Sewol Ferry Disaster, in 2014, the ship incident along with the casualties has been a great shock and trauma to the Korean people so far. On the afternoon of February 28, 2018, the fishing boat, Keun-Ryong, overturned in the open sea in front of Wando Island, causing seven casualties (two deaths and five missing persons) that also caused the shockwaves through the social community in Korea. According to media reports, the national coast guard deduced that the fishing vessel faced an unexpected condition and the crews could not press the distress signal button. In addition, bad weather condition due to wind gusts was considered the main cause. The instantaneous maximum wind speed in the shore near the accident area reached 20.7 m/s, but the quantitative wind speed at the accident spot was not known due to the absence of weather observations. To determine if a strong wind gust can overturn a fishing boat and to overcome the limitation due to the absence of weather observations in the open sea, high-resolution modelling was carried out using the WRF model in this study. A range of observation data were used to verify the model prediction as well as performance and to analyze the atmospheric instability between the upper and lower levels. Efforts need to be made prevent such accidents from recurring by predicting when similar weather conditions occur in the future.


Activ. nerv. sup. (Praha) 28, 2, 1986. Utilizing a combination of idiographic and nomothetic research designs with repeated measures in several breeds of dogs, we discovered stable constitutional differences in psychophysiologic reactions to repeated exposure to psychologically stressful situations. Some dogs showed high psychophysiologic adaptation (HA dogs). Other dogs developed persistent psychophysiologic reactions to the psychologically aversive environment: tachycardia, polypnea, profuse salivation, high energy metabolism and muscle tension, and high urinary vasopressin and catecholamines (low adaptation or LA dogs). Retrospective analysis of the development and extinction of cardiac and respiratory orienting reflexes (OR) in these two types of dogs revealed that the LA dogs exhibit higher frequency and more intense, persistent and highly fluctuating (poorly modulated) cardiac and respiratory OR than the HA dogs, which show rapid OR habituation and good modulation. Insofar as one may extrapolate these data to human subjects, recording dynamics of development and habituation and degree of modulation of visceral OR may facilitate early detection of individuals at risk for cardiorespiratory and other psychovisceral disorders.


With the rise of specialized hardware and new programming languages, code optimization has shifted its focus towards promoting data locality. Most production-grade compilers adopt a control-centric mindset --- instruction-driven optimization augmented with scalar-based dataflow --- whereas other approaches provide domain-specific and general purpose data movement minimization, which can miss important control-flow optimizations. As the two representations are not commutable, users must choose one over the other. In this paper, we explore how both control- and data-centric approaches can work in tandem via the Multi-Level Intermediate Representation (MLIR) framework. Through a combination of an MLIR dialect and specialized passes, we recover parametric, symbolic dataflow that can be optimized within the DaCe framework. We combine the two views into a single pipeline, called DCIR, showing that it is strictly more powerful than either view. On several benchmarks and a real-world application in C, we show that our proposed pipeline consistently outperforms MLIR and automatically uncovers new optimization opportunities with no additional effort.


Determining the sentiment in the individual sentences of a newspaper article in an automated fashion is a major challenge. Manually created sentiment dictionaries often fail to meet the required standards. And while computer-generated dictionaries show promise, they are often limited by the availability of suitable linguistic resources. I propose and test a novel, language-agnostic and resource-efficient way of constructing sentiment dictionaries, based on word embedding models. The dictionaries are constructed and evaluated based on four corpora containing two decades of Danish, Dutch (Flanders and the Netherlands), English, and Norwegian newspaper articles, which are cleaned and parsed using Natural Language Processing. Concurrent validity is evaluated using a dataset of human-coded newspaper sentences, and compared to the performance of Polyglot dictionaries. Predictive validity is tested through two long-standing hypotheses on the negativity bias in political news. Results show that both the concurrent validity and predictive validity is good. The dictionaries outperform their Polyglot counterparts, and are able to detect a negativity bias, which is stronger for tabloids. The method is resource-efficient in terms of manual labor when compared to manually constructed dictionaries, and requires a limited amount of computational power.


A possible interaction of (volcano-) tectonic earthquakes with the continuous seismic noise recorded in the volcanic island of Tenerife was recently suggested, but existing catalogues seem to be far from being self consistent, calling for the development of automatic detection and classification algorithms. In this work we propose the adoption of a methodology based on Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), widely used already in other fields, such as speech classification.


Introduction Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is a process used to collect data from hard-to-reach populations, such as men who have sex with men (MSM). This is a process of accessing a hidden population of interest via following links in the network of acquaintances belonging to the population, and it can be a useful epidemiological tool for estimating HIV prevalence in high risk populations. However, a typical sample arising from an RDS process on a network contains a certain degree of homophily, and in case the quantity surveyed is a given characteristic, this can generate biased results. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in order to estimate the HIV prevalence among MSM in 2009. Recruitment was carried out using RDS sampling. We assessed whether HIV status of the recruiter was associated with HIV status of the recruitee. Statistical analysis was carried out by McNemar's χ2. Results We analysed 221 recruiter-recruitee pairs among the 274 MSM included in the study. The prevalence of HIV infection was 10.8% (95% CI 4.5 to 17.8). The probability of recruiting an HIV positive individual was 80% when the recruiter was also HIV positive and 8.3% when the recruiter was HIV negative, indicating a dependency on HV status during the recruitment process (McNemar=13.5, p<0.001). Conclusion Although RDS sampling may be suitable for ascertaining HIV prevalence among hidden populations, these estimates are likely to be biased and results should be carefully assessed and proper adjustments carried out.


The Pentium affair has been widely publicized. It started with an obscure defect in the floating-point unit of Intel Corporation's flagship Pentium microprocessor. This is the story of how the Pentium floating-point division problem was discovered, and what you need to know about the maths and computer engineering involved before deciding whether to replace the chip, install the workaround provided here, or do nothing. The paper also discusses broader issues of computational correctness. >


To the Editor Primary results from the Comparison of Acute Treatments in Cancer Hemostasis (CATCH) trial1 were reported as negative, but the authors found an association between tinzaparin use compared with warfarin and reduction in the secondary outcome of clinically relevant nonmajor bleeding. Analysis of serious adverse events and mortality from this trial leads us to question the authors' overall conclusions.


The aim of the study was to compare the levels of cadmium and lead in livers, kidneys and wool / hair / of sheep and goats reared in the vicinity of the steelworks in Nowa Huta in Kraków and in the control field, Rożniatów, in which there was no emitters of heavy metals. Samples were collected post mortem from one-year old animals of one breed (within a species) and one sex, who had lived from birth in the studied areas. Both species were fed with the same fodder and have remained in the same places. Wet mineralization was applied (mixture of nitric acid (V) and chloric (VII) (3: 1)) metal determination was done by a FASA method. The levels of the metals depend on the species, on the test areas and on the collected part of the animal. Tissues from sheep contained more cadmium and lead than the tissue of goats. The highest cadmium content was found in the kidney, lower in the liver, the lowest in the hair / wool of tested animals. Goat kidneys from both areas of research and sheep kidneys from Rożniatów meet consumer standards for cadmium. However, 20% of sheep kidneys sampled from Nowa Huta district exceeded the standards for cadmium. The lead content of both species exceeded the limit in all of the kidneys and livers from Nowa Huta district. In Rożniatów the standards were not fulfilled for all kidneys and livers of goats, and all kidneys and 70% of the livers of sheep.


The presented work aims at an instrumental method for the assessment of speech-quality of modern telecommunication networks that features two functions: the prediction of a system's overall speech-quality as well as the analysis of the overall speechquality. The introduced method is based on the estimation of quality dimensions, each describing a particular characteristic relevant for the quality of speech signals. For narrowband telephonespeech three relevant dimensions have been identified: "directness/frequency content" , "continuity", and "noisiness". The estimates of the single dimensions allow for an analysis of speech quality while together forming a model for the overall quality. This paper presents a method for the estimation of the quality dimension "directness/frequency content". The estimator is based on two parameters considered suitable to measure "directness/frequency content" of a speech signal y(k) that has been transmitted over a telecommunication system. The estimates d DF of this dimension show correlations of ρ > 0.93 with the results of corresponding auditory tests.


In this study, water level estimates from the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation Lidar (GEDI) were validated against in situ gauge station records over Lake Geneva. The performances of the first and second releases (respectively V1 and V2) of the GEDI data products were compared. The influence of the following parameters were analyzed: (1) the signal-over-noise ratio (SNR), (2) the width of water surface peak within the waveform (gwidth), (3) the amplitude of the water surface peak within the waveform (A), (4) the viewing angle of GEDI (VA), and (5) the acquiring beam. The comparison between V1 and V2 elevations showed that V2, overall, provided elevations with a more constant bias and fewer deviations to in situ data than V1. In addition, by choosing GEDI shots with VA ≤ 3.5°, the unbiased RMSE (ubRMSE) of GEDI elevations was 27.1 cm with V2 (r=0.66) and 42.8 cm with V1 (r=0.34). Results also show that the accuracy of GEDI (ubRMSE) does not seem to depend on the beam number and GEDI acquisition dates for the most accurate GEDI acquisitions (VA≤ 3.5°). Regarding the bias, a higher value was observed with V2 but with lower variability (54 cm) in comparison to V1 (35 cm). Finally, the bias showed a slight dependence on beam GEDI number.


: To explore the mechanisms underlying salt tolerance in rice, the physiological parameters of rice planted for 12 days under salt stress were examined. Under the salt stress and the use of hydroponic cultures and soil-based pot screening methods, the two salt-tolerant developed rice lines, M-1 and M-3, were found to be more salt-tolerant than the Pathum Thani 1 (PTT1) cultivar owing to the lower Na + accumulation in their leaf blades. Growth and physiological parameters (shoot and root dry weights, electrolyte leakage ratio, leaf water content, and chlorophyll concentration) of both mutant lines were unchanged upon exposure to salt stress, but changes were found in the PTT1. In addition, all the examined tissues under salt stress conditions of the mutant lines showed lower Na + / K + ratios. In response to salt stress in both screening methods, the OsHKT1;5 expression in the roots of the M-1 and M-3 lines had greatly increased, and the Na + accumulation in their shoots was decreased. However, the OsNHX1 expression in the leaf sheaths and the roots of PTT1 was highly upregulated by the salt stress compared with the two mutant lines, suggesting that the NHX antiporter of PTT1 did not effectively transport the Na + into the vacuoles, contributing to a high Na + accumulation in the leaf blades, which might be related to the repression of the OsHKT1;5 gene in its roots. Molecular analysis suggested that the Na + retrieval mechanisms via OsHKT1;5 might enhance the salt stress tolerance of the mutant lines by preventing Na + accumulation in their aerial parts, whereas Na + exclusion via OsNHX1 may respond to elevated Na + sequestration in the vacuoles.


This thesis examines the potential impact and limitations that current metropolitan efforts on urban planning in the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara could have in reducing the high rates of housing abandonment the city currently faces. Previous efforts to reduce housing abandonment in the city have not delivered the expected results, and the metropolitan government of Guadalajara has laid out a new Metropolitan Urban Development Plan (POTmet) that seeks to rethink housing allocation and reduce home abandonment. In this document I analyze POTmet's housing allocation and abandonment strategies through interviews with key stakeholders involved in the elaboration process of the plan. I create a narrative around these interviews to understand how stakeholders' interests translate into the final strategy outlined in the POTmet. Later, I contrast these findings with previous efforts to reduce housing abandonment in Guadalajara and with the factors that are currently understood as determinants of the abandonment problem. I discuss what the success and limitations of the POTmet could be in reducing housing abandonment and conclude that, while the POTmet successfully brings together key stakeholders that could work together to reduce home abandonment, previous interests that have driven the abandonment problem in the city are still present in the new proposal. The POTmet also fails to target important contributing factors of abandonment, diminishing its potential for success. I discuss these findings and propose new lines of research and action that the City of Guadalajara can take to achieve its objectives to reduce housing abandonment. Thesis Supervisor: Diane E. Davis Title: Head Urban Planning Department, Harvard Graduate School of Design


The Cartagena Agreement is a treaty framework in which its rules can not cover positive whole complex picture and progressive development through a process of integration. The incomplete nature of this standard require that, for purposes of execution accomplished, whether developed of supplemented. It is an that context that Community bodies such as the Andean Parliament, the full importance in the Andean integration process, which since Article 42 of the Cartagena. Agreement defines as the governing body of the System whit communal nature and theoretically with legislative powers in matters within is competence.This article aims to analyze the influence of the issued by the Andean Parliament in the Andean states and the organs and institutions of the Andean Integration System (SAI) under the powers assigned to the international body for the agreement of Cartagena. In this vein, they examine the nature of the decisions of the Andean Parliament, the basis on which the decisions of the Andean Parliament do not produce the desired effects, concluding with some proposals that could achieve obligator Decisions of that international body.


In order to assess activities of epidemiological surveillance resulting from the statutory notification system, a total of 17,394 notification records of eight infectious diseases (brucellosis, bacillary dysentery, typhoid fever, viral hepatitis, meningococcal infection, rickettsioses other than exanthematous typhus, pulmonary tuberculosis, and tuberculosis of other organs) together with 10,503 epidemiological surveys submitted to the "Servei Territorial de Salut Pública" of the province of Barcelona between 1982 and 1986 were reviewed. In notification records, data to locate physicians were the most commonly found (between 92.6% and 99.4% according to disease), whereas in epidemiological surveys, clinical and analytical data were the most frequently encountered. The inclusion of data of epidemiological interest ranged from 3.6 to 68.6%. In order to improve efficacy of the statutory notification system a proposal is made to reduce the extension of epidemiological surveys in terms of requesting only necessary data to establish appropriate measures in each case.


The eosinophilic and laminated masses in AOT were investigated with the light and electron microscope in two cases. The results showed that the eosinophilic amorphous masses were heterogenous and consisted mainly of three types of fibrils. These were: thin collagen, electron dense fibrils probably resulting from degradation of collagen and masses of amyloid filaments with or without collagen fibers in normal and degraded forms. In addition some of the eosinophilic deposits resulted from changes surrounding blood vessels which led to deposition of either collagen or fine filaments arranged into layers around these vessels. In all these areas there was a peripheral layer of fine filaments perpendicular to the epithelial basal lamina, similar to that found in early dentin formation. This layer may be responsible for the reticulin staining found in this tumor. On the other hand the great majority of the laminated masses represented calcified amyloid with or without areas of calcified degraded collagen which were indistinguishable from amyloid. The results suggest that the various fibrils forming the eosinophilic masses in AOT are probably related and may be the result of changes in blood vessels. They also revealed that calcification involves mainly amyloid.


Tactile sensing is an important field of research in the domains of human-computer and human-robot interaction. To provide appropriate tactile sensing capabilities, this work presents the development of a new modular tactile sensor system focusing especially on high frame rates (up to 1.9 kHz) and good spatial resolution (5 mm). Larger sensor areas are composed from identical sensor modules providing a 16×16 matrix of tactels. We compare different tactel layouts and different force-sensitive materials to achieve optimal sensitivity especially to low forces in order to facilitate detection of first touch. An example application demonstrates the capability of the developed sensor to detect tiny variations in applied force.


Purpose To examine whether promiscuous Cre/LoxP recombination happens during gametogenesis in double transgenic mice carrying LoxP modified alleles and Cre transgene driven by tissue-specific promoter outside the gonads of adult mice. Methods Cre driver mice were crossbred with reporter mouse lines (e.g., ZEG and Rosa26R) to obtain Cre/ZEG and Cre/Rosa26R double transgenic mice. The frequency of promiscuous LoxP/Cre recombination was determined by the expression of second reporter genes in the offspring of double transgenic mice. Results The frequency of promiscuous LoxP/Cre recombination varied in different lines of Cre driver mice and in the sex of the same driver mice with higher penetrance in male than in female double transgenic mice. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and recombination analysis demonstrate that the recombination of floxed allele occurs during the transition from spermatogonia (diploid) to primary spermatocyte (tetraploid) in the testis. Thereby, target-floxed allele(s) may be ubiquitously ablated in experimental animals intended for tissue-specific gene deletion. Conclusions Gametogenesis-associated recombination should always be examined in tissue-specific gene ablation studies.


With the development of accounting information systems, the new challenge to the traditional theory and practice of accounting has been put forward. So a new subject to solve all the problems appeared in the accounting work is needed, and the subject will set up a new system through complementing other accounting systems. However, to name this subject with Accounting Computerizing, will do no good to the development of some new other subjects or the whole system in accounting. In my opinion, " Accounting Software Science" should be the name of the subject.


Intercalation of sodium and potassium salts of lauric, myristic, palmitic, elaidic, oleic, 12-hydroxystearic, and a blend of C8–C10 acids in kaolinite has been followed by X-ray powder diffraction, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermal studies. The 7-Å 'c' axis spacing in kaolinite expands to 11 Å as a result of intercalation; this expansion is independent of the alkyl chain length of the fatty acid. The orientation of the organic molecules in the kaolinite interlayer is nearly flat, and 1H NMR indicates an enhanced ordering in the potassium laurate intercalate. The reversal or equalization of the relative intensities of hydroxyl bands at 3696 and 3619 cm-1 of kaolinite are related to the phenomenon of intercalation. The decomposition temperature of these salts decreases when they are intercalated in kaolinite.


Electrophysiological data from the rodent whisker/barrel cortex indicate that GABAergic, presumed inhibitory, neurons respond more vigorously to stimulation than glutamatergic, presumed excitatory, cells. However, these data represent very small neuronal samples in restrained, anesthetized, or narcotized animals or in cortical slices. Histochemical data from primate visual cortex, stained for the mitochondrial enzyme cytochrome oxidase (CO) and for GABA, show that GABAergic neurons are more highly reactive for CO than glutamatergic cells, indicating that inhibitory neurons are chronically more active than excitatory neurons but leaving doubt about the short-term stimulus dependence of this activation. Taken together, these results suggest that highly active inhibitory neurons powerfully influence relatively inactive excitatory cells but do not demonstrate directly the relative activities of excitatory and inhibitory neurons in the cortexduring normal behavior. We used a novel double-labeling technique to approach the issue of excitatory and inhibitory neuronal activation during behavior. Our technique combines high-resolution 2-deoxyglucose (2DG), immunohistochemical staining for neurotransmitter-specific antibodies, and automated image analysis to collect the data. We find that putative inhibitory neurons in barrel cortex of behaving animals are, on average, much more heavily 2DG-labeled than presumed excitatory cells, a pattern not seen in animals anesthetized at the time of 2DG injection. This metabolic activation is dependent specifically on sensory inputs from the whiskers, because acute trimming of most whiskers greatly reduces 2DG labeling in both cell classes in columns corresponding to trimmed whiskers. Our results provide confirmation of the active GABAergic cell hypothesis suggested by CO and single-unit data. We conclude that strong activation of inhibitory cortical neurons must confer selective advantages that compensate for its inherent energy inefficiency.


The study aimed to examine challenges to the inclusion of Students with Disabilities (PWDs) in mainstream education in Egypt. A mixed method approach was used to collect data from various sources. First, statistical information was retrieved from the Ministry of Education (MoE). Secondly, Ministerial Decrees were examined. Thirdly, semi-structured interviews with specialists in the field of special education in Egypt (N=12) were conducted to explore the major issues that emerged from this study. Results revealed challenges facing the inclusion of PWDs in Egypt, such as a lack of in- & pre-service training of teachers, limitations of construction and preparation, lack of coordination among ministries, limited programs for students with certain disabilities, and lack of awareness in the community and the family. The study concluded that the successful inclusion of PWDs in mainstream schools in Egypt requires, first, that universities consider inclusive education when training special education teachers; secondly, that professional development of teachers on inclusive education requirements is conducted, new policies are adopted, and school facilities are constructed with the needs of PWDs in mind; and thirdly, that the inclusion of PWDs not be limited to individuals with certain disabilities but must include students regardless of their type of disability. This study fills a gap in the literature concerning the state of special education services in Egypt and specifically the inclusion of PWDs in mainstream education.


The present work has been conducted to clarify flow behavior across staggered drop-shaped tubes bundle at various longitudinal and transversal pitch ratios (the tubes bundle configures in 18 cases). The investigation covers the effects of key design parameters of Reynolds numbers Re = (1.78--18.72) · 103, longitudinal pitch ratios (PL = 1.44, 1.54, 1.64, 1.74, 1.84 and 2.04) and transversal pitch ratios (PT = 1.24, 1.44, 1.64 and 1.82). ANSYS Fluent software package is used to predict the flow pattern around tubes. The results of this study showed that at a constant longitudinal pitch ratio, the minimum friction factor varies with the Reynolds number and transversal pitch ratio. As the Re increases, the friction factor decreases. The minimum values of the friction factor were achieved for (PL = 1.24 and PT = 1.44) at Re = 1.78 · 103, and (PT = PL = 1.64) at Re > 1.78 · 103. Correlation of the friction factor for the studied models were presented


The article addresses Neolithic burials at Vengerovo-2A in the Baraba forest-steppe. Funerary and ritual complexes include a centrally located grave with an enclosing ditch separated into segments, which are oriented according to cardinal points. The funerary rite and the orientation of bodies are variable. A peculiar feature of this cemetery is that burials are of two kinds: (1) collective under mounds, arranged in special constructions with ditches, and (2) single without mounds. Reconstructed stages in the arrangement of burials were as follows: fi rst, a cup-like grave and a ditch delimiting the funerary space were dug. Next, the body was placed in the grave and possibly covered with earth. Then the remaining bodies were placed on top in several layers. The construction may have included a wooden roof. Finally, a low earthen mound was made above the grave. The Vengerovo burials resemble those at Protoka in the Baraba Plain. Funerary goods found at Vengerovo-2A were made of clay, bone, horn, and shells. Intact vessels are described. Those from the graves and ditches and those remaining from the funeral repast differ in terms of paste and decoration. Based on the petrographic analysis of stone tools from Vengerovo and coeval sites in Western Siberia, pebbles were taken from the Irtysh alluvium. The absolute chronology of burials is compared with that of the Protoka burial ground and of the Avtodrom-2 and Serebryanka-1 settlements in Baraba. Vengerovo-2A dates to the Late Neolithic (6th–5th millennia BC). Its burial rite and pottery evidences a blend of several traditions, and the same applies to other Neolithic sites in northern Eurasia. Finds from Vengerovo are paralleled by those from the taiga area of Western Siberia and Eastern Ural as well as from the Baltic and Karelia. Cranially, Vengerovo people display the Northern Eurasian trait combination. This fact along with skeletal and paleogenetic findings places them within what can be described as the Uralian and Western Siberian Neolithic community.


An evaluation was done of respiratory failure in 149 children aged 3 to 15 presenting with funnel-shaped chest deformity (FCD). An original classification is suggested of degree of respiratory failure in FCD in children. Based on the index assessment of clinical and functional parameters an outline has been worked out for degree of respiratory failure. The criteria obtained are statistically significant; being able of giving quantitative assessment of degree of respiratory failure they can serve as control figures to be used in evaluations designed to study time course of changes in respiratory failure.


In gene mapping, it is common to test for association between the phenotype and the genotype at a large number of loci, i.e., the same response variable is used repeatedly to test a large number of non-independent and non-nested hypotheses. In many of these genetic problems, the underlying model is a mixed model consistent of one or very few major genes concurrently with a genetic background effect, usually thought as of polygenic nature and, consequently, modeled through a random effects term with a well-defined covariance structure dependent upon the kinship between individuals. Either because the interest lies only on the major genes or to simplify the analysis, it is habitual to drop the random effects term and use a simple linear regression model, sometimes complemented with testing via resampling as an attempt to minimize the consequences of this practice. Here, it is shown that dropping the random effects term has not only extreme negative effects on the control of the type I error rate, but it is also unlikely to be fixed by resampling because, whenever the mixed model is correct, this practice does not allow to meet some basic requirements of resampling in a gene mapping context. Furthermore, simulations show that the type I error rates when the random term is ignored can be unacceptably high. As an alternative, this paper introduces a new bootstrap procedure to handle the specific case of mapping by using recombinant congenic strains under a linear mixed model. A simulation study showed that the type I error rates of the proposed procedure are very close to the nominal ones, although they tend to be slightly inflated for larger values of the random effects variance. Overall, this paper illustrates the extent of the adverse consequences of ignoring random effects term due to polygenic factors while testing for genetic linkage and warns us of potential modeling issues whenever simple linear regression for a major gene yields multiple significant linkage peaks.


Objective
To explore the correlation between hyperuricaemia and blood pressure, and blood lipid and glucose.

Methods
By using simple cluster sampling, 2 branch units from PetroChina Changqing Oilfield Company were selected, and all the 720 subjects with hyperuricaemia (HUA) were assigned to the HUA group; another 620 participants with normal uric acid (UA) level into the normal group.The correlation between blood uric acid and blood pressure, and blood lipid and glucose was assessed by Logistic regression.

Results
The odds ratio (OR) of those who had 1, 2 or 3 abnormal status of hypertension, hyperlipidemia and impaired fasting glucose in the HUA group were much higher than the normal group (OR values were 4.036, 2.562, and 4.174, respectively). Logistic regression showed that male, systolic blood pressure (SBP), GLU, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were risk factors of HUA (OR values were 7.736, 2.309, 1.721, 2.761 and 1.411, respectively), while high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C, OR=0.211) was a protective factor of HUA.

Conclusions
Gender, blood pressure and blood lipid may have correlation with blood UA.Multiple risk factors should be considered to improve the effectiveness of health education and health promotion.

Key words:
Hyperuricemia; Uric acid; Hypertension; Hyperlipidemias


We assume a simple model to describe the ion–ion potential with dynamical change in its surface diffuseness. In particular, this model is used to calculate the heavy-ion fusion cross-section using different values of the surface diffuseness. Both the static and dynamic nuclear Woods–Saxon potentials with diffuseness values ranging between 0.65 fm and 1.3 fm are used to reproduce the fusion cross-sections data of the 19F+208Pb and 16O+154Sm reactions. The results estimate that there are different physical processes which could contribute to the fusion cross-section with different weights at each energy value. Each of these processes has its own nuclear potential.


In this research, a novel nanohybrid compound, LaFeO3@SiO2–NH2/PTA has been prepared, in which H3PW12O40 (abbreviated as PTA) was successfully anchored onto the surface of 3-aminopropylsilica modified LaFeO3. The resultant nanohybrid compound was characterized with XRD, FT-IR, ICP-MS, FESEM, EDX, TEM, BET, and AFM techniques. The magnetic properties of all the synthesized compounds and hybrid compound were measured using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) at room temperature. The photocatalytic activity of the hybrid compound was assessed by degradation of methylene blue (MB) in aqueous solution under visible light irradiation. Compared with the bare LaFeO3 and pure PTA, the newly synthesized hybrid compound exhibited enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation. This enhancement could be attributed to the synergistic effect between LaFeO3 and PTA. After the photocatalytic reaction, the hybrid compound can be easily separated from the reaction solution and reused several times without loss of its photocatalytic activity. Moreover, a possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed.


Oxyimino-cephalosporin antibiotics, such as ceftazidime, escape the hydrolytic activity of most bacterial beta-lactamases. Their widespread use prompted the emergence of the extended-spectrum beta-lactamases CTX-Ms, which have become highly prevalent. The C7 beta-amino thiazol-oxyimino-amide side chain of ceftazidime has a protective effect against most CTX-M beta-lactamases. However, Asp240Gly CTX-M derivatives demonstrate enhanced hydrolytic activity against this compound. In this work, we present the crystallographic structures of Asp240Gly-harboring enzyme CTX-M-16 in complex with ceftazidime-like glycylboronic acid (resolution 1.80 A) and molecular dynamics simulations of the corresponding acyl-enzyme complex. These experiments revealed breathing motions of CTX-M enzymes and the role of the substitution Asp240Gly in the accommodation of ceftazidime. The substitution Asp240Gly resulted in insertion of the C7 beta side chain of ceftazidime deep in the catalytic pocket and orchestrated motions of the active serine Ser70, the beta 3 strand and the omega loop, which favored the key interactions of the residues 237 and 235 with ceftazidime.


Bone marrow‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can serve as a vehicle for gene therapy. Angiopoietin‐1 (Ang1) is a critical factor for endothelial survival and vascular stabilization via the inhibition of endothelial permeability and leukocyte–endothelium interactions. We hypothesized that MSC‐based Ang1 gene therapy might be a potential therapeutic approach for lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced lung injury. MSCs were isolated from 6 week‐old inbred male mice and transduced with the Ang1 gene, using a lentivirus vector. The MSCs showed no significant phenotypic changes after transduction. In the in vivo mouse model, the LPS‐induced lung injury was markedly alleviated in the group treated with MSCs carrying Ang1 (MSCs–Ang1), compared with groups treated with MSCs or Ang1 alone. The expression of Ang1 protein in the recipient lungs was increased after MSCs–Ang1 administration. The histopathological and biochemical indices of LPS‐induced lung injury were improved after MSCs‐based Ang1 gene treatment. MSCs–Ang1 administration also reduced pulmonary vascular endothelial permeability and the recruitment of inflammatory cells into the lung. Cells of MSC origin could be detected in the recipient lungs for 2 weeks after injection with MSCs. These results suggest that MSCs and Ang1 have a synergistic role in the treatment of LPS‐induced lung injury. MSC‐based Ang1 gene therapy may be developed as a potential novel strategy for the treatment of acute lung injury. Copyright © 2008 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Even though risk-taking is a common and widespread social experience sociological theorizing on the concept is scarce. This contribution aims to systematize and advance understanding of risk-taking and its different forms and how these connect to social inequalities and the social machinery. It considers risk-taking in the context of the debate about Bourdieu's theory of practice and Archer's theory of morphogenesis before suggesting a conceptual framework that outlines different rationales, dimensions, and the role of agency for understanding risk-taking as an individual and as a collective activity. The concept highlights the ambivalent character of risk-taking as an expression and mode of reproducing inequalities and a crucial resource to overcome disadvantage and foster social change.


The main aim of this article is to demonstrate a holistic framework for measuring a bank's financial health by classifying its main responsibilities between conformance and performance. Responsibilities are classified into five categories as follows: First, Corporate Financial Reporting (CFR) that integrates General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Generally Accepted Auditing Standards (GAAS), Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), Financial Services Authority (FSA), and International Accounting Standards (IAS). Second, Risk Management Procedures (RMP), that incorporate methods and directives which arise from Basel I, Basel II, Capital Adequacy frameworks or solvency ratio benchmarks. Third, Corporate Governance (CG), that integrates Sarbanes – Oxley Act, Audit Committees, and Internal Audit Mechanisms. Fourth, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), that consists of instructions and standards such as Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) – social and environmental, Social accountability (SA 8000) – working conditions, International Organization for Standardization (ISO 9000). Fifth, Stockholders Value Creation (SVC), that is a set of methodologies and ratios used in order to measure value creation for shareholders such as Strategic and Balanced scorecard, Economic Value Added EVA®, and other business performance management tools. On the other, the Rating Agencies (RA) applies various rating systems in different fields. Based on this framework, the article correlates all qualitative and quantitative components, with the banks' ratings. The dependent variable is the bank's financial health score, represented by a dummy variable based on the bank's rating by the rating agencies and from the relevant value of each bank that arises from its performance in the above mentioned framework of responsibilities. The independent quantitative variables belong to a set of financial, risk and market key ratios and the qualitative variables to a set of dummy variables which describe the above framework. With the use of financial and other published data of the Greek banking sector the article proposes a new model and a procedure for the explanation, management and monitoring of a bank's financial health.


Summary: Venous thromboembolism is a complication that results in a wide range of patient morbidity and potential mortality. Awareness of this risk has led to recent advances in both the perioperative planning of chemoprophylaxis and the stratification of risk factors. Together, these modifications have helped reduce the incidence and severity of venous thromboembolism. Major hospital-based initiatives to decrease the overall rate of venous thromboembolism and halt the progression of severe complications, including pulmonary embolism, are one such change. However, surgeon reluctance based on the potential for bleeding complications continues to decrease the use of these algorithms, despite several reports that fail to demonstrate an increase in postoperative bleeding or hematoma formation with chemoprophylaxis administered at appropriate dosages. This review summarizes the current recommendations and procedure-specific strategies for venous thromboembolism prophylaxis with a focus on elective or aesthetic surgery–based procedures. The authors will recommend which patients are appropriate, what doses are appropriate, and when the doses should be administered for aesthetic and elective surgery.


Aseptic loosening of implants in bone is the main reason of prosthesis failure. Stress distribution around the implant surface plays a major role in this process, which can be minimized by implant shape optimization. Numerical methods, particularly the finite element method, are an important tool in the analysis of stress distribution and design optimization. The paper presents the problem formulation for this method, illustrated by computational examples.


Objectives A detailed understanding of the metabolic processes governing rapid growth in early life is still lacking. The aim of this study was to investigate the age-related metabolic changes in healthy children throughout early childhood. Methods Healthy children from a birth cohort were enrolled in this study from birth through 4 years of age. Urinary metabolites were assessed at 6 months, and 1, 2, 3, and 4 yr of age by using 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy coupled with multivariate statistical analysis including principal components analysis (PCA) and partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Metabolic pathway analysis was performed using the MetPA web tool. Results A total of 105 urine samples from 30 healthy children were collected and analyzed. Metabolites contributing to the discrimination between age groups were identified by using supervised PLS-DA (Q2 = 0.60; R2 = 0.66). A significantly higher urinary trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and betaine level was found in children aged 6 months. Urinary glycine and glutamine levels declined significantly after 6 months of age and there was a concomitant compensatory increase in urinary creatine and creatinine. Metabolic pathway analysis using MetPA revealed similar nitrogen metabolism associated energy production across all ages assessed. Pathways associated with amino acid metabolism were significantly different between infants aged 6 months and 1 year, whereas pathways associated with carbohydrate metabolism were significantly different between children at ages 2 and 3 years. Conclusions Urine metabolomics ideally represents dynamic metabolic changes across age. Urinary metabolic profiles change significantly within the first year of life, which can potentially provide crucial information about infant nutrition and growth.


SUMMARY A study of the birthcoat and its relation to kemp succession in the adult fleece of coarse-wool Awassi and Hamdani sheep was carried out, as an aid to early selection. Lambs were covered, at the age of 2 months up to 15 months, by fixing patches of canvas on six body positions. Both Awassi and Hamdani birthcoats had high halo hair grades. The animals played the dominant role in affecting different traits of the birthcoat which indicated the importance of genetic factors in further development of the birthcoat. The birthcoat of both types of lambs showed only coarse (plateau) and less coarse (saddle) fibre type arrays. Hamdani had more kemp as Gt and G2 (first and second generations respectively) than Awassi sheep. The shed Gx following the different fibre type arrays, showed some overlapping between plateau and saddle. The same arrays of the birthcoat behaved differently on the different positions, where generally the anterior positions had less kemp than those posteriorly. Percentages of shed fibres were 100, 17·14, 2·38 and 0·35 of halo hairs, super sickles, sickles and chalky curly tips respectively in Awassi. Corresponding figures were 100, 29·26, 5·87 and 7·73 in Hamdani. In Awassi, halo hairs, of the birthcoat, showed a relatively high correlation (P < 0·01) with G1 kemp on the hip and britch. Within saddle array, in Awassi, the correlation between halo hairs and Gx kemp showed the highest values (P < 0·01), whereas in Hamdani the correlation between super sickles in the birthcoat and G2 kemp showed medium values (P < 0·05). Selection of high halo hair grade lambs, in the birthcoat, that have saddle arrays, with high percentage of sickle fibres in Awassi and with low percentage of super sickles in Hamdani, would result in low percentages of kemp in the adult fleece. High halo hair grades would be necessary for early survival of lambs.


From the many misidentifications in herbaria and the contradictions between the descriptions of many authors it became evident that the species of Trichomanes included by Desvaux, Presl, van den Bosch and Copeland under the generic name Didymoglossum and those included by Presl, van den Bosch and Copeland under the name Microgonium were particularly poorly understood. A complete revision of this group has never been undertaken. LINDMAN's paper (1903) is incomplete, being based only on the study of about 30 herbarium sheets; moreover, his conclusions are based on misinterpretation of several species. The treatments in local floras, as, e.g. STURM's (1859) and MAXON's (1926) are very good, but only a small number of species are involved. The name Didymoglossum was used for the first time by DESVAUX (1827); it was taken up by PRESL (1843), and COPELAND (1938), all on the generic level. Microgonium was established as a genus by PRESL (1843). Van den BOSCH (1861) and COPELAND (1938) maintened it as a separate genus.


AIM
To assess possible differences in serum cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides, arteriosclerosis index, established risk factor (ERF) of arteriosclerosis, and 10-year risk for coronary disease according to the Adult Treatment Panel III (ATP-III) between veterans with combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and a control group consisting of patients with major depressive disorder.

METHOD
We determined serum cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C, and triglycerides in the patients with PTSD (n = 103) and patients with major depressive disorder (n = 92), using the enzyme-assay method. AI, ERF, and ATP-III were calculated from cholesterol, LDL-C, and HDL-C levels. The groups were matched in age and body mass index (BMI). Patients with major depressive disorder were chosen as a control group because they do not have changes in serum lipids.

RESULTS
Patients with combat-related PTSD had higher mean concentration of cholesterol (6.2+/-1.1 mmol/L vs 5.3+/-0.9 mmol/L; p<0.001), LDL-C (3.9+/-0.7 mmol/L vs 3.5+/-1.0 mmol/L; p = 0.005), and triglycerides (2.9+/-2.3 mmol/L vs 1.5+/-0.5 mmol/L; p<0.001), and lower HDL-C (1.0+/-0.3 mmol/L vs 1.3+/-0.2 mmol/L; p<0.001) than the control group. Arteriosclerosis index (4.2+/-1.2 vs 3.7+/-1.7; p = 0.050), ERF (6.4+/-1.9 vs 5.5+/-2.4; p = 0.010), and ATP-III (12.1+/-3.3 vs 10.2+/-3.8; p<0.001) were higher in PTSD than in the control group.

CONCLUSION
Elevated concentrations of serum lipids are associated with combat-related PTSD. This may imply that patients with combat-related PTSD are under a higher risk for arteriosclerosis.


As nursing is one of the most stressful occupations worldwide, its management warrants more attention to identify possible ways to cope with its pressures. This study aims to evaluate whether animal-assisted therapy (AAT) with the presence of a dog affects the stress level of nurses. As a stress biomarker, we used salivary cortisol level testing. Twenty female nurses (mean age: 30) in physical medicine (PMR) (n = 11) and the department of internal medicine and long-term care (IM < C) (n = 9). On each of the three observed days, saliva was collected at 10 a.m. and then again after 50 min. The first sampling was performed during a normal working process without a break (Condition A), the second was carried out during a normal working process with a break of choice (Condition B), and the third sampling was performed during a normal working process with a break with AAT (Condition C). All participants were enrolled in all three interventional conditions in a randomized order. The results demonstrated the effect of a reduction of cortisol levels in Condition C, where AAT was included (p = 0.02) only in nurses recruited from the IM < C department. By way of explanation, nurses from the PMR department already showed low cortisol levels at baseline. We propose including AAT with a dog in healthcare facilities where nurses are at a high risk of stress.


A polarimetric method for the detection of surface plasmons, excited by linearly polarised light, was proposed and tested. It was established that this method is not only more sensitive to variations in the parameters of the waveguiding structure but also makes it possible to increase by one — two orders of magnitude the precision of determination of the excitation efficiency and of the phase velocity of the plasmons, compared with the amplitude method for plasmon detection. The possibility of applying the method in sensor devices, in polarimetry, and in the microscopy of conducting surfaces is discussed.


Abstract The phenotypic severity of migraine has rarely been the subject of genetic epidemiological studies. In this study, we conducted a cross sectional survey of high school students using a validated questionnaire which covered the diagnostic features of migraine as specified by the International Classification of Headache Disorders, second edition. The phenotypic severity was assessed via Headache Impact Test-6 (HIT-6). We documented the family history of recurrent headaches in the parents and correlated it with a diagnosis of migraine in the offspring. The participants included 272 students with mean age of 16.45 yr. The diagnosis of migraine in the participants was ascertained according to the International Classification of Headache Disorders, second edition criteria. When one of the parents suffered with recurrent headaches, the odds ratio for developing migraine in the subjects was only modestly increased (1.68). When both parents were affected, the odds ratio for migraine increased to 2.11. Logistic regression analysis with chi-square test of homogeneity of odds indicated a significant association with the students' risk of developing migraine and history of recurrent headaches in both parents (P < 0.02). Moreover, having two affected parents was associated with a lower age of onset (Chi-square, P < 0.04) and higher HIT-6 scores (t-test, P < 0.02) in the subjects. In conclusion, having two parents with recurrent headaches doubled the odds ratio for developing migraine in the offspring and was also associated with increased headache disability as measured by HIT-6 and a younger age of onset of migraines. We propose that assessing the clinical severity may represent a novel approach in studying genetic epidemiology of migraine.


Establishing guidelines for the use of perioperatively antibiotics for patients being treated for urinary stone disease presents a particularly challenging clinical issue. Nephrolithiasis patients represent a variety of etiologies, from obstructive to infectious stones, and their treatment ranges from practically non-invasive in the form of extracorporeal shockwave therapy to relatively invasive with percutaneous approaches. In addition, within each procedure type, there is a large gradation in level of associated morbidity—a ureteroscopy with a basket stone extraction for a distal 5 mm stone likely represents a much different infectious risk compared to a ureteroscopy with laser lithotripsy for a proximal 1 cm ureteral stone requiring ureteral orifice dilation along with access sheath placement.


Eugenia uniflora leaves is employed in Nigerian traditional system of medicine for the treatment of cough, bronchitis, skin and wound infections. In this study, the in vitro antimicrobial activities of the methanolic extract, fractions and essential oils from the leaves of Eugenia uniflora were investigated on some multidrug resistant pathogens. The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation and its chemical profile was determined through GC and GC-MS analysis while the extracts were obtained by maceration with methanol followed by a mild liquid/liquid fractionation process. Antimicrobial activity of the test samples against Staphylococcus aureus , Klebsiella pnemoniae , Pseudomonas aeruginosa , Candida albicans and Trichophyton rubrum were determined using the agar well diffusion technique. The results showed that the GC-MS analysis of the essential oil yielded fifty one compounds; with benzofuran (17.23 %) as the major compound. Ethyl acetate extract exhibited largest inhibition on S. aureus , K. pnemoniae , P. aeruginosa , C . albicans and T. rubrum with diameter mean zones of inhibition (DMZI) 25.0 ± 1.0 mm, 23.0 ± 0.4 mm, 9.0 ± 0.3 mm, 22.7 ± 0.3 mm, and 21.0 ± 0.8 mm respectively. Hexane, methanol and aqueous extracts of E. uniflora gave DMZI range of 8.0-21.7 mm respectively on the tested isolates while essential oil exhibited DMZI range of 7.7-18.3 mm. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the leaf test samples from E. uniflora ranged between 6.25-100 mg/ml, minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) and minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) ranged between 12.5-100 mg/ml. The death rate on the most susceptible bacterial isolate ( Staphylococcus aureus ) occurred at 45 min in 0.5 ml ethyl acetate (EtOAc) fraction. The mode of action of the EtOAc fraction on S. aureus cell was demonstrated to be by protein leakage. The results obtained in this study have implications in the use of E. uniflora leaves as an antimicrobial agent and hence may provide a drug lead for pharmaceutical preparations. Keywords: Antimicrobial efficacy, essential oil, extracts, Eugenia uniflora , Myrtaceae, multidrug resistant pathogens


The statistics of industrial accident reported by ministry of Employment and Labor denoted a significant increase of musculoskeletal disorders(MSDs) after 1993, and showed the higher incident rate by 71.3% over the overall worker's disorders. Also, it was expected that Korean society will become the post-aged society in 2026 with 20.8% of elderly who is over 65 years old. The reports suggest possible problems caused by the older worker known to have reduced working ability than the young counterparts. On this basis, the goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between MSDs symptoms and work ability in the shipbuilding industry. To achieve this goal, this study distributed a questionnaire for total 1,244 shipbuilding employers, and used 910 employers' reports which revealed validity for this study. The questionnaire included the MSDs symptoms report developed by the Korean Occupational Safety and Health Association(KOSHA) and the work ability index(WAI) developed by Finnish Institute of Occupational Health(FIOH). Results showed no relationship between MSDs symptoms and age, years of work and exercise. Also, the work ability was increased until 44 years old, but it was decreased after that time because of the reduced physical capacity. Meanwhile, the years of work and exercise have positive correlation with work ability. However, the results revealed significant relationships between WAI and age, years of work, task characteristics and exercise. All together, the MSDs symptoms have a close relationship with the work ability in that the work ability of workers with the MSDs symptoms was reduced. This study may suggest the needs of more efforts and attention on the MSDs prevention to increase the work ability.


An important evolution in wireless communication systems involves the introduction of more intelligence and reconfigurability in the transceiver in order to obtain more efficient spectral resource management and better transmission quality with low energy consumption. The frequency band of interest is located between 600 MHz and 6 GHz. In this band, the mobile transmitters must be able to operate at different frequency bands and modes, according to existing standards specifications. Different approaches have been developed, but they all show limits. In a first step, we will study the constraints related to the concept of multi-standard or multi-radio transmitter. Then, we will analyze different approaches to achieve such low consumption reconfigurable architectures and detail advantages and limits. Description: - Transmitter architectures classification : Antoine Diet - 30 mn o Design features and figures of merit o Heterodyne, homodyne architectures and linearization techniques o High efficiency architectures (LINC, CALLUM, EER, Polar/EER , ...) o On the need of full co-design: amplifier - filter - antenna


Adult mice were fed a choline-deficient ethionine enriched (CDE) diet for 24, 48 or 72 h. They were then fasted for 24 or 48 h prior to sacrifice. All tissues were studied by light and electron microscopy. Animals fed the CDE diet for 24 h exhibited cells with vacuolated cytoplasm, and the accumulation of lipid in these cells was clearly abnormal. Animals fed the CDE diet for 24 h and subsequently a regular diet for 48 h displayed normal hepatocytes, suggesting that the alterations at 24 h were reversible. Following 48 or 72 h of feeding the CDE diet, abundant lipid-laden cells were observed in the hepatic lobules, and at the electron microscope level these cells were undergoing frank degeneration. Evidence indicated that changes after 48 or 72 h were irreversible.