The aim of the text is, on the one hand, to realize the existence of a contemporary model of functioning of the teacher inherent in the resources of traditional pedagogy, and on the other hand, the possibility of introducing changes in it and adapting to new social conditions. In the undertaken explorations there were indicated the roots of the educational present perpetuating the old Prussian Model developed in the 19th century. Its evaluation and criticism contributed to the emergence of currents of new education, which are reformist pedagogical movement. It left its mark on the teaching profession, selected elements and ideas of which appeared in Paulo Freire's model combining past and present solutions. It illustrates the persistence of a hierarchical school structure that requires the school and the teacher to undertake modernization. Therefore, an authorial diagram showing selected components of the discussed models coming from the stream of new education, which enables transforming the teacher's work and thinking favoring leaving the conservative approach, was developed.


Most new retired workers in 1982 owned some type of asset, usually a savings, checking, or credit union account, according to data obtained by the Social Security Administration (SSA) in its New Beneficiary Survey. Many recently retired workers also owned their home, often mortgage-free. Homeownership was their most significant asset in terms of its median value. Comparatively few retirees owned property other than a home, though for owners of such property, the median value was substantial. Married couples, whose assets included those of both partners, more frequently owned assets and their assets had higher median values than did unmarried individuals. A comparison of retired workers with persons aged 65 or older who were enrolled in the Medicare program but who had not yet received retired-worker benefits showed that these Medicare-only enrollees were much better off, both in the likelihood of owning assets and in having higher median values for their assets. Individuals who retired before reaching age 65 and therefore received a reduced social security benefit were not as well off as those whose first benefit was paid at age 65 or older. Overall, the asset situation of new retired workers in 1982 was better than that of men and unmarried women aged 58-63 in 1969, even when the 1969 assets were adjusted to constant 1982 dollars.


Purpose
The heat transfer within a heat exchanger is highly influenced by geometry of the components especially those with hollow structures like tubes. This paper aims to intend toward the study of efficient and optimized heat transfer in the bends of superheater tubes, with different curvature ratio at constant Reynolds Number.

Design/methodology/approach
The effect of changing curvature ratio on enthalpy of the fluid passing through the superheater tubes for multi-pass system has been studied with the aid of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) using ANSYS 14.0. Initially a superheater tube with two pass system has been examined with different curvature ratios of 1.425, 1.56, 1.71, 1.85 and 1.99. An industry specified curvature ratio of 1.71 with two pass is investigated, and a comparative assessment has been carried out. This is intended toward obtaining an optimized radius of curvature of the bend for enhancement of heat transfer.

Findings
The results obtained from software simulation revealed that the curvature ratio of 1.85 provides maximum heat transfer to the fluid flowing through the tube with two pass. This result has been found to be consistent with higher number of passes as well. The effect of secondary flow in bends of curvature has also been illustrated in the present work.

Research limitations/implications
The study of heat transfer in thermodynamic systems is a never-ending process and has to be continued for the upliftment of power plant performances. This study has been conducted on steady flow behavior of the fluid which may be upgraded by carrying out the same in transient mode. The impact of different curvature ratios on some important parameters such as heat transfer coefficients will certainly upgrade the value of research.

Originality/value
This computational study provided comprehensive information on fluid flow behavior and its effect on heat transfer in bends of curvature of superheater tubes inside the boiler. It also provides information on optimized bend of curvature for efficient heat transfer process.


Kfar Etzion is a Kibbutz first established in Palestine in the 1930s. At the end of the British Mandate, in 1948, it became a de facto Israeli military outpost that controlled access to Jerusalem from the south. Kfar Etzion fell to Arab forces in 1948 and the area became Jordanian territory until 1967 when Israeli forces occupied the West Bank. Kfar Etzion was re-established in the same year. Kfar Etzion now interprets its history through a sophisticated multilingual audio-visual presentation offered in a museum built over a former bunker where Jewish defenders were killed. This presentation is analysed to illustrate the ways in which an historical narrative is constructed for interpretive purposes and to show that Bloc and Israeli perspectives are conflated for political purposes. The battle for the Bloc continues through the interpretation of heritage.


Multidrug resistance(MDR) is a major obstacle to efficiency of breast cancer chemotherapy. We investigated whether combination of metformin and 2-deoxyglucose reverses MDR of MCF-7/Dox cells and tried to elucidate the possible mechanisms. The combination of metformin and 2-deoxyglucose selectively enhanced cytotoxicity of doxorubicin against MCF-7/Dox cells. Combination of the two drugs resumed p53 function via inhibiting overexpression of murine doubleminute 2(MDM2) and murine doubleminute 4(MDM4) leading to G2/M arrest and apoptosis in MCF-7/Dox cells. Combination of the two drugs had no effect on P-glycoprotein mRNA expression and P-glycoprotein ATPase activity but increased doxorubicin accumulation in MCF-7/Dox cells. The increased doxorubicin accumulation maybe associate with metabolic stress. Combination of metformin and 2-deoxyglucose initiated a strong metabolic stress in MCF-7/Dox cells via inhibiting glucose uptake, lactate, fatty acid, ATP production and protein kinase B(AKT)/ mammalian target of rapamycin(mTOR) pathway. Taken together, combination of metformin and 2-deoxyglucose reverses MDR of MCF-7/Dox cells by recovering p53 function and increasing doxorubicin accumulation. Furthermore, doxorubicin selectively increases MCF-7/Dox apoptosis via aggravating metabolic stress induced by metformin plus 2-deoxyglucose. The mutually reinforcing effect made the combination of metformin and 2DG had a better effect on reversing MDR.


1. The results of a previous experiment indicated that chicks whose growth was severely restricted through under nutrition, had the larger than normal hind limb muscles relative to wing muscles at 21 days of age (Das et al., 2008). In this study, we investigated whether the large relative size of hind limb muscle was maintained in the broilers when their growth was accelerated after 3 weeks. 2. The chicks at 21 days of age, which were reared with layer grower (LG, ME 11.92 MJ/kg, CP 170 g/kg) or pre-layer (PL, ME 11.72 MJ/kg, CP 140 g/kg) feeds, had their growth accelerated by feeding a broiler finisher (BF, ME 13.47 MJ/kg, CP 180 g/kg) diet and were then killed at 80 days of age (LGBF80d and PLBF80d groups, respectively). 3. Both broiler groups had attained an adequate body size compared with conventionally-fed chicks at 80 days of age (Nakamura et al., 2004; Roy et al., 2007). PLBF80d broilers gained more live weight (3298 g) than LGBF80d (3088 g) broilers. The carcass accounted for 84-85% of live weight and skeletal muscle made up 48% of carcass weight. 4. Total muscle weight as a percentage of carcass weight was 24% for wing muscle, 18% for hind limb mus- cle and 4.5% for cervicodorsal muscle. The size of the hind limb muscle relative to wing muscle was 75.9-76.5% and this did not differ from the value of 76.5% reported for conventionally-fed broilers (Roy et al., 2007). The high percentage of hind limb compared to wing muscle weight in LG (83.3%) and PL (96.7%) chicks at 21 days of age had returned to normal levels following stimulation of growth with the BF feed from days 22 to 80. 5. These results suggest that wing muscle growth limitation with under nutrition during the first 3 weeks post-hatching did not influence the final size of the muscle at 80 days when a BF diet was fed from days 22 to 80.


The four-year evaluation study summarized in this issue brings new evidence and directions for more successful health education programs. Two major factors for success stand out. The implementation of the program requires administrative support to assure adequate teacher preparation, and, fidelity to the curriculum must be maintained. The authors will describe these factors.


Megasporia is a newly established polypore genus characterized by resupinate fruiting bodies with big pores, a dimitic hyphal structure with generative hyphae bearing clamp connections, more or less dextrinoid and cyanophilous skeletal hyphae, cylindrical, hyaline, thin-walled, smooth basidiospores, and growth mostly on fallen angiosperm branches. Species number is extremely rich in subtropical and tropical Asia. Three new species, namely M. rimosa, M. tropica and M. yunnanensis are described from China, and their illustrated descriptions are given. Differences between these new species and phylogenetically related and morphologically similar species are discussed. A key to the known species of Megasporia is provided.


TThe economic justification for regulation of land markets through land use controls and other policy instruments is a well-studied subject in developed countries. However, in the recent years, there has been an increasing realisation that the regulation of urban land use and its development has been resulting in some undesirable impacts, in particularly, on the operation of land or property markets, which result in increases in land prices and a reduction in the welfare of people. This paper presents an empirical evaluation of the density regulation impact on land prices in Mumbai city. The study finds that the impact of density regulation is highest on the already highly demanded space in the CBD; also, the impact is significant in the suburbs. The study results, however, need to be interpreted more carefully in the light of other land use and housing regulations already in operation.


BACKGROUND
In Vietnam, breast cancer is a top contributor to cancer-related deaths in women. Evidence shows that, after mastectomy, women in Vietnam have a lower quality of life than women in other countries. In addition, high uncertainty is a predictor of low quality of life postmastectomy. Therefore, if nurses can manage uncertainty, the quality of life postmastectomy can improve.

OBJECTIVE
This study examined the effect of the Uncertainty Management Program (UMP) on quality of life at 3 weeks postmastectomy in Vietnamese women.

METHODS
This research was a quasi-experimental study using a "posttest only with control group" design. There were 115 subjects assigned to either the experimental group (n = 57), who participated in the UMP and routine care, or the control group (n = 58), who received only routine care. Participants were assessed 2 times postmastectomy using the modified Quality of Life Index Scale-Vietnamese version.

RESULTS
The experimental group exhibited low uncertainty before discharge and significantly higher quality of life than the control group at 1 and 3 weeks postmastectomy, respectively (P < .05). Women's physical well-being, psychological well-being, body image concerns, and social concerns were significantly increased with UMP.

CONCLUSION
The UMP was considered as a promising program that might benefit the QoL of women with breast cancer 3 weeks postmastectomy.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
The UMP appears feasible to apply for women with breast cancer to improve their QoL postmastectomy in various settings. Nurses can flexibility instruct women in their holistic care attention both in the hospital and at home.


A real time, on-chip characterization technique is presented for extracting the interconnect parameters and for determining the associated time delays for ULSI circuit applications. To demonstrate the method, test chips were fabricated in both 0.25 and 0.18 /spl mu/m CMOS technologies, using state of the art process technologies. Results obtained in these two cases are compared and the changing trends and issues for interconnect parameters in making the transition from the 0.25 /spl mu/m to the 0.18 /spl mu/m technologies are discussed. A completed look-up table in conjunction with a working analytic expression of the time delay enables accurate modeling and optimization of interconnect parameters and time delays for a given specification of chip performance.


There have been various transformations in the Polish system of education and instruction taking place for several dozens of years. Currently, the most significant issue is to adjust the school curricula to the changing societal needs and to develop some methods that would make it easier for young people to obtain their professional experience and expertise after their entrance to the labor market. The transformation processes in the contemporary world trigger changes related to an increase in education in a human life, as they constitute the factor of socio-economic development.


This essay offers a small state perspective on US-China rivalry in the post-COVID-19 era. After tracing the emergence of the "twin chessboards" of big power rivalry, namely, high and low politics competitions, the essay assesses the impact of these competitions on the post-pandemic Asian order, with a focus on Southeast Asia. I argue that while US-China competition has been rising rapidly in high politics (that is, in the military field), the increasing importance of low politics—infrastructure and connectivity development, technology, trade, finance, public health, and other functional areas—is shaping the prospects, pace, and patterns of the onset of Cold War 2.0. The intensified US-China animosity across the twin chessboards is widening the scope of the competition, increasing the number of players, and mounting pressure on all smaller states. Arguably, however, it is also providing these smaller states with more maneuvering space. These developments reshape geostrategic supply and demand in Southeast Asia. Accordingly, the smaller states are developing additional layers of partnerships with actors near and far, thereby broadening their hedging options in an increasingly uncertain and high-stake environment.


Electron-beam direct-write (EBDW) lithography is an attractive candidate of next-generation lithography in advanced semiconductor processes. The huge data stream bandwidth required for the data delivery path in EBDW systems could seriously deteriorate throughput, which is one of the major deficiencies constraining EBDW lithography from mass production. A lossless electron-beam layout data compression and decompression algorithm is proposed in this paper for 5-bit gray level bitmaps. Compared with the state-of-the-art LineDiff Entropy algorithm, the proposed method averagely improves the compression rate by 18% and achieves more than 7.5 times speedup for decompression.


Objective:This study aimed to assess the clinical practice value of ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potential(oVEMP) and cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potential(cVEMP) in monitoring the rehabilitation of vestibular function in patients with suddensen sorineural hearing loss(SSHL). Method:Twenty-four patients with SSHL were retrospectively enrolled, showing no VEMP response on the affected side but exhibiting VEMP responses after therapies We analyzed the improvement and the restoration of hearing and the parameters of VEMP response. Result:After treatment, seven patients showed VEMP recovery, including three cases with both oVEMP and cVEMP recovery, three cases with oVEMP recovery, and one case with cVEMP recovery. Between VEMP recoved group and VEMP unrecoved group, before treatment, no significant difference was found in the thresholds of pure-tone audiometry(PTA). However, after treatment, VEMP recoved group exhibited lower PTA thresholds and better PTA shift (P<0.01). Multivariate analysis revealed that recovery of VEMP was the independent risk factor for the therapeutic effect of SSHL. Conclusion:The Combination of oVEMP and cVEMP is an objective tool for assessing vestibular otolithic end organ function during dynamic functional recovery in SSHL and the recovery of VEMP could predict the auditory improvement.


Increased fucosylation is associated with tumor progression and metastasis, and targeting fucosylation is a novel strategy in cancer therapy. 2-Fluorofucose (SGN-2FF) has been shown to inhibit cellular fucosylation by depletion of the fucosylation substrate GDP-fucose, as well as by direct inhibition of fucosyltransferases, leading to the production of afucosylated glycoproteins including antibodies. SGN-2FF has antitumor activity in multiple mouse tumor models, showing substantial tumor growth delay. SGN-2FF also enhanced the protective effect of a lymphoma vaccine in a syngeneic mouse model (1). This protection was determined to be immune dependent since depletion of CD4 and CD8 T cells reduced the SGN-2FF/vaccine activity. In vitro, SGN-2FF has been shown to activate human T cells in an antigen-dependent manner. Therefore, by inhibiting fucosylation SGN-2FF can potentially work through multiple mechanisms, including but not limited to effects on immune cells, tumor cells, and the tumor microenvironment. A first-in-human, phase 1, multicenter dose-escalation study of SGN-2FF is ongoing to investigate the safety, pharmacokinetics, and antitumor activity of SGN-2FF given orally to patients with advanced solid tumors (NCT# 02952989). Pharmacodynamic effects, including markers of fucosylation status, will also be evaluated to help determine the optimal biologic dose. This presentation reviews the preclinical activity data of SGN-2FF and describes the design of the phase 1 study, showing how demonstrated preclinical pharmacodynamic effects on fucosylation status informed how activity and pharmacodynamics will be monitored and evaluated in the phase 1 study. Reference 1. Okeley NM, Alley SC, Anderson ME, Boursalian TE, Burke PJ, Emmerton KM, et al. Development of orally active inhibitors of protein and cellular fucosylation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2013;110:5404-9. Citation Format: Stephen C. Alley, Megan O9Meara, Shyra J. Gardai, Nicole M. Okeley. SGN-2FF: A novel small molecule inhibitor of fucosylation with preclinical antitumor activity through multiple immune mechanisms [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr DDT02-02. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-DDT02-02


This study examines how the interannual variability of rainfall impacts the land water storage in the Amazon basin during the 2003–2010 time span at monthly time‐scale using respectively, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite observations. Monthly estimates of GRACE‐based terrestrial water storage (TWS) are compared to (1) TRMM rainfall, (2) in situ discharges at the outlet of the major sub‐basins of the Amazon over 2003–2010 to characterize the redistribution of precipitation on land water. The time‐variations of land water storage derived from GRACE are consistent with those of rainfall and discharges at basin and sub‐basin scales even at interannual time‐scales (correlation generally greater than 0.7). The study of the relationship between these two quantities reveals large differences in terms of rainfall amount, water storage, time delays, resulting of the water transport among the sub‐basins of the Amazon. The analysis of GRACE data has enabled identification of the signature of the recent extreme climatic events (droughts of 2005 and 2010, flood of 2009) on the land water storage, in terms of spatial patterns and intensity. These results are in good agreement with what was observed on independent datasets (water levels and discharges, vegetation activity, forest fires, and drought index), highlighting the interest of gravimetry from space missions for the characterization of the interannual variability of the TWS. GRACE data offer the unique opportunity to monitor the hydrological cycle in ungauged basins where reliable observations of rainfall and discharges are missing.


The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) encourages physicians, hospitals, and other health care providers to deliver better coordinated, high-quality care through the institution of the Medicare Shared Savings Program. Many physicians and other providers moved quickly after the ACA was enacted to enter into arrangements that would allow them to take advantage of the MSSP and similar programs sponsored by private insurers that likely would — and did — arrive on the MSSP's heels. Yet despite the initial enthusiasm, it is by no means clear that ACOs will succeed, whether individually or in the greater goal of changing our health care delivery system. To be successful, ACOs will require a substantial amount of coordination and participant buy-in to a particular practice ethos. How does one convince skeptical and independent-minded physicians to follow guidelines and metrics set forth by ACOs — guidelines and metrics that are devised in part to reduce the volume of certain types of services provided, and hence also potentially lowering physicians' financial returns? How does one do this, in particular, when physicians not only may be making less money as a result of following these guidelines and metrics, but will also retain full liability for negligent outcomes? If ACOs are to succeed more broadly, it may be important for state legislatures to address medical malpractice to reflect the changes currently underway in our health care system. The question is how to do this while also facilitating better integration of care delivery and, ideally, sufficiently improving the practice of medicine such that a critical mass of physicians will support and participate in the proposed changes. The answer may best be given by an idea last entertained during the heyday of managed care: enterprise liability. As the name suggests, enterprise liability would make a health care entity, such as a hospital or an ACO, financially liable for acts of negligence, rather than or possibly in addition to the individual providers staffing it or otherwise providing services under its auspices. Given the consolidation in the health care market, the increasing movement toward employment of physicians by hospitals, health insurers, and other entities, the incentives that the ACA gives for various forms of integrated care that meet or exceed quality benchmarks, and the persistence of the problems of our traditional means of addressing medical malpractice, this article discusses enterprise liability and argues that the time may be ripe to revisit enterprise liability as a means of rationally revamping our medical liability system.


Insulin isolated from normal and diabetic pancreas was isolated and injected intraperitoneally into rats together with C-14 glucose. Measurement of C-14 incorporation into the diaphragm showed a significantly lesser biologic activity for diabetic insulin. These results are in accord with earlier work on the resistance of diabetic insulin to insulinase and on the inheritance of diabetes in terms of the abnormal insulin. The possibilities for a mutation site in the insulin molecule are discussed in relation to known molecular variations.


How homing pigeons (Columba livia) return to their loft from distant, unfamiliar sites has long been a mystery. At many release sites, untreated birds consistently vanish from view in a direction different from the home direction, a phenomenon called the release-site bias. These deviations in flight direction have been implicated in the position determination (or map) step of navigation because they may reflect local distortions in information about location that the birds obtain from the geophysical environment at the release site. Here, we performed a post hoc analysis of the relationship between vanishing bearings and local variations in magnetic intensity using previously published datasets for pigeons homing to lofts in Germany. Vanishing bearings of both experienced and naïve birds were strongly associated with magnetic intensity variations at release sites, with 90 per cent of bearings lying within ±29° of the magnetic intensity slope or contour direction. Our results (i) demonstrate that pigeons respond in an orderly manner to the local structure of the magnetic field at release sites, (ii) provide a mechanism for the occurrence of release-site biases and (iii) suggest that pigeons may derive spatial information from the magnetic field at the release site that could be used to estimate their current position relative to their loft.


This edition presents four representative works, which appear here for the first time in full score, and which emerge from different periods in the career of the most revered violinist of the late eighteenth century. Of attractive musical quality, these concertos (one of which includes ornamentation added by the composer) document Viotti's development and reflect the taste of the times.


This paper derives and evaluates a mathematical structure for identifying economically-efficient transmission augmentations. The mathematical structure is based on the concepts of sequential-move and simultaneous-move games in applied mathematics. The Nash equilibrium solution concept has been reformulated as an optimization problem in the proposed structure. The problem of multiple Nash equilibria is managed by introducing the concept of the worst-case Nash equilibrium. Both the economic concepts of the "efficiency benefit" and "competition benefit" of the transmission capacity are explicitly modeled in the proposed structure. A simple three-bus example system and Garver's example system are employed and modified to suit the purpose of analysis. A thorough economic study of these example systems is presented to highlight the concept and operation of the proposed mathematical structure from different perspectives. The results demonstrate the utility of the proposed structure for measuring the total economic efficiency benefit of additional transmission capacity.


We present multi-wavelength observations and modeling of the exceptionally bright long γ-ray burst GRB 160625B. The optical and X-ray data are well fit by synchrotron emission from a collimated blastwave with an opening angle of and kinetic energy of erg, propagating into a low-density ( cm−3) medium with a uniform profile. The forward shock is sub-dominant in the radio band; instead, the radio emission is dominated by two additional components. The first component is consistent with emission from a reverse shock, indicating an initial Lorentz factor of and an ejecta magnetization of . The second component exhibits peculiar spectral and temporal evolution and is most likely the result of scattering of the radio emission by the turbulent Milky Way interstellar medium (ISM). Such scattering is expected in any sufficiently compact extragalactic source and has been seen in GRBs before, but the large amplitude and long duration of the variability seen here are qualitatively more similar to extreme scattering events previously observed in quasars, rather than normal interstellar scintillation effects. High-cadence, broadband radio observations of future GRBs are needed to fully characterize such effects, which can sensitively probe the properties of the ISM and must be taken into account before variability intrinsic to the GRB can be interpreted correctly.


Glaucoma is a progressive optic neuropathy that characterized by optical nerve damage and loss function were of visual field. This is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. statistic showed 0.5% of Indonesian people suffering from glaucoma and one of the factors that cause glaucoma is hypertension. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation of hypertension with increased intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients at Ambon Vlissingen Eye Polyclinic, on January of 2018 using analytical descriptive with cross sectional approach. The number of samples were 38 respondents. Data collection was done through observation sheet and interview guide. Data were analyzed by using chi square test. This study shows the value of p = 0.000 <α = 0.05 which means that there was a relationship between hypertension with an increasing in intraocular pressure in Ambon Vlissingen Eye Polyclinic. conclusion there was a relationship between hypertension with increased intraocular pressure on Eye Polyclinic Ambon Vlisingen. It is expected that health officer of Eye Polyclinic Ambon Vlisingen in order to improve the quality of service so that morbidity and mortality due to glaucoma and hypertension can be reduced.


The financial crisis has resulted a sudden decline in the prices of one or more assets such as capital assets used in the production process (such as machinery and buildings), financial assets (such as equity of physical capital or commodity inventory, such as shares and savings accounts) The crisis took the form of a sudden collapse in the stock market, in the currency of a country, or in the real estate market, or in a group of financial institutions, and then spread to the rest of the economic sectors (Abdullah , Ali, 2008). Since 2000 real estate values have soared, so real estate companies listed on the stock exchange have been rising continuously around the world, especially in the United States, until the purchase of the property become the best type of investment, while other activities, including modern technology, are subject to loss. The Americans individuals and companies started to buy property for housing, long-term investment or speculation. Real estate facilities have expanded to such an extent that banks have extended loans even to individuals unable to pay their debts because of their poor incomes (Sabah, Naoush, 2008). The real estate bubble swelled to its peak and exploded in the summer of 2007 as real estate depreciated and individuals were no longer able to repay their debts even after the sale of their encumbered properties. More than 2 million Americans have lost their real estate ownership and are bound by financial obligations throughout their lives. Due to the damage of creditor banks as a result of non-payment by borrowers of their loans, the value of their shares fell on the stock market and many real estate companies declared bankruptcy. The global financial crisis has spread to the rest of the world. In this context, the role of the global financial crisis on foreign investment in Jordan will be explored


A guanosine 3′,5′-bis(diphosphate) (ppGpp) and guanosine 3′-diphosphate 5′-triphosphate (pppGpp) synthesizing enzyme is present in the ribosomal fraction of Thermus thermophilus. The enzyme is comparable to the Escherichia coli (p)ppGpp synthetase I (stringent factor) in that it requires ribosomes, mRNA and codon-specific, uncharged tRNA. The ribosomal complex can be replaced by methanol. Ribosomes from Escherichia coli do not function as effectors of the Thermus thermophilus enzyme.


Although the treatment of massive obesity by intestinal bypass can clearly effect substantial weight loss, data are not yet available to compare the morbidity and mortality of the operation with those of marked obesity per se. Surgical mortality rates range from 2 to 10 percent. The majority of patients obtain beneficial, satisfactory results. Close observation is required for management of problems, which may include liver failure, urinary calculi, enteritis, arthralgias, malnutrition and electrolyte depletion.


Many bee species are declining globally, but to detect trends and monitor bee assemblages, robust sampling methods are required. Numerous sampling methods are used, but a critical review of their relative effectiveness is lacking. Moreover, evidence suggests the relative effectiveness of sampling methods depends on habitat, yet efficacy in urban areas has yet to be evaluated. This study compared the bee community documented using observational records, targeted netting, mobile gardens, pan traps (blue and yellow), vane traps (blue and yellow), and trap-nests. The comparative surveys of native bees and honeybees were undertaken in an urbanized region of the southwest Australian biodiversity hot spot. The outcomes of the study were then compared to a synthesis based on a comprehensive literature review of studies where two or more bee sampling methods were conducted. Observational records far exceeded all other methods in terms of abundance of bees recorded, but were unable to distinguish finer taxonomic levels. Of methods that captured individuals, thereby permitting taxonomic identification, targeted sweep netting vastly outperformed the passive sampling methods, yielding a total of 1324 individuals, representing 131 taxonomic units—even when deployed over a shorter duration. The relative effectiveness of each method differed according to taxon. From the analysis of the literature, there was high variability in relative effectiveness of methods, but targeted sweep netting and blue vane traps tended to be most effective, in accordance with results from this study. However, results from the present study differed from most previous studies in the extremely low catch rates in pan traps. Species using trap-nests represented only a subset of all potential cavity-nesters, and their relative abundances in the trap-nests differed from those in the field. Mobile gardens were relatively ineffective at attracting bees. For urbanized habitat within this biodiversity hot spot, targeted sweep netting is indispensable for obtaining a comprehensive indication of native bee assemblages; passive sampling methods alone recorded only a small fraction of the native bee community. Overall, a combination of methods should be used for sampling bee communities, as each has their own biases, and certain taxa were well represented in some methods, but poorly represented in


Imitation learning has been applied to a range of robotic tasks, but can struggle when robots encounter edge cases that are not represented in the training data (i.e., distribution shift). Interactive fleet learning (IFL) mitigates distribution shift by allowing robots to access remote human supervisors during task execution and learn from them over time, but different supervisors may demonstrate the task in different ways. Recent work proposes Implicit Behavior Cloning (IBC), which is able to represent multimodal demonstrations using energy-based models (EBMs). In this work, we propose Implicit Interactive Fleet Learning (IIFL), an algorithm that builds on IBC for interactive imitation learning from multiple heterogeneous human supervisors. A key insight in IIFL is a novel approach for uncertainty quantification in EBMs using Jeffreys divergence. While IIFL is more computationally expensive than explicit methods, results suggest that IIFL achieves a 2.8x higher success rate in simulation experiments and a 4.5x higher return on human effort in a physical block pushing task over (Explicit) IFL, IBC, and other baselines.


High-dose therapy with autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is now routinely used for patients with relapsed Hodgkin (HL) and non-Hodgkin's (NHL) lymphomas, as well as multiple myeloma (MM). To date there are no available published data regarding cost analysis of A SCT in Greece. Λ retrospective cost analysis of all phases of ASCT for HI.. NHL and MM is performed in the present study, including 4 phases: mobilization, PBSC collection and cryoperservation, pretransplant testing and high-dose therapy plus ASCT until hospital discharge. Twenty-four patients, hospitalized in the Transplantation Unit of the 1st Department of Internal Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens during 2005 were retrospectively studied from chart viewing. The median total cost per patient for all phases of ASCT was 14.722,65 E for MM, 20.788,79 E' for HL and 26318,00 € for NHL. The cost for MM was significantly lower compared to HL and NHL (p<0.001). From the 4 phases' analysis, it was shown that the cost difference was significantly different for the mobilization and the high-dose therapy plus ASCT phase. These differences derive from the significantly different cost of chemotherapeutic agents in each disease and from the significantly different consumption of resources, depending on the days of hospitalization. The mean length of hospital stay for the high-dose therapy phase was significantly longer in the lymphomas compared to MM. In addition there was a significant correlation between the length of hospital stay and the cost of high-dose therapy for the lymphomas, not proven for MM. To dale globally, there are no distinct Disease Related Groups (DRGs) for the allogeneic and autologous stem cell transplantation, neither distinct DRG per disease. The results indicate that there is a need for splitting DRG 481 (DRG for stem cell transplantation) into different groups, since significant cost differences exist between the most common diseases for which ASCT is applied. The recognition of these differences will minimize disproportionate charges for Hospital budgets or National Health Systems.


The volume of the sexually dimorphic nucleus in the preoptic area (SDN-POA) of the rat brain is several fold larger in adult male rats that in adult females. This sex difference in brain structure was previously shown to develop under the influence of androgenic and estrogenic hormones during the perinatal period. We here report that treatment of newborn male and female rats with the estrogen antagonist tamoxifen significantly inhibited growth and differentiation of the SDN-POA in both sexes and it resulted in permanent anovulatory sterility in females. The findings suggest (a) that testicular androgens exert their growth promoting activity on SDN-POA development only after being converted into estrogens, and (b) that also in the female rat structural and possibly functional brain differentiation is under estrogenic control.


Felt Moral Obligation: An Alternative Foundation for Moral Behavior Carol Frogley Ellertson Department of Psychology Doctor of Philosophy This study analyzed moral psychology's "moral judgment-moral action gap" research and found that morality was being described as a secondary phenomenon produced by underlying substrates (such as identity and self constructs, "brain modules," and "evolved emotional systems") which are themselves non-moral. Deriving morality from "the non-moral" presents a kind of ontological gap in the moral psychology research. Researchers implicitly close this gap assuming it is possible to get moral judgments and actions out of non-moral substrates. But the difficulty remains how the moral as "moral" becomes infused into any moral psychology models. Morality is not a secondary phenomenon arising out of something else. This study argues that there is a need to shift our understanding of what it means to be human, to a view in which the moral is fundamental. An alternative foundation for assessing the moral is found in the work of Emmanuel Levinas who sees ethics as a metaphysical concern. This means that he sees the essential moral character of human life and the reality of human agency as ontologically fundamental, or constitutive of human nature itself. In other words, the ethical is the "first cause" in regards to understanding the nature and action of the self. Thus morality is not merely epiphenomenal to some more fundamental reality. Levinas holds that as humans, we are called to the Other. This call of obligation to the Other comes before all other human endeavors. After presenting Levinas's alternative foundation of obligation to the Other which herein is labeled Felt Moral Obligation (FMO), C. Terry Warner's conceptualizations of FMO in relation to the moral judgment-action gap are presented. In light of these conceptualizations, this study argues that there is actually no moral judgment-moral action gap, but only holistic events of moral self-betrayal. Warner illustrates that rejecting FMO is a single moral event, a holistic act performed by a moral agent that involves moral responses of self-justification, offensetaking, and rationalization. The person finds him or herself in a state of self-betrayal. Levinas and Warner implicitly assert that such self-betraying responses are not fundamentally biological or rational, but rather, fundamentally moral.


The endothelial cells of pulmonary blood vessel play an significant role in lung vessel permeability, especially in acute lung damage and adult respiratory distress syndrome. In this study, bovine pulmonary endothelial cells were isolated, cultured and identified by means of reverse microscopic, scanning electromicroscopic, transmission electro- microscopic and immunofluorescence microscopic observation. Then they were labeled with 51Cr. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), H2O2 with catalase, xanthine oxidase (XO) with hypoxanthine (HX), human neutrophil elastase (HNE), cathepsin-G (C-G) and endotoxin (ET) were incubated with the labeled cells for half hour in various experimental groups respectively. The amount of 51Cr in the suspension released from the damaged cells was counted with r-radiometer. The results show that HNE, ET, H2O2 and superoxide anion (the latter is produced from the reaction between XO and HX) could at some degree damage the membrane of endothelial cells, and the inflammatory mediators of human neutrophils might play an important role in the development of pulmonary edema.


This paper reports an investigation conducted on two diagnostic methods based on the switching voltage pattern of IGBT open-circuit faults in voltage-source inverters (VSIs). One method was based on the bridge arm pole voltage, and the other was based on bridge arm line voltage. With an additional simple circuit, these two diagnostic methods detected and effectively identified single and multiple open-circuit faults of inverter IGBTs. A comparison of the times for the diagnosis and anti-interference features between these two methods is presented. The diagnostic time of both methods was less than 280ns in the best case. The diagnostic time for the method based on the bridge arm pole voltage was less than that of the method based on the bridge arm line voltage and was 1/2 of the fundamental period in the worst case. An experimental study was carried out to show the effectiveness of and the differences between these two methods.


At present the most common reference for Rusian genealogy is a nearly hundred-year-old article by N. de Baumgarten. The Rusian Genealogical Database provides a much needed update to this classic study, utilizing primary sources from throughout Europe, together with modern interpretations of those sources, to create a comprehensive reference tool. In addition to its utility as a reference, the Database can also serve as a resource for further research on the relationships among Riurikid family members, as well as their marriages, children, and even places of rule. This genealogy has been made more accessible through the use of extensible markup language (XML) technologies, which provide much of the power of traditional relational databases in a way that is well suited to representing both textual and tabular data. The combination of modern historical methodology with modern technology has created a tool that is easy to use, even when discussing the complex genealogy of the Riurikid family.


The present invention, at least one L-type calcium channel blockers, particularly (+) - isopropyl 2-methoxyethyl 4- (2-chloro-3-cyano - phenyl) -1,4-dihydro-2,6-dimethyl - pyridine the compound 3,5-dicarboxylate, at least one cholinesterase inhibitor, especially compositions comprising donepezil, and to their use in the treatment method.


This paper addresses the problem of Doppler spread and carrier frequency offset (CFO) estimation under flat-fading Rayleigh channels. We develop a new low-cost and robust approximate maximum likelihood (ML) estimator for these two key parameters that builds upon an elegant two-ray approximation model of the channel's covariance matrix. The latter is then inverted analytically thereby yielding a closed-form expression for the underlying log-likelihood function that is prone to easy evaluation by the fast Fourier transform. Computer simulations show that the new estimator is accurate over wide ranges of the Doppler spread and CFO parameters. Moreover, it outperforms many state-of-the-art techniques under the adverse conditions of short data records and/or low SNR thresholds. Most prominently, it exhibits an unprecedented robustness to the Doppler spectrum shape of the channel since it does not require its a priori knowledge.


Welcome to a new home for your best optics and photonics research. Advanced Photonics is a highly selective, open-access, international journal that publishes innovative research in all areas of optics and photonics, including fundamental and applied research. Photonics underpins the most impactful technologies of the twenty-first century, contributing and defining such diverse areas as information processing, internet and communications, imaging, sensing and security, healthcare and medicine, and quantum technology, among others. We will publish top-quality original papers, letters, and review articles, reflecting significant advances and breakthroughs in theoretical and experimental optics and photonics research in all areas, and novel applications with considerable potential. We most welcome interdisciplinary research articles demonstrating how photonics advances material science, biology, chemistry, and other disciplines. Why do we need yet another optics journal? In recent years, the optics and photonics research community has achieved and reported many important ideas and breakthroughs. Indeed, there are quite a few top journals with high impact factors where we can publish. Advanced Photonics has been conceived to address the growing demand in the research community to be able to publish the best research results fast, and to make them visible to our peers and accessible to everyone. In order to provide a broader community perspective, in addition to research letters, original articles, and reviews, we will publish news and commentaries written by leading experts in respective fields, highlighting scientific and technological discoveries and achievements, and explaining them to an interdisciplinary audience of researchers, to ensure that these new developments are appreciated fully. We will also publish the personal views of our authors who will explain how their new ideas emerged. We hope this will make an exciting mixture of scientific and general material for our readers. We have been very lucky in assembling an outstanding editorial board of world-leading experts in their fields. They all know well themselves how frustrating it is to wait for a manuscript to be reviewed and published. In our journal, we will do our utmost to make this process as smooth and as fair as possible whilst maintaining the highest scientific quality. The editors aim to make Advanced Photonics a trusted source of groundbreaking research in optics and optical technologies. We hope very much that Advanced Photonics will become a journal of choice for all innovative researchers and a must-read for the optics and photonics community. With the benefit of open access, we hope the journal will be on the reading list of everyone interested in new trends in photonic sciences. We are looking forward, with your help, to making Advanced Photonics a home for the best and most innovative research in optics and related disciplines.


The present paper has a profound literature review of the relation between cyber security, aviation and the vulnerabilities prone by the increasing use of information systems in aviation realm. Civil aviation is in the process of evolution of the air traffic management system through the introduction of new technologies. Therefore, the modernization of aeronautical communications are creating network security issues in aviation that have not been mitigated yet. The purpose of this thesis is to make a systematic qualitative analysis of the cyber-attacks against Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast. With this analysis, the paper combines the knowledge of two fields which are meant to deal together with the security issues in aviation. The thesis focuses on the exploitation of the vulnerabilities of ADS-B and presents an analysis taking into account the perspective of cyber security and aviation experts. The threats to ADS-B are depicted, classified and evaluated by aviation experts, making use of interviews in order to determine the possible impact, and the actions that would follow in case a cyber-attack occurs. The results of the interviews show that some attacks do not really represent a real problem for the operators of the system and that other attacks may create enough confusion due to their complexity. The experience is a determinant factor for the operators of ADS-B, because based on that a set of mitigations was proposed by aviation experts that can help to cope in a cyberattack situation. This analysis can be used as a reference guide to understand the impact of cyber security threats in aviation and the need of the research and aviation communities to broaden the knowledge and to increase the level of expertise in order to face the challenges posed by network security issues. The thesis is in English and contains 58 pages of text, 5 chapters, 17 figures, 15 tables.


In this article, the authors argue that offshoring of legal work from the United States has contributed to the fracturing of the long-established internal labor market arrangements in large U.S. law firms. Drawing on evidence from the United States and India on legal employment, the growth of offshoring, and the rapidly changing nature of work that is offshored, the authors contend that the changes in employment systems in law firms are likely to be permanent, in contrast to other researchers who suggest they are temporary adjustments to the financial crisis. As U.S. law firms are dismantling their internal labor market systems, Indian law firms are partially recreating them.


In recent years, accompanied by economic growth, air transportation in Vietnam has rapidly risen with the introduction of many new airlines. This situation has led to an increase in aircraft movement frequency flying in and out of the airports and raised concerns about the effects of increased noise exposure levels on public health and the natural environment in the vicinity of the airports. Vietnam authority has also issued several documents to regulate the establishment of the noise contour maps to evaluate the current noise exposure levels around airports in Vietnam and recognized the noise problem in aviation as a significant issue. One of four measures to reduce the noise around airports introduced in the Balanced Approach to Noise Management of the International Civil Aviation Organization is noise abatement operational procedures. This research is one of the first attempts to provide a comprehensive study on predicting the noise levels and establishing noise contour maps around Tan Son Nhat International airport with the assumption that aircraft take-off following the noise abatement departure procedures 1 and 2 using MATLAB software. The computed noise contours for both procedures show that the day-evening-night equivalent noise levels range from 45 dB(A) to 60 dB(A) around the airport, with the difference in noise levels between the two procedures primarily occurring at the end of the runway due to the difference in stepped departures. These results provide a reference for the authorities to study further in applying suitable noise reduction plans in the vicinity of airports.


Fluvial incision is a basic factor of basin landscape evolution as well as lateral erosion and recession of water fall. Quantification of incision processes, therefore, are helpful in order to unravel geomorphic processes of basin. In this study, we estimated incision rates using some artificial abandoned channels constructed by "Kawa-mawashi" since the Edo period. The incision rates are estimated from a set of height (H ) and period (T ) since construction age of "Kawa-mawashi". The height (H ) is the difference of height between the present and the abandoned riverbeds. We selected eight channels having a drainage area of 4 ~ 32 km. Bedrocks of those channels are composed of sedimentary rocks from the Neogene to the Quaternary period. Results show the incision rate of 0.7 ~ 22.1 (average rate: 5.8) mm/y. It suggests that the incision rate is controlled by hydrologic condition and bedrock characteristic.


Refractive X-ray lenses are in use at a large number of synchrotron experiments. Several materials and fabrication techniques are available for their production, each having their own strengths and drawbacks. We present a grating interferometer for the quantitative analysis of single refractive X-ray lenses and employ it for the study of a beryllium point focus lens and a polymer line focus lens, highlighting the differences in the outcome of the fabrication methods. The residuals of a line fit to the phase gradient are used to quantify local lens defects, while shape aberrations are quantified by the decomposition of the retrieved wavefront phase profile into either Zernike or Legendre polynomials, depending on the focus and aperture shape. While the polymer lens shows better material homogeneity, the beryllium lens shows higher shape accuracy.


Metal-free N-doped carbon (NC) materials have been regarded as one of the most promising catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in alkaline media because of their outstanding ORR catalytic activity, high stability, and good methanol tolerance. Up to now, only a small minority of such catalysts have been synthesized from triazine-based polymeric networks. Herein, we report the synthesis of such NC catalyst by directly pyrolyzing a nitrogen-rich, triazine-based polypyrrole network (TPN). The TPN is fabricated by oxidative polymerization of 2,4,6-tripyrrol-1,3,5-triazine monomer using TfOH as the protonating agent and benzoyl peroxide as the oxidizing agent. The obtained NC-900 (pyrolyzed at 900 °C) catalyst exhibits excellent ORR activity in alkaline media with a high ORR onset potential (0.972 V vs RHE), a large kinetic-limiting current density (15.66 mA cm-2 at 0.60 V), and good MeOH tolerance and durability. The as-synthesized NC-900 material is a potential candidate as a highly active, stable, and low-cost ORR catalyst for alkaline fuel cells.


The mortalin genes, mot-1 andmot-2, are hsp70 family members that were originally cloned from normal and immortal murine cells, respectively. Their proteins differ by only two amino acid residues but exhibit different subcellular localizations, arise from two distinct genes, and have contrasting biological activities. We report here that the two proteins also differ in their interactions with the tumor suppressor protein p53. The pancytosolic mot-1 protein in normal cells did not show colocalization with p53; in contrast, nonpancytosolic mot-2 and p53 overlapped significantly in immortal cells. Transfection ofmot-2 but not mot-1 resulted in the repression of p53-mediated transactivation in p53-responsive reporter assays. Inactivation of p53 by mot-2 was supported by the down-regulation of p53-responsive genes p21WAF-1 andmdm-2 in mot-2-transfected cells only. Furthermore, NIH 3T3 cells transfected with expression plasmid encoding green fluorescent protein-taggedmot-2 but not mot-1 showed an abrogation of nuclear translocation of wild-type p53. These results demonstrate a novel mechanism of p53 inactivation by mot-2 protein.


The histone methyltransferases are a group of enzymes which catalyze the transfer of a methyl group from the co-factor S-Adenosylmethionine (SAM) to the lysine and arginine residues of histone tails. This post-translational modification is a key event in maintaining gene expression patterns. In recent years, the relationships between aberrant histone methylation patterns and cancer progression have been recognized. These developments, along with an improved understanding of the underlying structural biology, have made histone methyltransferases highly attractive targets for therapeutic intervention. The histone lysine methyltransferase EZH2 (Enhancer of Zeste Homolog 2) is frequently over-expressed in a wide variety of cancerous tissues. There is a strong correlation between overexpression of EZH2 and aberrant transcriptional signaling in cells, ultimately resulting in poor clinical prognosis. Inhibition of EZH2 is expected to alter transcriptional expression and ultimately lead to an improved clinical outcome. This presentation will describe medicinal chemistry efforts in the development of highly potent and selective small molecule inhibitors of EZH2. The synthesis, SAR, and identification of a clinical candidate will be discussed. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2939. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-2939


Children with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease frequently suffer ankle sprain and experience chronic ankle instability; however, no pediatric self-reported measures of chronic ankle instability exist. The aim was to modify and validate the most reliable measure of chronic ankle instability in adults: the Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool. The Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool–Youth was tested for reliability, construct validity, and sensitivity to discriminate between 104 children aged 8 to 16 years: 31 children with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, 31 unaffected children with a history of ankle sprains, and 42 controls. Children with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease had lower scores compared to unaffected children with a history of sprains (χ2 = 15.10; P < .001) and controls (χ2 = 33.69; P < .001). Scores moderately correlated to visual analog scale scores of ankle steadiness (r s = 0.684; P < .001), and "good" test-retest reliability was identified (ICC2,1 = 0.73). The Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool–Youth demonstrated excellent sensitivity and construct validity, identifying chronic ankle instability as a common problem for children with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.


Current injection into solar cells may occur if cells in modules are connected in parallel without the protection of string diodes. This current injection can cause heating of the cell, which increases the recombination currents and, thus, the current injection. In this manner, a self-feeding process called thermal runaway is started. In concentrator photovoltaics modules, thermal runaway can cause substantial damage. In this paper, a model is introduced that calculates the conditions causing thermal runaway. This model is based on the two-diode model. As inputs for the model, three dependences were experimentally determined from dark IV measurements on the triple-junction cell: 1) series resistance on cell temperature, 2) saturation currents for each of the three junctions on cell temperature, and 3) cell temperature on the injected current. The model was tested by comparing the simulated and measured temperature increase in a triple-junction cell and their dependencies on the applied voltage. A reasonable agreement between the experiment and model was found whereby the voltage at which a thermal runaway occurred differs slightly by 0.04 V. The model was then applied to estimate the dependence of an expected temperature increase in a shaded solar cell on the number of cells connected in parallel and on the concentration factor of the sunlight.


Rhizobium is able to induce the formation of a new organ on roots of leguminous plants, the root nodule, in which the penetrated bacteria fix atmospheric nitrogen. This process is initiated by specific lipo-oligosaccharides, called Nod factors, secreted by the bacterium. Nodule formation proceeds through distinct steps like infection thread formation and activation of mitotic activity in cortical cells. During these steps specific plant genes, nodulin genes, are induced and several of these have been identified and characterized. Nodulin genes are used now as markers to study Nod factor perception and signal transduction.


To the Editor: Hwang et al and Foppa and Spiegelman have presented sample size and power calculations for gene-environment interaction in case-control studies. These calculations have been criticized by Garcia-Closas and Lubin for relying on a variance estimator under the null (the "null-variance" formula), rather than under the alternative. The issue is not that the null-variance sample-size calculations are incorrect, but simply that they do not correspond to the test statistics that are generally used. In practice, the variance is most often evaluated under the alternative, which requires different formulas. Relying on the null variance for interaction in logistic regression models (when the variance for the test statistic is in fact estimated under the alternative) tends to underestimate the sample sizes required, especially when interaction odds ratios are relatively large. Similar issues pertain to case-only designs. Under the assumption of geneenvironment independence, Yang et al presented expressions for calculating required sample size for the case-only estimator of interaction that rely on the null-variance formula. The authors provide the following formula for the sample size required to detect a case-only interaction ratio of magnitude Ri with significance level and power :


After two and a half years under President Viktor Yanukovych and the
Party of Regions, the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians are dissatisfied
with the state the country's economy is currently in and the direction it has
been developing in. There has also been a significant drop in stability and
social security with the general public increasingly feeling that the government
has little interest in their problems. Only 16% of Ukrainians believe
that the current government has performed better than their predecessors,
although overall confidence in both the ruling party and the opposition remains
low. Nonetheless, falling support for the president and the Cabinet
does not seem to have translated into greater popularity for the country's
opposition parties; these currently enjoy the confidence of only a quarter
of the electorate. The clear lack of credibility for politicians on either side
of the political spectrum, coupled with an almost universal preoccupation
with the bare necessities of life, has shifted the political processes
in Ukraine further down the agenda for the majority of Ukrainians.
Ukraine's poor economic performance, which over the last two years has
been addressed through a series of highly unpopular economic reforms,
has resulted in a growing mood of discontent and increased civil activity,
with the Ukrainian people reporting a greater willingness than ever to join
protests on social issues. Most of them, however, have shown much less
interest in political rallies. This is likely to stem from low levels of trust in
the opposition and the general belief that opposition politicians are not
a viable alternative to the current government. One may therefore assume
that there will be little public scrutiny of the parliamentary election
scheduled for 28 October, and that the likelihood of mass demonstrations
during it is low. However, in the event of large-scale vote rigging and a dismissive
response from the government, spontaneous unsanctioned rallies
cannot be ruled out. What is more likely, however, is a series of protests
after the elections, when the already difficult economic situation is further
exacerbated by a predicted rise in the price of gas for Ukrainian households
and a possible move to devalue the Ukrainian hryvnia.


Makivic B, Djordjevic Nikic M, Willis MS. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) as a Tool for Diagnostic and Monitoring Performance in Sport and Physical Activities. JEPonline 2013;16(3):103-131. The dynamic autonomic responses during exercise can be measured to give actionable information for training by analysis of the ECG to determine heart rate variability (HRV). While application of HRV has been applied to predict sudden cardiac death and diabetic neuropathy in assessing disease progression, recent studies have suggested that it may be applied to exercise training. In this review, we present the rationale for measuring HRV. We describe the different variables used and what they can tell us about the autonomic nervous system. The use of HRV in detecting changes in exercise intensity is presented, along with evidence that gender and age changes may affect autonomic HRV. Lastly, we illustrate how HRV measurements taken immediately post-exercise have proven to be useful in measuring and monitoring training load to proscribe workouts and/or prevent overtraining. Despite the studies that vary widely in their application to different training levels of athletes being tested and HRV measures used, the standardization of methodologies and results should help accelerate the use of HRV in sports training.


By comparing the description of modern history in 8 different versions of Korean History high school textbooks published in 2014, this paper examines political bias prevailing in the history textbooks, which emerged as an important social issue these days. Major subjects for analysis are topics included in 8 versions of textbooks, such as the nature of the Cold War, policies of the U.S. and Soviet Union towards Korea after the Liberation, evaluation of major political powers after the Liberation, and the Korean War. These subjects have often been targets for criticism by conservative press and intellectuals for being described from a leftist perspective. Directly adopting a so-called New Right perspective, a historical view held by the conservative Korean political elites, Publisher Gyohak-sa's history textbook puts all the responsibility of initiating and causing the Cold War, division of the Korean Peninsula, and the Korean War upon the Soviet Union, North Korea and the Communists. However, such description of modern history is an extremely biased and distorted one which cannot be found even among the new legitimist scholars such as John L. Gaddis and William Stueck, who represent conservative voices of the overseas academia in regards to the Cold War and the Korean War. Moreover, despite the arguments of conservative press and the authors of the Gyohak-sa textbook that the rest of the seven versions have been leaning leftwards in their description of modern history, those versions have been strengthening conservative descriptions overall after accepting recent instructions from the Ministry of Education.


Benzene imine (1) ⇌ 1H-azepine (2) isomerization occurs through sequential valence and endo–exo isomerism. Quantum chemical and quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) simulations reveal the coupled reaction pathway – ring-expansion followed by N-inversion to the most stable isomer, exo-1H-azepine (Exo-2). Direct-dynamics produce a mixture of endo- and exo-1H-azepine stereoisomers and govern the endo-1H-azepine (Endo-2) ⇌ exo-1H-azepine (Exo-2) ratio. Exo-2 is computationally identified as the most stable product while Endo-2 is fleetingly stable with a survival time (ST) ∼50 fs. N-Methyl substitution exclusively results in an exo-1-methyl-1H-azepine isomer. F-substitution at the N-site increases the barrier for N-inversion and alters the preference by stabilizing Endo-2. Interestingly, the exo-1-fluoro-1H-azepine (minor product) is formed through bifurcation via non-statistical dynamics. A highly concaved Arrhenius plot for 1a → 2a highlights the influence of heavy-atom tunneling on valence isomerism, particularly at low temperatures. Heavy-atom tunneling also results in a normal N–H(D) secondary KIE above 100 K even though the increase in hybridization from sp2 to sp3 at nitrogen should cause an inverse KIE classically.


CONTEXT
Memantine is a low- to moderate-affinity, uncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist. Controlled trials have demonstrated the safety and efficacy of memantine monotherapy for patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer disease (AD) but no controlled trials of memantine in patients receiving a cholinesterase inhibitor have been performed.

OBJECTIVE
To compare the efficacy and safety of memantine vs placebo in patients with moderate to severe AD already receiving stable treatment with donepezil.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of 404 patients with moderate to severe AD and Mini-Mental State Examination scores of 5 to 14, who received stable doses of donepezil, conducted at 37 US sites between June 11, 2001, and June 3, 2002. A total of 322 patients (80%) completed the trial.

INTERVENTIONS
Participants were randomized to receive memantine (starting dose 5 mg/d, increased to 20 mg/d, n = 203) or placebo (n = 201) for 24 weeks.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Change from baseline on the Severe Impairment Battery (SIB), a measure of cognition, and on a modified 19-item AD Cooperative Study-Activities of Daily Living Inventory (ADCS-ADL19). Secondary outcomes included a Clinician's Interview-Based Impression of Change Plus Caregiver Input (CIBIC-Plus), the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, and the Behavioral Rating Scale for Geriatric Patients (BGP Care Dependency Subscale).

RESULTS
The change in total mean (SE) scores favored memantine vs placebo treatment for SIB (possible score range, 0-100), 0.9 (0.67) vs -2.5 (0.69), respectively (P<.001); ADCS-ADL19 (possible score range, 0-54), -2.0 (0.50) vs -3.4 (0.51), respectively (P =.03); and the CIBIC-Plus (possible score range, 1-7), 4.41 (0.074) vs 4.66 (0.075), respectively (P =.03). All other secondary measures showed significant benefits of memantine treatment. Treatment discontinuations because of adverse events for memantine vs placebo were 15 (7.4%) vs 25 (12.4%), respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
In patients with moderate to severe AD receiving stable doses of donepezil, memantine resulted in significantly better outcomes than placebo on measures of cognition, activities of daily living, global outcome, and behavior and was well tolerated. These results, together with previous studies, suggest that memantine represents a new approach for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe AD.


Knowledge spillover, as a form of technology transfer from foreign direct investment (FDI), has frequently been investigated in the contexts of various countries. This study aims to examine whether the availability of labour working for foreign companies could trigger improved productivity of the companies' domestic workers. It also aims to investigate the horizontal and vertical spillovers that might occur, formally or less formally, and to discover whether specialization and industrial competition play a role in facilitating knowledge spillover in Indonesia's manufacturing industry. What differentiates this study from previous similar studies is our investigation of whether or not the business orientation and intensity factors of domestic companies could be catalysts for knowledge spillover. To examine this, we use firm-level data and econometrics modelling to test our hypotheses. An important finding of this study is that the export orientation of domestic companies is a critical factor in promoting knowledge spillover.


The usual definition of a geometric phase involves particular conditions on the behaviour of the state vector of a quantum system. We show that they can be removed in some cases by appealing directly to the Schrodinger equation. In this way we obtain an extension of a family of geometric phases previously introduced by us.


Clearance of dying cells is essential for development and homeostasis. Conserved genes mediate apoptotic cell removal, but whether these genes also control non-apoptotic cell removal is a major open question. Linker cell-type death (LCD) is a prevalent non-apoptotic developmental cell death process with features conserved from C. elegans to vertebrates. Using microfluidics-based long-term in vivo imaging, we show that unlike apoptotic cells, the C. elegans linker cell, which dies by LCD, is competitively phagocytosed by two neighboring cells, resulting in cell splitting. Subsequent cell elimination does not require apoptotic engulfment genes. Rather, we find that RAB-35 GTPase is a key coordinator of competitive phagocytosis onset and linker cell degradation. RAB-35 binds CNT-1, an ARF-6 GTPase activating protein; removes ARF-6, a degradation inhibitor, from phagosome membranes; and recruits RAB-5 and RAB-7 GTPases for phagolysosome maturation. We propose that RAB-35 and ARF-6 drive an evolutionarily conserved program eliminating cells dying by LCD.


Linear representations and linear dimension reduction techniques are very common in signal and image processing. Many such applications reduce to solving problems of stochastic optimizations or statistical inferences on the set of all subspaces, i.e. a Grassmann manifold. Central to solving them is the computation of an "exponential" map (for constructing geodesies) and its inverse on a Grassmannian. Here we suggest efficient techniques for these two steps and illustrate two applications: (i) For image-based object recognition, we define and seek an optimal linear representation using a Metropolis-Hastings type, stochastic search algorithm on a Grassmann manifold, (ii) For statistical inferences, we illustrate computation of sample statistics, such as mean and variances, on a Grassmann manifold.


BackgroundPerformance assessments help to quantify the level of adherence with practice standards and are often used to measure and compare the quality of care. However, most performance assessments are based on a cross-sectional analysis of patient information, whereas patient care is inherently longitudinal. This discordance could confound the relationship between the performance measure and the true quality of care. ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to illustrate differences in performance assessment as measured by a traditional cross-sectional analysis compared with a longitudinal analysis. MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of a cohort of diabetic patients in an integrated delivery system having primary care visits and hemoglobin A1c (HBA1c) testing in both 1999 and 2000. ResultsIn the cross-sectional analysis of 4661 patients, we found a modestly increasing proportion achieved an HBA1c level of <8.0%: 73.1% in 1999 and 75.6% in 2000. Longitudinal analysis, however, suggested that certain subsets of patients were more likely to switch from good to poor control or retain their level of poor control over the 2 years studied. In particular, compared with whites, blacks were 1.76 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.31–2.37) times as likely to switch from good to poor control and only 0.56 (95% CI, 0.41–0.76) times as likely to switch from poor to good control. Patients aged 35 to 49 were 2.54 (95% CI, 1.79–3.45) times as likely to switch from good to poor and only 0.66 (95% CI, 0.47–0.94) times as likely to switch from poor to good control than patients over age 64 years. ConclusionsCross-sectional performance assessments could mask changes in diabetes control among individuals belonging to a cohort and, conceptually, are poorer indicators of care process than longitudinal measures. In addition, longitudinal analyses suggest the influence of patient sociodemographic factors on the performance assessment that should be accounted for when comparing quality of care for diabetes.


Abstract
 Tsuga canadensis (Eastern Hemlock) is a keystone tree species currently experiencing high mortality in southeastern US forests due to Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Adelges tsugae; HWA) invasion. Investigating the impacts of concurrent climate change on Eastern Hemlock is important given its potential direct effects on this species and possible interactions of climatic factors with the continued spread of HWA. We conducted a 2-factorial experiment in controlled-environment growth chambers to test for the main effects and interactions of projected atmospheric CO2 concentrations and transitional-season warming on gas-exchange traits of Eastern Hemlock saplings collected from a northern Georgia field site. We hypothesized that elevated CO2 would increase photosynthesis and that warming would not influence photosynthesis, given the demonstrated capacity for photosynthetic temperature-acclimation in this species. Saplings in elevated CO2 exhibited ∼30% greater leaf-level photosynthesis (A) and ∼35% greater maximum light-saturated photosynthesis (Amax) than saplings in ambient CO2. In contrast, warming did not influence A or Amax as a main effect. However, significant treatment interactions suggest that the response of Eastern Hemlock to rising CO2 could be impacted by associated warming. Specifically, when saplings were grown in elevated CO2, warming was associated with reductions in Amax, rate of respiration in the dark, and stomatal conductance, but these variables were not influenced by warming when combined with ambient CO2. An increase in the light-saturation estimate with elevated CO2 across temperature-treatment levels indicates that CO2 can be a limiting factor for Eastern Hemlock, but significant treatment interactions suggest that the capacity for this species to utilize increased CO2 may be impacted negatively by warming.


Multiple studies have suggested a correlation between hospital surgical volume and clinical outcomes, including oncologic outcomes such as cancer-specific survival (1,2). The fact that high-volume surgeons and institutions have superior outcomes may be related to improved technical surgical experience, streamlined perioperative protocols, access to multidisciplinary care, or the availability of new treatment modalities through clinical trials.


This paper introduces the single-entity-centered setting for transfer across two relational domains. In this setting, target domain data contains information about only a single entity. We present the SR2LR algorithm that finds an effective mapping of the source model to the target domain in this setting and demonstsrate its effectiveness in three relational domains. Our experiments additionally show that the most accurate model for the source domain is not always the best model to use for transfer.


This paper presents a high-performance rate control (HPRC) algorithm for the Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard that aims to achieve higher coding efficiency by considering spatial and temporal feature complexity. The HPRC algorithm differs from conventional rate control (RC) algorithms in that it uses an adaptive Canny operator (ACO) with a novel double-threshold algorithm to obtain the feature complexity of video content accurately. Moreover, an advanced bit allocation strategy at the frame-level and coding tree unit (CTU)-level is constructed to realize rational RC by thoroughly exploring the relationship between coding bits and complexity. To improve the precision of RC, an appropriate parameter updating based on the quasi-Newton algorithm is also proposed. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed HPRC algorithm outperforms the default RC algorithm in VVC Test Model (VTM) 18.0, with Bjøntegaard Delta Rate (BD-Rate) savings of 8.77% and 10.34% under Low Delay_P and Random Access configurations, respectively. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm also shows performance enhancements compared to other advanced algorithms.


Paleontologists have long debated whether the bizarre Ediacara—blobs of living matter that inhabited Earth before the Cambrian Period's explosion of new species some 540 million years ago—were an evolutionary dead end or ancestors of later species. New dates for Ediacaran fossils, reported in this issue of Science (p. 598), lend support to the ancestral camp. The Ediacara didn'tdie out in the Precambrian, as many supposed, but persisted at least up to the beginning of the Cambrian.


Turtles is easily identified because of its shield. The dorsal shield or commonly called carapace is one of characteristics that can be used for turtle's identification. People and researchers usually can distinguish the turtles just by looking at the carapace valve, but not in carapace shape. Both of them sometimes have their own interpretation about it, because carapace shape has a variation. This research was aimed to obtain some information about differences of carapace shape variation between Coura amboinensis and Orlitia borneensis quantitatively and also to investigate about characteristic of variation on carapace shape of a species. The specimens were taken from Pusat Penyelamatan Satwa Jogja. The picture of carapace shape of the turtles was changed into bitmap then processed used SHAPE ver 1.3. The variation of carapace contour were extracted by image processing, described and analyzed by Elliptic Fourier Descriptors. Mathematically independent shape characteristics were then indentified by Principal Component Analysis of The Elliptic Fourier Descriptors. Principal components represented the aspect ratio of the broad size, length size, and curve or roundness margin of the carapace. Based on result showed that intraspecies variation shape of carapace on C. amboinensis and on O. borneensis can be analysis into 3 principal component. The principal component 1st (PC1), 2nd (PC2) and 3rd (PC3) components accounted for 82.77%, 10.3% and 4.73% of total shape variation on C. amboinensis. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd components accounted for 88.1%, 7.02% and 3.71% of total shape variation on O. borneensis. The contribution ratio of PC1 was over 80% on both of species, showing that most of the variation on carapace shape could be explained by the aspect ratio. The PC2 and PC3 were less than 20%, indicated that there is small asymmetric variation degree of roundness on carapace.


evidence against his misrepresentation of my thesis. Having oversimplified my thesis, Ch'eng proceeds to dismiss it as both tautological and overblown. I may claim too much or too little for the eighteenth century as "early modern," but how can I defend myself against the contradictory charge that I do both at once? The reviewer took special offense at my first chapter, which was written primarily for the nonspecialist. I believe his charge that I reintroduce "generally familiar secondary literature, especially in English," can only be applied in fairness to that first chapter. Ch'eng is far more accurate and detailed in his discussion of what I did not do than he is in describing what I did. In lamenting my failure to delve more deeply into social history, he ignores the bulk of my book, which discusses Rulin waishi from a variety of intellectual perspectives. I agree with Ch'eng that "rigorous research and finer analysis are in order," but there is much to be said for simple accuracy in a book review.


The study objectives were to determine the significance of deep neck odontogenic infections severity to predict the postoperative morbidity. Observational study was conducted in 2014-2015. A continuous sample of 38 patients who were urgently hospitalized in the Novosibirsk Regional Clinical Hospital with deep neck odontogenic infections and operated on the day of hospitalization was analyzed. SAPS scale rates correlated positively with the duration of the artificial lungs ventilation (ALV). The positive balance of the introduced and withdrawn liquid in the first day of the postoperative period is associated with the ALV duration, which requires accurate dosing of the infusion volumes. The described protocol of perioperative care significantly decreases morbidity in patients with deep neck odontogenic infections.


In cultivation of meningococcus of serological group A in fluid semisynthetic medium of simple composition prepared on the basis of purified acid casein hydrolysate with profound splitting there were obtained microbial cultures with a density of 4-5 x 10(9) microbial cells per 1 ml after 20-24 hours of cultivation with shaking. Alkalinity of the medium increased (to pH 8.0-8.2 during the stationary phase) with increase of the microbial cell concentration. A study of the accumulation of group-specific thermostable polysaccharide antigen in dynamics of meningococcus cultivation on semisynthetic medium tested showed the preparations obtained by alcoholic precipitation to be colourless and to contain much antigen (by inhibition of indirect hemagglutination), particularly at the phasees of negative growth acceleration and at the stationary phase. The suggested fluid semisynthetic medium of simple composition could be used for production of diagnostic and prophylactic meningococcus preparations belonging to the serological group A.


Agriculture is a major driver of the Kenyan economy, contributing 54 percent to the national gross domestic product (GDP) and accounting for 65 percent of total export earnings. Kenya's GDP growth is highly correlated with the sector's performance, and its performance is highly volatile. The frequency and intensity of severe weather events has increased, and will be further exacerbated as a result of climate change. The country's overwhelming reliance on rain-fed agricultural production systems renders it highly vulnerable to food supply disruptions and shortages. Climate information services (CIS) include immediate and short-term weather forecasts and advisories and longer-term information about new seeds and technologies and market developments. CIS is especially useful in helping farmers to manage risks in what is already an exceptionally risky sector in which to operate, and in offsetting much of the uncertainty that so often constrains decision making and innovation. CIS is a relatively new area in extension service delivery. Case studies reported on in this report reveal that only a small number of Kenyan farmers currently access CIS.


Aims: This paper describes two contrasting cases of post‐radiotherapy angiosarcomas of the breast. They illustrate the spectrum of malignant vascular tumours that may occur in the breast. These tumours are extremely rare and knowledge of their natural history is limited. The prognosis suggested by the few published cases of poorly or moderately differentiated angiosarcomas suggest a poor prognosis often with a fatal outcome. Methods and results: This was confirmed by our first case a poorly differentiated angiosarcoma, occurring 10 years after radiotherapy for breast carcinoma with death occurring from metastatic angiosarcoma 6 months later. Our second, more recently diagnosed case, was a well‐differentiated angiosarcoma, occurring 5 years post radiotherapy for breast cancer. She remains well 12 months after the diagnosis of sarcoma but her long‐term outlook is more problematic to predict. Only five previous cases of well‐differentiated post‐radiotherapy angiosarcoma of the breast have been reported with limited follow‐up (average 2 years). Conclusions: Communication with the authors of four of the papers since their publication has provided valuable additional information and indicates a potentially good outlook for this woman in the longer term. A second cellular component was also found in these malignant vascular tumours. These spindle cells distinct from the malignant endothelial cells have not to our knowledge been described previously and their possible nature is discussed.


One of the chief concepts of molecular interactions is the concept of the molecular potential. This work focuses on the class of so-called spiked potentials. It is analytically demonstrated that despite the common belief that the traditional perturbation theory is not applicable to study the class of potentials combining the harmonic oscillator with a singular potential of the type λr−α, this work aims to propose and develop such treatment on the basis of the appropriate choice of the zero-order exactly solvable Hamiltonian Ho = −( /(2m))∇ + U2 where U2(r) = αr2 + β/r−2. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Strong motions of 18 earthquakes (3.4 ≦ MJ ≦ 7.1, MJ: JMA magnitude) in the eastern Tohoku district, Japan, have been observed at 12 borehole sites within a 20- × 20-km region in Sendai. In our previous study, we defined a Pliocene layer, whose S-wave velocity VS is greater than 500 m/sec and whose N value of the standard penetration test is greater than 50, as engineering bedrock in Sendai and calculated 304 engineering bedrock waves (hypocentral distance X = 15 to 300 km) by removing the site response between the engineering bedrock and the surface. As the second stage of our study toward a quantitative prediction of strong ground motions of horizontal components, we propose here a statistical spectral model of the engineering bedrock waves by introducing the site response between the pre-Tertiary bedrock (VS ≈ 3000 m/sec) and the engineering bedrock (VS ≈ 500 to 700 m/sec) and a frequency-dependent Q into Boore's spectral model. We separate the site response between the pre-Tertiary bedrock and the engineering bedrock, an attenuation function, and source spectra from the engineering bedrock spectra by assuming an ω−2 model with the seismic moment M0 from the Harvard CMT solution estimated for earthquakes of MJ ≧ 5.3. Initial values of corner frequency f0 are determined based on a previous empirical M0 − f0 relationship in this district. Using six moderate-sized earthquakes (5.3 ≦ MJ ≦ 6.0), we first estimate frequency-dependent Q to be Q = 110f0.69 (f: frequency) by minimizing the standard deviation of the site response, which is defined as the ratio of observed engineering bedrock spectra with respect to the estimated attenuation and the assumed source spectra. The averaged site response is simultaneously estimated to be 1 at 0.1 Hz, 5 at 1 Hz, and 3 at 20 Hz. We then invert f0 and cutoff frequencies fmax for all 18 earthquakes and M0 for seven small-sized earthquakes of MJ < 5.3 by minimizing the difference between the model and observed spectra. The average Brune stress drop obtained from an M0 − f0 relationship estimated from 17 earthquakes except for the smallest earthquake with M0 less than 1021 dyne·cm is 200 bars. The estimated M0 − f0 relationship is identical to the one used to calculate initial values of f0 so that we do not need to perform the inversion iteratively. The obtained stress drop for subduction zone earthquakes in the eastern Tohoku district is consistent with other previous studies. The dependence of the inverted fmax on M0 is not significant, and the logarithmic average of fmax is found to be 13.5 Hz. By using these controlling parameters and the M0 − f0 relationship obtained from a regression analysis, acceleration spectra on the engineering bedrock in Sendai can be predicted statistically from X and M0 or MJ by considering standard deviations of the site response, f0, and fmax.


section of those currently under development in the field. The most distinguishing feature of this book is the manner in which the authors have introduced the material. Each of the five major parts contains an introductory chapter in which the critical concepts to follow are defined and discussed in relation to the entire literature for that topic. With the unfortunate exception of the chapter introducing the section on comprehensive models, one finds that a superb job of synthesizing has been done. It would have been helpful for the reader if some of the more confusing differences among the various models had been pointed out and had been explained. This oversight does not appreciably detract from an otherwise excellent job.


The effect of loading rate on fracture toughness of ice has been investigated using sharply edge-notched specimens by bending at -10°C. The loading rate KI ranged from 1 to about 103kPam1/2/s. The notch was made by molding a razor blade in the specimen in the ice growing process and removing it before the bending test. Two sizes of specimens, section sized 25×25mm (small size specimen) and 50×50mm (medium size specimen) respectively, were used. About thirty small size specimens or about ten medium size specimens were tested at each loading rate. The experimental results were as follows.(1) The values of KIc were lower in the higher KI range, and there was a transition in the range of KI=10-100kPam1/2/s.(2) The effect of KI was found to be very small in the range of KI larger than 100kPam1/2/s.(3) The effect of loading rate on the minimum value of fracture toughness KIc was small in the whole range of KI tested for both small and medium size specimens.(4) The minimum KIc values of small and medium size specimens seem to coinside each other approximately. The maximum and the median KIc values of medium size specimens were smaller than those of small size specimens.(5) It was found that a vinyl silicone impression material being used for dentistry was suitable to make replica of the fracture surface for macrofractography.


Recall bias can influence estimates of fishing effort, with a general trend toward overestimation as the length of the recall period increases. Concern that recall bias may be affecting annual freshwater fishing effort estimates in New York led to the collection of effort data from three angler surveys during 2007 instead of one survey at the end of the year. However, to check for this potential bias and the impact that a change in recall period might have on comparisons with past surveys, a parallel survey with a 12-month recall period was conducted. For the overall state-wide estimate of fishing effort, the estimate from the three-phase survey was slightly greater than from the 12-month recall survey (the opposite of what was hypothesised). For the major water bodies, the differences were mostly significant but not always in the same direction between the two survey methods. Different results from one study compared with many others do not mean that past recommendations for shorter recall periods should be abandoned. However, the strength of this study – that the implementation methods (i.e. mail surveys) were identical – leads one to be more sceptical of past results.


Under hypoxia, alterations in muscle contractile properties and faster fatigue development have been reported. This study investigated the efficacy of tensiomyography (TMG) in assessing muscle contractile function at acute moderate altitude. Biceps femoris (BF) and vastus lateralis (VL) muscles of 18 athletes (age 20.1 ± 6.1 years; body mass 65.4 ± 13.9 kg; height 174.6 ± 9.5 cm) were assessed at sea level and moderate altitude using electrically evoked contractions on two consecutive days. Maximum radial displacement (Dm), time of contraction (Tc), reaction time (Td), sustained contraction time (Ts), and relaxation time (Tr) were recorded at 40, 60, 80, and 100 mA. At altitude, VL showed lower Dm values at 40 mA (p = 0.008; ES = -0.237). Biceps femoris showed Dm decrements in all electrical stimulations (p < 0.001, ES > 0.61). In VL, Tc was longer at altitude at 40 (p = 0.031, ES = 0.56), and 100 mA (p = 0.03, ES = 0.51). Regarding Td, VL showed significant increases in all electrical intensities under hypoxia (p ≤ 0.03, ES ≥ 0.33). TMG appears effective at detecting slight changes in the muscle contractile properties at moderate altitude. Further research involving TMG along with other muscle function assessment methods is needed to provide additional insight into peripheral neuromuscular alterations at moderate altitude.


We tested the hypothesis that rats adapt to the iron absorption inhibitory effects of tea by modifying the expression of salivary proteins. Thirty-six weanling rats were allocated into 6 groups. Two control groups were fed a semipurified diet containing 20 mg Fe(2+)/kg diet. Two groups were fed spray dried green tea infusion mixed into the diet (28.6 g tea/kg diet) and 2 groups were fed the control diet with a twice daily gavage of a tea solution (0.25 g tea/mL). Saliva samples were collected in 3 groups (control, gavage, and oral) on day 8 (acute) and in the remaining groups on day 31 (chronic). Iron absorption was assessed using a (58)Fe(3+) tracer administered on day 1 (acute) and day 24 (chronic). 2D gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry were used to assess the composition of the saliva proteome. There was no significant difference in iron absorption between the 3 groups on either day 1 or day 24. Salivary proline-rich proteins and submandibular gland secretory protein increased to a greater extent in the oral group than in the gavage group, when compared to control, within the same exposure time period. Amylase, chitinase, deoxyribonuclease, cysteine-rich secretory protein 1, and parotid secretory protein all decreased to a greater extent in the oral tea group, compared to the control, within the same exposure time period. Our results show that green tea did not decrease iron absorption in rats but it did have a marked effect on the saliva proteome when given orally.