The colonization factor antigen I (CFA/I) gene has been isolated and sequenced. The amino acid sequence of CFA/I deduced from the nucleotide sequence is composed of 170 amino acids. The first 23 amino acids are considered to be the signal peptide of the CFA/I protein since they are not present in the protein sequence. Among the remaining amino acids, only two are different from the protein sequence: amino acid position 76 is an aspartic acid instead of an asparagine, and position 97 is a serine instead of an alanine. The CFA/I gene has a typical Shine-Dalgarno sequence located 10 base pairs (bp) upstream from the initiation codon. The sequence TACAAT located 48 bp upstream from the initiation codon was tentatively designated the -10 sequence of the CFA/I gene promoter. No sequences homologous to the consensus -35 promoter sequence was found. A pair of inverted repeat sequences followed by a stretch of eight A's are located 45 bp downstream from the termination codon of the CFA/I gene; this region may be a rho-independent transcriptional terminator.


Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)/poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) were synthesized by radical polymerization of methyl methacrylate in the presence of PEO. Thermal properties were investigated using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), dielectric analysis (DEA) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The DEA was employed to ascertain the glass transition temperature (Tg) and melting temperature (Tm) of IPN. Tm for the IPNs was observed at 206 'C. The IPNs exhibited two Tgs, indicating the presence of phase separation in the IPN at -46.8 and 78.2 'C. The thermal decomposition of the IPNs occurred near 250 'C. The IPNs exhibited a higher weight retention at elevated temperature than the cross-linked homopolymer.


In new order era, the role of government was dominant, it was also as key in technology introduction process. Adoption of innovation process of technology product in development was more depended on NGOs or society initative. How is the effect of that changing toward development communication model ? This research tries to explore the influence of changing politic and agent innovation diffusion process toward the acceptance of a new technology. This research will also explore how the promotion agent changing in innovation diffusion in influences form or communication model in technology introduction process. Based on research, it is found that politic context and promotion agent changing in innovation diffusion influences appropriate technology acceptance process in woman entrepreneurs in Kasongan Village. In the previous era, government had much role as a promotion agent. But now in reform era, the role as a promotion agent are handled by artists, volunteer, NGOs, Universities (Lectures and student), individual and groups of society. They use communication channel wich the opener. Communication mode which is placed society as a source of innovation diffusion caused the acceptance level innovation product is high among woman entrepreneurs in Kasongan. Generally, woman entrepreneurs who are as research sources accept innovations around themselves. There are many kind of innovation which are used. At a pre production stage ( include design for earthenware vessels form, function, coloring and ornament), innovation of a production stage (incude : The use of tool/terchnology which is more sophisticated in making and burning erathware vessel and innovation at a after production (a new strategy development in marketing such as join an exhibition, making, brochure, advertisement in mass media and also internet). Keywords : diffution innovation


The Investigations of Twist Grain Boundary (TGB) phases in liquid crystals exhibits in different types of structural groups. In this study, these new findings present in the binary mixture of highly chiral liquid crystal, Cholesteric Nonanoate (CN) and nematic liquid crystal, N-(4-Ethoxy benzylidine)-4butyle aniline (EBBA). The Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) has shown the thermodynamic phase transition of binary mixture at different scanning rate. At the other hand Optical studies of Twist grain boundary phases has also shown different type of textures. The domain of existence of TGB has exhibited with the weight percentage of EBBA is increased in highly chiral liquid crystals. This is very excited fact that the temperature range of type of TGB (TGBA*) phase is different at the different scanning rate. In the optical investigation we found new phases in cooling cycle as compare to the heating cycle.


Iran has been a major player in oil and gas exploration and production since the early twentieth century. However, for nearly 40 years, little information on petroleum-related activities in Iran has been published in the United States or, to a large extent, globally. Political turmoil has isolated Iran since the late 1970s, but recent events have changed the situation and many of the internationally imposed sanctions have been lifted. Some international companies have started to engage Iran to partner in development and exploration activities.


The most common form of psycho-social dysfunction is anxiety with depression being related closely without any age bar. They are present with combined state of sadness, confusion, stress, fear etc. Glyoxalase system contains enzyme named glyoxalase 1 (GLO1).It is a metabolic pathway which detoxifies alpha-oxo-aldehydes, particularly methylglyoxal (MG). Methylglyoxal is mainly made by the breakdown of the glycolytic intermediates, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphates and dihydroxyacetone phosphate. Glyoxylase-1 expression is also related with anxiety behavior. A casual role or GLO-1 in anxiety behavior by using viral vectors for over expression in the anterior cingulate cortex was found and it was found that local GLO-1 over expression increased anxiety behavior. The present study deals with the molecular mechanism of protective activity of eugenol against anxiolytic disorder. A pre-clinical animal study was performed on 42 BALB/c mice. Animals were given stress through conventional restrain model. The mRNA expression of GLO-1 was analyzed by real time RT-PCR. Moreover, the GLO-1 protein expression was also examined by immunohistochemistry in whole brain and mean density was calculated. The mRNA and protein expressions were found to be increased in animals given anxiety as compared to the normal control. Whereas, the expressions were decreased in the animals treated with eugenol and its liposome-based nanocarriers in a dose dependent manner. However, the results were better in animals treated with nanocarriers as compared to the compound alone. It is concluded that the eugenol and its liposome-based nanocarriers exert anxiolytic activity by down-regulating GLO-1 protein expression in mice.


Abstract The basement of the North China Craton can be divided into the Archaean Eastern and Western Blocks, separated by major Palaeoproterozoic terrane boundaries that roughly correspond with the limits of a 100–300 km wide zone, named the Trans-North China Orogen. Some mafic granulites from the orogen and adjoining areas in the Eastern and Western Blocks preserve textural evidence for two granulite facies events involving contrasting P-T paths. The first event is characterized by three distinct mineral assemblages, M1a to M1c. M1a is represented by fine-grained orthopyroxene + clinopyroxene + plagioclase ± quartz, which is surrounded by the M1b garnet + quartz symplectite, which itself is mantled by the M1c plagioclase + biotite symplectite. These assemblages and their P-T estimates define an anticlockwise P-T path, with peak metamorphism of 7.0–8.0 kbar and 800–850°C (M1a) followed by isobaric cooling to 700–750°C (M1b) and pressure-decreasing cooling to 630–700°C (M1c). The second event also includes three mineral assemblages, M2a to M2c. M2a represents growths of garnet porphyroblasts and matrix orthopyroxene + plagioclase + clinopyroxene + quartz; M2b consists of orthopyroxene + plagioclase ± clinopyroxene symplectites or coronas; and M2c is represented by plagioclase + hornblende symplectites. These assemblages and their P-T estimates define a clockwise P-T path, with peak metamorphism of 9.2–9.8 kbar and 820–850°C (M2a), followed by near-isothermal decompression (M2b) of 7.0–7.6 kbar and 760–810°C and cooling (M2c) to 690–760°C. The isobaric cooling, anticlockwise, P-T path of the first granulite facies event is similar to the P-T paths inferred for the c.2.5 Ga metamorphosed mafic granulites from the Eastern and Western Blocks, whereas the near-isothermal decompression, clockwise, P-T path of the second granulite facies event is similar to the P-T paths inferred for the c. 1.8 Ga metamorphosed khondalite series in the Western Block and some mafic granulites in the Trans-North China Orogen. These relations suggest that the polymetamorphic granulites were derived from the reworking of the 2.5 Ga metamorphosed granulites during the 1.8 Ga collision between the Eastern and Western Blocks that resulted in the final amalgamation of the North China Craton.


Abstract Typically, personality disordered offenders have long histories of unsuccessful and iatrogenic interventions. Understanding what has gone wrong and the nature of the harm caused by these interventions is critical to developing effective interventions for this population and to the task of theory building. In this paper a range of iatrogenic intervention processes are identified from the literature and a model accounting for adverse outcomes in terms of derailment of dissonance resolution reinforced by avoiding negative affect associated with dissonance is outlined. Strategies for practitioners and researchers to use information about adverse outcomes are suggested.


It has become clear that teamwork among midwives obstetricians and pediatricians can improve the well-being of mothers and their newborns. When the pregnant woman and her husband appreciate and understand that collective care is available they can face the months of pregnancy and the outcome of labor with confidence and without fear. The midwife needs to cooperate completely in antenatal care and can assist in allaying the expressed and unexpressed fears of the woman her husband and the rest of the family. The midwife in cooperation with an obstetrician is the ideal person to prepare the woman intellectually and emotionally for childbirth. Teamwork is productive and saves both time and money. Midwives and doctors need to cooperate in educating the public that better care in pregnancy delivery and puerperium diminishes the death rate of mothers and infants. Teamwork and cooperation begin with reciprocal respect for the skills of other team members. The midwife serves as an important communications link between the pregnant woman and the obstetrician as well as between the pregnant woman and the social and community services. The patterns of training varies greatly in midwifery and nurse instruction because of a lack of facilities in many countries but a worldwife foundation of maternity care -- frequently illiterate and untrained -- exists upon which a better standard of midwifery may be built. The development of good interprofessional relationships on an international level is demonstrated by describing the formation and activities of the Joint Study Group on the Training and Practice of Midwives and Maternity Nurses. The project objective is to continue to improve the quality of life for mothers and children by including family planning instruction among the services provided by all midwives.


Context-aware applications are emerging applications in the modern era of computing. These applications can determine and adapt to situational context to provide better user experience. Testing these applications is not straightforward and poses several challenges such as developing context-aware test cases and generating test data etc. However, by employing model based testing technique, testing process for context-aware applications can be automated. To achieve maximum degree of automation, it is necessary to automate model transformation, test data generation and test cases execution. To execute test cases, test data is required and developing test data for context-aware applications is a challenging task. The aim of this study is to address this issue; thus, we propose automated test data generation for functional testing of context-aware applications. This automated test data generation can reduce testing time and cost, thus enabling test engineers to execute more testing cycles to attain higher degree of test coverage.


Covariance intersection (CI) is a method used for consistent track fusion with unknown correlations. The well-known generalization of CI to probability density functions is known as Chernoff fusion. In this paper, we propose an approximate approach for the Chernoff fusion of Gaussian mixtures based on a sigma-point approximation of the underlying densities. The resulting general density fusion rule yields a closed form cost function and an analytical fused density for Gaussian mixtures. The proposed method is applied to a simple but illustrative density fusion problem and compared to exact numerical Chernoff fusion.


Abstract A reverse correlation technique, which permits estimation of three-dimensional first-order properties of receptive fields (RFs), was applied to simple cells in areas 17 and 18 of cat. Two classes of simple cells were found. For one class, the spatial and temporal RF characteristics were Separable, i.e. they could be synthesized as the product of spatial and temporal weighting functions. RFs in the other class were Inseparable, i.e. bright and dark subregions comprising each field were obliquely oriented in space-time. Based on a linear superposition model, these observations led to testable hypotheses: (1) simple cells with separable space-time characteristics should be speed but not direction selective and (2) simple cells with inseparable space-time characteristics should be direction selective and the optimal velocity of moving stimuli should be predictable from the slope of the oriented subregions. These hypotheses were tested by comparing responses to moving bars with those predicted by application of the convolution integral. Linear predictions accounted for waveforms of responses to moving bars in detail. For cells with oriented space-time characteristics, the preferred direction was always predicted correctly and the optimal speed was predicted quite well. Most cells with separable space-time characteristics were not direction selective as predicted. The major discrepancies between measured and predicted behavior were twofold. First, 8/32 cells with separable space-time RFs were direction selective. Second, predicted directional indices were weakly correlated with actual measurements. These conclusions hold for simple cells in both areas 17 and 18. The major difference between simple RFs in these areas is the coarser spatial scale seen in area 18. These results demonstrate a significant linear contribution to the speed and direction selectivity of simple cells in areas 17 and 18. Where additional, nonlinear mechanisms are inferred, they appear to act synergistically with the linear mechanism.


A review is provided of the national surveys of parents and guardians on the dental status and associated difficulties of their children. Although fewer in number, complaints of acute dental problems in children continue to be made.


The article gives a description of the risks faced by business entities in the process of investing in the innovative development of agro-industrial sectors, and studied the actual problems of their management.

The purpose of the research is to determine the possibilities for improving the risk management system in the investment process of innovative business in the agro-industrial sectors and to substantiate the directions for their implementation.

The methodology of the research – in the process of research, methods of observation, comparative analysis, scientific abstraction and logical generalization were used.

The practical importance of the research is that the substantiated provisions and the results obtained can be used in risk management in the development and implementation of investment projects for the development of innovative business in the agro-industrial sectors.

The results of the research – the environment of risk management in the investment process of innovative business in the agro-industrial sector was characterized, directions for improving management were identified.

The originality and scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that the possibilities for improving the risk management system that arise in the investment process of the innovative agro-industrial business have been identified, and the means and directions for their implementation have been substantiated.


With the growing use of Crumb Rubber Modifier (CRM) as an asphalt modifier there is increased interest in performacne-based testing versus current testing. Progress has been made in the past several years using the Standard Specification for Performance Graded Asphalt Binder (ASTM D 6373 and AASHTO M 320) with modifications. The Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) used for high temperature grading specifies a 1 mm gap. When particulate CRM is present, the testing plates' narrow gap causes particle on particle interference in the results. There is an initiative by an AASHTO committee recommending a 2 mm gap for CRM modified binders containing particles 600 microns and smaller. The Pacific Coast Conference on Asphalt Specifications (PCCAS) Round Robin Committee has initated a feasibility study of full Performance Grading (PG) using one CRM modified binder. This paper addresses the Phase One efforts to test CRM binders with particle sizes of 0.6 to 1.4 mm (30 - 14 mesh) using existing specifications and a 3 mm gap for both DSR high and intermediate temperatures. Using ASTM standards for performing inter-laboratory studies has resulted in the data showing strong agreement of variance in inter- and intra-laboratory data and indicates feasibility of the test method.


It is well established in the case of a small country that the optimal tool for a given target is the one which is directly aimed at the target. For instance, production subsidy is the best policy for protecting a domestic industry. The theory must be, however, modified substantially from the viewpoint of an open economy with enough market power to affect its terms of trade. In this paper we reconsider the theory of optimal policies for given targets within the framework of a standard two-country general equilibrium model of international trade.


The CRISPR/Cas9 system has revolutionized genome editing by providing unprecedented DNA-targeting specificity. Here we demonstrate that this system can be applied to facilitate efficient plasmid selection for transformation as well as selective gene insertion into plasmid vectors by cleaving unwanted plasmid byproducts after restriction enzyme digestion and ligation. Using fluorescent and chromogenic proteins as reporters, we demonstrate that CRISPR/Cas9 cleavage excludes unwanted ligation byproducts and increases transformation efficiency of desired inserts from 20% up to 97% ± 3%. This CRISPR/Cas9-Assisted Transformation-Efficient Reaction (CRATER) protocol is a novel, inexpensive, and convenient method for obtaining specific cloning products.


Transcription factors C/EBPβ and C/EBPδ are induced within hours after initiation of adipogenesis in culture. They directly promote the expression of master adipogenic transcription factors peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and C/EBPα and are required for adipogenesis in vivo. However, the mechanism that controls the induction of C/EBPβ and C/EBPδ remains elusive. We previously showed that histone methyltransferases MLL3/MLL4 and associated PTIP are required for the induction of PPARγ and C/EBPα during adipogenesis. ABSTRACT Transcription factors C/EBPβ and C/EBPδ are induced within hours after initiation of adipogenesis in culture. They directly promote the expression of master adipogenic transcription factors peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPARγ) and C/EBPα and are required for adipogenesis in vivo. However, the mechanism that controls the induction of C/EBPβ and C/EBPδ remains elusive. We previously showed that histone methyltransferases MLL3/MLL4 and associated PTIP are required for the induction of PPARγ and C/EBPα during adipogenesis. Here, we show MLL3/MLL4/PTIP-associated protein PAGR1 (also known as PA1) cooperates with phosphorylated CREB and ligand-activated glucocorticoid receptor to directly control the induction of C/EBPβ and C/EBPδ in the early phase of adipogenesis. Deletion of Pagr1 in white and brown preadipocytes prevents the induction of C/EBPβ and C/EBPδ and leads to severe defects in adipogenesis. Adipogenesis defects in PAGR1-deficient cells can be rescued by the ectopic expression of C/EBPβ or PPARγ. Finally, the deletion of Pagr1 in Myf5+ precursor cells impairs brown adipose tissue and muscle development. Thus, by controlling the induction of C/EBPβ and C/EBPδ, PAGR1 plays a critical role in adipogenesis.


This paper proposes to extend the band width of narrow band telephone speech signal by employing feed forward back propagation neural network. There are different types of faster training algorithm are available in the literature like Variable Learning Rate, Resilient Back propagation, Polak-Ribiére Conjugate Gradient , Conjugate Gradient with Powell/Beale Restarts , BFGS Quasi-Newton , One-Step Secant , FletcherPowell Conjugate Gradient Algorithms, Scaled Conjugate Gradient and Liebenberg-Marquardt. These algorithms are used to train the BPN networks using Neural network tool box. The correlation between the inputs of the neural network and the input-output correlation were calculated. The components were employed to reconstruct the speech signal and the results are analyzed. General Terms Artificial band width expansion, Signal processing, Neural networks , Training algorithm .


INTRODUCTION: In our society, it is observed an increasing number of models, colors, styles, heights and types of high heels. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether the use of high heel shoes results in postural changes, based on a set of variables measured through computerized photogrammetry. METHODS: Twenty individuals who often used high heels (group 1) and 20 individuals who only used high heels sporadically (group 2) were photographed in the frontal and sagittal planes at three conditions: a) without using footwear; b) using stiletto heels; and c) using high platform heels. These photographs were randomized and analyzed by a blinded examiner, by means of photogrammetry. Statistical analysis was performed, using a 2x3 factorial analysis of variance to compare the frequency of high heel use with the type of shoe, at the 5% significance level. RESULTS: Only the head protrusion angle showed a difference between groups 1 and 2 (p<0.01). The effect of the type of shoe observed in the alignment of the right knee, which only showed a difference between stiletto heels and barefoot (p=0.03). For the tibiotarsal angle variable, the effect was also observed for all types of footwear. The other angles evaluated did not present any differences regarding the frequency of high heel use and the types of shoe. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency and type of high heel practically did not change the static posture evaluated by photogrammetry.


Corticosteroid therapy is probably the main factor inducing stunted growth in pediatric renal transplant recipients. Results of a randomized study in 35 children who received their kidney between 1981 and 1984 are reported. All patients had normal renal function and were taking azathioprine and prednisone to ensure immunosuppression. Eighteen months after transplantation, patients with normal renal biopsy results were randomized to receive further daily corticosteroid therapy (group A) for an additional year or to alternate-day corticosteroid therapy (group B). Chronologic age, bone age, renal function, and previous growth retardation were strictly comparable, in the two groups. During the first year, only prepubertal children in group B exhibited catch-up growth. In children undergoing puberty, annual statural gain was greater in group B (5.6 cm versus 3.2 cm in group A: p less than 0.001). Group A children were switched to alternate-day corticosteroid therapy one year after initiation of the study and exhibited improved growth after this change. No patient had renal function deterioration under alternate-day corticosteroid therapy, throughout the study period. Alternate-day prednisone should be offered to pediatric renal transplant recipients with satisfactory renal function as a mean for protecting growth potential.


Abstract Even though some organizations are trying to attract high-level applicants through offering superior compensation and benefits, reward statements in job advertisements are sometimes rather general and vague. On the basis of person-environment fit theories, we examine whether providing more specific information on attractive reward packages in job advertisements leads to higher perceived person-reward fit and subsequent job pursuit intentions. Furthermore, based on signaling theory, we propose that person-reward fit allows job seekers to make inferences about broader person-organization fit. Applying an online experimental design among 283 experienced potential applicants, we find that more specific compensation and benefits information results in higher job pursuit intentions and that this relationship is fully mediated by person-reward fit perceptions. In turn, the effect of person-reward fit is partially mediated by perceptions of person-organization fit, indicating that people might use reward information as signals for other organizational attributes in early stages of recruitment.


The present study attempted to determine the impact of alternative verdict choices on the decisions of mock jurors. Subjects used in this study as mock jurors were all college undergraduates. They were shown one of two versions of a videotaped simulated murder trial. Both films presented a defendant who appeared to be suffering emotional difficulties, but in one film the defendant had clearly committed the act while in the other film the defendant's actions were less certain. Subjects than gave their individual verdicts and, after deliberation with other subjects, a total jury verdict. The verdicts available to the subjects varied across three conditions such that the subjects in one condition were only allowed to find the defendant to be innocent or guilty. In another condition the subjects could find the defendant innocent, guilty or not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI). In the third condition the subjects were allowed to choose between innocent, guilty, NGRI, and guilty but mentally ill (GBMI). The results indicated that the addition of the "mental health" verdicts had a significant impact on the decisions of the jurors. In particular, it appears that only defendants who would otherwise have been found innocent were likely to be found NGRI. This study also indicated that the GBMI verdict is very attractive to mock jurors. Indeed, even innocent defendants were found to be GBMI, a form of guilt, when this alternative was made available. These findings raise potentially important constitutional and practical issues for the trial of emotionally disturbed criminal defendants.


The purpose of this research was to determine the mathematics that occurs in the materials of instruction in certain prescribed junior high school and certain prescribed introductory college courses in the social studies and in certain elective courses in elementary economics, to determine the connections between the mathematics and the social studies materials, and to determine the extent to which the prescribed courses in mathematics prepare for an understanding of the mathematics that occurs in the social studies.


Background: The increase demand of crops has increased the use of chemicals in cultivation especially organophosphorus compounds. These chemicals have increased the incidence of poisoning among the persons who are handling these compounds. These incidences are usually accidental, suicidal or homicidal. Objective of study: To study the ECG changes in Organophosphorus poisoning Material &Method: It was a retrospective observational type of study. It was conducted in the department of casualty Liaquat university hospital Hyderabad. The study was conducted from September 2019 to December 2019. One hundred patients participated in this study. They were divided in two groups. In both control group and test group 50 patients were included Result: In the exposed group there were 14(28%) patients suffering from tachycardia, 7(14%) from bradycardia, 2(4%) from QT prolongation, 2(4%) from ST elevation, 2(4%) from extra systole, 2(4%) from T wave inversion, 4(4%) heart block, 3(6%) from MI, 14(28%) did not show any ECG changes. In the non-exposed group there were no ECG changes or cardiac effects were seen. The P value was 0.000. Conclusion: It was concluded that Organophosphorus compounds increase the risk of myocardial damage which is reflected by ECG changes.


A left (resp. right) principal singular subspace of dimension p is the subspace spanned by the p left (resp. right) singular vectors corresponding to the p largest singular values of the cross-correlation matrix of two stochastic processes. We study the global dynamics of a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) that govern the unsupervised Hebbian learning of left and right principal singular subspaces from samples of the two stochastic processes. In particular, we show that these equations admit a simple Lyapunov function when they are restricted to a well defined smooth, compact manifold, and that they are related to a matrix Riccati differential equation. Moreover, we show that in the case p=1, the solutions of these ODEs can be given in closed form.


The silencing mediator for retinoid and thyroid hormone receptors (SMRT) serves as a platform for transcriptional repression elicited by several steroid/nuclear receptors and transcription factors. SMRT exists in two major splicing isoforms, α and τ, with SMRTα containing only an extra 46-amino acid sequence inserted immediately downstream from the C-terminal corepressor motif. Little is known about potential functional differences between these two isoforms. Here we show that the pregnane X receptor (PXR) interacts more strongly with SMRTα than with SMRTτ both in vitro and in vivo. It is interesting that the PXR-SMRTα interaction is also resistant to PXR ligand-induced dissociation, in contrast to the PXR-SMRTτ interaction. SMRTα consistently inhibits PXR activity more efficiently than does SMRTτ in transfection assays, although they possess comparable intrinsic repression activity and association with histone deacetylase. We further show that the mechanism for the enhanced PXR-SMRTα interaction involves both the 46-amino acid insert and the C-terminal corepressor motif. In particular, the first five amino acids of the SMRTα insert are essential and sufficient for the enhanced binding of SMRTα to PXR. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Tyr2354 and Asp2355 residues of the SMRTα insert are most critical for the enhanced interaction. In addition, expression data show that SMRTα is more abundantly expressed in most human tissues and cancer cell lines, and together these data suggest that SMRTα may play a more important role than SMRTτ in the negative regulation of PXR.


Assessment is a fundamental part in language teaching/learning process. It is a guiding factor that provides insight to teachers and learners about the best way to proceed. Hence, the literature about language assessment is rich. It includes different forms and techniques of language assessment. In this paper, however, the focus is mainly on alternative assessment. The latter is different both in form and nature from traditional assessment. Researchers confirm that if applied properly, alternative assessment can reflect students' progress and motivate them to keep up the hard work. Hence, this paper aims to study the attitude of language teachers toward alternative assessment and the main obstacles that may hinder its application in the Moroccan classroom. This research is quantitative, it uses questionnaire as the main data collection tool. The findings indicate that teachers hold a positive attitude toward alternative assessment but they fail to apply it in their classroom due to different obstacles.


Purpose. To examine the relationship between the presence of smokers in the workplace and smokers in the home and current smoking status among employed men and women. Design. Analysis of data from the second wave of the nationally representative Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (2004–2006). Subjects. Sample of 627 currently employed men and women, aged 34 to 82 (M = 51), who had been regular cigarette smokers at some time. Measures. Survey items indexing presence of smokers in the respondents' immediate work area and home and their current smoking status. Analysis. Multiple logistic regression analyses, controlling for age, gender, education, race, and job type. Results. Examined together, smokers in the workplace (OR = 2.83) and smokers in the home (OR = 6.09) were uniquely associated with current smoking status. Moreover, smokers in the home reduced the association between smokers in the workplace and current smoking. The presence of smokers in the workplace was associated with a more than fourfold increase in current smoking among respondents with no smokers in the home, but was unrelated to current smoking among respondents with smokers in the home. Conclusions. Failure to consider the presence of smokers in the home significantly limits the potential impact of workplace smoking interventions.


OBJECTIVES To develop a simulation model to predict the effects of youth access policies on retail compliance, smoking rates, and smoking attributable deaths. METHODS A model of youth access policies is developed based on empirical research and a theory of perceived risk. The model incorporates substitution into other sources as retail sales are restricted, and is used to project the number of smokers and smoking related deaths. Various policies to limit youth access to cigarettes are evaluated, and we explore how efficient policies may be developed. RESULTS The model predicts that a well designed and comprehensive policy that includes sufficient compliance checks, penalties, and community involvement has the potential to reduce the number of young smokers. Because smoking related deaths occur later in life, the effects on health are largely delayed. CONCLUSIONS A well designed youth access policy has the ability to affect youth smoking rates in the short term, and will lead to savings in lives in future years. The ability of retail oriented policies to reduce youth smoking, however, is limited. Other tobacco control policies, including those directed at non-retail sources of cigarettes, are also needed.


Triple differential cross sections (TDCSs )f or (e, 2e) processes on the valence electrons of H-, Li-, Na- and K-like positive ions are calculated for asymmetric coplanar geometries and intermediate incident energies. Although the proper boundary conditions are not respected,bot ht he long-range Coulomb interaction in the initial and final channels, and the short-range effects, are taken into account in the Coulomb Born approximation through the use of two effective charges. The latter are obtained within the framework of the frozen-core Hartree–Fock approximation which is also used for describing the bound state wavefunctions. An approximate scaling law for the TDCSs is predicted for the ionization of sequences of isoelectronic ions, provided the incident and ejected energies are properly scaled. The calculations illustrate that the scaling is generally well verified, in particular for increasing ionicity within a sequence. Moreover, as one moves from the H- to K-like sequences, more TDCS structure is observed. Two main peaks are always situated close to the direction of th em omentum transfer and opposite direction, although with strong shifts. Contrary to what is observed for the ionization of outer-shells electrons in neutral atoms, the dominant peak of all cross sections is in the opposite direction to the momentum transfer, a signature of strong elastic scattering from the nucleus.


The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) promotes cancer invasion and metastasis, however, the integrative mechanisms that coordinate the process are incompletely understood. In this study, we defined a pivotal functional role for the Forkhead transcription factor FOXQ1 in regulating EMT in bladder cancer. We initially investigated the expression of FOXQ1, TGF-β1 and EMT biomarkers E-cadherin, Vimentin in 65 cases of bladder transitional cell carcinoma (BTCC) specimens by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry. Search results indicated that FOXQ1 expression was inversely correlated to E-cadherin, but positively to TGF-β1 and Vimentin in patients with BTCC (P<0.05). Furthermore, we aimed to construct short hairpin RNA (shRNA) expression plasmids against the FOXQ1 gene and transfect shRNAs into high metastatic potential human bladder cancer T24 cells with Lipofectamine 2000. RNAi-mediated suppression of FOXQ1 expression reversed the EMT process accompanied by upregulation of E-cadherin, as well as a loss expression of Vimentin in highly invasive T24 cells (P<0.05). The inhibition of FOXQ1 expression with shRNA vector also led T24 cells to acquire an epithelial cobblestone phenotype, significantly reduced motility and subsequent invasiveness of bladder cancer cells (P<0.05). In conclusion that FOXQ1 may be a novel EMT-inducing transcription factor through controlling the expression of E-cadherin and aggressiveness of cancer cells and targeting the transcription factor FOXQ1 could hence serve as a novel therapeutic strategy for cancer patients.


The low-dimensional II-VI group semiconductors have recently emerged as interesting candidate materials for the tailoring of two dimensional (2D) layered structures. Herein, a series of the cage-like nanoporous composed of spheroidal hollow cages (ZnO)12, cutting from the high symmetrical cubic SOD cage-like polymorph as building block, is proposed. We have performed the density-functional tight binding (DFTB+) calculations on the structural, electronic and mechanical properties of this few-layer SOD-cage-block nanosheet series, to investigate the effects of structural modification and sheet thickness on their structural, electronic, and mechanical properties. Optimized geometries, formation energy, phonon spectra, electronic band structure, and elastic tensor calculation has ensured the energetically, dynamical and mechanical stability for the sheets. Furthermore, the theoretically found nanosheet series possess an intrinsic wide direct band gap preserving from wurtzite tetragonal-based bonding. This high symmetry wide bandgap semiconductor nanosheet series and their derivatives are expected to have broad applications in photocatalysis, and biomedicine.


Recently, the applications of unmanned robots are increasing in various fields including surveillance and reconnaissance, planet exploration and disaster relief. To perform their missions with success, the robots should be able to evaluate terrain's characteristics quantitatively and identify traversable regions to progress toward a goal using mounted sensors. Recently, the authors have proposed techniques that extract terrain information and analyze traversability for off-road navigation of an unmanned robot. In this paper, we examine the use of 3D world models(terrain maps) to classify obstacle and safe terrain for increasing the reliability of the proposed techniques. A world model is divided into several patches and each patch is classified as belonging either to an obstacle or a non-obstacle using three types of metrics. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified on real terrain maps.


In telecommunication, the Bit Error Rate (BER) is an indication of how often data has to be retransmitted because of an error. The different modulation techniques scheme is suggested for improvement of BER in fiber optic communications. The developed scheme has been tested on optical fiber systems operating with a non-return-to-zero (NRZ) format at transmission rates of up to 10Gbps. Performance of improved detected signals has been evaluated by the analysis of quality factor and computed BER. Numerical simulations have shown a noticeable improvement of the system BER after implementation of the suggested processing operation on the detected electrical signals at central wavelengths in the region of 1310 nm.


We describe the optical design of a calibration unit for the off-axis laser guide stars at the Large Binocular Telescope's ARGOS facility. Artificial stars with the desired wavefront are created using a computer generated hologram.


The study, carriedoutintheFrench MANIF2000 cohortofHIVpositive patients contaminated through injecting drug use, assessed the impact of patients' sociodemographic and psychological characteristics, behaviors toward drug abuse, and antiretroviral treatment characteristics on the maintenance of adherence to HAART (highly active antiretroviral therapies). A total of 96 patients (30 men and 66 women), who were initially adherent at their first visit after HAART prescription, were considered for analysis. Among these 96 patients, 22 (22.9%) experienced adherence failure defined as a self-reported, non-adherence behavior at any visit before the 18th month of treatment. Logistic regression showed that lack of a stable relationship, active drug injection, and depression were independently associated with adherence failure. Patients' counseling for facilitating maintenance of adherence to HAART over time should focusonpreventionofdrug use, provisionofsocial support and consider the potential impact of difficulties with treatment on psychological well-being.


The N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) hypofunction hypothesis has been proposed to help understand the etiology and pathophysiology of schizophrenia. This hypothesis was based on early observations that NMDAR antagonists could induce a full range of symptoms of schizophrenia in normal human subjects. Accumulating evidence in humans and animal studies points to NMDAR hypofunctionality as a convergence point for various symptoms of schizophrenia. Here we review animal models of NMDAR hypofunction generated by pharmacological and genetic approaches, and how they relate to the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. In addition, we discuss the limitations of animal models of NMDAR hypofunction and their potential utility for therapeutic applications.


As cloud becomes a cost effective computing platform, improving its utilization becomes a critical issue. Determining an incoming application's sensitivity toward various resources is one of the major challenges to obtain higher utilization. To this end, previous research attempts to characterize an incoming application's sensitivity toward interference on various resources (Source of Interference or SoI, for short) of a cloud system. Due to time constraints, the application's sensitivity is profiled in detail for only a small number of SoI, and the sensitivities for the remaining SoI are approximated by capitalizing on knowledge about some of the applications (i.e. training set) currently running in the system. A key drawback of previous approaches is that they have attempted to minimize the total error of the estimated sensitivities, however, various SoI do not behave the same as each other. For example, a 10% error in the estimate of SoI A may dramatically effect the QoS of an application whereas a 10% error in the estimate of SoI B may have a marginal effect. In this paper, we present a new method for workload characterization and scheduling that considers these important issues. First, we compute an acceptable error for each SoI based on its effect on QoS, and our goal is to characterize an application so as to maximize the number of SoI that satisfy this acceptable error. Then we present a new technique for workload characterization and scheduling based on Locality Sensitive Hashing (LSH). Given a set of n points in a d-dimensional Euclidean space, LSH is a hashing technique such that points nearby are hashed to the same "bucket" and points that are far apart are hashed to different buckets. This data structure allows approximate nearest neighbor queries to be executed with nearly asymptotically optimal running time. This allows us to perform workload profiling quickly with high accuracy and scheduling in heterogeneous data centers with high quality of service (QoS) and utilization.


The skin of newborns differs from adult skin in many aspects. It is in the developing age which makes it difficult to fulfill it's correct function. There are diseases which appear in the first month of the infants life and require treatment. Mild local therapy may be administered or extensive moisturization of skin changes. Common mild and easy passing skin syndromes are: vernix caseosa, cutis marmarotta, hyperplasia sebacea, milia, acne neonatorum, erythema toxicum neonatorum, transient neonatal pustular melanosis, and neonatal dermalia pustulosis.


Interdigital sinus secretions play a role in sexual behavior and reproductive process of sheep. In the present study, it was aimed to characterize the topographical, anatomical and immunohistological features of interdigital sinus in Kivircik sheep. The interdigital sinuses were dissected from 50 forefeet of female Kivircik sheep which were slaughtered in the slaughterhouse. The shape of sinus resembled a pipe and was located between the proximal and distal interphalangeal joints of two digits. The wall of interdigital sinus had three layers as epidermis, dermis and fibrous capsule. Epidermis consisted of a stratified squamous keratinized epithelium. Sebaceous glands, hair follicles, arrector pili muscles, and apocrine sweat glands were in the dermis. Furthermore, there were vessels and adipose tissue in the fibrous capsule. There was immunohistochemical reaction for estrogen receptor expressed in epidermis, apocrin sweat glands and sebaceous glands of interdigital sinus. In conclusion, our results about the topographical, anatomical and immunohistological features of interdigital sinus are very important to understand sexual behavior and reproductive process of sheep, and to make a new approach for its surgery. Furthermore, this study is the first to report the interdigital sinus of Kivircik sheep immunohistochemically.


Tuberculosis therapy remains a challenge even today, mainly due to the problems of bacterial resistance, side effects and low patient compliance, associated with anti-tubercular drugs. A bioenhancer is an agent capable of enhancing bioavailability and bioefficacy of a particular drug with which it is combined, without any typical pharmacological activity of its own at the dose used. Microspheres are one of the multiparticulate drug delivery systems prepared to obtain prolonged drug delivery, to improve its bioavailability or stability and to target drug to specific sites. Rifampicin is an important component of fixed dose combination used in first line therapy of tuberculosis. In the present study, we attempted an innovative approach to overcome the above-mentioned problems of tuberculosis therapy by combining both these approaches of microspheres and bioenhancers. Small amount of herbal extract of Piper nigrum were incorporated as a bioenhancer in variable amount for each dose of rifampicin. The drug loading efficiency and in-vitro release behavior of loaded microspheres were found to be satisfactory. Prolonged release of the drug from the microspheres was demonstrated in a simulated intestinal fluid. In-vitro release of rifampicin from the microspheres containing variable fractions of bioenhancer showed significant increase in release profile i.e. 80.24 and 86.16percent in formulation containing bioenhancer against 44.54percent for the formulation without bioenhancer prepared by complex coacervation method.  Keywords: Tuberculosis, Microspheres, Drug release, Bioenhancer, Rifampicin, Piper nigrum


The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of 129 national nurses associations. The International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) is a programme of the ICN. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and maintenance processes of the ICNP Programme that are used to increase participation. These include processes by which the ICNP was and continues to be developed, tested, distributed and implemented worldwide, with emphasis on the current version, ICNP Version 1.0. The ICNP is a unified nursing language that facilitates cross-mapping among local terms and existing terminologies. ICNP conforms to current terminology standards and criteria, for example, ISO standards and HL7. The ICNP Alpha and Beta Versions documented the progress of concept validation and classification of nursing phenomena and interventions. The ICNP Beta 2 Version was a combinatorial terminology organized in two multi-axial structures representing nursing phenomena and nursing actions. The ICNP Version 1.0, launched in 2005, changed the relatively straight-forward multi-axial structure into a compositional terminology through the application of description logics using Web Ontology Language (OWL) within Protégé, an ontology development environment. ICNP Version 1.0 is also represented in a multiaxial model (7-Axis) for nurses to compose nursing diagnosis, intervention and outcome statements. Language translations and clinical information systems applications are required to make the ICNP Version 1.0 available to nurses at the point of healthcare delivery. ICNP data collected in healthcare environments provide standardized terminology for nursing that allows comparison of nursing practice across health care settings, specialties and countries; facilitate data-based clinical and management decision making; and contribute to the development of guidelines and standards for best practices and optimal outcomes for patients, families and communities.


The objective of this research was to study the export competitiveness of Indonesian natural rubber agroindustry commodity, namely SIR 20 by analyzing and identifying factors which influence the market. The study consists of econometric and system dynamic model. This model also helps to forecast export competitiveness in the future The results of econometric modeling indicated that the significant factors were technology advancement, degree of trade liberalization, wage rate, exchange rate, and percapita incomes of importing countries. Verification was done using face validity method that indicated the relationship between identified factors appropriety with estimated economic logic. The result of forecasts indicated that the export competitiveness would continue to grow for the next 10 years. Export competitiveness rate would remain increasing if there were improvements of the factors.


Over the years, companies have been using derivatives to hedge their position, financially as business entities. Derivatives do play an increasingly important role over the years as effective tool or mechanism in managing the potential risks of interest rates, currency exchange rates and equally important, equity markets. The main purpose of this particular study is to examine the level of exposure on Derivatives industry among students. This paper also on the other side, aims to highlight on the role of derivatives in market and to give the readers an understanding of this market. The study is based on secondary data with the application of quantitative analysis. It must be mentioned that key findings suggest that future research work in this particular area of interest should clearly define the importance of knowledge to be seeded from the students level itself. The ability to clearly define the root cause will provide the avenue of a more structured and systematic investment method which in return will be the ability to identify the risk and manage the risk effectively to have a high return. The purpose of this paper is as well to provide an insight to students on what derivatives is. Based on my paper, in depth research can be conducted with more various categories to provide a tare research analysis. On another note, this paper aims to provide an insight in respect of Derivatives markets, the risk exposure and the awareness on Global Banking Markets among students. As highlighted earlier in the problem statement, there is a lack of knowledge and exposure among Malaysians in particular with regards to the Derivatives industry in utilizing more of the derivatives market. Thus, it is important and considered timely for such a study to be conducted specifically at the student level first to understand where is the knowledge gap is obvious.


In this paper, we consider a general form of noisy compressive sensing (CS) where the sensing matrix is not precisely known. Such cases exist when there are imperfections or unknown calibration parameters during the measurement process. Particularly, the sensing matrix may have some structure, which makes the perturbation follow a fixed pattern. While previous work has focused on extending the approximate message passing (AMP) and LASSO algorithm to deal with the independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) perturbation, we propose the robust variant vector approximate message passing (VAMP) algorithm with the perturbation being structured, based on the recent VAMP algorithm. The performance of the robust version of VAMP is demonstrated numerically.


This forum brings together critical engagements with Andreas Bieler and Adam David Morton's Global Capitalism, Global War, Global Crisis to assess the prospects and limits of historical materialism in International Studies. The authors' call for a 'necessarily historical materialist moment' in International Studies is interrogated by scholars working with historical materialist, feminist and decolonial frameworks in and beyond International Relations (IR)/International Political Economy (IPE). This introductory essay situates the book in relation to the wider concerns of historical materialist IR/IPE and outlines how the contributors assess the viability of Bieler and Morton's historical materialist project.


In this paper we show that non-maximal coherence can lead to more efficient nonlinear frequency conversion than maximal coherence does. For this purpose we exemplify with the three-level cascade system (with no maximal coherence) to calculate the intensity of nonlinear-optical signal. A comparison is made between the Ξ system and the Λ system (with maximal coherence). The generated intensity is calculated by employing a nonperturbative approach. It is shown that under the conditions of the two-photon resonance and the same parameters, the largest intensity from the Ξ system is about twice as large as that from Λ system. The difference is analyzed in terms of dressed states. It is shown that both the spontaneous emission on the coupling transition and the spontaneous emission mediated three photon process play a contrary role for the two systems. These two processes enhance the generation of nonlinear signals for Ξ system but act contrarily for the Λ systems.


We report a boy with pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP), hypothyroidism and low growth hormone (GH) values with no response to growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH). He presented at age 17 mo because of developmental delay. He had the typical features (short stature, obesity, round face, brachydactyly) of Albright's hereditary osteodystrophy (AHO) and the biochemical profile of PHP; low serum calcium and high phosphate, raised parathormone (PTH) values and lack of response of urinary phosphate and cyclic AMP to PTH administration. The serum total thyroxine value (T4) was 37.32 nmol/L and the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) 29 mU/L. Peak GH values during two provocative tests (Glucagon, L-Dopa) were <2.5 microg/L and <1.7 microg/L, respectively, while following GHRH administration the maximum GH value was 0.2 microg/L. The IGFI value was 65 ng/ml and rose to 253 ng/ml after GH administration for three days. This boy had PTH and TSH receptor defect and we speculate that he also has GHRH receptor defect.


Data on the compressive stress relaxation of chill-cast 60/40 tin-lead solders for two loads, 6.89 and 24.8 MN/m2 (mega newtons/ square meter) and for temperatures from 27 to 108°C are presented. For the complete temperature range tested, it is shown that the stress relaxation can be modeled as an Arrhenius reaction-rate process with an activation energy of 0.65 eV This activation energy is in close agreement with solder activation energies inferred from earlier studies of self-diffusion, creep, and creep rupture. This suggests that the stress relaxation is diffusion dominated for the temperature range studied, and that the present results may be extended to other tin-lead solders by using available correlations.


Background: Many trace elements in the biological system, including boron, are involved in various vital processes related to health and diseases. Boron has been proved to have a role in decreasing inflammatory pain, joint stiffness, and other disabling symptoms associated with osteoarthritis (OA).

Aims and Objective: To evaluate the relationship between serum concentrations of boron with inflammatory markers, disease duration, and severity in patients with knee OA.

Materials and Methods: A total of 43 patients with knee OA were clinically evaluated and serum boron concentrations were measured in addition to erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and total white blood cell (WBC) count; the results were compared with that of healthy controls. Boron levels were correlated with ESR, WBC, disease duration, and severity.

Result: Serum boron levels were significantly lower in patients compared with controls, and found to be significantly correlated with disease duration and severity. No correlation was reported between boron and the inflammatory markers.

Conclusion: Serum boron levels were significantly lower in patients with knee OA, and negatively correlated with the duration and severity of the disease.


OBJECTIVE
To observe the effects of warm needling moxibustion on body mass, knee cartilage andmorphology in rats with knee osteoarthritis (KOA).

METHODS
Forty SD rats were randomly divided into a normalgroup, a model group, a medication group and a warm needling group, 10 rats in each one. Except the normalgroup, the rats in the remaining three groups were injected with papain to establish the model of KOA. After themodeling, rats in the model group did not receive any treatment; rats in the warm needling group were treated withwarm needling moxibustion at bilateral "Xiqian"; rats in the medication group were treated with intragastric administration of meloxicam; rats in the normal group were treated with 0. 9% NaCl solution (identical dose as medication group) and immobilized as the warm needling group. The treatment was given once a day for consecutive20 days. The body mass, scale of knee cartilage and morphological changes were observed in each group after'treatment.

RESULTS
The increasing of body mass in the medication group and warm needling group was faster than!that in the model group, but slower than that in the normal group (all P<0. 05); the difference between medication group and warm needling group was not statistically significant (P>0. 05). The scale of knee cartilage in thewarm needling group and medication group was significantly lower than that in the model group (both P<0. 05),while the scale in the warm needling group was lower than that in the medication group (P<. 05). Regarding theknee morphology under micro-CT, the relief of knee degeneration and improvement of knee recovery in the warm needlinggroup were superior to those in the medication group.

CONCLUSION
The warm needling moxibustion could effectively reduce the knee pain, improve the recovery of knee cartilage, which is a safe and effective treatment.


Abstract Throughout Korea, small mammals are hosts to a number of disease-causing agents that pose a health threat to U.S. and Korean military forces while they conduct field-training exercises. A seasonal rodent-borne disease surveillance program was established at two firing points (FP), FP-10, and FP-60, and conducted over five years from 2001 through 2005 in response to hantavirus cases among U.S. soldiers. The ecology of these sites consisted primarily of tall grasses associated with semi-permanent and temporary water sources (drainage ditches and a small stream) and dry-land agriculture farming. Eight species of rodents and one species of insectivore were collected, including Apodemus agrarius, Micromys minutus, Mus musculus, Rattus norvegicus, Tscherskia triton, Microtus fortis, Myodes regulus, and Crocidura lasiura. The striped field mouse, A. agrarius, (primary reservoir for Hantaan virus, the causative agent of Korean hemorrhagic fever), was the most frequently collected, representing 90.6% of the 1,288 small mammals captured at both sites. Reported herein are the ecological parameters, seasonal population densities, and seasonal population characteristics associated with small mammals collected at two military training sites in the Republic of Korea.


Background: Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality of all gynecologic malignancies, howeverthere is no proven effective screening for ovarian cancer. Evidence suggests that epithelial ovarian cancer begins in the fallopian tubes. Prophylactic bilateral total salpingectomy has been shown to reduce the risk of epithelial ovarian cancer and is now recommended to be considered at the time of sterilization procedures. There are limited well designed clinical trials that compare the safety and feasibility of total salpingectomy to that of traditional partial salpingectomy for tubal sterilization in obstetrics. We thus conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess the safety of bilateral total salpingectomy at the time of cesarean delivery. Methods: We conducted a non-inferiority randomized controlled trial at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota. Women age 21 years and older who were undergoing cesarean delivery and desired concomitant sterilization were enrolled between May 17, 2017 and July 16, 2018. Stratified randomization was performed based on number of previous cesarean deliveries and their Basal Metabolic Index, into a bilateral total salpingectomy (BTS) group and bilateral partial salpingectomy (BPS) group. All salpingectomies were performed using clamps and suture. The primary outcome was to compare the mean peri-operative hemoglobin change for both groups. Secondary objectives included sterilization completion time, postoperative length of stay, estimated blood loss, postoperative pain and adverse events. Results: Of the 111 women screened, 40 were enrolled and randomized. Of these, 38 underwent the assigned procedure (18 BTS, 20 BPS). No difference in Mean ± SD hemoglobin drop between groups (1.4 ± 0.7 g/dL for the BPS group and 1.8 ± 1.0 g/dL for the BTS group, p = 0.08), however the point estimate of –0.4 is very close to the non-inferiority margin of –0.5, and the CI widely exceeds the non-inferiority margin (95% CI –0.99, 0.17). Therefore non-inferiority was not shown. Mean time to completion of sterilization procedure was significantly longer in the BTS group (16.3 ± 5.6 minutes for the BTS group vs 5.1 ± 1.6 minutes for the BPS group, p < 0.01). No significant differences for other outcome measures. Conclusions: Bilateral total salpingectomy is not non-inferior to tradiational bilateral partial salpingectomy with regards to postoperative hemoglobin drop, and is associated with a small increase in operative time. There, however, was no difference in adverse events, postoperative length of stay and postoperative pain between the two groups. This information may be helpful when counseling


A 19-year-old male presented with fatigue and dyspnea on exertion. He was diagnosed with acute T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia. After following the Group for Research on Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (GRAALL) 2003 protocol that incorporates L-asparaginase (L-Asp) treatment, blood glucose levels became elevated for more than one year and insulin secretion was depleted. Anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and anti-islet antigen 2 (IA-2) antibody levels were both positive, which is rare. The patient's HLA genotype was sensitive for type 1 diabetes. L-Asp can cause transient hyperglycemia as a side effect. However, cases with the anti-GAD antibody have not been reported in L-Asp-induced diabetes. In summary, L-Asp-induced continuous hyperglycemia might be associated with a type 1 diabetes-related HLA genotype through elevations of anti-GAD and anti-IA-2 antibodies.


Abstract Anthropogenic and climatic factors affect the survival of animal species. Chinese pangolin is a critically endangered species, and identifying which variables lead to local extinction events is essential for conservation management. Local chronicles in China serve as long‐term monitoring data, providing a perspective to disentangle the roles of human impacts and climate changes in local extinctions. Therefore, we established generalized additive models to identify factors leading to local extinction with historical data from 1700–2000 AD in mainland China. Then we decreased the time scale and constructed extinction risk models using MaxEnt in a 30‐year transect (1970–2000 AD) to further assess extinction probability of extant Chinese pangolin populations. Lastly, we used principal component analysis to assess variation of related anthropogenic and climatic variables. Our results showed that the extinction probability increased with global warming and human population growth. An extinction risk assessment indicated that the population and distribution range of Chinese pangolins had been persistently shrinking in response to highly intensive human activities (main cause) and climate change. PCA results indicated that variability of climatic variables is greater than anthropogenic variables. Overall, the factors causing local extinctions are intensive human interference and drastic climatic fluctuations which induced by the effect of global warming. Approximately 28.10% of extant Chinese pangolins populations are confronted with a notable extinction risk (0.37 ≤ extinction probability≤0.93), specifically those in Southeast China, including Guangdong, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan and Fujian Provinces. To rescue this critically endangered species, we suggest strengthening field investigations, identifying the exact distribution range and population density of Chinese pangolins and further optimizing the network of nature reserves to improve conservation coverage on the landscape scale and alleviate human interference. Conservation practices that concentrate on the viability assessment of scattered populations could help to improve restoration strategies of the Chinese pangolin.


We performed the powder X-ray diffraction measurements in magnetic fields up to 5T for Gd5(Ge1:95Fe0:05)Si2 and Gd5(Ge1:8Fe0:2)Si2. With heating from 8K, the matrix of Gd5(Ge1:95Fe0:05)Si2 clearly shows a structural transition from an orthorhombic to a monoclinic structure at the Curie temperature (TC 1⁄4 276K). On the other hand, the matrix of Gd5(Ge1:8Fe0:2)Si2 with the orthorhombic structure in the ferromagnetic state shows two-phases co-existence of the orthorhombic and the monoclinic structures above TC 1⁄4 303K, indicating that a small amount of the matrix participates in the transformation. For both samples, the monoclinic structure is suppressed but the orthorhombic structure is enhanced just above TC by applying a magnetic field, which closely relates to the magnetization process.


Now the problem of use of peat as litter is actual as in Russia and abroad. Application of peat as litter is one of the most valuable agriculture utilization of peat. Peat of a low degree of decomposition as a litter has a number of advantages in comparison with wood shavings, sawdust and straw. The peat litter possesses a high moisture capacity and gas absorbing ability, small heat conductivity, antiseptic properties. High waterand gas absorbing ability allows utilizing manure and drains of cattle-breeding farms, integrated poultry farms, keeps the nutrients necessary for cultivation of agricultural crops. Using of a peat litter one can receive peat manure the valuable organic fertilizer used in field husbandry. Productivity of animals and birds also raises, working conditions improve. We studied the fractional composition and size characteristic of raw material for litter, water absorbing ability of different fractions, pressing peat of a low degree of decomposition. Researches in the field of manufacturing and using of a peat litter continue.


Climate change and declining ecological health of urban environments are global issues of growing concern. In order to mitigate these issues we must reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions and increase green infrastructure solutions. One way of doing this is through improving public transportation and decreasing parking areas. In this study, Manhattan, Kansas was used to illustrate how improvements to public transportation can reduce parking demand and to show how excess parking can be transformed into green space to improve the ecological health of the city. First a review of literature and case studies related to increasing ridership of public transportation, reducing parking demand, and calculating ecologic and economic benefits was done. Then ArcGIS was used to analyze the existing public transportation in Manhattan, Kansas. Improvements to the existing transit system were developed and potential increase in ridership was calculated. ArcGIS was then used to analyze existing parking in Manhattan, Kansas. Excess Parking was determined based on current parking demand and predicted transit ridership. A suitability study was then done in ArcGIS to determine which parking areas should be converted into green space. The suitability map assisted in choosing four specific parking areas to redesign in detail to incorporate additional green space and tree cover. It was estimated that improving Manhattan's bus system could double its ridership. It was also estimated that with improved public transit and parking planning, 30% of Manhattan's parking could be eliminated. Converting 30% of Manhattan's parking into green space would decrease runoff and pollutants from parking lots. Ecological valuation methods were used to calculate the benefits of converting parking into green space. It was found that integrating green space into parking lots would decrease stormwater runoff, mitigate the heat island effect, store carbon, improve air quality and may have social benefits as well. Jena Biondolilo ANALYZING THE BENEFITS OF REDUCING PARKING Improving Public Transportation to Reduce Parking Demand and Increase Green Space in Manhattan, Kansas ANALYZING THE BENEFITS OF REDUCING PARKING 1 11 39 65 112 JENA BIONDOLILO LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE MASTER REPORT KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY


In this paper, an adaptive smoothing forecasting approach based on evolutionary spectra as developed by Rao and Shapiro (1970) is applied to the 3003 time series of various types and lengths used in the M3-Competition (Makridakis and Hibon, 2000). Comparisons of out-of-sample forecasts are made with other methods used in the M3-Competition via the symmetric mean absolute percentage error (SMAPE). It will be seen that this method does appear to perform very well when applied specifically to yearly, quarterly and monthly macro time series and to yearly and monthly demographic time series used in the competition.


Sixteen papers representing the petroleum geology of the Arctic, Russia and former Soviet Union were presented over the first day and a half of PGC VII. The region is huge, diverse and has generated a great deal of excitement and outside investment in the industry over the 20 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Arctic region in particular has significance as perhaps the last great frontier hydrocarbon province on Earth. The region is large, approximately 5000 km across a polar view north of the Arctic Circle (Fig. 1). Importantly, from an oil and gas exploration perspective, the Arctic Ocean has the most extensive continental shelf area of any ocean basin ( c . 50% of offshore area). Much of this sits in the broad Russian offshore Arctic in water depths of less than 50 m. There are numerous sedimentary basins in the Arctic, some well known, but most poorly understood. Art Grantz (United States Geological Survey) and colleagues estimated resources at 114×109 barrels of undiscovered oil and 2000×1012 standard cubic feet (SCF) of natural gas. If the estimates are correct, these hydrocarbons would account for more than a fifth of the world's undiscovered resources. This great prize, in a world of diminishing reserves, has recently brought territorial issues into focus between the five countries with claims in the Arctic Ocean (Russia, Norway, Denmark, Canada and the …


1. In all other branches of medicine facilities for dealing with disease in its initial stages are recognised as indispensable. In the case of borderline mental cases this has yet to come.

2. The study of mental disorder requires a long apprenticeship, and the treatment of incipient cases is often a long and complicated process, for which the average general practitioner has seldom either the time or the special training necessary.

3. It will permit of the recognition of dangerous and certifiable mental states at an earlier date than often occurs at present, and thus result in their removal to a mental hospital before, instead of after the tragedy.

4. It will allow the general practitioner to obtain an expert opinion on all doubtful cases, and supply the early mental case with appropriate treatment at the beginning of the illness, thus tending to cut short the duration of the attack, and often prevent the necessity for certification and removal to a mental hospital; or, if this be ultimately necessary, shorten the duration of his time in hospital.

5. It will help to relieve the overcrowding of asylums, and thus leave more time for the individual treatment of those who remain.

6. It will assist, when necessary, in the after-care of the discharged patient.

7. It will allow of the examination and segregation of mental defectives in institutions.

8. It will allow of the examination of epileptics with a view to removal to epileptic colonies.

9. It will form a useful adjunct to the treatment of offenders in the Law Courts.

10. It will serve as a teaching centre.

11. It will serve as a centre for investigation and research.

12. It will allow surgical and other out-patient clinics to refer cases for examination whenever it is thought that nervous or mental factors are also present in the case.

13. The clinic must work in close co-operation with the mental hospital, the mental defective institute, the epileptic colony, and the general hospital. The staff must be specialised in organic neurology, psychology, normal and abnormal, and psychiatry. Uncertified wards for the treatment of early cases requiring in-patient treatment, and for acute cases of short duration, should be attached to the clinic. A social service organisation to assist in the investigation of cases and their after-care should be also attached.

An out-patient clinic, organised on these lines, will bring the mental hospital into touch with the general public through the medium of the general hospital. It will help to expedite the removal of the vague fear of illegal detention, which has not yet passed away, and it will also help to remove the "stigma" which is still supposed by many to be attached to the legal certification of the person of unsound mind.


The general physician needs the medical specialist to train him/her to initiate clinical investigation. The National Academy of Medicine of Mexico and other institutions should collaborate in this work.


The development of the synchrotron, and later the storage ring, was based upon the electrical technology of the turn of this century aided by the microwave radar techniques of World War II. This method of acceleration seems to have reached its limit. Even superconductivity is not likely lead to devices which will satisfy physics needs into the 21st century. Unless a new principle for accelerating elementary particles is discovered soon, there is little hope high energy physics will continue to reach out to higher energies.


Two-way relaying can significantly improve spectrum efficiency of relay network and thus is very promising for future wireless communication systems. Among all the two-way relaying schemes, denoise-and-forward (DNF) is very attractive for its high spectrum efficiency and good performance because noise can be eliminated at relay station by the "special denoising signal processing". However, currently DNF can only be applied to low modulation order in fading channels. In this letter, an enhanced DNF scheme is proposed, which extends DNF to high modulation order for fading channels with low computational complexity. Simulation results show the proposed scheme can achieve higher spectrum efficiency than existing schemes.


The Holy Qur'an is the Book of God Almighty، and He described it، Glory be to Him, with several descriptions, and He told about it that it is a book that needs contemplation that leads you to the goal of the intended verses, and you think about the verses، rather the wall، to come up with a conception of it. The event, rather, depicts it from its different angles, and that is the camera in the Holy Qur'an, as it paints for us a vivid scene that pulsates with life in which all the meanings of life are dialogues and embodiment of what is not in a body, a chemical substance or a physical space. The place is separate from the time, but the study of the scene is fragmented, with a metaphor here or a metaphor there, this kills the scene and takes it out of its beauty. For this reason, the choice was made to study the scene in the Holy Qur'an، in order to clarify the beauty of the Holy Qur'an that is not limited to the verbal only, but comes out in the word to what is embodied، reasonable and metaphysical. This research is based on an introduction in which I talked about the scene in language and terminology, then she added to talk about the role of some linguists in approximating the term scene. As for the requirements of the research, the first of them is devoted to the study of material examples, as the importance of the material aspect in nature in general is mentioned in it, and this is supported by texts from the Noble Qur'an. As for the second، it was to study the moral examples، so I talked about the abstract morals, which are the perceptions of the mind, which do not possess tangible or tangible entities, and I included them with some examples of what was mentioned in the Holy Qur'an as well. As for the third, it was to study the unseen examples, in which I dealt with talking about the unseen، which is everything that is absent from man, corroborating that with what was mentioned in the Holy Qur'an. Finally, I say: This is a humble work in its chapter whose goal is to serve the word of God Almighty.


This article aims to reassess the historical role of Archbishop Methodius († 06.04.885) who has for centuries remained in the shadow of Constantine-Cyril the Philosopher (826/27 - 14.02.869), his younger brother and inventor of the first Slavic alphabet. Reflecting on historical events that have, by now, been thoroughly investigated, the author concludes that the success of the work of Cyril and Methodius, which laid the foundations of the cultural tradition of Slavia Orthodoxa, was in fact due to both brothers in equal measure.


Water contamination from industrial and anthropogenic activities is nowadays a major issue in many countries worldwide. To address this problem, efficient water treatment technologies are required. Recent efforts have focused on the development of self-propelled micromotors that provide enhanced micromixing and mass transfer by the transportation of reactive species, resulting in higher decontamination rates. However, a real application of these micromotors is still limited due to the high cost associated to their fabrication process. Here, we present Fe2O3-decorated SiO2/MnO2 microjets for the simultaneous removal of industrial organic pollutants and heavy metals present in wastewater. These microjets were synthesized by low-cost and scalable methods. They exhibit an average speed of 485 ± 32 μm s-1 (∼28 body length per s) at 7% H2O2, which is the highest reported for MnO2-based tubular micromotors. Furthermore, the photocatalytic and adsorbent properties of the microjets enable the efficient degradation of organic pollutants, such as tetracycline and rhodamine B under visible light irradiation, as well as the removal of heavy metal ions, such as Cd2+ and Pb2+.


My title is adapted from that used by Professor Sir Stanley Peart in a personal paper published in 1970.1 His argument was that general internal medicine had differentiated sufficiently for there to be no place for a general physician in an academic department. There would be physicians specialising in the various body systems, relying on general practitioners (GPs) to choose the most suitable for their patients. Similar developments are taking place in UK paediatrics but I will argue that (a) there will remain an important place for the general paediatrician and (b) the specialty of general paediatrics should be recognised as one alongside others such as paediatric gastroenterology and carrying comparable esteem.

Developments in medical knowledge and consumer preference mean that the traditional authority of doctors to determine the content and style of their practice is being challenged.2 3 Other physicians and professionals may claim that they could do a general paediatrician's job more effectively or cheaply. Paediatrics is not the only specialty where stock might be taken of its content and purpose.4-6 However the establishment of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, closer integration with Europe, and changes in primary and tertiary care in paediatrics all justify questioning the future of the generalist paediatrician.

What is general paediatrics? In the UK it is secondary care paediatrics practised by up to half a dozen specialist consultants serving a population of approximately 250 000. The position is different in most of the rest of the world. Here the general paediatrician may be a primary care physician providing services to a population similar to a UK primary care GP but seeing only children and having greater paediatric expertise. In some parts of the world the traditional primary care paediatrician is under threat, particularly from the development of family …


It's important to equip weld robots with real-time seam tracking technique in order to weld more accurately. In this study, a robotic welding system with a laser sensor, which can detect the position of the V groove, is developed for underwater engineering. The laser sensor includes a laser projector, a camera and laser filter. The laser stripe images are captured and input into a PC real-timely when welding. An improved method of maximization of interclass variance is proposed and is used to segment the laser stripe images. A new approach is developed based on statistical and the syntax approach in welding groove recognition. Welding experiments are implemented on V-grooves. Results show that the system can meet the requirements of general welding seam tracking.


The energy efficiency of modern data centers has become a practical concern and has attracted significant attention in recent years. In contract to existing solutions that primarily focuses on only one specific aspect of management to reduce energy consumption, this paper explores the balance between server energy consumption and network energy consumption to present an energy-aware joint virtual machine (VM) placement. Given the definition of VM placement fairness, the basic algorithm of VM placement which fulfills server energy consumption constraints is conducted. Then, we further formulate the VM placement as an optimization problem which considers application dependencies to reduce network energy consumption. We design a joint algorithm that efficiently solves the VM placement problem for very large problem sizes. Using simulations, we conduct a comparative analysis on the impact of the data center architectures, server constraints and application dependencies on the potential performance gain of energy-aware VM placement. Compared to existing generic methods, we show a significant performance improvement such as efficiently reducing the number of physical machines used to save server energy consumption, decreasing the communication distance between VMs to obtain data center network energy consumption efficiency, improving scalability of data centers.


A widely used practice in state and local economic and workforce development is to identify and explicitly invest in strategic industry clusters. Economic theory suggests that industry clusters, defined as geographically concentrated groups of firms and supporting institutions in related industries, enhance industry productivity and regional prosperity, relative to nonclustered industries. This concept, although widely used, has been insufficiently evaluated. In particular, questions remain about the extent to which cluster strategies are associated with beneficial outcomes for employees in clustered industries. Using a population-wide panel of individual-level quarterly wage and industry data covering the period 2003-2010 for the state of Washington, this research measures the association of industry cluster membership with the employment status, wage levels, and wage growth rates of individual employees in counties in the state. The mixed results carry implications for strategic investments and job creation efforts by states and local governments across the United States.


Easy Microsoft Money 2004 is the perfect book for beginners who want to learn Microsoft's financial software through a visual, full-color approach. Topics include the Credit Center, Bill Estimator, portfolio customization, importing Quicken files, tracking your income and expenses, budgeting, managing account activity and much more! More than 100 tasks are covered, teaching you the basics of Money and arming you to make wise financial choices.


Blogging has captured the attention of the public as a platform for self-presentation and self expression; social interaction (Guadagno, Okdie and Eno, 2007; Schmidt, 2007), and as a source of information (Schmidt, 2007). Blogs provided self-reflexive consumers with a platform to describe their own action in their own words (Caru and Cova, 2006); hence offer new spaces for the study of unleashed consumers' narratives (Schau and Gilly, 2003; Kozinets et al 2010 and Pace, 2008). This presents opportunities for addressing research gaps in the literature of consumption and tourist experiences. Travel blogs as rich narratives of travel experiences can provide an emic perspective of what constitutes the bloggers' experience and provides in-depth insights on measuring the outcome of this subjective and personal experience. The discourse analysis of travel blogs is a novel approach to understanding tourist experiences through their reconstruction of their stories to their readers. The analysis of travel blogs reveals elements that constitute core experiences that have, to date, proved to be elusive to marketers. The thesis also contributes to the understanding of this new blogging phenomenon among travellers that has become part of their tourist experiences. Marketing and managerial implications of the key findings of the discourse analysis of travel blogs and the survey on travel bloggers are provided in the thesis. The thesis responds to the urgency of understanding the concept of experience, as intensified by the emergence of the experience economy where "experience" is seen as having a higher economic value compared to goods and services.


Abstract Radial variations of deuterium content are measured in nine large hailstones from three storms; of tritium content in one of the nine; and tangential variations of deuterium content in a wet-growth layer in five of the nine. Crystal size and air bubble content are noted as well. It is concluded 1) that probably neither air bubble content nor crystal size is as good a relative height indicator as deuterium content; 2) that the trajectories of large hailstones can be very simple, not involving recirculations at larger-than-embryo sizes though two of the nine stones analyzed do show recirculation; 3) that the maximum altitude of growth of several of the large hailstones studied was at a temperature above −25°C; 4) that wet-growth layers can show significant tangential variations in D-content; and 5) that studies of hailstone radial deuterium variations can yield valuable information when applied to many hailstones from single storms or when coupled with deuterium measurements on samples of liquid wa...


The simultaneous codeposition of Pt and Ru on carbon materials was carried out potentiostatically at -0.5 V from H2PtCl6 and RuCl3 aqueous solutions in the presence of different organic additives: 1) ethylene glycol, 2) ethanol, 3) formic acid, 4) sodium citrate, 5) sodium tartrate and 6) Na2H2EDTA. The electrodeposition process was influenced thermodynamically and kinetically by the stabilizers. SEM and AFM analysis of the electrodes showed that both the particle size and the active surface area were notably affected by the presence of the stabilizing agents. The different behaviour of the stabilizing agents may be associated with the following effects: (1) the capability of the stabilizing agent to complex the metal ions, (2) the specific adsorption of organic molecules which inhibits particle growth, and (3) the reduction capability of the organic compounds. The electrodes prepared with different organic additives exhibit the following decreasing order of activities for methanol oxidation: citrate > tartrate > ethanol > Na2H2EDTA > ethylene glycol > formic acid > without stabilizer. This comportment can be related to differences in the active surface area, particle size and superficial structure of the metallic deposit.


The performance of a metal-based zeolite catalyst (Fe-ZB) was investigated by ozonation process under different experimental variables such as the ozone flow rate, mass and metal weight percent impregnated in the catalyst, temperature, initial pH, concentration and the volume of phenol solution to be treated. The degradation of phenol in the study was determined using HPLC method. In addition, the degree of degradation was also determined indirectly through Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Total Organic Carbon (TOC) of the samples. It was observed that a smaller percentage of metal loading catalyst resulted in a higher degradation of phenol compared to those with higher metal loading catalyst. As expected, the degradation of phenol increases with ozone flow rates and mass of catalyst. Interestingly, the degradation of phenol was significantly high under basic condition where the degradation was almost completed i.e. 98.1% at initial phenol solution of pH 11. On the contrary, the degradation of phenol decreases with increasing temperature, concentration and volume of phenol solution.


Event detection and understanding is an important area in computer science and especially multimedia. The term event is very broad, and we want to propose a novel event based view on endoscopic surgeries. Thus, with the novel view on surgery in this paper, we want to provide a better understanding and possible way of segmentation of the whole event surgery but also the included sub-events. To achieve this sophisticated goal, we present an annotation tool in combination with a thinking aloud test with an experienced surgeon.


This thesis adopts a social constructionist epistemology and a narrative analysis research method to explore the moral identity work of senior managers in UK for-profit businesses. Analysis of thirty semi-structured interview transcripts was carried out using the Nvivo data analysis software package, guided by Gioia et al's (2013) systematic approach to qualitative data analysis. The study identifies one overarching theme – that of the loneliness of seniority, which underpins the moral identity work of participants. Participants articulate the loneliness of seniority with recourse to three main tactics – describing intense pressure to deliver against business objectives, expressing the weight of expectation that they perceive from many stakeholders, and asserting that they feel caught between those above and below them in their organisational hierarchies. Two further themes are elaborated. In the first – reaffirming themselves as essentially moral - participants assert that they have a moral core, with recourse to nostalgia for childhood. In the second - becoming and being moral managers - they assert their roles as moral champions by characterising their organisations as systems that threaten to thwart their moral agendas, and which they need to resist. These findings contribute to understanding in the under-researched area of individual moral identity within a business context, as well as offering a fresh perspective to the broader field of business ethics research. The research makes contributions to theory in several areas, notably to the theories of nostalgia and of stigma management in identity work, and to the theory of resistance as an identity work stratagem. It also contributes to practice with the findings that feelings of isolation persist beyond middle management, and that moral issues in the workplace are experienced in a remarkably similar way in individuals from different business functions and sectors.


A wall-painting programme of great quality dating from the late twelfth century is extant in the late eleventh-century lower chapel of the medieval tower located northeast of the apse of the abbey church of Moissac. It is possible that this area belonged to the hotel Sainte-Foy, which fourteenth-century texts called the aula of the abbot. On the west wall of the chapel, a Tree of Jesse stretches across the barrel vault. The prophets, originally twelve, complete the central image. They are connected to the Apostolic College associated with the Christ Pantocrator placed next to depiction of Christ's lineage. Besides the semantic richness of each image, their association in the space of the chapel is particularly significant. The polysemic programme evokes not only the continuity between the Old and New Testaments, but also, especially, the reaffirmation of the dual nature of Christ in the liturgical space and the meaning of the Church of Christ. Upon their completion, the paintings of the chapel were the subject of particular attention: they were enriched with glass and metal cabochons, precious pigments, and gold, generating effects for the benefit of the viewers-actors who stood in this space. We will look into both the meaning of these images and the staging of the sacred in a place of private devotion that was reserved for the abbot and the prestigious guests of the abbey.


Reactive airways dysfunction syndrome is a controversial and poorly understood condition produced by inhalational injury from gas, vapors, or fumes. The symptoms mimic asthma, but appear unresponsive to asthma treatments. If symptoms persist for more than 6 months, there is a risk that they can become chronic. For these cases, effective treatments are lacking and quality of life is poor. We describe the first use of high-dose vitamin D in a patient with this condition, who fulfilled the 1995 American College of Chest Physicians criteria for this syndrome. The patient we describe presented an extremely difficult management problem and was refractory to conventional treatments, but responded to high-dose oral vitamin D supplements.


Qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the palynological content of the Upper Badenian strata at Kudryntsi (western Ukraine) indicate that this succession was deposited in variable environments. The basal siliciclastic series shows a very low content of palynological organic matter and palynofacies, which indicate a restricted environment and/or unfavourable conditions for the palynomorph preservation. The presence of dinoflagellate cysts (and composition of their assemblages) in the upper part of organodetrital limestones and the overlying rhodoid limestones indicates a typical shelf environment. Taxonomically variable dinoflagellate cyst assemblages from particular samples reflect gradual environmental changes – from environments of slightly increased salinity of seawater (strata overlying the siliciclastic series) to open marine, more remote environments during deposition of the upper part of the section examined. The gradual deepening of the sea and decrease of salinity is supported also by the succession of foraminiferal assemblages, which undergo gradual changes from Elphidium spp. assemblages, through Miliolidae assemblage, Lobatula lobatula assemblage, Neoconorbina spp. assemblage to Cibicidoides assemblage. The Late Badenian foraminiferal assemblage from Kudryntsi contains two species common for the Sarmatian, i.e. Elphidium reginum and Elphidium koberi, the latter species known so far from the Sarmatian.


In this paper, the role of the toe of the human being is investigated. The change of the sole pressure distribution using a sole pressure distribution measurement system and that of the toe pressure using a toe pressure measurement system at walk by the existence of a toe are investigated. In order to investigate the change of the whole walking, the affection of a walk posture using a 3D motion capture system by the existence of a toe is also measured. Furthermore, the change of the amount of energy consumption at walk by the existence of a toe is measured by a spirometry system. At last, we investigate the roles of the toe, such as, the effectivity of the 1st and 2nd finger, and the stabilization of the posture, by the synthesis of these results.