Collagen plays vital roles in epithelial cell adhesion. Previous research demonstrated excellent collagen capabilities in promoting re-epithelization of open wounds in pathological conditions which may circumvent the use of skin grafts. Nevertheless, pure collagen scaffolds demonstrated relatively weak mechanical strength especially upon hydration. Chitosan, on the other hand, is the second most common biopolymer found in nature and is known to be biodegradable, biocompatible and possess anti-bacterial properties. Incorporation of chitosan onto collagen bioscaffold may potentiate better usage for oral mucosa application. This study aimed to systematically review the use of collagen-chitosan scaffold for treatment of oral mucosa. Specific emphasis was given to the type of study involved in assessing its potential to be used as a bioscaffold.  The methodology used is the search for articles published was performed using PubMed and Scopus databases using three keywords; "collagen", "chitosan" and "oral mucosa". Initial search yield in seventeen articles from both databases (Pubmed = 7, Scopus = 12). After careful scrutinisation, only ten articles were selected combining both databases. Collectively, the papers included in vitro and animal studies. All of the in vitro studies had cells cultured on a certain type of collagen chitosan scaffold and obtained positive results. In animal studies, articles showed successful reconstruction of full-thickness porcine oral mucosa equivalent using collagen-GAG-chitosan porous scaffold and repaired buccal mucosal full-thickness defects in rats using tissue engineered oral mucosa lamina propria cultured on chitosan-collagen. In conclusion, collagen-chitosan has the potential to create better scaffolds for oral mucosa regeneration than the ones previously used and is relevant to be furthered explored and studied using more databases.


It is shown that for d-way shuffle graphs all oblivious algorithms for realizing permutations in logarithmic time send packets along routes twice as long as the diameter of the graph. This confirms the optimality of the strategy that sends packets to random nodes in a first phase and to the correct destinations in the second. For the shuffle-exchange graph the corresponding route length is shown to be strictly longer than for the 2-way shuffle.


Generalized Matching Pursuit has been proven capable of achieving joint crossline interpolation and 3D receiver deghosting on severely aliased marine seismic measurements in real scenarios. In fact, theoretically GMP is capable of reconstructing the upgoing wave under aliasing of any order, as long as there is no spectral overlap between replicas of different events in the crossline wavenumber spectrum of the measured data. Therefore, severely undersampled shallow seismic reflections, with their high-frequency content and broad crossline spectrum, represent the greatest challenge for GMP. We propose an algorithm using moveout correction to reduce spatial aliasing and to improve the GMP performance in shallow seismic reflections. In addition, we propose a simple yet effective criterion to automatically activate the correction. We also show how 3D deghosting can still be performed. These concepts are illustrated using real data examples.


Terahertz radiation, which lies between microwave and infrared, has been shown to have the potential to use very low levels of this non-ionising radiation to detect and identify objects, such as weapons and explosives, hidden under clothing. This paper describes recent work on the development of prototype systems using terahertz to provide new capabilities in people screening. In particular, it explores how hyperspectral terahertz imaging and the use of both specularly reflected and scattered terahertz radiation can enhance the detection of threat objects.


Background: Influenza-like illness is a self-limiting non-specific acute respiratory illness characterized by common clinical features including fever, chills, malaise, headache, coughing, nausea, loss of appetite, and generalized weakness. Influenza A H1N1 is an important cause of ILI because it can lead to serious complications requiring hospitalization. Swine flu infection rates usually higher during the winter season in temperate regions.

Objectives: This study is designed to analyze the demographic data of different ILI categories including seasonal trend of H1N1-related ILI in the patients attending a teaching hospital to know the spread and severity of diseases in Southern Rajasthan in India.

Materials and Methods: It is a hospital-based retrospective study in which epidemiological and demographic data of all the patients attended swine flu outpatient departments, isolation wards, and intensive care unit were obtained and analyzed. All patients of ILI-B and ILI-C categories were tested for real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Results: Of 3933 patients, 2686 (68.29%) patients were categorized in ILI-A, 724 (18.41%) patients were in ILI-B, and remaining 523 (13.30%) patients were in ILI-C. Overall, swine positivity among ILI-B and ILI-C categories was significantly (


This study reports the potential application of yams as an efficient substrate for isolating mushrooms from the fruiting body. It seems that the utilization of yams as the medium for edible mushroom cultivation, i.e. a substitute for PDA, may increase the economic value of yams. Yams (Dioscorea sp.) belong to the starch-rich and energy-rich tubers, together with cassava, sweet potato, and potato. There is little utilization of yams in Thailand because yams grow wild and uncultivated and thus sufficient quantities of yams are available for home consumption and in local markets. In this study, an experiment was performed to assess the suitability of yam-based culture media as a potentially high value material for edible mushroom isolation and mycelial growth as a substitute for potato dextrose agar (PDA). Yam-based culture media were prepared from three species (D. alata L., D. esculenta and D. pentaphylla) in varying concentrations (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30% (w/v)). PDA was used as the standard medium. Three edible mushrooms, i.e. Pleurotus sajor-caju (Fr.) Sing., Lentinula edodes, and Volvariella volvacea were investigated. Mycelial growth of the mushrooms was measured the average mycelium colony diameter on the different media. The results of mycelial growth of the mushrooms show that yam-based culture media can be used as alternative culture media for cultivation.


Migration is often thought to be a long-run phenomenon. However, it is shown here by means of labor-force migration estimates derived from the Continuous Work History Sample over the period 1958–1975, that US interstate migration is quite volatile over the short run with respect both to its adjustment to macroeconomic fluctuations and to its geographical structure. A hierarchical clustering routine is utilized to analyse yearly estimates of interstate gross in-migration and out-migration so as to identify the temporal stability and characteristics of the geographical patterns of migration. States enter the national migration linkage tree at different levels for different years, depending upon the level of short-run economic activity. It is also shown that when national economic conditions worsen, labor-supply adjustments are more localized and the degree of interstate interdependence is less than in times of economic boom. An Almon distributed-lags time series regression model is used to formally test the relationship between spatial interconnectivity (as represented by interstate migration flows) and national fluctuations.


Override' reflexives in Danish and English Surprisingly, English allows (i) Peter's behaviour only damages himself. (ii) Peter doesn't realise that such behaviour only damages himself. although himself does not refer to the subject (i.e. Peter's behaviour/such behaviour). Far from all clauses allow himself to not refer to the subject, and therefore himself in (i-ii) is often called an 'override' reflexive. We suggest that 'override' reflexives are the combination of nonreflexive him with the intensifier himself, and that this is then 'shortened' from him himself to himself. In Danish, the combination of the corresponding pronoun ham with the corresponding intensifier selv results in the Danish 'override' reflexive ham selv. This paper will show how Danish having two versions of ham selv and English two versions of himself fits into the general reflexive systems of the two languages. The analysis will be held up against data from the major corpora: KorpusDK, BNC and COCA.


Adding a scalar triplet to the Standard Model is one of the simplest ways of giving mass to neutrinos, providing at the same time a mechanism to stabilize the theory's vacuum. In this paper, we revisit these aspects of the type-II seesaw model pointing out that the boundedfrom-below conditions for the scalar potential in use in the literature are not correct. We discuss some scenarios where the correction can be significant and sketch the typical scalar boson profile expected by consistency.


Ruthenium (III) trichlorid solid crystals have been mechanically attached to gold and paraffin-impregnated graphite surfaces and studied in the presence of aqueous solutions of M+Cl− electrolytes, where M+ = Li+, Na+, K+, Rb+, Cs+ and K2SO4 by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical nanogravimetry at a quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM). The electrochemical reduction of the layered α-RuCl3 microcrystals causes drastic changes in the composition and the structure of crystals. The comparison of the current—potential and surface mass change—potential functions belonging to the first reduction-reoxidation cycle with the subsequent ones reveals that the simple intercalation scheme described in the literature cannot be entirely valid. During the first reduction step at ca. 0.2 V vs. SCE the charge consumption is substantially higher than in the course of the further potential cycling, and the simultaneous rapid and intense mass decrease indicates that considerable chemical and structural transformations occurs. Although a loss of the surface mass cannot be entirely excluded, the frequency increase most likely is not related to the dissolution of the microcrystals, however, large amounts of water molecules and—to a much smaller extent—chloride ions leave the crystal phase, and in fact a new material, which remains strongly attached to the gold or graphite surface, is formed. The extremely high frequency change at the first reduction process during the first cycle is most likely related to the stress effect originating in the phase transition of the surface layer and/or the removal of the water rigidly coupled to the surface into voids of the immobilized microcrystals. Depending on the amount of microcrystals on the electrode surface and the experimental conditions (the nature and concentration of the contacting electrolyte, scan rate, and potential range) used, after the "break-in" cycle stable electrochemical and nanogravimetric responses develop. The several reduction and reoxidation pairs of waves in the cyclic voltammograms and the simultaneous mass changes are in connection with the wide variety of intercalation reactions and complex formation during the electrochemical transformations. The mass change was reversible, in general, during reduction mass increase, while during oxidation mass decrease occurred at medium electrolyte concentrations in three or more steps. The mass excursions are rather complicated, involving different mass increase/decrease regions as a function of potential and the composition of the contacting solution.

Taking into account the layered structure of RuCl3, the electrochemical reduction can be explained as an intercalation reaction in that mixed valence intercalation phases with a general formula K Ru [Ru Cl3z-y (H2O)y] • dH2O are formed from z (RuCl3 · H2O). The reduction/reoxidation waves are related to the redox transformations of Ru(III) to Ru(II) sites and the insertion/deinsertion of cations and water molecules, while the composition of the polynuclear complexes and the structure of microcrystals change.


Sensory suppression is a mechanism that attenuates selective information. As for long-latency suppression in auditory and somatosensory systems, paired-pulse suppression, observed as 2 identical stimuli spaced by approximately 500 ms, is widely known, though its mechanism remains to be elucidated. In the present study, we investigated the relationship between auditory and somatosensory long-latency suppression of change-related cortical responses using magnetoencephalography. Somatosensory change-related responses were evoked by an abrupt increase in stimulus strength in a train of current-constant square wave pulses at 100 Hz to the left median nerve at the wrist. Furthermore, auditory change-related responses were elicited by an increase in sound pressure by 15 dB in a continuous sound composed of a train of 25-ms pure tones. Binaural stimulation was used in Experiment 1, while monaural stimulation was used in Experiment 2. For both somatosensory and auditory stimuli, the conditioning and test stimuli were identical, and inserted at 2400 and 3000 ms, respectively. The results showed clear suppression of the test response in the bilateral parisylvian region, but not in the postcentral gyrus of the contralateral hemisphere in the somatosensory system. Similarly, the test response in the bilateral supratemporal plane (N100m) was suppressed in the auditory system. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between suppression of right N100m and right parisylvian activity, suggesting that similar mechanisms are involved in both. Finally, a high test-retest reliability for suppression was seen with both modalities. Suppression revealed in the present study is considered to reflect sensory inhibition ability in individual subjects.


The outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus infection that has spread throughout the world has had a major impact on the health of the global community, including mental health. Stress that arises during the COVID-19 pandemic could be in the form of fear and anxiety about personal health and the health of other loved ones, changes in sleep and diet patterns, aggravating physical conditions, especially in someone with chronic illness. This activity is one solution that is expected to broaden the audience's insight about maintaining the mental health of families during the COVID-19 pandemic. This activity is carried out through CISCO WEBEX Meeting media. The outputof this activity was the increase of level of knowledge of the audiences 37.5%,  the publication of activities on youtube media and publication articles in a journal.


I present a generalization of Chew's first algorithm for Delaunay mesh refinement. In his algorithm, Chew splits the line segments of the input planar straight line graph (PSLG) into shorter subsegments whose lengths are nearly identical. The constrained Delaunay triangulation of the subsegments is refined based on the length of the radii of the circumcircles of the triangles. This algorithm produces a uniform mesh, whose minimum angle can be at most $\pi/6$. My algorithm generates both truly Delaunay and constrained Delaunay size-optimal meshes. In my algorithm, I split the line segments of the input PSLG such that their lengths are asymptotically proportional to the local feature size (LFS) by solving ordinary differential equations (ODEs) that map points from a closed 1D interval to points on the input line segments in the PSLG. I then refine the Delaunay triangulation (truly or constrained) of the PSLG by inserting off-center Steiner vertices of "skinny" triangles while prioritizing such triangles with shortest edges first. As in Chew's algorithm, I show that the Steiner vertices do not encroach upon any subsegment of the PSLG. The off-center insertion algorithm places Steiner vertices in an advancing front manner such that we obtain a size-optimal Delaunay mesh (truly or constrained) if the desired minimum angle is less than $\pi/6$. In addition, even in the presence of a small angle $\phi < \pi/2$ in the PSLG, the bound on the minimum angle "across" the small angle tends to $\arctan{((\sin{\phi})/(2-\cos(\phi))}$ as the PSLG is progressively refined. Also, the bound on the maximum angle across any small input angle tends to $\pi/2 + \phi/2$ as the PSLG is progressively refined.


A cooled-cavity precision pyrheliometer, designated PCC-3, has been developed from models described earlier. The new instrument has a sensitivity of 0.3 VW-1 with a time constant of 15 s. Its accuracy is ± 0,08% and its precision ± 0,1%.


A new kind of photoswitchable polymer nanoparticle is prepared using polymerizable alkenyl carbon dots (PCDs) and a spiropyran derivative, together with methyl methacrylate (MMA) as the monomer, and mediated by one-pot miniemulsion polymerization. Switching between two different wavelengths of emitted light can be realized by intraparticle fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). The FRET efficiency could be easily controlled by the feed ratios of the two chromophores and the excitation wavelengths. UV and visible light can be applied to modulate the fluorescence emission of the prepared nanoparticles. Upon visible light irradiation, the nanoparticles emit blue-green fluorescence of the CDs while spiropyran is in its closed form (SP). UV irradiation of SP gives rise to an open-ring isomer (MC). An SP-to-MC photoisomerization triggers a CD-to-MC FRET, and the resulting nanoparticles emit red light. Their fluorescence could be reversibly switched between blue-green and red by using UV/vis light irradiation with excellent photoreversibility and high stability. In addition, the novel nanoparticles with reversibly photoswitchable fluorescence could be directly applied in rewritable fluorescence patterning and dual-color fluorescence imaging of living cells.


The dynamics of imbibition into the roughness of a surface was investigated with hexagonal arrays of anisotropic nanofins fabricated with interference lithography and metal assisted chemical etching. It was found that viscous drag caused by the nanofins is similar to that caused by open nano-channels of equal length and height containing the same volume of liquid. In addition, the energy dissipated by form drag for a given driving pressure was determined to be directly proportional to the volume of fluid between nanofin planes that are flat and normal to the imbibition direction.


An alternative approach to transport processes occurring in gases is presented for the benefit of school teachers. The usual expressions derived for the thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity are obtained by considering the net energy flow or momentum flow across a plane located within the body of the gas. It is considered that this approach can lead to misconceptions about the underlying mechanisms, especially for viscous flow. This alternative approach avoids these misconceptions.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the effect of insurance status on the likelihood of interhospital transfer for neonates.

DESIGN
Population-based retrospective cohort study.

SETTING
All general acute care nonpediatric hospitals in the five counties of southeastern Pennsylvania.

PATIENTS
Fifty-six thousand, seven hundred eighty-nine infants from 0 to 28 days of age admitted to or born in study hospitals between January 1 and December 31, 1991.

INTERVENTION
None. MAINS OUTCOME MEASURE: Transfer to another general or specialty acute care hospital.

RESULTS
The incidence (95% confidence interval) of interhospital transfer was 1.69% (1.60, 1.78). Uninsured infants were nearly twice as likely [relative risk (RR) = 1.96 (1.67, 2.31)] to be transferred as commercially insured infants, even when adjusted for the effects of prematurity, severity of illness, and the level of neonatal intensive care unit in the referring hospital. Similarly, infants with Medicaid were more likely to be transferred [RR = 1.20 (1.01, 1.43)] than similar commercially insured neonates. Uninsured and publicly insured infants were also more likely to be born premature [RR 1.49 (1.39, 1. 60)] than privately insured neonates, and were more likely to have both moderate [RR 1.11 (1.04, 1.23)] and high [RR 1.21 (1.11, 1.32)] illness severity on admission to the hospital than privately insured infants.

CONCLUSIONS
Neonates with no insurance and those with Medicaid coverage were more likely to be transferred than infants with private insurance. These results are consistent with those of other investigators who have studied financially motivated patient transfers- so-called patient dumping-in nonpediatric populations of patients. Our study may represent the first documentation of this phenomenon in a pediatric population. Our results are also consistent with those of other investigators who have examined the effect of insurance status on maternal interhospital transfer, thus providing further evidence for the existence of financially motivated transfers within regional systems of perinatal care. Future investigation into the effect of economic factors on variation in the utilization of transport services, and on how transfer influences ultimate patient outcome, is needed as managed care health systems become more widespread.


With Mountain Lion, Apple has unleashed the most innovative version of Mac OS X yet - and once again, David Pogue brings his humor and expertise to the #1 bestselling Mac book. Mac OS X 10.8 brings more innovations from the iPad and makes syncing across devices smarter and easier with higher iCloud integration throughout the operating system. * Perfect for newcomers. Get crystal-clear, jargon-free introduction to the Dock, the Mac OS X folder structure, Safari, Mail, and iCloud. * Go in-depth. Learn how use key new features such as Messages, Reminders, Notification Center, Gatekeeper, AirPlay Mirroring, Share Sheets, and more. Theres something new on practically every page of this new edition, and David Pogue brings his celebrated wit and expertise to every one of them. Apple's brought a new cat to town, and Mac OS X Mountain Lion: The Missing Manual is the best way to tame it.


This work examines the pedagogy of dance and entrepreneurship in the society. In other words, it seeks to engender dynamic essence between theory and practice, dance scholar and choreographer, and their impact on students/dancers with respect to teaching dance as a career for profit making against art for art sake. The teaching approaches provide for managing dance establishments as well as the art and act of dancing. In doing this, we adopted the managerial system of the Footprints Arts Ambassadors in Lagos, Nigeria as a prototype. We apply some fundamental tools of entrepreneurship that determine efficiency and effectiveness of a particular approach to business to empower the trainees. In the deductive method, we carefully derived some assertions and information that would later become helpful for this study through the structured one-on-one interview held with the director of Footprints Arts Ambassadors. In analytical method, we did cursory analysis of dance pedagogy and entrepreneurial study as well as review related literatures, magazines and journals. We identified some pedagogical yardsticks and entrepreneurial approaches which have been used in successfully managing the fledging dance company. We also discovered some considerable factors to establishing a successful arts entrepreneurial company in Nigeria.We found that economic and social trend, as well as some personal entrepreneurial attributesplay key role in an entrepreneur's approach to arts and theatre management. Therefore, we conclude that, whatever approach, style or operation mode a dance/theatre entrepreneur chooses; his aim should be for the success and development of both individuals and company. Thus, we recommend that dance scholars and practitioners update their teaching approach to making dance pedagogy a viable and self-reliant endeavour, rather than being a tool for entertainment, body therapy and cultural propagation alone.This will undoubtedlyposition dance on the same pedestrian with other art forms globally making wave in the entertainment industrytoday.
Keywords: Dance pedagogy, Entrepreneurship, Trainees, Footprints Arts Ambassadors, Management


A voltage controller is proposed and implemented for grid-connected inverters based on H∞ and repetitive control techniques. A frequency adaptive mechanism is introduced to improve system performance and to cope with grid frequency variations. The repetitive control, based on the internal model principle, offers excellent performance for voltage tracking, as it can deal with a very large number of harmonics simultaneously. This leads to a very low total harmonic distortion and improved tracking performance. It turns out that the controller can be reduced to a proportional gain cascaded with the internal model (in a re-arranged form), which can be easily implemented in real applications. The proposed controller is experimentally tested to validate its performance, focusing on reducing tracking error and total harmonic distortion, under different scenarios (e.g. in the stand-alone mode or in the grid-connected mode, with or without the frequency adaptive mechanism, with linear or non-linear loads etc).


The prevention of self-harm and suicide in prisoners depends on good interaction between the individual prisoner and prison staff. Staff perceptions of prisoner self-harm are likely to be a crucial factor influencing this interaction. The aim of the present study was to determine correctional officers' perception of the causes and functions of self-harm, and the effects of incident severity and repetitiveness on perceptions. A sample of 76 correctional officers was presented with a vignette depicting a self-harm in which the severity and repetitiveness of the incident was systematically altered. Officers' rated both the causes and functions of the behaviour. Four attributional dimensions were identified by factor analysis. These factors related primarily to personal factors about the individual prisoner. Staff perceived the functions of self-harm to be communicative rather than to commit suicide. Perceptions were not affected by severity or repetitiveness information, except for high severity leading to a greater perception of suicidal intent. Initiatives to help staff work more effectively and therapeutically with distressed prisoners are therefore likely to impact positively upon rates of self-harm.


This volume contains a selection of seven short courses in number theory taught during a special trimester at Institut Henri Poincare (from September to December 2004), centered on Diophantine equations and how to effectively solve them. The lectures, targeted at second year graduate students, display an attractive panorama of mathematical ideas and tools, that can be used to reach this goal.


This article describes the methodology in understanding the dynamic life of farmers in managing their agriculture. Several research approaches, including human ecology, agroecosystem, and farming system have been described. The human ecological approach may be used to study a relationship between population dynamic and the environment in the farming system. Agroecosystem analysis approach may be implemented to analyse the multidiscipline and rapid appraisal techniques of farming system. Farming system approach may be undertaken for analysing a particular arrangement of farming enterprises which are managed by farmers.


We extend our analysis of the data-dependent quantized voltage level selection (DDLS) technique for dynamic supply voltage scaling (DSVS) systems. The energy analysis was performed using a very conservative energy model considering all combinations of two, three and four quantized voltage levels, and the minimum-energy-yielding quantized voltage levels were selected. For test data, we used nine 300-frame MPEG-2 video sequences in QCIF (Quarter Common Intermediate Format). Our results indicate that energy savings of up to 12% are achievable by selecting quantized voltage levels based on the workload distribution.


Abstract The microwave (MW) technique has become an important tool also in the organophosphorus field of organic chemistry. On the one hand, otherwise reluctant reactions, such as the esterification of P-acids, may be enhanced by the effect of MW, while on the other hand, catalysts may be omitted, or catalyst systems may be simplified on MW irradiation. This later group includes the Kabachnik–Fields reactions, alkylation of active methylene-containing compounds, O-alkylations, deoxygenations, as well as the Hirao reaction. It is also the purpose of this review to elucidate the scope and limitations of the MW tool, to interpret the MW effects, and to model the distribution of local overheatings and their beneficial effect. 1 Introduction 2 The Esterification of Phosphinic Acids 2.1 Synthetic Results 2.2 Scope and Limitation of the Application of MWs 2.3 Modelling the Distribution of the Local Overheatings and Predicting Their Effect 3 The Simplification of Catalytic Systems 3.1 Replacement of the Catalyst by MW Irradiation 3.1.1 The Kabachnik–Fields Reaction 3.1.2 Solid–Liquid Phase Alkylation of Active Methylene-Containing Compounds 3.1.3 Solid–Liquid Phase Alkylation of Phosphinic Acids 3.1.4 The Deoxygenation of Phosphine Oxides 3.2 The Hirao Reaction without Added P-Ligands 4 Conclusions


Distinct enhancement of antibody-specific clones was apparent during the screening against random peptide libraries with antigen-specific polyclonal antibodies. Several sequence motifs obtained from these screenings were homologous with the primary sequence of myoglobin. Two of these motifs have been confirmed as antigenic determinants by competitive inhibition tests using eight-branched synthetic peptides. One of the peptides has a sequence that corresponds to amino acid residues 42-50, KFDRFKHLK, of the myoglobin sequence. This is a new epitope of myoglobin that is reported for the first time. The epitope is located precisely in the "turn' or "loop' region between helices C and D of the crystal structure of myoglobin. The second antibody binding site has a sequence of DIAAKYKELGYQG, and this is located between residues 141-153, which is the C-terminus of myoglobin. This epitope encompassed two linear epitopes of myoglobin, amino acid residues 145-151 and 147-153, that have been reported earlier based on immunochemical characterisation of cleavage fragments of the protein. These results clearly indicate that epitope mapping using polyclonal antibodies against random peptide libraries can identify new epitopes precisely, as well as confirm epitopes of myoglobin obtained earlier using established methodologies.


Antagonistic bacteria originating from the rhizosphere are being used in sheath blight
 management. However, little is known about the potential of bacteria inhabiting the
 phyllosphere. Hence, a study was initiated with the aim of assessing the effective
 bacterial antagonists against the disease. A total of 325 bacterial isolates obtained
 from 100 rice plant samples collected from different locations of Malaysia and
 Bangladesh were preliminarily screened. Out of the 325 bacterial isolates, 14 were
 selected based on their ability to inhibit the growth of R. solani. In dual culture tests
 isolates KMB25, TMB33, PMB38, UMB20 and BMB42 showed 68.44, 60.89,
 60.22, 50.00 and 48.22% inhibitions, respectively. In extracellular metabolites tests
 most of these isolates showed comparatively higher percentages of growth inhibition
 of the fungus than in dual culture tests. Selected isolates were negative to indole,
 methyl red, Voges Proskaeur, and starch hydrolysis but positive to catalase, urease,
 and nitrate reduction tests. Isolates KMB25, TMB33 and PMB38 were positive to
 gelatin liquefaction, while isolates UMB20 and BMB42 were negative to the test.
 Biolog identified P. fluorescens (UMB20), P. aeruginosa (KMB25, TMB33 and
 PMB38) and P. asplenii (BMB42) with the similarity index ranging from 0.52 to
 0.70. The identities of the selected three bacterial isolates UMB20, KMB25 and
 BMB42 were further confirmed through 16S rDNA gene sequencing. According to
 the GenBank database of NCBL, UMB20 and BMB42 were identified as P.
 fluorescens and KMB25 as P. aeruginosa. Fungal growth inhibition ranging from
 86.85 to 93.15% was obtained by these strains in volatile and 100% was in diffusible
 metabolites test. Among the 3 strains, UMB20 and BMB42 produced indole 3-acetic
 acid and chitinase, but not protease. All of them produced cellulase, siderophore,
 HCN, and ammonia and were able to solubilize phosphate. Strains UMB20 and
 BMB42 were preserved in peat and talc as single strains or in mixtures. The peat
 formulation was found to be more suitable than talc to retain longer shelf life of
 individuals and strain mixtures with sufficient viable cells. At 4°C of storage
 condition peat formulations were better than room temperature (28±2°C) condition.
 In bioefficacy tests of peat based bacterial formulations under glass house conditions,
 the strain mixture and UMB20 alone significantly reduced the disease severity in
 terms of area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) compared to the untreated control. Percent reduction of AUDPC was 32.79, 32.58 and 21.19 for strain mixture
 (UMB20+BMB42), UMB20 and BMB42, respectively. Significantly lowest disease
 progression rate (0.01unit/day) was found in the strain mixture applied plants. In
 addition to disease suppression, the strain mixture enhanced the plant height,
 percentage of effective tillers per hill, and percentage of fertile spikelets per panicle.
 Effects of all the treatments on flag leaf area, total number of tillers and number of
 effective tillers were insignificant. Significantly highest weight of 100-grain (1.65 g)
 was obtained from the strain mixture applied plants. The Pseudomonas bacteria
 isolated from rice plants had the potential to inhibit the fungal growth in vitro and in
 vivo and possessed most of the plant growth promoting characteristics. They have the
 potential to be utilized as biocontrol agents for management of sheath blight in rice.


About 5% of tumours clinically begin as unknown origin metastases involving some difficult diagnostic and therapeutic problems. In these cases the main goal is the formulation of the diagnosis as rapidly as possible because only about 10-15% of diagnosed patients are susceptible of treatment. Between 1973-1989 we observed 59 patients with unknown origin metastases. The diagnosis has been expressed in 5 patients by means of histochemical and immunohistochemical analysis, in 6 patients by means of radiologic and instrumental tests and in 3 patients spontaneously after 2-3 months.


German hog production responds only very limited to price fluctuations in the pork market. The hog production concentrates in a few regions though it does not depend on special natural conditions. Furthermore, the production volume does hardly vary over time. Relatively high market risks, sunk costs, and the flexibility of the decision maker to defer investments characterize decision problems hog production. Thus the real option approach is chosen to explain the inertia in production capacity. Using panel data of specialised hog farms from the German farm accountancy data network (FADN) an empirical investment model is estimated. Formally, the model has the structure of an ordered probit model. This approach allows to test for economic hysteresis in the adjustment of hog production capacity. The results confirm that uncertainty and flexibility widen the optimal range of inaction.


♦ Background: Early peritonitis was confirmed to be associated with a higher risk of early technique failure. However, literature concerning peritonitis within the first 3 months of peritoneal dialysis (PD) initiation is scarce. The present study was to investigate risk factors associated with early-onset peritonitis in PD patients. ♦ Methods: In this retrospective observational cohort study, all incident PD patients from January 1, 2006, to December 31, 2013, were recruited and followed up until December 31, 2014. According to time-to-first episode of peritonitis, patients were divided into early-onset (≤ 3 months) peritonitis and late-onset (> 3 months) peritonitis. Baseline demographic, clinical, and laboratory data, as well as episodes of peritonitis, were collected. Risk factors associated with early-onset peritonitis were evaluated using logistic regression model. ♦ Results: Of 1,690 patients on PD, 503 (29.8%) developed at least 1 episode of peritonitis and 118 (7.0%) patients presented the first episodes of peritonitis within the first 3 months. A multivariate logistic analysis showed that higher body mass index (BMI) (odds ratio [OR] 1.08, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01 – 1.15, p = 0.034), hypoalbuminemia (OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.11 – 2.78, p = 0.017), and catheter exit-site infection (OR 4.14, 95% CI 2.45 – 7.00, p < 0.001) were risk factors independently associated with early-onset peritonitis. Compared to those with late-onset, patients with early-onset peritonitis had a higher overall peritonitis rate (0.76 vs 0.38 per patient-year, p < 0.001) and worse technique survival (p < 0.001), while patient survival did not differ significantly between the 2 groups during the long-term follow-up (p > 0.05). ♦ Conclusions: Higher BMI, hypoalbuminemia, and catheter exit-site infection were the risk factors associated with early-onset peritonitis in PD patients.


This study reports on the development of a Setswana tonal minimal pair word list, which could be implemented as research tool in the field of Bantu language linguistics and in speech pathology in South Africa. The development of the list was conducted in four phases. These are described as four separate studies. All involved Setswana L1 participants living in the urban areas of Gauteng. In Study 1, a 45-pair preliminary list was compiled from dictionaries. During Study 2, eleven L1 speakers' familiarity with each word was determined. Based on these results the list was narrowed down to 20 pairs. Study 3 entailed the validation of pictorial stimuli, which illustrate the target words. Ten different participants took part. Four pairs were not consistently familiar and were removed, resulting in the experimental list of 16 pairs. This list was validated in Study 4 and involved nine typical L1 speakers and five listeners. Word-specific analyses revealed that some words had a negative impact on the results. Six pairs were removed. A final list of 10 pairs rendered results more aligned to the expectation of typical speakers and listeners. Validation should continue to determine applicability in populations from exclusively rural or urban areas.


As a kind of basic energy, electric power energy security problem is very crucial. To raise the power system stability, assess and supervise the whole power system and its inner potential risks as well as establishing the power security risk assessment system to cope with catastrophe is of great theoretical and practical importance. The paper first analyses the defects of existing power system risk assessment system. It proposes that the power security risk assessment work should adopt the mode of government and electric power enterprises collaboration. Then from the practical point of view, it establishes the new practical power system risk assessment framework that should be cooperated by both government and electric power enterprises to cope with catastrophe and prevent large area blackout in power system. The new risk assessment framework is consist of traditional stability analysis, newly developed probabilistic reliability analysis as well as the risk analysis on power system structure, technology, equipment and management aspects. At present the newly developed risk assessment framework has been applied in Guangdong province and therefore proves that the assessment system framework is scientific and practical.


Large language models (LLMs) with hundreds of billions of parameters have sparked a new wave of exciting AI applications. However, they are computationally expensive at inference time. Sparsity is a natural approach to reduce this cost, but existing methods either require costly retraining, have to forgo LLM's in-context learning ability, or do not yield wall-clock time speedup on modern hardware. We hypothesize that contextual sparsity, which are small, input-dependent sets of attention heads and MLP parameters that yield approximately the same output as the dense model for a given input, can address these issues. We show that contextual sparsity exists, that it can be accurately predicted, and that we can exploit it to speed up LLM inference in wall-clock time without compromising LLM's quality or in-context learning ability. Based on these insights, we propose DejaVu, a system that uses a low-cost algorithm to predict contextual sparsity on the fly given inputs to each layer, along with an asynchronous and hardware-aware implementation that speeds up LLM inference. We validate that DejaVu can reduce the inference latency of OPT-175B by over 2X compared to the state-of-the-art FasterTransformer, and over 6X compared to the widely used Hugging Face implementation, without compromising model quality. The code is available at https://github.com/FMInference/DejaVu.


This paper is concerned with the bending problem of a fibre-composite plate in the elas- tic range. Within the classical Kirchhoff plate theory, two approaches are utilized. In the model due towitka, the fibre-composite plate is treated as a homogeneous medium with a number of embedded families of fibres, while in the second model the plate is consid- ered as a system of orthotropic layers. The bending problem is formulated in classical and variational forms and solved by finite element method. We have developed our own computer code and numerically compared predictions of the two models and other mod- els available in the program ABAQUS on test examples. Numerical results illustrating influence of the placement of fibres on the quantities of interest are also included.


Indium tin oxide (ITO) platform is one of the promising solutions towards state-of-the-art integrated optical modulators for silicon photonics applications. We demonstrate the way to obtain both high extinction ratio and low insertion loss electro-optic modulation with ITO-based film stack. By investigating e-beam evaporated 20 nm-thick ITO films with amorphous, heterogeneously crystalline, homogeneously crystalline with hidden coarse grains and pronounced coarsely crystalline structure, a low carrier concentration (from 1·1020 to 2·1020 cm-3) is achieved. The mechanism of oxygen migration in ITO film crystallization is proposed based on morphological features observed under low-energy growth conditions. We compare three electro-optic modulator active elements (current-voltage and optical characteristics) and reach strong ITO dielectric permittivity variation induced by charge accumulation/depletion (Δn = 0.199, Δk = 0.240 at λ = 1550nm under ±16V). Our simulations and experimental results demonstrate the unique potential to create integrated GHz-range electro-optical modulators with sub-db losses.


We have been developing new techniques to evaluate polymer nano-alloys and nano-composites. This nanotechnology can be classified into nano-three dimensional (3D) measurement, nano-physical properties evaluation systems, and nano-spectroscopy. As for the nano-3D measurement, we developed polymer oriented energy-filtered 3D transmission electron microscopy. With this method, we can access important 3D structural and elemental information that cannot be obtainable from ordinary TEM. Nano-physical properties evaluation systems were also established by developing atomic force microscopy force-distance curve measurement. The distribution of mechanical properties such as Young's modulus and adhesive energy was quantitatively obtained on high lateral resolution. These methods give new pieces of information unobtainable by the conventional techniques on polymer nanotechnology. Several results are shown here.


In this work, a comprehensive study is performed on the relationship between audio, visual and emotion by applying the principles of cognitive emotion theory into digital creation. The study is driven by an audiovisual emotion library project that is named AVIEM, which provides an interactive interface for experimentation and evaluation of the perception and creation processes of audiovisuals. AVIEM primarily consists of separate audio and visual libraries and grows with user contribution as users explore different combinations between them. The library provides a wide range of experimentation possibilities by allowing users to create audiovisual relations and logging their emotional responses through its interface. Besides being a resourceful tool of experimentation, AVIEM aims to become a source of inspiration, where digitally created abstract virtual environments and soundscapes can elicit target emotions at a preconscious level, by building genuine audiovisual relations that would engage the viewer on a strong emotional stage. Lastly, various schemes are proposed to visualize information extracted through AVIEM, to improve the navigation and designate the trends and dependencies among audiovisual relations.


Sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted more and more attention for scalable electrical energy storage due to the abundance and wide distribution of Na resources. However, the anode still remains a great challenge for the application of SIBs. Here the production of uniform hard carbon microtubes (HCTs) made from natural cotton through one simple carbonization process and their application as an anode are reported. The study shows that the electrochemical performance of the HCTs is seriously affected by the carbonization temperature due to the difference in their microstructure and heteroatomic content. The HCTs carbonized at 1300 °C deliver the highest reversible capacity of 315 mAh g−1 and good rate capability due to their unique tubular structure. This contribution not only provides a new approach for the preparation of hard carbon materials with unique tubular microstructure using natural inspiration, but it also deepens the fundamental understanding of the sodium storage mechanism.


Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several forms of early onset and refractory adult periodontitis. Early diagnosis of colonization of the oral cavity might be of importance in order to initiate preventive measures. The aim of the present study was to determine the potential diagnostic value of oral mucosal and salivary tests to identify, among healthy young men with no or minor periodontal disease, individuals colonized by A. actinomycetemcomitans. Two hundred and one male recruits, 18-25 yr of age, took part in the present study. Mean values of periodontal parameters suggested only minor periodontal disease. Of the sites, 64.8 +/- 17.6% (mean +/- SD) had a periodontal probing depth (PPD) of 1 or 2 mm, only 1.6 +/- 2.9% deep sites of > or = 5 mm were detected. More than 1000 subgingival and extracrevicular samples were selectively cultivated for A. actinomycetemcomitans. The organism was isolated in 55 subjects (27%). The odds for presence of at least 1 deep site of 5 mm was increased by a factor 1.99 if A. actinomycetemcomitans, could be recovered. In identifying subjects colonized by A. actinomycetemcomitans, diagnostic test parameters sensitivity and predictive value for a negative test were 74.5 +/- 5.9% and 91.1 +/- 2.3%, respectively, for both saliva and dorsum of tongue samples. In contrast, pooled subgingival plaque from mesial surfaces of 1st molars was only 34.5 +/- 6.4% sensitive; the negative predictive value was 80.2 +/- 3.0%. The results point to a high diagnostic value of oral mucosal and especially saliva samples to identify young adult individuals colonized by A. actinomycetemcomitans.


The synthetic, tension-free midurethral sling procedure using transobturator tape (TOT) was introduced in 2001 and has become the most widely used procedure for the treatment of female urinary incontinence worldwide. However, infectious complications associated with erosions have occasionally been reported because of a foreign body reaction to the polypropylene mesh. We observed a case of a bilateral recurrent thigh abscess manifesting 5 years after a TOT sling procedure. The patient had recurrent thigh abscesses with repeated incisions and drainages in the past 1 year. Five months earlier, she had undergone a procedure to remove the eroded suburethral mesh, but incompletely. The right thigh abscess recurred, and ultimately the residual mesh was completely excised with abscess drainage. Complete mesh removal is very important to prevent abscess recurrence, and it is necessary for any urologist treating women who have undergone the TOT procedure to be aware of the possibility of abscesses occurring for a long time after the operation.


To date, research on the economic implications of climate change on fisheries has been both limited and fragmented. The contributors to this volume remedy the lack of attention by investigating the economic consequences of pelagic fish fluctuations in the recent past in order to understand how to adapt and respond to future climate changes.


OBJECTIVES:This study aims to assess the prevalence of gastric electrical activity dysfunction with cutaneous electrogastrography (EGG), disturbances of gastric emptying function using radiopaque pellets, and gastric endoscopic abnormalities in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). We also investigate for an association between EGG and gastric-emptying data with clinical manifestations and esophageal motor disturbances.METHODS:Fasting and postprandial gastric electrical activity was studied in 22 consecutive patients with SSc (17 with and 5 without clinical gastric manifestations) and 22 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects. Gastric emptying of radiopaque pellets and gastroscopy were also performed in SSc patients.RESULTS:The prevalence of EGG disturbances was as high as 81.82% in SSc patients. SSc patients exhibited, compared with controls, higher median percentage of dominant frequency in bradygastria during the fasting period and lower median values for postprandial electrical power and postprandial to fasting ratio for electrical power. Gastric emptying of radiopaque pellets was delayed in 11 SSc patients, and gastroscopy demonstrated "watermelon stomach" in 3 SSc patients. No correlation was found between the severity of gastric impairment and clinical presentation, SSc duration and subsets, and esophageal manometric impairment.CONCLUSIONS:Our study underlines the high frequency of gastric dysfunction in SSc patients. It suggests the usefulness of EGG in SSc in noninvasively detecting disorders of gastric electrical activity at an early stage and symptomatic patients with gastroparesis (because there was a correlation between values of postprandial to fasting ratio for electrical power of < 1 on EGG and delayed gastric emptying). Gastric-emptying evaluation of radiopaque pellets may further be a helpful method to depict symptomatic SSc patients with gastroparesis. Finally, our series confirms that watermelon stomach diagnosis should be excluded in SSc patients presenting with gastrointestinal hemorrhage or with anemia related to iron deficiency.


As of August15, 2020, more than 21,155,600 people were infected and about 761,264 were expired due to SARS-CoV-2 infection worldwide. The extreme spread of the emerging virus makes the disease a serious problem for public health. However, a curative treatment or effective specific vaccine againstSARS-CoV-2 infection is unavailable. Recently, several studies have been performed to evaluate the effects of COVID-19 convalescent plasma transfusion on the clinical outcomes in patients with severe/critical COVID-19 [1-5]. However, the results from these studies aredatable, and thus its useremains investigational.


Abstract Objective To estimate the effect of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) compared with conventional mechanical ventilation on outcomes of patients with covid-19 associated respiratory failure. Design Observational study. Setting 30 countries across five continents, 3 January 2020 to 29 August 2021. Participants 7345 adults admitted to the intensive care unit with clinically suspected or laboratory confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. Interventions ECMO in patients with a partial pressure of arterial oxygen to fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) ratio <80 mm Hg compared with conventional mechanical ventilation without ECMO. Main outcome measure The primary outcome was hospital mortality within 60 days of admission to the intensive care unit. Adherence adjusted estimates were calculated using marginal structural models with inverse probability weighting, accounting for competing events and for baseline and time varying confounding. Results 844 of 7345 eligible patients (11.5%) received ECMO at any time point during follow-up. Adherence adjusted mortality was 26.0% (95% confidence interval 24.5% to 27.5%) for a treatment strategy that included ECMO if the PaO2/FiO2 ratio decreased <80 mm Hg compared with 33.2% (31.8% to 34.6%) had patients received conventional treatment without ECMO (risk difference –7.1%, 95% confidence interval –8.2% to –6.1%; risk ratio 0.78, 95% confidence interval 0.75 to 0.82). In secondary analyses, ECMO was most effective in patients aged <65 years and with a PaO2/FiO2 <80 mm Hg or with driving pressures >15 cmH2O during the first 10 days of mechanical ventilation. Conclusions ECMO was associated with a reduction in mortality in selected adults with covid-19 associated respiratory failure. Age, severity of hypoxaemia, and duration and intensity of mechanical ventilation were found to be modifiers of treatment effectiveness and should be considered when deciding to initiate ECMO in patients with covid-19.


Natural categories seem to be comprised of clustered stimuli that contain a myriad of correlated features; birds, for example, tend to fly, have wings, lay eggs, and make nests. Nonetheless, the evidence that people use these correlations during intentional category learning is overwhelmingly negative (Murphy, 2002). People do, however, show evidence of correlational sensitivity during other types of category learning tasks (e.g., feature prediction). The usual explanation is that intentional category learning tasks promote rule use, which discards the correlated feature information; whereas, other types of category learning tasks promote exemplar storage, which preserves correlated feature information. However, all of the intentional category learning tasks employed to examine correlational sensitivity to date have only used deterministic mappings of stimuli to categories (i.e., each stimulus belongs to only one category). The current thesis is concerned primarily with the effects introducing the probabilistic assignment of stimuli to categories on the acquisition of different types of correlational knowledge. If correlational knowledge depends on whether or not people selectively attend to the correlation then probabilistic reinforcement, which is predicted to increase attention shifting (Kruschke & Johansen, 1999), should lead to increased correlational sensitivity. The first paper of this thesis confirms that selective attention provides a way to explain the presence or absence of correlational knowledge in different tasks. However, selective attention models have been unable to account for tasks in which people use the correlation between a non-relevant cue and regions of the category space to switch between the application of multiple rules. This phenomenon, known as knowledge partitioning, is explored in the second paper of this thesis. This thesis iii also extends the empirical implications of the first two papers to existing research (see included paper 3) and also provides recommendations of how utilize this conceptualization of knowledge for practitioners in the applied setting (see included paper 4). Finally, in addition to increasing attention shifting, probabilistic feedback is also assumed to result in an attenuation of learning over time (Kruschke & Johansen, 1999); the fifth paper in this thesis provides empirical confirmation that people attenuate learning in response to unavoidable error.


Recent global climate changes have affected vegetation coverage in the Tibetan Plateau. Based on the remote sensing images and the meteorological data from 1986 to 2000, using the model of extracting vegetation coverage, the spatiotemporal changes of vegetation coverage and its responses to global climate changes in the Tibetan Plateau during 1986-2000 were studied. The results showed that from 1986 to 2000 vegetation coverage increased 0.011 as a whole, except some small regions degradation in the Tibetan Plateau. Global climate changes have contributed to an increase of vegetation coverage in the Tibetan Plateau, and the vegetation coverage change was positively correlated with the changes of precipitation and temperature. The regions with decreasing vegetation coverage were mainly distributed in the southeast where the recent warming trends contribute to humid weather and favorable conditions for vegetation growth, while increasing vegetation coverage were in the northwest where higher temperature have led to arid conditions and insufficient rainfall of the Tibetan Plateau. The responses of vegetation coverage to climate changes varied with different vegetation types.


Organizational psychology is an applied science. It is driven by a desire to address issues that are important to people at work. Perhaps as a consequence of this applied focus that sometimes appears to prioritize data over theory and applicability over fundamental insight, the field of organizational psychology seems undertheorized. Of course, good scientific research in organizational psychology is guided by well-developed conceptual analyses, but by the realities of research in academia these analyses are limited to what can actually be tested in the particular study at hand. As a result, there is much ''micro-theory'' limited to the set of relationships that can be covered empirically in one study, but far less conceptual work that is integrative and overarching—work that offers broader ranging theoretical perspectives that speak more comprehensively to the issues under consideration. Probably exacerbating this problem is that academic journals often prioritize novelty in empirical contributions to such an extent that programmatic development of a theoretical analysis across studies increasingly seems to be penalized by the observation that the contribution is ''too incremental'' in building on prior work to warrant publication (belying the very fact that scientific progress is largely incremental and providing an incentive to downplay conceptual connections with prior work). Yet, as Kurt Lewin, one of the founders of organizational psychology as a scientific discipline, famously noted, the practical significance and value of good theory is enormous. Theory explains and thus allows practice to move beyond an ill-understood ''bag of tricks'' to better informed actions, and theory guides the further development of knowledge to develop more sophisticated practice. Perhaps part of the problem here is that many academic outlets in the field seem less than welcoming to conceptual work. Despite the substantive number of journals for empirical research, there is a striking lack of dedicated outlets for conceptual work in organizational psychology. While a number of empirical journals in principle are open to conceptual


Turning Hastelloy X alloy experiments was carried out according to the experimental plan designed based on the quadratic rotary combination design technique. The regression model of average surface roughness (Ra) is assigned for the exponential form. By identifying regression coefficient using genetic algorithm toolbox in MALAB7.1, a regression model of Ra was obtained. The residual error of regression model is smaller, and the rule that the regression model reveals is identical with both visual analyses result of experiment data and experimental phenomena, so the regression model is fitted very well.


The aim of the paper is to point out the cause of the asymmetric relationship between real estate price and consumption. Generally, when prices raise consumption decreases. However, real estate is not only source of housing. It is also a source of wealth and as such can be converted into liquidity at a suitable time by using a home equity loan. Unfortunately, the best time for this convertibility is the moment least suitable for the authorities who are responsible for monetary control. Firstly, I refer to the channel of a transmission mechanism by which central bank can disrupt the economy at the time of boom. Secondly, I introduce and verify a mechanism that may cause the rise of consumption depending on the real estate price increase in boom times. Last but not least, I mention why there could be the relationship between the price of real estate and the consumption problematic when setting monetary policy. The cross-correlation analysis is implemented on data of the Czech Republic which cover the period between 2006Q1 and 2017Q4. The outcome of the work results in the fact that a mechanism which can pump up a large amount of financial resources to the economy at an inappropriate moment can be a reason why the effectiveness of restrictive measures of the monetary authorities in the Czech Republic is slowing down.


Each superficial cell of the flagellated neuroepithelium of the subumbrellar pit of the medusa of Aurelia aurita sends out a basal neurite which turns through one right angle to join other neurites in a well aligned neurite layer next to the mesoglea. In with the neurites are many flagella whose cells of origin are submerged neuroepithelial cells. Because both neurites and flagella are the same diameter and because the flagellar microtubules tend to become separated in such a way as to resemble neurotubules, it was suspected that perhaps flagella could transform into neurites along their course. The evidence was weighed and found wanting mainly because the flagellar origin is blocked by a diaphragm and constriction of the plasma membrane thus preventing the egress of soma-produced granular vesicles and mitochondria which are cytoplasmic features confined to neurites.


Introduction. Diabetes is included in the group of metabolic diseases. According to the estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO) the global number of patients suffering from diabetes has increased to 387 million in just 11 years. 5% of Polish society, which is about 2 million, is diagnosed with this particular illness in Poland. Metabolic disorders occur 2 to 3 times more often in patients with mental diseases than in the general population. Often diabetes is accompanied by depression making it a chronic illness. Aim. The aim of the study is to identify factors determining the prevalence and intensification of depression in patients suffering from diabetes. Material and methods. The study included 100 patients with diabetes in the Subcarpathian region, who are being treated in specialist clinics. The study was conducted from 12th to 20th April 2016 using an original questionnaire. Verification of differences was performed by means of chi-square test of independence and U Manna-Whitney test, applying the significance level at p < 0.05. Calculations were performed using SPSS. Results. The average age of the respondents was 41.25 years, SD = 15.38. The prevalence of depression in family history was pointed by 31% of responders and 40.0% of them declared permanent psychiatric consultations. Depression was diagnosed in 25.0% of the diabetic patients. Among the symptoms observed the respondents enumerated fatigue, lack of energy, lack of motivation to make any effort (60.0%). Depression was treated more often among patients treated for diabetes for over 20 years (53.8%). Conclusions. The prevalence of depression symptoms was observed by all of the patients in the study. The most common ones included fatigue, lack of energy and lack of motivation to make any effort. More men than women stated that they were consulting a psychiatrist. The patients who suffered from diabetic complications are more eager to consult a psychiatrist and undergo the treatment for depression. Fluctuations of blood glucose may have an impact on depression symptoms in diabetic patients.


Many practical applications require the simultaneous estimation of unknown dynamical parameters and unknown initial means and covariances from an ensemble of tests. A recursive algorithm which asymptotically obtains the maximum likelihood estimate of both sets of unknown parameters is presented. The computational requirements of the algorithm are greatly reduced by partitioning the parameter vector into initial and dynamical parameters and making use of a sufficient statistic as an intermediate variable for the estimation of initial condition parameters. This partitioning leads to a twotier filter for calculating some of the required parameter sensitivities. The results are illustrated by an application to a simplified robotic system.


ABSTRACT Zhang, B.; Wang, Z.; Wang, T., and Sun, L., 2015. Design of hydraulic telescopic grouted clamp device and analysis of its closing collision. The strengthening structure for the underwater jacket of offshore platform has been studied, which is used to reinforce the jacket's fragile points and damaged parts. A technical support for the strengthening area of the civil offshore platform is also provided. Besides, the overall plan is put forward on the structure of the hydraulic telescopic grouted clamp, including the general mechanical structure and the hydraulic control system. The general mechanical structure of the clamp is designed to achieve the automatically closing and locking process of the clamp and especially to resolve the self-locking problem. Moreover, the maximum impact force of the clamp can be reduced by the speed optimization design of the hydraulic cylinders and effectively improve the clamp structural strength.


The Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX) provides spatial data to support the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) National Coastal Mapping Program (NCMP) and hurricane damage evaluation and response. The NCMP was designed to provide topographic and bathymetric elevation data with accompanying digital, geo-referenced imagery to USACE District engineers and scientists. The data support monitoring and maintenance of federal navigation and shore protection projects, and regional sediment management. The main source of these data is the CHARTS system, which is owned by the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office and operated through the JALBTCX. The NCMP leverages other federal entities' funding, equipment, and mapping programs to efficiently provide these data to the USACE, and avoid duplication of coastal mapping initiatives.


The article begins with a presentation of reasons for the minimal influence of homework research, and educational research in general, on policy and practice. We propose that the practical use of research is hampered by the complexity of real-world settings, by flawed research designs, and by the probabilistic nature of research outcomes. Systematic research syntheses are offered as providing one way to overcome these difficulties. This special issue is a case example. To set the stage for the articles and discussion that follow, a definition for homework is offered along with a brief history of public attitudes toward homework and a listing of positive and negative effects attributed to homework. Then, the results of a research synthesis and a survey study are described that provide evidence for answering a complex and controversial question: How much time should students spend on homework each night? Little association is found between the amount of homework young students complete and achievement. The association grows progressively stronger for older groups of students. Other research suggests that young children have limited ability to keep their attention focused and have not learned good study skills. Two examples are provided showing how the research results can be used to evaluate the appropriateness of recommendations for policy and practice.


Introduction: In Malaysia, the rate of adolescents involved in sexual activities has increased and starts at an earlier age. Data from NHMS 2017 showed that 7.3% among surveyed 13 to 17 years-old adolescents have already had sex. The rate of teenage pregnancies is also increasing at 3.7-3.9% between the years 2009 until 2011. Therefore, an effective SRH Programme should be conducted in schools to equip them with adequate knowledge regarding this subject. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among 145 randomly selected secondary school students aged 13 to 15 years old, attending the SRH Programme in a secondary school in Cheras, Selangor, Malaysia. The objective of this programme is to deliver knowledge and promote awareness among adolescents regarding SRH. The programme consists of intervention using adolescent-friendly module and games. A pre- and post-test were given to the participants to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme using the validated SRH questionnaire (Malay version). The questionnaire consists of fourteen and six items for knowledge and attitude, respectively. Results: The result showed an increase in the mean knowledge score (±SD) after the SRH Programme at the school from 7.25 ± 2.44 for pre-test to 9.70 ± 3.17 for post-test. The mean difference in pre- and post-test was 2.45 (95% CI: 2.02, 2.87) and was statistically significant (p<0.001). In terms of attitudes, the majority of the students felt that they have enough knowledge to make a gooddecision regarding sexual reproductive health issues after the SRH programme. However, there was only a small increment with regards to their attitudes on assertiveness. Conclusion: This study demonstrated an increase in the level of knowledge among adolescents in Cheras after the SRH programme using the adolescent-friendly module and games. However, there is no significant change in attitude among adolescents regarding SRH.Future SRH programmes need to be done regularly to instil positive attitudes among adolescents in dealing withsexual reproductive dilemmas. International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Supplementary Issue: 2021 Page: S20


This paper examines the role of entrepreneurship and innovation in the context of healthcare management by offering a number of research propositions. In recent years, hospitals have attracted ever growing commentary about rising costs and the need for improving information technology systems. Whilst there have been some service innovations introduced from other industries, particularly the manufacturing industry, there have been few service innovations originating from the healthcare sector. In the healthcare sector, there are a number of service innovations, which are discussed in this paper in terms of their relevance to managerial roles of hospital staff members. In addition, this paper examines the role of entrepreneurial managers in determining innovative technology behaviour in healthcare organisations. Literature from innovation management, corporate intrapreneurship and healthcare management is used to explain the findings of this paper and future areas of research are also proposed.


The effect of apamin, a polypeptide from bee venom, on the release of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) during active neurogenic vasodilatation in the intestines was studied in vivo in anesthetized cats. Three non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic mechanisms were investigated, i.e. the vasodilatation seen upon transmural electrical field stimulation, pelvic nerve activation and stimulation of the intramural nerves with 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) infused i.a. Apamin given close i.a. abolished the three vasodilator responses. Concomitantly, the increase of VIP release was also markedly diminished although apamin increased the rate of VIP release seen in the "resting" control period. The results are in agreement with the hypothesis that VIP is the neurotransmitter in the three investigated vasodilator mechanisms.


This paper deals with testing of nondeterministic software systems. We assume that a model of the nondeterministic system is given by a directed graph with two kind of vertices: states and choice points. Choice points represent the nondeterministic behaviour of the implementation under test (IUT). Edges represent transitions. They have costs and probabilities. Test case generation in this setting amounts to generation of a game strategy. The two players are the testing tool (TT) and the IUT. The game explores the graph. The TT leads the IUT by selecting an edge at the state vertices. At the choice points the control goes to the IUT. A game strategy decides which edge should be taken by the TT in each state. This paper presents three novel algorithms 1) to determine an optimal strategy for the bounded reachability game, where optimality means maximizing the probability to reach any of the given final states from a given start state while at the same time minimizing the costs of traversal; 2) to determine a winning strategy for the bounded reachability game, which guarantees that given final vertices are reached, regardless how the IUT reacts; 3) to determine a fast converging edge covering strategy, which guarantees that the probability to cover all edges quickly converges to 1 if TT follows the strategy.


Abstract The Liard, Kotaneelee and Tlogotsho Ranges lie within the southern Franklin Mountains of the southwestern Northwest Territories and southeastern Yukon Territory. Within the study area, the Liard and Kotaneelee Ranges exhibit a major change in trend from south to north. In the south, the ranges trend northwest while in the north they trend north-northeast. Geological field mapping was carried out during the summers of 2001 and 2002 to document the large-scale structures in the study area. The bedrock units exposed at the surface range in age from Late Devonian to Early Cretaceous. The topography of the study area is structurally controlled, with the Paleozoic, more resistant rocks forming the main parts of the ranges, and the Mesozoic, more recessive rocks occupying the valleys. The ranges are dominated by large-scale box anticlines and synclines, with less significant thrust faults. East–west and north–south stratigraphic variations have been documented and may have influenced the geometry of the ranges. Physical analogue modeling was carried out at the Queen's University Experimental Tectonics Laboratory to investigate the relationships between the mechanical stratigraphy and the structure of the study area and to identify potential causes of the dramatic change in trend of the ranges. Three possible controls on the change in trend were tested: (1) a transverse structure (the Beaver River structure); (2) changes in basement (Precambrian) elevation; and (3) stratigraphic facies variations. On the basis of the modeling it is concluded that the change in trend can be attributed to a change in basement elevation with a lesser effect due to facies changes.


PURPOSE
A series of 4 cases of omental infarction are analyzed. It is shown that obesity, as well as idiosyncratic anatomy, are factors in the development of this rare clinicopathologic entity.

METHODS
The authors reviewed the preoperative and operative records of all patients.

RESULTS
All of the cases of omental infarction were seen in obese children. Other than persistent right-sided abdominal pain, there were no other signs or symptoms. None of the patients had an elevated white blood cell count, and none had fever.

CONCLUSIONS
Computed tomography scanning is noted to be helpful in making the diagnosis. Laparoscopy is noted to be the procedure of choice, because standard incisions may preclude one from a proper exploration.


The purpose of this study is to determine the predictability of the Pakistani stock market's one-day forward returns by utilizing lagged daily returns for Pakistan, India, and Malaysia from 2006 to 2016. The findings indicate that lagged Pakistani market returns significantly predict Pakistani one-day ahead market returns. However, the other two growing stock markets, India and Malaysia, show no association with one-day ahead market returns. Mostly, stock market behavior in the pre-2008 and post-2008 eras was the same, although industry return behaviour was different due to the economic crisis of 2008. However, the Pakistani stock market one-day ahead returns predict the own Pakistani lag returns due to an inefficient market and prices do not follow a random walk. As a result, investors and financial analysts can foresee and generate anomalous returns by using previous data and information.
Key words: Stock Market Returns Predictability, Stock Market crash, Market efficiency


A scheme is proposed to enhance the energy of the electrons generated during the ionization of low-density krypton ions Kr32+ and argon ions Ar16+ by a radially polarized laser pulse using a negative frequency chirp. If a suitable frequency chirp is introduced then the energy of the electrons increases significantly and scattering decreases. The optimum value of the frequency chirp decreases with laser intensity and as well as spot size. The laser spot size also has an optimum value. The electron energy shows strong initial phase dependence. The scheme can be used to obtain quasi-monoenergetic collimated MeV/GeV electrons using the right choice of parameters. The chirped radially polarized laser pulse is more efficient than a chirped circularly polarized laser pulse to enhance energy and obtain quasi-monoenergetic electron beams.


Abstract. ApoE and LpL are important in the metabolism of triglyceride rich lipoproteins, and defects in either or both may result in hyperlipidaemia. It has previously been shown that ApoE and LPL specifically enhance cellular catabolism of lipoproteins by various cell lines. The authors determine in this paper the effect of ApoE and LpL on chylomicron and LDL binding and uptake by human hepatocytes in primary culture. Separate addition of ApoE and LpL greatly enhanced binding and uptake of chylomicrons. Simultaneous addition of ApoE and LPL further increased chylomicron uptake in an additive way. For LDL a different situation was observed: neither ApoE nor LPL mediated a significant increase of lipoprotein uptake. The authors conclude that ApoE and LpL co‐ordinately enhance binding and uptake of chylomicrons by primary human hepatocytes. The effect appears to be independent of LDL receptors and the co‐ordinate effect of ApoE and LPL may be important for normal chylomicron catabolism.


Background: Familiarity with different methods and medications in anesthesia and producing sufficient depth of anesthesia are very important in anesthesia practice. Due to the central analgesic and sedative effect of lidocaine in the presence of the sufficient blood level, it can be used for general anesthesia. This study was carried out to compare the effect of halothane with lidocaine infusion on BIS during maintenance of anesthesia. Materials and Methods: In this randomized double-blind controlled clinical trial, 66 patients scheduled for elective inguinal herniorrahaphy were randomized into two equal groups. For maintenance, one group received halothane (1%) with O2-N2O and another group received lidocaine infusion (100µg/kg/min). BIS was checked every 5 minutes for half an hour. Statistical analysis of data was done by Chi-square and T-test through SPSS software. Pvalues less than 0.05 were considered meaningful. Results: Mean of BIS was 65.72 in the lidocaine group and 56.7 in the halothane group during the first 30 minutes. There was a significant statistical difference between the two groups (P<0.05). Conclusion: Mean of BIS in lidocaine group was higher than that in the halothane group. If this indicates the presence of a light level of anesthesia, increasing the dose of hypnotics and opioids leads to an increase in the depth of anesthesia. However, since there is not any device for monitoring the effect of opioids on the central nervous system and the level of anesthesia, simultaneous monitoring of BIS and hemodynamic parameters seems to be a more reasonable idea.


The project "Virtual Archive of Temporary Exhibitions" deals with the development of an online archive able to document, preserve and make available digital materials related to the design of temporary exhibitions and cultural events. The project, in view of a renewed interest in the theme of "project's archives", focuses on Virtual Archives and Museums as fields of inquiry and application of Virtual's potentialities in preserving and documenting the "memory of the Temporary". Virtual Archives are also seen as paradigmatic "places" to verify design's potentiality in terms of cultural heritage valorization and in terms of definition of new fruitive "intangible" scenarios.


Mice were challenged with high (10(8)) or low (10(4)) numbers of allogenic tumor cells and assessed for cellular immunity. The responses obtained indicated that high dose challenge produced both delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) and cell-mediated cytotoxic reactivity (DCMC), while low dose challenge produced DTH, an apparent suppressive effect, and little or no DCMC. Pretreatment with 100 mg/kg of cyclophosphamide (CTX) 3 d before antigen failed to alter this pattern, but treatment 3 d after antigen administration abrogated both DTH and DCMC. Animals given a combined modulating protocol consisting of an initial low dose challenge followed on day 3 by CTX treatment and day 6 by a high dose challenge developed DCMC in the presence of a greatly reduced or absent DTH response. These results demonstrate the differential effects of allogeneic challenge dose on the development of cellular immunity; the differential effects of CTX treatment given prior to or following alloimmunization, and demonstrate how these effects can be combined to modulate the immune response by selectively activating subpopulations of T-lymphocytes.


We report on the elaboration of a new melamine molecularly imprinted silica (MIP). It was synthesized by surface molecular imprinting technique using silica gel as rigid support. Melamine was used as template molecule, 3‐mercaptopropyl trimethoxysilane immobilized onto the silica gel surface was used as a functional monomer and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as crosslinker. A non imprinted polymer was used (NIP) for comparison. The prepared materials were characterized by FT-IR, ATG and BET. The batch binding tests were carried out to evaluate the adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherms either for MIP and NIP. Results show that the imprinted sorbent exhibits higher binding capacity toward Melamine (Qmax = 912 μg.g ) compared to the non-imprinted one (Qmax = 338 μg.g ). Two binding isotherm models (Langmuir and Freundlich) were used to check the adsorption mode. The Freundlich model appears as the most suitable model for both imprinted and non-imprinted materials.The adsorption kinetic data were modeled using the pseudo-first and pseudo-second order equations. The results indicated that the adsorption of MEL on MIP follows a pseudo‐second‐order kinetic. Differentiation between adsorption phenomena onto each of the two substrates has been proposed and compared to the theoretical classification of adsorption isotherms. The application of intraparticle diffusion kinetics model has indicated that intraparticle diffusion was not the only rate limiting mechanism in the adsorption process.


Introduction and Background Information and telecommunication revolution in addition to huge knowledge and technological progress have provided a great opportunity for human development. Information and skills based on technological awareness and its applications become basic of modern economy as the global economy has changed to knowledge-based economy which relies on information technology, telecommunication and biological technology. (Al Sayed, 2004). Nowadays, humans witness the era of information revolution. Computers and information networks become one of the important tools in nations' lives. The international challenge is to subscribe in the biggest international information networks to obtain the maximum benefit from the massive potentials provided by them. All have to keep up to date with the phase of development (Al Ashmawy, 2011). This massive development in knowledge systems, information, telecommunication technology, globalization and open world policies required new methods to provide educational systems to prepare and guide individuals to the perfect usage of knowledge from its sources and apply it in the field of study and personal life. Modern education requires the variety in knowledge sources. These sources are necessary since the education process must focus on the intellectual development and ability to choose, evaluate and restructure knowledge into a new applicable knowledge styles such as using logic, scientific methods, problem solving method to enable the learner to renew and innovate by developing his intellectual skills. (Al Sayed, 2004). One aspect of the information revolution is social media websites which play an important role in education of the new generation and acquiring them correct habits and behaviors. They consider one of the important tools of the social change. Social and educational institutions focused on setting up students' programs and activities to ensure keeping youth busy with beneficial matters to develop their personalities. The educational process is not only about providing the students with new knowledge as it is a useful process to build the student's personality, it attempts to achieve the comprehensive balance in all the personality's aspects (Hosni, 2013). As a reality; all smart phones have a Whatsapp application that significantly made changes into people's life, especially in the Arab World. It made a revolution against the communication companies by securing the huge losses especially through the message of platforms. As Whatsapp is used on the platforms of iPhone, Android or Windows Phone or even on some Nokia cell phones operating with Symbian. Whatsapp is an instant Free messaging application with a multiple platforms that compatible with all smart phones operating systems. It allows the users to instantly messaging by messages, photos, videos, voice and multimedia in addition to the main messages of the users with any other user of the application existed in the list of his mobile names without limit provided that to have contact with internet or 3G network. (Al Zamel, 2015). Objectives This research is an attempt to identify the uses, contributions and roles of Whatsapp in the educational process among the Saudi female students at King Saud University. Importance of Study The current study is important since it will educate the female students to perform scientific studies in order to recognize the effect extent of the usage of Whatsapp in the academic achievement. Moreover, it may encourage the female students and lectures to use Whatsapp in all the functions of the educational process. In addition, it might help in activating the role of libraries in the development of scientific research through Whatsapp. The importance of this research is derived also from the recommendations of some studies such as the study of (AlBloushy, 2015) which emphasized enhancing the positives of Whatsapp and spreading awareness of its importance to be used by the responsible persons of the university as well as using it for educational purposes. …


Objectives: Cosmetics are known to cause adverse events in their users, although there is limited information on this topic both globally and in Türkiye. This study was carried out to assess the usage of cosmetics, patterns and characteristics of adverse cosmetic events (ACEs) among female nurses. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to April 2022 among registered female nurses with at least one year of work experience in a tertiary care hospital in Adana, Türkiye. The validated questionnaire (Cronbach alpha value: 0.800) was used for data collection which includes, 13 questions with three main sections. The first part comprised of demographic variables and cosmetic uses, second part addressed ACE and final section consisted of consultation types and reporting methods for adverse events adopted after experiencing ACE. Results: Of the total 158 participants, 144 were included in this study, making a 91.1% response rate. All the female nurses reported the use of cosmetics and 26.4% (n=38) reported the experience of one or more cosmetic ACEs. Itching, burning, and eczema were the most frequently observed ACE. A higher proportion of ACEs was related to face care products (18.4%) and deodorants (13.1%). More than half (57.9%) of the nurses did not adopt any consultation after experiencing ACE. Moreover, the majority of the participants (47.4%) did not report ACE to concerned healthcare authorities. Conclusion: A considerable proportion of the participants reported ACEs. Under-reporting of ACE was also highlighted in this study. The current study also emphasized the need for a robust cosmetovigilance system.


The application of clouds has become more and more prevalent over recent years. The operation among many different clouds faces a significant challenge due to the interface diversity and architecture differences. In this article, we address this interoperability problem by providing a uniform authentication, routing, delivery, composition and registration mechanism. Via NGSON, the adaptation, dynamic message routing, policy control, cloud transfer, and cloud composition operation can be provided for intercloud operations. This article also presents case studies of NGSON with capability to support inter-cloud operations.


The influence of nonlocal effects has been investigated for the metallic nano chain constructed of Au cylinders straightly arranged in one direction. The chain has two-unique propagation modes, longitudinal and transverse ones, and our investigation for the nonlocal effects has been made especially in terms of those. Obtained results clarify the relationships between the influence of the effects and the arranged cylinders characterized by the smallness and adjacency which deeply affect to also the propagation property of the two modes.


Recently, the wide range of the composite materials is used for the making airplanes, trains and automobiles body for the lightweight. Despite having complex structures, composite materials usually have well defined mechanical characteristics. However, composite materials are difficult to understand the fracture mechanism clearly by simple mechanical test. Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) combined with mechanical testing can play a more important role and especially Acoustic Emission Testing (AET) would become known to be a useful tool to assess damage and fracture behavior of composites. In this study The experiment was performed to acquire the acoustic emission signal during tensile test using unidirectional CFRP specimen and the data was analyzed the acoustic emission parameters with the waveform.


In this feature article we will focus on the issues relating to the crystal growth of co-crystals, with a particular emphasis on drug development. The initial focus of this perspective is on the relevant literature examples that may be able to inform our understanding with regards co-crystal crystallisation and the allied supramolecular concepts. The second part of this perspective contains selected examples from our own work, which add to the literature perspective. Topics include; nucleation templates, in situ synchrotron XRD studies, solid-state synthesis through mixing and screening strategies.


This case study explores how the Korea Leukemia Patient Group (KLPG) uses social media in its internal communication strategy and how that empowers its relationship with external counterparts. This study's findings indicate that the communication strategy of the local health Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) is changing in response to the increased effectiveness and impact of social media. Using social media (e.g., Twitter) the KLPG can quickly and effectively construct an issue-based advocacy group. Consequently, more legitimacy and representativeness through collected support from the general public have further empowered the KLPG. Yet, the sustainability component in the relationships built through social media use was not evidenced in the current findings. The effects of social media use were analyzed based on data from interviews with top-level KLPG executive members and general members, and from documentation and archival materials. Limitations and suggestions for future research are included.


BACKGROUND
It is unknown whether total wrist arthrodesis (TWA) should be performed with or without arthrodesis of the carpometacarpal joint (CMCJ). The aim of this study is to compare CMCJ-spanning TWA plates using 3D printed wrist arthrodesis model with and without arthrodesis of the CMCJ.

METHODS
Total wrist arthrodesis plates mounted to 3D printed models were tested under a 4-N bending load at 4 Hz for 50 000 cycles, increased by 15% every 10 000 cycles until failure.

RESULTS
Plates with arthrodesis CMCJ were stiffer and failed at a significantly greater load and number of cycles than plates mounted to models without CMCJ arthrodesis. The Synthes stainless steel locking TWA plate performed better than the Trimed plate applied to the model without CMCJ arthrodesis and the Acumed plate applied to the model with CMCJ arthrodesis. Based on these findings, we recommend arthrodesis of the CMCJ in TWA.

CONCLUSIONS
Incorporation of the CMCJ in TWA may protect against plate failure. If arthrodesis of the CMCJ is not performed, plate removal should be considered before breakage occurs.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
IV.


Datasets that monitor biodiversity capture information differently depending on their design, which influences observer behavior and can lead to biases across observations and species. Combining different datasets can improve our ability to identify and understand threats to biodiversity, but this requires an understanding of the observation bias in each. Two datasets widely used to monitor bird populations exemplify these general concerns: eBird is a citizen science project with high spatiotemporal resolution but variation in distribution, effort, and observers, whereas the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is a structured survey of specific locations over time. Analyses using these two datasets can identify contradictory population trends. To understand these discrepancies and facilitate data fusion, we quantify species-level reporting differences across eBird and the BBS in three regions across the United States by jointly modeling bird abundances using data from both datasets. First, we fit a joint Species Distribution Model that accounts for environmental conditions and effort to identify reporting differences across the datasets. We then examine how these differences in reporting are related to species traits. Finally, we analyze species reported to one dataset but not the other and determine whether traits differ between reported and unreported species. We find that most species are reported more in BBS than eBird. Specifically, we find that compared to eBird, BBS observers tend to report higher counts of common species and species that are usually detected by sound. We also find that species associated with water are reported less in the BBS. Species typically identified by sound are reported more at sunrise than later in the morning. Our results quantify reporting differences in eBird and BBS to enhance our understanding of how each captures information and how they should be used. The reporting rates we identify can also be incorporated into observation models through detectability or effort to improve analyses across species and datasets. The method demonstrated here can be used to compare reporting rates across any two or more datasets to examine biases.


This research study quantifies and describes suicide among South Asian Americans (SAAs), an emerging population that are underrepresented group in suicide research. The purpose of this study was to examine key characteristics of suicide deaths among SAAs. Data were employed from DuPage County, IL, a county with a large SAA population. Following federal recommendations for disaggregating Asian American data at a granular level, four SAA researchers used name recognition to identify all SAA cases classified as suicide in the DuPage County coroner's database from 2001 to 2017 ( N =38). Coroner's reports were analyzed for contextual details and correlating factors specific to each suicide. Overall, 76.3% of victims were male and 45.0% were married. An analysis of the coroner reports established that 71.1% of decedents showed behavioral disorders that were predisposing risk factors for suicide including mental health diagnoses (57.9%), and a reported prior suicide attempt (21.1%). Among these decedents only 34.2% had received any prior psychiatric care. Significant errors in racial classification of SAAs, lead to a gross undercount of SAA deaths by suicide with 55% of South Asian suicides assigned to a different race or ethnic group. Future studies must increase the scope of this research to other geographic locations with high concentrations of SAAs and examine the risk factors for suicide among SAAs, one of the fastest growing ethnic populations in the U.S.