Data are the crucial element for productivity improvement and the evaluation or measurement process in the manufacturing sector because the data can tell the real situation about the production site. The dataare useful for productivity improvement by using certain lean manufacturing's tools such as Value Stream Mapping (VSM), Single Minutes of Exchange Die (SMED), Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), and others. The data are also necessary for performance measurement. In this paper, we discuss the necessary data that should be included in a knowledge repository for manufacturing where the data then will be used by an assessment tool. The assessment tool is an important factor because knowledge management has a deep relationship with performance evaluation and measurement. Data Management to boost productivity in manufacturing can be divided into five phase and consists of in fourteen steps. Keywords: Knowledge Management, Performance Measurement, Productivity, Lean Manufacturing


Fourteen patients with hypospadias were treated surgically for either an enlarged prostatic utricle (6) or vagina masculina (8). Six vaginae masculinae were removed by an extravesical abdominal approach. One enlarged prostatic utricle was removed by the perineal approach. Three enlarged utricles were removed by an abdominoperineal approach. The transtrigonal approach was recently used for three enlarged utricles and one vagina masculina in four patients. Surgical results in these 14 patients were satisfactory. One post-operative complication of transient mild bilateral vesicoureteric reflux was seen after a transtrigonal removal of an enlarged utricle. Potency was not affected in any approaches in four patients who were older than 12 years. The transtrigonal approach was found to be the best for good exposure of the lesion.


Stabilization of neurofilament (NF) mRNAs plays a major role in regulating levels of NF expression and in establishing axonal size and rate of axonal conduction. Previous studies have identified a 68-nucleotide destabilizing element at the junction of the coding region and 3′ untranslated region of the light NF subunit (NF-L) mRNA. The present study has used the destabilizing element (probe A) to screen a rat brain cDNA library for interactive proteins. A cDNA clone encoding 1068 nucleotides in the C-terminal domain of p190RhoGEF (clone 39) was found to bind strongly and specifically to the RNA probe. The interaction was confirmed using a glutathione S-transferase/clone 39 fusion protein in Northwestern, gel-shift, and cross-linkage studies. The glutathione S-transferase/clone 39 fusion protein also enhanced the cross-linkage of a major 43-kDa protein in brain extract to the destabilizing element. Functional studies on stably transfected neuronal cells showed that p190RhoGEF expression increased the half-life of a wild-type NF-L mRNA but did not alter the half-life of a mutant NF-L mRNA lacking the destabilizing element. The findings reveal a novel interactive feature of p190RhoGEF that links the exchange factor with NF mRNA stability and regulation of the axonal cytoskeleton.


The paper considers two different antenna selection schemes for space-time coded systems over flat fading channels. First we explore antenna selection at the transmitter side based on the received signal to noise ratios. We then study the joint selection of receive and transmit antennas. Both schemes assume a slowly fading channel (i.e., quasi-static fading) and require some limited feedback from the receiver to the transmitter. By computing upper bounds on the pairwise error probabilities and conducting extensive simulations, we show that the space-time coded systems achieve full diversity even with antenna selection provided that the code is full rank. These results are extensions of earlier work on antenna selection for MIMO systems (Bahceci et al., 2003) which only considers receive antenna selection.


Characteristics of the deposits and oxide films formed on 316L stainless steel in situ tested on a boiler of 1000 MW pulverized coal‐fired power plant for 150 h were examined. The results show that the deposits are mainly composed of outer fly ash, middle sulfate, and chloride and fluoride in the inner layer. Oxide films are mainly Fe2O3 and Fe3O4. Two models of coupling mechanism of dew point corrosion and viscous ash deposits at different temperature ranges are proposed to instruct engineering application.


With the improving evolution in VLSI technology most of the digital circuits are becoming SOCs. However most of the SOC systems are synchronous designs and the issues like clock skew, power consumption and EMI are related to clock network. Asynchronous circuits can offer benefits like reduced power and improved performance. However implementing whole design with asynchronous design style is a challenge due to lack of CAD tools. The GALS (Globally-Asynchronous Locally-Synchronous) design methods brings compromise between synchronous and asynchronous design styles by separating each synchronous blocks in SoC with asynchronous interface. Each synchronous block in SoC can perform operation with its own local clock. The data communication among synchronous blocks can be achieved via handshaking signals after pausing the local clocks. Though these GALS system architectures ensures less dynamic power through clock less asynchronous interface the leakage power contribution to total power equation is still a challenge in deep submicron technologies. Power gating is most effective technique for synchronous design to address leakage power. In this paper an asynchronous power gating sequence generation is proposed for GALS synchronous blocks which has to wait long time for data. To corroborate the proposed technique a synthesis flow is proposed to implement asynchronous 8051 micro controller. The implementation was done using Synopsys SAED 90 nm libraries and the experimental results shows 30% leakage power reduction for power gating blocks.


Thirty-five patients with a clinical diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease underwent computed tomography (CT) and regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) studies using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Two sets of images in each subject were scored for the extent of structure and function changes. Thirty-four of 35 patients had various degrees of atrophy on CT, 33 of whom also had perfusion deficits of varying severity. One patient with normal CT had perfusion deficits, and another patient with a normal perfusion pattern had changes on CT. Regional perfusion deficits on SPECT were seen with and without associated changes on CT. Correlations were studied between CT and SPECT scores using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients. While regional scores on CT and SPECT did not significantly correlate, the total and left hemisphere scores on two sets of images showed fair correlations (r = 0.425 and r = 0.535, respectively, P less than 0.01). The correlations between cognitive performance in patients as assessed on Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and CAM-COG and perfusion scores were highly significant while CT scores showed lower correlations. These findings suggest that the relationship between structural and functional changes in Alzheimer's disease is not straightforward and that the extent of changes in function as assessed by regional cerebral blood flow studies is a reliable measure of deficits in cognitive function.


A new failure criterion for concrete, which takes into account the effect of the intermediate principal stress, is proposed. The new criterion, which takes the advantages from both the Mohr-Coulomb and the Willam-Warnke criteria, is linear in the meridian section, while its octahedral section is always smooth and convex. Fitting the triaxial compression data with the proposed criterion shows the high performance of the new criterion. A new formula for the factor of safety of concrete is defined based on the new failure criterion and it is employed in the stability analysis of the concrete plugs installed in the pilot plant. The new formula for the factor of safety measures the degree of closeness of a stress state to the failure surface in the octahedral plane. Finally, 3-D finite element analyses of pilot plant were carried out to obtain the stress distributions in the plugs. Then, the stress distributions are converted to those of factor of safety by use of the proposed formula. Based on the distribution of factor of safety in the concrete plugs, the stability of the tapered and wedge-shaped plugs is evaluated.


We define the class of discrete classical categorial grammars, similar in the spirit to the notion of reversible class of languages introduced by Angluin and Sakakibara. We show that the class of discrete classical categorial grammars is identifiable from positive structured examples. For this, we provide an original algorithm, which runs in quadratic time in the size of the examples. This work extends the previous results of Kanazawa. Indeed, in our work, several types can be associated to a word and the class is still identifiable in polynomial time. We illustrate the relevance of the class of discrete classical categorial grammars with linguistic examples.


Introduction. Shock wave therapy (SWT) has been used quite successfully to treat erectile dysfunction (ED). However, the question of the optimal SWT regimen for the treatment of erectile dysfunction remains unresolved and is the subject of discussion among both physicians and manufacturers of medical equipment. Purpose of the study. Develop and substantiate the most effective SWT regimen for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, based on the analysis of 28 scientific clinical studies. Metrials and methods. To solve the problem, we analyzed 28 scientific clinical studies containing data on the use of shock wave therapy in the treatment of vasculogenic ED in a clinical setting. Results. In the field of research, we developed and substantiated the SWT scheme for the treatment of vasculogenic ED. The scheme consists of a 9-week course (3 – therapy, 3 – break, 3 – therapy), contains 12 procedures (2 procedures per week); impulses are applied to 5 points, 500 impulses each (2500 per procedure); the total number of impulses per course is 30,000. Conclusions. Thus, we have proposed a differential approach to the choice SWT regimen for the treatment of vasculogenic ED. Conservative tactics involves the use of medications (primarily PDE-5). Nevertheless, SWT can and should be applied within the framework of this tactic, and the optimal scheme is established mathematically by analyzing the literature data. Within the framework of a differentiated approach, we have determined the optimal schemes for conducting shock wave therapy in the treatment of vasculogenic erectile dysfunction.


Babesia gradually attains resistance against the allopathic medicines due to their frequent use. To overcome the resistance, herbal therapy is getting more attention. The current study was planned to monitor the efficacy of Peganum harmala against babesiosis in cattle. The blood was collected from ear vein of cattle having high infestation of ticks. A thin blood smear was prepared and stained. Through survey 74 animals were found positive for tick-borne pathogens with an overall prevalence of 19.27%. Babesia sp. was the most prevalent (9.38%; 36/384) haemoparasite, followed in order by Theileria sp. (5.20%, 20/384) and Anaplasma sp. (4.69%, 18/384). All blood samples were subjected to PCR and it was found that 40/384 (10.41%) blood samples were harbouring Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina. From positive animals for Babesia 30 cattles were randomly selected and divided into 3 groups of 10 animals each viz A, B and C, all groups were tested with the water extract of P. harmala @ 7.5 mg kg-1, 10 mg kg-1 and 12.5 mg kg-1 body weight by intramuscular route, at interval of 12, 24 and 36 h. Ten healthy animals were selected as control in group D. Three animals with moderate infection, 8-9 animals of group A, B and C were recovered, during 48 h after treatment. Two animals each from A, B and one from group C were not cured and died. Five animals from group A were not cured till 36 h of the treatment. Group D of healthy untreated animals were well as they were. Results showed that there was a significant increase in WBCs, including increase in leukocytes and neutrophils in animals infected, whereas number of RBCs and HB decreases. This study concluded that infected cattle treated with water extract of P. harmala 12.5 mg kg-1, recovered early (P<0.01) compared to that of 7.5 and 10 mg kg-1.


The development of Internet has changed the way consumers purchase goods and services which lead to the rapid growth of e-commerce. In e-commerce, competition might occur in just one click, which raises a question whether the switching cost could be an obstacle for e-commerces in gaining customer loyalty. The purpose of this study is to analyze customer perceived value, customer satisfaction and trust on Tokopedia's young customers with switching cost as moderator variable on customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction variable consists of five dimensions. There are customer services, order fulfillment, Ease of Use, Product portfolio and security and privacy. This research carried out on young Tokopedia customers living in Jakarta and Tangerang area. The data collection was done by distributing 300 questionnaires to under graduated students. Variables are measured with 5-point Likert scale. Validity testing using factor loading value of ≤ 0.6, Reliability test using the composite reliability with value ≥ 0.7, Cronbach's alpha> 0.7, and the average variance extracted > 0.50. In this study, there are seven hypotheses to be tested. The model fit and hypothesis testing will be done by using PLS analysis in SmartPLS 3.0 software. From seven hypotheses, 6 hypothesis are accepted and 1 hypothesis are rejected. The result findings suggest that Tokopedia management needs to take attention to customer satisfaction. Even though the customers are satisfied but it doesn't lead them to be a loyalcustomers. Dimension of customer service and privacy showed a small mean value from the other dimensions. Tokopedia management should concern more to improve these dimension so can increase customer loyalty.


Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity is an important invariant of projective algebraic varieties. A well known conjecture due to Eisenbud and Goto gives a bound for regularity in terms of the codimension and degree,i.e., Castelnuovo-Mumford regularity of a given variety $X$ is less than or equal to $deg(X)-codim(X)+1$. This regularity conjecture (including classification of examples on the boundary) was verified for integral curves (Castelnuovo, Gruson, Lazarsfeld and Peskine), and for smooth surfaces (Pinkham, Lazarsfeld). In this paper we prove that $reg(X) \le deg(X)-1$ for smooth threefolds $X$ in P^5 and that the only varieties on the boundary are the Segre threefold and the complete intersection of two quadrics. Furthermore, every smooth threefold $X$ in P^5 is $k$-normal for all $k \ge deg(X)-4$, which is the optimal bound as the Palatini 3-fold of degree 7 shows.


Studies were carried out on the antibacterial effect of Phyllanthus niruri (Linn) leaves using ethanol and aqueous extracts of the leaves at concentrations 400mg/ml, 200mg/ml, 100mglml, 50mg/ml and 25mg/ml. Gentamycin was employed as control at concentration of 50mg/ml. Pure isolates of Escherchia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella aerogenes were employed as test organisms. Results showed that both the ethanolic and aqueous extracts had antibacterial activities against test bacteria but to varying degrees. P. aeruginosa was the most susceptible bacterium to the ethanolic extract, followed by S. typhi. E. coli was the least susceptible. For the aqueous extract, K. aerogenes was most susceptible followed by P. aeruginosa. S. typhi was the least susceptible. The minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) of the ethanolic extract for E. coli was found to be 50mg/ml while S. aureus, P. aeruginosa and K. aerogenes had a common MIC of 12.5mg/ml. However, S. typhi was inhibited in all concentrations used. For the aqueous extract; E. coli was inhibited in all concentrations used while S. typhi , and P. aeruginosa had the same MIC of 25mg/ml. S. aureus with MIC 12.5mg/ml was the most susceptible. Results of the Minimum Bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the ethanolic extracts showed that it had bacteriostatic effect on test bacteria in all the concentrations tested. The aqueous extracts had bacteriostatic effect on only K. aerogenes and had bactericidal effect on all other test bacteria. Statistical analysis revealed that the mean diameter zones of inhibition for gentamycin was significantly higher than those of the plant extracts at 0.05 level of probability though, 400mg/ml concentration exhibited high antibacterial activities in both extracts. This study has established the antibacterial effect of P. niruri leaves. Keywords : Phyllanthus niruri ; antibacterial; Jos; Enteric pathogens Nig J. Biotech . Vol. 23 (2011) 22- 27


The concentrations of dioctyldimethyl ammonium chloride (DODMAC) and 1‐decanol in isooctane needed to form reverse micelles by phase contact have been determined. The behavior of these reverse micelles in the extraction of aspartic acid, glutamic acid, and threonine was studied by analyzing all of the ionic species in the aqueous phase. The amino acid is extracted from the aqueous phase by exchanging with the Cl− counterions of DODMAC in the reverse micelles. The ionic species in the reverse micelles tend toward their undissociated states as the water uptake by the reverse micelles decreases. The effect of 1‐decanol on the extraction of the amino acids with two negative charges is due to the change in the water uptake of the reverse micelles. The concentration of DODMAC has no effect on the ion exchange of the amino acid with one negative charge with the Cl− counterions of DODMAC in the reverse micelles. Higher molar ratios of decanol to DODMAC favor the selective separation of amino acids with different charge numbers. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


ABSTRACT The Engineering Economist is a refereed journal published jointly by the Engineering Economy Division of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) and the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE). The journal publishes articles, case studies, surveys, book and software reviews, and readers' comments that represent current research, practice, and teaching involving problems of capital investment. The journal seeks submissions in a number of areas, including, but not limited to, capital investment analysis, cost estimation and accounting, cost of capital, design economics, economic decision analysis, education, policy analysis (i.e., governmental), and research and development. As noted in the editorial, we are celebrating the 50th volume of our journal and we are taking this opportunity to reinvigorate our purpose. This is to be facilitated with the designation of area editors assigned to specific submission focus areas. These areas are clearly defined below and the representative area editors are introduced. Their contact information is provided in case prospective authors have questions about potential submissions in prospective areas. However, all submissions should be sent to the editor-in-chief. The focus areas are listed alphabetically, followed by case study and book/software review submission guidelines. Following the definition of the areas are the new electronic submission guidelines for the journal.


We investigate the quantization of non-zero sum games. For the particular case of the Prisoners' Dilemma we show that this game ceases to pose a dilemma if quantum strategies are allowed for. We also construct a particular quantum strategy which always gives reward if played against any classical strategy.


The interest in cyclopropane derivatives is caused by the facts that, first, the three-carbon ring is present in quite a few natural and biologically active compounds and, second, compounds with this ring are convenient building blocks for the synthesis of diverse molecules (acyclic, alicyclic and heterocyclic). The carbon–carbon bonds in cyclopropane are kinetically rather inert; hence, they need to be activated to be involved in reactions. An efficient way of activation is to introduce vicinal electron-donating and electron-withdrawing substituents into the ring; these substrates are usually referred to as donor-acceptor cyclopropanes. This review gives a systematic account of the key methods for the synthesis of donor-acceptor cyclopropanes. The most important among them are reactions of nucleophilic alkenes with diazo compounds and iodonium ylides and approaches based on reactions of electrophilic alkenes with sulfur ylides (the Corey – Chaykovsky reaction). Among other methods used for this purpose, noteworthy are cycloalkylation of CH-acids, addition of α-halocarbonyl compounds to alkenes, cyclization via 1,3-elimination, reactions of alkenes with halocarbenes followed by reduction, the Simmons – Smith reaction and some other. The scope of applicability and prospects of various methods for the synthesis of donor-acceptor cyclopropanes are discussed. The bibliography includes 530 references.


We are interested in jobs scheduling in flexible manufacturing systems. We try to combine predictive methods which guarantee optimal or good results but are not very robust to perturbations and reactive methods which take into account the real state of the system. For this, we use a method called the group sequencing method which aims at characterizing a set of solutions for the scheduling problem, instead of a single one. This method enables to add sequential flexibility to the operations to process. At the same time, this method guarantees a minimal quality in regards with the performance objectives. In this paper, we are interested in the behavior of this method in regards with both predictive and reactive methods, especially with various degrees of uncertainties. We present the experiments conducted on a real flexible manufacturing system to compare the performances of three scheduling methods in regards with uncertainties on the transportation times: the group sequencing approach, a predictive one and a reactive one. The results show very good performance with the group sequencing method.


Abstract Background To address knowledge gaps regarding diarrheagenic Escherichia coli (DEC) in Africa, we assessed the clinical and epidemiological features of enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), and Shiga toxin–producing E. coli (STEC) positive children with moderate-to-severe diarrhea (MSD) in Mali, The Gambia, and Kenya. Methods Between May 2015 and July 2018, children aged 0–59 months with medically attended MSD and matched controls without diarrhea were enrolled. Stools were tested conventionally using culture and multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and by quantitative PCR (qPCR). We assessed DEC detection by site, age, clinical characteristics, and enteric coinfection. Results Among 4840 children with MSD and 6213 matched controls enrolled, 4836 cases and 1 control per case were tested using qPCR. Of the DEC detected with TAC, 61.1% were EAEC, 25.3% atypical EPEC (aEPEC), 22.4% typical EPEC (tEPEC), and 7.2% STEC. Detection was higher in controls than in MSD cases for EAEC (63.9% vs 58.3%, P < .01), aEPEC (27.3% vs 23.3%, P < .01), and STEC (9.3% vs 5.1%, P < .01). EAEC and tEPEC were more frequent in children aged <23 months, aEPEC was similar across age strata, and STEC increased with age. No association between nutritional status at follow-up and DEC pathotypes was found. DEC coinfection with Shigella/enteroinvasive E. coli was more common among cases (P < .01). Conclusions No significant association was detected between EAEC, tEPEC, aEPEC, or STEC and MSD using either conventional assay or TAC. Genomic analysis may provide a better definition of the virulence factors associated with diarrheal disease.


This research discusses the fulfillment of the electricity needs of remote communities that are closely related to electrification ratios. Electrification ratios in some isolated areas and scattered islands in Indonesia are still very low. To date, most of the electricity needs in Indonesia is still supplied by Diesel Power Electricity Generator (PLTD) which uses diesel as its fuel. Therefore, it is necessary the utilization of renewable energy as one step to fulfill the electrical energy needs. This research studies about the utilization of wind energy with PLTB by using low speed wind turbine to fulfill the electricity needs of remote communities and scattered islands in Indonesia. NT1000W is the latest technology of low speed wind turbine that can operate at wind speed of 1 m/d up to 60 m/d appropriate to the wind conditions in Indonesia. Testing conducted in west Sumatera particularly in Padang city and Kapo-Kapo Island provide a feasibility of PLTB NT1000W technically and financially.


Breast cancer metastasis is the major reason for deaths from breast cancer. Identification of breast cancer metastasis is of great importance for the management and prediction of cancer progression. However, the key genes and signaling pathways remain unclear in metastatic breast cancers. Our objective is to find the key molecules and signaling pathways by analyzing the RNA-sequence data. The GSE189411 was constructed by the Illumina NovaSeq 6000 (Mus musculus). The KEGG and GO analyses showed the cytokine−cytokine receptor interaction and human papillomavirus infection are the two major processes during the liver metastasis of breast cancer cells. Moreover, we discovered ten key relevant molecules including ITGB2, FCGR3A, CD86, CD80, FOXP3, SYK, CCR5, VCAM1, RAC2, ICAM1. Our study may provide novel insights for the early diagnosis of breast cancer metastasis.


Taiwan lies in the circum-Pacific earthquake zone. The seabed soil of offshore wind farms in Taiwan is mainly composed of loose silty sand and soft, low-plasticity clay. The seismic demand for offshore wind turbines has been given by the local code. Ground-motion analysis is required to consider the site effects of the soil liquefaction potential evaluation and the foundation design of offshore wind turbines. However, the depth of the engineering bedrock for ground motion analysis is not presented in the local code. In this study, we develop a three-dimensional ground model of an offshore wind farm in the Changhua area, through use of collected in situ borehole and PS (P wave (compression) and S (shear) wave velocities) logging test data. The engineering bedrock is the sediment at the depth where the average shear wave velocity of soil within 30 m, Vsd30, is larger than 360 m/s. In this ground model, the shear wave velocity of each type of soil is quantified using the seismic empirical formulation developed in this study. The results indicate that the engineering bedrock lies at least 49.5–83 m beneath the seabed at the Changhua offshore wind farm. Based on these findings, it is recommended that drilling more than 100 m below the seabed be done to obtain shear wave velocity data for a ground response analysis of the seismic force assessment of offshore wind farm foundation designs.


The ability to design and verify mixed mode (digital, analog, electrical, and non-electrical) systems is key to the development of new products for the ever expanding electromechanical market. Although there are several individual point tools that can address specific phases of the development flow, tools to make the total process more seamless and less disparate should start to appear at the start of this new millennium, fueled by the introduction of Verilog-AMS Hardware Description Languages(HDL) and other analog HDL languages. The Language Reference Manual (LRM) for VerilogAMS, developed by and available from the Open Verilog International (OVI) group, forms the basis for the new Verilog-AMS language. The document describes the extensions to the IEEE standard digital simulation language Verilog that enable the description of analog and nonelectrical behavior. The document soon to be made available to an IEEE standards organization has been going through the OVI standardization process since about 1995. Verilog-A simulators based on the OVI LRM 1.0 are currently available.


We present a tractable class of multiproduct monopoly models that involve a generalized form of homothetic preferences. This class includes CES, linear and logit demand. Within the class, profit-maximizing quantities are proportional to efficient quantities. We discuss cost-passthrough, including cases where optimal prices do not depend on other products'costs. We show how the analysis can be extended to Cournot oligopoly. Finally, we discuss optimal monopoly regulation when the firm has private information about its vector of marginal costs, and show that if the probability distribution over costs satisfies an independence property, then optimal regulation leaves relative price decisions to the firm.


VIROLOGY/CELL BIOLOGY
In order to be released from their host cell, newly formed envelope viruses must bud from the plasma membrane. In examining the mechanism of budding of the retroviruses Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) and HIV, three groups have discovered a role for ubiquitin in the budding process. Ubiquitin is a small cellular protein that becomes covalently linked to other proteins and is commonly thought to function as a tag that leads to protein degradation; in some instances, ubiquitin can act as a signal for protein internalization via endocytosis.

Now it appears that ubiquitin also participates in virus budding. The Gag protein of retroviruses provides the structural components required to build virus particles, but the processes of budding and viral maturation are not completely understood. Schubert et al. and Patnaik et al. show that by reducing the levels of ubiquitin available in HIV- or RSV-infected cells, viral budding is inhibited at a late step in the process. Strack et al . show that engineered HIV and RSV Gag proteins only caused budding when they were able to recruit the enzyme ubiquitin ligase to the budding site at the host cell surface. A fourth study by Harty et al. demonstrates the ubiquitination of VP40, a protein involved in late budding stages of Ebola virus. Taken together, these papers suggest that ubiquitin helps these viruses to complete the budding process, and it is tempting to suppose that the endocytosis-promoting activity of ubiquitination has been commandeered by these viral interlopers. — SMH

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 97 , 13057; 13069; 13063; 13871 (2000)


Abstract Asset freezes are sometimes viewed as the quintessential form of targeted sanctions—relatively effective in achieving their goals, while affecting only the individuals and companies that are "bad actors." However, as part of the roundtable "Economic Sanctions and Their Consequences," this essay argues that there are significant ethical problems raised by asset freezes and other forms of targeted financial sanctions. Sanctioners (specifically, the United Nations Security Council and the U.S. government) have long been criticized for targeting individuals and companies for arbitrary reasons or without adequate due process. However, there is a second concern that is less well known. Asset freezes and other targeted financial sanctions may be imposed on government officials, government agencies, or private companies that hold a critical role in the target country's economy. A country's central bank, national oil company, or national shipping line, for example, may be severely compromised as a result of its inclusion on a financial blacklist. In addition to the explicit prohibitions imposed by targeted financial sanctions, there is a chilling effect as well. This can be seen when international banks and corporations withdraw from the target country altogether because the burden of compliance with these measures is so great, and the potential penalties so high.


BACKGROUND
Fractalkine is an important chemokine mediating local monocyte accumulation and inflammatory reactions in the vascular wall. Aspirin inhibits inflammatory cytokine expression closely related to atherosclerosis through the way independent of platelet and cyclooxygenase (COX). There has been no report about the effect of aspirin on fractalkine expression. We aimed to determine the fractalkine expression in human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) stimulated by tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and the effect of aspirin intervention.

METHODS
Six of 8 HUVEC groups received either different concentrations of aspirin (0.02, 0.2, 1.0, 5.0 mmol/L) or 40 micromol/L pyrrolidinecarbodithioc acid (PDTC) or 0.5 micromol/L NS-398. The other two groups were negative control and positive control (TNF-alpha-stimulated). After being incubated for 24 hours, cells of the 8 groups except the negative control one were stimulated with TNF-alpha (4 ng/ml) for another 24 hours. After that, the cells were collected for RNA isolation and protein extraction.

RESULTS
Both mRNA and protein expressions of fractalkine in HUVEC were upregulated by 4 ng/ml TNF-alpha stimulation. Aspirin inhibited fractalkine expression in a dose-dependent manner at mRNA and protein levels. Nuclear factor-kappa B inhibitor, PDTC, effectively decreased the fractalkine expression. Fractalkine expression was not influenced by COX-2 selective inhibitor NS-398. COX-1 protein expression was not changed by either TNF-alpha stimulation or aspirin, PDTC, NS-398 intervention. Both mRNA and protein expression of COX-2 in HUVEC were upregulated by 4 ng/ml TNF-alpha stimulation. Aspirin decreased COX-2 expression in a dose-dependent manner at mRNA and protein levels.

CONCLUSIONS
TNF-alpha-stimulated fractalkine expression is suppressed by aspirin in a dose-dependent manner through the nuclear factor-kappa B p65 pathway.


Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are an underlying cause of tumor progression and metastasis. In breast cancer, CSCs can be identified by Aldehyde Dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH) or CD44-high/CD24-low expression. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has been shown to lead to an increase in CSCs in locally advanced breast cancer (Alamgeer et al., 2014, Br. Can. Res. R14). In addition, the presence of CSCs in residual axillary disease is associated with a significantly worse prognosis following neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery (Sakakibara et al. 2011, Cancer 3899, 2011). Currently, there are no approved therapies that effectively target and kill CSCs. VS-6063 and VS-4718 are orally bioavailable small molecules that kill cancer stem cells through the inhibition of Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK). Both VS-6063 and VS-4718 have demonstrated preferential targeting of CSCs in preclinical models and are currently in clinical development. Here we report that VS-6063 and VS-4718 effectively kill CSCs in multiple models of breast cancer. In an ex vivo model, biopsies from human breast tumors were obtained and cultured as primary explants within 24 hours of surgery. The primary explants were incubated with VS-6063, VS-4718 or paclitaxel for 4 days. Treatment with either VS-6063 or VS-4718 decreased the proportion of CSCs in contrast to paclitaxel. VS-6063 and VS-4718 diminished the self-renewal capacity of primary cultures from established TNBC patient-derived xenografts as measured by tumorsphere assays. In a MDA-MB-231 mouse xenograft model, treatment with VS-6063 decreased CSC more than 6-fold in an in vivo limiting dilutions assay. Similarly, using an imaging-based 4T1-luciferase TNBC orthotopic model, both VS-6063 and VS-4718 diminished the size of metastatic nodules within two weeks. CSCs are readily detectable in primary breast cancers at surgery, yet methods to detect these populations are still developing. A multiplex assay for the CSC markers, ALDH1, CD44 and CD24, was explored with biopsies of primary tumor and matched lymph node, and primary tumors taken pre- and post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Consistent with previously reported data, elevated levels of ALDH were observed at higher levels post-treatment, and in lymph nodes. In addition, zones of ALDH+ and CD44-high/CD24-low tumor cells can be mapped with the multiplex assay for the potential detection of CSCs in breast cancer biopsies. In summary, VS-6063 and VS-4718 diminish the CSC subpopulation in vitro , ex vivo and in xenograft models using a number of functional and biomarker assays. This critical subpopulation of CSCs is detectable in residual tumor following neoadjuvant therapy. Potentially, multiplex assays of CSC markers will be an improved means to monitor CSCs in clinical specimens. CSC-targeted agents such as VS-6063 or VS-4718 should be clinically tested in the neoadjuvant setting to potentially delay time to relapse and improve patient outcome. Citation Format: Vihren N Kolev, Sean McDermott, Max Wicha, Jonathan A Pachter, Qunli Xu, David T Weaver. VS-6063 (defactinib) and VS-4718 reduce cancer stem cells in models of breast cancer: Implications for clinical trials in the neoadjuvant setting [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-11-06.


Abstract The release of Zr, U, and Pb from nearly metamict zircon and its recrystallized analog and of Zr from fully crystalline and slightly radiation-damaged zircon in H2O + HCl ± SiO2 fluids was investigated in situ at temperatures between 200 and 500 °C using a hydrothermal diamond-anvil cell and time-resolved synchrotron-radiation XRF analyses. Dissolution of nearly metamict zircon proceeded much faster than that of zircon with little or no radiation damage and resulted in a 1.5 to 2 log units higher Zr molality in 6 to 7 m HCl fluids. Extensive recrystallization of the almost fully amorphous material started at 260 to 300 °C in H2O + HCl, and at about 360 °C if quartz was added, and was coupled with a decrease of the Zr concentration in the fluid by more than an order of magnitude. Recrystallization in 7 m HCl had little effect on the aqueous U and Pb concentrations, whereas addition of quartz caused a more sluggish decrease of the Zr concentration in the fluid upon recrystallization and lowered the release of U. The data presented here support the interpretation that enhanced Zr mobility in low-grade metamorphic rocks may be related to dissolution of metamict zircon by aqueous fluids and illustrate the significance of the silica activity on the kinetics of dissolution and recrystallization during zircon-fluid interaction.


Emotional intelligence is the capacity for recognizing his own feelings and others, ability to motivate ourselves and ability to manage emotions well in ourselves and in relation with other. Feeling and emotion re almost engaged in nurses' routine in which every treatment given forces them to acquire high emotional intelligence. The phenomenon will appear on apprenticeship nurses, they always be energetic in doing their jobs which also become their lives. Further, the sprit of working was called work ethics. The objective of the research was to find out the correlation between emotional intelligence and work ethics of apprenticeship nurses on Kediri Baptist Hospital. The design of the research was cross sectional research design. The population was the whole apprenticeship nurses on Kediri Baptist Hospital. The sample was 38 using Total Sampling. The independent variable was emotional intelligence while the dependent variable was work ethics. The data were analyzed using Spearman Rho with significant level α ≤ 0.05. The result showed 28 respondents had a medium emotional intelligence level (73.7 %) and 22 respondents had a medium work ethics (57.9 %). The statistical analysis showed p = 0.001 which means there was correlation between emotional intelligence and work ethics of apprenticeship nurses on Kediri Baptist Hospital. The research showed there was significant correlation between emotional intelligence and work ethics of apprenticeship nurses on Kediri Baptist Hospital.


In this study, ten wild saprophytic edible mushrooms samples, collected from Tanzania natural forests and planted trees, and their two domesticated forms were characterized by in-vitro/in-vivo amplification and sequencing of ITS/LSU regions. Mushroom genomic DNA was extracted by ZR Fungal/Bacterial DNA MniPrep Kit. ITS and LSU regions were amplified using ITS-4/ITS-5 and LR16/LROR primers, respectively and sequenced. The amplicons with messy sequences were cloned. For analyzing recombinant E. coli DH5α cells, colony PCR and sequencing were done using M13-F/M13-R primers. The studied mushrooms were identified as Amylosporus sp. IJ-2014, Polyporales sp., Polyporus tenuiculus, Pleurotus cystidiosus, Laetiporus sp. IJ-2014, Lentinus sajor-caju, Favolus roseus and Auricularia polytricha. The ITS-based phylogeny inferred by Neighbor-Joining method accommodated six genera under bootstrap support values of 100% with each genus consisting mushrooms of a single species. The LSU-based phylogeny inferred by Maximum Likelihood method accommodated nine genera with bootstrap support of ≥ 66% with some genera consisting mushrooms of different species. From these results, it is clear that both ITS and LSU markers successfully discriminated wild saprophytic edible mushrooms to their respective genera but ITS marker demonstrated the higher resolving power at the species level


During the breeding season, great tits show aggression to protect their nest from intra‐ and interspecific intruders. Aggression is a labile trait that can be plastically expressed as a result of individual differences (e.g., personality), seasonal gradients in the costs and benefits of aggression, or other environmental components (e.g., number of competitors). Competitors may try to take over great tit nests, because the number of suitable nesting sites is limited, and great tits may guard high quality territories. Taking over a great tit nest may be especially fruitful in early phenological stages (egg laying) when great tits frequent their nests less often. However, great tits may compensate for this vulnerability by being more aggressive toward intruders during early nesting stages, a pattern that has already been established in an intraspecific context. Previous studies have shown that interspecific intruders were most likely to die from great tit aggression during great tit egg laying, suggesting great tits may also be more aggressive during this phase in an interspecific context. Here, I tested this hypothesis with simulated territorial intrusions in great tit territories using taxidermized blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus (hereafter called blue tit models). Great tit aggression (number of calls and approach distance toward blue tit model) was assayed during egg laying, incubation, and chick rearing in the breeding season of 2014. Although sample size was low due to a high fraction of non‐responders (n = 44 out of 89 assays across 26 out of 35 individuals), I found that great tits showed a seasonal decline in aggressiveness, which is congruent with intraspecific results on this study species. I discuss my findings in the context of differential adjustment to climate change between interspecific competitors.


High-speed photographic observations of cavitation occurring under a low-frequency (21 kHz) sonotrode tip in the presence of an additional, high-frequency (355 kHz) ultrasound source have been made in water and in dilute aqueous solute solutions. Acoustic emission spectra were measured to support the visual observations. It was seen that a nucleating effect of the high-frequency action on cavitation at the low-frequency sonotrode was highly power dependent, with cavitation being homogenous at low acoustic power and highly localised at high acoustic power. The presence of solutes was found to significantly affect the cavitation structures and the bubble fragmentation process. Both the fundamental high-frequency acoustic emission peak and the higher order low-frequency harmonics were significantly intensified in the dual-frequency mode in the presence of these solutes. Additionally, the application of a high-voltage induced acoustic shock-wave to two different ultrasound fields was investigated in water and surfactant solutions.


The paper proposes to use capacitive energy storage in electrical starting system of an engine. The paper presents the results of numerical studies on the effect of revolutions on the basic characteristics of electrical starting system for internal combustion engine with capacitive energy storage.


Time series analysis is applied on the collective coordinates obtained from principal component analysis of independent molecular dynamics simulations of alpha-amylase inhibitor tendamistat and immunity protein of colicin E7 based on the Calpha coordinates history. Even though the principal component directions obtained for each run are considerably different, the dynamics information obtained from these runs are surprisingly similar in terms of time series models and parameters. There are two main differences in the dynamics of the two proteins: the higher density of low frequencies and the larger step sizes for the interminima motions of colicin E7 than those of alpha-amylase inhibitor, which may be attributed to the higher number of residues of colicin E7 and/or the structural differences of the two proteins. The cumulative density function of the low frequencies in each run conforms to the expectations from the normal mode analysis. When different runs of alpha-amylase inhibitor are projected on the same set of eigenvectors, it is found that principal components obtained from a certain conformational region of a protein has a moderate explanation power in other conformational regions and the local minima are similar to a certain extent, while the height of the energy barriers in between the minima significantly change. As a final remark, time series analysis tools are further exploited in this study with the motive of explaining the equilibrium fluctuations of proteins.


This article examines fertility and labor supply responses to a 2014 French policy reform that consisted of conditioning the amount of child allowances on household income. Employing regression discontinuity design and French administrative income data, I find that restricting family allowance eligibility criteria decreases fertility among the richest households. The results also highlight that receiving half the amount of the allowances or none leads to an increase in both male and female labor supply through an increase in overtime work. The implied change in earned income, due to an increase in weekly working hours, is found to be comparable to the euro value reduction in benefits. Auxiliary regression analyses show that the fertility decline reflects a decrease in the probability of having an additional child for parents rather than in the probability of becoming parents for households without children.


The purpose of this research paper is to technically and philosophically analyze the behaviors of the current intelligent machines and try to think about an eventual artificial evolution. Will Artificial Intelligence (AI) bring us more advantages or more disadvantages? The paper analyzes the different types of intelligent technologies and sees how they are used in security controls, medical researches, military operations, house holding, and maintenance. It will take a look also at the cybernetic and robotic aspects of the topic, and see how they affect the military conflicts taking as points of reference the cyberterrorism and the design of new war-robots. The research will explain how everything started, how everything is quickly developing, and how the technological progress is affecting the human being. How will we react to this new intelligent machines in the future? Will they ever be able to overcome the human intelligence with an eventual artificial consciousness, more advanced learning skills and faster times of execution? Is it really coming up a new era? Are we really creating our successors or it is just science fiction?


Abstract. A three-dimensional, thermo-mechanically coupled ice flow model with induced anisotropy has been applied to a ~200 × 200 km domain around the Dome Fuji drill site, Antarctica. The model ("Elmer/Ice") is based on the open-source multi-physics package Elmer ( http://www.csc.fi/elmer/ ) and solves the full Stokes equations. Flow-induced anisotropy in ice is accounted for by an implementation of the Continuum-mechanical, Anisotropic Flow model, based on an anisotropic Flow Enhancement factor ("CAFFE model"). Steady-state simulations for present-day climate conditions are conducted. The main findings are: (i) the flow regime at Dome Fuji is a complex superposition of vertical compression, horizontal extension and bed-parallel shear; (ii) for an assumed geothermal heat flux of 60 mW m−2 the basal temperature at Dome Fuji reaches the pressure melting point and the basal melting rate is ~0.35 mm a−1; (iii) in agreement with observational data, the fabric shows a strong single maximum at Dome Fuji, and the age of the ice is decreased compared to an isotropic scenario; (iv) as a consequence of spatially variable basal melting conditions, the basal age tends to be smaller where the ice is thicker and larger where the ice is thinner. The latter result is of great relevance for the consideration of a future drill site in the area.


Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate seasonal variation in stroke incidence using data from a large-scale stroke registry of general population in current Japan. Methods: Shiga Stroke Registry (SSR) is an ongoing population-based registry of stroke that occurred in the Shiga Prefecture in central Honshu, Japan. A total 6,688 cases of first-ever stroke, with onset dates ranging from 1 January 2011 to 31 December in 2013 were included in this study. Incidence rates of first-ever stroke in each season were estimated using the person-year approach and adjusted for age and sex using the Poisson regression models. Results: From 2011 to 2013, we identified a total of 6,688 stroke cases (3,570 men, 3,118 women), of which 4,480 cases had ischemic stroke (2,518 men, 1,962 women), 1,588 had intracerebral hemorrhage (857 men, 731 women) and 563 had subarachnoid hemorrhage (166 men, 397 women). Age- and sex-adjusted incidence rates of total stroke were 151 (95% confidence interval [CI] 144–160, p = <0.001 vs. summer) in spring, 130 (95% CI 122–137) in summer, 141 (95% CI 133–149, p = 0.020 vs. summer) in autumn and 170 (95% CI 161–179, p = <0.001 vs. summer) in winter. Seasonal variation was more pronounced in intracerebral hemorrhage than in ischemic stroke. Conclusion: In the present large-scale stroke registry of general population, incidence rates of stroke were highest in winter and lowest in summer in current Japan.


Exchange bias effect in CaMn1-xRexO3 (x ≤ 0.1) has been investigated. The effect is very small in the samples doped at x = 0.02 and 0.04, but increases monotonously with further increase in Re doping. For x = 0.1, both vertical and horizontal shifts in hysteresis loop of field cooled sample decrease monotonously with increasing temperature and vanish above 70 K, while coercivity disappears only above 90 K upon approaching the Neel temperature. Exchange bias field, coercivity, and remanence asymmetry depend sensitively on temperature and maximal measuring field. Magnetic training effect has been studied for x = 0.06, 0.08, 0.1 samples and analyzed using a spin relaxation model. The observed exchange bias is attributed to the low-temperature phase separation into ferromagnetic clusters and the G-type and/or C-type antiferromagnetic matrix.


Background: Retinol, the most biologically active form of vitamin A, is hypothesized to influence a wide range of diseases. We recently reported results from the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study suggesting that higher serum retinol is related to increased prostate cancer risk. Circulating retinol concentrations are influenced by many factors in addition to dietary and supplemental intake, including those related to intestinal absorption, transport, and cleavage of pro-vitamin A compounds to form retinol. Thus, genetic factors that influence retinol concentrations may also impact human disease risk. Methods: We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 4,041 Caucasian individuals drawn from two cohorts: the ATBC Study and the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian (PLCO) Cancer Screening Trial. Our findings were replicated in an independent sample of 2,056 individuals from the Nurses' Health Study. Results: We identified two independent SNPs near the genes encoding key retinol carrier proteins, transthyretin (TTR) and retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4), that were associated at the level of genome-wide significance with retinol concentrations: rs1667255 (in 18q12.1) and rs10882272 (in 10q23.33). After meta-analysis with the replication sample, these SNPs remained highly significant (rs1667255: p = 2.33 × 10-14; rs10882272: p = 1.08 × 10-13). In the two GWAS studies, mean serum retinol concentrations increased with number of risk alleles (0,1,2) for TTR from 556-578-602 μg/L in ATBC and 654-688-711 μg/L in PLCO, and decreased for 0,1,2 risk alleles in RBP4 (580-567-541 μg/L in ATBC and 697-668-653 μg/L in PLCO). Conclusions: This is the first GWAS of circulating retinol levels to reveal novel, genome-wide significant loci, one near TTR and one near RBP4, genes that encode the two major retinol carrier proteins. Understanding the genetic and other determinants of retinol status may help shed light on the etiology of cancer and other diseases associated with vitamin A. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4726. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-4726


The use of meso-scale models for wind resource assessments has increased as this type of model reproduce the complex and inhomogeneous wind fields often seen not only in complex terrain but also offshore. Here the higher-order closure MIUU-model developed at Uppsala University has been used to map the wind climate over Sweden. This type of model is, however, computer-time consuming to run. A method to estimate the climatological wind field using the MIUU model has been developed, reducing the total number of simulations needed. With this method only a limited number of climatologically relevant simulations are made. Weighting based on climatological data for the horizontal pressure gradient (geostrophic wind) is made in order to finally estimate the wind resource. The method is applicable for mapping the wind potential with a resolution of 0.5-10 km. To use this method geostrophic wind (strength and direction), sea and land temperatures, topography, roughness, and land-use are needed. Comparisons between model results and measurements show good agreement. The paper gives details on the technique and show wind statistics arrived at within a project where the wind climate over Sweden on a 1 km resolution is calculated. Wind distributions may be estimated both for speed and direction giving the two Weibull parameters as function of location and height. Turbulent kinetic energy, which is also an output parameter from the model calculations, has been used to estimate the climatology of turbulence intensity.


Yam bean (Pachyrhizus erosus) a tuber-forming legume, is particularly suitable for evaluating the potential availability of the plant reserve carbohydrates for nitrogen fixation (Vaillant et al., 1990,1993). The tuber of this species contains soluble sugars and starch which account, respectively, for 32 and 15% of dry weight. Furthermore, tuberous and non-tuberous plants may be avai lable in inductive or noninductive environment (Robin et al., 1990; Sorcnsen et al., 1993). A stem cutting experiment was conducted with tuberous Pachyrhizus erosus in order to evaluate its potential for maintaining N fixation after aphotosynthate stress. This paper report the effects of such a treatment on the Acetylene Reduction Assay (ARA) of nodules and on the concentration of N fixation products in underground organs.


It is well-known from social and consumer psychology that making choices requires a cognitive effort. Since cognitive capacity is limited, making choices may thus lead to decision fatigue. More specifically, Baumeister (1998) relates decision making to self-control [1] since both involve the use of a limited resource, namely the human body's mental energy. Along these lines, Muraven and Baumeister (2000) suggest that self-control is a renewable limited resource, analogous to a muscle; when depleted of energy it becomes tired and needs to relax and replenish itself. However, the depletion of energy can be reversed as suggested by Gailliot et al. (2007) and Masicampo and Baumeister (2008), by replenishing glucose in the blood, i.e. the main source of energy for the brain. In the SCE literature, decision fatigue has mainly been linked to the design dimensions of the SCE itself and particularly to the number of choice tasks presented to a respondent. Applying the relation between decision making and self-control put forth by Baumeister (1998), we hypothesize that decision fatigue in SCE can also be caused by depletion of mental energy and low levels of blood glucose (Baumeister and Tierney 2011) and not only confined to the SCE context itself, but also as a consequence of the time of day that respondents answer the SCE questionnaire. In this case, the time of day when the questionnaire is answered might be crucial to consider, since respondents could be in a situation with either low or high mental energy, i.e. blood sugar levels, depending on how many other cognitively demanding decisions they have already been required to make since they woke up in the morning and how long it has been since their last meal. Ultimately, this could affect the decision making process of the individual and thus the elicited preferences in a SCE survey. The potential impact of time of day would seem particularly relevant when using survey modes that leave it up to the respondents to decide what time of day to answer the questionnaire. When interviewing respondents using postal paper-and-pen questionnaires or web-based online questionnaires, it is essentially up to the individual respondent to decide when to answer. Compared to face-to-face and telephone survey modes where the analyst (at least to a much greater extent) can decide when to conduct interviews, this represents a loss of control to the analyst. This would be important if responses are indeed affected by the time of day they are obtained. Particularly in the light of the recent years' surge of online surveys (Olsen 2011), this would seem to warrant an investigation. While this loss of control may be inevitable when using postal paper-and-pen questionnaires, online surveys offer an opportunity to at least control for the time of day. When conducting interviews online, client-side paradata such as timestamps, keystrokes, mouse clicks and answer-changes can be easily and unobtrusively collected with no additional effort required of the respondent (Olson and Parkhurst 2013). Timestamps indicating the time of day that each survey response is obtained are typically collected, and such data offer an opportunity to test and control for time of day related decision fatigue. It is against this backdrop that we suspect effects of decision fatigue in responses obtained in SCE surveys to be affected by the time of day that an interview takes place, and maybe more importantly, that responses could be affected by the level of glucose in the respondent's blood during the interview. This raises a question concerning how depletion of mental energy could affect peoples' response behavior in SCEs? Drawing on findings by Baumeister and Tierney (2011) we expect four different types of response behavior when respondents are relatively more fatigued. Firstly, they might not answer at all. Secondly, they might drop out of the survey before completing it - particularly in demanding sections such as the choice tasks. Thirdly, they might try to simplify their choices by, among other strategies, opting more frequently or always for the status quo option or ignoring certain attributes. Lastly, they may make more random choices when decision fatigued and low on blood sugar. While a range of different behavioral observations might explain the above mentioned response behavior, we specifically examine the latter three types of response behavior in relation to non-parametric analyses of dropout rates, status quo choice and attribute non-attendance, as well as parametric analyses of impacts on error variance, Willingness-To-Pay (WTP) and market share predictions. We investigate this by using data from an online SCE survey concerning Danish consumers' preferences for cheese. Paradata on recorded time of day of response are linked with typical eating patterns as identified in the food sociology literature, constructing a proxy variable for the expected level of glucose in the blood at the time of response. While we find no strong evidence of a pure time of day effect, we do find that individuals with relatively low blood sugar levels exhibit significantly larger error variance, indicating that their choices are less consistent. We also find that respondents who are low on blood sugar tend to drop out more, choose the opt-out alternative more frequently, and state higher levels of attribute non-attendance. Finally, when controlling for different individual blood sugar levels we find significant impacts on some of the attribute marginal WTP estimates which translates into fairly large effects on predicted market shares. This could have important implications for the decision support and advice that decision-makers may obtain from stated choice experiments. References: Baumeister, R.F. 1998. The self. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske, and G. Lindzey, eds. Handbook of social psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill, pp. 680-740. Baumeister, R.F., and J. Tierney. 2011. Willpower: Rediscovering the greatest human strength. New York: The Penguin Press. Gailliot, M. T., R. F. Baumeister, C. N. DeWall, J. K. Maner, E. A. Plant, D. M. Tice, L. E. Brewer, and B. J. Schmeichel. 2007. Self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source: Willpower is more than a metaphor. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92: 325-336 Masicampo, E.J. and R.F. Baumeister. 2008. Toward a Physiology of Dual-Process Reasoning and Judgment: Lemonade, Willpower, and Expensive Rule-Based Analysis. Psychol Science 19: 255-260 Muraven, M., and R.F. Baumeister. 2000. Self-regulation and depletion of limited resources: Does self-control resemble a muscle? Psychological Bulletin 126:247-259 Olsen, S. 2009. Choosing between internet and mail surveys modes for choice experiment surveys considering non-market goods. Environmental and Resource Economics 44: 591-610. Olson, K., and B. Parkhurst. 2013. Collecting Paradata for Measurement Error Evaluations. Chapter 3 in Improving Surveys with Paradata: Analytic Uses of Process Information. Edited by Kreuter F., John Wiley & Sons, 2013, pp. 43–72. [1] In the psychology literature there is a strong linkage between "self-control", "free will", and "willpower", terms that are often used interchangeably.


Motion standstill is different from the usual perceptual experiences associated with objects in motion. In motion standstill, a pattern that is moving quite rapidly is perceived as being motionless, and yet its details are not blurred but clearly visible. We revisited motion standstill in dynamic random-dot stereograms similar to those first used by Julesz and Payne [Julesz B, Payne R (1968) Vision Res 8:433–444]. Three improvements were made to their paradigm to avoid possible confounds: The temporal frequency of the motion stimuli was manipulated independently from that of individual stereo gratings so that the failure of motion perception is not due to inability to compute stereo. The motion of the stereo gratings was continuous across the visual field so that the perceived pattern in motion standstill was not a simple average of a back-and-forth display wobble over time. Observers discriminated three spatial frequencies to demonstrate pattern recognition. Three objective psychophysical methods, instead of merely self-report, were used to objectively demonstrate motion standstill. Our results confirm that motion standstill occurs in dynamic random-dot stereogram motion displays at 4–6 Hz. Motion standstill occurs when the stimulus spatiotemporal frequency combination exceeds that of the salience-based third-order motion system in a spatiotemporal frequency range in which the shape and depth systems still function. The ability of shape systems to extract a representative image from a series of moving samples is a significant component of a biological system's ability to derive a stable perceptual world from a constantly changing visual environment.


What the government is and how to govern are a theme that, since Plato and Aristotle, the philosophy has been occupied its time. The government in ancient Greece differs, however, of other forms of government, as is the case of the Hebrews and Mesopotamia in general. In ancient Greece what is governed are the cities, nevertheless, especially among the Hebrews, it does not governs political structures, as a State, or a territory, men are governed. The way of conducting men arises in pre-Christian Orient and its structure of pastoral power will develop itself from high Christian spirituality, under the technical direction of consciousness and examination of conscience. In presence of the exposed, as part of the purpose of this article, the direction of consciousness will be rescued in its Hellenic and Christian form. In other words, the modern State configured itself from the arts to govern of the pastoral power's technology and maintain remnants in relation of form of government of the Greek cities. Being this mechanism of government a new form of pastoral power, it is necessary to investigate which professions could claim to themselves the title of pastor. From these assumptions, the focus of communication relapses in the debate about the role of Philosophy teacher. It is about investigate whether Philosophy teacher is contributing through of the others government, or is just enforcing standards imposed by the State with subjection intentions. Such as the "pastor" who governs men so that they are passive and submissive to a given authority, which results in the state of subjection and full obedience. Is the Philosophy teaching still linked on the practice of governing of Christian spirituality? Does Philosophy teacher shapes the subjectivities according to the State's normalization?


Natural sand deposits are in most cases heterogeneous and layered in the horizontal direction due to stratification. If such deposits are liquefied during earthquakes, water films are likely to develop beneath less permeable sublayers leading to destabilization of a sloping ground. In Niigata city, large lateral flow displacements were reported during the Niigata earthquake in almost flat areas. Possible involvement of the water films in lateral flow failure in liquefied ground during the earthquake is examined in this research based on various site investigation data of Niigata city. Soil profiles in the area estimated from many bore-hole logging data indicate that there exists a continuous sublayer of silt or clay capping liquefiable loose sand. The elevation contours of O.lm pitch are drawn based on insitu leveling survey and local maps. The flow displacements during the earthquake seem to head downward normal to the contours and show a clear correlation with ground slope. This suggests that the large flow deformation in this area was driven by the slight ground surface inclination of less than 1% and that was made possible due to the formation of water films, which will considerably reduce the shear resistance of the soil against flow.


The clinical conditions associated with peripheral blood nucleated red blood cells (NRBC) in Nigerians were investigated prospectively to define them and establish their mortality. Of the 4,565 differential counts carried out within ten months, NRBC were detected in 120 cases (2.6 percent). Of these, severe nutritional anemia was seen in 64.4 percent, sickle cell anemia in 23.8 percent, neonatal status in 7.6 percent; and malignant diseases in 4.2 percent. Leukoerythroblastosis occurred in 11 percent. The overall mortality was 4.2 percent, and among those with congestive cardiac failure, there was no fatality. These results show that malignancy is not a major cause of normoblasts in peripheral blood in this environment and that the prognosis is not as poor as has been reported in some North American and European literature.


This paper examines the strengths and weaknesses of securities regulatory systems worldwide with a view to a better understanding of common problems and areas of global concern. We found that a consistent theme emerges regarding the lack of ability of regulators to effectively enforce compliance with existing rules and regulation. In many countries, a combination of factors, including insufficient legal authority, a lack of resources, political will and skills, has undermined the regulator's capacity to effectively execute regulation. This weakness is more acute in areas of increased technical complexity such as standards for and supervision of the valuation of assets and risk management practices.


Objective Psychological factors may be important determinants of adherence to antihypertensive medication, as they have been repeatedly found to be associated with an increased risk of hypertension, coronary heart disease, and health-damaging behaviours. We examined the importance of several psychological attributes (sense of coherence, optimism, pessimism, hostility, anxiety) with regard to antihypertensive medication adherence assessed by pharmacy refill records. Methods A total of 1021 hypertensive participants, aged 26–63 years, who were employees in eight towns and 12 hospitals in Finland were included in the analyses. Results We found 60% of patients to be totally adherent, 36% partially adherent, and 4% totally nonadherent. Multinomial regression analyses revealed high sense of coherence to be associated with lower odds of being totally nonadherent in contrast of being totally adherent (odds ratio = 0.55; 95% confidence interval: 0.31–0.96). This association was independent of factors that influenced adherence to antihypertensive medication, such as sociodemographic characteristics, health-related behaviours, self-reported medical history of doctor-diagnosed comorbidity, and anteriority of hypertension status. The association was not specific to certain types of antihypertensive drugs. Conclusion High sense of coherence may influence antihypertensive medication-adherence behaviour. Aspects characterizing this psychological attribute, such as knowledge (comprehensibility), capacity (manageability), and motivation (meaningfulness) may be important determinants of adherence behaviour for asymptomatic illnesses, such as hypertension, in which patients often do not feel or perceive the immediate consequences of skipping medication doses.


n Kurdistan, Kermanshah and West Azerbaijan provinces of Iran, there are regions with plain but amazing contexts by which one can identify the hidden identity of the regional architecture in its various components. Most villages are built on the sides of narrow valleys with over a 50 ̊ slope. They face south and southeast to receive the most daylight. In the fi rst part of this article the topographic and architectural structure of the region is introduced, and in the second part, specifi c sections of this region have been analyzed in terms of modernity in relation to the hidden identity of the traditional architecture, urban planning and the components of forming spaces. In addition, fundamental similarities of this vernacular architecture and precepts of the International Style have been compared in the fi nal part, in order to explore the possibility of creating a distinctive form of modernity within the hidden identity of Oraman Village architecture.


A manual data processing system and a computer-based system that was integrated into the operations of a clinic for treatment of sexually transmitted diseases were developed. The automated system can generate routine management reports and cross-tabulate data for special studies. It is flexible and adaptable to other localities but is not a panacea for clinic problems.


ABSTRACT After decades of scholarly optimism that the immigration reforms that swept across the Global North in the postwar era had ushered in a new age of non-discriminatory migration policy, recent scholarship has challenged this narrative. This Special Issue offers an empirical and normative contribution to this critical turn in migration studies by examining the multiple ways in which immigration and citizenship policy continues to create hierarchies among migrants that mirror the intersection of non-meritocratic attributes of social group membership. We show that access to territory and citizenship is governed by highly differentiated legal distinctions that closely map onto social identities such as gender, race/ethnicity, nationality, religion, and class. This introduction maps two important and interrelated developments in the literature which this issue engages. First, the 'politics of belonging' remains shaped by the intersection of multiple axes of inclusion and exclusion that are (re)produced by immigration and citizenship policy. Second, whereas legal precarity has long been associated with undocumented and temporary immigration status, over the past two decades precarity has penetrated all immigration status, including those that have long been understood as secure. The article concludes with an overview of the Special Issue's individual contributions and identifies some remaining research needs.


There is a need to change the teaching methods of the science subjects. International surveys, e.g. TIMMS and PISA, have been showing relatively declining skills for the Swedish students in the science subjects. International science education research has found good examples of teaching and learning, but the research stays within the research communities and does not reach the teachers and their teaching. The gap between research results and teachers' practices in the classroom is the basis of this investigation. Research shows that the teacher is one of the most important factors for student learning, therefore, this study has put great emphasis on the teachers' competencies. The focus of this investigation is the relations between teachers' knowledge of the Nature of Science (NOS), the Nature of Science Inquiry (NOSI) and inquiry-based teaching of Science. The project follows longitudinally two teachers as they take part in a researchbased implementation process of predesigned inquiry-teaching sequences in Physics. The context is a secondary school in Sweden (grades 8–9, age 14–16 years). The project is set around group discussions between the involved teachers and the researcher on planning, implementing and analysing actual inquiry teaching. The results describe possibilities and obstacles concerning the implementation of inquiry teaching as perceived by the teachers. Having navigated obstacles the teachers saw great potential in the inquiry model based on students' motivation and learning. The results of the project provide indications on how future in-service teacher courses in Science could be designed.


Factor H (FH) is an abundant regulator of complement activation and protects host cells from self-attack by complement. Here we provide insight into the regulatory activity of FH by solving the crystal structure of the first four domains of FH in complex with its target, complement fragment C3b. FH interacted with multiple domains of C3b, covering a large, extended surface area. The structure indicated that FH destabilizes the C3 convertase by competition and electrostatic repulsion and that FH enables proteolytic degradation of C3b by providing a binding platform for protease factor I while stabilizing the overall domain arrangement of C3b. Our results offer general models for complement regulation and provide structural explanations for disease-related mutations in the genes encoding both FH and C3b.


Abstract Purpose This study explored how patients with schizophrenia were provided with social support and treatment compliance during the pandemic. Design and Methods A total of 396 patients with schizophrenia and their relatives were interviewed by telephone calls. Findings Multiple antipsychotic use and depot antipsychotics were not superior in preventing relapse. A total of 70.2% of the patients wanted to meet with their psychiatrist online but only 7.1% of them were reached online. A total of 59% of patients were able to take their medication thanks to the extension of their drug prescriptions. Practice Implications Active inclusion of telepsychiatry applications in clinical practice is necessary for patients with schizophrenia. Government policies developed for treatment compliance seem important.


The Data-Correcting Algorithm (DCA) corrects the data of a hard problem instance in such a way that we obtain an instance of a well solvable special case. For a given prescribed accuracy of the solution, the DCA uses a branch and bound scheme to make sure that the solution of the corrected instance satisfies this given prescribed accuracy. We describe the "hardness" of randomly generated instances of the Quadratic Cost Partition Problem (QCP) by the density of the corresponding graphs as well as by the cardinality of an optimal solution of the QCP. We study the behaviour of the DCAs through the number of search levels of the so called Preliminary Preservation Algorithm and average computational times. We report average computational times of the DCA for instances of dense graphs with the number of vertices up to 500 which can be solved on a standard PC within 10 minutes.


Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) remains widespread in the North American pig population. Despite improvements in virus characterization, it is unclear whether PRRSV infections are a product of viral circulation within a farm, within production systems (local) or across production systems (external). Here we examined the dissemination dynamics of PRRSV and the processes facilitating its spread within and among pig farms in three production systems. Overall, PRRSV genetic diversity declined since 2018, while phylodynamic results support frequent transmission across-production systems. We found that PRRSV dissemination occurred mostly through transmission between farms of different production companies, which were predominant for several months, especially from November until May when PRRSV tends to peak in the studied region. Within production systems, dissemination occurred mainly through regular pig flow (from sow to nursery and then to finisher farms); nevertheless, an important flux of PRRSV dissemination from finisher to sow and nursery farms highlighted the importance of downstream farms as sources of the virus. Farms at areas with pig density from 500 to 1000 pig/km2 and farms located at a range within 0.5 km and 0.7 km from major roads were more likely to infect by PRRSV, whereas farms at elevation between 41 and 61 meters and denser vegetation acted as dissemination barriers. Although remains a challenge, there is a need to disentangle the route of PRRSV transmission, results evidenced that dissemination among commercially unrelated pig production systems was intense, reinforcing the importance of farm proximity on PRRSV spread. Thus, consideration of farm location and their geographic characteristics may help to forecast dissemination. The understanding of PRRSV transmission routes has the potential to inform targeted strategies for its prevention and control. Further studies are needed to quantify the relative contribution of PRRSV transmission routes.


Infusing IB philosophy and pedagogy into Chinese language teaching Ian Hill & Mark S K Shum Woodhridge, Suffolk: John Gatt Educational Ltd», 214 pp* ISBN: 978-1-909717-65-7The Discursive Construction of Intercultural Understanding in China: A case study of an International Baccalaureate Diploma Program Wang Xi Lan ham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 233 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4985-1430-9Two books are presented for review in this article. Both are remarkable because they discuss *international-mindedness* (IM) and the implementation of IB programmes in China from the perspectives of Chinese teachers and learners but there are interesting differences between them. One is an edited volume with multiple authors, presenting the output of a university department based in Hong Kong (augmented by Dr Ian Hill, the former Deputy Director General of the IB), with a focus on curriculum research in the context of language acquisition. The other is the work of a single author based at a university in Beijing, possibly the outcome of a doctoral research project, and has a focus on anthropological inquiry.The book edited by Dr Ian Hill and Dr Mark S K Shum is divided into three sections comprising "IB philosophy, teaching and learning', 'Implementation of IB philosophy in classroom practice and teaching materials development*, and 'Innovative pedagogy in IB Chinese teaching*. Hence, whereas the later sections of the book are written for a subject specialist audience, there is still much of interest for the more general reader in the field of education for international-mindedness.There is sustained reference throughout to a recent publication by Dr Hill (2015) on the history and development ofinternational-mindedness* in which he proposes a dichotomy of Eastern and Western 'traditional* educational values. While I would argue that such a comparative model is a contestable hypothesis, since it presents what I consider to be an 'orientalising* view of difference (Said 1978), I concede that it presents a useful hook upon which to place the variety of productive debates that are outlined in this book.Informed by Hill's framework; a chapter by Shum et al discusses When the IB Learner Profile meets Eastern Confucian tradition*. The authors present a comparison between the IB Learner Profile (IBLP) and the philosophy of Confucius. The specifications of IB learners to be 'knowledgeable', 'thinkers*, 'communicators* and so on are mapped onto selected examples of Confucian thought. The authors propose that Chinese language teachers adopt avariety of strategies that reconcile these positions that include ^similarity in difference* embracing concretizing (realisation of the IBLP in a more understandable way through examples from Chinese culture) and interpreting (new interpretations of the IBLP or Chinese cultural values), as well as 'difference in similarity* embracing comparing (engaging critical thinking between the IBLP and Chinese cultural values) and co-access (coexistence of IBLP attributes and Chinese cultural values with students accessing each through different teachers).Participation by teachers in a professional development programme can lead to award of the IB Certificate of Teaching and Learning. In a chapter on the pre-service education and training of IB Chinese language teachers, Shum et al discuss how two phases of teaching practice offer different professional development contexts. A 'school attachment* phase provides opportunities to observe 'Anglo-European* ideological and social normative practices that are in contrast to those that the student teachers is otherwise accustomed to. This gives the teachers a repertoire of techniques by which they can assert their professional and social authority in otherwise unfamiliar cross-cultural teaching settings in the subsequent *main teaching practice* phase of their training.Malcolm Pritchard discusses Chinese language acquisition and curriculum design using authentic immersion and interactive language learning. …


Earthquakes at three localities in eastern North America have been attributed on geological and seismological grounds to compressional reactivation of some of the late Proterozoic or early Paleozoic normal faults in the northeast-trending Iapetan passive margin. Assessment of seismic hazard can be aided by identifying the boundaries of the area of Iapetan faulting. A previous paper located the northwestern boundary. This report interprets deep seismic-reflection profiles as showing that the margin comprises a seismically active northwestern part, where Precambrian crust contains some Iapetan faults but remains mostly as it was formed, and a southeastern part, where later deformations likely destroyed or modified the Precambrian crust and Iapetan faults. Accordingly, the boundary between the northwestern and southeastern parts of the margin, which coincides approximately with the Appalachian gravity gradient, can be taken as the southeastern limit of potentially seismogenic Iapetan faults.


The heart pumps pressure and flow signals with relevant amount of frequency components cushioned along the arterial system. A pressure transfer function approach was designed to evaluate the Ventricular-Arterial Interaction. Two transfer functions were calculated relating ventricular to arterial pressure. A frequency response analysis followed the time-domain adaptation. Additionally, a viscoelastic model was proposed to characterize the arterial wall mechanical behavior, using the elastic (E) and viscous (/spl eta/) moduli. Six merino sheep were instrumented and anesthetized. Pressure measurements were registered in both ventricles, in aorta and in the pulmonary artery. Diameters (sonomicrometry) were measured in both arteries. The frequency transfer function asymptotic negative slope, describing the attenuation within the dynamic range, resulted 5 times greater in aorta (p < 0.05), what presents the systemic as a more selective circuit than the pulmonary. E and /spl eta/ resulted higher (p /spl eta/ 0.05) in aorta than in the pulmonary artery whereas E//spl eta/ was similar. The viscoelastic results might indicate a similar segmental (unit-cell) response in both arteries. The enhanced cushioning ability of the left circuit with respect to the right, might be understood as a more selective vascular filtering system. This filtering performance might be related to the functional length of unit-cell responses along the systemic circulation.


Background: Lingula is a bony projection on the medial surface of the mandibular ramus. It isclosely related to the mandibular foramen and inferior alveolar nerve and it serves as a very important bony landmark in oral, maxillofacial surgeries and inferior alveolar nerve blocks and for excision of nerve in facial neuralgia. Aim: To study the shape, height & position of the lingula in relation to the mandible. Materials and methods: 65 human dry mandibles of South Indian origin were used for the study. Variations in the shape of the lingula were noted and classified. Vernier caliper was used to obtain the measurements of the lingula and the data collected was analysed statistically. Results: Lingula was truncated in shape in 33.84%, triangular in 29.23%, nodular 19.23% and assimilated in 17.70% of the mandibles. The mean height of the lingula was 7.41 ± 2.23 mm. The lingula was located at a mean distance of 21.3 ± 4.12 mm and 19.6 ± 3.30 mm from the anterior and posterior borders of the mandibular ramus. The mean distance between the mandibular notch and the tip of the lingula was 18.6 ± 3.71mm. The mean distance from lingula to the second molar and the base of the mandible were 34.6 ± 5.14 mm and 36.1 ± 4.12 mm respectively. The bilingular distance ( It is the distance between the tips of both the lingula ) was 77.7 ± 4.75 mm. Conclusions: Lingula is a reliable landmark to locate the mandibular foramen in osteotomies; hence the knowledge of the anatomy of the lingula is important for the maxillo-facial surgeons to perform the surgeries safely and to avoid complications.


This paper examines teachers' use of Flipgrid, a student-facing video platform, as a reflection tool to promote computer science language in upper elementary classrooms. We take a case-study approach with three fourth grade teachers: one had a high number of students with special needs, one had substantially more gifted and talented students, and one taught a dual immersion English-Spanish class. Data sources include teacher interviews, design meetings between researchers and teachers, and classroom observations. We find that teachers with different pedagogical visions adopted the tools for reinforcement, student engagement, and formative assessment. We document teachers' iterative improvement strategies and shifts in teacher noticing, particularly the objects (i.e., computer science vocabulary and concepts), level (i.e., whole-class versus individual students), and depth of how they noticed students learning through video reflections. This study contributes to the ongoing work that examines instructional approaches to promoting computing education in diverse K-12 classrooms, especially among teachers with no formal training in computer science education.


Objective. To assess effectiveness in improving patient outcomes of a new prehospital emergency care training curriculum paired with a quality assessment tool for prehospital care providers in Eastern Europe. Introduction: A first responder curriculum that includes a mechanism for documenting clinical data and prompting critical interventions is planned for 14 EMS training centers in the CIS for 2001. Measuring effectiveness is critical for quality improvement and securing ongoing approval from the project stakeholders as well as support for similar projects in other parts of the world. Methods: A dual phase evaluation process is proposed. In the first phase (precurriculum), prospective students will identify patients with an acute illness or injury most likely to benefit from field interventions with a standardized, validated case severity scale (CSS). The CSS categorizes patients on their initial level of severity and their interval status change upon arrival at the emergency department. The second phase (postcurriculum) would combine the CSS with a structured patient encounter data collection (quality assessment) tool, which would document clinical data and serve as a prompt for critical interventions. A cohort will be followed prospectively for 12 months to evaluate changes in CSS based on clinical interventions. Observed interventions will be controlled for a given locale's resources and prehospital infrastructure. The curriculum and quality assessment tool will be implemented in staggered intervals throughout the each center's jurisdiction allowing for comparisons between preand postcurriculum cohorts.


The historical division between medicine and public health is arbitrary and not in the best interest of the health of the American public. Combating the major causes of death and disability requires integration of medicine and public health by government and academia.


The essence of the problem in this research is still not optimal implementation of cooperative management by cooperatives located in Sumedang District, many cooperatives who do not report to the Department of Cooperatives, small business, medium enterprises, trade and industry Sumedang. The purpose of this research is to know the role of coaching management cooperative by the Department of Cooperatives, Small business, intermediate, trade and industry Sumedang district. The method used in this research is a qualitative method of research by examining the three cooperatives that were used as samples in this study, namely the Indonesian Employee Cooperative Cooperative Health Officer Sumedang, employee cooperative PT. PLN (Persero) Sumedang, and BMT Al Amanah Sumedang. The result of this research is that the Department of Cooperative Department of Cooperatives, small business, medium enterprises, trade, Sumedang District has a strategic role in improving the quality of cooperatives in Sumedang district through the implementation of a better cooperative management system so that cooperatives in the cooperative performance in the district can be said quality, but still there are various barriers, namely the low cooperative resource , and the unavailability of information containers to accelerate the reporting and development of cooperative material management. Recommendation of the results of this research is necessary to the role of local governments in the increase in the development budget management cooperative, provision of adequate facilities and infrastructures, improvement of the quality of human resources cooperative cooperatives through education programs and level training, and improvement of the supervision of cooperatives by the Department of Cooperatives, small business, medium enterprises, trade industry Sumedang District.


In 540 extracted teeth the cavities were drilled using different burs at various rotation speeds. Microphotometry of the quality of walls preparation showed that steel drills had an optimum of under 10,000 rev/min while for hard-alloy and diamond drills the quality increased parallel with the drilling speed.


Background In 2011, the Health Emergency Management Bureau (HEMB) created the Surveillance for Post Extreme Emergencies and Disasters (SPEED), a real-time syndromic surveillance system that allows the early detection and monitoring of post-disaster disease trends. SPEED can assist health leaders in making informed decisions on health systems affected by disasters. There is a need for further validation of current concepts in post-disaster disease patterns in respect to actual field data. This study aims to evaluate the temporal post-disaster patterns of selected diseases after a flood, an earthquake, and a typhoon in the Philippines in 2013. Methodology We analyzed the 21 syndromes provided by SPEED both separately and grouped into injuries, communicable diseases, and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by calculating daily post-disaster consultation rates for up to 150 days post-disaster. These were compared over time and juxtaposed according to the type of disaster. Results Communicable diseases were found to be the predominant syndrome group in all three disaster types. The top six syndromes found were: acute respiratory infections, open wounds, bruises and burns, high blood pressure, skin disease, fever, and acute watery diarrhea. Discussion Overall, the results aligned with the country's morbidity profile. Within 2 months, the clear gradation of increasing syndrome rates reflected the severity (flood<earthquake<typhoon) and magnitude of the disruption of the health system caused by the disasters. After 2 months, rates dropped, suggesting the beginning of the recovery phase. The most common syndromes can be addressed by measures such as providing for shelter, water, sanitation, hygiene, nutrition, and common health services. Conclusions Most post-disaster syndromes may be addressed by prevention, early diagnosis, and early treatment. Health needs differ in response and recovery phases.


For the traditionally small-scaled Swiss agriculture, large economies of scale exist in dairy farming. Farm expansion is typically linked to a barn investment, but the opportunities for expanding the necessary acreage are limited. To enable an investing farm to expand its acreage, neighboring farms must shrink or phase out. Hence, the question arises how neighboring farms affect investing farms. To address this farm management question, we used a set of Farm Accountancy Data Network data and government data on subsidized projects. We combined this dataset with agricultural census data to assess the concentration of agricultural land as well as the number of subsidized investments within the municipality of an investing farm. By means of random-effects models for agricultural income per family working unit on the one side and herd size change on the other, we found two effects of neighborhood effects. A high number of subsidized projects and a high concentration of land (Gini coefficient) limited the growth in herd size due to scarcity of available land. At the same time, neighborhood positively influenced the management, leading to a higher agricultural income per family working unit. The results illustrate that an extension of the Farm Accountancy Data Network data, which in itself is extensive, can further help to address specific research questions.